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Wirelessly diagnose your car, and more [Deals]

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iPhone cables, mounts, chargers, and a wireless diagnosis tool. These are the auto accessories you're looking for.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’ve got a car, you’ve got a hundred ways to integrate your mobile devices with it. We’ve gathered some great deals on essential tech to take on the road with you. Below you’ll find a futuristic phone mount, a 3-port USB hub, a metal-braided Lightning cable, and a tool for wirelessly checking on your car’s health. Everything Is discounted by 25 percent or more, read on for more details:

Up your charging game for iPhone, Apple Watch, and more [Deals]

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We've rounded up some of the best deals on essential accessories for your charging-related needs.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

For all the convenience of mobile technology, it can be a drag having to keep our devices juiced up. Whatever your situation, we’ve rounded up some top shelf charging upgrades that’ll offer new ways to juice up your most-used devices. We’ve got a universal Lightning dock, a wireless charging station for Apple Watch, a set of extra long set of Lightning cables and super sleek USB charging hub for your car. Everything’s going for a healthy discount, read on for more details:

Apple’s next connector might be smaller than Lightning

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Lightning headphone adapter
The Ultra Accessories Connector will be better than Lightning.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The Lightning connector may soon get replaced as the go-to port on Made for iPhone devices, according to a new report that reveals Apple is currently working on an even smaller connector.

Apple’s tiny new connector is called the Ultra Accessory Connector, or UAC for short, and will soon be used by iPhone and iPad accessory makers, allowing them to save space by ditching Lightning and USB-C.

Get in early on the one cable to connect them all

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This cleverly designed cable includes connections for USB, Micro USB, and Lightning all in one.
This cleverly designed cable includes connections for USB, Micro USB, and Lightning all in one.
Photo: Trilobi

This post is presented by Trilobi, maker of the Trilobi Magnetic 3 in 1 MAG Cable.

With all the sleek digital devices in our lives, one thing that doesn’t seem to get more streamlined is the drawer full of cables needed to keep them charged. Thankfully, a sweet, soon-to-be-released cable is about to cure that spaghetti nightmare.

OWC’s gigantic dock adds more ports to the new MacBook Pro

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OWC's dock adds serious bulk to the MacBook Pro.
OWC's dock adds serious bulk to the MacBook Pro.
Photo: OWC

CES2017 MacBook Pro owners that wish Apple included more ports alongside the Touch Bar can now have the best of both worlds — if they don’t mind slapping a huge dock on their machines.

OWC teased a new accessory called the DEC dock for MacBook Pro at CES, the monstrous gadget show happening in Las Vegas this week. The dock is comically large, but it adds a bevy of new features to the MacBook Pro, including extra storage.

Hackers can use this tiny $5 device to attack your locked Mac

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PoisonTap is tiny but deadly.
PoisonTap is tiny but deadly.
Photo: Samy Kamkar

The next time you leave your Mac unattended, make sure to turn it off.

A well-known hacker has created a cheap tool that can steal data off of locked computers in minutes. The clever new device called PoisonTap is created using a $5 Raspberry Pi Zero and some open source code. Attackers can plug PoisonTap into a machine and as long as the victim has a web browser open, it can steal data and leave remote backdoors.

Does the new MacBook Pro deserve the criticism? [Friday Night Fights]

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Are you pleased with the new MacBook Pro?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar might be Apple’s fastest-selling Pro machine to date, but a lot of fans are far from happy with it.

Friday Night Fights bugIt’s thinner and lighter than its predecessors, and it boasts the fastest storage we’ve ever seen on a Mac. But it’s also a lot more expensive, and it’s missing traditional USB-A ports that the vast majority of us still rely on every day. The SD card slot is gone, too.

But, does it really deserve all this criticism? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we debate the new MacBook Pro and whether Apple messed up this year’s refresh.

Should the MacBook Pro be next in line to lose its headphone jack? [Friday Night Fights]

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Could you live without it?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you’re an early iPhone 7 adopter, you’re already getting accustomed to life without a headphone jack. But what if it started to disappear from other devices you use everyday, such as your iPad or MacBook?

Friday Night Fights bugWith a MacBook Pro refresh on the horizon, fans fear it will be the next device in Apple’s lineup to see its headphone jack disappear. The move could allow Apple to make its most powerful portable even slimmer, but would it be worth it?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss whether the MacBook Pro should lose its headphone jack this year, or whether Apple should give consumers and the industry time to adapt to other standards.

Big, comfy headphones make Mac gaming even better [Reviews]

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The Siberia 350 heads phones are light and comfortable.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Massive over-ear headphones are the best way to immerse yourself in a video game, whether you’re managing the minutiae of Civilization V, hiding from the xenomorph in Alien Isolation, or blasting your way across multiplayer maps in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Huge sound is a big part of gaming on your Mac, PC or PS4, and these fantastic-sounding and incredibly comfortable Siberia 350 headphones from SteelSeries are the best way to get your game on without sacrificing on comfort.

Headphone jack supported by Apple much longer than most ports

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These photos of Lightning EarPods have done the rounds recently.
Photo: Weibo

The iPhone’s 3.5mm headphone jack, rumored to be conspicuous in its absence from the upcoming iPhone 7, has lasted more than twice the length of a regular Apple port.

Having first appeared in an Apple product with 1984’s Macintosh, the headphone jack has been a staple of Apple devices for 32 years at this point. The average Apple I/O standard, on the other hand? According to a new report, that number averages out at only around 15 years.