Cult of Mac

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In late 2020, the switch to Apple silicon introduced a major leap in the MacBook Air’s performance, efficiency and battery life. Almost four years later, Microsoft’s Surface Laptop lineup is undergoing a similar transition.

The latest Surface Laptop 7 uses Qualcomm’s newest Arm-based Snapdragon chips, which bring a major leap in performance and efficiency. Do these upgrades make the Surface Laptop 7 better than the M3 MacBook Air?

Apple manufacturer Foxconn wants to expand its operations in India and assemble iPads in the country, potentially at its Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu.

Currently, Apple contractors Foxconn, Pegatron and Tata Group only assemble iPhones in India.

WhatsApp announced today that it has reached 100 million monthly active users in the US. This comes just a few months after the messaging service revealed that it is seeing double-digit growth in the US.

Despite over two billion people using WhatsApp worldwide, it has a limited US presence. However, the Meta-owned company has been working on expanding its presence in the region.

Epic Games will make its highly popular game Fortnite and other titles available via AltStore PAL, the first app marketplace for iPhone to open in the European Union. The game developer is also continuing to work on its own iOS app marketplace, because it’s banned from Apple’s App Store.

So the days of playing Fortnite on iPhone will be back soon … but only for those who live in the right region.

If you buy enough stuff on the internet, you cultivate a healthy skepticism when deals sound too good to be true. That’s especially true when it comes to name-brand tech — like, for instance, when you see Beats headphones on sale.

Audio gear from Beats (a company Apple acquired for $3 billion a decade ago) has been popular for so long that third-party sellers have made a cottage industry out of Beats knockoffs.

But there’s nothing like the real thing, and Cult of Mac Deals has limited stock of authentic Beats Studio Pro headphones for just $179.99. That price is almost half off the MSRP of $349. And that discount is possible because these Beats headphones, released in 2023, are “new open box” inventory.

The new Scuf Nomad makes playing advanced games on your iPhone much more fun by adding physical buttons, triggers and sticks. It’s designed to go where you go, and works on nearly every iPhone.

The controller emphasizes customization, allowing you to change what the buttons do even if the game itself doesn’t support that. And there are rear paddles in addition to all the usual controls.

I happily played hours of games on the Nomad — here’s what it’s like to use.

The first German-language series to air on Apple TV+, a tech-centric dark comedy called Where’s Wanda?, will debut October 2, the streamer said Thursday. So we have an air date, an image (above) and a description (below). Soon enough, a trailer should follow for what looks like it might be a pretty compelling show.

This follows news of the second German-language show coming to Apple TV+, hospital drama KRANK Berlin, starring Haley Louise Jones. Still in production, it has no air date yet.

For $16.99 a month, it’s now possible to subscribe to Disney+, Hulu and Max. That’s a 53% savings for the popular streaming services. The cost almost doubles for advertising-free versions, though.

The three are ready to watch on Mac, iPad, iPhone or Apple TV.

Thursday’s move is part of a recent trend toward bundling. Apple TV+ got on the bandwagon in May, joining in with Netflix and Peacock.

The sprawling North American Leagues Cup 2024 soccer tournament kicks off July 26 exclusively on MLS Season Pass through the Apple TV app, the iPhone giant said Thursday.

The second annual Leagues Cup is a monthlong tournament featuring all 47 clubs from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX. So participating clubs come from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Emergency platforms RapidSOS and Prepared recently shared their plans to integrate with the new Emergency SOS Live Video functionality in iOS 18. That means most 911 calls will include the option to share video with dispatchers, like a FaceTime call. And that will help responders assess the scene and prepare to help in the best way.

Apple TV+ turned the 1981 cult classic movie Time Bandits into a comedic adventure series for all ages starring Lisa Kudrow (from Friends, duh).  It premiered Wednesday on the streaming service.

The new Apple TV+ series drew considerable praise from reviewers.

Apple could finally move away from Qualcomm modems as soon as 2025. The company reportedly plans to use its in-house 5G modem on two iPhones due to launch next year.

The company’s in-house baseband will debut on the iPhone SE 4, which rumors indicate should launch in Q1 2025. The iPhone 17 ‘Slim’ will follow suit in the third quarter of the year.

Moft is way beyond its fundraising goal for its new Moft Snap Flow iPhone stand, which snaps to the handset magnetically and unfolds to give you a little organizer with pen and paper. Having raised more than 13 times the funding goal of $10,000 on Kickstarter, the accessories company will most likely put the new Snap Flow into production. With nearly 2,400 people financially backing it so far, there seems to be an appetite for the old-school accessory.

But in the meantime, you can pledge for one on Kickstarter at 20% off through July 31. So who needs a Samsung-style smartphone stylus (or Apple’s Notes app), anyway?

AltStore PAL, the first third-party app marketplace for iOS, now lets users install apps created by independent developers. The change, which arrived Wednesday in AltStore PAL version 2.1, makes previously restricted apps available to iPhone owners in the European Union.

“This means apps that have been rejected by the App Store — such as torrenting apps and virtual machines — have another path forward for the first time ever,” Riley Testut, developer of AltStore, told Cult of Mac.

The update is launching with a few third-party apps available now — iTorrent, qBitControl and PeopleDrop — “apps that are only possible with AltStore PAL,” according to Testut.

Best Buy just launched its Great Summer Sale with a variety of Apple deals — including up to $600 off M2 iPad Pro models. Now that M4 iPad Pro has been out a while, they must be clearing out their inventory of the older-but-still-great tablet.

Are you ready for some football … with iPads? This upcoming college football season should see plenty of Apple tablets teaming up with coaches and players on the sidelines. Two powerhouse NCAA Division I conferences — Southeastern (SEC) and Atlantic Coast (ACC) — recently struck deals with Apple to use iPads in college football games.

iPad’s “unique capabilities and versatility make it the ideal solution to support coaches and student-athletes,” said Scott Brodrick, a manager in Apple’s worldwide iPad product marketing group. “With an unrivaled combination of advanced displays, powerful performance, portability, fast connectivity, all day battery life and versatile accessories, iPad will let coaches and players make in-game adjustments and empower athletes to compete at the highest level.”

The Mac offers many options for taking screenshots without installing third-party apps. You can take a Mac screenshot that shows the entire screen, get a clean image of a specific window, or select specific areas to capture. There’s also a built-in way to take a video of your Mac screen (and even record a voiceover for your screen recording using your microphone, headset or AirPods.)

We’ll show you various ways to take a Mac screenshot so you can decide what’s best for your needs.

The new Pitaka MagEZ Case 2 for iPad Pro fuses stylish design and tough protection for your tablet, the company said Wednesday. And what’s more, you can use it more like a desktop computer or laptop with a highly functional magnetic case like this one.

Many folks building a computer setup love a good trick for compartmentalizing a bit — essentially, any way they can neaten up the space in a way that enhances productivity. That could include something we don’t see often enough in setups: multi-use keyboard trays. Today’s Mac Studio user proudly displays a wooden one for Magic Keyboard mini and Magic Trackpad 2. And you can find many others out there, like the popular Twelve South MagicBridge.

Trays like that give your keyboard and trackpad — or/or mouse, in some cases — one modular place to live, and you can easily move the pair or trio around as one unit or hold it in your lap.

iPhone users could use AI to create their own artwork for playlists in Apple Music, according to code reportedly found in the latest iOS 18 beta. The feature would use Apple Intelligence’s ability to generate images based on simple instructions.

If true, this is be one of multiple new artificial intelligence capabilities coming to iPhone.

With Apple updating its devices at a rapid pace, many individuals and organizations find themselves with a growing pile of old or unused Macs and other hardware. While simply discarding or giving away these devices might seem like the easiest solution, they often still have value that can be reclaimed. Whether you want to upgrade to the newest iPhone or just want to declutter your office, this article will explain how to sell your used Apple devices for maximum value.

The Willow Wombat Pro is a great keyboard without much compromise. It’s mechanical, with comfortable key switches to type on all day, but it’s not loud. It’s narrow, but it still has all 102 keys, with an unusual key layout. It’s thin, but it’s not flimsy: It’s sturdy and well-made.

The whimsical yellow color scheme will also add a flash of color and flair to your Mac setup. Buy it now on Amazon or keep reading below.

Need a PC for work or play? This open-box HP Pavilion looks and works like brand-new, but definitely doesn’t come with a brand-new price tag. It’s also distinctive-looking, with a snow-white case that sets it apart from the boring black, gray and beige computing crowd.

It’s not as colorful as an iMac, naturally, and it doesn’t come with a monitor. But it also won’t set you back more than a grand like the iMac will (even at record-low sale prices). For a solid PC on the cheap, grab an HP Pavilion desktop computer for just $349.99.

Apple could add a variable aperture to the iPhone 17’s primary camera. A variable aperture, commonly found in DSLRs and other high-end cameras, would allow the sensor to limit the light intake for higher-quality images.

It also would enable a better depth-of-field effect, with a nice background blur when taking close-up shots of a subject.