Massachusetts-based 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.
After 10 Academy Award nominations, “Killers of the Flower Moon” returns to theaters beginning Friday, January 26. From left, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese. Photo: Apple TV+
After Killers of the Flower Moon attracted 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Apple and Paramount Pictures agreed to rerelease the historical crime drama in theaters starting Friday.
The film, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by him and Eric Roth, will see a limited run in 1,000+ locations worldwide, Apple said.
Get a good deal on an Apple Watch 8 with blood-oxygen sensing. Photo: Apple
Ready to bag an Apple Watch with a working blood-oxygen sensor/app? While you can often find good deals on Amazon, the company’s bargain site, Woot, often does it one better. A good example would be Woot’s current deal on refurbished Apple Watch Series 8. You can get the GPS-only model for 34% off, at $264.99 — and it even comes with a one-year Apple warranty.
Amazon’s deals on that model fall a little short of Woot’s mark, but the parent site does offer one incredible deal — a GPS and cellular Apple Watch 8 at 46% off.
See how five Amazon and Woot deals on Apple Watch 8 compare below.
This setup traded a vertical 32-inch display for an M2 Max MacBook Pro, among other changes. Photo: [email protected]
For the second time in as many weeks we’ve come across someone ditching a nice external display and keeping just one — and this time it’s to add a second powerful MacBook Pro used as both a computer and a secondary display. In fact, now it’s triple-display setup, but two of them are laptops on stands.
Get good deals on M2 Mac mini desktop machines at Amazon. Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Right now you can get great deals on small-but-fierce M2 and M2 Pro Mac mini desktop computers at Amazon, thanks to a combination of price reductions and product-page coupons.
That means you can get between $80 and $123 off different versions of the machine, offering you a range of affordable prices and capabilities to choose from.
★★★★☆
Matrix Ultimate fast-charges MagSafe iPhones and Apple Watch while also juicing up AirPods Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
If you only want one charger for your smaller gadgets, Alogic’s new Matrix Ultimate is nearly ideal. You can use the 3-in-1 charger for iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at home or easily take it with you on trips.
That’s because the solidly built folding portable charger has a removable power bank and Apple Watch charging puck, plus a very nice felt carrying case. And it comes with a power adapter and USB-C cable. It’s not cheap, but it’s quite useful.
The psychological space-thriller premieres on Apple TV+ February 21. Photo: Apple TV+
After a disastrous mission, an astronaut returns to Earth to find parts of her life missing, and it appears a horrifying conspiracy may be to blame, according to the trailer Apple TV+ dropped Monday for the upcoming eight-part space-thriller series Constellation.
The streamer describes the series, which stars Noomi Rapace and Jonathan Banks, as an “action-packed space adventure,” but the trailer feels more like horror. Good thing Apple also calls it a “conspiracy-based psychological thriller.” It premieres February 21.
Researchers at the University of Chicago have given artists a tool to fight AI models imitating their artwork. Photo: University of Chicago
Artists have every reason to fear artificial intelligence (AI) models that might train on their artwork online without permission, essentially imitating it and potentially diluting its value.
A new free app called Nightshade — yeah, after the poisonous plant — is here to mess with AI models to deter trainers from doing that.
The M3 Max MacBook Pro in clamshell mode offers plenty of power in a small, mobile footprint. Photo: [email protected]
If you have a powerful custom desktop PC, why would you switch to a MacBook Pro? We’ve seen plenty of setups that opt to include both, but today’s setup made the swap and its user feels zero regrets.
The Mac laptop is just that powerful, and the option for mobile use proved irresistible.
Despite appearances, there's really a lot going on here. Photo: [email protected]
Isn’t it great when someone on social media humbly displays a well put-together and complete computer setup that makes yours look like random debris? Well, at least it’s a good learning opportunity. And today’s MacBook Pro setup is an exceptional example, as it doesn’t look like “all that” — even though it is.
At a glance you might not guess that it packs about two dozen components, and the user is happy to explain how he uses most of them.
There's no denying Elago's W9 Stand for Apple Watch is pretty cute. Photo: Elago
Apple Watch is a serious tool, but that doesn’t mean all its accessories need to be straight-faced. Elago excels at making lighthearted and charming retro-style accessories for Apple products, and its W9 Stand for Apple Watch is no different. It makes your wearable look like an old-school Mac.
Compatible with all Apple Watch series, from Ultra down through the smaller sizes, the W9 stand is available now in the Cult of Mac Store.
Hey, $500 per speaker isn't even all that nuts for great ones. Photo: KEF
Highly respected British audio brand KEF released an “LT” version of its stellar, versatile AirPlay-ready LSX II speaker line this week, keeping most key features but dropping the price by about $300 to $400.
That doesn’t make them budget speakers by any means, at $999, but nobody shops KEF for that.
Seagate's Exos Mozaic 3+ HDD packs a whopping 30TB of storage space. Photo: Seagate
Seagate unveiled the world’s highest-capacity hard drive Wednesday with its Exos Mosaic 3+ HDD platform, hitting the 30TB mark for the first time, the company said. That’s enough space to store a thousand Blu-ray movies.
The company said it used several new technologies to get there, and its road map shows the arrival of even bigger storage devices in the coming years. And while businesses will certainly go for these megadrives, they will also be available to many kinds of end users and require no special hardware to read.
The second Lionel Messi documentary to debut on Apple TV+ airs February 21. Photo: Apple
As the trailer Apple TV+ dropped Thursday for documentary series Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend shows, the soccer superstar is practically a deity in his home country, Argentina. And if you don’t already worship him, you might start after watching the show, which premieres February 21.
Anyone who loves the world’s most-popular sport, soccer (aka football), probably knows a thing or two about Messi. But that just makes the new four-part documentary series all the more enticing for its “exclusive, behind-the-scenes” look at the man’s five World Cup appearances and his long-awaited 2022 win with Argentina.
Apple Hongdae opens on Saturday in Seoul. Photo: Apple
Apple previewed Apple Hongdae Thursday, its seventh Apple Store in South Korea and 100th in the Asia-Pacific region, opening Saturday in a busy university neighborhood in Seoul with a daily Today at Apple Pop-Up Studio featuring hip-hop artist Beenzino.
“We couldn’t be more excited to bring our customers in Korea something special at the start of the year with the opening of the all-new Apple Hongdae,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail.
Don't expect Christian Dior and Coco Chanel to actually fight the Nazis, but there will be drama. And Dior's sister was in the French Resistance. Photo: Apple TV+
Competing designers in World War II Nazi-occupied Paris — Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, and others — launched modern fashion and helped bring the war-torn world back to life, the trailer for upcoming The New Look drama series on Apple TV+ implies.
Who knew? And with a cast including Ben Mendelsohn (Dior), Juliette Binoche (Chanel), John Malkovich, Maisie Williams, and other familiar faces, who cares if it’s letter-perfect history? It looks like a good time. Speaking of captivating performances, check out this take onAmanda Peet hot in a compelling role.
The 10-part series The New Look premieres on Apple TV+ on Valentine’s Day, February 14.
Apple’s sleek and colorful all-in-one desktop computer, the iMac, appears in Cult of Mac‘s setups coverage less often than other Macs, but not for lack of trying. It seems people don’t flaunt iMac setups all over social media all that much. But judging by today’s warm and inviting pink-iMac setup, maybe they should.
The cozy little office space also benefits from smart lights we don’t see all that often, either.
This Apple Watch 9 features the new Black Unity Sport Band and one of the new faces. Photo: Apple
Apple unveiled its new 2024 Black Unity Collection featuring a new Apple Watch band and face Wednesday, as well as related iPad and iPhone wallpapers. Proceeds from watch band sales help support grantees in the company’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI).
The company also profiled one of the grantees — Shout Mouse Press — saying it inspires resilience and creativity in the Black community by lifting underrepresented voices in children’s literature.
qCharge 2.0 can go pretty much anywhere you go. Photo: Citius Systems
Apple devices are known for their beautiful designs and user-friendly functionality — not their battery power. Apple Watch is no exception, needing daily charging. So sometimes the battery runs low when you’re not near a charger. But a brand-new gadget fixes that problem.
qCharge 2.0 Portable Apple Watch Battery, now available in the Cult of Mac Store, goes wherever you go and charges up your Apple Watch (and AirPods Pro 2) anywhere, no cable required.
★★★★☆
Ugreen's four potent Nexode Pro GaN chargers can cover most of your charging needs. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
If you’re looking for newer, better charging options than the old adapters you have lying around the house, but without having to spend much, don’t sleep on Ugreen’s new Nexode Pro lineup of four gallium nitride (GaN) wall chargers.
Ugreen continues to go the way of GaN with these “GaNInfinity”-branded gadgets — more charging power in a smaller space with as many USB-C charging ports as possible (without leaving out USB-A ports entirely; there’s always one).
It comes in chrome, above, as well as matte-black and matte-white finishes. Photo: Twelve South
If you’re ready to put your MacBook in clamshell mode on a vertical stand, Twelve South rolled out a nice one for you Tuesday — BookArc Flex.
The minimalist stand lets you run your closed laptop like a desktop — just plug in your external display and fire up a keyboard and mouse — while saving loads of space on your desk for other gear. And you can get it with chrome, matte-black or matte-white finishes.
Environments are dynamic vistas in your space that change as the day progresses. Photo: Apple
New entertainment experiences launching with Apple Vision Pro on February 2 should be dazzling, as users can turn any space into a personal theater, enjoy more than 150 3D movies and experience “the future of entertainment” with Immersive Video, Apple said Tuesday.
“Apple Vision Pro is the ultimate entertainment device,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing. “Users can turn any place into the best seat in the house, enjoy personal concerts and adventures with Apple Immersive Video, interact with lifelike prehistoric creatures in Encounter Dinosaurs, and even land on the surface of the moon using Environments. It’s unlike anything users have ever seen before and we can’t wait for them to experience it for themselves.”
Dua Lipa and Henry Cavill star in Argylle, in theaters February 2. Photo: Apple TV+
For a would-be blockbuster packed with A-list Hollywood talent, the Apple TV+ spy thriller Argylle coming to theaters next month sure flew under the radar until recently. And not only is the high-concept global romp starring Henry Cavill, Dua Lipa and everyone else in Hollywood seeming to come out of nowhere. So is the developing Argylle movie franchise, which could dominate screens for years.
Turns out Argylle is based on book four of a novel series that has only just released book one. Does that mean a whopping four Argylle movies will come to Apple TV+? Or maybe even more?
This user swears by the arms his 4 displays are mounted on. Photo: [email protected]
Sure, you can buy a computer monitor and set it up on the stand that came in the box. But what if you want to easily move the external display around? And what if you want to have multiple screens and move them around?
Keeping monitors up off the desk and mobile can really improve your setup. And the best way to do that is to mount your screens on arms. It takes some effort, but as today’s user points out below, it’s worth it.
★★★★☆
Is this just a foward-looking ending, or is this upcoming season 5? We shall see. Photo: Apple TV+
You can’t ask for much more than For All Mankind‘s season 4 finale “Perestroika” gives. It wraps up the season in heart-pounding and heartstring-tugging fashion Friday, bringing climax and resolution to the audience along with hope for the future of the space program — and maybe a season 5 of the show.
It’s a satisfying end to the conflict over Mars-based asteroid mining at the heart of the season. But the future development teased as the episode wraps up, which appears to beg a fifth season, could simply make a fitting end to the series (as we wait to see if Apple TV+ will renew it).