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Today in Apple history: It’s time to ‘think different’

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Image of a multicolored Apple logo with the phrase
And just like that, a catchy slogan turns into an earworm.
Image: Apple

August 8: Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs introduces new Apple new slogan, Think different August 8, 1997: At Macworld Expo, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduces the world to the company’s new slogan, “Think different.” The catchy marketing reassures fans that Apple is exiting its mid-1990s dark age and once again making products customers will love.

It’s the beginning of Apple’s most iconic advertising campaign since the original “1984” Macintosh ad.

This iPhone app ends the nightly ‘what’s for dinner’ debate

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PlanEat AI app opened on an iPhone
Meal and nutrition planning, grocery list, and more, all in a single app—lifetime access to PlanEat AI now 81% off!
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The PlanEat app lets you build a personalized seven-day meal plan with built-in calorie and macro tracking — and even an auto-generated grocery list.

And right now, you can snag a lifetime subscription to PlanEat’s Premium plan for just $29.99 (regularly $159).

I replaced 7 Apple apps on my Mac. Here’s what I use instead.

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Photo of an Mac desktop with various apps on it.
Apple's built-in apps are great, but I replaced seven of them on my Mac.
Photo: Unsplash

 Apple ships the Mac with several built-in apps that are surprisingly feature-rich and fast. But over time, I found myself replacing a handful of them with third-party alternatives that simply did more.

I didn’t make these switches overnight. Each replacement solved a specific problem or added a feature I couldn’t live without. These are the Mac apps and tools I use instead of Apple’s stock apps.

AirPods Pro 3 drop to the lowest price in months

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AirPods Pro 3 and their charging case on a silver aluminum background
AirPods Pro 3 are always brilliant, and now they are much more affordable.
Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

An AirPods Pro 3 deal drops Apple’s excellent noise-canceling earbuds to just $189.99 at Amazon. That’s a sweet $59 discount. And they are just a low at Best Buy.

AirPods Pro 3 bring new features, including Live Translation, a heart rate monitor, revved-up audio quality and redesigned ear tips for better active noise cancellation. Plus, like the previous model, they can even function as clinical-grade hearing aids.

Make no mistake: These are the best wireless earbuds you can buy for your iPhone, Mac and other Apple gear. Nothing can match how seamlessly AirPods integrate with Apple devices.

Let Apple Mail organize your emails for you

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Sorting So You Don’t Have To
And with Writing Tools, it can reply to your emails for you, too.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

With automatic mail categorization in Apple Mail, you can organize your emails and keep your personal inbox less cluttered. It’ll intelligently put all your newsletters, receipts and promotions into separate folders.

If you struggle keeping up with your inbox, this feature is a great way to make your email easier to understand at a glance.

Keep reading below or watch our quick video.

Apple faces iPhone 18 Pro DRAM shortage weeks before launch

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Photo of an iPhone 17 Pro used in a story about iPhone 18 DRAM shortages
The iPhone 18 Pro DRAM shortage stems from a packaging bottleneck at chipmaker TSMC.
Photo: Reynaldo Yodia/Pexels

An iPhone 18 Pro DRAM shortage is threatening to leave Apple’s next flagship phone in short supply the moment it launches. Roughly $1 billion worth of finished processors are reportedly stuck at chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, with no memory to pair them with.

The holdup traces back to the global memory crunch that’s already reshaping Apple’s lineup. With the iPhone 18 Pro and Apple’s first foldable, possibly called the iPhone Ultra, just weeks away, the clock is ticking.

M6 MacBook Pro rumor roundup: Faster chip, familiar design

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An M6 speed boost for the MacBook Pro
Apple's next MacBook Pro could arrive this fall with the new M6 processor.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple plans to refresh the base-model MacBook Pro this fall with its new M6 processor, according to numerous rumors. The performance boost should make it more appealing to those who want a macOS laptop with more ports than a MacBook Air, but at a lower price than Pro models with Pro and Max chips.

Here’s what to expect from the first (and possibly only) M6 MacBook Pro.

Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition delivers console-quality football excitement

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Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition scores big on Apple Arcade
It's kickoff time for Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition.
Image: EA Games

Are you ready for some football?! Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition is now available on Apple’s game subscription service, bringing EA Sports’ blockbuster football franchise to iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro without ads or in-app purchases.

It’s the first time the Madden series has been offered through Apple Arcade, giving subscribers a premium version of one of gaming’s most popular sports franchises.

Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition is a chance to bring the most authentic NFL experience to a new audience of football fans, letting them play and compete as the league’s most elite players, or take control as GM and shape a franchise,” said Evan Dexter, EA’s vice president of Franchise Strategy and Marketing.

Today in Apple history: Original Mac Pro packs serious Intel power

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A photo of the first Mac Pro, an impressively expandable workstation that launched in 2006
The original Mac Pro took productivity to new levels.
Photo: Apple

August 7: Today in Apple history: Original Mac Pro packs serious Intel power August 7, 2006: Apple unleashes the first Mac Pro, a high-end desktop computer that completes the company’s transition from PowerPC to Intel processors.

Built for computation-heavy tasks like 3D rendering and professional audio and video editing, the quad-core, 64-bit Mac Pro serves as a replacement for the Power Mac G5 (from which it borrows its aluminum “cheese grater” design).

OpenAI’s first smart speaker could come with a bizarre doughnut design

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HomePod on a table
OpenAI's first smart speaker will not look like a typical smart speaker.
Photo: Unsplash

OpenAI’s first smart speaker will supposedly look like a “doughnut that’s roughly the size of a hockey puck,” according to a new Bloomberg report. This odd design will help the speaker stand out from the competition.

It will also apparently enable the speaker to work in “different positions.” 

macOS Tahoe 26.6.1 patches nasty Screen Sharing security hole

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Why you should install macOS Tahoe 26.6.1 today
Mac users, don't procrastinate on installing macOS Tahoe 26.6.1.
Photo: Tranmautritam/Pexels CC

Apple on Thursday released macOS Tahoe 26.6.1, a surprise security update that fixes a potentially serious vulnerability in the operating system’s Screen Sharing feature.

While the update doesn’t bring any new features, Mac users should nevertheless install it as soon as possible — or the new security patches for macOS Sequoia and Sonoma.  

Score more money as Apple boosts iPhone and Mac trade-in values

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Apple trade-in values for iPhone and Mac increase
Apple trade-in values for older iPhones increase ahead of the iPhone 18 launch.
Photo: Tessa Charles/Pexels CC

Thinking about upgrading to an iPhone 18 this fall? Apple just made the decision a little easier.

The company increased the max trade-in values for most iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple Watch models in the United States, marking the latest value bump this year. The higher payouts let customers put more money toward a new device, whether they’re buying outright or through the new Apple Upgrade program.

MacPaw teams up with Liquid AI to bring on-device AI to its Mac assistant

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MacPaw logo on a colored background
MacPaw is building on-device AI into its Eney assistant with help from Liquid AI.
Image: MacPaw

MacPaw is bringing on-device AI to its Mac assistant, Eney. The company partnered with Liquid AI to build a local intelligence stack designed to run on your Mac, not in the cloud.

The partnership pairs Liquid AI’s foundation models with MacPaw’s own inference and memory technology. Eney will be the first product to get the upgrade, and results are expected later this year.

Without a new budget iPad, Apple tablet demand slows

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No new budget iPad: Why Apple tablet shipments dropped in Q2 2026
The last new budget iPad debuted in spring 2025, and it shows.
Photo: Apple

iPad shipments slowed in the second quarter of this year, the first time that’s happened in over two years. The source of the problem is easy to pinpoint: the extra-long wait for a new version of the budget iPad.

And unfortunately for consumers, Apple supposedly won’t release a replacement for the iPad (A16) for many more months.

Today in Apple history: Microsoft throws Apple a $150 million lifeline

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A photo of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates invests $150 million in Apple
Bill Gates looking like the cat that got the cream.
Photo: Apple

August 6: Today in Apple history: Microsoft investment helps save Apple from doom August 6, 1997: In one of the most famous moments in Apple history, Steve Jobs reveals a $150 million Microsoft investment that saved his company from ruin.

Although often presented as an inexplicable gesture of good faith on the part of Microsoft boss Bill Gates, the cash infusion into Apple actually benefits both companies.

Stop paying monthly for domain names — get 6 that last for life for just $30

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Hostdeal lifetime domain names deal advertisement on n iMac with text overlay
Secure multiple domains for life with Hostdeal (at a big discount).
Image: Cult of Mac Deals

Domain registration looks cheap right up until you’re five projects deep and every name renews in a different month at a rate you never agreed to. Registrars raise those prices whenever they want, and your card gets charged automatically while you’re not looking.  But that doesn’t happen with Hostdeal domain names.

Skip that annoyance with this Hostdeal domain names lifetime subscription. It lets you lock down six domains for life with a single payment of just $29.99 (regularly $120).

Does charging your iPhone to 100% really hurt the battery?

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A picture of an iPhone used in a story about battery charging habits.
Charging your iPhone to 100% overnight might stress your battery more than you realize, but what actually matters is how long it stays at full charge.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Charging your iPhone to 100% won’t instantly fry your battery. But regularly keeping it at full charge for hours matters more than you might think.

The real culprit isn’t the charge itself — it’s how long your phone stays plugged in at maximum capacity. Apple’s built-in tools do help, but temperature and charging habits matter even more.

Why it’s a great day to buy an Apple Pencil Pro

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A close-up photo of a person's hand using an Apple Pencil Pro to write on an iPad, used to illustrate a post on an Apple Pencil Pro deal.
This Apple Pencil Pro deal means you, too, could be making amazing art on your iPad.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple Pencil Pro is the best iPad stylus on the market, and a new deal knocks 25% off the regular cost. It’s packed with high-end features, including pressure sensitivity, Find My support and more.

And for those who don’t need all the bells and whistles of the Pencil Pro, the basic Apple Pencil (USB-C) is currently $69.99.

WebKit privacy leak leaves iPhone and Mac users exposed

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A Safari logo used in a story about WebKit privacy leaks.
A WebKit privacy leak can expose your iPhone or Mac’s real IP address even when using proxy browsers or iCloud Private Relay.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

Three recently discovered WebKit privacy leaks expose users’ real IP addresses on iPhone and Mac, even when they use a proxy browser or iCloud Private Relay, according to a new report.

This would mean Apple’s trusted privacy tools aren’t working as advertised. If you’ve relied on proxy browsers for anonymity or iCloud Private Relay for privacy, that protection apparently has some serious gaps.

Today in Apple history: Beginning of the end for clone Macs

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Photo of a Power Computing clone Mac with keyboard and a dark background
Clone Macs sounded like a good idea at first.
Photo: Antnik

August 5: Today in Apple history: Beginning of the end for Power Computing Mac clones August 5, 1997: Apple gets into a standoff with Power Computing, a maker of Macintosh clones. A very public clash at the Macworld Expo in Boston marks the beginning of the end for Apple’s mid-1990s strategy of licensing the Mac operating system.

“If the [Mac] platform goes closed, it is over,” predicts Power Computing CEO Joel J. Kocher of Apple’s strategy. “[It’s] total destruction. The kiss of death.” Of course, things don’t turn out exactly like that for Apple…

Ted Lasso returns with a fresh start as Apple TV revives a fan favorite

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Photo of cast of Apple TV comedy series
Apple TV gives beloved comedy Ted Lasso a soft reboot with season four, which premieres Wednesday.
Image: Apple TV

Despite what really seemed like a series finale three years ago, Ted Lasso is back. Apple TV began streaming season four on Wednesday, reviving its Emmy-winning comedy with what amounts to a soft reboot rather than a direct continuation of the story.

Here’s what to look forward to as Ted, Coach Beard and all our favorites return.

Cancel Adobe Acrobat and get this Mac-compatible PDF editor — just $40 for life

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Person editing a PDF on a laptop using Systweak PDF Editor Pro
Edit PDFs without getting locked out of advanced features with Systweak PDF Editor Pro.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

We love a good PDF editor that works on Mac, and Systweak PDF Editor Pro handles editing, converting, signing and locking down PDFs without touching the cloud.

It also works on iOS, Android and Windows. And right now, you can grab a lifetime subscription at a steep discount — just $39.99 (regularly $99.99).

iPhone 18e rumors: RAM, chip, design, price and more

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A picture of the iPhone 17e used in a story about iPhone 18e rumors.
iPhone 18e rumors point to a strange new RAM configuration, even as most other specs carry over unchanged from the iPhone 17e.
Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

A handful of small but real changes are coming to Apple’s next budget iPhone, with iPhone 18e rumors pointing to a new chip and a RAM configuration nobody expected. None of it amounts to a redesign – this is still a budget phone, just slightly better.

The extra memory is the most interesting shift, but it comes with a catch. Most other specs, including the screen and camera, look set to carry over largely unchanged from the iPhone 17e. Here’s everything reported so far, and how solid each claim actually is.

Split View is still in iPadOS 26 — here’s how to use it

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Split View is still in iPadOS 26
Installing iPadOS 26 doesn’t mean losing Split View from your iPad!
Graphic: Apple

Apple kept the iPad’s Split View feature alongside the new multitasking stuff in iPadOS 26, despite what you might have read online. And setting it up is as easy as a couple of flicks of your finger.

Here’s how to keep using Split View on your iPad. Apple even made a video that demonstrates what to do.