Apple had third parties audit all its mineral suppliers to be sure none are using their profits to support armed conflicts. Last year, there were five companies who refused the audits and all were dropped from Apple’s list of suppliers.

The iPhone maker regularly tests to be sure the materials that make its computers and accessories are sourced responsibly.

Have you ever felt sick and thought to yourself, “I should diagnose myself based on a web search,” later wishing you’d sought a professional instead? How about taking on an extensive home-improvement project, only to call in a contractor after struggling to make any real progress?

Getting in shape or losing weight shouldn’t be something you are stuck doing on your own, either. That’s where a personal trainer comes in.

Insurance giant Allstate has purchased third-party smartphone repair company iCracked, giving the Right to Repair movement much-needed lobbying muscle.

Already, the insurance company has assigned a lobbyist to proposed legislation underway in New Hampshire, one of 15 states considering Right to Repair bills opposed by tech companies, including Apple.

Apple is being sued by a person whose husband died from injuries caused by a fire, allegedly started by a defective iPad.

The fire took place back in February 2017. It was reportedly, “caused by a defect in the subject tablet, specifically affecting the subject tablet’s battery pack.”

In good times, the “Warren Buffett effect” has caused Apple shares to soar — by showing everyone that the world’s most famous investor believes in Apple. However, the opposite is also true: An apparent second thought on the part of Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway can cause shares to fall.

That’s what happened this week, when Berkshire Hathaway was revealed to have slightly reduced its Apple holdings. Responding to the news, Apple shares fell 0.5 percent in pre-market trading.

Taxes are a drag no what you do for a living. So why waste more time on them than you should? Even if you’ve already got a go-to tax app, you might want to switch to this tax-busting app.

This week on The CultCast: It’s all but confirmed — Apple’s holding a March media event to make some special announcements. We’ll tell you what we know. Plus: Apple’s all-time best-selling products may surprise you. And is it worth buying a 2018 MacBook Pro, or should you wait? We’ll tell you what we think.

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 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain..

Do you want to show your undying loyalty (or, at least, $350 worth of loyalty) to your favorite NBA team? If so, you may want to check out Apple’s latest Beats brand launch. The new range offers its Studio3 wireless headphones in the colors of the top basketball teams.

Apple has reportedly snapped up U.K.-based digital marketing company DataTiger.

The company offers tools for optimizing companies’ “marketing flows for … customers in real-time across all channels.” This makes it possible to better target customers with relevant materials and advertisements.

Apple’s March 25 media event will be dedicated to services — and that will include the first glimpses of video content from Apple’s original TV series.

While we’ll get a look at some video clips, however, customers shouldn’t expect the series to debut immediately after the event.

Canadian rapper Drake reportedly spent $400,000 to have a case for his iPhone X covered in diamonds and white gold.

Drake is known to have a thing for bling, but this one appears off the charts. The case is 18k white gold and is covered with small blue diamonds. In the center is a white gold owl, the logo for his record company, with two big diamonds for eyes.

Lego is exploring the cutting edge of play with its Hidden Side sets. These include augmented reality (AR) ghosts that children catch on their iPhone or Android.

This upcoming offering from the toy giant is in line with all of AR, which combines the real world with the digital one. 

Apple and its fans still share a strong bond. But has the iPhone maker lost some of its touch?

Apple, named the top company for brand intimacy three years in a row, fell to second place to another brand known for tugging at the heartstrings of consumers, Disney.

Apple has added a shortcut to the latest versions of iOS 12 to make managing app subscriptions easier. Previously, you had to dig deep into your Apple ID settings to find the control panel for your subs. Now, it’s just a couple of taps away. On the surface, this looks like a simple tweak to make things easier for the user, but it’s more than that.

By making subscriptions easier for the user to cancel, it’s also making it more likely that people will sign up for them in the first place. That’s good for users, for developers, and for quality apps in general.

I don’t travel much, but when I do, I like to do it properly. And by “properly,” I mean with all my gadgets organized. Yes, you can drop your chargers into the bottom of your backpack or suitcase. Or you can stuff them into a pocket.

But they’ll get damaged, you’ll end up losing something, and if you need to take out one charger, adapter, dongle or cable, you’ll end up dropping the rest all over the floor of the departure lounge.

You need to get organized, and here’s one great way to do it.

Urban Armor Gear‘s Plyo Series doesn’t hide your fancy new iPad inside a bulky case.  It protects your expensive tablet but includes translucent plastic so it can still be seen.

This case, which also serves as a stand, is currently available only for the most recent 9.7-inch iPad models.

China is not the only part of the world where Apple’s iPhone is losing market share to hard-charging Chinese brands.

Sales of the iPhone are falling off in Europe and Thailand, the second-biggest smartphone market in Southeast Asia, where shipments fell by more than 50 percent.

Lee Clow, the founder of Apple’s creative agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab and TBWA global director of media arts, is retiring at the age of 73.

A friend of Steve Jobs for three decades, Clow played a crucial role in the creation of some of Apple’s most iconic advertising campaigns. (As well as a whole lot of other, non-Apple ads.)

Google has updated its excellent Gboard keyboard for iOS to add haptic feedback.

You will now feel subtle vibrations when you type, which help make on-screen keys feel more physical. Gboard is one of just a handful of third-party options on iOS that offer this feature.

Google is following Apple’s lead in investigating a controversial Saudi app which allowed men to follow the locations of their wife or daughters.

Tim Cook said yesterday that Apple was looking into the app to find out whether complaints made about it were accurate. Google has now told the New York Times that it plans to do the same.

No matter how careful you are, one thing is certain: eventually your computer drive is going to freeze up. Maybe it’s because of an accidental drop or spilled soda, or just from good old wear and tear. So something else is certain: you’ll want a reliable tool for recovering lost data.

Can you imagine if the most popular app in the U.S. — more than Facebook, YouTube or WhatsApp — was an official White House app?

The idea sounds, frankly, crazy. But that’s more or less what’s happened in China, where the app currently ruling the App Store is one dedicated to President Xi Jinping.

Apple has seemingly reached a compromise in its battle with Qualcomm in Germany. It will resume selling older iPhone models in Apple Stores in Germany, after previously withdrawing them following a court decision. However, it will sell iPhones only with Qualcomm chips inside.

This means not selling iPhone 7 and 8 models which contain Intel chips. Apple began phasing in Intel modem chips back in 2016. Last year, it dropped Qualcomm entirely in favor of Intel.

Apple is currently dealing with a number of apps abusing its enterprise certificate program.

According to a new report, software pirates have used the technology to distribute hacked versions of many popular apps. These include the likes of Spotify, Pokémon GO, Angry Birds, Minecraft, and others. Apple originally introduced its enterprise certificates to let companies make business apps for employees, without going through the App Store.

Apple is reportedly having no problem signing up publishers for its proposed 50-50 revenue split deal for its news subscription service.

Despite the massive cut Apple is demanding, a new report claims that it has “already signed many publishers to deals.” These companies are banking on Apple being able to pull off an iTunes-style rescue of the news business. As such, they believe they’ll get a smaller piece of a big business, rather than a big piece of a small one.