In the updated Notes app in iOS 18, you can transcribe audio to text for free: Your iPhone will automatically transcribe voice notes for later.

This is a great feature to use in a college class, if you want to record audio of a lecture alongside your notes. You can use it in meetings — the irritating in-person kind — for recording what people actually said alongside your notes. It’s also great for generating podcast transcripts or any kind of writing. It’s a quick and easy way to get a first draft.

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In our Severance season 2 episode 4 recap, we follow our friends from Lumon Industries’ Macradata Refinement (MDR) department into a wintry wilderness central to Kier Eagan’s lore. In the most bizarre corporate team-building event ever, two of them find forbidden love and one may never return. And it’s the first episode to take place completely outside of Lumon’s halls without visiting outies’ lives.

Last week’s episode 3 went further down innie rabbit holes in amusingly confounding ways. Ultimately, an improved-yet-still-dangerous outlaw reintegration procedure seemed like it might be outie Mark S’s path to returning to his beginnings at Lumon, cracking the sinister company’s mysteries and finding his wife. It made likely plot trajectories a little more clear. But episode 4 actually unravels some mysteries, and gives Irving B. (John Turturro) center stage for the first time.

Sonos planned to launch a MagSafe speaker for iPhones. The device would attach to the back of iPhones, delivering louder, richer sound quality than the built-in speakers.

However, technical limitations eventually forced the company to shelve its plans.

Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone SE, with an iPhone 14-like design, could debut “as early as next week.” It will reportedly go on sale later in the month. If you’re wondering when does the new iPhone come out, reports suggest this could be one of the first major releases of the year.

Multiple rumors suggested Apple would launch the iPhone SE 4 in early 2025.

Everybody loves Pixar’s beloved toy-lamp mascot, Luxo Jr., right? Apple just made a new lamp-like robot prototype that looks super similar. The iPhone giant’s machine learning research team developed an expressively social robotic prototype in desk-lamp form, according to a recent paper, blog post and video.

The new robot could figure into rumored plans for a robotic home hub — and it could reshape how we interact with smart home devices.

Attach the Leica Lux Grip to your iPhone to add a shutter release. Plus, the magnetic accessory adds other buttons and a dial that can be customized. And a grip, naturally.

All this is a design intended to recreate the feel of using a classic Leica camera.

Two killer portable power station deals just came online at Amazon for your recreational charging needs and beyond — Anker Solix C1000 Portable Power Station and a version of it that comes with a 200-watt solar panel to keep the juice flowing. You can get them both on Amazon at up to 57% off.

Do you harbor terrible secrets that must never get out? Zugu’s new In Case of Death Case for iPad Pro is for you. It’s always ready to automatically brick the tablet if you stop a bullet or get crushed in an “accident.”

Whether you’re a covert agent for British intelligence or just know things about the homeowners association that must never be revealed, Zugu Case has your back.

So we know beloved hit Apple TV+ comedy series Ted Lasso will return for a fourth season. Though sources now say its production start will hit a delay of a few months. But perhaps more interesting than that: When it comes together, it will center on the formation of the AFC Richmond women’s soccer team. That departure from the show’s previous focus on the men’s squad is a major Ted Lasso season 4 shift.

Rumors have noted Coach Lasso himself (Jason Sudeikis) may be less involved this season, if at all. Maybe that’s reflected in the plot pivot. The fictional Premier League team AFC Richmond tapped a low-level American college football coach to manage the club — a ludicrously unrealistic premise, yet a charming and funny show — but for the new women’s squad he’ll merely consult, perhaps, and maybe only by SMS.

MagLock is a MagSafe-compatible car charger that holds your iPhone (or Qi2-compatible Android device) firmly in place for fast wireless charging.

If you ever wrestled with a flimsy car mount that loses its grip the second you make a sharp turn — or, worse, tried plugging in a charging cable mid-drive, only to have your phone fly into oblivion — this affordable vent mount can erase those painful memories. Upgrade your drive with a magnetic car mount that actually works. For a limited time, it’s on sale for just $35.99 (regularly $49.99).

Apple is now selling DIY repair parts for its M4-equipped Macs, including the MacBook Pro and Mac mini.

You can purchase the repair parts from Apple’s Self Service Repair Store in the US and Europe.

This deal on the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip lets you buy one of the most powerful laptops available for less. While the Apple laptop’s $2,499 price tag places it on the premium side, a 10% discount on Amazon makes it a bit more accessible.

Thanks to the deal, the M4 Pro MacBook Pro is available for $2,239.

The wait for the Satechi Mac mini M4 Stand & Hub with SSD Enclosure isn’t as long as expected. The accessory — which adds front-facing ports and more storage — can be ordered now, though quantities are limited.

It seems a nice addition for Apple’s tiny new desktop. It even makes pressing the computer’s hidden power button easier.

While plenty of people find Apple’s Studio Display a bit too expensive, many owners of Mac setups love it. Today’s MacBook Pro user justifies the expense because they use Studio Display for photo editing. But others disagreed that the $1,600 monitor is all that great a display for photo editing, with one person calling it “less than ideal” and backing that up with several technical points, below. They might not worry casual users much, but could be worth considering for pros like graphic designers.

These days celebrity chefs have their own TV shows. They shill their product lines and cookbooks all over the place. But if you go back far enough, you can find the very first superstar cook who started it all, and in a very different time. That’s what Apple TV+ did with Carême, it’s upcoming French-language drama series. Like the book it’s based on, it chronicles the fascinating life of Antonin Carême, “the world’s first celebrity chef who secretly served as a spy in Napoleon’s Europe,” as the streamer put it.

The series, premiering April 30, stars César Award winner Benjamin Voisin as Carême. Apple TV+ offered several appetizing photographs Wednesday as a first look at the show.

The Apple M5 processor is reportedly now in mass production in Korea, ready to improve the performance of Macs and iPads later this year.

With production already taking place, it’s possible the M5 will launch as an Apple product in the middle of the year, and not wait until autumn. As Apple continues to integrate AI capabilities into its chips, many users are looking for insights on how to use Apple AI to enhance their workflows.

AppleCare+ is getting more expensive, with Apple also moving towards a subscription model. The price hike for AppleCare+ is only applicable to iPhones.

Apple is only raising prices for its protection plan in the United States for now.

Severance costars Patricia Arquette and Adam Scott faced off in a funny, face-melting hot chicken wing-eating contest Tuesday in a new video from the show Hot Ones Versus.

In the words of the show, “today, these co-stars will have two choices: Tell the truth, or suffer the wrath of the Last Dab. Whoever eats the most wings, loses!”

The wings are spicy enough for the show to call them “Wings of Death,” and their spicy pain showed in the actors’ suffering as well as the teeny, tiny little bites they took when they missed a question.

When you need to juice up your iPhone and Apple Watch, a single cable isn’t going to do you much good… unless it’s the latest innovation from Nomad. The new Universal Cable for Apple Watch charges the wearable while also sending current to another USB-C device, like a MacBook or iPad.

It’s not quite like anything else on the market.

The new Opera Air web browser brings meditation and mindfulness features directly to users, the Norway-based browser developer said Tuesday. The new browser’s approach to surfing the web combines Opera’s established browser technology with wellness tools typically found in dedicated meditation apps. Perhaps more traditional browsers like Safari and Chrome will follow suit.

“The web is beautiful but it can be chaotic and overwhelming,” said Mohamed Salah, Opera’s senior director of product. “We decided to look at science-backed ways to help our users navigate it in a way that makes them feel and function better.”

A new mobile SSD called the PNY Pro Elite V3 holds terabytes of data and can transfer that data at up to 1,000MB/s. But perhaps its standout feature is price: the 2TB variant comes in at just $145.

PNY also just introduced two other speedy USB-C drives that top out at 256GB — but cost less than $25.

Apple TV+ trots out the word “gritty” in press materials that go with its gripping new trailer for Berlin ER, the upcoming German-language hospital drama formerly known as Krank Berlin. And for the first time, PR for the show seems to actually live up to that description.

The trailer makes the new series look raw, with a visceral realism about the harsh realities of an inner-city hospital that makes me want to watch it, even if I have to use subtitles (or maybe, ugh, dubbed English). The eight-episode series starts streaming on Apple TV+ February 26.

Apple is taking on Evites. On Tuesday, the company unveiled Apple Invites, an app that lets users share invitations and RSVP to events via iCloud+. Invited guests can add to a shared photo album and even contribute to the music playlist.

“With Apple Invites, an event comes to life from the moment the invitation is created, and users can share lasting memories even after they get together,” said Brent Chiu-Watson, Apple’s senior director of worldwide product marketing for Apps and iCloud, in a press release. “Apple Invites brings together capabilities our users already know and love across iPhone, iCloud, and Apple Music, making it easy to plan special events.”

Apple is undoubtedly working to upgrade the LCD in its MacBook Pro line with a beautiful OLED display. Rumors differ on exactly what that’ll happen though, and the wait stretches out years.

As someone who already uses another Apple computer with a large OLED, I have to say there’s no reason for Apple to hurry. MacBook Pro users really should not feel impatient.

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