Some computer setups just seem to have it all. Today’s featured workstation sports a new M3 Pro MacBook Pro with hefty amounts of memory and storage, plus a speedy Thunderbolt 4 dock connected to a well-curated selection of peripherals. Even the gear stands and furniture are especially nice.
The streaming music service Spotify just increased its prices for new U.S. subscribers. The costs of most subscription options are now above those of its arch rival, Apple Music.
The new prices go into effect for current subscribers in July.
Apple will overhaul its Settings app across iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 when it unveils the updates at WWDC24, according to a report Friday. In other words, not everything at the big developers conference will be about AI.
Update: Control Center, which provides easy access to frequently used features on iPhones (as well as Macs and iPads), should see changes, too. Apple will upgrade it “with a new music widget and improvements to how it operates smart home appliances,” Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman wrote over the weekend in his PowerOn newsletter.
The iPhone 16 Pro could sport the world’s slimmest bezels on a smartphone. Its borders will apparently measure just 1.2mm, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max having even slimmer bezels at 1.15mm.
The slimmer bezels should help offset the size increase due to Apple using larger displays on its 2024 iPhones.
Don’t get your heart set on new Macs launching at WWDC24 next week. A generally reliable tipster predicts that that’ll be none unveiled at Apple’s developer conference.
And not just Macs. Supposedly the agenda includes no new hardware at all.
Apple’s 2024 iPad Air ships with a binned M2 chip featuring a 9-core GPU. The company’s original announcement claimed it packs a 10-core GPU.
The Cupertino giant silently updated the iPad Air’s tech specs page to reflect this change.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: In the near future, your iPhone might look as wild and unique as you want it to. Home Screen customization options, rumored to arrive in iOS 18, could bring a new level of personality to iPhones. And then there’s the AI-generated emoji we’ve been hearing about.
Hold onto your hats, iPhone owners. Things are about to get weird!
Also on The CultCast:
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Apple could add new text effects to iMessage in iOS 18. One of the effects reportedly includes the ability to animate individual words in a message. If you’re curious about how to bold text in iMessage, Apple has some useful tricks that can help make your messages stand out.
iMessage, Apple’s proprietary instant messaging service, already supports many message effects and animations to add some excitement to texts. The possible new text effects in iOS 18 should make things even more eye-catching and fun.
For years Keychron made its bones on good mechanical keyboards. Now it’s jumping into the scissor-switch game with a pair of Keychron ultra-slim keyboards that are direct Magic Keyboard competitors.
They looks the part, include solid features and beat Apple on price by a mile.
Some people don’t amp up the sound in their computer setups simply because they lack room for the speakers. So they just use their computer or monitor speakers. But what if somebody made tiny but powerful speakers that could fit almost anywhere? Somebody did — Gallo Acoustics Micro Speakers. And today’s Mac Studio setup uses them for rich sound.
As a part of its AI upgrade, Siri in iOS 18 will reportedly enable control of individual apps through your voice. Apple has supposedly upgraded its voice assistant’s underlying architecture using LLMs to achieve this.
Additionally, Apple will process many basic AI tasks on-device in iOS 18 for faster response and a better user experience.
Attention Beagle Scouts: Get ready for summer camp with the Camp Snoopy series trailer Apple TV+ dropped Wednesday. The Peanuts gang heads off to the woods soon. Kids and parents alike might get a kick out of it.
The series debuts on Apple TV+ June 14.
The new Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station with DisplayLink uses DisplayLink software to enable Mac users to connect with up to four external monitors, in addition to accessing 96W power delivery for a MacBook and realizing blazing-fast Thunderbolt 4 data transfer speeds, the company said Thursday. If you’re looking for a versatile port hub to expand your Mac’s connectivity, check out this 6-port hub from Zagg.
With Apple’s massive annual software confab known as WWDC24 coming up fast on June 10, the iPhone giant decided it’s time to rock out with a special WWDC24 Apple Music playlist. The WWDC24 Hello list of tunes features music by Billie Eilish, Good Neighbours, Glass Animals and other artists.
Check it out below! This probably won’t be as controversial as the streamer’s top 100 albums list and its surprising No. 1 pick.
The latest major update to the popular and snarky Carrot Weather app brings a delightful array of new features and improvements. It adds a dynamic “garden that grows over time” as part of a redesigned interface, along with line charts for hourly and daily forecasts, integrated weather news from around the world and more.
But of course it will still call you a “meatbag” and act surprised you’re still alive if you haven’t opened it lately. New Carrot Weather 6.0 is now available for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Pro.
Mac users in the market for a new desktop keyboard have new options from Logitech. There are small and large models and an ergonomic one, too. Plus a mouse.
The additions to the lineup include MX Keys S for Mac, MX Keys S Combo for Mac, MX Anywhere 3S for Mac, MX Keys Mini for Mac (in Space Gray), and Ergo Series Wave Keys for Mac.
In a sign Apple TV+ may yet arrive for Android users — meaning hell must be entirely coated in ice — Cupertino is looking to hire a senior engineer to build a TV and sports app for the smartphone platform, according to a new report.
Streaming TV fans now have the option to bundle Apple TV+ with Netflix and Peacock. And Xfinity StreamSaver is only $15 per month, a savings of 35% off getting the services separately.
It is a significant new option for cordcutters who want to save money.
The Apple News+ service is growing its subscription rate about four times as fast as major news sites like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, according to a new report.
Hey, when you sell the hardware, you have an advantage in attracting users’ eyeballs to content, too, right?
A note to Cult of Mac readers: We’re changing the way external links open on the site. Instead of opening in the same tab, external links will now open in a new tab.
In the last few years, opening external links in new tabs has become a widespread practice in digital publishing. Many of the web’s most influential sites, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Reddit and Quora, open external links in a new tab.
We’re making the change to keep up.
Popular tech influencer Marques Brownlee shared a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday from his visit to Apple labs that do durability testing like iPhone water testing. You’ve probably never seen iPhones this wet. And you’ve probably never subjected yours to such punishment.
Along the way, he fit in an interesting video chat with Apple hardware honcho John Ternus about product reliability versus repairability, below.
AirPods are great earphones, but did you know they can also be crime fighters? In Florida, a dislodged AirPod tracked an alleged hit-and-run driver after a bike-riding teen’s head went through his passenger window and the earbud popped out and got stuck under a floormat.
Location tracking on that little earbud led straight to an arrest on felony charges.
When one commenter saw today’s Mac Studio workstation, they said “Setup so clean it looks AI generated. I like it.” Well, we also like the Mac Studio and custom PC setup, especially for its innovative use of a portable display alongside its main external display, which is a killer gaming monitor we’ve never seen before.
Apple continues its retail expansion in Southeast Asia with its first store in Malaysia — Apple The Exchange TRX. It’s set to open June 22 in Kuala Lumpur at The Exchange TRX mall. And you should check out the roof on this thing. It looks like a tiered pyramid.
Apple The Exchange TRX will be Apple’s sixth store in Southeast Asia. And it already has wallpapers for your device screens.
Just when it seemed like Lego had finally represented all cool things with its complex sets, along comes a fascinating new Apple Store design. But it’s not officially Lego yet. It’s a fan submission to the Lego Ideas website that could go into production if enough people support it.
The details in this thing are incredible. Seems like it’d be a lot of fun to build. But first Lego and Apple will have to sign off on it.