He is still comitted to the deal, though Photo: Elon Musk/Twitter/Cult of Mac
Elon Musk has put his Twitter acquisition on hold, he said early Friday in a tweet. Musk said he awaits further details and calculations confirming Twitter’s claims that spam accounts on the platform account for less than 5% of active users.
The move comes less than a month after Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition offer.
There are new release candidates for the operating systems that run all these Apple devices. Photo: Apple
Apple gave both developers and the public access to the release candidates of macOS Monterey 12.4 and iOS 15.5 on Thursday. The iPadOS 15.5 Release Candidate also went out, as did the watchOS 8.6 RC and tvOS 15.5 RC. That’s the final step before introducing them to the public.
Aside from long-overdue improvements to the Studio Display webcam in macOS, all these are really just minor tweaks. But that’s not surprising considering Apple is expected to unveil the next major upgrades for the OSs at WWDC22 in early June.
The unconventional romance premieres June 17 on Apple TV+. Photo: Apple TV+
Cha Cha Real Smooth looks to be a romance, a drama and a comedy all rolled into one. What do you call that? A rom-dramedy?
At any rate, Apple TV+ just put out the first trailer for the unconventional love story starring Dakota Johnson and Cooper Raiff. It premieres on June 17.
The new Sony flagship cans improve on their predecessors and cost about $50 more. Photo: Sony
Few would dispute that Sony’s flagship wireless WH-1000XM4 active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones have been among the best on the market since they came out in August 2020. But Sony has improved upon them, offering its fifth-generation WH-1000XM5 headphones on Thursday.
The redesigned cans flaunt several impressive improvements over the previous model, making the XM5s an even worthier competitor to AirPods Max and other premium headphones.
This is the BluShark AlphaPremier nylon Apple Watch band in "Bond" (that's as in James Bond, a classic black and gray stripe combo). Photo: BluShark
Just like your watch face says something about your personality, so does your watch strap. The color, texture and pattern all mean something to you and those who catch a glance of your wrist. That’s where BluShark’s top nylon watch straps, the AlphaPremier collection, comes in.
And they’re not just for classic analog watches. BluShark has a whole lineup of smooth, comfortable AlphaPremier Apple Watch bands in stock in the Cult of Mac Store.
Wall Street has not been kind to Apple in 2022. Photo: Brad Gibson/Cult of Mac
Apple is no longer the world’s most valuable company. That honor now goes to the Saudi Aramco oil giant. The Mac-maker had (mostly) held onto the title since 2020, but has now lost it.
So far in 2022, the value of AAPL shares is down 20%, while the share value of the Saudi oil company has surged 25%.
The Google Pixel 6A is made with the finest hypocrisy. Photo: Google
In 2021, Google made a funny video making fun of iPhone for not having a headphone jack. Fast forward a few months, and Google launched the Pixel 6A without a headphone jack. That sure looks like hypocrisy.
And there’s little excuse for it, as Samsung got busted years ago for doing the same thing – mocking iPhone for not including a headphone jack then dropping the feature from its handsets.
After lots of rumors and leaks, it turns out the Pixel Watch is only months away from release. Photo: Google
After ongoing rumors and leaks, Google finally confirmed Wednesday at its I/O 2022 developer conference that the Pixel Watch exists. And the round-cased smart watch will be released in fall 2022 alongside the Pixel 7 smartphone.
The Pixel Watch will duke it out with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Watch, which it resembles. But it will also look to knock market leader Apple Watch off its pedestal.
Earlier this week, Apple announced that it is discontinuing the iPod touch for good. Now, you can no longer get your hands on one, at least not directly from the company, as it has completely exhausted its iPod touch inventory for its online store.
However, some retailers still have limited quantities in stock.
Google's top new earbuds will come in several colors. Photo: Google
Google brought out a range of new Pixel devices to compete with Apple products at its I/O developer conference Wednesday. They include Pixel Buds Pro, premium earbuds with a number of AirPods Pro features.
But Google’s new buds, available July 21, will cost about $50 less than Apple’s top wireless earbuds.
A screen shot from Google's video shows language transcription on the screen. Photo: Google
Years ago Google failed to find a broad audience for Google Glass, its internet-connected glasses. But now the tech giant’s trying something new. It previewed augmented reality (AR) glasses Wednesday that translate language, Bloomberg reported.
The company conducted a brief demonstration at its annual I/O developer conference and released a video on Twitter, below.
Rose Byrne plays fitness entrepreneur Sheila Rubin in "Physical." Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ offered up a new trailer Wednesday for season two of the darkish comedy Physical, starring Rose Byrne as a pioneering entrepreneur in the 1980s fitness boom in Los Angeles.
But Byrne’s character, Sheila Rubin, faces daunting competition as her husband continues to struggle with his political career.
The magnetized cable blocks click together. Photo: Function101
Pretty much anyone with gear powered by electricity — like a computer setup — can tell you how pervasive a problem cable clutter can be. Dealing with cable management is nobody’s favorite task, though, so it often goes unaddressed. And yet certain products, like cable blocks, go a long way toward solving the thorny problem.
Function 101 Cable Blocks are perfect for keeping your cables neatly arranged and within reach, rather than splayed all over the place. And you can get them for 30% off today in the Cult of Mac Store. It’s the last day of the sale.
Aura Strap 2 lets you track your fat, muscle and water levels with an app and a fitness-oriented subscription service. Photo: Aura Devices
Aura Devices updated its health-metrics-focused smart band for Apple Watch Wednesday by slimming it down and adding a fitness-oriented subscription service.
The second-generation Aura Strap 2 records metrics like body fat percentage, muscle density and water levels.
Apple's discontinued iPod touch is getting harder to find for sale. Photo: Apple
Only one day after Cupertino discontinued the iPod touch, its last dedicated portable music player, some configurations are already sold out in the Apple Store. Others remain for sale “while supplies last,” as Apple said of its fast-dwindling stock.
Grab the M1 Mac mini at its lowest price ever Photo: skylar_schutz@Reddit
Looking to get the best possible deal on the M1 Mac mini? Amazon is just brought back its whopping $129 discount on the machine. That means you pay just $569.99 — down from the Mac mini’s retail price of $699.
A coupon, automatically applied at checkout for a limited time, makes this the lowest price for the M1 Mac mini so far.
It beats paying for a MacBook Pro. Or does it? Photo: [email protected]
Apple products are famously not cheap. So much so that some people will go to considerable lengths to avoid shelling out for a new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iPad with keyboard. Today’s featured computer setup belongs to a traveling musician (famously not rich).
He takes his Mac mini on the road with him. Of course, with a Mac mini, you also need some sort of display and input devices, as in a keyboard and a mouse or trackpad. And you have to find room and set it all up wherever you lay your head.
Is it worth it? For some people, it is. We’ll explain why.
Compared to Apple's most similar charger, Mophie's 67W GaN unit is quite small. Photo: Mophie
Mophie’s latest ultra-compact USB-C wall chargers, containing gallium nitride (GaN), are available exclusively at Apple or Mophie’s parent company Zagg, the companies said Wednesday.
The Mophie Speedport chargers, designed to power up iPhone, iPads and Macs, come in 30W and 67W sizes.
The European Commission's draft law could force companies to detect, remove and report CSAM. Photo: European Commission
According to a new report, the European Commission could release a draft law this week requiring tech companies like Apple and Google to better police their platforms for illegal images of child sexual abuse, known as CSAM.
The law would require tech companies to detect, remove and report images to law enforcement.
An iPhone with a USB-C port could finally be a reality next year Photo: Ken Pillonel
It looks like Apple is finally preparing to make the switch to USB-C on its iPhone lineup. Based on his latest supply-chain survey, reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Apple will ditch the Lightning connector and switch to USB-C on the iPhone 15 in 2023.
The time to pay for your Netflix subscription is coming sooner than you think Photo: Netflix
Netflix has so far shied away from showing ads on its platform, and unlike many other streaming services, it does not offer a cheaper ad-supported tier. However, that reportedly will change by the end of the year.
The streaming service is also looking to end password sharing around the same time. So, if you have been leeching off your ex-girlfriend’s Netflix account, know that it won’t last long.
A render shows the pill-and-hole display design. Photo: 91mobiles
According to a new prediction, a pill-and-hole display design will replace the notch on all four iPhone 15 models scheduled for release next year. In the upcoming iPhone 14 series, the new design is expected only on the two Pro models.
The prognostication also looks ahead to all sensors and front cameras going under the display starting with some iPhone 16 models. The predictions come in the form of a road map of upcoming releases that display industry consultant Ross Young tweeted Tuesday.
Easily take objects from images with a new tool in Photoshop for iPad: Content-Aware Fill. Image: Adobe
Adobe’s Photoshop on the iPad just got some very useful features carried over from the desktop version, including Content-Aware Fill and Remove Background. Plus, Select Subject got a human-centric update. These make it easier to remove objects from images, or put new backgrounds behind subjects.
In addition, Adobe gave its Fresco painting application for iPad the Liquify and Magic Wand functions on Tuesday.
The cover of The Cult of iPod, my book that documented the gadget's cultural impact. Photo: Leander Kahney/No Starch Press
The following is from the introduction to The Cult of iPod, my 2005 book about the massive impact of the tiny music player. Introduced in 2001, the iPod quickly became one of the most important gadgets of all time. It transformed Apple and it brought a lot of joy into people’s lives. All told, Apple sold about 400 million iPods before officially pulling the plug on the device Tuesday.
I hope this intro captures why I loved the iPod, as did millions of other people.
Excerpt from The Cult of iPod
Fire, the wheel, and the iPod. In the history of invention, gadgets don’t come more iconic than Apple’s digital music player. The iPod is to the 21st century what the big band was to the ’20s, the radio to the ’40s, or the juke-box to the ’50s — the signature technology that defines the musical culture of the era. And what a marvelous technology the iPod is. Inside Apple’s little white box is magic, pure magic, in the guise of music.