Cult of Mac

Now that so much of our daily work and communication has shifted online, it’s more important than ever that our grammar is impeccable and our sentence structure is solid. Whether you’re drafting an email, wrapping up a report under a tight deadline, or even typing up your digital holiday card, you want to be sure you’re saying exactly what you mean.

Since it takes a lot of effort to make sure you’ve crossed your T’s and dotted your I’s, there’s WhiteSmoke Grammar Checker — an English-correction tool that takes the guesswork out of what you’re drafting and brings out your inner wordsmith.

The iPhone 12 Pro starts at $999, but the components for this high-end smartphone cost less than half the selling price. Market researchers disassembled Apple’s latest top-tier handset to ascertain its parts cost.

And they figured out that only a tiny percentage of the device is actually made is China.

Apple on Wednesday dropped its first holiday ad of 2020, featuring HomePod mini and rapper Tierra Whack. The two-minute video, titled “The magic of mini,” focuses on the speaker’s impressive sound quality.

Black Friday is going largely virtual this year, with people snatching up deals from their couches instead of descending on their local department stores.

You might miss out on the in-store excitement (and the ridiculous Black Friday brawls), but it’s not all bad. One huge benefit of shopping from home is that you can get deals on stuff that doesn’t come in a box.

Take, for instance, these absolutely awesome lesson bundles, which are available for as much as 98% off the usual prices. With these career-boosting courses, you can learn to code, master in-demand software and generally get set for a breakout 2021.

Google has rolled out new updates for Docs, Sheets, and Slides on iOS that add support for Microsoft Office files. A bunch of different Office formats are supported without the need for file conversion.

Life hasn’t been as sweet as it should be for some M1 Mac mini owners. A number of users are being plagued by Bluetooth connectivity issues, which can cause wireless peripherals to frequently disconnect.

The number of complaints is growing online, and it seems the only real fix is to use a third-party Bluetooth adapter.

Apple will introduce a redesigned Apple Watch and MacBook lineup in late 2021, according to one reliable analyst.

Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities expects Apple’s next-generation wearable to bring “innovative health management functions.” He also told investors iPhone 12 is off to a strong start.

We can all agree that there’s nothing worse than a charging cable unexpectedly quitting on you. (Well, maybe not). Thankfully, there are lots of reliable options out in the market today — and we bet this roundup of cables for Lightning devices has options more innovative, durable and convenient than the ones lying around your house.

Check out some of our favorites and take advantage of early Black Friday access (no coupon code required) for savings that make these the perfect stocking stuffers.

The Cult of Mac Store’s Black Friday sale is now even bigger, with 20% off Monowear and Twelve South available now. You can save on iPhone cases, Apple Watch bands, MacBook stands, and more.

Get yours before the discount disappears!

A new website could become the go-to guide to which applications are compatible with Macs running on Apple Silicon chips.

IsAppleSiliconReady.com lists apps that have been ported to run on Apple’s new M1 processor. It also tells if apps are compatible with Rosetta 2, the macOS Big Sur feature that allows the M1 Macs to run software compiled for Intel chips.

A newly discovered M1 Mac trick lets you use up to six external displays simultaneously. It is simple to set up, and a YouTube video by an M1 Mac owner suggests performance is decent.

If you haven’t already ordered a HomePod mini and you live in Europe, your chances of getting one ahead of the holidays look incredibly slim. Shipping times have now slipped to early January on the Apple Store.

iPhones can do a lot, but there’s only so much you can squeeze into such a slim profile. These four great iPhone accessories will make it possible to get a lot more out of your smartphone. And they all cost less than 50 bucks.

I just opened more than 650 tabs in Safari on a new M1 MacBook Air. I would have opened more, but I got bored.

Meanwhile, in the background, the machine is downloading Photoshop and the Microsoft 360 suite, and I can see in Activity Monitor that it’s processing thousands of iCloud photos while also indexing the hard drive.

Despite this, the machine is as fleet as a greyhound. I started working on a Photoshop project while checking email, keeping an eye on TweetDeck and, of course, clicking around all those open Safari tabs. The MacBook Air is just humming. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Apple will debut its first iPad Pro with an OLED display during the second half of 2021, according to a new report.

The screens are expected to be manufactured by Samsung, which is said to be renovating one of its production lines specifically for OLED iPad displays. LG will also be involved in production.

Companies using their iPhone app to schedule online group events so they can stay in business during the COVID-19 pandemic won‘t be required to share their revenue with Apple for many months.

It’s one of several moves Apple made recently that could soften its image a bit.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney accused Thomas Moyer, the head of global security for Apple, of bribery. Two officials at the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office were also indicted and accused of soliciting the bribe.

The county employees supposedly wanted 200 iPads donated to the Sheriff’s Office in exchange for four licenses to carry concealed firearms.

Whether you’re putting together a pitch deck or helping a client develop their company logo, having an available repository of stock photos, vectors and icons is an invaluable time-saver — especially when the images have extended and commercial licenses available. This 3 Million+ Design Assets Super Bundle: Lifetime Subscription is perfect for entrepreneurs, small marketing teams and professional designers alike.

The first Macs running the M1 processor are crazy fast, making lots of MacBook and Mac mini users consider dumping their Intel-based Macs. Before you do, here’s everything you give up when buying a computer powered by Apple Silicon.

Some HomePod mini owners are encountering Wi-Fi connectivity problems that there appears to be no fix for.

Early adopters of Apple’s newest smart speaker report that Siri often says there is no internet connection, despite no issues on other devices. The only workaround is a temporary one.

Apple today unveiled its four-day shopping event that kicks off on Black Friday. The company is offering gift cards of up to $150 when you buy select products, including iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac.

The event runs through Monday, November 30, but it excludes some of Apple’s newest products — such as iPhone 12 and the new iPad Air.

Want to make your digital life easier to manage or, dare we say it, just plain more fun?

We rounded up four great apps that can boost your productivity, maximize your entertainment options and just generally make your life better. They’re all offered at hefty discounts, and they all cost less than $40. (Some come with lifetime subscriptions, too.)

Apple has confirmed that some M1 Mac owners may run into an error message when attempting to reinstall macOS on their new machine. If you’re one of them, there are some things you can do to avoid it.

These include using a bootable installer, rather than macOS Recovery, or initiating a reinstall from Terminal. We’ll show you how.

Kodak became a household name due to its dominance of the photographic film industry. But even after the worldwide shift to digital photography, Kodak still has a role to play. These four great bits of Kodak gear bridge the classic and the modern, from film-related tools to an iPhone case printer.

They make great gifts for friends and relatives with loads of old negatives or slides, too.

With so much new Apple hardware arriving on doorsteps around the world, it’s like Christmas in November. That makes it a target-rich environment for reviews.

In this week’s free edition of Cult of Mac Magazine, we showcase a shootout between the year’s two most intriguing iPhones. It’s the iPhone 12 Pro Max versus the iPhone 12 mini in dueling reviews. And then there’s the HomePod mini …

Our fearless leader Leander Kahney went nuts reviewing everything he could get his hands on this week. Grab the free mag to read on your iPad or iPhone. Or view the stories at the links below.

P.S. Like podcasts? We discussed all three of these devices, and the amazing new M1-powered Macs, on this week’s episode of The CultCast. It’s now available as a video, too.