Running out of things to watch during lockdown? Streaming service Crackle is bringing “thousands” of free movies and TV shows to Plex, the digital media and organizational app that launched its ad-supported streaming service in December.

Having initially rolled out movies by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and Legendary, it’s now introducing a plethora of free titles from Crackle. These include the likes of hit movies Captain Phillips, Patriot Games and The Illusionist, alongside TV shows like Hell’s Kitchen and Roseanne.

It should come as no surprise that the iPad is one of our favorite devices here at Cult of Mac. Ever since the introduction of the 2018 iPad Pro models and iPadOS 13, Apple’s tablet has made huge strides in being more capable and powerful for tons of things I do. So, needless to say, when I saw the Magic Keyboard, I had high hopes.

One critical factor for the iPad to be a useful tool for me has been a good keyboard experience. Even more important is the ability to shift from typing on the keyboard to interacting with the touchscreen when I want to go mobile around the house or office. 

Now, with the Magic Keyboard, Apple offers a new option for the iPad Pro. The new case lets you effortlessly jump between keyboard and tablet mode whenever you want. Or you can forget about the touchscreen entirely, turning the iPad into more of a laptop than ever before.

Smartphone shipments took a major tumble in the first quarter of 2020 as coronavirus wreaked havoc on the supply chain and demand. That’s the conclusion drawn by three of the top mobile-tracking research firms, Strategy Analytics, Canalys, and IDC.

While their numbers don’t all tally perfectly they tell the same overall picture. While Apple wasn’t immune to the decline, however, it fared better than some of its rivals.

Amazon’s big discount on Powerbeats Pro is back for a limited time only. You can enjoy $50 off the usual price on all four color options.

Powerbeats Pro pack Apple’s newest H1 chip, offer up to nine hours of listening in between charges, and sport a sweat-resistant design that’s ideal for running, cycling, and home workouts while the gyms are closed.

Even during quarantine, you’d really need to not value your time to look beyond the failures of imagination at the heart of Trying. The new Apple TV+ sitcom, created by Andy Wolton and starring Rafe Spall and Esther Smith as a couple who discover they can’t conceive, is sitcom 101.

There isn’t anything inherently wrong with the premise, but neither is there much to recommend it. Wolton and company seem content to do the bare minimum.

iPad app downloads had their first positive quarterly growth in four years during the first three months of 2020, app analytics platform Sensor Tower claims.

In a new report, the firm says that quarterly downloads of apps for the iPad surpassed 1.1 billion worldwide in Q1. Meanwhile, consumer spending in iPad apps crossed $2 billion for the first time ever. Not bad for a time when the world is in the midst of coronavirus lockdown.

Who ever thought they would miss going to the office? Work from home is the new normal, and for many it’s also a new way of working. This bundle of 16 courses offers invaluable insights and skills that make working from home as easy and effective as it can be.

On Trevor Noah’s Daily Social Distancing Show, the comedian addressed Apple’s decision to make it easier for users to skip Face ID for passcodes on their iPhone, due to the challenges of unlocking them while wearing a protective mask.

“This is the genius of Apple,” he said. “They’re trying to take us back in time. Because if we’re back in time, there’s no corona.” Check out the clip below.

Cynthia Hogan, Apple’s VP for public policy and government affairs, is helping pick Joe Biden’s running mate for the U.S. presidential campaign.

Hogan previously worked as Biden’s White House and Senate counsel. Now she’s working alongside former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, congresswoman Lisa Blunt and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to find Biden’s pick for vice president.

With coronavirus lockdown, new streaming TV content is more appreciated than ever. Fortunately, Apple TV+ has loaded up on new content for another packed week of new shows. Debuting Friday are all eight episodes of the first season of new comedy series Trying.

There’s also episode four of the excellent Chris Evans-starring drama series Defending Jacob. That should be enough to fill at least part of the weekend!

While COVID-19 certainly overshadowed Apple’s most recent financial quarter, the company actually saw an annual increase in revenue, with the growth primarily coming from services and wearables.

Looking ahead, the company predicts that Mac and iPad sales will be strong. And CEO Tim Cook remains confidant about Apple’s future.

Apple plans to reopen its retail stores in Austria and Australia sometime in the next one to two weeks, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said Thursday.

Cook told Blooomberg he believes that “just a few, not a large number” of stores in the United States will re-open in the first half of May.

Apple released three new advertisements for its streaming video service on Thursday. These highlight the big stars that appear on Apple TV+, as well as the original stories told by the over two dozen shows and movies that have debuted since autumn.

Watch them now:

OtterBox’s latest screen protectors not only prevent scratches, they also contain an antimicrobial agent. The Amplify Glass line is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency and manufactured by Corning. These screen protectors debuted Thursday for the iPhone 11 series as well as earlier models.

This is Apple’s 2008 aluminum unibody MacBook, model A1278. It replaced the white polycarbonate MacBook, but was itself replaced by, or rather rebranded as, the MacBook Pro, which was more or less the same computer¹.

Apple introduced this magnificent MacBook on October 14, 2008, and produced them until June 8, 2009. And it was one of Apple’s best notebooks ever. It had a fantastic keyboard, and many comfy extras that today’s skinny MacBook owners can only dream about, from a battery indicator light to an almost hot-swappable hard drive (or SSD).

It’s so good that it’s still viable today as a daily driver, with the added bonus that its weight will help keep you fit during lockdown. How do I know? Because I have one right here, and I use it for music recording and production. I’m also using it to write this article. I thought, as my last post for Cult of Mac, that I’d review the 2008 unibody MacBook as if it were new. Let’s go.

Apple designed a workable system to let people edit text messages after they send them. But now we have to hope it’ll be implemented.

This is potentially great news for everyone who ever wished they could fix an embarrassing text.

Warren Buffett may be one of the shrewdest financial minds of our time, but don’t expect him to be able to use an iPhone. Despite receiving a personal lesson from Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“I went out to California, and Tim Cook very patiently spent hours trying to move me up to the level of the average two-year-old,” Buffett told Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer. “And didn’t quite make it.”

iPadOS 13 introduced native support for opening multiple windows of the same app side by side. Now, seven months after iPadOS 13.1 officially shipped to users, Microsoft has started beta-testing the ability for iPad users to do this on Word and PowerPoint for iPad.

Microsoft shared the news in a blog post detailing how users can “take advantage” of the new (for Microsoft) feature. Here’s how you do it:

Pricing on Apple’s expected 5G-ready iPhones will remain mostly the same, even though they are predicted to include OLED screens, according to a new report.

Front Page Tech analyst Jon Prosser tweeted Thursday base pricing on what Cult of Mac has reported as four new iPhone 12 models coming later this year.

Many of us have been learning the hard way just how lacking our sanitary standards are. We should be trying to keep germs at bay no matter what, but sanitation proves especially essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. To make that daunting task easier, we rounded up four tools for keeping devices, homes, offices and everyday items free of microbes.

A group of app developers have set up a new lobbyist association called the App Coalition. This independent group will lobby Congress regarding issues relating to app developers.

A Bloomberg report, published Wednesday, notes that nine mobile app developers have banded together for the new organization. The new lobbying group is distinct from the App Association, already sponsored by Apple, Microsoft, and others.

Global smartphone production could see a record fall of up to 16.5 percent in the second quarter of this year thanks in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new research report.

Another day, another crazy deal on Apple products from Woot. This time it has 13-inch MacBook Pro (2019) units, refurbished by Apple, available at hundreds off their usual prices. You can get yours for as little as $899.99!

This sale is good for today only, so enjoy it while you can.

What could be better than a mobile app that lets you play masses of games, like an old-school arcade squeezed onto your iPhone? A mobile app that lets you play masses of games and make your own new ones.

That’s what Swedish developer Martin Magni created with Fancade, a new iOS app launching Thursday. It offers a huge collection of mini-games, all created using the app itself, along with a drag-and-drop game-maker that lets you create your own.