Charge your iPhone wirelessly with this glowing Qi charger. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
If you want in on wireless charging, buying a Qi-enabled device like an iPhone X is just the start. You also need a wireless charging pad (and no, you’re not getting an AirPower.).
Why not go with one that’s affordable, low-profile and portable? (And that actually exists, for that matter.)
Nintendo's biggest mobile game is getting an update. Photo: Nintendo
Tactical, turn-based role-playing game Fire Emblem Heroes has been a massive hit for Nintendo on iOS. And now we know what’s it’s got in store next.
In a YouTube video update, Nintendo shared some of the big new features for the game. These include a new Arena mode, a Pair Up mechanic, and much, more.
AirPower's dead! But the real problem is why... Photo: Apple
This week on The CultCast: The death of AirPower — the real problem that no one is talking about. Plus: 2019 iPhone rumors point to some wildly useful new features; more evidence the 2018 MacBook, Air and Pro keyboards are still having problems. And we wrap up with a review of Leander’s favorite wireless charging mat, Lewis’ take on the new AirPods 2, and Erfon’s got a favorite new podcasting gadget on an all-new Under Review.
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..
You won’t believe how cheap Apple Music is in India. Photo: Apple
Apple Music has undercut rival streaming services in India with even cheaper subscription prices.
The cost of an individual plan has fallen to the equivalent of $1.43 per month. Apple’s changes come just weeks after Spotify and YouTube Premium landed in India for the first time.
Cook is a big-time Auburn sports fan. Photo: Apple
Tim Cook has made no secret of the fact that he’s a sport fan — with a particular love of the teams at his alma mater, Auburn University.
With the Auburn Tigers basketball team entering the Final Four against Virginia this weekend, Cook called the Paul Finebaum Show on ESPN to geek out about sport.
Samsung says that Q1 operating profits will be down 60 percent. Photo: Samsung
The massive rise of the smartphone is coming to a close, and Samsung is bearing the brunt of it.
As well as a manufacturer of its own handsets, Samsung also provides memory chips and display panels to other companies. Due to slowing demand for smartphones around the world, Samsung today revealed that its operating profits have plunged. It expects that its first quarter takings will be down by 60 percent compared to last year.
Apple’s efforts to make the iPad as thin as possible mean that their fragile aluminum frames have been known to bend easily. But the new iPad mini holds up surprisingly well in a brutal bend test.
Unlike its larger siblings, the fifth-generation slate remains perfectly intact when shaped to look like a banana.
The Apple Store that will never happen. Photo: Apple
Apple has scrapped a controversial plan to build a flagship Apple Store in Melbourne, Australia’s Federation Square.
Apple had been battling to build the store for much of last year. It even scrapped its original designs and came up with new ones, only to have those criticized as well. Government agent Heritage Victoria ruled that the Apple Store would be too “visually dominant.” It also said that demolishing the existing Yarra Building to construct Apple’s flagship store would “diminish” the public space.
Don’t install iOS 12.2 unless you plan to stick with it. The only way through is forward. Photo: Pexels
Anyone who upgrades an iPhone or iPad to iOS 12.2 can’t change their mind. Apple ceased digitally signing the previous version so it can’t be installed anymore.
This is normal. Apple always stops allowing people to downgrade a few weeks after a newer iOS version is released.
One of Google’s top AI experts has left the company to join Apple’s special projects group.
Ian Goodfellow, who created an AI approach called general adversarial networks (GANs), was hired by Apple as a director of machine learning, adding another prominent Google AI expert to its growing team.
The wearables market is about to heat up. Photo: Apple
Apple’s AirPods are about to get some fresh competition from Amazon.
The online retail giant is reportedly planning to release its own set of wireless earbuds that will be powered by its digital assistant Alexa and possibly better audio quality.
You can just buy the multiplayer starter pack if you don’t want the full game. Photo: Treyarch
Call of Duty: Black Ops III has finally made its way to the Mac after being available on Windows PC since its launch over three years ago.
The Mac version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III was revealed by Aspyr today. It comes all the same content in the Windows version, plus 64-bit and Metal support. If you’re ready to rack up some kills though you better be ready to say goodbye to all the free space on your hard drive.
Apple Pencil tips are as easy to swap as they are to lose. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Ounce for ounce, Apple’s replacement Apple Pencil tips are probably more expensive than gold1. It will cost you $20 for four of the tiny things, all of which are ridiculously easy to lose.
But if you use your Pencil for anything more than the odd casual stroke, sketch or swoosh, you’ll eventually need to replace a worn tip. The good news is that it’s easy. The bad news? That price.
The UAG Metropolis iPad case defends this tablet from drops, bumps and blows. Photo: UAG
The Urban Armor Gear Metropolis is line of lightweight but protective folio cases for a range of Apple tablets. As of today, that includes the just-released iPad Air 3 and iPad mini 5.
These cases offer MIL-SPEC drop protection and can securely hold an Apple Pencil. They also function as stands, naturally.
Future Apple Watches might tell you when you stink. Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Future iPhones and Apple Watches could pack “smell recognition capabilities,” based on some new patent filings submitted by Apple.
The iPhone-maker has been researching ways to detect air pollution and other dangerous chemicals with tiny sensors that could be integrated into its products. In the new patents, Apple describes how it could use multiple sensors to detect things like spoiled food, body odor and maybe even blood sugar levels.
The sun finally came out, so I took this photo outside. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Ever since I got a 2018 iPad Pro last year, I’ve gone through a drawerful of USB-C hubs. And finally, I’ve found one that works. Or rather, one that works without any odd, annoying or inexplicable behavior. It’s the Kingston Nucleum, it doesn’t have quite enough ports, and it’s just great.
Can you identify the iPhone clone? (The fake is on the right.) Photo: Gabe Trumbo/MyPhones Unlimited
Federal agents recently busted two college students who allegedly made nearly $1 million by returning fake iPhones to Apple.
Officials charged Quran Juan and Yangyangg Zhou, both Chinese nationals attending college in Oregon, with participating in a counterfeit iPhone scam. The duo reportedly submitted more than 2,000 iPhones to Apple claiming, the devices were broken and wouldn’t power on. The fake iPhones were only worth about $30, allowing the scammers to pocket nearly $600 for each successful return, authorities said.
Group selfies can be be awkward. Apple has a possible solution. Photo: 20th Century Fox
Crowding a group of people into a selfie can be challenging. Seems someone always ends up halfway out of the picture. Apple has a solution: it’s developing a way to automatically combine multiple images into a group selfie.
This could become a part of iOS 13 this fall, perhaps as a new feature in the iPhone XI.
Apple will require a lot of chips for this year's iPhone refresh. Photo: Apple
Apple’s primary chip supplier will see production capacity pushed to the limit by 2019 iPhone orders, according to a new report.
TSMC has been tasked with supplying next-generation 7-nanometer chips for this fall’s refresh. It is expected to start mass-production of what will likely be the A13 during the third quarter.
Luminar Flex won't disrupt your post-production workflow. It will make it shorter. Photo: Skylum
Style and workflow get hardwired in the brains of photographers working with programs like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. New imaging software can be a hard sell.
Even if the positive reviews for Skylum’s all-in-one Luminar sparked curiosity, many shooters may not hit pause in their firmly entrenched post-production long enough to try it.
Today, Skylum rolled out Luminar Flex, a plug-in it says will add its AI-powered features to photographers used to working with the Adobe suite.
How do you get a perfectly smooth wall? It certainly takes a while. Photo: Cabel/Twitter
Whether it’s ensuring that the back of the original Macintosh looked as good as the front or hand-painting the corners of every single iPhone box to make the color uniform, Apple has always sweated the little details.
The latest example of this kind of obsessive perfectionism? That Apple reportedly insists that the tiny screw divots in its temporary Apple Store barricades are covered up. Because Apple.
Monument Valley was a masterpiece of design. Photo: ustwo/Cult of Mac
It’s one thing to be reminded that Apple turned 43 earlier this week. But it’s another when a major anniversary comes around for something which, seemingly, arrived just a couple of months back.
That’s how I feel about the fifth anniversary of ustwo’s Monument Valley. One of the most stunning iOS games yet created, the beautiful puzzle game landed in the App Store this month in 2014. To celebrate its birthday, its creators have given it a neat anniversary update. And thrown in a couple of videos for good measure.
Find WhatsApp Business in the App Store now. Photo: WhatsApp
WhatsApp Business for iOS has begun its worldwide rollout.
The new app, which lets businesses connect with their customers in an instant, made its debut on iOS last month — but only in a small number of countries. Now you can get your hands on it anywhere.
The iPhone XR is now (a bit) cheaper in India. Photo: Apple
India is cutting the price of the iPhone XR by up to 22 percent in an attempt to boost sales.
Apple has long wanted to make meaningful inroads into India with its potential customer base of 1.3 billion people. However, this is the first time that it been willing to reduce the selling price of one of its latest iPhones in order to do so.