Apple’s upcoming AirPods Pro 3 variant could debut a groundbreaking new feature
Earlier this year, Apple acquired a secretive startup: Q.ai, for over 2 billion dollars. It’s the companies second largest acquisition to date, and it leaves you wondering: what’s the end game here? While smart glasses seem like an obvious play, there’s another Apple product in the pipeline that also seems quite fitting for this new technology. more…

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‘A Reading Room on Wheels, a Lover’s Lane, and, After 11 PM, a Flophouse’
Photos from the New York Subway in the 1940s, by teenage Stanley Kubrick.

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Security Bite: ClickFix malware authors already bypassing Apple’s new Terminal paste warning
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. As you may know, a couple weeks ago on Security Bite I was raving about Apple’s new warning prompt in Terminal that appears when a user pastes potentially malicious commands. The security feature was bundled into the public release of macOS Tahoe 26.4 to further disrupt ClickFix attacks, which are now the leading delivery mechanism for malware on Mac. However, it now appears malware authors are already deploying workarounds. more…

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ICE monitoring app takedowns violated the First Amendment
A court has stopped the U.S. government from forcing Apple to take down ICE reporting apps from the App Store, due to it being a violation of the First Amendment.Image credit: TheFire.orgIn February, a lawsuit from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) took aim at the U.S. government over the right to report the activities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).The preliminary finding, issued on April 17, lands in FIRE's favor, with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice being prevented from coercing Apple and Facebook into removing apps and interfering with communications. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Apple’s smart glasses come into focus [Cult of Mac podcast No. 17]
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: New details emerge about Apple’s smart glasses, including possible shapes, sizes and colors. Now for the important question: Will we — or anybody else — actually want to wear a pair? Also on the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple reportedly plans a last-ditch effort to get its […] (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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These are my favorite ultra-slim MagSafe batteries you can get today [Video]
I love MagSafe batteries and by this point, I have probably tested hundreds of them. There are plenty of great options out there with different capacities, charging speeds, built-in cables, and diagnostic displays, and there seems to be a MagSafe battery variant for any situation. But the feature I like most is thinness. While it’s great to have 10,000 mAh in a battery, that adds too much extra bulk in most daily cases. So over the last few months, I have been on the hunt for slim MagSafe batteries that add the least amount of bulk to my iPhone. These are the three best ones I’ve tested so far. more…

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Today in Apple history: Apple pays $15 million to promote Mission: Impossible
On April 18, 1996, Apple unveiled a massive $15 million promotional tie-in for the "Mission: Impossible" movie starring Tom Cruise. What a disaster! (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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How to use the iPhone 16 Camera Control
The Camera Control is a new button on the iPhone that opens the camera, takes pictures and adjusts camera settings on the fly. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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How to protect your privacy by opting out of data collection in popular AI apps [Sponsored]
A recent study found that around a third of AI app users are having deeply personal conversations with the chatbots. Even if you’re not sharing your deepest fears with an AI app, your questions and conversations may still include a significant amount of personal data. A separate Stanford study found that six leading US AI companies all feed user inputs back into their models for future training, potentially putting your privacy at risk. Fortunately, there are simple steps you can take to manage this … more…

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Apple @ Work: Free Apple device management is a baseline, not a finish line
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. Apple recently announced that the device management portion of its new Apple Business platform is now completely free. If you manage a fleet of Apple devices, this immediately caught your attention. It’s the first free device management system I can remember since Meraki’s System Manager. Giving small businesses a free tool to manage their Macs and iPhones is a huge win for the ecosystem. However, if you are an IT administrator looking at your current device management renewal and wondering if you can just cancel it and move everything to Apple, you need to pump the brakes a bit. Let’s look at why. more…

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My Mac felt slow, but hardware wasn’t the problem. Here’s how I fixed it.
I thought my M4 Pro Mac mini was running slow because it needed more RAM. Turns out, it needed some spring cleaning and better usage habits. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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U.S. ITC won't allow Masimo to bring back the Apple Watch ban
The U.S. ITC has denied a request by Masimo to reinstate a ban on the Apple Watch, closing its case on alleged blood oxygen patent infringement.The rear sensor of the Apple WatchThe long-running lawsuit over the Apple Watch has continued, this time with a partial win for Apple. In the latest development, which saw Masimo accuse Apple of infringing on its blood oxygen patents, the medical tech firm was denied a review of a preliminary ruling.On March 19, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit backed the original ruling by the International Trade Commission. However, on March 18, the ITC made a ruling that Apple wouldn't have to do anything else to remedy the case. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Top Stories: iOS 27 rumors, Apple Glasses design, more
Welcome to 9to5Mac’s top stories of the week, where we recap the biggest news in the Apple world every Saturday. This week, we have iOS 26.4.1, more iOS 27 leaks, Apple Glasses rumors, and more Apple news. Plus, our usual slate of new podcast episodes, opinion pieces, and much more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories. more…

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INIU Cougar P64 140W review: Affordable fast MacBook power bank
Macworld At a glance Pros 140W PD 3.1 charging Large 25K battery capacity Cool looks Good value Cons Lower max output than rivals Our Verdict The Cougar P64 is a compellingly affordable power bank for MacBook owners with its speedy recharging and compact, lightweight form. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When Reviewed$89.99 Best Prices Today: INIU Cougar P64 140W Power Bank Retailer Price $79.98 View Deal INIU $89.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who is the INIU Cougar P64 for? This power bank is rated at 140W for 16-inch MacBook Pro fast charging but is a good-looking battery recharging solution for any MacBook owner, from the Neo up. If you’re away from a power socket long enough even a fully charged MacBook battery will eventually dry up, and that might be in the middle of a complex Excel spreadsheet, deep PowerPoint or just as the streamed movie is getting good. We’re used to carrying around a power bank for our phones—check out the best magnetic power banks for iPhone—but lugging one around that’s big enough to top up a thirsty laptop is not an everyday backpack companion. When you’re travelling having a high-capacity power bank nearby might just save that spreadsheet or presentation and get you to the end of the movie. Laptop power banks come in different capacities—the higher the milliamp hours or watt hours the more recharge power it brings—and at different speeds: the more watts, the faster the charge. We loved INIU’s Cougar P62-E1 laptop power bank for its lightweight compact form and fun color choices in a world of gray pillar designs. That model topped out at a 65W power output—just about enough watts to fast-charge a MacBook Air but falling a little short for a MacBook Pro. It can handle the Pro but a little slowly. Now it has a senior sibling, the Cougar P64 that is rated at PD 3.1, which means its Power Delivery is up to the 140W demanded by the 16-inch MacBook Pro for fast-charging. It will work at the max speed of all Apple’s other MacBooks, too. Simon Jary Full specs Battery capacity: 25000mAh (92.5Wh) Fastest Power Output: 140W Total Power Output: 145W Power Input: 80W USB ports: 1x USB-C (140W PD 3.1); 1x USB-C (45W); 1x USB-A (18W). Dimensions: 6.3 x 3.2 x 1 inches (159 x 81 x 25mm) Weight: 17.5oz (496g) Airline compatible: Yes Macworld Test Score: 119% It’s the slimmest and lightest of all the 140W laptop power banks we’ve tested, and maybe the best looking depending on whether you prefer the slab shape compared to its rivals’ pillar form. It ships with a 2-foot 240W USB-C to USB-C cable and a handy travel pouch. It’s available in either black or white, although the white model was hard to get at the time of writing. The EcoFlow RAPID Pro Power Bank has an integrated USB-C cable that is convenient, especially if you are susceptible to forgetting to pack a cable on your travels. Fastest charging With a 140W USB-C port, the INIU Cougar P64 matches the speed of some of our other top-rated MacBook power banks, including the Anker Prime Power Bank (26K, 300W), EcoFlow RAPID Pro Power Bank 27K (300W), Ugreen 48000mAh Portable Power Bank (300W), Cuktech 15 Ultra Power Bank 20000mAh (165W) and others. At top-speed it should take only 30 minutes to simultaneously charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro to 60% and an iPhone 15 Pro Max to 62%. It also supports Samsung Super Fast Charge 2.0. 25K capacity and performance Its large 25,000mAh (92.5Wh) battery capacity is airline-approved, although it’s always worth checking before taking it to the airport as some airlines have their own rules. In our recharging test, the INIU Cougar P64 got a Macworld score of 119%. That means that it recharged our test 14-inch MacBook Pro from 0% to 100% and then another 19% on the second recharge. That compares favorably with the Anker Prime’s 125% and EcoFlow’s 120% scores. Max output Where it falls off in comparison to its rival 140W power banks—and therefore where you must compromise fir the lower cost—is its lower maximum power output. Using its two USB-C ports it can push out a total of 145W (100W+45W), where the Anker Prime, Ugreen 48000mAh and EcoFlow RAPID Pro each has a maximum 300W output. If you are wanting to recharge a few MacBooks at the same time, the P64 will do it slower than the others as it has less power to simultaneously share around. That said, when using all three at the same time, one laptop could be charged at 100W with the other two ports sharing 45W, which should be enough to fast-charge an iPhone (via the second USB-C) and a third device via the USB-A port. Input The P64 is no slouch when it comes to being recharging itself, with an 80W input speed. But the Anker Prime and EcoFlow Power Banks can use both their two 140W ports at the same time for far-higher input speeds of 250W and 280W respectively. If time is on your side before you venture out, 80W should be fast enough for a gentle power bank recharge. INIU Display The P64  has a large smart display, showing the remaining power in the power bank, the output power of each port, plus the remaining battery in terms of hours. Price How does the INIU Cougar P64 match up on price with its 140W rival power banks? Priced at $89.99 / £89.99 it looks like a bargain compared to the $229/£179 Anker Prime and $189/£169 EcoFlow RAID Pro. Those products have higher total power output when using more than one port at a time and much faster power bank recharging, but for a fast-charging laptop power bank the P64 is hard to ignore at this price. The Cuktech 15 Ultra is cheaper still at around $75 but has a lower 20K battery capacity and a larger body. Should you buy the INIU Cougar P64 140W 25K Power Bank? The Cougar P64 is a compellingly affordable power bank for MacBook owners with its speedy recharging and compact, lightweight form.

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If your computer feels outdated, this Windows 11 Pro upgrade is your $13 fix
Macworld TL;DR: Upgrade your PC with Windows 11 Pro for better performance, smarter multitasking, and stronger security — all for a one-time price of $12.97 until May 3. If your computer feels like it’s working against you — lagging, cluttered, or just plain outdated — you’re not alone. The good news? You don’t need a new device to fix it. Microsoft Windows 11 Pro is a simple upgrade that can improve how you use your PC, and it’s just $12.97 (MSRP $199) until May 3. This version of Windows is built for getting things done faster and with less friction. Think cleaner design, better organization, and tools that actually help instead of getting in the way. Some highlights of Windows 11 Pro: Snap layouts that make multitasking feel effortless Built-in security like BitLocker and biometric login Faster search and smoother navigation Copilot AI to help with writing, tasks, and quick answers It’s not just about looks — it’s about working smarter. Whether you’re managing projects, browsing, gaming, or just trying to stay organized, Windows 11 Pro helps your PC keep up. Skip the frustration and give your computer the upgrade it deserves with Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for just $12.97 before May 3. Want free Microsoft Office for life? This purchase gets you close. Just reach $100+ in your cart, add Microsoft Office 2021, and apply GWP4MAC (for Mac) or GWP4WIND (for Windows) to claim it free through April 19. Microsoft Windows 11 ProSee Deal Gift with $100+ purchase promo ends April 19, 2026. Exclusions apply. Only one promo code applicable per order. StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Microsoft Office for Mac drops to $49.97 with no subscription
Macworld TL;DR: Pay $49.97 once (reg. $219) and get lifetime access to Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac—no subscriptions, no renewals. There are two types of Mac users: those who can get by without Microsoft Office, and those who absolutely can’t. If your work, school, or daily tasks revolve around Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations, switching to alternatives usually ends up creating more friction than it solves. Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac gives you the tools you already rely on, just without the ongoing cost. You get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, along with Teams (basic) and OneNote, all installed on one Mac for long-term use. Everything runs locally, so you’re not dependent on a constant internet connection to get things done. This isn’t Microsoft 365, so there are no recurring charges, no surprise renewals, and no pressure to keep upgrading. You pay once, connect it to your Microsoft account, and keep using it for as long as you need. It’s a practical setup for students, freelancers, small business owners, or anyone who knows Office is a non-negotiable part of their workflow. Everything is delivered digitally, so you can download your license and get started right away. Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac for $49.97 (reg. $219) while this deal is still available. Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime LicenseSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Test your Mac’s performance using one of these benchmark and speed-test tools
Macworld Is your Mac’s performance not as good as it once was? Wondering if there might be a problem with your software or if one of the components has failed? Or perhaps it’s your web connection that’s bothering you, but you aren’t sure if it’s just that your broadband connection is really poor, or if there’s something else going on with your Mac. We share plenty of advice on how to update your Mac, and speed up a slow Mac, but how do you tell if there is really a problem with your Mac rather than you just being impatient with it? One way to get an idea of how well your Mac is working is to run benchmarks and a set of performance tests on your MacBook or Mac desktop. Several benchmarking apps will help you find out how fast your Mac is, you can test your GPU and your CPU as well as your Wi-Fi internet speed and even ethernet speed. In this article we’ll run through the best Mac performance test apps, including some free options you can find online. If you are thinking of buying a new Mac, running benchmarks on your current machine and then comparing them to our benchmarks of the newer models we’ve reviewed will give you an idea of the kind of boost you can expect. (Check our Mac reviews section for the latest Mac benchmarks.) In this article, we’ll recommend the variety of (usually free) apps we use to evaluate a Mac’s performance (and more specifically, the performance of its components) in a range of scenarios. Carry on reading to find out how to benchmark the CPU, GPU, hard drive, and more, of your Mac desktop or laptop. How to run Mac speed tests Want to find out how fast your Mac is (and confirm your belief that it’s been slowing down)? You can run various tests to find out your processor speed, which would give you an insight into how powerful your Mac is. We also recommend checking the speed of your SSD–or hard drive, if you Mac is older. Before running any of the tests below, we recommend closing any apps on your Mac as they might affect how well the machine performs. Restarting to make sure that any RAM is freed up is also advisable. How to benchmark your Mac’s CPU To check your processor speed we recommend Geekbench from Primate Labs. Geekbench is free to use and you can get it on the Mac App Store here. You can also download it from Primate Labs website here.  Geekbench 6 (updated from Geekbench 5 in February 2023) is the most popular tool for gauging how powerful the latest processors are, and because it works for Macs and PCs, as well as iOS and Android you can get a good idea of how your processor compares to another. It is our go-to benchmark tool when reviewing the latest Macs, iPhones and iPads here at Macworld. Geekbench’s CPU test runs through various tests to stress the CPU and then calculates an overall score–the higher the better. Tests include file compression, rendering web pages and PDFs, running developer scripts, and doing machine-learning tasks like object detection and background blur. Running these tests could be useful if you think something is wrong with your Mac; you can compare the score to similar Macs and processors. You can view recent Geekbench scores for various Mac processors here. Foundry How to benchmark your CPU with Geekbench The main draw of Geekbench is that it’s incredibly easy to use and requires little technical knowledge. Here’s how to use it: Download the app from the Mac App Store here or Primate Labs website here.  We recommend that you restart your Mac before running the test. Close any other apps that are running on your Mac. Open Geekbench. You’ll see a Welcome to Geekbench message and a request to Upgrade or Enter License. You don’t need to do either of these things. Just click on Later. Click Run CPU benchmark. Foundry Geekbench will then measure the performance of your CPU when performing “everyday tasks designed to simulate real-world applications” and can take 10 minutes or more to complete, depending on the speed of your CPU. Once it’s done, the results will be displayed. You might initially be overwhelmed by all the information on offer, from the Processor ID to the Motherboard hardware, but the only two numbers you need to concentrate on are at the top: single-core score and multi-core score. The single-core score helps give a sense of how fast the Mac performs under certain situations when only a single processing core is handling everything. Many applications have their performance limited by a single main thread, so single-core CPU performance will determine how fast they run. Other applications are designed to be multi-threaded so that lots of processes can run at the same time. The multi-core results show you how well your Mac can perform when pushed to its absolute limits, as it’ll use multiple processing cores at once to handle the strain. Think of it as your Mac’s top-end performance. You can take these results and compare them to other benchmark tests on the Geekbench Browser, allowing you to see how your Mac compares to the latest generation of Macs, and even its competitors from other manufacturers. It should give you an idea of how well your computer is performing at the moment, and whether the upgrade you’re considering is worth it in terms of raw processing power. Foundry How to check your Mac’s disk speed One way we used to check how fast the storage inside our Mac was used to be to copy and paste a 4GB folder and then time how long it took to duplicate. That is no longer an effective measure because, since Apple introduced APFS (Apple File System) the folder is no longer duplicated, all you are really doing is creating an alias to the original file. Therefore the only way to really make a judgment about the speed of the storage inside your Mac is to use a tool such as the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test (free from the Mac App Store here), or the AJA System Test Lite (free from the Mac App Store here) to measure the read/write speeds of your hard drive or SSD. How to benchmark your SSD with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test The free Blackmagic Disk Speed Test was designed for video editors to help determine whether their hard drives can handle large files. If you’re not a video editor, don’t fret. the data is still very helpful to gauge performance. Download Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. We recommend that you restart your Mac before running the test. Open the app. For improved accuracy, and as with all other benchmark tests, it’s best to make sure that no other apps are running. Select your target drive if your Mac has more than one hard drive (this is done by clicking the gear cog) and click start to begin the benchmark. While there’s a bunch of data showcased in the Will it Work? and How Fast? charts, that’s mainly for video editors. The numbers you want to focus on are displayed in the big gauges at the top. The write speed is on the left and the read speed on the right, giving you an idea of how fast things will be written to the drive and how fast apps and files will load respectively. Blackmagic Disk Speed works by running a write test and the Write gauge will eventually stop with a result. Then, it will do the same with a Read test. Then, it starts the process over again with a test of a different file size and will continue to go back and forth between tests until you click the Stop button. You can record any results you see while the gauge is stopped. You’ll find that the results between test iterations are similar. How to check GPU performance on Mac Finally, let’s talk about graphical performance. For this, we usually opt for two main benchmark tools: Geekbench’s Compute tests and Maxon’s Cinebench. How to use Cinebench to benchmark your Mac’s GPU Cinebench 2024, which you can download here, is another free piece of software that, in addition to testing your Mac’s CPU (much like Geekbench without the ability to compare with other results online), will use an OpenGL and Metal test to benchmark your graphics card. Cinebench tests the CPU and/or GPU by creating a 3D engine with Maxon’s Redshift render engine. On M3 and later Macs, Cinebench supports the GPU-accelerated Metal RT hardware ray tracing. After the tests have run you’ll see the frames per second (fps) result and a score, with the higher the result the better. You’ll see some of the best results following the test, but Maxon doesn’t have an easy-to-search database for different models like Geekbench does. Maxon To perform the test, install the app (It’s called Cinebench 2026), open it, and click Start next to the GPU test in the top-left corner of the app. It’ll take you through the test, and your final result will be displayed next to the Start button. A test can take 10 minutes or longer. How to use Geekbench to benchmark your Mac’s GPU Geekbench doesn’t measure 3D graphics rendering performance like the Cinebench test above. Instead, it uses the GPU to handle computational tasks like edge detection on images, applying a gaussian blur to a 24-megapixel photo, or detecting faces in photos. That is how it measures GPU Compute tasks. For that reason we would suggest that if you want to measure 3D graphics performance you are better off using Cinebench (above). Geeknech Compute is a good general-purpose GPU benchmark. To measure the GPU using Geekbench download the app from the Mac App Store here or Primate Labs website here.  We recommend that you restart your Mac before running the test. Close any other apps that are running on your Mac. Open Geekbench. You’ll see a Welcome to Geekbench message and a request to Upgrade or Enter License. You don’t need to do either of these things. Just click on Later. Click on Compute in the sidebar on the left. Choose between OpenCL or Metal in the GPU API section. On a Mac, Metal is the most important score; on iPhones and iPads, the only supported API is Metal. Click Run GPU Benchmark. Having benchmarked your Mac you will have a better idea of whether it is performing as well as should be expected, or if there might be something wrong. Our first suggestion would be to update your software, but if your Mac is just suffering from old age and you decide to look for a new Mac, take a look at our Mac buying guide and be sure to check out the best prices for a new Mac in our various Mac deals round ups: Best Mac mini deals this month Best MacBook Air deals this month Best Mac Studio deals available now Best MacBook Pro deals this month Best iMac deals this month

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Apple wins latest round in Masimo fight as ITC closes Apple Watch import ban case
Apple just scored an important win in its ongoing battle with Masimo over patents related to the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen feature. Here are the details. more…

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BNP Paribas hikes Apple stock target, cites memory shortage opportunity
Today, BNP Paribas raised Apple’s stock price target to $300, up from $260 set in its last investor note. Here are the details. more…

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Last chance: Win a MacBook Pro and BenQ 4K Nano Gloss Monitor [Giveaway]
Today is your last chance to enter our giveaway of Apple’s latest MacBook Pro courtesy of our friends at BenQ to celebrate the company’s MA series of monitors for Mac. The winner will also receive the new BenQ 27″ 4K Nano Gloss Monitor for MacBook! Head below to enter the giveaway and learn more about the new monitors. more…

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