Here at Cult of Mac, we’re big fans of virtual private networks (VPNs). They offer an encrypted, anonymous channel into the internet, and are an essential way to stay secure online. VPNs come in all shapes and sizes, but not all of them can also increase your connection speeds and extend your battery life. That’s just what Disconnect does, on top of being a great tracker blocker that guards against malware, ads, and data snoops on all your mobile browsers. And right now, you can get a lifetime premium subscription to Disconnect for just $49 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple’s epic Apple Park campus is more or less complete, and it’s celebrated in a great new Wired cover story, written by one of the best Apple journalists out there.

In the article, Steven Levy — who has had the inside scoop on Apple since the 1980s, and written two great books (The Perfect Thing and Insanely Great) on the company — makes a great argument that Apple Park is nothing less than the final product of Steve Jobs himself.

Here’s why:

Apple loves to talk about the quality of its current-generation iPhone camera, but how does it stack up against a professional movie camera?

In a new video, L.A.-based filmmaker and YouTuber Potato Jet, shoots footage with both the iPhone 7 and the $82,100 Arri Alexa camera, the same camera favored by the likes of Steven Spielberg.

It’s a totally unfair contest, but a pretty intriguing video nonetheless. Check it out below.

Any third-party app which accesses iCloud data for contacts, calendar, and mail messages will require an app-specific password, starting next month.

If you only use Apple apps to access iCloud data, you don’t need to worry. If, however, you use third-party apps such as Microsoft Outlook, here’s what you need to know:

Apple is reportedly searching for a programming head for its TV efforts to show Hollywood that it’s serious about its original content and video efforts.

With that in mind, Apple execs met with HBO’s former programming head Michael Lombardo earlier this year, suggesting that he could be a candidate to take the role.

iPhone users’ data is pretty well-protected if our iPhone is ever stolen, what with encryption, activation locks, and Find My iPhone. But theft still happens. How do you protect yourself when buying used phones, both iPhones and Android? One way is to avoid anything dodgy-looking, and to ignore suspiciously good deals (if it looks to good to be true, then it probably is).

Paper is still great for a lot of things. It’s lightweight, it’s fairly water-resistant, and is just about the best tool available for reducing the number of trees in the world. But it doesn’t sync with iCloud, and anything written on it is not searchable.

Luckily, there’s an easy way out of this dark age. You can scan all those clipped recipes, and those receipts, all those sheets and scraps you have laying around, and which annoy you until you ned one, at which point it disappears. Today, we’re going to use Readdle’s excellent Scanner Pro to turn your paper into pixels. You may be surprised at just how easy and useful this can be.

Picture this scenario: You’ve multiple computers at your office and only one of them (which is a Mac) is connected to the printer. Every time you need to print a document stored on these “other” computers, you have to manually transfer the file to the Mac and start the printing process from there. Wouldn’t it be super-convenient if you could just send a document wirelessly and instantly initiate the process of printing files remotely?

Today, I’ll show you how to break apart from this hassle and easily print files remotely from any computer using a combination of Dropbox and Automator.

Apple is continuing to push Portrait Mode in its newest ad for the iPhone 7 Plus that takes place in a barber shop of all place.

The new ad was shared on Apple’s YouTube channel today promoting the Portrait Mode feature that is powered by the dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7 Plus. Apple’s fun new ad shows how Portrait Mode makes the ordinary look extraordinary by advanced tech to blur the background, making subjects pop more than ever.

Enjoy the funky new video:

Apple’s new spaceship campus still isn’t quite ready for employees to move into yet, but the amount of work done over the past year has been absolutely astonishing.

In the latest aerial video of Apple Park, drone videographer Matthew Roberts takes fans through a breathtaking review of all the construction that’s gone on in the past year. You can watch as Tim Cook’s beautiful pile of dirt gets slowly redistributed across the campus as solar panels, glass walls and hundreds of trees get put in their proper place.

Check out the progress Apple’s made:

The final version of iOS 10.3.2 is now officially available to the public starting today after Apple tested five beta builds of the update with developers the past few weeks.

Apple released iOS 10.3.2 today along with new update for Apple TV, Apple Watch and macOS. All four new software updates are available for free and bring a host of bug fixes and security to each of Apple’s platforms.

Google is planning to bring its fancy new Assistant to iOS, according to a new report.

The virtual assistant will be available inside a standalone app, and a “trusted source” claims it will arrive soon.

Apple is adding a spectacular new retail store to its collection — but you’ll have to visit Milan to see it.

Located in the city’s Piazza Liberty, the store will take a note out of Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York by being located underground, with access via a special elevator. Or, in this case, a spectacular staircase entrance located between two waterfalls.

Check out a couple more pictures below.

More than 230,000 computers in 150 countries have been hit by a cyberattack that encrypts data until a ransom has been paid. It’s thought to be the biggest in history, with India, Taiwan, and several European countries being the worst effected.

If you use a Mac, you have nothing to worry about for now, since this particular “ransomware” only targets Windows PCs. However, the number of attacks built for macOS is rising at a rapid rate every year.

So, what exactly is ransomware, and how can it be avoided? Here’s what you need to know.

For all the convenience of mobile technology, it can be a drag having to keep our devices juiced up. Whatever your situation, we’ve rounded up some top shelf charging upgrades that’ll offer new ways to juice up your most-used devices. We’ve got a universal Lightning dock, a wireless charging station for Apple Watch, a set of extra long set of Lightning cables and super sleek USB charging hub for your car. Everything’s going for a healthy discount, read on for more details:

Apple’s Amazon Echo rival standalone Siri speaker will come with a touch-sensitive display, claims KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In a note to clients over the weekend, Kuo suggested that the Siri home speaker will have a “touch panel,” although it’s not known whether this will be a full-on screen or a simpler touch-based interface of some sort.

Over the past few weeks a new Mac malware called OSX/Dok has been all over the news. The Trojan horse accessed user’s Macs through email phishing. Once opened, it prevented users from doing anything on their Mac until they installed a bogus software update.

Malware attacks have been skyrocketing as of late, which means it’s more important than ever to be aware.

In today’s video, I’m going to show you 4 ways to help keep your Mac safe from malware.

The MP3, the iconic music compressions format partly popularized by the iPod, has been declared dead by its creators.

Licensing of the technology has been the responsibility of German company the Fraunhofer Institute. In a statement, the institute revealed that it is terminating licensing patents and software related to MP3. It’s the end of an era!

The Legend of Zelda will finally break away from Nintendo consoles to grace Android and iOS devices in 2018, according to a new report.

The first ever Zelda game on mobile will be developed by DeNA, the studio behind Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes.

Apple has acquired an AI company as part of its continued push to embrace artificial intelligence.

The company in question is the Menlo Park-based Lattice Data, which specializes in taking unstructured, “dark” data and transforming it into more useful, structured information. Apple acquired around 20 engineers as part of the deal.

Ever wanted to run your own AI startup, hopefully without bringing about the end of humanity in the process? A new game from the maker of the popular CARROT series of iOS apps gives you exactly that opportunity.

That’s just one of the great apps we’ve got covered in this week’s Awesome Apps roundup. We’ve also got a Snapchat update, a Steam gaming classic finally landed in the App Store, and a great Myst-inspired architectural puzzle game. Check out our picks below.

All our favorite videos are available to us online. Unless, of course, there’s no internet connection. When you’re on a flight or just away from WiFi and looking to pass the time, or if you’ve got uses for video that YouTube just won’t allow, you can use Movie Sherlock Pro to easily stockpile movies, shows, and all your other favorite streaming videos straight to your Mac. You’ll be able to access and work with all your videos in full HD, any time, anywhere. And right now you can get Movie Sherlock Pro for just $15 at Cult of Mac Deals.

It pays to experiment with 3-D Touch, the feature that lets you press harder on your iPhone’s screen to get extra functions. But while we may be used to force-touching app icons, there are all kinds of other spots where it works. For instance, you press on the row of icons at the bottom of the Control Center to access some fantastic shortcuts.

In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, we show you how to use Apple’s Music Memos app to record your musical ideas as well as how to hook a guitar up to your iPhone and rock out.

Learn about Tekserve’s impressive Apple computer artifact collection which is now on display in a museum in the Ukraine —  at the headquarters of software developer MacPaw.

Check out Cult of Mac Watch Store’s first major sale on Apple Watch straps! Enjoy 20 percent off great brands including Meridio, Strapple, Nyloon and more!

Here are this week’s top stories.

As the weather warms up, we’re still rounding up the hottest new deals at the Cult of Mac Store. This go-round, we’ve got a set of future-ready wireless earbuds, a swiss army knife for iOS data, a full terabyte of super secure cloud storage, and a tool that’ll help you finally reach the bottom of your inbox. Best of all, everything is discounted by more than 60 percent. Read on for more details: