It’s our T-Day edition CultCast! This time: Jony Ive’s golden touch makes millions for charity; Apple teases underwhelming Black Friday deals; how Apple’s blacklist keeps bad press at bay; the new money in old macs; and we pitch our favorite Thanksgiving Day foods on our holiday edition Faves ’N Raves!

Have a few laughs whilst getting caught up on each week’s finest Apple stories! Download new and past episodes of The CultCast on iTunes or hit play below and let the audio enjoyment commence.

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Cult of Mac Magazine wants to get you on the right track for giving good gifts in 2013.

It happens to all of us. There’s a time when “thanks” is as hollow as a fuzzy stocking on December 26. That half-hearted “you shouldn’t have!” that comes out when you have just given (or received) a total dud for a gift. You don’t like it. You certainly don’t need it. Or maybe you aren’t even sure what it’s for, like that InstaSlim compression shirt.   So the item in question gets shoved under a growing mountain of gift paper that the recipient (perhaps) hopes goes into the recycling bin, never to be seen again.

Here’s where we come in. Our stellar reviews editor, Charlie Sorrel, has momentarily put aside his bah-humbugging to trawl through all the best items that he has attached, stuffed or otherwise prodded his iGadgets with this year to get down to the essentials. He’s got the goods on what you need to buy for all of your devices – and, yeah, while you’re at it, your loved ones’ devices, too.

You’ll also read about how publisher Leander Kahney earned the reputation for being the worst gift giver in his entire family and get the real deal on how to get better deals on Apple products with our exclusive “Ask A Genius” column.

Cult of Mac Magazine

Browsing the App Store can be a bit overwhelming. Which apps are new? Which ones are good? Are the paid ones worth paying for, or do they have a free, lite version that will work well enough?

Well, if you stop interrogating me for a second, hypothetical App Store shopper, I can tell you about this thing we do here.

Every week, we highlight some of the most interesting new apps and collect them here for your consideration. This time, our picks include an app for quick notes, food television, and an app to help you visually keep track of your life.

Here you go:

Writedown — Productivity — Free (Pro version: $2.99)

Sometimes, you have to write something really quickly on the go. Like, say, if you were supposed to find an app to write up for your daily post on a tech blog.

Actually, never mind that example. It’s crazy and would never happen. But if it did, Writedown might be a good fit. It’s a quick and easy document creation tool that cuts out all the distractions (other than ads, in this Lite version). You just type your thing in a clean interface, and then you can export it to a text, e-mail, social media, or share it with AirDrop.

It’s bare bones, quick, and easy to use. Not that I’m using it right now.

Crazy.

Writedown

EndlessTV – Seasons — Lifestyle — Free

Now that we’ve gotten that pesky Halloween thing out of the way with all its gross movies and candy and fun, we can get down to the serious business of planning “The Holidays.” And if you’re need appropriate programming on your phone or iPad right now, EndlessTV’s “Seasons” app might be what you need. It features quick-loading, topical shows (mostly about food) that you can swipe through at your leisure.

I learned how to make a pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin and I don’t even know what I’m going to do with that knowledge.

EndlessTV – Seasons

Time Planner — Productivity — Free

When you need to track stuff you need to do, it’s essential to have an app that can handle tasks and to-do items as well as a robust calendaring system. Time Planner does just that, and does it very well. It also adds a colorful palette, a nicely organized way of creating tasks and reminders, and a list of categories that really helps you focus in on what each task is about.

Choose to add a task to Home, Work, Rest, Lifestyle, and other categories to color the tasks with a visual cue. When you start looking at your schedule for the day, you’ll have a colorful reminder of the things you’ll need to focus on, perhaps noticing that you spend too much time at work, and not enough on restful activities.

You can have Time Planner remind you of stuff you need to do by day, time, or location, which is pretty much what all to-do apps should have these days.

Time Planner

Songkick Concerts — Music — Free

Like live music? Got an iOS device full of music? Songkick Concerts looks like the app for you, then, as it trawls your music library to find concerts in your area. Be the first one to grab tickets to hot events, all based on your own music preferences. Sounds good, right?

If you’re traveling to a new city, never fear, as you can use Songkick Concerts to search your destination for upcoming concerts from those very same artists. Want to see Kanye West in Madison Square Garden? I mean, who wouldn’t? Use this app to find out when and where he’s playing, and tap through to buy tickets right within the app itself.

Of course, you’ll want to use Songkick Concerts to bargain shop as well, since it lets you compare venues and prices for all the artists you must obviously want to go see, since they’re in your music library.

Songkick Concerts

Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.

Enjoy!

Best Movies

“The World’s End”

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reteam with director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) in this entertaining thrill ride that pits a band of misfits against some sort of cosmic interstellar powers hellbent of global domination. Twenty years after their first epic pub crawl attempt, the “five musketeers” reunite in their hometown to complete the ultimate challenge – one night, five friends, twelve bars – a boozy quest on which only the strongest will survive.

After Simon Pegg’s character cons his Musketeers friends into coming to the pub crawl a bizarre series of encounters with the out-of-this-world locals, they realize their inebriated battle to reach the final pub, The World’s End, may be the least of the troubles. They’ve having the time of their lives, ready to take on the world… but tonight they may have to save it

iTunes – $14.99

“Elysium”

In the year 2159, the world is divided in two. There are the wealthy folks who reside on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest of us, crammed into a giant favela known as Earth. Jodie Foster plays yet another hardass woman in killer suits – Secretary Delacourt – who will stop at nothing to make sure the happy, luxurious lifestyles of the citizens of Elysium stay happy and luxurious. That of course riles the peasants of Earth who are trying to get in to this extra-terrestrial paradise by any means possible. Matt Damon jumps into the lead role of Max who agrees to on a life-threatening mission that will hopefully bring equality to everyone. Viva La DAMON!

iTunes – $17.99

“Despicable Me 2”

Super villain Felonious Gru is back, this time as an adoring father to his adopted girls in the 3D-sequel to the worldwide blockbuster.  Here, partnered with secret agent Lucy Wilde (voiced by SNL veteran Kristen Wiig), Gru, along with the wildly unpredictable Minions (surprise: also up for their own film, expected to debut in 2015), must figure out how to keep his cover while also dealing with the everyday duties of a doting father.  The film ends with a world made safe and wedding bells.

iTunes – $19.99

Best Books

“Anything That Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of a New American Food Culture”
by Dana Goodyear

A new American cuisine is forming where animals never before considered (or long since forgotten) are emerging as delicacies. What used to scrap is now the centerpiece of a meal.

Dana Goodyear’s anticipated debut, “Anything That Moves,” is a rollicking, fork-fuelled adventure and behind-the-scenes look at the way we eat. Goodyear breaks bread with insect-eaters and blood drinkers as well as chefs who make food out of roadside leaves and wood, and others who serve endangered species and Schedule I drugs—a cast of characters, in other words, who flirt with danger, taboo, and disgust in pursuit of the sublime. Behind them is an intricate network of scavengers, dealers, and pitchmen responsible for introducing the rare and exotic into the marketplace. “Anything That Moves” is a revelatory look into the raucous, strange, fascinatingly complex world of contemporary American food culture, and the places where the extreme is bleeding into the mainstream.

iTunes – $14.99

“Dallas 1963”
by Bill Minutaglio & Steven L. Davis

Not a year goes by without 50 new books on John F. Kennedy hitting bookshelves, but following the recent 50th anniversary of his assassination, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at the socio-political climate around Dallas during the months and weeks leading up to Kennedy’s fateful drive through the city on November 22nd, 1963.

Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis explore the dark forces at work that led many people to warn President Kennedy to avoid Dallas on his fateful trip to Texas. “Dallas 1963” presents a clear, cinematic and revelatory look at the tragedy that transformed America. Countless authors have attempted to explain the assassination, but this is the first book that tries to explain Dallas.

Minutaglio and Davis lead us through intimate glimpses of the Kennedy family and the political workings of the Kennedy White House, to the obsessed men in Dallas responsible for climate of hatred that led many to blame the city for the president’s death. The authors provide an accurate understanding of what happened in the weeks and months leading to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

iTunes – $12.99

“A Reader’s Book of Days: True Tales from the Lives and Works of Writers for Every Day of the Year”
by Tom Nissley

“A Reader’s Book of Days” features bite-size accounts of events in the lives of great authors for every day of the year. One day features Marcel Proust starting on his monumental “In Search of Lost Time” and another has Virginia Woolf scribbling in the margin of her own writing, “Is it nonsense, or is it brilliance?” Fictional events that take place within beloved books are also included, from the birth of Harry Potter’s enemy Draco Malfoy to the date of the infamous blood-soaked prom in Stephen King’s “Carrie.”

It includes the more usual compilations of the days on which famous authors were born and died; plus lists of recommended reading for every month of the year as well as snippets from book reviews as they appeared across literary history; and throughout there are wry illustrations by acclaimed artist Joanna Neborsky.

“A Reader’s Book of Days” is filled with memorable and surprising tales from the lives and works of Martin Amis, Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Roberto Bolaño, the Brontë sisters, Junot Díaz, Philip K. Dick, Charles Dickens, Joan Didion, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Keats, Hilary Mantel, Haruki Murakami, Flannery O’Connor, Orhan Pamuk, George Plimpton, Marilynne Robinson, W. G. Sebald, Dr. Seuss, Zadie Smith, Susan Sontag, Hunter S. Thompson, Leo Tolstoy, David Foster Wallace, and many more with nearly 2,000 stories total.

iTunes – $11.99

Best Albums

“Songs for the Philippines”

Various Artists

Music picks this week aren’t all that hot, thanks, but for those looking for some old music in a new form, Universal Music has rounded up some of its hottest artists for a compilation album to help those in the Philippines affected by the recent typhoon.

All proceeds from each sale of “Song for the Philippines” will be donated to the Philippine Red Cross. As the Philippines recovers and rebuilds in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan’s devastation, some of music’s biggest names are brought together on this benefit album. Including songs from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Beyoncé, Adele, U2, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Lorde, and Imagine Dragons. If you’re looking for a new grip of great singles – minus Linkn Park – and do a little bit of good at the same time, here’s your digital product of the week to purchase.

iTunes – $9.99

“Dance (RED) Save Lives, Vol. 2”

Various Artists

Jony Ive just wrapped up his big RED auction with Marc Newson and Bono this week that raised over $46 million for Project RED to fight AIDS and Tuberculosis. If you’re like me and couldn’t afford to drop $1,805,000 on Jony’s fancy Leica M8 but need another excuse to contribute to the cause you could pick up the new Dance (RED) Save Lives album.

All proceeds from the sale of the album and singles featured in it are donated to the Global Fund. The sequel to the 2012 compilation of high-energy dance anthems follows the same brilliant model as the first album, bringing together the biggest names in EDM, hip-hop, and pop to build awareness about the global fight against AIDS. Once again, the roster of talent is stunning – everyone from megaclub acts like Calvin Harris, deadmau5, and Major Lazer to up-and-coming artists like Munich electro quintet Claire and sultry L.A. thumping remake of Bob Marley’s “Sun Is Shining.” Exuberant production, big hooks, and anthemic choruses make this an exhilarating ride.

iTunes – $9.99

One Direction

Midnight Memories

Normally I wouldn’t be one to promote teenie bopper girl bands, but the holidays put me in mind of the things I’m grateful for.  One of those things is that we’re NOT still part of the U.K., so it seems only fitting to celebrate their latest musical plague export that has enthralled girls across the home of the brave – One Direction.

With the brilliant transition from individual X Factor contestants to charismatic arena-filling heartthrobs, One Direction has emerged as the boy band of the millennium next two or three years. The band’s deliriously catchy mix of glossy pop hocks, classic rock guitar riffs, and pulsing electronic beats made 2012’s “Take Me Home” a global sensation. The quintet of Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson offered a first taste of the highly anticipated follow album “Midnight Memories” with the aptly titled single, “Best Song Ever” and deliriously catchy, sing-along singles like “Story of My Life.”

iTunes – $14.99

Dog Diary — Lifestyle — Free

Dog Diary is an app that helps you keep track of all the people and events in your canine friend’s life. You can store important, pet-related contacts, expenses, and photos. You can also create entries for multiple animals to keep everything organized. It’s an address book, a photo album, and a bookkeeping program all in one. You can also track measurements like body temperature, provided you’re not shy about pulling out your phone as soon as the vet pulls out the thermometer.

I’m still waiting for an app that will walk the little guy for me once it gets snowy out, but we might need a robot for that.

Dog Diary

I grew up in the 80s, so I know how close we came to total nuclear annihilation when the WOPR computer became self-aware, as we saw in the 1983 documentary WarGames. The only thing that saved us back then was Tic Tac Toe, a game that became the savior of all humanity just by being stupid and largely unwinnable.

Tic Tactics aims to solve its predecessor’s “what the hell, we’re bored” factor by adding eight more boards and some much-needed lateral thinking.

And it succeeds admirably.

Readdle, the team behind some of the best productivity apps and utilities for iOS, has slashed 50% off five of its top offerings for Black Friday. The sale includes titles like PDF Expert for iPhone and iPad, Calendars 5, and Printer Pro — all of which are now half price for a limited time.

FIFA has launched its new app as part of the countdown to 6 December’s 2014 football World Cup draw.

The free app is available for both iOS and Android devices, and offers not just the live draw in streaming video, but also match schedules, destination guides and team profiles for the tournament — set to take place in Brazil in summer 2014.

Hatch, the cute virtual pet for iPhone from the makers of Clear, has received its first update just one week after making its App Store debut. The release adds some beautiful wallpapers for your iPhone, introduces some new shop items, and makes a long list of fixes, tweaks, and improvements.

Just when you thought you had heard every wacky app concept going, here’s another you might not have considered: Facebook for dogs.

Okay, it’s not exactly Facebook, but the free Woof iOS app (from developer Woof Labs) is pretty much that — describing itself as “an ecosystem to bring dog lovers closer to their dogs and local dog communities.”