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ACLU backs Apple in FBI fight

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iPhone mobile encryption touch id
Another group has come to Apple's defense in its battle with the FBI over iPhone security.
Photo: Olly Browning/Pixabay

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief today supporting Apple in its clash with the government.

The organization argues that the FBI’s demands that the iPhone maker create software that will allow investigators to bypass built-in security features represent an overreach of authority that will leave hundreds of millions of users vulnerable to cyberattacks. It becomes the latest organization to join the debate that has put security and privacy at odds.

Switch-hitting cord flips from Lightning to micro USB

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switch-hitting-cord-flips-from-lightning-to-micro-usb-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201603LMcable-Kickstarter-jpg
LMcable Kickstarter
The LMcable can connect to most of the stuff you own. Source: LMcable

It might sound like the black-and-white portion of a late-night informercial, but the fact is that we have a lot of stuff that needs charging and syncing, and not every cable will work. But the LMcable, which is currently seeking support on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, aims to take some of that pain away.

It’s a cool idea: One end of the LMcable is a standard USB plug that fits into your computer or wall adapter. The business end, however, is a multitasker. Orient it one way, and it’s a micro USB bit; flip it over, and it fits the Lightning port standard to Apple’s mobile devices. And anything that might help out our increasingly tangle-prone cord storage is alright by us.

Does the world really need a thinner iPhone?

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Apple's new aluminum will kill Bendgate.
Do phones need to be this skinny?
Photo: Unbox Therapy

A joke in Zoolander 2 pokes fun at the ’90s craze for tiny cellphones, something which today seems as retro as flannel shirts and Pulp Fiction posters in your dorm room.

With the upcoming iPhone 7, Apple is apparently showing us the next iteration of that ideal by bringing us a smartphone so thin — just 6.1 mm thick — that even Victoria’s Secret models would advise it to eat a sandwich.

But are super-slim iPhones what users really want, or have Jony Ive and Apple’s design team taken things too far?

Fiat CEO wants to build a car for Apple

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The Apple Car, brought to you by Fiat?
The Apple Car, brought to you by Fiat?
Photo: Fiat USA

Fiat CEO and self-proclaimed “Apple freak” Sergio Marchionne, is ready to embrace a future where Apple designs cars, but he wants his company to make it.

Marchionne made an appearance at the Geneva auto show today and said that if Apple’s really thinking about making a car on its own, they must have some type of illness.

Google Photos now lets you edit your snaps online

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google-photos-now-lets-you-edit-your-snaps-online-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201603Google-Photos-web-editing-png
Google Photos
Filters! Finally! Screenshot: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google Photos users can finally edit their images on the web, thanks to new browser-based tools that are available today.

The update sidesteps the need to use a third-party editing app to apply filters, effects, and other modifications — and allows you to view your images on a larger screen while perfecting them.

Apple’s privacy policy could earn it massive fines in France

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euros2
That's a lot of euros!
Photo: Godzimama

Although most of the attention on Apple’s privacy standoff with the government has so far focused on the United States, the U.S. isn’t the only place where Apple’s fighting with the authorities over iPhone encryption.

In France, politician Yann Galut, a member of the country’s Socialist Party, has submitted an amendment to a bill designed to strengthen the French government’s fight against terror — by arguing that Apple should pay €1 million per smartphone if it does not “promptly” agree to unlock devices when asked to by law enforcement.

Apple’s top chipmaker will double production ahead of iPhone 7

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chips
TSMC is looking likely to be Apple's sole A10 manufacturer.
Photo: Apple

There’s a lot of talk about slowing iPhone sales, but you wouldn’t get that impression from the manufacturer set to build Apple’s A10 chips for the upcoming iPhone 7.

According to a new report, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is doubling its monthly output capacity from 40,000 12-inch wafers in February to a whopping 80,000 in March.

Why you shouldn’t let an iPad raise your kids

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Yep, kids love their iPads.
The challenges of parenting in the digital age.
Photo: Payless

Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids play with iPads and, far from being out of touch with modern parenting, it turns out that he was being quite progressive.

That’s according to a recent study carried out by the University of Michigan, which found that parents with “difficult” children are far more likely to give them iPads to pacify them — particularly during high-stress times like eating, being in public, doing chores, or going to bed.

Apple files an appeal against creating iPhone backdoor

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iPhone hack
Apple is fighting the court's original verdict.
Photo: Ste Smith

Apple filed an appeal late on Tuesday, protesting the government’s order that it create software to help the FBI to hack an iPhone used by one of the terrorists in the mass-shooting of 14 people in San Bernardino.

The appeal was filed just before 11pm PST, and lists formal objections to Judge Sheri Pym’s order — stating that Apple is making the appeal out of what the company calls,”an abundance of caution.”

Apple leases ex-Pepsi factory for possible Apple Car research

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Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Apple may need more space for its Apple Car project.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Steve Jobs famously recruited then-Pepsi CEO John Sculley to join Apple with the line, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

More than 30 years later, that iconic line could be rewritten as, “Do you want to bottle sugar water all your life, or do you want to help build the Apple Car?” — because Apple has reportedly leased a former Pepsi bottling plant, which may be used for Cupertino’s rumored electric vehicle research.

FBI fails to make its encryption case to Congress

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iPhone 5c by uveX encryption
San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone 5c may not be running "GovtOS" anytime soon.
Photo: uveX/Pixabay

In a Congressional hearing today that included both Apple’s chief attorney and government officials, FBI head James Comey didn’t win many people over to his side.

The meeting allowed both sides to make their arguments for and against Apple creating a less secure version of the iPhone’s operating system that would allow officials to get by the password lock on a dead terrorist’s phone. And things seemed to go squarely in the company’s favor, although it was not without its caveats.

Amazon Echo will now keep you up-to-date on election news

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Amazon Echo
Maybe just go with your brain, too, when you hit the voting booth.
Photo: NBC News

Keeping up with the latest information on the current presidential election just got easier if you’re an Amazon Echo owner.

NBC News has created a new “skill” for Alexa, the Echo’s virtual assistant: Now Alexa can read you top election headlines, candidate bios, election calendar events, and even the latest delegate counts.

Let’s see Siri do that, eh?

Modular system lets you build your perfect power strip

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Youmo modular power strip
Prepare to build your own power strip like friggin' Lego.
Photo: Youmo

The great thing about power strips is that they let us run a bunch of devices despite a limited number of wall outlets. The bad thing about power strips is that that’s all they do.

And I didn’t even know that that was a downside, but I’ve just found out about Youmo, an upcoming product that makes every power strip I own look like complete garbage. I am absolutely exaggerating there; my power strips are both useful and attractive. But this new thing looks incredibly cool, too.

Apple’s top lawyer suffers iPad Pro failure at worst possible time

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Bruce Sewell
Apple's top lawyer went back to Congress today.
Photo: House Committee on the Judiciary Hearings

Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell suffered an iPad disaster during his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee today, and it couldn’t have happened at a worse moment.

As Sewell read his introductory statement from his iPad Pro, the Apple lawyer’s tablet appeared to crash or become unusable, forcing him to resort to his backup plan: a three-ring binder with good old paper printouts.

You can relive the incident in the video below:

DJI’s smart new drone is an Apple Store exclusive

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You can only get the Phantom 4 from Apple.
You can only get the Phantom 4 from Apple.
Photo: DJI

The world’s most popular drone maker, DJI, has decided to team up Apple for the launch of its incredibly smart new drone by making it exclusively available for pre-order via the Apple Store.

DJI unveiled its top-of-the-line new drone, the Phantom 4 this morning, that comes with a new “Obstacle Sensing System” that makes it easier than ever to killer aerial footage with minimal piloting experience.

Cult of Mac’s reviews policy

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Here's what you need to know about Cult of Mac's reviews policies.
Here's what you need to know about Cult of Mac's reviews policies.
Photos: Jim Merithew and David Pierini/Cult of Mac

What we review and how we test

At Cult of Mac, we review all sorts of products, from the latest electronics lovingly created by Apple (and by Cupertino’s competitors) to smartphone accessories, sporting goods, kitchen appliances and other essentials — basically, anything that makes our lives better.

If we review something, we’ve spent time putting the product through its paces, messing around with it, comparing it to similar products and generally evaluating it to death. We’re here to represent the interests of our readers, not manufacturers, and will confidently and honestly report back on what we experience without bias.

Positive reviews should be read as recommendations to the reader and not as promotions for the manufacturer. With that said, Cult of Mac makes these promises as part of our effort to be transparent about our ground rules for writers and our policies on review units and affiliate links.

Reviews and affiliate links disclosure

• We don’t mix business with editorial.
• We clearly mark every review we publish.
• We use affiliate links when applicable, but they have no bearing on our editorial ethics. Writers have no involvement in our affiliate link program.
• We receive no money or compensation for reviews aside from the usual advertising revenue generated by pageviews and the small commissions paid by affiliates when a reader follows a link from our site to their store and makes a purchase.
• We disclose when we receive a review unit from a company.
• We cannot review every product we receive.

Manufacturers: please submit review requests to reviews@cultofmac.com. We treat all correspondence as confidential. If you like, you can send review units for possible review to:

Cult of Mac
Attention: Reviews editor
3150 18TH ST
Suite 277, PMB 201
San Francisco, CA 94110

From time to time, we run sponsored posts, which are clearly marked as such. Find more information on Cult of Mac’s sponsored posts.

Every time a baby is born Apple sells two iPhones

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baby-iphone
Perspective can change everything.
Photo: Tatsuo Yamashita/Flickr CC

Four years ago Apple hit the milestone of selling more iPhones per day than babies born per day. Now, four years later, we wanted to revisit those statistics since iPhone sales have grown quite significantly since then. It turns out, with current sales numbers, Apple sells nearly two iPhones for every baby born.

The math works out like this: Apple sold a record total of 231.4 million iPhones in 2015. Divide that number by 365 days in a year to get 633,963 iPhones sold every single day. The UN estimates that there are 360,000 babies born every day across the world. So technically, that comes out to 1.76 iPhones for every one baby.

Apple drops new betas for iOS, watchOS and tvOS

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There are tons of great iOS 9 benefits that your older iPhone or iPad will use just fine.
There are tons of great iOS 9 benefits that your older iPhone or iPad will use just fine.
Photo: Apple

Apple is serving up a buffet of new software updates with new beta releases of iOS 9.3, watchOS 2.2, and tvOS 9.2 that are being made available to developers and public testers today.

The new betas come more than a week after Apple seeded the last updates for the new software that could be made available to the public sometime later this month, bringing a host of new features to the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Pebble Time, Time Round get permanent $50 price cuts

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pebble-time-time-round-get-permanent-50-price-cuts-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201603Pebble-Time-jpg
Pebble Time now starts at under $200.
Photo: Pebble
Pebble Time
Pebble Time now starts at under $200. Photo: Pebble

Pebble has slashed $50 off its latest Time and Time Round smartwatches.

The permanent price cut lowers the starting prices of these models to $149.99 and $199.99, respectively — and makes them more competitive against other affordable wearables from the likes of Asus, Fitbit, and Jawbone.

New Apple Campus drone vid shows Tim Cook’s sexy pile of dirt

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Apple moves in early next year.
Apple moves in early next year.
Photo: Jerry Gonzo

Apple is less than a year away from moving into its shiny new campus, but Tim Cook’s beautiful pile of dirt still looms large at the construction site in the latest 4K drone video that shows the progress on the spaceship.

The video shows Apple’s progress installing the largest piece of curved glass ever made, as well as the large white canopies that sprout out of the sides of the glass and metal facade. It also appears that the roof over the auditorium in the heart of campus has been installed.

Check it out:

Watch Apple’s House Judiciary Committee appearance right here

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Apple's General Counsel, Bruce Sewell.
Apple's General Counsel, Bruce Sewell.
Photo: 60 Minutes

Apple’s top lawyer is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee today to discuss balancing Americans’ security and privacy, in light of the company’s ongoing battle with the FBI, which has demanded the company unlock the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone.

Apple gave us a glimpse of general counsel Bruce Sewell’s opening remarks yesterday. Apple’s lawyer will ask congressional representatives some tough questions on privacy, but we won’t know what the committee thinks until the hearing gets underway later this morning. A livestream of the event will be available on YouTube when the hearing starts at 10 a.m. Pacific.

You can watch it below:

Attorney general wants Silicon Valley to help catch terrorists who’ve ‘gone dark’

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Apple Security Jacket
Loretta Lynch wants tech companies to work with the government.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Attorney General Loretta Lynch will argue that the U.S. government and the tech industry must work together to take down criminals and terrorists when she speaks at a San Francisco cybersecurity conference today.

While Lynch won’t directly refer to Apple’s current FBI standoff in her speech to tech leaders at the RSA Conference, she will describe the dangers of criminals “going dark” by using technologies such as encrypted smartphones. As such, she wants a “frank dialogue and fruitful partnership” between Washington and Silicon Valley.

San Bernardino survivor’s husband supports Apple against FBI

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iPhone hack
This case is about much more than one iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The husband of a San Bernardino survivor — whose spouse almost lost her life during the mass shooting which prompted Apple’s hacking standoff with the FBI — has said that he supports Apple’s pro-privacy stance.

Salicin Kondoker’s wife was shot three times during the attack, but in a letter to Judge Sheri Pym, Kondoker writes that Apple’s fight represents, “something much bigger than [hacking] one phone.”