Top stories - page 16

In a first, Apple rolled out three new chips at once — the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max — during its Halloween-themed Scary Fast event Monday. The new Apple processors power updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.

The company also utilized a cool-looking space black aluminum finish for the first time on M3 Pro and M3 Max models. The laptops promise to hit speedy new benchmarks.

“Tonight we’re doing something we haven’t done before, as we bring our latest technologies to a broader set of users more rapidly than ever,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies. “We’re launching the next generation of Apple silicon for the Mac by releasing three great new chips at the same time.”

At Monday’s “Scary Fast” event, Apple rolled out a simple update to the iMac, the perennial all-in-one desktop computer, with the new M3 chip. This comes alongside the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

“The world’s best all-in-one gets even more powerful and even more capable,” said CEO Tim Cook. “We’re giving the iMac a giant leap in performance while keeping the same, impossibly thin design,” said SVP of hardware engineering John Ternus.

iMac starts at the same price of $1,299. You can order it today and it will be available next week.

Apple broke with tradition and unveiled the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max processors all at once on Monday, rather than stringing the releases out. The performance cores in the new chips are up to 30% faster than M1, and the efficiency cores are up to 50% faster.

“Apple silicon has completely redefined the Mac experience. Every aspect of its architecture is designed for performance and power efficiency,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s SVP of Hardware Technologies. “With 3-nanometer technology, a next-generation GPU architecture, a higher-performance CPU, faster Neural Engine, and support for even more unified memory, M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max are the most advanced chips ever built for a personal computer.”

The Apple TV+ documentary The Enfield Poltergeist goes in-depth on “the most famous poltergeist haunting in history.” The events inspired The Conjuring 2 and are creepy Halloween fun, though unlikely to convince anyone that ghosts are real.

I suspended my disbelief for a few hours and enjoyed the show for what it is.

October 30, 2009: Two years after launching in the United States, the iPhone finally goes on sale in China, giving Apple a chance to reach the world’s largest market.

A number of regulatory hurdles previously blocked Apple’s access to China, including restrictions on Wi-Fi functionality. With those problems solved, Apple offers the iPhone 3GS to the country’s 1.3 billion people, most of whom do not yet own smartphones.

Planning to get that special someone (or yourself) a killer app or the newest MMORPG for the holiday season? Just make sure it’s not too much of a good thing. All those digital goodies take up space, but cloud storage is one easy solution. Koofr is standing out in a crowded field of providers thanks to its focus on security and accessibility, and now new users can get on board with a lifetime subscription to 1TB for just $119.97.

October 29, 2012: Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, is ousted from the company after the disastrous Apple Maps launch.

Apple divvies up the roles previously handled by Forstall, who once seemed on a path to the top, among other high-level execs. Jony Ive assumes leadership of the Human Interface team. Craig Federighi becomes head of iOS software. Eddy Cue takes control of Maps and Siri. And Bob Mansfield “unretires” to lead a new technology group.

The holidays are coming up, and if you’re like the majority of us who put off buying gifts until the last minute, you can easily change that right now. Sometimes, a great deal and an interesting product combine to be worth buying and saving for one of the many people on your list. An example of such a combination is this lifetime subscription to the Plantum AI Plant Identifier Premium Plan, which is only $14.97 (reg. $59) through October 31st.

October 28, 2012: More than a year after Steve Jobs’ death, the luxury yacht he commissioned is finally shown off for the first time, launched from a shipyard in North Holland.

Called Venus, the distinctive-looking yacht was one of the big personal projects Jobs pursued in his last years. As he told biographer Walter Isaacson, “I have to keep going on it. If I don’t, it’s an admission that I’m about to die.”

Sadly, Jobs never lived to see the finished vessel.

Halloween is almost here, making this a great weekend to play some spooky games. Apple Arcade has a nice selection of these to help you enjoy the creepy season.

Here are the best options in Apple’s gaming service to find ghosts, ghouls and goblins.

Holiday travel season is nearly upon us, meaning things will become even pricier quickly. Fortunately, for a limited time, there’s a way to save big on airline tickets domestically and internationally in the coming months and long term.

October 27, 1999: Dell Computer overtakes Apple in the educational market, stealing Cupertino’s crown as the top company selling computers to U.S. schools.

Steve Jobs, who is still in the process of rebuilding Apple after its near-collapse in the 1990s, faces heavy criticism for ignoring one of the company’s strongest markets.

Modern families rarely hit the “off” switch these days. We earn, play and stay in touch online, going from one device to the next. Yet, too many of us only worry about security on the tablet or laptop we use for work. BulletVPN is a virtual private network that casts a wider net, giving users top-tier protection and freedom on a whole range of devices.

Apple’s iCloud is very convenient for iPhone and Mac users, but the storage plans are skimpy and expensive. iCloud storage tops out at 12TB and costs an eye-watering $59.99 a month.

That’s why you should look at this great deal from Prism Drive Secure Cloud Storage, which is offering a full 20TB for just $69.97 for life. That’s nearly twice iCloud’s maximum storage for just over the price of one month’s rental. And unlike iCloud, it doesn’t go away when you stop paying monthly subscription charges. Note: this sale is only here for a few more days.

The rise of AI technology can potentially do wonders when it comes to personal productivity. Ahead of the holiday season, you’ll find remarkable savings on innovative software that’s primed to provide anyone with a boost.

October 26, 2004: Apple debuts its iPod Photo, a device capable of putting not just 15,000 songs in your pocket, but also 25,000 photographs.

It is the first iPod to offer a color screen and the ability to display digital images and album cover art. The iPod Photo represents a big step forward in the functionality of Apple’s iconic music player.

Apple dropped its leather iPhone cases, but the Mujjo Full Leather Wallet Case with MagSafe is a brilliant alternative. It protects your valuable handset while also providing an easy way to carry credit cards and drivers license. Plus, it looks gorgeous while doing so.

I carried my iPhone 15 Plus this case on holiday, to restaurants … everywhere I went for weeks. Here’s why I love this case for my iPhone 15 Plus, despite a notable drawback.

The voice you hear when you speak might not be the voice that your computer hears. If you don’t have a high-quality mic, your voice could come through harsh and full of static, not great if you’re giving a formal presentation, participating in a meeting, or just chatting with a friend online.

How do you turn off the webcam video reactions on your Mac in macOS Sonoma? This feature, which puts full-screen animated effects on your video calls, made a good demo when it was introduced, but has since confused many people who trigger it accidentally in serious situations.

The Off button isn’t where you would expect — it’s not hiding in Skype, Google Hangouts or Zoom at all — it’s in the Mac’s menu bar.

Let me show you what’s going on and how you can turn it off.

Make PDF management seamless

PDFs can be great for business and everyday content sharing. But, they can also be absolute pains if you need to make a quick edit, annotation or virtually any other change.

If you know someone who deals heavily in PDFs, then this might be an excellent opportunity to get them a holiday gift at an affordable rate. This lifetime subscription for a Document 365 Lite Individual Plan is on sale for only $69.97 (reg. $299) through October 31st.

What can a user do with this subscription?

Most importantly, Document 365 allows members to update and fix PDFs across different devices, boosting any user’s productivity. Among its most common applications, users can annotate their PDFs with text boxes, highlights, their own handwriting, notes, graphics and a range of other elements.

Document 365 is designed to make it easy to sign documents when needed, and it streamlines the processes of filling out forms, splitting files, combining PDFs and even attaching voice notes from your mobile devices. You can even bring such work on the go through the PDF Reader mobile app!

Document 365 also supports a wide range of document conversion and scanning services. It allows you to convert any file to or from PDF, and it empowers you to send faxes online, as well as sync and access files from your desktop and other devices. Of course, these services are accessible anywhere you have a stable internet connection.

A highly secure and rated PDF manager 

Plus, Document 365 offers security features, like the ability to protect the app, scans and PDF documents with password protection or watermarks. No wonder this PDF manager boasts a 4.7-star rating, with one verified buyer writing, ” PDF of Documents 365 Life is a helpful, good, and perfect software to be used for many functions. It’s very easy to change files and save them in many groups.”

Grab a lifetime subscription for a Document 365 Lite Individual Plan for just $69.97. No coupon is required, but this deal ends October 31st at 11:59pm Pacific!

Prices subject to change. 

October 25, 2003: Mac OS X Panther arrives on Macintosh computers, bringing several useful new features and making Safari Apple’s default web browser for the first time.

The new Exposé feature in OS X Panther lets Mac users instantly view all open windows at once. And the new iChat AV allows people to talk with audio and video as well as text.

iOS 17.1, the first major point release of iOS 17, is here. It drops just over a month after iOS 17 arrived.

Alongside iOS 17.1, Apple is also releasing iPadOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 to the public today. Below is a look at some of the top new features in the OSes.

The cost of watching Apple TV+ series and movies just went up 40%. A monthly subscription is now $9.99.

The price for Apple Arcade, Apple News+ and Apple One also increased. But the cost of other services, like Apple Music, remains the same.

AirBuddy is a handy Mac app that lets you monitor all your nearby Bluetooth devices and AirPods. You can check battery life, switch them back and forth between multiple Macs on your desk, and best of all — get the same beautiful AirPods animations that you see on your iPhone.

It offers granular Bluetooth controls that Apple should build right into macOS.

This week, Cult of Mac is giving away four Origami Protective Cases for iPad from SwitchEasy. This versatile iPad case folds in four different ways to make it easy to type, read or browse your iPad.

If you want a protective case that is also useful for relaxation or work, be sure to enter this giveaway.