Cult of Mac

Audio brands and manufacturers can now buy cutting-edge reference designs for solid-state, all-silicon micro speakers online to bring new generations of true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds and in-ear monitors (IEMs) to market faster, xMEMS Labs said Tuesday.

This is another step toward realizing the “ultrasonic revolution” I wrote about in-depth in November 2023. In it, old-school speaker technology still used even in tiny earbuds may give way to new solid-state tech providing the full sonic range digitally compressed audio has compromised.

“Steve Jobs was a digital pioneer, but when he went home, he listened to vinyl,” classic rocker and noted audiophile Neil Young once said. He was getting at all the sonic detail lost to digital compression in forms like MP3 files.

The Netflix streaming service will soon stop working on second- and third-generation Apple TV models. It’s not a shocking development as both are over a decade old.

If you’ve been looking for a reason to buy a newer tvOS device, it may have just arrived. (By coincidence, Verizon currently offers the Apple TV 4K for just $89.99.)

If you want to know the fastest and easiest way to send someone photos, videos, files and so, so much more, you should know how to AirDrop. There’s no need to send an iMessage — Apple’s slick AirDrop feature will immediately send and open the content on someone else’s iPhone (or other Apple device). There’s no middle step.

AirDrop works iPhone-to-iPhone, iPhone-to-Mac, iPhone-to-iPad, Vision Pro-to-Mac — any combination and permutation of two Apple devices. And if you’re both running iOS 17, there’s a convenient AirDrop superpower you should definitely know about. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about how to take advantage of AirDrop.

Apple TV+ subscribers are just as happy with their streaming service as Netflix subscribers are, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. That’s after Apple’s offering improved considerably in this year’s rankings.

But neither scored as well on the survey of U.S. consumers as Amazon Prime did.

Contact posters let you customize how your Apple contact card looks to other people. If you call someone — and they have your contact info in their address book — your customized contact poster will appear on their screen. If you’re running iOS 17 and don’t know how to create a Contact Poster, let us show you how. (The process might look familiar if you’ve set up a custom Lock Screen.)

Done right, contact posters look great — way better than the old thumbnail images that preceded them. Plus, it’s really easy to turn an ordinary picture into a gorgeous-looking contact poster. And once you set it up, everyone with your matching phone number and/or Apple ID will see your chosen contact picture and personalized contact poster.

HomePod (2nd generation) is a great smart speaker, but the $300 price tag holds some folks back. That’s $600 for a pair. But now you can get a great deal on HomePod 2 for a price of $175 for one, or two for $350, thanks to a sale at Verizon.

Sorry, not the white one, just the midnight option. But still!

A Virginia carpenter put Apple AirTag trackers on some of his tools so he could find them if they were stolen. It worked beyond his wildest expectations — he led police to what eventually turned out to be multiple collections of 15,000 stolen construction tools.

This is far from the first time an AirTag has helped locate a stolen item. But it’s never been quite this enourmously successful before.

Qualcomm tried a new spoof of a legendary Apple ad campaign Sunday, coming in 14 years late and more than a few dollars short. The new ad for Arm-powered PCs stars “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long pretending that notifications would drive him away from his MacBook.

The ad appeared at the end of Qualcomm’s “Snapdragon Computex 2024 Keynote: The PC Reborn.” You can see it and Long’s other work for Apple and competitors below.

Some computer setups just seem to have it all. Today’s featured workstation sports a new M3 Pro MacBook Pro with hefty amounts of memory and storage, plus a speedy Thunderbolt 4 dock connected to a well-curated selection of peripherals. Even the gear stands and furniture are especially nice.

The streaming music service Spotify just increased its prices for new U.S. subscribers. The costs of most subscription options are now above those of its arch rival, Apple Music.

The new prices go into effect for current subscribers in July.

Apple will overhaul its Settings app across iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 when it unveils the updates at WWDC24, according to a report Friday. In other words, not everything at the big developers conference will be about AI.

Update: Control Center, which provides easy access to frequently used features on iPhones (as well as Macs and iPads), should see changes, too. Apple will upgrade it “with a new music widget and improvements to how it operates smart home appliances,” Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman wrote over the weekend in his PowerOn newsletter.

The iPhone 16 Pro could sport the world’s slimmest bezels on a smartphone. Its borders will apparently measure just 1.2mm, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max having even slimmer bezels at 1.15mm.

The slimmer bezels should help offset the size increase due to Apple using larger displays on its 2024 iPhones.

Don’t get your heart set on new Macs launching at WWDC24 next week. A generally reliable tipster predicts that that’ll be none unveiled at Apple’s developer conference.

And not just Macs. Supposedly the agenda includes no new hardware at all.

Kids (and adults) love to collect toys, but what if they could create their own? That’s precisely the point with the Toybox 3D printer deluxe bundle. This 3D printer for kids’ toys packs innovative technology into a simplified product that’s perfect for young minds.

Wanna get your own? We just cut the cost of this 3D toy printer to just $348.99 (regularly $439).

Apple’s 2024 iPad Air ships with a binned M2 chip featuring a 9-core GPU. The company’s original announcement claimed it packs a 10-core GPU.

The Cupertino giant silently updated the iPad Air’s tech specs page to reflect this change.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: In the near future, your iPhone might look as wild and unique as you want it to. Home Screen customization options, rumored to arrive in iOS 18, could bring a new level of personality to iPhones. And then there’s the AI-generated emoji we’ve been hearing about.

Hold onto your hats, iPhone owners. Things are about to get weird!

Also on The CultCast:

• No joke: Siri might get the brain transplant it needs to remain relevant in the ChatGPT era.
• Fascinating new videos show how rigorously Apple tests iPhones. We’re talking firehoses, an iPhone-flinging robot and a seriously advanced shake table.
• Erfon wants to get his hands on Nomad’s new tracking card, which works with Apple’s Find My network, fits in a wallet, and recharges via MagSafe.
• Griffin explains how easy it is to give your Mac a makeover with custom icons, folders and more.
• And we wrap it up with a new edition of What We’re Into!

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

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Build your own app (iOS, Android and/or Windows — or all three simultaneously) with Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 and the 2024 Premium Learn to Code Certification Bundle.

This double deal features Microsoft Visual Studio Professional, an integrated development environment where you can code complex projects, along with video lectures teaching beginner coding. And you can get the whole thing for just $52.97 for a limited time.

Marvel Studios’ new What If…? An Immersive Story is a free app for Apple’s Vision Pro headset that combines interactivity with storytelling in a brand-new way. Is it a game? Is it an episode of the What If…? animated TV series? It’s not entirely either. It’s an hour-long story where you’re the main character, casting spells with your hands and collecting the Infinity Stones.

If you aren’t a Marvel fan, you’ll find the story a bit drab. But if you want to see the bleeding edge of what’s possible in gaming when you can seamlessly switch between VR and AR with natural hand controls, you need to check it out.

It’s like no other game I’ve ever played.

Apple could add new text effects to iMessage in iOS 18. One of the effects reportedly includes the ability to animate individual words in a message. If you’re curious about how to bold text in iMessage, Apple has some useful tricks that can help make your messages stand out.

iMessage, Apple’s proprietary instant messaging service, already supports many message effects and animations to add some excitement to texts. The possible new text effects in iOS 18 should make things even more eye-catching and fun.

There are a few hidden gestures on your iPhone that you absolutely need to know. You’re typing out a long text on your iPhone and you need to go back to fix a typo. Tapping on the screen to move the cursor feels like a shot in the dark — but there’s a secret gesture to move around and select text.

Here are three top iPhone tips. Also in this article: how to select and delete a bunch of emails, text messages, anything in a list at once; and the secret gestures that undo and redo. Like, for example, if you accidentally delete a bunch of emails.

For years Keychron made its bones on good mechanical keyboards. Now it’s jumping into the scissor-switch game with a pair of Keychron ultra-slim keyboards that are direct Magic Keyboard competitors.

They looks the part, include solid features and beat Apple on price by a mile.

Some people don’t amp up the sound in their computer setups simply because they lack room for the speakers. So they just use their computer or monitor speakers. But what if somebody made tiny but powerful speakers that could fit almost anywhere? Somebody did — Gallo Acoustics Micro Speakers. And today’s Mac Studio setup uses them for rich sound.

People love Sonos audio gear for good reason. But they rarely find it on sale. For Father’s Day, however, it has launched a bonafide Sonos speaker sale, offering up to 25% off an array of speakers and audio sets like home-theater rigs.

In one case of a premium immersive audio set for your home theater, you save $520 (see below). With that one, your living room entertainment center will be the envy of the neighborhood.

You don’t need to wait for Apple to ship its rumored AI upgrades to try some similarly magical AI features. You can learn to use AI with this intro bundle that gives you the skills necessary to make the most of two of the most popular generative AI tools around: ChatGPT and Midjourney.

These two services boast astonishing capabilities for working with words and images. However, if you don’t know how to use them properly, you will never achieve the best possible results.

Get ahead of the curve and learn AI with the Introduction to AI: ChatGPT & Midjourney Overview Bundle, available now for just $49.99 (regularly $149.99). You don’t need an AI chatbot to tell you that’s a 66% discount.

If your iPhone is ever having odd technical problems, the first thing you should try is a good old restart — you’ll be surprised how many problems can be fixed by simply restarting.

Restarting your iPhone is just like restarting a computer. All of the apps and software will be reset, and you shouldn’t lose any saved data.

If an app you’re using is acting up, you can always force-quit it and open it again to reset it. But if there’s a deeper underlying problem with your phone’s software, like if Bluetooth accessories aren’t working or phone calls suddenly won’t connect, you should restart it.

Here’s how.