There are plenty of ways to upgrade your iPhone, but not so many offer both expanded connectivity and improved grip.

This week on The CultCast: Apple may be prepping the Mac Pro for its big reveal … don’t miss our WWDC 2019 hardware expectations! Plus: The pros and cons of the 2019 MacBook Pro … we discuss. And did you know all the best Get a Mac ads never actually aired? We’ll tell you the odd reason why. All that and soooo much more.

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Target is recalling around 90,000 Lightning cables over concerns they could cause fires or electric shocks.

The “heyday” branded cables, which feature a nylon braided cable and metal connectors, “can become electrically charged,” according to a recall notice.

Target has so far received 14 reports of the cables “smoking, sparking or igniting.”

Apple has started erecting WWDC artwork around the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, ahead of Monday’s big developer event.

Banners featuring neon icons and other assets now hang from streetlights and transit stops downtown around the venue that will house this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Workers also started decorating the front of the convention center itself.

Apple has finally increased the App Store’s cellular download limit on the iPhone — but not by much.

You can now download up to 200MB over a 3G or 4G connection. The limit was previously set at 150MB. You will still need to connect to a Wi-Fi network to download larger apps and games.

You can now order Apple’s new Powerbeats Pro wireless headphones in the U.K., France, and Germany.

They’re only available in black for now, with other color options coming this summer, and it seems that stock is limited. You can expect delivery around June 6 if you’re fast enough.

Backing up or moving data around on an iOS device should be simple. Unfortunately, iTunes has some real limits in terms of flexibility. So for easy, broad control of iOS data, third party data managers are often the best bet.

Apple’s long-time ad agency, TBWA\MAL, is injecting some new blood into its leadership ranks to oversea the creation of advertisements for iPhone and Apple Services.

Apple’s lineup of wearables for this year’s first quarter earned the company the largest share of an exploding wearable devices market, according to a report from the International Data Corp.

Shipments of Apple Watches, AirPods and Beats headphones totaled 12.8 million for a 25.8 percent Q1 market share. While its share slipped a 1 percent, its year-over-year growth nearly topped 50 percent, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.

Global shipments reached 49.6 million, up 55 percent from the previous year.

iOS 13 is expected to be the star of WWDC 2019, but this year’s conference could unleash some of the biggest changes for the Mac we’ve ever seen.

The rumor mill has been dishing out tons of details about macOS 10.15 in the lead up to WWDC 2019. We’ve already seen screenshots of some of the new apps and gotten some good details on how iOS apps are making their way onto the Mac. There’s still plenty of room for Apple to surprise us when it reveals the full details of macOS 10.15 on June 3, but here’s what we know about it so far.

Video of a MacBook Pro catching fire is getting a lot of views on Reddit and Twitter this morning showing a potentially deadly situation.

White Panda, a DJ from the U.S., posted video yesterday of his MacBook Pro a few minutes after the explosion happened. He claims it burst into flame while plugged into its charger.

Watch what happened:

A New Hampshire man opened his iPad last week to a new feature – a rabid bat that bit him.

The bat had wedged itself between the case and the device. Roy Syvertson, 86, of Exeter, had sat in an easy chair to read the news on his iPad when he felt a bite on his index finger.

The popular Spark mail client from Readdle just got a nice new update that lets you pick font styles and sizes. The new features are available on both Mac and iOS.

Apple has joined Google, WhatsApp and 44 other signatories in penning an open letter to the U.K.’s cybersecurity agency GCHQ. The open letter asks the agency to abandon plans for the so-called “ghost protocol.”

This would force encrypted message services to allow eavesdropping by silently adding “a law enforcement participant to a group chat or call.” In essence, it would make it possible to inject hidden participants into secure messaging services.

WWDC is less than a week away and there are already plenty of rumors doing the rounds on what new features Apple has in store for iOS and watchOS. Dark mode, a refreshed Reminders app and a new Find My app all look set to make an appearance.

But will Apple also be giving its operating systems a shot in the arm to improve their health and fitness as well? Here’s my top-ten wish list of announcements I’m hoping to hear during next week’s keynote. These features will get my pulse racing so fast it’ll trigger a heart rate warning on my Apple Watch.

Google Maps has added the ability for drivers to see speed limits and speed traps in more than 40 countries.

The feature was previously exclusive to Waze, which is also owned by Google. It started making its way to Maps in January, but was limited to a small number of markets.

In some zombie games, you play as the zombies. Others make you play as the survivors. And in Infectonator 3: Apocalypse, you play as the plague.

It’s a fun — and grotesquely unique — spin on the genre that’s sure to appeal to gamers with a love of tasty, tasty brains. Now after a stint on PC, courtesy of Steam, it’s now spread to iOS, too. Check out the trailer below.

If you’re a mobile worker, you need a lift for your laptop so that your neck doesn’t get a permanent crease. But laptops are supposed to be portable, and most laptop stands are anything but that. But thanks to clever origami-style engineering, the MOFT hides right underneath your laptop.

An update for Microsoft Excel on the iPhone may not sound like the most exciting thing. But the update in question is actually pretty darn neat. That’s regardless of whether you regularly use spreadsheets or just fancy a neat tech demo.

The update lets you easily import spreadsheets by simply snapping a photo with your iPhone. The image you take of a paper-based spreadsheet is then recognized and turned into a fully functioning editable spreadsheet.

Apple supplier Japan Display is on the verge of finalizing a $729 million bailout after renegotiating its debts.

Apple has agreed to wait for money owed after it fronted the cost of a new Japan Display plant four years ago. Another client has agreed to halve the “pace of repayment,” according to reports.

Construction is well underway on Apple’s first Mexico City flagship retail store.

The upcoming Apple Store will be a standalone structure located in the Antara Fashion Hall at an upscale mall in Mexico City. Apple first committed to opening a Latin American flagship Apple Store back in 2017.

Apple Pay Express Transit is on its way to London, giving travelers a quick and easy way to pay for rides.

Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed it is working closely with Apple to enable the feature “in the coming months.” It promises more information will be available at a later date.

Huawei has filed a legal motion to try and reverse the against the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the ruling which blocked U.S. government agencies from buying Huawei products.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the motion argues that the ruling was unconstitutional.

The Department of Justice are happy to let T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger complete — on one condition. In order for the $26.5 billion merger to proceed, the DOJ wants the companies to help with the creation of a new wireless carrier.

This would address the concern about a merger stifling competition by reducing the number of major U.S. carriers. But as Bloomberg points out, “spinning off a full-fledged national competitor would be a high bar for T-Mobile and Sprint to meet.”

AliveCor’s KardiaMobile 6L promises to be much more accurate than the heart monitor built into Apple Watch Series 4, and almost as easy to carry around. It’s the first personal ECG with three electrodes approved by the FDA to check the electrical activity of the heart.

We put this ultra-portable iPhone accessory to the test, as well as the more basic single-lead KardiaMobile, so don’t miss our reviews of each.