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This $68 crush-proof power bank ensures you’ll never be powerless again [Deals]

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powerbank
Never be caught running on 0% with this tough power bank.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If your home is like many homes, Christmas morning will bring a whole heaping mess of gleaming new tech gadgets splayed out under the tree. In fact, there will probably be so much polished chrome everywhere that you’re gonna feel like you live in an Apple store for at least a few days.

This dandy dongle isn’t real but maybe it should be

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USB-C dongle
Apple Dongle lets you connect with a good joke by Ryan Geraghty.
Photo: Ryan Geraghty

Dongles for this, dongles for that, USB-C dongles be damned. Product designer Ryan Geraghty feels your frustration and has created a concept designed to make Apple users laugh about their begrudged move to USB-C.

His idea of an Apple Dongle is “one elegant tapestry of connectivity” featuring 16 adapters into a single USB-C connector.

This Shortcut shrinks your huge 4K Christmas videos

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Now this is a big video.
Now this is a big video.
Photo: DRs Kulturarvsprojekt/Flickr CC

“This is going to be the best Christmas video ever!” you tell yourself. You have an iPhone XS, it’s set to 4K at 24 frames per second, and you’re framing your shots like a pro. Smart HDR will illuminate the smiles on the faces of your nieces and nephews, and stabilization will take care of your hangover jitters.

“Oh man, I can’t wait until these morons see this in their iMessages, using iOS 12’s great Share Back feature,” you think somewhat uncharitably, while squeezing a handy link into your thoughts.

Then reality grabs you. That 5-minute 4K clip of the angels ripping their way through a forest’s worth of wrapping paper is over 1.5GB. There’s no way you can share that on your parents’ crappy internet connection. Why oh why didn’t you shoot at 720p? Luckily, Shortcuts is here to save the day. Again.

Apple stands by its bent iPads

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iPad Pro 2018 one week review
None of the Cult of Mac iPad Pro units came bent.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Apple’s VP of hardware engineering reportedly says that the slight bend in some 2018 iPad Pro units is nothing unusual. 

Dan Riccio tald the owner of a bent tablet that the variance from straight in any unit is less than 400 microns, which is less than in previous iPad models.

Say what? 2018’s most quote-worthy Apple moments [Year in Review]

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Year in Review: Best Apple quotes 2018: Apple sure fired up the chattering classes in 2018.
Apple sure fired up the chattering classes in 2018.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac Year in Review 2018 Few brands stir the passions like Apple. Be it a rumor, stock speculation, a glowing gadget review or a president’s bombastic tweet, Apple, its devices and the people who make them always seem to be part of a conversation.

So to curate the best quotes about Apple for 2018 is as daunting as choosing your favorite word in the dictionary. There are so many — and best is a matter of taste. How do you pick?

Save up to $800 on the MacBook Pro [Deals & Steals]

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MacBook Pro refurbs
Bag a MacBook Pro today and save up to $800!
Photo: Apple

It might be too late to order gifts in time for Christmas, but it’s certainly not too late to take advantage of some stellar holiday savings — like up to $800 off the MacBook Pro at Best Buy.

That’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup. We also have up to $175 off the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, $40 off the brand new 11-inch iPad Pro, $55 off urBeats 3 headphones, and more!

Our favorite gadgets of 2018 [Year in Review]

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Year in Review Favorite Gadgets 2018
These are the gadgets we couldn’t live without.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac Year in Review 2018 2018 has been an amazing year for Apple products, but there were a bunch of other tech companies that put out some incredible new gadgets that we’ve fallen in love with.

Instead of focusing on the flashiest, most popular products of 2018, we’ve rounded up a list of goodies that we’ve personally been using throughout the year and can’t imagine living without, whether they were created in Cupertino or not. Hopefully, you’ll find something great you haven’t heard about yet.

Pixel 3 camera proves its might in DxOMark test

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Pixel 3 camera
The Pixel 3 camera has an eye on the competition.
Photo: Google

The iPhone XR is the best single-camera smartphone on the market.

Well, it was for about two weeks. The XR now shares the mantle with Google’s Pixel 3.

Google’s new flagship handset achieved the same ranking as the iPhone XR by the engineers who test mobile phone cameras for DxOMark Image Labs.

Apple stock falls to $155, entering a ‘death cross’

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Death cross
It's not been a great few months for Apple.
Screenshot: CNBC

I didn’t know what a “death cross” was when it comes to stocks, but it certainly doesn’t sound like the kind of thing investors clink glasses to celebrate.

In fact, it’s the point at which a stock’s 50-day moving average crosses below its 200-day moving average. It can reportedly be an accurate predictor of a bear market, a steep downward trend in the stock market. And Apple apparently is one of multiple stocks headed that way.

Make the most of your Mac with these premium apps [Deals]

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This week we've rounded up tools for keeping your Mac clean, replacing the Apple Dock, maximizing your keyboard efficiency, and lots more.
This week we've rounded up tools for keeping your Mac clean, replacing the Apple Dock, maximizing your keyboard efficiency, and lots more.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Macs are powerful machines, but only when they’ve got the right apps. So we’ve rounded up four of the best Mac apps at some of the best prices. There are tools for keeping tidy drives, upgrading Apple’s Dock, expanding the potential of each keystroke, and lots more. Read on for more details:

Apple will meet with Indian official to talk iPhone manufacturing

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Foxconn moving additional iPhone production to India as coronavirus disrupts work
Apple could ramp up iPhone manufacturing in India in the near future.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple suppliers are already producing a limited number of iPhones in India, but Apple could be looking to ramp up this investment in the near future.

According to a new report, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu is set to meet with Apple execs at next month’s Davos conference to talk manufacturing.

Apple reveals which governments have made requests for user data

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Apple transparency report 1
Apple's latest transparency report shines a light on data request.
Screenshot: Apple

Apple’s latest report into governmental data requests is as transparent as its recent clear iPhone XR case. The document reveals information about the government demands for user data that it receives around the world.

As you might expect, the report shows that more and more requests are being made for data around the world. The requests made to Apple in the second half of the year rose by 9 percent versus the last reporting period. In all, Apple received 32,342 requests for data on 163,823 devices.

2019 could bring new iPad mini, affordable 10-inch iPad

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iPad mini 4
Is a new iPad mini right around the corner?
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

Apple will finally refresh the iPad mini next year, according to sources in the company’s supply chain.

A fifth-generation model is expected to make its debut during the first half of 2019, followed by a more affordable 10-inch iPad that will replace the existing 9.7-inch slate in Apple’s lineup.

Apple may have cut even more iPhone orders

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Would you pay $568 to AppleCare+ to replace a stolen iPhone XS?
Apple may have cut 4 million iPhone orders.
Photo: Apple

According to Rosenblatt analyst Jun Zhang, Apple could further cut iPhone production by an additional 4 million units in the March quarter of 2019. Zhang claims that this will predominantly affect the iPhone XR.

Watch Nickelback get the Memoji treatment

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Memoji Creed
It's like 2001 all over again!
Photo: Danny Kabouni

iOS 12’s Memoji feature lets users create their own custom Animojis. These animated characters use the facial recognition tech from the newer iPhones’ iPhones’ TrueDepth cameras to copy your expressions.

Harnessing these capabilities, Twitter user Danny Kabouni recently recreated the 2001 Nickelback smash hit “How You Remind Me.” The results are, well, they’re pretty glorious.

Best science and tech documentaries of 2018 [Year in Review]

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Year in Review Best Documentaries 2018
Here's some holiday viewing for you.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac Year in Review 2018 Do you want to celebrate the end of another year by relaxing in front of a great informative documentary? Nobody would blame you! Fortunately, 2018 was a great year for tech- and science-focused factual filmmaking.

Here are our choices for the best science and technology documentaries 2018 had to offer.

Blackmagic eGPU Pro makes your Mac into a graphics workstation

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A Blackmagic eGPU Pro can up the graphics capabilities of your iMac.
Is your eGPU working under macOS Catalina?
Photo: Apple

The new Blackmagic eGPU Pro adds a Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics processor to any Mac with a Thunderbolt 3 port. It just debuted on the Apple Store, who promises it gives “workstation-class graphics performance.”

But you might want to be sitting down when you hear the price.

How to fix your parents’ messed-up computers when home for the holidays

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Good luck fix parents mac
Good luck!
Photo: Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac Year in Review 2018 Christmas time means packing up your daily troubles, forgetting work for a week, and heading home to … troubleshoot your parents’ broken computers and gadgets? Oh man, is it that time of year again already?

That’s the problem with being the family’s only geek — you get handed all the geek jobs. However, you can turn this to your advantage, and make it a lot easier, by going in prepared. Check out our Holiday Troubleshooting Guide right here.

Parallels app for running Windows on a Mac gets new owner

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Parallels 14 for macOS
Parallels Desktop is now owned by Corel, which hopefully be for the good of users.
Photo: Parallels

Corel Corp. has acquired Parallels Desktop, software that enables Macs to run Windows, as well as the company that produces it. This shouldn’t make fans of this app nervous, as Corel promises to make “significant investment” in the business. 

Corel is best known for its graphics applications for Windows, like CorelDRAW and PaintShop Pro. It also offers multimedia apps. And now it makes desktop virtualization software.

Google Home tops Siri and HomePod in smart speaker test

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HomePod market share
The new HomePod could offer a neat new feature.
Photo: Apple

Apple may have been late to the smart speaker game but its HomePod is showing signs it could one day outperform them all.

But only if Apple gives Siri the power.

In Loup Ventures annual smart speaker comparisons, Google Assistant understood all 800 questions and answered nearly 88 percent of them correctly. In its first Loup Ventures test, the HomePod with Siri at the helm misunderstood just three questions and managed to answer correctly nearly 75 percent of its queries.

How to run multiple cooking timers with Shortcuts

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Yum. Perfectly timed.
Yum. Perfectly timed.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

“Hey Siri, 30-minute timer!” you shout across the kitchen, elbows deep in turkey gizzards. Only Siri isn’t interested. It’s already running that one-hour timer for the roast potatoes. Why would anybody want to run multiple timers at the same time? Silly human.

Thankfully, Shortcuts is here to save your bacon (and your Brussel’s sprouts, sage-and-onion stuffing, and so on). If you’re feeling fancy, you could even set this up to use with Siri, but today we’ll keep it simple. So, no matter how complex your Christmas Day cooking arrangement, Shortcuts will let you know when your goose is cooked.

Apple promotes new SVP of machine learning and AI

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John Giannandrea
John Giannandrea is Apple’s newest SVP.
Photo: Apple

Apple has promoted John Giannandrea to its executive team as senior vice president of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

Giannandrea, who joined Apple back in April of this year after eight years at Google, is responsible for Siri and the Core ML framework. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is “fortune to have John … driving our efforts in this critical area.”

PlayStation brings brand new Lemmings game to iOS

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Lemmings on iPhone
Get it from the App Store today.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

The lovable Lemmings are back and better than ever. Help them navigate there way through challenging environments in a brand new game, exclusively for mobile, from Sony PlayStation.

With more levels than every previous Lemmings game combined (literally thousands!), carefully perfected touch controls, and plenty of variety throughout, it’s a must-have for mobile gamers.

Apple pulls certain iPhones in Germany following court verdict

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iPhone
Apple is appealing the court's decision.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple will be barred from selling certain iPhone models in Germany, after a court ruled that Apple was infringing on a Qualcomm patent. While the ban isn’t immediate, provided that Apple appeals it, Apple has said that it will stop selling the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in Apple Stores until the matter is resolved.

The decision against Apple comes shortly after Qualcomm scored a similar victory in a court in China. It will not affect the iPhone XR, XS, or XS Max.

Apple’s updated App Store rules allow gifting of in-app purchases

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App Store
Apple apps no longer dominate App Store search results.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has updated its App Store Review Guidelines to allow the gifting of in-app purchases.

Shoppers have long been able to gift apps and games, but Apple’s rules previously prohibited the purchase of in-app items for others. You probably won’t be able to gift in-app purchases in time for the holidays, however.