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Benedict Cumberbatch’s SNL toilet ad pokes fun at Apple

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And it comes in Jet Black, too.
Photo: SNL

Whether it was Slack’s CEO last week or SNL this past weekend, it seems the world can’t go more than a few days without paying homage to an iconic piece of Apple marketing.

In a new sketch for Saturday Night Live, none other than Benedict Cumberbatch stepped up to the plate bowl to offer a take on a futuristic toilet ad, which looks suspiciously like Ridley Scott’s “1984” ad for the original Macintosh.

Check it out below.

Best List: Shure MV51 is a tough, versatile microphone for iPhone field recordings [Review]

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Shure MV51 microphone
Shure's MV51 microphone is MFi-certified and great for recording with an iPhone or iPad.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Best List: MV51 microphone by Shure

Looking like something Elvis Presley would rock, the Shure MV51 is a handsome, retro-styled microphone well-suited to podcasting with an iPad or iPhone. Sturdy and portable, I find it great for recording on the go. It’s small enough to throw into a jacket pocket and, because it’s made of all metal, it’s nigh indestructible.

Paired with an iPhone and Shure’s well-designed recording app, it’s a lot more compact than most podcasting rigs, and versatile enough for most recording situations. Best of all, the audio it captures sounds great.

Has Apple become boring? [Friday Night Fights]

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FNF
Are you still excited by Apple in 2016?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple might be the biggest company in tech, with revenues that make eyes water every quarter, but even some fans think it’s getting a little boring in Cupertino.

Friday Night Fights bug Following last week’s big MacBook Pro event, Apple has delivered everything it had planned for 2016. We’ve had upgrades to iPhone, Apple Watch, and the 12-inch MacBook; brand new AirPods (though those aren’t shipping yet); the diminutive iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

But was all that enough, or could Apple have done more? None of these releases were really that revolutionary, and investors are still waiting for Apple’s next big thing. So, is it true? Is Apple really boring now?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over these questions and more!

Hype, 1-Bit Rogue, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Want to find out which apps were gracing our iPhones, iPads and Macs this week? Check our list below.

From a search engine that will search every single thing to ever grace your Apple device to a couple of awesomely fun retro-inspired games, this is the perfect way to spend the remainder of your weekend.

Ditch that silly strip of tape covering your webcam [Week’s Newest Deals]

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CoM - Camera Guard Pro
Add a software layer to keep unwanted eyes and ears away from your Mac
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

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:

Why the masses are mad about MacBook Pro, this week on The CultCast

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The reviews are in on Apple's new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar...
The reviews are in on Apple's new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar...
Photo: @YSR50

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.

Lightning headphones, rugged iPhone tripods and more [Week’s Best Deals]

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CoM - Pagico 8 Task Manager
Organize all your tasks into lovely, intuitive flowcharts with this top productivity app.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

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:

This iPhone film festival wants you to submit your masterpiece

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The Disposable Film Festival showcases video shot on iPhones and similar gadgets.
The Disposable Film Festival showcases video shot on iPhones and similar gadgets.
Photo: Disposable Film Festival

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.

Clever keychain keeps iPhone 7 dongle with you at all times

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You'll never lose your dongle again.
You'll never lose your dongle again.
Photo: Uncourage

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.

Find My iPhone might soon work when your device is dead

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iPhone 7 back
Apple is making it harder to steal iPhones.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac.

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.

Luminar takes the negatives out of photo editing

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Macphun Luminar
Luminar by Macphun shows its might with simple pre-sets and slider bars.
Photo: Macphun

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.

Logitech headsets go for nearly half off, Samsung slashes $1,100 off TVs and more [Deals]

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Week Deals 11.4
Prices are falling for brand-name electronics this week
Photos: Apple, Samsung

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.

How to set up and track Apple Watch wheelchair workouts

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Apple watch wheelchair exercise
Apple Watch now supports wheelchair users.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

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.

Neil Young returns to Apple Music

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Neil Young hates your silly music stream services
Neil Young previously swore off Apple Music for quality issues.
Photo: Kris Krüg/Flickr

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.

Segway miniPRO makes hoverboards great again [Review]

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Segway's miniPRO is the new standard in hover boards.
Segway's miniPRO is the new standard in hover boards.
Photo: Erfon Elijah/Cult of Mac

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.

Apple was the only smartphone maker that made real profit last quarter

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money
Apple is making hella bank, as the kids say.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

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.

Get a lifetime of VPN access at a massive discount [Deals]

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VPN Unlimited is offering a lifetime of protection from data theft and location restrictions when you go online.
VPN Unlimited is offering a lifetime of protection from data theft and location restrictions when you go online.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

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.

MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar tech was a Microsoft idea first

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macbook pro touch bar
Apple was late to the party. Kind of.
Photo: Apple

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.

DigiDNA devs make apps that rock by thinking like a band

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The indie developers at DigiDNA scored their first hit with iMazing for Mac.
The indie developers at DigiDNA scored their first hit with iMazing for Mac.
Photo: DigiDNA

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.

How this money man helped Steve Jobs turn Pixar into a powerhouse [Kahney’s Korner podcast]

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Lawrence Levy former Pixar CFO
Lawrence Levy, Pixar's former CFO and author of To Pixar and Beyond.
Photo: Lawrence Levy

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.

MacBook Pro parody ad pulls exactly zero punches

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macbook pro
The new MacBook Pro is stunning, but not without its flaws.
Photo: Apple

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.