In a somewhat shocking development, Apple reportedly completely canceled all development on its self-driving car program on Tuesday.
The company is shifting its emphasis to artificial intelligence, instead.
Apple just seeded the release candidate of iOS 17.4 to developers. When it goes to the general public — probably next week — it’ll bring in a collection of new emoji to iPhone, and a more secure version of iMessage. For Europeans, the update will be a major one, as it’ll usher in sideloading and other changes.
The release candidate for iPadOS 17.4 also came out Tuesday. However, macOS Sonoma 14.4 is still on beta 5.
Apple hasn’t released Vision Pro in China yet, but that hasn’t stopped scads of merchants from offering the headset for rent to enthusiasts. Many of them appear to think the AR headset may go beyond typical gaming uses, a new report says. Vision Pro rentals in China have attracted tens of thousands of customers.
Some eager testers think Apple’s pricey Vision Pro bests competitors like Meta’s Quest 3, as well.
iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Plus will have the same type of screen as the Pro versions, according to a new report. That means all four 2025 iOS handsets will offer 120Hz ProMotion, always-on displays.
If true, it means Apple will have to come up with new ways to differentiate its top-tier models.
Center Stage is a brilliant feature that lets an iPad’s front-facing camera follow someone on a video call. Center Stage is not available for iPhone, though. And apparently, it never will be.
Apple developed an alternative version called DockKit, but this requires an add-on accessory.
Apple TV+ has not officially said if British crime drama series Criminal Record is a go for season two. But its star and executive producer, Cush Jumbo, says it’ll happen.
She said so on a talk show late Sunday night.
Apple Arcade now focuses so heavily on family-friendly titles from well-known franchises that some indie game developers feel abandoned, according to a new report. Some even predict doom — or at least creative stagnation — lies in Apple Arcade’s future if things don’t change.
Cupertino’s shifting priorities leave the developers, who Apple once wooed for the service, with few incentives for creating new Apple Arcade games.
What kind of performance boost do you get when you go from an M1 MacBook Air to an M3 Pro MacBook Pro? A pretty big one, if today’s MacBook Pro setup from an investor is any indication. They made sure to purchase a model with plenty of unified memory — 36GB — to ensure no number of open tabs would slow them down too much.
Journey’s new 3-in-1 wall charger and power bank can ease battery anxiety for world travelers. The Axie 10,000mAh Global Charger and Power Bank comes with international plugs that work in 150 countries.
The company pitches the Axie as a boon for international travelers — and “the fix for low battery dramas.”
After the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards showered Apple TV+ with 11 nominations in January — for Apple Original Film Killers of the Flower Moon and hit TV shows The Morning Show, Lessons in Chemistry and Ted Lasso — the streamer managed to net just one win Saturday in Los Angeles. SAG named Lily Gladstone best actress.
To be precise, she took the prize for Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for Killers of the Flower Moon. She’s the first indigenous person to do so.
Now that she has a Golden Globe and a SAG award under her belt, her chances of bagging the Best Actress Oscar on March 10 seem even brighter.
Apple’s industrial design team reportedly proposed working on a smart ring a few years ago. The ring would have apparently packed all the health-tracking features of the Apple Watch.
Additionally, Apple engineers recently discussed working on smart glasses like the Meta Ray-Bans. In both cases, though, the devices are just an idea, with the company not actively working on them.
Apple reportedly hasn’t given up on the idea of a HomePod smart speaker with a built-in display. It’s supposedly still in development in Cupertino.
There have been leaks and rumors of such a smart home device since at least 2021.
The OLED display in the upcoming iPad Pro reportedly will allow the tablet to be more than 20% thinner. Which is … fine. But if the OLED panel takes up that much less room, there are plenty of improvements Apple could make to its top-tier iPad that would enhance usability more than slimming down an already svelte computer.
Perhaps Apple’s 2025 iPad Pro could use the extra space for more battery and more ports.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest iPhone 16 Pro rumor comes with a mockup that looks like a fidget spinner. Will Apple really do that? On the other hand, the latest iPad rumors sound totally believable.
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.
The WWII drama Masters of the Air draws in a big audience. It’s stayed near the tops of popularity charts of two different ratings services for weeks now, ever since the premiere in January.
Critics like it too, so the ongoing series that dramatizes the U.S. Army Air Force’s role in helping defeat Germany is another success for Apple TV+.
And the historical crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon continues to be a crowd pleaser as well.
Two years after the Russian invasion, one of Ukraine’s preeminent Mac software companies isn’t just surviving. In fact, MacPaw is doing pretty well — shiny new bomb shelters notwithstanding.
The company behind CleanMyMac X and Setapp has launched new products — including some designed to take the fight to Russia. MacPaw also opened a satellite office in Boston and donated millions to humanitarian efforts, all while most of the company’s employees have remained behind in the war-torn country.
“Living and working amidst the unjust full-scale Russian invasion poses numerous challenges for our team,” said Nina Bohush, a senior MacPaw PR specialist based in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city. “Just imagine a morning that starts with loud explosions outside the window because of another Russian attack … Of course, going through these unprecedented circumstances impacts people’s mental health and productivity.”
The Belkin Auto-Tracking Stand Pro is the first-ever accessory to work with Apple DockKit. Using this tech, it can hold up an iPhone, rotate and tilt to keep the camera focused on the user during video calls.
After being announced CES 2024 in January, the accessory reached the market on Friday.
For those who get by with audio from a laptop or display speakers in their computer setup — as good as that can be these days — an upgrade to desktop speakers offer a real treat for the ears. Today’s MacBook Pro setup from a Florida-based rapper just got a nice set of brand new Yamaha speakers and jacked them in to a huge subwoofer under the desk.
For the first time, an iOS trojan has been spotted in the wild. Adapted from a well-known Android trojan, GoldDigger, the new malware is called GoldPickaxe, according to a new report. And it steals an iPhone user’s facial recognition data to go after money in banking and other financial apps. We’ll show you how below.
Google Chrome uses artificial intelligence in a new experimental tool that makes it easier to start writing or improve something already written online. “Help me write” can punch up the content of any text field in the browser.
It’s coming to Mac and Windows, and is just the latest AI addition to Chrome.
Now hear this: Apple TV+ dropped a trailer Tuesday for its upcoming documentary series Earthsounds, narrated by Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award nominee Tom Hiddleston.
The streamer said you’ll “hear our planet like never before in the new 12-part immersive natural history series.” All episodes become available February 23.
Spark, a renowned email client for iPhone and Mac, is getting a new AI-driven My Writing Style feature. While the email app already offers AI-powered writing assistance, the new feature aims to mirror your writing style. This will enable you to use AI to draft emails in your voice and style, giving them a personal touch.
Apple recently seeded the fourth beta of iOS 17.4. Despite this late into the beta cycle, iOS 17.4 beta 4 packs several notable changes.
Below are all the changes we have come across in the latest iOS 17.4 beta along with an archive of all the changes in the previous beta builds.
There’s no time like the present to jump on a great deal on a very cool laptop computer — $200 off an M2 MacBook Air. You can get that price on a midnight- or spay gray-colored model at B&H Photo.
Right now you can get the highly rated laptop — 4.9 out of 5 stars at B&H — for just $1,149, down from $1,349. That’s a great deal on a bantamweight machine that packs a powerful punch, thanks to Apple silicon.
The second-generation version of Astropad’s Rock Paper Pencil includes an improved version of the textured iPad screen protector. Theres also a more durable Apple Pencil tip.
The combo is designed for digital artists who want drawing on an iPad to feel more like using a pen on paper.