Not everyone keeps an iPad in their computer setup, especially when it’s not their main computer. But today’s M2 Pro MacBook Pro user does. And as commenters on his post noted, he may have found the perfect placement for his iPad Pro stand. He seems to get his laptop and tablet mounts working in perfect unison, within view and also within easy reach.
The new Bowers & Wilkins Pi6 and Pi8 wireless, active noise canceling (ANC) earbuds aim to redefine the premium earbud market with upgraded features, impeccable design and stellar sound quality, the venerable brand said Wednesday. The new buds come from the same team behind the company’s acclaimed Px7 S2e and Px8 headphones.
“I’m thrilled that the Bowers & Wilkins team has once again been able to raise the bar for premium design, performance and quality in the headphone category,” said Giles Pocock, vice president of Brand Marketing at Bowers & Wilkins, founded way back in 1966. “Our new Pi6 and Pi8 earbuds are truly special — I’m certain they will be just as successful as our Px7 S2e and Px8 headphones have been.”
SwitchEasy is offering a great deal in the Cult of Mac Store through Thursday, August 22 — buy any SwitchEasy Apple Watch band at 20% off.
You can pick from an array of cool Apple Watch bands in different styles and made of various materials, from stretchy nylon to stainless steel mesh. See below.
Apple Watch SE and SE2 are great, affordable smart watches. But with the killer deals on grade A refurbished Apple Watches like Series 6,7 and 8 that Amazon bargain site Woot! offers this week, why not go for a wearable with more features than the budget models?
Act fast, though — the deals, which also include Apple Watch SE plus Series 4 and 5 — and and appealing variety of choices of models and colors — end Tuesday, August 27, at 10 p.m. Pacific.
Two brilliant detectives will clash again as acclaimed London-based thriller Criminal Record returns for a second season, Apple TV+ said Thursday. The engrossing series stars Peter Capaldi of Doctor Who and Cush Jumbo of The Good Wife.
So the streamer confirmed what Jumbo said on a talk show back in February. The renewal is great news for fans of the show. If you haven’t tried it, you should stream the first season.
A talented Mexico City medical student studies hard by day and saves lives by night, hurtling around the sprawling metropolis in her family’s private ambulance. But it looks like something’s got to give under the strain of it all in the trailer Apple TV+ dropped Tuesday for the upcoming Spanish-language drama series Midnight Family.
Sure, you might need subtitles, but it looks like a rewarding ride. The 10-episode series, based on a documentary, debuts on Apple TV+ September 25.
Keeping up with the latest charging standards, Nomad released the third generation of its premium Stand One Max multi-device charger Wednesday. It features support for the new Qi2 wireless charging protocol, which enables up to 15-watt wireless charging speeds for compatible iPhones and Androids. And the luxe 3-in-1 stand keeps your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods going in style.
Apple introduced audio sharing to Beats Studio Pro over-ear headphones in a firmware update Tuesday, a feature already known to AirPods Max and AirPods users. So once your Beats Studio Pro update over the air to firmware version 2C301, up from version 2B68 installed at launch, you can easily share what you listen to with family and friends via a connected iPhone or iPad.
In the battle of 5K resolution displays, it’s Studio Display against a small-but-growing army of foes (at least for Mac fans). Today’s M1 MacBook Pro user looks to replace a 1440K gaming display with either a Samsung ViewFinity S9 curved 5K monitor or with Apple’s well-liked but somewhat-pricey Studio Display. The advice she got leaned heavily toward Apple.
Right now you can take your pick on great deals on M2 and M3 MacBook Air models at Amazon — including up to $250 off some choices. Select from the deals below to get your dream machine, each powered with an M2 or M3 chip.
xMEMS Labs, creators of all-silicon micro speakers for earbuds and headphones, plan to roll out the xMEMS XMC-2400 µCooling chip, the company said Tuesday. It noted the 1mm xMEMS fan on a chip is the first all-silicon, active micro-cooling fan for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
“Our revolutionary µCooling ‘fan-on-a-chip’ design comes at a critical time in mobile computing,” said Joseph Jiang, xMEMS CEO and co-founder. “Thermal management in ultra-mobile devices, which are beginning to run even more processor-intensive AI applications, is a massive challenge for manufacturers and consumers. Until XMC-2400, there’s been no active-cooling solution because the devices are so small and thin.”
The company declined to comment on whether it’s in talks with Apple as a client or partner with the new innovation. See our Q&A with xMEMS Labs below.
As an alternative to using the Apple Podcasts app, as of Monday anyone can browse, hear, sync and share Apple Podcasts in 170 countries on all major web browsers, including Safari, Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
So now Apple Podcasts joins the likes of Podbay and Podurama in offering its own online player for anyone on any platform.
To the delight of their many fans like me, the Garvey women of Ireland will return soon in Bad Sisters season two, Apple TV+ said Monday. The streamer offered a “first look” photograph along with scant plot details. The darkly comedic drama’s creator and star, Sharon Horgan, returns with her close-knit fictional siblings on November 13.
But with one abusive husband down in season one of Bad Sisters, what new nemesis will emerge in the sophomore season? From the sound of it, two years after they took care of that problem in white-knuckle fashion, it could be them against everybody. Because they’re not in the clear yet.
As the seasonal ads on TVs everywhere ask, are you ready for some football? The Apple Sports app certainly is, having launched full support Monday for real-time scores and stats for the onrushing NFL and college football seasons. They kick off with pro preseason play now underway and the first college games starting August 24.
Classic keyboard designs continue to reign supreme in computer setups, but a split keyboard makes for a more ergonomically healthy choice. Some split keebs look just a little different than a regular keyboard. But some, like the one in today’s M2 Mac mini setup, look almost alien. This one has two completely separate halves that the user places on either side of a Magic Trackpad 2.
After receiving an ominous note from an Apple attorney, concept artist Antonio De Rosa is waiting to find out how, exactly, the company wants him to alter his photorealistic images that depict unreleased Apple products.
De Rosa said he wants to work with Apple to resolve the situation. But when asked what he thinks will happen if he doesn’t make changes to his Apple concept images, he sounded slightly intimidated by the powerful tech company.
“I don’t know,” De Rosa said in an email to Cult of Mac, “but honestly I don’t want to find out.”
Normally Amazon bargain site Woot! — now 20 years old, by the way — puts across scads of Apple-related sale items in bursts. But today we found just one true deal. You can get new “Black Box” iPhone 15 models for hundreds off, but only until they sell out.
When we first saw a Harmon Karmon SoundSticks speaker system many years ago, we thought it looked weird, cool and futuristic. And all these years later, it still looks like nothing else on the market. The company is justifiably proud of the “inspiring industrial design,” and the Apple administrator who runs today’s M2 MacBook Pro setup is happy to have the speaker system filling his room with sound.
From the “he must be doing something right” department: An Apple attorney sent a note and called designer Antonio De Rosa this week, asking him to adjust some of his design concepts for possible new Apple products because they look “too real,” according to De Rosa, CEO of ADR Studio.
“I received a call from an Apple attorney asking me to adjust some of my concepts because they were considered too realistic,” De Rosa wrote Wednesday on X. He told Cult of Mac it came as quite a shock.
Update: De Rosa responded to Cult of Mac‘s initial inquiries and we included them below.
California residents will soon gain the ability to add their driver’s licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet, Apple said Thursday. The feature will let users present their identification using just an iPhone or Apple Watch rather than using a physical card. California drivers licenses in Apple Wallet is a big step forward for the program, given that the Golden State is the country’s most populous, with nearly 40 million residents.
“We’re excited to be working with the state of California to bring IDs in Apple Wallet to Apple’s home state soon, and provide residents with an easy, secure, and private way to present their California driver’s license and state ID in person and in app using Apple Wallet,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
“Whether using IDs in Apple Wallet to breeze through travel, or to securely verify age or identity at businesses, California driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet make ID presentment seamless — all with the security built into iPhone and Apple Watch,” she added.
The new Beats Studio Pro x Kim Kardashian over-ear headphones came out Thursday in moon, dune and earth colors, broadening the noise-canceling cans’ color palette with some neutral Kardashian hues a la her previous Beats Fit Pro earbuds release. But the over-ear cans in new colors cost full price, at $350, whereas it’s not difficult these days to find the four regular colors on sale for about $180.
“I’m so excited we’re bringing these three popular, chic colors to Beats’ most iconic and advanced headphones,” Kardashian said in press materials. “Beats Studio has always been a fashion statement, so I can’t wait to see how everyone styles them.”
For the fourth year running, Apple Card is tops in customer satisfaction, along with issuer Goldman Sachs, according to the 2024 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study by J.D. Power. They came out No. 1 in their segment, co-branded credit cards with no annual fee.
The enigmatic teaser trailer Apple TV+ dropped Wednesday for psychological thriller series Disclaimer, from Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón and starring Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, disclaims very little beyond a dark and foreboding mood and a warning to “be aware” of the assumptions that color our understanding of a story.
The seven-episode limited series debuts on Apple TV+ October 11.
UPDATE: After publishing the initial post, I realized a clever deep fake appears to be in play in the trailer’s narration, so I thought I’d better mention it (better late than never!) It only took seven days after posting about the trailer for me to realize I knew the narrator’s voice. And it seems she never said what she seemed to say in the trailer. See below.
A new study sheds light on which Apple Watch model consumers buy most — and least, and in between — Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) said Wednesday. Enthusiasts who assume the most popular Apple Watch model must be the biggest and best (Ultra 2) or the most cost-effective (SE2) miss the mark. They might be surprised that middle-market Series 9 takes the crown, followed by Series 8, which Apple no longer even sells.
The introduction of NFC and Secure Element (SE) APIs in iOS 18.1 unlocks new monetization opportunities for iOS app developers, Apple said Wednesday — though fees apply. But on the plus side, secure in-app near-field communication (NFC) transactions in iOS 18.1 will let devs integrate secure, contactless transactions directly within their apps on iPhone, independent of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.