News - page 148

Soccer legend Lionel Messi recently joined Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, and Apple TV+ hopes to score off the Argentine star’s high-profile arrival. The streaming service is offering a range of MLS Season Pass content complementing the games it will air, starting July 21 with Leagues Cup coverage.

“Lionel Messi joining Inter Miami marks a historic moment for the sport in the U.S. and reflects the incredible momentum behind Major League Soccer,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, in a press release Friday. “We couldn’t be more excited to give fans around the world the opportunity to watch the greatest footballer of all time on MLS Season Pass.”

Popular farming simulator Stardew Valley+ is now playable via Apple Arcade. The game promises many hours of entertainment, with farming, ranching, fighting monsters and even getting married.

It’s one of a number of classic titles to hit Apple’s gaming subscription service in recent weeks.

Nomad introduced ChargeKey in 2013, and at long last the popular little keychain charging cable got an update. Now it sports a fresh design and USB-C and Lightning versions to help you power up today’s devices on the go.

Our travels online among computer setups show that a great many Apple users don’t choose Magic Mouse — and many even detest it. So they select popular products from Logitech and other makers. But some people, like graphic designers, passionately defend Apple’s sleek and slippery mouse, and today’s featured MacBook Pro-and-custom-PC setup is a testament to that. Long live Magic Mouse!

Apple Watch is one of the best accessories you can get for your iPhone. The smartwatch will complement your iPhone by mirroring key notifications and tracking your key health metrics.

If you are using an old Apple Watch or have yet to try one, now is the time. Amazon’s latest deal has slashed $70 off the Apple Watch Series 8, dropping its price to as low as $329.

Savvy shoppers can score a boatload of summer savings through Apple Pay’s promotion running through July 26.

Just head to the sellers’ websites through Apple’s promo page for great savings from the likes of Ray-Ban, Sonic, Gymboree and nine others. See below.

The Vaonis Hestia gives users a closer look at the moon, sun and stars, but it’s far from a traditional telescope. It’s designed to let beginners use their iPhone to view the heavens, easily find the celestial objects they want to see, and then photograph them.

It’s also quite portable. It’s ready to go with you to escape light pollution.

Zagg just launched a line of Bluetooth desktop keyboards that range in size from 12 inches all the way up to 17 inches, with larger models adding a numberpad and function keys. And they really don’t need wires, as they also charge wirelessly

In addition, the new keyboard lineup includes one designed specifically to plug into the Lightning port of an iPad. And there’s a USB-C variant, too.

A standout feature of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is reportedly causing assembly problems. The high-end models Apple will launch in autumn 2023 are expected to have the thinnest screen bezels of any handset, but that’s apparently making the panels harder than usual to produce.

If true, this could lower the supply of the iOS devices when they launch.

The on again/off again iPhone SE 4 is reportedly off again. For at least a couple of years, anyway. Apple reportedly no longer intends to make a new budget iOS handset in 2024.

That’s probably not surprising considering the popularity of the company’s more expensive models.

Apple’s M1 MacBook Air was available for just $749.99 on Prime Day earlier this month. In case you missed that deal, Amazon is again discounting the machine to $749, knocking a staggering $250 off its retail price.

If you need a new laptop, this is the deal you should not miss. At $749.99, the M1 MacBook Air provides one of the cheapest ways to get into Apple’s ecosystem.

The U.K. government has proposed an update to the Investigatory Powers Act that Apple and other tech companies strongly oppose because it they argue it would substantially weaken the security of their messaging applications.

The updated act would allow the government to require security features in the apps be disabled immediately and without informing users.

Apple reportedly warned that it’ll disable iMessage and FaceTime in the UK before it’ll comply with the law.

Netflix just killed its Basic plan, forcing people to pay more for an ad-free experience. And the cost of all Peacock plans went up, with or without commercials.

Apple TV+, with no ads at all, looks like a better deal than ever.

Apple reportedly developed its own generative AI chatbot that’s very similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While this might never be released, the underlying tech is already going into the company’s applications and services.

If true, the chatbot’s technology could be a significant upgrade to the Siri digital assistant that’s built into so many Apple products — and that currently draws so much criticism.

Apple subsidiary Beats dropped its long-awaited flagship Beats Studio Pro headphones Wednesday to mostly positive reviews, including favorable comparisons to the pricier AirPods Max ($550).

Beats Studio Pro still look a lot like the 2017 Beats Studio3 cans they replace, but they’re chock full of improvements that should justify their $350 price for many despite some shortcomings.

Who doesn’t love a clean, uncluttered computer setup? It doesn’t have to be “minimalist,” like it’s trying to impersonate a Zen rock garden, it just has to be simple and productive.

Today’s featured 15-inch M2 Pro MacBook Air and 11-inch M2 iPad Pro setup gets by quite nicely with one external monitor and the use of Sidecar.

An anonymous tipster has bad news for the Mac Pro: Apple apparently has no plans to keep working on the scrapped chip that would have doubled the machine’s power. Development on Apple silicon is reportedly set all the way through the M5 generation.

There’s a beacon of hope, though. Multi-die packaging — technology being developed that could see the light of day around the M8 chip — eventually might give the Mac Pro the power it deserves. However, at Apple’s current pace, that’s at least six years away.

Rather than a dull, dry recitation of the antitheft features built into MacBooks, Apple created a video featuring another madcap adventure from the Underdogs.

The video is fun an and exciting, but is also a demonstration of the multiple ways Macs prevent criminals from profiting from stolen Macs.

Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro and iPad Air is a great albeit expensive accessory. But if you want an external keyboard for your iPad, you can’t go wrong with Apple’s offering.

Take advantage of Amazon’s latest deal to save up to $55 on the keyboard accessory. This means you can get the Magic Keyboard for the 11-inch iPad Pro for as low as $245.95.

Do you love animals, and the more exotic they are the better? Apple TV+ said Tuesday its two new documentary series “featuring the never-before-seen lives of the rarest animals on Earth” will come out soon.

The two series — Born to be Wild and Endangered Planet — consist of six parts apiece. But we’ll have to wait and see when they’ll air. We can probably expect trailers before too long.

Apple on Tuesday rolled out the first update for Final Cut Pro for iPad since its release in May this year. The v1.1 release adds support for new keyboard shortcuts and improves the app’s overall stability and performance.

Final Cut’s iPad version is not as feature-rich as its Mac version. Apple is working on reducing that gap, with the latest update taking a small step in achieving this.

We’ve got an exciting giveaway this week in partnership with Harber London! One lucky winner will have the chance to score a sleek leather laptop folio that’s perfect for a MacBook (or other laptop between 11 inches and 16 inches). How cool is that?

You’ll be spoiled for choice with four classic colors to choose from: tan, black, navy and deep brown. And trust us, this genuine full-grain leather folio ages beautifully over time, giving it a stylish and unique look no matter which color you go for. Plus, starting at just $132 and with free tracked delivery, it’s a steal. But it’s even better if you win!

The SanDisk 4TB Extreme Portable SSD cost a jaw-dropping $699 when it launched. You can now pick it up for a third of that original cost: $229. Amazon also offers similar deals on smaller-capacity versions for a limited time.

These external drives promise data-transfer speeds up to 1,050 MBps over a USB-C connection, and work with Mac and iPad.

UPDATE: Published reports indicate this SSD has a high failure rate, which might explain why it’s on sale. Buyer beware.

The release candidates for iOS 16.6 and macOS Ventura 13.5 were seeded to developers on Tuesday. These are the final betas of minor bug updates without significant new features, but nevertheless they will be worth installing when the final versions are released, almost certainly within a week.

The same is true for iPadOS 16.6 RC, watchOS 9.6 RC and tvOS 16.6 RC.

ESR just launched a Kickstarter campaign for an unprecedented, Apple-certified 100-watt 6-in-1 charging station with GaN technology to juice up all your devices.

The company called the device — which can charge iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously — the “world’s first” of its kind. You can preorder it now at a 20% discount. And it may serve all your charging needs.