Cult of Mac

The world of podcasts is wide and deep, so finding great ones in the wilds of the internet can be daunting. But with the AI-powered Podurama app, you can find and organize podcasts to your heart’s content — and sync them for listening on various devices.

It’s that time of year when Black Friday and Cyber Monday seem to stretch for days and days. The Cult of Mac Store is offering 30% off a range of wonderful Laut accessories for Apple products through the end of the day Monday.

You can pick up a protective and colorful folio for your iPad, a luxurious steel mesh Apple Watch band, an iPhone 14 camera lens protector or a bike saddle mount for AirTag at great prices. See the whole Laut collection and some highlights below.

A trick you might have missed with the release of iPadOS 17 is support for external USB-C webcams. As good as the front-facing camera in the iPad is, it’s now possible to plug in a separate one.

Here’s why you might be interested, and how to connect a webcam to your iPad with a USB-C port.

Did you miss buying your favorite Apple gear or accessory during Black Friday? Do not worry, as Cyber Monday is here. This is probably your last chance to get a new MacBook, iPad, or Apple Watch at its lowest price before the holidays.

You can get the recently launched M3 MacBook Pro with a 10-core GPU for just $1,449 ($150 off). You can score even bigger discounts of up to $250 on the 15-inch MacBook Air. The Apple Pencil 2 is also down to its new lifetime low price of $79.99 after a massive $49 off.

While Apple is running its own shopping event for Cyber Monday, you should look at deals from third-party retailers, as they are offering bigger discounts. However, as always, these prices could change at any time and/or the products could sell out.

November 26, 1984: “The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC,” claims Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in a BusinessWeek cover story.

The claim would seem almost unthinkable coming out of Gates’ mouth just a few years later. But it lands at a time when Microsoft is best known as one of the biggest Mac developers.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters stomped onto the list of most popular shows on any streaming service this week. Even better, the Apple TV+ series with Godzilla and other kaiju debuted near the top of the list, according to a market analysis.

At the same time, Brie Larson’s Lessons in Chemistry continued to draw a big audience, week after week.

No one likes being tracked across the web and bombarded with ads. If you want to restore some privacy, Control D offers complete protection across all your devices — and you can get a five-year subscription today for only $27.99 using coupon code CONTROL.

While Safari offers a small amount of built-in protection, the internet is becoming harder and harder to use without an ad blocker. There are simply too many ads, pop-ups and trackers to navigate easily. No matter what browser you use, Control D can make the web better. Rated a perfect five stars on Product Hunt, this powerful privacy app is packed full of useful features.

November 25, 1996: A midlevel manager at NeXT contacts Apple about the possibility of Cupertino licensing NeXT’s OpenStep operating system.

Garrett L. Rice’s communication with Ellen Hancock, Apple’s chief technology officer, is the first formal step in a long process. It ultimately leads to Apple buying NeXT, the creation of Mac OS X, and Steve Jobs returning home to the company he co-founded.

Apple’s own Black Friday/Cyber Monday special offers bundle gift cards of up to $200 with selected products. There are bargains on these devices available from other retailers but some prefer to buy straight from Apple.

The Apple Store Shopping Event started on November 24 (Black Friday) and runs through November 27 (Cyber Monday).

If you need to run Windows on your Mac for work purposes, you still need the right software to get things done. Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows is the perfect toolbox, and you can get it for just $59.97 in a Black Friday/Cyber Week price drop.

Of course, the world’s most popular software suite works on PCs, too!

Here are a few secret tricks and gestures that’ll help you get around your iPhone faster. These hidden gestures help you text pictures to your friends faster, scroll through big pages and screens, type special characters and use your phone one-handed.

This is a follow-up to an article from earlier this year with three other secret iPhone gestures you need to know. Learn all of these gestures and you’ll feel like an iPhone power user.

Update: Black Friday might be over but the deals certainly are not. Many of the best deals on Apple products are still live and you can score some hefty discounts on them this shopping season. In fact, some of these deals disappeared for a while on Black Friday — like the iPad (9th gen) for just $229 (save $100) — then reappeared at some point!

For starters, don’t miss this killer deal on AirPods Pro 2 (with USB-C) for just $189 (save $60) — this is the best price we’ve seen on the best AirPods you can get. Plus, Apple Watch SE (2nd gen., 2022) is down to just $179 (save $70) — the SE is a great gift for someone this Xmas. Or, if you are shopping for yourself, the latest Apple Watch Series 9 is just $329 (save $70).

There are lots of great Apple deals to be had on Black Friday 2023 — just not from Apple itself. Apple is usually pretty stingy when it comes to Black Friday (Tim Cook loves his margins!). This year, you can get an Apple gift card worth up to $200 when you splash out on select products, but the latest and greatest — iPhone 15, M3 MacBook Pros, iMac, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 — are not included.

However, there are great savings on Apple products from third-party retailers like Best Buy, B&H Photo, Target and Walmart. All these stores offer significant discounts on AirPods, Apple Watch, iPads, iPhones and more. Here are the best deals on Apple gear we’ve found.

Apple TV+ took its biggest gambles this year as a distributor of theatrical features with gargantuan budgets and run times to match, hoping that America will want to return to the epics of yesteryear in time for the holidays.

With Martin Scorsese’s heartbreaking Killers of the Flower Moon garnering headlines and climbing toward recouping its budget, here comes Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. The Apple Original biopic about the diminutive French emperor — in theaters now, and coming to Apple’s streaming service at some point in the future — proves Apple TV+ is a safe bet for good movies.

Coupling unfliniching violence with a keen sense of the absurd, it’s one of Scott’s finest films.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Tim Cook recently said Apple has “very detailed” succession plans for when he eventually steps down as CEO. Plus, the company definitely plans to hire from within. That got us thinking … who’s next in Apple’s game of thrones?

Also on The CultCast:

• OLED screens might come to iPad Air and iPad mini somewhat soonish.
• Europe’s busybody technocrats have some more grand plans for Apple and other manufacturers. We’ve got mixed emotions.
• Sonos reportedly wants to take on Apple TV and AirPods Max with rival products.

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 live stream, embedded below.

Many of us would love to own a drone, but can’t justify the huge price tag. Well, now you don’t need to. The ProVision Foldable 4K HD Camera Drone is packed full of features, and you can get it for only $69.97 (including two batteries) in a special Black Friday deal.

It’s pretty amazing what kind of images you can capture with a camera in the sky. A good drone helps you frame landscapes, follow action sports, and take the most epic mountain-top selfies imaginable. The ProVision Foldable 4K HD Camera Drone makes these possibilities truly affordable, without sacrificing features.

Here’s a genuine killer deal on some killer products. Save up to 40% on Ultimate Ears portable speakers, many offered at $50 off the regular prices. The company said these are the best prices of the year. We’ve reviewed a lot of these speakers and rank them among the best you can get.

Just use code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.

November 24, 1999: Steve Jobs gets another feather in his cap when Toy Story 2, the sequel to the 1995 Pixar hit, debuts in theaters. It goes on to become the first animated sequel in history to gross more than the original.

While more a piece of Steve Jobs history than Apple history, the release of Toy Story 2 caps a spectacular year for Apple’s CEO.

Elago’s awesome accessories for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods are now available at 30% off through the Cult of Mac Store. All you need to do is add Elago products to your cart and 30% discount will automatically be added.

You can save on brilliant retro charging stands inspired by iconic devices like the original Macintosh and Game Boy, Apple Watch bands, iPhone cases, AirPods bumpers, and lots more. There’s also 30% off Elago’s new Apple Pencil cover.

This discount ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Monday, November 27 (Cyber Monday), so enjoy it while you can.

The Cult of Mac Store’s big Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale is now in full swing, offering big discounts on awesome accessories for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more.

Enjoy up to 50% off everything from HEDocks, 30% off Laut and Rilee & Lo, and 15% off Mifa and Elkson. The sale ends Monday, so check it out today and bag yourself a bargain before it’s too late!

Apple started the holidays off with Fuzzy Feelings, a combination of stop-motion animation and live action that tells a heart-warming story about reaching out to other people during the holidays.

Apple also released a “making of” video to show how the short film was produced with an iPhone 15 Pro Max and MacBook Air.

CleanMyMax X is a must-have app for your Mac to keep it running in its best condition. The app has over 30 tools to help manage your Mac’s performance and disk space by removing unwanted junk and large files, uninstalling old apps, and more.

This Black Friday, you can get 30% off CleanMyMac X‘s yearly license, making it an instant buy!

Those exploring the potential for a computer programming career likely already understand the importance of having a firm grasp of Python. The programming language powers a growing number of popular apps and websites. And because of that, knowledge in this field is highly valued.

If you’re looking to gain comprehensive knowledge of Python programming skills, a major educational investment isn’t required. This Python certification bundle is price-dropped to only $23.97 (regularly $120) through December 3.

November 23, 2010: An early Apple-1 computer, complete with its original packaging and a letter signed by Steve Jobs, sells for $210,000.

At the time, it ranks as the most expensive personal computer ever sold at auction. That makes sense, because it’s an incredibly rare find. The working Apple-1 is thought to be one of only approximately 50 still in existence.

Napoleon, a historical epic from director Ridley Scott, is now in theaters around the world. It’s a creation of Apple Original Films, and there are hopes it will clean up at the Oscar awards.

The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor who conquered much of Europe. It details the tyrant’s ruthless rise to power and his obsessive love for his wife, Empress Josephine.

There’s truth to the maxim that if you stop learning, you stop living — and learning a new language can be one of the best ways to open new doors for your personal and professional life. And while that may not be the sort of thing you’d normally shop for on Black Friday, it turns out self-improvement is on sale along with the rest of this year’s hot items.

For a limited time, acclaimed language learning app Babbel is offering lifetime subscriptions for $139.97, a full $60 off the previous sale price.