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.

There are plenty of reasons we might want another computer. If you’re not saving up for one of the new Macs with the M1 chip inside, you can save some scratch with one of these four refurbished Macs.

Going with a refurb means some tradeoffs: Most of these won’t run the new macOS Big Sur, for instance. (You can check compatibility on Apple’s site.) However, they can deliver things you just can’t get anymore. The MacBook Pro, for instance, comes with a built-in SuperDrive.

Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, says Macs with the new M1 processor could run the version of Windows Microsoft created to run on similar chips. Apple did nothing to make that impossible. So whether Apple Silicon Macs ever run Windows depends on Microsoft.

An iPhone doesn’t have to look coldly technological. Oakywood cases add cherry or walnut to your phone, giving it a more natural appearance. And the cases add shock resistance to Apple’s handset.

I enjoyed wrapping my iPhone 12 in an Oakywood bumper case. Here’s why.

This week on The CultCast: Apple’s new M1 Macs are breaking all the benchmarks, and are now officially the fastest Macs ever made. The MacBook Air is outperforming the iMac — these M1 Macs are insane.

Plus: iPhone 12 Pro Max versus mini — we’ve got them both! Which one is the keeper? We discuss. And stay tuned for our HomePod mini review, and our favorite new gadgets in an all-new Under Review!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

The Cult of Mac Store today kicks off its Black Friday sale with big discounts on some of our hottest Apple Watch bands. Shop today to save up to 25% on everything from Goldenerre and Rilee & Lo.

Apple is working with Microsoft to make new Xbox Series X controllers compatible with iPhone, iPad, Mac and more.

Support for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and other controllers is already baked into the latest versions of iOS. It’s not yet clear if Apple will add support for the PlayStation 5’s new DualSense controller, too.

Whether for safety, security or just to share your best road trips, cameras and cars go together surprisingly well. These four great cameras — three dash cams and one backup cam, all at big discounts — will help you get more from your car, new or old.

Apple this week published a support guide for those running into installation errors when updating to macOS Big Sur on a 2013 or 2014 MacBook Pro. Its tips may help bring bricked machines back to life.

Here are the steps you need to follow.

Apple this week rolled out a revised macOS Big Sur update for some Mac users. The version 11.0.1 release likely addresses some minor bugs and performance issues.

Fans of psychological thrillers should get ready to tune in to Losing Alice, which will debut on Apple TV+ in early 2021.

It’s one of many thrillers the streaming service currently has in development.

Apple TV+ revealed an overview of the upcoming season of its alternate-history sci-if drama For All Mankind on Thursday. The show will relaunch in February with a focus on a struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the moon.

A fresh update to Google Chrome for iPad lets users open multiple browser windows side-by-side. This long-overdue feature enables tablet users see two web pages simultaneously.

Google also released Gmail and Google Drive Home screen widgets.

Apple today released a small “bug fix” update for iPhones. iOS 14.2.1 takes care of problem that caused the iPhone 12 mini’s touchscreen to not always respond on the Lock Screen. A couple of other small problems were taken care of too.

In an unusual move, there is no iPadOS equivalent for this update. It’s iPhone only.

Apple has been doing some remarkable things with audio lately. The sound coming out of a new MacBook or iPad Pro is nothing short of amazing, given the tiny speakers they have. AirPods sound spectacular. And then there’s the original HomePods, which punch way above their weight and are some of the best speakers out there.

But what about the new HomePod minis, which cost $99 and pack the potential to give Apple a much-needed boost in the smart speaker game? Do they sound any good?

Add Google Stadia to the list of cloud-gaming services that’ll soon be available for iOS and iPadOS. But all the action won’t be in the App Store — iPhone users will access Stadia though a web browser.

This is the same route other online-gaming services are also having to take because of Apple rules restricting cloud gaming.