This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: An interesting new gadget called the Flexbar takes Apple’s doomed Touch Bar idea and runs with it. Instead of being fixed in place like on the MacBook Pro, this customizable OLED strip connects to Macs and PCs via USB-C.
It looks pretty cool! But can it succeed where the Touch Bar failed?
Also on The CultCast:
- Almost as surprising as the Touch Bar making a comeback: A company figured out how to offer aftermarket SSDs for the Mac Studio, at much more affordable prices than Apple’s upgrades. (OK, that last part’s not surprising.)
- The first M5-powered iPad Pros reportedly will arrive in the second half of next year. And it sounds like that crazy hybrid iPad/HomePod might become a reality in 2025, too.
- And finally, Erfon tells us all about a sweet aftermarket CarPlay display in a new “Under Review” segment.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
The CultCast live stream archive: The Touch Bar lives!
Our sponsors: Notion and 1Password
- Notion allows you to combine your notes, docs and projects into one space that’s simple and beautifully designed. And with the new Notion AI, it has capabilities of multiple AI tools built in, which means you can search, generate analyze and chat all inside Notion. The new Notion AI is a single AI tool that does it all: search across Notion and other apps, generate docs in your own style, analyze PDFs and images, and chat with you about anything.
- 1Password Extended Access Management solves the problems traditional IAM and MDM can’t touch. It’s security for the way we work today, and it’s available now to companies with Okta, and coming later this year to Google Workspace and Microsoft Entra. Check it out at 1Password.com/product/XAM.
This week’s top Apple news
On the show this week: Your host Erfon Elijah (@erfon), Cult of Mac managing editor Lewis Wallace (@lewiswallace) and Cult of Mac writer D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinjones).
Here are the headlines we’re talking about on this week’s show:
- Apple’s next iPad Pro upgrade to arrive in second half of 2025
- HomePod with a large display is still on the way
- Upgrading your Mac Studio storage becomes possible
- Apple’s Touch Bar resurrected as Flexbar, a standalone USB-C OLED strip
Under Review
Carpod Go T3: Erfon says the Carpod Go T3 is a convenient way to add a wireless CarPlay screen to your car. It comes with a responsive 8.9-inch, 700-nit display.
