David Snow - page 20

With high-profile data breaches on the rise, the digital landscape becomes increasingly treacherous for both individuals and organizations. Fortunately, tools like Surfshark Alert’s free Data Leak Checker can protect your precious personal information.

Surfshark products offer advanced levels of protection against growing online threats. And right now, you can lock in security for less with a great deal on Surfshark One+, a top-of-the-line package that adds an easy-to-use tool for removing your compromised data from the internet.

What do you think, does today’s featured setup photograph, above, look the product of artificial intelligence? Something too neat and maybe a little off about it? Lots of people thought so. But the user insists only the desktop wallpaper showing on the Thunderbolt monitor is AI-generated. And the MacBook Pro user finds BetterDisplay sharpens text on his external display, a 32-inch BenQ 4K screen.

With hip-hop icon Kendrick Lamar taking center stage at the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show on February 9 at New Orleans, Apple kicked off the artist’s Road to Halftime festivities Monday.

“Throughout his career, Kendrick Lamar hasn’t met the cultural moment so much as he’s defined it,” said Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s global head of content and editorial. “He is an artist’s artist — authentic to his core. We couldn’t be more thrilled to watch him headline the third Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, in what’s sure to be another moment we’ll all be talking about for decades.”

In a significant shift in its augmented reality strategy, Apple suddenly discontinued development of its lightweight AR glasses project this week, according to a new report Friday. This marks another adjustment in the company’s pursuit of mainstream wearable technology. The project, known internally as N107, aimed to create normal-looking glasses with built-in displays that would connect to Mac computers.

Good thing come to those who wait for lower-priced Apple gear — this time in the form of M3 Pro and Max MacBook Pro models for hundreds off normal prices. B&H Photo marked down prices a mile — even up to $1,200 off a high-spec model. So unless you feel like you simply must have the latest M4, here’s your chance to bag a blazing-fast, highly useful MacBook at a great price.

Health care leaders from 10 countries gathered in San Diego Thursday to explore Apple’s Vision Pro for surgery and other medical uses, and especially how it can further transform medical procedures and patient care, according to a new report.

The 300-person summit, hosted by Sharp HealthCare, marks another milestone in the device’s adoption by medical institutions since its 2024 launch, almost exactly a year ago. While broader public discussion of the headset tends to pine for a cheaper version, health care pros seem over the moon about how cheap $3,500 per unit is compared to their usual gear.

In our Severance season 2 episode 3 recap, I confess I felt my patience with the endlessly weird show might expire, as yet another maybe-just-weird-for-weird’s-sake thing happened. But then an intriguing puzzle piece appeared, dangled like a treat, and my rising impatience fell away. For now. In a good puzzle-box show, that’s how it works.

Last week’s episode 2 showed what it took, from outies’ perspectives, for Mr. Milchick, Helena Eagan and others to get the innie Macrodata Refinement crew back to work after the Overtime Contingency allowed them temporary freedom. This week’s episode goes further down innie rabbit holes, slowly luring us toward who the hell knows what. But at least there are a lot more goats, and an improved-yet-still-dangerous outlaw reintegration procedure might be outie Mark S’s path to cracking Lumon’s mysteries and finding his wife.

In other words, the whole season’s story arc became more clear in this episode.

Noise on Super Bowl Sunday (February 9 this year) increases throughout the United States, almost everywhere, according to new Apple Hearing Study research findings this week from Apple and the University of Michigan.

The findings highlight the importance of being mindful about noise exposure during major sporting events, even when watching from home. Even those not at the big game get exposed to higher levels of noise, often for several hours, and all the more so at boisterous public viewings in bars or at parties. And that could factor into hearing loss for some, researchers indicated.

In a remarkable display of sustained corporate excellence by a certain iPhone giant, Fortune magazine named Apple the world’s most admired company for the 18th year in a row on Wednesday. The winning streak began in 2006 — a year before the iPhone first came out, and went on to dominate the market, propelling Apple to new heights.

For Apple users seeking a high-capacity portable power solution for all their gear, the new CukTech 30 Power Bank packs a massive 40,000mAh battery, combined charging power of up to 300 watts for up to five devices at once and some useful features, the company said Wednesday.

Netflix introduced a new “Season Download” button in its app Wednesday that allows iPhone and iPad users to download entire seasons of their favorite shows with a single tap. That streamlines offline viewing for iOS users, who previously had to download episodes individually.

It’d be nice if Apple TV+ did that too, right?

 In a response to President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on imported chips from companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Taiwan’s government defended its semiconductor partnership with the United States as a “win-win” arrangement Tuesday, according to a new report. To understand more about the political and economic impact of these policies, check out this article on the trump cult.

New tariffs, meant to incentivize more U.S.-based chipmaking, could raise Apple product prices. TSMC is a primary Apple supplier.

Ah, the age-old debate: mouse or trackpad? Well, how about both? Many setups choose that more-inclusive path when adding input devices to use along with their chosen keyboard. And it’s typically for good reason. A mouse for many cursor movements and a Magic Trackpad 3 for gestures really does the trick for most users (even if some prefer one or the other, not both).

Popular Apple TV+ gaming comedy Mythic Quest may be going to heaven — and we don’t mean cancellation. The game at the show’s core may adopt the concept of heaven, accessible only by a valiant death. The show finally returns with season four on Wednesday. And the streamer offered a sneak peek at the first four+ minutes Monday, following its recent official trailer. You can watch both below.

Update: The first two episodes of season four of Mythic Quest now stream on Apple TV+. One review called it “as delightful and dysfunctional as ever.”

Need faster cables in your Mac setup? Amazon just put up a limited-time sale on Anker’s various sizes of certified ultra-high-speed HDMI 2.1 cables, which are great for connecting high-resolution displays, or almost any gear where you want to transmit high-quality audio and video. The cable size with the biggest discount reaches a staggering 46% off.

Newly added soccer tournaments, smoother navigation among favorites and game-broadcast information come to the Apple Sports app in update 2.4, the iPhone giant said Monday. Each of the updates should help sports fans follow their favorite teams and leagues a little more easily.

In today’s featured setup from the Pacific Northwest, Polk Audio boosts Mac mini sound with bookshelf speakers on the desk as well as a subwoofer under it. But that’s not the extent of the user’s devotion to Polk, an admired longtime brand we rarely, if ever, see in setups coverage. The Mac mini setup is just one part of a magnificent man shed. The other part is a home theater festooned with more than enough Polk Audio hardware for stellar surround sound.

Apple unveiled its latest Black Unity Collection Monday to celebrate Black culture and community. It features an innovative Apple Watch Sport Loop and watch face that bring the Pan-African flag colors to life through groundbreaking design technology, the iPhone giant said.

And as usual, the annual release for Black History Month in February includes iPhone and iPad wallpapers in addition to the Apple Watch features.

Apple TV+ dropped a Severance promo video Friday with cast members reading and (mostly) debunking online fan ideas guessing at answers to the show’s mysteries. But at the end of the video, executive producer and director Ben Stiller offers a clue that “no one talks about.” Is it a real clue, or is he just trolling everybody?

You can view the new fan-theory video and an older one below. They mention many theories, though even more exist online. And some fans says these videos ignore the best theories that seem more likely to be true (take your pick from cloning, aliens and more).

Apple’s retail footprint in South Florida expanded Friday with the opening of its newest location, Apple Miami Worldcenter. A big opening-day crowd — including Apple execs Deirdre O’Brien and Eddy Cue — swamped the sleek new store, Apple’s 10th retail location in Miami.

“Miami is a city with a history, culture and life all its own, and we are thrilled to capture that energy with Apple Miami Worldcenter in downtown Miami,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and people, in a press release.

Apple Miami Worldcenter showcases the company’s commitment to sustainability, accessibility and community engagement in the heart of downtown. And it’s the city’s first store with a dedicated Apple Pickup area.

Apple just appointed seasoned executive Kim Vorrath to spearhead improvements to its artificial intelligence capabilities and Siri virtual assistant, signaling renewed focus on competing with AI leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic, according to a new report Friday.

CdkeySales extended its New Year Sale through January, so you can still get amazing deals on Windows 11 Pro and other Microsoft software. The sale slashes some prices by up to 91%! The latest Windows 12 rumors indicate Microsoft won’t release its next big operating system update until late 2025, so why not update your PC now the quick and easy way? Just buy a Windows 11 CD key on sale during the CdkeySales event.

You also can get great deals on upgrade-ready Microsoft productivity software like Microsoft Office. Savings include Windows 10 Pro for just $17.05 — with a free upgrade to Windows 11 Pro.

In yet another promo for Apple TV+’s intriguing workplace thriller Severance, Apple CEO Tim Cook gets in on the action. Severance director and executive producer Ben Stiller dropped a video Friday morning on X.com starring the mild-mannered tech honcho. Cook reports for orientation as an innie on the severed floor of Lumon Industries.

The video is short, but Cook isn’t bad — especially in the elevator, where he shows his severed transformation in consciousness (with the help of some special effects). Then, near the end of the video, he made me laugh out loud.

You’ve got to love a computer, gaming and TV setup with a big external display that’s so efficiently arranged it barely even takes up any desk space. Today’s featured MacBook Pro workstation manages the feat by mounting a big smart TV as a display on the wall, along with a pegboard for peripherals storage. But the MacBook setup with wall-mounted display took some pretty serious DIY skills, described below.

In our Severance season 2 episode 2 recap, we discover the lengths to which Lumon Industries went to clean up after the Overtime Contingency (OTC) that enabled the rebelling innies to briefly escape to the outside world at the end of season one.

In last week’s season two debut, the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) crew came back to work on the severed floor. This week’s episode, “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig,” doubles back to show what it took for Mr. Milchick, Helena Eagan and others to get them there. It doesn’t quite have the first episode’s high impact — it brought the show back to us after season one’s climactic cliffhangers three years ago — but it clarifies matters while introducing new questions.