Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: A look at the new Steve Jobs Theater, a beautiful spectacle of technology and architecture, a physical manifestation of the Apple ethos, and a true and fitting monument. And like any Apple product, it packs some features that will delight you. Plus: Why it will probably be damn near impossible to purchase an iPhone 8. And we’ll pitch you our favorite gadgets, then vote on which is best, in an all new Faves ’N Raves!

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% off any hosting plan.

The biggest Apple keynote of 2017 is just a few short days away on September 12. And according to the rumors, its going to be one of the most memorable tech events in years. This Tuesday, be sure to check out our coverage of this not to be missed event!

In this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine, you’ll find that story and more. Learn how to maximize the money you get when selling your old iPhone. And discover a way to install a headphone jack in the iPhone 7. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

As Florida braces for one of the biggest hurricanes ever recorded, Apple is reaching into its wallet to help provide aid to victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The iPhone-maker revealed today that it is donating $5 million to boost relief efforts for hurricane victims. The company is also making it easier for iTunes users to pitch in.

This post is brought to you by SaneBox.

Unless you’re very disciplined, you have an overstuffed email inbox like the rest of us. But being on top of correspondence still eats up valuable minutes and even hours.

Kaspersky Labs, maker of popular antivirus packages for the Mac, is seeing its products pulled from Best Buy stores this week due to concerns that the software company is linked to the Russian government.

With Cupertino about to unleash loads of new hardware, this week’s roundup of wallet-saving Apple deals includes cables, cases, apps and more.

Apple fans will turn to other smartphone makers if the iPhone 8’s shipping delay is too lengthy. That’s according to one Bernstein analyst, who believes the device needs to be readily available for the holiday season.

These days, everybody is a storyteller. Whether you’re writing articles or journals, novels or screenplays, there’s a world of digital tools that you can benefit from. This bundle gathers 7 of those tools in one place, and for low price. From StoryMill to MacJournal, Narrator to Montage, and lots more, it’s got something useful to anybody who weaves narratives. And right now you can get the whole bundle for just $29. Read on for more details:

With the price of the next iPhone reportedly clocking in at over $1,000, many people are likely thinking, “It’s time to sell my iPhone.”

If you’re looking to trade in your old iPhone for cash, you’d be crazy not to maximize the money you get. But beware: One of the biggest mistakes people make during an iPhone trade-in is falling for a “flawless” quote.

Apple knows no one really wants to pay $1,000 for a phone, but that’s how much it plans to charge for iPhone 8. To make it feel a little less expensive, the company will reportedly throw in some extras — including free music and storage.

Since Apple revolutionized smartphones ten years ago, it has kept working to give us new technologies that keep changing the way we use mobile devices. One of those has become beloved by all iPhone fans, but you’re going to have to get used to life without it.

No, I’m not talking about the physical Home button, but rather Touch ID. A new report claims there’s no place for it in iPhone 8.

LG Display could enter Apple’s OLED supply chain as early as the middle of next year, a new report coming out of Korea claims.

By taking on LG as a partner, Apple could break its reliance on longtime frenemy Samsung, which will deliver the OLED displays for the new iPhone 8 handset.

According to the studio head of 20th Century Fox, a deal allowing customers to watch movies in their own home just weeks after they’ve debuted in theaters is likely to be finalized in the next 6-12 months — with prices set at “less than $50.”

Up until now, media companies like Apple have been pushing for some kind of premium on-demand deal, but negotiations have been slow due to studios dragging their feet. However, at this week’s Bank of America Merrill Lynch media conference in Los Angeles, Fox studio boss Stacey Snider says that finally talks, “have started to coalesce around a concept.”

Just days after Apple pulled the plug on its annual U.K.-based Apple Music Festival after a ten year run, Spotify has announced that it will by heading to the United Kingdom to stage a music festival of its own.

The so-called “Who We Be” festival will debut November 30 at London’s Alexandra Palace. Its lineup will include the likes of British grime and hip hop artists Dizzee Rascal, Bugzy Malone, Cardi B, Giggs, J Hus, and Stefflon Don.

Credit report giant Equifax confirms a “cybersecurity incident” may have compromised the data of 143 million U.S. customers.

Criminals gained access to Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, credit card numbers and more between mid-May and July of this year. It’s one of the biggest and most worrisome data breaches in history.

Here’s what to do if you’re one of the customers affected.

The HomePod won’t ship until later this year, but two posts on social media show that people working on the device are already testing them in their homes.

One Twitter user has shared an image taken in Menlo Park, CA, depicting a Control Center screen, complete with HomePod icon. Another user, this time on Instagram, posted a black and white photo of a HomePod in what looks like his or her kitchen in Shanghai, China.

The title of world’s second-largest smartphone brand no longer belongs to Apple.

New research data from analytics firm Counterpoint shows that Chinese smartphone company Huawei consistently surpassed Apple in smartphone sales during June and July to take over the No. 2 spot. Samsung remains at the top of the heap.

Luisa Dörr is not the first photographer to do a magazine cover shoot with her iPhone. But her 12 covers for Time magazine of women changing the world may be the most impressive to date.

Dörr photographed 46 influential women, from Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams to Hillary Clinton and Selna Gomez, for the magazine, which published a piece called “Firsts,” featuring women who are changing the world.

For its next act with Siri, Apple is taking some cues from one of the tech world’s biggest sources of inspiration: Hollywood.

With the release of iOS 11 later this month, Siri is set to get some big upgrades. The most notable will be the AI helper’s silky-smooth voice. And according to one Apple exec, the movie Her played a big role in helping the company figure out the changes they should make.

If your Mac is sick, the first step is to restart it. But did you know that there are several tricks you can perform while your Mac is starting up?

Many of these are advanced Mac diagnostic tools, which shouldn’t be used unless you really know what you’re doing. But some not-so-secret startup keyboard combos will remove a stuck disk (if your Mac is old enough to even have a disk inside), let you boot your Mac from a USB drive, or to turn your entire computer into one big storage disk to connect to another computer.

Google plans to step up its fight against the iPhone 8 by taking a leaf out of Apple’s playbook.

A new report claims the company is in talks to buy HTC’s struggling smartphone business, which would give it near complete control over future Pixel devices.

Where do you put your AirPods when they’re not in your ears? Eric Migicovsky kept forgetting and when he did find them, he sometimes realized he had forgotten to charge them.

So he and a couple of friends came up with the PodCase, a relatively slim iPhone battery case that holds a set of AirPods and keeps them charged. The case can do away with the need to carry the AirPods charging case since the PodCase allows for one-cord charging for both phone and ear buds.

Hulu and Spotify have teamed up to offer U.S. college students one heck of a deal. For $4.99 per month, the same cost as Spotify’s existing student plan, users now get access to Spotify Premium and Hulu’s “Limited Commercials” plan.

The offer is a great way of the companies staying competitive with the likes of Amazon and Apple, both of who offer their own $5 a month low-cost student plans.

How many times have you wished you could climb into an engine to see what’s wrong with it? Or wondered what’s clogging your sink? Shrinking down and climbing inside a drain or an engine block is an unpleasant thought. So why not just to send an endoscopic camera in there to scope out the issue?

Apple won’t be bringing the headphone jack back to iPhone, so if it’s a feature you’re not prepared to lose anytime soon, you’re stuck with the iPhone 6s. Or are you?

One man, who recently built his own iPhone from scratch using components sourced in a Chinese tech market, has figured out a way to install a headphone jack in the iPhone 7. It’s the ultimate mod for music lovers.