Top stories - page 260

When it comes to stock photography, you can never have too many options — or too big of a budget. If you need a steady supply of high-quality images for your website or promotional materials, but don’t want to break the bank on costly single shots, this Icons8 subscription will give you the eye-popping visuals you need.

This discounted one-year plan lets you choose from more than 100,000 stock photos, 3D-rendered objects and backgrounds that will make your project(s) look totally pro. It also comes with easy-to-use software that lets you tweak and combine images to your heart’s content. And it works on Mac and iOS (as well as Windows and Android).

Long before we all started carrying around powerful computers in our pockets, there was the tiny Toshiba Libretto. A game-changing device when it arrived in the 1990s, the Libretto downsized the entire Windows PC experience into a subnotebook the size of a paperback.

As the world’s smallest commercially available Windows PC, it certainly proved revolutionary. The only problem is the Libretto was … well, a Windows PC.

YouTuber Action Retro recently set out to right that wrong with an awesome Hackintosh project. After transforming the diminutive Libretto into a miniature Mac, he spoke with Cult of Mac about the experience (and his love of vintage Macs).

The new Mobility Metrics feature that Apple added in iOS 14 offers important insights into your health and fitness. Using its built-in sensors and some extremely smart software, the iPhone in your hip pocket captures data and analyzes how you walk at all times. Then, the Health app serves up seven key measurements that provide an overall picture of your strength, coordination and cardiovascular health.

Even if you don’t experience any mobility difficulties, you might still be interested to see what these new stats reveal about the way you walk.

Austin, Texas-based photographer Matt Tran initially built his impressive setup to share his pics on Instagram, and you can certainly see a lot of them there. But now he uses his workstation, centered on a MacBook Pro and two monitors of vastly different sizes, to film and edit videos.

“I like having the 38-inch [LG] ultrawide to view the timeline on Final Cut Pro and the smaller, 15.6-inch Desklab portable monitor to review the footage,” he told Cult of Mac.

Get your hands on Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020, the most powerful image editing software for Mac and PC, at 68% off its usual price. The deal brings the cost of the full application down to just $39.99 — the lowest we’ve seen anywhere for this release — from the usual $99.99.

The iPhone proved you don’t need an expensive DSLR camera to take professional-looking photos. But are you really capturing the best images possible with your phone? Learn how to take stunning iPhone photos with the extensive pro tips in this mobile photography course by Phil Ebiner.

Tilting up the base of your MacBook makes it easier to type. And it elevates the screen to be nearer eye level. The Twelve South ParcSlope is a simple, sturdy laptop stand that offers both benefits. And you can use it with your iPad, too.

I used the ParcSlope for several days to see how well it performed in real-world use. Read on to see what I found out.

If you want to convert your DVDs to videos you can watch on your iPad or iPhone, MacX DVD Ripper Pro can handle the task. Rather than letting your DVDs collect dust, use this helpful Mac app to convert all your favorite movies, TV shows and music to a format compatible with your Apple gear.

That means you won’t need to buy an additional digital copy to enjoy your favorite content on your favorite devices.

Ryan Brookes, who works in sales for a financial services firm in Denver, Colorado, likes his open spaces. That includes indoor ones, like a spare, clean setup on his desk. Physical space helps him think, he told Cult of Mac.

His Mac mini with an M1 chip tethered to a 49-inch Samsung curved monitor probably help him think, too. Those and his iPad, which he will soon pair with a Keychron K1 Mechanical Keyboard.

Build your own charging stand with the brilliant Blocks set from SwitchEasy. The kit includes everything you need (except charging cables) to create a wonderfully unique charging dock for iPhone, Apple Watch, or both.

Blocks makes a great gift for any creative mind, and it’s just $19.99 through the Cult of Mac Store.

Did Valentine’s Day stress you out? There’s a better way to celebrate than splurging on chocolate sales the day after. Presidents’ Day is here, so you can enjoy the long weekend by finding amazing gifts for your significant other (or yourself).

And for a limited time, you can enjoy 15% off these Apple accessories with code PREZ2021.

The iPhone 13 series will borrow the always-on screen from the Apple Watch, according to an unconfirmed report. And the upcoming iPhone supposedly will support some new camera tricks, including Portrait Mode for video.

It’s shaping up to perhaps be more than a speed-bumped version of Apple’s 2020 models.

If you’ve been faithful to your MacBook for many years, you know how many important files it holds. From old work portfolios and personal documents to  sentimental photos and more, your laptop is likely loaded with files you’d hate to lose.

But accidents do happen, and drives do fail. So it’s good to have what amounts to an insurance policy on all your most important data. This lifetime sub to Disk Drill Pro 4 makes it easy to recover documents, music, photos, videos or even whole partitions from your Mac.

When it comes to iPad Pro, bigger would be better. And when it comes to iPhone 12 mini, smaller was definitely not better – at least from a sales perspective.

Get those perspectives in this week’s top opinion/analysis pieces from Cult of Mac Magazine. Then enjoy the rest of the week’s top Apple news, how-tos and reviews. It’s all free and ready to download and read on your favorite iOS device.

P.S. After weeks of Apple car rumors, don’t miss our thought experiment that explores five ways Cupertino could shake up our ideas about automobiles.

Whether you’re filming instructional videos for your company’s YouTube channel, building your TikTok brand, or going live on Instagram, proper lighting can make all the difference. You don’t need an expensive studio setup to look great and potentially score a viral video hit, though. The Aduro U-Stream Executive Home Streaming Studio with Ring Light & Tripod will help you shoot captivating, beautifully lit videos from the comfort of your home.

Save 15% on awesome iPhone and Apple Watch accessories from Just Mobile, SwitchEasy, and MagEasy in the Cult of Mac Store’s Valentine’s Day sale. Cases, screen protectors, portable battery banks and more are on offer. The sale ends soon, so enjoy it while you can.

Emily Dickinson is finally a published author, but will that stitch the tear in her heart or repair the fraying nerves of everyone in her orbit? Anyone who knows the story of the 19th-century poet knows the answer to that, but we’re not watching Apple TV+’s revisionist history for its accuracy, are we?

Apple’s long-awaited AirTags personal item trackers might finally jump from rumor to reality. A reliable prognosticator says these accessories will reach customers in March.

And the same goes for an updated iPad Pro. Previous leaks also point to the tablet coming out before the end of Q1 2021.

While the iPad Pro serves as a primary computer for many people, the 12.9-inch version is simply too small. Apple needs to make a 15-inch iPad Pro Max to make the tablet truly useful for power users.

And a bigger screen is only the start. This version should include other top-tier features not found in Apple’s smaller tablets.

On this week’s episode of Losing Alice, the Apple TV+ limited series about a director matching wits with a hot young screenwriter, the titular filmmaker has a potential murderer on her hands. With her movie due to shoot any second, can Alice do the right thing and keep her job?

The bodies are piling up, and Alice is losing control of her star, her marriage, her movie and her life, just as the title implies. If only it were more exciting to watch.

Nothing beats a clutter-free desk or nightstand and an arsenal of fully charged Apple gear. This Omnia Q3 3-in-1 wireless charging station will charge your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all at the same time. Plus, it’s foldable, so you can take it with you wherever you go.

And, unlike some other chargers — we’re looking at you, Apple — this travel-friendly workhouse comes with its own 24-watt power adapter. It even packs international fittings so you can use it in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Is your internet connection fit for video streaming? Or is your service provider throttling you every time you attempt to watch your favorite movies and TV shows? It’s now easy to find out with just your iPhone.

We’ll show you how.

You can pick up new AirPods at pretty terrific prices right now, which means it’s a great time to upgrade if you’re still rocking Apple’s original wireless buds. And we can help make the upgrade even more affordable.

Sell your old AirPods to Cult of Mac today to turn them into quick cash that you can spend anywhere. We’ll tell you how.

David Wilcox is an IT consultant working from home in Bristol, England. His remote work situation means he gets to tweak his setup just as he likes, he told Cult of Mac.

Wilcox’s central command is a 27-inch 5K iMac from 2019. Humming along with it are two 28-inch U2HE850 monitors paired and run together via a Startech Thunderbolt 3 to Dual DisplayPort Adapter.

With that much screen real estate and a plethora of networking gear, he gets a lot done.

“My first computer was a Sinclair [Research] ZX81,” he said, referring to a machine made by Timex Corp. in the United Kingdom starting in 1981. “So this setup is just about a home-computing Nirvana!”

When you spend so much time on your Mac, it’s inevitable that its performance can suffer. Rather than trying to manually delete files or tweak your system, give BuhoCleaner for Mac a try.

It can optimize your Mac’s performance — and we’ve got a hot deal on a lifetime subscription to BuhoCleaner’s family plan.