This coming Tuesday Apple is set to debut its newest original TV show Carpool Karaoke: The Series, but with Planet of the Apps being such a dud, some of us at Cult of Mac are questioning whether Apple has anything to gain by making mediocre TV shows.

During Apple’s Q3 earnings call this week, Tim Cook said Apple will continue to explore original content for Apple Music. Can Apple actually make great TV shows, or is it losing focus on what’s more important?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss Apple’s media ambitions:

Apple and The Rock’s rampage of crazy ads continued today with two new commercials that pair the movie superstar with digital assistant Siri.

In the latest short ads, The Rock taps into his ability to speak Mandarin in order to showcase Siri’s support for more than 20 languages. The funny ads are a sequel of sorts to the short film Apple released last month starring the unlikely duo.

Check out both new ads below.

Nobody likes having to type a password every time they need to sign in to a website or service. iCloud Keychain is Apple’s take on simplifying password management across the Mac, iPhone and iPad. It securely stores your user names, passwords, and credit and debit card details, then auto-fills fields when required. It can also generate strong passwords and sync Wi-Fi credentials.

If you’re deep into the Apple ecosystem, it might be a good idea to start using this handy feature. Before we dive in to use it, let’s have a look at all the features of iCloud Keychain.

Do you find yourself at a loss in conversations due to the nonexistence of a smiling or frowning poop emoji to get your point across? Feel that your conversations about great punk albums just don’t work without a picture of a safety pin to illustrate them?

Have no fear: Unicode is on the case with 67 new proposed emojis!

This is a great time for learners. Because of the internet, mobile devices, and other tech advances, it’s effortless to get at basically all of humanity’s information. Of course, that also makes it harder than ever to stay focused and organized. Note taking is proven to be helpful for study. But we’re less likely than ever to scrawl in our textbooks as we read.

Samsung plans a massive seven-fold increase in OLED production for Apple this year, according to a new report.

The display-making Samsung division reportedly installed seven production lines at its A3 plant, which will be dedicated exclusively to Apple. They will allow Samsung’s monthly OLED capacity for iPhone screens to increase from “just” 15,000 sheets to a massive 105,000 sheets!

Having stumbled in recent years, the iPad has had a great few months. Not only were iPad sales up 15 percent year-over-year in Apple’s most recent quarter, but a new IDC report (mentioned by Tim Cook during the most recent earnings call) highlights just how significantly the company is leading its rivals in the tablet market right now.

While the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus capture impressive 4K video with their rear camera — the one primarily used for shooting photos and movies — the front FaceTime selfie camera is stuck shooting 1080p resolution.

According to a new report, that looks likely to change with the iPhone 8. Apple’s next-gen phone reportedly will capture 4K video at 60 frames per second from the device’s back and front cameras.

Can’t wait for iPhone 8? Get great prices on iPhones and service this week, as well as one of the best iPad deals we’ve seen!

The official debut of Carpool Karaoke: The Series is just a few days away but music fans can get an early taste of episode one in the latest ad released by Apple.

Will Smith will be the first guest on the new show with creator James Corden singing along behind the wheel. Apple’s teaser for the episode shows The Fresh Prince busting out some of his classic songs along with getting down to other artists like R. Kelly.

Check it out:

Services have become such an important revenue stream for Apple in recent years that the company decided to update its official business strategy today reflect its expanding money making machine.

In a filing with the SEC, Apple made a couple of changes to the description of its business. It’s the first time a major change has been made to the strategy since around 2014.

Apple owns $52.6 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, ranking it above countries like Israel, Mexico, Australia and the Netherlands — and one of the top 25 “major foreign holders” of U.S. government debt, according to a new report.

U.S. Treasury securities, in the forms of bills, notes and bonds, are debt obligations of the U.S. government. In essence, it means that individuals are loaning money to the United States’ federal government in exchange for what amounts to the safest of investments.

The internet is teeming with data thieves, snoops, and annoying location restrictions. With all those headaches and hazards, the need for encryption and anonymity has never been greater. Which raises the question: why aren’t you already using a virtual private network?

The designers at the Jerusalem-based company miggo are happy if its customers are left standing in the rain.

This really is supportive when you consider photography accessory company has a reputation for producing storm-proof bags and cases so photographers don’t have to run for cover before they get their shots.

miggo Thursday introduced three new bags to its Agua X line with a backpack, sling bag and a dedicated drone bag that includes a roll out launch pad.

Xiaomi, the Chinese company which once specialized in brazen iPhone ripoffs, has overtaken Apple and Fitbit to become the number one manufacturer of wearables, based on shipments.

The news comes from a new Strategy Analytics report, which claims that Xiaomi shipped 3.7 million wearable devices during Q2 this year, taking the number one spot. Fitbit shipped 3.4 million to take second place, while Apple shipped 2.8 million for third. Should these numbers be correct, that also means that Apple shipped its 30 millionth Apple Watch at some point over the past three months.

Tim Cook has shared an article on Twitter, detailing Apple’s “accessibility breakthrough” in the form of a collaboration with hearing aid manufacturer Cochlear to develop an in-ear implant for people with hearing loss.

Apple’s partnership with the Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) has spawned three new ads for the iPhone 7 that showcase Siri’s talents at performing everyday tasks.

The Rock cooks up something smelly and takes his selfie talents to space in the colossal ads that are a follow up to the short film Apple released last month starring Johnson and Siri.

Check out all three sequel ads:

Apple’s HomePod might have revealed another huge new iPhone feature after developers did some more digging into the beta software for the upcoming smart speaker.

The software appears to reference an unannounced “SmartCamera” feature built into iOS 11 or the yet-to-be-released 2017 iPhone. And it could totally change the way we snap photos.

If you’ve been having problems with your iPhone or iPad screen not acting quite as responsive as usual, don’t panic: You can try out plenty of quick and easy tricks before heading to your closest Genius Bar.

Get five tips for fixing an unresponsive iPhone screen in our how-to video:

By Chris Brantner

During the fall and winter, football fans across the United States devote entire Sundays to diligently following all the NFL action. But you don’t need to wait: The football action gets underway Thursday when the NFL preseason games begin.

If you’re one of the many people who love both football and Apple devices, you’re in luck. You can easily combine the two to stream NFL games during the entire season, whether you have cable or not. A bunch of different apps let you watch the NFL on Apple devices, so let’s take a look at some of the best ones out there.

Best List: Commuter Satchel by Toffee

After years of depositing my MacBook into an oversize, freebie laptop bag, it was time. Time to forego the ugly, embrace the new and, most importantly, get some real protection for my Mac.

The Commuter Satchel by Toffee arrived at the request of one of my colleagues. He, too, recognized the deplorable excuse of a laptop bag I was lugging around.

I can’t emphasize how much I love this sleek and stylish satchel.

Thanks to PayPal integration, it’s now possible for users in 22 different countries to send money to friends and family using Skype’s iOS app.

The update not only improves Skype’s functionality, but also — due to the fact that Skype has been downloaded more than one billion times worldwide — greatly extends the possible reach of PayPal, too.

Life in the digital age means keeping a bunch of devices charged. Between our homes, workplaces, cars, and travel destinations, that can become a complicated task. We’ve rounded up a set of charging accessories to handle any personal power shortage. We’ve got a 6-port modular surge protector, a smart power strip with USB outlets, a car charger with four ports, and a super thin, massively powerful portable battery. Read on for more details:

Following its strong quarterly earnings call yesterday, AAPL stock has opened 6 percent up at $159 a share, representing a new all-time high valuation for Apple.

With a market cap of $830 billion, suddenly the proposed Wall Street valuation of 1 trillion dollars within the next year looks a whole lot more realistic! Why did we ever doubt it?

Apple spent a whopping $2.94 billion on research and development last quarter, according to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Apple R&D spending represents an increase of 6 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

While Apple keeps its plans close to its chest, it invests a tremendous amount of money on research and development to create the products we’ll be buying a year or more from now.