Anthropic’s Mythos AI helped indie hackers bypass Apple’s Memory Integrity Enforcement, a hardware security system used in the M5 processors that power the latest MacBook Pros.
Apple spent five years developing MIE, but the hacking team at Calif, a small security startup based in Palo Alto, California, said it used Mythos Preview to find bugs in the M5 chip — and built a working exploit in just five days.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: A fresh iOS 27 rumor says the iPhone’s Camera app will get a serious upgrade. And it sounds like the best of both worlds — heavy customization if you want it, status quo if you don’t.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast 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 version embedded below.
The new Govee TV Backlight 3 camera-based TV ambient lighting system sets a category record for imaging resolution, the company said Monday. And, crucially for Apple users, it works natively with Apple Home via Matter right out of the box.
May 18, 2006: The world — and, more specifically, the Apple-watching press — gets its first glimpse of the swanky new Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City.
Previously hidden behind a black plastic wrapper during development, that all changes a day before the store’s grand opening. Workers remove the covering to reveal a 32-foot glass cube adorned with a floating, white Apple logo. At 10 a.m., members of the press go on an exclusive tour of the new venue.
All signs point to Apple reinventing Siri as a conversational AI chatbot in iOS 27, complete with a standalone Siri app. With privacy in mind, the app will reportedly contain an option to automatically delete your Siri chats every 30 days.
This privacy-first approach should give Apple’s AI chatbot an edge over its competitors.
The Apple Magic Mouse doesn’t go on sale very often, so don’t miss a rare deal that saves you 19% on the svelte input device for your Mac or iPad. This new Apple Magic Mouse deal drops the price to just $63.99.
The sale is on the USB-C version, not the older Lightning model, so it’s a great opportunity to upgrade.
May 17, 1983: John Sculley takes the helm as Apple’s third president and CEO. The former Pepsi-Cola boss is short on tech experience but long on marketing, which will become increasingly important as the personal computer revolution ramps up.
Steve Jobs personally lured Sculley to Apple using one of the most famous lines in the history of business. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water,” Jobs asked Sculley, “or do you want a chance to change the world?”
Rumors point to an updated version of the HomePod mini and a new Apple TV 4K coming this year. What’s holding them up? The same thing that’s been giving Apple problems for years: AI.
Here’s what to expect from these two smart home accessories, and why Apple’s struggles with artificial intelligence have kept them off the market.
May 16, 1994: Apple launches the PowerBook 540c, one of the best laptops in the company’s history.
Part of the innovative 500 series of PowerBooks, the 540c is the laptop to own in 1994. Blisteringly fast, packed with innovative features, and offering the best notebook display on the market, it’s a triumph on every level. Although for $5,539 (over $12,400 in today’s money), it had better be.
AI is changing the kind of apps you can run on a Mac. From voice-first writing tools to meeting assistants and smarter file management, these new AI apps can save hours every week.
After months of testing, these are the AI apps that earned a permanent spot in my workflow.
Emojis are a fun and harmless way to lighten up work communication, right? Yes… most of the time. But some of these pictograms are downright creepy if you send them to a co-worker.
Here are some of the worst examples you should absolutely never use, and a few emojis you should use only cautiously.
May 15, 2001: Apple CEO Steve Jobs flips the script on the dreadful experience of computer shopping, unveiling an ambitious plan to open 25 innovative Apple stores across the United States. The first ones, located at Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia, and the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California, are set to open later that week.
However, this new Apple initiative is about much more than just a couple of retail outlets. It’s a radical reinvention of tech retail that will change the way computers get sold.
Adam Elements’ CQ3 Qi2 Cooling Car Mount Charger keeps your iPhone securely mounted, actively cooled and wirelessly charging at up to 25W as you roll down the road.
And right now, you can get this fully featured iPhone car charger for just $59.99 (MSRP $79).
Sitting at a computer for eight or 10 hours a day will eventually catch up with you. Stiff necks, sore wrists, aching backs, eye strain — the toll of a poorly designed workstation is real. And the Cult of Mac Setups archive is peppered with users who know it firsthand. But it also shows an increasingly thoughtful community that does something about it. Here are 10 of the best ergonomic Mac setups from the past several years.
Apple recently nixed the $599 Mac mini from its product lineup. And the most affordable version of the MacBook Pro also got cut.
This raises serious questions about how much longer Apple can keep offering the cheapest versions of the MacBook Air and MacBook Neo.
Spotify is making a big move toward video podcast interoperability, and Apple fans stand to benefit from it. The streaming service said Thursday that it will adopt Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming, or HLS, technology.
Apple rolled out HLS earlier this year to modernize video playback on Apple Podcasts, promising a seamless experience for both viewers and podcast creators. Spotify’s adoption of HLS later this year sounds like a win-win for video podcasts.
Apple might open the App Store to agentic AI, which could change how iPhone users interact with their smartphones every day. If the plan works, the App Store could expand from a straightforward marketplace for apps and instead become an intermediary for autonomous software.
That could be a much bigger deal than it sounds. These AI agents might be capable of performing complex things on your behalf, such as booking flights, managing your calendar, and even coordinating the whole day without you ever needing to tap a single button.
A once promising partnership between Apple and OpenAI could be heading for a legal confrontation, according to a report published Thursday.
OpenAI has been providing artificial intelligence services for iPhone and Mac users since 2024, but the deal is souring behind the scenes, with the software developer reportedly unhappy that it’s not getting much benefit from the partnership.
IQ Career Lab combines IQ testing, personality profiling and real-world job matching to help you discover better career opportunities. The platform combines a multidomain IQ assessment, Big Five personality testing and a career DNA report designed to help you understand how your brain actually works.
The data it generates can help you uncover stronger earning potential in jobs you’re less likely to hate by Wednesday afternoon. And right now, lifetime access costs just $19.99.
Apple’s flagship handset — iPhone 17 Pro — claimed the crown as the fastest-charging phone in a rigorous new lab test, beating out rivals from Samsung, Google, Motorola, and more, according to a new report.
New data shows how Apple’s iPhone bucks a US smartphone sales slump. Apple grew U.S. iPhone sales by 1.3% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, even as the broader American smartphone market contracted sharply, according to a new report.
For iPhone owners and fans of the Apple ecosystem, the numbers paint a picture of a brand that continues to tighten its grip on the U.S. market despite a challenging environment for the industry as a whole.
May 14, 1992: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs‘ company NeXT runs into trouble as it loses a crucial deal with Businessland after the computer retailer closes its stores.
It comes at a time when NeXT’s luck is going from bad to worse. The Businessland closure marks one of the lowest points in Jobs’ career — before everything starts to turn around again.
★★★★★
The Knog Scout Travel is a tracker tag that stands out with an 85 decimal motion-sensitive alarm. Put it on your suitcase, and if someone moves it, the tag will let everyone nearby know it.
And it supports Apple’s Find My network, so the tag (and your luggage) can be tracked down almost anywhere if they go missing.
I put this travel accessory to the test. Here’s how it stood up.
New charging gadgets rarely excite me, but this one does. Twelve South built its new PowerClip, a 2,000mAh emergency power bank, around a simple premise. Most people already own a backup charger, but they rarely have it with them when they really need it. The tiny, lightweight PowerClip fixes that by living on your keychain, pocket or bag rather than in a drawer at home, the company said Tuesday.
And it’s only about the size of a container of dental floss — complete with two built-in cables! I would forget I had it with me — but hopefully remember it when my iPhone battery dropped into the red zone.
If your iPhone is always blowing up with junk and spam, you can stop notifications dead in their tracks. You may not know that you can entirely disable notifications per-app and turn off different types of notifications to keep them from cluttering your phone.
I’m not afraid to disable all notifications from an app if it crosses me one time too many. For others, I allow notifications on the Lock Screen, but disable them from Notification Center, so they’re more temporary.
Here’s how you can do it, too. Check out our quick video.