This week, the Apple Watch is back on sale already — but for how long? Jony Ive is pawning some BIG designers from Apple to work on a secret new AI project. And we close with the rest of our picks for the Best (and Worst) of 2023.

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This week’s stories:

Federal court temporarily un-pauses Apple Watch ban

• During the temporary stay on the ban, the court will review Apple’s request. Now the ITC has until January 10 to respond to Apple’s request for a stay.

Another Apple Designer Joins Jony Ive to Work on Hardware for OpenAI

• Apple's vice president of product design Tang Tan is set to join Sir Jony Ive's LoveFrom to design hardware products for OpenAI.
• At Apple, Tang Tan is vice president of product design and reports to senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus. Tan is responsible for the design of the iPhone, Apple Watch, accessories, and acoustic devices like AirPods.

Best of 2023 Round 1:

• Griffin: 404 Media is a journalist-run independent media company with excellent investigative reporting on the hottest tech news.
• Lewis: Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe is a great night stand charger for your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch.
• Erfon: Xbox Game pass is like the Netflix of video games, and with its ever-expanding library of indie, and now, big titles from major studios, it’s finally worth its monthly price.

Best of 2023 Round 2:

• Griffin: Mastodon is an open-source social media platform that cuts out garbage ads, tracking and algorithms; cutting straight to the high-quality discussions with people you care about.
• Lewis: TRIGGERnometry
• Erfon: Juscant is a PC game with a beautiful aesthetic, intuitive climbing mechanics, and mysterious plot.

Worst of 2023 Round 1:

• Griffin: Michael Darius is a former Apple employee who is selling his meager experience from nearly twenty years ago as some design guru and personal protégé of Steve Jobs.
• Lewis: Apple service price hikes
• Erfon: The state of streaming in 2023 is a huge mess. It’s like cable TV all over again.

Worst of 2023 Round 2:

• Griffin: The feeling of being trusted to drive a stranger's car alone after you only met them earlier that same evening is a bizarre experience I hope to never repeat.
• Lewis: San Francisco
• Erfon: Amazon Prime keeps getting more expensive while offering fewer benefits.

This week, the Apple Watch is BANNED in the US! We’re also talking bad news about next year’s models and the future of CarPlay that was just announced, followed by new picks for the Best of 2023!

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This week’s stories:

It’s the last day to buy Apple Watch from Apple.com before US sales ban [Updated]

• U.S. sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Apple’s website stopped on December 21.

Your Apple Watch Bands May Not Work With Next Year's Model

• Next-generation Apple Watch models will feature a completely redesigned band connector, rendering them incompatible with all current bands, according to the Apple leaker and prototype collector known as “Kosutami.”

Enter to win an iPhone 15 case and screen protector bundle from MagEasy

• Two winners will receive a MagEasy iPhone 15 case of their choice, along with a screen protector. Enter now for your chance to win!

Porsche and Aston Martin preview gorgeous next-gen Apple CarPlay

• Now we have our first looks at what next-gen Carplay will look like thanks to Porsche and Aston Martin.

Best of 2023:

• Erfon: Silo. In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo.
• Lewis: Slow Horses. This quick-witted spy drama follows a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents—and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb—as they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.
• Griffin: U.S. Interstate 77 is possibly the greatest highway on the planet, offering two lanes of 70 mph speeds with regular stops, little congestion or traffic, scenic views and a world-class interchange with Interstate 70 — it’s the fastest way to leave Cleveland.

This week: Apple just made it harder for the Gov to spy on your phone, iOS 17.3 makes your iPhone a lot harder to steal, and our picks for best (& worst!) gear (& stuff!) of 2023!

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This week’s stories:

You can now buy stand-alone USB-C case for AirPods Pro 2… for $99!

• In September, Apple introduced a tweaked version of AirPods Pro 2 that comes with a charging case with a USB-C port. The MagSafe Charging Case (USB‑C) for AirPods Pro (2nd generation) joined the online Apple store Wednesday.

Apple makes ‘push notification spying’ more difficult

• Governments will find push notification spying harder to do now that they no longer enjoy easy access to records of push notifications sent to iPhone users. Apple changed its policy so that law enforcement and other government agencies need a court order to obtain this data.

How Apple plans to ramp up iOS security for stolen iPhones

• The just-released iOS 17.3 beta 1 includes a surprise feature: Stolen Device Protection. The option makes it harder to reset the passcode on a stolen device if the thief already knows the current passcode. There are also new password protections.

Why Google Play courtroom loss could hurt Apple, too

• Epic Games convinced a federal jury that the Google Play store for Android applications is an illegal monopoly. The decision might have wide repercussions.

Apple reportedly offers to open iPhone NFC to other payment systems

• The days of the iPhone’s NFC capabilities being limited to just Apple Pay could be coming to an end. Apple is reportedly open to allowing other systems to use the wireless payment system.

Best of 2023:

• Erfon: Matter is the best new smart home technology that brings all your devices together seamlessly.
• Lewis: The Last of Us is a show on Max about a hardened survivor (Pedro Pascal) taking care of a 14-year-old girl (Bella Ramsey) who may be humanity’s last hope.
• Griffin: Music, a great way to experience art in the form of rhythmic sounds, vocalizations and instruments. The Roland Cube 30X was designed for listening to music.

Worst of 2023:

• Griffin: The KUXIU X55 is a garbage cheap plastic version of my favorite 3-in-1 charger, the KUXIU X40.
• Lewis: Apple predictive text makes confusing and erratic changes as you type.
• Erfon: The second-generation HomePod fails to live up to the premium listening experience of the original.

This week: new rumors say updated iPad Pros are right around the corner, along with the new M3 MacBook Air! Plus: the iPhone 16’s Action button is getting supercharged, and our first picks for the Best of 2023!

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Songfinch creates a totally original song inspired by your story, written and recorded by a professional artist. Go to songfinch.com/CULTCAST to get your song added to Spotify Streaming for free, a $50 value, with your purchase.

CultCloth will keep your Mac Studio, Studio Display, iPhone 15 Pro, guitars, glasses and lenses sparkling clean! For a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a two free CarryCloths with any order $20+ at CultCloth.co

This week’s stories:

Entire iPhone 16 lineup could feature force-sensitive Action button

• Apple reportedly will bring the iPhone 15 Pro’s Action button to the entire iPhone 16 lineup next year. It will seemingly be a capacitive button and pack a lot of additional functionality.
• How Apple muffed the iPhone 15 Pro’s new Action button by Leander Kahney

MacRumors: ‘All-Screen’ iPhone Under-Display Camera Enters Development

• According to The Elec, LG Innotek has entered the preliminary development of the UDC, which sits under the display and does not result in a visible hole in the panel when the camera is not in use.

Win a 3-in-1 MagSafe travel charger from mophie [Cult of Mac Giveaway]

• This week’s Cult of Mac giveaway prize is a mophie 3-in-1 MagSafe travel charger that retails for $149.95. The compact charger is perfect for anyone with a busy schedule who’s on the go. You can charge multiple devices simultaneously at maximum speed with this great fold-up Apple accessory.

MacBook Air gets speedy M3 chip in spring 2024

• The Apple M3 processor will make its way to the MacBook Air line in March 2024, according to a trusted source of insider info. Both the 13-inch and 15-inch versions of the laptop will receive the chip upgrade.

12.9-inch iPad Air, OLED iPad Pro pegged for March release

• March 2024 will bring a bonanza, according to a report Wednesday from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. A 12.9-inch iPad Air is supposedly on the docket. An updated 10.9-inch version will also be released.

Apple confirms ‘push notification spying’ by government agencies

• Some governments are spying on push notifications sent to iPhone users, Apple confirmed Wednesday. By examining logs of push notifications sent by various apps, authorities can piece together surprisingly detailed information about smartphone users and their activities.

Under Review:

• Griffin: Stray, by Annapurna Interactive
• Lewis: Apple Watch Ultra 2
• Erfon: Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn on Apple TV+

This week: Apple’s falling out with Goldman Sachs could mean the end of Apple Card - we’ll fill you in. We’ll also give you the real deal on how NameDrop works and run through the top podcasts of 2023. And finally — could multiple cheaper Apple Vision headsets be in the works?

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This week’s stories:

Apple reportedly ending Apple Card partnership with Goldman Sachs

• Apple’s partnership with Goldman Sachs for the Apple Card is reportedly coming to an end. The Wall Street Journal says Apple sent a proposal to the bank to exit from the agreement in the next 12 to 15 months.

MacRumors: Interesting new features in iOS 17.2 Beta 4

• Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to choose the sound used for all incoming notifications aside from texts, mail alerts, and calendar alerts, which already had customization options.
• With the iPhone 15 Pro models, ProRes video can be recorded directly to an external device. iOS 17.2 appears to include a new pop up message that lets users know that external recording is not working because of a USB-C cable that is too slow.

Arm ain’t happy about how little Apple pays for its chip tech

• All Apple computers run on chips based on technology licensed from Arm. And it turns out the licensing fee is surprisingly low. Pennies per device.

New deal means fully American-made Apple silicon chips

• Apple silicon processors that TSMC makes at its Arizona plant will be packaged by Amkor at a nearby facility.

Why iPhone NameDrop feature is not a security risk

• Parents are mistakenly being warned that they need to quickly deactivate iOS 17’s NameDrop feature on their children’s iPhones. The warnings claim that it’s causing the devices to broadcast their contact information to anyone nearby. This simply isn’t true.

MacRumors: Work on Multiple Next-Gen Vision Pro Headsets Ongoing, Including Cheaper Model

• DigiTimes claims that there are a total of four different second-generation Vision Pro headsets in development, including a direct successor to the first-generation model and a more affordable model. The nature of the other two second-generation models is unclear.