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AirPods are great and all, but what if you don’t want earbuds jammed into your earholes? These open-ear headphones use increasingly popular bone-conduction tech to deliver audio without plugging up your ears.

These wireless bone-conduction earphones work with iPhones, Macs and iPads. And they let you mix your Apple Music playlist into your soundscape while keeping your ears open for what you need to hear.

You don’t need to pay a fortune for these fancy, futuristic headphones, either. Right now, they’re on sale for just $33.99.

The twilight of games as physical media is truly upon us. Apologies to those who like the smooth feel of those fragile little discs, but this is a good thing. You may be paying a little more for your console’s subscription plan, but in return, you get access to perks that include a virtual warehouse worth of games.

With a two-month subscription to Xbox’s Game Pass Ultimate, you can access hundreds of games (including some true classics) for just $8.99.

Adonit Star is the stylus for iPad users who love antiques; it’s designed to look like a fountain pen, not the usual plastic pencil. Despite the traditional design, it’s a fully functional stylus that’s ready for handwritten notes or sketching out ideas.

I used it with my iPad Pro, and it works as good as it looks. Even better, it is surprisingly affordable.

Creative’s new Sound Blaster X5, a USB sound card, digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and headphone amplifier, promises to jack up your Mac’s audio quality.

It’s not cheap at $280. But the device launched Tuesday might make big difference in the sound flowing from speakers and headphones alike.

The first reviews of the updated HomePod say the new smart speaker sounds excellent but doesn’t break much new ground.

Compared to Apple’s original smart speaker, the second-generation HomePod is more of an asset in a smart home than before. However, the device’s limitations on playing music from third-party sources mean that the home in question better be an Apple household.

If you’ve had a wake-up call at the dentist lately, you’ve got two options. You can either keep brushing the same way and wait for those cavity pains, or start brushing like a grown-up. One great way to upgrade is with an electric toothbrush, but there are so many brands out there that it can make first-time users slow to commit.

If that’s the case with you, let’s start with the most compelling reason to go with the AquaSonic Black series electric toothbrush: It’s currently on sale for just $29.99.

T.S. Eliot had it right: April really is the cruelest month, especially if you’re a freelancer, small business owner or independent contractor. That April 15 tax deadline means you’re either scraping together proof for all your deductions, or paying an accountant to shave a few extra dollars off what you owe.

Being your own boss certainly has its benefits, but the time you spend jumping through IRS hoops is not one of them. Luckily, it was only a matter of time before app developers brought the power of AI to ease the problem of taxes — and FlyFin is a compelling solution that’s tailor-made for the self-employed.

It’s that time of year again. Apple Music made Replay 2023 most-streamed playlists available Monday to anyone who’s listened to enough music in January to have one.

It may be something you associate with the end of a year — Spotify Wrapped comes out only in December, for example. But Apple Music opens up access early with updates on Sundays so you can track your hit list and more continuously, plus a year-end recap.

Apple Music trotted out various ways Monday for fans to get into Rihanna ahead of her Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show in Glendale, Arizona, February 12.

These include a halftime-show press conference on February 9, her catalog in Spatial Audio on Apple Music, Apple Music Sing karaoke and Apple Music Radio commentary, the service said.

To the age-old question “Is a computer setup ever really done?” the answer is obviously “no.” There’s always something to add or something to fix, and once you do that it’s time to update something else (even if you don’t technically “need” the latest thing).

Today’s well-laid MacBook Pro setup has a nice curved monitor, but its user “craves” a Studio Display like he sees in other setups. And for that matter, how about a quieter mechanical keyboard and some plants that won’t die immediately, too.

Emergency SOS via satellite on an iPhone 14 took the “search” out of “search and rescue” for two fortunate Canadian women. They got stuck in snow on a logging road in British Columbia, Canada.

Rescuers said they thought it was the feature’s first use in BC. And the way it pinpointed the women’s location may have saved the women’s lives without the need for a time-consuming search.

The joys of flying are something many of us recall from childhood, and likely came about when we first looked down from an airplane and saw sprawling clouds, cities and oceans below. Now, even as an adult, you can relive that sense of awe from the comfort of land by exploring the skies with this diverse array of drones.

You can double the adventure with a discounted deal on the Alpha Z Pro drone bundle, which is now on sale for just $129.99.

Remember the days when you’d battle your friends on Nintendo for endless hours? While Nintendo products have progressed significantly and you may have more responsibilities as an adult, there’s no reason you can’t relive those good times you had growing up.

You can indulge your inner child with this Bluetooth controller for Nintendo Switch for only $32.99. It’s time to upgrade the way you game as a grown-up.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first reviews and early benchmarks reveal impressive performance boosts from the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini. We’re talking the pros and cons of upgrading — including one very important “buyer beware” scenario.

Also on The CultCast:

• What’s new in iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura 13.2? We walk through the updates.
• A great giveaway from Goldenerre, maker of fine Apple Watch bands.
• Our beloved old-school HomePods just got some upgrades — including one Erfon’s been dreaming of for years.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

When you pick up a classic Macintosh (or a vintage computer of any kind) that hasn’t been used in a while, you need to check it out before plugging it in and turning it on. Capacitors on old motherboards fail and leak over time; you DO NOT want to run power to a computer if this has happened; you could easily fry the motherboard.

Collecting old computers is a lot of fun. You can use old versions of Mac OS in emulators online, but it’s nothing compared to the experience of setting up a heavy machine on your desk, hearing the fans and disk drives whir to life and watching a fuzzy CRT display fade in from black. If you’re new to this (rather expensive) hobby, you can also check out my earlier piece on how to get started — what to look for, what to watch out for and where to shop.

So, you are the new custodian of a classic computer. What should you do before you power it on for the first time?

Has there ever been a better time to be a kid? Superheroes rule the big screens, video games are experiencing a new golden age and even so-called “educational toys” are so advanced they’re like gear out of a mad scientist’s lab. To prove our point, meet the Toybox 3D Printer.

Yes, we know that 3D printers are nothing new. But Toybox takes a completely different angle on this popular creative tool, re-imagining it as the limitless toy factory we all knew it could be.

The capabilities of artificial intelligence are amazing and ever-expanding, but how can you best get it to work for you? Juice.ai demonstrates how with a tool that can get you started on your marketing journey. And it’s now on sale for just $39.

The 2021 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro with added memory is a popular choice, and Friday you can get a configuration with 32GB of RAM for about $300 less than usual prices at Woot!, owned by Amazon.

The configuration is a winner because folks know you can’t easily add integrated memory later to most Macs, so why settle for the base 16GB for that model?

Beware, though, the sale ends just after midnight in Saturday’s wee hours.

There’s a funeral this week on true-crime-inflected Apple TV+ show Truth Be Told. Drea is dead, and everyone’s guilty — whether they pulled the trigger or not.

The more Poppy, Eva and Markus pull up rocks looking for clues, the more insects they find running around in the darkness. “Her, Armed With Sorrow Sore” stands out as a strongly performed and nicely paced episode of the show about a podcaster’s crusade to help her city.

The World Surf League adopted Apple Watch as its official wearable Friday. The move enables pro surfers to use the water-resistant smartwatch with a certain app to track crucial metrics during competitions.

This marks the first time Apple Watch has become official equipment for a pro sport.

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We’re having a séance this week on Apple TV+ chiller Servant, the wonderfully cracked show about a magical nanny who uses murder and mayhem to maintain her grip on the Philadelphia family who summoned her.

Leanne hates the two new nurses Dorothy hired to look after her during her recovery, but she’s losing her favor with Sean and Julian by acting so suspicious. Sean desperately wants Dorothy to go back to her old self, and is realizing Leanne might be the problem.

It’s a tense and sharply directed episode of the best show on Apple TV+.

Some might argue that music producers work a lot harder than the stars who perform the hits they help make. And while there’s a lot of art to what producers do, they can’t do it without the right gear. Luckily for home DJs and performers alike, EasySplitter is poised to break down that particular barrier for professional music production.

This AI-powered tool can remove vocals from recorded tracks in an instant, so you can use the background music for whatever you like. And right now, you can get a lifetime EasySplitter subscription for less than $30.

New Apple TV+ series Shrinking centers on a man who loses everything and finally decides to start doing something about it. The comedy stars Jason Segel and Harrison Ford (in his first major TV role). And, with the creative team behind Ted Lasso and the star of How I Met Your Mother, Apple TV+ execs are clearly hoping for success on a par with the streamer’s biggest moneymakers.

They might have it. However, Shrinking will need to overcome its major flaws to become something truly worth watching.

If you’re gunning for a job at Apple (or anywhere in the tech sector, for that matter) you’ve got nothing to lose by learning Python — and a lot to gain. This computer language consistently ranks among the top platforms that programmers use in a variety of fields, from data analytics to cutting-edge AR.

If you’re on the outside looking in, you might think that this kind of versatility means Python is a tool only experts can wield. But one of the best things about this computer language is how easy it is to learn, especially when you’re learning with this Python certification bundle.

Calling them “the world’s 1st LE-Audio ANC true wireless earbuds,” EarFun plans to launch its new flagship Air Pro 3 active noise-canceling (ANC) wireless earbuds Thursday, February 2. The company recently sent me a pair to try out.

True to form, EarFun brings good value for the price with these buds, as it has with others. They’re not perfect, but for discounted pre-launch and launch prices at or below $60, you can’t really go wrong. See below for more details about the buds, including LE Audio.