By Mike Goodman

I’m confident in my ability to sell delicious snacks. Before the pandemic, I was an unhappy line cook working at a chain restaurant in a big city. When things closed down, I was honestly relieved to take a break from the sweaty kitchen and monotony. And, after taking some time to reflect on the world and what was going down, I started to get my energy back and decided to revisit my passion.

As it turns out, exploring your passion comes with some chaos. But as they say, there’s an app for that — and the one that made a world of difference for me, believe it or not, is a $40 scanning app for iPhone and iPad.

Looking for big discounts on great accessories for the holidays? Just Mobile has slashed up to 60% off all its essentials for iPhone and Apple Watch for a limited time.

You can save on cases, screen protectors, charging pads, and portable power banks for a limited time only.

There is a full-featured calculator hidden in your iPad, even though Apple never ported the iPhone Calculator app to its tablets. Actually, there are two of them.

Here’s how to use the iPad calculator

Scott Forstall, a former senior vice president at Apple, allegedly encouraged Pandora to jailbreak the original iPhone so it could get a head start on building a native music streaming app, according to a new report.

Forstall met with Pandora co-founder and CEO Tim Westergren during iPhone’s early days — before it had an official App Store — and encouraged the company to use “back door toolkits” while “we get our act together at Apple.”

If you’re tired of the meh charging speeds you’re currently getting for your iPhone and other gadgets, you might consider Nomad’s pair of new products. The company rolled out a new USB-C PD wall adapter with iPhone fast-charging support and a collection of braided Sport Cables on Wednesday.

By Carlee Carbone

It’s inevitable for writers, especially copywriters, to find themselves in a rut due to constant repetition. Luckily, there are tricks to avoid staleness and make your writing more interesting — especially if you have to write about the same subject more than once.

That’s where a $75 AI writing tool called Rytr comes in.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday that claimed Apple has a monopoly over app distribution on iOS.

The makers of Coronavirus Reporter sued Cupertino for rejecting their title from the App Store. But U.S. District Judge Edward Chen published a 34-page ruling that says the developers’ arguments “failed to pass muster.”

Apple is warning component suppliers that demand for iPhone 13 has weakened, according to a new report that cites people familiar with the matter.

Cupertino’s newest smartphone lineup got off to an incredibly strong start when it landed. But thanks to chip shortages that have made some models difficult to obtain, consumers appear to be avoiding them altogether as the holidays near.

Carrot Weather, LumaFusion, and Apple Arcade hit Fantasian are some of the titles recognized in the 2021 App Store Awards, announced on Thursday.

Apple also identified “Connection” as the Trend of the Year, thanks to games like Among Us! and apps like Bumble, which “brought people together in meaningful ways — while meeting social, personal, and professional needs.”

If you want to keep tabs on your credit cards and cash with one of Apple’s new wireless trackers, consider the Snapback Slim Air — a slender leather wallet with a pocket on the side for an AirTag.

The Snapback Slim Air is a trendy slim wallet, a style that’s currently all the rage. It comes in three colors and is designed to slide into your front pocket like a money clip. It holds up to six cards, a few folded bills and an AirTag. And we have an exclusive discount code for Cult of Mac readers.

Social media site Reddit unveiled several new features Wednesday that let users immediately see how others are reacting to content in various ways. The changes should give users a better idea of what’s most popular — or unpopular — on the site. The company said they should increase engagement across Reddit.

An extra screen on your workstation can do loads to boost your productivity and entertainment. The Desklab Portable Touchscreen Monitor (4K) is a plug-and-play screen for your laptop. And now this portable 4K touchscreen monitor is on sale for just $231.99 (regularly $700) with coupon code CMSAVE20.

Apple TV+ made a series order for an adaptation of Disclaimer, a psychological thriller that will star internationally acclaimed actors Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline.

It’s being helmed by Alfonso Cuarón, who wrote and will direct all the episodes in the series.

Nothing released its first Ear 1 earbuds in late summer 2021 with a partially transparent design, a cool transparent case, good sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC) and wireless charging. Now the company’s rolling out the new Ear 1 “Black Edition,” which retains the interesting design and tech elements in a cool new look.

And Nothing, created by OnePlus founder Carl Pei, added the product is now carbon neutral and you can buy the product — still $99 — with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. So there’s that.

Apple seeded macOS 12.1 beta 4 to developers on Wednesday. It has a build number that ends in “a,” which suggests the public release is only a week or two away. This version of Monterey will bring SharePlay to the Mac. It might also be the debut of the much anticipated Universal Control.

It is not accompanied by fresh betas of iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2 or watchOS 8.3.

Not long ago we wrote about a person who fashioned an ergonomically healthy computer setup with little more than an M1 Pro MacBook. At the time, their fancy new display was still to-be-delivered, so they made-do without it. Now all the screens are in place and they make a magnificent workstation, with the MacBook running with one landscape-mode display and two portrait-mode monitors. It took some special connectivity tricks to make it happen.

Luna Display 5.1 adds the ability to use any Mac as a wireless second display for a PC. And that’s just one of the new features in the update, which also adds support for using a 4K or 5K computer as a second screen.

These features build on this device’s basic ability to turn an iPad into a Mac display.

iPhone 6 Plus will be added to Apple’s vintage products list at the end of this month, according to a leaked internal memo. The device, which made its debut in 2014, may be more difficult to repair as official parts dry up.

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were the first to introduce Apple Pay and significantly larger displays to Apple’s smartphone lineup. They remain two of the company’s most successful devices to date.

Beats released a new version of its Beats Studio Buds on Tuesday in a joint effort with the trendy mens fashion store Union. The limited-edition wireless earbuds commemorate Union’s 30th anniversary. You can snap them up at the store’s Los Angeles and Tokyo locations and, as of Wednesday, online.

STM Goods MagArm is an iPhone mount that attaches to your Mac display, either in the office or at a coffee shop. And not only does it hold the handset where it can be easily seen, slip in Apple’s MagSafe charging puck and the MagArm will charge the iPhone too.

I put the accessory for MacBook or Mac desktop to the test. How likely is it to drop the iPhone? Here’s what I found out.

How do you make MagSafe charging even better? Add a cooling fan that allows for the fastest possible charge over a longer period, of course. The Zike 2-in-1 does just that to become the “world’s fastest” MagSafe charger.

Zike promises 15W of power — the most MagSafe charging can offer right now — for significantly longer to enable up to 50% faster top-ups for iPhone 12 and 13. It also charges a second device, like AirPods, simultaneously.

From language apps to animation software, this roundup of 10 digital deals truly has something for everyone. Many of these software and services come with lifetime subscriptions — and all come at substantial savings.

Best of all, everything on this list is available for an extra 40% off during our extended Cyber Monday sale. Just use the code CMSAVE40 at checkout.

The newest Twitch update for iPhone and iPad adds SharePlay support on iOS and iPadOS 15.1. The feature allows users to watch synchronized streams together over FaceTime, but all participants must have Twitch installed.

Twitch is one of the first third-party platforms to adopt SharePlay, which made its debut in October after it missed the initial iOS 15 rollout.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk thinks you should avoid wasting your money on a “silly” Apple Polishing Cloth and instead spend it on his company’s $50 Cyberwhistle.

Inspired by Cybertruck, the limited-edition collectible — which is not a joke — is made from medical-grade stainless steel with a polished finish. It also features “an integrated attachment feature for added versatility.”

To mark World AIDS Day, Apple celebrated 15 years of fighting AIDS with Product Red on Wednesday. The company also outlined new ways customers can support its ongoing efforts — like buying Red versions of iPhone 13 and Apple Watch Series 7.

Through December 6, Apple will donate $1 to the Global Fund for every purchase made with Apple Pay at an Apple Store, through the Apple Store online and in the Apple Store app.