The CultCast

Send us a text!This week:  How to get the best Black Friday deals most shoppers miss! The New MacBook Pro GPUs are a huge upgrade for a meager cost Erfon's quest to get Apple to upgrade his two-month-old MBP! We have to talk about iPhone XR.  Everyone thinks it’s failing but the only thing tanking is Apple’s stock. And we’ll wrap up with a Steve Jobs story so mundane, the internet is fascinated with it   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.   The National Security Agency plays a big part in protecting our country from cyber-attacks, and if you work in computer science, networking, programming or electrical engineering, YOU can help keep our country safe.  Learn more about careers at the National Security Agency today at IntelligenceCareers.gov/NSA   Opsgenie empowers Dev & Ops teams to plan for service disruptions and stay in control during incidents.  It also gives teams the power to respond quickly and efficiently to unplanned issues. Visit Opsgenie.com to sign up to get a FREE company account and add up to 5 team members.   The Cult of Mac watch store has the best straps in the biz!  Check out the huge Black Friday Day sale with savings up to 40% at http://store.cultofmac.com.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace / @bst3r   Apple adds beefy Radeon Pro Vega graphics to MacBook Pro https://www.cultofmac.com/590380/macbook-pro-radeon-pro-vega-graphics/ Apple’s done it.  A mere 4 months, almost to the day. The 15-inch MacBook Pro got a big performance boost this morning with the new option to add Radeon Pro Vega graphics to the top-of-the-line model. New Radeon Pro Vega graphics cards with up to 60% faster performance in GPU intensive tasks, like VIDEO EDITING, are now available as new options. The Vega 16 is only a $250 upgrade. Vega 20 is a $350 upgrade. Apple quietly mentioned the update after its October 30th event where it revealed the new MacBook Air and iPad Pro. A maxed out 15-inch MacBook Pro is a whopping $7,049 I’m attempting to get Apple take back my machine and let me pay to upgrade to the new one. I think everyone who’s purchased a 2018 MBP should have the same option.   The best Black Friday deals in tech [Live blog]

Send us a text!This week: we love the new iPad Pro, but it has one glaring problem Apple needs to fix!  We discuss.  Plus: what the reviewers are saying about the new MacBook Air; the totally ridiculous iPad accessory we kind of really want; and two weeks with iPhone XR—we’ll tell you how it’s better and worse than iPhone XS and Tennis Match.   This episode supported by   The National Security Agency plays a big part in protecting our country from cyber-attacks, and if you work in computer science, networking, programming or electrical engineering, YOU can help keep our country safe.  Learn more about careers at the National Security Agency today at IntelligenceCareers.gov/NSA   Gantri offers over 30 unique 3D-printed lights created by independent designers from all over the world, and unlike typical 3D-printed things you see, Gantri’s 3D-printed lights superbly nightlights and beautiful to behold.  Check them out in AR at gantri.com/cultcast, and use code CultCast at checkout for $20 off.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Opsgenie empowers Dev & Ops teams to plan for service disruptions and stay in control during incidents.  It also gives teams the power to respond quickly and efficiently to unplanned issues. Visit Opsgenie.com to sign up to get a FREE company account and add up to 5 team members.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.     On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace     2018 iPad Pro review roundup: The best tablet money can buy https://www.cultofmac.com/588070/2018-ipad-pro-review-roundup/ Everyone is drooling all over the new iPad Pro Verge “Nothing is ever slow, and it always feels like there’s more headroom to work with. We were able to import several minutes of 4K footage into Adobe Premiere Rush, edit them, and export without breaking a sweat.” Pocket lint The new iPad Pro is “pretty much a laptop in terms of performance thanks to the new 7nm processor,”  “Side-by-side with an iPad Pro 10.5 we have noticed a considerable difference in app loading times, certainly on processor intense apps like iMovie, Affinity Photo, Procreate, and games like Fortnite or Asphalt 9: Legends.” Wired “No apps or games I’ve used have been able to make the Pro break a sweat at all and benchmark numbers have been impressive,” adds Jeffrey van Camp of Wired. “By every measure I can think of, these are the best, most powerful, most capable iPads I’ve ever used. “It would be a total waste of $999 (or more) to use the iPad Pro 12.9 just for bingeing Netflix, but damn does this screen look good,” Wired also noted the new Liquid Retina screens are “gorgeous and packed with pixels.” “Color is vibrant and precise enough for Photoshopping and minute color tweaking if needed.” Verge Nilay Patel on lack of storage support:  Like every

Send us a text!This week: Apple’s More in the Making hardware keynote was an action-packed ride stuffed with one hardware update after another!  We’ll tell you what we like (and what we don’t) about Apple’s newest product updates.  Plus: Apple quietly offers a big screw you to 2018 MacBook Pro owners… prepare for a rant.   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.   Whether it’s planning a date night or scheduling a business trip, Fin’s army of virtual assistants can do the tasks you don’t have time to do. Try itself for free at fin.com/cultcast.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace   Everything you need to know about Apple’s Q4 2018 earnings call https://www.cultofmac.com/587580/everything-you-need-to-know-about-apples-q4-2018-earnings-call/   USB-C for iPad Pro: Everything you need to know https://www.cultofmac.com/586972/ipad-pro-usb-c/   All the ways the 2018 iPad Pro blows away its predecessors https://www.cultofmac.com/586822/2018-ipad-pro-comparison-2017/   iPad Pro Super sexy new design. Already sold out for 1-2 weeks! Thinner, and even smaller.  12.9” now the size of a sheet of paper. No headphone jack... Big performance increases, big price increases. Start price is now about 20% higher. 11-inch models start at $799 (Wi-Fi) and $949 (Wi-Fi + Cellular), while 12.9-inch models start at $999 iPad Pro comes with Apple's next-generation Neural Engine for advanced machine learning  This is the first gadget besides iPhone that will include FaceID.   Powered by the new A12X Bionic chip A12X Bionic has eight cores (four performance cores and four efficiency cores) and per Apple provide up to 35 percent faster single-core performance.  Seven-core GPU to deliver up to twice the graphics performance.  They say it’s now as powerful as an Xbox One S console. USB-C connector is replacing the Lightning connector, Allows iPad to charge your iphone What can connect to the iPad?  USB Hubs?  Hard Drives?  Printers?  Even Apple said they weren’t sure when The

Send us a text!This week: with iPhone XR finally here, we’ll tell you 10 reasons why it’s the best iPhone you can get.  Plus: how iOS 12.1 solves beautygate; new Macs leak ahead of Apple’s big October hardware event; Ming Chi Kuo says new iPad Minis, AirPods, and the AirPower mat are on the way; and we wrap up with our favorite new gadgets in an all-new Under Review 💪🏼   This episode supported by   The National Security Agency plays a big part in protecting our country from cyber-attacks, and if you work in computer science, networking, programming or electrical engineering, YOU can help keep our country safe.  Learn more about careers at the National Security Agency today at IntelligenceCareers.gov/NSA   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace   iOS 12.1 will improve selfies on iPhone XS and XR https://www.cultofmac.com/584796/ios-12-1-improve-selfies-iphone-xs-xr/ You may remember that people were complaining that the iPhone XS/MAX cam were making them look too good.  Ugly people everywhere were very offended and prefer to remain ugly in their photos. Issue was causing people to have “unnaturally” smooth skin times and reduces blemishes.  Sometimes it did look unatural, but that’s always what HDR has done. Nilay Patel spoke to Apple about the problem and here’s what they told him the issue was actually a bug “iOS 12.1 will fix a bug in its Smart HDR camera system that resulted in smoother-looking photos taken by the front camera on the iPhone XS and XR,” What causes the Beautygate issue, Patel explains, is the Smart HDR system choosing the wrong base frame for HDR processing when a selfie is snapped. Rather than choosing a frame with a short shutter speed to preserve detail, it is choosing a frame with a longer shutter speed.  “This should all be fixed in iOS 12.1, which will pick the sharpest base frame for the HDR merge when taking selfies,”   New Macs spill in online database https://www.cultofmac.com/585172/online-database-suggests-new-macs-are-on-the-way/ The Eurasian Economic Competition database may have just confirmed more than one Mac will be unveiled at Apple’s upcoming more in the making hardware event The online database has been updated with three new filings for desktop computers running macOS 10.14. These most likely refer to rumored upgrades of the iMac, Mac mini, and the new lower cost MacBook Air replacement Ming Chi Kuo has been talking about for the last 6 months.   The iPad mini might not be dead after all https://www.cultofmac.com/584918/the-ipad-mini-might-not-be-dead-after-all/ The

Send us a text!This week:  New AirPods?  AirPower Mat?  Don’t you dare miss our “More in the Making” hardware event predictions.  Then: 17 reasons the iPhone XR should be your next phone; the world’s largest Mac collection could be yours for free; and we pitch your our favorite games, shows, and scooters in an all-new What We’re Into!   This episode supported by   Casper makes the internet’s favorite mattress.  Learn why at Casper.com/cultcast, and use code "CultCast" at checkout for $50 off select mattress purchases.   A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters… go to LinkedIn.com/cultcast and get a $50 credit toward your first job post.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace / @bst3r   Apple sets ‘More in the Making’ event for Oct. 30 https://www.cultofmac.com/583870/its-official-apple-holding-special-event-october-30th/ The second Apple event everyone has been expecting just became official. Looks like new tablets, laptops, and desktops could be unveiled October 30. What makes this unusual is it won’t be at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, but at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Keynote is at 10am EASTERN 😩   YouTubers get early access to iPhone XR, and it looks positively delicious https://www.cultofmac.com/583908/youtubers-weigh-in-on-iphone-xr/   Time to pre-order your iPhone XR https://www.cultofmac.com/583092/iphone-xr-looks-set-to-become-a-massive-smash-hit/ Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo thinks the iPhone XR is going to be such a huge hit, he’s increased his esimtate for XR shipments in the fourth quarter by 10 perfect. Pre-orders start Friday the 19th at 12:01am, so tonight! Will begin shipping on the 26th XR features all the same powerful internals as the XS series. The same faster FaceID and Truth depth camera system The same A12 Bionic chip Same 8-core neural engine It features True Tone and a wide color gamut It has dual sim Same 25% louder speakers Same wide angle rear camera with Smart HDR capabilities! Computational portrait mode with wide angle lens Battery life that is up to 25% longer than the XS.  It even bests or matches the XS Max in battery performance. 1.5 hours longer than iPhone 8 plus. Starts at just $749 64GB ($749), 128GB ($799), 256GB ($899)    

Send us a text! This week: Why Apple’s October event could be totally insane! Something very strange is going on with the Mac…  we’ll talk about it. MacBook Pro Touch Bar: our brutally honest opinions Surprise!  Apple’s planning to give away its $1 billion TV shows And stay tuned for an all-new CultCast 2nd Hour: Siri Shortcuts, explained!   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.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace / @bst3r   Mac sales declined in Q3, despite new MacBook Pros https://www.cultofmac.com/582236/mac-sales-q3-2018-gartner/ The third quarter of this year wasn’t a particularly good one for Apple, with Mac sales dropping a significant amount, even though the new MacBook Pros debuted this summer. Apple shipped 4.9 million laptops and desktops in the July-to-September period, according to preliminary figures from market-research firm Gartner. That’s an 8.5 percent decline from the same quarter of last year. But Q3 is supposed to bring fairly strong sales, as it includes the back-to-school shopping season. Not so much this year. At least not for Apple. Its three biggest rivals all saw increases in laptop/desktop shipments.   Apple plans to give away its $1 billion TV shows https://www.cultofmac.com/582218/apple-tv-free-streaming/ Apple’s new TV streaming service will allegedly debut in early 2019 Some have suggested the company would bundle it in with Apple Music for an extra fee or that it would create it as a separate subscription option like Netflix. But according to a recent report, Despite planning to spend more than $1 billion on original content this year, Apple will supposedly give away its original content to customers that already own an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV. Because Apple is giving the shows away for free it’s aiming to create “PG” quality content that has wide audience appeal. Apple is currently making TV shows that are free from gratuitous sex, profanity or violence, although some shows may break this standard.     How to create your first Siri Shortcut https://www.cultofmac.com/579560/how-to-create-siri-shortcuts/   This Siri shortcut keeps an eye on police during a traffic stop

Send us a text!This week: How Chinese spy chips may be stealing secret data from Apple’s own servers! Another week, another gate-we’ll you about #ChargeGate, the huge iPhone XS problem that ended before it even began. Tim Cook reveals why Apple really banned Alex Jones, but can't explain why Siri still sucks We’ve got another epic MoviePass update for you, and this is the weirdest one yet! And we’ll pitch you a hot new electric skateboard, an uber premium keyboard for your Mac, a super portable keyboard for your iPad, and a an AI-powered bicycle light in an all-new Under Review! And, in honor and remembrance of Steve Jobs, we conclude with one of his greatest keynotes.   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.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace / @bst3r   The Governor’s Lounge awaits you, in The CultClub http://discord.gg/aKfta89   iOS 12.1 beta fixes reported iPhone charging problems https://www.cultofmac.com/580852/ios-12-1-beta-charging-problems-fix/ What is charge gate? Well, some, but not all, iOS 12 users have complained that their iPhone or iPad won’t begin charging if it’s in sleep mode when a Lightning cable is plugged in. The charging issue doesn’t occur if the device is awake when the cable is plugged in. It only crops up when a phone or tablet’s screen is off. Well this blew up this week when Tim Cook’s arch nemesis Lewis Hilsenteger, aka Unbox Therapy popularized the issue with a new video on his Youtube channel, titled: “iPhone XS has a serious problem” But it turns out, the problem seems to be not so serious, as Apple has already introduced a new beta of iOS 12.1 that appears to fix the issue. So if you’re experiencing the issue and want to solve it right now, install iOS 12.1 beta 2. Otherwise you could be waiting weeks until this 12.1 gets a final release. “Gates’ should be limited to hardware issues!   Tim Cook talks privacy, Alex Jones and China in new interview https://www.cultofmac.com/580798/tim-cook-talks-privacy-alex-jones-and-china-in-new-interview/#more-580798 Appearing on VICE News Tonight on HBO, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked if Apple’s stance on privacy is hurting Siri from

Send us a text!This week: BeautyGate—what it is, and why it’s undoubtedly the dumbest “gate” in the history of iPhone.  Plus: how have we liked our one week with Apple Watch 4 and iPhone XS?  WE’LL TELL YOU.  And the shockingly low production price of the XS Max proves the deadbeats at Apple owe us more storage space!   This episode supported by   A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters… go to LinkedIn.com/cultcast and get a $50 credit toward your first job post.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace /@bst3r   Imagine a place where you can slip into your silk robe, fez, and enjoy the company and fellowship of other CultCast listeners and tech enthusiasts.    A club, if you will.  A Cult Club. https://discord.gg/DbKApv   iPhone XS Max: A condensed review https://www.cultofmac.com/579035/iphone-xs-max-review-condensed/   iPhone XS Max is fast, fast, fast   Everything is very fast and responsive. Apps spring right open. Photos scroll without delay. Maps render without a hiccup. Everything is basically instantaneous, and it’s a joy. It’s all thanks to the A12 Bionic chip. Apple is so far ahead in mobile chips, it’s head-spinning. One benchmark shows the iPhone XS is faster than the new iMac Pro, a $5,000-plus pro workstation!   It’s definitely not too big For such big phone, it doesn’t feel too big. Having used an X all last year, and liking it, I thought the Max would be too big. But it doesn’t feel as big as the old Plus iPhones used to iPhone XS Max camera   The camera is excellent  Especially the new Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control. The Max is less a phone, and more an advanced, near-DSLR camera with a cellular connection.   The big screen is amazing The screen is so big and clear, there’s no need to take your laptop or iPad on flights any more. The Max will do nicely.   It deserves to be caseless Despite dropping my old iPhone X numerous times, it has just a few scuffs and no cracked screen (it was, however, often in a case). But this time, because the Max is so thin, I’m going to try it caseless for a while. I’d like to enjoy Apple’s design for a change, without a bulky wrapping. (I know; I may regret this later.)   iPhone XS selfie cam is so beautiful it spawned an ugly conspiracy theory https://www.cultofmac.com/579503/iphone-selfies-xs/ The iPhone XS and its front-facing camera are supposed to help its owners m

Send us a text!This week: is iPhone Xs the worst Apple "s" phone of all time?  We’ll compare Xs to Apple’s other “s” releases.  Plus: we’ll run through what the early reviewers are saying about iPhone Xs and Apple Watch 4, and which one Apple Watch feature is giving people a serious case of FOMO.  And a leaked detail in iOS 12.1 all but confirms a new iPad event this fall—we’ll tell you what we know.   This episode supported by   Casper makes the internet’s favorite mattress.  Learn why at Casper.com/cultcast, and use code "CultCast" at checkout for $50 off select mattress purchases.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.     On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace   iPhone 3GS = drastically faster data iPhone 4S = Siri iPhone 5S = Touch ID iPhone 6S = 3D Touch iPhone 10s = ?     First iPhone XS and XS Max reviews: Great phone, but not revolutionary https://www.cultofmac.com/577203/first-iphone-xs-and-xs-max-reviews-great-phone-but-not-revolutionary/ Early reviews for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have already come in and while most of the people that have tested the new device are impresssed, this years models aren’t as big a leap as the iPhone X.   FaceID Panzarino for Techrunch: “As far as Face ID goes, there has been no perceivable difference for me in speed or number of positives… There is also supposed to be improvements in off-angle recognition of your face, say when lying down or when your phone is flat on a desk. I tried a lot of different positions here and could never really definitively say that iPhone XS was better in this regardit… it very likely takes training time to get it near the confidence levels that my iPhone X has stored away.”   Battery Life Nilay Patel for The Verge: "I got a full 12 hours of battery life out of the XS Max without low power mode, and that’s even under my heavy daily use.   The smaller XS is rated to get 30 minutes more than the X, which has run for about 8 hours for me this past year. It’s solid."   XS Max Screen is glorious NYT: "The XS Max screen was so good-looking that I wanted to keep reading articles and looking at photos on Instagram. When I used Apple’s new Screen Time feature to monitor my use of each device, I discovered that I spent an average of roughly five and a half hours a day on the XS Max, two hours more than on the XS.”   LTE is noticeably faster “On the test Verizon account I used, iPhone XS delivers. I got download speeds of 250 Mbps in New Jersey, versus 170 Mbps using the same SIM in the iPhone X.   The camera has some impressive improvements In his compre

Send us a text!This week: hot off the heels of Apple’s keynote, it’s our unfiltered Gather Round event reactions!  We'll tell you what we think about iPhone Xs, Xs Max, iPhone Xr, and the new Apple Watch 4. Plus: is it worth upgrading from X to Xs?  We discuss that and all the products that were noticeably missing from today’s festivities.     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.   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace / @bst3r