The CultCast

Send us a text!This week: Pro MacBook Pro Vs. the Intel MacBook Pro—battle of the benchmarks! And the performance differences are absolutely INSANE. Plus: our hands-on review of AirPods 3, and Apple is perfectly poised to release and actual Apple Television. Get 2 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace 2021 MacBook Pro review roundup: Just what we hoped for The first reviews of the 2021 MacBook Pro just dropped, and they’re generally quite positive. There’s praise for the mini-LED display, the return of useful ports, and the sheer power of Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. New MacBook Pros prove surprisingly good at gaming Apple’s M1 Pro and M1 Max processors in the new MacBook Pro offer powerful graphic performance. That’s intended for artists rendering video and other professional tasks, but tests show that it translates to excellent gaming performance. Intel CEO: My job is to win Apple back Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger says the ball is in the chip giant's court to win back lost business from the Mac making Apple. Win a sleek Satechi Trio Wireless Charging Pad [Cult of Mac giveaway] Hands-on: AirPods 3 sound great thanks to lots of trickle-down tech [Review] The new AirPods 3 are marvelous little earbuds. They sound fantastic, are dead easy to set up and use, and the wireless charging case is a godsend. Amazon TVs to Support AirPlay 2 and HomeKit Amazon's Omni and 4-Series Omni TVs launch today, featuring 4K HDR, voice controls with Amazon Alexa, and close integration with the Fire TV user experience. Upon the launch of the new TVs, Amazon today announced that it plans to add support for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit "soon."

Send us a text!This week: everything you need to know about the new M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pros, including new details! Plus: our reactions to everything Apple “Unleashed”, and Tim Cook Sherlocks the CultCloth! Get 2 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace MacBook Pro gets insane M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, gorgeous new design “We set out to create the world’s best pro notebook, and today we’re excited to introduce the all-new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max — a game-changing combination of phenomenal performance, unrivaled battery life, and groundbreaking features,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, in a press release after the event. “The all-new MacBook Pro adds a breathtaking XDR display, more ports like MagSafe 3, an advanced 1080p camera, and a sensational six-speaker sound system, all in a stunning new design. The new MacBook Pro simply has no equal and is by far the best pro notebook we’ve ever built.” M1 Max chip could deliver even greater graphics than PlayStation 5 MacBook Pro’s mind-blowing M1 Max chip could deliver even greater graphics than Sony’s newest PlayStation 5 console, according to early estimates. It has even more raw GPU power, at least on paper, with up to 32 graphics cores. Early benchmarks show crazy performance gains for Apple M1 Max The M1 Max blows all the MacBook chips that came before it — not just those made by Intel, but even Apple’s own M1 — right out of the water, with up to 181% faster graphics than the previous 16-inch MacBook Pro. New MacBook Pros Include Improved Thermal System That Apple Says You'll Rarely Need Thanks to Apple Silicon The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros include entirely new designs and a new chassis, and one improvement of the newer chassis compared to its predecessor is improved thermals. Some MacBook Pro wait times stretch nearly to Christmas Order the base model 14-inch MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage from Apple.com on Monday and it’ll arrive sometime between October 26 and November 2. That’s as quick as anyone can g

Send us a text!This week: Finally! Here come the M1X Macs! We talk our predictions for Monday’s Apple “Unleashed” event! Plus: a rumor says Apple is prepping a Nintendo Switch-like gaming console, and we reveal our favorite new shows on an all-new What We’re Into! Get 2 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace New MacBook Pros Likely to Launch at Apple Event This Month, Says Gurman In his latest newsletter, Gurman says Apple y is poised to announce the M1X powered MacBook Pros within the next month, noting that "Apple typically does its major new Mac introductions in October. So stay tuned." Apple invites the world to Oct. 18 ‘Unleashed’ event; new M1X Macs expected Apple sent out invites Tuesday to its much-anticipated October product launch event. The tagline is “Unleashed,” and the streaming event almost certainly will bring the debut of redesigned MacBooks and perhaps an iMac running an updated Apple processor. M1X MacBook Pros might start at 16GB RAM, 512GB storage, 120Hz screen A tipster who goes by Dylandkt reported Tuesday via Twitter that the base models for both sizes of the 2021 MacBook Pro will have 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Those are double the amounts in the 13-inch M1 MacBook released in 2020. But they are the same as the current base model 16-inch MacBook Pro, which uses an Intel processor. Win an iPhone 13 case bundle from Smartish [Cult of Mac giveaway] If you just got an iPhone 13, this week’s giveaway is for you. Popular case-maker Smartish is giving one lucky winner a bundle that will keep their new iPhone protected, organized and charged. Laughable report claims Apple will take on Nintendo Switch with powerful hybrid console Apple is developing its own “Nintendo Switch style gaming console” with a hybrid design that “will outperform anything that Microsoft or Sony offers in 2021,” according to one very sketchy report citing unnamed sources. Apple Arcade goes

Send us a text!This week: M1X MacBook Pro is coming soon! We discuss. And remembering Steve Jobs, we miss him. Plus: it's back—an all new Under Review! We're revealing our favorite new gadgets. Get 2 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace New MacBook Pros Likely to Launch at Apple Event This Month, Says Gurman In his latest newsletter, Gurman says Apple y is poised to announce the M1X powered MacBook Pros within the next month, noting that "Apple typically does its major new Mac introductions in October. So stay tuned." How to get ready to pre-order Apple Watch Series 7 The time when you can preorder the next generation of Apple Watch is drawing close. Apple will start taking people’s money at exactly 5 a.m. PDT this Friday, Oct. 8. Apple stays strangely silent on most Apple Watch Series 7 prices Apple Watch Series 7 launches Friday but pricing information for most configurations remains a mystery less than a day from the debut. All Apple has revealed so far is that the base model is $399. Win a bundle of iPhone 13 cases from Case-Mate [Cult of Mac giveaway] If you just bought the latest iPhone 13 and need some new cases, this week’s giveaway is for you. Case-Mate is giving away five of its most popular cases that are both pretty and protective. Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs dies at 56 October 5, 2011: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies at the age of 56 in his home in Palo Alto, California. Jobs’ official cause of death is respiratory arrest arising from complications related to a rare type of pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed with the cancer eight years earlier, and officially stepped down from his role as Apple CEO in August 2011. Tim Cook reflects on Steve Jobs’ legacy on 10th anniversary of his passing This week, Tim Cook sent a memo to all employees about his former boss and friend. In it, he says that Jobs’ passion to change the world for the better lives on in the

Send us a text!This week: we've been using our iPhone 13/Pros for one week now—here are our honest reviews! Plus: iOS 15, bugs galore! We'll cover all the major iOS 15 and iPhone 13 bugs you need to know about. Get 2 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 13, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace iPhone 13 Pro truly is the Goldilocks phone [Review] Is there such a thing as the fabled Goldilocks phone? You know, a phone that is just right? Not too big. Not too small. Great camera and screen. Amazing battery life. iPhone 13 component shortage lengthens wait times Production of the new iPhone 13 series isn’t catching up to demand. A shortage of a critical component is keeping wait times long for many versions of the handset. Can’t wait for an iPhone 13? Win one!!! New iPhone 13 cases and accessories in the Cult of Mac Store Apple vows to fix iPhone 13 bug that breaks Unlock with Apple Watch Apple has promised to fix an iPhone 13 bug that prevents owners from using Unlock with Apple Watch. In the meantime, users can disable the feature to prevent an “Unable to Communicate with Apple Watch” error from appearing. iPhone owners suffer intermittent touch input issues under iOS 15 Some iPhone models are being plagued by touchscreen issues under Apple’s newest iOS 15 firmware. The problem, which seems to affect iPhone 13 owners most, causes devices to not respond to touch inputs. iOS 15 problems continue as iPhone 13 owners report CarPlay crashes The long list of problems that have surfaced in iOS 15 continues to grow as iPhone 13 owners report new issues with CarPlay. Some say they are unable to play tracks in Apple Music or third-party apps like Spotify without the system crashing completely. There are some fixes you can try, like disabling the equalizer if it’s active, that may solve the problem. iPhon

Send us a text!This week: the early reviews are in—let’s talk about the best and worst parts of iPhone 13, 13 Pro, and the iPad mini. Plus: Apple is prepping yet another great feature coming soon to your HomePod—it ain’t dead yet, baby! Get 2 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace iPhone 13 review roundup: Stellar displays, cracking cameras, outstanding battery life BRO WTF. The iPhone 13 Pro Might Not Work With MagSafe Duo Because of Its Fat Ass. LMFAO. - FrontPageTech.com iPhone 13 Pro photos by Austin Mann Win iPhone 13 and a bundle of MagSafe-compatible cases from Speck [Cult of Mac giveaway] For this week’s giveaway, we teamed up with Speck to offer Cult of Mac readers the chance to win an iPhone 13 and a bundle of three of Speck's nifty MagSafe-compatible cases. 2021 iPad mini review roundup: Splendidly small yet super-powerful Spoiler alert: Yes, the 2021 iPad mini is worth every penny of its $499 price tag. Critics love its form factor, which, despite being small enough to go with you everywhere, still leaves enough room for productivity, games and media. Lossless audio and Dolby Atmos return to HomePod in 15.1 beta Apple’s newest HomePod beta, issued alongside the iOS and iPadOS 15.1 betas on Tuesday, brings back lossless audio and Dolby Atmos support. Both features can be enabled from inside the Home app, but only if you have an invite.

Send us a text!This week: reacting to iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, iPad mini, and and what the h-e-double hockey sticks happened to Apple Watch Series 7?! Plus: iPhone 13 Vs. iPhone 13 Pro - what you need to know before you buy! Get 2-3 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace iPhone 13’s Cinematic mode marks new era in computational photography Of all the things Apple revealed Tuesday, to me the most impressive was the iPhone 13’s new Cinematic mode. The depth-of-field effect creates amazing focus transitions between subjects. Win one year of unlimited cloud backup from Backblaze [Cult of Mac giveaway] Apple Watch Series 7 looks like a late substitution for the upgrade Apple wanted to deliver Apple Watch Series 7 is not the upgrade most of us expected to see from Tuesday’s Apple event. The new model doesn’t sport the big design refresh multiple sources said was coming. It doesn’t even pack a new chip. Apple Watch Series 7 Tidbits: S7 Chip, Storage Remains 32GB, USB-C Fast Charging Cable in the Box, and More MacRumors can confirm several details about the Series 7 not currently shared by Apple. First, the Apple Watch Series 7 is indeed powered with an S7 branded chip, which Apple indicates will offer the same 20% advantage in performance compared to the S5 chip found in the Apple Watch SE and Series 5 as the Apple Watch Series 6 did. New budget iPad 9 gets better video chat, doubles storage On the inside is an Apple A13 processor, an improvement over the A12 in its predecessor. Apple promises that brings 20% faster CPU and GPU performance. iPad mini gets its biggest, most amazing upgrade yet Apple today surprised us with a brand-new 2021 iPad mini — its best compact tablet to date. It sports a gorgeous new design inspired by iPad Pro, an Liquid Retina display, and a blazing-fast A15 Bionic chip with 5G connectivity.

Send us a text!This week: iPhone 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, AirPods 3, Apple Watch Series 7, and... more? We're talking hardware predictions for next week's "California Streaming" Apple event. Get 2-3 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace It’s official: Apple confirms iPhone 13 event for September 14 Apple today confirmed it will host its next big keynote on Tuesday, September 14. The “California streaming” event will likely be focused on iPhone 13, as well as Apple Watch Series 7 and a possible third-generation AirPods upgrade. Leaker Max Weinbach releases new details on next week’s hardware drop GIVEAWAY! This week, Cult of Mac is giving away four Origami Protective Cases for iPad from SwitchEasy. This versatile iPad case folds in four different ways to make it easy to type, read or browse your iPad. Spoiler alert: Here’s a sneak peek at next year’s ‘iPhone 14 Yes, you heard that right: iPhone 14 will be the first to pack an edge-to-edge display with no notch, according to Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech. Renders produced by wunderkind Ian Zelbo, based on leaks from Prosser’s sources, suggest next year’s iPhone will instead feature one small “hole punch” cutout for its front-facing camera — like many modern Android devices. iPhone 14 leak could trigger full wrath of Cupertino Jon Prosser’s iPhone 14 leak is every Apple fan’s dream — and Tim Cook’s biggest nightmare. The audacious revelation, dropped Wednesday morning via Prosser’s YouTube channel, Front Page Tech, showcased what next year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max might look like.

Send us a text!This week: iPhone 13 has a secret satellite trick that will give you signal anywhere on earth! Plus: sorry, Apple Watch Series 7 might be a much smaller update than we’ve been told… And a radical new South Korean law is forcing Apple to open up their app store, and other countries are now sure to follow. And, sadly, it couldn’t last forever.... It sounds like our beloved Tim Cook is eyeing his retirement from Apple. So who at Apple will take the reins next? We got it all figured out! Get 2-3 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace Rumored iPhone satellite communications could be for serious emergencies only News that the iPhone 13 will be able to exchange texts and phone calls with low Earth orbit satellites first came from respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo over the weekend. And on Monday Mark Gurman from Bloomberg seconded the report. But he said it’ll be strictly for serious emergencies only. ’No chance’ Apple Watch Series 7 will pack blood pressure monitoring There is “no chance” Apple Watch Series 7 will be able to monitor your blood pressure, despite recent claims that the next-generation device has been delayed to accommodate this feature, according to one reliable reporter. Get organized with a PadFolio from tomtoc [Cult of Mac giveaway] This week, Cult of Mac is giving away six practical and protective PadFolio Cases for your iPad Pro from tomtoc. Designed to carry your 12.9-inch iPad Pro, keyboard, chargers, dongles and all your necessary accessories, this case will protect your iPad Pro while keeping everything in place. South Korea is first to say App Store must allow third-party payments South Korea has become the first country to tell Apple that it must open up the App Store to third-party payment platforms. The same law also applies to Google, and other countries likely will implement similar rules. Apple agrees to relax App Store rules for ‘reader’ apps like Netflix, Spotify Apple will relax App Store rules for “reader” apps that let users access

Send us a text!This week: If you're excited about the new 14" Macbook Pro, well, we got good news and bad news for you.... Plus: sweet heat! iPhone 13 may be packing Apple's next-GEN FaceID, and it has a special trick. Plus plus: hold on to your cheeks, cause now we got the launch date for you. And stay tuned for our roundup of iOS 15's best new HomeKit and iCloud+ features! Get 2-3 episodes of CultCast Off Topic each and every week for just $6! Off Topic is a new weekly variety show hosted by Erfon Elijah and friends, dedicated to tech, gaming, culture, and more. Join Cult Support, good friend! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your iPhone 12, Apple Watch, iPad, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Join us in the CultClub! discord.gg/BrKdnSK On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace 14-inch MacBook Pro could be just as fast, almost as pricey as 16-inch model The next-generation 14-inch MacBook Pro will be nearly identical to the 16-inch model that launches alongside it in terms of performance, according to one tipster. Both machines are expected to feature the same M1X chip. iPhone 13 could land September 17, AirPods 3 soon after The wait for Apple’s next-generation iPhone lineup could be over in less than a month. A new report, citing information from a Chinese retailer, claims iPhone 13 will make its big debut on September 17, followed by AirPods 3. Yep! iPhone 13 Pre-Orders Starting September 17th, Launch on September 24th That being said, I would usually insert my usual “take it with a grain of many butt hairs” and you still should, BUTT 🍑, since this date is not only lining up with what our own sources said and with Apple’s traditional pre-pandemic schedule of a September launch date timeframe, take it with a smol speck of butt hair, because these dates are looking right. EXCLUSIVE: Apple Testing New iPhone 13 Face ID Apple has developed new Face ID hardware that they are currently testing with a COVID-like landscape in mind, according to sources. Faster ‘M1X’ Mac mini with more ports coming ‘in the next several months’ Apple’s “high-end, M1X Mac mini” will launch “in the next several months,” according to the latest Power On newsletter from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. “It will have an updated design and more ports.” Apple could host m