This week we celebrate that Drafts is finally available for Mac, share and edit photos with Darkroom, watch some movies with Infuse 6, and lots more.
As winter winds down, March showed that the deals on gear and gadgets are heating up, so we’ve rounded up the best of the bunch. They include awesome alternatives to AirPods, a tool for mapping and troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks, a powerful, portable wireless charging hub, and more. Each is discounted by half or more, read on for details:
Backing up your devices can save you a world of pain when things go wrong. And yet, so many people still don’t back up on a regular basis. If you’re one of them, you should change that for World Backup Day 2019 on March 31.
World Backup Day encourages everyone to back up their most important data. To make it as simple and as cheap as possible for you, we’re giving away ten copies of the excellent iMazing app for Mac and PC. It’s the best way to create local backups that prevent your precious memories from getting lost.
Sometimes old ideas still have some life in them. That’s apparently the thought behind the T-Mobile Phone BoothE, designed to give this carrier’s customers a space to make phone calls in peace and quiet.
As a bonus, Clark Kent once again has a place to quickly change into Superman.
Apple pulls back the curtain on its wily master plan, giving us our first glimpse at a squeaky-clean new TV service, an ambitious subscription videogame service, a slightly familiar-sounding magazine and news service and more. (Spoiler alert: The Apple credit card steals the show.)
And then, after all that, Cupertino unceremoniously pulls the plug on its AirPower wireless charging mat.
Get our take on Apple’s new services, plus new how-tos and reviews, in this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine for iOS. Download the free app now, or get the links below to read the week’s best stories in your browser.
When it comes to convenient, portable audio, Bluetooth earphones is the way to go. Unfortunately though, you usually have to weigh comfort and audio quality against price. Not so with this set of long-lasting, high quality, massively discounted over-ear headphones.
Now that Apple’s AirPower charging mat has been cancelled, this dual iPhone and Apple Watch charger is perhaps the best alternative.
Like the AirPower, the Dual+Watch Aluminium Wireless Charger can charge three devices simultaneously, including the new wireless AirPods.
AirPower is officially dead.
It’s been about 1.5 years since Apple titillated fans by revealing a wireless charging mat that supposedly would charge not one, not two, but three Apple devices at the same time.
Frankly, it looked too good to be true at the time. And after a year of avoiding the subject, Apple confirmed today that AirPower will never caress the backside of your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods at the same time.
This is an unofficial guide to why AirPower failed.
Someone who helped make the iPad and iPhone as powerful as they are has reportedly departed Apple. Gerard Williams III led the team that created every A-series processor since the A7, but no more.
Apple unveiled four new services last week, including its much-anticipated lineup of TV shows, but the Apple credit card apparently stole the show.
A survey found that a whopping 85 percent of iPhone users are at least somewhat interested in this card, which is an adjunct to Apple Pay.
Owners of late-model iPhones (starting with iPhone 8) can stash all their old Lightning cables in a desk drawer and start charging their phone more easily with a wireless charger. Instead of sticking a wire into your phone and attaching it to a power adapter, you just place the phone on a small charger pad — or on a stand-up charging pad — and you’re good to go.
Now that Apple officially killed off its AirPower charging mat, it’s time to take the plunge and get yourself a third-party wireless charger. And if you’ve got one of those newfangled AirPods wireless charging cases, a charging pad is even more essential to your setup.
Here are our recommendations for best wireless chargers.
The days of worrying about someone stealing your credit card number during a transaction are about to be long-gone once Apple Card launches.
New details about Apple Card and its features were revealed today and one of the most surprising tidbits is that the credit card number can be regenerated with a push of a button to protect you from fraud.
Did you know that you can send the audio from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac via the Lightning cable? That audio stays in pristine digital ones and zeros, and can be recorded (or otherwise used) anywhere you can edit audio on your Mac.
For musicians, this turns your iPad and all its music apps into a plugin for your Mac. And for anyone else, it could just be a neat way to route audio into your Mac’s speakers. The feature is called iDAM, and it’s built into your Apple devices. Oh, and it works with MIDI too.
RIP AirPower.
iPhone lovers have been waiting more than a year for Apple’s wireless charging mat to finally launch, but the company announced today that it has officially canceled its AirPower project because it’s simply too dang hard to make it.
Best Buy has again slashed the price of Apple Watch Series 3 to just $199, matching the best discount we’ve seen on this model so far. That price applies to the 38mm version with GPS, which usually costs $279. And it’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup.
We also have some massive discounts on great computer peripherals from Logitech, and 63 percent off the SanDisk iXpand flash drive for iPhone and iPad. Plus, you can pick up a 9-in-1 lens kit that will help you step up your smartphone photography for under $16.
Order one of Apple’s latest tablets now and it won‘t be delivered until the middle of next month. But ask for in-store pickup and you can have it today.
The iPad Air 3 and iPad mini 5 just launched, and demand seems to be fairly high.
Apple will close down Texture in May following the recent launch of Apple News+.
Texture, another magazine subscription service, was acquired by Apple for an undisclosed sum last spring. Cupertino encourages existing subscribers to migrate to its new platform. But those who don’t use Mac or iOS will have to find their magazines elsewhere.
Apple’s second-generation AirPods may be better than ever, but they’re certainly not any more repairable. A new teardown reveals that the next-gen wireless earphones aren’t “designed to be serviced” in any meaningful capacity.
The challenge of repairing them doesn’t necessarily guarantee a short lifespan. However, it does suggest that these probably won’t be hanging around long-term.
The official Gmail app for iOS finally boasts handy swipe gestures that make dealing with your email easier. You can swipe to snooze, mark as read, archive, and more. There’s also the ability to customize the actions if you don’t like the default setup.
As countries, it’s fair to say that China and Taiwan aren’t exactly BFFs. For evidence of this, look no further than the recently released macOS 10.14.4. Eagle-eyed users in China have noticed that their Mac devices can no longer display the Taiwan flag emoji.
The flag ban can’t even be circumvented by changing the region in your Mac’s System Preferences.
AirPods aren’t just a massive hit for Apple, they’re a giant in the overall “wireless hearables” market. According to new research from Counterpoint, AirPods made up a massive 60 percent of the overall market in Q4 2018.
It would have been even bigger, too, if customers hadn’t been waiting on Apple’s updated AirPods 2 at the time!
The amount of data we need in our day to day life and work is only growing larger. And as the volume increases, so does its value. Data is essential, and so is having the space and tools to back it all up.
This week on The CultCast: News+, TV+, Arcade, Card … we react to it all. We’ll fill in the details on Apple’s new services. And, just when you thought it was safe to type, Apple apologizes for yet more MacBook Air and MacBook Pro keyboard issues.
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..
Tim Cook will offer testimony as part of Apple’s legal battle with Qualcomm. Cook will discuss Apple’s business practices, strategy, agreements with cellular network carriers, and more.
He’s not the only senior Apple executive ready to talk, either. Former hardware boss Bob Mansfield, current COO Jeff Williams, SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller and others will chime in as part of the case.
Newly leaked schematics might provide our first look at Apple’s next-generation “iPhone 11.”
The technical drawing lends credence to rumors of a major camera upgrade for the upcoming device. However, if the iPhone 11 schematics prove legit, fans might not be happy with the placement of the smartphone’s camera lenses.