Apple’s assemblers are now shipping the sixth-generation M2-powered iPad Air to the United States and other countries in preparation for an imminent launch.
Hartley Charlton for MacRumors:
The rumor comes from the leaker known as “Instant Digital,” who claims that manufacturers in China are now shipping the 2024 iPad Air in two sizes to overseas locations. “Everything is ready” for launch, the Weibo user says.
The sixth-generation iPad Air is rumored to feature the M2 chip, a redesigned rear camera, and specification upgrades like Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E. Most significantly, the iPad Air is expected to come in two sizes for the first time… One of the size options will be the same as the previous two generations at 10.9-inches, while the new addition to the lineup will apparently mirror the iPad Pro’s 12.9-inch model.
Recent reports coming out of Asia suggest that Apple will announce new iPad models on Tuesday, March 26.
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MacDailyNews Take: Imminent!
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The post Apple soon to launch sixth-generation M2-powered iPad Air in 10.9- and 12.9-inch models appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that Apple, which was caught flat-footed in AI, especially generative AI, is in talks to license Google’s Gemini large language model (LLM) to underpin AI features in services like Siri in a future operating system updates coming later in 2024. Sucha tie-up is very likely to draw scrutiny from government regulators.
Benj Edwards for Ars Technica:
The potential integration of Google Gemini into iOS 18 could bring a range of new cloud-based (off-device) AI-powered features to Apple’s smartphone, including image creation or essay writing based on simple prompts… Gemini could also bring new capabilities to Apple’s widely criticized voice assistant, Siri, which trails newer AI assistants powered by large language models (LLMs) in understanding and responding to complex questions. Rumors of Apple’s own internal frustration with Siri — and potential remedies — have been kicking around for some time.
[Apple]’s LLM technology is said to lag behind that of its competitors, making a partnership with Google or another AI provider a more attractive option.
The potential partnership between Apple and Google could significantly impact the AI industry, as Apple’s platform represents more than 2 billion active devices worldwide…
However, Bloomberg reports that the potential partnership between Apple and Google is likely to draw scrutiny from regulators, as the companies’ current search deal is already the subject of a lawsuit by the US Department of Justice. The European Union is also pressuring Apple to make it easier for consumers to change their default search engine away from Google.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple running to Google (or even Microsoft, depending on who will pay more for access to Apple users) after standing frozen like a deer in the headlights of the oncoming AI locomotive is a sad Balmeresque situation, but we’ve been telling you for years that such a thing was coming.
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The post Any Apple – Google generative AI tie-up likely to draw regulatory scrutiny appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>A new rumor today says that Apple has invested billions in a new coating technology for future iPhone displays. This technology would allegedly make future iPhone displays “more scratch-resistant” and add a new anti-reflection layer, but it won’t be ready for the iPhone 16 this year.
more…
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>A new Product Security Verified (PSV) label will in future be used to identify smart home devices which meet new industry standards designed to protect against hacking and data breaches.
It’s the latest initiative by the industry alliance behind the Matter standard, of which Apple is a member …
more…
]]>The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly holding a series of closed-door briefings intended to persuade senators to force the sale of TikTok to a US company, rather than ban it outright.
This follows Congress voting overwhelmingly in favor of either a ban or forced sale, while passage through the Senate is less certain …
more…
]]>Ever since Apple launched the M3 MacBook Air earlier this month, we’ve been waiting for new iPads to follow. Now it seems as though we have a date—and we’ll only need to wait a little longer.
According to the Chinese-language site IT Home (via Macrumors), Apple will take the wraps off its new iPads on Tuesday, March 26, based on an analysis of several tablet-related accessories that are due to go live on Amazon. It’s not clear which models will launch first or whether there will be a short preorder period. A separate report from Display Supply Chain Consultant Ross Young claims that supplies of the 11-inch models could be more constrained than the larger 12.9-inch models.
Apple is expected to update both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro with the first new models in more than a year. The most notable update will be a completely new 12.9-inch iPad Air model as a cheaper alternative to the flagship iPad Pro. It’s also expected to get a better camera and processor. The iPad Pro is rumored to get OLED displays, an M3 processor, and a thinner design as well as a higher price tag.
Also rumored are new 11-inch and 12.9-inch Magic Keyboards that will presumably support both models of Air and Pro. Reports have said the new keyboards will be sturdier and more MacBook-like. A new Apple Pencil is also likely to launch to refresh the lineup.
After the iPad launches, Apple’s next event is likely to be WWDC in June, which should be announced next week. Apple will unveil iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, and new versions of the rest of its operating systems. It could unveil some new hardware as well, such as a new Mac mini and Mac Studio.
iPad
]]>Apple has shared photos of the latest Apple Store, ahead of this week’s opening in Shanghai, China.
The photos reveal a curved glass facade, with stairs leading down into a beautiful circular design in the main display area in the basement of the store …
more…
]]>If you’ve had your Mac for a few years you may be looking longingly at the Apple website wishing you could justify the expense of buying a new one. But luckily you don’t have to fork out for a replacement computer to enjoy speed increases: in this article, we gather some simple tips to enhance the performance of your current device.
How to make a Mac run faster
Below we will run through the various checks you should make to find out why your Mac is running slow and speed it up, we’ll cover why you need to have around 10% of your Mac’s total storage free to keep it running well and how you can free up that space if need be. We’ll also look at how to find out if a particular app is gobbling up all the processing power and how to close it. And we’ll look at other changes you can make to your Mac to make it run faster, including adding more RAM or, if that’s not an option, clearing your RAM to speed things up.
Before you begin, try the following quick tips to see if they speed up your Mac:
Restart your Mac. If you haven’t restarted it for a while your RAM/Unified Memory could be maxed out.
Delete unnecessary files, apps and other items that are taking up space – especially if you have less than 10% of your Mac’s storage free.
Update your software in case there is a software issue that is causing the problem.
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How to speed up a Mac or MacBook
Follow these steps to speed up your Mac and make it run faster.
1.
Restart your Mac
Foundry
One of the most obvious things you can do if your Mac has slowed down is restart it. However, we understand that there will be lots of reasons why you don’t want to do that. Perhaps you don’t want to stop what you are doing and wait while your Mac restarts and the app you were using is reloaded. But restarting is usually the first fix for any Mac that’s slowed right down.
In fact that is why we recommend that you do restart regularly. Few aspects of Macs cause more arguments than the one about what to do at the end of the day: shut down or sleep? It used to be recommended that a computer should be left switched on because of the wear and tear of restarting the hard drive. With the advent of SSDs this is no longer a problem. The amount of time it would take to start up a Mac also used to be prohibitive. This is no longer the case, Macs start up almost instantly. Nowadays, the main advantage of leaving a Mac ‘sleeping’ rather than switched off is that it lets you continue where you left off. The only other reason to leave the Mac running is if you run maintenance or backup scripts at night. We address that here: Should I shut down my Mac every night?
Shutting down your Mac has a number of advantages many of which are related to how RAM (or Unified Memory, as Apple calls it) is being used. macOS uses swap files: spaces on your hard disk that allow your Mac to pretend it has more RAM than it actually has as virtual memory. Once the number of swap files exceeds five or so, your Mac starts to slow down. Then it’s time to reboot.
Restarting your Mac also means caches will get flushed and applications that are hogging your RAM will let it go. Restarting your Mac clears the caches and shuts down applications. The result is a Mac that’s refreshed and should perform better.
If right now shutting down and restarting isn’t for you – or that doesn’t work – there are plenty of other tips below to work through as you attempt to speed up your Mac.
2.
Close unnecessary apps
Foundry
It might sound obvious, but the best place to start, if you don’t want to shut down your Mac, is to close any apps that are running in the background.
If you haven’t shut your Mac down recently your Mac may be devoting memory and CPU space to a program you haven’t used since last week, instead of to the apps you want.
A quick way to see which apps are running is to glance at the Dock at the bottom of the screen. Programs that are running will have a dot underneath them. If you can’t see this dot, open System Settings/System Preferences and click Desktop & Dock and ensure that ‘Show indicators for open applications’ is selected.
Alternatively, press Command + Tab to bring up the App Switcher and tab through to see which apps are open.
There are a few ways you can shut down these apps. Right-click (or Ctrl-click) on their icon in the Dock and choose Quit, or if you are using the App Switcher, select a program and press Command-Q to quit it.
If when you Right-click on the icon in the Dock you see the Force Quit option against it you likely have identified the culprit because a problem with that app is probably slowing down your whole system.
Should you not get any options at all or just a spinning beach ball, you can use the Apple menu to shut the unresponsive app down. To do this, click on the Apple logo in the top left corner then select the Force Quit option. You’ll see a list of all open applications, simply highlight the one you think is playing up and click the Force Quite button.
Read How to Force Quit on a Mac for more information.
3.
Find out what’s slowing you down
Foundry
Some apps are more power-hungry than others, and sometimes apps have issues that cause them to grab more than their fair share of your system resources.
If you want to see which apps are using up your system resources, open the Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. (Or press Command + space bar and start to type ‘activity’ and press enter to open it from there).
Activity Monitor shows all the processes on your Mac (some of which you can’t, or shouldn’t, close) so go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and click View > Windowed Processes before you do anything.
Now, back in Activity Monitor, click on the CPU button and the “%CPU” column to list all programs by the amount of CPU they are using. You can also use this to see what Memory, Disk and Network different processes are using.
If you see that one app in particular is gobbling up a lot of CPU power then you can close it from here by selecting the app with the mouse and clicking on the x in the menu bar at the top of the Activity Monitor.
Take note of the apps that are using the most power – they might require a software update to make them work more efficiently.
For more advice see: How to use Activity Monitor to handle troublesome apps on your Mac.
4.
Update your software
Foundry
Make sure you regularly perform a software update for macOS and all the apps installed on your Mac.
If you are running any recent macOS version go to System Settings > General > Software Update. In slightly older versions of macOS it’s System Preferences > Software Update. Now wait while your Mac checks for updates. If there is one to install, do so.
Next check if your apps need updating. To check if there is an update for anything you have downloaded from the App Store open the App Store and click on Updates.
If you have apps purchased outside of the App Store they need to be updated separately.
You can make sure that macOS keeps itself up-to-date:
Click on System Settings > General > Software Updates.
Click on the i beside Automatic Updates.
Ensure that Check For Updates, Download new updates, and Install macOS updates are selected.
Make sure that Install Application updates from the App Store is selected.
Also ensure that Install Security Responses and system files is selected.
5.
Make sure enough space is free
Foundry
Part of your Mac’s performance depends on empty drive space. The Mac needs to be able to write and read its swap files and free space helps. But for these safeguards to work, you need at least ten percent of your disk drive empty.
Therefore, if you want your Mac to run at its best and you don’t have 10 percent of your storage space available you need to offload some of your larger files.
Your hard drive hosts a number of big files and folders. These could include email files and backups, and old versions of apps that you no longer need. If you frequently upload photos to your Mac and download music you may find that you quickly use up the space.
There are a few ways to find out how much space you have available. The method depends on the version of macOS you are running.
In macOS Ventura and later:
Open System Settings > General > Storage.
Wait while it calculates how much of your storage is being used, and also shows you what is using it.
Click on the i beside any category of content, e.g. Applications.
Click on anything and delete it if you don’t need it. If you sort by date last used that’s a quick way to find things you don’t need. Alternatively sort by size to find larger items to delete.
You won’t be able to delete anything from the macOS and System Data categories, but you can find out ways to remove this kind of content here: How to delete System Data.
In older versions of macOS there was a Storage option in About This Mac that took you straight to an explanation of ways to reduce the amount of space being taken up.
Open the Apple menu by clicking on the Apple logo in the top left of your screen.
Click on About This Mac.
Choose Storage from the tabs and wait while it calculates how much of your storage is being used and shows you what is using it.
Click on Manage to get options for optimizing your storage or storing photos and videos in iCloud rather than on your Mac.
On very old versions of macOS there was an Other section of storage. If you want to delete from that read: How to delete Other storage on the Mac.
If you are running short of space we run through various ways to free up the space on your Mac in How to free disk space on a Mac.
You can also use paid software such as DaisyDisk ($9.99/£9.99), WhatSize ($14.99) or OmniDiskSweeper to view your disk usage.
We have some more space-saving tips below.
6.
Free up RAM
Foundry
A long time ago the solution to improving your Mac’s performance was adding more RAM. Unfortunately this isn’t really an option for users of modern Macs – and not at all if you have any of the M-series of Macs as the memory is built onto the chip.
If you own an older Mac – a 27-inch iMac for example – it is relatively easy to upgrade the RAM and we will discuss how to do that here: How to upgrade RAM in a Mac.
But since that won’t apply to many Mac users, we’ll begin by explaining how to free up RAM. We also cover separately here: How to free up memory (RAM) on a Mac.
The simplest way to free up RAM is to restart your Mac, but sometimes we don’t want to do that. In that case there are apps you can use to free up RAM or you can use Activity Monitor. We’ll start with the Activity Monitor method.
Open Activity Monitor.
Click on the Memory tab.
If you look at the bottom of the window you will see how much RAM is being used. In our case 7GB of the 8GB available.
Click on the column headed Memory to sort by the biggest users of your RAM. Lots of what you will see here will undoubtedly mean nothing to you, but there will be a few apps that stand out.
Free up RAM by closing any RAM-hungry apps you aren’t using. You can do this via the Dock (right-click on the app and choose Quit), or just click on the app on Activity Monitor and then click on the X in the menu.
There are also apps that will help you clear your RAM. Among our favorites are Parallels Toolbox, which has an easy to use tool you can use to free memory and comes bundled with lots of other useful tools for $24.99/£20.99 a year (There’s a free 7-day trial available). Read our review of Parallels Toolbox.
Another option is CleanMyMac X from MacPaw. This collection of tools will warn you if you have Heavy Memory Usage and will offer to Free Up your RAM. CleanMyMac X costs $39.95/£29.95, it also has a free 7 day trial. f you’re on a budget DaisyDisk is another option for $9.99/£9.99. See our round-up of the best Mac cleaners for more options.
7.
Check the health of your Mac
Apple
If these fixes aren’t working you should make sure that your Mac is completely healthy. You can do this by running Disk Utility, which a program included on your Mac.
Open Disk Utility (in Applications/Utilities).
Select your startup drive from the list on the left.
Click the First Aid tab to the right.
Click Run (in older versions this was Verify).
If Disk Utility finds problems with your drive, you’ll need to boot from a different volume to perform the actual repairs. This is what Recovery mode is for.
To boot into Recovery mode you need to hold down Command+R at startup on an Intel Mac, or press and hold the Power Button at start up on an M-series Mac. Once in Recovery Mode you’ll be able to access Disk Utility and carry out the recommended repairs. Read more about using Disk Utility to fix a Mac.
You can also run the Apple Hardware Test (for Macs older than June 2013) or Apple Diagnostics (for Macs from June 2013 or later). Both tests check your Mac for other hardware issues, such as bad RAM.
There are other steps you can take if you have an old Mac that you are trying to speed up, one is to repair permissions. Repairing permissions isn’t something you can do on recent Macs, but in old versions of macOS it was necessary to repair permissions occasionally. This was achieved by following these steps:
Open Disk Utility and choose your main hard drive from the sidebar.
Click on First Aid and Repair Permissions.
If you have an older Mac this will ensure that all the files on your Mac have the correct permissions, which will help keep things ticking along.
However, since the arrival of Mac OS X El Capitan in 2015, you can no longer repair permissions in Disk Utility. It’s gone because the new System Integrity Protection (SIP) that arrived in El Capitan prevents permissions on files being modified which, according to Apple at least, means there should be no need to repair permissions.
8.
Sort out your iCloud syncs
Foundry
If you use iCloud to sync files across multiple desktops and sync your photos to iCloud Photos, you may be suffering slowdowns while your system syncs in the background.
If you think this is happening to you there are a few things you can try.
If you use iCloud Desktop, avoid storing large documents on your desktop – don’t drag and drop a humongous video file onto your desktop unless you need access at another location. You could also change where your screenshots are saved to.
In fact if you only store the documents you need access to on your iCloud desktop you may speed things up – and spend less time waiting for the files you actually need to sync. Just remember that if you don’t save things on your Desktop or somewhere else where they sync, they won’t be available to you in iCloud.
If you use iCloud Photos on your Mac and you don’t want to be busy syncing images, avoid opening the app in the first place. If it proves problematic, turn off iCloud Photos on that device.
9.
Keep a tidy Desktop
Foundry
Another tip is to keep your Mac Desktop free of clutter. If you’re using iCloud to sync various devices your Desktop will be synced and a cluttered Desktop will take time to sync. To find out just how much data is on your Desktop open the Finder and right-click on Desktop in Favourites, choose Get Info and then contemplate why there is 10GB of junk on your Desktop.
But that isn’t the only problem. Every file on your desktop is a window with an image in it – either an icon or a preview of the file. Each of those windows and their contents is stored in RAM so that when you switch to the Desktop or use QuickLook, your Mac can show you what’s in the window. The more files you have on your desktop, the more data is stored in RAM. That could result in your Mac running more slowly, especially if your Mac’s memory is already under pressure.
This is why it is worth organizing files properly in the appropriate user folder – Documents, Pictures, Movies etc – and you may see an improvement in the speed of your Mac. Luckily, since macOS Sierra, it has been possible to automatically sort files on your Desktop into Stacks, so that everything it automatically filed away into folders (by Kind or Date). Just open a Stack and delete excess files from time to time.
To set Desktop Stacks up if you haven’t already click on your Desktop and choose View > Use Stacks from the menu.
10.
Manage Spotlight
Foundry
Spotlight, particularly in recent versions of macOS, is a terrific tool. But if you use multiple drives, particularly on older Macs, it can take Spotlight time to index and re-index the filesystem. That in turn will slow down your Mac.
The answer is to limit the files Spotlight indexes. This is done in the Siri and Spotlight pane in System Settings (or the Spotlight pane in System Preferences on older Macs).
As you can see in the image above Spotlight is indexing everything, but if we wanted to omit certain results we could.
You can also omit certain folders you don’t want Spotlight to search: Click on the Spotlight Privacy tab and drag in any folders or volumes that you don’t want to search onto the window.
That will stop Spotlight indexing the folder or volume and thus reduce the number of files it needs to index, meaning it spends less time indexing and should improve performance on your Mac.
11.
Stop programs from opening at startup
Foundry
It is possible to set up your Mac so that when you start it up the programs you regularly need to use open up automatically. This could be a useful feature, but sometimes other applications you don’t want to use get into those items that open automatically when you log in.
If you really want to speed up your Mac stopping these programs from opening when you turn it on can really help. Here’s what to do:
Open System Settings.
Click on General
Click on Login Items.
If any items are in the Open at Login (that you don’t want to be there) remove them.
You can also stop items from being able to run in the background.
In older versions of macOS:
Open System Preferences
Click Users & Groups.
Now click on the Login Items tab to see if there are any programs and services that are set to launch when you first power up (or log in to) your Mac.
Highlight an item in the list that you don’t want and click on the Delete from Login Items – button at the bottom of the list.
12.
Turn off visual effects
Foundry
Most Macs can run macOS without any trouble. However, you can turn off some features that might slow your Mac down.
For example, some people prefer to keep the Dock static to prevent slowdown.
Open System Settings > Desktop and Dock and untick the following boxes. (in older versions it’s System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar)
Besides ‘Minimize windows using’ change Genie Effect to Scale Effect.
Turn off Magnification if you have that option selected.
13.
Turn off File Vault encryption
Foundry
File Vault allows you to encrypt every file you store on your Mac to keep it safe from prying eyes. It also uses lots of processor cycles, however, to encrypt and de-crypt those files.
If you use it, switch it off and see if you notice a difference in performance.
Click on System Settings.
Go to Privacy & Security.
Click on File Vault.
Click Turn Off.
(In System Preferences it’s the Security & Privacy tab that you need).
14.
Delete, delete, delete
Foundry
Were you suffering from limited space when you checked earlier? There are a number of quick ways to free up space on your Mac.
Empty the Trash: Right-click on Trash in the dock and choose Empty Trash.
Automatically delete: You can also set the Trash to automatically delete items every 30 days. Open the Finder and click on Finder > Settings > Advanced. Now choose Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.
Delete Downloads: Are there any items you’re unlikely to need still in the Downloads folder. Click on Downloads to the right of the Dock and the arrow at the top to open it in the Finder and see everything that’s in there.
Delete old and large files: Open the Finder and choose Recents (in older versions of Mac OS X choose All My Files), then either choose to sort by date or size. Choose size to selectively delete the biggest files. Choose date to find the files you haven’t needed in a while. (If your finder window isn’t showing size, go to View > Show View Options, and choose Size.)
Remove unwanted apps and programs: remove apps that you don’t use. You can just drag and drop apps into the Trash, but that can still leave associated files and settings on your Mac. For that reason, our advice is to invest in a program like CleanMyMac X ($34.95/£29.95 for a one year subscription) that can show you how much hard drive space apps are taking up and when you last used them, and can delete apps and all associated files.
Remove Widgets: You could also remobe widgets used in the Notification Centre. To do this, click on the clock and date at the top right of your screen (or the bullet icon on older macOS versions). Scroll down and click on Edit Widgets (or Widgets, or Today in older versions of macOS). Remove any you don’t need.
15.
Move photos to an external drive
Foundry
You might be surprised by how much of your Mac’s storage is taken up by photos and home videos.
You may consider paying for iCloud Photo storage, thinking that this would mean you could delete photos from your Mac as they would be stored in the cloud, but unfortunately, that isn’t how iCloud Photos works. If you delete the photos from the Mac that they are stored on you will also delete them from iCloud – and all your devices you can view them on.
That’s not to say that there is no benefit to using iCloud Photos. The service can greatly reduce the amount of space taken up by the images on your Mac thanks to a setting that means that no more photos are stored on your Mac than you have room for.
To make sure iCloud Photos isn’t taking a lot of space on your Mac follow these steps:
Open Photos and click on Settings (Preferences in older versions).
Click on iCloud.
Make sure that Optimise Mac Storage is selected.
This will mean that if your Mac is low on space only small versions of the photos and videos will be stored on your Mac – the full res versions in the cloud. You can, of course, download full-res versions at any time.
You may like to use another service to back up your photos in the cloud. You could try DropBox or Google Drive for example. Read about how to back up your Photo library in the cloud here:
How to back up your Apple photo library.
If you would prefer not to use a cloud service you could set up an external storage device and move the photos currently stored on your Mac to that.
To do so, follow these steps:
How to move photos to an external hard drive
Quit Photos.
Copy the Photos Library by dragging it from the startup volume to your external volume.
Once complete, hold down the Option key and launch Photos.
In Photos, select Photos > Settings (or Preferences), and in the General tab, click Use as System Photo Library.
We explain those steps in more detail here: How to move your Photos library to an external drive and you might like to check out our recommendations for best hard drive and best SSD.
16.
Move your music
Foundry
Another big folder could be your music library, especially if you have previously ripped music from CDs or have a lot of downloads.
As with Photos, you could free up disk space by offloading your music files to an external drive. For more information read how to move your Mac’s Music Library to another location. (Note that your music library then needs to be relinked via the Settings > Advanced tab.)
Alternatively, you could subscribe to iTunes Match, which, for $25/£21.99 a year, will move all your music into the cloud so you can delete it from your Mac, and access it on any of your devices.
Once your music is in iTunes Match you can just download the tracks you want to listen to when you want to listen to them.
Apple Music subscription can work in a similar way, in that it allows you access to all your music via the cloud – but iTunes Match is a clone of your music library in the cloud, where Apple Music just offers you access to any tracks you already own via the cloud. See How iTunes Match and Apple Music work together.
17.
Empty your Mac’s Caches
Foundry
You shouldn’t just delete files from cache because they can actually increase the performance of your Mac. For instance, a web browser will cache web pages so that when a website is revisited, the whole pages doesn’t have to be re-downloaded. Deleting cache will also mean that you will have to re-enter login details and passwords. Deleting cache can be more trouble than it’s worth.
However, if you need to free up space deleting some files from cache could be a solution. Have a look at your user caches by hitting Command+Shift+G from your Desktop to bring up Go To Folder and then typing ~/Library/Caches/.
To see how much space your Cache is taking up you could right-click on the Caches folder in the Finder and select Get Info. Don’t be surprised if a number of gigabytes are residing here.
As user caches are rebuilt when needed, you can safely delete these, especially for apps that are no longer used. Safari, Firefox and iTunes all allow you to clear caches directly within the apps (we address removing Safari cache below).
While you could go through all these cache files, deleting them, there are a number of useful utilities you can use to do this for you.
For example, CleanMyMac X from MacPaw ($34.95/£29.95 a year) can clear your cache quickly for you. Open the app, choose System Junk and then click Scan followed by Clean. Alternatives are CCleaner for Mac (free) and Parallels Toolbox ($19.99/£15.99 a year). All three solutions feature in our round-up of Best Mac Cleaners.
We have a separate guide to clearing the Cache on your Mac.
18.
Empty Safari cache
Foundry
Speaking of Cache, Safari sometimes gets clogged up with data. Cleaning this out will help speed up Safari in macOS.
In older versions you can just open Safari and choose Safari > Reset Safari and check Remove all Website Data. (Leave the other options unticked.) Now click on Reset. This can help speed up sluggish web browsing.
In later versions, you’ll need to open the Settings (or Preferences) dialog box, then select the Privacy icon and click the ‘Manage Website Data…’ button. You can then delete all cookies and cache by clicking the Remove All button.
If you just want to remove the cache and not the cookies or browser history, things are more complicated. But the hidden Safari Developer menu can be used to achieve this.
The Developer menu can be activated by selecting Safari > Settings (or Preferences), clicking Advanced, then putting a tick by Show Develop Menu in Menu Bar. (This option is right at the bottom.)
A new Develop menu option appears to the left of the Window and Help menu options. Close any open Safari windows and select Empty Caches on the Develop menu. Then click File > New Window to start Safari with a clean cache.
Read: How to clear Safari Cache and Cookies on a Mac for more advice about clearing Safari cache.
19.
Add more RAM
Foundry
As we explained above, adding more RAM isn’t the solution it used to be because upgrading the RAM in modern Macs – especially ones with an M-series chip is impossible.
However, if you own an older Mac – especially if you have a 27-inch iMac – it is relatively easy to upgrade the RAM.
In the past adding more RAM was the go-to solution for improving a Mac’s performance. Before you go ahead and spend money, however, it’s worth trying to figure out how much of a difference it will really make, if any.
The easiest way to do this is to fire up Activity Monitor (it’s in Applications/Utilities), click on the Memory tab and keep an eye on the memory pressure gauge at the bottom of the window. If it’s permanently green, you’re probably not going to see a huge difference by upgrading. If it turns red regularly, it’s worth the expenditure.
How much RAM you add and how you add it is dependent on your Mac. But as a rule of thumb, the effort of performing the installation compared with the marginal cost of bigger RAM modules means that it’s worth maxing out your Mac’s RAM in one go.
That will often mean removing the existing modules and replacing them. It’s a good idea, though not essential, to buy all the RAM you fit at the same time from the same manufacturer. If you decide just to fill empty slots, the same applies. And you should pair RAM modules of the same capacity, if possible.
The biggest hurdle will be whether it is possible to upgrade the RAM in your Mac, it’s easy to add more RAM to a 27-inch iMac, but as we said above, many modern Macs cannot be user-upgraded at all, which is why our usual advice is to buy as much RAM as you can afford as a build-to-order option when you first buy your Mac.
We have a separate tutorial with more information about installing RAM in a Mac.
20.
Do a clean install of macOS
Apple
If all else fails, and you’ve tried everything we’ve suggested to speed up your Mac without success, there is one more option: a clean reinstallation of the OS.
It’s not a job to be undertaken lightly – you’ll need to delete your entire boot drive. But, it will clear all the files that have been collected in the system Library and the user Libraries over the years and which may be causing the Mac to run slowly.
Remember to make at least one, preferably two, complete back-ups of your bit drive before you start so you can copy documents, images, music and anything else you need back once you’ve installed the new OS.
And don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have everything in the cloud, because there will be something that isn’t in the cloud!
21.
Buy a new Mac
Apple
If you are still struggling with a slow Mac read our guide to choosing a new Mac so that you can find the best replacement for you. Read: Which Mac is best or Which MacBook to buy.
We also have round-ups of the best Mac deals right now so you can get a Mac at a lower price than Apple sells it for:
iMac deals
Mac mini deals
MacBook Pro deals
MacBook Air deals
Mac Studio deals
Cleaning and Data Recovery Software, Mac, MacOS, Personal Software
]]>Ads. They are the disgusting fuel that makes the world go ‘round.
You thought it was angular momentum. Nope.
Business Insider raises the prospect of more ads on Apple products.
“Apple has begun testing an AI-powered ad product similar to Google’s Performance Max as it looks to supercharge its $7 billion ad business”
While Apple’s new tool appears to be limited to placements within the App Store, mobile-advertising experts said it could logically follow that Apple would eventually expand it to other properties.
Huge, if true. Hugely gross, the Macalope means. But is it? People who identify as “mobile advertising experts” are likely to not see any kind of problem with paving the entire world in ads, so are not likely to have any familiarity with good taste.
Commentators have previously speculated that Apple would soon bring ads to Maps, Apple TV+, and its Books app.
Speculation that Apple will add an ad-supported tier to TV+ is rampant after the company hired Joseph Cady, former EVP of advanced advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. As every other major streaming service already has an ad-supported tier, this seems like an obvious move to make. The Macalope looks forward to TV+ maturing into the kind of grown-up streaming service that regularly cancels shows you love after two seasons and just flat-out refuses to air things that are already in the can because the tax write-off is more lucrative than the money they’d make showing it. Only then will it have arrived.
Before we dip a bucket into the “Steve Jobs would never” well (which is full of bugs, algae, and maybe an old tire), we should look at Jobs’ track record on ads. Sure, he seemed pretty proud of the fact that TV shows purchased on iTunes were ad-free when he announced iTunes 6 in 2005. But he was also the one to enthusiastically note that a popular format for monetizing apps would be ads when the App Store was announced. While the Macalope doubts he’d want them festooning Apple products like Intel stickers, he wasn’t completely opposed to them.
That said, the Macalope thinks the over-ad-ification of Apple products is one of the biggest threats to the company’s reputation for a premium user experience. When you search for something in the App Store, the first thing you see is always an ad, which is rather minimally identified as such. This obviously does not serve the user and it is a real pain point for the developer of whatever you were actually searching for. Not to contradict Tim Cook’s assertion that the App Store is “a trusted place where developers and users could come together in a two-sided transaction”.
IDG
IDG
IDG
Not only is Apple the unmentioned third party in that transaction, but if the customer had to search for the app, it’s there again as an ad seller and the developer’s competition is there as well, jumping up and down trying to distract the customer.
AI’s “value add” here is purported to be in targeting the ads toward the right groups. You know, “left-handed people who recently ate but would be willing to split a dessert and are not Mennonites but are curious about the lifestyle.” These are notorious Wink drinkers.
In general, the Macalope is somewhat leery of AI in this ad context. Well, okay, he’s leery of it in a lot of contexts, but this one as well. Someday we’re going to reach the point where ads are sold targeting AIs, trying to influence them to influence us on our buying decisions.
Joke’s on them, though, because the Macalope already outsourced all of his buying decisions to an Al. Al Henster, his financial advisor. And Al doesn’t have a computer. Just business cards that read “The Analog Advisor”.
Game, set, and match.
iOS
]]>Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
In this episode of Apple @ Work, Weldon Dodd and I discuss the history of using a Mac at work.
more…
]]>With thousands of fonts in circulation, it’s tough to identify a specific font from memory, when you see it. Fortunately, you don’t have to–there are free websites and an iOS app that can identify font samples for you on the fly. The process is easy and a whole lot of fun.
How to identify a font from a printed sample
No matter which resource you use, identifying a font from a printed sample works the same way: Scan or take a photo of the text, then upload it. After the characters themselves are correctly identified, the resource tries to find the font.
For best results, use a clean, straight image of the sample text. Ideally, find a large printed example of the font and then scan it–18 point text or larger works best, because the edges of the characters will be more accurate. If you don’t have a scanner, take a careful snapshot with your smartphone or camera. Hold your camera steady so the text isn’t skewed horizontally or vertically. If you’re working with an image that’s askew, you can straighten it out in an image editor.
The most graceful way to identify a font in the wild is with the free WhatTheFont Mobile app. Just launch the app and then snap a photo of the text wherever it appears: on paper, signage, walls, a book, and so on. The app prompts you to crop the photo to the text and then identify each character. Probable fonts then appear in a list beneath the photo you uploaded, using the letters from your example text (which helps you determine the best match). Tap any font in the list to see more details.
Here are the steps for identifying the font of the iPad box using the WhatTheFont Mobile app on an iPhone.
Here are the steps for identifying the font of the iPad box using the WhatTheFont Mobile app on an iPhone.
IDG
Here are the steps for identifying the font of the iPad box using the WhatTheFont Mobile app on an iPhone.
IDG
IDG
If you don’t have an iOS device(!), try using one of these websites instead:
WhatFontIs
WhatTheFont
Each site examines an image you upload and then asks you to enter the letters that appear in your image. The website then tries its very best to identify the font for you. Again, the better the picture, the better your chances are of finding the font.
How to find out what the font is on a webpage
Happily, it’s far easier to identify fonts on the web than it is in print. If the font you want to find is used in live web text, as opposed to an image, just use WhatFont, which is available as a bookmarklet, as well as an extension for Safari and Chrome.
Once installed, the extension adds a small “f?” button to the left of the address field in your browser. Click the button, point your mouse at some text, and information about the font magically appears.
Clicking on some text while WhatFont is active pins a font detail panel to that text. This panel not only indicates the font name and size, it also shows the font’s alphabet and its color (as a hex value).
The WhatFont browser extension can provide a list of potential fint identifiers.
The WhatFont browser extension can provide a list of potential fint identifiers.
Foundry
The WhatFont browser extension can provide a list of potential fint identifiers.
Foundry
Foundry
Find out what font is used in an image on the web
If the font you want to identify on the web is actually inside an image (say, a logo or an ad), you’ll need to use one of the printed font resources mentioned earlier. However, instead of uploading your own image of the text, just drag the image from the website to your desktop and then upload that image to the font-identifying service.
That said, Firefox and Chrome users can automatically upload images using the WhatFontIs extension. Once installed, simply right-click an image and choose “Use this image on WhatFontIs.com.” The WhatFontIs.com site opens in a new tab with your image primed and ready for identification.
Profession font finders on the web
If none of the above resources can identify your font, try uploading the image to one of the following popular font identification forums. In a best-case scenario, your font will be identified in minutes. Otherwise, it may take a few hours or even days.
WhatTheFont Forum on MyFonts
Font Identification Forum on Dafont
This article was written by Lesa Snider and has been updated from when it was originally posted.
iOS, MacOS, Professional Software
]]>The days of “Macs don’t get viruses” are sadly long gone. Fortunately, ESET NOD32 Antivirus offers protection created by a team of experts with 30 years of experience fighting malicious software for a price you can only get through March 24.
Available for MacOS 11 and higher, ESET’s antivirus software uses multiple layers of active protection to filter out malware, viruses, ransomware, spyware, worms, and more. It even helps protect you against social engineering with an anti-phishing system that keeps tainted messages from corrupting your system.
You won’t notice it at work, however, as it’s been carefully designed to avoid slowing down your processor and is light on your battery, with testing from a range of professional bodies to prove it, including top scores from AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, MRG-Effitas, and SE Labs.
It’s also easy on your wallet, as there are no other hidden costs, and updates are included. Its easy-to-install process and straightforward user interface make it easy to manage, earning ESETa 4 out of 5 stars from PCMag.
Get antivirus protection for your Mac with ESET NOD32 Antivirus’s 2024 Edition, now just $19.97 through March 24 at 11:59 PM Pacific.
ESET NOD32 Antivirus 2024 Edition
Only $19.97 at Macworld
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Accessories
]]>Mac: A
By the end of the year, every single Mac in the lineup, save one, is arguably in the best shape that model has ever been. (Spoiler: the exception is the Mac Pro.)
When Apple Silicon debuted at the end of 2020, Apple started consumer-grade models first, with the regular M1 chips, and the M1 Pro/Max/Ultra chips followed the next year. That pattern repeated with the M2 generation. But at the end of 2023, Apple debuted the M3 generation of Apple silicon starting with the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros (with M3 Pro/Max chips), along with a lesser 14-inch MacBook Pro with the regular M3. It makes more sense for the MacBook Pros to get a new generation of chips first than for the MacBook Air. And these are the best MacBook Pros ever.
The 24-inch iMac skipped the M2 generation but got an update to the M3, along with Apple making it as clear as possible that they have no plans to make a 27-inch iMac with Apple silicon. I’m OK with that — I think a Studio Display with a Mac Mini is better solution. And those who miss the iMac Pro of the Intel era are better off with a Studio Display and Mac Studio.
The Mac Pro is the only sour note in the lineup. It finally came to Apple silicon (hooray), but spec-wise it’s pretty much a Mac Studio with advanced I/O options (boo). If your work requires high-end I/O, that’s great. But if not, it’s hard to see anything the Mac Pro offers that the Mac Studio doesn’t, other than a higher price and consuming a lot more space on or under your desk. Even if this first Apple silicon Mac Pro is a disappointment though, I say it’s great news overall, because it’s a sign that Apple still wants the Mac Pro in its lineup. At some point in the next year or two, I expect Apple to unveil a Mac Pro with specs that race ahead of the Mac Studio. It’s just obviously the case that Apple silicon isn’t there yet.
MacOS 13 Ventura and 14 Sonoma have both been fine releases. Reliable and (mostly) familiar.
iPhone: A
The new iPhone 15 lineup is great, especially the 15 Pro models, which Apple changed from heavy polished stainless steel to lightweight brushed titanium. The weight reduction is dramatic, and the titanium feels so much nicer in hand.
iOS 17 (can you believe it’s up to 17 now?) feels like what it is: a stable mature operating system. Apple has gone through two major transitions with iOS: the ground-up UI redesign with iOS 7 (can you believe that was 10 years ago?) and the all-screen, no-more-home-button system redesign with the iPhone X. Nothing major has changed since, and nothing seems to need to. The switch from Lighting to USB-C was, overall, no big deal — and enabled new
iPad: C
That there was no new iPad hardware this year makes it hard to give it a high grade, so a gentleman’s C it is. Worse, the existing lineup is rather confusing. iPadOS remains fine, but to me still seems like the no-man’s land platform: nowhere near as capable productivity-wise as a Mac; nowhere near as portable as an iPhone. Next year better bring clarity and some “wow” to the iPad lineup. I’d love to see a completely rethought Magic Keyboard — perhaps a combination keyboard/trackpad that works just as well with a Vision Pro as with an iPad?
Watch: B / Wearables (including Watch): B
The Series 9 models don’t look any different from Series 8, and the Ultra 2 doesn’t look any different from the Ultra 1, but inside, the new S9 SiP chip provides noticeably better battery life — which at this point is really one of the platform’s only weaknesses.
WatchOS 10 is the biggest re-think of the software platform ever. Far more colorful, a bit more “computer on your wrist”, and I think widgets are generally more useful on Apple Watch than apps are.
AirPods Pro 3 are just terrific, and the new Adaptive noise control mode is amazing for my day-to-day usage.
Apple TV: B
No news on the hardware front this year, but it wasn’t needed. The big change in tvOS is moving the iTunes Movie and TV stores into the TV app. Overall that’s a wash for me, but it’s slightly irritating insofar as I really only ever buy or rent movies nowadays — my TV-show-watching goes through streaming apps. But the “Store” tab in the TV app gives prominent placement on the main screen to a row full of popular TV shows. All I want to see are movies.
The best change in tvOS this year, though, is that the circular up/down/left/right wheel on the remote now works like it should have all along: you can run your finger around it in circles to scroll and scrub, just like using the scroll wheel on an iPod of yore. No idea why it didn’t work like this all along, but I’m sure glad it does now.
Services: B
Lots of great shows and movies on TV+. Slow Horses, Silo, Hijack, For All Mankind, and Flowers of the Killer Moon were all standouts.
iCloud remains secure, fast, and reliable. So much seamless continuity (including via Continuity-branded features) across devices.
But I’ll repeat this gripe from previous years: it’s miserly that Apple is still offering only a mere 5 GB of storage at the free tier, and have left the paid-tier storage allotments unchanged since like forever. I wonder how many zillions of iPhone users out there don’t have device backups because they only have a free iCloud account with 5 GB? The Apple One bundle is a good deal, but the free iCloud tier should be genuinely useful for backing up a modern iPhone.
HomeKit/Home: C
I’ll repeat my line from last year: Big picture, this whole thing still feels like it’s always poised to get good “next year”. 2023 wasn’t that year (again).
Hardware Reliability: A
No news is great news in this category.
Software Quality: B
I’ll keep it short: I have concerns and complaints about aspects of the direction Apple’s software design is headed (or in some ways, has been now for years), but their software reliability has been very good for me.
Developer Relations: C
Third year in a row with the same comment: Resentment over App Store policies continues to build. Frustrations with the App Store review process seem unimproved. Apple’s goal should be for developer relations to be so good that developers want to create software exclusively for Apple’s platforms. The opposite is happening.
Social and Societal Impact: A
Another repeat comment, but another good year on this front: Climate/carbon is the societal area where a company like Apple can and should make the most difference, and I’m hard-pressed to think how they could be doing more than they are, practically. 2023 saw the launch of several entirely carbon-neutral Apple Watch configurations.
We’re living in sensitive times on other social issues, and Apple seems to be managing that very astutely and honestly.
]]>Apple’s Studio Display was launched two years ago as a more affordable option for those looking for a good external Retina display for their Mac. A year later, Samsung came out with its own alternative to the Studio Display: the ViewFinity S9. With the same screen size, 5K resolution, and price as Apple Studio Display, is the Samsung ViewFinity S9 any better? Read on as I detail my experience with Samsung’s 5K display.
more…
]]>Apple’s new iPad Pro models are highly-anticipated and have been described as the biggest update to the devices since 2018. Over the last several weeks, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about when these new iPad Pros will actually be released. Here’s everything we know…
more…
]]>Ever wonder what malware can your Mac detect and remove without any third-party software? Recently, security researchers have correlated some bizarre macOS YARA rules used by the built-in XProtect suite with their public names. Here’s what malware it looks for…
9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and modern Apple MDM on the market. The result is a totally automated Apple Unified Platform currently trusted by over 45,000 organizations to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
READ M0re
]]>Apple’s new CarPlay interface was originally designed to fend off Android, but now, after the decade-long Project Titan(ic) ended in ignoble failure, it’s Apple’s last hope to conquer the automotive industry.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Now that Apple has shelved plans for its own car, CarPlay has arguably taken on even more importance: It’s the company’s only hope of seriously cracking the automotive market.
When Apple decided to revamp CarPlay, it was worried about Android… [A] few years after both Android Auto and CarPlay hit the market, Google took a major leap by introducing Android Automotive. Though this software doesn’t look radically different than Android Auto, it’s installed in the car itself. That means it’s an integrated system that can take over a vehicle’s screens and gauges without the need to connect a phone.
Over the past few years, this approach has swept the car world. Polestar, Porsche, BMW, Volkswagen, Ford, Lucid, Stellantis and General Motors now offer cars with the Android operating system built-in. After just seven years, Android Automotive is the market leader — with an estimated 35% of the car operating system market.
The new CarPlay is a response to that… There is one big difference, though: The new CarPlay still runs on the iPhone and isn’t a new OS embedded in the vehicle…
This limited rollout also has focused on very high-end cars. In fact, the only model confirmed to be getting the new CarPlay is the Aston Martin DB12, which costs roughly $245,000 and up. (Porsche hasn’t said which model is getting the feature.) That doesn’t give the impression that the new CarPlay is about to take over the auto industry… The clock is ticking. If Apple doesn’t quickly get more automakers to adopt the new CarPlay, it will certainly lose ground to Android
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MacDailyNews Take: If Apple were smart (and maybe they’re already doing this), they would incentivize automakers to widely adopt their next-gen CarPlay with funding, engineering help, marketing, etc. CarPlay is a selling point, as most automakers already know, but this next-gen CarPlay takes some time and money to integrate it widely throughout a vehicle, so Apple would be wise to help it along to the point where automakers would be fools to say no.
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The post After Project Titan failure, Apple’s last hope to crack the auto industry is CarPlay appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>Apple’s new iPhone 15 ad focuses on storage, of all things. “Lots of storage for lots of photos,” Apple says. “iPhone 15 with storage stating at 128GB.”
The gist of the video? You’ll never have to delete your photos or videos thanks to the iPhone 15’s ample storage.
more…
]]>Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.
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]]>During a workshop event in the European Union today, Apple shed new light on how the Core Technology Fee plays into its compliance with the Digital Markets Act. In particular, the company acknowledged concerns that the CTF could ultimately end up bankrupting small developers who have a free app go viral.
more…
]]>Apple suppliers are gearing up for the biggest AirPods launch to date as they’re nearing the start of production for the next AirPods line.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
[I]t could be a record-setting run. The company is planning to produce 20 million to 25 million units of the earbuds, an increase over prior new models. Production will formally kick off in May at GoerTek Inc. and Luxshare Precision Industry Co., setting the stage for a release around September or October… [T]he new AirPods are a renewed push into the lower end of the market.
The new models will replace the second- and third-generation AirPods. The updated versions are codenamed B768(E) and B768(M), with the E representing “entry” and the M standing for “mid-tier.” Both will have a new design, improved fit and charging cases with USB-C, but the mid-tier version will get active noise cancellation and Find My speakers in the case, making it easier to locate the product if it gets lost…
Apple is also planning some serious AirPods-related software upgrades as part of the iOS 18 rollout this fall. One feature in development includes a hearing aid mode for the AirPods Pro. The company is also working on a hearing-test feature for AirPods.
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MacDailyNews Note: Gurman also reports that A new version of the AirPods Pro is coming as soon as next year.
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
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The post Apple said to begin production of two new AirPods models appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>The post The Apple 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter is 25% Off appeared first on iLounge.
]]>The post Apple discussing iPhone Gemini AI integration with Google appeared first on iLounge.
]]>The post Two AirPods 4 models launching this year appeared first on iLounge.
]]>The post Apple Account branding might go live with iOS 18 appeared first on iLounge.
]]>2024 is shaping up to be the “Year of AI” for Apple, with big updates planned for iOS 18 and more. The rumors – and Tim Cook himself – make it clear that there are new AI features for Apple’s platforms in the works. Here’s everything we know about the ways Apple is exploring AI features…
more…
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>“Pachinko” creator Soo Hugh has signed a multi-year overall deal with Apple TV+ and Media Res to create, write, and produce content for Apple’s premium-quality streaming service and the TV/film production company.
Joe Otterson for Variety:
“For the last six years, I’ve been fortunate to call Apple and Media Res my creative family,” Hugh said. “Together, we dreamed big, and I am thrilled to be able to continue working with so many people I admire and cherish. Now, the homecoming is official.”
Hugh developed the Min Jin Lee novel “Pachinko” for television, which was produced by Media Res and distributed by Apple TV+. Hugh also serves as showrunner and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed series, which debuted its first season in March 2022. The second season is due out later this year.
Hugh was also the co-showrunner on the first season of the AMC series “The Terror” and created the ABC series “The Whispers.” Her other credits include “The Killing” and “Under the Dome.”
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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The post ‘Pachinko’ creator Soo Hugh inks multi-year overall deal with Apple TV+ appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>Oddly enough, wireless charging is one of my top use cases for MagSafe. Some of my earliest MagSafe accessories have been wireless chargers in the car. I don’t have long commutes every day, so I am frequently in and out of the car. The friction of plugging up a charger every time I got into the car was something I was happy to give up. I’ve tried various car chargers with varying degrees of success over the years, but I believe I’ve found the perfect one with the ESR for .
more…
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>The AI race shows no signs of slowing down. We’ve reported about how iOS 18 is expected to build in many different AI features throughout the OS, and Apple is racing ahead with its AI research and development, publishing new research papers and code several times a month.
But all that internal development doesn’t mean the company won’t also the approach of Microsoft, whose Copilot features in Windows are built with licensed OpenAI technology. If the latest report from Bloomberg is true, iOS 18 may have one or more AI features powered by Google’s new Gemini AI.
Mark Gurman cites “people familiar with the situation” in claiming that Apple is in talks with Google to license Gemini to power “some new features coming to the iPhone software this year.” Gemini is Google’s latest next-generation generative AI model just introduced in December (with Gemini 1.5 announced in February). Apple is said to have also spoken with OpenAI recently as well.
Google has paid Apple billions of dollars a year to make its search engine the default for the iPhone’s Safari web browser. Users can change this, but most don’t know how or care to. As a result, over a billion iPhone users make multiple Google searches a day, helping to cement Google’s dominance in search and of course making the company a ton of money serving ads.
It’s unclear how this new deal would compare to that one. The report says that issues like branding or the scope of how features would be implemented have not yet been decided.
Gemini made a big splash when it arrived earlier this year, but quickly ran into controversy. After a series of social-media posts showing inaccurate depictions of historical figures, Google “paused” image generation and admitted that its “tuning to ensure that Gemini showed a range of people failed to account for cases that should clearly not show a range.”
Apple is pushing hard to introduce lots of big new AI-driven features in iOS 18 and has been publishing research papers on AI at an increasing rate over the last several months. A deal to use Google’s generative AI may be an indication that Apple isn’t far enough along in producing some of its own AI tools, or the effort may be limited in scope—using Gemini for browser-based features like AI-powered search or web page summaries, for example, while Apple’s own AI is used for other features like image editing and an upgraded Siri.
We likely won’t hear anything concrete about Apple’s AI partners and homegrown tools until WWDC in June, when the company takes the wraps off iOS 18, macOS 15, and its other new operating systems.
Apple Inc, iOS
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>The MacBook Air lineup is stronger than ever right now, but maybe not for the reasons you think. Yes, the M2 and M3 MacBook Air are great computers. But do you know what’s also a great computer? The M1 MacBook Air, especially when it’s available for under $700.
In fact, it’s probably the best Mac value ever.
more…
]]>One of the major differences between the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro is that the Air lacks cooling fans. That means the Air will slow down its performance if the task at hand causes the computer to generate excessive heat. That’s always been the case with the Airs, but apparently, it’s jumped to a new extreme with the M3 MacBook Air.
Max Tech has done some extensive benchmarking with the M3 MacBook Air and discovered that when using the M3 Air in clamshell mode with two external displays, one of the laptop’s major new features, the laptop throttles so much that performance could be cut in half. Max Tech was able to do this by running the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme benchmark for 20 minutes. After the sixth minute, the performance starts to dip and it continues to do so until about 50 percent of the performance is lost.
We’ve mentioned (and experienced) the MacBook Air throttling with past models, and even saw some of it while testing the new M3 MacBook Air with the laptop open. The clamshell mode (where the Air is closed while connected to external displays) shows a more drastic drop than we’ve seen with past Air models due to the laptop’s lack of a fan.
The argument can be made that the situation that causes the drop is an outlier, but it’s not–3DMark Wild Life Extreme is a 3D graphics test that performs tasks commonly used in high-end games, and Apple touts the Air as a capable gaming laptop. Also, the throttling isn’t just with this one benchmark test. Max Tech saw a similar drop in Cinebench 2024 and with an Adobe Lightroom Classic image import.
How to maintain M3 MacBook Air performance in clamshell mode
Max Tech tried a few different things to prevent the M3 MacBook Air from throttling down. First, they used a Svalt Cooling Block, which is a laptop stand that also doubles as a heat sink, drawing away heat that’s dissipating through the bottom of the case. Then they used the Svalt Cooling Block with a Svalt Cooling Fan Fx. Both methods reduced the amount of throttling, with the Block/Fan setup being better than with just the Block.
Lastly, they cracked the Air case, installed thermal pads, and placed the Air on the Block with a Fan. This setup was the most successful, showing little to no throttling or performance loss. In fact, in some tests, the Air slightly outperformed the M3 MacBook Pro.
Using the Svalt Cooling Block with the Cooling Fan Fx is a simple method to address the problem, but it’s a pricey one–the Block is $279 and the Fan is $49. Add that to the price of the $1,699 15-inch MacBook Air used in Max tech’s testing, and you’re paying $2,023, which is $24 more than the $1,999 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro that will soon be updated to support two displays in clamshell mode like the Air. Cheaper stands with cooling fans are available, but it’s not known how effective they are for this purpose. Adding thermal pads is also relatively easy, but not everyone feels comfortable with cracking open a MacBook to access the inner workings.
Why does the MacBook Air have no fans? So Apple can make it as thin and light as possible. However, the technology does exist where Apple could put fans in the Air without making the laptop bigger. A few months ago, I saw a demonstration of a hacked MacBook Air outfitted with Frore’s AirJet, which is what Frore calls a “solid-state active cooling chip.” They’re fans that are a little bigger than the size of an SD Card. The AirJet drew the heat away from the Air’s CPU, which allowed it to maintain performance. AirJet isn’t a product consumers can buy, but it could be an option down the line as processors get more powerful and basic needs get more demanding.
Apple has not commented on Max Tech findings, but Apple has always positioned the MacBook Air as a general consumer laptop that can do the occasional heavy-duty task usually done with a pro-level app. If you find yourself doing load-heavy work consistently, a MacBook Pro (which has cooling fans) is more appropriate. For more about the MacBook Air, check out our M3 MacBook Air superguide.
Apple 13-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2024)
Price When Reviewed:
$1,099 (base)
Best Prices Today:
$1,049.99 at Amazon$1099 at Adorama$1099 at Apple
Apple 15-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2024)
Price When Reviewed:
$1,299 (base)
Best Prices Today:
$1,234 at Amazon$1299 at Adorama$1299 at Apple
Read our full
Apple 15-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2024) review
MacBook
]]>Anyone ready for new iPads? New iPad Air and iPad Pro hardware is expected to be unveiled any day now. This includes a more affordable 12.9-inch display with the iPad Air expected to add a larger option. We also expect to see the first iPads OLED screen technology to deliver deeper black levels like the iPhone and Apple Watch.
A new report from DSCC may add color on when to expect new iPads to ship. The analyst firm also gives us an idea of what to expect with the iPad Pro supply mix at launch.
more…
]]>Monday, Apple TV+ revealed the trailer for the highly anticipated new season of “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock.” All 13 episodes of “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” season two will premiere globally on Friday, March 29, 2024 on Apple TV+, joining season one of “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock,” the “Night of the Lights” holiday special, the original 1980s “Fraggle Rock” series, and recently-added bonus specials “Down at Fraggle Rock,” “Doozer Music” and “Fraggle Songs,” all of which are now streaming.
Jim Henson’s fun-loving and musical Fraggles — Gobo, Red, Boober, Mokey, Wembley and Uncle Travelling Matt, appearing alongside new Fraggles and Doozers voiced by special guest stars, including Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose, Emmy Award winner Brett Goldstein, Emmy Award winner Catherine O’Hara, Tony and Grammy Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Daveed Diggs, Grammy nominee Adam Lambert and K-pop group aespa — are back with more epic, fun and zany adventures, this time with big changes affecting the Rock. The Fraggles, Doozers and Gorgs will be forced to confront their past and celebrate their interdependence as they move through challenges together with hope, silliness and brand-new songs, all while dancing their cares away … down at Fraggle Rock.
“Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” is executive produced by The Jim Henson Company’s Lisa Henson, Halle Stanford and John Tartaglia, along with Matt Fusfeld and Alex Cuthbertson. Co-executive producers are Dave Goelz and Karen Prell, and executive music producer is Harvey Mason Jr. The new season is produced by Chris Plourde and co-produced by Tim O’Brien. The series is produced in association with New Regency with Arnon Milchan and Yariv Milchan executive producing.
In addition to “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock,” Apple’s partnership with The Jim Henson Company includes “Harriet the Spy,” the first animated adaptation of the iconic children’s novel; “Slumberkins,” the mixed-media puppet/2D animation program from the beloved children’s emotional learning brand empowering children to be caring, confident and resilient; and the popular “Fraggle Rock: Rock On!” shorts.
The award-winning slate of original series and films for kids and families on Apple TV+ includes the celebrated live-action animated hybrid special, “The Velveteen Rabbit”; the Academy Award and BAFTA Award-winning animated short film “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”; and the BAFTA Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated animated film “Wolfwalkers.”
Apple TV+’s all-age offerings are now streaming globally on Apple TV+, including the BAFTA Award and Humanitas Prize-winning “El Deafo,” BAFTA Award-winning “Lovely Little Farm,” “Duck & Goose,” “Get Rolling With Otis,” Spin Master Entertainment’s “Sago Mini Friends,” GLAAD Media Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning “Pinecone & Pony,” “Frog and Toad,” The Jim Henson Company’s Emmy Award-winning “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock,” “Harriet the Spy” and “Slumberkins,” Sesame Workshop’s “Helpsters,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt, HITRECORD and Bento Box Entertainment’s “Wolfboy and the Everything Factory,” Jack McBrayer and Angela C. Santomero’s Emmy Award-nominated “Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show,” Peanuts and WildBrain’s Emmy Award-nominated “Snoopy in Space,” “The Snoopy Show,” and Scholastic’s “Eva the Owlet” and Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series “Stillwater.” Live-action offerings include Emmy Award-winning and GLAAD Media Award-nominated CGI blended series “Jane,” Bonnie Hunt’s DGA and WGA Award-nominated “Amber Brown,” Emmy Award and DGA Award-winning “Best Foot Forward,” “Surfside Girls,” Emmy Award and WGA Award-winning “Life By Ella,” Sesame Workshop’s Emmy Award-winning “Ghostwriter” and Scholastic’s “Puppy Place.”
Also included are “Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth,” the Emmy Award-winning television event based on the New York Times bestselling book and TIME Best Book of the Year by Oliver Jeffers, and “Snoopy Presents” specials from Peanuts and WildBrain including Emmy Award-nominated “Snoopy Presents: It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown,” “Snoopy Presents: Lucy’s School,” Humanitas and Emmy Award-nominated “Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), With Love,” “Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie,” Emmy Award-winning “Snoopy Presents: Who Are You, Charlie Brown?,” “Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne” and the recently released “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin.”
Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have earned 479 wins and 2,123 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning comedy “Ted Lasso” and historic Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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The post Apple TV+ debuts trailer for ‘Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock’ season two coming March 29th appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>Whether you’re trying to lose a few pounds and track your weight for other purposes, smart scales that sync data to the iPhone can be a fun and useful way to keep an eye your status.
If you want to easily collect your weight and other measurement data in the Health app on iPhone and iPad (new with iPadOS 17), the trick is to find a scale that works with HealthKit.
more…
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>With iOS 17.4 this month, Apple debuted a number of new features as part of its efforts to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the EU. These efforts include alternative app marketplaces, new business terms for developers, and support for third-party browser engines.
Apple’s plans have faced criticism from companies like Meta, Epic, and Spotify. In a hearing on Monday, however, Apple justified its changes and explained why it believes it is in compliance with the DMA.
more…
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>Monday’s best deals are now live with a chance to drop Apple’s M1 MacBook Air as low as $613. It comes joined by stainless steel Apple Watch Series 8 at $300 off, as well as a batch of new all-time lows on Anker’s latest 15W Qi2 chargers from $48. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.
more…
]]>Apple today previewed Apple Jing’an, located near Jing’an Temple and Jing’an Park in Shanghai. The store is encircled by an exterior plaza that is meant to the community a gathering place for special events, as well as providing a shopping destination where customers can discover and buy Apple’s lineup of products and services.
“We’re thrilled to open Apple Jing’an — a store that seamlessly blends the traditional with the modern and perfectly complements this historic neighborhood in Shanghai,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail, in a statement. “From our phenomenal iPhone lineup to the new 13- and 15- inch MacBook Air, Apple Jing’an brings all of our products and services together with an amazing team to create a truly magical shopping experience for our customers.”
The Forum, featuring a large video wall in the center, serves as a space for learning and inspiration through free Today at Apple sessions.
Located next to the landmark Jing’an Temple, Apple Jing’an is a must-see destination in Shanghai. Approaching the store through a grove of maple trees that line the upper plaza, visitors are treated to a stunning view of the temple. As customers descend down the stairs, they pass by terracing, double-curved walls that extend forward in a circle to form amphitheater seating that will host Today at Apple sessions specially created for Apple Jing’an to celebrate the community and its creators. Upon entering the expansive store from the lower level, customers are invited to explore the surrounding avenues and display tables with the latest iPhone 15 lineup, the new 13- and 15- inch MacBook Air with the powerful M3 chip, and Apple’s first-ever carbon neutral products in its latest Apple Watch lineup.
Customers are invited to explore the surrounding avenues and display tables with the latest iPhone 15 lineup and the new 13- and 15- inch MacBook Air with the powerful M3 chip.
Once inside the store, visitors can travel between floors using the central feature staircase or through the stainless steel elevator. The Forum, featuring a large video wall in the center, serves as a space for learning and inspiration through free Today at Apple sessions. Meanwhile, the Boardroom offers a private setting where the store’s Business Team can offer advice and training to entrepreneurs, developers, and customers of businesses large and small.
From the design of the store to the materials used to bring it to life, every element of Apple Jing’an is built with purpose. Reflecting Apple’s long-standing commitment to the environment, the new store features a Padang Light stone wall that is sustainably and locally sourced within China, giving the store a seamless visual and material harmony.
The 150-person team is ready to help customers shop for a new device, provide personalized setup and support, learn about switching to iOS, or find out about retail services like Apple Trade In or financing programs.
Ideally situated just steps away from public transport, the new store offers a dedicated Apple Pickup station to make it easier than ever for customers in Shanghai to order online and collect their devices in-store at a time that’s convenient for them.
Special Sessions
Opening festivities include a special performance by the youngest members of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to share the future of classical music in-store for customers. Apple Jing’an will also offer a special six-week Today at Apple program that pays homage to the local community and its creatives with the series Let Diverse Creativity Bloom in Jing’an, showcasing Shanghai’s next generation of creators and their multifaceted skills through the groundbreaking capabilities of iPhone.
Following opening weekend, the store will host its free, ongoing Today at Apple sessions that help users get set up, connected, and make the most out of their devices. The free Apple-led programming includes:
• Photo Tour: Framing Architecture
• Get Started: Mac
• Workshop: Photography on iPhone
• Video Tour: Capturing Cinematic Shots
Today, Apple has 57 stores in Greater China. Last year, Apple opened Apple MixC Shenzhen, the second store in the city, as well as Apple MixC Wenzhou, the first store in the coastal city. Apple Jing’an marks Apple’s eighth store in Shanghai. In addition to shopping directly with Apple Retail, customers in China have even more places to discover and buy Apple products, get expert support, and more on the Apple Store online.
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple Store Jing’an will welcome its first customers on Thursday, March 21st, at 7 p.m.
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The post Apple Jing’an retail store opens on March 21st in Shanghai, China appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>In a new paper published this month, Apple researchers reveal that they have developed new methods for training large language models using both text and visual information. According to Apple’s researchers, this represents a way to obtain state-of-the-art results.
more…
]]>Bloomberg leaker-analyst Mark Gurman has reiterated his prediction, which we covered back in December, that not one but two new sets of AirPods will launch in 2024. But we now have rather more details of the upcoming wireless earbud launch.
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman reveals that the new models will enter formal production in May, “setting the stage for a release around September or October [2024].” That means they could appear alongside the iPhone 16, or at a second fall event if Apple decides to pursue that strategy again.
Either way, this should be a big deal. For one thing, AirPods fans–of which there are many–have been starved of new releases in recent years. The only thing they got in 2023 was a USB-C case for the 2nd-gen AirPods Pro, which came out in September 2022. And the last time a non-Pro model came out was back in 2021.
For another, the new models incorporate a lot of changes from the status quo. Releasing a pair of non-Pro AirPods at the same time is a new strategy (designed to simplify the range, which currently presents customers with both the 2nd- and 3rd-gen AirPods but no obvious way to tell them apart or understand why the latter costs more). And targeting the budget range, which the cheaper of the two models is expected to do, is a new strategy.
Both the B768(E) and B768(M) models (the final letters in those codenames standing for entry and mid-tier respectively) will see a physical redesign, improved fit, and USB-C-equipped cases, but unsurprisingly only the mid-tier model will get new features worth mentioning: active noise cancellation, and Find My speakers in the case.
Gurman adds that there will be new AirPods Pro as well, but not until 2025. He says, intriguingly, that these will feature “low-resolution cameras that can scan the environment around a user.”
For all the latest news and rumors, check out our regularly updated guide to the new AirPods. Or, if you can’t wait until the fall, pick up a bargain on one of the current models with our roundup of the best AirPods deals.
Headphones
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>Apple on Monday disputed criticism that it has not done enough to open up its ecosystem as required under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, saying it has complied with the legislation.
Foo Yun Chee for Reuters:
The company told apps developers, business users and rivals at a day-long hearing organised by the European Commission that it has redesigned its systems to comply with the DMA.
“We were guided first and foremost by ensuring that we’ve complied with the law. And then second, that we did it in a way that was consistent with our values and consistent with the language that we’ve developed with our users over a very long period of time. And we think we’ve accomplished that,” Apple’s lawyer Kyle Andeer told the hearing.
“And I think we’re focused on it from a user perspective. Now, it’s not to say that we’re not focused on the impact of developers, but I think from our perspective first and foremost, we’ll be tracking very carefully what’s the impact of all of these different changes on the user experience that we’ve delivered to our customers for 15, 16 years through the iPhone?”
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MacDailyNews Take: EU bureaucrats are among the world’s very best at wasting everyone’s time:
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. – MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024
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The post Apple: Yes, we’re complying with EU’s Digital Markets Act appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>Ahead of NCAA March Madness kicking off later this week, the March Madness Live app has received an update with a few new features. The app is now compatible with Apple Vision Pro, offers expanded capabilities for CarPlay users, and more.
more…
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>Apple is in talks to build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine into iPhone, iPad, and other platforms, Bloomberg News reports citing “people familiar with the situation.”
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The two companies are in active negotiations to let Apple license Gemini, Google’s set of generative AI models, to power some new features coming to the iPhone software this year, said the people… If a deal between Apple and Google comes to fruition, it would build upon the two companies’ search partnership. For years, Alphabet Inc.’s Google has paid Apple billions of dollars annually to make its search engine the default option in the Safari web browser on the iPhone and other devices.
A deal would give Gemini a key edge with billions of potential users. But it also may be a sign that Apple isn’t as far along with its AI efforts as some might have hoped — and threatens to draw further antitrust scrutiny of both companies.
Apple is preparing new capabilities as part of iOS 18 — the next version of the iPhone operating system — based on its own AI models. But those enhancements will be focused on features that operate on its devices, rather than ones delivered via the cloud. So Apple is seeking a partner to do the heavy lifting of generative AI, including functions for creating images and writing essays based on simple prompts.
Since early last year, Apple has been testing its own large language model — the technology behind generative AI — codenamed Ajax. Some employees also have been trying out a basic chatbot dubbed Apple GPT. But Apple’s technology remains inferior to tools from Google and other rivals, according to the people, making a partnership look like the better option.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple having to deal with Google for its deeply flawed, literally racist AI is sad, yet totally predictable given the company’s laughably lost, scrambling, desperate-looking “leadership.” (In any event, Google should pay a huge amount annually to have generative AI access to Apple users. God only knows what this would do to Apple users’ privacy.)
Giving Google even more control is a ludicrous “solution” to Apple’s current quandary.
Apple pays and has been paying John Giannandrea, Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, millions upon millions of dollars for years. WTF of any import does he really do? WTF of any import has he really delivered? Have you used Siri lately? Yup, it’s still a steaming pile of dogshit. Where’s Apple’s generative AI? “Too hard; too late; look for partners.” AAPL shareholders need to start asking real questions of these executives, especially those who are supposed in charge of Apple’s “AI Strategy,” when the company clearly has none. How about some accountability for once?
What we have here is a company that was once led by a visionary who set the agenda for entire industries, now led by [stuck with] a reactive caretaker who heard somewhere that VR headsets and electric cars were the next big things (probably read it in “Wired”), so that’s what he had Apple do, while completely missing artificial intelligence, especially generative AI, and now is scrambling to catch up to something Steve Jobs would have focused on long before anyone ever even heard of OpenAI.
Steve Jobs bought Siri in April 2010. Steve Jobs would never have ignored Siri, basically let it rot, for well over a decade and counting. Steve Jobs would have made Siri the first conversational generative AI assistant years before anyone else. And the company would today be worth at least a trillion dollars more than it is currently. (Yes, we’re lowballing that estimate.) – MacDailyNews, February 28, 2024
Apple’s time a having a caretaker CEO to milk products and services conceived and created under Steve Jobs will, hopefully, draw to a close sooner than later.
See also:
• Work on Apple Vision Pro began under Steve Jobs – August 23, 2023
• Contrary to popular belief, Steve Jobs knew about Apple Watch – February 13, 2023
With better management, Apple should be worth at least a trillion more than Microsoft currently. But, you can’t achieve those sort of results when you do things like miss transformative technologies like AI because you lack a visionary leader and have to resort to spending and scrambling madly trying to catch up to whatever you’ve blindly missed. – MaDailyNews, January 12, 2024
The difference between an operations guy following a static playbook — reacting to events instead of determining them — versus a visionary genius becomes ever more apparent with each passing year. – MacDailyNews, March 8, 2023
Let’s face it, Steve Jobs’ track record of picking Apple CEOs was less than stellar. – <a href=”https://macdailynews.com/2019/04/02/tim-cook-is-not-the-best-person-to-be-ceo-of-apple/SteveJack, MacDailyNews, April 2, 2019
See also: Tim Cook is not the best person to be CEO of Apple – April 2, 2019
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The post Apple looks to license Google Gemini for iPhone, generative AI tools appeared first on MacDailyNews.
]]>Apple is preparing to imminently release iOS 17.4.1, which will come with the build number 21E235. There’s no word on what’s new in iOS 17.4.1, but the update will focus on bug fixes and performance improvements rather than new features.
more…
]]>Normally when you plug in an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port you will see it appear on the desktop (aka mount on the desktop). You can also see it in the Finder in the left column under Locations (or Devices in older versions of macOS). If the drive is not showing up on your Mac chances are it has not been formatted correctly, has been corrupted, or is faulty. Alternatively, you may have set a password for the drive that you need to enter before it will connect.
We show you how to work out whether the reason the external drive is not mounting on your Mac up is due to a problem with the drive itself, the cable or the port, and how to resolve the problem and access data on your drive.
This article assumes you have an external drive that should connect to your Mac via the USB-A, USB-C, or a Thunderbolt port. If you have a NAS drive that connects over the network then you should read our article about connecting to a NAS drive.
How to fix a drive that won’t show up on a Mac
There are a number of reasons why your hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, or SSD might not be showing up. It may have been formatted incorrectly, it may be corrupted, it may have a faulty (or inadequate) cable, or there could be something else.
If you run though the following steps you should hopefully be able to identify the cause and fix the problem that is stopping your external drive from opening on your Mac.
1: Edit your preferences
Hopefully there is a really easy fix to get the hard drive to mount on your desktop. Try the following to make sure your Mac is set to show mounted drives on the desktop.
Open the Finder.
Click on Finder in the menu at the top of your screen.
Click on Settings (Preferences in older versions).
Click on General.
Make sure that there is a tick beside External disks.
If it was already set up so that the external drive would appear on the desktop then continue to follow the steps below.
2: Check the cable
The first port of call is always to check that it’s plugged in, but we are sure you have done that. The problem might be with the cable though.
One of the main reasons why drives fail to mount is if the drive isn’t receiving enough power. If the drive is powered via a USB-A cable you need to check that adequate power is being delivered to the drive. Very old Macs may require a USB power cable, a cable that splits into two USB connectors that need to both be plugged into your Mac, in order to deliver enough power to the drive. Similarly, make sure that the drive doesn’t have an external power supply it should be using.
On the subject of cables, make sure that it’s not at fault. Try using a different cable with the drive to see if that fixes the problem. Similarly, if you are using a USB port on a hub check that’s not what’s causing the problem.
Also check that the port on your Mac isn’t the problem. Try using a different port. Or if you only have one port, plug another device in and see if that works ok.
3. Is there a password?
You can protect a drive with a password when you initially start using it so check to see if the reason your drive isn’t mounting is that there a password request box has popped up.
Foundry
4: Try another Mac and then try a PC
The next step is to try plugging the drive into another Mac. If it also fails to mount there you will know that there is a problem with the drive while if it does mount then the problem is with your Mac.
The next step is to try plugging the drive into a PC. If the drive mounts on the PC it’s likely that you have discovered what the problem is: the drive is formatted for PCs and can’t be read by your Mac.
5: Use Disk Utility to access the drive
If the various checks above suggest that the disk is faulty then you can use Apple’s Disk Utility program to access the disk and potentially fix whatever is causing the issue. Here’s what to do:
Find Disk Utility by opening Spotlight (cmd+Space-bar) and start typing Disk Utility, press enter to open the program.
Look in the column on the left to see if the hard drive appears there.
If you can see the hard drive in Disk Utility check underneath it for a volume. If it is there click on it and select Mount. If your Mac has already mounted the drive the option Unmount will be displayed instead. (If there is no volume listed your Mac is not able to access the drive. The Mount option will be greyed out.)
Your options are First Aid, Erase and Restore. First Aid will check the disk for errors and then repair the disk if necessary and this is the option to choose. (Restore allows you to erase the contents of the drive and replace that with data from somewhere else. Erase deletes all the data stored on the drive. If you need the data on the drive do not choose Erase or Restore!)
Click the First Aid tab and select Run.
If after running First Aid the Mac finds errors you could fix you may see the option to Repair Disk. If you do, go ahead and run the repairs.
6: Change the drive format
If your Mac is unable to repair the disk if is likely that the drive is either formatted using a file system that the Mac cannot read, or it is well and truly broken – if it’s the latter we suggest you follow this tutorial about recovering data from a damaged disk.
Hopefully though the drive is fine but the format is wrong. Here’s a bit of background on file formats:
Windows PCs use NTFS file format.
Mac computers, prior to Sierra, used the HFS+ file format.
In High Sierra Apple introduced a new file system called Apple File System (APFS).
exFAT or the older FAT32 are formats that can be read by Window and Mac computers.
To make sure your drive can be read by Macs and PCs you need to format it using exFAT or the older FAT32. We’ll explain how to do that below.
It is possible that the hard drive has been formatted using a different file system (i.e. on a Windows PC). In that case, if you need to access the data on the drive you’ll need to connect your drive to a Windows PC that does recognise it and copy the data before moving on to the next step.
Having got the data of the drive via a PC you can reformat the drive so that you can add the data again. Here’s how to reformat your drive so it can be read by and Mac or a PC.
Open Disk Utility (as per the steps above).
If you don’t require the data on the hard drive, select the disk and click Erase.
Before Disk Utility starts to erase the disk it will pick a format for you. You can change this if you click on the Formatting options. Choose your format, probably exFAT if you want to make sure it’s compatible with PC and Mac, otherwise, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is probably the best option.
Give the drive a name.
Click on Erase and wait for your Mac to erase and then reformat the drive.
7: Try a data recovery app
If you have been unable to access the data on the drive then you might want to try one of the options included in our round up of the
Best data recovery apps for Macs.
Our recommendations include EaseUS Data Recovery for Mac, $89.95/£95.99 at Easeus, Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, $59.99/£43.99 at Stellar, or Recoverit $79.99/£69 at Wondershare.
8: Always disconnect your drive properly
We have final suggestion to make that is more of a guard against this error happening again.
Make sure that your external drive doesn’t become damaged in the future by always unmounting the disk properly after using it. Don’t just unplug the USB cable. To unmount your drive you can right-click (control-click) on the icon on the Desktop or in the Finder and choose Eject. Apparently, most drive issues are caused when the disk is removed without ejecting it properly.
Decided there is no hope for your faulty hard drive? We have a round-up of some of the best we’ve seen here: The best Mac hard drives.
Cleaning and Data Recovery Software, Mac, Storage
]]>So you just dropped $3,500 or more on an Apple Vision Pro. Congratulations! If you want to take it anywhere, you might want to invest in a case if you ever plan to take it out of your home. And what about that battery pack–can you do something about that? Or the straps Apple provides–are there better options?
These are some of the most interesting Vision Pro accessories we’ve tried so far. The product is still very new and relatively niche, so there are limited accessories available right now with more coming all the time.
Vision Pro: Apple accessories
Like iPhones and Macs, Apple sells numerous accessories for Vision Pro, most of which are spare and replacement parts for accessories that come with the device.
Battery: $199
Light Seal: $199
Light Seal Cushion: $29
Solo Knit Band: $99
Dual Loop Band: $99
Vision Pro: Third-party accessories
Vision Pro Shield Case
Pros
Attractive with multiple colors.
Compact
Well-made
Cons
Maybe a little too compact—it’s a tight fit
Limited options if you’re not into leather
Price When Reviewed:
$179
Best Prices Today:
$179 at WaterField Designs
WaterField Designs makes great leather cases and pouches, and their Vision Pro case is no exception. With ballistic vinyl sides and a leather top, it’s soft and well-cushioned insides will hold your Vision Pro, straps, power adapter, battery, and lenses. There’s even a little hidden pouch in the outside pocket for an AirTag.
The is a little high at $179—there’s not much leather in this—but you can get a blue or black all-vinyl version for $159.
Our favorite thing about this is how compact it is. It fits easily in most backpacks with room to spare. Our least favorite thing is that it’s too compact. Getting everything in is a little bit of a tight fit, and a few millimeters more room in each dimension would make it a little easier to use.
Klasden Pouch
Pros
Relatively affordable
Rigid and durable
Roomy and easy to use
Cons
difficult to fit into smaller backpacks and bags
Price When Reviewed:
$89.99
Best Prices Today:
$27.99 at Amazon$89.99 at Spigen
Spigen’s Klasden Pouch is half the price of Apple’s official case and honestly, we prefer it. It’s similar in size, and its rigid exterior make it feel more like a piece of luggage than a gadget case.
The inside is roomy enough to easily fit your Vision Pro, battery, power adapter, USB cable, lenses, and straps. Plus, there’s a little AirTag pocket on the inside. It’s easy to get everything in and out, but not quite so open that everything jostles around a lot.
If we had feedback, we’d say shrink it just a little bit and round the edges a little more, so it would be easier to get into a smaller-size backpack or bag.
Battery Holder for Apple Vision Pro
Pros
It does indeed hold the Vision Pro battery
Cons
Why?
Costs twice what it should
Price When Reviewed:
$49.95
Best Prices Today:
$49.95 at Belkin
If you’re just dying to relive your favorite Blackberry Holster days from 15 years ago, this would do the trick. You snap the Vision Pro battery pack into this, and it has a belt clip, a lanyard, and a little clip for the Vision Pro power cable.
But…why? If you don’t have a pocket (perhaps because women’s fashion is insane), this isn’t really solving your problem, because you’ve got nowhere to clip it and the lanyard just makes everything more cumbersome. You could clip it to a bag, but then you could just put the battery in the bag. If you do have a pocket, the Vision Pro battery pack fits comfortably in most of them.
It’s hard to fault Belkin too much when this product definitely does what it claims to do just fine. It just doesn’t need to exist—and certainly not for $50.
Virtual Reality
]]>Do you have a great idea for an iOS app or a Mac app? Looking for the right Mac to code it on? You’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will look at why a Mac is necessary for iOS development and why a Mac is a great choice for developers. We also reveal the minimum Mac you need for coding – including whether a MacBook Air will be sufficient.
Whether you are a seasoned app developer looking to update your Mac to something more substantial, or just trying your hand at creating an app for the first time and hoping to find a low-cost Mac that’s good enough for the purpose, we will help you find the best Mac for your needs.
You may be wondering if Apple’s M1, M2 or M3 Macs are good enough for developers or if the M2/M3 Pro, M2/M3 Max or M2 Ultra would be better. You may even be wondering if you should choose a Mac with an Intel processor. We’ll take a look at those questions below.
If you want to skip the buying advice, you can jump straight to our recommendation of the best Mac for developers.
Why you need a Mac for iOS & macOS development
To develop an iOS or Mac app you will need the following:
Membership of the Apple Developer Program. It costs $99 annually (about £78 in the UK) and gives you access to beta software (although you can now get access to betas without a paid account), advanced app capabilities, extensive beta testing tools, and app analytics (more information here.) To just test and deploy applications you only need an Apple ID, but you will need to be a member of the Developer Program if you want to sell your apps on the App Store.
Even if you developed your app using something other than a Mac, you will need a Mac to compile the final product that is uploaded to the App Store.
Xcode is the primary tool for macOS and iOS development and it is only available on the Mac. It is a free download from the Mac App Store and the current version is 15.1 the time of writing. That includes Xcode IDE, Swift, C/C++/Objective-C compilers, Instruments analysis tool, simulators, and SDKs for the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS. Note that Xcode 15 requires macOS 13 Ventura 13.5 or later, so you also need…
A Mac that can run macOS 13 Ventura or later. (See our macsOS compatibility checker).
One key reason to buy a Mac for development is the simple fact that it’s difficult to run macOS on anything other than a Mac. You could build a hackintosch, and some people do, but there are lots of reasons why we wouldn’t recommend that as a solution.
We also have a guide to coding and programming on a Mac.
Can Apple’s M1, M2 or M3 Macs be used by developers?
There is a lot of positive to be said about Apple M-series chips which so far include the M1-series, the M2-series (including the M2 Pro, Max and M2 Ultra) and the M3-series (with the M3 Pro and M3 Max, so far). Ever since the introduction of the M1 in November 2020 Apple’s home-made Arm-based chips have proved groundbreaking and the benchmarks impressive. These new Macs compared very favorably with the older Intel-powered Macs. In fact, even the M3-powered iMac beats the best-specced iMac Pro from a few years ago. As you can see from the table below.
For an overview of all the M-series chips, so you can see just how powerful they can be, take a look at the benchmarks below for a clearer picture:
It used to be the case that the Mac was chosen for development because you could run not only macOS on it, but also Windows and Linux and other operating systems by using virtualization and virtual machine software. However, this isn’t as simple as it was. With the introduction of the M-series chips the architecture has changed and it is no longer as simple to run Windows on a Mac. Because Macs no longer use the same X86 platform as Windows if you want to run Windows on your Mac the only choice is to use the Arm version of Windows, if you need another version of Windows you need to use an Intel-powered Mac (or a PC).
This move from X86 to Arm may also mean that the software you use might not be fully supported. However, over the past few years, many apps have been updated for the Arm-based chips. If the app you need isn’t native yet, Apple includes Rosetta which translates old X86 code so it can run on Arm (there may be some lag if you are having to rely on that though). You can check the status here: Apps Ready for M1 and we run through which apps work on M1 Macs in a separate article. Luckily many essential apps do already run natively on the M-series chips, including Python, Unity and Chrome.
One criticism of the first batch of M1 Macs was that they could only support 16GB RAM (or unified memory as Apple refers to it). Apple rectified that with the M2 Macs and M3 Macs, which support 24GB unified memory. If that still doesn’t feel like enough, the M1 Pro and M2 Pro chips support up to 32GB memory, the M3 Pro supports up to 36GB memory (18GB as standard), the M1 Max chips support 64GB, the M2 Max chips support up to 96GB, and the M3 Max up to 128GB. The M1 Ultra can support up to 128GB of unified memory, while the M2 Ultra takes that to 192GB.
There is a lot of debate as to whether you, as a developer, will need 32GB or more RAM. It should be noted that RAM in the M-series Macs is very different to RAM in the Intel-based Macs, but we still advise that you get 16GB RAM or more (we always recommend that you buy the most amount of RAM you can afford because it isn’t possible to upgrade it later.) If you feel you need to max out the RAM you have the choice to go up to 192GB–unfortunately the price of the additional RAM (which you won’t be able to update later) is high.
All those disadvantages aside, the Apple silicon Macs do offer some excellent positives such as incredibly long battery life; cool, quiet operation; and benchmark-beating specs. If you don’t need to run other operating systems and you don’t need to use software that isn’t yet native to Apple’s chips the M-series Macs will not hold you back.
Choosing the best Mac for app development
We have already established that you will need a Mac that can run macOS 13 Ventura 13.5 or later in order to use the latest version of Xcode, and here are the Macs that can run Ventura:
MacBook models from 2017 or later
MacBook Air models from 2018 or later
MacBook Pro models from 2017 or later
Mac mini models from 2018 or later
iMac models from 2017 or later
iMac Pro (all models)
Mac Pro models from 2019 or later
Mac Studio (all models)
So which of these Macs would be best?
If you were to consider every Mac included above that would be a huge range of Mac laptops and desktops. Some are better suited to app development than others. You might find a Mac that looks like a bargain, but another Mac could offer much more for only a little extra money.
To help you decide on the best Mac for your needs we’ll look at the following requirements below: screen, portability, RAM, CPU, storage, battery life, ports and peripherals while assessing each Mac’s suitability for coding.
Best MacBook for developers
In this section, we will look at each Mac available now and discuss its merits as a coding machine. If you are trying to decide between MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro we’ll address this next. However, a Mac mini or Mac Studio may suit you better if you are looking for the most bang for your buck in which case you may want to skip to the best Mac for development section.
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 2023)
Price When Reviewed:
$1,999
Best Prices Today:
$1,933.50 at Amazon$1999 at Apple
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip is a good choice for developers. It will allow you to kit it out with 36GB RAM if you don’t feel that the 18GB that comes as standard is enough. How much RAM you need depends on the kind of development work you are doing. The total RAM needed will depend on the requirements of the applications you need and your development tools, you’ll also need to consider the RAM requirements if you want to run multiple containers or virtual machines on your Mac. We think you will need 16GB RAM at the minimum, and since the machine ships with 18GB as standard, you should be fine here. If you are buying a new Mac then we’d recommend that you get as much RAM as you can afford as a build-to-order option to future-proof your purchase because it’s been years since it was possible to update the RAM on MacBooks.
You’ll also get a 11- or 12-core CPU and 14- or 18-core GPU. When it comes to the processor–the CPU–there is no difference between the M3 Pro and M3 Max (excluding the entry-level Pro which has fewer processor cores). There is a bigger difference when it comes to GPU cores though. However, as a developer, the number of GPUs may matter less, unless you are planning to play games or use apps that require powerful graphics.
There is an even faster chip on offer which supports even more memory. The M3 Max is an option in both the 16-inch and 14-inch MacBook Pro, but choosing the 14-inch MacBook Pro will save you money if you don’t need the bigger screen and better battery life of the 16-inch model.
You may be intrigued to know that back in November 2021 Twitter, Uber, and Shopify announced that they had given their developers M1 Max MacBook Pro machines. The reason they chose to go with the M1 Max is because they found that compilation time, specifically Android build time, was cut in half.
The main reason to choose the M3 Max as a developer would be to get the maximum 128GB RAM and 40 GPU cores. If you configure the 14-inch MacBook Pro with those specs it will cost $4,699/£4,799, which is $300/£300 less than the same configuration on the 16-inch model.
The MacBook Pro comes with either 512GB or 1TB storage as standard. You can configure up to 8TB storage if necessary, but our advice would be that you shouldn’t need a lot of storage on the basis that your code shouldn’t take up a lot of space–if it does you might need to look at your code.
Buy the MacBook Pro from Apple or check out the best MacBook Pro deals right now here: Best MacBook Pro deals.
Read our full
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 2023) review
Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 2023)
Price When Reviewed:
$2,499
Best Prices Today:
$2,447.94 at Amazon$2499 at Apple
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is practically identical to the 14-inch model and offers the same options for the M3 Pro or M3 Max chip. The big differences are the bigger screen–useful if you need lots of windows open at once–and better battery life. Those two things may be really important to you. They come at a price though–generally $300/£300 more than the same on the 14-inch MacBook Pro.
Do you need the bigger screen? One of the most useful things for a coder is a big screen. As a developer you will probably have several programs and windows open at once: a web browser, a text editor, and the Xcode IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to name a few. You will benefit from a large screen or things will feel uncomfortably cramped (even more so if you are using Unity3d for game development, for example).
However, if you want to use a big screen there is nothing to stop you plugging an external display into your MacBook Pro. A separate screen is a good option if you are looking for a portable Mac. That way you have the benefit of being able to code wherever and whenever inspiration hits, and benefit from a bigger screen when you are at your desk. What about when you aren’t at your desk though? If you want as much screen as you can get on a Mac laptop then the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the one to pick.
While we are discussing the screens. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro offer Pro Motion, which means refresh rates up to 120Hz. Refresh rates are adapted according to what’s on the screen at the time. There are certainly applications that will benefit from this more than others. It’s questionable how much of a benefit it will be to developers.
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBooks are able to go up to 1,000 nits sustained (full-screen) brightness, 1,600 nits peak brightness (although the extra brightness is only utilized by certain apps and for HDR content, so most of the time it will only go to 600 nits). The M2 MacBook Air doesn’t offer Pro Motion and brightness is limited to 500 nits.
Buy the MacBook Pro from Apple or check out the best MacBook Pro deals right now here: Best MacBook Pro deals.
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3, 2023)
Price When Reviewed:
$1,599
Best Prices Today:
$1,524 at Amazon$1599 at Apple
The 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro has been replaced by a 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro and it is a good option if you are on a budget, although we do suggest you upgrade to 16GB RAM at the minimum (+$200/£200), or 24GB (+$400/£400) if you can afford it.
The reason we’ve picked the 14-inch MacBook Pro over the MacBook Air is to do with how well the machine would cope if you were really pushing it. The MacBook Pro includes a fan where the MacBook Air doesn’t so it will be better able to cool itself, rather than throttling the machine to cope with the pressure.
One disadvantage of the M3 version of the 14-inch MacBook Pro (and the MacBook Air) is that it only supports one external display (although there are workarounds, read: How to use dual monitors with M1/2/3 Macs). If you need more than one display (in addition to your built-in display) then you would be wise to choose an M3 Pro-powered version of the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro, as those models can support three external displays.
Alternatively, the Mac mini can support a second display via HDMI, for two displays total. While the Mac Studio can support up to five displays.
Read our full
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3, 2023) review
Apple 15-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2024)
Price When Reviewed:
$1,299 (base)
Best Prices Today:
$1,234 at Amazon$1299 at Adorama$1299 at Apple
There are three different MacBook Air available. A $999/£999 M2 MacBook Air that’s the cheapest Mac laptop you can buy, a M3 MacBook Air with a 13-inch screen that costs just $100/£100 more than the M2 MacBook Air, and a M3 MacBook Air with 15-inch screen. We discuss these models in our comparison of the M2 and M3 MacBook Air.
Here we are focusing on the biggest MacBook Air which brings the benefits of the lighter, cheaper Mac laptop, without sacrificing screen space. For a lot less than the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the 15-inch MacBook Air screen gives you a decent amount of display space to view code and work with multiple windows (although we’d always recommend plugging into an external monitor when you are at your desk.)
If you were thinking of getting a MacBook Air for casual app development we’d recommend it as an option. Upgrade the RAM to at least 16GB though.
If you needed something for more extensive coding then it might not have the uumph though. You could expect faster compile times from the M3 version of the 14-inch MacBook Pro mentioned above. As we said, one of the biggest differences between the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air is that the Air lacks a fan, which could mean that it slows down in order to avoid overheating during more intensive activity, so keep that in mind.
Buy the MacBook Air from Apple or check out the best MacBook Air deals right now here: Best MacBook Air deals.
Read our full
Apple 15-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2024) review
Best Mac for coding
Actually, some of the best Macs for developers are desktop Macs, which generally offer more power for less money. So if you don’t mind being tied to your desk these are a good options:
Apple Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023)
Price When Reviewed:
$1,299
Best Prices Today:
$1,264.99 at Amazon$1299 at Adorama$1299 at Apple
The Mac mini is an attractive package and we expect many developers will be wondering whether to get one. It’s the cheapest Mac going, although you will have to factor in the cost of a monitor and keyboard and mouse – but you probably have them anyway.
With the Mac mini you can get an impressive and powerful machine for a fraction of the price of a similarly speced alternative Mac. For example, for $599/£649 you can get a M2 Mac mini with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM (update that to 16GB or for another $200/£200). A MacBook Air with the exact same specs would cost more than double that at $1,299/£1,349.
There’s an even better Mac mini to consider though. The M2 Pro Mac mini costs $1,299/£1,399 and comes with 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU and 16GB unified memory as standard. It also features four Thunderbolt 4 ports compared to two on the M2 Mac mini. If you were to buy a similarly specced 14-inch MacBook Pro you’d have to spend $1,999/£2,129. We’re not sure that the extra $700/£730 is worth spending unless you really need a laptop.
Buy the Mac mini from Apple or check out the best Mac mini deals right now here: Best Mac mini deals.
Read our full
Apple Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023) review
Apple Mac Studio (M2 Max, 2023)
Price When Reviewed:
£1,999
Best Prices Today:
$1999 at Adorama$1999 at Apple$1999 at Best Buy
If you need more power than the Mac mini M2 Pro offers then look to the Mac Studio with M2 Max (or the M2 Ultra version if you are really power-hungry). This machine offers maximum power at a lower price than the equivalent Mac. Sure you will need to plug in a display, but if you already have one that won’t be a big issue, and even if you don’t, a decent display doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
The M2 Max version of the Mac Studio means you get up to 96GB RAM, a mass of ports, plus enough GPU and CPU cores to keep everything smooth. At $1,999/£2,099 it might seem a lot of money, but compared to a roughly equivalent 14-inch MacBook Pro M2 Max at $3,099/£3,349 it’s a decent saving.
Buy the Mac Studio from Apple or check out the best Mac Studio deals right now here: Best Mac Studio deals.
Read our full
Apple Mac Studio (M2 Max, 2023) review
Can Xcode run on a PC?
As we said above, there is not a version of Xcode for Windows. You need a Mac to run Xcode. There are a few ways around this limitation, for example, you could pay to access a Mac from your PC via the cloud and do your coding there. Services like macincloud or MacStadium enable developers to offload Xcode builds to Macs so they can test iOS and Mac apps. But it might just be cheaper and more efficient to buy a Mac.
It’s also illegal to run macOS on a PC–although some developers will find ways of running macOS on a PC, be it via a VM or a tool like VirtualBox, or because they have built a Hackintosh. We wouldn’t recommend going to such lengths, but you can read about how to install macOS on a PC here.
You might think you will get away with breaking the legal agreement with Apple not to run macOS on a PC, but remember you are going to be asking them to approve your app, so don’t give them any reason to say no! Attempting to run Xcode on something other than a Mac also means you are likely to experience issues and you will never know if it is your code or the dodgy installation you are using. If your app matters that much to you then use the right equipment.
There are alternatives to Xcode that will allow you to make an iOS app on a PC.
Can I use Flutter to develop iOS and macOS apps without a Mac?
Flutter is an open-source development kit from Google that makes it easy to create an app that can be used across a variety of platforms. It means that developers only need to code once and then the app can be converted to iOS, Android and others. Understandably there are many wondering if this process means developers can bypass the necessity to use a Mac.
In a word, no, although you could use Flutter to create an app for multiple platforms on a Linux machine or a PC, you will still need to use a Mac to test the application and submit it to Apple for distribution on the App Store.
Flutter can be installed on macOS alongside Xcode. If you have an M1 Mac you might be concerned that Flutter isn’t yet M1 optimized, but it can be used via Rosetta. Download Flutter here.
Can I develop on an iPad?
There is one other option, you could code on an iPad, the best option would be an iPad Pro with a separate keyboard. Read: A developer’s week working from the iPad for one developer’s experience using an iPad.
How to get a cheap Mac for coding
Sometimes, as much as you would love to own the best and most powerful Mac, the budget just won’t stretch above £1,000/$1,000. Maybe that is more than you are willing (or able) to pay. Luckily there are a few options:
Student discount
If you are a student, check out Apple’s education store to get a discount on your new Mac. Read more here: How to get an Apple student discount at Apple’s Education Store.
Refurbished store
Apple sells Macs that have been returned to it. These could be ex-display Macs from Apple Stores, or they might be Macs that were returned due to a fault that has since been fixed, or it might be old stock that the company is selling after a new model has launched. You can pick up some good deals here. See: How much can you save at Apple’s Refurbished Store?
Reseller discounts
You may also be able to find a good deal on one of the previous generation MacBook Pro from a reseller. Check out our best deals:
Best MacBook Pro deals this month
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 2023)
Read our review
Rent a Mac in the cloud
If you really can’t afford an adequately specced Mac for programming your app on you could rent one in the cloud. For example macincloud or MacStadium and get access to Mac servers from $20 a month.
AWS also offers some Mac mini models powered by the AWS Nitro System. Plus customers can choose from macOS Mojave (10.14), macOS Catalina (10.15), macOS Big Sur (11), and macOS Monterey (12) as Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).
Want to know even more about programming on a Mac? Read:
Best programming language for Mac
How to make apps with Apple Swift 5
How to use Swift playgrounds
How to learn Swift: books, courses, guides
How to learn Python coding on a Mac
Mac, MacBook, MacOS, Professional Software
]]>Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.
A very good year
It’s been a tough couple of years for Apple watchers, with dull iPhone and Apple Watch refreshes, uninspiring Mac launches, and little of note from the iPad and AirPods departments. The product pipeline slowed down, and the things coming out of it lost their sparkle.
There was a reason for this, of course, and that is the Vision Pro project. This moonshot product launch sucked in developmental resources and marketing focus alike, and for some at Apple Park, it must have felt like the entire company had turned into a mixed-reality specialist. Which made sense, because Vision Pro represents the future like no other Apple product. Apple needed to plan for life after the iPhone and was wisely prepared to sacrifice some excitement in 2023 to secure it in 2033.
But Vision Pro is out now, indeed the hardware was completed a long while ago, and while work on the line will continue–engineers will now be focusing on that important cheaper version–it is unlikely ever again to dominate employees’ time and energy the way it did last year. This frees things up for what now looks like a far more productive year for the company. Indeed 2024 could be remembered in years to come as one of Apple’s best, and not just because it saw the launch of the headset that would set up the company for the decade to come.
While we’re still waiting on a major physical redesign in the Mac space, for example, we’ve already seen a sensible rejig of the MacBook line. The arrival of the M3 MacBook this spring essentially completed the Apple silicon transition, removing confusion and ensuring there is a machine for every need and budget. (Well, within reason.) Okay, this didn’t count as an exciting announcement, but it was certainly more meaningful than any of the M2 launches.
We haven’t seen any iPads yet (although that could conceivably have changed depending on when you’re reading this) but here too Apple reportedly has a clever announcement to make—namely, that the landscape selfie camera, first rolled out on the 10th-gen iPad in 2022 and inexplicably held back from the rest of the line, is going to become the standard. This is both sensible and wildly overdue: iPads are far more commonly used for video chats in landscape orientation than for selfies in portrait, and the only reason to keep the camera on the short edge was to avoid component overlap with the Apple Pencil connector. Needless to say, that kind of cop-out wasn’t very Jony Ive of Apple, and we’ll be very glad to see the end of such a compromise.
But the real breakthroughs for Apple in 2024 won’t be hardware. They will come in the software and specifically, AI space, where the company has been lagging behind its rivals for years. iOS 18, which will be announced in June and roll out to iPhones around the world in the fall, is set to focus on generative AI. That means improvements in a wide variety of apps, and indeed in the development of apps, but AI is most sorely needed in one area of Apple’s portfolio: Siri.
Siri has been terrible for as long as I can remember, and I’ve driven myself mad writing articles complaining about this fact. If Apple’s work in AI results in a passable Siri in 2024, that wouldn’t just be a good year. It would be a miracle.
Foundry
Trending: Top stories
New iPads are coming. Does anyone care?
Apple’s Epic rollercoaster ride is trapped in a full-on freefall, the Macalope has noticed.
Jason Snell argues that an open Apple isn’t good for anyone.
While Jason Cross has thought up 9 ways Apple can improve Vision Pro right now.
The clock is ticking on ad-free Apple TV+, so enjoy it while you can.
Apple will allow iPhone app downloads on the web in the EU–but there’s a catch.
Podcast of the week
Apple’s latest addition to its Mac lineup is the M3 MacBook Air, and on this episode of the Macworld Podcast, we talk about why the Air is probably the best laptop for you!
You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.
Reviews corner
M2 vs M3 MacBook Air: Is the cheapest model good enough?
Adobe Photoshop Elements review: updated for 2024.
Best Mac displays
Best NAS drives for Mac
The rumor mill
Apple to finally fix 13-year-old error in the iPad’s design, report claims.
Apple’s first big AI innovation in 2024 may be… smarter ads. Try not to be disappointed.
The M3 MacBooks are already old news as Apple gets to work on the M4 lineup.
Listen up: AirPods Pro to get ‘hearing aid mode’ in iOS 18.
Software updates, bugs, and problems
There may be hope for Apple Watches sold with disabled blood-oxygen sensors.
If you use GarageBand on your Mac, there’s a rare—and critical—security update.
If macOS Sonoma 14.4 has caused issues with USB devices, here’s a possible fix.
And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.
Apple Inc
]]>DoRoyal is a web host provider that offers users a variety of optional add-ons and a lifetime of service for only $49.99 (reg. $225).
If you’re looking for a reliable long-term web hosting solution, DoRoyal offers unmetered bandwidth, an online file manager, a Softaculous script installer, anti-virus defenses, daily cloud backups, and spam protection. The Jester’s Plan includes 8GB disk space, 100GB bandwidth, and unlimited subdomains, email accounts, and databases.
Clients receive lifetime access to their hosting account, with all optional add-ons available at an additional cost. It’s also important to note that domain names are sold separately. If you are still making your website, DoRoyal has its own site builder, or you can build on WordPress and use the simple WordPress installer.
Refunds or returns or directing your domain away from your DoRoyal web account will result in the deletion of the web hosting account.
If you’re looking for a simple web hosting service that gets your site online, DoRoyal may be the way to go.
For a limited time, get a DoRoyal Lifetime Subscription for just $49.99.
DoRoyal Website Hosting: Lifetime Subscription – $49.99
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StackSocial prices subject to change.
Accessories
]]>If your computer is lagging or not dazzling you with its features, you don’t necessarily need a new machine. Sometimes an updated OS can do the trick to make your computer run like you want it to — if not, like new. And through March 24, you can get Microsoft’s latest OS for your PC, Windows 11 Pro, for only $29.97 instead of the regular price of $199.
This OS recently added some AI features to its impressive arsenal. Windows Copilot is the new AI assistant that can help you streamline your life in many ways, including summarizing documents, launching playlists, and more. It also includes updates to the Paint app, which is additionally enhanced by AI for more seamless image editing options.
Windows 11 Pro has enhanced security features like BitLocker encryption, TPM 2.0, Smart App Control, and more to keep your device and data private. Upgraded usability features include remote desktop access from anywhere in the world and business management tools like Windows Hello for Business. And, of course, this OS is outfitted with sleek productivity-enhancing tools like snap layouts, widget customization, and more.
Increase your PC’s efficiency when you grab lifetime access to Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for just $29.97 through March 24 at 11:59 PM PT.
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Only $29.97 at Macworld
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Accessories
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>Besides using Gemini to power features in its apps and services, Google offers its LLM to third-party developers. Apple is reportedly in talks with Google to license Gemini for the iPhone.
more…
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
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]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
]]>(via Cult of Mac – Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)
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