Default Folder X 6.0.7
Maintenance release with improvements and bug fixes for the Open/Save dialog utility. ($39.95 new, free update, 17.4 MB, macOS 10.13+)

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Sonos has heard the music: VoiceOver improvements, local playback, and more return to new app
Sonos launched a brand-new version of its app this month. And it received lots of critical feedback from users over missing features, broken VoiceOver for vision-impaired users, and more. Now the company has acknowledged some of the problems and launched its latest update with fixes. more…

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Alogic Elite Power Laptop Stand review: Strudy stand, slow charger
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating ProsWell builtBuilt-in wireless Qi chargerCan handle larger laptopsConsSlow 7.5-watt charging for iPhonesNo power adapter included Our VerdictThe Alogic Elite Power Laptop Stand is a well-built and stable stand for your MacBook with a built-in wireless charger that can be used with an iPhone or AirPods. Price When Reviewed$69.99 Best Prices Today: Elite Power Laptop Stand with Wireless Charger Retailer Price Alogic $70 View Deal $86.17 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket A stand for your MacBook with a built-in Qi wireless charger. Sounds like a no-brainer, yet the Alogic Elite Power Laptop Stand is the first of its kind that I’ve seen. (I admit, I haven’t exactly been looking.) The Power Laptop Stand is a very stable stand made of sturdy aluminum that has rubber feet to keep it in place. The adjustable joints require a lot of force to adjust, or you can use the supplied Allen wrench tool that makes it easy. The stand is height-adjustable; it can raise the MacBook up to 11.8 inches (30 centimeters). The stand can also be angled, allowing you to raise the screen further in height. The stand can handle computers up to 17 inches in size. The Alogic Power Laptop Stand is incredibly well-built. The Alogic Power Laptop Stand is incredibly well-built. Petter Ahrnstedt The Alogic Power Laptop Stand is incredibly well-built. Petter Ahrnstedt Petter Ahrnstedt Built-in Qi wireless charger On the right side of the stand’s base plate is a built-in Qi wireless charger that can deliver up to 10 watts–but only up to 7.5 watts for an iPhone. It’s not as fast as MagSafe, which delivers 15 watts. But it’s a handy spot to have to make sure your iPhone is topped off and it can also be used with AirPods at 10 watts. On the back of the base plate is a USB-C port for the power supply. Alogic also includes a cable, but it is a USB-C to USB-A cable and a power adapter isn’t included. You need to provide an adapter, which probably comes with its own USB-C cable, so Alogic’s cable can be stashed in your storage. Alogic has equipped the charging pad with functions that detect if you have placed a foreign object on it. This is to prevent potential damage and prevent excessive heat build-up in the base plate of the stand. Should you buy the Alogic Elite Power Laptop Stand? On the whole, the Elite Power Laptop Stand is very good–it’s built well, sturdy, and handsome. Consider the charger a bonus feature. This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden and was translated by Roman Loyola. Laptop Accessories, MacBook

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Apple wins coveted D&AD Black Pencil award for visionOS
Apple on Thursday won a coveted D&AD Black Pencil for its visionOS spatial computing operating system — one of the highest… The post Apple wins coveted D&AD Black Pencil award for visionOS appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Apple Exec Admits Court-Ordered App Store Changes Fail To Boost Competition
Apple executive Phil Schiller admitted in court on Wednesday that the company's court-mandated changes to its iPhone app store payment system have not significantly increased competition. The ongoing hearings in Oakland, California, are determining whether Apple is properly complying with an antitrust order to allow developers to display links to alternative payment options. Despite Apple's implementation of the changes in January, only a small number of apps have sought approval for external payment links. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has expressed frustration with Apple executives, questioning whether they understand the order's intent to increase competition. Schiller defended Apple's response as well-intentioned but acknowledged the need for further action to encourage more apps to utilize external payment options. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Square launches Tap to Pay on iPhone in Canada
Square on Thursday launched Tap to Pay on iPhone in Canada, allowing Square sellers to be among the first businesses in the country… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Welcome to the Ultra era, where Apple is making iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads more luxury than ever
There is a trend emerging at Apple, and it’s one that could do serious damage to your Apple Card balance. Apple has long held a reputation for making premium products—both in quality and price. The iPhone is more expensive than most Android phones, the Mac more than your average PC, and so on. Every single major product Apple sells is pricier than the bulk of its competitors. Yet the company is still wildly successful, regardless. Now, based on recent trends and new reporting, it seems that Apple plans to test its customers’ loyalty by offering even higher cost, super-premium versions of nearly its entire product line. Welcome to the Ultra era. more…

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The brand-new Beats Solo 4 are $50 off right now
Macworld If you want headphones that are comfortable to wear for long hours, while also offering great sound, Apple’s Beats Solo 4 are an excellent choice. And today they’re on sale for 25 percent off: Amazon is selling the Beats Solo 4 in black, pink, or blue for $150, the best price we’ve ever seen for a product that’s barely been on shelves for a month. While they don’t have active noise-cancellation, the Beats Solo 4 come with personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. That’s pretty awesome because it will definitely enhance your listening experience by making it more immersive when you’re watching movies late at night, for instance. The headphones are light and have an ergonomic design, with a flexible headband and adjustable ear cups. Those ear cushions are also made to be comfortable to wear for long hours. One of the standout features of the Beats Solo 4 is its impressive battery life. With up to 50 hours of playback, you won’t have to worry about frequent charging. And when you do need a quick boost, the Fast Fuel technology gives you up to 5 hours of playback from just a 10-minute charge. In our review of the Beats Solo 4, we gave these headphones 4 out of 5 stars. They have the same classic Beats design with better sound and battery life, making the Beats Solo 4 an excellent buy at this discounted price. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to grab the Beats Solo 4 for only $150, and enjoy your favorite songs wherever you go with a set of reliable and comfortable headphones. Get the Beats Solo 4 for $150 at Amazon Headphones

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Anker Magnetic Battery for iPhone with Stand and USB-C is 50% off – limited time deal
The highly rated Anker Magnetic Battery for iPhone, a 5,000mAh foldable magnetic wireless portable charger with stand and USB-C, is on sale… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Would you pay a subscription fee for a smarter Siri?
A rumor is circulating that Apple, scrambling to catch up to rivals in AI, and after… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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HomeKit Weekly: Aqara releases new entry-level smart deadbolt lock with Apple home key support
was an immediate hit when released last year thanks to its low cost and support for Apple home key. Today, Aqara has just released the new Aqara U50 entry-level deadbolt lock, which also retains Apple home key and Matter support. more…

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Spotify will kill Car Thing units later this year, tells owners to throw them away
Spotify has just announced that Car Thing, its discontinued car display, is dying. As in, the company will be killing any remaining units later this year. more…

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Here’s your chance to nab M3 MacBook Pro models for up to $300 off
If you're in the market for a new laptop, you can't do much better than up to $300 off M3 MacBook Pro models. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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Apple Wi-Fi network vulnerability could leak your location in real-time
Macworld Apple’s location services are handy, with many useful functions such as Find My, maps, routes, and Emergency SOS calls. However, researchers at the University of Maryland have discovered a crucial vulnerability in the way Apple’s location services work, which could allow an unauthorized person to access data on millions of routers and potentially information on a person’s movements without much effort. As reported by Krebs on Security, Erik Rye and Dave Levin from the University of Maryland have discovered one aspect of Apple’s location services that works strangely. Positioning via WLAN instead of GPS GPS and its constant queries are energy-intensive, so smartphone manufacturers try to use alternatives when available. An economical method of determining a device’s location is to analyze the data from surrounding Wi-Fi networks and calculate location based on the networks detected and the current signal strength. Apple and Google operate their databases with active Wi-Fi network names (Wi-Fi-based Positioning Systems, WPS for short), which make these calculations much easier. The researchers discovered an oddity in the way Apple’s WPS works: the system sends the necessary data to the user’s device so that these calculations can be carried out locally. But apparently, Apple’s WPS server sends up to 400 other known Wi-Fi networks that may be in the approximate vicinity of the device as part of its crowdsourcing location database. From this list, the requesting device searches for eight possible variants and calculates its location based on this data. Apple’s WPS system, the iOS device, and the router on which the network is based operate with the so-called BSSIDs (Basic Service Set Identification) and usually correspond to the MAC address of the device, which is static in most cases. Data from almost 500 million WLAN networks The researchers took advantage of this fact and used a Linux computer (not a Mac) to query Apple’s WPS servers for valid BSSIDs and their locations. They simply created the initial BSSID for the request using a random generator. Using the already known lists registered with the IEEE, which router manufacturers use for their products, the number of guessed BSSIDs can be narrowed down significantly. For their experiment, the researchers used 16,384 (2^14) randomly generated BSSID parts. The request via Apple’s APIs is free, so Rye and Levin sent 30 requests per second with 100 guessed BSSIDs. You can disable Apple’s location services on your network so it won’t be visible to Apple’s database. You can disable Apple’s location services on your network so it won’t be visible to Apple’s database.Martyn Casserly You can disable Apple’s location services on your network so it won’t be visible to Apple’s database.Martyn Casserly Martyn Casserly In the experiment, the researchers queried a total of 1,124,663,296 BSSIDs, and around 0.25 percent (2,834,067), were known to Apple. However, due to the way Apple’s location calculation works, the servers also sent additional registered BSSIDs, meaning that the researchers obtained data from a further 488,677,543 Wi-Fi networks. The researchers monitored the data from almost half a billion Wi-Fi routers over the period from November 2022 to November 2023 and used it to make their observations, particularly in crisis regions. Using the manufacturer part of the MAC address, Rye and Levin were able to identify around 3,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine. During the period observed, it was also possible to determine the location of some of them. However, the information on the current static location alone is life-threatening in the wrong hands, as it indicates the location data of the Ukrainian military units. In Gaza, the researchers also monitored the development of the number of registered BSSIDs and their movements. After October 7, 2023, and until the end of November 2023, the number of Wi-Fi networks registered in the Gaza Strip decreased by 75 percent, with some moving from north to south. How to exclude your Wi-Fi from Apple’s database The researchers contacted Apple, Google, Starlink, and several other manufacturers with their discovery. It’s not clear if Apple will change the way it handles Wi-Fi networks, but it did update a support document to provide a way for anyone to opt out of this data collection. To do this, you need to add the character string “_nomap” to the end of the name (SSID) of your network. This also applies to Google and its WPS. With Microsoft, you must enter your MAC address in a form so that the manufacturer can add it to a block list in its database. This can take up to five days. iOS, iPhone, Security Software and Services

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Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs attempts a boardroom coup
On May 23, 1985, the Apple co-founder tried to seize control of the company. Steve Jobs' boardroom coup attempt led to his ouster from Apple. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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Apple launches Tap to Pay on iPhone in Canada
Apple on Thursday launched Tap to Pay on iPhone in Canada, empowering millions of merchants to use iPhone to… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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All-Screen M5 MacBook With Foldable Display To Launch in 2026, Analyst Says
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple is working on all-screen foldable devices. Unlike its competitors, however, its focus seems less on foldable smartphones and tablets, and instead on an all-screen foldable laptop. Ming-Chi Kuo has previously reported that Apple was developing a 20.3-inch MacBook device for 2027, but today the analyst has shared several key new details about the futuristic MacBook model. One such detail is that Apple is now eyeing an earlier 2026 launch for the product. Here are some of the key features Kuo expects to see in the all-screen MacBook: 1. Multiple foldable screen options are still possible, with the rumored 20.3-inch display potentially replaced by an 18.8-inch panel. The former would, when folded, resemble a current 14-15-inch MacBook, while the latter would correspond better to a modern day 13-14-inch model like the smaller MacBook Air. 2. A 2026 debut is now expected for the device, one year earlier than previously reported. 3. The MacBook is expected to receive an M5-series chip, which lines up with the expected timeline of the M4 spreading to the whole Mac lineup by the end of 2025. 4. Apple's goal is to provide a crease-free design for the foldable display. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Apple 16GB 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro at $200 off, green AirPods Max $100 off, Apple Watch GPS + Cell from $250, more
The early Memorial Day deals roll on, but today we spotted the stock maxed out 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro with 16GB of memory and a 1TB SSD back down at the $1,799 low. From there, the green AirPods Max are now joining the rest of the colorways at $100 off, previous-generation Apple Watch Series 7 and Series 9 GPS + Cell models are seeing deep price drops (some of the best ever), and one of our favorite 15W MagSafe chargers is joining the fun too. Take a closer look at today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break deals below. more…

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Save $400 on Apple's M3 Max MacBook Pro 16-inch with 64GB RAM
The cheapest M3 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro price on record for a loaded configuration with 64GB RAM and a 1TB SSD is available exclusively to AppleInsider readers via a stacked $400 discount, plus $80 off AppleCare.Save $400 on a loaded M3 Max MacBook Pro 16.A new price drop has been picked up by the AppleInsider Price Guide, delivering the lowest price on record. The $400 discount is courtesy of a $200 instant rebate at Adorama stacked with a $200 off coupon with promo code APINSIDER.Use code APINSIDER Continue Reading on AppleInsider

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Canadian firms finally get Tap to Pay on iPhone
Apple has rolled out its Tap to Pay on iPhone to Canada, meaning that businesses there can now take payments from customers on iPhone.Tap to Pay on iPhone comes to Canada (Source: Apple)Two years after Apple first launched it in the US, Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available to merchants in Canada, allowing them to accept contactless payments using their phones instead of dedicated readers. It also enables app developers to incorporate the feature into their iOS apps."Canadians increasingly rely on a variety of digital and contactless payment options," Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said in a statement, "so we're excited to partner with payment platforms to offer merchants across Canada a private, secure, and easy-to-use capability that meets customers where they are." Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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