Did you know you can expand your iPhone storage by using a flash drive? This 4-in-1 Smart Flash Drive lets you add 128GB of storage to almost any device, thanks to its four connectors: USB-C, Lightning, USB 3.0 and micro-USB. That array of connectivity makes this four-way flash drive one of the most convenient storage options around.

This pocket-size lifesaver allows you to transfer files between your devices in just a couple of taps, saving you valuable phone storage space and potentially expensive cloud costs.  And right now, you can grab it on sale for just $24.99. That’s $15 off the regular price of $39.99.

In Surface season 2, amnesiac Sophie enters a whole new world in London on her search for lost memories. But she ends up embroiled in a British aristocratic scandal, tangling with people far more dangerous than they seem on the, er, surface, according the new trailer Apple TV+ dropped Monday.

The psychological thriller returns for its eight-episode second season on Apple TV+ Friday, February 21.

AirPods Pro 2 are — hands down — the best earbuds for iPhone users. They offer high-quality audio while also seamlessly switching between Apple devices as needed. And AirPods sales from multiple retailers mean you can pick up a pair at a sweet 32% off.

And there are more sweet discounts, including AirPods 4 at up to 22% off, and AirPods Max at up to 13% off.

With high-profile data breaches on the rise, the digital landscape becomes increasingly treacherous for both individuals and organizations. Fortunately, tools like Surfshark Alert’s free Data Leak Checker can protect your precious personal information.

Surfshark products offer advanced levels of protection against growing online threats. And right now, you can lock in security for less with a great deal on Surfshark One+, a top-of-the-line package that adds an easy-to-use tool for removing your compromised data from the internet.

What do you think, does today’s featured setup photograph, above, look the product of artificial intelligence? Something too neat and maybe a little off about it? Lots of people thought so. But the user insists only the desktop wallpaper showing on the Thunderbolt monitor is AI-generated. And the MacBook Pro user finds BetterDisplay sharpens text on his external display, a 32-inch BenQ 4K screen.

With hip-hop icon Kendrick Lamar taking center stage at the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show on February 9 at New Orleans, Apple kicked off the artist’s Road to Halftime festivities Monday.

“Throughout his career, Kendrick Lamar hasn’t met the cultural moment so much as he’s defined it,” said Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s global head of content and editorial. “He is an artist’s artist — authentic to his core. We couldn’t be more thrilled to watch him headline the third Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, in what’s sure to be another moment we’ll all be talking about for decades.”

Apple reportedly will make a small change to AppleCare+ payments next week. Customers will no longer have the option to prepay for two or three years of AppleCare+ coverage at retail stores.

Instead, they can only purchase AppleCare+ annually or monthly through Apple Stores. The multiyear subscription plan is not going away, though.

After months of teasing glimpses of Powerbeats Pro 2, the fitness-oriented wireless earbuds will launch next week, if a report from a generally reliable source proves accurate. The updated earbuds reportedly will mark a significant milestone for Apple — its first earbuds with built-in heart-rate monitoring. If you’re planning to use these earbuds with an Android device, you might find this guide on how to pair Powerbeats Pro to Android helpful.

This comes as Apple continues to expand its ecosystem, including new developments like Beats Fit Pro 2 that enhance user experience across devices.

Apple is reportedly launching an iCloud-powered events and invite service called “Confetti” inside the company as soon as this week. The feature will enable users to invite their friends and families to upcoming parties and functions.

The move is part of Apple’s plan to revamp its Calendar app.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Apple pulls the plug on a secret AR glasses project. What does this mean for Vision Pro?

Also on The CultCast:

• Erfon discusses the pros and cons of the 13-inch iPad Pro.
• Apple’s latest earnings call yields some astonishing factoids.
• Apple still plans to fix Siri — and to roll out the delayed CarPlay 2.
• We end with a laugh at one of the craziest iPhone cases we’ve ever seen.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Find My iPhone, a feature available in Apple’s Find My app, will help you locate your lost phone. You can find it using any other Apple device you own or by borrowing a friend’s device. You can even ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch.

From Find My, you can also remotely lock down your lost iPhone, put the device into a special Lost Mode, or even wipe its contents. You should take a peek at this incredibly useful app before you have to.

Keep reading or watch our video.

In a significant shift in its augmented reality strategy, Apple suddenly discontinued development of its lightweight AR glasses project this week, according to a new report Friday. This marks another adjustment in the company’s pursuit of mainstream wearable technology. The project, known internally as N107, aimed to create normal-looking glasses with built-in displays that would connect to Mac computers.

You can use your iPhone (or even your Apple Watch!) as a remote for your Apple TV. It’s a convenient feature when you’ve lost the remote in the couch cushions. (You can use your iPhone to help find it as well.)

Even if your remote’s not gone missing, sometimes it’s sitting on the table way over there and you don’t want to interrupt a show by asking for someone to pass it to you. Or maybe, someone is intentionally hogging the remote and you want to pause the video yourself. Either way, it’s really easy to do from an iPhone or an Apple Watch.

Good thing come to those who wait for lower-priced Apple gear — this time in the form of M3 Pro and Max MacBook Pro models for hundreds off normal prices. B&H Photo marked down prices a mile — even up to $1,200 off a high-spec model. So unless you feel like you simply must have the latest M4, here’s your chance to bag a blazing-fast, highly useful MacBook at a great price.

The CalDigit Element 5 Hub includes four Thunderbolt 5 ports. That puts it ahead of all directly competing hubs, as these include only three ports with the latest super-fast networking standard.

And that’s not all. CalDigit’s latest includes nine ports in total, and offers up to 90W of power.

Health care leaders from 10 countries gathered in San Diego Thursday to explore Apple’s Vision Pro for surgery and other medical uses, and especially how it can further transform medical procedures and patient care, according to a new report.

The 300-person summit, hosted by Sharp HealthCare, marks another milestone in the device’s adoption by medical institutions since its 2024 launch, almost exactly a year ago. While broader public discussion of the headset tends to pine for a cheaper version, health care pros seem over the moon about how cheap $3,500 per unit is compared to their usual gear.

In our Severance season 2 episode 3 recap, I confess I felt my patience with the endlessly weird show might expire, as yet another maybe-just-weird-for-weird’s-sake thing happened. But then an intriguing puzzle piece appeared, dangled like a treat, and my rising impatience fell away. For now. In a good puzzle-box show, that’s how it works.

Last week’s episode 2 showed what it took, from outies’ perspectives, for Mr. Milchick, Helena Eagan and others to get the innie Macrodata Refinement crew back to work after the Overtime Contingency allowed them temporary freedom. This week’s episode goes further down innie rabbit holes, slowly luring us toward who the hell knows what. But at least there are a lot more goats, and an improved-yet-still-dangerous outlaw reintegration procedure might be outie Mark S’s path to cracking Lumon’s mysteries and finding his wife.

In other words, the whole season’s story arc became more clear in this episode.

Apple’s rollout of Apple Intelligence has been slow. The AI suite debuted with iOS 18.1 but initially launched in only a limited number of markets and languages.

Since then, the company has expanded support to more regions and languages, but there is still significant ground to cover. This April, the company will further accelerate its efforts and expand Apple Intelligence’s availability to more languages.

We went through Apple CEO Tim Cook’s earnings call with investors on Thursday, and found some genuine surprises during the discussion of the financial results of the holiday 2024 quarter. We also turned up impressive figures showing just how well the company is doing.

Financial details don’t have to be boring. Here are the high points from the call as quickly and as interesting as we can make them.

Wall Street analysts set an ambitious goal for Apple to beat by predicting the iPhone maker’s revenue had increased 4% during the critical holiday shopping season. No problem — Apple met or exceeded those expectations.

“Today Apple is reporting our best quarter ever, with revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We were thrilled to bring customers our best-ever lineup of products and services during the holiday season.” Meanwhile, Apple Watch news has been making headlines, highlighting significant shifts in market trends. 

Efficiency and convenience are essential, and a tool like this ginormous 1TB USB-C and USB-A 3.2 flash drive offers both. It’s versatile enough to work with a wide array of devices. And although it’s tiny enough to put in your pocket, it offers plenty of backup space.

Even better, this 1TB USB-C flash drive is on sale for just $69.97 (regularly $109.99) for a limited time.

Noise on Super Bowl Sunday (February 9 this year) increases throughout the United States, almost everywhere, according to new Apple Hearing Study research findings this week from Apple and the University of Michigan.

The findings highlight the importance of being mindful about noise exposure during major sporting events, even when watching from home. Even those not at the big game get exposed to higher levels of noise, often for several hours, and all the more so at boisterous public viewings in bars or at parties. And that could factor into hearing loss for some, researchers indicated.

Financial analysts predict Apple revenue increased 4% during the all-important 2024 holiday quarter versus the same period of the previous year. Wall Street also expects a jump in Apple’s earnings per share. We’ll find out whether the iPhone maker met these expectations when Apple reveals its Q1 2025 financial results after the U.S. markets close Thursday afternoon.

A featured MLS game each week will appear on Apple TV+ in a new series billed as Sunday Night Soccer.

This is a similar arrangement to Friday Night Baseball that the streaming service began offering several years ago.

In a remarkable display of sustained corporate excellence by a certain iPhone giant, Fortune magazine named Apple the world’s most admired company for the 18th year in a row on Wednesday. The winning streak began in 2006 — a year before the iPhone first came out, and went on to dominate the market, propelling Apple to new heights.