When companies list “frequent travel may be required” in their job postings, they usually mean flying business class to the annual convention in Omaha and staying at the airport Ramada.

It’s a good business practice to let candidates know this up front — especially when the company doing the hiring is NASA and the openings are for astronauts.

NASA announced Monday it is looking for people with the Right Stuff for work aboard the International Space Station and flights in new commercial spacecraft and well-traveled Russian Soyuz ships. Oh yeah, a trip to Mars is said to be in the works.

Star Wars week is finally here, and what better way to celebrate The Force Awakens than with our first look at the next movie in the Star Trek series?

Paramount Pictures debuted the first trailer for Star Trek: Beyond, directed by Justin Lin of Fast & Furious fame. Kirk and the gang are back in action, and it looks like they’ve got a host of new aliens to contend with, including Idris Elba who’s dressed up as some lizard-like alien bad guy.

Check it out:

Your tech has a lot of hidden potential, and sometimes unlocking it is just about getting the right app. We’ve gathered three potent productivity-enhancing applications that’ll enhance the way you talk to your computer, capture what’s on its screen, and play videos of any kind on your mobile device.

Having previously said that a verdict on Apple’s Irish tax arrangements would be announced by Christmas, a new report reveals that an announcement won’t be made until February next year after all.

The reason for the delay is additional supplementary questions sent by E.C. investigators, concerning whether or not Apple potentially underpaid on billions of euros of tax in a so-called “sweetheart” deal. The additional questions may relate to a new line of inquiry in the long-running investigation.

Apple’s iPhone business may have been stronger than ever in 2015, but — never fear — the Apple doom predictors are never far away.

In this case, the doom report comes from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty who predicts that iPhone sales will drop for the first time ever in 2016.

Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy S7 will get its grand unveiling in March, and its big selling point will be an iPhone-like pressure-sensitive display, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar with the company’s plans.

BBC’s iPlayer app has landed on Apple TV in the U.K., joining the other streaming set top boxes — such as Roku, Google Chromecast and Amazon’s Fire TV — for which it was already available.

The app includes a full catalog of programs from the past month, along with live-streaming of BBC TV stations, the ability to start watching a program on your iPhone or iPad and then switch to Apple TV or vice versa, and personalized recommendations.

Taylor Swift has announced that she will debut her new concert movie, The 1989 World Tour Live, on Apple Music — six months after her public spat with Apple over artist royalties.

“I have a little surprise for you,” Swift wrote on Twitter, with a link to the trailer of the upcoming behind-the-scenes concert documentary, which will also presumably include appearances from special tour guests such as Ellie Goulding, Justin Timberlake, Mick Jagger, and others.

If you’ve owned a MacBook for any amount of time, you know that the MagSafe charging brick has a limited lifespan. Besides getting scuffed up and grimy, the rubberized cables are prone to fray which is more than unsightly — the exposed power conducting wires can be dangerous. Add to that the risk of losing your MagSafe (which would never happen, right?), it’s a good idea to pick up this spare for almost half the normal price, only $42.99.

Best List: Oppo HA-2 portable headphone amplifier and DAC

What kind of audiophile nerd do you have to be to shell out 300 clams to “improve” your iPhone audio? Well, that’s what it is going to cost you to convert your digital audio into analog goodness with style.

You can find cheaper options than the Oppo HA-2 portable headphone amplifier, but few as elegant and sleek.

This week on The CultCast: We take a look at Apple’s zany new Smart Battery Case; cover the new and notable in the watchOS, tvOS and iOS updates; and discuss our favorite strategies for managing overloaded inboxes.

Stick around till the end for our favorite iOS apps and games of 2015!

One of the best parts of modern tech is that you can take it anywhere. Not so great is how much traveling with technology can become complicated by, well, traveling, especially in the car. We’ve rounded up some of the best gift ideas for anyone who likes to get around and stay connected.

Consumers have a nasty habit of throwing out their electronics as soon as newer, shinier models become available, and they rarely ever do so properly. Nearly 42 million tons of e-waste — everything from microwaves and electric shavers to washing machines, laptops, cellphones, TVs and computer monitors — entered the global garbage stream in 2014, according to a United Nations University report.

Like all trash, this stuff doesn’t just disappear. Instead, it stacks up in landfills. Unlike most trash, however, e-waste is often packed with valuable components — as well as toxic chemicals and materials that can cause real damage wherever they end up.

You’d feel better if you could slap your boss. But common sense, workplace rules and a little thing called your bills remind you to check your rage.

A developer and a musician have teamed up to give us an authority figure we can slap silly. Will Capt. James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise do?

Apple releases a new iPhone 6 battery case and everyone hates it. Poor Apple.

This week, we chronicle the beating Apple’s Smart Battery Case takes from the internet, including a look at its insides, how the internet questions Jony Ive’s sanity, and the history of ‘humped’ design at Apple. That, plus accessories just as ugly as the new case, Apples updates to every OS it makes, the things we really don’t need in Apple Watch 2, and how to choose the right running app.

All this and much, much more in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine. Check out the top stories below.

You have so much great video footage on your iPhone, but therein lies the problem. The thought of sitting down at a computer to edit any of it seems like a mountain you have no time to climb.

Cielo de la Paz is happy to help you reach the summit – rather quickly, too. de la Paz is a fearless creator whose soulful wanderings with her iPhone camera inspired Apple to select some of her work for the “Shot on iPhone 6” advertising campaign.

Quick! Get yourself over to the Google Store now, where you can claim a free Star Wars Cardboard, courtesy of Google. The limited edition headsets are themed to look like BB-8, a First Order Stormtrooper, Kylo Ren, and RS-D2 — but you can only pick one!

The carrier announced this morning that it’s having a huge ‘buy one get one free’ promotion that includes top of the line Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy Note 5, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Maps is shaping up to be a pretty great navigational tool with its tight integration in iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, as well as with much more error-free data.

I use Maps as a sort of mobile, digital yellow pages, finding businesses in town and looking up their phone number, hours of operation, website address, and more. It’s a couple of taps in, which can seem tedious after a while.

Now, though, with an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you can get this info in a summarized form, using the new 3D Touch. Here’s how.

Unlike any other consumer electronics company, Apple has been nailing product design for decades. Jony Ive and his incredibly talented team have produced countless iconic gadgets that rivals can only dream of, and it’s the biggest reason why the company is so successful today.

But there are suggestions that Apple’s design prowess is beginning to slip away. Under new leadership, Apple has rolled out a number of products — most recently the butt-ugly Smart Battery Case — that have led some fans to question various design decisions.

Are those fans right to be concerned? Is it downhill from here for Apple’s design team, or is this a whole lot of fuss over nothing?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over those questions and more — and weigh in with your thoughts down in the comments section!

The Apple Watch is the first major product to be launched without any involvement from Steve Jobs, but according to one of his long-time associates, the Apple cofounder was well aware that Jony Ive was working on a timepiece.

On Thursday at Glance Conf in San Francisco — the first Apple Watch conference ever — Tim Bajarin who had an on-and-off relationship with Jobs for over three decades, said Jobs had at least been told about the watch before he passed.

My truck’s getting up in years and lacks many of the conveniences of a late-model vehicle. Forget about an in-dash touchscreen monitor — it doesn’t even have a USB port.

That means I’m stuck using a cigarette lighter adapter to charge my iPhone (which serves as my GPS on many trips). I’ve tried and enjoyed Gosin’s four-port charger, which is awesome for those rare times I’ve got a handful of devices to juice up, but that portly wonder juts out fairly far into the truck’s cabin. Like my truck itself, it is functional but slightly unsightly.

And then there’s the svelte Scosche reVolt dual car charger. Its disarming good looks have ruined me.

Want a spectacular stat for a Friday? Apple stock has increased 22,250 percent since its IPO almost 35 years ago.

And the accompanying depressing thought: If you had taken the money a new Apple computer cost at the time and instead spent it on AAPL stock during its 1980 public offering, you’d be sitting on a personal fortune of $965,650 today — just a few dollars away from being a freshly-minted millionaire.

Infamous street artist Banksy has created a new mural of Steve Jobs to make a big statement about the Syrian refugee crisis that is causing a storm of controversy not only in Europe but the U.S. as well.

Banksy’s Steve Jobs mural depicts the Apple co-founder with a black bag slung over his left shoulder and an original Macintosh computer in his left. The artwork was sprayed on a wall in the Calais refugee camp called ‘the Jungle’ in northern France.

Here’s a closer look:

The days are ticking away until you’re expected to present that special someone in your life with a thoughtful gift. If you’re stressing out about what to get, or what you might end up paying, take a look at this list of awesome gifts available at a fraction of the usual price. From DIY electronics to bluetooth speakers and even world class socks, whoever you’re shopping for, we’ve got you covered.