Cult of Mac

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.

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.

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.”

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.

June 12, 2007: With iPhone frenzy hitting a fever pitch in the buildup to the device’s launch, journalist Walt Mossberg sends the Apple world into a tizzy by whipping out a prerelease unit during a speech. The Wall Street Journal columnist is one of a handful of tech writers given early access to Apple’s revolutionary smartphone so he can put it through its paces for a review.

Speaking at The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Presidents Forum, Mossberg says he isn’t sure whether he’ll give the iPhone a thumbs up. Worried doubters immediately fear Apple is about to drop a dud.

JBL Tune 510BT wireless headphones were made with comfort in mind. If you don’t like earbud-style audio devices because they can hurt your ears after a while, these wireless on-ear ones offer a more comfortable alternative. Plus, they’re lightweight and foldable, so they’re perfect for on-the-go listening.

For a limited time, you can get a new, open-box set of JBL Tune 510BT wireless headphones for just $24.99. That’s a 49% discount off the regular price of $49.

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.

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.

Here’s why it looks like Apple is doing AI right.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The app can also create custom walking routes.

This fast-charging 50,000mAh power bank combines massive capacity with universal compatibility. It can charge an iPhone 14 a whopping 11 times, and is powerful enough to juice up Macs and iPads as well.

It can charge up to four devices simultaneously via one USB-C and three USB-A ports. And it’s on sale for the low price of $39.99 (regularly $59). It can charge up any device, anywhere you go. And it will help you forget about past struggles to find a power outlet.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

But if you don’t have time to watch the full hour and 45-minute long affair, here it is in just 90 seconds.

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.”

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.

iPadOS 18 includes many long-requested features, including greater Home Screen personalization options and a Calculator app, at long last. But it’s the many new AI-related enhancements that really stand out.

“Our most versatile device is becoming even more powerful and intelligent than ever with iPadOS 18,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering. “With fun new ways to personalize the Home Screen, a redesigned Photos experience, major updates to the Notes app, the addition of Calculator with Math Notes, and the groundbreaking introduction of Apple Intelligence, iPadOS 18 brings incredible new features designed for the unique capabilities of iPad, making it even easier for users to get tasks done.”

After this morning’s WWDC24 keynote, the Platforms State of the Union explained the nitty gritty details on Apple Intelligence, code completion in Xcode, Swift 6 and the latest software updates.

Susan Prescott, Apple vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, opened the event by thanking the hard work of all Apple developers. “Thank you for making this such an incredible and exciting ecosystem.”

While the morning keynote has become more of a general interest event for the public to see what’s coming later this year, the State of the Union is a show for developers to see how they can adapt their apps to take advantage of the new APIs and software tools. There was a lot to talk about this year.

Apple unveiled its bold plan to weave artificial intelligence into its devices Monday, focusing on how the company plans to make AI personal. The new AI-powered features, which will launch in beta later this year under the umbrella term of “Apple Intelligence,” will follow Apple’s unique approach to computing.

“At Apple, it’s always been our goal to design powerful personal products that enrich people’s lives by enabling them to do the things that matter most as simply and easily as possible,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook as he took the wraps off Apple Intelligence during the WWDC24 keynote. “We’ve been using artificial intelligence and machine learning for years to help us further that goal. Recent developments in generative intelligence and large language models offer powerful capabilities that provide the opportunity to take the experience of using Apple products to new heights.”

Apple’s much-maligned Siri voice assistant is getting a huge infusion of artificial intelligence. It’s part of a movement to bring AI features to a wide range of iPhone, Mac and iPad applications.

“Thanks to the capabilities of Apple Intelligence, this year marks the start of a new era for Siri,” said Kelsey Peterson, Apple’s Director, Machine Learning and Al, during Monday’s WWDC24 keynote.

watchOS 11 will monitor your Training Load, enable you to pause your Activity Rings when you’re sick, and track your pregnancy, Apple said Monday. These features, together with a new Vitals app, represent another major step forward for Apple’s health and fitness wearable.

Your Apple Watch face gets some love, too, with improvements to the photo face and widget stack.

You’ll soon be able to answer or reject phone calls with a nod or shake of your head, Apple said Monday.

AirPods Pro will gain the ability to answer calls or reject them by silently nodding or shaking your head, Apple said during Monday’s WWDC keynote.