The Aura Pro X2 offers an easy and affordable way to upgrade your 2013 or older Mac to the latest SSD specs. Photo: OWC
This post is presented by OWC.
New Macs are reliably cutting-edge when they first hit shelves. But as time goes by, Cupertino’s products, like any other, move toward obsolescence. Luckily, boosting your Mac’s performance — and extending its useful life — can be a cinch.
The way we use iPhones has changed a lot since they first came on the scene more than a decade ago. For one thing, they’ve become much more essential to our everyday lives. iPhones have become the place where we keep some of our most important data. So it’s kind of surprising that the default backup app, iTunes, remains so ham-handed.
It’s shocking how common cracked smartphone screens are. Sometimes they’re nearly invisible hairline breaks that leave your phone pretty functional. Other times, they’re spider webs of destruction, with tiny shards of glass coming loose.
There are plenty of good reasons to fix your broken iPhone screen, but many of us put off repairs. Maybe it’s the high cost of fixing the screen, or the inconvenience of schlepping the iPhone to an Apple Store. But if you’re a Sprint customer, you now have one less excuse for living with a shattered screen.
Like characters in Star Wars, data is never really gone. Even when you think you’ve lost a file, its ghostly image remains on your disk, just waiting to return. All you need is the right data recovery tool.
Mac Data Recovery Wizard makes lost files magically reappear. Image: EaseUS
This post is presented by EaseUS.
Few things are as upsetting as realizing the data you need or care about isn’t where it should be. Maybe it’s a Word file you accidentally deleted from your Mac. Or a photo album missing from your SD card. Data is valuable, so it pays to have a tool to prevent it from disappearing.
EaseUS Mac Data Recovery Wizard offers just that. It’s an easy and intuitive system for recovering photos, videos, music, documents and emails — with just a few clicks.
Put your old MacBook charger to good use with an AnyWatt MS power adapter. Photo: Elecjet
This post is presented by Elecjet.
What did you do with the MagSafe power adapter for your old MacBook?
When the peripherals for our devices become obsolete, we face a grim choice. Throw them into the trash, and contribute to the massive problem of e-waste, or toss them into the drawer, graveyard for forgotten accessories.
Easily bypass lock screens or forgotten Apple ID credentials with this handy tool. Screenshot: iMyFone
This post is presented by iMyFone, maker of LockWiper.
It’s the unexpected things that give us the most trouble. None of us expect to forget our iPhone password, for example, so when it happens, we’re at a loss. But that doesn’t have to mean being stuck.
At this point, pretty much every content creator has made the pivot to video. Whether that means shooting in 4K on a camera that costs $10,000, or just doing quick vlog updates with your iPhone, competition is fierce for turning around polished videos as quickly as possible.
Need a QuickTime alternative for Mac so you can play Blu-ray discs? Photo: Leawo Software
This post is presented by Leawo Software.
These days it’s normal to watch movies on our Macs. Usually that means streaming from Netflix or some other online service. But why should your old Blu-ray discs be left out of the party? Maybe you’ve got the discs lying around, or copied to your hard drive. Either way, you won’t be using QuickTime.
There are two ways to play Blu-ray discs on Mac: Convert Blu-ray for iTunes or make use of Blu-ray player software directly. If you’re looking to bring Blu-ray discs to your Mac, this free app can make it happen.
VideoProc is an all-in-one video-processing tool for editing, adjusting and converting HD video. Image: Digiarty Software
This post is presented by Digiarty Software.
iPhones are great for a lot of things. At the top of the list is creating and enjoying high-quality video. But unfortunately there are many potential snags.
Maybe you’re trying to watch a MKV, AAC or FLV video that creates a format conflict. Or you’ve bounced HEVC video through an old version of QuickTime, Final Cut Pro, iMovie or some other editing software that makes it incompatible. If you’re trying to play an iPhone-shot video at 4K and 60 frames per second, it might not vibe well with certain video players. If you shot your video on a drone or GoPro, that can also create a host of compatibility problems.
Don't let your old DVDs languish. Image: Digiarty Software
This post is presented by Digiarty Software.
There are plenty of reasons to digitize your aging DVD library. One is that, at this point, those discs are probably just gathering dust. Moving that content onto your computers and other devices means you’re more likely to actually watch it. It’s also a good way to make sure your videos stay safe from scratches or loss.
Owning an iPhone means dealing with iTunes for managing your data. Unfortunately, that’s not always easy, requiring clunky syncing and confusing menus. For iPhone data recovery, it isn’t much better, requiring a wholesale restoration of your device. It would be a lot nicer if you could just target and move the data you want.
At one time or another, you’re going to need to transfer data from one phone to another. Maybe you’re switching phones because you got a shiny new one, or because your old device went kaput.
Whatever the reason, you don’t want to leave your messages, contacts, photos, and other stuff behind. But you also don’t want to deal with the headache of using iTunes to precisely target the keepers.
No matter whether your data is backed up in iCloud, in iTunes or not at all, this app can get it back. Image: Tenorshare
This post is presented by Tenorshare.
The more we use our iOS devices, the more likely we are to lose data that’s important to us. Whether because of theft, damage or neglect, plenty of us know how valuable it can be to quickly get back the data we’ve lost. Even better if you can target just the files you want, like certain photo albums or text exchanges.
Utilize Dashlane's advanced features to take control of your online security. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
This post is presented by Dashlane.
New Year’s resolutions are sure easy to make. But even the healthiest commitments can be hard to keep over time. Luckily, any resolution to be safer online is easy to stick with — when you get the right tool.
For many Apple fans, the holidays mean giving or receiving a nice new iPhone. That’s a gift worth protecting, but with the care put into even the smallest design touches, it’s not something you want to cover up in a bulky case.
Christmas season used to mean spending days dashing between stores to rack up presents for loved ones. Now it means buying online from people and companies all over the country, maybe even the planet.
Online shopping is the norm now, so protecting your credit card information involves more than covering the keypad as you enter your PIN at the cashier’s stand. To avoid losing your payment information this shopping season, the best line of defense is a good password manager.
Any Data Recovery for Mac takes a deep dive into damaged or corrupted drives to recover lost files and data. Photo: Tenorshare
This post is presented by Tenorshare.
There are plenty of ways to lose data you care about. Usually, it’s because a drive goes kaput, a file system is corrupt, or some other hardware or software failure. But it can also happen thanks to malware, an accidental click or a power surge due to bad weather. However your data gets lost, there are few options for getting it back.
Before and after. The Apollo app brings immersive illumination to Portrait mode photos.
Photos: Indice
This post is presented by Indice, maker of the Apollo app.
The photos you take are only as good as the lighting. That’s true no matter whether you’re using a top-of-the-line DSLR or an iPhone. The difference is, with an iPhone, you can change the lighting after you’ve taken the picture. That’s thanks to Apollo, an iOS app that uses the iPhone’s depth data to totally reimagine the lighting conditions in your photos.
PDFs are an increasingly common way to share documents of all kinds. From resumes to photo albums or even entire e-books, PDFs are as universally recognized as Word documents are. But unfortunately, unlike standard text documents, they are not easy to edit. To really fine-tune your PDFs, you’ll need to use the right PDF-editing software.
Add mobile credits in less than a minute. Photo: MobileRecharge
This post is presented by MobileRecharge.
If you travel frequently or you’ve got family abroad, there’s a good chance you use pay-as-you-go mobile accounts to stay in touch. As if regular phone bills weren’t enough of a hassle, international charges can be a real headache.
Not with MobileRecharge, a company that offers an easy way to top up mobile credit in less than a minute. Founded in 2012, MobileRecharge now serves more than 140 countries and works with some 300 mobile carriers.
iCareFone offers an easy, straightforward alternative to iTunes. Photo: Tenorshare
This post is presented by Tenorshare.
Using iTunes to manage your data is not the best part of owning an iPhone or iPad. Spend time with Cupertino’s flagship app, and you realize it’s tough to navigate, with cumbersome tools for managing data and backups. It leaves many of us wishing for more straightforward, focused control over our iOS devices and data.
Extending your backup from a local drive to the cloud is a good idea. But if you’re using iCloud, your options are limited to approved apps, and absent useful features like file version history.
You can enhance the power of Time Machine backups with CloudBerry Backup. The third-party macOS app gives you more control over backups and more efficient transfers. Additionally, it offers an additional layer of protection for your precious files, because it gives you an extra backup for your local backups to restore from if disaster strikes.
Your Mac or MacBook is a modern media hub. It’s your source for movies, music, podcasts, games, apps and plenty more. But to use it, you’ve still got to walk up and tap at the keyboard and mouse. So in that sense, it’s like a step back to the bad old days of dialing in radio and TV stations.
Remote for Mac adds the convenience that we expect from our devices in the 21st century. It turns your iPhone or iPad into a fully loaded remote control for all kinds of functions on your Mac. It brings full trackpad and keyboard control to your phone, so you can use your Mac without leaving the couch.
You have until December 10 to score a free copy of the powerhouse app, MacX DVD Ripper. Photo: Digiarty
This post is presented by Digiarty.
Plenty of us have stacks of DVDs gathering dust in the closet. Streaming video services offer a lot of content, but you never know what will be available when. The movies you bought are worth keeping. So if you don’t want to lose the movies on those disks — or the ability to watch them whenever you want — you should rip them to a local or cloud drive for safekeeping.