Foxconn Suffers Ransomware Attack With Important Project Files From Apple Stolen
A confirmed cyberattack on Foxconn and its factories in the United States has been reported, with a ransomware group stating that they have stolen important and confidential project files that belonged to Apple in the attack. This week, the Nitrogen Group has posted a breach on their data leak site, with 11 trillion files and […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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macOS Port Notepad++ Has Been Revamped
After being called out by the official developer for an unofficial port of Notepad++ on the Mac for trademark violations, both parties have now solved the issue by rebranding the Mac port. Andrey Letov released a macOS port for Notepad++ with no authorization, resulting in the original creator, Don Ho, calling him out. Don had […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Sunday Reboot: Liquid Glass appreciation, Cook in China, and Cats
In this week's "Sunday Reboot," Liquid Glass gets an award, Tim Cook heads to China once again, and a wish for HomeKit to be more cat-friendly.Sunday Reboot: Liquid Glass, Cats, and CookSunday Reboot is a weekly column covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days. All to get the next week underway with a good first step.This week, Apple's ambitions to expand its F1 coverage got knocked back, hackers attacked supply chain partner Foxconn, and AI has managed to break Apple's security in new ways. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Spotify confirms disco ball app icon is temporary and regular logo will return
Spotify recently changed the app icon for its mobile app, and not everyone appreciates the celebratory disco ball logo. more…

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AirPods Max 2 vs Heavys H1H: Heavy metal headphones compared
You've probably seen an ad for the rock-tuned Heavys H1H on the internet, and true to their word, they are in fact tuned for guitar-heavy rock. Here's how they compare to Apple's AirPods Max.AirPods Max 2 [left], Heavys H1H [right]As a major mainstream tech company, Apple has an incentive to design to accommodate as many people as possible.Its products may not necessarily have everything a particular person wants in an item. But even so, it will still be close enough to be acceptable for the majority of customers. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Today in Apple history: John Sculley brings ‘Pepsi Generation’ marketing to Apple
On May 17, 1983, former Pepsi-Cola boss John Sculley became Apple's third president and CEO. He brought some serious marketing savvy. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Why we’re still waiting for next-gen HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K
The HomePod mini 2 and an updated Apple TV 4K are both expected in 2026. Here's why Apple hasn't already launched them. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Genmoji in iOS 27 will use what you type and what's in Photos for suggestions
Apple wants more people to use Genmoji, by creating suggestions based on phrases that you type into the iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 keyboard, and what you've got stored in Photos.The launch of Genmoji during an Apple event - Image credit: AppleUsers of Messages will be familiar with the occasional appearance of emoji as a suggestion when typing on the software keyboard. For iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, they may get a lot more options to include Genmoji.The underwhelming Apple Intelligence feature hasn't really caught on with consumers since its introduction in 2024, despite executive claims it has. However, with some changes coming to Genmoji in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, Bloomberg's "Power On" newsletter says that users will be prodded to use it more. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Privacy & data security will remain tantamount for Apple's 2026 AI push
Apple will relaunch Apple Intelligence and Siri platforms with new Apple Foundation Models. Despite Google's involvement, Apple will maintain its privacy stance.Apple's new AI strategy won't sacrifice user privacy for gimmicksWhen Apple Intelligence was revealed during WWDC 2024, Apple had a hybrid system in place that would ultimately fail to deliver. Delays ensued, and it seems that the long wait is over for Apple's true AI strategy to emerge.According to the Power On newsletter, Apple won't be compromising on privacy with its new AI efforts. While the report is colored with suppositions and conjecture about what is coming, it lays out a fairly clear picture. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Report: Apple to upgrade Genmoji in iOS 27 with new automatic suggestions
According to the Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple is planning an interesting new Genmoji feature in iOS 27 to bolster its usage: suggested Genmoji’s based on your photo library and keyboard history. more…

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Apple Watch Series 12 probably won't get a major update
A new report claims that Apple intends to make few changes to the current Apple Watch Series 11, beyond a new Watch face.Apple WatchesPrevious reports have said that the Apple Watch Series 12 may get significant software updates, but that the hardware would remain much as it is with the current model. Now Bloomberg is reporting that there won't be many changes to hardware or software at all.Specifically, the report says there will definitely be at least one new Watch face, plus performance improvements, but then probably little more than fixes and presumably also security updates. Beyond that, the report goes no further than alluding to the possibility of small hardware updates. Rumor Score: 🤯 Likely Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Revamped Siri may launch in beta, despite two year delay
The long-awaited overhaul of Siri is already two years later than planned. Even so, it will still be beta software when it does actually arrive.Current Siri has a colorful animation, but none of the New Siri smarts. Back in WWDC 2024, Apple introduced its new Siri with contextual awareness and other major improvements for the digital assistant. However, while it ultimately didn't arrive later in the year in iOS 18, and didn't even make it to iOS 26, it is now expected to turn up in iOS 27.However, despite Apple having an extra two years to work on the new AI-infused Siri, it won't be a fully completed product release. According to Mark Gurman in Sunday's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, it will be arriving as a "beta" release. Rumor Score: 🤯 Likely Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Standalone Siri app to offer auto-deleting chat history, launch with beta label: report
Next month at WWDC 2026, Apple is expected to finally live up to its AI Siri promises, and more. The company has long been working on a new standalone Siri app to boost how users interact with Siri and Apple Intelligence – and it should be debuting in beta next month. According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new Siri app will come with a privacy feature similar to one on iMessage: auto-deleting chats. He also expects Siri to launch with a beta label even when it’s available publicly in the fall, similar to some previous Apple rollouts. more…

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Crime blotter: How the Long Island truck hijackers were caught
An arrest is made in the Morgan McSweeney stolen iPhone case, a guilty plea in the Beyonce stolen music case, and an AirTag helps recover a stolen Lamborghini, all in this week's Apple Crime Blotter.The Manhasset Apple Store The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Savvy tech buyers are getting this HP EliteBook for just $360 while they can
Macworld TL;DR: This Grade A+ refurb HP EliteBook 840 G8 gives you a business-class laptop with 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, Wi-Fi 6, and Windows 11 Pro for just $359.99 (reg. $899.98). There’s a reason a lot of IT departments buy business laptops instead of flashy consumer models: they’re built to survive actual work. And that’s what makes this HP EliteBook 840 G8 deal interesting. This Premium Grade A refurbished EliteBook is $359.99 (reg. $899.98), and it’s one of those purchases that feel less like bargain hunting and more like knowing a shopping hack. The specs are legitimately solid for the price. You’re getting an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a fast 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD. The 14-inch Full HD display looks sharp, and the backlit keyboard plus 15.75-hour battery life make this a genuinely good remote-work or travel laptop. It also includes Windows 11 Pro, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C connectivity, and Intel Iris Xe graphics. A Grade A+ refurbished rating means near-mint condition, and is the highest quality of refurbished electronics. For people who care more about performance-per-dollar than chasing the newest shiny thing, this is a smart pickup. Get this Grade A+ HP EliteBook 840 G8 for $359.99 (reg. $899.98). HP EliteBook 840 G8 Laptop (2021) 14″ 16GB RAM 512GB SSD i5-1145G7 2.6GHz WIN11Pro (Certified Refurbished)See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Mac users can get all Microsoft Office 2024 apps and Windows 11 Pro for life for $135
Macworld TL;DR: Get Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office for life for $134.97 (reg. $448.99). Down from $448.99, you can now get lifetime access to Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office for $135. Last year, Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 and raised the price for Microsoft 365 to $99.99 per year. If you want a smart way to secure your computer and get out of constant subscription fees, right now, you can get Microsoft Office 2024 and Windows 11 Pro for life on sale for $134.97. This bundle gives you two lifetime licenses, one for Microsoft Office and one for Windows 11 Pro. The Office license works for Mac or PC and includes Word Excel PowerPoint Outlook OneNote These are recently updated versions of the same core apps you get from Microsoft 365, complete with the new AI integrations for data analysis and content creation. PowerPoint even has new ways to record presentations. Windows 11 Pro does a lot more than reintroduce security updates to your machine. You’ll also get access to a refined interface with snap layout, along with new security tools like BitLocker device encryption, Hyper-V, and TPM 2.0. Both of these licenses last for life without any recurring costs, so while they may be more expensive than a single month of Microsoft 365, they cost a lot less than you’d end up paying in the long run. Instead of paying more every year, get Microsoft Office 2024 and Windows 11 Pro for $134.97. Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business + Windows 11 Pro BundleSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

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These are the best new MacBook deals right now: May 2026 Buyer’s Guide
In the era of Apple Silicon, MacBooks are more affordable than ever. Nowadays, you can buy a MacBook Air with 512GB of storage and 16GB of memory for $1099 directly from Apple, when such a configuration would’ve cost $1599 just a few years ago. And on top of that, we have MacBook Neo bringing the entry-point down substantially. Even with Apple’s prices coming down though, there’s still a number of deals to be found out there if you look just a little. more…

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The Apple-OpenAI Alliance is Fraying, Setting Up a Possible Legal Fight
Bloomberg reports that Apple's two-year-old partnership with OpenAI "has become strained, according to people familiar with the matter." Bloomberg describes OpenAI as "failing to see the expected benefits from the deal and now preparing possible legal action." OpenAI lawyers are actively working with an outside legal firm on a range of options that could be formally executed in the near future, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. That could include sending the iPhone maker a notice alleging breach of contract without necessarily filing a full lawsuit at the outset, according to the people... OpenAI believed that the companies' partnership, which wove ChatGPT into Apple software, would coax more users into subscribing to the chatbot. It also expected deeper integration across more Apple apps and prime placement within the Siri assistant. Instead, Apple's use of OpenAI technology across its operating systems remains limited, and features can be hard to find... Apple has had its own concerns about OpenAI, including whether the company does enough to protect user privacy. And a recent push [by OpenAI] to make devices — an effort overseen by former Apple executives — has rankled the iPhone maker. Any legal move by OpenAI likely wouldn't come until after the conclusion of the Musk trial, according to the people. No final decisions have been made, and OpenAI still hopes to resolve its issues with Apple outside of court. The article points out that OpenAI "initially believed the deal could generate billions of dollars per year in subscriptions — something that hasn't come close to happening." An OpenAI executive argues to Bloomberg that from a product perspective Apple hasn't done everything they could, "and worse, they haven't even made an honest effort." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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AI Is Technology, Not a Product
It’s not even a feature. It’s just technology.

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Indie App Spotlight: ‘Cats Lock’ is a fun Mac app that solves cat keyboard spam
Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. If you’re a beloved cat owner, you might often have your cat running across your Mac’s keyboard, causing loads of unnecessary keyboard input, and sometimes even unwanted communications. Cats Lock has a solution for it, and soon your cat will be able to roam your MacBook keyboard freely. more…

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Anthropic's Mythos Helped Build a Working macOS Exploit in Five Days
"The vulnerability is simple in practice," writes Tom's Hardware: "run a command as a standard user and gain root (administrator) access to the machine." And it was Mythos Preview that helped the security researchers at Palo Alto-based Calif bypass a five-year Apple security effort in just five days. The blog 9to5Mac reports: Last year, Apple introduced Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), a hardware-assisted memory safety system designed to make memory corruption exploits much harder to execute... [The researchers note it's built into Apple all models of the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air, and some MacBooks] They explain they have a 55-page technical report on the hack, but they won't release it until Apple ships a fix for the exploit. But they do note in broad terms that Anthropic's Mythos Preview model helped them identify the bugs and assisted them throughout the entire collaborative exploit development process. "Mythos Preview is powerful: once it has learned how to attack a class of problems, it generalizes to nearly any problem in that class. Mythos discovered the bugs quickly because they belong to known bug classes. But MIE is a new best-in-class mitigation, so autonomously bypassing it can be tricky. This is where human expertise comes in. Part of our motivation was to test what's possible when the best models are paired with experts. Landing a kernel memory corruption exploit against the best protections in a week is noteworthy, and says something strong about this pairing...." [I]n a time when even small teams, with the help of AI, can make discoveries such as this one, "we're about to learn how the best mitigation technology on Earth holds up during the first AI bugmageddon." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Apple Watch Series 12: Here’s what we know so far
As is the case every year, this September – Apple will be unveiling its next-generation Apple Watch model. Apple Watch Series 12 will likely carry on the same design language as the Apple Watch Series 11, but with a few changes. Let’s dive in. more…

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How to remove your personal data from the internet (and why you can’t afford to wait)
Data brokers make a living by selling your personal information for profit. Your phone number, email, home address, and Social Security number could be packaged and sold to spammers, scammers, and identity thieves right now. Your privacy loss is their gain. Apple’s privacy protections can help block some but not all tracking as data harvesting efforts become increasingly sophisticated. If you want to proactively and continuously remove your personal data from broker databases, Incogni makes it easier than ever to fight back and regain control of your privacy. more…

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How to remove your personal data from the internet (and why you can’t afford to wait)
Data brokers make a living by selling your personal information for profit. Your phone number, email, home address, and Social Security number could be packaged and sold to spammers, scammers, and identity thieves right now. Your privacy loss is their gain. Apple’s privacy protections can help block some but not all tracking as data harvesting efforts become increasingly sophisticated. If you want to proactively and continuously remove your personal data from broker databases, Incogni makes it easier than ever to fight back and regain control of your privacy. more…

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This rumored MacBook Pro upgrade has me excited, and it has nothing to do with OLED
Later this year, Apple is set to debut its first MacBook Pro redesign since 2021. With that redesign, we’re expecting OLED, touch displays, M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, a Dynamic Island cutout, and much more. There’s another big detail about these new MacBook Pro models, and I’m much more excited for that change. more…

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This rumored MacBook Pro upgrade has me excited, and it has nothing to do with OLED
Later this year, Apple is set to debut its first MacBook Pro redesign since 2021. With that redesign, we’re expecting OLED, touch displays, M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, a Dynamic Island cutout, and much more. There’s another big detail about these new MacBook Pro models, and I’m much more excited for that change. more…

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Craig Federighi dragged into Musk's Apple-OpenAI lawsuit
Apple software chief Craig Federighi will be taking part in xAI's antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI over Grok's treatment in the App Store, but Tim Cook seemingly won't be.X in the App Store. In August 2025, Elon Musk's xAI sued Apple and OpenAI, claiming that a partnership between the two affected Grok's standings in the App Store. Specifically, Musk's xAI accused Apple of bias in its App Store rankings, preventing Grok and X from getting the top spot in favor of ChatGPT.As the antitrust lawsuit rolls on, it has now brought Apple SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi into the matter. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Sick of cloud storage subscriptions? Grab a 2TB portable SSD at a steep discount.
The SanDisk Extreme is a pocket-size 2TB portable SSD that hits read speeds up to 1050 MB/s and write speeds up to 1000 MB/s. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Apple @ Work: How AI is going to change cybersecurity training for Mac admins
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, and 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. For much of my IT career, cybersecurity training has looked exactly the same. Once a year, IT forces everyone to watch a few videos and take a multiple-choice quiz. This training does check a box, but it rarely changes actual user behavior or provides a ton of new insights. However, AI will begin to completely flip how training is done. A new integration announced recently by Dashlane and KnowBe4 gives us a clear view of how AI and real-time automation will change cybersecurity training for the good. more…

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Today in Apple history: PowerBook 540c is the best Mac laptop to date
On May 16, 1994, Apple launched the PowerBook 540c, one of the very best laptops in its history. This is what made it so special. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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