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Zoom fixes macOS bug that leaves mics active when they shouldn’t be

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Zoom fixes Mac's microphone bug
Install the latest update as soon as you can.
Photo: Markus Spiske/Unsplash

Zoom issued a quick fix for its native macOS app over the weekend to address a concerning bug that left microphones active when they shouldn’t have been.

It comes after many Mac users complained the app was still listening in after calls had ended. It is the second time Zoom has attempted to eliminate this issue, so here’s to hoping this update actually does its job.

Buy one, get one half-price on awesome iPhone and Apple Watch accessories

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SwitchEasy MagSkin Silicone Case for iPhone 13
Find great gifts (and save) for Valentine's Day.
Photo: SwitchEasy

Missed out on getting the perfect Valentine’s Day gift? Make it up to them with help from the Cult of Mac Store, where you can save on stellar iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch accessories.

Buy one, get one half-price on the entire lineup of SwitchEasy products — which includes great cases, bands, stands and more. This deal ends at 11:59 p.m. PT Monday, so enjoy it while you still can.

Discover the secrets to becoming an NFT, crypto and metaverse millionaire

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Become an NFT millionaire with this complete masterclass.
Dive into the deep (and lucrative) end of Web 3.0 with these courses.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

There’s no doubt about it: Cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens and the metaverse are at the forefront of Web 3.0 — and the future of the internet.

If you’re a total noob looking to learn, The Beginner’s Guide: Cryptocurrency Trading, NFTs & Metaverse Bundle is a great place to start. It’s on sale for just $21 (regularly $1,400). And, with seven different courses included in this bundle, that works out to just $3 a course.

Apple registers 3 new Mac models ahead of rumored spring event

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M2 MacBook Pro
Is a new M2 chip right around the corner?
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

Regulatory filings for three new Mac models have been spotted ahead of Apple’s rumored spring event next month. Recent reports suggest Cupertino could be planning a new MacBook Pro with a next-generation “M2” chipset. Rumors also indicate Apple continues to work on a bigger iMac, a new MacBook Air and a new Mac mini.

The filings come after Apple last month registered a new iPhone and a new iPad — believed to be an upgraded iPhone SE with 5G support and a refreshed iPad Air likely to pack the newest A15 Bionic processor.

Finding affordable renters’ insurance can save you big

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Save smart with this affordable, reliable renter's insurance
This renters' insurance is a no-brainer for young tenants with electronics to protect. Get a quick quote today.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Getting ahead in the world as a young professional isn’t exactly easy. And even when you’re successful, building an early adulthood home is something most of us do as renters.

Regardless of your rent, when you start to earn “grownup” money, you’ll be investing in valuables, technology, nice furniture, etc. And as you fill out your home, you need to make sure you protect what you’re buying with renter’s insurance.

Get a great Valentine’s Day deal on encrypted storage with pCloud

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pCloud offers you a reliable, affordable and secure option for cloud storage.
pCloud offers you a reliable, affordable and secure option for cloud storage.
Photo: pCloud

This cloud storage post is presented by pCloud. 

If you’re looking for reliable cloud storage, you might want to skip the likes of Google Drive and Dropbox and go straight for pCloud. The Switzerland-based company, subject to strong privacy laws, offers affordable, super-secure cloud-based storage and backup for individuals and businesses.

Even better, right now you can get 75% off all individual lifetime plans in the company’s Valentine’s Day promotion. You can read more about that, as well as pCloud’s benefits, below.

Learn 24 languages, and gain loads of resume-boosting skills, with this lifetime bundle

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Get award-winning lifetime learning with this Rosetta Stone bundle.
This learning bundle starts with Rosetta Stone but doesn't stop there. Ever.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

It’s no secret that we love to upgrade our tech. But there’s no better investment you can make than in yourself. That’s why we’re big fans of e-learning courses, which you can take in your own time, from anywhere — and this is one of the very best bundles we’ve found.

Right now, you can grab The Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle, which includes award-winning language software Rosetta Stone and a lifetime of unlimited online courses.

Babbel lets you learn languages fast, and you can save 60% with this hot deal

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Nobody wants to be slaving away on a New Year's resolution by early summer.
Get started learning a new language today. (Unfortunately, Babbel can't teach you puppy.)
Photo: Babbel

Ask someone for their New Year’s resolution, and there’s a decent chance you could tell them their answer before they do. That’s because most of us are thinking about the same areas of self-improvement each year. There’s exercising, losing weight, and getting organized. Another top 5 resolution: learning a new skill … like maybe a languae.

Of course, nobody wants to be slaving away on a New Year’s resolution by early summer. So, the Babbel Language Learning App gives users the chance to knock it out in three weeks.

Apple’s AR/VR headset is about to get real [The CultCast]

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The CultCast: Another realityOS leak takes us one step closer to strapping Apple gear onto our faces.
Another realityOS leak takes us one step closer to strapping Apple gear onto our ugly mugs.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Apple code once again refers to a mysterious “realityOS” for a virtual/augmented-reality headset. Vague rumors about the new device, which we’ve been hearing for years now, look set to become very real, very soon.

Also on The CultCast:

  • Why no Face ID on Macs?
  • Apple’s workaround for accepting third-party payments is a joke, but developers definitely aren’t laughing.
  • iPhones are about to become cash registers!

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.

10 of the best Mac and iOS apps on sale for Valentine’s Day 

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Treat yourself this Valentine’s Day with these 10 highly rated apps.
Is your Apple device your main squeeze? There's even more to love with these great apps.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Who said Valentine’s Day is all about flowers and chocolate? We may be biased, but you know what really sets our hearts aflutter? Game-changing Mac and iOS apps that make our Apple devices more productive and our days even easier.

So, if you want to treat yourself to something you’ll fall in love with this year, may we suggest some of the very best apps around? These all come highly rated by experts and users alike. And right now, you can take an extra 15% off their sale prices when you enter the code VDAY2022 at checkout.

Now that’s enough to set pulses racing.

The Afterparty flashes back to bad high school haircuts [Apple TV+ recap]

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The Afterparty recap,
Walt (played by Jamie Demetriou) gets lucky this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

The Afterparty, Apple TV+’s Rashomon-style comedy of perspectives, finally looks back at the party before the party. Outkast is on the stereo, the cast get bad haircuts, and everyone makes embarrassing mistakes. Could this explain Xavier’s death?

The show hasn’t done much to engender any good will toward its cast of characters, and this week’s stunt episode doesn’t help things. The Afterparty seems quite taken with the idea of the cast reliving their glory days. But the sight of them all looking younger isn’t quite the gas the writers and director Chris Miller seem to think it is.

Get more than $100 off this hi-res foldable camera drone for Valentine’s Day

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Get this awesome foldable camera drone for less than $140
Capture stunning bird's-eye photos and videos with this full-featured drone.
Photo: Vivitar

If you’ve been thinking about buying a camera drone to take stunning aerial photography, now is the time to do it. That’s not just because you can grab great prices these days on refurbished high-spec tech like this Vivitar VTI Phoenix Foldable Drone. Or even because this particular model is on sale right now.

Now’s the time to pull the trigger on a camera drone because in Cult of Mac Deals’ Valentine’s Day Sale, you can drive down the low sale price even further. You can take an extra 15% off when you enter the code VDAY2022 at checkout.

That means you can scoop up this drone for just $135.15. And that’s more than $100 off the regular price of $249.

Leanne takes us to new levels of lunacy in this week’s Servant [Apple TV+ recap]

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Servant recap
Leanne (played by Nell Tiger Free) gets a little out there in this week's episode -- and we love it!
Photo: Apple TV+

Servant conjures up a storm in a teacup this week on Apple TV+. Leanne, the nanny with strange powers, finds herself losing control just as the desperate family she’s here to save needs her most.

Threatened by creeps, stalkers, and pretenders, Leanne has little choice but to let bad things happen to bad people. Writer Laura Marks and director Dylan Holmes Williams create a memorably harrowing half-hour in this week’s episode, entitled “Ring.”

Test shows AirTags are better and safer than Tile and GPS trackers

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A New York Times reporter found that AirTag tracking and privacy alerts can work better than other trackers.
A New York Times reporter found that AirTag tracking and privacy alerts can work better than other trackers.
Photo: Apple

Just a day after Apple touted its beefed-up privacy precautions for AirTags — in the wake of criminal incidents involving the tracking devices — an article in The New York Times on Friday showed their superiority to Tile and GPS trackers.

A reporter tracked her husband using all three kinds of devices. She found the AirTags not only better at tracking him in an urban area, but also better at tipping him off to the tracking.

iPhone 13 whips Samsung Galaxy S22 in performance tests

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iPhone 13 whips Samsung Galaxy S22 in performance tests
No doubt about it, the iPhone 13 is way faster than the Galaxy S22.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Samsung Galaxy S22 has the best chip available for an Android smartphone, but it can’t keep up with Apple’s A-series processor in the iPhone 13 series. Apple’s flagship solidly beats Samsung’s new top-tier models in benchmark tests. It isn’t even close.

And this is despite the iPhone 13 coming out months ago.

Save on a brilliant bumper that keeps Apple Watch looking brand-new

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SwitchEasy bumper for Apple Watch
Buy two SwitchEasy products and get the cheapest half price.
Photo: Adel Neal/Cult of Mac

Keep your beloved Apple Watch looking brand-new with the SwitchEasy protective bumper from just $14.99. Buy it with a band, such as the outstanding Steel Mesh — or any other SwitchEasy product — and enjoy a 50% discount on the more affordable product.

Made from a flexible but sturdy TPU, the bumper covers the back and sides of your Apple Watch to keep them free from dents, dirt, scratches, and shattered screens.

The Sky Is Everywhere delivers a big dose of young adult emotions [Apple TV+ review]

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The Sky Is Everywhere review on Apple TV+: Lennie (played by Grace Kaufman) goes heavy on the grief in this young adult film.
Lennie (played by Grace Kaufman) goes heavy on the grief in this young adult film.
Photo: Apple TV+

The Sky Is Everywhere, the new Apple TV+ film based on the young adult novel by Jandy Nelson, is exactly what you’re picturing based on its title.

Director Josephine Decker steps away from the indie film world to embrace the things a big studio budget can afford (in this case A24 as well as Apple). And she makes sure that every cent is up there on the screen. Decker gives in too much to the sugar high of teen romance, but she and her very committed cast get an A for effort.

Mac users say Zoom is listening in when it’s not in use

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Zoom listening in on Mac: Is Zoom using your microphone when it shouldn't be?
Is Zoom using your microphone when it shouldn't be?
Photo: Franco Antonio Giovanella/Unsplash license

An increasing number of Mac users say Zoom is using their machine’s microphone even when the app is not in use.

Zoom rolled out an update last December for its native Mac app that supposedly resolved “an issue regarding the microphone light indicator being triggered when not in a meeting.” But it doesn’t appear to have worked.

Learn to automate your home office like an IT pro [Setups]

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After seven years working at home, Derek Seaman built this computer setup.
After seven years working at home, Derek Seaman built this computer setup.
Photo: Derek Seaman

Blogger Derek Seaman may be an IT systems architect in his day job, but he also designs and builds advanced computer setups. That is, if his home office is any indication. Which it is.

He shared his MacBook Pro-driven workstation — actually, the whole room — with Cult of Mac recently.

Get Windows 10 Pro lifetime license for $15, discounts up to 91% in Valentine’s Day Sale!

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When you buy Windows 10 at CDKeylord.com, you get a free upgrade to Windows 11.
When you buy Windows 10 at CDKeylord.com, you get a free upgrade to Windows 11.
Image: CDKeylord.com

This discount software activation keys post is brought to you by CDKeylord.com.

In its Valentine’s Day Sale, software seller CDKeylord.com offers more unbeatable deals on genuine Microsoft software. 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 grab the exceptional savings.

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

Take the pain out of saving Nintendo Switch screenshots on iPhone

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Save Nintendo Switch screenshots to iPhone and iPad
Nintendo's own method is way too slow.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

If you’ve ever tried saving Nintendo Switch screenshots to your iPhone or iPad, you’ll know it’s a less than seamless experience. It seems Nintendo didn’t put a great deal of thought into designing its rather primitive transfer tool.

Fortunately, someone else did. Developer Filip Němeček has built an app called SwitchBuddy that makes fetching your Switch screenshots on iPhone and iPad faster, easier, and much more enjoyable. Here’s how to use it.

Everyone’s got something to hide in Suspicion [Apple TV+ recap]

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Georgina Campbell has fallen under Suspicion
It's a rough week for prime suspect Natalie (played by Georgina Campbell).
Photo: Apple TV+

New Apple TV+ thriller Suspicion spends some quality time with its suspected kidnappers this week. As Natalie’s alibis and facades begin to crumble, Aadesh’s life falls apart. Meanwhile, Katherine, Anderson and Vanessa all get impatient for breaks in the case.

This week’s well-acted and tightly paced episode is all about the little lies we tell to help our families — and what happens when we run out of convincing ones.

Get this app-building bundle for an additional 15% off for Valentine’s Day

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This course bundle offers 9 courses, 576 lessons, and over 71 hours of app development content.
This is the toolkit you need to design, develop and deliver a beautiful, functioning application.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Want to jump into the app-building world and don’t know where to start? With The Complete Mobile & App Development Bundle, you’ll learn everything there is to know about app design with top-notch courses.

And just in time for Valentine’s Day, we’ve got a deal you’ll love on a soup-to-nuts coding bundle that normally goes for $1,791. For a limited time, you can get it for just $38.24.

Xiaomi wants to beat iPhone by matching its ‘product and experience’

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Xiaomi wants to match iPhone in product and experience
The Chinese company isn't happy Apple is king on its home turf.
Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi is in “a war of life and death” with iPhone, according to the company’s CEO, and the only way it’s going to regain its position as the top smartphone-maker in China is by matching Apple’s “product and experience.”

The Chinese company was once famous for taking a little too much inspiration from Apple and rolling out copycat products. It has (mostly) moved away from that in recent years, and it hasn’t helped its market share.

Class-action lawsuit takes aim at iPad mini’s ‘jelly scroll defect’

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iPad mini on table
It seeks damages for all iPad mini owners in the U.S.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

Apple faces a new class-action lawsuit from owners of the latest iPad mini, who apparently aren’t happy with its “jelly scroll defect.”

The lawsuit claims Cupertino acted “in an unethical, unscrupulous, outrageous, oppressive, and substantially injurious manner” by promoting a device that it supposedly knew to be defective. It seeks damages for every iPad mini owner.