Cult of Mac

The BluShark AlphaPremier Apple Watch Band skips over the usual materials – leather or metal – and goes for seatbelt webbing. I used it for weeks with my Watch and found a lot of reasons to like it.

Read to to see why a surprising choice of materials makes for a comfortable, durable band.

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Just under two weeks from its Worldwide Developers Conference 2022, Apple notified winners Tuesday of its annual Swift Student Challenge. Along with typical prizes for winners as in recent years — outerwear and a pin set — the company is giving winning students a pair of AirPods Pro.

This year’s winners made an interesting variety of apps, according to quick replies to queries via Twitter.

Want a fun STEM toy that will teach a child to build robots and write code? This palm-size DIY robotic dog is just the thing. Like a palm-size version of Boston Dynamics’ creepy robotic creations, Petoi’s robot dog Bittle can walk, run, climb and perform any trick a kid can code or download.

It’s a perfect project to get your favorite youngling interested in coding and robotics. And right now, the Bittle robot dog kit is on sale for just $299 (regularly $329).

It’s dinosaur week on Apple TV+. There’s a new episode of Prehistoric Planet on every night, and critics are heaping praise on the docuseries.

It has a 100% positive score on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 14 Pro models could feature always-on displays because of the handsets’ ProMotion technology, which allows for variable refresh rates, a well-known analyst said Tuesday.

Essentially, an inactive iPhone 14 Pro handset may be able to drop all the down to a 1Hz refresh rate, similar to recent Apple Watch models.

Amazon cut the price on Apple’s excellent M1 MacBook Air down to just $899.99 after a $99 discount.

This is the lowest price the MacBook has dropped down to in the last 30 days on Amazon.

Rode unveiled its RodeCaster Pro II Monday, giving content creators a powerful production studio tool that adds features over its popular predecessor, the RodeCaster Pro.

The update provides an all-in-one audio tool for streamers, podcasters, musicians and other content creators at a price you don’t need to be famous to afford.

Anyone wanting a new Apple Studio Display needs to be patient. Order the high-end display now and you could be waiting until August for it. The accessory has apparently run into COVID-related production problems in China.

Unfortunately, there are several other Apple devices with very long wait times.

Linksys launched two new Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems Tuesday. They’re for anyone hoping to find affordable home-internet options that support the fastest wireless speeds.

And the two mesh systems — Linksys Atlas 6 and the Linksys Hydra 6 — are the company’s lowest-cost such systems so far.

Cupertino rolled out its new Apple Watch Pride Edition bands and faces Tuesday in support of the global LGBTQ+ community. Long a supporter of LGBTQ+ advocacy through numerous programs, Apple launched two new bands and two new watch faces.

The launches come ahead of Pride Month in June, when the company said it will also run a Shot on iPhone Pride Campaign.

Apple is taking the Today at Apple Creative Studios to additional countries to reach even more young creatives from underrepresented communities around the world. The program offers career-building mentorship, training and resources across a wide range of artistic disciplines.

It started in summer 2021 and expanded in the autumn. Last year, over 400 young people participated in Creative Studios programming.

In its latest release, Logitech offers an upgraded logitech mx master 3s Wireless Mouse and two new mechanical keyboards. The new mouse is an update on the popular MX Master 3 mouse. The 3S has a quieter click and a more sensitive sensor.

And the new MX Mechanical and MX Mechanical Mini keyboards feature mechanical switches, a departure from the existing MX Keys keyboards.

The MX Master 3S, MX Mechanical and MX Mechanical Mini, which will ship by the end of May, all readily pair with both Macs and PCs.

The fun of the lottery isn’t just in the prize — it’s the anticipation. For scratch-off tickets, that means imagining how you’d spend your prize while you play. The payouts for big-ticket gambles like your state lottery are much greater, but the game is less hands-on.

The 2 Million Dollar Puzzle brings the game and the enormous pot together, giving you a chance to win up to $1 million. And for a limited time, you can get one, two, three or four puzzles for $30, $56, $80 or $100, respectively.

A reliable Apple analyst claims AirPods Pro 2 will enter mass production in the second half of 2022. The noise-canceling earbuds’ charging case will continue to feature a Lightning connector instead of switching to USB-C.

This time around, Apple suppliers will mass produce the AirPods Pro 2 in Vietnam instead of China, long the company’s primary manufacturing hub.

Apple has stopped signing iOS 15.4.1 following the release of iOS 15.5 just over a week ago.

Since the OS is no longer being signed, you cannot downgrade your iPhone to it if you have already installed iOS 15.5.

Apple reportedly held talks about buying out Electronic Arts, the company behind the wildly popular Madden series, The Sims series and many more.

But EA has also supposedly held acquisition talks with others, including Disney.

Sharing your skills through online courses allows you to enhance your brand, establish yourself as a thought leader and make a sizable income — even in your sleep. The simplest way to create your own is with an all-in-one tool like OnlineCourseHost. And lifetime subscriptions are on sale now for just $99.99.

When you want to look good but need to travel light, ditch the compact mirror and slap Casetify’s Mirror case on your iPhone.

Its reflective back will keep you from rushing to the bathroom to ensure your hair is in check, while its shockproof shell protects your iPhone from bumps and scratches. Bag yours today from the Cult of Mac Store.

When Tim Cook and other Apple executive first show off iOS 16 in early June, there’s a good chance it’ll have much in common with a recently released artists’ concept. The new video shows some of the most-anticipated features, including an always-on screen and interactive widgets.

Watch the iOS 16 concept video now for a sneak peek at what might be coming soon to iPhone.

How do you kill that which cannot die? The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro boast industry-leading battery life. In the PC world, the high power consumption of Intel processors means you generally must choose between battery life and performance.

The latest MacBooks use Apple’s own custom chips, cut from the same cloth as the iPhone and iPad chips Apple has been designing since 2010 (and, in a roundabout way, the one they made for the Apple Newton in 1994). This is what powers them to last all day at full speed.

If you want to take your M1 Max MacBook Pro to the coffee shop to get work done, and you leave your power cable at home — even if you’re editing 8K ProRes video streams in Final Cut Pro — you still might be ordering lunch and staying through dinner. How could one possibly need more battery life, and how do you get it?

The M1 iPad Pro just dropped back to the lowest price we’ve seen. Amazon is currently selling the 11-inch model with 128GB of storage for just $699.99 after a $100 discount. (Note that part of that discount shows up at checkout.)

On higher-storage variants, you can score a discount of as much as $200. As usual, there’s no way of knowing how long these deals will last.

Wireless magnetic chargers don’t have much of a reputation for being fun, but a new one features a playful design, at least. Zendure will soon launch preorders for the new SuperMini Go, which features MagSafe-compatible docking and up to 15W of wireless charging power.

A crowdfunding campaign for the pocket-sized power bank starts in June, the company said.

Add an autofocus front camera to the list of improvements expected for the iPhone 14 when it debuts this autumn. This supposedly tripled Apple’s cost for the component.

If the unconfirmed report is true, the upcoming model will be the first iPhone with an auto-focus selfie camera.

Mia, a software developer from Detroit who writes mobile apps, got in touch with Cult of Mac recently to share her MacBook Pro-driven, dual-display workstation.

“I love your setup articles but sometimes they make me feel bad about myself,” she said.

The Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 External SSD includes a touchscreen and hardware encryption to protect user data. Unlock the XTS-AES 256-bit encryption by tapping in a password or numeric passcode onto the touchscreen.

It’s available in capacities up to 1920 GB.