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It’s been a tight ship over there at Apple, so for the first time in a long time, we know almost nothing about what will be announced at an Apple Keynote. But we think there’s a good case for new hardware come Monday, and on this week’s CultCast, we’ll tell you why. Plus, we’ll tell you everything we think we know about iOS 12, and stick around for our ears-on, gaping-jaw review of stereo HomePods.

Our thanks to Udemy for supporting this episode. Whether you’re looking to learn something new or just sharpen your skills, Udemy has over 65,000 courses starting at just 11.99.
Visit Ude.my/CULTCAST or download the Udemy app to learn anytime, anywhere.

A month or so back I was searching for a PDF app that would use the native Files browser on the iPad, but add features not available in Files app’s built-in PDF viewer. The result of that search was PDF Viewer, an app that is almost impossible to find on Google, but which is simple enough to be perfect for many people.

Apple still has a bunch of new devices up its sleeve for 2018 — not including the new iPhone lineup — but we won’t see any of it at WWDC.

A new report claims we can expect refreshed MacBook and MacBook Pro models, a more affordable machine to replace the MacBook Air, a new iPad Pro with Face ID, and a new Apple Watch. However, we’ll have to wait until later in the year to get our hands on them.

We rely on our Lightning cables to keep our devices charged and synced, but we can’t count on them to last very long. So how do you get a Lightning cable that won’t fray? One way is to reinforce it with steel chainmail armor.

Stereo-pairing has been one of the most anticipated HomePod features and now that it has finally arrived, it was definitely worth the wait.

HomePod owners can now pair two or more speakers together to create rich stereo soundscapes in their house for an audio experience that’s unlike any other. CultCast producer Erfon Elijah went ears-on with the new feature and says his finely tuned ears were tingling with delight from the sounds HomePod can blast out. The 360-degree sound is so enveloping that it’s hard to tell where it’s even coming from.

Listen to the difference:

These days, the world can be a real drag. If you dream of a better society, you might enjoy trying your hand at building one. That’s the opportunity that Sid Meier’s Civilization series of strategy games has been presenting for decades now. And here we have the latest and greatest installment, Civilization VI, and its massive Rise and Fall expansion (or both), available for a serious discount. Read on for details:

The iOS 11.4 update finally brings Messages in iCloud, which means you can treat your iMessages like you treat your photos.

Your messages will sync across all iOS devices and should work soon on Mac. (Update: It works on Mac now, once you update to macOS 10.13.5). You can even delete them from an iPhone or iPad that’s short on space. But they will remain accessible from the cloud. Here’s how to switch on iCloud support for Messages.

iOS 11.4 is finally here, bringing AirPlay 2’s multi-room audio capabilities as well as the long-awaited ability to use two HomePods in stereo.

The free update uses AirPlay 2 to move music from room to room or play the same music throughout the home on compatible speaker systems. You can control music using an iOS device, HomePod, Apple TV or making requests through Siri.

The 2018-era iPhone refresh could be a bit more colorful than recent years if two new images are to believed.

Supposedly leaked from one of the iPhone manufacturing plants in India, the pictures show two alleged iPhone prototypes, complete with “rich gold stainless steel frame” and violet and green color glass backs.

Memorial Day weekend is no exception to the epic sales typically found on holiday weekends. In addition to a little R&R, why not spend a minute treating yourself to some great scores on Apple Watch bands?

Cult of Mac Watch Store’s Memorial Day Weekend Sale will offer up to 25 percent off the majority of our vendors. You’ll find great discounts on some of our most popular brands for Apple Watch straps, chargers and stands. Sale ends Monday, so check out these stellar discounts while they last, and see some of our featured brands below.

WWDC is right around the corner, which means we’re about to get our very first look at Apple’s next major update to iOS.

We’re expecting big things from iOS 12, including a whole host of improvements that will make our devices more stable, and plenty of welcome bug fixes. Apple will surely surprise us with some nice new features, too.

Here’s our lengthy wish list for this update, which includes a Home screen overhaul, a more powerful FaceTime, better multitasking, and more!

Apple has decided that it won’t allow iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV owners to play PC games through Steam Link.

Valve’s new app, which is now available in beta on Android, has been banned from the App Store because of “business conflicts.” Apple has also turned down Valve’s appeals.

It’s yet another example of Apple customers being hurt by its often farcical App Store rules. What makes this ban even more ridiculous is that there are so many apps similar to Steam Link already available in the App Store.

The iPhone dominates smartphone sales charts. The iPad is so ubiquitous that, for many, its name is a catch-all term for any tablet. The Mac is the most desirable computer out there. But the HomePod? Not so much.

According to figures released this week, Apple’s smart speaker made up just a tiny 6 percent share of all smart speaker shipments for the first quarter of 2018. What is Apple doing wrong? And what could it do to turn things around? Here are five suggestions for HomePod improvements we’d like to see.

Finding emoji on the iPhone and iPad is easy — you just tap the little emoji key in the corner of your keyboard, and there they are. Emoji are fully supported on the Mac, too, but where do you find them? If you don’t already know, then this trick is going to blow your mind, because it’s just as easy to get to the emoji panel on the Mac as it is on the iPhone.

Bendgate is back in the news and this time, court documents show Apple knew about structural problems with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus prior to release.

Apple’s own tests revealed the handsets might have a bending problem but publicly defended the structural soundness despite widespread customer complaints of frozen or unresponsive touchscreens. As the complaints piled up, Apple quietly corrected the defect, the documents show.

Imagine a piano keyboard that is also a multitouch surface, like the screen on an iPad. Now imagine that this is a tactile silicone surface with bumps and dips so you can feel the keys, just like a piano. Hold that image in your mind — you are currently imagining the Roli Seaboard Block, backpack-sized Bluetooth MIDI keyboard that will change the way you play music.

Apple’s Services division is growing rapidly, but according to analyst Gene Munster it is still leaving billions of dollars on the table by failing to monetize its software in the way that it could.

Munster says that Apple should be following other high tech companies by charging monthly subscription fees for Pro Apps, aimed at audio and visual professionals. These apps include Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, Motion, Compressor and MainStage 3, each of which Apple currently sells for a one-off fee.

The grand unveiling of iOS 12 is just a few weeks away and there’s one feature on everybody’s wishlist: grouped notifications.

iOS 11’s notification screen is a mess when you get multiple notifications from the same app, but developer Matt Birchler has created a simple concept that shows how Apple could make the lock screen notifications so much better.

Here’s how they would look:

Over the years, the Twitter app has changed significantly. What started as a container for Twitter’s mobile website has grown into the jumbled mess that it is today.

During that time, many third-party Twitter clients blossomed, providing a more streamlined, logical experience. While many faded away, a select few managed to stick around. For several years now, Tweetbot has been one of the best Twitter clients on iOS. It offers a clear design, simple gestures, and provides a better Twitter experience.

Did you ever visit a website and find that it had blocked the usual behavior of the Safari browser? Maybe it’s a banking site that won’t let you paste in your long password into its password field? Or maybe you discovered that YouTube disables Safari’s contextual (right-click) menus and replaces them with it’s own versions? Or maybe you can’t drag that image to the desktop, or copy text from the page?

The good news is that you can wrest control of your browser back from these malicious, control-freak sites. Let’s see how, using the StopTheMadness browser extension.

We all know that person, the one who speaks four languages fluently and ‘gets by’ in two others. Meanwhile, we’re still trying to reach intermediate status on a second language. So for anyone tired of wasting time and ready to finally count yourself among the multilingual, this deal on Rosetta Stone subscriptions is for you.

In our digital day and age, why are house keys still a thing? They’re easy to lose, easy to copy, and with a little skill and a paperclip someone can get through anyway.

There are growing reports, tons of complaints, and a new petition claiming the butterfly keyboard in the new MacBook Pro has a critical design flaw that can’t be fixed. This episode we explore the issue with Matthew Taylor, creator of the keyboard recall petition, who tells us what’s going wrong with Apple’s butterfly keyboard, why it can’t be fixed, and why almost 26,000 people are demanding it finally be recalled.

Plus: stick around for a innovative new iPhone gimbal, a very cool throwback iPhone case, and the perfect green screen for your Twitch or Youtube streams in another tech-packed roundtable of our favorite new gadgets.

Our thanks to Udemy for supporting this episode. Whether you’re looking to learn something new or just sharpen your skills, Udemy has over 65,000 courses starting at just 11.99.
Visit Ude.my/CULTCAST or download the Udemy app to learn anytime, anywhere.

The possibilities for work and creativity on a MacBook are essentially endless. But they’ve got serious limitations in the connections department. On the newer models, all you’ve got is a single USB-C port.

Russian luxury brand Caviar just launched the iPhone X Tesla, a solar-powered version of Apple’s flagship device. Parts are gilded in gold, and the whole deal costs 284,000 ₽ ($4600) for a 64GB version.

It’s a device any Russian oligarch would be proud to own.