You can use the Apple logo as an emoji … if you know how. Expressing your love for all things Apple looks a lot better if know how to type the .
It’s easy to do on a Mac, and I can show you how to add to texts on iPhone and iPad, too.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: There’s plenty to talk about after an absolutely magical barrage of new Apple products unveiled this week. We discuss the highlights (and lowlights) of all the new Macs and iPads.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Is it worth it to buy the new Mac Studio with an M3 Ultra or M4 Max? Apple’s latest desktop Macs are the most powerful ever — and that’s not hyperbole. And updates to the Mac Studio don’t come by too often.
If you have an old pro Mac with an Intel chip, it’s a no-brainer. It’s definitely time to move on — no matter which model you have. However, if you’re already on a Mac Studio, you may not need to update quite yet.
Is it worthwhile to upgrade? We have a guide below with helpful charts and a video to help you decide.
Is it worth it to buy the M4 MacBook Air? This machine has got to be the best value in all computing right now. The latest model brings a big boost in performance, and comes in a stunning new sky blue color — at an even-lower price. The new MacBook Air is one of Apple’s best laptops ever.
If you’re still using the Intel MacBook Air you bought in early 2020 during COVID-19, now is the golden time for you to upgrade. You’ll be getting a fantastically powerful laptop that can handle it all.
Is it worthwhile to upgrade? We have a guide below with helpful charts and a video to help you decide.
How do Apple’s latest laptops stack up? Our M3 vs. M4 MacBook Air comparison shows the differences between the two models. Spoiler alert: Adding the new M4 chip steals the spotlight, although a lower starting price tag comes as a welcome change.
So, how does the M4 MacBook Air stack up against its M3 predecessor? Are the upgrades game-changing or just incremental? Find out in our in-depth comparison.
The long wait for an upgraded Mac Studio finally ended. A version with an M4 Max processor and (surprise!) an M3 Ultra chip launched Wednesday.
“The new Mac Studio is the most powerful Mac we’ve ever made,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “A complete game-changer for pros around the world — powering both home and pro studios — Mac Studio sits in a class of its own, offering a staggering amount of performance in a compact, quiet design that fits beautifully on your desk. With this new Mac Studio, we’re delivering even more extreme performance with M4 Max and M3 Ultra, support for half a terabyte of unified memory, up to 16TB of superfast storage, and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity. Mac Studio truly is the ultimate pro desktop.”
Apple unveiled a revised MacBook Air with an M4 chip inside Wednesday. It comes in a beautiful new sky blue color, at an even lower price point — with the same incredible 18 hours of battery life.
“MacBook Air is by far the world’s most popular laptop,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said in a press release, “and today we’re giving everyone even more reasons to love it, including a big boost in performance with the M4 chip, a new Center Stage camera, and a beautiful new sky blue color.”
The M4 MacBook Air starts at $999 and will become available on March 12.
It’s easy to zoom in on your Mac screen and get a closer look at your display. If the text is just too small to read, or perhaps you’re making some graphics and you need pixel-perfect alignment, a simple tweak to your Mac settings is all you need.
Using your Mac’s zoom feature, you can hit a keyboard shortcut or use a multitouch gesture on your trackpad to zoom in on your screen. I’ll show you how to use this handy feature. Plus, I’ll cover Hover Text and Display Scaling, two more features that help you embiggen the words on your Mac screen.
As a longtime Mac power user, I’ve come to rely on a handful of essential apps that supercharge my workflow. These Mac productivity apps not only streamline my daily tasks but also simplify complex jobs, making my work faster and more efficient.
Check out my favorite Mac apps that I can’t recommend enough as a power user.
Apple offers end-to-end encryption for many more types of iCloud data than it once did. Advanced Data Protection encrypts iCloud Photos, Notes, iCloud Backup and more. But you have to activate the feature to take advantage of the data protection. It is easy … once you find the switch buried in Settings.
We can save you some time. Here’s how and why you should activate it.
The Apple M5 processor is reportedly now in mass production in Korea, ready to improve the performance of Macs and iPads later this year.
With production already taking place, it’s possible the M5 will launch as an Apple product in the middle of the year, and not wait until autumn. As Apple continues to integrate AI capabilities into its chips, many users are looking for insights on how to use Apple AI to enhance their workflows.
We went through Apple CEO Tim Cook’s earnings call with investors on Thursday, and found some genuine surprises during the discussion of the financial results of the holiday 2024 quarter. We also turned up impressive figures showing just how well the company is doing.
Financial details don’t have to be boring. Here are the high points from the call as quickly and as interesting as we can make them.
iPhone Mirroring on the Mac lets you control your phone using your computer — a handy convenience when your iPhone is in your pocket, purse or backpack. All your iPhone notifications can be mirrored onto your Mac as well, letting you triage them and take care of business without touching your phone and interrupting your workflow.
This feature also could come in handy if you shatter your iPhone screen. You can mirror an otherwise unusable iPhone to your Mac to make sure it’s backed up. You could even factory-reset your broken phone before sending it in for repair or replacement.
Here’s how iPhone mirroring works. Keep reading or watch our video.
Mac shipments in the last three months of 2024 rose sharply, hitting 17.3% in year-over-year growth according to a market research firm. Apple enjoyed a better growth rate than any of its top rivals, some of which saw their shipments decline.
The company also experienced growth in Mac shipments for the entire year compared to 2023.
You can back up your text messages (and iMessages) with iMessage Exporter, a free tool for the Mac. Whether you want to preserve your family message history for sentimental reasons, or need to keep conversation records for business, iMessage Exporter will get the job done.
You might already back up your messages in iCloud, but Apple charges an arm and a leg for space. You can save space (and money) by making a local backup and clearing out your cloud storage.
Keep reading or watch our video to see how.
Safari on the Mac feels a lot faster to use than Google Chrome. It is also more battery efficient and takes fewer resources. Yet, I prefer using Google Chrome on my MacBook.
Despite its faults, Google Chrome trumps Safari in many key aspects. There’s a reason why Google’s browser is the most popular choice worldwide.
With some careful modding, you can use an iMac as a display — and save more than $1,300 to get a high-end monitor similar to Apple’s pricey Studio Display.
Apple’s Studio Display is one of only a small handful of 27-inch Retina 5K displays on the market, boasting a resolution of 5,120 × 2880. Unfortunately, it costs quite a handful — $1,599. If you have an old iMac 5K sitting around, you already have a computer with the exact same display panel inside. So if you are willing to spend about $190 in parts and can convert it to a Studio Display, you can save a big chunk of change.
Here’s how you can mod it yourself — but be warned, it’s not for the faint of heart.
It’s a safe bet that the Apple M5 processor will start replacing the current M4 in 2025, and it might even happen in the first half of the year.
That’s according to a roadmap of when the various versions of the chip will go into production leaked Monday by a reliable source of insider Apple information.
What does Apple have planned for the Mac in 2025? For the last couple of years, Apple’s been killing it with its desktop and laptop computers. The chips scream, the industrial design has never been better, and the Mac lineup is undoubtedly the best in Apple’s history. Just look at the amazing new Mac mini.
But can Apple keep up the pace next year?
A little-known feature in macOS lets you share your Mac’s screen to someone else’s Mac directly from the Messages app — no third-party apps or downloads required. It’s great if you need to give tech support to a far-off family member in a pinch. Often, you just need to see what’s happening instead of counting on what your dear old father is trying to describe over the phone.
Get him to share his Mac’s screen with you, and you likely can solve his problem quickly. Even better, it’s not complicated setting up screen sharing on a Mac like it is on a PC. It takes only a few clicks in the Messages app. Let me show you all around this awesome hidden feature.
The Mac pointer (also called the cursor) is black with a white outline by default, but you can change the pointer color if you want to make it more prominent. Plus, you can even change the Mac pointer size.
You might lose track of the small cursor if you have low vision — or just a really big monitor. Making the pointer larger can make it easier to see.
Changing the pointer color to, for instance, bright red can make it easier to see, too. You can choose any color, like light purple or green, to fit the aesthetic of your setup. (This is especially cool if you have a matching colorful iMac.)
Here’s how to change your Mac pointer size and color.
Designer Basic Apple Guy started the last month of 2024 by releasing yet another fresh and interesting set of wallpapers for your Apple devices. They’re the “vibrant and minimal cubist-inspired” Liminal Spaces series, released December 2. They might be the best new wallpapers I’ve seen this month.
And they’re certainly an interesting alternative to holiday themes. For me, the light, colors and shapes composed in the wallpapers brought to mind not only cubist art, but abstract expressionist Richard Diebenkorn’s landscape paintings.
A MacBook capable of directly connecting to 5G cellular wireless networks is one potential result of the modem that Apple intends to introduce in 2025, according to a reliable source of insider information.
The 5G modem will supposedly go first into iOS handsets, including the extra-slim one dubbed the “iPhone 17 Air” that Apple is allegedly preparing to launch next year.
Working in an office or in the city, you’re probably inundated with noise from people chattering, cars running and nearby music. Your iPhone has a built-in feature called Background Sounds for playing rain noises or white noise to tune it all out.
You don’t need to download any apps or pay a cent; it comes for free on your Mac and iPhone. Let me show you how it works.
Apple named the finalists Monday for its annual App Store Awards. These awards honor “exceptional user experience, design, and innovation,” according to the Mac-maker. App awards come in a range of categories, like iPhone App of the Year, Mac Game of the Year, and many more.
The nominations aren’t just kudos for developers — they’re a great way for users to find high-quality software.