Top stories - page 20

Alternative-history space-race drama series For All Mankind returned to Apple TV+ Friday with a season 4 opener that handled two tough jobs pretty well — painfully looking back at past tragedies and peering ahead with trepidation to probable new ones. After all, space is dangerous and so are people.

In an episode called “Glasnost,” set 8 years after the end of season 3, For All Mankind sets its sites on asteroid wealth and a joint mission led by the United States and Russia to get it. And it doesn’t take long for people to start dying up there.

An extremely portable power bank that charges iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all at the same time? We’re interested before you even tell us the price. But tell us that price is just $34.97 for a limited time, and we’re all the way in … ASAP!

This heavily discounted multidevice wireless charger is small enough to slip into your pocket or purse. Plus, it would make a great gift for anybody who uses an iPhone, an Apple Watch or any Qi-compatible device.

Through November 16, you can get one — or a dozen — for a massive 70% off the usual price of $119.99!

If you love the synth sounds of the ’80s, we have something for you. AudioKit Pro launched a brand-new hybrid synthesizer app for iPhone and iPad Wednesday for those who love the sounds of the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s.

And while the developer said the synth app usually costs $19.99, right now you can get it for $3.99. And by the way, it’s currently rated #1 in Music on the App Store.

In a tedious and awkward 10-minute video released Thursday, buzzy startup Humane gave a more thorough introduction of its Ai Pin. The video all but confirms my feelings that we are seeing the next hilarious Silicon Valley failure play out in real time.

Since co-founder Imran Chaudhri’s TED Talk earlier this year, where we got a vague introduction to the supposed iPhone-killer’s features, there remained a slim chance — one in a hundred — that the then-unnamed device wasn’t a total waste.

Any ounce of doubt has been washed away as this new video doubles down on the Ai Pin’s flaws and walks back its only positives. In fact, the introductory video clearly demonstrates why the device will fail: The AI gave completely wrong answers and provided no way to check their accuracy. It’s absolutely untrustworthy. This highlights the broader concerns surrounding Humane AI and its ability to provide reliable and accurate assistance.

Whether you’re combing through spreadsheets or cooking up some code, extending your desktop can really accelerate your workflow and even reduce eye strain. Luckily for Cult of Mac readers, we’re offering a pre-Black Friday discount on a portable touchscreen monitor you can take anywhere.

Meet the Desklab monitor, which boasts a sleek display with touchscreen abilities. Until November 16, it’s on sale for only $249.97 (regularly $375)!

If you use an M1 Max MacBook Pro bristling with 64GB of unified memory to drive two of Apple’s top Pro Displays XDR as well as off-the-charts audio gear in a Mission Control-looking workstation, can your computer setup accurately be described as “cozy?” That’s what today’s featured setup user said, improbably.

And while the user’s MacBook is still formidable despite Apple moving on to M3 chips, it’s not necessarily the workstation’s star. It almost pales in comparison to the AV components, including two of Apple’s $5,000-plus displays, incredible headphones and mounted KEF speakers that bring massive audio.

You don’t need to empty your bank account at the Apple Store to fully accessorize your iPhone. In the run-up to Black Friday, you can grab a useful five-piece iPhone accessory bundle on sale at a special low price of $34.97.

Usually worth $129, you won’t need a coupon code to bag this deal on handy iPhone accessories. But you will need to be quick, as it’ll only be available through November 16.

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can record ProRes video at 4K and 60 fps, but only if the handset is connected to an external drive that’s fast enough to handle it. To find out if your SSD is up to the job, there’s OWC Drive Speed.

This new app verifies transfer speeds between your iPhone and external drives. It displays the maximum frames per second a drive can handle. Because you don’t want to find out on the day of the shoot that the SSD you’re counting on is a dud.

Using AI to create images is all the rage these days, but you typically need to pay a monthly fee if you want to get serious about cranking out multiple custom visuals.

Not so with this deal on Pixilio, an AI-powered image generator that makes it simple to produce unique images. Through November 9, you can get lifetime access to Pixilio for just $19.97 (regularly $360)!

The best Italian restaurant app just got better. Osterie d’Italia 2024, the latest app version of Slow Food Editore’s killer guide to Italy’s most authentic restaurants, now serves up its piping-hot recommendations in English for the first time.

Plus, a much-improved search functionality makes it easier than ever to find a great place to eat in Italy. And a new feature lets you store your notes and photos about particular restaurants in the cloud so you can access them in subsequent versions of the annually updated app.

Have an M.2 NVMe drive you want to use with your MacBook or iPad? Put it in the HyperDrive Next USB4 NVMe SSD Enclosure and you can access the contents at speeds up to 40Gbps.

I plugged a solid state drive of mine into this very rugged enclosure to put it to the test.

We’re not recommending that you buzz Apple Park or anything, but owning a 4K drone makes capturing exquisite aerial footage simple. Owning a pair of them gives you extended flight time, as well as a wider array of features.

Now through November 9, you can score two drones for the price of one. Get the Ninja Dragon Phantom K Pro and Alpha Z Pro — two 4K drones that are easy to use, even for beginners — for only $159.97 (regularly $369).

They make great gifts, too.

Working with PDFs on your Mac can really suck. Even just adding your signature to a PDF document can be an ordeal. Luckily, there’s a great Mac app that can simplify the experience of PDF signing, editing, merging, annotating and much more.

And now it’s on sale for a very limited time. Now through November 9, you can grab the popular and award-winning PDF Expert app for only $69.99 (regularly $139).

The just-launched Apple Pencil includes USB-C charging, making it easy to use with the budget iPad. While top quality, the new model doesn’t have all the features of Apple Pencil 2 but costs $50 less.

I tested the stylus with my iPad and found reasons to like it even more than the premium version.

Many people associate leather and stainless steel with watch bands for both analog and smart watches, but nylon seems to be on the rise for a lot of good reasons. Straps like the Carterjett Nylon Apple Watch Band offer lightweight comfort, flexibility and waterproof durability that looks good in a lot of situations.

And you can get the Carterjett Nylon Apple Watch Bands in 11 color choices from just $32.99 in the Cult of Mac Store.

Apple just introduced iOS 17.1.1 to patch a nasty glitch with BMW cars. And there’s watchOS 10.1.1, a promised fix for a battery bug affecting many Apple Watch users.

Plus Mac users can now install macOS Sonoma 14.1.1 with its own bug patches. And don’t overlook iPadOS 17.1.1.

Some lucky first-day owners of the new M3 MacBook Pro unboxed their machines Tuesday to discover a reversal of fortune: Their new Macs arrived with a broken version of macOS that can’t install software updates.

Some MacBook Pros shipped to customers with an unreleased (well, more like unintentionally released) build of macOS Ventura 13.5. This version can’t be updated to macOS Sonoma through the standard Software Update feature in System Preferences.

Here’s how to fix the admittedly rare problem.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max utilizes Apple’s most impressive photographic tech yet, but it’s not the first smartphone with a 5x telephoto camera. In the Android world, you will find several phones with 5x to 10x optical zoom.

Only Samsung’s and Google’s devices deliver image quality capable of competing with Apple’s best. Only Google’s Pixel lineup directly competes with the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x optical shooter. (Samsung is ahead of the competition with its 10x periscope lens.)

So which 5x zoom is the best? See our side-by-side comparison shots to see how the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x tetraprism zoom stacks up against the Google Pixel 8 Pro.

Some people might enjoy the thrill of the hunt while on the prowl for wild game, romantic partners or even retail bargains — but no one has ever used the phrase when searching for a new job. Filling out applications is a tedious and often heartbreaking process, made all the more confusing by the rise of applicant tracking software, aka ATS.

Luckily, there’s an AI-powered job application tool that can help: LazyApply. And lifetime access to this tool costs just $49.97 (regularly $149) through November 9. There’s no need to wait for the new year to track down a new career. You could even gift this time-saving tool to a colleague, student or friend!

The Kuxiu X36 Boom Mic Arm is a solid metal piece of gear for mounting a microphone to your desk. It has a clean, logo-free design that blends in with any setup.

Unlike other boom arms, the Kuxiu X36 isn’t free-floating and adjustable with a single finger — it’s a firm stand that will hold its position. It’s split into three segments, not just two, so it’s nonetheless highly adjustable.

After some months of testing, I was surprised to find a much better use for it than mounting my microphone. Read on to see what it’s best for.

Whether it’s for professional opportunities, to boost your portfolio, or anything else, having your own website can be an invaluable addition to your digital presence. However, it’s not always affordable to host your own website.

Now, you can score pre-Black Friday savings on a cloud-based website hosting service, iBrave. Through November 9, you can get lifetime access to iBrave’s Professional Plan for only $29.97 (regularly $539)!

If you’ve got an old or damaged iMac lying around, why not make use of it? You can find plenty of guidance online to help you turn that dead weight into a version of Apple’s classic Cinema Display and use it with other Macs.

The owner of today’s setup talked about doing just that, plus using open-source software to make his old Macs run recent macOS versions.

The holidays are approaching faster than ever, but you can get a head start on shopping for the techies in your life. Gift them lifelong knowledge with this ChatGPT and Python bundle, which can show them how to maximize their potential with these tools.

Now through November 9, you can grab this bundle for only $29.97 (regularly $154).

Be heard in one of 25 languages

Your parents probably knew best, but there is at least one rule that doesn’t really apply once you leave the nest. Talking to strangers is perfectly acceptable, especially on vacation — and especially if you know the language.

The Zagg Pro Stylus 2 is ready to help you take handwritten notes on an iPad and sketch out your ideas, too. Or you can use it on your iPhone — don’t try that with Apple Pencil.

It wirelessly charges on the edge of an Apple tablet, and that’s just one of the tricks it can do.

I tested the Pro Stylus 2 with my iPad Pro and iPhone 15 and came away pleased.