David Snow - page 64

After months of cryptic hints and teasing demos, startup Humane finally put its supposedly iPhone-killing Ai Pin on sale Thursday for $700, plus subscription costs.

You pin it to your clothes and interact with it through voice, touch control, gestures, and laser projections on your hand. However, despite its ambitious goals, the reality of AI pins has been met with skepticism due to performance issues and limitations.

The question is, will this thing really kill the iPhone? To those who don’t like talking to devices except when absolutely necessary, it must seem unlikely.

An iPhone photography exhibition called “I Remember You” debuts Friday in Paris — but here’s your chance to scope out some of the fantastic iPhone 15 Pro Max photos online.

The two-day exhibition at the Salon Corderie showcases work by five esteemed photographers, Apple said Thursday.

Not only did Apple announce next year’s Swift Student Challenge early to give coders more time to prepare — it put the word out Wednesday for the February 2024 competition — it also added a new “Distinguished Winners” category and a raft of new coding resources in “Everyone Can Code Projects.”

You may have your charging needs pretty well covered at the office, but what about in your car? Nomad launched three new items Wednesday it hopes can help you out on the road — Mount, Charge Mount and 70-watt Car Charger.

Any fan of old-school song-and-dance numbers has a lot to look forward to this Yuletide season, judging by the trailer Apple TV+ dropped Wednesday for its upcoming special, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas.

The big, star-studded show debuts November 22, along with a companion album on all music streaming platforms, Apple said.

It might seem unlikely that a computer setup could take 2 years to build and idealize — until you see just how loaded and beautiful it is. Today’s M2 Pro Mac mini went through many iterations in the past couple of years, its user said, and now they’re finally happy with it.

And they should be. The setup rips through gaming and streaming tasks using an awesome lineup of gear. Read more below and check out that gear list.

Many people associate leather and stainless steel with watch bands for both analog and smart watches, but nylon seems to be on the rise for a lot of good reasons. Straps like the Carterjett Nylon Apple Watch Band offer lightweight comfort, flexibility and waterproof durability that looks good in a lot of situations.

And you can get the Carterjett Nylon Apple Watch Bands in 11 color choices from just $32.99 in the Cult of Mac Store.

When Elgato rolled out an affordable teleprompter recently for video streamers, it included a USB-C cable. No big deal, right? Well, this one got people’s attention.

Apple is developing greatly improved batteries for its future devices, according to a new report. It appears the iPhone-maker wants to create a custom process in-house and own it — rather than outsourcing — just like it did with Apple silicon chips.

Apple TV+ is cranking up the action in espionage-thriller series Slow Horses, if the season 3 trailer it dropped Tuesday is any indication.

Dissipated Cold War-era spy Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) sees his Slough House crew of remedial MI5 agents come under major attack, and one of them is kidnapped by an elite military unit. Is it an inside job? Per previous seasons, the Slow Horses tend to get in trouble with their more-accomplished MI5 colleagues.

Nice-guy dad. Loving wife. Eye-rolling teens. Cute and happy baby. The trailer Apple TV+ dropped Monday for action-comedy film The Family Plan really has it all — including tons and tons of killing.

Mark Wahlberg stars as assassin-turned-straight-arrow husband and dad whose past rushes back in a hail of bullets, even as he still tries to hide everything from wife Michelle Monaghan and the kids. The movie premieres December 15 on Apple TV+.

Apple said Monday it updated its Logic Pro music software to help spark users’ creativity and let them produce pro-level tracks.

New features for Mac include Mastering Assistant, 32-bit recording, Sample Alchemy and Beat Breaker. And Quick Sampler Recorder adds to the slate of iPad features.

To paraphrase many of the M3 MacBook Pro reviews coming out Monday, Apple’s new lineup is like new car models that look like the old ones but have much better engines under the hood.

Other than the inclusion of blazing-fast M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, reviewers made note of the new Space Black color for the M3 Pro and M3 Max MacBooks. And some poked a little fun at Apple for even having a MacBook Pro with an option for only 8GB of RAM (the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro model).

If you’ve got an old or damaged iMac lying around, why not make use of it? You can find plenty of guidance online to help you turn that dead weight into a version of Apple’s classic Cinema Display and use it with other Macs.

The owner of today’s setup talked about doing just that, plus using open-source software to make his old Macs run recent macOS versions.

If you’re fan of alternative-history drama series For All Mankind — in which the space race never ended — Apple TV+ has a treat for you. It’s 15 minutes of fake news clips showing you relevant (fictional) events between season 3 and season 4.

Consider it a teaser that gets you ready for the next 10 episodes, debuting November 10.

Apple previewed its 56th retail location in China Thursday, saying Apple MixC Wenzhou will open to customers on Saturday as the company’s first in that city of more than 9 million people, and its fourth in Zhejiang province.

The iPhone giant also emphasized the new store’s accessibility and sustainable design incorporating plan-based materials.

In Cult of Mac‘s Setups coverage, we often come across users wondering on social media about how to easily switch between personal and work computers using the same display, keyboard and other peripherals. A solid solution is a KVM switch, and StarTech rolled out five new ones recently.

The devices’ compact designs could suit home setups — especially elaborate ones that folks are proud enough of to flaunt online.

Apple replaced leather in its accessories with a twill fabric it calls FineWoven, but for those who still want classic leather, Nomad just rolled out new leather folios for iPad.

They’re similar to Apple’s Smart Folio cases, but with animal skin.

With computer setups we often talk about placing gear properly for healthy, ergonomically correct usage to avoid problems like neck pain. But some folks viewing today’s featured MacBook Pro workstation said they suffered neck pain just looking at the photo.

That’s because the setup’s dual Studio Displays sit on a mount that spreads them out, leaving a big gap in the middle unless the displays are pulled far forward toward the user.

Amazon bargain site Woot! launched an Apple accessories sale with something for almost everyone — and deals as good as 90% off certain iPhone cases and 61% off an Apple Thunderbolt 3 Pro cable.

But with 49 products on sale, that’s just a taste. Act fast, the sale ends November 10 at 9:59 p.m. PT.

Leather is absolutely classic for an Apple Watch band. But do you know what’s even better? Horween leather. And Olpr. Leather Goods offers a great one in a gray color that should develop a character-rich patina over time.

Check out the excellent band in the Cult of Mac Store.

SwitchEasy’s extensive lineup of MagEasy iPhone 15 cases and other Apple accessories constitutes a treasure trove of cool gear. And right now you, as a Cult of Mac reader, can get an extra 5% off by using coupon code cultofmac.

That will save you even more on items already on sale.

Journey recently unleashed an odd-but-useful beast — “the world’s first 4-in-1 laptop sleeve” with wireless charging, aka the Journey Nexa.

Journey Nexa Laptop Sleeve with Wireless Charging is a 4-in-1 device — MacBook sleeve, wireless charger for iPhone and AirPods, mouse pad and desk mat. But I found space limits it when you try to use it four ways at once, and it could benefit from some other improvements.

New benchmark tests support claims Apple made about the impressive speed of the new M3 chip unveiled Monday in the Scary Fast event.

Geekbench found the new entry-level M3 chip, which appears initially in a new 24-inch iMac and one of three MacBook Pro models, performs as expected compared to M1 and M2 versions.

Update: And after the initial results for M3 came in, further tests showed M3 Max is 42% faster than M2 Max, or about as fast as M2 Ultra. That means a new top-shelf MacBook Pro is as fast as the Mac Pro released earlier this year in June, which Apple said at the time was the “most powerful chip ever created for a personal computer.” That claim lasted about five months.

Apple put its new budget Apple Pencil with USB-C connectivity on sale Wednesday for all your sketching and note-taking needs. Just $79, it’s now available in 33 countries, including the United States.

That price saves you $50 compared to Apple Pencil 2, but it also buys you fewer features.