News - page 361

Pour one out for our homie, the HomePod.

Apple recently pulled the plug on its sweet-sounding smart speaker, and the move is definitely not music to our ears. In fact, it calls into question Apple’s strategy of releasing — and then rudely abandoning — expensive, niche products. Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel on that.

Find out why we hope that never happens again in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it to enjoy on iPhone or iPad, or get the stories below in your browser.

Podswap takes AirPods nearing the end of their useful life and replaces them with a fresh pair. And the recycling service costs considerably less than Apple charges to replace these wireless earbuds.

Plus, anyone using the service can take comfort knowing that their old AirPods will be recycled, not thrown away.

Two weeks after Apple discontinued the iMac Pro, the company pulled the powerful all-in-one desktop from its website Friday.

The computer hadn’t been updated in three years and there have been no reports of a new version in the works. This may be the last iMac Pro … just as it was the first.

Never again send a text or email you think is fine but enrages a coworker or your spouse. Use the tone detector Grammarly just added to its iPhone keyboard app to learn what impression your messages will make on readers. The app alerts you if something you’ve typed sounds rude or hostile before you hit send.

There are many games about ghostbusting. Cozy Grove is the exact opposite. The latest Apple Arcade title takes players camping on a haunted island where the goal is the help the spirits, not fight them.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reflects on COVID-19 and how it heightened racial injustice in the United States in an op-ed he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.

Cook’s opinion piece, published Thursday, is titled “The Urgency of Racial Justice.” It’s just one of several — written by big names like actor Tom Hanks and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson — published in the Journal’s “What I’ve Learned From the Pandemic Year” package.

Alex Goulielmos, based in Piraeus, Greece, works as a software engineer for a maritime shipping company. He keeps it steady as she goes with his WFH setup, figuring, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Or don’t go buying expensive new gear to replace it, anyway.

Good thing his recently acquired and “very snappy” MacBook Air works just fine with a 12-year-old Apple Cinema Display and audio equipment that dates back to the turn of this century. His new M1-powered laptop replaced a 2017 MacBook. But the monitor and audio gear may go on forever.

Thriller fans should brace for an Apple TV+ binge-a-thon this week. They can watch all nine episodes of creepy new show Calls, which debuted on Apple TV+ Friday,  or take in the first two full seasons of M. Night Shyamalan’s gripping Servant.

The Servant season finale arrived today alongside a new episode of alt-history space race show For All Mankind.

Apple has insisted that it will be applying its App Tracking Transparency globally following reports that developers in China are trying to find workarounds to the feature. A report this week suggested Apple was turning a blind eye to the efforts.

Apple and Facebook may be on a collision course with one another, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he’s confident the social media giant “will be able to manage through” upcoming privacy changes made by Apple.

Apple’s upcoming augmented reality head-mounted display will be controlled by eye-tracking technology, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says in a note sent to clients Friday.

Instead of using hand controls, the technology will be able to detect wearers’ eye movements and blinking, then instantly compute the required information so it can be seen on the device’s micro-OLED display.

AirPods Max offers many premium features, but not wireless charging. A small German design studio dreamed up a fix. The Max Stand from Floating Pixels not only holds Apple’s new over-the-ears headphones upright, it also adds wireless charging.

Astropad released a free public beta of the Windows version of its software that turns an iPad into a second screen for a laptop or desktop. With the beta, users can test out mirroring their favorite apps on the tablet, including using an Apple Pencil to draw in Windows software.

SNL alum Maya Rudolph will star in a half-hour comedy series on Apple TV+. The show is being created by Emmy winners Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard.

It’ll be part of a growing collection of comedies on Apple’s streaming video service.

Worried your iPhone might be picking up all kinds of nasty germs while you’re out and about? Sterilize with ultraviolet (UV) light while it charges with this 2-in-1 stand from Limited77 — now on sale for a limited time.

The device promises to kill 99.99% of bacteria, and packs a removable sterilization stick that you can use to clean almost anything. Order yours today from the Cult of Mac Store to save 17%.

Turns out you can’t trust everything you find on GitHub. Security researchers found an Xcode project that had been modified to install a back door into the user’s Mac.

The misinformation about Apple’s March April special event may have been an attempt by Cupertino to catch out the people leaking information about the company’s plans.

That’s according to Jon Prosser, one of several reporters who shared March 23 as the date of Apple’s next special event. Prosser was so sure of it he even said he’d shave off his eyebrows if he was wrong. Well, he was wrong. But it all may have been a cunning plan from Apple.

WhatsApp has updated its app requirements, meaning that all users must now run at least iOS 10, as released in 2016.

That means that iPhone 4s users can no longer run the popular messaging app. Instead, anyone who wants to use WhatsApp must have an iPhone 5 or later. Otherwise WhatsApp will stop working.

Apple store workers have a certain number of freebies they can use to “surprise and delight” unsuspecting customers, according to an ex-employee whose video about the supposed policy went viral.

“People would come in with like water-damaged phones and you’re not allowed to replace those without a fee,” TikTok user @Tanicornerstone says. “However, the geniuses used a ‘surprise and delight’ to be able to give somebody a free replacement.”

Pro tip: Customers who come off as jerks need not apply for such special treatment.

Apple will introduce its first MacBook Air with mini-LED display panel in 2022, TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims in a new research note to clients published Thursday.

Kuo previously reported that the next-gen displays will be introduced to the high-end MacBook Pro this year. They are also rumored to be part of the next 12.9-inch iPad Pro, debuting in April. Kuo’s latest report, seen by Cult of Mac, suggests that they will also be introduced to Apple’s entry-level laptops, too.

The 2021 iPad Pro will get a considerable performance boost, according to a trusted source. To the point where the tablet is as fast as the M1 Macs released last autumn.

In addition, the USB-C port in the next iPadOS device might support Thunderbolt.

Apple TV+ reportedly signed a first-look deal with Natalie Portman and her business partner Sophie Mas. The women recently formed a production company named MountainA that will develop TV series that Apple will have the first chance at.

The two are already working with Apple on Lady in the Lake, a series that was announced last week and will star Portman.

Cybercriminals reportedly created more macOS malware in 2020 than from 2012 to 2019 combined. The days when Mac users could happily assume they weren’t in danger from hackers are long over.

But the situation remains far worse for Windows users. Researchers found 135 times as many Windows malware samples last year as ones targeting macOS.

The SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe lets you access its files on all your Apple computers, no adapters needed. It supports Lightning and USB Type-C, so it can plug into an iPhone, Mac or iPad. The same goes for many Windows and Android devices.

Redditor Liquidsama’s setup is popular on the social media app not just for the adorable Pac-Man Ghost Light in the corner (see photos), but for its awesome computing power for work and play.

The LED ghost light phases through nine colors and reacts to music, by the way — which is neat — but the real draw here is a bulked-up Mac Pro for IT work and a heavily modded PC for gaming. Not to mention a great audio rig for podcasting.