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Content creators of all types and stripes use Adobe products, whether they know it or not. From Photoshop, Premiere and Indesign to Flash and Acrobat, Adobe underpins everything from photography and video to web design and digital documents. All of the above is wrapped up in Adobe’s Creative Cloud, and now’s your chance to get access to the whole shebang for a full five years, at no cost.

Enter to win five years of access to this invaluable suite of tools — a $2,999 value! — at Cult of Mac Deals.

Mainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. The company is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — Now that I use WeChat, I don’t need much else when it comes to social media apps. In fact, WeChat has almost entirely replaced text messaging in China. I am able to link up with other WeChat users through their username without providing a telephone number, so it is a great platform for communicating with new acquaintances or people I am working with.

I have hundreds of WeChat contacts, but only a handful of telephone numbers in my iPhone. The app also recently introduced group video messaging and has an extensive WeChat Wallet service (similar to Zhifubao) available to Chinese bank account holders.

Leaked photos of what is claimed to be Apple’s next-generation MacBook Pro all but confirm it will ship with a new OLED touchpad above its keyboard. The images sent to Cult of Mac also hint at four USB-C connectors.

Many iPhone fans don’t like waiting two years for major refreshes, but it could be about to get a lot worse. According to one report, Apple is switching its big upgrades to a three-year cycle, which is why this year’s iPhone 7 will look just like its predecessors.

Mainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. Apple is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — The common question when conducting any kind of financial transaction in China is: “Cash or Zhifubao?” I have used Alipay in a wide variety of settings — paying for products online or meals at restaurants, sending rent money to my landlord, or squaring up with a taxi driver. It was easy to set up, after I spent all of 15 minutes creating a Chinese bank account at my local branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

This week, on The CultCast: Macbook Pro’s about to get its biggest refresh ever; Apple’s plans to rival Amazon’s Echo; more great stories from the Cult of Mac; the state of gaming in OS X, iOS, and tvOS; Apple gets serious about iCar charging stations; and we set aside our agendas to discuss YOUR topics in an all-new As You Wish.

Our thanks to Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.

Mainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. Apple is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — Imagine a website where the all the millions of “made in China” products are at your fingertips . Taobao delivers just that, and the app has completely revolutionized online shopping here in China.

Mainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. The company is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — Just like their U.S. counterparts, Chinese youth obsess over their smartphones. But while the phones they use look the same, the apps are quite different: China has its own must-have apps that keep users’ eyes glued to screens at all hours of the day.

Some Chinese apps seem quite similar to their Western counterparts, but others boast innovative and intriguing features. Apple’s clearly interested: While slowing growth in China put a dent in APPL stock, Cupertino recently made a strategic $1 billion investment in Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing.

What other apps in China might grab Apple’s attention? Tim Cook could start his due diligence with this list of powerhouse Chinese iPhone apps. The country’s young people use these apps to listen to music, make purchases, get around town, interact with others and maintain their online identities.

These Chinese apps are impressive and convenient, and they are showing us the future of mobile: a world where everything is at our fingertips.

“It’s alright,” I tell the Upright posture trainer, which is attached to the base of my spine. “I’ll do it right this time.”

I’m not looking at the device itself; that would be impossible. Instead, I’m looking at the three smiley-face icons in the thing’s companion app. The green one is lit up now, but I just slipped into yellow for a second before I caught myself, and if it hits the red one — either from me slouching or overextending my back — it will be unpleasant.

The Apple Car isn’t expected to hit the road until 2020 at the earliest, but Apple’s engineers are already laying the foundation for one of the most challenging aspect of electric vehicles: keeping them charged up.

Apple appears to be preparing the ground work for its charging infrastructure, according to a new report claiming the company is scooping up engineers that specialize in electric charing stations.

Samsung’s excellent Galaxy S7 series will have almost certainly exacerbated falling iPhone demand in recent months, and now the South Korean company is working to ensure that things won’t be any easier for the iPhone 7 lineup.

New rumors say its next-generation Galaxy Note phablet will be its best smartphone yet, with stellar specifications, outstanding design, and a new virtual reality experience that will make the iPhone 7 Plus look like trash.

Herschel is just about the top name in travel gear today, making bags and luggage that are as tough as they are good-looking. Let’s be honest — they put your suitcases and backpacks to shame. Premium bags like these go for a premium price, that is unless you enter this massive giveaway. This Herschel travel bundle includes five items that would normally cost a pretty penny, from suitcases to duffels and backpacks and more, but if you can enter today for a chance to get the whole shebang for free.

Apple manufacturer Foxconn has been talking about investing in robots for years now, but apparently it’s finally done it — replacing more than half of the employees at one of its factories with machines.

“The Foxconn factory has reduced its employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000, thanks to the introduction of robots,” said a government official, adding that “it has tasted success in reduction of labour costs” and that more companies are now likely to follow suit.

Best List: Avanti On-Ear Headphones by Moshi

I like the convenience of carrying earbuds in my pocket, but I’ve never liked jamming them in my ears. I love the sound of full-size headphones, but not the bulk.

I’ve discovered a happy middle ground. Moshi’s new $200 Avanti On-Ear Headphones are lightweight, folding headphones that sit atop your ears, not in them or over them.

They’re like a pair of soft pillowy hamburger buns that sound pretty darn great.

A few weeks ago, I showed you how to turn text into a spoken iTunes track to allow you to read your favorite Cult of Mac articles on the move, while being offline.

But what if you just want to read your articles yourself, instead of having them read to you? Or how about printing out a webpage from your iPhone or iPad?

Well in my latest Quick Tips video, I’m going to show  you how to save webpages to iBooks, to read at a later time.

Check the video out below.

It’s pretty amazing how much stuff we keep on our phones, and not so surprising when we run out of space. And if you’ve ever tried to shuffle data between devices, you know it’s not as easy as it should be, especially without a wi-fi connection. The MFi-certified iMemStick from ZeroLemon is a solution to both problems, adding 64 Gigs of space to your iOS or Mac devices via Lightning and USB and letting you transfer your data easily between them. Right now you can get the iMemStick for $79.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

This week, on The CultCast: Apple makes a curious investment in China’s version of Uber; iPhones that charge wirelessly in your pocket; Siri is coming to a Mac near you; more weird and wacky stories from the Cult of Mac; and we tell you what we like (and what we don’t) about the gadgets we’re currently testing in an all-new Under Review.

Our thanks to Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.

Apple fans felt a deep sense of mourning in 2011 when Apple founder Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer. With the fifth anniversary of his passing approaching, Cult of Mac looks at the artistic tributes that followed.

The Tumblr bio of Hong Kong graphic artist Jonathan Mak Long reads, “I try to do good work, and the world agrees on occasions.”

The death of Steve Jobs was one such occasion. Within hours of the news, grieving Apple fans across the world took comfort in an image created by the then-teenaged college student of a silhouetted Jobs in the bite of the Apple logo.

Apple has put the finishing touches on its new flagship store in San Francisco this week and gave the press an early preview of the store that is set to open to the public this weekend.

The Union Square store promises to be every bit as iconic as Apple’s cube on Fifth Avenue, thanks to its incredible glass and metal design and a new prominent location in San Francisco’s popular luxury shopping district.

Take a peek at Apple’s most amazing store on the West Coast:

In a world full of smart and connected devices, a standard run-of-the-mill padlock just isn’t going to cut it for me. Thanks to Dog & Bone, though, I don’t have to settle.

This is the LockSmart Mini: a keyless, Bluetooth padlock taking the hassle out of remembering to keep those tiny little keys safe. And, saving me from trying to remember yet another four-digit passcode.

To see the lock in action and to check out my full review, see the video below.

Apple fans felt a deep sense of mourning in 2011 when Apple founder Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer. With the fifth anniversary of his passing approaching, Cult of Mac looks at the artistic tributes that followed.

If the wrinkles and curves on a person’s face tell a story, Dylan Roscover will find the right words to narrate each and every line.

The commercial artist from Boulder, Colo., used the messaging from Apple’s “Here’s to the crazy ones” television commercial from 1997 to create a portrait of the embodiment of misfit genius, Steve Jobs.

There’s only so much space on your computer and mobile, but an endless ocean of apps you could fill it with. With so much to choose from, it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why we’ve narrowed down the best of productivity apps into this bundle of 34 top-tier apps for iOS and Mac. Pick the 10 apps you want, and pay $21.99 for the whole shebang.

I’ve got a fat wallet-full of CDs that I never quite got around to ripping. Without a CD drive in my MacBook Pro, it was starting to look like I’d never hear them again unless I was driving in my car, which still comes equipped with a CD slot.

The Sonoro Cubo comes with a bunch of great features (like its phenomenal speaker system, built-in meditational audio and exceptional remote), but the killer feature is the addition of a CD slot. Now I can listen to any of the CDs I bought back in the 90s right in my living room without having to purchase a big stereo system.

If you’re coming up against the hardware limitations of your Mac, or just can’t afford one that performs at the level you need, you could always just build the machine you need. Spend a little bit of time on Newegg, and you’ll see that there’s basically no component they don’t carry, and no machine you can imagine that can’t be built. Getting the best parts for your personal computer can be costly, but with the Newegg $1000 Gift Card Giveaway even the highest-performing machine suddenly seems within reach.

If identity thieves and data snooping have you feeling uneasy when you get online, you should consider logging on with a virtual private network. By distributing your traffic among a set of globally distributed, secure servers, Celo’s VPN service anonymizes and encrypts your online activity in a way that adds significant security to your browsing, even on public Wi-Fi networks. And right now you can get a lifetime subscription to Celo’s VPN service for only $29.