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Swagger gets serious with drama on and off the court [Apple TV+ review]

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Swagger review: Crystal (played by Quvenzhané Wallis) has a rough week on and off the court.
Crystal (played by Quvenzhané Wallis) hits a rough patch in this week's episode.
Photo: Apple TV+

This week on Swagger, Apple TV+’s new drama based on NBA star Kevin Durant’s youth, teen basketball stars Jace and Crystal find themselves between a rock and a hard place. He’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders in a good way, she in the worst way, and they need each other at a time when they can’t hear each other.

The episode, titled “We Good,” is all about learning to listen and to trust the people around you who actually have your best interests at heart. But it’s also about learning that your own problems need to be able to be put on ice when other people are in need.

Take your favorite robots into battle in Transformers: Tactical Arena on Apple Arcade

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‘Transformers: Tactical Arena’ is coming soon to Apple Arcade
Battle your friends in “Transformers: Tactical Arena.”
Photo: Red Games/Apple Arcade

No longer robots in disguise, Transformers: Tactical Arena lets players assemble a team of their favorite characters to battle in a real-time person-versus-person strategy game. They fight in an arena, with players sitting next to you — or around the world.

The game debuted Friday on Apple Arcade.

Control freak Apple makes iPhone 13 the ‘strongest case yet for right to repair’

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iPhone 13 display repairs kill Face ID
Way to go, Apple.
Photo: iFixit

The teardown experts at iFixit have confirmed that unauthorized display replacements break Face ID on iPhone 13. They also warn that Apple’s rather unscrupulous move has “huge implications for the professional repair industry.”

The only way around the change is to employ incredibly complicated micro soldering practices to transfer the display chip from the original screen over to the new one. It is “the strongest case yet for right to repair laws,” iFixit says.

Twitter fixes a big search problem on iPhone and iPad

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Twitter profile search iPhone
Install the latest Twitter update to get its new search tool.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Trying to find tweets posted by a certain user has long been a complicated process on Twitter. But it just got a lot easier on iPhone and iPad, thanks to a new button that can now be found on every user profile.

The button allows you to quickly search tweets posted by a specific account, while leaving out everything else.

Super-size movie night with a pocket projector for less than $200

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Get this iPhone sized projector for 15%+ off for Pre-Black Friday.
Live large with this pocket-size projector's 200-inch, cinema-quality image.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

With more and more movies landing on streaming platforms and in theaters simultaneously, you have more chances to re-create a first-run cinematic experience from the comfort of your own home. And big-screen glory is more accessible than ever with a Prima 1080p HD Pocket Projector.

This pocket-size projector is slim and lightweight enough to fit in your purse or backpack — and it’s $600 off with the pre-Black Friday deal.

Peloton partly blames Apple for post-pandemic sales plunge

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Peloton blames Apple for sales slump
It's much more difficult for Peloton to serve targeted ads.
Photo: Peloton

Apple’s efforts to bolster your privacy protections on iPhone and iPad are being blamed for a sharp decline in Peloton sales.

The company enjoyed a boom while everyone was stuck at home during the pandemic, but it has since been forced to cut its outlook by as much as $1 billion. It said this week that Apple’s crackdown on tracking is partly at fault.

Invasion braces itself for full-blown alien action [Apple TV+ review]

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Invasion review: This sci-fi show has a soldier problem.
This sci-fi show has a soldier problem.
Photo: Apple TV+

Invasion finally says the “A” word as conspiracies become fact — and facts become dire. This week on the Apple TV+ sci-fi show, the Malik family gets caught in a web of lies, Mitsuki crafts her own, and Trevante winds up stuck in Afghanistan (and for once wants to get out).

Invasion gets ready for the fireworks by going small and emotional to lay the groundwork. Something big is around the corner, so this week it’s about biding time and digging in before the invasion really ramps up.

Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show is the kids show we need [Apple TV+ review]

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Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show
Jack McBrayer gets a long-overdue showcase in Apple TV+'s winning new kids show.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s new kids show is another musical extravaganza, this time starring the inestimable Jack McBrayer, a comedy veteran with a heart of gold. Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show, which debuts today, treats us to the sensibility of someone who wants us to know about life’s challenges and meet them head on in classic Sesame Street fashion.

Will McBrayer’s inoffensive brand of comedy catch on as easily as the OK Go songs on the Hello, Jack! soundtrack? (They’re written expressly to get stuck in your head, BTW.) And can McBrayer become a household name like he ought to be? Here’s hoping so, because if anyone’s earned that, it’s Jack.

Some Apple retail stores drop face mask mandates

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Why Apple Watch’s iPhone unlock will change your freakin’ life
Wave goodbye to masks at some Apple Stores.
Photo: Ivan Samkov/Pexels CC

Starting Friday, many people will be able to visit a U.S. Apple Store without wearing a mask. It’s not a universal change — an Apple company memo that leaked out indicates that removing the mask requirement depends on “vaccinations, testing, and case counts” in the area of each retail store.

Reportedly, about a third of stores will see the change. But that’s only the start.

In Finch, Tom Hanks rides out a totally ordinary apocalypse [Apple TV+ review]

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Finch review: Tom Hanks plays the last man on earth.
Tom Hanks plays the last man on earth in Finch. But don' worry. He's got a dog (and he's building a robot).
Photo: Apple TV+

Though it looks like a fake movie they invented for a throwaway joke on 30 RockFinch — the new movie Apple TV+ movie in which Tom Hanks, a dog and a robot band together to survive the apocalypse –is very real.

The latest in a long string of post-apocalyptic flicks, it premieres Friday on Apple TV+. If by some miracle you’ve never seen a movie about the end of the world, why not start with this one? A lot of reasons, actually….

Manage all your company’s Apple devices on your own with Jamf Now

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Easily manage Apple devices with Jamf.
Jamf is the ultimate Apple device management platform.
Photo: Jamf

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Everybody wants to be the boss, but once the responsibility of running a business is firmly placed on those untested shoulders, there is a laundry list of decisions and problems that need to be resolved daily.

Jamf Now is one of the ways a small- to medium-size business can make sure some of those pressing problems get handled. It’s an Apple device management platform designed to help companies set up, manage and secure all their iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV devices — even without a dedicated IT staff.

How to change credit card or bank account used by iPhone Upgrade Program

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How to change credit card or bank account used by iPhone Upgrade Program
If your Apple Card isn’t being used by the iPhone Upgrade Program, you’re losing out on 3% Daily Cash. Here’s how to change it.
Photo: Cult of Mac

The iPhone Upgrade Program enables people to get a new Apple handset every year and pay it off in monthly installments, interest free. The monthly payments come from a credit card or a bank account. It’s possible to change which one at any time.

Many people who used the Upgrade Program to get an iPhone 13 want to do this because a bug prevented an Apple Card from being used for this on the handset’s launch day.

Here’s how to switch to a new credit card or bank account for Apple’s installment plan.

Zynga bets the FarmVille 3 animal menagerie will hook you on iOS

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Now on iOS: FarmVille 3 lets you raise baby animals and keep some as companions.
Now on iOS: FarmVille 3 lets you raise baby animals and keep some as companions.
Photo: Zynga

Game maker Zynga launched FarmVille 3 on iOS and Android Thursday. It’s the newest version in the strategy simulation game series, which first broke out as a hit on Facebook in 2009 with FarmVille and then expanded with mobile FarmVille 2 versions in 2016 and 2018.

AirPods 3 teardown can’t explain boost in battery life

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AirPods 3 teardown can’t explain boost in battery life
Each AirPods 3 battery offers less capacity than the ones in AirPods Pro.
Photo: 52audio

Apple’s recently released AirPods 3 have a longer battery life than either AirPods 2 or AirPods Pro. But a teardown of the new truly wireless headphones finds batteries that can’t fully explain the extra time between charges.

Watch a video of the teardown showing why along with some other internal details of AirPods 3.

6 brilliant but affordable AirPods alternatives

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AirPods might just be the best wireless buds you can pair with Apple devices, but they’re also pretty expensive. Plenty of more affordable options that deliver stellar sound and reliable connectivity in a neat design are available.

So, if you’re buying on a budget this holiday season, skip the Apple Store and check out these six brilliant but more affordable alternatives to AirPods.

iPhone 14 may be forced to settle for less advanced 4nm chip

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iPhone 14 might have to settle for less advanced 4nm chip
The A16 is expected to be the heart of the iPhone 14.
Graphic: Apple/Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple reportedly won‘t be able get chips made with a cutting-edge 3nm process for the iPhone 14, so it supposedly might switch to 4nm. The change would result in an iPhone that’s not as much an improvement over the current one as had been thought.

This isn’t a result of the global shortage in processors. Chip-maker TSMC is allegedly having problems with its 3nm process.

Can your iPhone charger open your beer? This one can.

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The High Six compact charging cable and adapter set is also a bottle opener -- all on a keychain.
The High Six compact charging cable and adapter set is also a bottle opener -- all on a keychain.
Photo: Vonmählen

German accessory designer Vonmählen is rolling out a 6-in-1 keychain pocket tool called the High Six – which it said is “the world’s most compact key chain charging cable.” In addition to its various adapters for your charging and data-transfer needs, it has a bottle opener. You know, for your refreshment needs.

iPhone X with USB-C port hits eBay with bids at over $85,000

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iPhone with USB-C hits eBay
Will you be placing a bid?
Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Remember the iPhone X that was modded to use a USB-C port? The robotics engineer who created it this week listed the device on eBay, and it has already racked up more than 140 bids to reach an eye-watering $85,550.

The auction, which includes a 30-minute phone call with seller Ken Pillonel, still has seven days left to run. But Pillonel asks bidders not to restore or update the device — or even use it as their daily driver.

iPad mini could get 120Hz ProMotion display, fixing ‘jelly scroll’

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iPad mini on table
But don't get your hopes up.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

A future iPad mini refresh could bring 120Hz ProMotion technology to Apple’s smallest tablet, according to a new report.

The upgrade could fix the “jelly scrolling” effect that his been exhibited by many 2021 iPad mini units — upsetting a lot of early adopters — which use the same 60Hz refresh rate as iPad Air and the 10.2-inch entry-level iPad.

Juice 3 Apple devices at once with this pre-Black Friday deal on a charging station

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Get 15% off this charging station during the pre-black friday sale.
Put an end to nomophobia with this 3-in-1 charger.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You should be able to use your phone while it charges. The Omnia M3 Magnetic 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station lets you do that and charge two other devices at the same time.

And you can upgrade your charging game for just $67.96 if you use the code SAVE15NOV, thanks to this pre-Black Friday deal.

Will Smith will be Oprah’s next guest on Apple TV+

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Will Smith sits down with Oprah for Apple TV+
Watch it tomorrow, November 5.
Photo: Apple

Apple on Friday confirmed that award-winning actor, rapper and producer Will Smith will be the next guest on The Oprah Conversation. The episode is scheduled to premiere on Friday, November 5 on Apple TV+.

Apple says the conversation will focus on Smith’s memoirs, deepest insecurities, biggest life lessons, and navigating a complex marriage that has become increasingly public in recent months.

Apple TV+ picks up new docuseries based on NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson

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Apple TV+ picks up Magic Johnson docuseries
Johnson enjoyed a glittering NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Photo: Apple TV+

A new documentary series based on NBA Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson was Friday confirmed for Apple TV+.

It will be split into four parts that “explore the remarkable accomplishments and global impact of Johnson’s life, both on and off the court,” Apple said. It doesn’t have a release date just yet.

Apple brings its TestFlight platform to Mac for the first time

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TestFlight lands on Mac
Download it today for free.
Screenshot: Cult of Mac

TestFlight, Apple’s own platform for distributing beta software, is now officially available on Mac for the first time. It gives developers the opportunity to invite up to 10,000 people to test early versions of their apps ahead of their release.

Apple first confirmed TestFlight would be coming to Mac back in June at WWDC. It was previously only available on iPhone and iPad.

Get over your public speaking fears with this confidence-boosting AI app

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This AI speech app is an extra 15% off for Pre-Black Friday.
Get an extra 15% off this interactive speech app in our Pre-Black Friday Sale.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you break out in a cold sweat every time you switch into presenter mode on Zoom, you’re not alone. About 75% of the population struggles with the fear of public speaking.

For all those moments you wish you had your own public speaking coach before key presentations and important meetings, the Orai Interactive AI Assisted Public Speaking Course + 1-Year Subscription App Bundle is the perfect thing to have in your (literal) back pocket. And it’s on sale ahead of Black Friday.

In no hurry? Sleek, compact Zens 4-in-1 magnetic charger tops up your gear. [Review]

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The aluminum build gives the Zens Magnetic + Watch Wireless Charger a sense of premium quality.
The aluminum build gives the Zens Magnetic + Watch Wireless Charger a sense of premium quality.
Photo: David Snow / Cult of Mac

The Zens Magnetic + Watch Wireless Charger stands in the ranks of MagSafe-compatible chargers designed to be your go-to device for juicing up multiple pieces of Apple gear — and the sleek and compact 4-in-1 device does it in style. But not with a huge amount of charging power.

The Zens Magnetic + Watch Wireless Charger tops up four devices — all at once, if you like.

A puck on a dark metallic stem holds a MagSafe iPhone (12 or 13 series) firmly in place, horizontally or vertically. The surface underneath charges an AirPods case or any Qi-enabled device. A USB-A charging stick lets you top off an Apple Watch in Sleep mode. And a USB-A port on the side powers up something else, like an iPad.