Newsstand - page 15

You see it every year. Accomplished, vibrant computers that still have a lot to offer are cast aside in favor of hard-charging young upstarts more than willing to take somebody’s job.

In the case of React developer TimTheEnchanterz (on Reddit), a MacBook Pro from just last year lost its job to a bright new Mac mini M1 boasting 16GB of unified memory and effortless connection to two external displays.

Such a shame. It’s not clear from the post, but the poor 2020 MBP probably had to shuffle off in search of a new taskmaster on r/hardwareswap, eBay or — say it ain’t so — Craigslist.

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This year’s iPhone notch looks set to get a bit smaller, with the latest evidence for this being an image posted to Twitter by user DuanRui, who frequently posts material shared on Chinese social media.

While not guaranteed to be genuine, the image does depict an iPhone display with slimmer — in width, not height — notch. Apple introduced the distinctive iPhone notch in 2017 with the iPhone X’s edge-to-edge display. It contains the Face ID sensing tech, front camera, and speaker.

Apple will debut an under-display Face ID setup to debut in 2023, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims in a Wednesday report to clients, seen by Cult of Mac.

Kuo doesn’t elaborate on the feature but, provided he’s accurate, this could potentially mean the end of the “notch” which has been a part of the iPhone design dating back to 2017’s iPhone X.

The iPhone mini looks unlikely to last longer than one more generation, based on a Wednesday report from a reliable Apple tipster.

Looking forward to the 2022 iPhone, TFI International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests Apple will continue its recent pattern of releasing four models. However, these will include higher-end 6.7-inch and 6.1-inch iPhones like the current Pro lineup, and lower-end models in the same sizes.

The 5.4-inch iPhone mini sounds like it’ll be nowhere to be found.

In pictures, the Apple TV’s sleek Siri Remote looks like a total winner. In practice, it’s a bit of a disaster. Luckily, the fix is in: Elago’s inexpensive R4 Retro case makes the Siri Remote easier to use and harder to lose.

Plus, the silicone sleeve looks sporty and provides some protection to the surprisingly fragile Apple TV remote.

Hidden in Tuesday’s invite to the Apple April event is an augmented reality easter egg. It’s part of the company’s ongoing move to draw more attention to AR.

The graphic for the event invite is the Apple logo made out of a swirling line. iPhone and iPad users can transfer that design to the real 3D world, and put it in motion.

The next Apple product-release event will happen April 20. Invites went out Tuesday morning for the virtual “Spring Loaded” event, just hours after Siri leaked the date.

Naturally, Apple didn’t announce what’s on the agenda. But rumors point to multiple new iPads, as well as the possibility of next-gen AirPods, a faster Apple TV and the long-awaited debut of AirTags item trackers.

There are so many external batteries that it’s hard to stand out from the pack, but the Intelli ScoutPro manages it easily. There’s magnetic wireless Apple Watch and iPhone chargers. Plus the dual USB-C ports can output up to 100 watts each. All told, the accessory can hold up to 24,000mAh and handle up to 240 watt.

I put this power bank through its paces, testing all the ways it can recharge Apple devices. Here’s how it stood up.

Web developer LincHayes recently showed off the M1 Mac mini-and-PC-based setup he put together to restart a live tech support business and do some podcasting. It did not fail to impress lots of folks on Reddit.

After all, this is LincHayes’ first time as a Mac owner. And a lot of people relate to running both Macs and PCs in a complex, multifunctional setup with a lot of moving parts.

Apple is working on a new smart home product that would combine Apple TV, a HomePod speaker and a camera for FaceTime or Zoom-style video conferencing, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The company “has been a laggard in the smart-home space, but [this] versatile new device in early development could change that,” according to the story, which describes the in-development product as “Apple’s most ambitious smart-home hardware offering to date.”

Apple continues to run into production challenges with its next-gen iPad Pro, but they won’t stop the tablet from debuting later this month, reports Bloomberg.

If you plan to get one, you might want to brace yourself for a wait, though. The next iPad Pro — notably, the larger, 12.9-inch model — could prove tough to get your hands on in the early days.

In this week’s episode, Apple TV+’s alternate-history space show For All Mankind finally gets to the big, violent “what if?” it’s been building to all season. Is it too late to make any of the fireworks they’ve seen saving go off in spectacular enough fashion to save a dreary second season?

The answer … will not shock you.

Apple will charge you a heck of a lot for a piece of silicone you can slap on the back of your iPhone. And you can get silicone cases almost just as good for a fraction of the price. Elago’s premium MagSafe Silicone case for iPhone 12 is just $21.99 — and it’s absolutely terrific.

Its hybrid design makes for a robust but slim skin that superbly fits your iPhone, and protects it from scratches and scrapes. It’s available in a number of pretty color options, and it’s well worth your cash.

Apple’s ProMotion technology, which delivers buttery-smooth scrolling and motion content on some iPads, may come to the iPhone this year.

According to a report from Digitimes, the next-gen iPhone will adopt LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) backplane technology that could enable 120Hz screen refresh rates. The current iPhones have a refresh rate of just 60Hz.

Cleaning AirPods is kind of a disgusting job, but Cardlax has a solution. It’s an itty-bitty washing machine to clean the crud off your earbuds in a couple of minutes.

Before you ask, April Fools’ Day was last week. This is a real thing.

Broken one of the physical buttons on your iPhone or iPad? That won’t prevent you from shutting it down completely. This simple trick allows you to turn off your iPhone or iPad from within iOS in just a few steps.

We’ll show you how.

It’s an open secret that an Apple Car is on the drawing board, but no one has a clue what it’ll look like. A new collection of concept designs doesn’t make serious suggestions but takes the idea for a fun spin. The designs combine popular car models with Apple products

Take a look at what they dreamed up.

Say goodbye to plugging in Lightning cables with the Aukey Aircore 15W. Touch this wireless charger to the back of an iPhone 12 and it’ll cling there, juicing up the battery.

I tested this low-cost accessory in real-world conditions. Here how it handled.

New app HomePaper for HomeKit lets you quickly customize the look of Apple’s notoriously bland-looking Home app — with zero hassles.

With the app, you simply select a photo from your iPhone or iPad camera or take a new one. Then you can quickly adjust the color(s) and make your own customized wallpaper for the Home app. There’s no fussing around with a complicated image editor or painstaking resizing required.

Here’s how to use HomePaper, which runs on iPhone and iPad, to give your Home app the remodel it deserves.

The Find My application built into iOS and macOS finally opened up to device trackers made by other companies, not just Apple. Wednesday’s move allows iPhones, Macs and iPads to locate lost items produced by third-party accessory makers without needing to install additional software.

The first supported non-Apple products come from Belkin, Chipolo and VanMoof.

The setup showcased in a recent Reddit post consists of just a MacBook Air, an iPad, an iPhone and some peripherals and accessories, but it brings up a puzzling conundrum: Should you use both a MacBook and an iPad, even though their functionality overlaps to a great extent?

According to most of the comments, the answer is yes — even if it makes you feel like a sucker.

A 14-inch MacBook Pro reportedly will join Apple’s product lineup, and a concept artist merged all the rumors into a design that might hit store shelves later in 2021.

It includes more ports than any MacBook in years, but even important is what’s missing: the Touch Bar and most of the screen bezels.

You’ve probably noticed that your iPhone stops playing music as soon as you switch to Video mode inside its Camera app, which prevents you from easily adding a soundtrack to your recordings. But there is a simple trick that lets you shoot video while your music continues to play.

The trick works in all versions of iOS 14 (including the latest iOS 14.5 betas) and requires no third-party apps. We’ll show you how to use it.

There’s a bit more evidence that the iPad mini 6 will feature a dramatic redesign. A mockup of the tablet leaked out, showing an edge-to-edge display and an in-screen fingerprint scanner.

Other sources previously pointed to Apple’s smallest tablet getting a size upgrade in the near future.

Steve Jobs didn’t turn off his phone often. But if he did, it probably meant that he was in Jony Ive’s Industrial Design department, where Jobs relaxed by scouring prototypes of future Apple products.

That’s according to Jobs’ former assistant, Naz Beheshti, in a new book titled Pause. Breathe. Choose: Become the CEO of Your Well-Being. While the book focuses mainly on Beheshti’s practice as a wellness coach, it includes a few memories of her time at Apple. Including how Apple staffers would go into meltdown when they couldn’t reach Jobs — and how they eventually figured out where this meant he was.