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Get a free copy of powerful DVD ripping and video conversion software [Deals]

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The recently upgraded MacX DVD Ripper Pro is more powerful than ever for getting your media from disc to drive.

DVD players are going the way of the Walkman, leaving many of us with vast libraries of obsolete discs. Of course the movies and TV shows themselves aren’t obsolete — just their shiny plastic medium — but with hard drive space getting more and more vast it makes less and less sense to let a bunch of discs take up cabinet or closet space.

3D Touch comes to iPad Pro thanks to clever Apple Pencil hack

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Apple Pencil
Apple Pencil is the best iPad accessory.
Photo: Apple

The iPad Pro is the most impressive tablet Apple’s ever created, but it’s missing one killer feature: 3D Touch.

Developer Hamza Sood has found a clever workout around though that brings Peek and Pop features to the iPad Pro, and it’s all made possible thanks to the pressure sensitive features of the Apple Pencil.

Check it out:

Vine comes to Apple Watch with featured and favorite clips

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Apple Watch users can now watch Vines on their wrist.
Apple Watch users can now watch Vines on their wrist.
Photo: Vine

Twitter is bringing its short video sharing service, Vine, to wrists across the globe today with its first Apple Watch app.

Vine for Apple Watch brings two feeds to users — favorites and featured — which allows you to catch up on clips from favorite creators, as well as watch featured videos that are handpicked from channels across the network.

Teardown reveals Apple Smart Keyboard is not repairable — but super durable

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Apple's new keyboard is made out of high-tech fabric.
Apple's new keyboard is made out of high-tech fabric.
Photo: iFixit

We’re just days away from carving up turkeys in the US, but the folks at iFixit are busting out the blades a little early for their official teardown of the new Apple Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro.

The new teardown from iFixit reveals how Apple made the Keyboard/Smart Cover super durable by encapsulating the entire product in some high tech fabric that should make it last much longer than a normal keyboard, which is good because it is also impossible to repair.

Check out the keyboards guts below:

Protective case turns your sleek iPhone into a loud fashion statement

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UAG packs a punch of protect for your i-devices.
UAG brings the tough-guy bling to your iPhone.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Best List: Scout iPhone case by Urban Armor Gear

No one would accuse Urban Armor Gear of being sleek or subtle. The company’s iDevice cases are loud and rugged. You might even call them masculine, although I know a few of my female friends would embrace the bold statement they make.

How to expand your Macbook storage without taking up any extra space [Deals]

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The HyperDrive immediately expands your laptop's storage capacity without taking up any extra space.
The HyperDrive immediately expands your laptop's storage capacity without taking up any extra space.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Having a backup drive is key to anyone with a laptop, but lugging around an extra hard drive can take the convenience out of portable computing. Plugging into the computer adds steps to the process of getting started with work, but one Macbook slot in particular — the SD card port — can be used to immediately expand its storage by 512 gigs. The way to do it is with a HyperDrive MacBook Storage Expander, and you can get one right now for $19.95.

Two years on, iBeacons still haven’t taken off

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iBeacons haven't come too far since launching in 2013.
Photo: Apple

Apple launched its iBeacons to great fanfare back in 2013, but since then… well, they haven’t exactly taken the retail world by storm.

An interesting new article by Bloomberg digs into some of the facts and figures about Apple’s beacon technology, citing reports claiming that only 3 percent of retailers currently use beacons, and just 16 percent have plans to use them in the future.

How to fix the new Apple TV’s annoying onscreen keyboard

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Want this back on your new Apple TV? Here's how.
Want this back on your new Apple TV? Here's how.
Photo: Rob Griffiths

The old Apple TV used a 6 x 7 grid of letters to let you enter text. It wasn’t QWERTY, but it was efficient, requiring a minimum of presses to enter your text.

Consequently, many people upgrading to the new Apple TV have found the new onscreen keyboard annoying. It’s a horizontal two-line strip that takes a lot more time to hunt and peck your way through.

If you love the old Apple TV onscreen keyboard, though, good news! It’s easy to bring back. Here’s how.

VR iPhone case is virtually a reality after hitting Kickstarter goal

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As iPhone cases go, this one's pretty darn cool.
Photo: Figment VR

A nifty iPhone case-turned-VR headset has passed its $75,000 Kickstarter funding goal in just one week — promising users a snap-on virtual reality solution for their Apple handset for the low price of just $55 for early backers.

And, despite the goal having been hit, there’s still time if you want to hop on this Kickstarter bandwagon!

Trade in your old Apple gadgets. We pay the highest prices.

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Cult of Mac's trade-in program will buy back your old iPad, iPhone, iPod or MacBook. In most cases, we offer more money than EVERY other competitior.
Cult of Mac's trade-in program will buy back your old iPad, iPhone, iPod or MacBook. In most cases, we offer more money than EVERY other competitior.

If you just got a new iPad or iPhone and are wondering what to do with your old one, you should think about trading it in.

We recently launched a gadget buyback program that promises to pay more for used and broken Apple devices than Gazelle, Walmart and even Apple itself.

Microsoft’s tablets are eating away at iPad sales

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Put your hands on me.
Microsoft is taking the tablet fight to Apple.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple might have once owned the tablet market, but Microsoft is making rapid advances in sales — and may even be approaching iPad numbers by 2019, according to a new “Tablet Operating System Forecast” report by Strategy Analytics.

Summarizing the first nine months of 2015, and extrapolating the trends to try and predict the next few years, the report reveals how sales of Windows tablets are up 58 percent compared to 2014, and are on track to sell 22 million this year. That’s 10 percent of the market, compared to Apple’s 22 percent.

Apple must wait until 2016 for tax break verdict

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Yep, Apple's pretty darn valuable.
Apple could have to pay back billions as a result of tax probe.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Having previously said that he expected to receive the European Commission’s verdict on Apple’s Irish tax arrangements by Christmas, Ireland’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan now claims that an announcement is likely to be delayed util next year.

The delay in the long-running investigation is the result of regulators asking for additional information from the Irish government, which will take several weeks to gather.

Colorful Apple TV billboard ads are pleasingly old school

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It's certainly eye-catching.
Photo: SMPTE Connect/Instagram

If any more proof was needed that Apple TV is no longer being considered a “hobby,” check out the massive new billboard ad campaign that has been rolling out for the new fourth-generation Apple TV refresh.

Cleverly playing on a color bars motif which references both the old school Apple logo (with colors fastidiously picked out by Steve Jobs, to boot!) and a television test pattern, the billboards can be seen in both landscape and portrait orientation around the U.S.

Apple Pay may arrive in China by February

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Apple Pay iPhone
It seems that Apple's wait may almost be over.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook has described his desire to bring Apple Pay to China as “top of the list” in terms of priorities — and now it seems like he may finally be on the verge of hitting his goal.

According to a new report, it is hoped that Apple Pay will launch in China by early February, after Apple struck deals with China’s four biggest state-run banks.

Master project management with two massively discounted certification courses [Deals]

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Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

In the professional sphere, experience with project management is one of the most valuable skills you can have. Starting is harder than just deciding you’ve got what it takes to get things done — you’ll have to get certification, which is exactly what this pair of lessons offers. It’s a one-two punch of project management education and validation at a 98% discount, just $49 at Cult of Mac Deals.

74.1% of all Android users are vulnerable to government surveillance

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74-1-of-all-android-users-are-vulnerable-to-government-surveillance-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201511Screen-Shot-2015-11-23-at-80723-PM-jpg
This probably won't save you from the Feds. Photo: The Next Web
This probably won’t save you from the Feds. Photo: The Next Web

Apple has taken a huge stand with the U.S. government, claiming they won’t – and can’t – remotely unlock encrypted devices running iOS 8 or higher. That’s the vast majority of devices.

Google takes the same sort of stand. Any document running Android 5.0 or higher has full disk encryption enabled by default, and therefore can’t be be remotely unlocked, even when ordered to do so by the federal government.

But Android also has a fragmentation problem, which means that most Android devices aren’t running Android 5.0 or higher. In fact, according to a new filing prepared by Google for the New York District Attorney’s Office, Google can remotely unlock at least 74% of Android devices.

WordPress.com gets a new look and new Mac app

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Wordpress is now native on Mac.
Wordpress is now native on Mac.
Photo: Wordpress

WordPress.com received a huge redesign today that has been 18 months in the making, and there’s a great new Mac app that’s coming with it.

The new native Mac app is powered with the same tech running WordPress.com. In fact, it’s pretty much the web app wrapped as an OS X, which isn’t all that bad because it creates a seamless experience that lets you focus on just the content, whether you’re using an iPhone, a browser, or the Mac app.

Check out all the new features in the intro video below:

The absolute best deals: Thanksgiving vs. Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

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Confused at all the different retail promotions lately? Here's how to tell them apart (and find the best deals).
Confused at all the different retail promotions lately? Here's how to tell them apart (and find the best deals).
Photo: DealNews

Black Friday is held up as the ultimate shopping day, but Thanksgiving actually offers more awesome deals. Of course, there are great sales to be found throughout the Black Friday season, with Cyber Monday deals adding their fair share of savings to the mix.

However, if you’re looking for a specific type of product, it’s hard to know whether Thanksgiving, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday will give you the best chance to score that bargain.

Because most shoppers will be looking for deals on these three days specifically, we gathered data from the past four years of Thanksgivings, Black Fridays, and Cyber Mondays to determine which day offered the best sales on any given product category. From TVs to toys to tablets, we’ve got the skinny on when you’re most likely to find a killer price low on anything.

But before we get to the results, let’s discuss the amorphous blob of time that Black Friday has become.

Mysterious ‘snake’ Apple Watch error? Here’s what it means

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Apple Watch error
Okay, so this isn't what the error message actually looks like. But it might as well be.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Seven months after its launch, we appear to be seeing a previously unheard-of Apple Watch error, but we think we’ve figured out what it means.

Wall Street Journal tech editor Joanna Stern brought the issue to attention on her Twitter account; the screen kind of looks like her Apple Watch had suddenly decided to play a round of retro game Snake. But the actual issue isn’t nearly as fun.

How to hide your apps in iOS 9 without a jailbreak

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I promise, there's a folder between those two app icons.
I promise, there's a folder between those two app icons.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Every once in a while, you might have an app or two that you really don’t want to show off. Whether it’s a racy game or two or dating apps you don’t want your children seeing when you hand them your phone to keep them occupied, being able to hide those apps from general view is a handy thing.

Until now, you had to jailbreak your iPhone to make that happen. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case, and you can–thanks to the fine folks over at Redmond Pie, who originally found this tip–hide apps on your own iPhone, with no jailbreak required. It’s a bit involved, and requires that you change your wallpaper to something boring, like white or grey, but it works.

Here’s how.

Streamlined bike computer captures all the data you need

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You'll rule the road with Lezyne's Super GPS bicycle computer.
You'll rule the road with Lezyne's Super GPS bicycle computer.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Best List: Super GPS bicycle computer by Lezyne

It seems silly to call something with so much technology packed into it “simple,” but this is the word I keep coming back to when describing Lezyne’s new bicycle computers.

They are simple. They are also powerful and sleek — and they just might be the perfect option for cyclists who like to have their data, but don’t need it blasted at them the entire time they are on their bikes.