| Cult of Mac

The new HomeKit abilities you need to know about, this week on The CultCast

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HomeKit devices
The Home app and HomeKit just got turbocharged.
Photo: Apple

This week on The CultCast: Live in the home of the future, today! We’ll tell you how with iOS 11’s huge improvements in the Home app and HomeKit. Plus: There’s a new Apple ID phishing scam you need to know about; there’s been a disappointing development with Apple’s AR glasses; we have to talk about the hundreds of new emoji coming at you in iOS 11.1; and we’ve got a svelte iPhone 8 case, a MacBook Pro sleeve made from real sheep, and a new power brick that’ll charge your MacBook, iPhone, Nintendo Switch — everything!— in an all-new Under Review.

How to load and play podcasts offline on Apple Watch

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Apple Watch
You can use third-party apps to load podcasts on your Apple Watch.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A lot of people who enjoy listening to podcasts or music while jogging will agree that it’s inconvenient to carry an iPhone. While music lovers can sync playlists from their iPhone to their Apple Watch, Apple’s Podcast app doesn’t do the same for podcasts.

That’s unfortunate. However, it’s simple to send podcasts to Apple Watch using third-party apps.

Why we’re expecting one of the most hardware-packed WWDCs in years, on The Cultcast

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Are you ready for Apple to make Macs
Are you ready for Apple to make Macs "pro" again?
Photo: @YSR50

This week, on The CultCast: new evidence points to one of the most hardware-packed WWDCs in years! Add in four new OS reveals and, by golly, you have one heckuva exciting show. We’ll tell you all we know, and share all the products we predict will hit the stage.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off any hosting plan.

Catch The CultCast’s 5th-anniversary live stream

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Come party with the CultCast.
Come party with The CultCast today.
Image: Erfon Elijiah/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac’s podcast The CultCast hit its five-year anniversary this week, and to celebrate we want to hang out with you!

We’ll be hosting a live 5th anniversary extravaganza this afternoon, celebrating all the amazing listeners we’ve grown to love during this crazy experience. Erfon, Leander, Buster and maybe even some special guests will be part of the live event. The festivities start at 12 p.m. Pacific today. All you have to do is watch the live YouTube feed below.

Come join the party!

Our hardware predictions for Apple’s rumored March event, this week on The CultCast

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New Apple hardware in March on The CultCast
New Apple hardware in March? Reports say yes, indeed.
Image: Erfon Elijah/Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: It’s been five years of CultCasts! We’ll regale you with some of our favorite stories from past shows. Plus: Our hardware expectations from Apple’s rumored March event; why iPhone 8’s wireless charging will probably be lame; Apple has five teams working on next-generation charging tech; why iPhone 8’s camera could pump out industrial-grade slow motion; and Steve Jobs gets a beautiful new home on Apple’s new spaceship campus.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code “CultCast” at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.

How the tech industry outsources pollution to China [Kahney’s Korner podcast]

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Death by Design documentary
The hard-hitting Death by Design documentary is a sobering look at the environmental legacy of the tech industry.
Photo: Death by Design

The tech industry appears to be nice and clean, but it has a long and toxic history of environmental damage. Silicon Valley is home to the most Superfund cleanup sites in the country.

A new film, Death by Design, takes a sobering look at the electronics industry and its toxic environmental legacy — both in the United States and in China. The film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the cost of the devices we consume in some measure of ignorance.

Apple features heavily in the film, though it’s not the only tech company implicated.

This week on Kahney’s Korner, I talk to the documentary’s director, Sue Wiliams, about Apple, pollution and Silicon Valley.

How this money man helped Steve Jobs turn Pixar into a powerhouse [Kahney’s Korner podcast]

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Lawrence Levy former Pixar CFO
Lawrence Levy, Pixar's former CFO and author of To Pixar and Beyond.
Photo: Lawrence Levy

In the early ’90s, Pixar was in the middle of creating its first movie, Toy Story, but the company was in disarray. It was bleeding cash and floundering around looking for a business model.

To help turn it around, Steve Jobs hired Lawrence Levy, a former corporate lawyer, to help figure out how to make Pixar a real business.

In this week’s episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talk to Levy about how exactly he and Jobs made Pixar into one of the most successful movie studios in history.

Apple vet creates iPhone sex toys that would cause a buzz in Cupertino [Kahney’s Korner podcast]

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Suki Dunham OhMiBod
Working at Apple helped sex toy entrepreneur Suki Dunham launch a line of iPhone-connected vibrators.
Photo: Suki Dunham/OhMiBod

It’s true: music can put you in the mood for love. A Spotify survey found that music is more arousing than touch. That’s why OhMiBod’s iPhone-connected sex toys make sense; they enhance the mood as well as buzzing in time to the beat.

“Our massagers offer an unrivaled sensory experience that allows singles and couples to not only hear their favorite music, but feel it as well,” says the firm’s website.

In this week’s episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talk to Suki Dunham, cofounder of OhMiBod, a female-owned and operated company that makes a line of iPhone and iPad controlled female pleasure products.

Suki used to work at Apple, where she learned a lot about product design, packaging and marketing, which she applies to her business selling high-tech vibrators.

How iFixit made its incredible iPhone 7 teardown [Kahney’s Korner podcast]

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Kyle Wiens, CEO iFixit
Thanks mostly to Kyle Wiens of iFixit, iPhone teardowns have become a tech culture phenomenon.
Photo: iFixit

iFixit’s iPhone 7 teardown involved 30 people in three countries, an X-ray machine and lots of sleepless nights. Thanks to iFixit’s hard work, iPhone teardowns have become a tech-culture phenomenon. Millions of fans eagerly await details of the internal components of Apple’s latest devices.

A lot of this has to do with Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, the second-biggest supplier of Apple parts after Apple itself, and publisher of the huge and amazing iFixit repair wiki.

In this week’s episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talk with Wiens about all the work that goes into making the iFixit teardowns for a massive global audience, and the hardware secrets of the iPhone 7.

Overhauled MacBook Pros are coming your way, this week on The CultCast

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New Apple hardware in March on The CultCast
New Apple hardware in March? Reports say yes, indeed.
Image: Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: New MacBook Pros, incoming! We have even more details to share on the “significant” updates coming soon to Apple’s MacBook Pro line. Plus: iPhone 7 may get a Quad HD display and pressure-sensitive home button; Apple’s plans for a “killer” new health device; and we review our favorite new hoverboards and smart scales on an all-new Under Review.

Our thanks to Casper for supporting this episode. Casper’s American-made mattresses have just the right amount of memory foam and latex, and people everywhere love them. Learn why and save $50 off your order at casper.com/cultcast.