Cult of Mac

If you love a good nature documentary — especially because the photography is so mind-blowing nowadays — you’re in for a treat with The Secret Lives of Animals. Apple TV+ dropped an official trailer for it recently (see below). The 10-part series is now streaming, as of Wednesday, December 18.

“Welcome to a world beyond imagination, where fish can fly and lizards walk on water,” the trailer’s voiceover says, as those images appear onscreen. “Animals do the most remarkable things at every stage of their lives.”

Update: The Secret Lives of Animals 10-part docuseries started streaming on Apple TV+ Wednesday.

The Mac pointer (also called the cursor) is black with a white outline by default, but you can change the pointer color if you want to make it more prominent. Plus, you can even change the Mac pointer size. 

You might lose track of the small cursor if you have low vision — or just a really big monitor. Making the pointer larger can make it easier to see. 

Changing the pointer color to, for instance, bright red can make it easier to see, too. You can choose any color, like light purple or green, to fit the aesthetic of your setup. (This is especially cool if you have a matching colorful iMac.)

Here’s how to change your Mac pointer size and color.

December 19, 2007: Apple settles a lawsuit with reporter Nick Ciarelli, resulting in the shuttering of Think Secret, his masssively popular Apple rumors website. Writing under the screen name Nick de Plume, the Harvard University student broke a number of Apple stories on the site, raising Cupertino’s ire.

The terms of Ciarelli’s settlement with Apple remain secret. In a statement, he says he will “be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”

International journalism organization Reporters Without Borders called Thursday for Apple to remove its new artificial intelligence-powered news notifications, following a complaint from the BBC over a wildly inaccurate news summary. Apple Intelligence’s notifications summary feature generated a misleading BBC News headline last week about a high-profile murder case in the United States, falsely stating the accused shooter had shot himself.

AirDrop and AirPlay are the latest Apple technologies the European Union wants to make more interoperable. This would give third-party developers, including rival handset makers, access to the tech.

But Apple is pushing back hard. Apple has made the jaw-dropping claim that opening up AirDrop and AirPlay would allow companies like Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) to read all your emails, messages, photos and even passwords!

The PowerBand is a sporty Apple Watch band that comes with a built-in magnetic Apple Watch charger. The clever design will help you deal with two of the smartwatch’s most annoying shortcomings: its so-so battery life and the fact that you can only top up the Apple Watch battery using a specific type of charger.

Right now, you can snag a PowerBand for only $39.99 (regularly $49.99). That’s less than the cost of many Apple Watch bands that don’t come with a secret charger built in.

Apple reportedly dropped a plan to offer the iPhone to customers as a monthly subscription. It would have allowed customers to pay for handsets as though they were a magazine or software, and upgrade annually.

Those feeling disappointed by the news likely aren‘t aware that Apple already offers a very similar payment plan.

There’s an important new reason you might put AirPods Pro 2 on your gift list this year. If you know someone who resists getting the hearing assistance they need, Apple’s wireless earbuds can change their life.

It’s not hype — AirPods Pro 2 really can help people with mild to moderate hearing loss thanks to a software update released this autumn.

December 18, 2006: Apple fans mourn the death of the iPhone before it even launches. Linksys begins selling a new handset called “iPhone,” Cupertino watchers must come to grips with the fact that Apple’s rumored smartphone probably won’t bear that name after all. How did this happen? Linksys’ parent company, Cisco Systems, owns the iPhone trademark.

While Apple previously released the iMac, iBook, iPod and iTunes, Cupertino didn’t own the name “iPhone.”

Apple just enhanced its web version of Apple Maps by adding a beta version of Look Around, a street-level view similar to Google Street View in Google Maps. The new functionality lets users explore high-resolution, ground-level views of cities and points of interest directly through their web browser. The Apple Maps app already has Look Around.

With all the mousing and typing people do, you’d think products designed for ergonomic comfort — and to help avoid repetitive-strain injuy — would crop up in more computer setups. Well, today’s MacBook Pro and Mac Pro rig answers the call. The user, a smarty-pants undergrad at Harvard, relies on a Logitech MX Vertical wireless mouse setup plus a Logitech Pop Keys Mechanical Keyboard for data input.

As federal authorities in the United States investigate China-based TP-Link over national security risks, a ban of the most widely used home and small business internet routers in this country becomes a possibility, according to a new report Wednesday. Any ban would most likely come under the new Trump administration

Being able to see your iPhone battery percentage right in the status bar is incredibly useful. You can keep an eye on it throughout the day if you’re getting low and need to top up.

The standard battery icon gives you a rough idea of where your iPhone stands. But instantly seeing the exact battery percentage number can give you peace of mind. It’s useful seeing the precise number without pulling down Control Center or checking a battery widget, wherever you are.

For those of you with real battery anxiety, you can even add a widget to your Lock Screen and Home Screen. I’ll show you how.

ChatGPT can work wonders, both professionally and personally — if you know how to create the perfect prompts. If you want to learn how to use the white-hot AI chatbot to maximum effect, the Ultimate ChatGPT Prompts Guide is the perfect place to start.

Primed to help users maximize AI’s mighty potential, this guide to crafting ChatGPT prompts is available for just $24.97 (regularly $119). This resource is packed with advice, unlocking thousands of possibilities from the ever-advancing ChatGPT.

Is your home internet up to speed? If not, your Wi-Fi router could be to blame. Ensure you’re not lacking in that department by securing a deep discount on a HomeKit-compatible Linksys Velop mesh Wi-Fi setup.

Originally $299, you can get a two-pack of refurbished Linksys Velop tri-band Wi-Fi 5 routers for only $49.99. Score a pair of these Intelligent Mesh routers for less, and you should notice an immediate improvement in your in-home Wi-Fi performance.

Designer Basic Apple Guy, known for nifty wallpapers for Mac, iPhone and iPad screens, dropped his annual Apple Product Tier List Monday. The Apple product rankings give letter grades to everything the iPhone giant released in 2024. He considers M4/M4 Pro Mac mini the best of the best, by the way.

“For the third year in a row, I am once again painting a target on my head and releasing my tier rankings of the products Apple released in the 2024 calendar year,” he wrote. Undoubtedly, not everyone will love his choices, particularly those he grades in the low D and F tiers, but he takes care to explain them.

With purported details of the iPhone 17 Pro Max appearing online many months before the device’s launch, a Russian YouTube channel prepared renders that reveal what Apple’s next top-tier handset could look like.

Don’t expect last year’s model with a just few tweaks. According to rumors reflected in the new renders, 2025 will bring a substantial redesign.

December 17, 2009: Apple finally triumphs over longtime rival Microsoft … on mobile operating systems market share. New data shows that iPhone OS surpasses Windows Mobile in the United States for the first time.

With roughly 36 million Americans owning smartphones, a quarter of them run Apple’s mobile operating system, according to figures released by research firm Comscore.

The Hohem iSteady M7 is a three-axis gimbal featuring iSteady’s latest technology. It offers full 360-degree rotation in the vertical axis and AI-powered subject tracking, so you can easily capture incredibly dramatic shots.

It’s easy to take a screenshot on your iPhone to keep a copy of something in your photo library for later. You can even screenshot a whole page on an iPhone at once using a somewhat hidden feature.

If you want to take a screenshot of something like an in-depth recipe, a lengthy email or anything else that doesn’t fit on your iPhone screen, you can take an extended screenshot. Instead of filling your library with five separate images, you can use your iPhone to screenshot the entire page (or a large section of it) without using an app to stitch them together after the fact.

Here’s how it’s done. (I’ll show you how to do this on a Mac, too.)

Love the way AirPods work with an iPhone but a little meh about how they work with a Mac? The AirBuddy Mac app will connect AirPods to Mac, with enhancements that provide the same advanced features you enjoy when using Apple’s earbuds with an iPhone.

You can grab AirBuddy for only $8.99. (And if you don’t already own AirPods, and you’re a Costco member, don’t miss this hot deal on AirPods Pro with USB-C case. It’s somehow still going strong!)

There are plenty of old iPhone wall chargers still out there very slowly powering up handsets. Fortunately, iOS 18.2 made it quick and easy to tell if it’s time to trash your old, slow iPhone charger.

The best iPhone chargers give your handset a big boost in as little as half an hour. Older ones take all sodding day. You don’t have to put up with slow charges if you don’t want to.

Tired of the endless loop of doom scrolling? Let’s flip the script and embark on an adventure of self-discovery. Instead of squandering your free moments on X or Bluesky, you can transform them into opportunities for growth. How, you ask? Well, get ready for a deal that will unleash your inner genius — with Headway’s inspiring book summaries.

Think of Headway Premium as your new gateway to enlightenment. It puts a treasure trove of popular reads right at your fingertips, neatly tucked into an app that’s bursting with knowledge. Right now, a lifetime subscription to Headway Premium is going for the unbelievable price of just $59.99, a savings of 80%.

It’s not too late to pick up cool technology gifts for your loved ones this Xmas. If you’re looking for last-minute gifts, we have a few ideas. Most of these items will still ship before the big day.

If you’re looking for a last-minute gift for an Apple fan in your life, there’s one surprisingly simple answer: Get them an AirTag. Or a bunch of them. With frequent discounts from Amazon and other retailers, AirTags make the ultimate stocking stuffer for anybody in the Apple ecosystem.