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Pencil artist works in miniature — and that’s the point

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Russian artist Photo: Salavat Fidai carves detailed sculptures into the point of a pencil lead. Photo: Photo: Salavat Fidai
Russian artist Salavat Fidai carves detailed sculptures out of pencil lead. Photo: Salavat Fadai

Salavat Fidai is working proof that artists need not create large pieces to make a name for themselves.

Much of what he creates is no bigger than the tip of a pencil — literally.

Under the glow of a single work light while his family sleeps, Fidai uses a craft knife and 4x magnifying glass to create tiny sculptures out of pointy pencil lead.

A quarter of all smartphones sold in China are iPhones

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Apple couldn't be more popular in China -- among customers, that is!
Apple couldn't be more popular in China -- among customers, that is!

One out of every four smartphones sold in urban China was an iPhone during the three months ending January 2015, according to sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. The impressive stats only serve to underline what we’ve been pointing out for upwards of the past year: that China is well on its way to becoming Apple’s biggest market globally.

“Leading into Chinese New Year, Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus drove sales to an unprecedented high in urban China with iOS’ share of the smartphone market reaching 25.4 percent – a 4.5 percentage point increase over the same period in 2014”, noted Carolina Milanesi, Kantar’s chief of research.

Apple could compensate car battery maker for stealing its workers

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The Apple Car's going to need batteries after all. Photo: Cult of Mac/USPTO
The Apple Car's going to need batteries, after all. Photo: Cult of Mac/USPTO

Apple has asked a Massachusetts federal judge for more time in its lawsuit with A123 Systems, suggesting that the Cupertino company wants to settle with the electric car battery maker.

Apple was first slapped with the lawsuit last month, after it reportedly began an “aggressive campaign” to poach top engineers with expertise in performing critical development and testing activities on cutting-edge electric vehicle batteries: once again hinting that an Apple Car could be in the company’s future.

Apple Watch wins one of world’s most prestigious design awards

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"You like me, you really like me!" Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

The Apple Watch isn’t even out yet, and already it’s picking up major design awards. The award in question here is the prestigious 2015 iF Design Gold Award, a prize sometimes referred to as a “Design Oscar.”

The awards were first introduced in 1954, and attract more than 2,000 product entries from 37 different nations — with expert judges ruling based on outstanding design quality.

Gesture tech will bring hands-free control to your phone

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Elliptic Labs CEO Laila Danielsen shows how simple hand gestures can activate her smartphone's camera. Photo: Elliptic Labs
Elliptic Labs CEO Laila Danielsen shows how simple hand gestures can activate her smartphone's camera. Photo: Elliptic Labs

You taking a selfie and a dolphin hunting for prey don’t seem to have much in common. But what if you could operate your smartphone with signals similar to the ones dolphins use to find food?

Elliptic Labs, which has bases in San Francisco, Norway and China, used the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, to show off advances in ultrasonic touchless gesturing Tuesday that will be available on some smartphone models later this year.

“We are excited about this,” chief technology officer Haakon Bryhni told Cult of Mac in a phone interview from Barcelona. “We’ve been working with touchless gesturing for years and now we have a real breakthrough. The technology enables you to wake up the phone, take a selfie or engage any other functions on the phone without touching it.”

Best List: Killer gear for iPhone lovers, bike riders and ax wielders

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I want extra pockets without having to wear goofy cargo pants. So while perusing one of my favorite guy websites, Everyday Carry, I came across a little bag made by Koyono called the bolstr bag.

It's perfect for tooling around Chicago, allowing me to discreetly store a phone, iPad mini, notebook and point-and-shoot camera. Plus, its slim design and asymmetrical shape look way cooler than knee-level flapped pockets on either leg.

The bolstr small carry bag comes in a variety of colors and left- or right-side orientations (as a lefty, I appreciate this design consideration). — David Pierini

Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac


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Apple officially wants to be recognized as a car maker

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The Apple Car's going to need batteries after all. Photo: Cult of Mac/USPTO
Anyone else excited about the Apple Car? Apple's lawyers certainly are. Photo: Cult of Mac/USPTO

Whether Apple is actually building a car, or it’s just a controlled leak to show that the company has more planned after the Apple Watch, isn’t known yet. What is sure, though, is that Apple is now legally covered if it wants to slap its name and logo onto an automobile.

Using its regular law firm Baker & McKenzie in Zurich, Apple recently expanded its corporate description to not just include the current array of watches, smartphones, tablets and computers, but vehicles, too. And Apple’s lawyers aren’t taking any chances, either. Apple aircraft, anyone?

Apple’s ‘Shot with iPhone’ ad campaign crowdsources spectacular photos

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shot with iphone 1
Photo: Apple

Apple’s new ad campaign might be its best yet, especially if you’re one of the iPhone owners that’s about to have your photo on a billboard.

Simply called “Shot on iPhone,” it’s hard to call Apple’s campaign an ad at all — at least in the traditional sense. Apple crowdsourced photos shot with the iPhone by normal people around the world, and the result is a testament to just how incredible iPhone photography has become.

VLC, Vesper and other awesome apps you might have missed

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Awesome-apps-of-the-week

It’s the weekend, and Cult of Mac is here to bring you a roundup of all the app goodness you might have missed from the last week.

VLC makes its triumphant return to the App Store, a great printing tool becomes Apple’s free app of the week, a premium todo app goes universal, and more.

Without further ado, here are this week’s awesome apps!


Awesome Apps

Apple Watch will eventually replace your car keys

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A Tesla Watch app concept.
A Tesla Watch app concept. Photo: Eleks Labs
Photo: Eleks Labs

During his whirlwind tour of the Middle East and Europe, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been leaving little breadcrumbs of Apple Watch revelations.

There was the confirmation that the Watch will be showerproof in Germany, and now Cook has said it will eventually replace your car keys.

Internet debates: ‘What color is this stupid dress?’

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What colors do you see? Photo: Swiked/Tumblr

“What color is this stupid dress?”

That’s the question I (as well as most of the Internet) asked friends tonight at the local bar, after a picture of an ugly gold-and-white … errr … black and blue bridesmaid’s dress swept the Internet late Thursday night.

An impassioned fight broke out between my buddy, the bartender and myself. “It’s gold and white!” they said emphatically.

“Are you blind?! It’s clearly navy and black,” I burst out, baffled, between bits of burrito and brew. I called the waitress over to win her over to my side, but surprise, she says, “It’s like, kind of copper and gray.”

Nearly 75 percent of people surveyed see the dress pictured above as gold and white, according to Buzzfeed. In reality, it’s navy and black.

The Internet completely blew its mind trying to explain why some people saw the #Dressgate dress in different colors. Experts are still struggling to come to a scientific consensus as to why you might see the fabric in a completely different color scheme than your friend. I feel like I’m going insane because it’s definitely blue and black, but most won’t agree.

To make it clearer, here’s the image with different color balances to show what others see:

Mondaine’s Apple Watch rival is absolutely stunning

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Swiss watchmakers hope that time isn't running out for them. Photo: Mondaine

There is a pretty set pattern that happens whenever Apple enters a new industry: evidenced everywhere from iTunes to the iPhone to the (rumored) Apple Car.

First of all, the established old guard dismiss Apple as a tech company that knows nothing about their business, then starts to panic when it realizes what it’s in a fight it may well lose, and then finally follows Apple down whichever path it is going.

Having initially dismissed Apple’s debut timepiece, Swiss watchmakers are now squirming as the Apple Watch’s April launch date creeps ever closer. First off, TAG Heur admitted it was working on a smartwatch and now fellow Swiss watch company Mondaine has revealed it is doing much the same.

It may be a desperation move on the part of Mondaine but, hey, as desperation moves go, it’s a pretty gorgeous one!

Steve Wozniak declares FCC’s net neutrality ruling a ‘victory for the people’

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stevewozz
The Woz is happy about today's FCC ruling.

Today the FCC made a historic move to protect net neutrality. By reclassifying ISPs under Title II of the Communications Act, the internet is now regulated like a utility.

“While some other countries try to control the internet, the action that we take today is an irrefutable reflection of the principle that no one, whether government or corporate, should control a free and open access to the internet,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler during a packed meeting today in Washington DC.

In attendance at the meeting was Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who called the FCC’s decision a “victory for the people.”

Apple’s next big event coming March 9

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The Apple Watch event invite looks like it was made with a Spirograph. Photo: Apple

Mark your calendars: Full details of the Apple Watch will be revealed March 9.

Invites were sent to the press today for a special Apple event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on that date. The only hint on the invite are two words: “Spring forward.”

Want more bling with your Apple Watch? Just add diamonds

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I'd better get saving! Photo: Brikk
I'd better get saving! Photo: Brikk

Chances are that the majority of people reading this won’t be looking for a way to make the Apple Watch more expensive.

With a rumored price in excess of $10,000 for the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition, most of us would have to take out a second mortgage on our house before we could dream of picking up the watches on the higher end of Apple’s wearable collection.

For some individuals, however, solid gold just isn’t enough — which is why luxury design company Brikk today announced its plans to increase the decadence by offering diamond-encrusted Apple Watches for sale. Somewhere, you just know that Kanye West is picking up his blinged-out iPhone 6 Plus and getting ready to make an order!

Apple hopes ‘real-time’ maps will be a Google beater

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No longer is Big Ben frozen in time. Photo: Apple
No longer is Big Ben frozen in time. Photo: Apple

For a long time, Apple Maps was a laughing stock. Then it started getting better. Apple ironed out the glitches, began updating Apple Maps every day, and introduced Flyover, which gave you a 3-D view of major cities as they would look from the sky.

Now it’s taken that technology one step further in an effort to win the mapping war versus Google: Apple Maps is going real-time.

Thanks to a new update, London’s Big Ben clock tower will now show the real time, while the iconic London Eye will rotate. Those are the only real-time updates we’ve spotted so far, but Apple is reportedly looking to add more moving elements to cities over the following year.

Want to work for Apple? Here’s the grueling hiring process

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Photo: Andy/Flickr
Photo: Andy/Flickr CC

Apple can be an incredibly demanding company to work for, but just getting in the door is nearly impossible.

The hiring process for Apple retail is fairly lengthy, but according to UX designer Luis Abreu, landing a job at the mothership in Cupertino is an even longer, more grueling process — which he just suffered through firsthand.

iCaramba! Steve Jobs’ yacht narrowly avoids nasty scrape in the Caribbean

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This is how the head of Apple ought to relax! Photo: Woods Hole Inn

From minor controversies like Antennagate to being kicked out of his own company and then returning triumphantly, Steve Jobs got out of plenty of tight squeezes in his life.

Now that he’s gone, it seems that that same spirit of near-misses and daring triumphs is left to Venus, Jobs’ 256-foot, $120 million super-yacht.

Having visited Montenegro, Palma, Gibraltar, Horta Azores and many other exotic locations since Jobs’ death in 2011, the yacht recently had a close call while passing through a bridge in Saint Martin, an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 185 miles east of Puerto Rico.

Check out the video after the jump.

Buddhist temple refuses man’s iPhone 6 donation

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Who does this, really? Photo: SCMP
Who does this, really? Photo: SCMP

It was recently Chinese New Year, and to celebrate, thousands of people flocked to a well-known Buddhist temple in the country’s Guangdong province to make offerings.

One Apple super-fan apparently decided to eschew cash donations for something far more valuable, however: his new iPhone 6 Plus.

A shot of the man depositing the super-sized Apple smartphone in the temple’s donation box was featured in Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post. The saddest part? His generous offering was rejected.

How an entire Modern Family episode was shot using iOS devices

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Modern Family. Source: Twentieth Century Fox
A preview of the next Modern Family episode. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox

Tonight, history is made as Modern Family becomes the first major TV show to ever air an episode shot almost entirely using Apple products — ranging from the iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 to MacBook FaceTime cameras.

But while Apple products are famously easy to use, the episode itself contained numerous challenges: taking more than three months to complete, and a variety of nifty filmmaking tricks. To find out more details, BuzzFeed News reached out to the show’s executive producer and co-creator, Steve Levitan, to get some added insight about the challenges of making this unusual show.

The behind-the-scenes video is available to watch online, or download via iTunes.

Why Apple’s new emojis aren’t racist

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Selecting just the right skin tone is now even easier. Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac
Emoji are now racially diverse. But the controversy's not over just yet. Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

When you’re a company the size of Apple, sometimes you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Having recently paved the way for racially diverse emoji by adding them to both Mac and iOS, Apple is now being attacked for the shade of yellow used for its Asian faces, which some critics claim is borderline racist.

How to find your iPhone’s last location even after the battery dies

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Hacker who tried to extort Apple for $100k is spared prison
Lost that iPhone again, huh?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Picture this: You’ve lost your iPhone somewhere, but it’s run out of juice and it’s not ringing or vibrating when you call it.

You might think you’re out of luck, but there’s one function you can enable (or disable if you’re into privacy) that will keep track of your iPhone’s last location, even when the battery’s dead.

Some New Yorkers are mad as hell about new Apple Store

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Is Apple stepping into a war zone in New York?

It may sound like the definition of #firstworldproblems, but some residents of New York’s Upper East Side aren’t happy that they’re about to get a gorgeous new Apple Store on their doorstep, according to a petition.

In fact, they’re mad as hell — and they’re not gonna take it anymore!

Apple still relying on Samsung for iPhone 6s memory chips

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Samsung is after more of Apple's iPhone business.
Samsung isn't going anywhere when it comes to iPhone 6s production. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

People hoping that Apple will drop the Samsung albatross from around its neck for the forthcoming iPhone 6s may be disappointed.

According to a new report coming from the Asian supply chain, Samsung has come to an agreement with Apple to supply new 20nm LPDDR4 DRAM memory chips for the next generation iPhone, expected this September. Samsung will reportedly provide half of the chips Apple needs for its next iPhone, and has no problems upping the order if more are required.

Siri speaks 7 new languages in iOS 8.3

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Siri speaks even more languages in iOS 8.3. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Siri speaks even more languages in iOS 8.3. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple’s second iOS 8.3 beta, which was pushed out to registered developers on Monday ahead of a public release later this year, enables Siri to speak seven new languages, testers have found. It also brings more performance improvements for older iOS devices like the iPhone 4s.