If you’ve been keeping track of cybersecurity, there’s probably a small strip of tape covering up your webcam. This week’s latest raft of deals includes a software alternative to stickying up your camera, a cable that does double duty for iOS and Android devices, a bundle of training in coding for AI, and a powerful dashboard for getting the most out of YouTube. That’s a diverse bunch of goodies, all significantly cheaper than usual — read on for more details:

This week on The CultCast: Get out your pitchforks — we’ll tell you why a lot of folks are very unhappy with the new MacBook Pros. Plus, we compare the MacBook Pro’s performance to older models and similarly priced machines; Apple calls it quits on external displays; and the end of an era — one of Mac’s most iconic features gets retired.

Our thanks to Casper for supporting this episode. Casper’s American-made mattresses have just the right amount of memory foam and latex, and people everywhere love them. Learn why and save $50 off your order at casper.com/cultcast.

November’s here, but most of us are still reeling from October. Instead of focusing on all the crazy things flashing across our screens, let’s look at some of what was best. Namely, the best deals in our Cult of Mac Store. This week we’ve got a powerful planning and productivity app, a set of headphones that plug right into your Lightning port, a tough tripod for your smartphone, and a lifetime of VPN protection. Read on for more details:

Calling all iPhone filmmakers! The Disposable Film Festival is now accepting submissions for its 10th annual program in March 2017.

Heralded as the “Oscars of online video,” the Disposable Film Festival showcases the finest films made on everyday devices and “disposable media,” including cellphones, point-and-shoot cameras, DSLRs, webcams, screen-capture software, Flip cams, and newer technology like Google Glass, 3-D printed stop animation, and more.

If you own an iPhone 7, you now know the pains of having to carry around a dongle. The thing about dongles is they’re terribly easy to use. So instead having to worry if you brought your adapter today, one clever Apple fans has made carrying a dongle as easy remembering where your keys are.

Just as Cupertino is scaling back its automotive ambitions, key members of the Apple PR team have left the company for car manufacturers.

Recovering your lost iPhone may get a lot easier soon, based on a patent Apple was recently awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The new patent describes a method for determining an iPhone’s location after shutdown that would make Find My iPhone work even if a thief turns your device off.

If Apple has made photography for the masses easy, then Macphun wants to knock down remaining barriers that might keep some from using software to bring creative style to those photos.

It’s latest Mac-based photo editing software, Luminar, is its first all-in-one app that will include a variety of features to help photographers of all levels make corrections and bring creative finishing to their images.

Analysts can’t agree whether smartwatch sales are tanking or booming.

In a new study that refutes IDC’s estimation that total smartwatch sales declined last quarter, analysts at Canalys argue that shipments actually rose 60 percent and the Apple Watch dominated.

Look alive, everyone! November is finally here, and that means Black Friday is on the way. However, you won’t have to wait until the 26th to start saving. Now that Apple has unleashed its new tech lineup, prices are falling for iMacs, and refurbished Apple products are making a comeback. Logitech is even getting a headstart on Black Friday sales with an $80 discount on their premier gaming headphones.

People in wheelchairs no longer get treated like second-class citizens when it comes to Apple Watch’s fitness-tracking features. With the recent watchOS 3.0 update, which brings lots of big changes to the fitness-oriented wearable, Apple Watch wheelchair workouts can be tracked after a quick and easy setup.

Well that didn’t last long! Having previously taken almost all of his music off streaming services due to their alleged poor sound quality, Neil Young is back on Apple Music, Spotify and Rdio — as well as new music service Amazon Music Unlimited.

The creator of the high-fidelity PonoPlayer, Young last year published a missive in which he said that he didn’t want his music to be “devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution.”

Somewhere along the way, though, it seems his stance his changed.

There’s no way to look cool rollin’ on Ninebot’s Segway miniPRO, but it’s built like a tank, boasts great battery life, and it’s so gosh darn fun to ride, you just won’t care.

Another plus? Non-exploding batteries. What Segway has here is the new Cadillac of hoverboards.

2016 will be a year to forget for Samsung.

The South Korean company has been forced to recall 2.8 million washing machines in the U.S. following reports that they are falling apart during use. One unlucky customer suffered a broken jaw when the top of their unit blew off.

The iPhone’s market share is down around the world, but you know what’s up? Its profitability related to other smartphones.

In fact, according to a new report from BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long, Apple accounted for 103.6 percent of all smartphone industry operating profits in the third quarter of 2016.

If you visit this site often, you know we’re big fans of virtual private networks, or VPNs. By creating an encrypted tunnel for you data, they’re a great, practical way to stay protected and anonymous online. And now’s a great time to find out why we dig VPNs, because you can sign up for one at a massive discount of 94 percent. Right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to VPN Unlimited for just $39 at Cult of Mac.

Apple might have just gotten to the Touch Bar with its new MacBook Pro, but according to a new report, Microsoft was working on similar adaptive keyboard technology as early as 1999.

To put that into context, that would be around the time that Apple first shipped its iMac G3 and way before the company started to embrace multitouch technology with the iPhone.

For some, Beats are the only headphone option to consider, because they have that intangible “cool factor” other brands lack. If you’re in the market for your first pair of wireless Beats, we’re here to help.

Our new App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.

Sometimes you’ve got to think small to hit it big. For DigiDNA, a Swiss development team that makes popular software for managing iOS devices, that means functioning more like a tight rock ‘n’ roll band than a sprawling orchestra.

In the early ’90s, Pixar was in the middle of creating its first movie, Toy Story, but the company was in disarray. It was bleeding cash and floundering around looking for a business model.

To help turn it around, Steve Jobs hired Lawrence Levy, a former corporate lawyer, to help figure out how to make Pixar a real business.

In this week’s episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talk to Levy about how exactly he and Jobs made Pixar into one of the most successful movie studios in history.

Apple’s latest MacBook Pro is a stunning feat of engineering, but it isn’t without its fair share of compromises. These shortcomings get showcased in the parody ad below, which pulls no punches when highlighting all of the $1,799 notebook’s nasty flaws.

iPhones fell to just 12 percent of worldwide marketshare in Q3, claims a new report from Strategy Analytics — totting up the figures for what it claims was the fastest growth period for smartphones in one year.

Android phones, on the other hand, captured a record 88 percent of global smartphones shipments during the three month period. As for BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Phone? Best not to ask, really!

Already bored of Pokémon GO? So are millions of others, it seems — but Niantic has tricks up its sleeve to get you back. With an update that’s coming “soon,” Pokémon GO will get daily and weekly bonuses that will encourage you to keep playing.

If you know any self-styled power users, you’ve probably been told (too many times) how useful it is to learn your Mac’s keyboard shortcuts. They can save you a lot of time, sure, but Keyboard Maestro blows the out-of-the box shortcuts away. It won the Macworld Editor’s Choice Award for Productivity Software by offering an easy way to create a vast array of custom macro shortcuts. And today is your last chance to get it for just $19.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

U.S. department store chain Kohl’s will start selling the Apple Watch at 400 of its 1,100 stores, beginning November 15.

The news comes shortly after rival chain Macy’s announced that it will start selling the Apple Watch at 180 of its stores. Interestingly, Kohl’s will differ from many other retailers by not selling the Apple Watch in its electronics section, but instead in its activewear and wellness category.