It’s a great season to get a new Mac. Every Mac today is a great buy. If you’re one of the lucky people to get one this year, here’s how to set up your Mac like a pro.
So rip open that box, tear off that plastic and get to the good stuff.
Here is Cult of Mac’s guide to setting up your new Mac the right way.
Congratulations — you got a new iPad! Whether it’s the entry-level iPad that brings the essential features to an affordable price, the iPad Air with the powerful M2, the pocketable iPad mini or the top-of-the-line iPad Pro, you’ll want to set up your new device with the least amount of fuss.
We’re here to help you do just that with a ton of little tips and tweaks that will make sure you’re off and using that new iPad as quickly as possible. From backing up your old iPad (if you had one already) to getting up and running with a brand-new iPad from scratch, we’ve got you covered.
Lighting is a crucial part of any video shoot, whether you’re filming a scene for an indie movie with an expensive camera or using your iPhone to capture video of your kid’s soccer game. These easy phone lighting tips can really boost the quality of your videos, whether you’re using the latest iPhone or an old Android device.
Massive over-ear headphones are the best way to immerse yourself in a video game, whether you’re managing the minutiae of Civilization V, hiding from the xenomorph in Alien Isolation, or blasting your way across multiplayer maps in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Huge sound is a big part of gaming on your Mac, PC or PS4, and these fantastic-sounding and incredibly comfortable Siberia 350 headphones from SteelSeries are the best way to get your game on without sacrificing on comfort.
Earbuds are essential for activities like running or working out, and they’re fantastic for those times when I don’t want to be wearing a heavy set of cans on my head.
Still, running when wired is an exercise in frustration for me, as I usually end up flailing at some point and yanking out the headphones in my ears via the trailing cord.
These NuForce BE6i Bluetooth earbuds solve both problems: they’re fantastic-sounding, good-looking in-ear headphones without the cord issue.
When choosing a bag to carry my most precious cargo (MacBook, iPad(s), camera, iPhone), I generally look for something that offers a balance between minimalist good looks and higher-carrying capacity.
Waterfield’s rather boringly-named Cargo Laptop Bag is a fantastic choice for the pro on the go, with capacious storage pockets and a gorgeously-designed outer and inner experience that never feels overstuffed, even when I filled it up with all of my gear.
I’ve got a fat wallet-full of CDs that I never quite got around to ripping. Without a CD drive in my MacBook Pro, it was starting to look like I’d never hear them again unless I was driving in my car, which still comes equipped with a CD slot.
The Sonoro Cubo comes with a bunch of great features (like its phenomenal speaker system, built-in meditational audio and exceptional remote), but the killer feature is the addition of a CD slot. Now I can listen to any of the CDs I bought back in the 90s right in my living room without having to purchase a big stereo system.
But is it art? There’s a whole new way of looking at these works, in the form Steve P Jobs himself–or at least his likeness.
Learn all about these odd yet interesting portraits of the late Apple co-founder, including tattoos, technology-art, and the bubble wrap portrait you see above, as you browse this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.
Inside this deliciously digital magazine-style app, you’ll find out more about possibilities for the new Apple Watch OS, how to retrain Siri to make better sense of your verbalizations, inside the weird world of iPod collectors, and all the reviews and how-tos you need to stay up to date on tech through an Apple lens.
Here are this week’s top stories.
I’ve got an Apple Watch problem. I need to keep it charged up, but it continually gets lost in the clutter on my dresser.
You might tell me to just clean up the top of my bedroom furniture, but I like that my new solution allows me to elevate my Apple Watch above the mess. The Satechi aluminum charging stand for Apple Watch keeps my wrist computer charged up and ready to go without getting lost in the cruft of my bureau’s disarray.
When I commuted to my office via bicycle a few years back, I had two choices, a backpack or a pannier bag. The backpack usually won out, because who wants to carry around a massive set of bags when they get to the office?
But a backpack can get heavy and sweaty as it sits on my back while I pedal furiously across town to get to work, so I’d end up trying the pannier thing every once in a while, dealing with the awkward carry when I’d arrive.
Two Wheel Gear has a nice compromise, however, a convertible bag that’s made to connect to your rear bike rack, pannier-style, that also converts into a handsome, rugged backpack to easily carry around once you reach your destination.
It’s the best of both worlds, really.
Want a quick way to move your photos, music and documents from your iPhone to your Mac? What about backing up your iPhone on the go?
iKlips Duo is an innovative little gadget that will do both. It’s a well-made, MFi-certified USB stick that lets you connect to your iPhone (or iPad) via its Lightning port and to your Mac via a USB 3 port. Toss it in your bag and rest assured that you’ve always got a way to get your data off your iOS device.
It’s simple, easy and doesn’t require iTunes or iCloud. Here’s how to transfer your iPhone media to your Mac or PC, and then put it back, if you like, using the iKlips Duo.
Now you can stream live from your drone when you take to the skies with Periscope, Twitter’s service that lets you broadcast live video, provided you have the app on iOS and a DJI drone.
In addition to live drone streaming, Periscope is also rolling out a new search function that will let you look for specific live streams and saved broadcasts. You’ll be able to search for topics or hashtags with the new system.
A save function, currently in beta, is also expected to arrive in a few weeks.
Take a trip down memory lane to see some amazing Apple memorabilia — if you’re in Prague, anyway. With a collection that spans the years 1976 to 2012, nearly every Apple computer, printer, mouse, joystick, and piece of software is represented.
Learn more about this fascinating museum and the story of its founders in this week’s jam-packed Cult of Mac Magazine. Plus, Tim Cook’s promises of undreamt-of future iPhone features, backing up an iPhone to an external drive, luxurious Apple Watch bands, and Mac spring cleaning.
All this, and much much more, in Cult of Mac Magazine, free for you right now.
Here are this week’s top stories.
If you’re still rocking an older iPhone, you might notice that things are starting to feel sluggish when you run the latest iOS 9.3.
If so, there’s a quick trick to speed up your iPhone: simply disable those pretty animations in iOS 9. Your iPhone will feel quite a bit snappier as a result.
Here’s how.
The developers behind Lumi News, both a curation service and new mobile app, want to change the way you get your news. Instead of asking you to pick topics for your news from a long list, like Apple News or Flipboard does, Lumi uses the magic of background algorithms to offer you news stories that actually match your news reading habits.
The service uses Twitter and Facebook to discover your browsing preferences and then presents you with news stories, one at a time, asking you to swipe left (no) or right (yes) like a dating app to help refine what it sends to you. It’s like Tinder for news hounds.
I’ve been smashing aliens with multiple eyes for a good while now, and the fantastic indie-flavored soundtrack of Loud on Planet X has invaded my brain.
A mashup of rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero with lane-based tower defense games like Plants vs. Zombies, Loud on Planet X will scratch that music game itch, getting you to tap your way to victory while getting to play as your favorite indie band, like Tegan and Sara, CHVRCHES, Lights, Purity Ring, and Little Dragon, just to name a few.
Slime Rancher, the insanely fun first-person “slimer” from Monomi, is now 50 percent bigger with more slimes and game modes than ever before.
Currently on Steam’s Early Access for Mac and PC, Slime Rancher is a colorful, whimsical game that will capture your heart and game-playing time.
Check out the new trailer for the new Indigo Quarry update to this fun Mac game and see if it doesn’t make you go, “d’awww.”
If you’ve got a tiny hard drive on your Mac and a large-capacity iPhone or iPad (or both!), you might worry that you’re about to run out of space due to all the stuff you want to back up from your iOS device to your OS X one.
You won’t have to worry any longer. This trick makes your Mac back up your iPhone or iPad to an external drive, which will ensure you never run out of space to keep your data backed up.
Here’s how.
Apple’s iconic consumer electronics continue to top the record books, fitting into the first (iPhone), third (Macintosh), and ninth (iPod) spots in Time Magazine’s list of the 50 most influential gadgets of all time.
The list is rounded out with the iPad (number 25) and Apple’s original candy-colored iBook (38), the Sony Walkman at number four, Kodak’s Brownie camera at number eight, and several consoles from Atari, Nintendo, and Sony scattered throughout.
It’s a surprisingly mixed list, in terms of historical time period, but it does tend to skew a bit modern, thanks to our rapid advances in our own “gadget” era.
You know how it is: you spend way too much time on Twitter or Slack when you should be working. Ideally, you’d just not launch them, but that’s not super feasible if you also use these apps for work.
The answer, then, is an app that will hide or quit apps for you after a certain amount of idle time. Called Quitter, it sits nicely in your Mac’s menu bar and makes sure you don’t fall down the Twitter hole.
SurfacePad for iPhone and iPad solves a problem I have with most folio-style cases.
These tend to cover up too much of the gorgeous Apple design without giving much in return. There’s always a trade-off between form and function. If you’re going to hide the gleaming Apple devices behind a case, at least make it look as classy and useful as Apple does.
The SurfacePad for folio cases from Twelve South are delightfully minimal, covering the front and rear of your iPad or iPhone in luxurious leather without sacrificing a refined look.
Apple’s executive team is optimistic about the company’s future, despite a bleak earnings call. And why wouldn’t they be? Apple’s slump brought in more money than most other tech companies out there.
Read all about the positive spin in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, along with a trick to making your iOS folders look round with no jailbreak required, a frank appraisal of the Apple Watch one year in, 8 killer Instagram tips, the world’s biggest Apple Museum and much, much more.
Here are the top stories for this week.
Apple released a redesigned support site for desktop and mobile Friday afternoon, using its official Twitter account to call it out.
Now you’ll spend lest time trying to figure out the support site itself, Apple hopes, and get to the help you need faster, whether you’re using your iPhone, iPad or your Mac.
When you’re looking to create special, one-of-a-kind photo on your iPad, you might be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices out there. We’ve taken some time to find the best apps for photo editing on the iPad and create some step-by-step how-tos to ensure you get the best results.
Whether you’re just looking to out-game your Instagram buddies or create a stunning double exposure photo on your iPad, here are the 7 best ways to make your photos pop.
What a magical world we live in. We can lift our Apple Watch up to listen to music, talk to our friends, and (yes) even tell the time.
If you’re an Apple TV user, you can send your Apple Watch tunes to the big screen, and you can even control your Apple TV right from your wrist.
Simply magical. Here’s how to control your Apple TV with your Apple Watch.