Top stories - page 763

A new set of leaked iPhone 6 photos from luxury iPhone upgraders Feld & Volk reveal that Apple’s next handset may come with recessed volume buttons, a protruding camera lens, and an embeddable Apple logo that might be made of Liquidmetal.

The iPhone 6 is expected to be unveiled next month, but a plethora of leaks flooding out of Shenzhen have already given fanboys an idea what to expect, and these new photos add a few more pieces to the puzzle with details on how Apple will slim the profile of the device and make your shiny Apple logo scratch-resistant.

Take a look at the allegedly leaked parts below:

SACRAMENTO — The state where the iPhone was born came a step closer to a law that might help keep it in your hands.

State Sen. Mark Leno’s Smartphone Theft Prevention Act (Senate Bill 962) passed the state legislature this morning with a 51-18 vote. Now it will move on to the Senate for a vote on amendments.

California won’t be the first state to flip the kill switch – that distinction goes to Minnesota, which heeded the call from consumers in May. If the law passes in the most populous state in the U.S. and the birthplace of the iPhone, it may mark a sea change in similar legislation. California’s law will affect any smartphone manufactured on or after July 1, 2015.

In four years, Instagram has gone from having one million to over 150 million users. The app’s reach as a platform for sharing photos is incredible, but for many, the value of what’s posted maxes out at a number of likes.

Many photographers with tens or even hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram have little-to-no prior professional experience. Yet they’ve managed to gather huge followings around the photos they take and share from their smartphones.

“My God, these guys have no idea how talented they are,” Chad Newell remembers saying to himself during Instagram’s early days. “We could sell this stuff.”

The lack of commercial opportunity for a new class of mobile photographers led Newell, a veteran of the stock image industry, to create a startup for buying and selling photography called Snapwire. Think of it like 99designs and 500px combined with Shutterstock.

While still in its early days, Snapwire is already drawing big-name advertisers to its growing of library premium stock photography. And it’s filling that library with the kinds of shots you would normally see in your Instagram feed.

Services like Lyft and Uber made summoning a ride with your iPhone a reality, and now they’re going to make sharing that ride even easier.

Both startups have announced new features that will make rides cheaper, providing that you’re willing to share a car with total strangers.

When it comes to expanding into new markets, or being enjoyed by customers all over the world, Apple is the definition of a multinational company.

It also makes a whole lot of money for people around the globe, as it highlights in a new post concerning the company’s commitment to job creation in Europe.

The post runs down some pretty impressive figures, such as the fact that Apple employs 16,000 people in Europe; that a further 116,000 European jobs have been created at other companies thanks to Apple’s growth; that 132,000 jobs are currently directly or indirectly supported by Apple; and that 497,000 jobs are directly attributable to the App Store.

It may dominate 80 percent of China’s high-end smartphone market, but one place Apple’s not racking up supporters or sales is in the Chinese government.

In fact, according to a new list drawn up by the country’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, Apple products are persona non grata when it comes to high tech devices that public money is allowed to be spent on.

The reason is security concerns, in the wake of increased fears about hacking and cyberspying. “When the government stops the procurement of products, it sends a signal to corporates and semi-government bodies,” says Mark Po, an analyst with UOB Kay Hian Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The Chinese government wants to make sure that overseas companies shouldn’t have too much influence in China.”

Conceptual designer Martin Hajek has no peer when it comes to turning the latest Apple rumors into blisteringly sexy 3-D renders, and with the iPhone 6 just around the corner, he’s already made a number of mockups imagining what it will look like according to the latest rumors.

But with the iPhone 6 now set to be unveiled on September 9th, Martin Hajek has re-examined all of his old renders and every rumor and part leak for the iPhone 6 so far, to come up with the most realistic and accurate iPhone 6 renders yet, right down to a gorgeous exploded view of what all the components look like inside.

If the real iPhone 6 looks even half this good, it’ll be one of the most beautiful consumer objects ever released. Check out some more renders after the jump, and prepare to be absolutely astounded.

Battery life is one of the perceived iPhone weaknesses that rival manufacturers have often used to beat Apple over the head with — with both Samsung and BlackBerry dismissing iPhone owners as “wall huggers” because of the so-called short battery life of their iOS devices.

That may be about to change, however, with ESM-China analyst Sung Chang Xu (the same person who suggested that the iPhone 6 would come with a range of new sensors) claiming that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will sport a battery with a 2,100 mAh capacity, instead of the meagre 1,810 mAh unit previously reported.

Months of leaks and hundreds of rumors are finally set to culminate with the official unveiling of the iPhone 6, and according to Re/code we’re only a month away from the big day.

When the original iPhone launched in 2007, the only thing worse than its abysmal camera was the cellular data provided by AT&T’s sluggish, outage-prone network.

Even Steve Jobs thought AT&T’s data speeds sucked, and according to Re/Code’s Walt Mossberg, Jobs wanted to circumvent the need for cellular data altogether by creating an open WiFi consortium.

It’s not easy being Samsung!

After missing sales targets, and being knocked off the top smartphone spot in China by low-end rival Xiaomi, the South Korean Lex Luthor to Apple’s Superman is also apparently being hit hard by Apple’s embrace of other component makers for its devices.

In a recent press conference, Samsung executives admitted how its role as third party chip manufacturer (something which makes up half of Samsung’s microprocessor business) is being negatively affected by Apple’s decision to work with other partners like TSMC.

Today Apple released the fifth developer preview of OS X Yosemite, its next major OS release for the Mac coming later this year.

Like usual, there are some noticeable and not-so-noticable changes in the new version of Yosemite. Don’t worry about spotting them yourself, though. We’ve got you covered.

Apple is putting the finishing touches on iOS 8 ahead of its fall release, and while previous betas brought some surprising new features, the release of iOS 8 beta 5 is mostly full of tiny tweaks, bug fixes and a few small new additions.

Most of the changes might go unnoticed by most users, but iOS 8 beta 5 has a few nice surprises that refine the iOS 8 experience that will make your iPhone feel new once its released in the fall.

Here are all the tiny changes Apple made in iOS 8 beta 5:

I’m all about minimalist bags; paring down my kit to the bare essentials so I’m not bogged down when traipsing from place to place is a daily goal of mine. I’ve gone minimal with my wallet, my MacBook and the various digital and analog ephemera I need to carry with me as I go about daily tasks for work and at home.

There is a time, however, when you need to have a larger subset of your general kit. You might need that extra battery pack (or two), your MacBook Pro, both your iPads, a couple of backup hard drives, an external keyboard, a gaming mouse, a PlayStation Vita, headphones and (of course) all the associated wires and plugins that these items require. Oh, and maybe a water bottle, a wallet, an iPhone and a set of keys.

That’s the exact stuff I’ve got packed into an STM Quantum Messenger bag — and it fits handily, with room to spare.

Over the years, I’ve seen rumor after rumor that Apple would eventually abandon Intel chips in favor of ARM chips. And time after time, I’ve refuted those arguments, saying that a Mac running ARM processors is not likely to happen anytime soon.

But maybe I’m wrong. Former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée — himself a longtime skeptic of Apple’s transition to ARM chips for its desktop and laptop computers — says he’s recently been convinced, and even believes that Apple could release ARM-based Macs as soon as 2016.

Apple today officially welcomed Beats Music and Beats Electronics to its family, along with Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, following its $3 billion takeover back in May.

“Music has always held a special place in our hearts, and we’re thrilled to join forces with a group of people who love it as much as we do,” reads an announcement on Apple.com, while those buying products from the Beats website will now be routed through the Apple Store.

Travel can be a chance to practice minimalism, or an opportunity to drive yourself nuts. What am I talking about? Luggage. You can pare down your essentials to fit in a carry-on – even if you’re away for a month – or you can throw in every item of clothing and every charger you have. The second approach will result in a broken back, and you’ll still find that you left something essential at home.

Over the years, I’ve perfected my packing technique so that I only take the bare minimum. And when I say “perfected,” I mean “struggled with.” But it works for me, and the principles can be applied even if you’re the kind of person who hires a boy to carry your trunks for you when you take a cruise on the Titanic.

So here’s the Cult of Mac Guide to Traveling Light, a roundup of strategies, product recommendations and other tips to make your next trip a breeze.

Instagram soft-launched Bolt this week, its new app to take on Snapchat. The app is only available in Singapore, New Zealand, and South Africa right now while Instagram squashes bugs and gets it ready for everyone else in the world.

That doesn’t mean you can’t see what Bolt is like now. Cult of Mac reader @ravirajim sent us a bunch of screenshots of Bolt in action, which you can view above. We’ll let you know when Bolt ships to the App Store in the U.S. and elsewhere.

A comic book movie about misfit space superheroes might not seem to have much in common with Apple’s long-rumored entry into wearable computing. However, for a handful of reasons, Guardians of the Galaxy is to Marvel Studios what the iWatch is to Apple –- a high-profile release that’s critical to the company’s future success.

Here’s why.

SAN FRANCISCO — Sébastien Leidgens wants to put a new angle on the business card.

His invention, Cubr, is a six-sided die that connects people through private mobile web chat. When a red, blue or green Cubr is tossed your way, you hit the website or download the app, then enter the code to start your instant message convo or share photos with the person who gave you the die. The enterprising Belgian, a former project manager at a digital marketing agency, is taking a gamble on the idea that people are tired of handing out one-dimensional cards.

“It’s a business card for non-business people,” Leidgens says in an English heavily influenced by his native French. “Young people don’t have business cards. This you can use for private situations in everyday life. It’s a lot more fun and outside of the usual public circles.”