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One of the coolest things about Apple culture is when some intrepid modder takes an ancient Mac or iPod and transforms it into something new and interesting.

These types of genius recycling projects stack innovation on top of Apple’s great design. And the DIY results can be awesome.

Such hacks keep a once-beloved device from becoming nasty landfill while turning it into something fresh and fun. For example, people turned the original iMac into colorful lamps and fish tanks.

The latest such project turns an ancient iMac G4 — the one with the design inspired by a sunflower — into a smart home hub à la Apple’s upcoming HomeView.

Jesse Richards, the guy who did it, explains how he transformed an iMac that wouldn’t boot into a sweet-looking home hub in today’s feature story.

If this sounds like your next big DIY effort, you’re in luck: Richards made the software he vibe-coded available for anyone to download for free.

Also in today’s newsletter:

Another Apple earnings call, another round of smashed records. It’s shocking, really, how Cupertino continues to crank out the cash. Last quarter, Apple raked in $114.5 billion in revenue, but that’s just the start of the eye-popping numbers.
If you thought the arrival of the first touchscreen Mac meant the iPad was doomed, take heart. The tablet ain’t going anywhere.
However, if you thought the iPhone Duo supply would catch up with demand, don’t get your hopes up.
🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: Apple’s new Wrist Strap for iPhones and AirPods just hit a new low (22% off). #affiliate
It sounds like Siri AI is about to get a lot more useful.
On this day in 2017, Face ID arrived on the iPhone X — and it felt like the future.

— Lewis Wallace, managing editor

^{A message from Attio}

Frontier models perform better in Attio’s agent harness.

We gave GPT-6 Astra the same job twice: analyze 100 sales calls and draft the follow-ups, once in Ask Attio and once in ChatGPT.

Ask Attio finished in 4 minutes 49 seconds. ChatGPT took 26 minutes 11 seconds, about 5.4 times as long.

The most ambitious GTM work requires more than frontier intelligence. It requires architecture that can put that intelligence to work at scale.

Learn about Attio’s hybrid architecture.

Incredible hack turns 'sunflower' iMac G4 into DIY HomeView

A modder figures out how to hack an old “sunflower” iMac G4 into a homemade home hub.

Even RAMageddon can't stop Apple's record-setting revenues

Apple posts record quarterly revenue and beats Wall Street expectations despite higher prices driven by the global RAM shortage.

20 numbers that show how massive Apple really is

With record revenues on the books once again, a look at the big and interesting numbers in Apple's Q4 2026 earnings call.

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

This $30 Mac app cleans up storage, speeds up workflows and unlocks hidden tools

MacMagic gives you an easy way to unlock hidden Mac features without memorizing Terminal commands.

Don't worry, touchscreen MacBook Pro doesn't mean iPad will go away

Apple CEO says the company won't merge Mac and iPad or write a single OS to run on all its various computers.

Apple can’t say when iPhone Duo supply constraints will ease

Cupertino can’t predict when the new folding phone will become available, as deliveries on new orders remain in late January 2027.

Siri AI opens to third-party apps in iOS 27.3 beta

iOS 27.3, macOS 27.3 and more are available for testing, allowing developers to begin connecting their apps to the much more capable Siri AI.

^{A message from}^{the Cult of Mac Deals team}

Cancel iCloud+ and get 1TB cloud storage for life for $90

Get 1TB of Drime cloud storage, plus file transfer tool Transfr Pro, for just $89.99 with this lifetime subscription.

Peak Design packs a kickstand into its slim Qi 2.3 magnetic power bank

New charger pairs a slim magnetic power bank with a folding station that juices two devices at up to 25W each.

Apple ships new tvOS 27.2 build for upcoming Apple TV 4K

This could enable Siri AI ahead of the streaming box’s November 13 launch.

Today in Apple history: Face ID brings facial recognition to the masses

On November 3, 2017, Apple released the iPhone X with Face ID, a biometric security system that let users unlock the device by looking at it.

Cult of Mac’s buyback program

We pay top dollar for used Apple gear

Sell your old iPhone, iPad, MacBook and more through Cult of Mac. Free shipping, fast payment!

^{A message from Roku}

The holiday streaming season is almost here

Are you ready? As revealed in our holiday playbook, Roku Ads Manager lets you easily set up, measure and optimize your self-serve holiday ad campaign. You can even create a shoppable ad unit that lets streamers buy directly from their remote.

Set up your campaign today.

Tweet of the day

— # (#)

Wallpaper of the day (nothing today, tech failure)

One more thing ...

❝

Before Macintosh, there were two standards: Apple II and IBM PC. Those two standards are like rivers carved in the rock bed of a canyon. It’s taken years to carve them — seven years to carve the Apple II and four years to carve the IBM.

What we have done with Macintosh is that in less than a year, through the momentum of the revolutionary aspects of the product and through every ounce of marketing that we have as a company, we have been able to blast a third channel through that rock and make a third river, a third standard.

— Steve Jobs, 1985.

Today’s poll

What do you do with your old Apple devices?

Results from yesterday’s poll

Best reader comments

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