Top stories - page 28

Is your email inbox an overloaded mess? Don’t let important documents — from the present or the distant past — go missing.

Mail Backup X is a one-stop solution for email backup, management and archiving. And you can get lifetime access for only $39.97 (regularly $179) during our Labor Day Sale. That’s more than 70% off a service trusted by more than 42,000 businesses and individuals across the globe.

Everyone’s making compromises this week on Foundation, the gorgeous and exciting Apple TV+ sci-fi series based on the writings of Isaac Asimov.

Day and Demerzel sweat their next move as the Second Foundation rears its head (and Queen Sareth shows her fangs). Salvor and Gaal make the most of a new home. And Bel Riose meets Hober Mallow — with disastrous consequences.

August 25, 1995: Apple releases the PowerBook 5300, the Mac laptop that will save the world from alien invaders in the 1996 blockbuster movie Independence Day.

The computer will make many more big-screen appearances, too. See some of the laptop’s most high-profile Hollywood cameos below.

If telemarketers and spam texts annoy the crap out of you, you’re not alone. Telemarketing is a global industry worth more than $30 billion. And that doesn’t even account for what scammers hope to trick you out of.

You can’t fight all those nasty spammers alone. But you can enlist a top-rated app that takes an active and satisfying approach: Robokiller. It doesn’t just block spam calls and texts. You’ll feel a wicked sense of satisfaction knowing that it gives spammers a taste of their own medicine.

August 24, 2011: With his health worsening, a cancer-stricken Steve Jobs steps down from his role leading Apple. Tim Cook assumes the role of Apple’s seventh CEO.

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Jobs writes in his retirement letter to the Apple board. “Unfortunately that day has come.”

Old Intel MacBooks aren’t very fashionable these days, but they can do one thing that the latest Apple silicon machines cannot: run Windows natively.

If you’re looking for an older Mac to run Windows, or to use as a media server or a Chromebook substitute, consider this MacBook Pro from 2011. This machine ain’t gonna break speed records, but it is good for running Windows in Boot Camp.

For a limited time, you can get a refurbished MacBook Pro with a protective case for only $299, with no coupon necessary.

In a major U-turn, Apple endorsed a Right to Repair bill in California. This surprising move comes after years of the company fighting and delaying similar bills in various states.

Apple sent California state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman a letter Tuesday endorsing the SB-244 Right to Repair Act — with certain stipulations.

If you have aspirations for a professional career in music production, you can’t afford to delay chasing that dream, as the industry will only grow more competitive. Thanks to a limited-time offer, you can gain an unlimited online education on electronic music production for less than the price of a single standard textbook.

A lifetime subscription to the Noiselab Music Production Hub will teach you everything you need to know about one of the hottest music software packages around: Ableton Live. This educational bundle is currently available at best-on-the-web pricing of only $59.99 (regularly $360) with no coupon required. That’s more than 80% savings on a service that’s backed by experts and offers instant access to hundreds of music production lessons.

In a world where advancing computer technology often seems like an arms race, with ever-more-powerful processors and compact chargers that pump out hundreds of watts, it’s no surprise docking stations keep boosting their port arrays.

Today’s featured MacBook Pro setup almost seems like it doesn’t have enough gear to merit its Plugable dock’s whopping 14 ports. But it supports multiple external displays for M1 Macs, and that’s why the user loves it.

August 23, 2011: United Airlines says it will hand out 11,000 iPads to its pilots. It’s the largest rollout yet of Apple tablets as a replacement for the weighty flight bags previously carried by aircrews.

Going paperless saves around 16 million sheets of paper each year, the equivalent of 1,900 trees not cut down. Even better, the weight difference between the 1.5-pound iPad and the 40-pound flight bag saves 326,000 gallons of jet fuel per year!

Keeping your teeth healthy is hard, and it’s a bit of a pain. Still, it’s more of a pain if you don’t take care of them. Luckily, a good toothbrush can make the whole process a lot easier to manage.

The AquaSonic Icon is a smart electric toothbrush with multiple cleaning modes and a built-in timer. Normally, it costs $39. But you can pick one up for 37% off right now and make your dentist happy.

Fake AirPods are a bigger problem than you might think. With so many legit-looking AirPods clones floating around, it can prove difficult to spot counterfeit earbuds.

However, you can take several steps to see if the AirPods you are contemplating buying — or that you already bought — are genuine Apple products.

Apple continues beta testing iOS 17, with the seventh beta dropping on August 22nd. As the beta program has progressed, the company has made fewer and fewer user-facing changes to new builds.

It’s the same story with iOS 17 beta 7, which hardly packs any meaningful changes or improvements. Below is everything new in the latest iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 beta.

For podcast fans, the struggle is real: There are a gazillion podcasts, and you’re stuck sifting through them all to find the good stuff. Podurama offers unique tools to help you find interesting new podcasts that aren’t just the popular ones everyone else listens to.

Right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to this AI-powered podcast recommendation service for 60% off.

The movies and shows on a MacBook or iPad can be easily played on a full-size TV, but many computers need an adapter to add the HDMI port. The Plugable USBC-4IN1 has just what’s needed, offering 4K video at 60Hz. Or Plugable’s USB-C dock is well suited for using an HDMI monitor to get work done.

Plus, it stands out from the pack with a USB-C port that supports simultaneous 100W power pass-through charging and 10Gbps data transfers. There’s a couple of high-speed USB ports, too.

I put the surprisingly affordable accessory through a series of test to see if it lived up to its promises. Here’s what I found.

August 22, 2001: Apple takes home a technical Emmy for developing FireWire, the high-speed serial port that allows users to transfer data quickly between a Macintosh and another device, such as a digital camera.

“Apple enabled the desktop video revolution with its invention of FireWire,” says Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, in a press release. FireWire plays a key role in Steve Jobs’ “digital hub” strategy at Apple. However, the technology’s origins go back much further than that.

Røde, maker of high-quality audio products from Australia, has unveiled what it calls “the most powerful wireless mic ever”. The Røde Wireless Pro is a system of elegant and compact microphones with an audio recorder that “delivers crystal-clear, incredibly stable audio with a range of up to 260m.”

The kit comes with all the accessories needed to connect to any modern smartphone, computer and camera rig. Røde’s GainAssist makes sure you have balanced sound in any circumstance and the Røde Central software for Mac and PC easily syncs it with your video.

The Røde Wireless Pro kit retails for $399 and will be available later this month.

It’s easy to rename multiple files at once on a Mac using the Finder’s batch rename tool. If you have a big series of pictures, videos, screenshots or documents in a series, you can use this feature to rename them all in a similar format and sequence.

You don’t have to take on such a tedious task by hand.

Why take chances with your online safety? A three-year subscription to Windscribe VPN Pro gives you a full suite of tools to protect an unlimited number of devices from dangers lurking on the internet. And for a limited time, it’s on sale for just $70.

Refresh your Apple Watch Ultra with this week’s brilliant giveaway from Lululook. We’re giving away one Titanium Link Band for Apple Watch Ultra. Retailing at $79.99, this band looks great with Apple’s biggest, boldest smartwatch.

Find out more about this devastatingly handsome band, and enter our giveaway, below.

August 21, 2008: Microsoft recruits comedian Jerry Seinfeld for a series of ads. It’s a naked attempt to shake the company’s reputation as a stodgy oldster (as opposed to Apple’s trendsetting hipster image).

Microsoft pays Seinfeld a reported $10 million for the ads. However, thanks to the Mac’s appearance in virtually every episode of Seinfeld over the years, the comedian remains the world’s most famous Apple fanboy.

Power banks prove convenient for workers on the go, but they can also be a literal lifesaver during extended power outages or natural disasters. Now Apple users can get a next-gen charger that can effectively charge everything from AirPods to MacBook Pros for just $229.99 — the Flash Pro Plus.

In addition to those two Apple products, it also works with iPad, iPhone (including wireless charging) and Apple Watch. In fact, this 25,000mAh monster — which can charge up to six devices at once — might be the ultimate power bank for Apple fans.

Interface designer Bas Ording is one of those little-known Apple employees who has had a huge influence on our digital lives. Ording is the brains behind the “rubber band” effect — the iconic touchscreen animation that convinced Steve Jobs to build the iPhone. During a 15-year career at Apple, Ording was responsible for a big chunk of Apple’s computing interfaces — from macOS to iOS.

You can read about his career in Unsung Apple Hero, a Cult of Mac e-book detailing his career at Apple. Just sign up for Cult of Mac Today, our free daily newsletter, or Weekender, our weekly email, and we’ll email you a copy.

August 20, 2012: Apple passes a financial milestone as it becomes the most valuable publicly traded stock ever.

The company it bests to attain this record? Longtime rival Microsoft, which peaked on December 30, 1999. Apple’s surge to the top spot serves as a reminder of just how radically the fortunes of both companies changed over the years.

We can all (probably) agree that Apple products are superior, but they do lack in some areas — like their built-in microphones. While they’re usually good enough for a FaceTime chat or voice memo, they don’t deliver professional-level quality.

But the Babbl USB-C plug-and-play microphone does. Yup, no need to download complicated software or mess around with setup. Just plug the microphone into your Mac for seamless, high-quality sound. Right here you can get yours for the best price on the web, only $39.99 (regularly $69.99).