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iCloud Web Apps and account sign-in experiencing system outages

According to Apple’s own System Status page, it looks as though some of iCloud’s services are currently down. ‘iCloud Account and Sign In’ and ‘iCloud Web Apps’ are currently noted as being down as far back as 11 AM PDT. Our editors and readers alike have confirmed to be running into similar issues. The outage appears to have come just a few short hours after we noted that Apple was also improving iCloud.com’s Photos app.

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Filed under: Apple

Apple Watch Gift Guide: TK

Now is a good time to buy the Apple Watch. A new version with GPS called Series 2 came out in September, and the original model was updated with a speed boost and a new name: Series 1. Both models fix issues that made the original Apple Watch fine for early adopters but harder to recommend to the masses.

There’s also an ecosystem of Apple Watch accessories that we’ve tested and can recommend. Read on for my hand-picked Apple Watch gift guide choices including some out-of-the-box suggestions.

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Filed under: Apple

9to5Toys Lunch Break: iPad Pro $100 off, Philips Hue Starter Kit $56, Runtastic Sit Ups Pro free, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Best Buy is taking $100 off all iPad Pro Wi-Fi models, prices start at $500 shipped

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Philips Hue White A19 Starter Kit w/ Siri and Alexa Control, on sale for $56 shipped (Reg. $69)

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Runtastic’s popular Sit Ups Ab Trainer & Counter PRO for iOS is now available for free (Reg. $2)

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Today only, One-year Dropbox Pro Subscription with $50 Amazon Gift Card: $99

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DirecTV Now launches with an aggressive free Apple TV offer when you pre-pay for three months of service: from $105 ($255 value)

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Rayman Classic for iOS goes free for the very first time (Reg. $5)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

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Turn outlets into a 6 AC + 2 (2.1A) USB surge protector for under $10 Prime shipped

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Easy gift idea your family will love! Save 60% on all custom cards, calendars and books from Amazon – 12 mos. Wall Calendar $6

MORE DEALS STILL LIVE:

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15 AmazonBasics tech accessories just received rare price drops, deals from $5 Prime shipped

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iPhone 7 users: Add Logitech’s Bluetooth Audio Adapter to your stereo and wirelessly stream music for $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $30)

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Filed under: Apple

Hands-on: HyperDrive Thunderbolt 3 USB-C Hub might be the ultimate MacBook Pro dongle [Video]

The HyperDrive is a compact USB-C hub that adds some much needed port-diversification to the 2016 MacBook Pro. While it may look similar to some already existing USB-C hubs out there, the HyperDrive is Thunderbolt 3-enabled, and supports the new MacBook Pro only, as it connects to two of the machine’s USB-C ports simultaneously.

The hub adds all sorts of ports to the otherwise barren MacBook Pro. You’ll find two USB-A ports for USB 3.0 connectivity, an SD Card and microSD card reader, HDMI output, a Thunderbolt 3 port and a USB-C (gen 1) port.

Hyper just launched a Kickstarter campaign for the HyperDrive today, but I’ve already been testing out a few almost-finished, fully-functioning prototypes, and it seems promising. Have a look at our video walkthrough for a brief hands-on look at the HyperDrive in action. more…

Filed under: Apple

MacBook Pro Diary: I’m one week in, and it turns out my first impressions were wrong

The main reason I’ve adopted this Diary format for reviewing Apple kit is that first impressions can be misleading. The iPad, for example, launched to very mixed reviews. I won’t embarrass my fellow tech writers by naming names, but the Guardian did a round-up at the time.

Then there’s my own Apple Watch experience. Going from clear smartwatch skeptic – wondering why anyone would want one – to a complete convert. With the new MacBook Pro, my impressions from the keynote were that I would like it but not love it.

It looks like a very nice machine. I’m fully expecting to enjoy the smaller form factor and the new features – even if I will really miss the larger screen – but I’m not expecting to love it. It doesn’t excite me the way I feel that a new generation ought to after four years of more-or-less stagnation.

It turns out I was wrong …

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Filed under: Apple

IDC: Apple Watch sales estimated at 1.1 million units in Series 2 launch quarter, falling 70% YOY

A new report from IDC estimates that the Apple Watch continues to the best-selling smartwatch with about 40% marketshare but barely scrapes into the 5 top selling wearables list with 1.1 million unit sales, as the market is dominated by cheap fitness bands, a trend seen since the beginning of this year.

Apple’s wearable was outsold by rising fitness tracker sales from Fitbit, Xiamo and Garmin. Apple was the only vendor to see a drop in sales compared to last year; Apple is predicted to have sold 71% fewer Apple Watches in the third quarter of this year than what it achieved in the same period in 2015.

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Filed under: Apple

Apple improving iCloud.com Photos app with sidebar and scrubber to match native Mac Photos app

Apple is readying some upgrades to its iCloud Photos web app found on iCloud.com, first noted by MacMagazine. The Photos web app allows users to access their iCloud Photo Library through a web browser, across Mac and Windows computers.

However, it is somewhat rudimentary in its current state … but the beta.icloud.com site now includes a redesigned Photos app featuring a sidebar and thumbnail scrubber like what already exist in the native Photos app for Mac. Apple tests new features on beta.icloud.com before rolling them out to everyone, so the new features should be available for everyone soon.

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Filed under: Apple

9to5Mac poll reveals the things you love and hate most about the 2016 MacBook Pro

A poll of 9to5Mac readers has revealed the things you love and hate about the new MacBook Pro. Interestingly, the headline feature of the new model – the Touch Bar – didn’t make it into the top three most popular elements, only coming in fifth.

The most-loved features were Touch ID, improved display and the smaller form-factor, while the most hated ones were the price, the loss of MagSafe and the all-USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports …

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Filed under: Apple

30 Secret Santa Gift Ideas Your Coworkers Will Love

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They see you when you’re slacking. They know when you come in late. They know if you’ve been bad or good so be good for your work’s Secret Santa exchange.

But that’s not how the song — or the Secret Santa exchange — really goes …

You spend all day with your coworkers, but come time for your annual gift exchange, you’re stuck trying to figure out exactly what Suzie will want that’s also in your price range. Download more holiday resources to help your business succeed this season from  HubSpot's #HolidayHub

We want to help. We’ve compiled a list of awesome Secret Santa gift ideas that are bound to meet all different budgets and personality types. From hot sauce kits to leather mouse pads, this roundup should take some of the stress out of your shopping experience.

30 Secret Santa Gift Ideas for Your Coworkers

$10 and Under

1) Engraved Pencil Set

Price: $8.00

Whether you type your notes or take them by hand, these hand stamped pencils are just plain cool. The sets come in a variety of different themes — from motivational words to Harry Potter references — and they’re guaranteed to make putting together a to-do list a lot more fun.

Willing to chip in a few extra bucks? Pair a set of these pencils with a journal for a thoughtful and practical gift.

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2) Toaster Grilled Cheese Bags

Price: $9.99

While almost every office has a toaster, few have a stovetop. This rules fresh, delicious grilled cheese off the list of lunch options … or does it? When you give the gift of toaster grilled cheese bags, your recipient can toast up the perfect sandwich in minutes. The reusable, Teflon-coated bags can also be used for heating up other foods like pastries and leftover pizza.

Got a gluten-free coworker? They can even protect their food from cross contamination using these handy bags.

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3) Printed Socks

Price: $8.00

Nothing beats a great pair of socks, am I right? Not only does everyone need them, but there’s also such a wide variety of options available online that you’re bound to find a pair for any and every personality.

Know of a few pizza lovers in the office? This pepperoni-clad pair would make the perfect gift.

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4) Sushi Pushpins

Price: $9.00

Shopping for the office sushi addict? Look no further than this trendy desk trinket.

Stuck in a maki cushion, each pearl-shaped fish egg is a pushpin in disguise. Pin up your favorite notes, photos, and menus using these handy tacks — or just admire the holder on your desk.

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5) Waterproof Notepad

Price: $7.00

You never know when your next great idea is going to strike. In fact, it might even be the shower.

With a waterproof notepad from AquaNotes, you can jot down important shower notes before they slip your mind — perfect for whipping up impromptu grocery or to-do lists.

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6) Tech Cloth

Price: $9.99

Between oil, dust, spills, and smudges, our devices take a beating. But with a Smart Cloth on hand, you can polish up the screen on your smartphone, tablet, camera, or computer without having to worry about scratching the surface. No liquids or sprays needed.

You can even toss The Smart Cloth in the wash, making it easy to keep germ-free.

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7) Reusable To Go Box

Price: $9.99

There’s no shame in brown bagging your lunch at work, but why opt for a brown bag when you can reheat last night’s homemade Pad Thai in style?

This eco-friendly container is reusable, microwavable, and dishwasher safe. What more could you want?
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8) Portable Hot Sauce

Price: $9.99

Coming from a hot sauce addict, there’s nothing worse than suffering through a bland meal without access to your favorite spicy condiment.

Thanks to this convenient set of Sriracha2Go key chains, you can carry a personal stash of the good stuff around with you at all times. Simply toss it in your purse or attach it to your keys to ensure you’ve got access to heat when you need it most.

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9) Dry Erase Sheets

Price: $6.16

Use these sheets as an impromptu discussion tool, a place to post motivational quotes, or a home for your to-do list. Each sheet has a full-adhesive backing that leaves behind no residue, making them easy and convenient to tack up in the office or at home.

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10) Cord Keeper

Price: $9.99

While the world of technology continues to push us in the direction of a more wireless world, we’ve all got a pair of standard headphones we keep holding on to — no matter how tangled the cord gets.

Lucky for all of us, these handmade cord “wontons” exist to help keep our headphones, USB cords, and other accessory wires nice and neat. They come in a pack of three, so you can throw one in your car, keep one on your desk, and toss one in your bag.

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$25 and Under

11) Salsa Grow Kit

Price: $12.00

Got a coworker with a green thumb? Gift them this awesome salsa growing kit, complete with six seed packets for Roma tomatoes, jalapeños, verde tomatillos, cilantro, scallions, and beefsteak tomatoes.

Once the seeds sprout in the recycled egg carton planter, transfer them into larger pots until they’re ready for picking.

Not sold on salsa? There are kits available for pizza and cocktails, too.

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12) Wine Infused Coffee

Price: $19.95

Gift hunting for a coffee drinker who also loves wines? Why not pick up a bag of Merlot-infused coffee beans.

This brew is made with 100% Arabica beans that are aged in oak wine barrels. Serving as the perfect post-meal treat, this unique gift will be a hit with any adventurous coffee enthusiast.

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13) Plant Nanny

Price: $16.95

Don’t let the burden of watering plants keep your coworker from taking time off to relax and recharge. With the help of these terracotta watering stakes, they can throw on their OOO message and hit the road without having to hire a plant sitter.

How does it work? It’s simple: The stakes house a recycled bottle that’s designed to release just enough water to keep plants alive and well.  

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14) Smartphone Card Game

Price: $19.99

The name of the game is “Game of Phones.” And the rules are pretty straightforward: Grab your smartphone and have one player (the judge for the round) draw a card. Everyone else gets 60 seconds to dig up a funny response to the prompt on the card using their phone. It’s like a digital scavenger hunt — and it’s bound to be hilarious.

This one’s perfect for anyone that loves to host friends or family for game night.

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15) Travel Cup

Price: $14.99–$19.99 (+$3.99 for travel lid)

There are a ton of travel mugs out there to choose from, but Tervis tumblers seem to offer it all: customization, portable cooling, self-warming system, dishwasher armor, and a lifetime guarantee.

Whether you’re buying a gift for an avid golfer, shopper, foodie, or Patriots super fan, there’s bound to be a Tervis that lines up with their interests and personality.

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16) Adult Coloring Book

Price: $12.18 (Paperback)

Coloring isn’t just for kids anymore. Believe it or not, this trendy hobby offers more than a dose of nostalgia — adult coloring books are actually believed to relieve stress, too. In fact, while The American Art Association doesn’t think these books are enough to replace therapy for those who need it, it does support the use of coloring books for “pleasure and self care.”

There are a wide variety of books to choose from, but we recommend “Color Me Calm” by Lacy Mucklow: a Zen coloring book that supports meditation and relaxation. Trust us, your stressed out deskmate will thank you.

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17) Fruit Infuser Water Bottle

Price: $18.65

Stay hydrated and enjoy the sweet taste of your favorite fruits with this handy water bottle from Fruitzola.

Fill the inside tube with fruit or a combination of your choice — strawberries, lemons, kiwis, watermelon, and mint all work well — and enjoy the taste of fresh, flavored H20 all day.

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18) Musical Pillow

Price: $19.19

For many, listening to music, a meditation app, or a podcast before bed can make it easier to drift off to sleep. Trouble is, it’s tough to get comfortable with a pair of headphones in.

Enter: The Sound Asleep Pillow.

Deep inside this unique pillow lies a built-in speaker that connects to your phone or music player via a headphone jack. The coolest part? The sound from the speaker is only audible to the person resting their head on it, which is great if you don’t want to disturb your spouse or significant other.

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19) Espresso Sampler

Price: $23.00

Treat your coworker to this four-part specialty espresso sampler from Seattle’s world-renowned roasters. Each sampler comes with tasting notes, roaster profiles, and brewing tips. (If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll share.)

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$50 and Under

20) Smartphone Projector

Price: $31.95

Transform your smartphone into a big screen projector with this retro-inspired cardboard structure. Simply slide your device into the compartment for an instant cinema-like feel.

You can make this gift even better by throwing in a box of popcorn to complete the viewing experience.

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21) Make Your Own Hot Sauce Kit

Price: $34.95

Whether you’re making chili for a rainy day, wings for the big game, or tacos for Tuesday’s dinner, a little homemade hot sauce can make all the difference.

With this awesome kit, recipients can whip up six signature sauces that are seasoned to their exact liking. The kit even includes customizable labels for a fun, personalized touch.

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22) Bottle Loft

Price: $38.00

Seriously, how cool is this? These handy storage strips adhere to the ceiling of your refrigerator and can hold up to a six pack of bottles of your choice. Plus, the magnets are super strong: they can hold over 3X the weight of an average 12 oz. bottle.

With all the space you’ll save, you’ll have plenty of room for snacks. It’s the perfect gift for your office beer enthusiast.

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23) Leather Mouse Pad

Price: $36.00

Looking for a sophisticated, practical gift option? Grab a leather mouse pad from Ugmonk’s shop.

Not only does this sleek pad provide a smooth surface for your mouse, but the leather is also known to weather and darken slowly over time to take on a one-of-a-kind look. How cool.

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24) Gourmet Marshmallows

Price: $30.00

Step your hot chocolate game up with a box of gourmet marshmallows. From boozy flavors like bourbon to sweet flavors like eggnog, these handcrafted marshmallows are good enough to eat straight from the box.

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25) Streaming Stick

Price: $49.99

The Roku Streaming Stick works with any television that has an HDMI port, and offers over 1,200 apps, including Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and many more. It’s a perfect gift for nearly any coworker.

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26) Tea Drops

Price: $34.00

Enjoy hot and fresh tea on the go thanks to these dissolvable, pressed tea drops. Made from just a few simple ingredients — finely-sourced tea, sugar, and spices — these tiny morsels are perfect for a busy coworker looking for an easy, healthy beverage to sip on.

This particular sampler set includes five drops of each of the following flavors: citrus ginger, vanilla white, rose earl grey, sweet peppermint, and matcha green tea.

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27) Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle

Price: $35.00 (17 oz.) / $45.00 (25 oz.)

We’ll admit it, we actually have a crush on this water bottle from S’well. Yes, a water bottle crush. Not only is it sleek and stylish — it comes in tons of colors and prints — but it’s non-toxic, non-leaching, vacuum sealed, and BPA free.

What’s more, it keeps your drinks cold for 24 hours, and hot for 12.

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28) Wireless Speaker

Price: $39.99

Wireless speakers are the perfect gift for anyone in your office. Whether they use it to listen to podcasts while they cook, bring tunes to the beach, or create a custom surround sound movie experience, this little Jam Plus speaker packs a big punch. (Full disclosure: I love this speaker so much I bought another one … and one for my brother.)

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29) Cacti Coasters

Price: $31.00

Help your coworkers keep their desk nice and neat with this buildable set of cacti coasters.

The set comes complete with six green leaf coasters that you can mix and match to create different landscapes within the pot. Build them up or stack them close, they’re there when you need a place to put your drink — and still look really cool when you don’t.

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30) Mobile Lens Kit

Price: $26.00

If you pulled your social media manager’s name out of the Secret Santa hat, we’ve got just the thing: Help them up their Instagram game with this handy mobile lens kit. The kit includes fisheye, wide angle, and macro lenses, complete with a universal clip that’s compatible with most smartphones and tablets.

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What are your go-to gift ideas? Share them with us in the comments section below.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Visit the holiday resource hub for all your holiday marketing needs.

App buyers abusing Apple’s refund policy, say games developers, as they hit back

Games developers say they have detected significant abuse of Apple’s refund policy on apps, and are being forced to take their own steps to hit back after Apple refused to help.

At least four developers cited in The Korea Times say that the problem is that people are repeatedly purchasing games and in-app content, asking Apple for a refund – which is normally granted without question – and then continuing to use the content. It is not easy for developers to block access to the content because Apple refuses to reveal the identities of those who have been refunded …

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Filed under: Apple

Procreate for iPad adds Photoshop PSD import, screen capture/live streaming, keyboard shortcuts and more

The artistic drawing and painting tool for iPad, Procreate available for $5.99 in the App Store, is rounding out 2016 with one last update in time for the holiday season where countless numbers of iPad Pros and Apple Pencils will be unwrapped for Christmas.

The Procreate 3.2 update includes several major new features, including PSD import for bringing Photoshop documents into the app, Live Capture Streaming to broadcast the creative process, support for a range of iOS keyboard shortcuts, new layers system with nested groups amongst other changes.

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Filed under: Apple

UK police have a new tactic for circumventing strong iPhone encryption: steal the unlocked phone out of the criminal’s hand

Apple’s (lack of) cooperation with law enforcement has been a common theme of 2016 with the company refusing to weaken its stance on strong encryption and privacy for all iOS users; the most famous being the San Bernardino Apple/FBI clash.

As it is practically impossible to access data stored on a modern iPhone, thanks to security measures Apple introduced in iOS 8 and iOS 9, the UK police have developed a new tactic to be able to recover usable intelligence; conduct a street robbery and steal the suspect’s phone whilst it is in use, in their hands …

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Filed under: Apple