Apple reportedly met with the U.K.’s TV ratings organization Barb Audiences in what’s being taken as a sign that the company’s streaming service is prepping an ad-supported subscription plan.
Apple TV+ is the only one of the large streaming services that lacks such a pricing tier.
Silo will return for a second season on Apple TV+ this fall. Apple announced the premiere date for season two of the popular sci-fi series Saturday at Comic-Con International. In addition, we also learned that Steve Zahn (War for the Planet of the Apes) joined the Silo cast.
Update: Late Saturday, more than two days after the iCloud Private Relay problem first cropped up, Apple fixed it.
If you’ve received repeated notifications that iCloud Private Relay is inactive on one of your Apple devices, it’s not a problem with your internet connection or network. The problem is on Apple’s end.
The issue has persisted since Thursday afternoon and into Friday morning, and might be slowing down your web browsing.
If you’re noticing slow internet speeds as you add more smart devices to your home network, that’s a sign it might be time for a router upgrade. That’s where the Netgear Nighthawk RAX43 comes into play. This Wi-Fi 6 router supports up to 25 devices, delivering speeds up to 4.2Gbps and coverage extending up to 2,500 square feet.
Plus, the RAX43 comes with a powerful 1.5GHz triple-core processor for reliable and smooth performance, even if you’re streaming in 4K/8K UHD or gaming online. And now, you can get this router for 66% off. Grab one for just $89.99 instead of $269.99.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest rumors about a premium “iPhone 17 Slim” leave us scratching our heads. Thickness aside, it sounds like it will bring less of almost everything. Will you pay more for an iPhone Air?
Also on The CultCast:
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.
The Apple TV+ thriller Lady in the Lake got off to a strong start, immediately becoming a top 10 hit with streaming viewers. Natalie Portman leads the cast of the limited series as new episodes appear each week through late August.
In addition, the Apple TV+ crime drama Presumed Innocent is still pulling in plenty of eyes, as is the mystery series Sunny.
Apple will reportedly start assembling iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max units in India later this year. So far, the company has only assembled non-Pro iPhones in the country.
This move would be a big step in Apple’s increased manufacturing presence in India. It would also help further diversify the company’s supply chain away from China.
A new Apple history podcast from two Cult of Mac contributors launched this month. In each episode of Apple Core, hosts Graham Bower and Charlie Sorrel explore the history of a different Apple product, focusing on what we can learn from Apple’s past, and what this tells us about the company’s future plans.
Some upcoming guests will be familiar to Cult of Mac readers, including Leander Kahney and CultCast host Griffin Jones.
For anyone who thinks of the world’s most popular laptop — MacBook Air — as Apple’s lightweight laptop in more ways than one, like it’s strictly for students and amateurs, it’s probably time to update your view. Today’s attractive working setup from Germany finds its slim-but-powerful M3 MacBook Air provides plenty of computing power.
Apple agreed to adhere to a set of voluntary artificial intelligence (AI) safeguards proposed by the Biden administration, according to a new report Friday. The move aligns Apple with other major tech companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI. It’s a collective effort to help ensure responsible AI development (although there are, as of yet, no penalties for flouting the firmly worded but fairly vague suggestions).
Artificial intelligence is a versatile tool, but it takes skills to use ChatGPT and AI services for more than receiving a basic answer to a basic prompt. If you want to study the fundamentals of ChatGPT, review effective AI art tools, learn to use AI to boost your productivity, and find out how it can help you professionally, check out the 2024 ChatGPT and AI Super Bundle.
This pack of four classes includes 4.5 hours of video lectures and study guides that will get you acquainted with common AI tools. Learn AI with this educational bundle while it’s on sale for $29.99, marked down from $341.
In late 2020, the switch to Apple silicon introduced a major leap in the MacBook Air’s performance, efficiency and battery life. Almost four years later, Microsoft’s Surface Laptop lineup is undergoing a similar transition.
The latest Surface Laptop 7 uses Qualcomm’s newest Arm-based Snapdragon chips, which bring a major leap in performance and efficiency. Do these upgrades make the Surface Laptop 7 better than the M3 MacBook Air?
Apple manufacturer Foxconn wants to expand its operations in India and assemble iPads in the country, potentially at its Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu.
Currently, Apple contractors Foxconn, Pegatron and Tata Group only assemble iPhones in India.
WhatsApp announced today that it has reached 100 million monthly active users in the US. This comes just a few months after the messaging service revealed that it is seeing double-digit growth in the US.
Despite over two billion people using WhatsApp worldwide, it has a limited US presence. However, the Meta-owned company has been working on expanding its presence in the region.
Epic Games will make its highly popular game Fortnite and other titles available via AltStore PAL, the first app marketplace for iPhone to open in the European Union. The game developer is also continuing to work on its own iOS app marketplace, because it’s banned from Apple’s App Store.
So the days of playing Fortnite on iPhone will be back soon … but only for those who live in the right region.
If you buy enough stuff on the internet, you cultivate a healthy skepticism when deals sound too good to be true. That’s especially true when it comes to name-brand tech — like, for instance, when you see Beats headphones on sale.
Audio gear from Beats (a company Apple acquired for $3 billion a decade ago) has been popular for so long that third-party sellers have made a cottage industry out of Beats knockoffs.
But there’s nothing like the real thing, and Cult of Mac Deals has limited stock of authentic Beats Studio Pro headphones for just $179.99. That price is almost half off the MSRP of $349. And that discount is possible because these Beats headphones, released in 2023, are “new open box” inventory.
★★★★☆
The new Scuf Nomad makes playing advanced games on your iPhone much more fun by adding physical buttons, triggers and sticks. It’s designed to go where you go, and works on nearly every iPhone.
The controller emphasizes customization, allowing you to change what the buttons do even if the game itself doesn’t support that. And there are rear paddles in addition to all the usual controls.
I happily played hours of games on the Nomad — here’s what it’s like to use.
The first German-language series to air on Apple TV+, a tech-centric dark comedy called Where’s Wanda?, will debut October 2, the streamer said Thursday. So we have an air date, an image (above) and a description (below). Soon enough, a trailer should follow for what looks like it might be a pretty compelling show.
This follows news of the second German-language show coming to Apple TV+, hospital drama KRANK Berlin, starring Haley Louise Jones. Still in production, it has no air date yet.
For $16.99 a month, it’s now possible to subscribe to Disney+, Hulu and Max. That’s a 53% savings for the popular streaming services. The cost almost doubles for advertising-free versions, though.
The three are ready to watch on Mac, iPad, iPhone or Apple TV.
Thursday’s move is part of a recent trend toward bundling. Apple TV+ got on the bandwagon in May, joining in with Netflix and Peacock.
The sprawling North American Leagues Cup 2024 soccer tournament kicks off July 26 exclusively on MLS Season Pass through the Apple TV app, the iPhone giant said Thursday.
The second annual Leagues Cup is a monthlong tournament featuring all 47 clubs from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX. So participating clubs come from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Emergency platforms RapidSOS and Prepared recently shared their plans to integrate with the new Emergency SOS Live Video functionality in iOS 18. That means most 911 calls will include the option to share video with dispatchers, like a FaceTime call. And that will help responders assess the scene and prepare to help in the best way.
Apple TV+ turned the 1981 cult classic movie Time Bandits into a comedic adventure series for all ages starring Lisa Kudrow (from Friends, duh). It premiered Wednesday on the streaming service.
The new Apple TV+ series drew considerable praise from reviewers.
Apple could finally move away from Qualcomm modems as soon as 2025. The company reportedly plans to use its in-house 5G modem on two iPhones due to launch next year.
The company’s in-house baseband will debut on the iPhone SE 4, which rumors indicate should launch in Q1 2025. The iPhone 17 ‘Slim’ will follow suit in the third quarter of the year.
Moft is way beyond its fundraising goal for its new Moft Snap Flow iPhone stand, which snaps to the handset magnetically and unfolds to give you a little organizer with pen and paper. Having raised more than 13 times the funding goal of $10,000 on Kickstarter, the accessories company will most likely put the new Snap Flow into production. With nearly 2,400 people financially backing it so far, there seems to be an appetite for the old-school accessory.
But in the meantime, you can pledge for one on Kickstarter at 20% off through July 31. So who needs a Samsung-style smartphone stylus (or Apple’s Notes app), anyway?
AltStore PAL, the first third-party app marketplace for iOS, now lets users install apps created by independent developers. The change, which arrived Wednesday in AltStore PAL version 2.1, makes previously restricted apps available to iPhone owners in the European Union.
“This means apps that have been rejected by the App Store — such as torrenting apps and virtual machines — have another path forward for the first time ever,” Riley Testut, developer of AltStore, told Cult of Mac.
The update is launching with a few third-party apps available now — iTorrent, qBitControl and PeopleDrop — “apps that are only possible with AltStore PAL,” according to Testut.