There’s a lot more to watch on Apple TV+ than there was this time last year. Photo: Apple
Apple aggressively added to its catalog of original films and TV shows between June 2022 and June 2023. The Apple TV+ total hit almost 200, and has since surpassed that milestone.
And some of the shows are very popular, appearing near the top of the ratings list always every week of 2023.
Turn your 11-inch iPad Pro into an MacBook Lite with Brydge Pro+, now available at a rock-bottom price. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Clip the Brydge Pro+ keyboard to an 11-inch iPad Pro to make an ultraportable laptop ready for school or work. And the useful add-on is available now for just $29.99.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your first, second or third-generation iPad Pro 11-inch with a keyboard and trackpad, there’s never been a better time.
Turbocharge your job hunt with this AI-powered assistant, only $59.97 during our Back-to-School Sale. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Searching for a job is hardly fun, especially if you have to repeatedly enter all the information from your application materials into various online questionnaires. Thank heavens you can save yourself some time — and open up new professional opportunities — with the help of AI.
LazyApply is a job-hunting AI assistant that inputs your information for you, then helps you generate and track your application materials. Don’t waste time hunting blindly! Get a lifetime license to LazyApply during our Back-to-School Sale, while it’s just $59.97 (regularly $149).
The Arc web browser is an all-new approach to the web. Image: The Browser Company
Arc is a new kind of web browser that recently launched for Mac. It breaks free of the conventional tabbed window design with an all-new approach to organizing your internet activity without slowing you down along the way.
The top talent at The Browser Company, Arc’s developer, are taking bold approaches behind the scenes as well. The Windows version won’t be rewritten in C++ as with most Windows programs. Instead, the team is creating a custom toolkit to compile its code in Apple’s Swift language on Windows.
This is your chance to take your IT education into your own hands. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
The back-to-school season is about more than returning to the classroom. It’s about taking your education into your own hands. If you want to become an IT professional, you don’t need to wait for a class you can take in person.
Instead, you can enroll in the Complete 2023 CompTIA Certification Course Super Bundle by Iducate. This comprehensive IT and cybersecurity study bundle can be used as an independent educational tool or to help you prep for formal CompTIA certification. Either way, it costs just $39.97 — but only until August 13 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
★★★☆☆
Everyone's looking for answers in strange places this week on Foundation. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s epic space opera Foundation shores up its defenses this week as everyone prepares for the second crisis.
Hari and Gaal have a crucial appointment with an ancient power. Cleric and Day both need to rescue the last men in the galaxy that either of them wants to ask for help. And new and greater puzzles wait behind every corner.
Great pacing, great character work and a couple of welcome additions to the Foundation cast make this week’s episode, “King and Commoner,” appointment television.
More people in the U.S. unboxed an iPhone than an Android last quarter. Photo: Unsplash
iPhone shipments made up 55% of the U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter of 2023, according to a market-analysis firm. That’s the third quarter to a row that Apple handsets have made up more than half of the market.
iPhone shipments actually declined slightly in the April-though-June period, but not as much as some Android-makers — Samsung shipments dropped almost 40%.
Use promo code CULT at CdkeySales.com to score major savings on Microsoft software. Photo: CdkeySales.com
Done with the beach and ready to soak up some blistering savings on Microsoft productivity software? You might be buying for the first time or simply updating it to work its best and stay safe from security threats. Either way, it’s a good thing you can get the latest versions of Microsoft Windows and Office at super-low summer prices.
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If you’re all about saving cash, check out the selection at software activation keys provider CdkeySales.com. You’ll find deals on Windows, Office and more. And if you want the biggest savings, enter promo code CULT at CdkeySales.com. That cuts an additional 35% off the site’s low prices on software keys. And when you buy Windows 10, you get a free upgrade to Windows 11.
Look past the dated design, and the M2 MacBook Pro is a great deal at its discounted price. Photo: Apple
Looking to buy a new MacBook Pro but find the 14-inch and 16-inch models expensive? You might consider buying the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which costs a much more reasonable $1,299.
★★★★★
Crystal (Quvenzhané Wallis, left) and Jace (Isaiah Hill) have some things to work out this week.
Photo: Apple TV+
Swagger takes a look at personal responsibility this week, as Jace ponders his future after taking a tough stance.
He and Crystal spend an eventful, meaningful day together, while higher-ups decide what to do with the divisive athlete. Ike, Tonya and Emery must work through the Jace situation, while he needs to deal with his own confidence issues. Entitled “Jace + Crystal,” it’s a very fine episode of an Apple TV+ sports drama that produces little else.
Computer-setup gawkers on social media love their symmetry. It’s really just human nature to prefer those clean lines and even spacing — you know, stopping short of full-blown obsessive compulsive disorder and blowing a gasket if one little cable appears out of place.
Today’s M1 Ultra Mac Studio workstation brings not only powerhouse computing, but a few tricks of the trade when it comes to creating that pleasing symmetry. And it packs an interesting device we don’t see very often.
Just like you have fingerprints, your iPhone can have a device fingerprint. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple warned all App Store developers that it’s starting a crackdown on using device fingerprinting for user tracking.
As a means of preventing this invasive tracking, Apple will soon require devs to justify the inclusion of all APIs in software submitted to the App Store.
★☆☆☆☆
Robbie Jones (played by Elizabeth Banks, left) and Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) find themselves at the center of a surprising '90s obsession in The Beanie Bubble. Photo: Apple TV+
The Beanie Bubble, the new Apple TV+ movie about a product you rightly moved on from despite its momentary stranglehold on culture, is fleetingly persuasive but hopelessly conventional.
Directed by the lead singer of OK Go and Al Gore’s daughter, the movie tells the true story of the creation of and exploitation of the Beanie Babies craze of the 1990s.
Snag 1TB of lifetime cloud storage for just $119.97 with this back-to-school sale. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
The back-to-school vibe has undoubtedly changed. We’ve traded our three-ring binders and Trapper Keepers for digital files and folders on our laptops. So much is saved on our computers during a school year, and it’s only natural if your machine eventually runs out of space.
The easiest thing to do is to keep all your important school, work and personal docs and photos backed up and in one place. Fortunately, during this back-to-school sale, you can get a lifetime subscription to Koofr with 1TB of cloud storage for only $119.97 to do just that. Simply enter code KOOFR with your purchase to score this $20 discount. But don’t put off this key buy for long. This deal only lasts through August 13.
Want to watch Lionel Messi? Check out the Leagues Cup on MLS Season Pass. Image: Apple
Apple pinned its hopes on soccer superstar Lionel Messi boosting interest in its MLS Season Pass, and the gamble is apparently paying off. After the legend joined Inter Miami CF, Apple reports that its soccer streaming service just had its best week ever.
And that’s after Messi playing only two matches on the service.
Google’s Find My Device system, a copy of Apple’s, won‘t arrive for months. Photo: Google
Google thinks Apple’s Find My network is so clever it’s “borrowing” the idea. But the upcoming extension of Android’s Find My Device network to tracking tags has been delayed — and Google says it’s all because of Apple.
The snafu supposedly stems from the companies working together on a scheme to prevent stalkers from misusing tracking tags made for the two rival platforms.
The new case adds a splash of color and could help you hold onto your earbuds. Photo: Nomad
AirPods Pro (2nd generation) have a sleek and protective case of their own, but it’s not the grippiest accessory. So Nomad decided to curtail chances your earbuds will slip out of your hand by rolling out its new Sport Case this week.
Want your AirPods Max headphones always within reach? Get this stand. Photo: Elago
Sometimes the best accessory isn’t flashy, it just gets the job done and looks good doing it. That’s the case with the Elago H Stand for AirPods Max. The stand gives your exceptional headphones a handy perch.
Check out the tasteful stand in the Cult of Mac Store. It’s only $49.
Things look pretty desperate for the TV talking heads in season 3. Photo: Apple
Apple TV+ unveiled a teaser for season 3 of Emmy Award-winning drama series The Morning Show Thursday, and things are starting to look pretty desperate for the show within a show. Billy Crudup’s executive producer character says “it’s time to smash and shatter” and “let’s burn it all down.”
But he’s a pretty shifty character. He might just be playing along with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon’s characters’ threat to expose the network’s horrible secrets.
Pick up a few extra AirTags by taking advantage of this deal. Photo: Daniel Romero/Unsplash License
If you keep forgetting or misplacing things, an AirTag will make your life much easier. Apple’s tracking tag can help you track lost or stolen items, even when they are not within your iPhone’s reach.
And what’s better than one AirTag? Four! And while an AirTag four-pack retails for $99, Amazon is currently discounting them to $84.99.
The iPhone 15 Pro models might cost noticeably more than the two basic ones. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The top-tier model in Apple’s upcoming 2023 line could be in for a considerable price jump. The iPhone 15 Pro Max could go up by as much as $200, according to an industry analyst.
While the iPhone 15 Pro will allegedly get its own price increase, the two “standard” ones will not.
Score a Costco Gold Star Membership that comes with a $30 Digital Costco Shop Card and prepare to save! Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Your party is about to start, but you’ve just realized you’re missing a key ingredient for dessert — and you forgot to stock up on cups, plates, napkins and other party essentials. Yes, you should probably hire a party planner next time. But instead of zipping through multiple stores for those items, you could shop more efficiently (and more money-consciously) with a Costco Gold Star Membership.
Fortunately, you can get a one-year Gold Star Membership to Costco now for only $60 — and you’ll even score a $30 Digital Costco Shop Card* with your purchase.
Tim Cook has plenty of money, so that couldn't be the reason. Image: Canva
Not just anyone qualifies for a new Apple Card — including Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to a new report. The Goldman Sachs underwriting system apparently rejected his application a while back.
Amid reports lately that Goldman is losing money on its deal with Apple, and the two might part ways, it almost sounded like payback. But that’s not it.
Speed up your Mac by clearing space with this 1TB external hard drive, on sale for just $57 for a limited time. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
When you splurged for a new Mac, or picked up one of our amazing refurbished deals, did you opt for a model with less storage to save some cash? It’s a genius idea in theory. But now you might find yourself stuck with a full hard drive and a bogged-down computer.
You don’t need to upgrade your Mac — or pay recurring cloud storage fees — if you pick up this 1TB portable external hard drive. And right now, it costs just $56.99 (normal price: $63.99).