Cult of Mac

Spring is in the air, which means you’re either enjoying the new blooms or fighting a fresh round of allergies. However the weather has you feeling, the newest deals at the Cult of Mac Store are sure to please. This week, we’ve got a decked-out Wi-Fi camera for home monitoring, a powerful business planning platform, a stylus that doubles as a working pen, and a powerful subwoofer you wear on your wrist (talk about personal audio). Read on for more details:

Welcome to the new week, same as the last week. Except of course for the great deals in the Cult of Mac Store. This go around, our very best deals include a lifetime of VPN protection, comprehensive training in Microsoft Excel, a powerful alternative to Search and Spotlight, and an anonymous second phone line perfect for first dates or Craigslist deals. Everything is discounted by more than half, read on for more details:

This week on The CultCast: We deconstruct the latest iPhone 8 leaks! We’ll tell what we’ve learned. Plus: Apple starts testing the driverless car it’s totally not working on; and the best iOS apps for all you marijuana connoisseurs.

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.

Getting behind the wheel of one of Apple’s self-driving cars requires drivers to pass a series of tests, based on new information about the secretive project that leaked out today.

Details of Apple’s self-driving car program have been revealed by documents filed with the California DMV that shed light on the “Apple Automated System” currently under development.

Recently “leaked” schematics for Apple’s next-generation iPhone reveal the company could be returning to a sharper, squarer form factor similar to that of the iPhone 5. They also hinted at a big change for Touch ID.

With Apple expected to eliminate the Home button from this year’s iPhone, its fingerprint scanner could be relocated to its back — like on many Androids. This would free up space on the front of the phone for a larger display, while maintaining the secure and super-fast biometric sensor we all love.

But is a rear-facing fingerprint scanner a smart move, or should it remain on the front of the iPhone? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the iPhone 8’s Touch ID button.

Last chance! We’ve extended our special Earth Day buyback bonus until Monday.

Americans throw away 9.4 million tons of electronics each year, according to Earth 911. That’s roughly equivalent to the weight of 1.88 million elephants — way more elephants than are even alive today.

Fight that e-waste nightmare by trading in your old Apple gear, and you can take advantage of our Earth Day bonus: You’ll get an extra $10 on every trade-in — just use the coupon code “earthday”!

Apple may make the surprising move of relocating the Touch ID button to the back of the iPhone this year, but based on renderings of a leaked schematic, it wouldn’t look that bad.

Several renders, based on the supposed iPhone 8 schematic that hit the internet this week, show what the device’s rear shell might look like during production. It’s not a photo of the real iPhone shell, but for now this is as close to the real deal as we’re going to get.

Here’s another angle:

A pair of new Apple hirings may hint that the company is setting its sights on the sky.

Two of Google’s top satellite executives have reportedly left the Alphabet-owned company in recent weeks and were hired by Apple. What they’ll be working on isn’t clear, but their experience indicates Apple could be getting serious about satellite internet.

Thanks to a bevy of leaks that flooded the internet this week, we know more about the iPhone 8 than ever before. Even if only half the rumors turn out to be true, this year’s iPhone is set to be the most innovative device Apple has made in years.

Here’s what we know so far.

Whether for dating, work or just buying something on Craigslist, giving out your phone number can be stressful. It’s basically a form of personal ID, a surefire way to be reached whether you want to be or not.

We have secondary email addresses, so why not phone lines? Hushed is offering just that — a private and secure second phone line. It’s a great way to get a layer of peace of mind and privacy when it comes to your digits. And right now you can get a lifetime of Hushed Private Phone Line for just $25 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Snap, Inc., the company behind Snapchat, just paid a staggering $7.7 million to acquire a “geofilters” patent and prevent it being snapped up by Facebook.

It is believed to be “by far the highest amount paid” for a single patent in Israel — the previous record was less than half that — and it goes to local firm Mobli.

As if it wasn’t hard enough keeping on top of Apple’s business in the U.S., Tim Cook has tweeted out an image as an advance celebration of Turkey’s National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, which takes place on April 23.

The image is a variation on Apple’s long-established “Shot on iPhone,” campaign, except this time depicting photos taken by “young talents” in Turkey. Or, at least, young talents in Turkey fortunate enough to own an iPhone!

Superior iOS podcast app Overcast has issued a new 3.1 update, allowing users to send individual podcasts to their Apple Watch to listen to when they’re not in the immediate vicinity of their iPhone.

This is something that can’t be done with Apple’s official Podcasts app, even though users can send audio files from the iOS Music app.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didn’t always see eye to eye. When it came to their kids’ relationships to technology, however, it seems they agreed on more than they disagreed on.

That’s based on a new interview with Microsoft co-founder Gates, in which he says he and his wife didn’t allow their children to have cellphones until they were 14 — and limited other screen time as well. Jobs did much the same.

Instagram is finally clamping down on fake accounts that aren’t controlled by real users.

Instagress, a service that helped Instagram users gain additional followers for a fee, has been forced to shutdown as a result of the crackdown.

Apple CEO Tim Cook had nothing but high praise for Didi Chuxing CEO Jean Liu in an exert he wrote about her for Time magazine.

Liu was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2017. Cook, who sits on Didi’s board, was asked to write about Liu and said that her taxi-hailing startup is changing how people in China connect and commute with its convenience and flexibility.

Apple has paved the way for its Live Photos to takeover the web with a new JavaScript API that makes it easy for developers to embed the moving images onto websites.

New clues about prototype products Apple is currently testing may have just been revealed by leaked documents originating from Apple’s Cupertino campus.

A report on Apple compiled by an Environment Health and Safety contractor has reportedly leaked online today. Inside the report are over 70 different incidents that occurred on the campus. Most of the incidents in the report are fairly ordinary, but a couple entries hint at Apple developing augmented reality glasses.

Apple’s partnership with Nike has birthed a fresh new look for the Apple Watch Series 2 aimed at runners with a passion for style.

Nike unveiled its new twist on Apple’s iconic wearable today, dubbed the Apple Watch NikeLab. Nothing is new on the watch as far as hardware upgrades go, but the new “bone on black” band is so gorgeous fitness freaks will probably be lining up to get it on their wrists.

Happy weed day!

Cannabis lovers across the U.S. are busy ditching work to spend some quality time with their bongs today in honor of the number all potheads hold dear: 420.

Buying marijuana has never been easier, thanks to the 2016 elections: Six new states approved measures for recreational or medical marijuana use. Getting into the weed scene is super-easy, too, thanks to a batch of quality apps that help stoners find weed, grow weed and meet other people who love weed.

Grab these pot apps for a great 4/20.

Apple is taking Earth Day more seriously than ever this year. The company just published a new series of animated videos that go behind the scenes on the company’s goal to create zero waste.

The four new videos highlight the crazy things Apple does to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Each one-minute video focuses on challenges the company already overcame, whether it’s making yak-friendly solar farms in China, building breathable walls for Apple Park or creating fake sweat for iPhone tests.

Watch all four right here:

Your iPhone comes out of the box full of possibilities. But with the right accessory, you can vastly expand the powers of your phone. This bundle of upgrades will allow your iPhone to cling to walls, see into your house no matter where you are, throw its voice, and add up to 10 extra lifespans.

It’s like Jedi training for your iPhone!

Tim Cook has made no secret about Apple’s interest in augmented reality tech — and a newly published patent application reveals just how seriously the company takes the technology.

The patent application describes techniques for inserting virtual objects into a real environment, or removing real objects from a virtual one, all in real time.

Apple puts fitness front and center in its advertising for Apple Watch Series 2, even going so far as to claim the device is a “superior sports watch.” But in reality, it is not a sports watch at all. It’s a smartwatch. And that’s a massively important distinction.

Sports watches, like the TomTom Runner or Garmin Forerunner, are cheaper and more reliable at logging workouts, while smartwatches are jacks of all trades, which usually means they are masters of none. Or at least, not masters of fitness.

The sad fact is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Right now, it’s mostly the software that is letting Apple Watch down. That’s why I’m hoping that with its next major software update, Apple will finally get its smartwatch into shape for fitness fans. Here’s what I want to see in watchOS 4, which Apple will likely unveil at its Worldwide Developers Conference this June.

A new drone video delivers stunning shots of Apple Park lit up at night. The latest “campus porn” serves up a sight that will no doubt become very familiar to some of the 20,000 employees who soon will be pulling all-nighters ahead of the iPhone 8’s debut.