Apple Watch 6 was the first model to include the pulse oximetry sensor. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
A judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday that Apple infringes on one of medical device maker Masimo’s patents for light-based pulse oximetry sensor functionality and components used in Apple Watch 6 onward. The sensor measures blood oxygen levels.
Next the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will decide whether to ban imports of Apple Watches that include the sensor, Masimo said.
A redesigned MacBook Air surely helped push up 2022 Mac shipments. Photo: Apple
Apple’s shipments of Mac desktops and notebooks grew modestly in 2022, according to market research firm. That’s in stark contrast to shipments of PCs that dropped enormously last year.
And Apple could have done even better if it hadn’t pushed back the release of new Macs past the fourth quarter.
Apple wants to shift away from Samsung for its product displays. Photo: Unsplash
Apple wants to reduce its reliance on sourcing displays for its products from Samsung and LG. So, the company is working on its own custom displays that it intends to use as early as 2024.
This would mark another move from Apple to develop more components it uses on its devices in-house.
It's not a fountain pen. It's Adonit Star. Photo: Adonit
Adonit Star is an iPad stylus for those who love antiques but don’t want to forgo modern technology. It’s designed to look like a fountain pen, not the usual plastic pencil.
It’s an accessory any 19th century lawyer would be proud to own. But is surprisingly affordable.
Grovemade's popular desk shelves now come in white oak. Photo: Grovemade
Home-office goods maker Grovemade rolled out white-oak versions of its popular desk shelves Tuesday, adding a classy new option for anyone trying to improve their computer setup.
You can get the new desk shelves in small, medium or large sizes. They’re not cheap, but you deserve to have nice things.
Yale's new smart safes come in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi versions. Photo: Yale Home
Worried about keeping your valuables safe? Venerable lock maker Yale said Tuesday it has two new smart safes for you: Yale Smart Safe and Yale Smart Safe with Wi-Fi.
And you can control the new safes using the Home app via HomeKit. Or, in the case of the Wi-Fi-enabled safe, with the Siri voice assistant.
iPhone 16 Pro might show only a holepunch camera. Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The Face ID sensors reportedly will be hidden from users in next year’s iPhone 16 Pro. That would free up space for more screen area.
If true, under-display Face ID might mean that the days of the Dynamic Island are numbered, even though the feature only recently debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro.
At $400, the iPad mini 6 provides a lot more value for money. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
Did the iPad mini catch your fancy? Amazon has a killer deal on Apple’s smallest tablet, knocking $99 off its retail price.
After the discount, you can get the 2021 iPad mini for $399.99, down from its original $499 MSRP. This is the same price the tablet was available for during Black Friday.
Paul Walter Hauser lit up Black Bird with his depiction of suspected serial killer Larry Hall. Photo: Apple TV+
BOSTON — Before he put pen to paper and gave us violent sagas of lowlife P.I.s and desperate criminals, Dennis Lehane used to deliver flowers to a hospital next door to the Liberty Hotel. Now the novelist, who acted as writer and showrunner for the brilliant Apple TV+ miniseries Black Bird, is sitting here in the Liberty, so named because of its former vocation: a prison.
It’s an appropriate setting. Black Bird tells the true story of Jimmy Keene, a prison informant who risked his life to nail a serial killer. (The series is based on Keene’s autobiographical novel, In With the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.)
Lehane and his chilling Black Bird star Paul Walter Hauser sat down with Cult of Mac and other journalists recently to discuss their critically acclaimed Apple TV+ show, which is racking up nominations as awards season gets underway. If Black Bird’s outstanding cast and crew receive the recognition they deserve, the show stands a good chance of picking up a handful of awards — and adding to the growing glow of prestige programming on Apple TV+. (Update: Hauser won the Golden Globe on Tuesday night for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.)
In the group interview, Lehane and Hauser talked motivation, working conditions and seeing into the mind of a psychopath, among other things.
A future Apple Watch Ultra might include a cutting-edge microLED screen. Photo: Apple
Apple will bring a microLED screen to its wrist wearable, according to a reliable source of insider info. This would replace the OLED displays currently in Apple Watch.
A switch to microLED would bring an improved type of screen: brighter and less prone to burn-in.
Apple is highlighting iPhone 14's Action Mode in a new ad. Photo: Unsplash
Apple has released a couple of new ads highlighting the iPhone 14’s Action Mode and the Undo Send feature in iOS 16’s Messages app. The features are available on both regular iPhone 14 and 14 Pro series.
This is the second ad Apple has released since the iPhone 14 release to promote Action Mode. The advanced stabilization mode provides gimbal-like stabilization.
Apple Maps now has the SpotHero parking-space finder built in. Here's how to use the new combination. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
iPhone users can now find a parking space with Apple Maps. Starting Monday, the navigation application has SpotHero built in, giving parking options for more than 8,000 locations across North America.
The feature is free, though the spaces are not. Here’s how to use it.
With the right adapter you can use a new Xbox with an old Cinema Display (on the right). Photo: [email protected]
So many people love Apple gear because the Cupertino tech giant gets a lot right with its hardware. That certainly includes monitors, and not just the phenomenal Pro Display XDR and new Studio Display. We see a fair number of new computer setups relying on classic Apple screens like Cinema Display and Thunderbolt Display.
Today’s featured MacBook Pro and Xbox setup is a good example. Even with a modern gaming console — and given the right adapter — a display from a dozen years ago is still keeping it real.
Apple is hard at work on the iPhone 15. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac/Pixabay/Pexels
The iPhone 15 is reportedly in trial production, a fairly early stage in bringing the product to market. Still, it means the final feature set and design are essentially complete and Apple is thinking about assembling the device.
Trial production is going on at a Foxconn plant in China. The iPhone 15 will also be made in India.
Apple's first retail store in India could finally open its doors soon. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple’s first retail store in India has moved closer to its opening. After years of delays, the company has started hiring retail store workers in the country.
The company has posted 12 job positions on its career page in India as it looks to fill various retail positions.
Apple seems to be focusing on the launch of its AR/VR headset this year. Image: Rajesh
Every year, Apple has some significant hardware upgrades planned for at least a few devices in its product lineup. 2023 could be an outlier, though.
This year, Apple’s major hardware launches will include its first AR/VR headset and the iPhone 15 series. While other products in the company’s lineup will receive a refresh, they will be relatively minor upgrades.
The upcoming Mac Pro could look like this. Photo: Unsplash
Contrary to rumors, the upcoming Apple silicon Mac Pro might disappoint many in the design department. A new report suggests the forthcoming Mac Pro refresh will have the same design as the 2019 Intel-based model.
The Apple silicon Mac Pro is widely expected to launch later this year. It would stand out in the Mac lineup by offering a certain degree of user upgradability but come with non-upgradeable system memory.
Many months after release, still only 70% of iPhones run iOS 16. That's a problem. Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Most iPhone users have finally gotten on the iOS 16 bandwagon, according to a tracking company. Adoption passed 70% last week, almost four months after it launched.
That’s significantly slower than iPhone users adopted previous iOS versions. The data shows that people simply don’t trust that Apple’s iPhone updates will be bug-free. Not the way we used to, anyway.
Are we the only ones standing around with slack jaws wondering how Apple can make this headset desirable? Photo: Original photo: Uriel Soberanes/Unsplash License/Modified by Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The more we hear about Apple’s upcoming AR/VR headset, the more we’re perplexed about who is actually going to buy one. We take a long, hard look at the latest leaks — and come up shaking our heads.
Also on The CultCast:
We might get a raft of exciting new Macs — including the first Mac Pro powered by Apple silicon — at a March event.
Apple’s Pro Display XDR and Studio Display get some high-end competition.
Sorry, voice actors. AI narrators look like the future of audiobooks (and Apple leads the charge).
Our final best-of-2022 picks.
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.
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Left to right: The Samsung ViewFinity S9, Apple Studio Display and Dell UltraSharp 32. Image: Samsung/Apple/Dell
The Mac is hardly ever the focus of events like CES. But at this year’s massive tech conference in Las Vegas, two promising displays were announced by Samsung and Dell.
Any new Retina display options for the Mac are a welcome treat. Let’s see how these new monitors stack up.
Safari, the web browser of choice for Mac users since 2003. Image: Cult of Mac
Over the past 20 years, Apple’s Safari web browser grew from a speedy young upstart to a polished professional. Released on this day in 2003 as a free download, Safari has been bundled with every version of the Mac operating system since.
Take a trip down memory lane as we look at how Safari has evolved over the years.
Many of Elago's cases provoke nostalgia, like the W7 AirTag Case. Photo: Elago
If you’re missing the iPod — the revolutionary music player that Apple unceremoniously killed last year — maybe an iPod-inspired Apple accessory will help fill the void.
In this roundup, we showcase iPod-inspired products from Elago like cases for AirTags and AirPods, as well as an Apple Watch stand. These are just some of the many Elago accessories you can find in the Cult of Mac Store.