David Snow - page 5

These days its seems a “national day” exists for every conceivable thing — and on Saturday, November 30, that includes unsubscribing. In other words, it’s time to unsubscribe from unwanted emails and manage paid subscriptions. For example, do you even open half the emails you get? Do you know how many subscriptions you pay for? Well, there are apps and other tools for cleaning up your subscription life so you can get on with your actual life.

The Black Friday sales period in late November can be a great time to stock up on practical items, whether they’re gifts or just items for yourself. Take chargers, power banks, USB-C hubs and data storage solutions, for example. Everybody can use them, and Ugreen Black Friday deals abound on Amazon for such items. Markdowns range from 15% to 35% off. Check out a selection of sale items below.

Ready for a cinematic experience that transports you to the heart of London during one of its darkest hours? Consider director Steve McQueen’s Blitz, a surprisingly moving period piece now streaming on Apple TV+. As you’ll see in our Blitz review, if you’ve got holiday downtime to spare, this makes a good diversion.

The gripping film offers a powerful glimpse into the resilience of the human spirit during World War II’s London Blitz. It was a relentless bombing campaign associated with Germany’s aggressive “blitzkrieg” strategy. Here are three reasons why you should watch Steve McQueen’s Blitz.

If you want a full iPad experience in a super-portable design that’s comfortable to hold and use anywhere, iPad mini is the answer. And for Black Friday, Amazon just posted a combination of discount and coupon savings equalling $99.01 off the base tablet in all four colors — blue, purple, space gray and starlight. And you can also save on models with more storage. Needless to say, iPad mini 7 makes a stellar gift for a special someone.

Apple said it will once again run its annual charitable giving campaign coinciding with World AIDS Day on December 1. And that gives holiday shoppers an opportunity to easily contribute to global health efforts while making their seasonal purchases. In addition, purchases from Apple’s Product (Red) collection contribute to the cause anytime.

In a big win for Apple TV+, the French-American-Japanese series Drops of God captured the prestigious International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series at a ceremony Monday night in New York, according to reports late Monday and Tuesday.

The win strengthens Apple TV+’s growing reputation for delivering compelling international content and marks another successful adaptation of popular manga for the streaming platform.

Today’s M4 Mac mini user was once devoted to MacBook Pro. And he still owns two of the laptops, for work and personal use, but he recently added a new M4 Pro Mac mini, and he absolutely loves it. He’s into gaming, so he added cool gaming peripherals like a mechanical keyboard and microphone from HyperX and a light-and-speedy mouse from Corsair. Check them out, along with all the rest of the setup’s gear, below.

Normally season-two episodes of hit Apple TV+ sci-fi series Silo air on Fridays, but Apple TV+ said it plans to move upcoming episode three to Wednesday, November 27, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend celebrated in the United States. As in the past, the streamer apparently makes that move to try to maximize viewership while people are home recovering from Turkey Day food comas.

And as many Apple TV+ watchers know, the streamer often posts new episodes the evening before the air date. So you might be able to watch it as early as Tuesday night.

Lots of folks who do live video streaming or video calls opt for purpose-built webcams rather than what comes in laptops or displays. That’s because the standalone cameras usually feature better-quality images and video plus more features in general. Today’s M4 Mac mini user fixes an Obsbot webcam atop his external Lenovo display. We rarely if ever see it, but it packs a lot of interesting features.

Black Friday arrives on November 29, but many sales on tech gear kick off a week or more before that. Take Sonos, for example. You can find a range of great deals on headphones, speakers, soundbars and bundles of different products starting Thursday (November 21) in the Sonos Black Friday sale. Most of the bargains are at both Sonos and Amazon. Go to Sonos to see the whole sale on one page and grab the bundles. Follow links to either Amazon or Sonos below for various Labor Day deals on Sonos audio gear.

Apple Music named Billie Eilish Artist of the Year for 2024 on Thursday. That makes her the first artist to receive the honor twice. The 22-year-old singer-songwriter previously won the inaugural award in 2019.

“Since day one, Apple Music has supported my music and artistry, and I am both honored and humbled to receive this recognition as Artist of the Year this many years into my career,” Eilish said.

Keychron is pretty much synonymous with mechanical keyboards, having flooded the market with solid and affordable models for years. And when it comes to Black Friday mechanical keyboard deals, the maker is discounting keebs from its Keychron and Lemokey lines on Amazon, with 15% to 25% off deals on more than 100 keyboards. Below you’ll find a sampling of cool options.

And you can nab even better deals on Keychron mechanical keyboards at Amazon bargain site Woot! — up to 63% off — and more will be added Thanksgiving week, the company said.

A group of Philadelphia friends pose as DEA agents in a small-time grift only to find themselves risking life and limb as they accidentally uncover the biggest narcotics operation on the East Coast, Apple TV+ revealed Wednesday in a “first look” at a new crime drama. The upcoming series is Dope Thief, and the streamer included plenty of photos from the show to give you a taste, as they say.

The eight-episode season debuts with the first two episodes March 25 on Apple TV+. A new episode follows each Friday through April 25.

Recently, the phrase “Mac mini gaming” took on a whole new meaning. That’s because Apple released the M4 and M4 Pro Mac mini desktop computers in a much smaller form factor and with unprecedented performance. Today’s MacBook Air and MacBook Pro user is over the moon about what his new M4 Pro Mac mini can do with World of Warcraft and other games.

Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and other members of legendary British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac tell their story in their own words for the first time in an upcoming “definitive documentary,” Apple said Tuesday.

Five-time Academy Award nominee and Irving G. Thalberg winner Frank Marshall directs the Apple Original Film.

“I am fascinated by how this incredible story of enormous musical achievement came about,” said Marshall. “Fleetwood Mac somehow managed to merge their often chaotic and almost operatic personal lives into their own tale in real-time, which then became legend. This will be a film about the music and the people who created it.”

Comedy actor Seth Rogen shoulders a lot with new Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio, as he writes, directs, executive produces and stars in it as an embattled Hollywood studio head, according to a new teaser trailer the streamer dropped Tuesday. Will Rogen’s series fare better than the show’s fictional “Continental Studios?” Well, as you can see in the trailer, he has a star-studded cast to work with, including himself, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn and guest star Bryan Cranston.

The 10-episode, half-hour comedy series premieres on Apple TV+ March 26, 2025. Watch the promising teaser trailer below.

After testing Creative Aurvana Ace 2 earbuds, I’ve found them to be a fascinating glimpse into the future of portable audio technology — albeit with some growing pains at this early stage. The $149.99 buds — often discounted — represent one of the first consumer implementations of xMEMS solid-state driver technology. But the impressive audio quality doesn’t make these earbuds as great as they could be because of other shortcomings.

Aurvana Ace 2 came out about a year ago, but this marks my first time experiencing xMEMS Labs micro speakers I’ve written about several times, so I was happy to try them out.

In what could be a breakthrough for wearables and other electronics, xMEMS Labs unveiled Sycamore on Tuesday. It’s the world’s first full-range near-field MEMS micro speaker. Measuring just over one millimeter thick, the innovation promises to make some noise with compact gear you don’t put in your ears. Those would be items like open-fit earbuds, such as AirPods and sport earphones, smartwatches like Apple Watch, AR glasses and headsets like Vision Pro, and other consumer electronics.

Like other xMEMS micro speakers that bring solid-state sound to earbuds and headphones, the new technology uses a novel “sound from ultrasound” platform. It generates full-frequency audio from ultrasonic waves within a chip-sized form factor.

“With Sycamore, mobile electronics can now achieve thinner, more stylish form factors while maintaining big, rich sound,” said Mike Housholder, xMEMS VP of marketing and business development. “With better performance at both the low and high ends, Sycamore delivers powerful, full-range audio for smartwatches, smart glasses, and any other small, mobile form factor that engineers dream up.”

In what seems like a coup for Apple TV+, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem will take on one of cinema’s most iconic villain roles in a new series adaptation of Cape Fear, according to new reports. He’ll play Max Cady, of course. That’s the character made infamous in earlier film versions by Robert Mitchum in 1962 and Robert De Niro in 1991. (And who could forget Sideshow Bob’s version of Cady from The Simpsons‘ “Cape Feare” spoof episode in 1993.)

The announcement comes as Bardem makes waves with his television debut in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

After years of writing Cult of Mac setups articles, often with a focus on high-quality audio gear — and after endlessly rearranging my own workstation — I’ve never managed to incorporate a proper pair of speakers into my setup. Until now. Previously, I’ve relied on MacBook Pro speakers, earbuds, over-ear headphones and, occasionally, a portable Bluetooth speaker or two. But now I’ve added a great-sounding and nice-looking pair of very affordable Edifier speakers that just fit right in.

A troubling new trend is emerging as thieves exploit tracking information to intercept iPhone deliveries as they arrive at customers’ doorsteps, according to a new report. When thieves target iPhone deliveries, it leaves Apple users particularly vulnerable, obviously. But you can take action to protect your deliveries.

Trend alert: Folks are talking on social media sites and YouTube about using iPad as an external display for the new M4 Mac mini. Why? Well, as today’s setup user notes, the combination creates a credible mobile solution. And as others point out, it’s economical. Mac mini is a sensational value. And for a few hundred bucks more you can add an iPad (or you may already have one) and a few other inexpensive elements to make it work. But still, plenty of people see this and just say, “get a MacBook.”

In hit Apple TV+ sci-fi series Silo, Rebecca Ferguson’s engineer character, Juliette, spent her whole life toiling in the bowels of a giant tube sunk into the soil, protected along with the last 10,000 people on Earth from a supposedly deadly outside world. But she’s willing to risk venturing outside to find the truth in the season 2 trailer of dystopian drama. Apple TV+ dropped it Monday.

Update: Silo‘s eagerly awaited 10-episode second season emerged on Apple TV+ Friday, November 15, with the first episode. Tagline: “Juliette finds sanctuary in a silo long ago destroyed by war, thinking she’s alone.” Want a quick taste? Watch the first 5 minutes here.

Bill Atkinson, a legendary Apple programmer, let the world know Tuesday he’s in treatment for pancreatic cancer, the same disease that killed his boss, Steve Jobs, in 2011. Atkinson published a post on Facebook asking for prayers.

Recruited by Jobs and Macintosh developer and user interface guru Jef Raskin, Atkinson became employee number 51 at Apple. He’s a primary architect of the original Mac. You can see some of his considerable accomplishments and his Facebook post below.

Bad Sisters season two sees the Garvey women scrambling in the aftermath of the darkly funny thriller’s first season, a new trailer Apple TV+ dropped Tuesday shows. Will they get away with the “accidental death”? Or will they break ranks and trip up as the law and nosey strangers close in?

Season two of the popular and acclaimed series debuts on Apple TV+ November 13. Watch out for season one spoilers below, by the way, in case you haven’t streamed it yet (and you really should).

Update: The first pair of episodes of Bad Sisters season two premiered Wednesday.  It’s two years after J.P.’s death, and it might be time for what the Garvey women did in season one to catch up to them.