Cult of Mac

A group of media, tech, and ad companies in Germany have made an official antitrust complaint about Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature.

The group, which represents Facebook among other companies, is concerned about the effect the new privacy feature will have on the ad business. It also claims that the feature could wind up hurting users by making apps more expensive.

Redditor KunalBH bought a compact, no-frills Anker keyboard to use with his iPad in 2017. Now he’s asking the universe for help finding a worthy replacement (or additional) keyboard for his MacBook Pro-based setup.

Passionate suggestions are pouring in. See below for some of the leading contenders.

Need an affordable Mac that can handle all your everyday tasks? Order a powerful Mac mini or MacBook Pro refurb from Woot and save hundreds. Prices start at just $589.99, but the sale is good for today only.

Don’t miss out!

Apple is ramping up its investments in the U.S., announcing Monday its plans to make “new contributions of more than $430 billion” as well as adding 20,000 new jobs across the country within the next five years.

According to Apple, it has breezed past its original five-year-plan, laid out in 2018, for investing $350 billion in the U.S. economy. It is now increasing this — with a particular focus on next-gen chip development, AI, and 5G innovation.

Tim Cook reportedly shocked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg when, during a July 2019 meeting, he told the social media magnate that he should delete all user data Facebook had gathered outside of its core apps.

According to The New York Times, the meeting between the two had been called to try and restore peace between the Silicon Valley tech giants. Zuck had asked cook how he should respond to the then-current Cambridge Analytica scandal, during which many users had had data gathered about them without express permission.

AirPods are famous for their seamless multi-device syncing ability. But there’s one snag that can annoy Mac users: The AirPods experience is optimized for iPhones and iPads, not macOS.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Left your reading glasses at home? Switch system text sizes on the fly using Control Center to make text messages, emails, websites, and more easier to read on iPhone and iPad. We’ll show you how.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Have you noticed your Apple Watch isn’t sounding so good after getting wet? That’s likely because there is liquid lodged inside its speaker. But don’t worry — you can quickly clear it with just one tap in Control Center.

We’ll show you how.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Want to capture what’s happening on the screen of your iPhone or iPad. Apple’s built-in screen recording feature makes that incredibly easy, and you can activate it with just one tap inside Control Center.

We’ll show you how.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

There’s no need to mess around inside System Preferences or the Settings app when you want to change Wi-Fi networks. Open Control Center on your Apple device and make the switch in a snap.

We’ll show you how on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

On iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, the Control Center puts vital tools at your fingertips. And while most people probably are familiar with some preset options, like Airplane Mode and Do Not Disturb, a world of customization awaits anyone willing to spend a few minutes digging deeper into this underutilized tool set.

All week long, we’ll show you how to get the most out of Control Center — and thus squeeze even more sweet utility out of your Apple devices. With this series of quick and simple Control Center tips, we’ll show you how to add useful buttons that make common tasks easier than ever.

Apple’s newest Powerbeats headphones can now be yours at their lowest price to date. Order them in black on Amazon today for just $79.99 — a generous $69.96 off the usual price.

Apple came up short at Sunday night’s Oscars, losing its Best Animated Feature nomination (for the great animated movie Wolfwalkers) to Pixar’s Soul.

As brilliant as it was (and Cult of Mac‘s resident reviewer hailed it as the best animated flick of the year) Wolfwalkers was very much a long shot. This would have been Apple TV+’s first Oscar. Instead, it was scuppered by Pixar winning its 11th (!!) award in the Best Animated Feature category.

There are some changes in the 2021 iPad Pro that shouldn’t be overlooked, even as most of the attention has gone to the speedy M1 processor and gorgeous mini-LED display. Some of the differences are good, but not all.

Here are five things you shouldn’t miss about Apple’s new top-tier tablet.

While our smartphones, smartwatches and earbuds are essential to a tech-savvy lifestyle, they can create quite a bit of clutter when scattered about. Charging multiple devices can use up several outlets, and it can even be easy to lose small earbuds without a proper resting place.

This week, Cult of Mac is giving away three classy Apple Watch bands from Monowear. You have a chance to win the brand-new burnt orange Perforated Leather Band in your choice of two sizes.

Monowear’s Perforated Leather Band is made with the highest-quality leather. Finished with classy, motor-sport-inspired perforations, it will keep your wrist cool. And it makes you look cool to boot.

Previously available in black, brown and burgundy, Monowear’s perforated band looks great in the new burnt orange color. Known to promote motivation, orange is a color that radiates happiness and warmth. If your Apple Watch is in need of a vibrant pop of color, be sure to enter this giveaway.

iMac … iPad Pro … Apple TV 4K … AirTag …

So much new Apple hardware, so little time!

And that’s not to mention the purple iPhone or the upgrades and updates coming to Apple Podcasts, Apple Card and more. Jump right into all our coverage of this week’s big “Spring Loaded” Apple event in Cult of Mac Magazine. (And if you’re already caught up on that, you’ll find plenty of other Apple news, reviews and how-tos.)

Our iOS mag is free and makes reading easy and fun, but you also can find the headlines below.

Raise your hand if you’ve received an important PDF and needed to edit it, but couldn’t. Most of us have. Whether it’s filing your taxes online, editing a document for work, or filling out necessary health forms, there are a variety of reasons why you may need to edit a PDF as soon as possible — and find yourself unable to.

That’s precisely what PDF Reader Pro was made for. This Mac app allows you to edit PDFs to tweak text, replace images or annotate a few lines. Available at an additional 20% off for Mother’s Day with code WELOVEMOM, PDF Reader Pro is just $31.99 for a limited time.

The 12.9-inch 2021 iPad Pro unveiled April 20 is slightly thicker than its predecessor. And that’s enough to prevent the latest tablet from being a good fit with the Apple Magic Keyboard released last year. But apparently the fit is just close enough.

Update April 29, 2021: Apple added a paragraph to its support document for this keyboard that says:

“The first generation of the Magic Keyboard (A1998) is functionally compatible with the new iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation) with Liquid Retina XDR display. Due to the slightly thicker dimensions of this new iPad Pro, it’s possible that the Magic Keyboard may not precisely fit when closed, especially when screen protectors are applied.”

This software keys post is presented by CdkeySales.

In line with previous exclusive sales events, Cult of Mac readers now have another chance to benefit from a special 20% discount on the already-inexpensive software product activation keys available at CdkeySales.com.

These days, you don’t need to be a professional photographer with a with a DSLR to snap high-quality photos. If only the same could be said for photo editing. Tweaking colors, shadows and light can be an intimidating and overwhelming endeavor for the casual photographer who wants the best photos.

Perhaps that’s why Luminar 4 is so popular. This award-winning software is the world’s first AI-powered photo editor. Available now at an 85% discount, Luminar 4 comes bundled along with photography lectures and editing add-ons for just $39.99.

Music fans rejoice! 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything is an upcoming Apple TV+ documentary series exploring the musicians and soundtracks that shaped the culture and politics of 50 years ago.

It’ll premiere on Apple’s streaming video service on Friday, May 21.

Apple just added a brand-new feature to Apple TV that works with your iPhone to color calibrate your TV. It’s really simple to use and the results can be terrific. What’s more, you don’t need the newest Apple TV.

The new Color Balance tool is available on Apple TV models released in 2015 or later. Here’s how to use it.

The M1 Mac processor in the recently-revealed 2021 iPad Pro forced Apple to reiterate that it’s not planning to combine macOS and iPadOS. According to two top-level executives, the company is producing the best Mac and the best iPad it can make. Not a mashup of them.

The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro boasts a swanky mini-LED display, making it the first Apple tablet without a traditional LCD screen.

Apple calls the mini-LED screen in the 2021 12.9-inch iPad Pro a “Liquid Retina XDR display.” The new technology brings a welcome boost to the iPad’s display quality. And it seems likely that mini-LEDs will show up in MacBook Pros and other Apple gear in the near future.

“This is the display you have to see to believe,” said iPad marketing manager Raja Bose during Apple’s mind-blowing “Spring Loaded” event on Tuesday.

But what exactly are mini-LED displays, and how do they differ from LCD or even OLED or micro-LED screens? Don’t worry: We’ve got the answers to your questions.