Cult of Mac

The next-generation Apple Watch will be another incremental upgrade focused on performance and battery life improvements, according to recent rumors. But almost three years after the original model made its debut, should we be expecting more?

Many Apple Watch fans have been hoping for a slimmer form factor, while earlier rumors promised features like cellular connectivity and even a FaceTime camera. Would you buy another Apple Watch that looks the same but lasts longer in between charges?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss whether Apple Watch Series 3 needs a major overhaul.

Apple has revealed its latest App Store stats as of January, which show that iOS 10 has now been installed on 76 percent of devices.

The update made its public debut less than four months ago, bringing a revamped Messages experience, new 3D Touch features, a more open Siri, and lots more.

Apple got some serious flak from fans when it unveiled its new MacBook Pro at the end of 2016, but if CES 2017 is any indicator, Apple’s not in danger of being out innovated by PCs anytime soon.

The MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar may not be a phenomenal innovation. And its four USB-C ports mean you’ll need some dongles. But when looking at the competition, the MacBook Pro is hands-down the sleekest, most useful and most beautiful laptop you can get in the world right now.

Look at these embarrassing Windows laptops:

Natalie Rebot tried reading bedtimes stories to her 3-year-old daughter, but they didn’t hold her interest. So one night mom pulled out her iPhone and used the flashlight mode to create shadow play on the bedroom walls.

The nightly ritual stirred young Chloe’s imagination. The gears in mom’s head started turning, too, and before long, Rebot had designed a smartphone attachment that uses the camera flash to project a story on walls and ceilings.

Apple CEO Tim Cook received less pay in 2016 as a result of the company missing revenue and profit goals.

In a new filing with the SEC, Apple revealed that other top executives also got less compensation for 2016 as well. Cook only took home $8.7 million last year after being paid $10.2 million in in 2015.

Online threats are no joke. Your personal data and digital identity can be stolen, your activity snooped, your content throttled depending on where you are in the world. Thankfully, VPNSecure offers encrypted, unrestricted browsing through Smart DNS and an international network of secure servers. And right now you can get lifetime access for $39 at Cult of Mac Deals.

If you have an Apple Watch on your wrist and an old Mac in your heart, the design company elago has a stand that will take you back in time.

The Apple Watch rests on the W3 stand behind a silicon housing that is a cute scale model of a 1984 Macintosh computer monitor, incorporating the watch face so it appears you have a little working Mac.

Getting a reading of your blood-alcohol content levels is about to become as easy as glancing at your Apple Watch.

The first-ever wearable alcohol monitor made its debut at CES in Las Vegas this week, giving drinkers a new option for keeping track of whether or not they’re fit to get behind the wheel.

The iPhone and Instagram get credit for being the first shoot-and-share social network, but even Steve Jobs would say that’s wrong. The Polaroid camera introduced a social component to taking pictures in the late 1940s, the first instant photography with three steps — shoot, shake and share.

Polaroid brought disruptive innovation to the market and also became a casualty of it when it failed to change course in time to be part of the digital photography revolution.

But a new version of Polaroid is thriving and even stirring up some buzz this week at CES in Las Vegas with new products covering iPhone photography, consumer 3D printing, camera drones and fun cameras that produce an on-the-spot print.

Whether you received the gifts you wanted over the holidays, or had to return something and treat yourself, you’ve probably gotten the Apple gadgets you want by now. Take this time to accessorize the ones you’ve got.

We found cases, keyboards and more for this week’s roundup best Apple deals.

At a time when most headphone manufacturers are embracing the wireless earbuds, Sennheiser has decided to unveil one of the smartest pairs of wired earbuds ever created.

Yes, you can listen to your tunes on the new AMBEO Smart Surround earphones and the music will sound great. But what sets the new buds apart from every other pair debuting at CES is these ones come with the ability to record 3D audio using only your iPhone.

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple packed some amazing tech into its weird-looking AirPods. But to Nuheara co-founder David Cannington, Apple’s white-hot wireless earphones are just “dumb wireless.”

Sure, AirPods let you listen to music, take phone calls and tap into Siri, but they represent a missed opportunity because they don’t solve a crucial problem faced by many people in the modern world: hearing what’s going on around them.

As you might have guessed, Cannington’s company tackled this problem with a new product that launched at CES this week. Nuheara’s IQbuds are smart, truly wireless earbuds that do more than just make calls and deliver high-fidelity audio to your ears. They make it possible to carry on conversations in noisy environments like restaurants, bars and even massive Las Vegas trade shows.

Macs are ideal for many things, but gaming isn’t one of them. Apple just doesn’t have gamers in mind when designing its products. Fortunately, NVIDIA does, and its upcoming GeForce Now service will make almost any Mac fit for gaming.

Razer’s gaming laptops are some of the finest you can get your greasy mitts on, but none of them compare to the insane prototype the company teased today at CES in Las Vegas.

Dubbed “Project Valerie,” it’s the world’s first laptop with three screens — two of which gracefully slide away when you don’t need them.

There you are, sitting at your computer, flicking between GIFs and Facebook feeds instead of doing your work. Our computers are supposed to be productivity machines, but too often serve as distraction machines. Focus@Will aims to change that, streaming scientifically curated music to your ears specifically designed to help you stay focused on the task at hand. And right now, you can get 2 years of Focus@Will for $49.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

The App Store opened 2017 with a massive bang by shattering sales records. New Year’s Day was its single busiest day ever, with $240 million raised from app purchases.

The record caps an incredibly successful 2016 for iOS developers, who earned a whopping $20 billion last year — up over 40 percent from 2015.

Twitter has confirmed that it will be shutting down Vine on Tuesday, January 17. Users have until this date to save their videos before they all disappear, while the Vine app for mobile will live on as a simple camera client.

iPhone users in China are no longer able to download the app for the most popular newspaper publisher in the U.S.

Chinese government officials reportedly demanded that Apple remove all of The New York Times apps from the App Store in China, blocking access to one of the few channels the paper has to reach readers in mainland China.

Sports photographer Brad Mangin used to rush to an airport after a big game to get several rolls of film on the next flight to New York for processing and editing. He never saw what he shot until it was on the cover or a two-page spread in the latest Sports Illustrated.

Now his colleagues with their heavy DSLR cameras, lenses, and a laptop to transmit photos laugh when they see Mangin with his gear – an iPhone and maybe an external battery.

Next week marks 10 years since Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone, blowing our collective minds regarding the possibilities that smartphones presented.

Coming up on a decade later, if you’re still using the first-gen iPhone on a regular basis, we want to hear from you!

Apple confirmed today that is getting into the venture capital game by investing in one of the world’s largest tech funds.

SoftBank’s new Vision Fund received $1 billion from Apple, according to a company spokesperson that revealed the company is investing in the $100 billion fund to gain access to future technology.

iPhone 7 users no longer must choose between charging their device or listening to headphones, thanks to a new case that restores the headphone jack to its rightful place.

Getting a headphone jack back on the iPhone 7 comes at the cost of some serious bulk, but with Incipio’s new OX case, at least you won’t have to carry around a dongle anymore.

Step up your home security with the new Ring Floodlight Cam.

Making its debut at CES 2017 in Las Vegas this week, the Floodlight Cam keeps an eye on your property with 1080p video recording, motion detection and the loudest siren available on an outdoor camera. What’s more, it’s incredibly easy to install.

MacBook Pro owners that wish Apple included more ports alongside the Touch Bar can now have the best of both worlds — if they don’t mind slapping a huge dock on their machines.

OWC teased a new accessory called the DEC dock for MacBook Pro at CES, the monstrous gadget show happening in Las Vegas this week. The dock is comically large, but it adds a bevy of new features to the MacBook Pro, including extra storage.

Many of today’s toddlers are addicted to tablets, which means they like to sit around for hours on end playing games and watching videos. Fisher-Price wants to make this activity a little less sedentary with the Think & Learn Smart Cycle.

Unveiled at CES 2017 in Las Vegas this week, it’s a stationary bike for kids with a built-in tablet stand that lets them cram in some much-needed exercise while their little minds remain focused on other things.