Save on essential Microsoft software for Mac or PC. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Not a fan of monthly fees for software like Microsoft 365? This deal lands you a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 for Mac or PC.
Why pay monthly for cloud storage when you can grab a 2TB external SSD? Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
This Western Digital Elements SSD gives you 2TB of external hard drive storage you can take anywhere. Now on sale for just $64.99 (MSRP $79.99), this little powerhouse is the storage solution your setup didn’t know it needed.
Whether you’re juggling high-res photos and videos on your phone or tablet, or heavy project files on your desktop, the WD Elements drive offers 2TB of space in a pocket-size design. That’s enough to stash years of photos, entire movie libraries and way more spreadsheets than you’ll ever want to open.
Get money back from the whole group at once. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
In iOS 26, you can use Apple Cash in a group chat to make it super-easy to split a bill. You won’t need to chase down everyone separately if you use this incredibly convenient feature.
Here’s how to request money and send payments using Apple Cash from a group chat.
Tim Cook was on his way to the top spot at Apple. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
October 14, 2005: Tim Cook takes the reins as Apple’s chief operating officer. His new role as Apple COO continues his upward climb through the company’s ranks that will make him CEO less than six years later.
“Tim and I have worked together for over seven years now, and I am looking forward to working even more closely with him to help Apple reach some exciting goals during the coming years,” Steve Jobs says in a statement.
This year's iPhone lineup includes the iPhone 17 Pro, the super-slim iPhone Air and the "regular" iPhone 17. Photo: Apple
Apple shipped 58.6 million iPhones and captured 18.2% of the global smartphone market, the company’s “best results ever in a July quarter,” according to new data from the International Data Corporation. The iPhone nearly matched Samsung’s 19% market share.
Demand for innovation, like new artificial intelligence features, plus aggressive trade-in programs, helped fuel the surge, despite tariff woes, IDC said.
Pro Display XDR 2 with a Center Stage camera? Yes, please! Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Apple’s next Pro Display XDR monitor could take a cue from MacBooks and iPhones and feature a Center Stage camera. Code strings referencing the monitor with the camera were discovered in the latest macOS 26.1 beta.
The Pro Display XDR is long overdue for a refresh, with the current model debuting in late 2019 for $4,999.
iPhone Air preorders go live in China soon. Photo/Graphics: D. Griffin Jones/Rajesh Pandey/Cult of Mac
After a month’s delay, Apple will launch the iPhone Air in China on Wednesday, October 22. Preorders for the device will begin this Friday, October 17.
Get a GoCable 8-in-1 EDC charging cable on sale for just $20.99. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
With multiple devices to manage and little room for bulky chargers, it helps to have an all-in-one solution to keep everything powered. GoCable is up to the task. This 8-in-1 keychain charging cable is designed for modern travelers, creators and adventurers who need fast, reliable juice for almost any device
It’s small enough to fit right in with your EDC essentials. And Cult of Mac Deals chops the price down to just $21.99 (regularly $49.99).
"F1: The Movie" is coming soon to an Apple TV streaming service without the "+" sign. Photo: Apple
F1: The Movie with Brad Pitt as a racer will make its streaming debut on Friday, December 12, following the film’s record-breaking theatrical run, Apple said Monday. And the announcement came with a surprise twist: Apple TV+ gets rebranded as simply “Apple TV” (no “+”) with what the company called a “vibrant new identity.”
It remains to be seen how vibrant the identity is, but it’s the same exact name as the Apple TV hardware and the Apple TV app. Maybe they meant “confusing new identity.”
October 13, 2006: Apple launches a limited-edition iPod nano (Product) Red Special Edition music player in collaboration with U2 lead singer Bono and activist/attorney Bobby Shriver, with 10% of profits going to fight AIDS in Africa.
It’s the first of many Apple philanthropic products. “We’re ecstatic that Apple is giving their customers the choice to buy a red iPod nano and help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa,” the U2 singer says in a statement.
Apple Clips, a free video-creation tool created for the Instagram era, just came to an abrupt end. Not only did Apple cease development of the software, the app can’t even be downloaded anymore.
But odds are you aren‘t too upset, given that Apple likely cancelled the app because it never found a big audience.
Rumors swirl about AirPods Pro 4 and AirPods 5. Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Apple is already working on future generations of its AirPods lineup despite only recently releasing the AirPods Pro 3, according to a new report. The company focuses development efforts on transforming its popular earbuds into AI-powered devices with enhanced health tracking capabilities.
The new version addresses the most common complaint about the original: size. Photo: Elgato
The new Elgato Prompter XL teleprompter, a significantly larger version of the company’s popular Prompter teleprompter, is designed specifically for professional studio environments. The Corsair-owned Elgato said the new model addresses the most common complaint about the original: size.
“We heard it constantly: ‘Love Prompter, but we need something bigger for our studio,'” said Julian Fest, general manager at Elgato. “Prompter XL takes what creators loved about the original — the versatility, the simple setup, the reliability — and scales it up for studio environments.”
Steve Jobs called iCloud Apple's hard disk in the sky. Photo: Apple
October 12, 2011: Apple launches iCloud, a service that lets users automatically and wirelessly store content in the cloud and push it to their various devices.
iCloud’s arrival marks the end of Apple’s Mac-centric “digital hub” strategy — and ushers in an age of inter-device communication and non-localized files.
Don’t be a victim of juice jacking. Change this iPhone setting today. AI image: ChatGPT
Your iPhone is too trusting of new USB accessories. Plug your handset into the wrong public charger at an airport or coffee shop and it might get hacked. Fortunately, there’s a setting you can (and should) change that prevents your iPhone from falling victim to data theft via juice jacking.
Here’s what to do. And don’t worry … it’s easy. I’ll walk you through it.
Sidestep Apple's file-management hurdles with AnyTrans. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
AnyTrans is a one-stop content manager for iOS devices. The Mac app makes it easy to transfer any kind of data — music, photos, texts, whatever — among all your Apple gear.
Things are getting weird in AI land. Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After OpenAI’s Sora app races to the top of the App Store charts, it’s time to consider how fantastic and terrifying it really is.
The iPhone-only app produces startlingly photorealistic videos of wacky things like Pikachu as a World War II soldier and iJustine wrestling an elephant. Will we ever be able to believe our eyes again?
Also on The CultCast:
Former Apple design chief Jony Ive and his new BFFs at OpenAI reportedly run into some serious problems as they work to create an AI device to take on the iPhone.
iOS 26 lets you screen iPhone calls even more efficiently than before. Griffin shows us how it the upgraded features work.
A switcher lands a great deal on a MacBook Air, then goes all in on the Apple ecosystem. Talk about the halo effect!
And finally, the latest iOS 26.1 beta brings some interesting new features — Griffin tells us all about them.
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 version, embedded below.
See which of these highly productive keeb suits you best. Photo: chatGPT/Cult of Mac
It’s the ultimate battle of the small Mac keyboards: Logitech MX Keys Mini vs. Apple Magic Keyboard. Choosing between these two premium compact keyboards is tough, and the decisions you make can significantly impact your daily typing experience and productivity.
They’ve both become top contenders for professionals and tech enthusiasts alike. And while they’re similar, they’re not the same.
Find out which is better for you in our head-to-head comparison.
M5 MacBook Pro release date could come both sooner and later. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
Some previous rumors point to an upgraded MacBook Pro with Apple’s M5 processor launching very soon, but other reports say it won’t be out until 2026. Turns out both might be correct.
A leak on Friday indicates the MacBook Pro running the base version M5 chip will debut quite soon. However, the variants with the M5 Pro and M5 Max supposedly won‘t launch before 2026.
You can see all of the locations your iPhone thinks are significant and turn off the location features in Settings. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you’re uncomfortable with social media apps tracking your movements, or worried about data falling into the wrong hands, here’s how to stop them using your iPhone’s built-in location settings.
If you find yourself traveling to a country with an authoritarian government, clearing your phone’s location history is a safe bet. Or if you’re moving to a different city or to a new job, it can be annoying seeing travel suggestions to the wrong place. Resetting your location history will start from a clean slate.
These moves may also protect you from shady data brokers, who spy on and sell your movements. Here’s how.
Your iPhone with Health+ could dispense advice to make you healthier. AI image: ChatGPT
An Apple each day becomes your doctor someday. That’s the rumor anyway: Apple is reportedly prepping a Health+ service for launch in 2026 that will use AI to dispense advice on nutrition, exercise and more.
Whether the service will someday give out medical diagnoses remains a much murkier question.
The Dragon G3X gaming headset is built for comfort and communications. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
The Dragon G3X gaming headset is built for long sessions, clear comms and serious style — all without costing a fortune. It comes with a retractable microphone, a comfortable handband and wild lights for your RGB gaming setup.
Whether you’re grinding ranked matches, streaming or just hopping on a late-night raid, this headset brings immersive sound and comfort that lasts. Plus, it’s currently on sale for just $49.99, a 37% discount off the regular price of $79.99.
The Color Classic II never shipped in the U.S., which makes it hard to find today. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
October 10, 1993: Apple ships its Macintosh Color Classic II, the last of the 9-inch compact Macs.
Also known as the Performa 275, the Color Classic II will eventually become something of a collector’s item, since Apple released it only in Canada, Asia and Europe.
The Last Frontier debuted on Apple TV+ October 10. Photo: Apple TV+
How would you like to be the lone U.S. marshal covering a vast Alaska region when a jet loaded with dangerous convicts crashes, setting dozens of killers free? That’s the premise for Apple TV+’s new The Last Frontier series. And before long it becomes clear it may not have been an accident at all, but just the first step in a terrifying plan.
The good news is you don’t have to be the marshal. You can just watch his struggle in the tense, 10-episode series starting Friday.
Reviews so far are mixed. Collider said: “The Last Frontier is an engaging, often surprising manhunt thriller that elevates itself through a great central performance from Jason Clarke and smart, unexpected plotting that constantly evolves as the story unfolds.” But The Hollywood Reporter noted the show “goes from fun to tedious in a hurry.” AV Club called it “far more silly than chilly,” teeming with “exposition dumps” and “inane twists.”