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.
The compact charger is highly portable for your international travels. Photo: Journey
Journey’s new 3-in-1 wall charger and power bank can ease battery anxiety for world travelers. The Axie 10,000mAh Global Charger and Power Bank comes with international plugs that work in 150 countries.
The company pitches the Axie as a boon for international travelers — and “the fix for low battery dramas.”
SAG nominated Lily Gladstone and the ensemble cast of "Killers of the Flower Moon" for awards. Photo: Apple TV+
After the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards showered Apple TV+ with 11 nominations in January — for Apple Original Film Killers of the Flower Moon and hit TV shows The Morning Show, Lessons in Chemistry and Ted Lasso — the streamer managed to net just one win Saturday in Los Angeles. SAG named Lily Gladstone best actress.
To be precise, she took the prize for Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for Killers of the Flower Moon. She’s the first indigenous person to do so.
Now that she has a Golden Globe and a SAG award under her belt, her chances of bagging the Best Actress Oscar on March 10 seem even brighter.
The Cult of Mac buyback program pays top dollar for used Apple gear. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
Apple Pencil is one piece of Cupertino kit for which there are plenty of cheaper third-party alternatives. But why shop around for those often not-as-good choices when you can get the lowest price on Apple Pencil 2?
Right now you can nab one on Amazon for $79. That’s down from the regular price of $129 — $50 off! And the still-capable Apple Pencil (1st generation) is on sale for even less. See below.
This setup replaced big ol' Yamaha speakers with smaller new ones the user said sound just as good. Photo: [email protected]
For those who get by with audio from a laptop or display speakers in their computer setup — as good as that can be these days — an upgrade to desktop speakers offer a real treat for the ears. Today’s MacBook Pro setup from a Florida-based rapper just got a nice set of brand new Yamaha speakers and jacked them in to a huge subwoofer under the desk.
The deceptive iOS trojan GoldPickaxe steals facial-recognition and more to get at your money. Photo: Pexels-Kamal-Hayit
For the first time, an iOS trojan has been spotted in the wild. Adapted from a well-known Android trojan, GoldDigger, the new malware is called GoldPickaxe, according to a new report. And it steals an iPhone user’s facial recognition data to go after money in banking and other financial apps. We’ll show you how below.
OWC's Thunderbolt Go Dock is a mobile powerhouse. Photo: OWC
Known for docks, hubs and other Mac-friendly accessories, OWC has put together a big sale on Amazon. You can get up to $100 off Thunderbolt docks!
We’re focusing on Thunderbolt docks that can help you broaden your computer setup’s connectivity. But you can also find external hard drives, memory kits, keyboards, cables and more in the sale.
SwapSolar is perfect for camping trips and other outdoor activities. Photo: Bluetti
The SwapSolar, Bluetti’s very first “ecosystem,” pairs a power station with a portable fridge. The combo is designed to power up all your outdoor activities and keep your food and drinks chilled. But the Bluetti SwapSolar is currently heating up Indiegogo.
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This post is brought to you by Bluetti.
The crowd-funding campaign for SwapSolar — which combines the new MultiCooler (the world’s first portable refrigerator powered by lithium iron phosphate batteries) and the AC180T hot-swappable battery power station — launched Tuesday on Indiegogo and quickly eclipsed Bluetti’s $50,000 goal. There’s still plenty of time for you to get in on the deal, though, with multiple perks and discounts available for early backers.
The Earthsounds docuseries premieres February 23 on Apple TV+. Image: Apple
Now hear this: Apple TV+ dropped a trailer Tuesday for its upcoming documentary series Earthsounds, narrated by Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award nominee Tom Hiddleston.
The streamer said you’ll “hear our planet like never before in the new 12-part immersive natural history series.” All episodes become available February 23.
There’s no time like the present to jump on a great deal on a very cool laptop computer — $200 off an M2 MacBook Air. You can get that price on a midnight- or spay gray-colored model at B&H Photo.
Right now you can get the highly rated laptop — 4.9 out of 5 stars at B&H — for just $1,149, down from $1,349. That’s a great deal on a bantamweight machine that packs a powerful punch, thanks to Apple silicon.
Want your Apple Watch Ultra to be all but indestructible? Try this case. Photo: Elkson
The Apple Watch Ultra is famously rugged and great for endurance sports. But no wearable is truly indestructible. So if you want to make your Ultra even tougher, put it in the Elkson Quattro Pro 2.0 bumper case with band for Apple Watch Ultra.
The case/band combo, which now comes in six colors, is available in the Cult of Mac Store for just $23.99.
It's not like your fingerprint is being read off the screen. It's recreated from sound and friction. Photo: Pixabay@Pexels
New research suggests attackers can use the sound of a user’s finger swiping on a touchscreen to recreate their fingerprint pattern, according to a report Tuesday. And that biometric security risk could lead to trouble, of course.
All it takes is casual swiping in popular apps while a device microphone is on.
Great. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, biometic-security-wise.
"See, I told you I loved that album. Here it is with 1 minute of listening in May, 2021!" Photo: Apple
Tuesday is the first day Apple Music users can see their Apple Music Replay 24 favorites so far for the new year — but that’s not all. There’s a fresh new feature to help you obsess over past listening.
Apple Music Replay now gives you monthly stats, including month-by-month lists of your top artists, albums and songs going back to through your history with Replay. So now you have even more proof of your listening habits (good or bad).
Now you can pick from five colors, including orange and green. Photo: Mifa
Mifa’s Every-Day-Carry (EDC) Nylon Sports Leather Apple Watch Band is a favorite item in the Cult of Mac Store for its cool, tactical look. And now you can get it in two eye-catching new colors — orange and green.
It doesn’t matter if your Apple Watch is made of aluminum or stainless steel, Mifa’s rugged EDC band can be a great complement to it.
Eight teams will receive custom Beats headphones to start, with the 22 other clubs to follow. Photo: Major League Soccer
Beats and Major League Soccer (MLS) struck a multi-year deal Monday to make the Apple headphones subidiary the official consumer audio products partner of the league. That will include eight custom-branded Beats headphones for MLS teams delivered initially. Headphones for the other 22 clubs will follow.
“We are extremely excited to join forces with the MLS, one of the fastest growing and most dynamic sports leagues in the world,” said Chris Thorne, Beats CMO. “Beats will be working closely with the MLS clubs and top players to deliver amazing experiences throughout the upcoming season.”
The chunky little Tangara is like your old iPod, except you can totally mess with it. Photo: Cool Tech Zone
Tangara, a new portable music player that sports serious iPod Classic vibes, totally eclipsed its initial crowd-funding goal as of Monday. So the open-source iPod alternative could become a reality.
Complete with a touchwheel, the nostalgia-provoking player from startup Cool Tech Zone differs from Apple’s famous iPods in major ways. Mainly, its open hardware and open-source software make it easy to access, customize, repair and upgrade.
It's amazing what an atmospheric effect a light strip can have on a setup. Photo: Philips Hue
As we’ve seen so often in our endless tour of computer setups on social media, ambient lighting matters. Sure, you want proper lighting so you can see what you’re doing, but extra-mile work like setting Philips Hue ambient lighting — as in today’s Mac Studio setup — can make a big difference cosmetically and in more practical ways.
This cool setup sports the NyPhy Halo75 mechanical gaming keyboard. Photo: [email protected]
Dual Studio Displays are a popular-if-pricey choice among Mac users. In addition to making a case for going with the configuration in the first place, today’s Mac Studio setup offers some helpful tips for creating synced dual Studio Displays.
It suggests third-party tools to help sync audio and brightness levels across the two monitors.
Are you ready to blow your mind with new spatial games for the Vision Pro headset? Photo: Apple
Three games designed for visionOS spatial experiences through the new Vision Pro headset will soon join a dozen existing such titles, plus another 250 compatible games already in Apple Arcade, Apple said Thursday.
The company highlighted all the fun Vision Pro users can have, including descriptions of the upcoming versions of Alto’s Odyssey, Gibbon and Spire Blast for Vision Pro.
Don't waste another minute. Seize these watch deals. Photo: D. Griffith Jones/Cult of Mac
Giant online retailers Amazon and Best Buy are offering deep discounts on Apple Watch 9. At Amazon you can choose different Series 9 versions ranging from $70 to $100 off regular prices. Best Buy offers tons of options, all at $70 off, from the cheapest to more pricey models.
And notably, Best Buy lists all of its $70-off sale items as “With blood oxygen feature.”
These intriguing studio monitors from France -- plus a massive subwoofer to match -- have never appeared in our Setups coverage before. Photo: Focal
We love it when an interesting computer setup on social media — something real and well-used, not staged — shows us a brand-new thing (new to us, that is). And this week that comes in an audio engineer’s iMac Pro setup featuring brilliant Focal studio-monitor speakers on stands above a massive Focal subwoofer under the custom-made desk.
We’re pretty sure Focal speakers have never appeared in setups featured on Cult of Mac. For one thing, they’re from France. That country comes to mind less for premium audio than the United States, UK, Germany, Japan and Denmark, to name a few leaders.
It’s wonderful how slim and light iPads are, including the capable 11-inch iPad Pro and 10.9-inch iPad Air. But while it may be tempting to carry yours around without any sort of case, it’s risky.
So you might consider a slim and lightweight case and stand that protects your tablet and adds a splash of color — like the Laut Huex Folio Case with Pencil Holder. You can get one at a good price in the Cult of Mac Store.
It's sort of like going halfway from case to caseless. Photo: Nomad
When I first saw Nomad’s brand-new Magnetic Leather Back for the iPhone 15 Pro series, I thought, what is this, like a thong for iPhone?
Well, it’s what its name describes, a partial case. And it’s for those who wish their handset was naked, but they can’t bring themselves to strip it completely.