Our new book about the Apple community, The Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition, is finally available in book stores and on Amazon.
To celebrate, we’re throwing a book-signing party tonight at the publisher’s HQ in San Francisco — and all Cult of Mac readers are invited. Please join me and the book’s award-winning designer, Derek Yee, at the No Starch Press offices. There will be a big sale (and free Chinese food, too)!
The first trailer for Little America, Apple’s anthology series about immigrants, is finally here, and it might just be the antidote we need for these wildly divisive impeachment days.
Clocking in at just over two minutes, the Little America trailer starts with a round table discussion among immigrants from various nations talking about things you’ll only see in America. The trailer then dives into glimpses from the eight different episodes that show the uniqueness of all immigrant stories.
Check it out:
The Satechi USB-C Magnetic Charging Dock for Apple Watch offers a USB-C connector that enables it to plug directly into MacBooks and iPad Pros. It’s also designed to be used on the go.
Blue light from iPhones or MacBook Pros might not be keeping people up at night as originally thought, according to new research.
The bottom line … the Night Shift mode on Apple products — meant to dial down the amount of blue light emitted by displays — may not be as effective as expected. Using dim, cooler lights in the evening, and bright, warmer lights in the day might prove more beneficial to our health.
When you hear about declining iPhone sales and factoids like Huawei overtaking Apple as the world’s second biggest smartphone maker, it’s easy to lose sight of just how successful Apple is at selling phones.
A new report from Counterpoint Research is a reminder just what a profit-generating powerhouse the iPhone actually is. In Q3 2019, Apple captured a whopping 66% of industry profits. Second place winner Samsung, by comparison, pulled in just 17% of handset profits.
Apple stands accusing of breaking the US Copyright Act by streaming copyrighted songs through Apple Music without the right permissions.
The company Pro Music Rights (PRM) filed its complaint in New York on Wednesday. It describes unpaid royalties and ongoing infringement relating to a number of songs. PMR licenses a couple of million tracks, including works from artists such as A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Pharrell, Gucci Mane, and others.
A quirky little indie movie you probably haven’t heard of is coming to theaters this Friday and — oh, who am I kidding, it’s freaking Star Wars!
In an effort to ramp up excitement about The Rise of Skywalker, Disney just added new Star Wars content to its Disney Magic Kingdoms game. Check out a trailer below:
A former Apple Store Genius is suing Apple for not providing legally obligated adequate facilities to allow him to work with his disability.
Robert Shaw says he was promised that the store he worked at would be fitted with automatic doors and a special table to accommodate his wheelchair. However, this did not happen to the degree allegedly promised.
The last of Australia’s big four banks to adopt Apple Pay says that it will support Apple’s mobile payments service.
While Australia is just one market of many where Apple Pay is available, its arrival in the country has been particularly fraught with challenges. Westpac’s support marks the end of that particular story.
Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, the gamer comedy series from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, has finally been scheduled for its Apple TV+ premiere.
All nine episodes of the show will be available globally on Friday, February 7, 2020. The comedy follows the developers behind a fictional game that rocketed up the charts to become the most popular title ever.
Check out the only teaser we’ve seen so far:
Apple might be in the market to acquire the radio-frequency chip division from one of its biggest parts suppliers.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Broadcom Inc is working with Credit Suisse to find a possible buyer of its RF wireless-chip unit in an effort to diversify its business and move more toward software. Although the names of companies potentially interested in the division haven’t been named, Apple observers are quickly pointing out that the iPhone-maker scooping it up makes the most sense.
Spotify is gearing up to add a new social feature to its apps that could give it another edge over Apple Music.
Prototype screenshots of an upcoming feature called “Tastebuds” were unearthed on Twitter this week. From the looks of it, Tastebuds will build off Spotify’s underlaying social networking features, giving users a new way to discover music through what their friends are listening to.
Pixelmator Pro, an increasingly popular macOS photo-editing program, has a new tool its creators say will let you blow up an image and maintain detail and sharpness “like they do in all those cheesy police dramas.”
ML Super Resolution lets users increase the resolution up to three times without the muddy, pixelated mess normally associated with upscaled images.
Public beta testers can already get their hands on the new beta for iPhones and iPads that was just seeded to developers yesterday.
iOS 13.3.1 public beta 1 is available to all members of Apple’s Public Beta Testing program starting today, bringing a bunch of performance improvements, including some crucial fixes for Screen Time.
Apple’s charging case for AirPods Pro is fine if you like shiny white plastic, but Twelve South today launched AirSnap Pro with a very different look. This leather case wraps around Apple’s new hearables, both protecting them and adding more color options.
Foxconn has launched an investigation after a group of “management staff” were accused of a $43 million iPhone scam. The scam, which ran for three years, involved a Taiwanese businessman and staff at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou, which manufactures iPhones.
The alleged “crime ring” assembled iPhones out of rejected components, and then sold them on to customers.
Thanks to Amazon’s Echo devices, Alexa is probably the AI assistant most likely to come up in a conversation. But Siri is still the most popular virtual assistant of them all.
According to a new report by Futuresource Consulting, Siri currently leads the virtual assistant pack with a 35% global marketshare. Google Assistant follows behind with 9% of the marketshare, while Alexa makes up just 4% of AI assistants.
Early benchmarks for the 2019 Mac Pro have now started surfacing online — and they might be a disappointment for some.
The scores achieved by entry-level and mid-tier machines are similar to those you will get from a 2017 iMac Pro. In fact, iMac Pro and even the budget Mac mini achieve significantly higher scores in some tests.
Apple Music’s standard free trial offer is a generous 90 days. But, for the holidays, someone in Cupertino has decided to double this.
By using the Shazam app, would-be Apple Music subscribers can get a total of 6 months Apple Music for free. And you can even get some free months it if you’re currently, or have previously been, an Apple Music subscriber.
Mario Kart Tour is closing out 2019 in style with new characters, cups, and courses for the holidays.
There are a variety of locations to enjoy, from historic cities to iconic rainbow roads, plus the wonderful Jingle Bells sleigh. It should keep racers going over the holiday break while we wait for online multiplayer.
This time of year isn’t great for health and fitness. With a constant barrage of holidays, comprising stodgy meals and plenty of snacks, we talk lots about New Year resolutions — but don’t necessarily act on it.
However, your trusty Apple Watch is ready to nudge you in the right direction, courtesy of Apple’s upcoming “Ring in the New Year” challenge. Here’s what you need to know about it:
Apple is teaming up with Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance to create a new open and royalty-free standard for smart home devices.
Project “Connected Home over IP” aims to increase compatibility among smart home gadgets and make development easier for device manufacturers. It should also simplify smart technology for consumers.
Fortnite’s newest update is out with a brand-new Battle Lab that lets you create the rules for your own Battle Royale matches.
You can select from your favorite limited-time game (LTM) pools, set up custom combat scenarios, and specify your own settings. The version 11.31 update also brings a bunch of bug fixes across all platforms.
Compared to the likes of Apple Music and Apple TV+, Apple News+ doesn’t exactly seem to be setting the world on fire, publishers say.
A new report claims that, nine months after its launch, publishers are not viewing News+ as the “cure-all” they might have hoped for. While the subscription service is helping them reach wider audiences, some publishers report seeing “little impact” on their bottom line.
Apple TV+ added a new docuseries to its roster of upcoming content after striking a deal with actress and comedian Wanda Sykes’ production company this week.
Visible: Out on Television is set to debut on Apple TV+ on February 14, 2020. The five-part series will examine how television shaped the LGBTQ movement and vice-versa and will include a lot of familiar faces you’ll probably recognize.