Cult of Mac

October 14, 2005: Tim Cook takes the reins as Apple’s chief operating officer, continuing an upward climb through the company’s ranks that will make him CEO less than six years later.

“Tim and I have worked together for over seven years now, and I am looking forward to working even more closely with him to help Apple reach some exciting goals during the coming years,” Steve Jobs says in a statement.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: new Macs and iPads are coming soon — but the MacBook Pro is already here! It’s the biggest leak since the iPhone 4.

Also on The CultCast, Apple silicon modems are back on the table, our hands-on with Apple Intelligence and the scoop on Apple’s new update strategy.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Coding with Magic Mouse? Apple’s sleek input device has plenty of haters of all stripes. But at least one developer, who works with an M1 Max MacBook Pro, loves it. And perhaps even more surprisingly, he detests the mouse that is surely Magic Mouse’s biggest competitor, given how it shows up in most of the setups we cover.

Apple reportedly wants to repurpose some of the technology that went into its Vision Pro headset for simpler products. That includes a pair of smart glasses plus AirPods with IR cameras.

These could launch in 2027, with additions to the Vision headset line coming before then.

Do you know where your data is? Don’t get us wrong — the cloud isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But if you want reliable backup you can always access easily, or just a more convenient way to free up storage space, you might consider a physical drive like this affordable 256GB SSD.

Thanks to the slim profile of the Mini Ultra Portable 256GB SSD, you can store your files, photos and other media comfortably and take it just about anywhere. For a limited time, this invaluable accessory costs just $43.99 (regularly $139).

The new Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro wireless noise-canceling earbuds are the flagship of Anker’s Soundcore earbuds lineup, promising and delivering great sound and high-end features at a more accessible price point than some competitors, like AirPods Pro 2. After putting the Liberty Pro buds through their paces in various scenarios, I’m happy to recommend them for most users in this Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro earbuds review.

And that nifty new charging case with display screen and touch bar is pretty cool. But it’s a bit of a gimmick because it doesn’t do anything you can’t do with the app or touch controls. That said, most earbuds charging cases don’t have those features at all (yet).

In the The Last of the Sea Women documentary, the way of life of South Korea’s haenyeo, or sea women of Jeju Island, is disappearing. But it won’t happen without a fierce fight from the grandmother-warrior divers, often called “real-life mermaids,” and a younger generation of helpers, according to the trailer Apple TV+ dropped Thursday.

The documentary film from producer Malala Yousafzai and director Sue Kim premieres on Apple TV+ on October 11.

Update: Documentary film The Last of the Sea Women started streaming on Apple TV+ Friday. Reviews seem to say this one is a keeper, like a pearl found in an oyster.

October 13, 2006: Apple launches its limited-edition iPod nano (Product) Red Special Edition music player, with 10% of profits going to fight AIDS in Africa.

Created in association with U2 lead singer Bono and activist/attorney Bobby Shriver, it’s the first of many Apple philanthropic products. “We’re ecstatic that Apple is giving their customers the choice to buy a red iPod nano and help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa,” Bono says in a statement.

Whether Apple launches the M4 MacBook Pro at a glitzy press event or a quiet press release, the next-generation macOS notebook is undoubtedly mere weeks away — probably reaching customers on November 1.

Here’s what to expect from the late-2024 MacBook Pro when it gets upgraded with the new Apple M4 processor.

Apple’s cheaper, lower-end Vision headset might reportedly arrive as early as 2025. It will seemingly cost around $2,000 and make several compromises to reach the lower price tag.

The Cupertino company is also “considering” launching its own pair of smart glasses in 2027 alongside AirPods with cameras.

You know that shiny new iPad mini you’ve been eyeing on Apple’s website? Yeah, the one with the gorgeous display and even prettier colors. What if we told you that you could get it here for $219 less?

Yeah, Cult of Mac Deals has a refurbished iPad mini 6 for $429.99.

October 12, 2011: Apple launches iCloud, a service that lets users automatically and wirelessly store content and push it to their various devices.

iCloud’s arrival marks the end of Apple’s Mac-centric “digital hub” strategy — and ushers in an age of inter-device communication and non-localized files.

You know Siri, right? While she might be a tremendous help for sending a text while your hands are full, she gets confused when you ask her to do much more than that. Like creating a pitch deck for your startup? Forget it.

You’ll need a much more specialized AI tool for that. PitchBob is like Siri on steroids, helping you create a pitch from a stack of questions — now $49.99 for a lifetime subscription.

After eight months of using my Apple Vision Pro, I’ve found it immensely useful for my writing work. I try to spend as much time writing with my Vision Pro as possible.

There’s still a lot I have to do on my Mac — but the work I can do from the Vision Pro is so good that I can’t wait for the platform to develop and grow even further.

Watch our video or keep reading to learn how.

You can set up your Apple TV to control volume on a separate sound system, like a sound bar. It may not work out of the box, but poking around in Settings, you can use the convenient volume buttons built into the Siri Remote.

If you have a separate sound system or an older television, the volume buttons on your Apple TV remote may not work directly. You don’t have to keep two or three remotes sitting around — you can make it all work from just one. It just takes a little setup. 

A revered London journalist’s life seems picture-perfect at the start of the new trailer for Apple TV+ psychological thriller series Disclaimer. But by the end of the trailer, she stands on the precipice of ugly ruin.

Created and directed by five-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón, Disclaimer stars Cate Blanchett as the journalist, Sacha Baron Cohen as her supportive husband, and Kevin Kline as a man bent on destroying her by revealing “the truth.” The trailer for Disclaimer, released Tuesday, looks seriously enthralling. The show premieres October 11 on Apple TV+.

UPDATE: Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer series started streaming Friday on Apple TV+. Reviews seem mixed, to say the least. One reviewer called it “the best TV show of the year” while another damned it as a “flaccid, pretentious slog.” You better watch it and make up your own mind.

October 11, 1995: Steve Jobs files the paperwork to float Pixar Animation Studios on the stock market.

A turning point in Jobs’ life, the Pixar initial public offering turns him into a billionaire. But things very nearly don’t turn out so well.

What to do with your old phone? If it’s an iPhone, there’s a good chance you can resell it. But a market analyst firm reports that a significant percentage of Androids get pitched out because they aren‘t worth anything. They apparently can’t even be given away.

One result is that not very many Androids are resold. The rate is about half that of iPhones.

The trailer for Slow Horses season 5, coming to Apple TV+ in 2025, didn’t drop on YouTube or on the Apple website, per usual. Instead, the teaser for the darkly funny espionage thriller’s next season is tacked on to the end of the season 4 finale on Apple TV+, which aired Wednesday. But we found the trailer in standalone form on a magazine website, included below.

This time, Slough House IT guy and arrogant doofus Roddy Ho, played by Australian singer and actor Christopher Chung, is at the center of the action. And River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) and Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar) share an awkward kiss for some reason.

Run by a software developer, today’s M1 Pro MacBook Pro setup doesn’t just rock two external displays. It also features a very cool input-device duo — the mouse we see more than any other in setups, which is the Logitech MX Master 3S wireless mouse, and the super-cool NuPhy Air96 V2 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard.

Love it or hate it, Microsoft productivity software — like Windows 11 Pro and Office 2019 — helps you get things done. And the CdkeySales Autumn Sale slashes some prices by up to 91%! In the sale, you will find big discounts on productivity software like Windows and Microsoft Office. That includes Windows 10 Pro for just $17.05 — and a free upgrade comes with it! Or you can cut straight to the chase and buy a Windows 11 Pro key at a deeply discounted price.

You can always find remarkably low prices at software activation keys provider CdkeySales.com. To get the most savings, enter promo code CULT. That cuts an additional 30% off the site’s low prices on genuine software keys. And don’t forget: When you buy a Windows 10 key, you get a free upgrade to Windows 11!

Set up scheduled, automatic Apple Cash payments to send money to your friends or family on a regular basis. You can use this to pay back your housemates for bills, send your kids some money or pay back personal debts.

Whatever the reason may be, Apple Cash is a fast and easy way to send money. I even have a pro tip for scheduling a singular payment in advance. Here’s how to set up recurring payments.

The new Apple Sports app gives iPhone users a handy tool for tracking sports scores and stats. Previously buried inside Apple News, the constantly updated sports data becomes much more accessible when delivered via a dedicated iPhone sports app.

You can choose which teams and leagues you follow, get live updates on scores (and betting odds), and tap to open live coverage of the game in a streaming app.

The official Apple Sports app is available on the App Store now. Here’s how to use it.

October 10, 1993: Apple ships its Macintosh Color Classic II, the last of the 9-inch compact Macs.

Also known as the Performa 275, the Color Classic II will eventually become something of a collector’s item, since Apple released it only in Canada, Asia and Europe.

Submerged, the first immersive scripted film for Vision Pro, is now out. But new show episodes, films, series and concerts captured in Apple Immersive Video will debut later this year and early next year, Apple said Thursday.

 “Apple Immersive Video is a wonderful new medium that expands the horizon of storytelling,” said Berger, director of the Academy Award-winning All Quiet on the Western Front and upcoming Conclave. “Apple Vision Pro inspired me to tell a story in a way that just wasn’t possible before, and in the process, it changed the way my team and I think about creating a story. This immersive technology pioneered by Apple is going to change the future of filmmaking.”

“Vision Pro places you in the middle of the story — inside a densely packed submarine, shoulder to shoulder with its crew,” he added. “That deep sense of immersion just wasn’t possible before, and we can’t wait to see how it inspires filmmakers to push the boundaries of visual storytelling.”