Cult of Mac

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first Mac Studio benchmarks make Apple’s much-ballyhooed M1 Ultra chip sound less amazing than we hoped. Maybe it’s not the unhinged beast we expected! But then, what do benchmarks really mean, anyway?

Also on The CultCast:

• The new Studio Display suffers due to some odd choices on Apple’s part.
• A software update might fix Studio Display’s tragic webcam.
• A 15-inch MacBook Air would tick a lot of the right boxes.
• And finally, a giveaway for the ladies!

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.

This week’s sponsor is JAMF, an Apple device-management solution that gives individuals and businesses the tools they need to wrangle iPhones, Macs, iPads and more. Register with JAMF now to manage three devices for free.

When iPhone 14 launches this autumn, it’s expected to offer better 5G performance than its predecessors. The iPhone 13 already offers speedy connections, but a new modem in the 2022 version will bring advantages to the next iOS handset.

Chief among these is better connections in areas with weak 5G signal.

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Cult of Mac Deals tracked down some great deals on exceptional e-learning course. Even better, right now you can take an extra 50% off the sale prices during our Best of Digital Sale. For a limited time only, enter coupon code LEARNNOW at checkout to take a further 50% off the sale price of every one of these top-rated course bundles loved by users.

Dorothy has one final trick up her sleeve on the season finale of Apple TV+ thriller Servant, M. Night Shyamalan and Tony Basgallop’s show about a mystic nanny and the troubled family she appears out of nowhere to help.

Just when it seems like things can’t possibly be more warped than they already are, a handful of desperate events throw the Turner household into tragedy and disarray. Is there any coming back from this?

Servant‘s riotous third season comes to a close on a dreadful cliffhanger, promising more chaos and darkness in the currently filming fourth season.

Apple is at it again, trying to retain top employees in a competitive marketplace by giving them big money. This time the Cupertino tech giant has handed out a round of special stock bonuses to a group of hardware and software engineers. The amounts range from $100,000 to $200,000.

Good software and e-learning courses can drain your bank account. At full price, some software packages can go for thousands of dollars, and many individual online courses cost hundreds of dollars each.

Cult of Mac Deals rounded up some of the highest quality apps and online courses, then slashed the prices to make them much more affordable. During our Best of Digital Sale, they’re all 30% off with coupon code DOWNLOADNOW.

Cue the lights, strike up the music and let the garden party begin. Ikea’s got a new outdoor lantern coming. What’s interesting is that it doubles as the first Bluetooth speaker on the market with Spotify Tap built in.

The one-touch Spotify functionality isn’t the only music streaming service you can use with the lamp, called the Ikea Vappeby. But it’s handy.

A depressing dance party and a murder round out the crazy goings on in this week’s episode of Severance, the Apple TV+ show about a workplace plagued by secrets and underhanded, science fiction-style practices.

Once Mark (played by Adam Scott) sees the truth of his situation, there’s no turning back. But he can’t fix the problems at Lumon Industries alone. Wouldn’t it be helpful if something traumatic happened to everyone on his team, aligning them against their employer?

This week’s episode of Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson’s trippy workplace thriller brings a cavalcade of violent upsets — and each new incident stings intensely. It’s all a hair convenient, but it’s compelling enough to clear the hurdle anyway.

Lego is bringing three new Star Wars diorama sets to a galaxy not at all far away in April, with preorders available now. Aimed at adult fans of the beloved franchise, all three cost under $100 — which is a lot cheaper than some Lego creations.

Lego has done plenty of dioramas, but these Star Wars vignettes are on a smaller, more affordable scale than usual.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey takes a tour through the past this week and finds clues to its central mysteries. The Apple TV+ show, based on Walter Mosley’s book of the same name, continues to be one of the best shows on television, with actors Samuel L. Jackson and Dominique Fishback leading it to greatness.

The Last Days might be the best investment in a TV show Apple TV+ has yet made. All the right people will be talking about this series for years to come.

Not satisfied with the thermostats on the market that you can use with HomeKit? Aqara is rolling out its HomeKit-compatible Smart Thermostat S3 with Siri voice support.

While the device is initially available only in China, experts speculate it could be coming to the U.S. and Europe, as well.

The Satechi Type-C Aluminum Monitor Stand Hub for iMac adds some extra height to the all-in-one desktop. And it makes room for four additional USB ports, an SD card reader and an audio jack.

I put stand/hub combo through its paces to see how it stands up in everyday use.

Alto’s Adventure – Remastered debuted on Apple Arcade on Friday. This is an update to a classic over-the-top snowboarding game.

The revamped version created for Apple’s gaming service includes a new character and new goals but the same sports-fantasy fun.

Apple TV+ show WeCrashed tightens up at long last for a reasonably entertaining fourth episode that nevertheless lays bare the essential flaw in its calculus. It’s still asking us to watch and care about the vacuous psychos at the heart of the story of co-working startup WeWork — and it has not made them any more interesting.

Actor Jared Leto’s portrayal of Adam Neumann, the CEO and founder of WeWork, remains unwatchable. And the show keeps hitting Anne Hathaway’s character, Rebekah Neumann, with more and more embarrassment to overcome. But at least there’s the occasional joke.

Ever had trouble getting your Mac to recognize third-party peripherals, like a keyboard and mouse? Today’s featured setup is built around a brand-new Mac Studio mounted neatly on a pegboard behind a Samsung super ultra-wide display. But the Apple desktop computer refused to pair with a Logitech keyboard and mouse, according to the owner.

He said he had to go and buy Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse to establish working input devices. So what happened?

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

As the old saying goes, the month of March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. But before it’s over, you have one more shot at ferociously good software deals. In its last March Super Sale, software seller CDKeylord.com offers fantastic deals on genuine Microsoft products.

Cult of Mac readers can get 30% off the regular price of a Windows 10 Pro key. 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 these great savings.

See the list below for currently available discounts on various Microsoft software titles.

Apple is rumored to be working on a 15-inch version of the MacBook Air — something many of its notebook users have long been asking for. But according to one analyst, the new machine may launch under a different name.

Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities, who has reliably predicted Apple’s moves many times in the past, predicts mass production of a larger laptop will begin in late 2023, and that it “might not be called MacBook Air.”

In epic new Apple TV+ series Pachinko, three generations of a Korean family — caught between Japan, America and their homeland — eke out a living as times change and fortune fails to provide for them.

Series creator Soo Hugh and director Kogonada based the show on the bestselling book by Min Jin Lee of the same name. Frequently gorgeous, this show provides necessary context for modern Korean sociopolitics, while also delivering healthy doses of gripping melodrama.

The series, which debuts Friday on Apple TV+, also boasts what might be the best opening credits sequence of all time.

Apple Maps users in Canada can now enjoy a more detailed mapping experience, as well as enhanced navigation, in several big cities.

Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are the latest to get Apple’s most recent Maps upgrades — which first debuted in London, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area in iOS 15 last September.

The European Union plans to break down the barriers between mobile messaging services. With its Digital Markets Act, it plans to force services like iMessage, WhatsApp, and smaller messaging platforms to play nicely together.

The move would be a major blow to Apple, which has long used iMessage — which it refuses to bring to Android — as a big selling point of iPhone.

Imagine a 1980s-era Macintosh merged with today’s iMac. The result probably looks a lot like SystemSix. The creator calls it “a kind of love-letter to my first Macintosh.”

This hand-made device was assembled from an eInk display, an acrylic stand, a Raspberry Pi 3 and code written in Python.

The iScanner app does much more than quickly scan documents and QR codes. It also can measure the area of a room, as well as pulling off unexpected tasks like counting similar objects or solving math problems.

It’s a great tool to have on your iPhone. And right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to iScanner for just $27.99 (regularly $199) with coupon code DOWNLOADNOW.

Irish actress, writer and producer Sharon Horgan is known for some darkly funny stuff. Shows like Catastrophe and Pulling. If you like those, you’ll be glad to hear the Emmy Award nominee and BAFTA Award winner is bringing a new dark-comedy-thriller called Bad Sisters to Apple TV+.

The streaming service offered a first-look photo and cast list on Wednesday. The show’s acting ensemble includes Horgan, of course, but also an interesting lineup of collaborators.

This Cult of Mac giveaway is for the ladies! Five lucky winners will each receive a stylish Napa crossbody iPhone case from Noémie. These cases looks chic and are great for running errands or going out on the town when a bigger bag is not needed.

If you care about fashion (or have a fashionista in the family), and own an iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max/iPhone 12 Pro Max, you should definitely enter the latest Cult of Mac giveaway.

Apple might soon give customers the option to get a Mac or other device with monthly fees, rather than paying the full cost up front. The company is working on a hardware subscription service, according to a reliable source.

Software subscriptions are common, but hardware is a different business. Even so, Apple has already dipped its toe into this market.