Two things about me as a photographer: I hate tripods and I will never tell another photographer what they must carry with them. Both changed when the Pakpod arrived in the mail.

Weighing 15 ounces, the PakPod has legs that can quickly extend and lock in crazy asymmetrical positions with the turn of a single knob. Legs extend and lock with the push of a button or can be anchored to the ground or even the ocean floor with flip-out stakes at the feet.

From a gamer’s point of view, if not a developer’s, the ultimate metric of a new device is its TTD, or Time To Doom. Ever since the source code to the classic first-person shooter was released over a decade ago, it has been used as the standard measurement of a new device’s capabilities.

Now, Doom has been ported to the new Apple TV and watchOS 2.

What’s the best way for an 85-year-old man, who has been registered blind for the past six years, to raise the money he needs for a sight-saving operation?

Write, record and sell a song using iTunes, of course!

iOS 9 has continued to make Apple Maps better by introducing transit directions to the mix. Unfortunately, they’ve been relatively slow-to-roll out, with transit directions available in 11 cities. But yesterday, Apple quietly updated its site, indicating that transit directions for Boston, Massachusetts and Sydney, Australia are imminent.

Future Apple devices could boast a smart projector accessory, according to a patent published today.

As one of 46 newly-published patents, the technology described would allow Apple to incorporate features such as a virtual projected keyboard into future iMacs.

Just like the iPhone’s UI, this could make it possible for Apple to feature a slightly different keyboard for each application.

Apple’s “We don’t want to know” non-snooping data protection policy may not be making it too many friends in government, but it’s certainly won over Porsche.

According to a new report, Porsche opted to go with Apple’s CarPlay platform over Google’s Android Auto for its new 911 Carrera and Carrera S models. The reason? The massive disparity in data the two companies demand.

Thanks to its arrival at major retailers like Target and Best Buy, the Apple Watch is going (more) mainstream — and Apple wants potential customers to know exactly what they’ll be able to do with their new wearable devices.

In six cool new ads, Apple shows off nifty Watch features like Apple Pay, Siri, Maps, voice messaging, fitness tracking, and more.

Check them out below.

Apple is beefing up its Artificial Intelligence tech with the purchase of Perceptio, a small startup that worked on creating advanced AI systems on smartphones.

Perceptio’s specialization was figuring out how to run complex neural network algorithms without needing to share as much user data. That would seem to fall in line with Apple’s goal of providing more robust features for Siri without compromising users’ privacy in the process.

I wonder how many actual hours I’ve wasted sitting on hold, navigating audio phone menus and arguing with cable company representatives over why I want to cancel my service. I’m betting it’s a lot, and I’m betting that you have been victim to this ridiculous gate-keeping system, too.

AirPaper, a new internet service out of the San Francisco Bay Area, will cancel your Comcast cable subscription — one of the hardest plans to cancel — for just five bucks.

When work takes you to the lunar surface, even the smallest detail should have a Plan B.

Apollo 15 commander David Scott donned his personal Bulova watch for his final moonwalk in July 1971 after the crystal on his NASA-issued timepiece fell off during a previous walk. As an idea, it proved priceless. As a piece of history, it’s worth is expected to exceed $50,000.

Today is the fourth anniversary of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ passing, and as has become tradition on October 4, some of his closest co-workers are sharing their fondest memories of what it was like working alongside him.

Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue, Andrea Jung and Bud Tribble all shared short essays with Apple employees this morning on the company’s intranet. To commemorate Jobs’ legacy, Tim Cook told employees in an email to stop older executives today and ask what Jobs was really like.

With controversial movie Steve Jobs set for release later this month, Jobs’ co-workers’ essays provide a look at aspects of the visionary Apple CEO’s personality that those who only knew him through the public eye probably missed.

Here’s what Jobs’ friends had to say about working with him:

Sometimes you need to use your entire screen at once, like when you’re working on a serious photo-retouching project or need more screen real estate for an epic GarageBand session and you don’t want to maximize the app you’re using.

If you’ve ever wanted to regain a little bit of space on your Mac’s screen, the time is right to make sure you’re running the latest version of OS X, El Capitan. It will let you hide the menu bar up top to give you more space to work with.

Here’s how to have your menu bar hide itself when you’re not using it.

It looks like Apple hated Microsoft’s new Windows logo so much that it got redesigned for an iCloud support page.

Apple updated its article on how to get help using iCloud Calendar recently and added a custom Windows logo that looks like a literal window with a little windowsill underneath. It’s more like clip art than something master designer Jony Ive would approve of, which makes it kind of mysterious why it’s there when the official logo would suffice.

Here’s the official logo for comparison:

Few things could excuse a kid from skipping his middle school graduation. Connor Chung had a note from Apple.

It explained he would be needed in San Francisco for the WWDC. Once there, he would meet important people like Tim Cook, take part in brainstorming sessions with developers and engineers and lay the groundwork for an Apple Watch app that would be among the first in iTunes on the day OS 2 launched.

PDFs are convenient and used by almost everybody, but flipping between preview windows is not a very attractive or engaging way to view content. Flip PDF for Mac makes it easy to create beautiful digital books and presentations out of your PDFs, perfect for designers, photographers, advertisers, anyone who could benefit from a beautiful digital presentation of their work. And right now, you can get a copy for a tenth of the normal price, just $9.

Apple today launched its ultra-chic Apple Watch Hermès product line, as announced at the company’s media event last month.

Combining the existing Apple Watch hardware (only with the addition of a Hermès logo) with luxury leather straps from the Parisian fashion brand, the result is quite possibly the most stunning range of Apple Watches yet. They even come with unique Hermès watch faces.

Prices range from $1,100-$1,500.

Samsung’s super-sized iPad Pro competitor will come packing painfully disappointing specifications, according to the latest leak.

The slate’s 18.5-inch display is to be accompanied by a speedy octa-core Exynos processor — but it’s lacking in RAM, cameras, and motion sensors.

Is there a single company existence which manages to get more publicity from third parties than Apple?

Universal Pictures has just released its first image for the upcoming Renee Zellweger movie Bridget Jones’ Baby, and… frankly, it looks a whole lot like an advert for the iPad Air 2.

It may not seem like it, but Steve Jobs passed away four whole years ago today — leading to his colleagues paying tribute to the late Apple CEO.

In an email sent out to employees, Tim Cook praised Jobs as a “visionary,” reminding people that Jobs’ office remains untouched at Apple, and encouraging people to post their own memories to Apple’s internal AppleWeb intranet and messaging system.

Check out Cook’s complete message below:

Apple has praised the iPhone 6s for selling a record-shattering 13 million units in its first three days. However, a new report suggests that in Japan the 6s and 6s Plus actually sold 10-15 percent fewer units than last year’s iPhone 6.

How can both of these reported facts (record-breaking sales figures and lower demand) be true at the same time? There is an answer — and, no, it’s not Schrödinger’s iPhone.

Over the weekend, Tim Cook received the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award in Washington D.C. for his work as an outspoken voice in support of the LGBT community.

Cook — who came out as gay last year — delivered a great acceptance speech in which he talked about his decision to publicly reveal his sexuality as well as talking about the numerous advances LGBT rights have made within his lifetime.

Check it out below.

Could the story behind the upcoming Steve Jobs movie be even more exciting than the movie itself?

Having seen the movie dropped by its original backers, experienced damaging leaks as a result of the Sony hack, and topped off by a recent war of words between Tim Cook and writer Aaron Sorkin, now a new report claims that Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, tried to block the film’s release altogether.

I’m super-excited to announce that Cult of Mac is launching a gadget buyback program that promises to pay more for used and broken Apple devices than Gazelle, Walmart and even Apple itself.

As we enter the annual upgrade season, we’ve teamed up with a U.S. recycling company to offer what we believe is the highest-paying buyback program right here at buyback.cultofmac.com.

We pay cash for old iPhones, iPads, iPods and MacBooks. We accept both used and broken devices — even dead iPhones that have fallen in the toilet.

These days, the charging cable for our mobile devices is almost as important to keep on our person as the house keys. Titan Loop is a great way to keep both on hand, a lightweight, steel-sheathed lightning cable that can also fold into a loop that attaches to anything else you regularly carry around with you. For a very short time, Titan Loops are still available for $19.95 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Somehow it’s the weekend again already, and to help you celebrate we’ve combed through the week’s best apps to help you sort the wheat from the chaff.

Whether it’s a great retro-style iOS action game or a superb Twitter client, we’re confident we’ve got what you’re looking for.

Check out our list below.