Spotify doesn’t want to go down without a fight.  The service is debuting Discover Weekly, a new playlist for every user that updates every Monday with unique recommendations for each person. One of Apple Music’s advantages over Spotify is its personalized playlists for users’ tastes, and now Spotify is matching it.

You can charge your smartphone while cycling or running with an accessory also designed to keep you alive on the road.

Sounds like a lot to ask of a battery pack, but the Boost Pack by BSEEN does both with a rather simple design.

The Boost is a belt pack with an LED light panel that stays lit or flashes. It also holds your smartphone and a lightweight 4000 mAH rechargeable travel battery pack to keep your phone charged.

Even if you’re a specialist in an area of digital design, understanding the basics in other parts of the wide field of UX/UI, web, game and mobile design will vastly expand your perspective and marketability. A broader outlook is just what you’ll get from Udemy’s Learn to Design 2015 Course Bundle, a sprawling buffet of design knowledge, now going for a whopping 93 percent off the normal price, just $59.

Everyone writing about the supposed failure of the Apple Watch may want to check out analyst Ben Bajarin’s latest reporting — suggesting that the Apple Watch has a massive 97 percent satisfaction rate among early adopters.

For those keeping track at home, that’s higher than both the original iPhone (92 percent) and the original iPad (91 percent). In fact, only the current iPhone (99 percent satisfaction) scores higher.

Other than the small matter of it not making phone calls, what’s the difference between the iPhone 6 and the sixth-generation iPod touch that Apple released last week?

That’s the question iFixit tried to answer with its teardown of Apple’s newest music player.

For all those people writing off the Apple Watch as a failure just a few months after its launch, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has a simple message: Slow down on the quick judgments.

In a new note to investors, Munster claims that the Apple Watch is doing about as well as he expected so far, but doesn’t predict that it will truly hit its stride until 2017 — when sales of the wearable device will be around 40 million units, or approximately 9 percent of Apple’s revenue.

Here are his full comments:

SAN FRANCISCO — Teddy Winthrop is forgetful, a trait he inherited from his dad.

His father implored him to get a Day-Timer, an executive planner that was wildly popular in the ’80s. But the young entrepreneur dismissed the idea — his personal organizer was his iPhone. And that’s when it hit him: The world needed a Day-Timer for the iPhone.

So he started a company, Edward Field, selling beautifully made leather iPhone wallet cases. It’s going well so far, thanks partly to experience he gained working for his brother, the brains behind American Giant, manufacturer of the “world’s greatest hoodie.”

If you’re like me, you probably spend a lot of time in Instagram during the day. In fact, if you’re like me, you probably spend so much time in Instagram that you wish it was integrated right into iOS, just a swipe away from no matter where in the operating system you are.

Apple’s never going to get around to baking deep integration to the Facebook-owned Instagram into iOS, but here’s the next best thing: a new app that puts Instagram right in iOS 8’s Notification Center.

A 21-year-old Amazon employee in India has been arrested for allegedly stealing $12,500 worth of electronics — including numerous Apple devices — while working in the packing department of the company’s warehouse.

Pramod Bhamble placed orders himself, but instead of packing the correct products, he stuffed the container full of the equivalent weight of iPhones, iPads, cameras and high-end watches before mailing the order to his home.

Adweek has released its Creative 100 list, honoring the people it views as the “current masters of the creative idea” across advertising, branded content, technology, products, and pop culture.

While it’s no surprise that Apple would make such a list, what is interesting is that none of the usual suspects appear. There’s no sign of Jony Ive, Angela Ahrendts, or even Tim Cook. Instead, the people Adweek claim are driving Apple’s creativity today are Richard Howarth and Alan Dye.

In case you don’t immediately know the names, this is the pair who now control Apple’s Industrial Design studio and UI departments, after Jony Ive was promoted to chief design officer to do more “blue sky thinking.” Here’s what Adweek has to say about Howarth and Dye:

Attention: jailbreakers. A new hack has just hit the Cydia App Store that allows you to “unjailbreak” your iPhone. And it’s surprisingly useful.

Samsung’s long-awaited Galaxy Tab S2 is here to take on the iPad Air, and it hopes to turn your head with an ultra-slim form factor that measures just 5.6mm thick — half a millimeter thinner than Apple’s latest device. It also adopts the iPad’s aspect ratio, alongside updated internals.

A reputable analyst is predicting the Apple Watch Sport will come in yellow and rose gold. And we won’t have to wait for the Apple Watch 2 to get those colors: They’ll be available alongside the iPhone 6s later this year.

Apple’s on a roll with new iPhone ads. A little more than a week after debuting a series of news ads as part of their “If it’s not an iPhone” marketing push, Cupertino has supplemented it with a new ad, focused on the kaleidoscope of wonderful apps available for the iPhone 6.

This week saw some prime deals at Cult of Mac. Check out the slashed prices on high quality bluetooth headphones, indestructible cables for your iPhone or Apple Watch, and plenty more.

This week: we all love the popular products, but this episode we’ll remember some of Apple’s biggest blunders! Plus: why the new iPods might be the last iPods; Apple’s missing back to school promotion; and the perfect way to motivate your lazy workforce…

Our thanks to Casper for supporting this episode. If you’re waking up with numb limbs or back pain, Casper’s American-made mattresses can help, and with a price far lower than you’ll find in the stores. Learn more and save $50 off any order at Casper.com/cultcast.

Show notes ahead and they’re quite good.

These in-depth courses will teach you how to start a startup, the ins and outs of copywriting, designing for mobile, and lots more. Here’s the kicker — most of the courses are more than 95% off, adding up to thousands of dollars of savings.

When you run with Apple Watch, swiping to the right in the Workout app reveals your heart rate. Does the device display this data just for curiosity value, or can Apple Watch heart rate information actually improve your running?

The new iPods are here, but should you even bother getting one? We’ve got our opinion on the matter, plus one on what Apple should really do to fix its built-in fitness apps.

Plus, a bit about why the Apple Watch isn’t doomed after all, a profile of another fantastic iPhone photographer, and a gallery of some cringe-worthy iPhone cases that you’ve really got to see to believe.

All that, plus much, much more, in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine. Don’t forget to subscribe and download this week’s issue.

Apple Pay rolled out in the U.K. this week, letting a bunch more people start paying for snacks, clothes, and commutes with their late-model Apple gear. It’s all very neat and exciting, but our friends should get ready for some unexpected side effects of living in the high-tech future time.

For example:

If you’re like me, you spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to pick out the perfect weather app for your iPhone. Apple’s Weather app just doesn’t cut it and it’s very hard to find something that has a little bit of every detail without being cluttered or downright ugly. That happy medium for me is Carrot Weather but unfortunately it’s been crashing on the iOS 9 developer beta. In its place I’ve been testing Radar Cast, a slightly unusual weather app that attempts to deliver all the most crucial information to your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

You can’t choose between Android and iOS without taking Google Play and the App Store into account. They’re the largest mobile marketplaces on the planet, and they both have their strengths and weaknesses — especially when it comes to control.

Apple has strict App Store guidelines, and every title is tested by a human before being approved. In comparison, Google is happy to let most things fly — so long as it’s not offensive or harmful — which gives us access to things like emulators and file downloaders that aren’t available on other platforms.

But is “open” really better, and could Apple benefit from loosening its grip on the App Store?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over that very question.

It took a little while for investors to see the light, so to speak. Corey Egan and Swapril Bora developed a smartphone controlled LED light bulb, but needed two crowd-funding campaigns, prize money from winning new product contests they had socked away and a deal from Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban before the ilumi smart bulb could enter the market.

Tens of thousands of bulbs have sold in the year they’ve been in production. It won’t take quite so long for the second generation to begin lighting homes and commercial spaces.

With 20 days to go on Kickstarter, ilumi far exceeded its $50,000 goal with a newly designed bulb that includes new experiences – like turning it on and off the shake of your phone – and a new antenna that will pick up commands from 150 feet away.

Ahead of a probable announcement in September, it looks like we can already get a sneak peak at the iPhone 6s Plus – or at least the back of it. The rear housing leaked and there are plenty of photos to gaze at and of course scrutinize for months to come. Some very small differences in the casing have already garnered some attention.