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David Snow - page 87

Apple Music reveals chart toppers for 2022

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Apple Music noted its most popular song and artists of 2022.
Apple Music noted its most popular song and artists of 2022.
Photo: Apple Music

In addition to unveiling the redesigned Apple Music Replay 2022, Apple Music also revealed its year-end charts, showcasing the year’s top songs in various genres, most popular artists, most-common Shazam searches, most-read lyrics and more.

The streaming services noted a growing popularity of non-English-language songs and certain niche genres, plus several breakthrough artists.

Choose the best AirPods for holiday giving

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AirPods Pro 2 look pretty much the same as the original, but they're better in nearly every way.
AirPods Pro 2 look pretty much the same as the original, but they're better in nearly every way.
Photo: Apple

Which AirPods should you buy as gifts for family and friends this holiday season (or just for your greedy self)? It all comes down to which features you want and how much you want to spend.

Earbuds are a tough gift item because how they sound and how they fit is super-subjective. Everybody’s different.

But our guide will help you decide among the four Apple AirPods models on sale in December 2022: AirPods (2nd gen), AirPods (3rd gen), AirPods Pro (2nd gen) and AirPods Max.

New Oceanic+ app turns your Apple Watch Ultra into a dive computer

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Thanks to Oceanic+ and Apple Watch Ultra, this diver will have all the information he needs to dive safely.
Thanks to Oceanic+ and Apple Watch Ultra, this diver will have all the information he needs to dive safely.
Photo: Apple

Apple made a splash Monday in the world of scuba diving, noting that divers can now add the Oceanic+ Dive Computer App to their Apple Watch Ultra and use a companion app for iPhone.

Designed by Huish Outdoors in collaboration with Apple, Oceanic+ takes advantage of Apple Watch Ultra’s depth gauge and water temperature sensors to provide divers crucial information on forays up to 130 feet beneath the surface.

Get an extra 15% off Momax’s slim wireless charger for 3 devices

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You can top off devices anywhere with this portable charger.
You can top off devices anywhere with this portable wireless charger.
Photo: Momax

Sometimes, whether you’re out and about or sitting at the office, you find you have a device or two in desperate need of a charge. Wouldn’t it be great if you had a charger you could take with you pretty much anywhere?

SPONSORED
This post is brought to you by Momax.

Enter the Momax Wireless Portable Charger with 10,000mAh battery. The sleek and portable power bank gives you multiple charging options on the go, which can be a lifesaver when your smartphone and other gadgets are tapped out. And Cult of Mac readers can get 15% off the charger’s regular price this week. See details below.

New Studio Display prompts cable cleanup in killer workstation [Setups]

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Once he added a Studio Display to the 5K LG screen, Mann decided to clean up the cable clutter.
Once he added a Studio Display to the 5K LG screen, Mann decided to clean up the cable clutter.
Photo: [email protected]

Getting great new gear for your computer setup has more than just the obvious benefit of awesomeness. Sometimes it’s the perfect reason to improve your setup in ways most people put off, like the dreaded cleaning up of cable clutter.

That’s what happened with today’s featured dual-display-and-M1 Max MacBook Pro setup. The user finally got his new Studio Display, and good things followed in the terms of taming the cable monster.

Black Friday: Get up to 50% off iPad stands, Apple Watch bands and more

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The Slope comes in two sizes. The big one is half price.
The Slope comes in two sizes. The big one is half price.
Photo: Wiplabs

“Black Friday” (November 25) and the days before and after it have become one of the best times of the whole year to get great deals on pretty much anything. And true to form, pretty much everything in the Cult of Mac Store is on sale.

Some of the latest deals are 25% off Nyloon Apple Watch bands and an amazing 50% off select Wiplabs accessories, like iPad stands.

The Black Friday sale in the Cult of Mac Store goes through end of the day Monday, November 28. See some highlights below.

Clean, compact MacBook Air rig makes most of tiny desk [Setups]

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It's a cozy little space, alright. Perfect for MacBook Air, a 24-inch display and no external keyboard.
It's a cozy little space, alright. Perfect for MacBook Air, a 24-inch display and no external keyboard.
Photo: [email protected]

If you’ve got a tiny desk for a workspace, you’ve got to make the most of it. Today’s featured computer setup centers on an M1 MacBook Air driving a small 4K external display, clearly going away from the trend toward big-screen-TV-sized displays for a reason — namely, vanishingly small desk space.

A small external display is one way to save room. But the user has some other tricks up his sleeve, as well. Let’s take a look.

Satechi offers up to 30% off everything for Black Friday

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Satechi's USB-4 multiport adapter is one of many, many products on sale.
Satechi's USB-4 multiport adapter is one of many, many products on sale.
Photo: Satechi

Satechi makes a wide range of popular accessories for Apple products. The company just took the wraps off its big Black Friday sale, offering up to 30% off everything it makes.

That’s a lot of deals for you on chargers, hubs, keyboards, mice, stands, bags, cases and more.

Set HomeKit scenes with Aqara’s new Cube controller

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The updated Cube controller now works with HomeKit and will work with the Matter smart-home automation standard.
The updated Cube controller now works with HomeKit and will work with the Matter smart-home automation standard.
Photo: Aqara

Smart-home accessories maker Aqara unveiled its new Cube T1 Pro Wednesday, an update on its popular wireless Cube controller.

The new cube adds HomeKit and Amazon Alexa support so you can control a range of smart home devices with it.

Trader smart-lights up office like a ‘strip club’ [Setups]

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Just wait. A dancer might gyrate through the frame any minute.
Just wait. A dancer might gyrate through the frame any minute.
Photo: [email protected]

Modern computer setups lean more and more on smart lighting for practical uses and to set the mood. Some of it can even pulse and change in sync to music or action on your screen.

Today’s featured MacBook Pro setup leans heavily on colorful Nanoleaf smart-light patterns on the walls — so much so that people compared it to a strip club.

Black Friday blowout: Get up to 85% off secure pCloud storage

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Secure pCloud storage for 85% off? Sign us up.
Secure pCloud storage for 85% off? Sign us up.
Photo: pCloud

These days, the average person takes up a lot of digital space. In addition to hefty software programs, people practically burst their hard drives at their seams with scads of photos, videos and documents.

So cloud storage is increasingly critical, and right now you can get an amazing Black Friday deal on highly secure and easy-to-use pCloud storage — up to 85% off normal pricing. And both new and current customers can get the deal.

Violent protests over COVID-19 controls and pay erupt at world’s largest iPhone plant

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Protesters and police clashed Tuesday and Wednesday at Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou, China
Protesters and police clashed Tuesday and Wednesday at Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou, China
Photo illustration: Cult of Mac

Protests over unpaid bonuses, anti-COVID-19 controls and even food quality led police to clash with hundreds of workers at the world’s largest iPhone factory in China, reports indicated Wednesday.

Social media videos and witnesses in Zhengzhou, where Foxconn operates a giant factory nicknamed “iPhone City,” said police beat and detained protesters.

Show your iPhone 14’s guts with bold new schematic wallpaper

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Show off your iPhone 14's innards in the form of a schematic wallpaper.
Show off your iPhone 14's innards in the form of a schematic wallpaper.
Photo: Basic Apple Guy

Mac maven Basic Apple Guy just rolled out a project he said he’s been slaving over since late September — a set of detailed and layered iPhone 14 schematics you can download and use as display wallpaper in your choice of colors on your handset.

It’s kind of like displaying an X-Ray of your iPhone on the device itself. The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus schematics are out Tuesday with the ones for iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max following on Wednesday.

Driver calls SUV’s deadly plunge into Boston-area Apple Store accidental [Updated]

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This is Apple Derby Street prior to the incident.
This is Apple Derby Street prior to the incident, in which an SUV smashed through the facade and pinned several people at the back of the store.
Photo: Apple

A man driving a black SUV crashed through the glass facade of an Apple Store near Boston on Monday morning, killing one person and injuring 19, including four critically, according to reports.

Updates: The driver, identified as 53-year-old Bradley Rein, was arrested Monday night and charged with reckless homicide by motor vehicle, according to Boston.com. The number of injured in the crash rose to 19 from the initially reported 16. Rein pleaded not guilty on Tuesday and said his foot had become stuck to the accerlator, causing the crash. He was held on $100,000 bail.

Kevin Bradley, a 65-year-old from New Jersey who Apple said was “supporting recent construction at the store,” was killed in the crash.

Affordable Edifier wireless ANC headphones get the basics right [Review] ★★★★☆

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Want solid headphones without breaking the bank? Consider Edifier's W820NB.★★★★☆
Want solid headphones without breaking the bank? Consider Edifier's W820NB.
Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac

The Chinese company Edifier has been putting out affordable high-quality audio equipment for more than 25 years. I often find it hits the “high-value” button with many of its products, offering great sound and solid features at relatively low prices. The company seems to stake out that same territory with its W820NB ANC Bluetooth Stereo Headphones.

Edifier sent me a pair of the cans to try out. While they’re not likely to blow anybody away, they get the job done well, with quality sound, strong active noise cancellation and long battery life.

If you want good sound at a good price, they could be for you. But if you’re an exacting audiophile or on the hunt for luxury appointments, look elsewhere.

Mondo drops ‘innie’ and ‘outie’ vinyl soundtracks for Severance

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Get your work done? Now you can have your dance-party reward.
Get your work done? Now you can have your dance-party reward, courtesy of Mondo.
Photo: Mondo

Collectibles seller Mondo will release a soundtrack Wednesday for Apple TV+’s Severance season 1 in two versions, both on vinyl: Innie Edition and Outie Edition.

On the show — sort of a dark-comedy psycho-thriller — a Lumon Industries employee who has undergone the Severance brain surgery is an “innie” at work and an “outie” away from work, and neither has any awareness of the other.

Does the season 1 soundtrack match that weirdness? Now’s your chance to give it a focused listen on your turntable.

Get a fantastic Black Friday deal on secure Private Internet Access VPN

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Private Internet Access gives you the secure VPN you need for safe web surfing.
Private Internet Access gives you the secure VPN you need for safe web surfing.
Photo: Private Internet Access

An encrypted virtual private network is one of the best ways to keep your online activities completely private. Plus, a VPN also can open up access to restricted content all over the world.

SPONSORED
This post is brought to you by Private Internet Access.
Right now, you can score an amazing Black Friday deal on a leading service, Private Internet Access — 83% off the two-year plan! Read on for more about the deal Cult of Mac readers can get, and what makes PIA such a great choice.

Tesla sneaks Apple Music integration into museum exhibit

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Tesla's interface in the museum exhibit showed Apple Music integration.
Tesla's interface in the museum exhibit showed Apple Music integration.
Photo: [email protected]

It looks like a software update might soon bring Apple Music to Tesla vehicles’ built-in systems at long last. And this modern possibility comes to us from, of all places, a museum exhibit.

Folks spotted Apple Music integrated with Tesla prototype vehicles on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and the tweets followed.

iPhone 14 Pro tops 5G speed tests in US, UK and Germany

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iPhone 14 Pro models topped or placed highly for 5G speeds in many countries.
iPhone 14 Pro models topped or placed highly for 5G speeds in many countries.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

A new analysis of smartphone speeds in 10 countries shows iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are the fastest 5G mobile devices in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

Ookla’s study, released Monday, listed the top five fastest “popular” 5G devices by market share in each country. iPhone 14 and 13 series models appeared in many of the lists, but failed to place in some Asian markets.

Noting the performance variations by network and country, Ookla said the analysis “provides a snapshot of what you might typically expect.”

Keep the iPad front and center or ditch it? [Setups]

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Would you keep the iPad Pro in the middle of the setup like that?
Would you keep the iPad Pro in the middle of the setup like that?
Photo: [email protected]

Some people like a lot screens in their computer setup, others like to be glued to one and one only. In today’s featured computer setup, the user wrestles with the question of whether to keep his iPad Pro front and center, right in front of the external display, or just leave it out. Meanwhile, a MacBook Pro sits off to the side in clamshell mode.

Because the user asked for opinions on social media, he got them. Lots of them. But it proved to be a tricky question to answer definitively.

Rounded corners and edges plus titanium case rumored for iPhone 15

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iPhone 15's corners and edges might be rounded, not squared off.
iPhone 15's corners and edges might be rounded, not squared off.
Photo: [email protected]

A leaker with a pretty good track record for accuracy said Sunday the upcoming iPhone 15 series will feature rounded corners and edges, plus a titanium case. Rounded corners would harken way back to earlier iPhones and a titanium case would be a first for Apple handsets.

The rumors came from ShrimpApplePro, who gets it right a fair amount of the time when predicting what Apple will do.

Vancouver’s reimagined Apple Pacific Centre doubles in size

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The reimagined Asia Pacific Centre is double the size of the original store.
The reimagined Asia Pacific Centre is double the size of the original store.
Photo: Apple

A reimagined Apple Pacific Centre doubles the store’s original size and adds some new features, like 32-foot floor-to-ceiling glass panels, a “living wall” with 144 native plant species and one of the tallest staircases among Apple Stores worldwide.

The store, in Vancouver, British Columbia, reopened Friday after its massive makeover. Take a peek inside!

UPDF: Fast, efficient and easy-to-use PDF editor, now at 53% off

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Get a great deal on UPDF, an app that makes it easy to work with PDFs on any device: macOS, iOS, Windows and Android.
Get a great deal on UPDF, an app that makes it easy to work with PDFs on any device: macOS, iOS, Windows and Android.
Image: Superace

PDF files are a fact of life online. All sorts of information, forms, contracts, applications and more come in the format, which is fixed to preserve formatting and resist having just anyone make changes. So you need special software to fill in, edit and sign a PDF, which can be a hassle.

That’s where UPDF comes in. It’s a versatile and easy-to-use PDF editor that’ll have you filling in and signing PDF files in no time, or even making more substantial changes, like reordering pages and converting files to other formats.

Even better, you can use UPDF on any platform for no additional cost. Cult of Mac readers can get UPDF at 53% off. Grab this deal (at the end of the article) and you will have an all-in-one PDF editor that works onMac, iOS, Windows and Android.

Deck out your MacBook in Mujjo’s new vegan leather sleeve

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The sleeve is for your MacBook Pro, but you can carry a lot more in it.
The sleeve is for your MacBook Pro, but you can carry a lot more in it.
Photo: Mujjo

Mujjo is known for leather iPhone cases and wallets. It also makes sleeves and cases, and now it offers a new pair of vegan leather sleeves — one for a 14-inch MacBook Pro and one for a 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The elegant Envoy Laptop Sleeves, which look like they’d be equally at home in a lecture hall or a board room, are waterproof and offer room for the other stuff you need to carry around, too.

Totallee slashes prices on iPhone cases and chargers for Black Friday

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The thin and lightweight iPhone case may be the next best thing to having no case.
The thin and lightweight iPhone case may be the next best thing to having no case.
Photo: Totallee

Totallee, known for its ultra-slim, lightweight and branding-free iPhone cases as well as charging accessories, is about to launch a big-time Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale.

Between November 21 and 28, products will go for half off their regular prices on Totallee’s website as well as Amazon and Walmart.