| Cult of Mac

How to detach MacSafari’s download popover to make a proper window

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Some more confusing windows.
Some more confusing windows.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Did you ever wish that Safari on the Mac had a proper download manager? Or at least a proper download window,

instead of the popover that sticks to the browser window and gets in the way until you close it?

Well, today your wishes will come true. Or this one modest wish will come true at least.

Ex-Apple engineer invents new UI that’s shaded by lights in your room

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iOS UI
This UI tweak would make iOS even better.
Photo: Bob Burrough

The overall UI of iOS hasn’t changed too much since iOS 7 got rid of skeuomorphism, but an ex-Apple employee has come up with a brilliant UI concept that makes elements on your iPhone look like real-life objects.

Former Apple software engineer Bob Burrough posted a video of an environmentally-lit user interface he’s developing and even though it’s still very basic, it looks very promising. By using the iPhone’s front-facing camera, the iPhone’s UI shades objects based on the lighting in a room. It may not sound that exciting, but once you see it in action you’ll be wowed.

Check it out:

iOS 12 UI tweaks let you interact with apps as they’re opening

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iOS 12
This iOS 12 tweak will save you so much time over time.
Photo: Apple

Apple is giving the iPhone a more fluid UI with some tiny tweaks in iOS 12 designed to shave tenths of seconds off each interaction.

You may not even notice the changes once iOS 12 launches to the public, but in a session at WWDC last week, Apple revealed how you can now perform actions without waiting for UI animations to finish. It sounds like an insignificant update, but once you see it in action you’ll be swooning for iOS 12’s release.

Prepare to be wowed:

Google ‘borrows’ from iPhone X for Android P design

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iPhone X Notch
How's battery life on your iPhone with iOS 11.4?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

New screenshots reveal Google took inspiration from iPhone X when designing its upcoming Android P update.

The operating system’s refreshed user interface features a multitasking interface that looks like it was pulled straight from iOS — as well as a familiar virtual Home button.

Stylish Apple Glasses concept imagines the AR future

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Apple glasses
Would you wear these Apple shades?
Photo: Martin Hajek

Apple’s probably not coming out with AR glasses anytime this decade, but that’s not stopping concept designers from flooding the web with dreams of what Apple’s spectacles will look like.

This latest concept comes from Martin Hajek and they’re definitely the most stylish Apple Glasses vaporware we’ve seen yet. The Apple Glasses in Hajek’s mockups actually look like real glasses, only they’re also big enough to provide some useful information to the wearer.

Take a closer look:

Apple Music for Android finally gets new iOS 10 design

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music streaming
The latest release also includes Chromecast support.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple Music subscribers on Android got some much-needed love from Apple today in the form of an update that brings a fresh UI to the streaming app.

It’s been nearly a year since Apple unveiled its Apple Music redesign as part of iOS 10 at WWDC 2016, but Android users are just now getting a taste of the interface’s bold, streamlined look.

New video shows iPhone prototypes going head-to-head

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early-iPhone-prototype-UIs
Apple's earliest iOS prototypes.
Photo: Sonny Dickson

Apple calls iOS “the world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” but it was almost the world’s worst.

Before deciding on the icon-based user interface we know and love today, Apple designed an awful prototype UI that was based on the iPod’s software and controlled with a virtual click-wheel. Check it out in the video below.

Home Sharing is caring — all the new goodies in iOS 9 beta 4

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post-329648-image-13898adb50f96c12d4c8bd1e9d6f6ce5-jpg
iOS 9 beta 4 is out with some new features and UI tweaks.

iOS 9 beta 4 is out for developers two weeks after beta 3’s release as expected. It’s time for the usual roundup of new goodies in the latest beta and beta 4 doesn’t shy away from the tradition. It’s not nearly as big of a release as last time with Apple Music and Apple News both making their debut, but beta 4 still brings some nice improvements and tweaked features. Let’s get right into it.