Newsstand - page 163

The best work I ever did as a photographer resides in a collection of Western Digital external hard drives that are stored in an old, large camera bag in my closet. The images span more than a decade and with any one of the WD My Passport drives, I can confidently plug one in and quickly find some black-and-white relic of my past.

You can see the progress of time in the pictures (clothes and hair styles) as well as in the design and sizes of the WD drives. Each year, the drives offered more storage space in the same basic compact housing.

So I was astonished a couple of weeks back when the UPS driver dropped off a WD My Passport sized just a little bigger than a deck of cards — with a whopping 4 terabytes of storage.

Shoppers frequent Amazon every day, trusting the site’s algorithms to show the best deals. But a recent Pro Publica report suggests that Amazon is becoming more biased, with its own products and “Fulfilled by Amazon” offerings being prioritized over those from other vendors — even if the other vendors have the cheapest prices.

This week on The CultCast: Revamped iPads coming this spring; Apple lays the groundwork for the next era of personal technology; how smart homes get hacked; Google’s Pixel phone versus iPhone 7; and we reveal our favorite new iOS and Mac apps!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to build a website that looks beautiful on any device that visits at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off.

If you’ve considering buying a shiny new Apple Watch Series 2, you might be wondering if it can really help you to get in shape. Especially if you’ve seen the recent headlines claiming that fitness trackers don’t work.

So what does science really have to say about wearables? I decided to investigate the science behind Apple Watch fitness assumptions.

The upcoming 2016 MacBook Pro is rumored to feature only USB-C ports, much like last year’s MacBook refresh.

If you’re hoping to get an external display to go with your shiny new laptop, right now the options are somewhat limited. Luckily, the stunning new LG Electronics 27UD88 monitor will provide you with everything you need.

Check out our video review below.

Given that it’s currently the world’s most valuable brand, few people would suggest that Apple should give up its name in favor of something a bit more, well, geeky.

But that wasn’t the case when the company launched, as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently revealed.

Best List: Udoq universal charging stand

There’s a constant war in our house for charging bricks and cables. I like to keep chargers in certain places so I know where they are — beside the bed for example. But they constantly disappear, thanks to my light-fingered kids.

It drives me bananas, which is why I like the Udoq, a universal charging stand that neatly organizes and charges between two and eight devices. It can’t be easily half-inched.

Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL may pack the fastest smartphone camera, but when it comes to raw processing power the iPhone 7 leaves the new handsets in the dust.

Early benchmarks for the Pixel have already leaked for the device, which was unveiled Tuesday. And according to the tests, Google’s phone can’t even top the performance of the iPhone 6s and iPhone SE.

After decades of showing us the best ways to interact with computers, Apple is lagging on the UI of the future — voice controls powered by smart, conversational AI.

Google, on the other hand, is placing artificial intelligence, in the form of Google Assistant, at the center of its new Pixel smartphones and Google Home smart speaker.

Cupertino’s mastery of the user interface is legendary: Macs, iPods and iPhones made the GUI, the mouse, the scroll wheel and multitouch mainstream. But Apple needs to get into the AI conversation if it’s serious about securing a place in our gabby future.

After undergoing successful chemotherapy treatment for cancer, Apple’s fitness gadgets helped me turn my life around and get fit in middle age. So I know from personal experience just how important they can be. That’s why I focus on fitness for Cult of Mac, and it’s why I’ve written The Cult of Mac Fitness Handbook: Get in Shape With iPhone and Apple Watch.

Today, I’m in the best shape of my life, and I rely on my iPhone and Apple Watch to help keep me that way.

They are powerful tools for getting fit and losing weight — if you know how to use them.

Not only does Google want to replace your iPhone with a Pixel, the search giant revealed today that it plans to invade homes with three new products that directly compete with offerings from Apple and Amazon.

During an event in San Francisco today, Google unveiled a new Wi-Fi router, an improved Chromecast and a new Google Home device that’s a lot like Amazon’s Echo smart speaker, only it’s powered by Google Assistant.

Google’s new Pixel smartphones have landed, and they’re here to show the world that Android is stepping up its fight against the iPhone.

The Pixel lineup shares a lot in common with the Nexus family it replaces, but it’s not designed with pure Android enthusiasts in mind anymore. Google wants to reach everyone with its new Pixel and Pixel XL, and it has gone all out to make that happen.

But does the Pixel duo have what it takes to beat iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and other high-end rivals? Find out in our smartphone comparison below.

Hidden among the updates to the Messages app, Apple Music and everything else we’ve all heard so much about, there are a handful of new iOS 10 features you may not have stumbled across.

Check out the video below to see the top ten iOS 10 features that currently rank as iOS’s best-kept secrets.

This week on The CultCast: reports point to a big Mac event coming in October! We’ll tell you why we expect more than just overhauled MacBook Pros… Plus: we remember Steve Jobs, and what made him so damned good; why the jet black iPhone 7 is impossible to find; and stay tuned for drone chat, where we discuss the super cool new drones hitting the market.

This episode is supported by Dollar Shave Club, delivering amazing razors right to your door for a third of the price of what the greedy razor corporations charge. Get your first month free at DollarShaveClub.com/CultCast.

This week’s best deals are your opportunity to upgrade your digital workspace without downgrading your checking account. We’re looking at more than a dozen award-winning productivity apps for whatever you’re willing to pay, a charging hub that does double duty as a device organizer, a terabyte secure cloud storage, and a keyboard shortcut app that can vastly improve efficiency on your Mac. It’s all going for cut-rate prices, read on for more details:

The speakers in our iPhones and iPads keep getting better and better, but they’re not close to replacing Bluetooth speakers just yet. If you’ve just splashed out hard-earned dollars for a new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, a low-priced, quality speaker may come as a welcome relief.

There are a few rare finds out there that deliver good bang for buck, and the $60 DKnight Big MagicBox is one of them.

Check out the full video review below.

Next year’s iPhone won’t be another repackaged iPhone 6. According to one reliable analyst, fans can look forward to an overhauled design with a scratch-resistant glass casing, and stainless steel edges on high-end models.

Lauren Wilkin’s life was about to get better. So she decorated her fingernails to reflect her shift in social status much like women of royalty did 7,000 years before.

Upper-class Egyptian women may have had a front-row seat to a growing civilization, but none experienced the excitement of trading in an iPhone 4 for an iPhone 6.

Apple Watch apps are faster than ever thanks to watchOS 3, but if you ever run into the rotating dial of death, sometimes quickly force quitting the app can help.

With watchOS 3, Apple has made the force quitting process a bit different. Wearers used to be able to double click the side button to force quit an app. Now the process also involves the Digital Crown.

Apple’s latest Mac operating system has a host of big new features including Siri, Apple Pay on the web and Universal Clipboard.

But with so many marquee features, you may be missing some of the more hidden capabilities and tips. Check out our video below of the top five hidden macOS Sierra features you may not know exist.

How often do you get more than you asked for at a cost that’s less than you expect? When it comes to Mac software, you’re not likely to find a better collection than this bundle of award-winning apps.

From productivity to photography, there’s something here that anyone can use. But the best part of all is that you can name your price for all 13 Mac apps.

It’s true: music can put you in the mood for love. A Spotify survey found that music is more arousing than touch. That’s why OhMiBod’s iPhone-connected sex toys make sense; they enhance the mood as well as buzzing in time to the beat.

“Our massagers offer an unrivaled sensory experience that allows singles and couples to not only hear their favorite music, but feel it as well,” says the firm’s website.

In this week’s episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talk to Suki Dunham, cofounder of OhMiBod, a female-owned and operated company that makes a line of iPhone and iPad controlled female pleasure products.

Suki used to work at Apple, where she learned a lot about product design, packaging and marketing, which she applies to her business selling high-tech vibrators.

Apple’s new jet black iPhone 7 is nearly impossible to find at stores, and the shortage isn’t going to get better anytime soon, according to one of the most accurate Apple analysts in the game.

This week on The CultCast: After seven days with iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2, we’ll tell you what we love (and don’t) about Apple’s newest gadgets. Plus: Hissgate explained; how to auto-unlock your Mac with an Apple Watch; and, if you’re wondering how to use picture-in-picture mode on YouTube videos in macOS Sierra, we’ll reveal just how to make that happen.

This episode is supported TunnelBear, the simple privacy app that makes it easy to browse privately and enjoy a more open internet. Visit GetTunnelBear.com to get your free TunnelBear today.

Apple has taken big strides to make Siri even greater in recent years, like bringing it to Apple TV and macOS, and opening it up to third-party developers. In that time, Apple’s virtual assistant has also gotten more accurate and more reliable.

But some might say third-party alternatives — particularly those from Google — are still a step ahead, with greater features and more flexibility. So, is Apple doing enough to make Siri just as stellar as Google Now and the new Google Assistant?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we go head-to-head over virtual assistants.