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 Studio with Seth Rogen cleaned up at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Apple TV+ dominated the first night of the 77th Creative Arts Emmy Awards over the weekend, securing a record-breaking 15 wins led by breakout performances from comedy The Studio and psychological drama Severance. Overall, the streamer’s staggering 81 nominations covered 14 original titles.
Denzel Washington wears gold Beats headphones in Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest. Photo: Apple TV+
Legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film High and Low gets a modern music industry twist in Highest 2 Lowest, a new Apple TV+ film from director Spike Lee that started streaming Friday. In the new Highest 2 Lowest trailer, below, we get a taste of Denzel Washington’s portrayal of a powerful New York City record exec whose son is kidnapped.
The new movie hit theaters on August 15, but now you can watch it on Apple TV+. Check out the trailer below to see what Lee and Washington have in store. Reviews so far suggest the tense drama is another great New York City film from Lee, with Washington shining in lead role.
What if an Apple Pro Display XDR sported a touchscreen? Might be like Alogic's new 6K Clarity Touch. Photo: Alogic
Alogic made waves at IFA 2025 in Berlin Friday, introducing advanced displays specifically designed for Mac users — including the first 6K resolution touchscreen display optimized for Mac. That’s like an Apple Pro Display XDR with a touchscreen. The Australian company’s new lineup also features innovative 4K docking monitors and an expanded ultrawide display series.
“With this launch at IFA Berlin, Alogic is delivering a complete ecosystem of professional displays,” said Ritesh Kumar, CEO of Alogic. “From the brand-new, patented Aspekt 4K docking monitors to our flagship Clarity 6K Touch, we are setting new benchmarks in resolution, connectivity and interaction for modern professionals and enterprises.”
Ugreen's new MagFlow series includes five Qi2 chargers. Photo: Ugreen
Ugreen’s new MagFlow Series magnetic wireless chargers bring Qi2’s enhanced 25-watt charging standard to Apple device users, the company said Friday. The five-product lineup promises significantly faster wireless charging speeds while maintaining the magnetic convenience that iPhone users expect from MagSafe accessories.
Now you and your pets truly cannot hide from your robot vacuum cleaner. Photo: Eufy
Plenty of Apple households consider robot vacuums essential smart home devices, but they’ve always had one major limitation: stairs. If you live in a multi-story home, you’ve either had to carry your robot vacuum between floors or invest in multiple units. What a drag. But the innovative new Eufy MarsWalker for robot vacuums, set to launch in spring 2026, promises to eliminate the problem entirely. The company just introduced it at IFA Berlin.
This is one fast and potent power bank. Photo: Anker
Anker unveiled its most powerful portable battery yet at IFA Berlin 2025, headlining a refreshed Prime charging ecosystem seeking to seduce power users and mobile professionals. The star of the show is the Anker Prime 300W Power Bank, which delivers unprecedented charging capabilities in an airline-friendly package.
But that’s not all. The lineup also boasts an updated 14-in-1 Prime Docking Station, a 3-in-1 bedside charging station with active cooling and more. They all include AnkerSense View smart displays showing charging speeds and temperatures.
"NFL Retro Bowl 26" brings its old-school graphics and gameplay to Apple Arcade in September. Photo: Apple
Apple Arcade’s exciting September is well under way with several major game additions going live Thursday. The headliners? The exclusive launch of NFL Retro Bowl ’26 and the arrival of Jeopardy! Daily, the subscription service said recently.
It continues to expand its catalog of ad-free, in-app purchase-free games with these highly anticipated titles, among others.
Think movies and shows on Apple TV 4K tend to be too dark? Relief could be on the way. Photo: Dolby
Dolby unveiled Dolby Vision 2 Tuesday with big changes to the industry-leading HDR picture quality technology — and the timing couldn’t be better for Apple users. With Apple expected to announce next-gen Apple TV 4K at its September 9 Awe dropping event or shortly thereafter, the streaming device could be perfectly positioned to support the updated display standard as Dolby Vision 2 arrives, from day one or soon.
And Dolby Vision 2 could even solve users’ “too dark” complaint about Apple TV content.
The iSteady V3 Ultra phone gimbal uses AI-powered smart tracking to make sure you capture all the action. Photo: Hohem
Hohem’s new iSteady V3 Ultra phone gimbal gives iPhone filmmakers a powerful new tool to elevate their mobile videography game. Released today, it brings significant upgrades to the company’s already impressive stabilization technology.
With this new version of Hohem’s phone gimbal, you can pretty much bid farewell to shaky iPhone videos.
Two angled Studio Displays and a powerful Mac Studio? Yes, please. Photo: [email protected]
Few items in computer setups flaunted online induce more envy than Apple displays, particularly the one many people find almost financially within reach — the 27-inch 5K resolution Studio Display. (And let’s just stop frightening our wallets with any talk at all of the vaunted Pro Display XDR, starting at $5,000). So what’s even better than one amazingly vibrant, color-accurate Studio Display? Well, two of them, of course. We found 12 setups that might make you green with envy — the best dual Studio Display setups.
Here's everything to expect from Apple's premium earbuds. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
Apple looks poised to unveil its highly anticipated AirPods Pro 3 at its Awe Dropping event on September 9, marking the first major update to the premium noise-canceling earbuds since 2022. Multiple sources suggest the third-generation model will bring significant hardware upgrades alongside Apple’s continued software feature rollouts. Check out all the AirPods Pro 3 rumors below.
Getting these EarFun Tune Pro cans for about $56 is a steal. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
EarFun Tune Pro noise-canceling headphones knocked my socks off when they came out, rivaling pricier sets like Beats Studio Pro. And now an EarFun Tune Pro headphones deal at Amazon puts them at just $55.99. That’s 38% off the regular price of $89.99.
They’re affordable even at their regular price. But at an incredibly low price of $56, they’re a steal — and worthy of being your audio daily drivers, not just backups.
The new deal should help Apple Music Radio stations reach many more ears. Photo: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple Music Radio expanded its reach beyond its own app for the first time, partnering with digital radio platform TuneIn to distribute six curated radio stations to 75 million monthly active listeners starting Wednesday, according to a new report.
Chipolo Loop tracker with Find My gets a rechargeable battery and double the Bluetooth range. Photo: Chipolo
Two new Bluetooth trackers offer big improvements over the company’s previous models while maintaining compatibility with Apple’s Find My network, Chipolo said Wednesday. The Loop and Card trackers, both priced at $39, add rechargeable batteries and double their previous Blueooth range to 400 feet.
Apple Watch Series 11 might bring a rush of new features. Or maybe not. Image: Apple/Cult of Mac
With the launch of Apple Watch Series 11 likely just weeks away, rumors about what to expect remain surprisingly rare. Still, we know a fair amount about what’s coming, based on watchOS 26 and Apple’s usual moves. Additionally, some rumored Apple Watch Ultra 3 features might arrive on the regular model, too.
So, will Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 bring only minor upgrades, as in the last few years? Or will 2025 be the year Apple recaptures the buzz surrounding its smartwatch, adding exciting new features?
Here’s what we know about Apple Watch Series 11 so far.
The Apple Music migration tool makes it easy to transfer music from services like Spotify to Apple Music. Photo: Apple/Spotify/Rajesh Pandey
Apple significantly expanded availability of its Apple Music migration tool, bringing the service to the United States and eight other major markets this week after months of limited testing. It helps users transfer their music libraries from competing streaming services like Spotify.
The xMEMS Sycamore microspeakers sit in the stems of AR glasses near the ear. Image: xMEMS Labs
As rumors continue to swirl about Apple’s potential entry into the smart glasses market, xMEMS Labs plans to unveil innovations that could address some of the biggest challenges facing next-generation wearable devices, the company said Tuesday. At September events it will roll out new xMEMS Labs smart glasses prototypes featuring ultra-thin speakers and active cooling technology that promise to make AI-powered eyewear more comfortable and practical for everyday use.
Disk Drill 6 gives you advanced camera recovery. Photo: CleverFiles
CleverFiles just launched Disk Drill 6, a major update to its popular data recovery Mac software. (It works on Windows, too.) Among other things, it can now recover deeply fragmented videos. Plus, it boasts significant performance improvements.
The new version, which can recover footage from almost any camera, addresses some of the most challenging data recovery scenarios while delivering up to 25% faster scan speeds and improved success rates.
“We’ve re-engineered Disk Drill 6 to solve some of the toughest recovery cases our users face,” said Roman Kropachek, co-founder and CEO of CleverFiles. “From fragmented video footage to encrypted or lost partitions, Disk Drill 6 brings professional-grade recovery technology to every desk.”
Invasion season three debuts August 22 on Apple TV+. Watch the new trailer. Photo: Apple TV+
Ready to face the end of the world as we know it? The new 10-episode season of Apple TV+’s epic alien onslaught series Invasion streams its first episode Friday. A new one follows each Friday through October 24.
And you can watch the recently released Invasion season three trailer below. It shows the evolving face of the alien menace. And it looks like the horrific inroads the extraterrestrials made in seasons one and two of Invasion, seemingly slowed by a determined but disconnected human effort, might be just a preview of much worse to come.
★★★★☆
The headphones and cable bring some serious quality. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
While Røde built its reputation on microphones, the Australian company’s first on-ear wired headphones deliver surprising audio quality for everything from studio monitoring to casual listening. This Røde NTH-50 headphones review finds the $99 wired cans challenge what we expect from professional headphones at this price point.
Is Røde’s entrance into the headphone market worth your attention? Let’s find out if these newcomers deserve a spot in your audio setup.
Apple’s workhorse professional laptop is a great get for anyone when it goes on sale. And with the M5 models reportedly delayed until 2026, now’s the time to upgrade. If you want a model with a bigger screen and/or beefed-up specs, you can browse a bunch of great MacBook Pro deals in the sale links below, many with nice new price cuts.
Apple's latest base-model MacBook Pro features an M4 chip with a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. It also boasts a 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR Display, 16GB unified memory, 512GB SSD storage and silver or space black colors.
Pros:
Great performance and "built for Apple Intelligence"
Apple's new synthetic fabric iPhone cases will take the name "TechWoven," apparently. Photo: Majin Bu
Apple will replace its much-maligned (and quickly abandoned) FineWoven material for iPhone cases with a new synthetic fabric for the iPhone 17 lineup, according to a new leak Tuesday. And on Wednesday a new name — “TechWoven” — and images of Apple packaging came to light. The new MagSafe cases might feature a cross-body strap and lanyard support, too
The new material appears to be Apple’s next attempt to create a leather alternative for iPhone cases, following the company’s 2023 decision to eliminate leather products from its lineup for environmental reasons. The resulting FineWoven came under heavy fire from users for poor durability and its tendency to show wear quickly.
The leaker Majin Bu followed up on his Tuesday post with a post Wednesday indicating the name “TechWoven” and showing images of Apple product boxes for the MagSafe cases.. See below.
The good-looking and symmetrical setup features a pair of Asus displays nicely mounted on arms. Photo: [email protected]
Some people take an orthodox view of external computer displays and opt for just one with proper windows management. For the rest of us, the best dual-monitor setup we can afford is the best way to go for plenty of screen real estate without going overboard. Check out some of the greatest two-display rigs from setups coverage over the past few years below.
iPhone 16e's successor could feature Dynamic Island in place of a notch. Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Apple’s budget iPhone might get a significant visual overhaul in 2026, with the iPhone 17e ditching the notch in favor of the Dynamic Island, according to a new leak.
That would finally bring the modern Dynamic Island experience, which debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro, to price-conscious consumers. However, the leaker didn’t clarify whether we can count on Apple adding MagSafe to the new budget phone, a key feature left out of the iPhone 16e.
The DoCast app makes it easy to mirror your iPhone or iPad to Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV and more. Photo: Electronic Team
If you want to mirror iPhone to TV, Apple’s built-in AirPlay is a great option. But what if your TV doesn’t support AirPlay?
Enter the DoCast screen mirroring app for iOS, a comprehensive screen mirroring app that supports Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV and DLNA-enabled TVs. It bridges the gap between your iPhone or iPad to stream high-quality video, music or pictures to almost any smart TV.