Cult of Mac

The last universal remote we bought cost $20 from Walgreens. It was a big, ugly hunk of plastic, but it controlled the TV and VCR just fine.

These days, things have gotten a little more complicated. Now we have an HDTV, three set-top boxes, two game consoles and Sonos, as well a Nest thermostat and a bunch of Bluetooth-connected lightbulbs.

Logitech’s new Harmony Elite is a universal remote that controls all these devices and more. It’s price is listed at an eye-popping $350, but this is much more than a TV remote. It’s a smarthome hub for just about every connected device in your house, designed to give HomeKit and Siri a run for their money.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has probably never had to fend off a fondue fork aimed at his neck on live television. But he did so with a laugh Monday night while a guest of the CBS Late Show with new host Stephen Colbert.

Colbert was marveling at a new rose gold iPhone 6s when he thought to ask Cook, “Did you change the charging cable on this because if you did I will stab you in the neck with a fondue fork right now.”

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show is hosting Apple head Tim Cook in tonight’s episode, and it’s a pretty big opportunity to have the ear of one of the most powerful business leaders in the country. We’re sure that Colbert already has a list of questions he and his staff have prepared for Cook, but here are some we hope to see when the show airs later.

They’re not all good questions, mind you, but we’d still love to see them.

The new iPad mini 4, just announced last week, is good but probably not as good as it should be. In recent benchmark tests, it performs only slightly better than the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus of 2014. It’s still nowhere near as fast as the current-generation iPad Air 2 and it’s only a tad faster than the iPad mini 2, which Apple is still selling for $269. Believe it or not, you’re still probably better off getting the two-year-old iPad mini instead.

The days of having a junk drawer full of stock iOS apps might finally be coming to an end.

On the way to a surprise appearance at the Fifth Ave Apple Store, BuzzFeed spent 20 minutes with Tim Cook, who revealed some iOS apps will come with a delete option soon. The Apple CEO also talked about the future of computing, 3D Touch, “Hey Siri” privacy concerns and more. Here are the most interesting tidbits from Cook’s drive-by interview:

Get ready to give your friend’s barrage of baby pics a big thumbs down on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg announced today in a townhall meeting that the social network is finally planning to bring a ‘dislike’ button Facebook.

Facebook users have been clamoring for a dislike or down vote button since the birth of the like button, and Zuckerberg says the company is nearly ready to give us one.

Since your Apple Watch must be tethered to your iPhone, they might as well match.

So Swiss designer Samuel Zeller has used his personal photography to make wallpaper to match both watch and phone, and it is available Wednesday with the launch of Apple Watch OS 2.

Whether you’re getting a new iPhone 6s or not, you’re going to want to upgrade to iOS 9 to take advantage of everything Apple’s new mobile operating system has to offer.

iOS 9 is ready to revolutionize your mobile life, but there are a few things you should do before making the leap. Here’s how to get your iPhone (or iPad) ready for its iOS 9 upgrade — the right way.

If having an ice axe loop on your camera bag is important to you, than you are probably the kind of photographer that is the muse of MindShift Gear.

The company that designs bags and other accessories for hardy outdoor photographers will begin shipping a new camera backpack in October featuring a rear-panel compartment that allows access to your gear without taking off your backpack.

And yes, there’s a spot for your ice axe.

If it doesn’t look like your phone, it’s not your phone… apparently.

That’s the tagline for a new Samsung ad that hopes to remind iPhone users they can’t customize iOS, and should therefore choose a Galaxy smartphone instead.

Remember that Ericsson phone that let James Bond control his BMW 750iL remotely in Tomorrow Never Dies? Now you can have your own… kind of.

Viper SmartStart is a smartwatch app for Android Wear and Apple Watch that puts car controls on your wrist, allowing you to locate, start, and control your vehicle before you even get in it.

The internet is a wonderful, weird, and scary place. Protecting yourself online can be a full-time job, but with private network services like proXPN VPN, you can guard your online activity and identity easily. Right now, a premium lifetime subscription to their service is just $39 at Cult of Mac Deals.

If you found the transition from incandescent to fluorescent painful, you will be relieved to know you are in the midst of a lightbulb moment. This is the year when the price of LED-based smart bulbs, with the color and quality of light controlled by mobile apps, falls far enough to go mainstream.

Entering the highly competitive space is Ontario-based Nyrius, which today rolls out a light bulb for $39.99.

If you’re worried for some reason that the new Apple TV might not have strong enough video chops with all those apps and games, good news: Plex and VLC, two of the best video apps around, are coming to Apple’s new set-top box.

BMW’s CEO Harald Krüger thinks an Apple Car modelled on BMW’s electric i3 vehicle would be a “nice idea,” although he’s keeping tight-lipped about the chances of it actually happening.

And when there’s the potential of iPhone money involved, who can blame him?

Apple’s official Company Store at One Infinite Loop is set to reopen this Saturday, September 19. The store has been closed for renovations since June 15.

In appearance, the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus look almost identical to the handsets that preceded them. But pick them up, and even without turning the handsets on you might notice a difference: Each is about 11 percent heavier than the previous year’s model.

Why’d the iPhone get so chunky? It’s all about 3D Touch.

The lack of an iPad Air 3 at last week’s Apple event was a surprise to some people, despite what we had heard along the way.

According to a new set of rumors, however, Apple hasn’t forgotten about its third-generation iPad Air for the 2015/2016 product cycle and will, in fact, be launching just such a device soon — either later this year or early next.

And if the M.I.A. tablet’s specs are anything like they’re rumored to be, it’ll be an upgrade worth waiting for!

It’s hard to believe, but there’s one new Apple product that seems to have slipped past media scrutiny during last week’s “Hey Siri” event: a totally new case for the iPad mini.

Former Apple exec Michael Barnick is selling his $35 million California mansion, and all we can say is … wow!

Not only is the home the epitome of iPod minimalist modernism, but it’s (perhaps unsurprisingly) pretty high-tech, too. Controllable entirely via iPhone or iPad, the list of automated features includes lighting, music, TV, air conditioning, window blinds, fireplaces and door locks — with Barnick himself designing the home-automation setup.

Check out some of the gorgeous pictures below.

Apple is expected to release its first app for Android tomorrow, and it won’t be Apple Music.

Instead, it’ll be a tool that allows long-time Android users to transfer all of their data to iOS when they switch to iPhone.

How much do you want an iPhone 6s? Probably not as much as the two men in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province who reportedly attempted to sell their kidneys to buy Apple’s latest must-have handset.

The bizarre story claims that friends Wu and Huang decided to sell a kidney each to get the money for an iPhone (mistake No. 1), and found an illegal agent on the Internet (mistake No. 2) who would help them.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ultimate Ears could have borrowed the iPhone 6s tag line to market its new UE Boom 2 Bluetooth speakers.

Like Apple’s latest smartphones, which Cupertino hypes with the clever catchphrase “the only thing that’s changed is everything,” UE’s second-generation Bluetooth speaker is almost indistinguishable from its tubular predecessor — at least on the outside. But upgraded specs and a few pleasant surprises give the Boom 2 a welcome boost.

“There’s something magic about this design,” said Diego Gabathuler, head of brand and global marketing for Ultimate Ears, as he showed off the Boom 2 during a demo at the Cult of Mac offices. “It would have been a shame to take that magic away.”

Tim Cook told us the iPad Pro was the “biggest news in iPad since the original iPad,” but you wouldn’t necessarily know that based on initial availability of the plus-size tablet.

Apple is reportedly experiencing panel shortages for the device, making it likely that iPad Pro shipments will come in at less than 3 million for the last three months of 2015.

Fashion brand Burberry is coming to Apple Music with its own channel, and it plans on bringing a lot of luxury with it.

The company will curate its own channel on Apple Music starting Tuesday, offering listeners a taste of performances, songs and films that have come out of Burberry’s work with British artists.