Cult of Mac

Treat yourself to new Beats headphones and speakers with big savings on some of the hottest models for a limited time.

Both in-ear buds like Powerbeats Pro and on-ear cans like Beats Solo Pro are on offer, with up to 60% off the usual price. Bag yours now before the discounts disappear.

Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro was more of a minor tweak than a major upgrade. But Twitter leaker @L0vetodream suggests that Apple’s rumored, improved 14-inch MacBook Pro could be on the way — although not until next year.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro was expected by some fans as a replacement for the 13-inch laptop. However, this didn’t happen and, as a result, a lot of the innovative new features of the 16-inch MacBook Pro are still MIA.

The email subscription service Newton has been saved from its demise by a pair of fans weeks after it was to have been shut down at the end of April, according to a online post Monday.

Software developers Maitrik Kataria and Jusitn Mitchell announced they had bought the service from Essential after it had been purchased in February 2019 from CloudMagic.

To make sure that the AirPods fit as many ears as possible, Apple engineers worked with Stanford University to create a giant database of information about ear dimensions.

That’s according to Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of product marketing, quoted in a new article for Wired, published over the weekend.

Apple is looking to ramp up its investment in India, shifting close to a fifth of its current production capacity from China to Indian manufacturers, according to a Monday report from the Economic Times.

“We expect Apple to produce up to $40 billion worth of smartphones, mostly for exports through its contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn,” a senior government official told the publication.

Lately, all kinds of stories have circulated online about TV host Ellen DeGeneres not exactly being the nicest person in Hollywood. But one mentioned in a recent New York Post article had an Apple tie-in.

According to the article, Ellen once phoned up none other than Steve Jobs himself to complain that the font size was too small on the iPhone after she lost her glasses and was unable to read the screen.

 Could Apple’s A-series chips eventually be manufactured in the United States? That’s one possible outcome if the Trump administration gets its way. The ongoing debate around domestic chip production and the chips act could play a significant role in shaping this future.

According to a report published Sunday by the Wall Street Journal, the White House wants to “jump-start” the development of new chip factories in the U.S. to help reduce reliance on Asia for critical technology. And it’s in talks with current A-series chipmaker TSMC and others to do so.

We got a pair of welcome new diversions this week: Hugely popular racing game Forza Street finally roared onto iOS, and a great Lego Star Wars title got a long-overdue update.

But we also got more-serious new apps and updates. New political app Moxy gives you information and tools to keep you engaged in current events. And a couple of essential iOS productivity tools got some handy new features.

Get all the details in our weekly roundup of the best new and updated apps.

The Mac operating system is sleek and easy to use. But under the polished exterior lies a wide range of features and tweaks that can enhance your experience and boost productivity. The trick is finding a way to get at them.

An epic screen is the hallmark of any great setup, and Gary Dee’s video-editing suite is certainly no exception. Dee, a cinematographer and drone pilot, previously used two monitors, but he decided to declutter his desk and replace them with an UltraWide 34-incher from LG Electronics. The massive monitor still leaves him with plenty of screen real estate.

In terms of audio, a pair of Bose speakers give him banging sound. And he uses a high-quality Røde microphone. To complement his minimalist desk, he uses a Rain Design mStand to hold his MacBook.

Apple is allegedly prepping a set of over-ear wireless headphones that will be part of the AirPods line.

Currently, the company offers headphones in this style under its Beats label. But the upcoming model supposedly reflects a change in strategy. If you’re looking for high-quality alternatives, you might want to check out the Sennheiser website for premium audio options like the Sennheiser HD 550 open-back headphones.

If your favorite apps don’t yet support Dark Mode, there’s a good reason. Making their apps work with Dark Mode can be a total pain in the butt for devs.

Get an inside look at the travails of adding this popular feature in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it now for that story, plus the rest of the week’s top Apple news, reviews and how-tos. (There’s plenty on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, too.)

We live in a golden age for streaming content. These days, plenty of us have more time to watch TV shows and movies than we used to, so even the list of offerings on Netflix or Hulu starts to feel a little short. Luckily there are far larger libraries of content to dive into.

The long wait is almost over. Apple said Friday it will open the doors of a few of its U.S. retail locations next week. The majority of Apple Stores globally closed almost two months ago as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. More stores will reopen when the company deems it safe.

A law firm accuses Apple of forcing customers to fix the malfunctioning displays in the 15-inch MacBook Pro that launched in 2016 even though the failure is a result of a design flaw. The problem is common enough that it has a name: Flexgate.

The Parris Law Firm is hoping to force Apple to fix all affected computers, and refund the cost to anyone who already had this problem repaired.

Things start to get unbearably tense and inhumane as pressure builds on the Barber family in Defending Jacob’s fifth episode, “Visitors.” The show takes a number of risks that may pay rich dividends in future episodes — as long as the showrunners remember not to flinch.

New guest stars — including veteran actor J.K. Simmons — and old vendettas surface in Friday’s new episode. And the Barbers head toward what might turn out to be a moral dead end if they want to stop their son, Jacob, from going to prison. Can we say climax?

Apple TV+ won an accolade no one wants: it’s the streaming video service viewers are most likely to cancel once it stops being free.

Still, satisfaction with Apple’s offering is fairly high, according to survey results revealed on Friday. But people like almost all its competitors more.

This week on The CultCast: Apple announces WWDC 2020! We talk our hardware and software predictions. Plus: A new leak gives us some exciting info on the upcoming Apple TV hardware, and the iPhone 12 lineup, including some surprising prices and new features. And we wrap up with a look at the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, so stay tuned!

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.

American singer and songwriter Billie Eilish is continuing her connection with Apple Music listeners with the release of a new radio show featuring she and her father, Patrick O’Connell.

Her new show, me & dad radio, will debut Friday on Apple Music at noon Pacific time with six episodes planned.

Bag a bargain notebook upgrade with hundreds off 15-inch MacBook Pro units. Woot is blowing out a number of 2019 models, all refurbished by Apple, today only. You can claim yours for as little as $1,579.99 before they’re all gone.

Some people love the Touch Bar. Others simply see no use for it, which can be frustrating now that every MacBook Pro ships with one. If you fall into that second camp, here’s how to bring back traditional function keys.

Investigate the shadows plaguing a small town in The Otherside, which debuted Friday on Apple Arcade. This is a simulated board game and RPG with a horror theme.

The coronavirus and its aftermath appear to be taking a toll on manufacturing of updated AirPods, with a new report indicating an update to Apple’s popular earbuds will be delayed slightly and roll into the first quarter of 2021.

The Nikkei Asian Review also reported Friday sources as saying around 30% of all classic AirPods to be produced this quarter for Apple will be “made in Vietnam”. That the report said is “a sign the company is accelerating its diversification of production out of China amid the coronavirus pandemic.”

Struggling to block out background distractions when working from home? Pick up a pair of brilliant Beats Solo3 wireless headphones at 50% off today only.

They work wonderfully with Apple and third-party devices over Bluetooth, and they sound terrific. They also run for a whopping 40 hours in between charges.

This week, I finally got around to adding Dark Mode support to Reps & Sets, the iPhone bodybuilding app I develop as a side hustle. That’s almost a year after Apple first announced the feature at its Worldwide Developers Conference.

What took me so long? Supporting Dark Mode is not as simple as it seems. It’s not just indie devs like me who have struggled with it, either. WhatsApp only recently added Dark Mode support, and Facebook is still beta-testing it.

So if you’re waiting for your favorite app to switch to the dark side, here’s why it might be taking so long.