This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first MacBook Pro benchmarks and reviews reveal just how beefy these astonishing beasts really are. Powered by Apple’s outrageous new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, these laptops blow away their predecessors — and basically blow our minds. Erfon is in awe!

Also on The CultCast:

• MacBook Pros look very good for gaming, too.
• Intel chief takes on an impossible mission.
• Leander gives third-gen AirPods a listen (and he likes what he hears).

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in Apple’s 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 on The Morning Show, veteran anchor Alex Levy tracks down her shamed former colleague Mitch Kessler in Italy and demands an ass-covering statement before she returns to the states.

Of course, nothing is ever simple on Apple TV+’s show about the morning news and the nightmarish people who produce it. COVID-19 is ramping up, and Alex won’t be able to leave Italy even if she wants to. So she’s stuck with Mitch, the last place she wants to be.

This is a fine episode from the standpoint of the performances of The Morning Show’s big stars and the writing that paints their characters as believable human beings. It’s also the single worst episode of television you could hope to air right now — a phalanx of bad decisions that would shame an entire season of The Newsroom.

Got your fancy new MacBook Pro? Once you’re done admiring its all-new design and insanely fast chips, you’ll probably want to add some accessories that will help you make the most out of your new machine.

Here are seven essentials that will help you connect USB devices, backup your and transfer your data between difference devices, keep your MacBook Pro protected on the go, and more.

Sick of seeing a sea of tangled cables on your desk or nightstand? Restore order with a four-pack of colorful Cable Blocks.

They’re weighted (not stuck down) so they can be easily repositioned whenever you like, and they’ll hold onto almost any cable to prevent it from mingling with others — or from falling off your table.

After Apple stock tanked following the company’s earnings call on Thursday, arch rival Microsoft overtook it to become the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of $2.46 trillion. But Apple isn’t far behind.

Cupertino’s market cap currently sits at around $2.43 trillion. Apple has warned, however, that ongoing supply issues could lead to weaker-than-expected results for the final quarter — typically Apple’s most lucrative — of the year.

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Save others the shock and misery of stumbling across your nudes by keeping them protected inside Google Photos. The service’s handy Locked Folder features is making the leap from Android to iOS “early next year.”

Locked Folder gives you a place to put sensitive photos and videos where are secured by a passcode or biometric security protections.

You can transform your stressful tasks into manageable work with Pagico Task & Data Management Software. On sale for just $25, this task-management multitool will streamline some of your most time-consuming tasks.

You can use Pagico to visualize your work, giving you a simplified and intuitive way of seeing the status of different projects. And if you have a big project you’re struggling to wrap your head around, Pagico can help you turn smaller tasks into lists — and lists into actionable timelines.

Civilization is collapsing, the adults in the room are dying, and the aliens are starting to reveal themselves. Does anyone stand a chance? Apple TV+’s pulp sci-fi series Invasion encounters new hurdles and reaches paranoid heights this week.

Both Monty the school bully and Ahmed the cheating husband near the limits of their likability and desperation, while Caspar, Aneesha and Mitsuki find new stores of courage and resolve to combat their horrible new realities. And everybody’s fates rest upon what happens next.

A growing number of reports from macOS Monterey users suggest Apple’s newest operating system has issues with USB-C hubs and some other USB peripherals — some of which do not work at all.

Some users say that while there USB-C hub is detected and most ports work as intended, USB 3.0 ports supposedly aren’t seen by macOS.

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Cult of Mac readers get great deals from software activation keys provider Keysbuff. You can save up to 80% off full prices on Windows 10 and many other Microsoft software products in the Keysbuff Halloween Sale. Just use promo code COM at Keysbuff.com to get an extra 28% off already-low prices on keys for Windows 10 Pro Global, Microsoft Office 2019 Pro and others in the list below. You can purchase many products with lifetime licenses.

Apple made a record $20.6 billion in profits last quarter but is getting punished because $83.4 billion in revenue didn’t meet Wall Street analysts’ expectations. Turns out even the Cupertino juggernaut is not immune to supply chain problems — $6 billion worth of them.

Here’s the bad news — and the good — from Apple’s September 2021 earnings report and a Q&A session with analysts afterward.

Apple’s stock is tanking in after-hours trading, despite the company’s announcement of yet another record-breaking quarter. The problem? Wall Street expected it to make way more.

Having a reliable charger at your convenience, wherever you are, is one of the biggest day-to-day life upgrades you can give yourself. And that doesn’t just count for at home or at your desk. A charger you can rely on when you’re on the go means you’ll never run out of battery when you need it.

These accessories, made by the charger experts at VogDuo, are all portable and perfect for taking with you on your travels. These four chargers, on sale right now, will keep your iPhone, AirPods and other gear primed for action — anytime, anywhere!

Apple revenue during the July-to-September quarter totaled $83.4 billion, up 29% year over year and a new record for the quarter. That lead to an dramatic increase in net income. Revenue from iPhone was up significantly, while iPad, Mac, wearables and services revenue grew by smaller percentages.

But analysts had been expecting more. The consensus was for Apple’s total revenue to be nearly $85B. It’s rare for the company to not exceed these expectations. Apple execs said in a conference call after the announcement that component supply constraints cut revenue by $6B.

With the new Jabra Elite 7 Pro earbuds, I seem to have found near-ideal audio with active noise cancellation (ANC) for both music and phone calls. The compact earbuds offer surprisingly expansive sound and are incredibly comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

Developers just got their hands on macOS 12.1, the initial major update to Monterey. It’s Apple’s first opportunity to test features missing from macOS 12, like SharePlay and Universal Control.

But the beta is so new it’s not yet clear whether these features are in it yet.

If you have a MacBook Pro of a certain age, you probably know what it’s like to run out of storage. These days, apps, macOS updates and big media files like videos require more space than ever before. But memory and storage provider OWC has your 2016-2017 13-inch MacBook Pro covered with its new Aura Pro NT NVMe solid state drive (SSD).

The new Plugable UD-3900C universal docking station is a reasonably priced means of “hot-desking” with Macs and PCs. That allows hybrid workers to easily connect and get right back on the job when they come back to the office, even if they always use a different desk.

After weeks of speculation surrounding a new Apple Music app for PlayStation 5, the streaming service has finally landed on Sony’s newest home console, allowing subscribers to enjoy their favorite playlists while they game.

However, the app is missing one of its most impressive features. Users have discovered that spatial audio with Dolby Atmos is not available for Apple Music tracks on PlayStation 5.

A group of students in China is suing Apple for no longer including chargers with its newest iPhone models. The lawsuit calls for Cupertino to cough up for charging adapters, breach of contract, and court fees.

Apple has already been fined by Brazil’s consumer protection agency since it stopped shipping power adapters with iPhone 12 last fall.

If you’ve invested this past year in a fancy at-home office setup, you know cable clutter can easily build up with the number of devices you rely on. And that only makes your desk feel that much more chaotic.

Make your workspace neater, and boost your productivity, with this 4-in-1 Versatile Wireless Charger. It’s a powerful, universal wireless charger that can power up to four devices at once, while keeping all your most-relied on gear conveniently located in one spot.

The new AirPods 3 are marvelous little earbuds. They sound fantastic, are dead easy to set up and use, and the wireless charging case is a godsend.

Compared to their predecessors, Apple greatly improved just about everything — and they are well worth their $179 price tag.

When the time comes to replace the battery inside your 2021 MacBook Pro, you can avoid the pricey repair shops. Apple has made this particular process significantly easier than it was on earlier MacBook models.

All six battery cells inside the new machines are easily accessible — with no need to remove the logic board first — and much easier to remove. The changes make for a fairly simply at-home repair for those who are brave enough.

HomePod mini’s new color options, which were introduced during Apple’s big MacBook Pro event on October 18, will go on sale in the U.S. next week, according to a new report. Fans in Europe will have to wait a little longer.

The new color options include orange, yellow and blue. Aside from the fresh lick of paint, however, the new smart speakers are identical to the original.