ChatPlayground AI gives you easy access to more than 40 of the top AI models across 25 apps, all in one place — and all for one low price. It includes big names like ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Llama, Perplexity and Gemini, and it lets you send one prompt to multiple AIs simultaneously.

That means you can compare results to find the right AI tool for the job at hand, without jumping from one AI app to another. If you’re a heavy AI user, it will save you time as well as money.

Normally $619, a lifetime subscription to ChatPlayground AI is on sale now for only $89.99.

October 31, 2005: Less than three weeks after launching video downloads with iTunes 6, Apple reveals that it has already sold more than 1 million music videos.

Apple’s dive into the online digital video market — with 2,000 music videos, Pixar short films and a selection of hit TV shows for $1.99 — looks like the logical next step after selling individual songs on iTunes. Passing the 1 million download benchmark so quickly suggests the plan is a roaring success.

Apple’s long-delayed AI-powered Siri upgrade remains on track for a 2026 debut, CEO Tim Cook said Thursday. That offers some reassurance to users after multiple setbacks pushed the originally planned 2024 release back by more than a year.

So, what can we expect from a smarter Siri voice assistant when it finally arrives? 

New Apple TV crime thriller Down Cemetery Road, based on British author Mick Herron’s debut novel, might not always match the fast-and-dirty fun of Slow Horses, the hit stablemate also derived from Herron’s work.

However, it offers enough intrigue, stellar performances (especially from star Emma Thompson) and dark humor to deserve your attention. 

Here’s why you should stream the eight-episode conspiracy thriller.

The budget wireless earbuds market has become increasingly competitive, but this EarFun Air Pro 4 Plus earbuds review finds they manage to stand out with a compelling combination great sound, premium features and aggressively good value. Priced at $100 — with a launch discount coupon on Amazon bringing it down to about $80 —  these earbuds challenge what we’ve come to expect from the sub-$100 category. And they do so while going toe-to-toe with Apple’s $249 AirPods Pro 3.

A decade after the first Apple Watch came out, WhatsApp is testing a dedicated app for the smartwatch. This would make replying to messages, viewing existing conversations, and sharing voice notes easier.

Currently, Apple Watch users can only respond to unread WhatsApp messages through the notification center. There’s no way to do anything else.

Hackers and malicious viruses are very much a concern when you’re on the web, but the biggest threats to your productivity and your privacy come from everyday internet hazards. AdGuard — an ad blocker for iOS, Mac, Android and Windows — helps protect your privacy by shielding you from the hidden bots that track your every online move and turn your data into currency for advertisers and bad actors both big and small.

When it comes to these threats, regular antivirus software won’t cut it. AdGuard, on the other hand, is specifically designed to deal with both annoying ads and the data crawlers hidden inside them. And it’s now cheaper than ever, thanks to a deep price cut. Get a lifetime subscription to AdGuard’s family plan for just $18.97 with code FAMPLAN.

Apple set a new record for iPhone revenue in its most recent financial quarter. Total company revenue reached $102.5 billion, an 8% increase over the same quarter of last year. And earnings per share hit $1.85, a rise of 13%, the company said Thursday.

Plus, Apple CEO Tim Cook predicted the current quarter will be “the best ever in the history of the company” — and AAPL’s stock price shot up in after-hours trading.

iFixit did its traditional teardown of the M5 iPad Pro on Thursday and gave Apple’s newest tablet a much better reparability score than previous models. That doesn’t mean the computer is easy to fix, though.

Watch the teardown to take a deep dive into the guts of the M5 iPad Pro.

Halloween may not be as big a shopping event as Black Friday or Amazon Prime Day, but you can still scare up some spooktastic deals on Apple gear and accessories for various Apple devices. We hunted down 10 must-see bargains on MacBooks, iPads, AirTags, chargers, power stations, headphones and speakers. 

October 30, 2009: Two years after launching in the United States, the iPhone finally goes on sale in China, giving Apple a chance to reach the world’s largest market.

Regulatory hurdles previously blocked Apple’s access to China, including restrictions on Wi-Fi functionality. With those problems solved, Apple offers the iPhone 3GS to the country’s 1.3 billion people, most of whom do not yet own smartphones.

The tariff Apple must pay to import iPhones and other products assembled in China will be cut in half — down to 10%. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the change after a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on Thursday.

It’s a change that could save Apple billions of dollars.

The Satechi OntheGo 67W Slim Wall Charger lives up to its name. It’s sleek and very portable, but can pump out enough power to juice up a MacBook. It makes anything from Apple seem bulky, slow and limited.

I tested out its capabilities for this hands-on review.

Apple is making two developer-focused changes to the App Store. Developers can now upload additional documentation and assets while their app is under review.

Secondly, developers can create up to 70 custom pages — double the previous limit.

Not every Cult of Mac reader is all Mac, all the time. We know many of you use PCs for various reasons — and here’s the big Windows 11 sale you’ve been waiting for.

You can get a lifetime license to Windows 11 Pro for less than $10 from Cult of Mac Deals.

You can use the built-in iPhone Wallet app for some basic order tracking with classic Apple ease of use. No need to fiddle with finding and copying tracking numbers — your orders will appear there automatically. 

If you order something from an online store that doesn’t automatically integrate with the Wallet app, there’s a solution for that as well. If your device supports Apple Intelligence, it’ll scan your email inbox and add in all those Amazon orders, too. 

Here’s how the iPhone’s order-tracking feature works. 

October 29, 2012: Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, is fired from the company after the disastrous Apple Maps launch. After Forstall is ousted, Apple divvies up the roles he previously handled among other high-level execs.

Design chief Jony Ive assumes leadership of the Human Interface team. Craig Federighi becomes head of iOS software. Eddy Cue takes control of Maps and Siri. And Bob Mansfield “unretires” to lead a new technology group.

If your to-do list reads “launch, iterate, don’t crash,” this web hosting provider checks all three. The Ionos Web Hosting Plus Plan lets you host unlimited sites with 99.99% uptime, redundant storage, daily backups, Wildcard SSL and other advanced features.

And right now, new users can get a three-year Ionos subscription on sale for just $99.99 (MSRP $288).

As Slow Horses season 5 wraps up with its sixth episode Wednesday, Apple TV cues up a second thriller, Down Cemetery Road, in collaboration with novelist Mick Herron. You can watch its first trailer below, or jump right into the first two episodes. The new series stars Academy Award winner Emma Thompson and Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson. It’s based on Herron’s “Zöe Boehm” book series.

Reviews of Down Cemetery Road so far seem thrilled with the show. “If you like Slow Horses, you’ll love conspiracy thriller Down Cemetery Road,” raves Time magazine. It “hits the sweet spot of thrills and odd-couple comedy,” adds AV Club. Critics call Thompson’s performance “magnificent” and “superb,” among other superlatives.

The Wavlink Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station (WL-UTD58) heralds the company’s ambitious entry into next-generation connectivity. It offers users impressive charging power and access to remarkable data-transfer speeds in complex computer setups. I tried it in my dual 5K-display M4 MacBook Pro workstation — and found it excellent. Not perfect, but excellent. 

Imagine being on a long plane flight and one of your new AirPods Pro 3 earbuds keeps whistling in your ear. Infuriating, eh? That’s what some users of Apple’s latest wireless earbuds say happens while flying.

It certainly doesn’t happen to every user. But there’s no easy solution for those experiencing the problem. Still, there are a few things you’ll need to be ready in case you’re unlucky.

Apple could bring the iPhone’s water-resistant design to the iPad. The company has internally tested an iPad mini casing with an IP rating.

Unlike iPhones, iPads typically aren’t exposed to the same environmental challenges. So, Apple never made iPads with an IP rating, but that could eventually change.

With the wealth of AI tools available, the problem isn’t finding one that will get the job done. The real issue is finding the best fit for your budget. You might be able to find independent AI tools like ChatGPT or Dall-E for generating copy, creating logos, building stories and more, but AI MagicX does it all under one subscription, and you only have to pay for it once. That makes it a perfect suite of AI tools for business.

This robust AI platform includes tools for designing logos, generating art, creating chatbots, writing articles and creating stories. There’s even a document editor. And for a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription on sale for just $60 with code SAVE40 (regularly $972).

The next-generation iPad mini will be upgraded with a gorgeous OLED display, according to a generally reliable source of Apple insider info. It’s apparently part of a drive that will eventually see an OLED screen coming to the iPad Air, too. But there’s bad news about the budget iPad.

The move comes as the oft-predicted OLED MacBook Pro moves closer to release.

Apple seeded the release candidates of iOS 26.1 and macOS Tahoe 26.1 to developers and the public on Tuesday. This is usually the final step before new versions launch — which should happen next week. The highlight is a new setting that makes the controversial Liquid Glass UI less transparent.

Release candidates for iPadOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1 and visionOS 26.1 also went out to on Tuesday.