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How to achieve faster video exports in Final Cut Pro X

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

One of the great things about Final Cut Pro X ($299 on Mac App Store) is that you can export high quality videos extremely fast, even on underpowered hardware. For example, my Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina display lacks a discrete GPU, but I can still export 4K videos with relative ease.

Some of the speed can be attributed to a technology of Intel's called Quick Sync Video. Quick Sync is a hardware accelerator for H.264 encoding. It's baked into Intel's consumer line of chips, so ironically, it doesn't apply to the beefier Mac Pro. Those machines are powered by professional grade Xeon chips that lack integrated graphics.

That means that even the 12" MacBook, which is the most anemic piece of Intel-powered hardware currently available from Apple, can export 4K videos competently.

With all of that said, there are some things that you should know in order to fully take advantage of faster video encoding when exporting projects with Final Cut Pro X, and you can learn more in this post.

How to choose where Favorites are saved in Safari

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2025

Learn how to set any bookmarks folder as the location where Safari saves webpages you have marked as favorites on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

How to toggle the iPhone’s flashlight using the mute switch [jailbreak]

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 9, 2016

Using the iPhone as a flashlight is something we're all pretty much accustomed to by now. In fact, Apple makes it easy to toggle the LED flashlight via a handy Control Center shortcut.

But wouldn't it be nice if you could quickly toggle the flashlight without needing to use your iPhone's screen? Wouldn't it be cool if you could assign the LED flashlight to the physical mute switch on the side of your device?

FlashRing is a brand new jailbreak tweak that lets you do just that. With this tweak installed, you can easily toggle the iPhone's LED flash using a physical toggle.

App Admin updated with even more iOS app downgrading features

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

App Admin (formerly App Control) is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to easily downgrade App Store apps on iOS. The tweak, which is still in beta, was met with positive response after it was released several days ago.

After a few updates, App Admin is really starting to come into its own. Not only has it been blessed with new downgrade-centric features, but it also works on devices running older versions of iOS.

The results of the 2015 Jailbreak Awards are in…

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Today was the day that the results of the 2015 Jailbreak Awards were unveiled, and we're happy to say that iDB was the winner in both categories that we were nominated for. Not only did you help vote iDB as the best jailbreak-oriented blog, but you also selected us as having the best jailbreak-related YouTube Channel.

It's an honor to be so highly thought of in the community, and we'd like to take this time to thank you for reading, watching, and voting for us. Check the rest of this post for a list of all of this year's winners.

Nine years ago today, Apple was going to reinvent the phone

Sébastien Page ∙ January 9, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OEsI0Sc_s

A widescreen iPod with touch controls. A revolutionary mobile phone. A breakthrough internet communications device. An iPod. A phone. And an internet communicator. An iPod. A phone. Are you getting it?

I still get goose bumps watching this.

MacID’s ‘Tap to Unlock’ makes logging into your Mac even faster

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 12, 2019

Probably one of my most-used applications on my Mac is MacID, which I use on a daily basis to unlock my Mac without ever using the keyboard to enter a password. The application works in two ways – these include allowing you to use your iPhone or iPad's Touch ID sensor to log into your Mac, or using a secret 'Tap to Unlock' gesture on the multi-touch trackpad (or Magic Trackpad/Magic Trackpad 2) to log into your Mac.

Both ways can save a ton of time, and reduce wear and tear on your keyboard, but in this tutorial, we'll focus on how you can set up 'Tap to Unlock' in MacID on your Mac.

House of Marley Chant Mini review: the little speaker that could

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

House of Marley has built up a solid reputation among consumers and reviewers for delivering products with unique, eco-friendly designs, great-sounding audio and affordable prices. So of course I jumped at the chance to check out their Chant Mini Bluetooth speaker.

I’ve been playing with the Chant Mini for a few weeks now, and I have to say that I've been impressed. The speaker sounds great for its size—at just 4.25"x5.5"x4.35" this thing is incredibly portable—and I have to admit that the unconventional design has kind of grown on me.

TMNT, Brandr, Proud, and more apps to check out this weekend

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Earlier this week, gadget makers blew our minds with new products at the Consumer Electronics Show that will hopefully come out sometime in 2016. We also finally found out how much Oculus Rift costs and when we will get our hands on it.

It was a bigger week for hardware than it was for apps. Although, if you were lucky, you downloaded Vidyo before it was pulled from the App Store. As the weekend rolls by, if you are looking for apps and games that are still available, check out our list below.

Apple in talks with NFL to live-stream next season’s London games

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple is in talks with the National Football League regarding streaming rights, reports Reuters. Citing two sources familiar with the situation, the outlet says the iPhone-maker is among a group of tech firms pursuing the opportunity to live-stream 3 NFL games next season.

More specifically, the companies are looking to buy the rights to conduct live streams for all three of the NFL games to be played in London next year. Yahoo hosted a live stream of a single London-based game this season, and by most accounts it was a success for both parties.

How to set your iPhone to automatically delete audio messages after you have played them

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 7, 2023

When I'm in a hurry, I prefer to send my friends short audio recordings by tapping the microphone icon in the Messages app than pecking away on my iPhone's keyboard. Apple calls this Tap to Talk, and it's even better with Messages' walkie-talkie-like Raise to Listen function, which lets me listen to or respond to an audio message by lifting the phone to my ear.

On the downside, audio messages pile up and can waste precious storage space over time. Therefore, in this post, we're going to tell you about a handy switch to prevent the Messages app from automatically keeping every audio message you receive.

Apple has registered Apple.car and other similar domain names

Cody Lee ∙ January 8, 2016

Apple has registered a handful of rather interesting domain names within the last few weeks. As noted by MacRumors, the company purchased three top-level domain names in December including apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto, through sponsored registrar MarkMonitor.

The acquisitions only posted on Whois this morning, and they aren't active yet, but given the ongoing chatter regarding Apple's secret car project, they do arouse curiosity. There's certainly a precedent of the firm purchasing domain names for rumored projects: iCloud and iPhone 4.