If you’re trying to add some smart functionality to your home without major renovations or investments, there’s a lot you can do. Whether it’s for convenience or accessibility, automating and streamlining things at home can have a drastic effect on your quality of life. With a few simple additions, you can do things like program when the lights will come on, gain control over home security and more. The setup process for some of these smart home additions is quick and painless, too, especially when many modern smart home features are controlled by a few key devices. If you want to create the best smart home system for you, then take a look at these eight deals. 

On this week’s installment of the Apple TV+ limited series Shantaram, Lin must take stock of where he is, what good fortune means and whether it’s his to truly celebrate.

The people of Bombay are getting used to the impostor doctor, but at every turn, Lin faces potential threats to his freedom and his place among his newfound community of outsiders. It’s a typically engaging outing of the Charlie Hunnam drama.

Apple’s 2022 MacBook Air powered by the M2 chip is again down to its lowest price on Amazon. You can grab the 512GB M2 MacBook Air for $1,349 — a sweet $150 off its MSRP.

This is a great deal on the redesigned MacBook Air that you should take advantage of.

The Australian company Rode is well-known for its array of microphones and other gear for content creators in media and at home. But now the company has launched a new sub-brand called Rode X with wares aimed straight at streamers and gamers.

So far you can get two new USB mics and software to go with them.

When you look at the gear in today’s setup you might say, what is this, an ad for Elgato? The workstation is rife with Elgato devices widely used by streamers for video-production workflows, like its popular Facecam, Wave:3 microphone and Stream Deck.

But the MacBook Pro setup isn’t used for streaming at all.

The software engineer who occupies the well-appointed workstation finds perfectly productive things to do with all that Elgato gear, other than streaming.

Ugreen expanded its product range Thursday with the launch of its new 13-in-1 USB-C Docking Station, designed for M1 MacBooks and other laptop computers.

Taking advantage of the dock’s whopping baker’s dozen of ports, you can use it to connect a wide range of external devices to your laptop.

Halloween means candy, spooky stories and, surprisingly enough, scary-great deals on Microsoft software.

The Halloween Sale at software activation keys provider CDKeylord offers you fantastic deals on crucial Microsoft software. Better yet, as a Cult of Mac reader, you can click on the links below and get an even better deal on Windows 10. Plus, you can score big savings on plenty of other Microsoft software.

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

iPhone shipments grew in the July-through-September period compared to the same quarter of 2021. The increase was modest, but still put Apple on a different trajectory from other handset makers.

Shipments of iOS devices went up 1.6% while its biggest rivals all dropped, some quite significantly.

If you’ve ever searched for something online and then started seeing ads for it shortly afterward, it’s not a coincidence. Websites gather data through cookies and tracking your IP address. Then they often use that information to advertise to you.

If you want to block ads and limit the information websites can gather from your browsing, try a virtual private network like Windscribe. It blocks ads, hides your web activity and a lot more. We’re getting rid of extra stock right now, so it costs only $69 for a three-year Windscribe subscription. No coupon code is needed, but be quick! This blowout event on ends on October 31 at 11:59 p.m.

Sometimes it’s safer to save your files online than to hope nothing happens to the device or hard drive they’re living on. Whether you’re trying to preserve work documents or family photos, cloud storage is a simple way to ensure your files are safe while allowing you to free up some space on your phone if you want. Polarbackup Cloud Storage Personal Plan has 500GB, 2TB and 5TB lifetime subscriptions on sale. If you’re looking for an affordable, reliable cloud backup service, see what Polarbackup has to offer. 

New Apple TV+ documentary Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues takes a lively and appropriately soulful look at the man who invented popular music in America as we know it today.

The film, which premieres today on Apple’s streaming service, brims with expert testimony from witnesses, fans, friends, and family of the incredibly influential jazz musician. It’s bolstered by a cornucopia of rare archival footage and photographs that root Armstrong firmly in history.

Louis Armstrong is too big a subject to think you could ever fully capture him, so director Sacha Jenkins treats this project as just one man’s look at another man. It’s remarkably successful.

Apple could switch to solid-state volume and power buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro series. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has made this claim based on his latest supply chain checks.

To replicate the feeling of pressing a physical button, Apple will add two Taptic Engines to 2023’s Pro iPhones.

Want to go from beginner to pro in the world’s most popular creative apps? You don’t need to enroll in an expensive college course. Instead, you can learn Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, After Effects and more from world-class instructors — at your own pace — with the 2022 Ultimate Adobe CC Beginner To Advanced Training Bundle. You can purchase this nine-part collection for just $19.99 (Reg. $1,800).

Apple pulled in record revenue during the July-through-September quarter: $90.1 billion, an increase of 8% over the same period of last year. That’s $1.29 in earnings per share, a 4% annual bump. Most of Apple’s signature products experienced revenue growth.

“Our record September quarter results continue to demonstrate our ability to execute effectively in spite of a challenging and volatile macroeconomic backdrop,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.

iPhone users not on iOS 16.1 can now update their handset to iOS 15.7.1. Apple says it “provides important security updates.” It closes almost 20 security holes in the OS.

There’s also iPadOS 15.7.1 that does the same for iPad.

Apple put its latest processor in the 2022 iPad Pro and it gave the tablet a significant performance boost. The M2 chip make it almost 20% faster than its predecessor.

And it’s almost 80% faster than the 2018 iPad Pro.

Before you say it, I know – this isn’t the first time we’ve talked about gallium nitride (GaN) chargers. But the super-small, super-fast chargers are, frankly, worth getting excited about. I recently had the pleasure of taking Ugreen’s Nexode 200W desktop GaN charger for a spin, and let me tell you: This really is the puck-size charger you want on your desk.

Apple positioned the new iPad 10 as the successor to last year’s iPad 9, but the two are far more different that their names suggest. The just-released tablet has a long list of improvements, including a larger screen. But it also comes at a substantially higher price.

Both models are still in Apple product lineup so you have a choice. Let’s go head-to-head to see how they stack up.

Mobile charging specialist Excitrus introduced its 105W Power Bank Ultimate Thursday, a small but potent charger with an 18,000mAh battery for on-the-go device charging.

The company called the iPhone-sized device “one of the smallest [on] the market with around 100W power output.”

If you’ve built up a big collection of Mac apps, especially if they’re from various sources, it’s a chore keeping them up to date for optimal functionality and security. That’s unless you have a stellar utility like MacUpdater.

Now available in version 2.3, MacUpdater makes keeping your software updated effortlessly. And better yet, Cult of Mac readers can get 15% off the software’s price with a special coupon. See below.

After Apple began running new advertisements in the App Store on Tuesday, some developers checked their product pages to find banner ads for adult video chat apps, video poker apps and gambling apps of all varieties.

The fact that some of these advertisements appear on apps for children and apps for addiction recovery adds insult to injury. I asked a few independent developers to get their reaction to the news — and they were not happy.

Update (October 27): Apple has revised the types of ads that may appear, but the new ad placements remain.

Halloween is almost here, and OtterBox is celebrating with Nightmare Before Christmas iPhone cases in a variety of new styles.

OtterBox also just added iPhone cases featuring classic Disney villains, like Captain Hook and the Evil Queen.

If you’re looking to start an IT career, you may find CompTIA’s exam path useful. The 2022 CompTIA and AWS Practice Exam E-Book Bundle can help launch your career into high gear, and it’s on sale at a blowout price as part of our Overstock Deals event, which runs until October 31 at 11:59 PM.

As we develop better tools to understand our health, we’re learning just how important sleep actually is. The Snore Circle is designed to help you sleep better and get hard facts on how you sleep. For a limited time, this innovative wearable is on sale for $79.99 (regularly $119), the best price on the web.

The Cupertino tech giant expanded its free Apple Learning Coach program Wednesday to invite more tech instructors of various stripes across the U.S. to join. Once certified, they can show school teachers how to get the most out of Apple products to help their students.

Folks like tech coaches and digital learning specialists who want into the program can apply by November 16, Apple said.