Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: It’s all our favorite gadgets of 2018! Well, not all, but lots of them. We didn’t have time to get through them all but we tried real hard. Plus: Apple is finally gearing up to overhaul the AMD GPUs in the Mac lineup. And the legit way to purchase a base iMac Pro for just $3,900.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off your first hosting plan or domain.

One of Australia’s largest banks has said that it has listened to its customers and is about to start offering Apple Pay support. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (abbreviated to CommBank) doesn’t give an exact launch date, but a tweet suggests that it’s coming soon.

This is significant due to the fact that CommBank is part of Australia’s “Big Four” largest banks, which previously struggled to come to terms with Apple over mobile payments.

Apple is rushing to release an iOS update in China to resolve potential infringement of Qualcomm patents. The news follows a report stating that a Chinese sales ban of certain iPhone models would cost Apple millions of dollars a day.

“Early next week we will deliver a software update for iPhone users in China addressing the minor functionality of the two patents at issue in the case,” Apple said in a statement.

When Raspberry Pi rolled out in 2012, people immediately hailed the low-cost, credit card-size microcomputer as a fun new toy for kids and tech tinkerers. Since then, forward-thinking Pi users adapted this “toy” into a surprisingly powerful piece of tech. Users create everything from home media networks to robotics to fully automatic timesavers.

Tumblr’s exile from the iOS App Store is over, but the company behind it had to kick all forms of pornography off the platform to be allowed to return.

While that decision is controversial, it did mean that this blogging app can be again be downloaded to iPhone and iPad. 

This post is presented by Indice, maker of the Apollo app.

The photos you take are only as good as the lighting. That’s true no matter whether you’re using a top-of-the-line DSLR or an iPhone. The difference is, with an iPhone, you can change the lighting after you’ve taken the picture. That’s thanks to Apollo, an iOS app that uses the iPhone’s depth data to totally reimagine the lighting conditions in your photos.

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) published a draft privacy bill this morning that proposes making it harder for companies to track people’s location or collect biometric information about them. 

Apple is a top donor to the CDT, and the company has taken a strong stance on protecting user’s privacy.

The iPad Pro is pro enough for almost anything, but one thing it still can’t manage is making a Skype (or FaceTime) call and recording it at the same time. This is actually the fault of Skype (and FaceTime), but is nonetheless a pain for anyone who travels and podcasts.

There’s a workaround, however. It requires that you use an iPhone and an iPad together. But seeing as how the alternative is carrying a MacBook, too, it’s a pretty good option. It’s also easy, once you get your head around the setup. And you don’t need to travel to use this setup. After some experimentation, this is now my default podcasting method.

Buying for an Apple fan who already has the latest products and accessories doesn’t have to be difficult. There are a ton of great gifts out there, like beautiful books showcasing Apple design, cool cushions that carry familiar Apple logos and slogans, and more.

In this gift guide, we’ve hand-picked a bunch of awesome products that would make any Apple fan insanely happy this holiday season. They’re products we’ve used, reviewed, and would recommend ourselves — and there’s something to suit every budget.

Jennifer Garner and J.J. Abrams are finally getting back together to create an all-new TV show.

The duo rose to stardom in the early 2000s with Abram’s TV show Alias that starred Garner as a double agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. Now they’re set to make a TV show for Apple, only it won’t be quite as action-packed as their last endeavor together.

Urban Armor Gear created its new Metropolis case for people who take the  2018 iPad Pro to more than offices and coffee shops.

This rugged case protects the tablet from drops and impacts, plus it includes a stand and an Apple Pencil holder.

If you’re going to become the proud owner of a brand new Apple device over the holidays, it’s time to start thinking about what you should do with your old ones. Don’t let them sit around, collecting dust.

Your old iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac could be worth a small fortune — and Cult of Mac wants to buy it! We typically pay more than other trade-in services, and we won’t leave you waiting ages for your cash.

Apple marketing set an even higher bar in the advertising industry this year and is closing out 2018 with three commercials in Adweek’s Top 25 Best Ads of the Year.

Adweek listed “Welcome Home,” Apple’s HomePod ad directed by Spike Jonze, as second-best. Nike’s “Believe in Something. Even If it Means Sacrificing Everything” was the top ad, featuring polarizing quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

This post is presented by PDFelement.

PDFs are an increasingly common way to share documents of all kinds. From resumes to photo albums or even entire e-books, PDFs are as universally recognized as Word documents are. But unfortunately, unlike standard text documents, they are not easy to edit. To really fine-tune your PDFs, you’ll need to use the right PDF-editing software.

Certain iPhone models have been barred for sale in China, but a similar ban in the U.S. isn’t totally out of the question. The U.S. International Trade Commission has said that it plans to review a previous ruling stating that a ban on iPhone imports was not in the interests of the general public — even in the event that Apple infringed on a Qualcomm patent.

Apple and Qualcomm have been battling it out for much of the past two years. They are scheduled to meet in court next April.

The ability to code is becoming an increasingly important skill, and the sooner you start learning, the better. That’s why you should introduce your little ones to Tynker Junior, the app that teaches them the fundamentals of coding from as young as four.

Inspired by the award-winning Tynker programming language, which has been used by over 60 million kids worldwide, the new iPad app uses puzzles and games to make learning fun and easy.

There aren’t many applications more widely used than Microsoft Office. No matter where you work, you’ll encounter Office, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and the rest. So no matter where you work, it’s worth getting certified in MS Office suite.

iPhone sales may be slowing down, but investors have held onto promising data points like Apple’s impressively growing Services division. According to some, this burgeoning part of Apple’s business even has the potential to make up 40 percent of the company’s gross profits by fiscal 2020.

Macquarie Research analyst Benjamin Schachter isn’t quite so smitten, however. In a new note to clients, Schachter claims that growth in the Services division is about to start slowing down.

Pokémon Go has finally added Trainer Battles, giving players the opportunity to fight against their friends.

Developer Niantic first made battles available to level 40 players, but they are now accessible to those as low as level 10. Here’s everything you need to know about battling your friends.

Apple will open a new 133-acre campus in Austin, Texas — approximately 1,500 miles from its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino.

The $1 billion headquarters will initially house 5,000 employees, although this number will eventually expand to 15,000 people. Apple also plans new sites in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City, California.

It’s been an unmistakable trend for the past five years: iPhones are getting physically larger. Given the popularity of “phablets,” that makes perfect sense — but it’s not for everyone.

One of those people is designer Dongjae “Krystofer” Kim. Kim recently put together a concept design for what a mini version of the current iPhones might look like. And it’s actually pretty darn neat. Check it out below.

It looks like my Cult of Mac colleague Killian’s endless hours spent feverishly Googling the word “Fortnite” like a battle royale-loving version of The Shining‘s Jack Torrance have paid off.

That’s because Google has released its annual “Year in Search” results, and it seems that the ultra popular Fortnite game is one of the year’s most sought-after topics.

Incredibles 2, Hotel Transylvania 3 and The Grinch are three of the top-15-grossing movies for all of 2018. And with its stellar reviews and big word-of-mouth buzz, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse may be joining that list before year’s end.

It’s no news flash to anyone anymore. There are huge opportunities, as well as huge dollars, in creating animation and animated features. While you’re probably not going to roll out of bed and create the next Pixar masterpiece tomorrow, your journey to an artistically and financially fulfilling career as an animator can get started today with The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Animation Bundle. And it’s heavily discounted right now!

This post is presented by MobileRecharge.

If you travel frequently or you’ve got family abroad, there’s a good chance you use pay-as-you-go mobile accounts to stay in touch. As if regular phone bills weren’t enough of a hassle, international charges can be a real headache.

Not with MobileRecharge, a company that offers an easy way to top up mobile credit in less than a minute. Founded in 2012, MobileRecharge now serves more than 140 countries and works with some 300 mobile carriers.

Even the most committed iPad user still needs a Mac occasionally. You might need to add music to your iTunes music library, or get files off an SD card, or use BitTorrent, or keep local backups of your photo library. Or you might just like using a Mac, but you don’t want a huge iMac, and what’s the point in buying a MacBook if you have an iPad already?

The obvious choice is a Mac mini. And with this tip, you can use your iPad Pro as a display for the Mac. That means you won’t need an extra monitor, but it also means that you can quickly turn your iPad into a Mac when you need to.