If the Death Star had Wi-Fi, it would run on something as powerful (and ominous-looking!) as this limited-edition black AmpliFi HD Mesh Router from Ubiquiti Networks.
Assuming you’re ready to surf like a stormtrooper, you’re in luck. Cult of Mac and Ubiquiti are giving away three of these amazing mesh routers in honor of Star Wars Day. How can you win? Glad you asked, buckethead!
Apple could unveil its new smart speaker powered by Siri at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, according to new claims.
Earlier this week, we heard the company is currently in the process of finalizing the design of its first standalone Siri device, which is expected to take on the Amazon Echo. Now we have an idea what it might look like and when it could be revealed.
For a Mac setup to stand out, it doesn’t need a ton of color. Take the picture above from Cult of Mac reader Powi Hart, for example. Everything in there is either white, black or silver — and it looks fantastic.
In fact, these white-and-black-themed Apple setups have got to be some of my favorites so far. Check out this week’s three iSetups submissions in the video below. iSetups is our new show that highlights the best Apple-centric setups submitted by our viewers. (You’ll also get plenty of tips and tricks for how you can improve your own setup.)
In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, we take a look at how a Siri-powered smart speaker could bring better audio (and a higher price tag) than the Amazon Echo. It’s highly like such a device will be unveiled by Apple at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Plus we’ve got how-tos: You’ll learn how to turn anything into a PDF on your iPhone or iPad, and how to use Apple Pencil to mark up those PDFs in the Mail app.
Also, check out Juuk Designs’ third collection of high-grade aluminum bands for Apple Watch. The new Ligero collection is now on view in our Watch Store.
Here are this week’s top stories.
This week on The CultCast: Apple’s secret Siri speaker is just around the corner — we’ll tell you everything (we think) we know about it. Plus: Why AirPods are the best product Apple’s made in years; and why Microsoft’s MacBook clone is actually great for Apple fans.
Finally, we’ll deconstruct and decode Tim Cook’s mysterious and quickly deleted accidental tweet, and you’ll be shocked at the truth!
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.
Apple Music may soon get exclusive streaming rights to an unreleased Prince concert that was performed as a surprise in Minneapolis just before the release of his iconic Purple Rain soundtrack.
If Apple does land the rights, the company may owe a big ‘thank you’ to its rival Spotify, which employs the executive negotiating the deal.
A simple message on a red hat helped Donald Trump win the presidency. Could the same work for Apple?
The company Throwboy has thrown down a challenge to the tech giant by offering for sale a red hat sure to land on the heads of at least a few Apple fans. On it in white lettering is the phrase “Make Apple Great Again.”
You can get a good idea of what the iPhone 8 might be like to use, thanks to a new concept video that imagines how redesigned apps will look on the device.
Apple is supposedly going with a bezel-free design this year, which could give developers more space for new features. Viewing pictures will also be an incredible experience if Apple includes an edge-to-edge display that makes it feel like you’re holding a photograph.
Check it out:
Apple’s big pause in iPhone sales leading up to this year’s new models isn’t worrying one of the company’s biggest investors.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett says he loves what Apple is doing with its buyback program for investors and even though sales are slow, the stock is still a great buy.
A Citibank analyst says Apple is sitting on so much cash, a likely change in tax code could see Cupertino use its “Merger and Acquisition firepower.” The most likely target would be Netflix.
Citibank puts the odds of a Netflix buyout at 40 percent, according to analyst Jim Suva in a note to clients titled Addressing the Problem of Too Much Cash.
Amazon will reportedly bring its Amazon Prime Video app to Apple TV sometime in the third quarter of this year.
Although it’s not confirmed, some industry observers have suggested that such a move would have had to be worked out directly between Apple and Amazon CEOs Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos.
An employee of PC World, a U.K.-based computer superstore, has admitted to stealing 27,000 euros ($30,000) worth of Apple products from his workplace. Oh, the irony!
21-year-old Eoin Giles of Dublin, Ireland, pleaded guilty to stealing 21 MacBooks, six Apple Watches, and seven iPads Pros, and then selling them on. Giles described it as a “stupid” attempt to make money.
Apple is reportedly switching some of its iPhone motion sensor orders from InvenSense to German firm Robert Bosch.
It comes as the latest example of Apple shaking up its supply chain, which has already seen Apple distance itself from GPU maker Imagination Technologies and power-management chip company Dialog Semiconductor.
Apple has overtaken Fitbit to be crowned largest wearables vendor in the world, according to Strategy Analytics.
The market research firm claims that Apple sold around 3.5 million Apple Watches in the first three months of calendar 2017. That’s an increase of a massive 59 percent from the 2.2 million units Apple sold during the first quarter 2016. It means the company currently holds 16 percent of the worldwide market share.
ExxonMobil stations throughout the U.S. are now accepting Apple Watch payments.
Customers will need to download the Speedpass+ app, which lets you settle your gas bill with a tap of your wrist. You’ll have the option to use Apple Pay, or input your credit card information manually.
Getting rid of the home button could be one of the greatest things Apple could do for the iPhone 8.
Rumors have been swirling for months that Apple plans to embed Touch ID into the screen in order to ditch the home button. A fantastic new concept imagines how Apple could use that extra screen real estate to make navigating the iOS faster than ever.
The iPad continues to dominate the tablet market, but the tablet market continues to decline.
For a 10th-straight quarter, year-over-year sales of tablet computers fell to a five-year low, according to the market research firm IDC. Even with enviable sales figures, iPad revenues have had a year-over-year slide for the last 13 quarters, according to the IDC report.
Snap Inc apparently wants in on the hottest new trend among tech companies: TV shows.
Following the lead of Amazon and Twitter, Snapchat reportedly plans to start showing vertical short films in its app. Only instead of doing all the work on its own, the company is inking deals with some of the biggest names in media.
You may be able to barter with merchants for good deals in Turkey’s famous markets. But if you’re looking for a deal on an iPhone 7, you will want to pick another country.
An iPhone 7 in Turkey costs more than any other country in the world and is about one and half times more expensive than here in the U.S., according to an annual report by Deutsche Bank comparing prices on common goods.
iPhone clones just hit a new low.
Meet the UMIDIGI G, a device that isn’t ashamed to be a complete ripoff of Apple’s latest smartphone. It runs Google’s latest Android 7.0 Nougat operating system, and it’s super-affordable at just $79.99. Its specifications aren’t bad, either — but you shouldn’t buy one.
The FBI was unable to access the contents of “nearly half” of mobile devices it tried to hack in the first half of the fiscal year, FBI Director James Comey revealed at a Senate oversight committee hearing this week.
That added up to more than 3,000 mobile devices.
Apple’s fantastic Apple Park campus reportedly opened to some employees last month, but construction crews are still racing to bring the project to completion.
As shown off in a gorgeous new drone flyover video by UAV filmmaker Duncan Sinfield, the buildings are virtually complete, but there are more construction vehicles than ever on site.
Check out the campus as it looks this month below:
It appears that Apple won’t be slashing commissions it pays when affiliates redirect customers to buy apps from the iOS App Store, after all.
Despite Apple previously noting that, “Starting on May 1st 2017, commissions for all app and in-app content will be reduced from 7% to 2.5% globally,” it seems that the change applies only to in-app purchases.
Imagination Technologies, the British company that has been designing Apple’s mobile GPUs for years, has started a “dispute resolution procedure” with the Cupertino company over a licensing standoff.
Imagination has already confirmed that Apple will be dropping its graphics chips within two years and adopting its own instead. But the company suspects Apple has stolen its intellectual property.
Apple may be the world’s most valuable tech company, but it’s also a major contribution to the U.S. jobs market. And it wants you to know about it!
In a newly-launched website, Apple shares some details about the “two million … and counting” jobs in the United States that it has created across the country.
“The numbers tell the story,” it notes. Here are just a few of them: