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This Apple TV gaming controller takes you to console heaven [Reviews]

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Nimbus_1
Game like a pro on your Apple TV with the Nimbus gaming controller.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A few weeks ago, I found myself at the local Apple Store chatting to a sales associate who was demonstrating the SteelSeries Nimbus gaming controller. I had a quick go at the controls only to find myself duly impressed by the way it works as an Apple TV gaming controller.

I was intrigued enough to take another, closer look at this gaming pad to see if it’s worth picking up. Watch the video below to see my SteelSeries Nimbus review.

Apple TV update brings these awesome new tricks

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apple tv and siri remote
Grab the latest tvOS 11 update now.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

What’s new on your Apple TV? Quite a bit, if you’ve got the latest fourth-generation device and have updated it to tvOS 9.2.

There’s a new folders system for total organization, new support for Bluetooth keyboards, a podcasts app, a multitasking visual upgrade and a new default video-scrubbing behavior.

Check out all of the awesome new tricks you can do with the latest Apple TV update.

Cool new things you can do after your iOS 9.3 update

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iOS 9.3 Beta 4

Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iOS 9.3 is out now for everyone, and the upgrade delivers some great new features that make Apple’s mobile platform better than ever.

With sweet additions like password-protected Notes, sleep-saving Night Shift and data-friendly Wi-Fi Assist, iOS 9.3 might be Apple’s biggest “dot” release yet.

Here’s a quick rundown of all the coolest things you can do once you’ve downloaded the iOS 9.3 update, which Apple released Monday.

Craig Federighi on why FBI’s backdoor demands are so harmful

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Hair Force One wants everyone to become a coder.
Cray-Fed says the FBI wants us to return to a world of iOS 7-level security.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s battle with the FBI, over whether it should create a backdoor to allow for the hacking of iPhones, is one of the biggest stories in tech right now.

Over the weekend, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, took to the pages of the Washington Post for an impassioned op-ed about how hard Apple works to stay ahead of criminals and terrorists who want to infiltrate its systems — and why the FBI and Justice Department’s proposed solution to the problem is so “disappointing.”

How to eliminate the adware that’s plaguing your Mac

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Don't get caught like this.
Don't get caught like this.
Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

In addition to various viruses that can harm your Mac, there’s a different kind of annoyance you might have stumbled upon: adware.

This might manifest itself as a web page that tells you you’ve been infected, with an accompanying phone number to call or malicious website to visit, or it might even show up as an ostensibly helpful Mac app you don’t remember installing.

If you’re experiencing the pain of malicious adware, we’re here to help. Here’s how to eliminate the adware that’s plaguing your Mac.

The ultimate guide to iPhone and iPad password managers

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Using the same password over and over, or keeping track of passwords in the Notes app is bad practice. Here's how to manage all your passwords safely and conveniently!
You owe it to yourself to take control of your passwords. And it's easier than you might think.
Photo: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor

app-factor-logo-thumbnailAs we store more and more of our information digitally, it becomes more important than ever to make sure our data is safeguarded. To ensure security, you should always use strong and unique passwords.

Password manager apps aren’t hard to use, and once you get started, they actually offer you more convenience than any other way of maintaining and storing passwords. Not convinced? Let me help you understand….

10 Mac storage tips to help you free up extra hard drive space

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Running out of hard drive space on your Mac? These 10 tips can help you free up space you didn't know you were even using!
Running out of hard drive space on your Mac? These 10 tips can help you free up space you didn't know you were even using!
Photo: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor

app-factor-logo-thumbnailIs your Mac out of storage space, or getting dangerously close? If so, there are lots of things you can do to free up some much-need disk space. In many cases, you don’t even have to remove personal files and media. From finding and removing duplicate photo libraries to learning how to better utilize some of Apple’s cloud services, we can help you figure out what’s eating your storage and, more importantly, how to fix it.

Smartwatches don’t have to cost stupid money [Deals]

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The Martian is a smartwatch with all the features you want but at a price you can afford.
The Martian is a smartwatch with all the features you want but at a price you can afford.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you wear a watch, it’s probably not a smart one. That’s probably because the current generation of smartwatches are prohibitively expensive, and the cheap ones aren’t worth the plastic they’re printed on. Martian Notifier Smartwatch shows that’s not how it has to be, it’s a slick, feature rich wrist piece that you can get for just $35.99.

How to maximize your El Capitan windows without going full screen

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Don't let OS X windows take over your whole screen.
Don't let OS X windows take over your whole screen.
Photo: Luke Chesser/Unsplash

It used to be that if you wanted to zoom any window on your Mac to see as much of the content inside it as possible, you’d hit OS X’s green button in the upper left of the window.

As of OS X Yosemite, the green button turned into a “full screen” trigger, zooming any window out to completely fill your Mac’s monitor.

If you hate that behavior, here’s an easy way to get the original zoom feature without the full screen.

Best weather widgets for iPhone

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Four apps that make checking the weather on your iPhone quick and easy.
Four apps that make checking the weather on your iPhone quick and easy.
Photo: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor

app-factor-logo-thumbnailI don’t like spending a lot of time inside weather apps. Instead, I’d rather just swipe down and view current and impending conditions within the Today view section of Notification Center.

That’s why, when looking at weather apps to try, one of my criteria is that whatever one I choose, it comes complete with widget support. Depending on what kind of weather data you need, these weather apps currently have the best weather widgets for iPhone.

David Bowie predicted the Apple Music future in 2003

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David Bowie's futuristic vision didn't stop with sci-fi lyrics.
David Bowie's futuristic vision didn't stop with sci-fi lyrics.
Photo: Sonia Golemme/Flickr CC

David Bowie’s uncanny vision of the future didn’t stop with songs about holographic TVs or astronauts adrift in space.

More than a decade ago, the dynamic entertainer — who died Sunday at age 69 after an 18-month battle with cancer — predicted the music biz would look a lot like it does in the time of Apple Music.

How knockoff Apple Watch bands are nearly as good as the real thing

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Spot the difference. On the left is Apple's $450 Link Bracelet for Apple Watch. On the right, a $90 knockoff that gets 4.5 stars on Amazon.
Spot the difference. On the left is Apple's $450 Link Bracelet for Apple Watch. On the right, a $90 knockoff that gets 4.5 stars on Amazon.
Photo: Apple

The internet is awash with knockoff bands for the Apple Watch that are almost as good as the genuine articles.

Knockoff products are traditionally cheap and nasty, but tons of these replica Apple Watch bands are so good, they rival Apple’s own products — at a fraction of the price.

We’ve taken a tour of knockoff band land, and found that there are lots of cheap, inexpensive bands on eBay and Amazon that are high in quality and are getting glowing reviews from customers.

“My black Apple Sport band has started flaking off, while the third-party knock-offs still look brand new,” said Neven Mrgan, a designer for Panic software in Portland, Oregon who bought a less-than-half-price band on Amazon.

How to keep iPhone from ruining your square lock-screen photos

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It's hip to be square.
It's hip to be square.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

If you’ve ever tried to set a square photo as your lock screen or homes screen wallpaper, you know that iOS will zoom into the photo, resizing it to fit the entire iPhone screen.

This is fine with some images, but square ones, like the ones you save on Instagram or take with your iPhone’s square photo feature, just zoom in too far, obscuring much of the photo.

Here’s a quick and easy work around that will let you see the whole square photo when you use it as wallpaper.

iOS tip: The weird way to find keywords in a webpage

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Find what you want in mobile Safari.
Find what you want in mobile Safari.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Sometimes I’m browsing a site like Cult of Mac on my iPhone and I’m looking for something specific, like a story about encryption, for example. Instead of swiping down the page and hoping I see the story I’m looking for, I want to just search for it.

When you’re on your Mac, it’s super easy to find something like this: simply hit Command-F, type in the text string you’re looking for, and Safari (or any other web browser on the Mac, really) will find them all in the web page you’re on, highlighting them for you.

But what about finding stuff when browsing the web on your iPhone? There’s no Command-key on the built-in keyboard, so how do you search your favorite web page to find keywords?

Turns out, there are two ways to do it, which is kind of odd.

How to use math to wrap perfect presents

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Math makes wrapping presents easy.
Math makes wrapping presents easy.
Photo: Katie Steckles

Wrapping Christmas presents takes talent. A talent I do not have.

Most of my wrappings look more like a crumpled mess of paper instead of perfect parcels fit for a king. Turns out I’ve been doing it all wrong by not including a very necessary ingredient in my wrapping repertoire: math.

Mathematician Katie Steckles published a brilliant explainer video today for the gift wrapping challenged among us that details some mathematical ways to ensure every present you wrap is absolutely perfect, no matter what shape and size it comes in.

Check it out:

If you’d bought Apple stock instead of an Apple III, you’d be a millionaire

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Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
What we wouldn't give to travel back to 1980.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Want a spectacular stat for a Friday? Apple stock has increased 22,250 percent since its IPO almost 35 years ago.

And the accompanying depressing thought: If you had taken the money a new Apple computer cost at the time and instead spent it on AAPL stock during its 1980 public offering, you’d be sitting on a personal fortune of $965,650 today — just a few dollars away from being a freshly-minted millionaire.

Pro Tip: Lock down your Amazon account with two-step verification

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Keep your Amazon details safe with two-step verification.
Keep your Amazon details safe with two-step verification.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugIf you’re an Apple ID owner, you know that two-step verification is the best way to make sure that only you have access to your personal credit card details along with your app, music, and video purchases.

Until a couple of weeks ago, Amazon–another company that probably has private financial information from you–didn’t have a way to do the same thing. That way, even if someone figures out your password, they’ll only have half the info needed to make changes to or access your account.

Now that the Seattle-based books-and-everything-else company allows for it, it’s time to zip up your personal details. Here’s how.

AirWatch makes it easy to manage all your organization’s devices

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AirWatch is an ideal way to get operations of any size connected and synchronized around a mobile workflow.
AirWatch is an ideal way to get operations of any size connected and synchronized around a mobile workflow.
Photo: VMware

This post is brought to you by VMware, maker of AirWatch.

Whatever your organization’s mission, synchronizing all your employees’ mobile devices can power up your operations. However, wrangling together an array of phones, tablets and laptops is very tough. Making sure they’re all caught up and in sync with the same software versions and whatnot — let alone sourcing or (gasp) developing the applications your business will run on them — is a lot for a business of any size to take on.

Which social media management tool is right for your business? Depends on its size

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shutterstock_94247338

This post is brought to you by Link-Assistant.Com

Social media is a key component for businesses of any size. Whether it’s a restaurant managing their Facebook page and Yelp reviews, or a massive corporation whose message must be coordinated and ultimately use social media to shift public opinion, there are a whole range of powerful tools available. Here we review a few of the free social media monitoring (SMM) options available to small and individual-run businesses, and the paid services for medium- and enterprise-scale companies.

Pro Tip: Check your Apple Watch battery from your iPhone

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Get your battery info fast and easy.
Get your battery info fast and easy.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugYou can of course check the status of your Apple Watch battery on your wrist, but it’s even easier to discover how much Apple Watch juice you have left right from your iPhone.

In fact, you can check the battery status of anything connected via Bluetooth, including headphones and speakers.

Here’s how.

Apple has already shipped almost 7 million Apple Watches

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apple-watch
On course to smash first-year Apple records.
Photo: Apple Watch

I wish I could have a failure like the Apple Watch!

Despite naysayers claiming the Apple Watch hasn’t taken off as Apple hoped, a new set of figures suggests that Apple has shipped close to 7 million Apple Watches since its launch — a figure which outstrips all other vendors’ combined smartwatch shipments in the past five financial quarters.

Pro Tip: Get full desktop versions of your favorite websites in iOS 9 Safari

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iOS 9 is on a huge number of Apple's mobile devices.
iOS 9 is on a huge number of Apple's mobile devices.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugWhereas most websites these days — Cult of Mac included — are responsive to whatever device you’re browsing on, there are still a few websites out there that will serve you a special mobile version when you head there on your iPhone.

Unfortunately, sometimes the functionality of the full desktop version of the website is missing from the mobile version. When that happens, you can use the iOS 9 version of Safari to get the full desktop versions even when the web developers don’t provide a link to do so.

Here’s how.