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 10,000mAh wireless power bank packs plenty of juice for charging devices on the go. Photo: Momax
Amazon Prime Days are here, and this year Momax is offering splendid deals on a variety of technology products for Apple fans, including a powerful wireless charger/power bank, a useful vertical laptop stand and a slew of other cool items.
Plus, you can expect even more Prime Day deals from Momax tomorrow.
EarFun Air Pro 3 noise-cancelling earbuds for around $50 is a great deal. Photo: Earfun
With Prime Day upon us, Earfun is offering one of its best deals ever on high-quality noise-canceling earbuds, Earfun Air Pro 3.
“This exclusive Prime Day deal represents the lowest prices in our brand’s history, and we are confident that they will be extremely enticing for consumers,” the company told Cult of Mac.
It took months to put together this well-put-together setup. Photo: [email protected]
There’s nothing like stained wood to make a computer setup look like a class act. Today’s featured M1 Max MacBook Pro and custom PC workstation places those powerful machines on shelves off to the side that more-or-less match the desk.
Relocating the computers makes more room on the beautiful wooden desktop, which ups the quality even further with a handsome wooden desk shelf for the external display and other items.
Tune in July 19 for a preview of the 2023 Women's World Cup and follow each episode covering the tournament's matches. Photo: Apple News
Apple News said Monday its popular soccer podcast After the Whistle with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe will return for a second season July 19.
While the first season saw Hunt — Coach Beard on the smash hit Apple TV+ soccer comedy Ted Lasso — and veteran sports broadcaster Lowe applying their super fandom to the Men’s World Cup tournament, the second season focuses on the 2023 Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Bluetti's Prime Day Sale offers huge savings and doesn't require an Amazon Prime membership. Photo: Bluetti
If you’ve been thinking about getting a reliable backup power source for your home that you can also use to power outdoor adventures, don’t miss this opportunity — Bluetti’s Prime Day Sale.
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A pioneer in renewable energy storage, Bluetti powers up its Prime Day Sale on July 11 and 12. You can get huge discounts of up to $960. And you don’t need an Amazon Prime membership.
Jony Ive's design firm LoveFrom worked on the new Linn Sondek LP12-50 turntable. Photo: Linn Products Limited
If Apple made a turntable, would it cost $60,000? Almost certainly not, but that’s the lofty price tag on the new 50th anniversary Linn Sondek LP12-50, sketched out by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom.
It’s his first hardware design project since leaving Apple in 2019. And he did it for free.
How would you improve this setup? See others' advice below. Photo: [email protected]
On social media we see plenty of people flaunting pristine computer setups, and even completely staged ones. But plenty of them are “lived in,” and some aren’t necessarily complete. People sometimes call out for help: “How do I make this better?”
Today’s featured M1 MacBook Air setup is example of the latter. The user asked for advice and got it. But he didn’t agree with some of it. See below.
You're probably going to wish you bought the thing when it was merely expensive. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
When former Apple design honcho Jony Ive released his super-premium Apple design book in 2016, a lot of folks thought it was an overpriced ego trip. After all, Designed by Apple in California went for $299 for the large size and $199 for the small size.
And now? Well, now you’d be lucky to get the fancy coffee-table books for dollar amounts in the high hundreds and low thousands.
You can charge devices fast on the go with Spigen's new ArcPack. Photo: Spigen
Mobile accessory brand Spigen unveiled its new Spigen ArcPack Portable Charger on Monday. It features a 10,000mAH battery pack and 30 watts of quick-charging power for your devices on the go.
A federal judge blocked federal government contact with social media sites. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
A federal judge in Louisiana issued a broad injunction Tuesday limiting federal government contact with social media sites over what the Biden administration may see as disinformation spreading out of control.
The ruling is one of many upcoming that frame a fight over the constitutionality of curbing social media’s influence in light of the First Amendment’s right to freedom of expression.
Amazingly, Apple Watch may become even more vital to tracking your health in the near future. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
A smartwatch like your trusty Apple Watch might be able to screen you for Parkinson’s disease up to 7 years before symptoms would show up if you have it, according to a fascinating new study.
Parkinson’s damages the brain slowly, so early detection via smartwatch could offer treatment advantages as new therapies develop.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro star in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," debuting in October. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ dropped the official trailer Wednesday for its upcoming historical drama Killers of the Flower Moon. The sprawling period piece is filled with the rage and bloodshed of one of America’s most-enduring murder mysteries.
Based on a nonfiction account of a deadly conspiracy by white men to capture oil wealth held by the Osage Indian nation members in early-1900s Oklahoma, the Marin Scorsese film counts Leonardo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro among its sprawling cast.
The comfy, secure silicone magnetic Apple Watch band fits most occasions with its sleek look. Photo: SwitchEasy
SwitchEasy makes an array of cool bands for Apple Watch in different styles and with various materials, from stretchy nylon to stainless steel mesh. In the SwitchEasy Flash Sale, the Cult of Mac Store has four excellent choices on sale for 20% off the regular prices through July 3.
A dual monitor mount is used for the external display and the MacBook Pro. Photo: [email protected]
Monitor mounts and the like may not be terribly glamorous or exciting, but they can do an awful lot for a computer setup.
Today’s featured MacBook Pro workstation uses them to make the laptop and two other crucial pieces of hardware easy to move around. And they keep the hardware off the desk, creating space for other items.
Increasingly, U.S. households need to prepare for wildfires, which can not only burn homes but cause widespread power outages. Photo: Bluetti
Canada’s 2,000 wildfires made news all over the United States when the resulting smoke drifted south in June. The fires burned more than 14 million acres, serving as a wake-up call for heightened attention to wildfire preparedness — especially because the United States is no stranger to its own conflagrations, with more than 72,000 communities at risk.
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Are you prepared for the possibility of a wildfire? In this post, we’ll go over the best ways to prep for when a wildfire threatens your household and damages your surroundings, and what to do afterward. One key part of your prep: a good portable power station from Bluetti.
Casetify's Bounce Vision lineup of accessories for Vision Pro will feature a range of colors and textures. Photo: Casetify
We know not to expect Vision Pro to go on sale until early next year, yet accessories for the AR/VR headset unveiled at WWDC23 are starting to show up already.
Phone case maker Casetify previewed a lineup called Bounce Vision Friday.
A powerful new MacBook Pro and two Studio Displays make the most of this attractive setup. Photo: [email protected]
A top question folks have when they put together a computers setup is, “how simply can I connect everything?” How little hardware and how few cables can I get away with?
Today’s featured M2 Max MacBook Pro setup makes things easy by driving two beautiful Studio Displays with one cable via one of the best docks on the market. And don’t miss the great-yet-affordable speakers and cool podcasting gear, either.
★★★★☆
Slap the Anker 620 MagGo Phone Grip on any metal surface and it becomes a mount for your MagSafe iPhone. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
Anker’s recently released 620 MagGo Phone Grip is one of those simple products that just does what it says it does. It’s not any sort of big, fancy deal. It’s just good. And what it does so well is help you mount, carry or prop up your MagSafe iPhone in lots of convenient places.
The small grip, which looks sort of like an oversized pretend wristwatch, is a good get for $20, too. The company sent me one to try out.
Ready for more alien attacks? Apple TV+ sci-fi series "Invasion" returns with season 2 on August 23. Photo: Apple
Providing a first-look image (above), Apple TV+ said Friday its expansive sci-fi series Invasion will return for season 2 before the end of the summer.
Aliens resume battling humans on August 23. Are you ready?
The Targus UV-C LED Disinfection Light sanitizes your desktop. Photo: Targus
Laptop case maker Targus rolled out its UV-C LED Disinfection Light for sale Friday. The CES Innovation Awards Honoree is a no-touch way to reduce pathogens on desktop devices.
Its UV-C Light technology breaks down DNA of microorganisms crawling all over your keyboard and other gadgets.
The phone bot talks to telemarketers so humans don't have to. Photo: Mart [email protected]
People don’t answer the phone as much they used to, especially because they can usually see who’s calling. But if you have a history of hating telemarketers’ tenacious harassment, now you can get some payback.
A new report points out you can hire a phone bot that uses artificial intelligence and voice cloning to keep those unwanted callers tied up until they give up and hang up.
Creatives can work their magic right on Clarity Pro Touch's interactive touchscreen. Photo: Alogic
Alogic’s new Clarity Pro and Clarity Pro Touch 4K UHD Display Monitors build on the success of the company’s Clarity 4K UHD Display Monitor. Both 27-inch monitors feature an 8MP auto-retractable webcam, an eight-port USB-C hub and built-in speakers. And the Clarity Pro Touch adds a touchscreen, bringing a whole new dimension of usability.
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“We have added best features to Clarity Pro and Pro Touch, making them the ultimate tools for graphic designers, animators, photographers, videographers, scientists, research professionals and more, offering them spectacular displays that help their work shine, contributing to their overall productivity,” said Ritesh Kumar, Alogic’s co-founder and sales director.
Beats Studio Pro may look a lot like Beats Studio3, but come packed with much-needed upgrades. Photo: Beats
Apple will release the new Beats Studio Pro over-ear headphones July 19, according to the same anonymous source who correctly predicted the recent release of Beats Studio Buds+.
The new cans are expected to have high-end features a la AirPods Max, like Beats’ latest active noise cancellation (ANC), and to come in four colors.
Razer Moray wired in-ear monitors are designed for marathon gaming and streaming sessions. Photo: Razer
Razer, known for gaming gear, sounded off Tuesday with its first in-ear monitors (IEM) — Razer Moray.
Designed for gamers and streamers, the new wired earbuds emphasize THX-certified audio, natural noise isolation and lightweight comfort for long gaming and streaming sessions, the company said.
That M1 Max Mac Studio is about to get replaced for not quite handling renders. Photo: [email protected]
It seemed only yesterday M1 Max Mac Studio showed up as the new powerhouse in town, ready to take on all tasks. But in today’s featured setup, it’s on the chopping block for failing to handle heavy-duty rendering work for animated films well enough. The designer running the setup eagerly awaits an M2 Ultra Mac Studio.
Meanwhile, he uses Universal Control to pair his powerful desktop with an M1 iMac for basic tasks and relies on massive amounts of external storage for his humongous files.