AirPods Pro! And the cool HealthKit gadgets you haven’t heard of, on The CultCast

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Oview Sperm tester
The HealthKit Sperm tester. Yup. That's a real thing.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

A reliable source says Apple is working on audiophile-grade headphones with built-in AirPods magic. AirPods Pro? SIGN US UP. Catch the discussion on The CultCast. And stay tuned for: How Apple plans to revolutionize healthcare; the cool, weird and wacky HealthKit gadgets you’ve never heard of; and we wrap up with pro-level whistling, rock accordion, and the best actors of all time in an all-new Get to Know Ur Cultist.

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CultCast #325 – AirPods Pro!

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This week’s stories

Apple audiophile headphones tipped with AirPods magic

    • Apple is aiming to pivot its AirPods success into a set of Apple-branded over-the-ear headphones, reports suggest, effectively competing with its own Beats range.

Apple wellness clinics will offer ‘world’s best healthcare’

      • Apple plans to launch new wellness clinics that will offer employees and their families “the world’s best healthcare.”
      • AC Wellness will be independently operated, according to its official website — but job listings suggest it is a wholly Apple-owned subsidiary. One of its clinics will be situated inside Apple Park, the Cupertino company’s brand new headquarters.
      • Apple has started recruiting for two AC Wellness clinics in Santa Clara, California — one of which will be located at Apple Park. They will initially serve Apple employees and their families when they open this spring, but Apple has much bigger plans, according to CNBC.
      • “Aside from the typical roles involved with a primary care clinic, Apple is also looking to hire “designers” who will help implement a program focused on preventing disease and promoting healthy behavior,” reads the report, which cites people familiar with the plan.
      • “Sources said the company will leverage its medical clinics as a way to test out its growing range of health services and products, which it is starting to roll out to consumers at large.”

iPhone sweeps Consumer Reports’ best camera list

      • The camera is a major feature of any smartphone, and Consumer Reports says Apple makes the best. All three of top models in the magazine’s latest ranking of top phone cameras are iPhones, as are six of the top ten.
      • At the top of the list is the iPhone X, which boasts a 12 megapixel wide-angle camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture, and a separate 12MP telephoto camera with ƒ/2.4 and 2x optical zoom.
      • Consumer Reports ranked the iPhone 8 next. It sports a single 12MP camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture.
      • in third place is the iPhone 8 Plus, another dual camera device. One is a 12MP wide-angle with ƒ/1.8, and the second a telephoto with ƒ/2.8.
      • The sole non-Apple device in the top five is the Samsung Galaxy S8+. This has a single 12MP camera with ƒ/1.7 aperture.
      • No Google Pixel in the list.
      • This is the same org that said Google Max defeats HomePod in sound.

Cool new HealthKit gadgets can measure practically anything

Those Darn Accordions with “Weird Al” Yankovic and Drew Carey and Dick Contino at the 1998 Music Awards!

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