Cult of Mac

The Shield charging cable from Fuse Chicken is literally wearing stainless steel chainmail. It seems designed to survive battle with orcs, or at least the dangers it might run into on a job site. Amazingly enough, this company’s Titan cable is even more rugged, being wrapped in two layers of flexible steel.

There are Lighting and USB-C versions of both, and we took them into battle to test their mettle. Actually, we towed a car with one, and hit the other with a hammer. Read on to see how they survived.

The just-announced Bose Portable Home Speaker isn’t an everyday Bluetooth device. It also has Wi-Fi and, even better, supports AirPlay 2, making it cooperate much more closely with Apple devices.

This speaker offers 360 degree sound, and is designed for portability, with a built-in handle.

Using your phone during a break from work doesn’t give your brain a chance to rest and recoup, according to a new study. It’s like not taking a break at all.

The experiment’s results don’t indicate people should stay off computers when they want a quick rest. Just phones, as these are “more cognitively taxing than expected.”

We’re up to the eighth beta of iOS 13, but that’s not nearly the record for iOS betas. That honor goes to iOS 11. It might seem like we’ve had a lot of betas this time around, but two years ago, Apple seeded 13 betas before hitting the Gold Master stage.

With just a few weeks left until the expected iPhone 11 launch, it seems unlikely that record will fall. In terms of sheer number of betas, iOS 13 is not even close. But what about total time spent in beta? Or the fewest betas? Let’s look at the chart.

Satechi just introduced an adapter that enables a MacBook to connect to a pair of 4K monitors, both running at 60Hz.

There is a drawback, though: this dual HDMI adapter requires two of the laptop’s USB-C ports.

Stay calm and remix on.

Taylor Swift is partnering with Apple for a new Today at Apple session that will teach attendees how to remix her latest single “You Need To Calm Down.” Unlike some of the other Music Labs though, this special session will only be available in select stores.

The Apple Card isn’t just another credit card. Apple is a hardware company, after all, so its card is special, mkay? If Jony Ive hadn’t disappeared from the Apple lot, then we’d probably even have a Making Of video, with Whispering Joni¹ burning with quiet passion about how this is the thinnest, strongest card that Apple has ever made. How Apple’s designers needed to invent an entire new production process to recycle titanium plates reclaimed from broken legs. Etc.

So, if you have an Apple Card, Apple wants you to treat it with respect. And that’s why there is now an official support document telling you how to clean it.

The OtterSpot is a new twist on mobile wireless charging. It starts with a base station sending current to a portable battery that has built-in Qi inductive charging. This battery powers up an iPhone or Android, either at home or one the go. Multiple batteries can be stacked and charged at once.

The company behind this new system is OtterBox, well known for its rugged phone and tablet cases.

A more affordable version of the struggling HomePod smart speaker will debut next year, according to a generally reliable source. Apple is also reportedly going to introduce AirPods with noise cancellation in 2020.

Both are products that consumers have been asking for.

The first game from the incredibly popular Gears of War franchise has landed on iOS. Gears Pop! is very different to what fans of the series are used to, but it looks like a ton of fun nonetheless.

It’s also free-to-play!

Imagine buying a brand new iPhone just weeks before Apple introduces an upgrade. Now imagine buying 15,000. That’s exactly what British Airways has done for all its cabin crew members.

The handsets are being pre-loaded with apps that can be used to “offer a more personalized service,” BA says. It’s part of a £6.5 billion plan to step up customer support over the next five years.

Spotify is now matching Apple Music’s generous three-month free trial for new subscribers.

The offer is available to eligible individual and student users who sign up for any Spotify Premium plan, starting today. It will be extended to support Duo and Family Plans in the coming months.

Apple’s acclaimed Powerbeats Pro wireless headphones are now available to pre-order in ivory, moss, and navy color options. Previously, they were only available in black.

The wireless headphones retail for $249.95. They will start shipping August 30, and will arrive in Apple Stores on that same day as well.

President Donald Trump and Tim Apple, err, Tim Cook are BFFs. Well, according to Trump at least.

Describing Cook as a “great executive,” Trump says the Apple CEO isn’t afraid to pick up the phone and call whenever there’s something on his mind. “He calls me, and others don’t,” Trump said, comparing Cook to other execs.

Samsung seems pretty triggered (as the kids say) by people dissing its green Android text message bubbles, compared to the blue bubbles of Apple’s iMessages. So much so, in fact, that it’s created a whole bunch of animated GIFs to, err… do something?

The GIFs portray scenes like a green snake eating blue bubbles and a creepy green salamander being inappropriately touchy-feely with a distressed blue bubble. Hey, it probably sounded hilarious when it was described in the team meeting!

Technology is supposed to make us more productive, but it can also be a mighty distraction. That’s especially true when it comes to our cell phones. But with this multi-device productivity tool, you can make each of your devices a window onto your tasks and to-do lists.

The ex-Apple engineer who claims he helped invent “Find My iPhone” and other features has beaten Apple in a preliminary court hearing.

Apple lost its bid to dismiss the former employee’s lawsuit earlier this week. The suit claims Apple left him off a list of five patents on which he was a rightful co-inventor. Along with “Find My iPhone,” Darren Eastman also notably worked on Passbook, the electronic ticketing system.

This year’s iPhone refresh will introduce new “shatter-resistance technology” and even better Face ID, according to a new report.

It is claimed users will be able to unlock Apple’s next-generation handsets from multiple angles — like when they’re lying flat on a table — thanks to a new Face ID sensor with a wider field of view.

Apple’s removal of the pricey Designed by Apple in California book from its online store marks the end of an era.

Apple released the book, which retailed in two sizes for $199 and $299, in November 2016. The retrospective paid homage to the design work of Jony Ive since the late 1990s. Now that Ive is no longer at Apple, the company seemingly decided to draw a line under the book as well.

An independent lab claims that the iPhone 7 emits more radio-frequency radiation that is allowed by the FCC. And the iPhone X skirts the line.

The tests, done at the behest of the Chicago Tribune, have reportedly caused the FCC to examine whether these and other cell phones meet its safety guidelines. That doesn’t make them a cancer risk, though.

Apple TV+ could lure a whopping 12 million subscribers in its first year, an analyst predicts.

The streaming video service, which Apple plans to launch this fall after spending more than $1 billion on original shows, will be be playing serious catchup with rivals like Netflix. But Cupertino wields some key advantages.

The iPhone’s incredible Portrait mode does a great job of blurring the backgrounds of photos, making the subject stand out from busy backdrops. (Apple also uses this depth information for its truly awful Portrait Lighting effects — has anyone ever gotten a good result from the Stage Light filter? — but that’s another story.)

What if you could use the depth information inside Portrait photos to get rid of the background entirely? Wouldn’t that be something? Well, yes it would. And if you have the right app, it’s really easy to remove photo backgrounds.

Give your beloved Apple Watch one of the prettiest charging stands money can buy and get $10 off for a limited time.

Inspired by the best Apple products, the Twelve South Forté fuses shiny chrome and luxury leather for a positively premium look. And it works with any Apple Watch and any band.

The latest move by the Waze navigation app to make driving a little more fun involves built-in controls for YouTube Music. This allows drivers to make changes to the music streaming through their iPhone or Android without leaving the Waze app.

Apple is picking up the pace on its iOS 13 development by seeding the eighth beta build of the upcoming software release to developers today.

iOS 13 beta 8 and iPadOS 13 beta 8 arrive less than one week after Apple released the last beta build to developers. It’s a clear sign that the last of the bugs are getting squashed in order to ready the big update for the public launch next month.