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- Monday February 16
- 03:02 pmAfter Ring privacy backlash, company abandons plans for police partnership
Amazon’s plan to turn Ring doorbells into a neighborhood-wide surveillance system was roundly denounced as dystopian even when it was just searching for lost dogs. The company does at least seem to have learned from the privacy backlash, announcing that it has now abandoned plans for a partnership with police … more…02:37 pmApple just announced its March event — here’s what could be coming
Get ready for the Apple March event! We're looking forward to new MacBooks, iPads, an iPhone and possibly more announcements. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)02:32 pmSecurity Bite: Russia completes block of Western social media and VPNs to push state-backed ‘Max’ super-app | 9 to 5 MacSecurity Bite: Russia completes block of Western social media and VPNs to push state-backed ‘Max’ super-app
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. Amid the heap of regulatory crackdowns and digital media bans in recent years, it’s hard not to get further fatigued by the level of censorship underway in Russia. If the day ends in “y,” there’s seemingly something happening on this front. But last week, Russian authorities moved to complete the blocking of all major U.S.-based social media networks, in addition to restricting access to Telegram, to push the country’s own state-backed alternative. There’s a dangerous, not-so-hot-take reason for that… more…02:30 pmiCloud tiers aren’t getting cheaper — 1TB of cloud storage 84%-off
OnlineDrive lets you pay once and keep your storage for the long haul. The entry-level plan includes 1TB of cloud storage, with larger options available. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)02:30 pmiCloud tiers aren’t getting cheaper — get 1TB of cloud storage at 84% off
Pay once and keep your storage for the long haul. The entry-level OnlineDrive plan includes 1TB of cloud storage (larger options available). (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)02:25 pmApple is having an event on March 4, maybe for iPhone 17e & M5 MacBook Pro
It's not clear yet what this is for, but Apple is having an invite-only event not at Apple Park, but instead in New York City, on March 4. It might be time for all those M5 MacBook Pro, iPad, and iPhone 17e rumors to come true.Apple invite to New York CityWe're curious what this is about. Apple doesn't typically have big product releases in New York City. They want to show something off, that's for sure.As usual for an Apple Event announcement of any kind, the name and logo provide minimal clues for what Apple will actually unveil, and it's not clear what this is for. Whatever it does launch, you can expect the release dates to be within the weeks after the event itself. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums02:15 pmTop 10 MacBook Air setups
Our collection of the top 10 MacBook Air setups really shows why the sleek machine is the world's best-selling laptop. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)02:14 pmApple announces special event for March 4 in NYC
Apple has announced a special event for next month, inviting members of the press to New York on March 4, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET. Apple is branding this as a “special Apple Experience” rather than your typical Apple event. more…02:10 pm'Tehran' producer Dana Eden dies during filming
Dana Eden, a producer working on the Apple TV espionage drama "Tehran," has been found dead while filming for the show in Greece.Dana Eden at the second-season premiere of 'Tehran' - Image Credit: AppleFilming of the fourth season of spy thriller Tehran was underway when Eden was discovered in an Athens hotel on Sunday. Discovered by her brother, Eden's death is being treated as a suicide initially, with an investigation underway to determine what happened to her.Israeli public broadcaster Kan, which produces the show along with Apple TV, called Eden a senior figure in Israel's television industry, reports Deadline. She played a central role in creating some of Kan's major productions in her career. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums02:10 pmCould the low-cost MacBook be the new iBook?
The long-awaited low-cost MacBook powered by an A18 Pro chip is now expected to launch on March 4. It will reportedly be priced somewhere around $700, making it significantly cheaper than an entry-level MacBook Air. Given that the upcoming machine is likely to meet the needs of a great many of those who currently opt for the MacBook Air, it could cannibalize a lot of sales. One possible solution to this is to use the strategy Apple once adopted with the iBook and Powerbook lineups … more…01:32 pmGovernment overreach must be fought said Apple, ten years ago today
On February 16, 2016, Apple published a statement it knew would be criticized, and laid out the reasons it would not bow to unfair government pressure. We're apparently in a very different world today.The White House is dominating Apple Park — image credits: Apple and the White HouseTen years ago on February 16, 2016, Apple drew a line in the sand. The FBI had cleverly and even callously timed an attack on the firm to take advantage of public outrage over the San Bernardino shootings.Fourteen people had been murdered in a terrorist attack in California's San Bernardino in December 2015. By February 2016, then FBI director James Comey told senators that they had one of the killers' phones that they hadn't been able to open. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums01:00 pmAn AI Survival Guide for Curating Your Digital Inner Circle
Rob Enderle explains how curating a small “inner circle” of specialized AI agents can boost productivity at home and in business, with a look at LG’s CLOiD home robot. The post appeared first on TechNewsWorld.12:46 pmFuture MacBooks may borrow a Samsung feature to solve an ironic privacy problem
Samsung has introduced a new privacy feature to its Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphone, and a new report suggests that future MacBooks may adopt the same technology. If so, it will be rather ironic as MacBooks were among the earliest laptops to benefit from a feature which can now sometimes be considered a bug … more…12:15 pmLow-cost MacBook in ‘fun colors’ leads flurry of upcoming Mac releases
Macworld As we wait for new M5 MacBook Pros, Apple is reportedly prepping a brand new laptop that could launch within weeks. According to Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter, Apple’s long-rumored low-cost MacBook is expected to arrive “as early as March,” with a design that defies its price tag. Gurman reports that the new laptop will cost “well under $1,000,” but won’t have a cheap plastic design. The new MacBook, according to the report, will have an aluminum chassis that introduces a new manufacturing process “designed to be both faster and more cost-effective than the one used with Apple’s current laptops.” Along with the aluminum shell, Gurman reports that the new MacBook will be available in “playful colors,” a stark contrast from the silver, gold, and space gray hues offered for years on MacBook Air. Gurman floats several options, including yellow, light green, blue, and pink, but doesn’t expect all of them to ship. He doesn’t offer any details as to whether these colors will be bright or similar to the very light sky blue color offered for the M4 MacBook Air. Back in 2021, Apple was rumored to be developing a MacBook in a variety of colors, but that machine never materialized. It’s unclear if this new low-cost MacBook is related to that rumor or a different project altogether. Additionally, he reiterates the expectation that the new machine will run an iPhone chip and have a display that’s slightly smaller than the MacBook Air at “just under 13 inches.” The laptop has been tipped to cost as low as $699. Along with the low-cost MacBook, Gurman reports that several other Macs are also due for release over the coming weeks, including the M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pro, M5 MacBook Air, and an M5 Max/M5 Ultra Mac Studio. For the latest information on the low-cost MacBook, stay tuned to our superguide of rumors.12:09 pmWhich is more appealing to you – an iPhone Fold or an iPhone Flip? [Poll]
When the first rumors of a folding iPhone emerged, we didn’t know which of the two possible formats Apple was planning: an iPhone Fold or an iPhone Flip. It later became clear that what we’re expecting to be launched first is a book-style iPhone Fold. However, there are signs that we may get both … more…11:30 amApple’s Siri saga is at the point of no return
Macworld At a certain point, disappointment gives way to fatalism. Last week, it emerged that Apple’s long-awaited Siri revamp has been delayed yet again, and my first reaction was to wonder if this even counted as news. Surely by now we’ve accepted that the new Siri is a phantasm, a trick of the light, a mythical creature like the Loch Ness Monster? Expecting it to actually launch would be as laughably naive as Charlie Brown expecting Lucy not to pull away the football at the last second. Of course, being bleakly inevitable doesn’t actually disqualify something from being news. We all know Craig Federighi will appear in a painful comedy sketch at this year’s WWDC, but that doesn’t mean our liveblog will be able to go dark for three minutes and pretend it’s not happening. And while it isn’t surprising that New Siri has been pushed back to May or September (if you believe the updated estimates, which I advise against), it’s definitely a big deal. Siri has been very bad for a very long time (stop me if I’m getting too technical) and, through multiple OS updates, has shown little sign of getting better. It’s unreliable, overeager, and equipped with fewer features than rival voice assistants. And it’s baked into almost every product Apple sells. Every iPhone owner out there, every Apple Watch user, every Mac fan and HomePod enjoyer is continually reminded that the biggest tech company in the world hasn’t been able to get voice right. And if Apple can’t be trusted to do that, is it wise to lock oneself into its walled garden? The company first claimed it was going to fix Siri, albeit not in those words, at WWDC 2024 (the one where Federighi skydived into Apple Park wearing a helmet that looked like his hair). We were told Siri would become contextually aware, able to search emails, messages, personal data, and more to better understand what it’s being asked. And this was supposed to happen as part of the iOS 18.0 update, alongside the launch of the iPhone 16. Needless to say, we’re still waiting. That initial iOS 18 plan was bumped to iOS 18.4, then to iOS 26, then to iOS 26.4. Now sources point to either iOS 26.5 or iOS 27, which rolls out in the fall and would mark two full iPhone generations since we were first shown actual TV ads of New Siri supposedly in action. Which, it has to be said, isn’t really good enough. Because this isn’t just about an imperfect user experience in the present. This is about building trust in Apple’s capacity to improve it in the future. Buying an iPhone is a big-ticket investment in a computing platform that will (or at least should) evolve significantly over the likely three to five years it will last. It’s a costly leap of faith, and requires a great deal of trust in a company’s ability to innovate, not to mention its judgment. What if you buy an iPhone and Apple updates iOS in a way that makes it borderline unreadable? What if important first-party apps become riddled with ads? And what if the desperately needed software revamp that was promised when you first bought the phone just keeps getting delayed and delayed? It might just make you rethink your plan to buy another iPhone in the future. So it’s vital Apple gets this right, and soon. But at this point, sadly, that would be more of a surprise than yet another delay. Foundry Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too. Trending: Top stories Remember all those predictions that Android tablets would overtake the iPad? The Macalope remembers. But now it’s time to be realistic and accept that the iPad won. Oh dear. Apple just can’t get Siri working right. The big new update scheduled for next month is now going to be spread out over the rest of the year. Well it only took two years, but there’s finally an official YouTube app for Vision Pro. And it’s a reminder that spatial computing still sucks. Apple’s highest-end stylus packs a ton of advanced features iPad users will appreciate. Here are 5 cool Apple Pencil Pro features you probably don’t know. After upgrading to macOS 26.2, things started to go wrong with Michael Simon’s Time Capsule. Now he has a drive that won’t work with his Mac. Longtime utility MacUpdater has shut down due to a refusal to switch to a recurring payment model. Leading Alex Blake to complain that subscription culture put his Mac at risk. Podcast of the week Apple is expected to release several products over the next few weeks. What products could that be? We talk about it all on the latest episode of the Macworld Podcast. You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site. Reviews corner ExpressVPN: Fast, simple VPN with new tiered pricing. Kuxiu X55 Turbo 25W: A cheaper Qi2.2 wireless charging station. Mous 3-In-1: Almost unbelievably small portable wireless charger. The rumor mill New Macs are coming soon, according to a new report. For real this time! Sorry folks, Liquid Glass isn’t going anywhere. Instead of a new look, or lots of new features, iOS 27 will reportedly focus on fixes. ‘Dried out’ iPhone 16e stock points to imminent launch of 17e. Apple’s cheapest iPad may soon be getting an AI upgrade. Video of the week @macworld.com Cheap MacBook on April 1? #macbook ♬ original sound – Macworld – Macworld Apple has been hinting that it’s going to do something for its 50th anniversary. Could that something be a cheap MacBook? We discuss the idea in our latest short. Enjoy our video on TikTok and Instagram. Software updates, bugs, and problems Update now! iOS 26.3 contains dozens of critical security fixes. And here’s everything else that’s new in iOS 26.3. And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters, including our new email from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous take on the latest news and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, or X for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.08:34 am'I Tried Running Linux On an Apple Silicon Mac and Regretted It'
Installing Linux on a MacBook Air "turned out to be a very underwhelming experience," according to the tech news site MakeUseOf: The thing about Apple silicon Macs is that it's not as simple as downloading an AArch64 ISO of your favorite distro and installing it. Yes, the M-series chips are ARM-based, but that doesn't automatically make the whole system compatible in the same way most traditional x86 PCs are. Pretty much everything in modern MacBooks is custom. The boot process isn't standard UEFI like on most PCs. Apple has its own boot chain called iBoot. The same goes for other things, like the GPU, power management, USB controllers, and pretty much every other hardware component. It is as proprietary as it gets. This is exactly what the team behind Asahi Linux has been working toward. Their entire goal has been to make Linux properly usable on M-series Macs by building the missing pieces from the ground up. I first tried it back in 2023, when the project was still tied to Arch Linux and decided to give it a try again in 2026. These days, though, the main release is called Fedora Asahi Remix, which, as the name suggests, is built on Fedora rather than Arch... For Linux on Apple Silicon, the article lists three major disappointments: "External monitors don't work unless your MacBook has a built-in HDMI port." "Linux just doesn't feel fully ready for ARM yet. A lot of applications still aren't compiled for ARM, so software support ends up being very hit or miss." (And even most of the apps tested with FEX "either didn't run properly or weren't stable enough to rely on.") Asahi "refused to connect to my phone's hotspot," they write (adding "No, it wasn't an iPhone"). Read more of this story at Slashdot.08:00 amA lifetime subscription to this $199.90 scanner app is now only $40
Macworld TL;DR: iScanner is an iOS scanner app that works with almost any document, and it’s only $39.99 for a lifetime subscription. Desktop scanners are expensive, take up space, and they can break. If you need to digitize a document, you might be better served by a scanner app like iScanner. This iOS document scanner can scan everything from ID cards to formal papers, and that’s not all it can do. Right now, a lifetime subscription is also on sale for only $39.99 (reg. $199.90). iScanner turns your phone or tablet into a mobile scanner for contracts, IDs, receipts, notes, worksheets, books, and pretty much any other document you can find. You point the camera, let the app find the edges, and save a clean copy. Files can be exported as PDF, JPG, DOC, XLS, PPT, or TXT, so they work with most office and school workflows. AI tools straighten pages, fix perspective, clean up the image, and recognize text in more than 20 languages so you can search and copy it. You can edit scans, add or remove text, highlight, blur sensitive lines, sign documents, merge or split files, and add page numbers or watermarks. The built-in file manager lets you sort scans into folders, drag and drop pages, and lock private folders with a PIN. The plan includes 200MB of cloud storage for backups. Extra modes handle ID cards and passports, basic math problems, measuring objects and area, counting similar items in a photo, and scanning QR codes. Right now, it’s only $39.99 to get an iScanner Lifetime Subscription. iScanner App: Lifetime SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.Sunday February 1510:51 pmApple launching 5+ new products over the next several weeks, per report
After a relatively quiet start to the year, things are about to pick up in the world of Apple. According to the latest reporting from Bloomberg, Apple has a range of new products set to debut in the coming weeks. Here’s what to expect. more…09:46 pmIt’s time for Apple to let go of 60Hz displays
It’s been nearly a decade since the introduction of the first 120Hz ProMotion display, if you can believe that. It was one of the flagship features of the 2017 iPad Pro. However, all this time later – Apple still treats it as some form of luxury feature, and I feel like it’s holding them back. more…