Mobile menu toggle

Cult of Mac Magazine: Google’s Pixel 2 vs. new iPhones and more!

By

cover
In this week's Cult of Mac Magazine, we show you how Google's Pixel lineup compares to iPhone 8 and the upcoming iPhone X, and much more!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Can Google convince iPhone fans to jump ship for the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL?We show how Google’s Pixel lineup compares to iPhone 8 and the upcoming iPhone X.

In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, you’ll find that story and more. Check out the serious internal upgrades packed into iPhone 8 Plus, and Google’s new mini speaker. We’ve got some great Mac apps for photo editors, a roundup of the best chargers and stands for Apple Watch Series 3 and a review of the iconic Speidel Twist-O-Flex band. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

Streamline your calendar, charging, coding skills, and more [Week’s best deals]

By

This week's best deals include tools for keeping all your passwords safe, all your devices charged, and lots more.
This week's best deals include tools for keeping all your passwords safe, all your devices charged, and lots more.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

To celebrate the start of a new week, we do what we do every week: gather up some of the best deals on gear, gadgets, and more. This round, we’ve got a comprehensive course in iOS 11 coding, and a ‘Hiffecient’ USB charging hub. We’ve also got a tool for streamlining online form-filling, and an upgrade for your Mac’s calendar. Everything is discounted by more than 40 percent. Read on for more details:

What we love (and don’t) about the Apple TV 4K, plus our favorite minimalist iPhone 8 cases on The CultCast

By

CultCast on Apple TV
The 4K Apple TV is even better than we thought.
Photo: Apple

This week on The CultCast: A company unlike any other, some say Steve Job’s greatest product was Apple itself. But how has it fared in the six years since his passing? We’ll share the cold, hard facts. Plus: What we love (and don’t) about the Apple TV 4K; an iOS 11 software trick doubles your iPhone storage; and we’ll wrap up our favorite minimalist cases for your iPhone 7, 8 and X.

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

How to print anything to PDF without touching a mouse

By

print to pdf
Printing is so easy now that you don't even need paper any more.
Photo: Cult of Mac

One of the neatest tricks built into the Mac, and now into iOS, is to print to PDF. In short, anything that can be printed can also be saved as a PDF. But doing so on the Mac means using the mouse to click a little drop-down picker in the print dialog. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just tap Command-P — the keyboard shortcut for printing — twice instead?

Smiles trigger selfies with Camera+ app update

By

iPhone photo app
Camera+ adds features like smile mode and depth support.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Even when your arm is stretched out as far as possible, it can be a struggle to get a finger or thumb on the shutter of your iPhone camera to take that selfie. An update to the app Camera+ trips the shutter with a smile.

Version 10 of Camera+, one of the more popular apps for iPhone photographers, announced new features this week with improvements that take full advantage of iOS 11.

Jony Ive praises Apple’s ‘hopelessly inquisitive’ design team

By

Jony Ive
Jony Ive doesn't find failure very interesting.
Photo: Vanity Fair/YouTube

Apple is a company with “a bunch of worrying individuals.”

Jony Ive shared this with a New Yorker TechFest audience Friday as an executive paid to shoulder more worries than most. The chief design officer at Apple doesn’t do many interviews, but he joined The New Yorker editor Dave Remnick onstage for a brief but insightful chat.

How to change the default location of saved files on iOS 11

By

default locations dropbox iOS 11
You're no longer required to use iCloud Drive as your default.
Photo: Cult of Mac

You probably know by now that iOS 11’s Files app can integrate services like Dropbox, and Google Drive, so that they appear and act like regular folders on your iPhone or iPad. But did you know that you can choose these third-party services at the default storage option for your apps? Take Apple’s own Pages, for instance. In the olden days, it would store files in your iCloud Drive, or locally on your iPad. Now, you can pick anything, including Dropbox, as the default location for saving.

‘Poisoning’ mobile game blinds Chinese woman

By

Arena of Valor
The game has been described as "electronic heroin."
Photo: Tencent

A Chinese woman has gone blind in one eye after playing a hugely addictive mobile game. The 21-year-old suffered retinal artery occlusion caused by severe eye strain after playing the online battle game for up to eight hours without taking a break.

Another iPhone 8 Plus swollen battery incident reported in China

By

iPhone 8 Plus image
Around 7 reports of iPhone 8 Plus handsets with swollen batteries have now been reported.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Another iPhone 8 Plus handset with an allegedly swollen battery has been discovered in China, following multiple reports of similar instances.

Chinese state media is reporting that an iPhone buyer named Liu received a newly purchased iPhone 8 Plus in the mail, which arrived cracked open on October 5. The iPhone reportedly had no signs of scorching or an explosion, and Liu says he did not charge the handset.

Microsoft is bringing its Edge browser to iPhone

By

Microsoft Edge for iPhone
Get the latest version of Edge today.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft is bringing its Edge web browser to iPhone.

Windows users will feel right at home with its design, which looks as close as possible to that of Edge on the desktop. They will also enjoy the ability to send websites to their desktop when they want to view them on a larger screen.

Carpool Karaoke episode with Chester Bennington airs next week

By

Linkin Park
Linkin Park frontman passed away in July.
Photo: Stefan Brending/Wikipedia CC

The episode of Carpool Karaoke: The Series featuring the late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington will be made available next week.

While Carpool Karaoke is normally available only to paying Apple Music subscribers, this episode will be available for free on Facebook. Initially there was some question as to whether it would ever air, due to the tragic nature of Bennington’s untimely death.

How a photog captured Steve Jobs’ piercing glare

By

Albert Watson's photo of Steve Jobs, right, is similar to a portrait of Jobs in his younger years.
Albert Watson's photo of Steve Jobs, right, is similar to a portrait of Jobs in his younger years.
Photo: Simon & Schuster

Put the late Steve Jobs in your mind and chances are the iconic photograph made by Scottish photographer Albert Watson comes to mind. It’s a daring glare into the lens, a hand on the chin creating a kind of pedestal for a brain that helped to usher in the age of personal computing.

Today is the sixth anniversary of Jobs passing from cancer and Watson’s story about the day in 2006 Jobs sat in front of his lens should bring a chuckle to those who still miss him or knew his mercurial nature firsthand.

Bookbook CaddySack organizes your Mac’s chargers and dongles

By

Bookbook Caddysack
Keep all your chargers and cables together when you leave the house.
Photo: TwelveSouth

Twelve South’s Bookbook Caddysack might sound like the babble of a sugared-up two-year-old, but it is in fact a super-handy gadget bag for travelers, or folks who spend a lot of time not at home or the office. It’s a little case that’s designed to hold all the chargers and other accessories you need for your various Apple devices.

Flashy 3-in-1 lens lights up your iPhone photos

By

iPhone lens
One attachment with three lenses, an LED light, and a selfie mirror.
Photo: RevolCam

Lens attachments can extend the reach of an iPhone camera. But now you are carrying extra stuff and compromising the compact convenience of the camera that is always with you.

RevolCam is one attachment, but with three lenses, an LED light and selfie mirror and avoids the bulk each of those accessories could add to your pockets or bag.

How to replace the App Store’s missing Wish List in iOS 11

By

bookmark wish list
Apple removed the App Store wish list in iOS 11. Maybe it'll be back, but if not, there are options.
Photo: Cult of Mac

In iOS 11, the App Store Wish List disappeared. Maybe it’ll come back in future updates, and maybe it won’t, but for now there’s no built-in way to save an interesting app to go back to later. You may bookmark an app for several reasons. You might be researching several similar apps. You might want to do some more research on an app later, before buying it. You may want to save an app that someone you know would be interested in. Or maybe you’re just holding off until the price drops, or until you’re on Wi-Fi to download a big app.

Whatever your reasons, there are third-party options. Today we’ll look at a dedicated app for making an app wish list, as well as a Workflow to do the same, and a third option you may not have considered. Best off all, they all have gone big advantage over the old wish list — they can save free apps as well as paid.

This app turns Gmail into a streamlined task manager [Deals]

By

Streamline your Google workflow into a clean series of integrated panes.
Streamline your Google workflow into a clean series of integrated panes.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The machines and apps we use to be productive can sure create some unproductive habits. Many of us spend our time jumping between Google Drive and Gmail, writing on desktop Post-Its, starring emails for later. So if that inefficient pattern sounds familiar, check out Moo.do.

Apple moves a step closer to retail stores in India

By

Apple's first Indian Apple Store will be located in Mumbai mall
India's current Apple stores.
Photo: Lawrence Sinclair/Flickr CC

It’s been a long time coming, but the chances of an official Apple store in India may have just gotten a whole lot better.

That’s based on the fact that India has just given Chinese smartphone maker Oppo the necessary permission to open its own single brand retail stores. Oppo is the first smartphone brand to be given this opportunity in the world’s third-largest smartphone market. It bodes well for Apple’s chances!

Has Google given up on Android Wear?

By

Android Wear
You can no longer buy Android Wear devices from Google.
Photo: Google

Apple Watch could be about to lose one of its biggest rivals.

The future of the Android Wear platform looks bleak today after Google removed all traces of wearable devices from its online store. Its focus on the platform seems to have fizzled out since it became clear that only Apple could sell smartwatches in large numbers.