Apple is allegedly trying to evade a provision of the DMA. Photo: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels CC
The European Commission is reportedly getting ready to charge Apple for not following rules laid down by Digital Markets Act that require the iPhone maker to allow third-party software developers to “steer” consumers to offers outside the App Store, free of charge.
If found guilty, Apple faces potentially heavy fines.
This is a mighty handy gadget for just $30. Photo: CukTech
The sleek new CukTech 10, a 100-watt, 10,000mAh power bank with a digital display brings fast mobile charging to laptops, smartphone, gaming console and more, the company said this week. And thanks to a launch sale, you can nab it on Amazon for just under $30. That’s a low price for a power banks with this battery capacity and wattage.
iPadOS 18 includes the Calculator app that iPad deserves. Photo: Apple
iPad never before included a built-in Calculator app because there wasn’t one Steve Jobs felt was worthy of a tablet. That all changes with iPadOS 18, which boasts a new Apple Calculator app that you can write into with Apple Pencil.
Jon Stewart opened up about how his Apple TV+ show ended up cancelled after two seasons. Photo: Apple TV+
Jon Stewart got super-candid about what really ended his Apple TV+ show, The Problem with Jon Stewart, on a podcast Thursday. He previously hinted at creative differences after the show got canceled, but in the podcast discussion, he went into much more depth — even describing the exact moment he knew it was all over.
Stewart made the remarks in a long conversation on the podast The Town with Matthew Belloni.
The light self-adjusts and allows for very focused lighting. Photo: Dyson
Cult of Mac‘s setups coverage loves to look at premium products, but we often emphasize value with thrifty-but-reliable gear. Today we marvel, however, at just how much one desk lamp can cost. Our MacBook Pro user places a $650 Dyson Solarcycle Morph Desk Light on a very nice Vari sit-stand desk.
Do people really pay that much for a lamp? Even our user claims it was a gift, not a purchase.
WhatsApp video and voice calls get a quality boost. Photo: WhatsApp
WhatsApp is introducing key improvements to video (and voice) calling on its platform for a better experience. As part of the upgrade, you can now share audio while screen sharing.
Another notable change is having group video calls with up to 32 participants on your phone or desktop. This is the same limit as FaceTime.
Don't try to make a Genmoji with the first iOS 18 beta. Image: Apple
The AI capabilities Apple announced at WWDC24 are nowhere to be seen in the first round of betas for iOS 18, macOS Sequoia and iPadOS 18. This despite the new Apple Intelligence features, like the ability to summarize documents or create new emoji on the fly, are the highlights of the upcoming operating system upgrades.
So those eager to try Apple AI can hold off installing these buggy prerelease versions. It’ll only be a disappointment.
There are some Easter Eggs built into iOS 18. Image: Apple
iOS 18 will enable your iPhone to show the time even when the battery has run dry. This improvement relies on the Power Reserve function of new iPhones to work.
Thanks to Power Reserve, your iPhone is findable offline, and the NFC chip also works for Express Card functionality.
Apple and OpenAI's ChatGPT integration in iOS 18 is about more than money. Photo: Apple
Apple is not paying OpenAI for ChatGPT access in iOS 18, according to a new report. Neither is OpenAI paying Apple for the privilege of integrating its chatbot into millions of iPhones later this year.
A news story sheds light on the high-profile arrangement between the two companies — and details how it is more than about money.
Part of growing up means asking yourself who you want to be, the trailer advises. Photo: Apple TV+
In a new family coming-of-age series headed to Apple TV+, a kid discovers he possesses a shape-shifting superpower. He can become someone else. And in the midst of battling bullies and struggling with other middle-schooler crises like school dances, he learns that life is full of challenges and how we meet them helps define who we are. Oh, and “someone is coming” for him, ominously. At least, that’s the gist of the trailer for Me that Apple TV+ dropped Wednesday.
After this preachy, over-educational trailer, I’m rooting for whoever’s coming for the kid. But if you have children who need to learn about resilience and figuring out who they are, maybe this is a good family-watch this summer.
Hailing from Barry L. Levy (Vantage Point), the new 10-episode series Me debuts on Apple TV+ July 12.
A market cap of $3.3 trillion Illustration: Cult of Mac
Apple rose to once again become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company on Wednesday. Its market capitalization passed $3.3 trillion, once again putting the Mac-maker ahead of Microsoft.
This comes just days after Apple dropped to third place when Nvidia’s share market cap briefly rose ahead. But AAPL has been on a tear since announcing plans this week to integrate AI into iPhone, Mac and other products.
Update:Stocks go down as well as up, and when Wall Street closed on Wednesday, Microsoft’s valuation was slightly higher than Apple’s.
With 5K resolution and a touchscreen, the new Alogic Clarity Touch could be a contender for creatives. Photo: Alogic
The new Alogic Clarity 5K Touch 27-inch UHD Monitor features Studio Display’s 5K resolution but adds a handy touchscreen (something Apple has so far avoided on all but iPads). The new Clarity touch is one of several new display products Alogic rolled out Wednesday at InfoComm 2024 in Las Vegas. Other new products include ultra-wide and portable touchscreen displays.
“In line with our ambitious growth and expansion strategies, we are dedicated to continually advancing the frontier of innovation in connectivity solutions,” said Alogic CEO Ritesh Kumar. “Our products are designed to meet the dynamic requirements of today.”
With the right accessories, you can store pretty much anything on a pegboard (shown at left of setup). Photo: [email protected]
While many computer setups shown off on social media look suspiciously immaculate, the truth is we tend to live at our desks and make a big mess of them routinely. Stuff just piles up. But a great way to keep your workstation clean and organized is to deploy one of the best fixes — a pegboard for setup storage.
With pegboards, you can put practically anything right on your wall, like today’s MacBook Pro user does. We’ve seen some pretty strong negative reactions to them, but there’s no denying their effectiveness.
Sleep tracking on the Apple Watch gets a lot better with watchOS 11. Image: Apple
watchOS 11 brings automatic sleep tracking to the Apple Watch. This means the smartwatch can track your sleep even if you don’t set a sleep schedule or use the Sleep Focus mode.
While a small change, it makes sleep tracking on the Apple Watch much more useful.
Apple Intelligence: "AI for the rest of us." Photo: Apple
Judging by the reaction to Tim Cook’s post on X about Apple Intelligence, the internet is not ready for Siri integrated with ChatGPT. After Monday’s WWDC24 keynote, the Apple CEO posted a link to X about the new AI capabilities coming to Apple devices.
Immediately, dozens of critics — including Elon Musk — piled on. They slammed Apple for working with ChatGPT, which the vast majority of the commenters don’t trust.
“You’ve just ensured that no member of my family will EVER buy another Apple product,” wrote one. “Enjoy your spyfest!”
However, the hailstorm of surprisingly vitriolic and emotional comments seems based on a basic misunderstanding of how Apple Intelligence will work. As privacy-focused as ever, Apple put tons of work into making sure Apple Intelligence will keep your data secure, even from the prying eyes of AI companies it works with.
iPhone and Android texting is better with RCS. Image: Apple
Apple previewed support for RCS messaging in the iOS 18 Messages app at WWDC24. Adding Rich Communication Services will bring enhanced texting between iPhone and Android users, with features not possible before.
It’s a change Apple dragged its feet on for many years. Along with RCS support, Apple is also introducing new features like polls for iMessage, enhancing group chat interactions. Learn more about these changes.
This macOS 15 wallpaper features retro icons. Photo: Basic Apple Guy
We found more precious nuggets in new software releases from WWDC24: new wallpapers for Apple devices. They include Mac versions that reference old-school icons, iPad landscape and portrait wallpapers in various colors, and similar pretty images for iPhone.
“This new dynamic wallpaper floats over old Macintosh iconography, Control Panel, and applications like the Calculator and MacWrite, Apple’s early word processor,” Basic Apple Guy said of the new-old Mac wallpaper he found.
Tap to Cash allows users to send and receive Apple Cash by holding two iPhone devices together. Photo: Apple
Sending money to another iPhone user is about to get as simple as holding the two handsets near each other. The upcoming feature is called Tap to Cash.
It’s a private and secure payment system. The two users don’t even need to exchange phone numbers.
Apple Maps in iOS 18 will help you plan your hikes, whether through the wilderness or a city. Image: Apple
New features in Apple Maps in iOS 18 will be a boon to hikers. The app is getting topographic maps along with thousands of suggested hikes across national parks in the United States.
You'll be able to customize your iPhone's Home Screen in fun new ways. Photo: Apple
In a major update, iOS 18 gives iPhone users big look-and-feel customization options as well as new generative AI-based functionality like a smarter Siri, Apple revealed during Monday’s WWDC24 keynote.
“iOS 18 is a big release that delivers more ways to customize your iPhone, stay connected and relive special moments,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.
The iOS 18 update will roll out to developers as a beta first. Then, after rounds of developer and public betas, become public for all in September when the 2024 iPhones arrive.
Game Mode will further improve the gaming experience on Apple devices. Screenshot: Apple
Apple is introducing a new Game Mode in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. The feature minimizes background activity to deliver higher sustained performance and smoother gameplay.
Additionally, Game Mode will reduce audio latency with AirPods and game controllers for better responsiveness.
iOS 18 brings a small but key improvement to the Phone app. Image: Apple
Apple is finally adding T9 dialing support to the iPhone’s Phone app with iOS 18. The feature lets you search for contacts or phone numbers directly from the dialer.
T9, or text on 9 keys, is predictive text technology that enables you to enter a character with a single keypress for each letter.
Watch the event in just 1.4% of the time. Image: Apple
During its WWDC24 keynote Monday, Apple laid out dramatic new software updates coming to iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Pro — and the awesome Apple Intelligence features that will power them all.
How safe is your iPhone on Apple Intelligence? Image: Apple
After Cupertino confirmed rumors that it would integrate ChatGPT into iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia as part of its Apple Intelligence framework, Elon Musk threatened to ban iPhones and other Apple devices from his company’s offices over security concerns.
“If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies,” Musk — who runs Tesla, X and SpaceX, among other things — said on the platform formerly known as Twitter. “That is an unacceptable security violation.”
iPadOS 18 sports a Calculator app worthy of an iPad. Photo: Apple
Pigs must be flying and hell has frozen over because the official Apple Calculator application is headed for iPad. It’s a feature missing from the tablet since its launch in 2010 but iPadOS 18 will include one.
It goes beyond simply an expanded version of the iPhone app. Apple built in a Math Notes calculator that allows users to write equations with a stylus and have the iPad solve them.