It’s the end of a rough year, so let’s ring in the new one with some extra great deals. Below you’ll find lifetime access to a powerful VPN, a secure and anonymous phone line, the latest version of multimedia super tool Roxio Toast, and a set of extra long, MFi certified Lightning cables. You can get each for an additional 17 percent off their already massively discounted price, just enter coupon code NEWYEAR17 at checkout (some exclusions apply) — the only catch is that you’ve got just 24 hours to do it. Read on for more details:

This year’s iPhone upgrade might have been a little dull, but we saw plenty of exciting accessories for Apple’s iconic smartphone in 2016.

From awesome new AirPods to ultraportable virtual reality headsets, they all helped make iPhone 7 more exciting. Here are our favorite iPhone accessories of the year.

The holidays and the year are almost over, but the great new deals at the Cult of Mac Store show no sign of stopping. This week, we’ve got a portable bluetooth speaker that also brings the bass, a critically acclaimed space sim, a set of sleek Bluetooth earbuds, and a mobile phone tripod that folds up to the size of a credit card. Read on for more details:

2016 sent Apple for a wild ride full of fantastic new products, crazy controversies and tons of extra drama with its rivals.

Tim Cook and his colleagues probably can’t wait to jump into 2017. But before we start looking toward Apple’s future, let’s take a quick look back at all the stories that made 2016 a year Apple fans will never forget.

Frank Lloyd Wright didn’t create innovative home designs by drawing from his couch. He sat at a drafting table, its surface supporting his paper at the angle of his choosing.

So what would he do with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil? He might try the new DraftTable by Portland, Oregon-based Elevation Lab.

Getting an iPhone means every moment is a chance to snap great looking pictures. But as all photographers know, a great set of lenses is even more important than a great camera. With this set of 5 detachable lenses, you can instantly upgrade the photos your iPhone takes. And right now you can get the whole set of lenses for just $23.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

When it comes to games, Apple trails behind Microsoft and the broader PC market. Though Cupertino’s hardware often sports cutting-edge specs, the fact is that gaming was never really the intended use for Apple machines.

Why this is, and whether it should prevent top titles from gracing Mac screens, is enough for its own article. Luckily, things are changing: From sprawling strategy games to genre-bending first-person titles, 2016 gave Apple fans a harvest of great titles for Mac and iOS alike.

With 2016 coming to a close, Nielsen has ranked the year’s most popular mobile apps in the U.S. and — wouldn’t you know it! — Facebook takes the top two spots with its Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps.

Despite the growth of other social media services, Facebook saw growth of 14 percent from last year, with more than 146 million average unique users each month. Facebook Messenger also picked up over 129 million unique users every month.

This week on The CultCast: It’s our epic final episode of 2016! We’ll wrap up the year with our hands-on review of the hotness themselves, Apple’s AirPods. Then … is Apple’s “Golden Era” drawing to a close? We discuss. And finally, ya’ll know we review a lot of products during the year — we’ll reveal our absolute favorite gadgets of 2016!

Apple manufacturing partner Inventec is planning to expand its AirPods production capacity to meet strong demand from consumers.

Impressive sales of the hot new wireless earphones over the holiday period are expected to give the Taiwanese firm a boost in revenue, but its plants are already working overtime to deliver Apple’s orders.

Apple pissed off a lot of people in 2016. In hindsight, some of Cupertino’s moves look clumsy, and others seem truly clueless, but Tim Cook and Co. also made some brilliant moves during this turbulent year.

Let’s go to our happy place and relive the smartest moves made by Apple in 2016.

A new nefarious text message has been discovered that has the power to completely crash iPhones, even those running the latest version of iOS 10.

Instead of using infected links or weird text like previous iMessage hacks, this new one allows attackers to disable a person’s Messages app by simply sending a large contact file. When iPhone users tap on the file, it’s so big and complicated that it overloads the CPU and crashes the app.

Watch the hack in action:

Hopping onto the internet means being open to a range of cyber headaches, from identity theft to government snooping and even just annoying location restrictions on streaming media. One of the best steps you can take to avoid these problems is to connect via a virtual private network, or VPN. And right now with NoLimitVPN, you can get three years of a high speed, secure VPN for just $39.99.

Samsung is planning to take on Apple’s fancy new AirPods with its own wireless earbuds that will launch alongside the Galaxy S8, according to a new report.

It’s thought Samsung is unlikely to follow Apple’s decision to drop the 3.5mm headphone jack, but it will still push wireless alternatives as they become increasingly popular.

Accessory makers churned out some awesome new gadgets for the iPad in 2016. From cases to Star Wars toys, loads of new gear came along to boost the capabilities of the world’s favorite tablets.

Whether for the Pro line or the less-powerful Air or mini models, these are the best iPad accessories of 2016.

Apple has a new demand for the Indian government as it barters about stepping up its investment in the country: getting rid of the detailed product information it is asked to print onto its devices — thereby cluttering its minimalist design.

Apple recently made the request to the country’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), which forwarded the message to the Department of Revenue and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeITY) for consideration. No response has yet been issued.

Apple has added a third manufacturer to its stable for the 2017-era iPhone 8, according to a new report.

The newcomer? Wistron, which previously gained experience as an Apple supplier on secondary iPhone handsets such as the iPhone 5s and, reportedly, the iPhone SE. It will join established Apple suppliers Foxconn and Pegatron working on the next-gen tenth birthday iPhone, which will likely launch next September.

It didn’t take Super Mario Run and its nearly 3 million downloads on day one in the iTunes Store to recognize how serious iOS users are about gaming.

App developers submit hundred of games each day to Apple for iTunes and with a dizzying number of iOS games available, there is an equally impressive number of accessories companies making gamepads for mobile games.

One, GameSir, will debut its first iOS-centric hand controls at next week’s CES in Las Vegas after five years of developing gamepads that have been well received among Android users.

Apple’s iPhone empire has been made possible thanks to the magic of aluminum. But under certain circumstances, Jony Ive’s favorite metal can be the iPhone’s worst enemy.

The folks behind the YouTube channel Backyard Scientists decided to see what happens when you dunk the iPhone in molten aluminum. Seeing the iPhone get a Terminator 2 type of death is oddly beautiful.

Check it out:

This post is brought to you by RCS LT, maker of Combo Cleaner.

The vast majority of apps offering antivirus protection run on an open-source engine called Clam AV. It offers a convenient module that app developers can plug into their products for free and get passable antivirus protection.

Unfortunately, you often get what you pay for, which in this case is a subpar detection rate for malware and adware. That’s why a staff-maintained antivirus solution is a better idea.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was all smiles during a brief appearance at the New York Stock Exchange this morning. While taking a quick tour of the floor with his nephew, Cook revealed that AirPods are so popular Apple can’t make them fast enough.

A new jailbreak for iOS 10.1.1 has been released in beta form.

“Yalu” is the first jailbreak to support the iPhone 7 and you can get your hands on it now, but users are advised to wait for more stable releases.

2016 hasn’t been Apple’s best year by a long shot. While the company is still making money hand over fist and has seen its Services division go from strength to strength, Apple also consistently stumbled for the first time in years.

While we remain loyal to the Apple brand, here are our picks for the year’s biggest disappointments.

A restaurant in San Francisco has begun serving food on iPads. Quince is using the popular tablets as plates in an apparent effort to appeal to younger diners. Each iPad plays a video of a water dog searching for truffles while you eat your meal off its screen.

Seriously.

Our take on Apple’s new wireless AirPods may be that they “just work,” but one thing that isn’t quite so seamless is picking up a pair in person at your local Apple store.

That’s according to airpods.isinstock.com, a website dedicated to providing at-a-glance stock levels for Apple’s AirPods at every Apple retail store in the world. The current grand total of stores stocking the AirPods? A big fat zero.