Just a couple years ago, few imagined owning a HomePod or Echo, but now we’re shouting to one from the kitchen asking for recipes. Everything’s going smart these days, from refrigerators to light bulbs and everything between. So don’t be surprised if soon you find yourself plugging in a smart surge protector.

CVS Pharmacy has finally completed its Apple Pay rollout in stores across the U.S.

It slowly started adding support a few weeks ago, but customers should now be able to enjoy it at all locations nationwide. The rollout comes several months after Tim Cook promised that CVS and 7-Eleven would be adopting Apple Pay.

This week on The CultCast: Is Apple preparing to dump a bunch of much-needed Mac updates on us? We discuss. Plus: Something very strange is going on with the Mac — we fill you in. And is MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar actually useful? We give you our brutally honest opinions. And stay tuned for another episode of CultCast 2nd Hour. This time: Siri Shortcuts, explained!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.

Dragalia Lost, the latest mobile game from Nintendo, has been killing it during its first two weeks of availability — despite being available only in a handful of markets.

New data reveals the action RPG pulled in an estimated $3.5 million during the first five days alone, making it more successful than the beloved Animal Crossing: Fire Camp. More than half of its players are on iOS.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been the exclusive manufacturer of Apple’s A-series mobile chips since 2016, and it appears that this arrangement will continue on into 2019.

According to a new report, TSMC will be producing all of the orders for Apple’s A13 series chip next year, thereby continuing to cement its position as one of the most dominant chipmakers in the industry.

We may well have confirmation of the opening of the first Apple Store in Thailand, thanks to an image shared on social media. While it doesn’t reveal the retail store in all its completed grandeur, it does show a building with recognizable glass exterior and, of course, that all-important logo.

Everyone loathes telemarketers, but  phone scammers are much worse. Spoofers are people who trick the phone system into mis-identifying the number they are calling from. This causes people to believe they are talking to their bank or credit card company, not a criminal. Apple wants to help prevent phone spoofing.

The company filed a patent application for a system to automatically identify when an incoming call isn’t coming from where it says it is.

Customers at the Apple store in Washington D.C. we’re taken by surprise this afternoon by an impromptu keynote hosted by Kanye West.

After telling Trump this morning that Apple should make the president an iPlane, West apparently went to a nearby Apple store and asked if he could hold a keynote on top of iPhone and iPad display tables.

The entire scene looks amazingly bizarre:

iOS 12 is now officially the most popular version of iOS in existence, according to the latest adoption numbers from Apple.

After being released to the public less than a month ago, Apple is reporting that iOS 12 is now being run on 50% of all iPhones and iPads, making it one of the fastest adopted upgrades yet.

Bokeh images look sort of three dimensional, with their subjects in focus and their backgrounds blurry. Facebook took this idea and ran with it. The social networking service created tech to turn bokeh pictures into 3D images.

Instagram has finally added proper secure authentication to its iPhone app. Previously, you could have Instagram send you a one-time login code via SMS every time you signed in. But SMS isn’t secure, making it relatively easy for people to hijack.

Now, you can use your favorite authenticator app — Google Authenticator, for instance — to generate a one-time code any time you need to sign in to Instagram.

The tech world has been rocked by allegations that companies, including Apple and Amazon, were sold data servers compromised by Chinese spies. However, a senior cyber security advisor to the National Security Agency says that no one he knows of has found any sign of this.

Kanye West wants President Donald Trump to ditch Air Force One and force Apple to build him a really neat concept airplane that he saw a GIF of on the internet.

No, this is not a new episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. This is what American politics have devolved to. During a visit to the White House today, West shared a bunch of his outlandish ideas with the president — while revealing his totally insecure iPhone passcode in the process.

The long wait for new iPad Pros may be nearly over if a recent filing by Apple in Asia is any indication that Apple has finalized its product lineup.

This week it was discovered that Apple just registered three new iPad models with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Apple also registered a new Bluetooth device with MIIT, which could be a new Apple Pencil for the iPads.

Apple’s fleet of vehicles used to gather data for Apple Maps appears to have gotten a significant upgrade and it could help make Apple Maps even better.

People in the Los Angeles area have spotted a second-generation version of Apple’s mapping vehicles in the wild. Unlike the previous version, these cars aren’t vans, as Apple has opted to use Subaru SUVs instead.

The iPhone XS and XS Max both have an updated water-resistance rating compared to previous iPhones. The iPhone X has an IP67 rating, whereas the new models have IP68. But what does that mean? In practical terms, it means you never have to worry about dropping your iPhone in the toilet. But the code actually means a lot more than that.

Foxconn is best known for assembling iPhones, so it’s watched as a sign of demand for Apple’s most important product.  The Chinese company just reported its revenue increased 30 percent last month, an indication that there’s plenty of demand for the iPhone XS models that debuted in September.

This is just the latest hint that Apple’s latest are performing well.

Your shiny new Apple Watch is great for logging workouts. But it comes up short when you want to review your training progress and share your workout history with friends. Everything gets bundled in the Activity and Health apps on your iPhone, which are pretty basic.

That’s where third-party apps like Strava come in. Strava offers all the essential fitness analytics that Apple overlooks. The trouble is, Strava’s watch app sucks for logging workouts.

If only you could have the best of both worlds: logging your workouts with Apple’s excellent built-in Workout app, then syncing the data automatically to Strava. Well, thanks to a brilliant indie app called HealthFit, you can.

If you’ve ever wanted to dive more deeply into the music you love, boy, have we got the announcement for you! Starting today, digital media company Genius (formerly Rap Genius) is teaming up with Apple Music to provide annotations and song lyrics to “thousands of songs” on the platform.

To kick your career up a gear, you need to boost your resume. But unless you’re willing and able to jump back into college, it can be hard to gain new, marketable skills. Luckily, there’s another way.

The iPhone XR is expected to enjoy a strong start in China later this month as a result of the lack of innovation from local brands and weakening demand for their devices, according to one reliable analyst.

Apple’s new handset, which will start at $749 in the U.S., could see bigger demand than last year’s iPhone 8 lineup.

Apple could surprise us with updated AirPods before the end of 2018. But don’t be fooled by supposed “leaked” photos that claim to offer our first glimpse at the new headphones and their packaging.

The publisher claims the refresh will bring Apple’s long-awaited wireless charging case, better sound, and more. Some things just don’t add up in this case, however.

Popular medication management app Medisafe has added support for Apple’s Health Records service. This means that users can more easily track the medication that they are supposed to be taking, without having to manually enter it into the app.

That’s useful not just for reminder purposes, but also for more easily and accurately tracking dosage and avoiding potentially lethal drug interactions. As a result, it could potentially save lives.

Hackers in China have used stolen Apple IDs to make off with cash from customers’ Alipay and Tencent accounts, two popular Chinese mobile payments service.

In a post on Weibo, Alipay said that it has contacted Apple to determine the exact details of the breach. It also warned that users who have linked their Apple IDs to mobile payment services should lower their transaction limits. Tencent has also gotten in contact with Apple.