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Have you ever tried to write something with your finger on an iPad?

Yeah, itโ€™s impossible. To capture handwriting, you absolutely need a stylus. I know, Steve Jobs is spinning, but itโ€™s true.

Luckily, Apple just launched a new budget stylus that has USB-C charging, and it can be used with just about any iPad.

Itโ€™s a lot cheaper than Appleโ€™s premium Pencil, and in our hands-on testing, we found thereโ€™s a lot to like. In fact, in a lot of ways it might be even better than Apple's premium iPad stylus.

Also in todayโ€™s newsletter:

  • If youโ€™ve ever misplaced your Apple Watch and couldnโ€™t find it anywhere, your iPhone now makes it easier than ever to locate.

  • This unique magnetic power bank with a built-in Apple Watch charger looks great for traveling and only costs $35 โ€” Iโ€™m gonna get one to review.

  • My goodness, I canโ€™t stand Taylor Swiftโ€™s music. Looks like Iโ€™m alone.

  • If youโ€™re interested in investing in up-and-coming tech companies, check out Ryse, a leader in the smart shade category. Details below.

  • This is a nice computer setup for streaming console gameplay through a Mac mini. It only took two years to set up.

  • Yesterdayโ€™s poll showed you guys would never buy a new car without CarPlay โ€” by a very large margin. See results below. And take todayโ€™s poll: Do you use an Apple Pencil?

โ€” Leander Kahney, EIC.

A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team

A message from Ryse

The Next Smart Home Staple

Where were you when Amazon acquired Ring for $1B? Or when Google bought Nest for a cool $3.2B?

Hopefully, you were invested in those promising startups. But for those that missed out, the next groundbreaking Smart Home innovation has arrived ไธ€ RYSE.

Their automated window shade tech is now launching in Best Buy stores, and is poised to dominate the fast-growing Smart Shades market. Theyโ€™ve also just launched a new investment round and their share price has already grown 25% from their last round!

The Smart Shades race is on, and RYSE is in pole position due to their:

Unmatched Features: RYSE has the only retrofit design to motorize existing window shades, and can be seamlessly controlled by voice, smartphone, or schedule.

Smart Price: Priced at $169 vs. competitorsโ€™ pricing of up to $1,000 per window, RYSE is uniquely positioned to bring luxury window shades to every home and business.

Tweetz oโ€™ the day

One more thing ...

โ

Heathkits came with all the boards and parts color-coded, but the manual also explained the theory of how it operated. It made you realize you could build and understand anything. Once you built a couple of radios, youโ€™d see a TV in the catalog and say, โ€œI can build that as well,โ€ even if you didnโ€™t. I was very lucky, because when I was a kid both my dad and the Heathkits made me believe I could build anything.

โ€” Steve Jobs, 2011.

Todayโ€™s poll

Results from yesterdayโ€™s poll: Would you buy a new car without Apple's CarPlay?

Best reader comments

Subscribe to The Weekender โ€” Get the week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.

WEd โ€”Ryse ad

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