Make sharing a Mac a little easier. Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
If you share a Mac with others and are frequently switching between user accounts, you’ll be pleased to know you can do that quicker than ever in macOS Big Sur, thanks to a new feature called fast user switching.
You’ll need to set it up yourself because Apple doesn’t enable it by default, but it’s super-simple to do. We’ll show you how.
The Bucardo Sport is a Apple Watch band ready to hit the court when you are. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple Watch is meant to be worn while exercising, and the Bucardo Sport is a Watch band created with athletes in mind. But it also looks great for everyday use.
The sporty Apple Watch band comes in a range of colors, and it’s made of performance fabric. Find out what it’s like to wear.
Issue affected older iPhones. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Blame an iOS update if you’d like, but Apple’s iPhone speed-throttling saga continues to progress slowly. The latest update is legal action being leveled at Apple in Europe in the form of a class-action lawsuit for iPhone 6 and 6s series devices sold in Belgium, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
The advocacy group behind the suit, Euroconsumers, said Wednesday that it is bringing a case to cover up to 2 million handsets that fall under this category. “Consumers are increasingly upset by products wearing out too quickly, the iPhone 6 models being a very concrete example of that,” Els Bruggeman, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers, said in a statement.
This was a beast of an iMac back in the day. It's still pretty great now. Photo: Apple
Apple’s first Retina 5K iMacs, launched in late 2014, are officially considered vintage by Apple.
The Retina 5K, 27-inch iMacs were a game-changer for Apple. At the time, 27-inch iMacs were still relatively new, just a few years old. The 5K overhaul was an astonishing leap forward, however — making it one of Apple’s most compelling new Macs in years.
Score two great courses that'll teach you the inner workings of Apple's go-to programming language. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Building apps for mobile or desktop devices might seem like magic — heck, Apple even described its SwiftUI coding language as “magic.”
But anyone can do it, if they have some basic knowledge about languages like SwiftUI. This pair of courses offers an accessible but comprehensive entry point, so you can start working with Apple’s powerful tool for building apps.
Vulnerability relied on the tech that makes AirDrop work Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
A security vulnerability patched by Apple earlier this year could have allowed users to remote access an entire iPhone over Wi-Fi without the need for any user interaction, a security researcher has revealed.
Ian Beer, a researcher at Google’s vulnerability research unit Project Zero, shared details of the vulnerability Tuesday. He spent six months developing proof-of-concept exploits to prove its effectiveness. Fortunately, he doesn’t believe a similar exploit was ever utilized by hackers in the wild.
Genshin Impact is one of the year's most notable new games. Photo: Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact is Apple’s pick for iPhone Game of the Year, despite only landing in the App Store at the end of September. That’s not its only impressive claim to fame, however. According to app analytics platform Sensor Tower, the open-world RPG generated close to $400 million in its first two months alone.
That averages more than $6 million a day across both iOS and Android — with Apple’s platform accounting for the majority of that spending.
For the first time, Apple created a physical award to hand out to winners. Photo: Apple
As 2020 thankfully sputters to its conclusion, Apple has released its list of the year’s best 15 apps and games “notable for their positive cultural impact, helpfulness, and importance.”
The App Store Best of 2020 winners cover a multitude of areas — from the Zoom app that more or less defined the year of lockdown to streaming service Disney+ to a nifty sleep app.
Eugenio Derbez will star and executive produce Acapulco, a comedy series for Apple TV+. Photo: Apple
Apple TV+ added to its comedy roster Tuesday by making a series order for Acapulco, a Spanish- and English-language show. It’s inspired by the box office hit film How to Be a Latin Lover.
Take your nerd factor up a notch with these online courses, all at big savings. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
If you’re looking to learn a new skill before the year ends — and earn a fat promotion (or even a make a big career change) by 2021 — look no further than these four top online courses. Whether you want to learn to code or master Adobe, these four online courses are sure to give your resume the boost it needs to help you meet your goals.
For a limited time, you can get all four courses at a whopping 65% off the sale price by using promo code CMSAVE65 at checkout for Cyber Tuesday — so be sure to snag them now!
These are some of Apple’s choices for best book or podcast of 2020. Graphic: Cult of Mac
With the year winding down, Apple picked its favorite podcasts, books and audiobooks of 2020. The offerings “kept us entertained, made us think, provided a much-needed escape, or filled our hearts up,“ noted Apple.
All the recommendations are, of course, available through Apple Podcasts or Apple Books.
FaceTime video calls are even better now that they’re in high definition. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple quietly added support for FaceTime HD to an array of iPhones. Every model newer than the iPhone 8 can make video calls at 1080p resolution as long as the device runs iOS 14.2.
Treat yourself to some awesome new Twelve South accessories and save 20% in the Cult of Mac Store. Everything is discounted — from AirPods and iPhone cases to brilliant MacBook stands.
But be quick! This sale ends at 11:59 p.m. PST today.
Here’s how to get your Apple Watch ready for your new iPhone. Photo: Cult of Mac
You just got a shiny new iPhone 12 and of course you want your Apple Watch to play nicely with it. You could reset the Watch to start out fresh, but there’s an easier way switch your Apple Watch to your new iPhone.
Think twice about playing iOS games on an M1 Mac. Photo: Activision
New M1 Macs let users run iPhone and iPad apps natively for the first time, but gamers should think twice about loading up Call of Duty: Mobile. Playing Activision’s popular shooter on one of the super-fast new computers could get them banned.
The Morning Show star Gugu Mbatha-Raw is coming to a new Apple TV+ show called Called. Photo: Apple TV+
Fans of Defending Jacob and Servant listen up: Apple has ordered a new psychological thriller series titled Surface. The show, which likely won’t debut on Apple TV+ until 2022, stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, already known to Apple TV+ viewers as Hannah Shoenfeld in The Morning Show.
The series is written and exec-produced by Veronica West, who has previously worked on Mercy, Brothers & Sisters, Hart of Dixie and State of Affairs.
These hardware and software deals will set you up for success. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
There are a few quintessential things you need for any work-from-home setup — but sales and marketing professionals know there are a few special items required for that line of work.
Other than keen negotiation skills and the ability to communicate effectively, these hardware and software buys are just what you need to drive revenue and close the deal. Plus, for a limited time, you can enjoy these items on sale for an extended Cyber Monday.
Apple does lots of business in China. Photo: AllOfUs
Apple was one of several large companies that reportedly lobbied to weaken a bill that sought to bar U.S. companies from making products in China with the aid of forced Uighur labor, according to The New York Times.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed the House with a 406-3 margin in September, and has the necessary support to pass the Senate. It aims to ban U.S. companies from importing products made in the Xinjiang region unless the manufacturers can prove they do not use forced labor.
Apple has been working to battle the spread of coronavirus. Photo: Apple
Apple has delivered millions of units of personal protective equipment to the Ministry of Health in Zambia to fight the spread of COVID-19.
In response to the coronavirus, Apple earlier this year started sending its charitable donations through the (Red) nonprofit to help the Global Fund provide critical support to health systems most threatened by the pandemic. This will continue through June 30, 2021.
Should ship in time for the holidays. Photo: Apple
Apple still hasn’t announced a date for its MagSafe Duo charger, which could stir fears among more nervous fans of a repeat of the much delayed, ill-fated AirPower charger of a few years back.
Have no fear, though: If an Apple reseller in Switzerland is to be believed, we don’t have too much longer to wait until the MagSafe Duo will be shipping.
A developer with decades of experience porting Linux to game consoles wants to make a Linux M1 Mac. Photo: Cult of Mac
Hector Martin (aka marcan) wants to port a full, useful version of the Linux operating system to the new Macs running Apple Silicon, but he needs help.
He’s got the skills for it — he put Linux on a PlayStation 4, for example. But the developer wants assistance from the public bringing the operating system to Macs running the new M1 processor. Not technical help, but financial contributions.
RAVpower’s USB-C wall charger and cable is just right for the iPhone 12. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
RAVpower PD 30W USB-C Charger with Lightning Cable can be the wall charger that iPhone 12 users need. It includes USB-C and USB-A ports, and fold-down electrical prongs. And it juices up iOS handsets as fast as possible — far quicker than Apple’s old 5W chargers. Plus, it even comes with a charging cable for use with older iPhones.
Read on for the results of my real-world testing of the wall charger and cable combo.
Learn something new and useful with these handy apps. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
If you’re like us, you’re probably already looking forward to next year and how it could be better — in more ways than one. If you’re interested in learning a new language or earning a new certification to beef up your resume, look no further than this roundup of skill-building apps and software.
With Cyber Monday pricing, you can get them for an extra 40% off with code CMSAVE40 for a limited time.
Bring an unresponsive HomePod back to life. Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Many of the glitches and frustrations you might encounter with HomePod and HomePod mini can usually be fixed with a simple factory reset. It’s easy to do and doesn’t take long, but Apple doesn’t make it immediately obvious how a reset is performed. So we’ll show you what you need to do.