News - page 66

Amazon Prime Day officially ran July 16 and 17, but it’s not over yet, as Amazon extended many big bargains on Apple products. Tons of goods from Apple and others are discounted. See our selection of the best deals on AirPods (and Apple subsidiary Beats), AirTags, Apple Watch, iPads, MacBooks, Mac mini and more below. Return to this page for updates (and beware that deals can change suddenly with supply fluctuations, so you may click through to find updated pricing or sold-out items in some cases).

UPDATE: Amazon extended a host of Prime Day deals on Apple products into Thursday and Friday and even into Saturday, so you can still shop many of the items below!  Items with full strikethroughs represent deals no longer available.

At first glance a Baltimore crime story set in 1966, the limited series Lady in the Lake soon turns into a surreal nightmare, as shown in the trailer Apple TV+ dropped for it recently. As the streamer said in press materials, the show, starring Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram, turns into a “feverish noir thriller and an unexpected tale about the price women pay for their dreams.”

So it’s a bizarre and arresting trailer. It includes “live performances” that are like fever dreams. The seven-part series debuts with its first two episodes on Friday, July 19.

Update: The new Apple TV+ drama series Lady in the Lake is now streaming, as of Friday. Reviews look a bit mixed — with some offering high praise for Portman in her TV debut — but you should see for yourself and watch the new show here.

Many thousands of Windows computers are showing the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) at boot today, impacting banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, supermarkets and many more businesses worldwide, according to reports. A faulty Windows security update from CrowdStrike knocked affected PCs and servers offline, forcing them into a recovery boot loop so machines can’t start properly. Note that the outage, causing headaches for IT admins everywhere, does not affect Mac or Linux machines.

Instead of an ordinary video demonstrating how useful MacBooks, iPads and iPhones are on a business trip, Apple presents another madcap adventure of the Underdogs.

The group is off to Thailand to have millions of boxes produced for their most difficult client, and everything possible goes wrong. Fortunately, it’s Apple gear to the rescue.

Here’s some good news for those who loved it when Apple TV+ recently added dozens of Hollywood films to its library (temporarily): The streamer is in talks to license more titles from major studios, according to a new report. So Apple TV+ may add Hollywood movies — maybe in huge numbers — soon enough.

The recent return of the iconic Beats Pill portable Bluetooth speaker wasn’t just a typical product update, but a complete overhaul to help cement Beats’ identity as a premium-products subsidiary of the iPhone giant, according to a new interview with Apple executives.

“We wanted to do something special with the Pill and completely re-architect and reimagine it,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple VP of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Sports and Beats. “It wasn’t a case [of] let’s swap out one or two things. We really wanted a complete refresh. This is a completely new product inside, and outside as well.”

The Apple TV+ streaming service earned more Emmy Award nominations than it ever has before. There were 72 noms for 16 different shows, including The Morning Show, Palm Royale, Lessons in Chemistry, Slow Horses, Loot, Hijack and many more.

“We are so thankful to the Television Academy for honoring our storytellers with a record number of Emmy nominations today,” said Jamie Erlicht, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video.

An innovative case that turns your Apple Watch into a pseudo iPod is now available to order for $79.99. The tinyPod is a clever case that houses your Apple Watch, turning it into a music player you carry in your pocket rather than strapped to your wrist.

Plus, since it’s an Apple Watch rather than an actual iPod, it comes with some features that Apple’s groundbreaking MP3 player never did.

Apple has rejected reports of training Apple Intelligence and its AI model on YouTube videos without the creators’ consent. The company says OpenELM, its open language model, does not power Apple Intelligence.

Instead, it created OpenELM as a way to contribute to the development of open source large language models.

A big upgrade is a special occasion for any computer setup. And today’s featured M2 Max Mac Studio rig saw major changes recently, including a boost to audio quality courtesy of a legendary audio brand. Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 speakers joined the desktop mix.

A new Apple initiative addresses California’s housing-affordability crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company said Wednesday. In partnership with the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, Sobrato Philanthropies and Destination: Home, Apple launched the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund with an initial investment of $50 million.

The fund aims to accelerate affordable housing development by providing targeted, favorable loans to developers. It’s part of Apple’s larger $2.5 billion commitment to tackle housing affordability issues across the company’s home state.

With eight states running sales tax holidays in coming weeks, Apple specified on Wednesday which of its products will qualify for tax-exempt status and in which states. The sale dates vary depending on the state, with the tax waiver helping consumers potentially save hundreds of dollars on Macs, iPads and Apple accessories.

Find out which states offer the discounts, and on what products, below.

This is traditionally the best time of year to buy portable power stations and solar generators for summer camping and hurricane preparedness. And now there’s another big reason to pull the trigger on a power purchase: Amazon Prime Day. Bluetti’s Prime Day deals on power stations, backup batteries and more mean you can assemble the perfect system for your needs — and save tons of money from July 16 to July 21.

iOS 18’s redesigned Photos app will gain a Recovered album to help you restore damaged photos or videos. It will only show up when the app detects corrupted media not in your photo library.

The new Recovered album will appear under the Utilities section of the Photos app.

With a market capitalization above $3.6 trillion, Apple regained the title of world’s most valuable publicly traded company. The Mac-maker is valued well above Microsoft and Nvidia, both of which had been valued higher earlier this year.

A recent sharp rise in AAPL share value seems to indicate that investors are optimistic that a surge in iPhone sales is on the horizon.

Today’s M3 MacBook Air setup features a retro-cool speaker unlike most you’ll see in workstations. When people look beyond the laptop for sound, the usual answer is bookshelf speakers. But the doctor who runs this MacBook Air and iPad Pro setup likes an unusual choice — an Edifier desktop speaker called the MP230.

Apple just replaced the space gray HomePod mini with a new midnight color option. Monday’s change to the company’s smart speaker lineup is hardly monumental — you might not even be able to see the difference.

Still, the new midnight HomePod mini is also “green.” Apple made it using 100% recycled mesh fabric.

Apple’s revenue in India hit an all-time high of nearly $8 billion in the last fiscal year. The company reported a 33% jump in revenues, up from $6 billion a year ago.

iPhones led the growth, accounting for over half of all Apple devices sold in India.

The first PC emulator for iOS is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro. Free app UTM SE allows you to run “classic software and old-school games.”

Apple first rejected the developer’s submission in June, citing a violation of the App Store Review Guidelines. However, Apple appears to have changed its stance regarding PC emulators on the App Store since then.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We dissect the latest Apple rumors, which go from incredible bummer (Apple Watch) to potential breakthroughs (iPhone and HomePod).

Also on The CultCast:

• The latest iOS 18 beta brings some welcome new changes.
• A teaser trailer and a release date get us psyched for season two of Severance.
• Griffin tells us all about a keyboard with a peculiar name in a new Under Review segment.

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.

iPad users, get your game on. The Delta retro game emulator that launched for iPhone in the spring is now out for Apple tablets, too.

The software can handle ROMs originally for the classic Game Boy plus NES, SNES, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo DS.

The crime drama Presumed Innocent is a big enough hit that Apple TV+ committed to season two before the initial season is even over.

The series starring Jake Gyllenhaal has been among the most watched shows on streaming since launching in mid-June, according to analysts.

With the major Photos app redesign coming in iOS 18, Apple aims for simplicity. However, the version  of the Photos app in iOS 18 developer beta 3 is a hodge-podge of design that will confuse users. I think that if Apple doesn’t revise its approach, the company will face significant backlash when it releases the updated app to the public this fall.

Yes, iOS 18 is still in beta. And Apple very well could change the Photos app before its anticipated release in September. I certainly hope Apple tweaks things — I’m writing this as more of a wish list than a design critique. In fact, I already filed my suggestions through the official channel of Apple’s Feedback system (submitted as FB14289280).

As of iOS 18 developer beta 3, Apple has already made a few little tweaks to the Photos app redesign. But unfortunately, there’s been no movement on any of my major criticisms from beta 1. For that reason, I feel obligated to outline the goals of the new Photos app, applaud what it gets right, point out where the design fails, and explain what aspects prove confusing.

I don’t think Photos needs to be reverted entirely to the way it worked before. But these key features need changing ASAP. Keep reading or watch my video.

Apple CEO Tim Cook says he uses his Vision Pro headset every day and explains why he thinks the device is “very revolutionary,” in an interview published Thursday.

“I think it delivers stunning entertainment,” Cook told The Sun in an interview tied to the AR/VR headset’s U.K. launch. “It unleashes this infinite canvas for productivity. It gives you new ways to connect and collaborate. These are just huge ideas that affect all of the things that we do every day, so I’m a huge believer in it.”

Apple doesn’t have a very long list of unpopular products or features, but whatever list of shame it may keep probably includes MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. But not everyone hates the feature. The Python developer who runs today’s MacBook Pro setup actually loves it.