A letter from progressive members of the U.S. House of Representatives this week urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to call for votes soon on a pair of antitrust bills that would rein in the power of tech giants like Apple and Google in an attempt to open up competition from more companies.

Without votes “in the next few weeks,” lawmakers’ upcoming months-long recess could delay action considerably.

Designer and Apple maven Basic Apple Guy offered a delightful surprise Friday with his new “Apple Stage” wallpaper for Mac, iPad and iPhone.

The stunning rainbow wallpaper sports a design inspired by the real-life, six-color stage structure created by Cupertino design legend Jony Ive at Apple Park.

This week on Physical, Sheila goes on the lam with Vincent Green in a drug-fueled, disco-scored bonding session.

The wheels on the Sheila Rubin’s aerobics train are clearly about to fall off — and she’s not even going to have the voice in her head to comfort her when all is said and done. It’s another annoying week filled with failed attempts at humor and humanity on Apple TV+’s fizzling ’80s flashback show.

We like Friday Setups posts to be on the fun side. We look for entertaining gear, wacky decor and exotic locations. Today we found a Dutch guy who works in IT management via his M1 iMac.

That doesn’t sound especially fun, but he also wields a pretty badass electric guitar.

He runs the axe into a Focusrite audio interface and listens to his musical creations on a killer set of cans, too.

This discount software activation keys post is presented by CDKeylord.com.

In CDKeylord.com’s Cool Summer Sale, you can get great savings on software, games and gaming accessories. The software activation key provider offers big discounts on genuine products from Microsoft and other developers.

Cult of Mac readers can get 30% off the regular price of a Windows 10 Pro key. Also, when you buy a Windows 10 key, you can get a free upgrade to Windows 11! Just enter the special discount code CULT when you check out to secure the great savings below.

Apple has dropped its lawsuit against Chicago’s “Netflix tax” after the two parties reached a settlement. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Chicago introduced a 9% tax on streaming platform subscribers in 2015. Apple sued the city in 2018 for allegedly violating the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act and the U.S. Constitution.

Trying, the Apple TV+ series that is the Full House to Ted Lasso’s Coach, returns this week for a richly unwarranted third season.

The show, a smug and naggingly pleasant look at two well-to-do narcissists who want to raise children for some reason, finally fulfills Jason and Nikki’s dream of parenthood after watching them not earn it for two long seasons.

Indeed there’s nothing unique or likable or notable at all about these two characters. Let’s see what happens to them now that they’ve brought a pair of children into their London home.

Inflation may be the worst, but do you know what could make it better? Sitting down with your family or friends and putting together a relaxing puzzle to make those money issues melt away for a moment. If it doesn’t, then maybe winning a big pile of money will!

Mschf is back with another chance to win big with The 2 Million Dollar Puzzle. Act fast, and you could get your chance to win a million dollars for only $24.99 with free shipping — the sale lasts through July 27.

Apple seemingly diversified its supply chain by adding a new component supplier for the iPhone 14 lineup. Chinese company SG Micro has acquired the necessary certifications to supply components for the high-end iPhone 14 Pro series.

The move comes as Apple looks to avoid disruptions in its supply chain due to external factors.

Have you ever wanted to build games like the ones you fell in love with when you first started playing? Learning to design your own titles might be more involved than playing them, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

It just means you should study with a resource like The Game Design & Development Bundle. This seven-course training can help you learn Unity, Maya and more game dev tools. And for a limited time, it’s on sale for $203 (regularly $1,519).

With Apple in the antitrust spotlight both abroad and in the U.S., Cupertino is spending more than it ever has before on political lobbying.

And CEO Tim Cook has become one of the most politically active tech executives in the country.

Back in May, Cult of Mac wrote about wait times for Studio Display shipments stretching into August. But now, four months after Cupertino rolled out the $1,600 monitor, shipping-time estimates are dropping fast in many countries, including the U.S.

Apple’s 2021 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are down to their lowest prices on Amazon. You can get the models with a whopping $300 discount.

The entry-level 16-inch MacBook Pro is available for just $2,199, down 12% from its retail price of $2,499.

In 1976, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs demonstrated a prototype Apple-1 computer to the owner of The Byte Shop. That lead to a deal that launched Apple on its path to success.

That prototype is now up for auction. It’s expected to sell for $500,000.

Cupertino sent out a new summer-themed Apple Pay promotion Thursday with special deals on clothing, shoes, accessories and more. You can get up to 70% off items from GOAT and significant discount from a dozen other retailers. That means you can get the crazy-looking Yeezy 450 ‘Sulfur’ sneakers for $157 (regularly $200).

The discounts come from popular stores like Crocs, Ray-Ban, J.Crew, Lands’ End, Gymboree, Matt & Nat, The RealReal and others. Hit the links below.

When you spend a pretty penny on an iPhone 13 — OK, more like a thousand bucks, probably — you realize you better protect the dearly expensive gadget. Good thing SwitchEasy features all the accessories you need. You have your choice of cases, plus screen protectors and more.

And best of all, you can get 20% off all SwitchEasy iPhone 13 accessories in the Cult of Mac Store. But you need to act fast: This sale ends at 11:59 p.m. PDT on July 21.

The Satechi USB-C Slim Dock for 24-inch iMac sits on the stand for Apple’s all-in-one desktop and adds six frequently used ports. It also sports an enclosure for user-installed SSDs.

The hub and drive enclosure has been in my home office for several days. Here’s what it’s like to use in the real world.

July 21, 2011: Apple officially passes Nokia to become the world’s top smartphone vendor.

It’s a major milestone for Apple, which launched the iPhone just four years earlier. For Nokia, the Finnish company that dominated the cellphone market during the 1990s and early 2000s, it marks the end of an era.

Eve Systems offered its second-generation Eve Motion sensor Thursday, adding a light sensor and Thread mesh networking support. The device detects motion to activate other HomeKit-enabled devices.

And it’s actually less expensive than the previous model by $10.

The Thread standard that will be integral to the upcoming Matter home automation technology standard that helps different manufacturers’ devices work together.

Yesterday’s iOS 15.6 update and the newest iOS 16 beta show a surprising move on Apple’s part. It took away the Find My app’s AirTag battery indicator.

Previously, when you opened an AirTag card in Find My, you’d see a small battery icon showing remaining power below the tracking device’s name and location, Now you don’t, or at least not until remaining power is critically low.

Microsoft Excel isn’t the easiest program to learn if you’re doing it on your own. That is, unless you’ve got the All-in-One 2022 Microsoft Excel Certification Bundle to help you.

This massive, 80-hour Excel training package can help even the greenest beginner become an Excel analyst. And for a limited time, it costs only $29.99 (regularly $499).

A new support document from Apple explains what happens when games exit Apple Arcade — and how long you can play them after they disappear from the subscription service.

The support page went live after Apple added a “Leaving Arcade Soon” section to the App Store highlighting 15 games due to exit the program.

Using your iPhone to navigate while driving is convenient, except it can be annoying when you don’t have anywhere safe to keep it. Of course, you could throw it in a cup holder, but then you can only listen to directions. Plus, you would be out a cup holder.

The Phone Vine Plus Vehicle Phone Mount gives you a secure place to keep your iPhone while driving. This unique car mount will definitely make navigation easier while you drive. And, for a limited time, it’s only $17.99 (regularly $48).

Some people buy vertically striped shirts in order to look slimmer. But on an Apple Watch band, stripes generally just make it look different from every other strap out there.

Casetify calls its Saffiano leather Apple Watch bands with such decoration “Chic Stripes,” and it looks like a pretty accurate description. Buy one of these affordable bands and you might look a little more chic.

So check out the pair of elegant choices in the Cult of Mac Store’s Casetify Chic Stripes collection.

Beta testing on iOS 15.6 and macOS Monterey 12.5 is over, and these updates are now available for anyone to install. They bring a number of small tweaks to iPhone and Mac.

Don’t confuse these with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, which are major upgrades coming this fall.

Apple also released the full versions of iPadOS 15.6, watchOS 8.7 and tvOS 15.6 on Wednesday.