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App developers: Sharpen your skills with 90% off coding courses [Deals]

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Whether you're a seasoned app developer or still learning, this course in Swift and iOS 9 is for you.
Whether you're a seasoned app developer or still learning, this course in Swift and iOS 9 is for you.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’re working toward app-making mastery, you need to stay on top of the key languages and frameworks for iOS. For first-time coders and seasoned developers alike, we’ve got three kick-ass courses offering hands-on experience with Xcode, Swift and Objective-C, plus other fundamentals that will hone your chops and up your marketability.

Oh, and another thing — each of these courses is discounted by at least 90 percent.

Apple ‘abuses’ Cupertino, says new mayor

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money
Cupertino's new mayor thinks Apple should pay more taxes.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is by far Cupertino’s biggest and most recognizable employer, but the city’s new mayor has accused the tech giant of not pulling its weight when it comes to taxes.

Mayor Barry Chang, who’s only been on the job since December, is wasting no time in pursuit of his mission to get Apple to pay more taxes. He’s slated the local council for apparently cozying up to Apple, and even gotten himself booted out of Apple’s HQ on one occasion after turning up uninvited.

Apple Online Store gets new accessibility section

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You can now get your accessibility gadgets from Apple.
Photo: Apple

Apple has added a new section to its online store where shoppers can find a range of accessibility gadgets. It is split up into vision, physical and motor skills, and learning and literacy categories, and features products for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Liam can’t recycle every iPhone, even with 29 arms

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liam-apple-recycle-robot
Apple's new robot, Liam, is a recycling machine, but so are we...
Photo: Apple/YouTube

Liam, Apple’s robot that deconstructs iPhones to mine the valuable resources inside them, is certainly cool — but he’s still not the recycling machine we deserve (or need).

Just like any Apple product, Liam was designed to work well. But how much good does the robot, which took three years to develop and build, actually do?

How to turn text into a spoken iTunes track

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Text to Audio
Save text as an audio file with this handy tip!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

I find myself using the text to speech function on Mac OS X far too much. Having my Mac read articles and emails out loud to me allows me to multitask and do other things — like edit awesome videos for Cult of Mac — without ignoring important messages.

But did you know you can even save those text to speech recording for listening at a later time?

In this week’s Quick Tips video, I’m going to show you how to turn text into a spoken track and save it into iTunes, allowing you to find save your favourite articles and listen to on your iPhone.

Siri’s creators will debut next-gen AI assistant next week

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HAL 9000 is the spiritual antecedent of CARROT. Photo:
We're getting closer to HAL 9000 every day.
Photo: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Siri has been gradually getting better since its debut in 2011, but some of its original creators are set to introduce its successor, Viv, next week — and, by all accounts, Siri better watch her back!

Having operated in stealth mode for more than a year, Viv’s arrival hopes to represent a significant step forward in artificial intelligence as AI assistants take on more of an active role in running our lives.

Apple’s next acquisition? It would be great to think so.

LAPD hacked iPhone 5s as part of murder investigation

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iphone_gun
Investigators have managed to unlock the iPhone 5s.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

After the FBI successfully hacked the iPhone 5c as part of the San Bernardino shooting case, newly-released court papers show that Los Angeles police investigators have obtained a method of unlocking its higher-end sibling, the iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 5s belonged to the dead wife of former The Shield actor Michael Jace, who was killed at the couple’s South L.A. home in 2014. The keycode security bypass took place last month, and was achieved with the help of an unnamed “forensic cellphone expert.”

No data, no problem: How to use Google Maps offline

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Get your Google Maps to work everywhere.
Get your Google Maps to work everywhere.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac (original image: Jordan McQueen/Unsplash CC)

When you’re out in the sticks somewhere, you might get to a place where there’s no signal. How will you ever find your way home (or to the next party) without your trusty Google Maps app?

Well, with a little foresight, you can make sure Google Maps continues to be useful, even when you’re not within range of cellular data. Here’s how to use Google Maps offline to make sure you never get lost again when your smartphone goes offline.

Note: This tip will work with Android and iOS versions of Google Maps.

YouTube might beat Apple to reinventing TV

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youtube-will-show-hdr-video-on-your-fancy-new-tv-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201601LG-HDR-YouTube-png
YouTube Unplugged to stream your favorite cable channels.
Photo: Cult of Mac

If you bought an Apple TV in anticipation of Apple’s rumored TV streaming service, it seems you may have been barking up the wrong tree.

YouTube could beat Apple to reinventing the cable experience, according to a new report. Its new “Unplugged” service will let viewers pay a monthly subscription fee for a bundle of cable TV channels, which will be available for streaming on-demand.

Win It Wednesday: Enter to win 10 years of Netflix Premium [Deals]

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Try to imagine all the movies and shows you'll be able to get over the next decade. Or enter this contest so you won't have to imagine.
Try to imagine all the movies and shows you'll be able to get over the next decade. Or enter this contest so you won't have to imagine.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Considering how common it is to so many of our lives, it’s hard to believe Netflix didn’t even exist 10 years ago. Browsing movies and TV shows at home was hard to imagine before Netflix, but now many of us can’t imagine entertaining ourselves without it.

See if you can imagine this, though: 10 years of Netflix Premium for free. That’s exactly what we’re offering in the first Win It Wednesday, the new weekly giveaway from Cult of Mac Deals. All you have to do is enter now, no strings attached.

Hermès-style Apple Watch bands won’t empty your wallet [Reviews]

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All of Arrow & Board's products are handmade in a tiny workshop in Austin.
Photo: Traci Dauphin/Cult of Mac

Best List: Triple Tour Split Strap by Arrow & Board

With the deluge of Apple Watch bands on the market, I wanted to wrap my wrist in leather for a reasonable price.

Unwilling to drop $500 on the luxe Hermès Double Tour, I was delighted to discover the wares of Arrow & Board, a tiny company from Austin, Texas, that produces made-to-order, handcrafted leather accessories at modest prices.

iPhone drive adds storage, stays out of your way [Reviews]

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SanDisk iXpand flash drive
You'll barely even know the SanDisk iXpand is there.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Budget-minded iPhone owners have gotten used to making do with a meager 16GB of memory on their devices, but it’s annoying and may not be worth the money you’ve saved. But the market has no shortage of iPhone-friendly flash drives to make your life easier, and the new version of the SanDisk iXpand is one of the cooler ones we’ve seen.

Not only does it offer a bunch of different storage sizes and a really slick app to keep everything straight, but the makers also designed it to be as unobtrusive as possible. Basically, you can keep it plugged into your iPhone all the time, and you’ll barely even notice it. And that’s more than we can say about most of the phone accessories we carry around.

Apple collectibles are a seller’s market

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Bids for this Apple I started at $370,000.
Bids for this Apple I started at $370,000.
Photo: Christie's

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugStarting a collection of Apple’s past is relatively easy and often affordable. But once you get started and a pricey, rare object presents itself, will you be able to control yourself?

Here’s a list that will test whether you have the fever and an intense desire to hold personal computing history in your hands. It may also test your fiscal fitness.

Hacking for the good guys is a lucrative skill to learn [Deals]

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PWYW Pentester
With companies like Instagram paying big bug bounties, it's a great time to learn ethical hacking.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Finding faults in a computer system can mean exploiting it — which is what we’ve been conditioned to think of when we hear the term “hacker” — or it can mean you’re trying to find ways of making the system stronger.

That’s what so-called white hat hacking is all about, and it’s a skill that’s becoming increasingly lucrative as more and more businesses are looking to do business over secure networks. This Ethical Hacker and Pentester Pro Bundle is a great way to join the light side of the hacking workforce, and you can get it for whatever you’re willing to pay.

Facebook coughs up $10,000 for 10-year-old Instagram hacker

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facebook-coughs-up-10000-for-10-year-old-instagram-hacker-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads2015122015-12-08-140126-1-jpg
It pays to uncover Facebook flaws.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Instagram Android
It pays to uncover Facebook flaws. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

A 10-year-old with insane hacking skills just scored a $10,000 payout from Facebook for uncovering a serious flaw in Instagram.

The Helsinki-based boy, who can’t even open a Facebook account for another three years, found he was able to alter code on Instagram’s servers to delete comments posted by any account.

Spring clean your Mac with these awesome apps

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Mac_Cleaner
Free up some disk space easily and quickly thanks to these apps!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

No matter the size of your Mac’s hard drive, there will come a time when you need to free up some space. Having a full hard drive can make your Mac feel sluggish, and running out of space can be terrifying.

Sifting through your archive of files may seem like a daunting task. But don’t fear — these three super-simple and effective Mac disk cleanup apps can help you out.

Check them out in the Cult of Mac video review below.

How to back up your iPhone or iPad to an external drive

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Use an external hard drive to free up space on your Mac.
Use an external hard drive to free up space on your Mac.
Photo: Ste Smith/ Cult of Mac

If you’ve got a tiny hard drive on your Mac and a large-capacity iPhone or iPad (or both!), you might worry that you’re about to run out of space due to all the stuff you want to back up from your iOS device to your OS X one.

You won’t have to worry any longer. This trick makes your Mac back up your iPhone or iPad to an external drive, which will ensure you never run out of space to keep your data backed up.

Here’s how.

iMessage comes to Android thanks to neat Mac hack

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Your Android friends may soon get blue chat bubbles too.
But how long will it last?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Having to bid farewell to iMessage is one of the reasons why many iPhone users won’t jump ship to Android. But thanks to a new app called PieMessage, you can now enjoy Apple’s insanely popular messaging platform on a Google-powered smartphone.

Setting your sights on web development? Get started here [Deals]

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Get a lifetime of access to thousands of lessons in web development.
Get a lifetime of access to thousands of lessons in web development.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

So you want to be a web developer. It’s a dense and diverse field, so you better get studying. A lifetime of access to this bundle of OSTraining Developer Courses is a great place to get started.

With more than 3,000 video tutorials from subject experts and unlimited access to a sprawling training library, you’ll become skilled at building on open source platforms like WordPress and with languages like JavaScript, HTML and more. You can get a lifetime subscription now for just $65.

Google teams up with Chrysler to build self-driving minivans

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google-teams-up-with-chrysler-to-build-self-driving-minivans-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads2016052017-Chrysler-Pacifica-1011-876x535-jpg
The Chrysler Pacifica could soon drive itself.
Photo: Fiat Chrysler
self-driving
The Chrysler Pacifica could soon drive itself. Photo: Fiat Chrysler

Google is on the verge of signing a new deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to build “several dozen” self-driving minivans, according to a new report.

The first models could be on the road sometime this year for the first phase of the self-driving vehicle partnership, but it’s not yet clear what the main objective is.

What’s on my iPhone SE? Take a look

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What's on Ste's iPhone
Feeling nosey? Take a tour around my iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith / Cult of Mac

The iPhone is one of the most personal devices around, with so many apps out there that there’s near limitless scope for customizing the device with whatever tools we need to make it fit our requirements.

With that in mind, here are the apps that I’m currently running on my iPhone SE. Looking for some tips on what to download for Apple’s latest smartphone? Interested in a tour to see what your favorite Liverpudlian Cult of Mac team member has on his handset?

Whatever your reasons, check out my latest video below.