This week on The CultCast: Astounding facts and figures from Apple’s newest earnings report; Nintendo promises a bunch of new iOS games; how to get the best deal in cloud storage; affordable options for your first drone; the perfect minimalist strap for your mirrorless camera; and we pitch you our favorite gadgets in an all-new Fave N Raves!

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.

Apple impressed us all with its Q1 2017 earnings earlier this week. Is it the start of something spectacular?

iPhone sales beat expectations, and though things may look bad for the iPad business, there’s strong demand for Apple Watch, the Mac lineup is raking in more than ever, and services will be big enough to be its own Fortune 100 company by the end of the year.

Is Apple headed for another boom period? Or does it need more than just the iPhone 8 in 2017 to keep up this trend? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over Apple’s year ahead.

The next iPhone likely won’t be out for at least another seven months, but that hasn’t stopped one Apple fan from dreaming up a gorgeous ad for the upcoming device.

Apple is expected to make the bezels thinner than ever on the 2017 iPhone which is rumored to feature a number of new upgrades. The Concept iPhone YouTube channel created a fake ad that shows how Apple might utilize the extra space by turning the home button section into a Touch Bar.

Check it out:

A hacker has released a cache of files allegedly stolen from Israeli mobile phone forensics company Cellebrite — including the hack it reportedly developed for the FBI to help break into older model iPhones.

In an interview with Motherboard, the hacker responsible said that the release was a demonstration that, “when you create these tools, they will make it out. History should make that clear.”

No matter how often you update Time Machine, without cloud storage your backup arrangement is incomplete. Whether for your photos, videos, music, or essential documents, this deal from pCloud is a great opportunity for anyone looking to add an important layer of security and convenience to taking care of their data. Right now, you can get a lifetime of pCloud Premium storage for just 60 bucks at Cult of Mac Deals.

In the aftermath of Samsung’s exploding Galaxy Note 7 debacle, the South Korean government is set to make it mandatory for manufacturers to report instances in which their handsets burst into flames.

“When the new rules come into effect, phone makers will also have to immediately launch an investigation — right after the submission of the report — to prove if the fires or explosions were caused by flawed parts or external force,” an official from The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is quoted as saying.

Apple will begin manufacturing iPhones in India by the end of April.

Its factory in Bangalore, Karnataka, will be run by Wistron, and all of the devices it produces will be sold locally. Apple will be hoping that the move can bolster the iPhone’s presence in India, where it has somewhat struggled in the past due to its high price tag.

A class-action lawsuit claims that Apple intentionally broke its FaceTime service on iOS 6 in order to get users to upgrade to iOS 7 — thereby making older iPhones run slowly.

The reason was allegedly driven by Apple’s desire not to have to continue paying high data costs to the company Akamai, which ran third-party servers used for handling FaceTime data.

Thunderbolt cable problems could be to blame for the issues many users are having with LG’s new UltraFine 5K Display.

It was initially believed that nearby Wi-Fi routers were the root cause of sporadic connectivity, but many are now refuting that in threads on the Apple Support Communities forum.

Note: If ordering for Valentine’s Day, the cut off date is Friday, February 6!

The Apple Watch doesn’t need to live on one’s wrist alone. Bucardo has taken this idea to new levels with its elegant lockets and pocket watches for Apple Watch. We’re excited (and highly curious) to see what Watch Store customers think of Bucardo’s latest creative way to wear Apple Watch — via charm necklace. Ladies, take notice!

Sometimes fashion meets functionality — in wearing these well-made charm necklaces, the Apple Watch is still clearly visible, incorporating itself into the necklace itself. It’s a unique and aesthetically appealing way to showcase and use your wearable. And, with Valentine’s Day only a few weeks away, Bucardo’s Charm Necklaces make the perfect, original gift for your favorite tech-lover. Check them out.

Apple has hired a former Spotify executive to work with smaller, independent labels.

Steve Savoca joined Apple Music in January after five years as Spotify’s Vice President of Content.

Best List: Button-Stud Apple Watch Band by Form Function Form

Making Apple’s “most personal device ever” personal to you is super-serious business for one Florida purveyor of hand-made leather goods.

Echoing the individuality of Apple Watch, Form Function Form takes customization to new levels in the design of its one-of-a-kind Button-Stud Apple Watch Band. This ingenious leather strap has 21 different size options, one of which is sure to fit even the fleshiest of wrists. If it doesn’t, the company provides free size adjustments for the entirety of your life.

Over 132 million Apple smartphones are now in use in the U.S., and the vast majority of those are larger devices.

According to the latest data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, demand for the 5.5-inch Plus-sized iPhones is getting even stronger, with their share of the market rising 10 percent in just one year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to receive one of the Newseum’s highest honors for his impact on creating technology that has revolutionized the way human’s communicate.

Smartphones don’t always need faulty batteries to go boom. One iPhone 6 Plus owner learned this the hard way after being rudely awoken by her handset when it burst into flames on her nightstand.

Apple is teaming up with IBM and United Airlines to create new mobile apps for use by the airline’s front-line employees.

The apps will be designed for the roughly 50,000 Apple Watches, iPhones, and iPads that United Airlines has already issued to its flight attendants, gate agents, and other employees.

Hopping online means stepping into a situation where your every move can be seen and monitored. But by connecting through a virtual private network, you can vastly reduce your vulnerability using distributed, encrypted servers.

VPN.asia offers an easy and reliable way for even non-technical people to connect to the internet securely and anonymously. And right now, you can get a lifetime of VPN.asia access for just $39.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple will join other tech companies, including Alphabet, Facebook and Uber, in penning a letter opposing President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban.

News of the letter comes shortly after an interview Apple CEO Tim Cook gave to The Wall Street Journal, in which he described the “heart-wrenching” messages he had received about Trump’s executive order, which potentially affects hundreds of Apple employees.

Check out the draft of the open letter to Trump below:

Apple has invented a method for carrying out a “laser polishing” technique which could be used to help create future ceramic iPhones.

The company’s patent application covers an industrial process designed “for polishing a ceramic component using a laser.” The technique could be used to “produce a polished surface” on a wide range of materials, ranging from the white ceramic used for high-end Apple Watch Series 2 models to glass materials, like the reported casing being used for this year’s iPhone 8.

Apple is developing a custom ARM chip for future Macs, but it won’t replace the Intel processors that have been powering its computers since 2005, according to a new report.

Instead, the chip is expected to work alongside a machine’s primary CPU, handling “low-power mode functionality.”

Apple’s Fifth Avenue retail store in Manhattan may be its most iconic retail store in the world, but Apple’s set to make it even more impressive.

How? By more than doubling it in size — from its current 32,000 square feet to a massive 77,000 square feet.

We focused on Apple accessories this week, digging up some great offers on chargers, cases and keyboards. But we’ve also got a killer deal on the current-gen iPhone. You’ll find all this and more in our roundup of this week’s best Apple deals.

Tim Cook is living the Jetsons lifestyle — minus the jetpack and flying car — thanks to Siri and the growing number of HomeKit devices on the market.

The Apple CEO offered a rare glimpse into his private life Tuesday during Apple’s quarterly financial report, painting a picture of techno-utopian comfort and ease. It was Cook’s most personal world-beating earnings call ever, and it sent a message: Apple is serious about home automation.

Snapping selfies with a drone has never been easier, thanks to SELFLY, the autonomous drone that’s also an iPhone case.

It’s just one of the awesome projects in this week’s Crowdfund Roundup. We’ve also got an intelligent headband that promises to improve your sleep and your dreams, a smart dog collar that can detect things like disease and stress, and a 21st-century turntable.

This post is presented by Trilobi, maker of the Trilobi Magnetic 3 in 1 MAG Cable.

With all the sleek digital devices in our lives, one thing that doesn’t seem to get more streamlined is the drawer full of cables needed to keep them charged. Thankfully, a sweet, soon-to-be-released cable is about to cure that spaghetti nightmare.