Apple is working on a new HomePod that could launch next year with a new S8 chip. The smart speaker reportedly will be similar in size to the original HomePod rather than the HomePod mini.

Apple is also working on a powerful new Apple TV with an A14 chip and more RAM.

Imagine you’re having an incredible time traveling abroad. After a night in yet another lovely hotel, you grab your iPhone, put on your Apple Watch, throw your iPad into a bag, and you’re off.

But if you forget even one of the chargers or cables for those devices, the rest of your trip will be wildly inconvenient (at least until you make it to an overpriced travel store). So streamline while you can. Carry one powerful charger for all your devices. Then get a 4-in-1 cable to connect them all to it.

Plus, get that four-way cable while it’s on sale for $17.99 (regularly $34), and you can spend your savings on a couple of chocolate croissants and some fine European coffee.

Rumors of an Apple Watch Explorer Edition started last year, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was working on ruggedized smartwatch designed specifically for athletes. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, from TF International Securities, added fuel to the fire last December, claiming that an “extreme sports version” could debut in 2022.

This month at WWDC, Apple’s focus on new fitness features for watchOS 9 lent further credence to these rumors. As a fitness-fanatic myself, all this hype has got me pretty excited. It inspired me to create these Photoshop mockups, exclusively for Cult of Mac, to explore exactly what the Explorer Edition might look like.

Apple TV+ murder mystery Now and Then draws to a simmering close this week.

Pedro has lost his campaign, but there’s always more to lose. Ana is ready to turn on him. Sofia’s troubles catch up with her. Marcos suspects his father. Flora suspects her best friend. Hugo suspects Sofia. And there’s only an hour to wrap things up.

It’s been a marvelous bit of sensationalism from start to finish. If we get a second season of this bilingual thriller, it will be a welcome development.

Apple TV+ alt-history hit For All Mankind makes all the right moves this week, then immediately blows a 26-point lead in the last inning.

For once, the dramatic arcs thrown at Margo, Karen, Dev, Aleida and Kelly all seem pretty satisfying and not at all cheap or hyperbolic. Then the writers ensure we won’t see how any of that plays out, instantly turning this from one of the show’s best episodes into its most frustrating yet.

But hey, at least we’re going to Mars, I guess.

An updated MacBook Pro – the first laptop to run on the powerful new Apple M2 processor – hit store shelves Friday morning. The chip makes it the fastest 13-inch notebook in Apple’s lineup.

The company unveiled the M2 chip  three weeks ago at its Worldwide Developers Conference. It also took the wraps off the first two laptops to run on it: the just-launched MacBook Pro and a redesigned MacBook Air that is coming in July.

Chris Evans, star of Marvel Studios’ Captain America movie series, gave the internet a bit of a thrill when he finally said goodbye to his trusty iPhone 6s with a lovely little eulogy Thursday.

The iPhone 6s came out in 2015 and ceased new sales in 2018. Now it’s 2022, and it looks like Cap has, at long last, woken up to the iPhone 13.

The cost of an Apple Music subscription for students just jumped 20%. The music streaming service is still available at a substantial discount, but it’s no longer half price.

This follows a similar price increase in other parts of the world.

Apple’s yearly Back to School promotion is now live in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world.

The company is offering a gift card of up to $150 on eligible purchases in the US. Additionally, students can score an extra 20% off on an AppleCare+ subscription.

In new Apple TV+ comedy Loot, Maya Rudolph plays a billionaire playgirl who must grow up and discover a conscience when she realizes that her public behavior casts her charitable foundation in a bad light.

Surrounded by misfits, she must tailor her wild lifestyle to more humble settings. Otherwise, she risks turning the one good thing in her life into a joke.