This week: it’s our list of the best—and most disappointing—Apple tech of 2018! And stay tuned for all our most favorite news, movies, food, gear, video games, and drug paraphernalia of the year. This one gets real weird...

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Opsgenie empowers Dev & Ops teams to plan for service disruptions and stay in control during incidents. It also gives teams the power to respond quickly and efficiently to unplanned issues. Visit Opsgenie.com to sign up to get a FREE company account and add up to 5 team members.

Whether it’s planning a date night or scheduling a business trip, Fin’s army of virtual assistants can do the tasks you don’t have time to do. Try itself for free at fin.com/cultcast.

CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.

Thanks to Kevin McLeod for the music you hear on today’s episode.

On the show this week

@erfon / @bst3r

Ranking all the major hardware Apple released in 2018 [Year in Review] https://www.cultofmac.com/596754/ranking-2018-apple-hardware/

Our favorite What We’re Intos of 2018!

MoviePass

Annihilation

Super Mario Odyssey

Captain Jean-luc Picard will helm a new Star Trek series  

Boosted Board Mini X

Finger Bang

Pizza Dillas

Pack Rafts

This week: In December of 1994, Apple began allowing PC manufacturs to license their OS, building their own versions of the “Mac”, and it almost destroyed them. Leander Kahney was a young reporter on the scene in those days, and regales us with the tale.

Plus, we have a very special announcement we'd like to make, about a very special annoumcement we're going ot be making next week. And if you stay tuned, and you definitely should, we're going to wrap up with our favorite movies of 2018, and it’s a long list.

This episode supported by Opsgenie empowers Dev & Ops teams to plan for service disruptions and stay in control during incidents. It also gives teams the power to respond quickly and efficiently to unplanned issues. Visit Opsgenie.com to sign up to get a FREE company account and add up to 5 team members.

Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. Thanks to Kevin McLeod for the music you hear on today’s episode.

On the show this week

@erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace / @bst3r

Apple Music Connect is shutting down, suffering Same Fate as iTunes Ping - lewis https://www.macrumors.com/2018/12/13/apple-music-connect-shutting-down/

• Apple today announced that its Apple Music Connect social platform for artists is in the process of shutting down, suffering the same fate as Ping, the company's previous social network for music removed from iTunes in October 2012.
• The only band that ever posted anything was ColdPlay.

Apple Sending Unsolicited Notifications for New Carpool Karaoke Episodes and Apple Music Echo Support -erfon https://www.macrumors.com/2018/12/18/apple-unsolicited-notifications/

• Apple has recently been sending out unsolicited notifications to iOS users, promoting Carpool Karaoke episodes and the availability of Apple Music on Amazon Echo devices.
• Apple doesn't appear to be sending these push notifications to all users, so it's not clear what criteria the company is using to determine who to send content to
• Why did Apple just send me a notification about an all new carpool karaoke, something I've never watched and have absolutely no interest in?

Today in Apple history: Apple signs ‘clone Mac’ deal https://www.cultofmac.com/458490/clone-mac-era-tiah/

• This week, in 1994: Apple Computer inks a licensing deal with Power Computing, allowing the company to produce Macintosh-compatible computers.
• With falling market share, and longtime rival Microsoft steaming ahead thanks to its software-licensing strategy, Apple executives think the only way to compete is for Apple to hand over its operating system for third-party Macs.
• The “clone Mac” era turned out to be a disaster for Apple. Rather than spurring Mac sales, it just meant cheaper “Macs.”
• As a result, Apple took a massive hit in the amount it earned per unit. Apple CFO Fred Anderson later worked out that the strategy actually cost the company money. The $50 fee Apple got for every clone Mac sold didn’t come close to recouping the money lost from people choosing to buy third-party Macs instead of more-expensive official ones.
• In order to get out of the deal and top the licensing, Apple ended up buying Power Computing’s entire Mac business for $100 million in 1997. Best movies of 2018! Buster Incredibles 2 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756 Sicario: Day of the Soldado https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052474

BlacKkKlansman

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 

Annihilation 

Avengers: Infinity War 

Black Panther 

A Quiet Place 

Hereditary 

The Ballad of Buster Scuggs

Missions: Impossible - Fallout 

Red Sparrow

This week: it’s all our favorite gadgets of 2018! Well, not all, but lots of them. We didn’t have time to get through them all but we tried real hard. Plus: Apple is finally gearing up to overhaul the AMD GPUs in their Mac lineup; and the legit way to purchase a base iMac Pro for just $3800.

This episode supported by

Opsgenie empowers Dev & Ops teams to plan for service disruptions and stay in control during incidents. It also gives teams the power to respond quickly and efficiently to unplanned issues. Visit Opsgenie.com to sign up to get a FREE company account and add up to 5 team members.

CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.

Thanks to Kevin McLeod for the music you hear on today’s episode.

On the show this week:

@erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace

Mojave update hints at new AMD Vega GPUs coming to Mac https://www.cultofmac.com/595740/mojave-new-amd-vega-gpu-mac/

• Apple’s most recent macOS Mojave update suggests we’ll soon see new AMD Vega GPUs coming to the Mac.
• Apple just updated the GPUs in the Macbook Pro with Vega 16 and Vega 20 options, and now they look to be planning similar upgrades for other Macs in its lineup.

Sonos Beam Sonos

One Simply Safe security system

See Sense Icon 2 bike lights

Nintendo Switch

Cal Digit TS3 Plus Thunderbolt 3 dock

Apple Pencil 2

Apple Watch 4

"Refurbished" iMac Pro on eBay