It’s happened to all of us — you’ve got important business to take care of on your mobile but it’s plugged into the wall charger. The short leash that is the typical Lightning cable means you’ve got to hunch like Quasimoto just to send a text. Charging your phone shouldn’t also mean paying a chiropractor, which is why at $18.99 this 10-foot Lightning cable is a great investment.

Apple released the fifth public beta for OS X El Capitan today, two weeks after releasing the fourth. If you’re a member of the Apple Beta Software Program, now is the time to go get your latest update.

Maybe it’s just me, but Finder is one of the default Mac apps I find most annoying. Even though Apple introduced tabs to the default experience a few years ago, Finder still makes it harder than it should to move files from one folder on your computer to another.

Commander One, a Finder alternative for OS X 10.9 and above, makes Finder better for power users. It adds the ability to drag and drop files between two folders displayed in side-by-side panes, not windows or tabs. But there’s more to it than just that.

We have a bit of a digital-assistant war brewing in the tech world. In addition to Apple’s Siri, we have Google Now, Microsoft’s Cortana and, eventually, Facebook’s MoneyPenny. Everybody’s out to provide users with the most helpful fake secretaries imaginable, and even productivity app Slack is getting in on the action.

But while touting upcoming improvements to the chat platform’s helper, Slackbot, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield had some strong words about its rival in your iPhone or Apple Watch.

Steve Jobs was notorious for cruising around Silicon Valley in a Mercedes without a license plate during his last decade at Apple, but before El Jobso upgraded to the SL55 AMG, he and his wife Laurene owned a BMW 325i convertible.

That convertible can be yours, now that its third owner is placing the unique bimmer up for sale.

If you travel a lot, iOS 9 and El Capitan have a hidden feature just for you.

Apple’s latest operating systems (both of which are currently in beta) offer a way to keep tabs on airline flights. Here’s how to access this hidden new feature.

With the purchase of Beats Electronics and the subsequent launch of Apple Music, Jimmy Iovine quickly became Apple’s best hope for saving the music industry. But in a new interview, the Beats co-founder says it’s just not cool to be into music anymore.

To help ignite the scene, Iovine and Dre created an Academy for Arts Technology and the Business of Innovation at USC, and while the music and tech mogul says the program has already become ultra-competitive to get into, it might not be enough to change young people’s minds from wanting to become the next Larry Page instead of the next Jimmy Page.

Dr. Dre’s long-awaited third album, Compton, was streamed a massive 25 million times on Apple Music, and had half a million iTunes downloads in its first week, according to new figures released by Apple.

This week on The Cultcast: Ever wonder what it’s like to have companies pay you to travel the world snapping their Instagram photos? Professional Instagrammer Cory Staudacher shares his workflows and favorite iOS photo apps — and you won’t believe how much some companies will pay you to make them look cool.

Plus: Neat new features coming to iOS 9; Apple quietly beefs up the iPhone 6s to prevent another #Bendgate; and don’t miss our list of new favorite apps.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Build a beautiful new website quick with Squarespace’s drag-and-drop interface. Start a free trial and save 10 percent off any first order with code “CultCast.”

Catch our favorite new apps in the show notes below.

Siri typically works pretty well when you’re just sitting around at home — or at least, it can usually hear you just fine. Whether or not you get the results you need is another question, but a prototype device created by engineers at Duke University could one day help Apple’s digital assistant understand you just as well if you’re in a crowded room or a car.

It’ll just have to get a little smaller first.