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Canon just dropped a nuke in the megapixel war

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Canon has developed 250-MP CMOS camera sensor.
Canon has developed 250-MP CMOS camera sensor.
Photo: Canon

Canon has developed a CMOS camera sensor that records a 250-megapixel image. Not that this should kill your excitement about the 12 megapixels you’re going to get with the camera on the new iPhone 6s, but take a moment to consider the number.

How do we even fathom 250 megapixels? Canon, in its press release boasting of the pixel count (19,580 x 12,600), said engineers zoomed in on a photo taken of an airplane from 11 miles away and could distinguish the lettering on the side of the plane.

This photo-sharing app adds voices to your photos

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everyStory allows you to curate digital photos albums and add audio to each photo.
everyStory allows you to curate digital photos albums and add audio to each photo.
Photo: everyStory

Dave Keene had colon cancer and wouldn’t be sure until after surgery whether it would kill him. What he did know for sure was if it did, his young son would eventually forget the sound of his voice.

Keene, a veteran engineer in the gaming industry, used his time before surgery to develop an iOS app that would change that. He created everyStory, a kind of digital photo album that includes audio attached to each photo.

Michael Fassbender could be the best Steve Jobs actor yet

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Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Reviewers are already throwing around Oscar talk.
Photo: Universal Pictures

After a rocky pre-production period which saw it switch directors, lose actor after actor, and even be ditched by its original studio, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic finally made its debut at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival this weekend — and, boy, does it sound like it was worth the wait!

Reviews so far are all good-to-excellent, but the real surprise is the unanimous support for Michael Fassbender as Jobs. We’d noted before how little Fassbender physically resembles Steve although, as has been proven time and again, that doesn’t stop good actors from inhabiting a role — which is exactly what it sounds like Fassbender has done.

Here’s what people are saying about the movie:

Drastically new Apple TV and our Apple event expectations on The CultCast

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Get ready for the Apple TV of the future.
Get ready for the Apple TV of the future.
Photo: ofcom.org

This week: come September 9th, we’ll have a new iPhone 6S, sure, but how does an iPad Pro and a drastically new Apple TV sound? We’ll tell you what to expect from Apple’s Sept. 9th event, because this event is fixin’ to be a doozie.

Our thanks to Softlayer for supporting this episode. Your applications and compute workloads are different from everyone else’s, so you deserve cloud resources that meet your unique needs. Get $500 of cloud infrastructure by visiting softlayer.com/Podcast.

Why Apple’s Active Calories don’t add up (and how you can change that)

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In Apple's fitness apps, active calories are not the same as Move ring calories.
In Apple's fitness apps, active calories are not the same as Move ring calories.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Have you ever noticed that some of your workout data is missing from the Health app on your iPhone?

Apple’s Health app is designed to provide a central hub for all your fitness apps to save and share their data. You might assume this means all your Active Calories are added together, regardless of which app you use to log them. But the truth is not that simple — although you can tweak some hidden settings to customize what you see.

Cult of Mac Magazine: Everything we know about iPhone 6s and new Apple TV

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So much stuff. Stuffed inside.
So much stuff. Stuffed inside.
Cover: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Heads up, everyone – this week is just impossibly full of news about the upcoming iPhone 6s, new Apple TV revisions, and a whole ton of fantastically fresh apps, games and gear. We’ve stuffed all that goodness into a digital magazine that can’t be beat.

Put your seatbelt on and buckle in for another rockin’ ride with Cult of Mac Magazine, available for free right now.

Kahney’s Korner: Treat yourself to an iPhone-free vacation

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Kahney's Korner iPhone vacation
If you want to take a real vacation, turn off your iPhone.
Photo: Cult of Mac

My family and I just got back from a too-short vacation in Italy, and we learned something important while we were there: Real vacations don’t have e-mail.

See, my wife was worried about us racking up unspeakably high bills while we were abroad, so we ended up almost completely disabling our iPhones for the entire trip. How we fared without them is the subject of this week’s Kahney’s Korner.

Everything we think we know about the new Apple TV

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The new Apple TV is about to be unveiled.
Apple is about to take the wraps off the new Apple TV.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

We’ve been waiting years for Apple to wow us with a new Apple TV that embraces gaming, controls the home and is super-easy to use — and that appears to be just what we’re going to get.

Thanks to a steady stream of leaks from the rumor mill, we already have a pretty solid idea what Apple will show us next week when it finally unveils the new Apple TV. It’s been years in the making — here’s what to expect.

Multitask like a boss on your iPad with iOS 9’s Slide Over

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Checking out Maps while browsing the web.
Checking out Maps while browsing the web.
Screen: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Our digital lives are busy. We send iMessages while we’re browsing the web, type in phone numbers and addresses while FaceTiming, and bounce between apps on our Macs constantly.

Now, with iOS 9 and a modern iPad, you can quickly browse the web, respond to a text message, or jot something down in a note, then slide that app away so you can focus on your original app.

This feature, called Slide Over, is going to make using your iPad a lot more fun and useful.

Here’s how to make it happen, assuming you have an iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, or iPad mini 3.

Don’t Starve brings hunger game to iPhone

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Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Photo: Klei Entertainment

Seriously, try not to starve. That’s the entire point of Klei Entertainment’s runaway hit game Don’t Starve, a test of survival set in a darkly humorous, Edward Gorey-esque world filled with vicious hounds, creeping spiders, herds of stampeding Beefalo and slimy fish men.

Now you can get in on the action on iPhone, as the desktop game just became a universal app called Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition.

Spoiler alert: All the juicy details on iPhone 6s

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It's time to get ready for your iOS 9 upgrade.
Here's everything we know about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Although the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus aren’t expected to bring major design changes to Apple’s world-beating smartphone lineup, a bevy of hardware upgrades will make the new models faster and easier to use.

Even though we’re almost a week away from Apple’s 2015 iPhone unveiling, we pretty much know all the key features that are coming. Here’s everything we think know about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which will undoubtedly become most popular iPhones ever.

Apple admits there’s ‘homework to be done’ with Apple Music

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Tired of Apple Music's playlists? Try something even more indie.
Apple Music needs plenty of revision if it's going to pass finals.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

In a rare showing, Apple has acknowledged that there is still “a bit of homework to be done” when it comes to improving one of its products — in this case, Apple Music.

The company’s streaming music service has seen mixed success since its launch back in June, with reports of falling listenership and even a public slating from a well-known pro-Apple pundit.

Recently Apple Music’s senior director upped and left the company, with no word on whether it was his or Apple’s decision to step down.

Your very own Star Wars BB-8 droid is not so far, far away

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BB-8, the cute little droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is now available as an app-enabled companion.
BB-8, the cute little droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is now available as an app-enabled companion.
Photo: Sphero

The editing on Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t finished yet but one of the characters already promises to be the hot toy of the Christmas season.

BB-8, the roly-poly little droid seen spinning across the screen in trailers for the highly anticipated movie, is now an app-controlled toy with an adaptive personality that responds to voice commands.

From hobby to hero: The history of Apple TV

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Apple TV
Apple TV was a hobby for years. Until it wasn't.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple just keeps trying to crack the lucrative nut known as your living room. From a gimmicky Macintosh TV in the 1990s to a “hobby” Apple TV in the mid-2000s, Cupertino keeps trying to come up with ultimate digital hub for our homes.

So far, Apple has failed to deliver a magical device that will tame all our televisions. Here’s a brief history of Apple’s TV efforts — a two-decade push aimed at ensconcing an Apple machine at the center of our domestic universe — ahead of next week’s likely Apple TV refresh.

5 ways to turn your old iPhone into money

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iphone back
Your old iPhone is far from worthless.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

If the rumor mill has it right, new iPhones are right around the corner. But that doesn’t mean you should relegate your current model to the junk drawer once you trade up: You can turn your old iPhone into money in one of several ways.

Apple increases iPhone 6s orders ahead of next week’s unveiling

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The iPhone 6s display.
The iPhone 6s is coming next week.
Photo: Apple.club.tw

Despite a slowdown in China’s smartphone market, Apple is reportedly increasing orders of the iPhone 6s ahead of its launch, according to Japan Display CEO Mitsuru Homma.

“They’re coming to us with more orders, saying ‘give us more, give us more’. They keep increasing,” Homma said.

Apple rejects Cecil the Lion app where you shoot the poachers

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Apple's rejection of the app is bound to stir up old debates about policing the App Store.
It was inevitable that this would happen wasn't it?
Photo: Cecil's Revenge

Apple’s App Store policing is being called into question again after the company rejected a Cecil the Lion-inspired game in which animals turn guns on poachers.

Cecil’s Revenge features a safari truck of cheerful-looking wildlife firing at various caricatures of hunters, ranging from old-timey colonialists with rifles to cartoon Africans with guns.

How to boost iOS 9 security with 6-digit passcode

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Password Six

Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

We’ve all been using a passcode to secure our iPhones and iPads since forever, right? You’ve had the option to use an alphanumeric passcode since iOS 7, but if you chose to use a simple numeric code, you were limited to four digits.

Not anymore! Apple added the ability to use a six-digit passcode in iOS 9, and this quick settings tweak will make your iPhone or iPad far more secure.

Best List: Go-to gear for life’s little challenges

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Each month, Lust List rounds up the gear that makes it so we can't feel our faces. This time around we're loving hot music machines, cool photo accessories and more.

S1-A Bicycle Jersey by Search and State

Earlier this summer, Search and State released its version of the ugly-ass Hawaiian shirt in the form of a bicycle jersey. I stared at it for weeks wondering if I could pull off the look while riding in the Oakland hills. While I contemplated my fashion boldness, Search and State apparently sold every last one of those jerseys. I decided I need to get my hands on one of the company's tamer garments to see what the Midtown Manhattan manufacturers have going on.

What they are doing is making beautiful bicycle attire in the heart of what was once New York's garment center. The $140 S1-A bicycle jersey is impeccably sewn and has an understated appearance even the most fashion-challenged can deal with. Nice choice on the zipper, too. — Jim Merithew

Buy from: Search and State

Each month, Lust List rounds up the gear that makes it so we can't feel our faces. This time around we're loving hot music machines, cool photo accessories and more.

S1-A Bicycle Jersey by Search and State

Earlier this summer, Search and State released its version of the ugly-ass Hawaiian shirt in the form of a bicycle jersey. I stared at it for weeks wondering if I could pull off the look while riding in the Oakland hills. While I contemplated my fashion boldness, Search and State apparently sold every last one of those jerseys. I decided I need to get my hands on one of the company's tamer garments to see what the Midtown Manhattan manufacturers have going on.

What they are doing is making beautiful bicycle attire in the heart of what was once New York's garment center. The $140 S1-A bicycle jersey is impeccably sewn and has an understated appearance even the most fashion-challenged can deal with. Nice choice on the zipper, too. — Jim Merithew

Buy from: Search and State


Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Mobile developers: iOS 9 is coming, here are some courses for getting caught up [Deals]

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This bundle of lessons covers all the essentials of coding for iOS 9 and iOS 8.
This bundle of lessons covers all the essentials of coding for iOS 9 and iOS 8.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The release of iOS 9 is upon us, so the time is nigh to get familiar with Apple’s powerful new operating system. We’ve found a bundle of courses with over 50 hours of hands-on training that’ll get you all caught up with the essentials of developing for iOS and its Swift coding language. These courses teach key lessons by building actual, working apps. Even better, these hundreds of courses are going for 87 percent off, just $49 at Cult of Mac Deals.

iPhone 7 may use same touchscreen tech as original iPhone

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Old school iPhone tech is making a comeback.
Old school iPhone tech is making a comeback.
Photo: Gordon Mei/Flickr

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus haven’t even been revealed yet, but the rumor mill is already spitting out new details about next year’s iPhone 7, which could boast a big display upgrade.

Apple is supposedly considering moving back to the same touchscreen technology it used in the original iPhone, according to a new rumor citing supply chain sources, saying Apple has requested samples of glass-on-glass (G/G) displays for consideration.

Huawei beats Apple to a smartphone with Force Touch

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huawei-beats-apple-to-a-smartphone-with-force-touch-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201509Huawei-Mate-S-orange-jpg
Huawei's Mate S can weigh an orange on its Force Touch display.
Photo: Huawei

Apple may have been the first to put Force Touch technology in a smartwatch, but Huawei has beaten the Cupertino company to putting it inside a phone.

At the IFA trade show in Berlin today, Huawei used the Force Touch display in its new Mate S smartphone to weigh an orange, a week before the technology is expected to make its way to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.