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iMac with M3 processor could be out much sooner than expected

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Apple M3 processor
The wait for the Apple M3 processor could be shorter than expected.
Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Apple M2 processor hasn’t yet been released and the first report of an M3-based Mac is already out. It could launch as soon as 2023.

This might be an indication that Apple will release new versions of its Mac/iPad chip more quickly than it has until now.

‘Outdated’ iPhone apps about to be kicked out of App Store

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App Store
Apple is warning developers of "outdated" applications that they'll soon be removed from the App Store.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Numerous developers report that their applications that aren’t being actively updated will soon be kicked out of the App Store. This is apparently part of an ongoing effort by Apple to remove “outdated” software from the store.

Devs must submit new versions of their applications to stay in the store, which means they’ll have to comply with newer Apple policies.

Charge your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch with one cable

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Power your iPhone, AirPods & Apple Watch with one cable.
Carrying three separate cables is for chumps.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You don’t need a distinct charging cable for each of your devices if you have one that works for all of them. Connect it to a powerful enough charger, and the 3-in-1 Apple Watch, AirPods & iPhone Charging Cable can juice up three devices at once. That’s a real cord cutter killer. And, for a limited time, this three-headed cable is on sale for just $24.99 (regularly $34).

Get a launch discount on this affordable 3-in-1 magnetic wireless charger

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The new 3-in-1 magnetic wireless charger from Excitrus is affordable, and you can get another 20% off with a launch code.
The new 3-in-1 magnetic wireless charger from Excitrus is affordable, and you can get another 20% off with a launch code.
Photo: Excitrus

Need a MagSafe-compatible charger that won’t break the bank? Mobile charging specialist Excitrus, known for power banks, rolled out its capable new 3-in-1 MagSafe Wireless Charging Stand on Thursday.

Not only does it come with an 18W fast-charging wall adapter and an elegant LED light circle on the main charging pad, but the price is right — especially with an additional 20% off as a launch discount. See the details below.

This Apple Watch alternative just dropped its price

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This Apple Watch alternative looks great and costs less.
Get the job done for less.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Apple Watches are great, but they aren’t the only smartwatches that get the job done and look good. For a limited time, you can get a far less expensive smartwatch that still puts a ton of functionality on your wrist.

The C-Max Chrono-Max Smartwatch is a fine Apple Watch alternative, available in four different colors. And its price just dropped all the way down to $49.99 (regularly $219). That’s a deal you should watch out for.

Next Macs and iPhones: Whose bump will be bigger? [The CultCast]

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CultCast 541: M2 Macs and iPhone 14: Which gets a bigger bump? The CultCast episode 541
Looks like 2022 is gonna be bumpin'!
Image: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: It sounds like Apple is planning nearly a dozen new Macs with a next-gen M2 processor. The question is, just how big of a speed bump will that new chip bring? And then there’s iPhone 14, which sounds like it might come with a very big bump indeed — and not the kind you might be hoping for.

Also on The CultCast:

  • The original HomePod never ceases to surprise.
  • iPhone 14 could be the ultimate smartphone for narcissists.
  • Apple might be prepping an ingenious hybrid device to take over your living room.
  • When you’re tired of wearing earbuds, you’ve got options. Very strange options.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like what you hear.) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.

Our sponsor: Squarespace

Special thanks to this week’s sponsor, Squarespace. Get all the tools you need to set up your very own website and commence selling anything online. Start your free website trial today at squarespace.com/cultcast (no credit card required). Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain with code cultcast at checkout.

Visible eliminates those cellphone fees that drive you crazy

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Visible is the flat-rate wireless service provider we all need.
Visible gets you unlimited talk and data for as low as $25 per month.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

We’ve all had it happen. Maybe you streamed movies while on a trip. Or you accidentally turned off your phone’s Wi-Fi connection and forgot to turn it back on. Or maybe you’re just a mobile power user.

No matter how it happened, almost all of us have received a dreaded mid-month notification that we’ve almost exceeded our data plan’s limit. Then you spend two weeks watching your data use like a hawk to avoid extra charges. You don’t need to suffer this outrage any longer.

Visible is a wireless service provider for people who are over the added charges that pop up and turn your monthly phone bill into a stress test. Thanks to Visible’s streamlined plan, customers can lock in unlimited data, talk, text and mobile hotspot for as low as $25 a month.

Get more out of your browsing with this discount VPN for Mac, iOS and more

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This No-Log VPN is discounted for our Spring Refresh Sale.
Boost your browsing security with this no-log VPN for Mac, iOS, Windows and Android.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Spring cleaning doesn’t just have to mean finally dusting. You can clean up your online tracks with a no-log virtual private network that’ll protect your identity and your browser data.

This three-year subscription to VPNCity offers that service and a lot more. And you can get it for $69 (regularly $357) with coupon code SPRING10 during our Spring Refresh Sale.

Slow Horses doubles down on misdirection and suspense [Apple TV+ recap]

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Slow Horses recap: River Cartwright (played by Jack Lowdon) searches for a crucial clue.
River Cartwright (played by Jack Lowdon) searches for a crucial piece of evidence.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ spy series Slow Horses gets ready for the climactic showdown between MI5, Jackson Lamb’s misfit spies at Slough House and the kidnappers. Lamb hatches a plan to acquire some crucial evidence, but it involves subterfuge, bombs and the music of The Proclaimers.

Are these guys as clever as they pretend to be? The penultimate episode of season one delivers high highs and no lows — everything an hour of TV should be.

This notes app for Mac, iPad and iPhone is like your own personal assistant

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This calendar notes app makes planning ahead simple.
Make planning easy with this discounted notetaking app.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Even the most meticulous planners have trouble sticking to an agenda sometimes. But planning and notetaking doesn’t have to be all on you. There’s some impressive software out there that can make it easier on Macs, iPads and iPhones.

Date-focused notetaking app Agenda Premium 14 automates what it can for notetaking and planning, and makes the rest of the process easier with some fantastic tools. For a limited time, Agenda Premium 14 is on sale for $9.99 (regularly $34).

Leaked ‘final’ EU antitrust bill looks bad for Apple

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European Union
The European Union takes another step toward tough regulations on tech giants like Apple.
Photo: Freestocks.org

The European Union may force Apple to make big changes to its App Store as well as services like FaceTime and Messages, if a leaked version of an EU antitrust proposal becomes law.

The draft is said to be the “final version” of the Digital Markets Act, provisionally approved by EU regulators in March. It seeks to restrict how tech giants operate in order to foster greater competition.

Take a slingshot space adventure in Moonshot on Apple Arcade

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Take a slingshot space adventure in Moonshot on Apple Arcade
Blast off! Moonshot – A Journey Home premiered Friday.
Photo: Noodlecake Games

Physics-based puzzlers are all the rage, and the latest Apple Arcade game takes the concept to the stars. In Moonshot – A Journey Home, players use a slingshot to reunite a wandering moon with its home planet.

It debuted Friday on Apple’s gaming service, which now offers more than 200 titles.

Disaster shakes up Pachinko this week [Apple TV+ recap]

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Pachinko recap: A massive earthquake leads to death and despair in this week's unusual episode.
A massive earthquake leads to death and despair in this week's unusual episode.
Photo: Apple TV+

Pachinko, the stellar Apple TV+ series about the fortunes of a Korean family across decades and generations, takes time away from its main storyline to tell the story of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which killed tens of thousands of people in Japan.

The episode isn’t a full stylistic break, but it’s a very different animal from the rest of the season. It offers a harrowing look at one person’s struggle to survive before and after a disaster that forever changed the face of Japan and the Koreans who lived there.

Anker’s new 100W GaN charger beats Apple’s closest offering in 3 ways

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The new Anker 736 USB Charger is compact, powerful and versatile.
The new Anker 736 USB Charger is compact, powerful and versatile.
Photo: Anker

Anker showed off its much-anticipated 736 USB Charger at CES back in January. At long last, now you can buy the powerful-but-compact 100W gallium nitride (GaN) charger at Amazon.

And you might want to do just that. It looks like Anker’s new GaN II charger beats Apple’s 96W charger in three ways. It’s smaller, more powerful and more versatile.

Telling a marvelous Mac mini workstation story in pictures [Setups]

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The computer setup was updated this month and it couldn't be much nicer.
The computer setup was updated this month and it couldn't be much nicer.
Photo: [email protected]

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. So today’s M1 Mac mini-driven computer setup, with eight smashing photos, must be roughly equivalent to 8,000 words. But instead of burying you in a horrible cascade of text, we’ll let the pictures tell most of the elegant rig’s story.

The newly updated setup has some exceedingly nice touches. Each of the photos below includes a little commentary.

Apple’s chipmaker counting on blazing-fast 2nm processors in rivalry with Intel

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TSMC looks ahead to super-speedy 2nm processors
2nm processors made by TSMC will be faster while using less power than today's 5nm iPhone and Mac chips.
Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iPhones will continue getting smaller, faster and more efficient processors for years to come. TSMC, the company that manufactures all Apple’s chips, says it should be able produce processors in 2025 that are an amazing 2nm. These should make today’s fastest Macs and iPhones look like slugs in comparison.

Rival Intel is working hard to keep up. It says it’ll pass TSMC in a few years – but it’s missed plenty of similar self-imposed deadlines over the years.

WeCrashed finally crashes and burns [Apple TV+ recap]

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WeCrashed finale recap: Goodbye and good riddance!
Goodbye and good riddance!
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s WeCrashed is finally done, which means we can finally stop looking at the hollow eyes of Jared Leto as WeWork CEO Adam Neumann. The company can’t go public while Adam remains CEO. But Adam doesn’t ever want to not be CEO.

He left WeWork in terrible shape before the board kicked him to the curb, and the only solutions are expensive ones. If you’re still invested in this story, god bless. But the time for some of these people to face consequences was long, long ago.

Save on lifetime licenses: Windows 10 only $13, MS Office only $26, April Sale up to 91% off

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With the Easter sale extended through April, you can grab great savings on genuine Microsoft software.
With the Easter sale extended through April, you can grab great savings on genuine Microsoft software.
Photo: CDKeylord.com

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

Easter may be over, but the software savings continue in the big April Sale at CDKeylord.com. The software activation key provider offers fantastic discounts on genuine Microsoft products.

Cult of Mac readers can get 30% off the regular price of a Windows 10 Pro key and much more. And 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.

Film and TV pros want Apple to love Final Cut Pro as much as they do

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Many film and TV editors say Final Cut Pro is powerful and fun to use. So why can't it be a professional standard?
Many film and TV editors say Final Cut Pro is powerful and fun to use. So why can't it be a professional standard?
Image: Apple

In an open letter sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday, more than 100 film and TV professionals called on the company to publicly commit to building its video editing software Final Cut Pro into an industry-standard tool.

The group praised FCP as as “the biggest leap forward in editing technology since the move to digital” but complained it’s not living up to its potential.

The group noted, bitterly, that even the crew on CODA — the first streaming service release to win a Best Picture Oscar, and Apple’s own release — would probably not have chosen to edit it with FCP.

iPhone 13 mini makes up a tiny percentage of Apple sales

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iPhone 13 mini makes up a tiny percentage of Apple sales
The iPhone 13 dwarfs the iPhone 13 mini in size as well as sales.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone 13 series is selling very well… with one exception. The iPhone 13 mini is not attracting U.S. buyers, according to a report by a market-research firm.

This helps explain why the upcoming iPhone 14 series isn’t expected to have a “mini” version with a 5.4-inch screen.

They Call Me Magic captures Magic Johnson’s pivot to humanitarian [Apple TV+ review]

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They Call Me Magic review: The Apple TV+ docuseries puts the legendary Earvin
The four-part docuseries puts legendary basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson under a microscope.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s latest documentary series is They Call Me Magic, a look at the life and legacy of one of the greatest and most flashy basketball players the game ever saw.

Director Rick Famuyiwa gives us a guided tour of Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr.’s game, the illness that took him out of professional sports, and the family members — both professional and blood — who made his life hard but worth living. The documentary’s form is digestible and the story is a necessary window into living memory, to see at once how far we’ve come and how little we’ve changed.

Keep your AirPods clean and charged with this discount accessory bundle

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Keep your AirPods in perfect condition with this cleaning kit and charger, now less than $23.
Get more than half off this useful AirPods cleaning kit and charger.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

We love our AirPods. But do we like thinking about all the gross stuff that accumulates inside the little holes which you then put into your ear? Not so much.

The way to fix that is with a reliable AirPods cleaning tool. And right now, you can get this great Wireless Charger + Cleaning Pen Set for AirPods on sale for just $22.99. That’s 54% off the regular price of $49.

Extended! Turn your iPad into an iMac with a Lululook stand and charger [Cult of Mac giveaway]

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Urban Magnetic Stand
The stand's sleek, magnetic design lifts your iPad off your desk.
Photo: Lululook

Our latest giveaway is for iPad owners. We are giving away five Lululook bundles to five lucky winners. Each bundle features one Urban iPad Magnetic Stand and one 33w GaN USB-C charger.

If you own an 11-inch or 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the sleek Urban Magnetic Stand will elevate your iPad and make viewing and working more user-friendly. The 33w GaN USB-C charger is compact and will charge your devices quickly. This $90 bundle will make your desktop flow, so make sure to enter the giveaway below.

Leak shows Sonos is about to roll out a new budget soundbar

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The Sonos
The Sonos "Fury" budget soundbar will probably look similar to the Sonos Beam (pictured), but a bit shorter. It should launch with black and white finishes.
Photo: Sonos

If you’d love to add a Sonos soundbar to your home theater but you find the company’s well-regarded products a tad pricey, just wait. According to a new leak, Sonos will release its least-expensive soundbar ever — just $249 — in early June.