Murderbot is a lot lighter than you might expect. Photo: Apple TV+
Murderbot is not a horror series. It’s sci-fi action comedy, no matter what the name implies — a new trailer for the upcoming Apple TV+ series makes that clear. And the trailer also shows that the plot sticks close to Martha Wells’ award-winning novels.
Watch the trailer for Murderbot season 1 that debuts in May to see for yourself:
According to one supplier, some iPhone assembly could move out of China, and maybe even to the US. Photo: Steve Jurvetson/Flickr CC
Apple supplier Luxshare started discussing potential manufacturing relocations due to tariffs with customers, including a possible production shift to the United States, according to a new report. It cited comments made by company chairwoman Wang Laichun during an analyst call Wednesday. The Chinese manufacturer assembles iPhones and AirPods for the tech giant.
“If there is a commercial guarantee and we are able to conduct a good evaluation, we do not rule out having some products being localized to meet the needs of the US market,” Wang stated, adding that the company would carefully weigh “long-term development and safety considerations” before making such moves.
The good-looking and symmetrical setup features a pair of Asus displays nicely mounted on arms. Photo: [email protected]
Few things take a computer setup up a few notches more than a good monitor mount — especially when it features dual arms positioning dual displays well off the desk. Today’s M4 Mac mini setup enjoys a pair of solidly affordable 4K Asus displays mounted on a Huanuo Dual Monitor Stand with two highly adjustable arms for optimal positioning.
The iPod was Apple's most successful product yet. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
April 9, 2007: Apple sells its 100 millionth iPod. Coming just five-and-a-half years after the portable music player went on sale, the landmark event confirms the iPod as Apple’s most popular product of all time.
Until the iPhone arrives a couple months later, that is!
Demand causes Mac shipments to keep going up and up. Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
Mac shipments continue a steady upward trend, increasing 14.1% year over year during the first quarter of 2025, according to a market research firm. While three PC makers sell more units than Apple, none can match Cupertino’s annual growth rate.
But the analysts note that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on computers brought into the United States will have “a direct inflationary impact” later in the year, potentially cooling demand for computers of all types.
This 24,000mAh beast can power up multiple devices at once. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
HyperGear’s Power Brick is a beefy, 24,000mAh power bank with an AC outlet that can fully charge most laptops, juice up your iPhone several times and/or keep multiple devices going through a full day off the grid.
And it does all that without requiring a bulky backpack or a dedicated suitcase. At about the size of a small hardcover book (and weighing just 25 ounces), it slips easily into a work bag, carry-on or glove compartment.
And right now, you can grab this monster at a monstrous discount. Get HyperGear’s Power Brick 24000mAh AC Laptop Power Bank for just $114.99. That’s a 22% discount off the regular price of $149.
Don't mean to burst your bubble, but an American-made iPhone isn't in the cards. AI image: Midjourney/Cult of Mac
A top goal of President Donald Trump’s hefty tariffs on essentially all imports is to force companies to move their production to the United States. That includes bringing iPhone assembly to America. The problem is, there are huge roadblocks that make that goal virtually impossible.
In broad terms, America doesn’t have anywhere close to the production capacity, or sufficient numbers of workers interested in low-paying factory jobs, to produce an all-American iPhone along with everything else Trump wants made in the U.S. Also missing from the equation: customers thrilled about paying much higher costs for products made in the United States.
The result is shaping up to be years of economic difficulties for Americans.
Will it finally happen? Image: Instagram/Cult of Mac
Meta may finally launch an Instagram app for the iPad. Reportedly, the company plans to launch a dedicated iPadOS app to capitalize on the current situation surrounding TikTok.
The move could help further drive Instagram adoption among iPhone and iPad users.
Get a deal on the unique travel adapter that suits you, either a PlugBug or a ButterFly Photo: Twelve South/Cult of Mac
Frequent travelers can take their choice of deals on two travel adapters from Twelve South, each with a unique feature to set them apart from competitors. Both are now available at steep discounts.
What the Clash? is an Apple Arcade exclusive. Image: Apple
Apple Arcade continues to grow next month with an exciting lineup of five new titles. A quirky multiplayer game from award-winning developer Triband — What the Clash? — headlines the bunch.
The subscription gaming service also adds With My Buddy, Lego Friends Heartlake Rush+, Words of Wonders: Search+ and Sumi Sumi: Matching Puzzle+. You can read more about them below.
John Sculley goes from pushing Pepsi to running Apple. Photo: Web Summit/Flickr CC
April 8, 1983:John Sculley, former president of PepsiCo, takes charge as Apple’s third CEO.
Despite a total lack of experience selling tech products, Sculley is lured to Apple by Steve Jobs himself. The Apple co-founder famously pitched the Pepsi exec with the line, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”
iPhone shopping picked up over the weekend on fears of tariff-induced price increases. Photo: Apple
Employees at Apple Stores across the country reported throngs of iPhone buyers over the weekend, according to a new report. Larger-than-average crowds look like a response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods imported from China and other countries — and the specter of rising iPhone prices. In a happy surprise, the tariffs might actually drive iPhone sales before they potentially jack up prices.
Most iPhones come from China, which is up against a 54% tariff on exports to the United States. Most experts agree that rising costs will be passed on to consumers.
★★★★☆
EZQuest WorldTravel travel adapter can keep five devices juiced up on seven continents. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The EZQuest WorldTravel 65W GaN 5 Port with PD Wall Charger can keep your notebook, phone, tablet and smartwatch powered up in more than 200 countries. It packs four USB-C ports plus a USB-A one for compatibility with a range of electronics.
Of course, the travel adapter includes retractable power prongs for Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and most of Asia. And EZQuest built in some welcome safety features.
I tested the 65W power plug adapter out, and it’ll certainly go on my next international trip. Here’s why.
Get a six-pack of these weighted and magnetic cord organizer blocks for a fraction of the normal price! Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
A proper cable management solution can transform a messy desk into a stunning setup. Function101’s innovative Cable Blocks are weighted, magnetic cord holders that can bring order to cable chaos.
Cult of Mac publisher Leander Kahney called them his “favorite cord management system” in his Cable Blocks review. And now, Cult of Mac Deals offers a great discount on them. You can pick up a Cable Blocks six-pack on sale for just $29.99 (regularly $39). Each one can hold a single cable in place — and they even stick to each other if you want to keep all your chargers neatly aligned.
Throw on some background sounds without any fuss. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you like working, sleeping, relaxing or meditating to ambient music — and you own an iPhone — you’re in luck. You can now play background tunes from Control Center on your iPhone. The feature is ad-free and doesn’t require a subscription to Apple Music.
If you usually put on a lo-fi music stream on YouTube, you should give this new feature a shot instead. You don’t need to keep the YouTube app open, and annoying ads won’t interrupt you.
Here’s how the iPhone’s ambient music feature works.
A new YouTube video offers a glimpse at major design changes reportedly coming to iOS 19, with visionOS-inspired user interface elements and rounder “squircle” app icons.
Released Monday by Front Page Tech, the video shows re-created renders of the iPhone operating system based on information provided by an unnamed source within Apple.
Both the CalDigit TS5 and TS5 Plus offer more than a dozen ports. Photo: CalDigit
The newly announced CalDigit TS5 Plus is for very elaborate setups. The sort of professional-grade setups that can make use of 20 ports, including a pair of Thunderbolt 5 ports, five more USB-C ports, 140W charging, a 10Gb Ethernet port and plenty more.
Those who can struggle by with a mere 15 ports might choose the smaller CalDigit TS5 instead.
The British government can’t keep the wraps on its attempt to spy on iCloud users globally. Image: Apple/Cult of mac
A U.K. court on Monday confirmed Apple’s legal challenge of a secret government order to provide a backdoor into encrypted iCloud data. The U.K. government wanted its demand — which would compromise the encryption for iCloud users anywhere in the world — to remain hush-hush.
News of the government order (and Apple’s appeal) previously leaked out. And Apple already disabled its Advanced Data Protection encryption in Britain to comply. However, both the U.K. government’s demand and the legal battle it provoked were supposed to be secret. The ruling by the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal drags the whole thing out into the open.
Find and delete copies of your photos on your iPhone. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You could have dozens of copies of the same images in your Photos library, taking up space on your phone and in your iCloud account. Luckily, Apple offers an easy-to-use little tool that lets you find duplicate photos and delete the copies, all right from the Photos app.
These types of duplicate images can accumulate more quickly than you might expect. They arise if you make a copy of a photo to edit, if you screenshot a photo to bump it to the top of your Camera Roll, or if you and your partner both upload the same picture to your Shared iCloud Photo Library. In fact, I found hundreds of duplicates in my own carefully curated library.
It’s a surprisingly sophisticated feature that took Apple engineers a fair amount of smarts to cook up (more on that later). Here’s how to use Apple’s duplicate image remover and get rid of all those unnecessary files. Keep reading or watch our video instructions.
This user's Blue Yeti mic on a nice boom arm plus a Behringer audio interface get the job done. Photo: [email protected]
Sometimes a computer setup showed off on social media demonstrates just how easy and affordable it can be to add a nice set of audio gear for podcasting, streaming, Zoom meetings and more. Today’s M4 iMac workstation sets a good example. It not only includes AirPods Max, Apple’s premium over-ear headphones. It also features one of the most popular USB microphones mounted on a boom arm, plus a capable audio interface. And it’s all pretty much plug and play, so the user can start broadcasting or recording in minutes.
This was the beginning of the end for System 7. Photo: Apple
April 7, 1997: Apple’s System 7 operating system receives its last update with the shipment of Mac OS 7.6.1.
The update brings a few bug fixes and support for Apple’s new PCI Power Macs and the PowerBook 3400. Most importantly, it marks the end of the System 7 era, which dawned way back in 1991.
Apple rushed enough inventory into the United States that price hikes seem unlikely… for now. Photo: Cult of Mac
President Donald Trump’s tariffs started going into effect on April 5, and Apple reportedly brought as many products into the United States as possible just before the deadline. That includes five planes full of iPhones and other products coming in from India.
New taxes on imports are expected to push up prices for electronics, including ones from Apple. But with a considerable stockpile, it might be months before Apple is forced into a price increase.
Transform your photos into eye-catching collages with this easy-to-use app. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Pic Stitch is a versatile collage app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. With this easy-to-use software, you can take advantage of a robust menu of editing tools, and hundreds of layouts, to customize your photo collage before you can share it to social media — without ever leaving the app.
And instead of paying the normal price of $149, you can get a lifetime subscription to Pic Stitch Pro for $39.99. That means you won’t wind up paying monthly fees for a collage-making app that will give you years of utility.
Severance takes over Bell Works in New Jersey for an ORTBO Activation and panel discussion. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ brought Lumon Industries to life Saturday in a surprise, star-studded event — and it confirmed renewal of Severance for season three in the process.
The streamer surprised thousands of the show’s fans with a Lumon-style Outdoor Retreat Team-Building Occurrence, aka ORTBO. It featured a panel discussion moderated by Stephen Colbert at the surreal workplace thriller’s primary location, Bell Works in Holmdel, New Jersey.
April 6, 1939: John Sculley is born in New York City. He will grow up to be hailed as a business and marketing genius, eventually overseeing Apple’s transformation into the most profitable personal computer company in the world.
After a remarkable stint as president of Pepsi-Cola, Sculley will take over as Apple’s third CEO in 1983. He will run Apple for a 10-year period, guiding the creation of the revolutionary Newton MessagePad.
During Sculley’s decade at the helm, Apple will sell more personal computers than any other company. But most people still remember him for his role in kicking Apple co-founder Steve Jobs out of Cupertino.