Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still owns), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That's because he's a "tablet first" type of guy. Rather than use a MacBook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don't try to tell him that everyone must use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
Apple sells directly to consumers in India through its website, but still hasn't managed to open its landmark retail store in the country. Photo: Apple
The first Apple store in India won’t open until 2023. Apple has been trying to open the retail location since 2019, but it’s been beset with delays.
The Mumbai store is supposed to be part of an important shift in the way the company does business in India. Another store in the country is also on the way.
The CEO of Meta says his company and Apple are in a "competition of philosophies and ideas." Photo: Cult of Mac
Both Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook) are both building AR/VR headsets, but they’re going about it in dramatically different ways. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told Meta employees the two companies are in “a competition of philosophies and ideas.”
It’s possible the metaverse is the future of the internet. And Zuckerberg describes Meta as being a leader in creating an open metaverse with multiple companies working together, while he says Apple is creating its own closed version.
But Zuckerberg’s comments ignore another major philosophical difference between the twin companies. Apple believes in protecting user privacy, but Meta makes its money by collecting and selling information about users.
Eve Hewson, Sharon Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle and Sarah Greene in Bad Sisters, coming soon to Apple TV+. Photo: Apple TV+
The Garvey sisters vowed to always take care of each other, which leads them toward murdering their abusive brother-in-law. Their scheme plays out in Bad Sisters, a creation of Irish actress, writer and producer Sharon Horgan, who is known for her darkly funny shows.
The comedy/thriller series debuts on Apple TV+ in August, and a trailer debuted Wednesday.
HEROish is an adventure/tower defense game that doesn't take itself too seriously. Image: Sunblink/Apple Arcade
HEROish from Sunblink challenges layers to, “(almost) save the world and (kind of) look good while doing it.” The latest addition to Apple Arcade offers single-player adventures, but it’s also player-versus-player deck-building tower defense game.
The fantasy-themed title is available now for a variety of Apple computers, including iPhone and Mac.
This is probably the most important Apple-1 ever made. Photo: RR Auction
In 1976, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs demonstrated a prototype Apple-1 computer to the owner of The Byte Shop. That lead to a deal that launched Apple on its path to success.
That prototype is now up for auction. It’s expected to sell for $500,000.
★★★★☆
The Satechi Slim Dock rests on your iMac's stand and adds six ports and room for an SSD. Photo: Satechi
The Satechi USB-C Slim Dock for 24-inch iMac sits on the stand for Apple’s all-in-one desktop and adds six frequently used ports. It also sports an enclosure for user-installed SSDs.
The hub and drive enclosure has been in my home office for several days. Here’s what it’s like to use in the real world.
What might be the last update to macOS Monterey is out. Photo: Pixabay/Pexels
Beta testing on iOS 15.6 and macOS Monterey 12.5 is over, and these updates are now available for anyone to install. They bring a number of small tweaks to iPhone and Mac.
Don’t confuse these with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, which are major upgrades coming this fall.
Apple also released the full versions of iPadOS 15.6, watchOS 8.7 and tvOS 15.6 on Wednesday.
Apple shared a new report that shows the ways its products help people be healthier. Image: Apple
Apple laid out its far-reaching goals for the health and wellness tech built into iPhone and Apple Watch in a report issued Wednesday. It details how Apple intends to develop technology to support personal health, medical research, and patient care.
“We believe passionately that technology can play a role in improving health outcomes,” said Apple’s chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, in a statement.
The Brydge ProDock combines the easy connection of a vertical dock with the expansion capabilities of a multiport hub. Photo: Brydge
The Brydge ProDock is a newly announced vertical stand for recent MacBooks. It holds the notebook vertically, off the desk, and adds 11 ports. That includes three Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports.
As a bonus, the stand’s base includes an MagSafe wireless charging mat to power up an iPhone.
You might be in for some money if you had problems with a MacBook butterfly keyboard. Photo: Apple
Apple agreed to a preliminary settlement Monday for a class-action lawsuit that claimed the company knew the MacBook’s “butterfly” keyboard was defective but kept selling it. Apple admits no wrongdoing but agreed to pay up to $50 million, most of which will go to customers who had to replace the faulty keyboards.
This is good news for people in seven U.S. states who experienced problems with their MacBook butterfly keyboard.
Apple points out the security weaknesses of physical credit cards. Screenshot: Apple
The iPhone’s wireless payment system is more secure than credit cards, and Apple wants to make sure everyone knows it. That’s why the company created three short video ads to show off the advantages of Apple Pay.
Watch them now to learn more about the contactless payment system built into certain Apple devices.
Apple Covent Garden was robbed by armed men on Sunday afternoon. Photo: Apple
Armed criminals carried out a daylight robbery of the Apple store in Covent Garden in London’s West End. The thieves reportedly got away with stolen Macs, iPhone and iPads.
Grab-and-run raids on Apple stores aren’t unusual, but it’s very rare for the perpetrators to be armed. No one was injured in Sunday’s U.K. incident, though.
This SwitchEasy Odyssey lanyard case helps keeps you from dropping your iPhone. And it protects your handset if it somehow goes tumbling to the ground. Photo: Adel Neal/Cult of Mac
The SwitchEasy Odyssey 3-in-1 Lanyard Shockproof Case protects an iPhone 13 in two ways. A removable strap helps you keep hold of the device, and the case is designed to absorb the shock if you drop your handset anyway.
I put my own iPhone in this hard case to see how it stood up to real-world use. Here’s why there’s a lot to like about it.
The base model M2 MacBook Air is reportedly slower than
Those in the market for a M2 MacBook Air should be aware that the base model with 256GB of storage reportedly will have slower performance when moving large files and when multitasking than versions of the new laptop with more storage capacity.
Apple says real world performance isn’t affected, but benchmarks show the base model is slower even than its M1 predecessor for some tasks.
Tenille Townes performed at Apple Music’s state-of-the-art studios in Nashville. Photo: Apple Music
Apple Music Sessions are newly recorded live tracks and videos available only on Apple’s streaming music service. The recordings will be from current stars and emerging artists.
Sessions are starting off in Nashville with Carrie Underwood, Tenille Townes and others, but Apple promises to expand to other music genres soon.
iPhone 14 is moving ahead Concept: Jon Prosser/Ian Zelbo
The iPhone 14 is reportedly already in the test production phase. That puts Apple’s next-gen smartphone on schedule to launch in September, as expected.
But, in a separate report, an industry analyst warns that one version of the 2022 iPhone may be in short supply when it launches.
Transform your old Mac into a Chromebook with Chrome OS Flex Photo: Google
Google’s Chrome OS Flex is now ready to revive Macs that are too elderly to run the latest macOS version. That includes models as far back as 2010. It turns the Mac into a Chromebook, but at least it’s an up-to-date one.
The free OS is targeted at businesses and schools, but it might become a way for individuals to bring some new life to their obsolete Macs.
★★★★★
The OWC MiniStack STX is designed to stack with a Mac mini and add ports and storage capacity. Photo: OWC
The OWC MiniStack STX is just the right size to stack with a Mac mini. The hub adds three Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports that can be hooked to high-resolution displays and external drives.
It also includes bays for SATA and/or NVMe M.2 drives. That’s space for up to 18TB of storage. Install your own drives or buy them from OWC.
I put the powerful accessory for Mac or iPad to the test over several weeks of daily use.
Cover up a couple of the LEDs in the Nothing Phone's "glyph" and and what's left is an abstract version of the Apple logo. Photo: Nothing/Cult of Mac
The just-launched Nothing Phone (1) is drawing a tremendous amount of attention even though it’s only a mid-range Android with some glowing bits. Android fans seem to really like the LED design on the back, but maybe they haven’t noticed that it’s mostly an Apple logo.
These are some of the emoji that might be added to Apple devices in 2023. Image: Emojipedia
The collection of emoji will grow in the coming months, with the 31 proposed new entries including a shaking face, a donkey, a jellyfish and hearts in a range of colors. The proposal also includes an array of left- and right-facing hands, which likely will be used to indicate high fives.
This is by far the shortest list of new emoji proposed in years. It seems the Unicode Consortium thinks the already available collection is close to complete.