David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
Brighten up your wrist with a pastel Apple Watch band. Photo: Laut
Delicate pastel hues aren’t just for Easter eggs and watercolor paintings. When applied to your Apple Watch as a band, a pastel color can seriously brighten up your wrist and freshen up your whole look.
If you’ve had enough of the basic blacks and browns, you can get the Laut Huex Pastels Apple Watch Band for just $30 in the Cult of Mac Store.
Sure, time travel exists. But in this case, you can only go to four places. Photo: Michael Steeber
If you missed some of the biggest Apple Store openings ever, don’t worry. Now there’s an app for that. The Apple Store Time Machine app transports you to opening day at four iconic locations with a surprising amount of detail.
Michael Steeber created the interactive app to take you back to opening day in four places (and times): Tysons Corner (McLean, Va.), Stanford Shopping Center (Palo Alto, Calif.), Fifth Avenue (New York, NY) and Infinite Loop (Cupertino).
Anker launched a new range of advanced GaN chargers Monday. Photo: Anker
Anker Innovations said Monday at a special event that new partnerships have birthed a new lineup of Gallium Nitride (GaN) fast chargers for use at home and on-the-go.
The six new compact, efficient GaNPrime chargers range in power output from 150W down to 65W and cover a lot of possible uses. The range includes wall chargers, a power bank and a power strip.
“GaNPrime represents a new era in charging,” said Steven Yang, CEO of Anker Innovations. “In addition
to delivering a faster and safer charging experience, our new GaNPrime chargers offer significant savings in energy consumption, reinforcing Anker’s commitment to a more sustainable future.”
Apple is working with affordable housing organizations to build new homes and provide housing stability for individuals and families in communities across California. Photo: Apple
Apple spent $1.3 billion recently to help remedy the California housing crisis, the company said Monday, following up on its pledge three years ago to spend $2.5 billion on an array of projects.
The Cupertino tech giant highlighted its new Veterans Square unit in Pittsburg, California, among other developments.
The M1 MacBook Pro and Samsung ultra-wide display form the setup's core, but the canine unit at right is a crucial feature, too. Photo: [email protected]
People love posting impressive photographs and descriptions of their computer setups online. And other people love either drooling over them or mercilessly criticizing them.
But no matter what technology appears — lets say a new-ish M1 MacBook Pro, a 4K wide-screen display, an excellent 4K webcam, rock-solid input devices and a reliable standing desk, as in today’s featured setup — it’s all forgotten if there’s a pet in the picture.
Some lawmakers urge votes take place before the upcoming recess. Photo: Jens June/Pixabay
A letter from progressive members of the U.S. House of Representatives this week urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to call for votes soon on a pair of antitrust bills that would rein in the power of tech giants like Apple and Google in an attempt to open up competition from more companies.
Without votes “in the next few weeks,” lawmakers’ upcoming months-long recess could delay action considerably.
Basic Apple Guy's new wallpaper is based on Jony Ive's work. Photo: Basic Apple Guy
Designer and Apple maven Basic Apple Guy offered a delightful surprise Friday with his new “Apple Stage” wallpaper for Mac, iPad and iPhone.
The stunning rainbow wallpaper sports a design inspired by the real-life, six-color stage structure created by Cupertino design legend Jony Ive at Apple Park.
This computer setup's centerpiece is a 24-inch iMac. Photo: [email protected]
We like Friday Setups posts to be on the fun side. We look for entertaining gear, wacky decor and exotic locations. Today we found a Dutch guy who works in IT management via his M1 iMac.
That doesn’t sound especially fun, but he also wields a pretty badass electric guitar.
He runs the axe into a Focusrite audio interface and listens to his musical creations on a killer set of cans, too.
Apple can ship you a new Studio Display in 1 to 2 weeks now. Photo: Apple
Back in May, Cult of Mac wrote about wait times for Studio Display shipments stretching into August. But now, four months after Cupertino rolled out the $1,600 monitor, shipping-time estimates are dropping fast in many countries, including the U.S.
Apple Pay fun in the summertime: Get big discount from 13 retailers. Photo: Apple
Cupertino sent out a new summer-themed Apple Pay promotion Thursday with special deals on clothing, shoes, accessories and more. You can get up to 70% off items from GOAT and significant discount from a dozen other retailers. That means you can get the crazy-looking Yeezy 450 ‘Sulfur’ sneakers for $157 (regularly $200).
The discounts come from popular stores like Crocs, Ray-Ban, J.Crew, Lands’ End, Gymboree, Matt & Nat, The RealReal and others. Hit the links below.
Protect those all-important camera lenses. Photo: SwitchEasy
When you spend a pretty penny on an iPhone 13 — OK, more like a thousand bucks, probably — you realize you better protect the dearly expensive gadget. Good thing SwitchEasy features all the accessories you need. You have your choice of cases, plus screen protectors and more.
The updated Eve Motion now supports Thread networking and senses light to trigger automations. Photo: Eve Systems
Eve Systems offered its second-generation Eve Motion sensor Thursday, adding a light sensor and Thread mesh networking support. The device detects motion to activate other HomeKit-enabled devices.
And it’s actually less expensive than the previous model by $10.
When you look for an AirTag in Find My, you no longer see a battery icon. unless it's very low. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Yesterday’s iOS 15.6 update and the newest iOS 16 beta show a surprising move on Apple’s part. It took away the Find My app’s AirTag battery indicator.
Previously, when you opened an AirTag card in Find My, you’d see a small battery icon showing remaining power below the tracking device’s name and location, Now you don’t, or at least not until remaining power is critically low.
Made from vegan Saffiano leather, the band features chic stripes. Photo: Casetify
Some people buy vertically striped shirts in order to look slimmer. But on an Apple Watch band, stripes generally just make it look different from every other strap out there.
Casetify calls its Saffiano leather Apple Watch bands with such decoration “Chic Stripes,” and it looks like a pretty accurate description. Buy one of these affordable bands and you might look a little more chic.
Ken Pillonel put a USB-C port in an AirPods charging case. Photo: Ken Pillonel
The guy who brought us the world’s first USB-C iPhone (and sold it for $86,001 on eBay) is now training his soldering pen on the AirPods charging case.
Engineering and robotics student Ken Pillonel put out a new video addressing AirPods’ repairability problem — they’re made to be replaced, not repaired. He demonstrated how he 3D-printed a new case and swapped the Lightning port for USB-C.
Solid cable management helps keep this MacBook Air setup clean. Photo: [email protected]
Some of the best computer setups look a little boring at a glance. But that’s just because they include only essential gear and they keep it well lit and free of cable (and other) clutter.
Today’s featured M1 MacBook Air setup is a good example. And that’s not to say it’s plain or overly simple. You can see that in the well-thought-out gear list below, which features 19 items.
It's two stacked, adjustable 24-inch screens. Photo: Mobile Pixels
Mobile Pixels started a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign Wednesday for Geminos, its new stacked, dual-screen desktop monitor intended to enhance workstations.
This follows last month’s launch of the LG DualUp, a 28-inch screen with a 16:18 aspect ratio, somewhat like two stacked screens in one.
The products aren’t quite the same, but could this be the start of a trend toward tall, oddly shaped monitors?
You can get thousands of graphics, video and audio assets at Videvo. Photo: Videvo
This post is brought to you by Videvo.
If you’re working on a business or personal project and you want to make it better by adding video, graphics, music or sound effects — without spending a fortune — you should consider Videvo.
The website offers more than 500,000 stock video clips, motion graphics, video templates, music tracks and sound effects — all at your fingertips, and much of it completely free.
ESR launched three new MagSafe-compatible chargers Tuesday. Photo: ESR
Need quicker and more convenient charging for your Apple gadgets? Accessory maker ESR launched its CryoBoost line of MagSafe-compatible accessories Tuesday.
The new CryoBoost lineup includes a 3-in-1 charger, a 2-in-1 charger and car charger. They all increase charging speeds by circulating air over the charging coil and your iPhone, the company said.
HomePod mini is one of the devices that can be a Thread 1.3.0 border router. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
A major Thread networking standard update Tuesday brings the Matter home automation technology standard a step closer for those who already own certain devices. Namely, gear that can act as a border router in the smart home — like Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini.
Thread 1.3.0 lets Thread devices work with any other Thread border router. That’s big because Thread will be Matter’s main wireless protocol, along with Wi-Fi.
Apple Watch keeps saving people's lives. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
In recent years Apple Watch has shown itself to be a lifesaver, either by calling for help when a person’s incapacitated or by offering health readings that lead a person to see a doctor.
In the latter category it just happened again. A woman in Maine didn’t believe what the wearable was telling her at first. But going to the ER led to open-heart surgery that saved her from a probable fatal stroke.
★★★★☆
It's nice that they come with a carrying pouch, but it's great that they have solid sound and a good fit. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
In the ongoing mania for wireless earbuds and headphones, it’s easy to forget that their older wired siblings still have distinct advantages — namely, great sound for less money.
With no need to worry about analog-to-digital conversion and compression for Bluetooth, wired-gear manufacturers can focus on audio quality at a good price.
New York City-based Strauss & Wagner sent me a pair of its EM205 wired earbuds to try out, and they didn’t disappoint. You can find cheaper wired earbuds with good sound, but you can’t really go wrong with these for $39.95. They feature excellent balance and clarity with a comfortable fit and good build quality.
Laut's active band could be your perfect Apple Watch workout companion. Photo: Laut
Apple Watch makes for a great activity and health tracker, whether you’re just going for a stroll or sweating serious bullets at the gym. But you don’t necessarily want a heavy steel band or a fine leather strap with that, though, do you? You want something designed for exercise. Something light and flexible.
That something is the Laut Active Apple Watch Band. It’s so smooth and light you may forget you’re wearing it, except when its vibrant color catches your eye.