The new Journey Nova 3-in-1 fast charger carries a distinctive look. Photo: Journey
Multi-device chargers for iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch come and go, but Journey just rolled one out that really catches the eye: the Journey Nova 3-in-1 Fast Charging Station. It’s available for preorder now.
“Our designers envisaged an anti-tech aesthetic for Nova,” said a Journey spokesperson. “The exterior complements decors much like a vase, chair or pot plant might.”
A pot plant, they say! Well, that is a good aesthetic model to emulate, although it being on the “anti-tech” side seems debatable.
BenQ showcased two new displays, one with 5K resolution and one with 4K and a speedy refresh rate. Photo: BenQ
Two new external monitors BenQ showcased this week at Adobe MAX in Miami cater specifically to Mac and MacBook users — especially creative professionals. PD2730S and PD3226G, part of BenQ’s DesignVue PD series, promise to deliver exceptional color accuracy and performance for designers, illustrators and content creators.
“BenQ has meticulously gathered feedback from professionals to design monitors that precisely meet their requirements with always accurate and consistent colors,” said Houston Wei, senior director of BenQ North America. “The new PD2730S and PD3226G were designed with both Mac and PC users in mind to provide unparalleled color features with invaluable new software including Display ColorTalk and Palette Master Ultimate.”
Do Not Disturb continues to get smarter in iOS 18. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus in iOS 18 that judges on the fly which notifications seem important, using Apple Intelligence.
Setting up a Focus mode by hand is a bit of a chore. You need to know exactly which contacts and apps you want to silence and let through. You need to keep maintaining them as you add new contacts and download new apps.
Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus mode that’s a slightly smarter Do Not Disturb. There’s no work necessary. And, if you do have a highly customized existing Focus, you can add its smarts on top of your existing rules and customizations. Here’s how to make the most of it.
Production on a fourth season of Ted Lasso starts in January 2025, according to sources. Photo: Apple
Beloved Apple TV+ soccer comedy Ted Lasso begins pre-production on a long-hoped-for fourth season in January in London, according to a Thursday report. This follows recent news about the studio picking up cast members’ options, the first concrete clue that Ted Lasso season four might actually happen.
Apple TV+ ended the hit show after three seasons. But if Ted Lasso season four production starts as expected, it’s time to believe again! Fans eager to know more about the Ted Lasso platform and its future can check out Apple’s confirmation of season 4.
UPDATE: The Film & Television Industry Alliance confirmed via scheduling information that Ted Lasso shoots for season four will indeed start taking place in both London and Los Angeles in January 2025. A Mastodon post from the original leaker points to the confirmation.
You can buy the affordable microphone in a kit that includes a boom arm. Photo: [email protected]
These days, all sort of people need a microphone in their Mac computer setup — podcasters, streamers, gamers, videoconferencers or anyone recording pretty much anything. The list goes on. Today’s featured M1 Pro MacBook pro user, a video editor, relies on the Maono PD200X dynamic microphone, which packs both XLR and USB modes, to keep his vocal work clear.
iPad mini 7 performance is as good as Apple promised. Image: Apple
Early benchmark tests for the recently announced iPad mini 7 show it’s around 30% faster than its predecessor, and perhaps a bit more. This is a detail that might help anyone wavering on the new tablet make up their mind.
The same tests indicate that iPad has 8GB of RAM — an expected increase.
This is just one of several striking Apple Park shots Basic Apple Guy turned into wallpaper for Mac or iPad. Photo: Basic Apple Guy/Apple
Designer Basic Apple Guy, purveyor of fine wallpapers for your devices, found a way to blow up a bunch of tiny background shots of Apple Park in Cupertino into fine wallpapers for Mac and iPad displays. The background shots are included in macOS Sequoia for small-scale uses in apps like FaceTime and Photo Booth, so they had to be majorly upscaled. BAG dropped the wallpaper versions online Thursday for your downloading pleasure (see below).
Desert Titanium is so light it’s nearly white. Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
One of the highlights of the iPhone 16 is its longer runtime. However, numerous owners of Apple’s latest iPhones are reporting significant battery drain issues.
Most users report “horrible standby battery life,” with their iPhones losing most of their charge when idle.
Enjoy all of Microsoft Office 2019 on any Mac for less than $25. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
There comes a time in nearly every adult’s life when you must install Microsoft Office. Yes, you can technically get by without Word, Excel and the other essentials. But if you want to get certain tasks done on your killer Mac setup, you’ll need these tools. And this limited-time deal on Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac might be the time to get them.
Thriller film "The Gorge" is coming soon to Apple TV+. Photo: Apple TV+
Popular young movie stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy star alongside Sigourney Weaver in the upcoming thriller film The Gorge on Apple TV+, the streamer revealed Thursday. It noted the film, which has no firm release date yet, will get promoted along with season 2 of hit series Severance at pop culture festival CCXP24 in early December.
“They’re not keeping you out. They’re keeping them in,” reads the tagline for the Apple Original Film. And in bigger news for fans of the mind-bending workplace drama series, Apple noted Severance returns with its second season January 17 (for those who don’t already know).
“Shrinking” season three is happening. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ reportedly renewed its comedy/drama Shrinking for season three on Thursday, continuing the teamup between Jason Segel and Harrison Ford.
Season two is streaming now. And with the new announcement, fans can enjoy it without any worries it’ll end with a cliffhanger that never gets resolved.
Under Taliban rule, women in Kabul can't even go outside without a chaperone, much less get an education. Photo: Apple
When the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban took control of Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2021, it stripped women of their right even to go outside without a chaperone. So when a woman surreptitiously taping herself says “the situation is dire” in the Bread & Roses documentary trailer, which Apple TV+ dropped Thursday, it seems like an understatement. A heavily armed force stripped even their most basic rights.
The Apple Original Films documentary film, which follows three women fighting to reclaim their lives, premieres November 22 on Apple TV+. Watch the trailer below.
Surface leaves Apple, one of several executives to recently do so. Photo: Medtronic
As of Wednesday, Chief People Officer Carol Surface leaves Apple, the latest in a string of executives to do so. And she’s going after an unusually short two years of service for a top executive, according to a new report.
Other executive departures and role shifts include like Luca Maestri stepping down as CFO and longtime engineering exec Dan Riccio retiring.
Apple Pay users in the U.S. can redeem rewards with eligible Discover credit cards when they check out with Apple Pay online and in-app on iPhone and iPad. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
PayPal debit card users will be able to see their PayPal balance in Apple Wallet starting in 2025.
Plus a new Tap to Provision feature lets users add a credit or debit card to Apple Wallet by simply tapping an eligible card to the back of their iPhone.
These are among a number of features that are new or coming soon to Apple Pay.
Type in a prompt to make a photo montage in the Photos app. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You can create a photo memories movie using the Apple Photos app, powered by Apple Intelligence. Just type in a prompt, it’ll browse through your collection, and create a bespoke video set to music of your choosing. It’s a fun way to put together a memory movie. And you can be very specific with the kinds of prompts you give it.
The new Photos app powered by Apple Intelligence also has a more powerful search feature. Here’s how it all works together.
You might want to stick to your iPad mini 6 for now. Photo/Graphics: Apple/Rajesh Pandey
Apple gave the iPad mini a surprise refresh with faster internals and other minor upgrades. The highlight is Apple Intelligence support, bringing Apple’s AI suite of tools to its smallest iPad.
So, should you ditch your iPad mini 6 for these upgrades? Or hold on to it for another year or two? Find out in our iPad mini 7 vs. iPad mini 6 comparison.
Canceling a subscription is about to get much easier. Photo: Recently
The FTC is making it easier to cancel subscriptions. Its new “click to cancel” rule requires companies to make canceling a subscription as easy as the signup process.
Currently, canceling a subscription often requires multiple steps, with some companies making customers jump through unnecessary hoops.
Restore order to your file system. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
It’s easy to rename multiple files at once on a Mac using the Finder’s batch rename tool. If you have a big series of pictures, videos, screenshots or documents in a series, you can use this feature to rename them all in a similar format and sequence.
You don’t have to take on such a tedious task by hand.
Real companies display their logos in Apple’s Mail, Phone and Wallet apps. Image: Apple
An update to Apple Business Connect that launched Wednesday enables any verified business to control how it appears in Apple Maps, Wallet and Mail, even if they don’t have a brick-and-mortar storefront.
This should give consumers access to the accurate information they need about these companies because it’ll be supplied by the best source: the owners of the businesses.
Other changes should help protect consumers from phishing attempts.
Surgeons at UC San Diego Health wear Vision Pro during a procedure. Photo: UC San Diego Health
Despite suffering modest sales with consumers, Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset seems to be finding an unexpected but promising application in the medical field, particularly in surgery, according to a new report Tuesday.
So as Vision Pro helps surgeons and patients — and even cash-strapped medical providers — it could be a big deal in healthcare.
The Emmy-nominated comedy drama Shrinking returned for season two on October 16, 2024 on Apple TV+. Image: Apple
Season two of the hit Apple TV+ comedy/drama Shrinking premieres in October, with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford once again starring as therapists with problems of their own. A trailer previews the new season, with Segel’s character making progress dealing with his daughter, his crusty mentor and all his other issues.
Logi's StreamCam is a fine choice of webcam for video calls and content creation. Photo: [email protected]
Late-model MacBook Pro laptops include a decent camera. But many users find it falls a bit short for use on their video calls, podcasts and other needs. So a display-mounted webcam creeps into many MacBook setups. Today’s MacBook Pro user relies on the well-regarded Logitech StreamCam webcam to punch up his video footage.
The vast majority of teen selfies are taken with an iPhone. Photo: Antoni Shkraba/Pexels
The cool kids own an iPhone. And the non-cool kids. Really, nearly all U.S. teens own one. That’s according to new data from a market analysis that found that 87% of teenagers in the United States use an iPhone.
That’s likely to continue with more than 20% of teens planning to upgrade to an iPhone 16.