Mobile menu toggle

News - page 999

iPhone shipments will get worse before they get better

By

iPhone 6 Plus_7
Apple will have to wait until next year for iPhone growth to return.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is confident the iPhone will bounce back from its current slump in demand, but new forecasts suggest shipments will get worse before they get better. Researchers don’t expect growth to return until 2017 when Apple introduces bigger upgrades.

Coach leaks Apple Watch bands before official unveiling

By

Watch out Apple Watch, Google is coming for you.
Coach is busting out some fancy Apple Watch bands.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Move over Hermes. There’s a new high-end fashion brand that is ready to capitalize on the Apple Watch and its leather bands will be launching soon.

Coach has secretly listed its first Apple Watch bands on its website. An official unveiling of the luxury leather bands is still in the works, but based on the early listings it appears that the bands will come at a relatively cheap price point.

Apple will host its WWDC 2016 keynote on June 13

By

macbook-pro-wwdc-2016
Apple's WWDC keynote is confirmed!
Photo: Apple

Apple has begun inviting members of the press to its WWDC 2016 keynote on June 13.

The event kicks off at 10 a.m. PT in the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco, and it should deliver our first sneak peeks at iOS 10 and Apple’s next major upgrades for watchOS, tvOS, and OS X.

How silly songs about the iPhone sparked a music career

By

When the Moog strikes, Parry Gripp writes funny songs about anything.
When the Moog strikes, Parry Gripp writes funny songs about anything.
Photo: Dana E. Ross

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugParry Gripp was the lead vocalist of a promising pop punk band that had a record deal and stardom just around the corner.

Success never came and just as Parry Gripp was set to give up, a new career in music rose from the ashes — by accident — thanks to the iPhone and Apple.

The technology company was not only fodder for Gripp’s brand of absurd novelty music he was creating but, through iTunes, Apple provided a way for him to publish his music and start to make a living.

iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to come in 256GB storage options

By

Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 15.49.39
There could be a lot more storage inside your next iPhone.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s next-generation iPhones could be its biggest yet — at least as far as storage is concerned.

According to one research firm, both the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus will come in whopping 256GB options, while the latter will also pack more RAM.

WeChat is the messaging app that’s more like a mobile OS

By

WeChat
China's WeChat is a messaging app tha offers just about everything, from text messaging to instant payments. It's a monster, with mote than 1 billion registered users.
Photo: Virginia Werner/Cult of Mac

Made_in_china_bugMainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. The company is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — Now that I use WeChat, I don’t need much else when it comes to social media apps. In fact, WeChat has almost entirely replaced text messaging in China. I am able to link up with other WeChat users through their username without providing a telephone number, so it is a great platform for communicating with new acquaintances or people I am working with.

I have hundreds of WeChat contacts, but only a handful of telephone numbers in my iPhone. The app also recently introduced group video messaging and has an extensive WeChat Wallet service (similar to Zhifubao) available to Chinese bank account holders.

Facebook Messenger may soon add end-to-end encryption

By

Facebook messaging apps
Messenger is finally getting encryption.
Photo: Facebook

Facebook plans to tighten security on its popular Messenger platform this summer, but it won’t be turned on for all users by default.

Messenger will add a new end-to-end encryption feature that prevents hackers and the government from being able to read your text messages. Facebook won’t be able to read your messages either though, and that will seriously hurt its ability to make bots great if you decide to opt-in to better security.

Beastly all-in-one proves the iMac could be great for gaming

By

gallery-5
The Aura is spectacular inside and out.
Photo: Digital Storm

Apple doesn’t have gamers in mind when choosing components for its latest Macs, but PC maker Digital Storm has proven that it’s possible to build a beastly gaming rig into the iMac’s gorgeous all-in-one form factor.

Check out the company’s stunning new Aura PC, which puts NVIDIA’s latest GTX 1080 graphics card behind a 34-inch curved display.

Apple Campus 2 nears closer to completion in latest drone video

By

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

Construction on Apple’s new campus isn’t expected to be completed until the end of the year, but the spaceship is starting to come into shape in the latest flyover video that shows some buildings have already been completed.

Tim Cook’s beautiful pile of dirt keeps growing in Matthew Roberts’ latest drone footage of the new campus that takes a look at the massive 11,000 vehicle car garage that is nearly finished, as well as a new plaza that’s being constructed near the underground theater entrance.

Watch the action below:

Eddy Cue is Golden State’s biggest cheerleader

By

Eddy Cue had the best seats in the house to watch the Warrior's comeback.
Eddy Cue had the best seats in the house to watch the Warrior's comeback.
Photo: SF Chronicle/Twitter

The Golden State Warriors completed one of the biggest comebacks in NBA playoff history last night when they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, and perhaps no one in the arena was as amped as Apple VP Eddy Cue.

You see, Eddy Cue loves basketball. He’s such a big hoops fan that he’s made a habit of getting spotted with some of the game’s biggest stars in the biggest moments. So it should be no surprise that when the Warriors’ local paper announced the team’s win this morning Cue was right on the front page with Steph Curry.

Check it out:

You better get used to waiting 3 years for big iPhone upgrades

By

iPhone-6s-name
We may see a lot more 'S' upgrades in the future.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Many iPhone fans don’t like waiting two years for major refreshes, but it could be about to get a lot worse. According to one report, Apple is switching its big upgrades to a three-year cycle, which is why this year’s iPhone 7 will look just like its predecessors.

In China, the Alipay app is as good as cash

By

Everyone accepts Zhifubao, China's answer to Paypal, even street vendors.
Everyone accepts Zhifubao, China's answer to Paypal, even street vendors.
Photo: Virginia Werner/Cult of Mac

Made_in_china_bugMainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. Apple is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — The common question when conducting any kind of financial transaction in China is: “Cash or Zhifubao?” I have used Alipay in a wide variety of settings — paying for products online or meals at restaurants, sending rent money to my landlord, or squaring up with a taxi driver. It was easy to set up, after I spent all of 15 minutes creating a Chinese bank account at my local branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

DSC_0050

Rumors point to a major Macbook Pro overhaul, this week on The CultCast

By

New Apple hardware in March on The CultCast
New Apple hardware in March? Reports say yes, indeed.
Image: Erfon Elijah/Cult of Mac

This week, on The CultCast: Macbook Pro’s about to get its biggest refresh ever; Apple’s plans to rival Amazon’s Echo; more great stories from the Cult of Mac; the state of gaming in OS X, iOS, and tvOS; Apple gets serious about iCar charging stations; and we set aside our agendas to discuss YOUR topics in an all-new As You Wish.

Our thanks to Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.

Apple planning charging stations for iCar, Foxconn replaces half its workers with robots, and more

By

Cover

Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Check out Apple’s plans for the iCar as it prepares the groundwork for its charging infrastructure.

Learn more of what’s in store for the iCar in this week’s jam-packed Cult of Mac Magazine. Plus, Foxconn manages to replaces half its workers with robots.

All this, and much much more, in Cult of Mac Magazine, free for you right now.

Here are this week’s top stories.