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Give your iPhone a MagSafe makeover and more [Week’s Best Deals]

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MailButler is packed with features that turn Apple Mail into a handy personal assistant.
MailButler is packed with features that turn Apple Mail into a handy personal assistant.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Things are changing fast and, let’s be real, not exactly for the best. One good thing you can rely on though is the Cult of Mac Store bringing you a weekly batch of the best in gear and gadgets. This go around is an especially good one — we’ve got a lifetime of productivity-enhancing personal assistant built on Apple Mail, a plug-in that adds a MagSafe style connector to your iPhone, access for life to a powerful virtual private network, and a credit card-sized backup battery for your mobile devices. Everything’s massively discounted, as much as 90 percent off. Read on for more details:

Apple’s weirdest, wackiest and worst products, this week on The CultCast

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Let us remind you of the weird Apple products that time forgot.
Let us remind you of the weird Apple products that time forgot.
Photo: Hartmut Esslinger

This week on The CultCast: We laugh and cringe about Apple’s weirdest, wackiest and worst products of all time! Plus: How Michael Scott almost single-handedly destroyed Apple; the cool new features in the iOS and macOS betas; facial recognition is coming to iPhone; and a look at the beautiful prototypes that led to some of Apple’s most iconic products.

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.

How Apple’s next earnings call could surprise us all

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Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
The holidays were good to Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

When Apple reveals its first quarterly earnings report of 2017 next Tuesday, the company could shock us with another record-breaking quarter.

The Q1 2017 earnings will cover Apple’s first full quarter of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus sales, and Apple should also get a big boost from the holiday shopping season, according to some Wall Street estimates. During its last earnings call, Apple predicted its revenue slump will end as the company finally returns to growth this quarter, but will it be enough to satisfy investors?

Here’s what to expect from Apple’s January 31 earnings report.

Apple is shifting its international iTunes business to Ireland

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Apple's headquarters in Cork, Ireland.
Apple's headquarters in Cork, Ireland.
Photo: Jan Zuppinger/Flickr CC

Undeterred by its massive tax bill from the European Commission, Apple has confirmed it is shifting its international iTunes business from Luxembourg to Ireland.

The move, which will take place on February 5, was announced in an email to developers today. However, Apple started planning for it last September when it transferred all developer accounts and around $9 billion in assets from Luxembourg to Ireland.

Name your price to become an ace web coder [Deals]

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Name your price for more than 70 hours of instruction in the basics of coding for the web.
Name your price for more than 70 hours of instruction in the basics of coding for the web.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals.

Making money on the web is easy, especially when you know how to build websites. Breaking into the always-growing, always-lucrative field of web development typically takes time, guidance and often a fair bit of money, but right now you can get a comprehensive education in web development for whatever you’re willing to pay.

For a short time at the Cult of Mac Store, you can name your price for the Web Hacker Bundle.

Microsoft says it is winning its new war against Macs

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Surface-Studio
Surface Studio is a Windows all-in-one that finally gives the iMac a run for its money.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft’s decision to wage a new war against Macs with premium Windows PCs is paying off, the company says. Thanks to high-end devices like the Surface Book and Surface Studio, Microsoft managed to steal market share from Apple last quarter.

This plug-in turns Apple Mail into a powerful productivity platform

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MailButler turns Apple Mail into a bona fide productivity platform.
MailButler turns Apple Mail into a bona fide productivity platform.
Image: Feingeist Software

This post is presented by Feingeist Software.

Ah, Apple Mail. Every Mac users’ de-facto communications hub, it’s a convenient tool — but it’s not exactly feature-rich. It serves as a catch-all for our contacts and email conversations, but when it comes to productivity, Mail has a lot of untapped potential.

Now anyone can try Apple’s new iOS and Mac beta software

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iPhone 7
Grab iOS 10.3 beta 1 while it's hot.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Starting today, all public testers can get in on the new iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.12.4 betas released to developers earlier this week.

If you’re already a member of the Apple Beta Software Program, you can grab iOS 10.3 beta 1 and macOS 10.12.4 beta 1 immediately. If not, just sign up if you want to get early access to upcoming iOS features like Find My AirPods and the new Night Shift mode for Macs.

Stylish headphone stand kills clutter dead [Reviews]

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Just Mobile Headset Stand
A clean and elegant addition to your desk, Just Mobile's HeadStand Avant is a must-have.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Best List: Just Mobile HeadStand Avant

If you’re one of those folks who wants a designated spot to store a favorite pair of headphones, you are (oddly enough) not alone.

For about $40, Just Mobile makes a beautiful and functional space-saving stand to hang those cans, avoiding additional clutter to one’s workspace, studio or nightstand. The stand itself is sleek and minimal adding a stylish solution to storing and displaying headphones.

Fill your screens with all the content your heart desires [Deals]

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Get a massive streaming library along with the benefits of cable.
Get a massive streaming library along with the benefits of cable.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Between our computers, phones and TVs, there’s almost too much screen to fill. Right now in the Cult of Mac Store, we’ve got a pair of deals that will bring more content than you’ll know what to do with.

SelectTV offers an unmatched library of TV, movies, radio stations and more. Getflix unlocks the vast seas of streaming video. Snag these deals and you’ll never want for something to watch again.

Flappy Bird creator drops addictive new iOS game

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Flappy
Get ready for Ninja Spinki Challenges!!
Photo: Dong Nguyen

Remember Dong Nguyen, developer of wildly popular mobile game Flappy Bird, who reportedly made $50,000 per day before pulling his creation from the App Store? Well, he’s back with a brand new game called Ninja Spinki Challenges!!

While it’s unlikely to match the success of his earlier title, the new game certainly shares Flappy Bird’s frustratingly hard, simplistic and addictive DNA.

Qualcomm can’t stop talking about Apple on earnings call

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16538416979_13d6221fde_k
This lawsuit is shaping up to be a big deal.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr CC

Qualcomm just had its earnings call, and CEO Steve Mollenkopf and Derek Aberle, head of the wireless chipmakers’s licensing business, couldn’t stop talking about Apple.

In a one-hour conference call, discussion about the developing Apple/Qualcomm dispute took up the entire first 20 minutes.

“If you peel apart all of the arguments Apple’s making, we believe firmly they’re all without merit,” Aberle said. “At the end of the day, they essentially want to pay less for the technology they’re using. It’s pretty simple.”

infltr is short for infinite filters for your iPhone photos

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infltr might be the only photo editing app with more than 7 million filters.
infltr might be the only photo editing app with more than 7 million filters.
Photo: infltr

Don’t expect to find preset filters with clever names when you download the photo editing app infltr. In fact, there is little to guide you in the styling of your photos with this app.

Just let go of what you’ve come to expect from an editing app and touch the picture. A circle appears, changing colors as it transforms the hue in your picture while you move your finger across the image. You may not know where you’re going, but eventually, the picture takes on a look to behold.

Apple may join Amazon, Google and Facebook in AI partnership group

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Screen Shot 2017-01-26 at 13.07.45
Apple is embracing artificial intelligence for the first time in years.
Photo: Partnership on AI

Apple is reportedly set to join an artificial intelligence research group, Partnership on AI, which also includes Amazon, Alphabet, Google, Facebook and Microsoft among its members.

Apple being admitted into the group could be announced as early as this week, claim sources familiar with the story.

Apple’s move into India ‘almost a done deal’

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iPhone in India
iPhones will soon be made in India.
Photo: CC: Aasif Iqbal J/Flickr

Apple is close to finalizing its negotiations with the Indian government over a local manufacturing facility, according to a new report.

The company confirmed on Wednesday that it had enjoyed a “constructive” meeting with Indian officials after issuing a list of demands for its move. Now a source with knowledge of the matter says “it’s almost a done deal.”