This post is brought to you by The Best VPN.
If you surf the web in public — at a coffee shop, airport or hotel — you absolutely must use virtual private network software. But with so many versions and variations, from so many different VPN providers, the eyes glaze over at the very mention of this security essential.
Our App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.
Smile, the indie development team behind super-popular productivity apps TextExpander and PDFpen, cut its teeth writing software for technology that barely exists anymore. But thanks to a user-focused attitude and a wholehearted embrace of the third-party tools that power modern offices, the company has been able to keep ahead of the curve as technology changes.
Our App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.
When you’re developing Mac apps, success can sometimes seem self-defeating. The better job you do, the less your customers need to buy subsequent versions of your app. Your job then shifts to marketing and an endless quest to acquire new customers in order to keep cash flowing in. Meanwhile, those who use a subscription business model for their software can easily enjoy that sweet, sweet recurring revenue.
Remember the good old days when owning the movies you wanted meant going to the store to buy DVDs? Nowadays, most of us don’t even have a DVD player, and with good reason. Joining a streaming service like Netflix, which lets you pick and choose from a wide variety of great content, is a much more sensible option. It saves you time, effort, space, money and the waste of a misguided purchase (just think of all those DVDs gathering dust).
That’s the beauty of the subscription model, which extends to everything from movies and TV shows to music, coffee and now Mac apps.
This post is presented by MacPaw, the software team behind Setapp and a variety of proven Mac apps.
These days, lots of us indulge in subscription services. From TV, movies and music to nerd paraphernalia and razors, subscribing to what you love is a great model for exploring many options at an affordable price. If you can name it, you can find a curated collection sent straight to your door or inbox — and now the subscription model is coming to disrupt Mac apps.
This post is brought to you by Totallee.
There’s something utterly drool-worthy about a jet black iPhone. A black mirrored finish first wowed us on the iPhone 3. It quickly gained a reputation as being super-sexy — but also super-susceptible to scratches. Even Apple warns in the fine print that iPhone 7 units with this highly sought after finish are prone to micro-abrasions. Now the phone case wunderkinds at Totallee have created a way to go to the dark side without risking a scratch.
This post is presented by Trilobi, maker of the Trilobi Magnetic 3 in 1 MAG Cable.
With all the sleek digital devices in our lives, one thing that doesn’t seem to get more streamlined is the drawer full of cables needed to keep them charged. Thankfully, a sweet, soon-to-be-released cable is about to cure that spaghetti nightmare.
This post is presented by Feingeist Software.
Ah, Apple Mail. Every Mac users’ de-facto communications hub, it’s a convenient tool — but it’s not exactly feature-rich. It serves as a catch-all for our contacts and email conversations, but when it comes to productivity, Mail has a lot of untapped potential.
This post is brought to you by Convertanymusic.com, maker of Apple Music Converter.
When we download music from iTunes, or audiobooks from Audible, the files that get onto our devices are DRM-protected. That means they can’t be played on “unauthorized” devices. This, let’s face it, is pretty inconvenient.
Our App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.
Getting a bad app review is a definite bummer. When some faceless user trashes your labor of love in the App Store or some other public venue, it can really sting. But if you’re smart about it, you can turn negative reviews into positive opportunities for improving your app and winning committed customers.
Here’s how to spin bad app reviews into developer gold.
This post is brought to you by RCS LT, maker of Combo Cleaner.
The vast majority of apps offering antivirus protection run on an open-source engine called Clam AV. It offers a convenient module that app developers can plug into their products for free and get passable antivirus protection.
Unfortunately, you often get what you pay for, which in this case is a subpar detection rate for malware and adware. That’s why a staff-maintained antivirus solution is a better idea.
This post is brought to you by Digiarty.
Unless you’re a teenager, you’ve probably got some DVDs lying around from back when people still used DVDs. Ripping those old movies and TV shows not only keeps their contents from being lost or damaged, it also means you can print fresh copies from scratched discs (without those annoying FBI warnings or region codes, thanks to built-in DVD decryption), and have digital versions ready to edit for your own projects.
This post is brought to you by Agent.ai.
Not all businesses can afford a full-time staff of phone operators. And let’s be honest: Frustration with automated systems can leave customers looking for another place to do business.
Agent.ai has created something that bridges the gap — a customer relationship management (CRM) system that’s powered by machine learning. It comes in two forms: Co-Pilot and Auto-Pilot.
Our new App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.
For independent Mac developers, one of the big, daunting tasks that the Mac App Store efficiently handles is app licensing. You just submit your app, then the store manages the actual app license through its user accounts. But this unquestionable convenience comes with a few critical downsides.
Black Friday is over, but the killer deals aren’t dead yet. It’s time to slap yourself out of that food coma, reach for your wallet, and grab yourself some sweet Cyber Monday deals on Apple products and other premium gear.
Our liveblog is where you’ll find them. We’ve got big discounts on Apple products from Amazon, B&H Photo and plenty of others, plus stellar savings on accessories and other gadgets from the likes of Twelve South, Slickwraps and many more.
Cult of Mac will keep digging through all the Cyber Monday ads to find the best deals on Apple products, electronics and gifts for your holiday shopping list. Get ready to go bananas.
This post is brought to you by Withings.
Don’t let shopping stress you out and spoil the holiday spirit. Gifts that are useful and beautiful are always a safe bet, and these Black Friday deals on health and fitness products from Withings — one of our favorite purveyors of quality gear — mean you can save up to 70 percent on the perfect gifts for 2016.
But don’t delay: These excellent deals on Withings fitness trackers, home health gadgets and smart scales won’t last forever. Prices go back up Tuesday!
This post is brought to you by Digiarty, maker of MacX Video Converter Pro.
Video is one of the most vital ways we communicate and consume media. And whether you’re creating your next viral video or looking to get a movie from your Mac onto your iPhone, a versatile
Mac video converter can be your best friend.
This post is brought to you by Withings, maker of the Body Cardio smart scale.
One of the great promises of the mobile and wearables revolution was that we’d all get unprecedented insights into our personal health. Apple even built a Health app into its mobile operating system. And what icon did Apple choose for its trailblazing Health app? An unmistakable red heart.
Now a heart-healthy smart scale can capture critical data about your cardiovascular health that can provide a fresh perspective on your wellness regimen.
This post is brought to you by SkinCase.
It must drive the designers and engineers at Apple crazy. For all the time and resources they put into the design of the iPhone, tons of people end up hulking it out with an ugly piece of plastic.
It’s a catch-22. The iPhone’s flawless design makes you want to keep it safe, but the cases out there ruin what you love about it in the first place.
Our new App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.
Sometimes you’ve got to think small to hit it big. For DigiDNA, a Swiss development team that makes popular software for managing iOS devices, that means functioning more like a tight rock ‘n’ roll band than a sprawling orchestra.
This post is brought to you by LG Electronics.
It’s a sad fact that around a third of people on Earth — and some 80 percent of Americans — can no longer enjoy the glory of the night’s sky, due to light pollution. The celestial firmament has been a source of wonder and inspiration for the entirety of human existence, making its sudden disappearance a truly significant loss.
This post is brought to you by Websitesetup.org.
They say we’ve all got a book in us. And while not all of us will write that whole book, the internet makes it exceedingly simple for anybody with something to say to self-publish. Start a blog and you can say as much or as little as you like, at whatever pace suits you.
Blogging obviously isn’t new, but it hasn’t gone away either. And the tools for creating your own platform of online expression have never been easier to get hold of and use.
Our new App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.
App developers put a lot of time and effort into preventing their apps from being cracked or pirated. But for every coder taking a step toward making an app more secure, there’s someone on the march to crack it. The integrity of any app is subject to an ongoing arms race.
The most popular and useful apps are the most likely to release the cracken (I’m so sorry), so finding out that a bunch of people have downloaded your app illegally can be worn as something of a badge of pride. But that’s cold comfort when you’re losing customers, so let’s take a look at a couple of the most likely app-cracking approaches developers should protect against.
This post is brought to you by LG Electronics.
“Immersive” is a big buzzword in tech these days, as creators and consumers of digital media seek ever-more-powerful ways to get sucked into the screen. The latest version of the top-shelf LG UltraWide monitor adds new technology that takes that elusive immersive experience to the next level.
This post is brought to you by Wondershare, maker of Dr.Fone.
Say you’ve deleted your messages before backing up your iPhone. Usually the best iTunes can offer is a shrug. With a convoluted and opaque system of options, it makes a task that should be a simple matter — finding the stuff you need and getting (or returning) it to your device — overly confusing and frustrating. Worse yet, iTunes can often lead to results you’re not looking for.