Cult of Mac

Soundcore wants to “democratize premium audio” with its new Bluetooth earbuds. The new wireless headphones continue the company’s pursuit of delivering quality products at affordable price points.

“It’s a value proposition for us,” said Soundcore rep Adam Weissman in a demo at the Cult of Mac offices in San Francisco. He showed off two lines of headphones — one for regular audio fans and one for fitness fiends. All the new models deliver features similar to AirPods, but at price points far below Apple’s smash-hit product.

Amazon is ready to push Alexa into every single corner of your life with a new wave of Echo products unveiled this morning.

Armed with 15 new products, Amazon is ready to challenge Apple like never before. The company even introduced some bold new products, like new smart glasses and a smart ring — wearables that give you 24/7 access to Alexa wherever you go. While Apple’s iPhone 11 keynote featured zero mentions of Siri, Amazon’s yearly product keynote put Alexa’s might on full display.

Every time I’ve written about bookmarklets, I’ve had to add a section on how to add them to Safari in iOS. On the Mac, you just drag them up to the bookmark bar, and you’re done. On iOS, the situation was so complex that I wrote a whole how-to just so I could link to that, instead of writing several paragraphs every time. But there is a way to drag and drop bookmarklets on iOS.

I’ve tested it on iOS 12 and iOS 13, and it’s amazing.

Apple Arcade’s slate of more than 100 games for $4.99 a month looks like one of the best deals in gaming at first glance. But Apple’s new game subscription service fails to live up to the expectations of many iPhone and iPad owners.

That’s not because the games are bad. Or because there are hidden fees we weren’t expecting. It’s because Cupertino billed Apple Arcade as something special … and it just isn’t.

Disassembling the latest Apple Watch doesn’t find very much that’s different from last year’s model. That doesn’t mean there aren’t improvements in the new Series 5; they’re just not visible in a teardown, even one done by the experts at iFixit.

The one huge new feature in the Apple Watch Series 5 is the always-on display. Day or night, the screen never shuts off. It dims as soon as you stop using it, and all animations stop, but the face stands ready for your curious glance at any time.

However, if you wear your Apple Watch in bed, or you don’t like the idea of the watch showing your info to anybody who cares to look at the device, then there are a few settings that can help. Let’s take a look.

Apple today started shipping its latest budget iPad to those who pre-ordered this tablet after it was unveiled earlier this month. It will hit Apple Store shelves later this week; Apple isn’t saying exactly when, however.

This is the first 10.2-inch iPad, and it replaces the last 9.7-inch model in Apple’s lineup.

As critics gush over the iPhone 11 Pro’s durability during drop tests, Siri on a remarkably resilient iPhone 6s Plus could say, “Hold my beer.”

An AirPods-based wall display at Apple’s recently re-opened Fifth Avenue Apple Store features a cool Easter egg for long-time fans.

The Easter egg features Apple’s ultra popular AirPods being used as notes in a piece of sheet music. The music represented is from Apple’s iconic “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” ad campaign, which ran shortly after Steve Jobs’ return in the late 1990s.

Apple has dropped a series of how-to videos that help you get the most out of iPadOS. You can use them to master features like Slide Over, Split View, and brand-new gestures.

There are plenty of reasons to set up a website, and just as many ways to do it. But some tools and platforms have risen to the top for their reliability, quality and price. If you’re looking to set up a site, why not start with what works?

Apple could go back to one of its most beloved iPhone designs with next year’s iPhone refresh. According to a new report from seasoned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s 2020 iPhone redesign will resemble the iPhone 4.

If true, that would make an already exciting upgrade even more of a must-have!

Skill-based matchmaking has finally arrived in Fortnite Battle Royale with today’s version 10.40 update.

The release also brings brand-new game modes and locations, big changes to controller settings, and bug fixes. But there’s one thing missing for players on iPhone and iPad.

It’s been a long time coming, but Mario Kart Tour has finally raced (well, maybe dawdled) into the App Store.

The free-to-play kart racing game is available to download now, although currently you can only play a New York City-based course. Other courses will roll out at a later date.

So what did we make of it? Read on for Cult of Mac’s first impressions.

Apple Music for Android today sees a big update that adds a new dark mode, Chromecast support, and more.

The latest release brings the Android version of the app in line with its counterpart on iOS. Here’s what you have to look forward to.

Apple has received a glimpse of hope in its giant $14.4 billion tax battle against the EU. On Tuesday, the European Commission’s similar tax case against Starbucks collapsed. The EC claimed that Starbucks had received an unfair sweetheart tax deal in the Netherlands. The European Commission’s General Court overturned this earlier 2015 decision.

But another case against Fiat Chrysler concluded with the European court saying that it had enjoyed preferential tax treatment in Luxembourg.

Libra is angling to be the first-out-of-the-gate iPad Pro case that includes not only a keyboard but also a trackpad. This wasn’t possible before, but the just-released iPadOS adds support for mice and trackpads.

The designers are looking for backing on Kickstarter to defray the costs of developing an accessory that lets an iPad mimic a MacBook more closely than any before.

After months of beta testing, the full version of tvOS 13 launched to the public today. Updates to the Apple TV operating system don’t often make headlines, but this one stands out because it brings support for the all-you-play Apple Arcade service.

tvOS 13 also allows some off-the-shelf game controllers to be used, as well as non-game improvements.

The Files app is waaaaay better in iOS 13 and iPadOS. It adds external USB storage support, so you can plug in anything from a hard drive or USB-C stick to a synthesizer that can mount as a USB drive to load samples and presets.

Apple’s built-in file-management app adds column view (with a handy preview) and all the metadata you want to know about a given file. And it also benefits from a massively upgraded search feature.

Disney CEO Bob Iger finally spoke about his recent resignation from Apple’s board of directors in an interview with Mad Money host Jim Cramer.

Iger resigned from Apple’s board earlier this month. As many people speculated, Iger says he felt it was time for him to step aside because of Apple TV+.

The screenshot tool gets a radical makeover in iOS 13, and I’m not even talking about the fancy new toolbar for Apple Pencil markup. You can take advantage of two cool new features when you snap a screenshot in the upcoming version of iOS.

One, you can capture the entirety of a web page — not just what you can see on the screen right now, but all of it, from top to bottom, as if you’d stitched together lots of screenshots. Two, you can save these all-page screenshots as PDFs with active, selectable text and links.

Here’s how to make the most out of PDF screenshots in iOS 13.

Pro photographers Jamie and Lauren Eichar tested the iPhone 11 Pro to determine whether Apple’s newest flagship was worthy of the Pro in its name.

They weren’t expecting the results the new iPhone delivered.

In iOS 13 and iPadOS, Safari gets a download manager. If you tap (or click, with the new iOS mouse support) on a link to a file, that file will now get downloaded to a folder. What’s more, you can change the location of that download folder.

This is one of the small but essential new features in iPadOS that really turns the iPad into a viable MacBook replacement, even for those who aren’t yet used to the arcane ways of iOS. Let’s check it out.

Apple warns iPhone and iPad users that third-party keyboard apps can be granted network access without the user’s approval.

Apple has promised a fix in upcoming iOS and iPadOS updates.

The iPhone finally joined the dark side with the new Dark Mode feature introduced in iOS 13. Apple delighted fans who have been clamoring for the feature for years — and it appears the wait has been worth it.

After using Dark Mode, I don’t think I’ll be going back to the bright white iOS interface anytime soon. Apple poured a bunch of thought into Dark Mode so that it does more than just make everything black.