Grab massive Black Friday deals in our Watch Store this weekend, and read our roundups for the Best Black Friday Deals elsewhere! Check out artists’ concepts for the Mac mini and iPad X. Find out why the iPhone X needs its notch.

Last week, Apple announced that it’s HomePod smart speaker will be delayed until the new year. “We need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers,” the company said. Last week’s But, Cult of Mac’s own Leander Kahney shrugged it off. That’s because he made his own HomePod smart speaker. It cost him about $60 and sounds absolutely great.

In this week’s issue, you’ll find these stories and more. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

The long-awaited arrival of beloved Nintendo franchise Animal Crossing on iOS is just of one of the picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got a great writing app for Mac (perfect if you’re writing a book!), a popular ARPG, and a brilliant point-and-click adventure game. Check out our picks below.

Apple is known for its multibillion-dollar hits, but not everything Cupertino touches turns to gold. These six Apple products flopped in the marketplace, despite being pretty darn great.

The speakers in iPhones and iPads get better with each new model, but they’ll never power a party, or even shift enough air to accompany an action movie. Bluetooth speakers are the way to go for most people. You skip the annoyance of wires, and you don’t have to deal with the hassle of AirPlay, which never seems to work right. Also, Bluetooth is universal, so you can also use the speaker with an Android device or PC.

Skip out on the usual online rabbit hole that ends up being Cyber Monday shopping — the Internet is vast, and your time is precious. That’s why we’ve already found a roundup of deals floating around on the web — and it’s not all big screen televisions or massagers (don’t worry): we’ve scoured and searched for the everyday carry itmes, software, VPNs and tools to keep you extra productive as you head into the new year.

The once-infamous Black Friday is no longer a one-day event. It has turned into an entire weekend dedicated to sales. The long Thanksgiving weekend is a tempting time. Who can pass up the wave of savings?

The Grid racing franchise is going mobile! Feral Interactive today revealed Grid Autosport for iOS, which will put high-performance racing in your pocket this fall.

The game will pack supercars from the likes of McLaren, Audi, Pagani and more. And you won’t have to worry about in-app purchases.

Two of Cydia’s largest repositories have been shutdown as jailbreaking dies out. ModMy and ZodTTD are no longer available, leaving BigBoss as the only major source still available to those who want apps and tweaks you can’t find in the App Store.

The iPhone X went on sale in 13 more countries today, bringing the total worldwide availability to more than 70 different markets.

Countries added today include Albania, Bosnia, Cambodia, Kosovo, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, and Turkey.

It’s that wonderful time of the year, Black Friday! What is a better day than the day after spending time with the family and devouring a huge Thanksgiving meal? Whether you are shopping around for yourself or a family member, it is always nice to score a cool piece of tech at a deal.

As a premium brand, Apple’s not exactly known for its discounts or plethora of special offers. This year’s Black Friday is no different if you’ve been holding out for 50 percent reductions on the cost of a new iMac, or a buy-1-get-1-free deal on new Apple Watches.

That doesn’t mean Apple skipping out on a spending holiday altogether, though. In a “one day” shopping deal, Apple is handing out gift cards to anyone who buys certain products.

Check out the details below.

What better gift for the Apple geek in your life (or, heck, yourself) than a ridiculously realistic Steve Jobs action figure?

The 1/6-scale replica of the iconic Apple co-founder and CEO is coming soon from Dam Toys. In addition to boasting some highly detailed head sculpting, it sports Jobs’ iconic mock turtleneck, glasses, jeans and a slew of other nifty accessories to create your own tiny One Infinite Loop tableaux in the comfort of your own home.

If you have an iPad, you will probably need a stand at some point. Unlike the iPhone, which is almost always used in the hand, an iPad is equally good handheld, or on a desk. Thankfully, there are a zillion different kinds of stand and dock to fit almost any need. Today we’ll look at the best non-specialized stands. These are all-purpose docks and supports that don’t pack anything other than clever design, and maybe the odd charging plug.

Authorities in South Korea raided Apple’s offices in Seoul today, one day ahead of the launch of the iPhone X.

The exact reason for the raid isn’t apparent, although it reportedly concerns Apple’s business practices in the country. Nonetheless, it raises questions about whether the South Korean government may be trying to hurt Apple prior to the release of one of its most sought-after products in years.

Foxconn has wasted little time in responding to reports that high school student interns worked illegal overtime building the iPhone X.

In a statement made to the U.K.’s BBC broadcasting service, a representative for the Foxconn Technology Group said that it has taken, “immediate action to ensure that no interns are carrying out any overtime work.”

Holiday shopping isn’t for everybody. For every credit card warrior who can’t wait to push away from the Thanksgiving table and hurdle toward a spot in the Black Friday lines, there’s a conscientious objector who just wishes Black Friday hysteria would go away.

The U.K. Treasury has announced plans to crack down on tech giants which use overseas profit-shifting strategies to cut down on the amount of tax they have to pay.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that the country will now charge a 20 percent income tax rate on any British earnings held overseas, starting April 2019.

The first big Apple ad of the holiday season is here just in time for Thanksgiving.

Apple published its holiday ad “Sway” to Youtube today. The whimsical ad features a winter holiday cityscape that transforms into something magical as a couple dance through it. Of course, they’re rocking AirPods and the iPhone X the entire time.

Check it out:

Today we’re going to figure out how to use GarageBand’s Live Loops feature. These let you drop a little loop of music into a square on a grid (or record your own), and then trigger that loop by tapping the square. Everything plays in time, so you can use it to DJ with loops and samples and create sick drops like VITALIC. Alternatively, Live Loops are a fantastic way to remix your own recordings on the fly, letting you experiment with how your own songs progress, without all that tedious dragging of audio track in timelines.

Apple’s new A11 Bionic makes iPhone X blazing fast. It’s faster than its biggest rivals, despite fewer processing cores and slower clock speeds. But there’s a new Android that narrowly beats Apple’s latest in a real-world speed test.

And believe it or not, that Android costs half as much as iPhone X.

Apple’s new Siri-powered smart speaker won’t be one of the hottest gifts of the 2017 holiday season after all.

The HomePod was set to launch in December 2017, but the company released a statement today saying it needs more time to make the smart speaker ready for customers.

Apple is set to make another major play for emerging markets next year with the rumored release of a new iPhone SE 2 handset.

According to a rumor out of Apple’s supply chain, the new iPhone SE 2 will be assembled by Taiwanese manufacturer Winstron, only all units will be put together in Bengaluru, India.

Remote collaboration has basically become a norm. For passing files of a all sorts back and forth, Google Drive or Dropbox quickly come to mind. But Droplr presents a unique set of collaborative tools.

An iPhone thief in the U.K. had the audacity to send a message to the phone’s original owner, requesting the iCloud details so they could access their account.

Psychology student Beth Freestone had her handset stolen on a night out in the city of Manchester. Several months later, she then received a message on Facebook from a person claiming to have found the iPhone — but wanting to know how to access its associated accounts.

Black Friday is only two days away, and with that Cult of Mac Watch Store’s biggest sale of the year! Save up to 50 percent on Apple Watch bands and accessories, and get a big jump on holiday shopping.

We’ve rounded up some amazing brands for this huge sale including: OleksynPrannyk, Casetify, Nyloon, Ottm, E3 Supply Co., Rilee & Lo, Jack Foster, Strapple, Wood Mark, Nomad, Form Function Form, Clessant, Juuk and more. These brands are offering from 17% to 50% off regular sale prices.

In a few clicks, you’ll find incredible savings on Apple Watch bands and accessories during Cult of Mac Watch Store’s big Black Friday Weekend Sale. That’s right, four days of massive savings. So, on Friday through Monday, visit the Watch Store and get in on these screaming deals while supplies last.