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- Wednesday April 17
- 17 mins agoThese $90 earbuds can translate dozens of languages
Effortlessly communicate in 37 languages in real time. Get a pair of Mymanu Clik S translation earbuds for just $89.97 (regularly $157). (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)20 mins agoApple CEO Cook’s visit to Indonesia is all about China
Apple will consider building an assembly facility in Indonesia, CEO Tim Cook said on Wednesday after meeting President Joko Widodo, who… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.37 mins agoWhatsApp chat filters separate unread messages, and groups
WhatsApp chat filters are the latest feature to be added to the popular messaging app, a few weeks after allowing users to pin multiple chats. You can now separate out only chats with unread messages, as well as separate group chats from individual ones … more…51 mins agoWorld of Warcraft is always ready for Mac gamers
"World of Warcraft" boosts your Mac gaming. Join the adventure in the fantasy world of Azeroth and enjoy evolving content. No PC needed. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)56 mins agoApple hits 18 gigawatts of clean energy in its environmental push
Apple is continuing to step up its environmental efforts, revealing new projects to increase the use of clean energy, as well as to replenish fresh water it uses by 2030 ahead of Earth Day.An Apple solar farmApple made a pledge in 2020 to become completely carbon neutral by 2030, covering everything from its supply chain to power consumed to recharge its products. In an update on April 17, it seems Apple is well on its way to achieving the goal.The update, published on Wednesday morning, includes claims that Apple and its suppliers now use more than 18 gigawatts of clean energy. This is up from the 13.7 gigawatts used by the supply chain as reported in 20203, and is triple the clean energy usage of 2020. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums1 hour agoApple 2030 environmental goals: 95% of suppliers now using clean energy
We’ve today received an update on Apple’s 2030 environmental goals, one of which is for the company’s entire supply-chain to be carbon neutral by that date. The company says more than 320 suppliers – representing 95% of the company’s “direct” manufacturing spend – have made the transition to clean energy … more…1 hour agoApple considering an assembly facility in Indonesia
Apple will consider building an assembly facility in Indonesia, CEO Tim Cook said on Wednesday after meeting President Joko Widodo… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.12:08 pmSchiller doesn’t know whether the App Store is profitable; there are no minutes of meetings | 9 to 5 MacSchiller doesn’t know whether the App Store is profitable; there are no minutes of meetings
Phil Schiller has told a court in an antitrust case that he doesn’t know for sure whether the App Store is profitable, and never considered the return on investment when launching it. He’s also explained the reason that there are very few written records of decisions made around the launch of the store is because Apple co-founder Steve Jobs felt that meeting notes were unnecessary – and the company still doesn’t record minutes for meetings between senior execs … more…12:00 pmPundit Predicts Apple AI Will Be Bound to iPhone, Analysts React
Following a prediction that Apple’s AI features in iOS 18 will be processed directly on iPhones, analysts discuss the implications for user privacy, device performance, and longevity. The post appeared first on TechNewsWorld.11:50 amApple Notes in iOS 18 looks to up the ante with Microsoft OneNote
Exclusive: One of Apple's most inconspicuously popular apps, Notes, is bound to become even more powerful when the company unveils its next generation operating systems in June, AppleInsider has learned.iOS 18 to bring new Notes featuresAmong its new features will be audio recording support built in at the application level, similar to integrated Voice Memos, according to people familiar with the matter. The feature is currently under development for iOS 18 and macOS 15 and should ultimately make its way to the new version of iPadOS as well. Rumor Score: 🤯 Likely Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums11:48 amApple published a new Press Release
Apple just published a new Press Release:Apple ramps up investment in clean energy and water around the world11:28 amCanada follows Europe with digital services tax likely to hit Apple
Canada is introducing a new digital services tax starting this year, which will see foreign tech giants like Apple and Google receive tax demands for income earned in Canada but not currently taxed there. This follows the example of several European countries, including France, Italy, and the UK – and is designed to address tax avoidance … more…11:27 amChina suspected of being behind Apple's recent spyware warnings
A security blog claims that the recent attack on iPhones was done by spyware called LightSpy, which appears to be linked to China.Apple has been warning users of a spyware attack on iPhonesOn April 11, 2024, Apple issued alerts to users in 92 countries, including India, about a "mercenary spyware attack" that it believes may have affected them. Apple gave no further details, other than to say that the attack was an attempt to "remotely compromise the iPhone."According to a research and intelligence report on the Blackberry Blog, the attack is likely to have been made using "a sophisticated iOS implant," called LightSpy. The technology has reportedly not been seen since it was used in a 2020 campaign during political tensions in Hong Kong, but now appears to be back in a new form. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums11:15 amApple addresses predictive emoji ‘bug’ in latest iOS 17.5 beta after outrage
Macworld If you weren’t on X/Twitter over the weekend, you missed out on the latest iPhone outrage. As first spotted by British television presenter Rachel Riley, when the word “Jerusalem” was typed using the stock keyboard, one of the suggested emojis was the Palestinian flag, which Riley and others saw as a deliberate provocation. In her post, Riley asked Apple to “explain whether this is an intentional act by your company, or whether you have no control over rogue programmers.” Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital, though neither claim is officially recognized globally. She noted that dozens of other cities don’t offer country flags as suggested emojis. Apple quickly responded by declaring the emoji was the result of an iOS 17.4.1 bug that affected predictive text. It’s unclear what caused the bug or if other words were affected as well, but Apple has fixed it in the latest iOS 17.5 beta. According to @aaronp613 on X, Apple has stopped the word “Jerusalem” from showing any suggested emoji in iOS 17.5. That doesn’t quite sound like Apple fixed a bug, but it does take care of the issue. By removing the emoji suggestion entirely, it avoids any appearance of controversy. After Riley’s discovery, other suggested emoji “blunders” went viral, including a hut when typing the word Africa. However, as many people pointed out, the emoji is called “African hut,” so the predictive text algorithm is likely picking up the name. iOS 17.5 is in the second round of beta testing and will likely launch in late April or early May. iOS, iPhone10:43 amDashlane review: Passwords and plenty more
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating ProsPlenty of features, Excellent password generator Solid securityHuge value Family & Friends packageConsNo native desktop appsFree tier limited to 25 passwordsOur VerdictGreat tools, password management features, and a surprisingly generous family and friends package, makes Dashlane one of the very best password managers around. Price When Reviewed$4.99 per month, $59.99 a year Best Prices Today: Dashlane Retailer Price Dashlane (monthly) $4.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Dashlane has been a stalwart password manager for several years now, with plenty of advanced features and security protocols to keep your passwords safe and always available. But, there’s more to it than just logging into your accounts, as you’ll see below. Software & Features Auto-fill passwords Secure vaults for private data Password generation tool Dashlane is easy to get to grips with when you first launch the app. The Home page shows your most frequently used passwords, alongside quick access to your logins, secure notes, payment methods, personal info and IDs. There’s also a row of icons at the bottom of the page that you can use to navigate to your notifications (messages from Dashlane about your account), the password generator, tools, and settings. It’s all clear and easy to understand, which makes interacting with the app a breeze. There’s plenty to dig into as well. Each of the password and login details you create or import from your previous password manager have their own page. Here, you can copy the password to enter into a login field on a website, check its strength, and be warned if it’s been involved in a security breach. Should the latter have occurred, switching to the password generator page will quickly enable you to create new, secure replacements that you can use to make your account safe once more. The generator has various options that allow you to choose how complex the password will be. These include the length and whether it will contain digits, letters, symbols or characters that look similar to others. Using these settings you should be able to satisfy any combination required by a site. Martyn Casserly Martyn Casserly Martyn Casserly Of course, you’ll still need to go to the site and change the password, as it can’t be done from inside Dashlane, but each entry has a link to the site, which makes it quick to update to the new password. It’s not only your account details that you can store in Dashlane though, there’s also bank details to make it simple to pay for things online, your address for deliveries, not to mention important documents like your passport, driving licence and other similar items. This means you’ve always got a record of your information on you, while still having it protected via encryption and the secure login of the Dashlane app. Armed with this information, Dashlane can auto-fill fields on sites, meaning you can log in, order and pay for items, then have them delivered to the correct address by barely having to type anything at all. There’s also support for Passkeys on the app, which will increase convenience and safety in the future as more sites adopt the technology. I did encounter a few websites and apps where the Dashlane log-in box didn’t appear, and therefore had to refresh the page or try logging in a second time to get it to come up, but this was rare and could have something to do with interference from the site itself. For the most part, Dashlane was reliable and fast so I could access sites with a minimum of fuss. Security & Encryption 256-bit AES end-to-end encryption 2 Factor Authentication VPN As with pretty much all password managers these days, Dashlane operates with a high level of emphasis on security. All your transactions between the app and sites are end-to-end encrypted using 256-bit AES technology. This prevents hackers from being able to gain access to your information while you’re logging on. Foundry Foundry Foundry There’s also 2-factor authentication available, with the Dashlane app acting as an authenticator, plus password monitoring to check if any of your details have been exposed in data breaches or have been reused too many times. To add even more layers of protection, the premium accounts come with a built-in VPN to encrypt all of your online activities, plus there’s dark web monitoring which scans for any of your credentials being traded on the criminal side of the internet. Price and Availability Dashlane is available on a wide range of platforms, with dedicated apps for iOS/iPadOS and Android, plus extensions for Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox. At the time of writing, Dashlane costs $39.96 (approx £32) per year for the individual account, which is a little bit more than some of its rivals, but the family and friends package blows most out of the water with 10 accounts included for the annual fee of $59.88 (approx £47). You’ll also find various tiers for small business and enterprise users. There is a free tier available, which acts as a taster for the full package, and you can use it indefinitely but with a limit of only 25 passwords. Still, if you don’t use that many sites, it might actually be enough by itself. Should I buy Dashlane? There’s no surprise that Dashlane is usually found around the top spots of the password manager charts. It’s a fully fleshed out app with advanced tools and security features. While the individual account might cost slightly more than some of its closest rivals, the family plan offers outstanding value for money. If you’re looking for a password manager for your extended family or friendship group, Dashlane is an excellent choice. iOS, MacOS, Password Managers, Personal Software10:43 amDashlane review: Passwords and plenty more
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating ProsPlenty of features, Excellent password generator Solid securityHuge value Family & Friends packageConsNo native desktop appsFree tier limited to 25 passwordsOur VerdictGreat tools, password management features, and a surprisingly generous family and friends package, makes Dashlane one of the very best password managers around. Price When Reviewed$4.99 per month, $59.99 a year Best Prices Today: Dashlane Retailer Price Dashlane (annually) $59.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Dashlane has been a stalwart password manager for several years now, with plenty of advanced features and security protocols to keep your passwords safe and always available. But, there’s more to it than just logging into your accounts, as you’ll see below. For alternatives to 1Password take a look at our roundup of the Best password managers for Mac. Software & Features Auto-fill passwords Secure vaults for private data Password generation tool Dashlane is easy to get to grips with when you first launch the app. The Home page shows your most frequently used passwords, alongside quick access to your logins, secure notes, payment methods, personal info and IDs. There’s also a row of icons at the bottom of the page that you can use to navigate to your notifications (messages from Dashlane about your account), the password generator, tools, and settings. It’s all clear and easy to understand, which makes interacting with the app a breeze. There’s plenty to dig into as well. Each of the password and login details you create or import from your previous password manager have their own page. Here, you can copy the password to enter into a login field on a website, check its strength, and be warned if it’s been involved in a security breach. Should the latter have occurred, switching to the password generator page will quickly enable you to create new, secure replacements that you can use to make your account safe once more. The generator has various options that allow you to choose how complex the password will be. These include the length and whether it will contain digits, letters, symbols or characters that look similar to others. Using these settings you should be able to satisfy any combination required by a site. Martyn Casserly Martyn Casserly Martyn Casserly Of course, you’ll still need to go to the site and change the password, as it can’t be done from inside Dashlane, but each entry has a link to the site, which makes it quick to update to the new password. It’s not only your account details that you can store in Dashlane though, there’s also bank details to make it simple to pay for things online, your address for deliveries, not to mention important documents like your passport, driving licence and other similar items. This means you’ve always got a record of your information on you, while still having it protected via encryption and the secure login of the Dashlane app. Armed with this information, Dashlane can auto-fill fields on sites, meaning you can log in, order and pay for items, then have them delivered to the correct address by barely having to type anything at all. There’s also support for Passkeys on the app, which will increase convenience and safety in the future as more sites adopt the technology. I did encounter a few websites and apps where the Dashlane log-in box didn’t appear, and therefore had to refresh the page or try logging in a second time to get it to come up, but this was rare and could have something to do with interference from the site itself. For the most part, Dashlane was reliable and fast so I could access sites with a minimum of fuss. Security & Encryption 256-bit AES end-to-end encryption 2 Factor Authentication VPN As with pretty much all password managers these days, Dashlane operates with a high level of emphasis on security. All your transactions between the app and sites are end-to-end encrypted using 256-bit AES technology. This prevents hackers from being able to gain access to your information while you’re logging on. Foundry Foundry Foundry There’s also 2-factor authentication available, with the Dashlane app acting as an authenticator, plus password monitoring to check if any of your details have been exposed in data breaches or have been reused too many times. To add even more layers of protection, the premium accounts come with a built-in VPN to encrypt all of your online activities, plus there’s dark web monitoring which scans for any of your credentials being traded on the criminal side of the internet. Price and Availability Dashlane is available on a wide range of platforms, with dedicated apps for iOS/iPadOS and Android, plus extensions for Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox. At the time of writing, Dashlane costs $39.96 (approx £32) per year for the individual account, which is a little bit more than some of its rivals, but the family and friends package blows most out of the water with 10 accounts included for the annual fee of $59.88 (approx £47). You’ll also find various tiers for small business and enterprise users. There is a free tier available, which acts as a taster for the full package, and you can use it indefinitely but with a limit of only 25 passwords. Still, if you don’t use that many sites, it might actually be enough by itself. Should I buy Dashlane? There’s no surprise that Dashlane is usually found around the top spots of the password manager charts. It’s a fully fleshed out app with advanced tools and security features. While the individual account might cost slightly more than some of its closest rivals, the family plan offers outstanding value for money. If you’re looking for a password manager for your extended family or friendship group, Dashlane is an excellent choice. iOS, MacOS, Password Managers, Personal Software10:40 amiPhone 16 Pro storage ‘leak’ is nothing more than speculation [U: Retracted]
Update: MacObserver has now issued a retraction. Here we go again. LeaksApplePro is back, this time with a claim that iPhone 16 Pro storage tiers could start at 256GB, up from the 128GB starting point of last year’s model. As we’ve noted before, the supposed source is an account with a history of just making stuff up, and we’re mentioning it at all simply because coverage elsewhere means readers might be misled into giving it credence … more…10:30 amApple’s parental controls are no good for parents or kids
Macworld Last week, my family and I–like so many others in the U.S.–hopped in a car to try and catch sight of a total eclipse. And, like so many other parents, I planned to distract my kid for some part of this lengthy adventure with an iPad. As my kid is still under two, there hasn’t been a lot of time spent with screens, aside from occasionally “playing” a game on our phones or watching some videos of trains. This marked the first time I planned to actually hand over a whole device–albeit still with the idea of just watching some downloaded videos–and I found as I set up the iPad what likely a legion of parents before me has also discovered: setting up an Apple device for a kid is kind of annoying. I’ve been covering Apple for almost 20 years, so you’d be forgiven for thinking this wouldn’t shock me, but the simple truth is that, not unlike The Matrix, this is something you have to experience for yourself. Ultimately, I concluded that Apple should really improve this experience for all of us time- and attention-strapped parents in various ways. Everything is permissible Let’s start by saying that Apple does have an extensive set of parental controls baked into its operating systems, all now collected under the aegis of Screen Time. Ostensibly this set of features not only allows parents to monitor how much time their kids spend using devices, but also controls the limits of which apps can be used, which settings can be changed, and so on. All to the good, but as I–again, a veteran technology journalist of almost two decades–embarked upon setting this all up, one thing quickly became clear: it is a pain. By default, everything is on and allowed, even when the iCloud account you login to is a child’s account (more on which in a bit). One thing that would be helpful here is some kind of kids profile, where permissions are locked down by default, allowing parents to selectively enable features they want kids to have access to. This also makes sense from the perspective of enabling more features as kids get older. It’d also be handy if it was an ad hoc mode you could go into, rather than having to spend the time setting up all the various permissions, the same way that Netflix has a kids profile that you can log into with just kids content. Reduce the friction by removing all the fiddling. That’s not to say such a feature would be enough, but it would be a good jumping-off point. ID, please Having survived the eclipse trip without a major technology or child-related breakdown, I decided to start poking further at the setup to prepare for more involved future travel. At which point it seemed like the best approach was to bite the bullet and set up an Apple ID for the kid. Apple tries to make it easy to create an Apple ID for a child, but the process can be buggy. Apple tries to make it easy to create an Apple ID for a child, but the process can be buggy.Apple Apple tries to make it easy to create an Apple ID for a child, but the process can be buggy.Apple Apple Apple, again to its credit, tries to make this process easy. If you have Family Sharing enabled, you can create a child account that links the Apple ID to your family, giving the kid access to shared purchases, but also in some regions controlling how certain features work. Unfortunately, the setup process was, for me, rife with bugs. After trying to create the child account several times on my phone, each time slowly typing in a password (because I couldn’t use iCloud Keychain to easily autofill one or paste one into the field), I was repeatedly greeted with an error message telling me simply that the account could not be created. Eventually, I gave up and tried on my Mac, wherein I had better luck–except I either mistakenly accepted the default email address created for me or the system never provided me an option to change it. Changing it to the correct email address proved likewise a chore, requiring an authorization email to me as the parent which took so long to arrive that I thought it had failed; I canceled the request and tried to resubmit it and when I then received the email and clicked on the approval link, I was told that it was invalid…because it turned out it was the email from the first request. (Not to mention the involvement of some truly terrible user experience.) This is less a critique of the setup process, admittedly, than its reliability, but reliability is key: I would not have faulted most people for giving up after the second or third time it failed. At long last, I got everything sorted out and had an ID in place. So back I went to the iPad to put the two of them together. Never the twain shall meet Wherein I discovered that when I logged into the child account I had to go through and turn off all the permissions all over again (with the exception of content restrictions, which did seem to transfer over from the Apple ID configuration). This seems a little ridiculous, given that the Apple ID account is marked as being for a child–surely it would, once again, make more sense to have permissions disabled by default or, at the very least, honor the permissions I’d already configured. Even beyond the permission issue, however, there are other challenges with handing an iPad to a young kid. For example, in the case of having mine watch a video, there’s always the chance of them accidentally touching a control or turning the iPad’s screen off. Fortunately, you can avoid that with the Guided Access accessibility feature, which is handy, but also kind of a pain to set up, since it requires you to choose which areas of the screen (or other hardware features) are off-limits and set up another passcode (on top of the device and Screen Time passcodes). As an accessibility feature, it’s pretty good, but as a feature for parents, it feels like it could use some simplicity to encourage its usage. Perhaps the biggest weak spot in Screen Time, however, is the use of the passcode. Yes, it’s good that making changes requires authorization…but a 4-digit passcode? In this economy? Apple’s been long pushing people towards 6-digit if not fully alphanumeric passcodes for their devices—I assure you, it’s not hard for a kid to suss out four numbers: we parents are often all too frazzled for quality OPSEC. I’m well aware that this situation is only going to get more challenging the older my kid gets: not only pushing for more autonomy and more capability but–if my own youth is any indication–actively trying to work out how to get around the restrictions in place, out of curiosity if nothing else. While technology isn’t the only or even best way to deal with that, it would certainly help if Apple offered tools a little better tailored to the particular challenges of parenting in the digital age. iCloud, iOS, MacOS10:18 amTim Cook promises Indonesia that Apple will consider manufacturing there
Apple CEO Tim Cook has told Indonesia's President that the company will look at the feasibility of opening manufacturing in the country, though he hasn't said whether that means the iPhone.Tim Cook (right) with photographer Sofyan Pratama in IndonesiaFollowing his two-day visit to Vietnam, in which he committed Apple to expanding its manufacturing there, Tim Cook met with Indonesia's President Joko Widodo over similar issues. Apple does not currently have manufacturers in Indonesia, but according to Bloomberg, Cook told the President that he was willing to consider it."We talked about the president's desire to see manufacturing in the country, and it's something that we will look at," Cook said after his visit to Jakarta. "The investment ability in Indonesia is endless." Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums10:15 amRumor: Apple’s AI efforts in iOS 18 to include on-device elements to help preserve privacy | PowerPageRumor: Apple’s AI efforts in iOS 18 to include on-device elements to help preserve privacy
iOS 18 is en route and is rumored to feature privacy-focused AI with processing done directly on the iPhone without connecting to cloud-based services. Per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in the Sunday edition of his PowerOn newsletter, the AI-related functions in iOS 18 “will work entirely on device.” In practice, these AI features would be able […] Source