Cult of Mac

People can talk about declining iPhone demand all the want, but when it comes to which tech products the general public want to see under their Christmas trees this year, there is no doubt about it: no brand can beat Apple.

Speaking with CNBC this Monday, Apple analyst Gene Munster shared his firm Piper Jaffray’s research into desired holiday gifts — and found that the iPhone, closely followed by the MacBook, beat other items including the Xbox, PlayStation, GoPro camera and more to land the top two positions in the list.

Before you’ve shaken off the post-Thanksgiving tryptophan daze, Cyber Monday is already upon us. We’ve rounded up three deals on software that’ll give you a reason to get moving, from a massive bundle of top-shelf Mac apps to a comprehensive coding course and access to a powerful virtual private network.

Read on for details:

Black Friday is over, but the killer deals aren’t dead yet. It’s time to slap yourself out of that food coma, reach for your wallet, and grab yourself some sweet Cyber Monday deals on Apple products and other premium gear.

Our liveblog is where you’ll find them. We’ve got big discounts on Apple products from Amazon, B&H Photo and plenty of others, plus stellar savings on accessories and other gadgets from the likes of Twelve South, Slickwraps and many more.

Cult of Mac will keep digging through all the Cyber Monday ads to find the best deals on Apple products, electronics and gifts for your holiday shopping list. Get ready to go bananas.

Rumors continue to stack up claiming that next year’s iPhone will ship with a curved display, but The Wall Street Journal suggests that such a smartphone is just “one of more than 10 prototypes being considered.”

Apple has plans to open a new research and development center in Jakarta next year, according to Indonesia Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara. The project is said to be in its final stages and building is expected to begin in late December.

A bizarre bug is causing iPhone 7 Plus screenshots to become completely unrecognizable when viewed on the Google Pixel. It means Pixel owners are unable to view grabs received from iPhone-owning friends, and no one knows why.

Place your iPhone’s camera too close to your subject and it loses its ability to focus, but not if you turn it into a microscope. That’s possible with a simple Blips sticker that’s placed over your iPhone’s camera lens — and you can preorder yours right now.

Thought you’d caught ’em all in Pokémon GO? Think again. An update coming next month is expected to add another 100 creatures to the game, as well as some big new features.

Looking to get up to speed on the week’s hottest apps? We’ve got your back!

In a week in which Thanksgiving celebrated being happy with everything we’ve got, and then Black Friday showed how angry people are about things they don’t yet own, we’ve combed the latest apps to bring you the cream of the crop.

Whether you’re looking for a great retro-styled platformer or a brilliant iOS scanning app, we think you’ll find something to entertain you…

That time of the year came around quick, but you’re not out of time yet. Our Black Friday deals on top shelf Macbook accessories just got extended, so you’ve still got a chance to portable power outlet, a seamless drive expansion, a 5-in-1 USB C hub, and a combination USB charger and Bluetooth earbud for the car (you read that right). Plus, you can save an additional 15% off these and the rest of the Cult of Mac Store by entering coupon code ‘BLACKFRIDAY15’ at checkout.

Read on to learn more:

Thanksgiving might be over, but with a new year right around the corner, it’s time to think about whether we should be thankful for Apple in 2016.

It hasn’t exactly been a spectacular year for Cupertino, but it certainly hasn’t been boring. We’ve gotten a new iPad Pro, iPhone 7 with big improvements, a greater Apple Watch, and the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID.

But was all that enough? Is this a year you’ll look back on fondly as an Apple fan, or is it one to forget? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we decide whether we’ve been thankful for Apple over the past 12 months.

This post is brought to you by Withings.

Don’t let shopping stress you out and spoil the holiday spirit. Gifts that are useful and beautiful are always a safe bet, and these Black Friday deals on health and fitness products from Withings — one of our favorite purveyors of quality gear — mean you can save up to 70 percent on the perfect gifts for 2016.

But don’t delay: These excellent deals on Withings fitness trackers, home health gadgets and smart scales won’t last forever. Prices go back up Tuesday!

Black Friday has begun and we are seeing the best pricing on game consoles to adorable little robot vacuum cleaners, so we worked with the team at TechBargains to source the web for the best Black Friday Deals. These prices are among the lowest and might be the best pricing you see until next year. Act fast as deals go fast.

Target had a record-breaking day of online sales on Thanksgiving — and Apple devices were one of the big movers.

The retailer singled out the iPad as a particularly hot seller. The Apple tablets helped Target achieve traffic and sales that blew past numbers for last year’s Cyber Monday event.

We’re in the thick of Black Friday season and the deals are coming at us left and right. We’ve rounded up some of the best of the special deals at the Cult of Mac Store, from a lifetime of geo restriction-free streaming, to a 3 pack of MFi-certified Lightning cables, a lifetime of VPN access and a camera that redefined the photograph. Each is half off or more, and by entering the coupon code ‘BLACKFRIDAY15’ at checkout, you can get an additional 15 percent off pretty much everything at the Cult of Mac Store.

Apple generously gives new Apple Music subscribers a three-month free trial before demanding its monthly fee, and now Google is beating it.

For a limited time, the company is offering four months of free access to Play Music and YouTube Red for new customers.

Everyone might be talking about OLED displays, wireless charging and a new glass enclosure as the big selling points of Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 8, but a new report suggests the camera might be in for a major upgrade as well.

According to a report citing folks in the supply chain, Apple is investigating the possibility of a camera module boasting a 3D array, allowing for possible 3D depth mapping.

Apple has been hit with another massive fine in Europe, as French tax authorities recently issued the company with a 400 million euro ($422 million) bill, according to French newspaper L’Express.

As with a lot of Apple’s other tax issues, the complaint reportedly relates to Apple’s tax optimizing strategy of channelling profits through its Irish subsidiary.

This week on The CultCast: Is a secret Apple project stalling Mac updates? It wouldn’t be the first time. Plus: Apple teases Black Friday deals; AirPort routers are walking dead, and the Mac Pro might be next; the future of Time Machine; why iPad should be an iOS/OS X hybrid; and Jony Ive’s new role designing Apple itself.

Apple’s one-day Black Friday event is now live in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and other markets around the world. Just as expected, there are no discounts to take advantage of, but Apple is giving away free gift cards with eligible orders.

In the last decade or so, lots of companies have gotten design religion. Design has been brought in-house, where it can shape products from the very get-go. There’s an obvious source for this idea — Apple.

This week on the Kahney’s Korner podcast, I talked to Oliver Seil, senior design director of Belkin International’s Innovation Design Group. We discussed Belkin’s products and design process; the surprising complexity of USB cables (and why they cost so much); and why Apple has had such an enormous influence on design and manufacturing.

You can listen to the podcast or read a full transcript of the interview below. (Or dive into the show notes.)

Apple is taking part in Black Friday this year, but it looks like it won’t be slashing any prices.

The company’s promotion has already gone live in Australia and New Zealand and it brings free gift cards with eligible purchases rather than tasty discounts. But don’t expect to get those gift cards with the latest Apple products.

Whether it’s its new heartwarming Christmas ad or its giant iPhone 7 billboards, Apple frequently leads the way on both quality and quantity for its advertising.

But according to Apple’s most recent 10-K annual report, recently filed with the SEC, it’s no longer revealing what it spends to get to this point.

We’re all expecting Apple to deliver something spectacular for the iPhone’s tenth anniversary next year, but what comes after that? According to some analysts, it will be a “decade-long malaise” that will cause Apple to fall.

It’s amazing how many peripherals there are for expanding the functionality of the already very useful iPhone. We’ve rounded up some of the coolest and most affordable iPhone add-ons, from a tripod you can fold up and store in your wallet, to a module to turn your phone into a universal remote, a 32GB storage upgrade and a 3-pack of extra long, MFi-certified Lightning cables. Read on for more details: