| Cult of Mac

Cool, colorful Tire Tread bands are a great match for Apple Watch

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Carterjett Tire Tread adapters don’t have screws, which means you’ll never have to worry about them loosening or popping out.
Bag yours in one of seven awesome color options.
Photo: Benjamin McKay/Cult of Mac

Made from strong and sturdy silicone, Carterjett’s terrific Tire Tread band for Apple Watch is ideal for even the toughest workouts. It’s easy to clean and doesn’t mind getting wet, and it’s a steal at just $24.99.

It also comes in a bunch of great color options — including a red and a blue that are a great match for Apple Watch Series 6.

How to use Slack’s new Huddles feature on iPhone, iPad and Mac

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How to use Slack Huddles
Host casual conversations, share your screen and more.
Image: Slack/Cult of Mac

Slack is rolling out its new Huddles feature in an effort to bring the office environment to wherever you might be working. The feature lets you hold “quick, informal discussions” with other members of your team.

You can also use it to share your desktop screen, which makes it great for demonstrations. We’ll show you how to use Huddles on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Free web music app imitates iPod Classic click wheel

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Tanner Villarete's free music player web app simulates the classic iPod click wheel.
Tanner Villarete's free music player web app simulates the iPod Classic click wheel.
Photo: Tanner Villarete

The iPod’s iconic click wheel had a good run, launching in 2004 with the iPod mini. It joined the fourth-generation iPod’s design later that year. It even auditioned in the odd product concept over the years. Finally, in 2014, the company phased it out with the iPod Classic.

But nothing great is gone forever, as a free new web music player app shows.

You, too, can achieve pleasing symmetry and soft lighting [Setups]

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A desk with a metal frame and a bunch or clips and magnets help make a great setup.
A desk with a metal frame and a bunch of clips and magnets help make a great setup.
Photo: QasimZafaraYouTube@Reddit

Quasim Zafar’s neatly laid out computer setup serves as his filming area for YouTube product reviews, his general workstation using a 2020 M1 Mac mini and his Xbox Series S gaming station where he plays Call of Duty.

But that’s only incidental to what you’ll probably love about it and want for your own setup.

How to install the watchOS 8 developer beta today

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How to install the watchOS 8 beta
You'll need a spare Apple Watch and an iPhone running iOS 15.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

watchOS 8 isn’t the most significant update Apple Watch has seen over the years, but it’s certainly no snoozefest. Improvements to a number of key apps and a new face will be welcomed by Watch wearers this fall.

And you don’t have to wait until this fall to get yours hands on it. If you have a spare Apple Watch and an Apple Developer account, you can download and install watchOS 8 today. We’ll show you how.

Apple Music will add lossless audio, Spatial Audio for no extra cost

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Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio are coming to Apple Music subscribers beginning June 2021.
Higher-def music is coming soon to an Apple device near you.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music is going lossless — at no extra cost to subscribers. Apple revealed the free upgrade Monday, a day ahead of its rumored launch. The company said Apple Music will bring lossless audio to more than 75 million tracks starting in June so listeners can hear songs “the way the artists created them in the studio.”

In addition, Apple Music will add Spatial Audio support for songs mixed in Dolby Atmos. That means customers who own AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max and Beats headphones featuring an H1 or W1 chip — or using the built-in speakers in the newest iPhone, iPad and Mac — will be able to hear certain songs in the immersive format.