Imagine you’re having an incredible time traveling abroad. After a night in yet another lovely hotel, you grab your iPhone, put on your Apple Watch, throw your iPad into a bag, and you’re off.

But if you forget even one of the chargers or cables for those devices, the rest of your trip will be wildly inconvenient (at least until you make it to an overpriced travel store). So streamline while you can. Carry one powerful charger for all your devices. Then get a 4-in-1 cable to connect them all to it.

Plus, get that four-way cable while it’s on sale for $17.99 (regularly $34), and you can spend your savings on a couple of chocolate croissants and some fine European coffee.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first reviews for the new M2 MacBook Pro are … not good.

Also on The CultCast:

• Benchmarks for Apple’s new M2 chip continue to impress, but you can expect even more amazing performance boosts later this year.
• What the upcoming CarPlay update is really about.
• Apple TV+ has another hit on its hands with For All Mankind.

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 it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.

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This post is brought to you by Chargie.

We know, you hate it when you wake up in the morning and your phone is warm from last night’s charging session (especially in the summer). We also hate it when you miss calls or flights when your phone dies because the battery doesn’t hold up like it used to.

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You probably don’t want to come home to find your precious little one has torn open your MacBook, even in the name of learning. They might discover what a circuit board looks like, but at what cost?

That’s why you should foster your child’s STEM interest in a way that keeps your electronics off the chopping block. The CrowPi2 offers a fantastic starting point for kids who want something to tinker with. Plus, it’s on sale for $319.99 (regularly $329).

Rumors of an Apple Watch Explorer Edition started last year, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was working on ruggedized smartwatch designed specifically for athletes. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, from TF International Securities, added fuel to the fire last December, claiming that an “extreme sports version” could debut in 2022.

This month at WWDC, Apple’s focus on new fitness features for watchOS 9 lent further credence to these rumors. As a fitness-fanatic myself, all this hype has got me pretty excited. It inspired me to create these Photoshop mockups, exclusively for Cult of Mac, to explore exactly what the Explorer Edition might look like.

You’ve tried staring at your MacBook, but you still can’t grasp what your professor’s lecture notes mean. You might have heard how important studying is, but nobody teaches anyone how to study.

Hint: There’s more to it than reading.

If you want to learn how to study, the 2022 Perfect Score Academic Success Master Class Bundle gives you lifetime access to practical study skills that actually work — for only $49 (regularly $699).

It goes without saying that AirPods Pro 2 will offer better sound. Duh. But Apple also will add some surprise features to the next generation of its earbuds, according to a new leak. That includes heart rate detection and a new hearing aid feature.

Plus, the charging case supposedly will make the switch to USB-C, to match reports that iPhone 15 will dump the Lightning port.

Apple streamlined the subscription-management interfaces on iPhone and iPad Friday.

The new look adds spacing between separate subscriptions. And it makes telling which subscriptions are active and inactive a little more clear at a glance.

Apple TV+ murder mystery Now and Then draws to a simmering close this week.

Pedro has lost his campaign, but there’s always more to lose. Ana is ready to turn on him. Sofia’s troubles catch up with her. Marcos suspects his father. Flora suspects her best friend. Hugo suspects Sofia. And there’s only an hour to wrap things up.

It’s been a marvelous bit of sensationalism from start to finish. If we get a second season of this bilingual thriller, it will be a welcome development.

It’s official: Netflix is adding a cheaper ad-supported tier to its streaming service. The change is apparently intended to reverse a recent drop in subscribers.

It’s part of a trend, as rival streaming service Disney+ announced this spring it is making the same move.

Continue reading

Apple TV+ alt-history hit For All Mankind makes all the right moves this week, then immediately blows a 26-point lead in the last inning.

For once, the dramatic arcs thrown at Margo, Karen, Dev, Aleida and Kelly all seem pretty satisfying and not at all cheap or hyperbolic. Then the writers ensure we won’t see how any of that plays out, instantly turning this from one of the show’s best episodes into its most frustrating yet.

But hey, at least we’re going to Mars, I guess.

An updated MacBook Pro – the first laptop to run on the powerful new Apple M2 processor – hit store shelves Friday morning. The chip makes it the fastest 13-inch notebook in Apple’s lineup.

The company unveiled the M2 chip  three weeks ago at its Worldwide Developers Conference. It also took the wraps off the first two laptops to run on it: the just-launched MacBook Pro and a redesigned MacBook Air that is coming in July.

Air Twister combines the fun of flying with the challenge of fighting off invaders. The endless shooter debuted Friday, June 24 through the Apple Arcade subscription service.

It’s from legendary game creator Yu Suzuki.

Mounts can make the most of a computer setup. They can mobilize so much of your gear — computers, displays, microphones — so you can use them when you need them and push them out of the way when you don’t, opening up desk space. And you can minutely adjust their positioning, too.

Today’s featured MacBook Pro and Mac Studio computer setup takes advantage of mounts for the computers, display, video camera and microphone.

In the market for an Apple Watch 7, or maybe the more-affordable Apple Watch SE? Amazon discounted both on Friday, so now could be the time to make that purchase.

Check out the deals below.

This week on Apple TV+ aerobics opera Physical, its star self-help guru buys a whiteboard and the show itself backslides. After a promising showing last week, Physical reverts to its worst tendencies.

Danny is still unbearably pretentious and selfish. Sheila is still a misanthropic jerk to absolutely everybody. John is becoming more desperate by the minute. And Greta indulges in a threesome. None of this constitutes real news or development on this show. But since Physical doesn’t really know what it wants to say, this is just how it goes most weeks.

This post on discount Microsoft software is brought to you by Keysbuff.

Software activation keys provider Keysbuff.com lets you grab great deals on software through the end of June. Cult of Mac readers can save up to 91% off the full price on Windows 10 — and uncover significant savings on lots of other Microsoft software, too. See the list below and click on the links.

If bargains like that sound good, just use promo code COM at Keysbuff.com. That will save you an extra 25% off the site’s already-low prices on keys for Windows 10 Pro Global, Microsoft Office 2021 Pro and others.

Chris Evans, star of Marvel Studios’ Captain America movie series, gave the internet a bit of a thrill when he finally said goodbye to his trusty iPhone 6s with a lovely little eulogy Thursday.

The iPhone 6s came out in 2015 and ceased new sales in 2018. Now it’s 2022, and it looks like Cap has, at long last, woken up to the iPhone 13.

The cost of an Apple Music subscription for students just jumped 20%. The music streaming service is still available at a substantial discount, but it’s no longer half price.

This follows a similar price increase in other parts of the world.

Apple’s yearly Back to School promotion is now live in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world.

The company is offering a gift card of up to $150 on eligible purchases in the US. Additionally, students can score an extra 20% off on an AppleCare+ subscription.

Searching for a job is more stressful than ever. With employers ignoring résumés and the constant need to adapt your application materials to a new job, job hunting is practically a full-time gig.

To save time on application materials and produce top-quality results, consider Resoume. This AI-powered tool can help you create a standout résumé in minutes and an entire portfolio in no time. And lifetime subscriptions are on sale for $39.99 (regularly $600).

In new Apple TV+ comedy Loot, Maya Rudolph plays a billionaire playgirl who must grow up and discover a conscience when she realizes that her public behavior casts her charitable foundation in a bad light.

Surrounded by misfits, she must tailor her wild lifestyle to more humble settings. Otherwise, she risks turning the one good thing in her life into a joke.

An episode of For All Mankind features some retro Apple tech that real people in the 1990s could only dream of: an Apple Newton with a color screen. And one that can make video calls!

A producer for the show explained the clever trick.

Those scratches around your phone’s charging port say you could be living a better life. Corded chargers are splendid, but if the rumors surrounding Apple removing ports from future iPhones are true, wires may soon be obsolete. Plus, now you can get faster charging from wireless (with bonus points for convenience).

The Omnia Q5 5-in-1 Wireless Charging Station can replace your cords while powering up your entire fleet of Apple devices: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple Pencil. And for a limited time, it will only set you back $69.99 (regularly $120).

If you’d like to take your selfie game up a notch, you can’t do much better than SwitchEasy’s EasySelfie Selfie Stick. The highly portable devices doubles as a tripod and works with your iPhone or a variety of cameras.

And right now you can get a good deal on EasySelfie in the Cult of Mac Store.