It’s the Oscars this weekend, and if you’re an Apple fan, one question that lingers in the mind is what exactly happened to all the early awards buzz for Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic.

Initially hailed as one of 2015’s crowning cinematic achievements, the movie bombed at the box office and even registered on some “worst movies of the year” lists. Although it has picked up Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Supporting Actress (Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet), the movie failed to get put forward for Best Picture, while Sorkin was also a notable absence in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

Having now seen Steve Jobs three times (twice at the theater and once on Blu-ray), here are my thoughts on why the flick was ultimately a disappointment.

Electric vehicles, self-driving cars, the future is unfolding on our roads, but you don’t have to buy a Tesla to get a taste of it today. From dash cams to car locators, 5-port USB chargers and more, we’ve found some of the best deals on the coolest upgrades for your ride, all for a fraction of their normal price.

Fitbit reported its best-ever holiday sales this week, but investors are fretting because the wearable maker’s guidance for the current quarter is lower than expected. Some analysts are questioning whether Fitbit can hold its own against competition from Cupertino.

Apple Watch has proved to be a fantastic fitness tracker for many Cult of Mac readers. So I was curious to find out how Fitbit’s trackers compare. They may be cheaper than Apple Watch, but are they as effective at promoting healthy habits?

Over the years, Apple concept designer Sam Beckett has made some killer videos, exploring possible ways Cupertino could revamp Notification Center. His latest concept again tackles Notification Center, but this time imagines how 3D Touch could make it better in iOS 10. I’m sold.

Apple’s been getting a lot of flack for its refusal to create a “GovtOS” from the FBI and Department of Justice. Tim Cook and company have also garnered plenty of support for their forceful stance from other tech companies as well as the rank and file Apple consumer.

Check out this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine to figure out why Apple refuses to create GovtOS, how to get its latest and greatest software, find the best iPhone and iPad password managers around, check out a virtual tour of Tim Cook’s office, and see how the beloved iPod shuffle has been reborn for the age of Spotify.

Here are the week’s top stories.

Some reports have suggested that when the 4-inch iPhone SE arrives next month, it’s updates over the iPhone 5s will top out with the addition of an A9 chip and NFC for Apple Pay. But reputable KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo says shutterbugs have something to look forward to, too: a sick 12MP camera.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show thinks the government is going about this privacy battle with Apple all wrong. Instead of going through court orders and CEO Tim Cook, why not just ask Siri?

In a clip from last night’s show, a government agent takes the digital assistant to a black site to shake it down for the info investigators want. And if asking doesn’t work, it might be time for a bit of torture “enhanced interrogation.”

See how Siri holds up in the full clip below.

The company’s privacy battle with the FBI was the main focus at the Apple shareholder meeting today.

CEO Tim Cook reiterated the company’s intention to fight a court order that compels engineers to create software capable of bypassing the iPhone’s passcode security system. Yesterday, Apple filed its official objection to the ruling.

“We are a staunch advocate of privacy,” Cook told shareholders. “Being hard doesn’t scare us.”

One of my favorite features of the Google Maps app is its ability to save offline maps on iPhone. Whether you want map access regardless of cell reception or you’re traveling abroad and won’t have a data connection, Google Maps is king. Even better, it costs you absolutely nothing.

Anyone can tap your profile in Instagram and see where you were when you took your snapshots. Creeped out, yet?

Every time you take a picture for Instagram, the photo-sharing app keeps track of where you are by default. Here’s how to remove the location data automatically added to your snaps and keep stalkers from tracking you on Instagram.

Ted Olson, the legendary lawyer hired by Apple to represent it in the company’s battle against the FBI, warned that the government’s demand to unlock the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone will have wide ranging implications, and could possibly create a police state.

In an interview this morning, Olson said that if the FBI wins it would create an avalanche of requests from both federal and state courts to unlock iPhones in other cases that prosecutors believe may possibly contain evidence that could be used against the owner.

Apple and the FBI are locked in a bitter legal battle over San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone 5c that was recovered at the terrorist event, but according to San Bernardino’s chief of police we’re all overlooking one very important issue: there might not be any useable intelligence on it.

The game of ‘what is Apple going to call it’s next cheap iPhone’ just took another turn today with a new rumor that claims the new 4-inch device won’t be called the iPhone 6c, or the iPhone 5se.

It shall be called the ‘iPhone SE’

After Samsung and LG announced exciting new iPhone rivals at Mobile World Congress this week, we’ve had heated debates behind the scenes here over whether Apple’s smartphone can still compete against the big guns in an increasingly competitive smartphone market.

Without features like wireless charging, water-resistance, and expandable storage, will it be harder for Apple to reverse slowing iPhone growth? Or are these things just gimmicks that the iPhone doesn’t need, and will have been forgotten just a few years down the line?

Join in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we take our spat public and ask you to wade in!

Solartab 5.5-watt solar charger

It’s a problem when you get caught away from home with a dead phone. And it’s a bigger problem when you find yourself stranded with a dead phone and a flatlined portable charger. But one company has come up with a solution to both of those problems.

Solartab is a power source with a massive capacity and a handy ability: It draws energy from the sun like Superman. It can hold an impressive 13,000 mAh, which is enough to recharge an iPad Air 2 twice or an iPhone more than five times, depending on your model. And the best part is that all of this power is basically free.

The worst part, though, is that the Solartab is massive.

Tidal, the high fidelity music streaming service owned by Jay Z, has been struggling to compete with Spotify and Apple Music, but according to a new report Samsung is planning to throw the fledgling company a lifeline with a new acquisition deal.

This is the first installment in a series of memoirs on the intersection of technology and daily life.

When my fraternity brother Grant and I began a drive from Arkansas to Los Angeles to visit friends on the West Coast, I believed it would be the greatest road trip of my life.

I was wrong.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge have a front-facing flash feature that helps you shoot brighter selfies, but it doesn’t come from an extra LED. Instead, the new devices have stolen the same trick Apple uses on iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

For many people interested in creating a place to express their ideas or work online, knowing how to code is a major impediment. SnapPages cuts the coding completely, making creating, designing and hosting a gorgeous website a simple matter of drag-and-drop. And right now you can get a lifetime subscription to SnapPages’s Pro Plan for only $49.

Apple Pay is likely to launch in France by the end of 2016, according to a new report — claiming that it will be a gradual rollout over the course of several months.

There’s no exact date cited, but it is quite possible that it will take place by September, before Apple ships the iPhone 7.

The fourth beta for watchOS 2.2 adds cool new features that work with the latest version of iOS 9.3 as Apple continues its push to make Apple Watch even more powerful. In today’s video, we’re going to take a tour of all the new changes and improvements the latest beta has in store.

This week on The CultCast: With the FBI-versus-Apple privacy battle heating up, some lawyers say Tim Cook could land in jail; why Siri in the next version of OS X may point to redesigned MacBooks; and, just how much would you pay for a box of Steve Jobs’ old crap? Plus we pitch you our favorite tech and apps in an all-new Faves ‘N Raves!

Apple avoided a potentially embarrassing incident by altering OS X marketing materials on its website to make the word “click” in the slogan “There’s more to love with every click” look … well, less like a certain term for the male sexual apparatus that begins with a “D.”

More and more videos are being shot on iPhones and iPads, and if you’re looking for a great video editing app to help you make the most out of your footage, you’ll find it with Videoshop — the ultra-popular movie editing app which currently carries a 4.5-star rating in the App Store, following more than 2,100 reviews.

The best news? Right now, it’s available for free, down from its usual price of $1.99.

Everyone associates the Mac’s creation with Steve Jobs (with very good reason), but there is another person without whom we wouldn’t have Apple’s iconic home computers: user interface guru Jef Raskin, who passed away on February 26, 2005 — exactly 11 years ago today.

Raskin not only named the Macintosh — after his favorite type of apple, the McIntosh (even though that spelling was already being used by an audio company) — he also gave the lovable computer some of its lasting personality traits.