Back in our day — when we walked 5 miles uphill to school both ways — students were lucky to have plywood on cinderblocks for a desk and a laptop weighing, oh, let’s say 25 pounds (we’re too old to remember things).

Nowadays, these kids have pretty swanky computer setups with desktop machines you could toss in a knapsack. Today’s featured item boasts a Mac mini, a MacBook Pro, a 4K display, Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2 and a Lego building set to die for.

The Satechi USB-C Mobile Pro Hub SD is designed to look and act like it’s part of an iPad. It attaches directly to the side of the tablet and adds an HDMI video port, a USB-A port plus a headphone plug, SD card reader and more.

I tested the six-port hub with my iPad Pro, and am quite pleased with it.

Cloud storage is a given for many people these days. You’d think that kind of market saturation would mean things are getting easier and cheaper for consumers, but all too often, that’s just not the case. Luckily, there’s at least one provider who gets it: Prism Drive.

If you’ve been holding off on cloud storage because the process seems too cumbersome, don’t wait until it’s an emergency. Downloading Prism Drive is easy no matter what device you’re working with, and lifetime subscriptions are currently available at a price you won’t find anywhere else on the web. With Prism, you can get up to 10TB of storage with unlimited shared traffic, protected behind zero-knowledge encryption, for $89.

Gaming mouse-maker Finalmouse dipped its toe in the mechanical keyboard pool last week, and it made a ripple like you might see on the keyboard itself. That’s because the keeb, aimed at gamers, features clear keycaps and switches so you can see the full screen underneath while you type, showing crazy colors and lights.

Whether the new Centerpiece keyboard is easy to type on or just crazy distracting, it’s certainly going to be interesting. It comes out in early 2023.

Continue reading

Personal hygiene can get a bit gross, but a little effort can go a long way when it comes to your long-term health. Not to mention, it can be satisfying. Spend some of that self-care time on your ears with this discounted smart visual ear cleaner for just $29.95.

This smart ear cleaner, which lets you stream live video from deep within your ear canal directly to your iPhone, is currently available for 14% off with no coupon necessary. You also can opt to package it with a storage box for safekeeping at $34.95 (regularly $39).

Since ancient times, the legendary unicorn has been described as a horse-like creature with a single horn projecting from its forehead. Considered magical and unique, the mythical beast has come to signify a one-of-a-kind treasure.

The only iPad case we’ve found that comes close to fitting that description is Zugu Case. It’s just right in so many ways, no matter which iPad you have. That’s what makes Zugu the unicorn of iPad cases.

There’s bad news for those ready for a folding iPad. Apple is not working on a small folding tablet to replace the iPad mini, according to a reliable source of inside info.

Still, a new version of the iPad mini with a faster processor is on the way.

As soon as AirPods Pro (2nd generation) launched, I ordered them. I got them into the shipping queue so fast, in fact, I skipped any option that looked like it might take extra time or add expense. That included “Personalize them for free,” which would have done neither.

Apple has been letting users monogram AirPods cases with letters and numbers since 2019. It added emojis the following year. Now you can even choose your own Memoji via the Apple Store app.

What I didn’t realize at the time is that whatever you have etched on the case shows up on your devices wherever your earbuds are indicated, like when you pair them. Now I wish I’d monogrammed mine because it’s so much easier to identify your own personal AirPods.

Have you joined the video doorbell revolution yet? If you’ve been waiting, now’s the time to finally embrace the tech. Not just because it can boost your home security but also because right now, you can grab a top-rated wired Ring Video Doorbell on sale for just $49.99, a 23% discount off the regular price of $64.

The AR/VR headset likely coming from Apple in 2023 will not be the company’s next smash hit. It will have fans, just not huge numbers of them.

But this first headset will be an important stepping stone toward an Apple device that will change the world.

Cybersecurity skills are becoming more important, and demand for cybersecurity experts is expected to grow by more than 30% over the next 10 years. Whether you’d like to learn simply to better understand the latest Apple security news, or you’re hoping to level up your career, you can get started with some online training. This advanced cybersecurity education program is on sale for $69 — the best price you’ll find on the web for this mix of courses.

With five separate classes included in this bundle, that works out to less than $14 a course. It includes an enormous 149 hours of training on everything from government-level Risk Management Framework and NIST to prepping for essential exams like the CompTIA CASP+, an industry-standard qualification that proves your high-level practical ability in the field.

3 nanometer chip production is about to begin at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. This is important news for Apple, as TSMC makes the CPUs for Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc.

Apple is expected to use 3nm processors in products launching in 2023, making the devices faster and more efficient.

Apple has a gift for those without an Apple TV+ subscription: the first seasons of five popular shows are now available for anyone to watch at no charge.

Spend your Christmas vacation time enjoying some Ted Lasso or Prehistoric Planet, or any of the many other free episodes. These can all be enjoyed without an Apple device.

That old adage “work smarter, not harder” definitely applies to marketing — and the smartest way to generate content these days is with the help of artificial intelligence. Juice.ai Pilot is a tool that can truly change the game for marketers and entrepreneurs, creating completely original articles based on specific criteria in a single click.

Right now, it’ll set you back only $39 for a lifetime of use.

If you haven’t yet stepped up your photography game with a camera drone, now’s the time to do it. That’s because today, you can grab not one but two 4K dual-camera drones for just $149.99.

Whether you keep both or share the fun with a friend is up to you. But at just $75 per drone, this isn’t a bad way to give a gift.

The iPhone setup process gets easier every year. So easy, in fact, that there are only a few things you need to do to move from your old iPhone to a new one. You can even directly transfer your data from an Android phone. Setting up a new iPhone from scratch isn’t much harder — you just have a few extra steps you need to go through.

There are still a few tricks that will help things run smoothly, though. Let’s see how to set up your new iPhone the right way.

As iPhones become more useful and feature-packed, the biggest challenge might be keeping them charged. The Stand-O-Matic is an iPhone-compatible wireless charger that lets you power up anywhere while keeping your device handy for use.

This week’s episode of Apple TV+ thriller The Mosquito Coast finds every member of the Fox family on some sort of clandestine outing. On the run in South America after blowing up a lab and stealing security software, they’re all looking for a way out of their little corner of paradise.

Allie and Charlie scope out a new place to flee after they betray their hosts. Margot makes a shocking discovery in Richard’s cabinet. And Dina enjoys a day in the life of an ordinary girl.

Luther Burbank said, “Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” Is there a better gift you can give than that, especially at the last minute?

Make your loved ones happier with a delivery of two dozen roses, on sale for just $39.99 with free shipping (regularly $85) through December 30.

The job market is so strange these days that companies like TikTok are creating their own recruiting platforms. And, while the controversial video service’s TikTok Resumes initiative helped organizations like Target and Chipotle find employees, many job seekers might hesitate to turn to a platform known for viral dance moves when looking for that next plum position.

We wouldn’t blame you. If TikTok isn’t the sort of job-search jet fuel you want, you could turn to a tried-and-true, professional tool like ZipRecruiter to empower your career transition.

Apple TV+ thriller Echo 3, about the kidnapping of a CIA plant and the truly bizarre array of personalities that accumulate in its aftermath, takes a trip to torture town this week.

Brothers-in-law Bambi and Prince get a visit from a familiar face, a journalist realizes she’s in over her head, and DJ Momo gets the business end of a car battery. As usual, this is the weirdest show on Apple TV+ — filled with casual sadism and murder — and things just keep getting more bizarre.

The A16 processor in the iPhone 14 Pro models isn’t as powerful as Apple first hoped. Engineers reportedly mucked up the original design of the GPU so much that the company was forced to use essentially the same design as its predecessor.

Apple’s difficulties hiring and retaining top talent for its processor team apparently caused the problem.

The second season of Apple TV+ spy drama Slow Horses is through warming up and starting to boil over. This week’s excellent installment has Lamb revisiting the past, Catherine playing a very important game of chess, River up a creek, Louisa and Marcus in the dark, and Roddy and Shirley on the run. Plus, the Tropper family is in trouble.

The whole episode, entitled “Boardroom Politics,” is about mounting tension and slow (but not too slow) reveals, as everyone races to either create or prevent a catastrophe.

Today’s featured Mac-and-gaming-PC computer setup pulls off a rare feat. It perfectly aligns three displays on one arm. The displays are a substantial external monitor, a MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro mounted vertically (yet running Sidecar).

Read on for tips on how to pull all that off, as well as tricks to using an iPhone as a mounted webcam and more.

Christmas is finally upon us, and you can get very merry deals on Microsoft software when you visit the special sale at software activation keys provider CDKeylord.com.

Cult of Mac readers can click on the links below to get a great deal on Windows 10. And that deal comes with a great bonus: a totally free upgrade to Windows 11. Not Windows shopping? CDKeylord offers big savings on plenty of other Microsoft software, too.

To get the most savings, enter promo code CULT at CDKeylord.com. That will slash an extra 30% off the site’s already-low prices on keys for Windows 10 Pro Global, Microsoft Office 2021 Pro and more.