Turn one port into three with this Anker PowerExpand hub for just $16
Macworld Making the most of your MacBook’s ports can cost as little as $16 with this discounted Anker PowerExpand 3-in-1 USB-C PD hub, which is currently on sale at Amazon. This super compact hub can be just what the doctor ordered since it can maximize your laptop’s functionality. Just picture this: you’re in a cafe and need to charge your laptop, connect an external portable monitor, and transfer some files. The Anker PowerExpand Hub can transform your experience into a hassle-free moment. Usually available for $22, this compact hub is a fantastic choice now that it’s 27% off. The PowerExpand Hub needs to be plugged into one of your laptop’s USB-C ports, transforming it into three ports – a Power Delivery input port, an HDMI port, and a blazing-fast USB-A data port. This means you can charge your laptop, connect an external display, and transfer data simultaneously—all through the Anker PowerExpand hub. As mentioned, you can plug the Anker dongle into a USB-C port and connect the laptop’s charger through the PD slot. The Anker can provide up to 90W of charging power to the computer, ensuring everything stays connected. The included HDMI port is also super handy as it supports media display at high resolutions of up to 4K at 30Hz, ensuring you get crisp and clear visuals. That USB-A data port is also extremely useful to have, supporting speeds of up to 5Gbps, which is pretty much ideal for transferring large files and backing up data. Of course, you can also use it to connect USB peripherals. Since the Anker PowerExpand 3-in-1 USB-C PD Hub is only $16 right now, it’s also a fantastic time to place an order. Buy the Anker PowerExpand 3-in-1 USB-C PD hub for $16 View deal at Amazon Docks and Hubs

Read more »

Apple Mail in iOS 18 introduces on-device email categorization, Smart Replies, and summaries
Apple recently announced a variety of different AI improvements for its built-in Mail application on iOS 18. Here's everything that's new.The Mail app in IOS 18 features email categorization, Smart Replies and summarizationAt its annual WWDC on Monday, the company previewed a new Mail feature that enables the on-device categorization of emails, based on their contents. Through machine learning, the built-in Mail app can classify emails into categories such as: Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

Why you shouldn’t fear Apple Intelligence
There's a lot of confusion and misinformation about Apple Intelligence. Here's why Apple is doing AI right. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

Read more »

Here’s how the upgraded iPhone flashlight works in iOS 18
Apple is known for its impressive attention to detail and a simple but important iPhone feature has received some of that love. Here’s how the all-new iPhone flashlight in iOS 18 works with the Dynamic Island and new functionality. more…

Read more »

Apple Intelligence is nice, but Apple Laziness is my jam
Macworld The Mac section of the WWDC24 keynote was about 15 minutes, and in the first part of those 15 minutes, Apple showed iPhone Mirroring, a feature that was enthusiastically received by the audience watching the keynote at Apple Park. I grinned along and let out an “Oh yeah” in approval. iPhone Mirroring is a feature I’ve wanted for a long time. I don’t know how many times I’ve settled into my favorite chair with my MacBook in my living room, a refreshing beverage in hand, and a “chill” music playlist playing in the room. Then I did something where I needed my iPhone, and I realized that left it in my bedroom. Oh, getting up and walking the 30 feet to get it would take 10 seconds, but it seems like such an arduous task when I’m all comfy. Yeah, I know, you’re thinking, “Just get up, you lazy sonuvab****!” But I think the situation I just described can be representative of other similar situations that orbit around one specific idea: that the Mac and iPhone are two different platforms, and any efforts by Apple to bring them closer together make it more convenient for users and help with productivity. Apple addresses this mostly through iCloud, but there are times when I would like to access my iPhone through my Mac. Like when I want to transfer files between the two; I can use AirDrop, but with iPhone Mirroring I can now drag and drop files more efficiently. In another example, I can use a video streaming app on the iPhone through iPhone Mirroring and watch that video on a larger display. (If an app supports AirPlay, it will be able to play in iPhone Mirroring.) Or when I know I’m going to be focused on my Mac for a while, I can keep my iPhone in my pocket and use iPhone Mirroring when a notification comes in. On the surface, iPhone Mirroring seems like a glitzy feature that might never be used. It looks a little crazy—not just your iPhone on your Mac display, but the fact that you can use a small iPhone window on your Mac. Apple has a large user base (that includes me) who rely on their iPhones and Macs equally as tools to get work done. And who knows, maybe one day we’ll even be able to control our Mac from our iPads. So, while Apple Intelligence (which took up a full 40 minutes of the keynote) will be more impactful on our lives, iPhone Mirroring is going to be one of those delightful features that I can’t wait to use. Learn more about the next Mac operating system in our macOS Sequoia superguide and catch up on all the latest from WWDC24. MacOS

Read more »

Four More States Join US Monopoly Lawsuit Against Apple
Four more U.S. states on Tuesday joined the Justice Department's lawsuit against Apple alleging the iPhone maker is monopolizing smartphone markets, the department said in a statement. From a report: The four states are Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and Washington, the Justice Department said. The original lawsuit was filed in March, and 15 states and the District of Columbia joined the lawsuit at the time. The lawsuit alleges that Apple uses its market power to get more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses and merchants. The civil lawsuit accuses Apple of an illegal monopoly on smartphones, maintained by imposing contractual restrictions on, and withholding critical access from, developers. The Justice Department has previously said Apple charges as much as $1,599 for an iPhone and makes a larger profit than any rival. Officials also said Apple imposes hidden charges on various business partners - from software developers to credit card companies and even rivals such as Alphabet's, Google, in ways that ultimately raise prices for consumers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read more »

Download the new iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 wallpapers right here
Following the announcement of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 at WWDC 2024 on Monday, Apple has released the first beta so that developers can try out the new features and get their apps ready ahead of the official launch this fall. And in addition to new features, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 also come with new wallpapers – and you can download them to your devices right here. more…

Read more »

Apple Intelligence could spark iPhone ‘supercycle’
Apple Intelligence is the personal artificial intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative AI models… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Read more »

Apple Intelligence FAQ: What it is, what it does, and when you’ll get it
Macworld At WWDC on June 10, Apple took the wraps off its ambitious project to inject generative AI features throughout its operating systems. Apple calls this Apple Intelligence, and it’s going to transform the way you use your iPhone, iPad, and Mac—but it’s also got significant limitations and caveats. Here’s everything you need to know about Apple Intelligence before it lands on your devices: What it is, what it does, how it works, when it’s coming, and what you’ll need to be able to use it. What is Apple Intelligence? Apple Intelligence is Apple’s branded term for its suite of generative AI features coming first in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia. Because Apple has been using machine learning and “artificial intelligence” in its products for years (though not generative AI), and because Apple is a company that can never pass up a good branding opportunity, it took “AI” and gave it a snazzy new name. Apple Intelligence involves several features including some centered around reading and writing, some for image generation, and a few other things. It’s a way of getting things done quicker through voice and text prompts that draw on personal context and understanding to deliver results quickly and privately. When will Apple Intelligence be released? Apple Intelligence will debut in beta state when iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia are released later in 2024 (probably September). It was not included in the initial Developer Beta released at WWDC, but Apple says it will be available later in the summer as part of the beta program. The first release will be only in the English language and likely only in some regions, and Apple has said that not all features will be available in the initial public launch. Additional features and languages will roll out over the coming year. What are the features of Apple Intelligence? Apple Intelligence, in this first year’s release, is a broad set of features that can be loosely categorized into four groups: Siri, writing, images, and summaries/organization. Siri Siri will be vastly improved with Apple Intelligence. It will be more natural and easier to talk to using normal speech, even if you mess up your words. It will use context about you from throughout your iPhone–photos, messages, contacts, locations, and more–to give results that are specific to you, personally. It’s such a big upgrade that Apple calls it, “The start of a new era for Siri.” Siri will remember context from one command to the next so you won’t need to summon Siri a second or third time to do more than one task. It can also perform lots of new actions within apps. Apple is adding a lot to its “App Intents” which is how apps–including third-party apps–integrate with Siri. Siri will also be able to look at the screen and understand what’s on it, so you can give it commands related to what you’re looking at. If your friend messages you his address, you can say “Siri, save this address to his contact info” and it will see the address on the screen to know what you mean, and know who “his” is from the context of the message. Siri’s ability to perform multiple actions across apps will be a big step up. Siri’s ability to perform multiple actions across apps will be a big step up.Apple Siri’s ability to perform multiple actions across apps will be a big step up.Apple Apple Writing Almost anywhere in the system in which you write (Messages, Mail, Notes, web forums, you name it) you’ll be able to quickly call up new AI-powered writing tools to make it easier to say what you want how you want to. The tools can take selected text and change its style (friendly, professional, concise), create summaries or lists, or just proofread it for spelling and grammar. If you want to generate new text, smart replies can take a few contextual bits of information provided by you and craft an appropriate response. Say someone sends you an email inviting you to their holiday cookout. You can provide simple info like whether you’re going or not, when you’ll be there, or offering to bring something, and the system will create a whole reply email for you. Writing tools to change style, produce text, or proofread are central to Apple Intelligence. Writing tools to change style, produce text, or proofread are central to Apple Intelligence.Apple Writing tools to change style, produce text, or proofread are central to Apple Intelligence.Apple Apple Images Apple is including image generation tools in Apple Intelligence. It can create new images in three styles: sketch, illustration, and animation. The lack of realistic photographic depictions seems like a safety choice. You can type a description to get an image or start with a rough sketch of what you want. You can even take an image from your photos library as a starting point or create a “Genmoji” out of people in your photos or contacts. There’s a new dedicated app called Image Playground where you can experiment with all these image-generation tools, but they’re also available throughout the system. For example, you can circle a sketch or even a space in Notes using the new Image Wand feature to use Apple Intelligence to generate a properly contextual image there. Make an image of someone you know in an iMessage thread that is relevant to your conversation. Apple is creating APIs for third-party developers to use these tools in their apps, too. Apple Intelligence’s enhanced image understanding shows up in other ways, too. You can get very specific when searching your photos, with prompts like “Show photos of Charlotte from last summer when she was wearing sunglasses.” Finally, a new Clean Up tool in the Photos app lets you instantly remove unwanted objects from the background of your photos. The Image Playground app lets you experiment with AI art, but the tools are integrated throughout iOS. The Image Playground app lets you experiment with AI art, but the tools are integrated throughout iOS.Apple The Image Playground app lets you experiment with AI art, but the tools are integrated throughout iOS.Apple Apple Summaries and organization Apple Intelligence has a much greater understanding of language, so it can do a better job of understanding and presenting all the text you deal with. Your Mail inbox, for example, can show summaries of emails instead of just the first few lines, so it’s easier to find the one you’re looking for. Apple Intelligence understands the content of your emails and will automatically place them into categories (Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions), and build “digests” of emails from the same sender. Important emails can be discovered and bumped up to a list at the top. Safari’s reader mode can summarize web pages. It can find priority notifications and show them in a brief list, with summaries, at the top of your notification stack. You can even engage a Focus mode setting that checks notifications as they come in and will silence most, but let through the ones that seem like they could be important. A great example of how AI will permeate the system can be found in the Phone app, where you’ll be able to record any call (both parties will be notified) and save a transcript and summary of it, which can also help the AI find it later or know what you talked about to deliver more personal results. Apple Apple Apple How does Apple Intelligence differ from other AI? Apple Intelligence has many qualities similar to other generative AI, but Apple stresses several qualities that make it stand out. First is Apple’s focus on privacy. All the features described here run mostly on-device, using Apple’s advanced hardware and silicon, so your data never actually goes anywhere. Apple is not “scooping up” your information to sell or train their AI models. When something needs to be done that requires a bigger and more complex model than can be run on-device, Apple employs a new private cloud architecture called Private Cloud Compute that uses its own hardware. Only the very specific data necessary to complete your request is sent in a secure fashion, and after your request is completed the data is discarded. Apple has promised to make the server code accessible to outside security researchers who can audit it to make sure Apple is keeping its privacy promise. Second, Apple Intelligence is personal rather than general. Because it runs mostly on the device and the cloud implementation is very private and fleeting, it can build a knowledge graph about you using all sorts of information on your iPhone–locations, photos, messages, mail, contacts, and much more. This enables it to give answers and produce results that are specific to your life and not just generalized. And finally, it’s deeply integrated throughout the system, available in most of Apple’s apps but with tools and APIs to allow developers to use the tools within their own apps. What about ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or Meta AI? Apple acknowledges that those popular AI chatbots have a massive base of general knowledge and more information about things like current events. So it’s not locking them out—on the contrary, it’s inviting them in. Siri will work seamlessly with the ChatGPT-4o model to answer complex questions or those that require broad general knowledge rather than personal info about you. Just ask Siri anything and, if it needs to hand the query off to ChatGPT, it will first ask you if that’s OK (and if you’re providing an image, if it’s okay to send it), and if you allow it, you’ll get an immediate ChatGPT response with no need to install an app, log in to anything, or register a ChatGPT account. However, if you do have a ChatGPT subscription, you’ll have access to the more advanced features you pay for. ChatGPT integration in Siri, writing, and image tools is coming later this year. ChatGPT integration in Siri, writing, and image tools is coming later this year.Apple ChatGPT integration in Siri, writing, and image tools is coming later this year.Apple Apple While ChatGPT is the first AI integration, Apple promises to allow others in the future such as Google Gemini, which was rumored to be in talks with Apple ahead of WWDC. It wouldn’t be surprising to see other AI applications join Apple Intelligence quickly. Once again, we should note that Apple will always ask before sharing any data with ChatGPT and that the company’s arrangement with OpenAI stipulates that IP addresses will be obscured and no data will be saved. What devices do I need to use Apple Intelligence? Unfortunately, all this powerful local generative AI has a steep hardware cost. If you have an iPhone, you’ll need an A17 Pro (or newer) processor, which means only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Presumably, all iPhone 16 models released this fall will be compatible with Apple Intelligence as they are rumored to use Apple’s A18 processor. For Macs and iPads, you’ll need an M1 or newer processor. That means no Intel Macs no matter how powerful, and no iPads that run A-series processors. Nearly all new Macs from the last few years will qualify but only iPad Pro models from 2021 and the two most recent iPad Air models that have M1 and M2 processors. The new iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia updates have plenty of other features that will be supported by a lot of other hardware, but when it comes to Apple Intelligence…well let’s just say there will be a lot of upgrades this fall. Apple Intelligence is not coming to other operating systems just yet, either. You won’t find its features in tvOS 18 or visionOS 2, and while HomePod’s screenless state makes most of these features moot anyway, it’s not yet clear if the superior Siri experience will come to HomePod or not. iOS, iPad, MacOS

Read more »

9to5Mac Daily: June 11, 2024 – More on iOS 18, Apple Intelligence, and AirPods
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. Sponsored by iMazing: Discover iMazing 3, the ultimate solution for managing your iPhone and Apple devices with powerful backup options, effortless media transfers, comprehensive message extraction, and Apple Vision Pro support, all in a sleek, redesigned interface. more…

Read more »

Apple quietly improves Mac virtualization in macOS 15 Sequoia
It only works for macOS 15 guests on macOS 15 hosts, but it’s a big improvement.

Read more »

Apple’s Private Cloud Compute sets new standard for AI privacy
Apple on Monday revealed new updates across its platforms that help users and keep them in control of their data. Private Cloud Compute… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Read more »

What’s new in Apple Notes for iOS 18: collapsible sections, highlights, and more
iOS 18 is a big release for the iPhone, with brand new apps like Passwords and Image Playground, as well as some significant updates to existing apps like Messages, Photos, and Settings. One of my most-used apps, Notes, is also getting a variety of powerful new features in iOS 18 including live audio transcription, highlights, and more. Here’s a look at what’s new. more…

Read more »

How to download the iOS 18 Developer Beta
You can download the iOS 18 Developer Beta for free. Get a look at the exciting new features coming to the iPhone.  (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

Read more »

New features come to Apple Pay, Music, TV, Maps, Fitness+, and much more this fall
With the release of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, and tvOS 18 this fall, Apple is enhancing the services users… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Read more »

Sherlocked by Sequoia: What apps Apple may have killed in macOS and iOS 18
Another year, another set of Apple updates — and another set of popular app developers who could lose their livelihoods. Here's what Apple Sherlocked at WWDC 2024.Apple's new Passwords app is just one of many new tools that "Sherlock" existing appsLong before Spotlight, Apple developed a search tool it called Sherlock. An enterprising developer, though, then released an app called Watson that enhanced Sherlock — for a while.When Apple next updated Sherlock, that release incorporated everything that Watson did, so Watson was now out of business. You can argue whether Apple stole Watson's ideas, or you can point out that these enhancements were a logical next step that Apple would have taken anyway. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

iPhone gets RCS for better texting with Androids
Here's why Apple's support for RCS messaging in the iOS 18 Messages app will result in enhanced texting between iPhone and Android users. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

Read more »

Apple and OpenAI currently have the most misunderstood partnership in tech
Apple's AI moves are nothing new for a company that has integrated outside tech for decades.

Read more »

New Settings in iOS 18 will take some getting used to
The Settings app in iOS 18 has gone through some big changes, but once you get used to them, it'll be easier to manage your iPhone.Apple has updated the Settings app in iOS 18Apple has updated the Settings app in iOS 18The Settings app is a very important part of iOS and iPadOS. Most users will be familiar with accessing it regularly to change settings or to manage their iPhone storage capacity.Each update to iOS can also introduce changes to the Settings app, and that's precisely the case for iOS 18. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

As it turns out, Apple Watch heart rate monitoring can be used on lions too
A conservation veterinarian discovered that if you've got a sedated lion on your hands and need to monitor its heart rate, wrapping an Apple Watch around its tongue does the trick.Using an Apple Watch to measure a lion's heartrate is the best use of this technology we've seen.Australian wildlife veterinarian Dr Chloe Buiting, who is Instagram user Jungle_doctor posted a video of an anesthetized lion with an Apple Watch strapped to its tongue.Dr. Buiting called this hack an "off-label" use of Apple's technology and she described how the Apple Watch is helping conservation vets monitor their furry, scaly, or spikey patients during medical exams and surgeries. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »