A new replacement iPod motherboard is promising to bring your old click-wheel player into the modern era. It adds Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and USB-C, all while keeping the classic look.
Called Sprout, the open-source board is designed so that it drops into select iPods with no soldering required. It is still in development, but if it works as promised, it could be a dream upgrade for retro fans.
We have confirmation that Apple’s original HomePod mini will miss out on a Siri AI upgrade, even as the company prepares to bring the technology to older Apple TV 4K models. The same apparently goes for the larger HomePod 2.
To be clear, Apple never said the previous versions of its smart speakers would get the new AI-enabled version of Siri. And the devices still include classic Siri and work as AirPlay speakers, just like they did before.
The Apple TV 4K (4th Generation) is raising eyebrows and dropping jaws, but not with amazing new features. It’s the price: $299. Fortunately, owners of older versions of the streaming box can get many of the biggest upgrades without buying new hardware.
And for a small investment, the improved Siri Remote can also upgrade a current Apple TV 4K.
Here’s how you might save yourself almost $300.
Apple HomeView’s repair cost without AppleCare+ is $279, just $20 shy of buying a brand-new unit.
With AppleCare+, the fee drops dramatically to just $39. That gap makes repair coverage a tempting add-on for the $299 smart home hub, which Apple introduced on Tuesday.
Using recipes on the new HomeView will apparently be even easier than Apple’s pitch suggests. Handoff will be able to move a recipe straight from your iPhone to the display, and then the smart screen can automatically display step-by-step instructions with hands-free timers.
That matters a lot in the kitchen, where messy hands and a locked phone rarely mix.
In iOS 27.2 beta 4, Apple changed the Apple Music app icon from white musical notes on a vibrant red background to similar black notes on a white background.
The reaction was immediate and overwhelmingly negative after the beta came out Tuesday. Apple Music fans slammed the change, with some calling it one of the company’s worst design choices ever.
Apple’s new Siri Remote adds a long-requested feature that makes it easier to track down the little controller when it goes missing… which you know it will. And you don’t have to buy the company’s new Apple TV 4K to get it.
The updated remote, announced Tuesday alongside Apple’s latest streaming box, adds an audible alert sound to make the device more findable. And it has Precision Finding, too.
The Siri Remote (4th Generation) is sold separately, so owners of older Apple TV models can upgrade to it.
Apple is making a big push in the smart home segment with HomeView. The smart home hub, introduced Tuesday, brings Siri AI, smart home controls and FaceTime to a dedicated display for your home.
But there’s more to HomeView than its headline features. From differences between the two models to extra installation costs and requirements for personal Siri requests, these are the things you should know before ordering one.
The new Apple TV 4K lets you ask Siri AI what to watch from across the room, no remote required.
The A19-powered box arrives November 13 for $299, making it $100 more expensive than the previous model’s starting price. It’s the first Apple TV 4K refresh since 2022.
The new Apple TV supports four-speaker surround sound, and it finally gets perhaps the most-requested feature ever: The new Siri Remote gets Find My — making a lost clicker a thing of the past.
Apple intends its new HomeView hub to be permanently at the center of a digital home. It’s intended to offer “entertainment, connection, and smart home management,” said the official announcement. It features a 7-inch screen and a built-in speaker system.
“Apple HomeView is designed to be shared by everyone in the home yet feel completely personal to each user,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, in a statement. “It recognizes your face to shift from a household screen to your own experience, fills the room with incredible sound, keeps you connected to the people who matter most with FaceTime, and makes it easy to control your smart home. And it’s powered by Apple Intelligence with Siri AI at its core, drawing on personal context from your iPhone to help you find what you need and get more done, all while keeping everyone’s information private and secure.”
The hub was announced Tuesday alongside a range of other smart home accessories.
The HomePod mini 2, revealed Tuesday as part of Apple’s renewed push into the smart home, looks the same as its predecessor. However, the updated smart speaker comes in new colors and packs upgraded internals for an enhanced Siri AI experience.
“HomePod mini 2 brings together Siri AI, gorgeous new colors, and incredible audio,” said Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of worldwide home product marketing, in a press release.
The new set-top box arrived Tuesday alongside the HomeView smart hub, the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K and the Apple Home Collection of smart home accessories.
Apple unveiled its Apple Home Collection, a handful of “recommended” smart home products produced in partnership with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, during its “Welcome Home” event on Tuesday.
The new gear, including a door lock, temperature sensors and security cameras, work with Apple’s new HomeView smart home hub and give consumers an easy way to outfit their homes with trusted devices. The company played up ease of use and security in a bid to differentiate its products from the sea of similar products.
“Apple Home Collection makes it easy to choose smart home accessories with confidence,” said Matthew Costello, Apple’s vice president of hardardware engineering, in a press release Tuesday. “Working closely with industry leaders LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, we designed every accessory to work seamlessly with Apple Home, so managing your home is simple, reliable, and private.”
Apple’s long-awaited HomePod mini 2 and next-generation Apple TV 4K could debut on Tuesday, with leaks and rumors pointing to significantly smarter Siri capabilities and a collection of internal hardware upgrades.
They’ll apparently be part of a renewed push by Apple into the smart home market.
Here’s what we know about these products before the announcement.
Anyone hoping for an updated entry-level iPad that can handle Apple Intelligence should prepare for a bit of a wait.
Despite a flurry of new Apple products coming this month, the updated tablets reportedly won’t arrive until next year. But when they do, they should bring support for Apple’s latest AI features.
Update: The time for leaks and rumors is over — Apple’s smart home hub is now official. Read more:
Apple wants HomeView at the heart of your smart home
Apple appears ready to make a serious push into the smart home market with a new screen-equipped hub dubbed HomeView. It’s reportedly coming at a product launch event on October 13.
The device is for those who want to put the new Siri AI at the center of their home, as well as those who are serious about Apple’s HomeKit smart home accessories. Or both.
Here’s everything we know about Apple’s smart home hub in the days before it is expected to launch.
Apple signed a deal with Huxe, an AI-powered podcast generator, giving it the right to hire staff and license its technology.
The move signals Apple’s bigger AI audio plans for Apple Podcasts. But Apple isn’t buying Huxe outright, though the startup’s application is already gone.
Apple’s upcoming OLED iPad Mini will carry a significantly higher price tag than its existing $599 MSRP. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes the company will sell the tablet for as much as $799.
That would make Apple’s smallest iPad more expensive than the M4 iPad Air, which starts at $749.
Update: The time for leaks and rumors is over — Apple’s smart home hub is now official. Read more:
Apple wants HomeView at the heart of your smart home
Apple will reportedly call its upcoming smart home hub the HomeView. Powered by an A18 chip, the display will focus on Siri and smart home control. It will also lack an App Store.
As previously reported, the HomeView will come in two versions: a countertop model with a metal speaker base and a wall-mounted model with a flat, square base.
More than 15 years after its debut, Siri finally feels useful beyond the basics. While iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 pack plenty of notable upgrades, Siri AI is easily the highlight. It can find buried information, understand what’s onscreen and get things done across apps.
From comparing PDFs to organizing travel bookings, here are some practical ways to put Siri AI to work on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple’s about to make a big push into the smart home arena. We already knew about the impending launch of an intriguing new smart home hub, but the revelation that Apple is working with at least two other companies to produce new devices takes things to a whole new level.
The big question remains: How will Apple differentiate its smart home platform from everything else on the market? There’s plenty to discuss.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in Apple’s Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. Or watch the video version, embedded below. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!)
If you purchase the iPhone Duo from the Apple Store, Apple will have a little surprise for you. Apparently, Apple retail stores can customize the foldable’s boot screen with the buyer’s name.
So instead of just a “Hello,” users will see a “Hello, [insert name]” when they turn on the device for the first time.
Apple’s Mac shipments fell in the third quarter, but figures from market research firms show that Apple is weathering a difficult period for computer makers far better than its biggest rivals.
Mac shipments dropped about 11% in the July-through-September period, but that is barely a blip compared to huge declines from Lenovo, HP and Dell. The result is that PC shipments worldwide plunged about 20% year over year.
Apple’s aggressive push to stop advertisers from tracking iPhone users is reportedly blocking one of the world’s biggest programmatic advertising platforms from displaying any ads in Safari on iOS 27.
Ad-buying platform The Trade Desk thinks its ads are being blocked by mistake and has asked Apple to rectify the situation. The Trade Desk and others could simply be caught in the crossfire as Apple continues to crack down on advertising vendors that try to track users across websites. Either way, it shows how much control Apple has over the ads on your iPhone.
Apple reportedly has a second major product launch event planned for this month, and this time the spotlight will be on the Mac lineup. The star of the show, supposedly set for October 27, will be the first-ever MacBook Pro with a touchscreen. Plus, Macs updated with the latest Apple silicon are expected, and a significantly revamped iPad mini.
Word of this event comes just hours after Apple sent out invitations to a product launch event on October 13. The focus of that one is expected to be smart-home products.
The new smart home products produced by LG Electronics in partnership with Apple will feature a “tap to set up without power” feature, according to a leaker who spotted the reference in iOS 27.
Also, LG Electronics apparently won’t be the only second-party manufacturer Apple works with to create new smart home products. The same leaker says Schneider Electric, a French company with its North American headquarters in Boston, will produce thermostats, temperature/humidity sensors and possibly more.