January 19, 1989: Apple introduces the Macintosh SE/30, arguably the greatest of the classic compact Macs with black-and-white screens.
When you picture the ideal 1980s Macintosh, this is likely the machine that comes to mind. And for good reason!
Order a MacBook Pro today, and you may never get it at all. But it’s not some horrible scam — Apple is very close to introducing new models, and the company knows you probably won’t want the ones available today once the new ones launch.
That’s why the wait times on many MacBook Pro models with M4 Pro and M4 Max processors stretches out well into February. It gives buyers time to change their orders.
Apple dedicated its website homepage to Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, as it has done on his national holiday each year since 2015. This year a free book of the slain Civil Rights movement icon’s essential works and a Time to Walk podcast with King’s daughter, Bernice A. King, are included.
“We honor Dr. King and reflect upon his life and legacy,” Apple said in print alongside a pixellated, constellation-like image of a smiling MLK against a black background filled with stars.
Apple likely will struggle to acquire a critical component for all its products this year. In fact, the whole electronics industry will face the same problem, and the competition will drive up prices, according to analysts.
What’s the missing product? RAM. Why is it so hard to get? AI. But the full story is more complex than those two basic facts.
ChatGPT and AI automation tools are taking over the workplace, allowing businesses and individuals to boost their productivity and streamline their workflows. If you want to market yourself as an expert in these areas, you need training in AI and ChatGPT. And that’s exactly what you get with the ChatGPT & Automation E-Degree.
For less than $20 and a little bit of study, you can get up to speed on the hottest tech of the moment.
January 18, 1983: Computer manufacturer Franklin Electronic Publishers takes the wraps off its Franklin Ace 1200 computer, an uxtnauthorized Apple II clone that triggers an important legal battle.
Cupertino will soon target Franklin’s line of unlicensed clone computers with a lawsuit. In the resulting trial, a U.S. court will decide whether a company can protect its operating system by copyright.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: It’s finally official — Siri is getting a long-awaited AI brain transplant, courtesy of Google Gemini.
We discuss the pros and cons of the deal, but more importantly, we express our sincere hope that Siri will actually work in the future.
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 stream, embedded below.
January 17, 1984: A week before its famous airing during Super Bowl XVIII, Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial debuts as a trailer in movie theaters. To hype its revolutionary new Macintosh computer, Apple buys several months of promotion from theatrical ad distributor ScreenVision.
Cupertino’s sci-fi-tinged “1984” spot — which depicts a sledgehammer-wielding freedom fighter taking on a Big Brother figure supposed to represent IBM — gets such a favorable audience reaction that some theater owners continue to roll the ad after Apple’s contract ends.
OpenAI is rolling out its more affordable ChatGPT Go plan to nearly every region where ChatGPT operates. In the US, the new tier starts at just $8 per month — a full $12 cheaper than ChatGPT Plus.
Additionally, OpenAI confirmed that it will start testing ads in ChatGPT’s free and Go tiers in the US soon.
What do the buttons on the Apple Watch do? The Apple Watch borrows a lot from the iPhone, but the biggest difference between the two devices comes down to the way their buttons work. Each individual button does different things, depending on whether you click, double-click or hold them down.
Apple changed a lot of these features a few years ago with watchOS 10. The software update added a new Widgets view, reassigned Control Center to the side button, and changed what double-clicking the Digital Crown does. (For older devices, see our article about what Apple Watch buttons do in watchOS 9.)
Here’s a guide to the buttons on the Apple Watch.
January 16, 1986: Apple introduces the Macintosh Plus, its third Mac model and the first to be released after Steve Jobs was forced out of the company the previous year.
The Mac Plus boasts an expandable 1MB of RAM and a double-sided 800KB floppy drive. And it’s the first Macintosh to include a SCSI port, which serves as the main way of attaching a Mac to other devices (at least until Apple abandons the tech on the original iMac G3 upon Jobs’ return).
Desk lighting plays a surprisingly transformative role in creating memorable workspaces. Here are seven Mac setups where lighting — whether RGB gaming effects, professional video illumination or ambient mood enhancement — elevates the entire experience.
Indy software for freelancers is an AI-powered, all-in-one business platform for solopreneurs and small teams who want everything in one place — and who don’t want to waste time on the boring tasks that are part of being your own boss.
With nine core tools inside a single dashboard, Indy lets you manage proposals, contracts, projects, invoices, payments, files, tasks, forms, time tracking and your calendar without switching apps every five minutes.
And right now, you can get five years of Indy Pro access for just $59.99 (regular price $1,125).
After the purported dimensions of the first folding iPhone leaked a few weeks ago, it didn’t take long for mockups to hit MakerWorld, a popular site for people with 3D printers to share their models. I got my hands on one of those models, and I have lots of thoughts. If the rumored folding iPhone looks anything like this, it’ll be weird.
For one thing, it’s almost as short as the original iPhone, but wider than the widest iPhone ever. Lots of design questions remain unanswered, too. Where will the volume buttons go, since there isn’t any room on the left side? Will it only have one speaker, like the iPhone Air? Will the two cameras arranged horizontally across the back mean the camera sensors are in landscape, not portrait?
I’ve been fiddling with a 3D model of the first folding iPhone all week. Here are my thoughts and observations.
Following the launch of the Apple Creator Studio bundle on January 13, 2026, Apple has discontinued the individual free trial for its professional creative apps. This means you can no longer individually download Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro on their own to try them out for free.
Instead, Apple now wants you to use the Creator Studio Bundle. It bundles access to all of the company’s pro creative tools in a single subscription.
Spotify is once again raising prices in the United States. This is the streaming service’s third price bump in four years. By comparison, Apple Music hasn’t raised its price since 2022.
Some people achieve and maintain zero unread emails; some let that red badge climb into the thousands. It’s never too late to change your ways — you can become one of those clean inbox people like me. These six tips will help you get to Inbox Zero using features in Apple’s Mail app that you might not have known about.
The obvious Tip No. 0 is this: You should always hit the Unsubscribe button at the bottom of every unsolicited promotional email as soon as you get the first one.
After you kill all those unwanted subscriptions, these six lesser-known features of the Apple Mail app on iPhone, Mac and iPad will make you a true pro at managing your email.
The fact that Google Gemini will power the revamped Siri is drawing criticism from people convinced that Apple should have developed its own AI in-house to bring the voice assistant up to speed.
Some of the critics seem to think Apple always made its own software before now. Therefore they regard the deal with Google as a major policy shift — and a sign of weakness that would horrify Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
No. Just … no. These critics will be shocked to learn that many Apple products are built on top of tech developed outside the company … and often, it was Steve Jobs who did it!
January 15, 2008: Apple CEO Steve Jobs shows off the first MacBook Air at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, calling the revolutionary computer the “world’s thinnest notebook.”
The 13.3-inch laptop measures only 0.76 inches at its thickest point and 0.16 inches at its tapered thinnest. It also boasts a unibody aluminum design, thanks to an Apple engineering breakthrough that allows the crafting of a complicated computer case from a single block of finely machined metal.
In a brilliant piece of showmanship during the MacBook Air launch, Jobs pulls the super-slim laptop out of a standard interoffice envelope. (You can watch his keynote introducing the MacBook Air below.)
★★★★☆
The Kingston Dual Portable SSD brings up to 2TB of storage to anyone in the process of transitioning from the old USB-A to the smaller USB-C standard. It’s small enough to easily carry around, and fast enough to quickly handle large files.
I ran tests on the drive to see how the portable SSD fares in real-world use. Read on to see how well it performed.
Setapp Mobile, MacPaw’s ambitious alternative iOS app store for European Union users, will close its doors in February after just over a year of operation, the service said Thursday.
On a support page, MacPaw cited Apple’s “still-evolving and complex business terms that don’t fit Setapp’s current business model” as the reason.
Retro tech is back, and it doesn’t get much more nostalgic than transforming a new M4 Mac mini into a Macintosh straight out of the 1980s. Better yet, the process is simple: Just pop the Mac mini into the Wokyis M5 dock and you’re done.
Don’t mistake this for simple cosmetic trickery. The add-on includes a functional 5-inch screen. Plus, it’s a hub that adds a variety of ports to the Mac as well as a slot for an internal SSD.
The Keychron K3 keyboard delivers real mechanical typing in a slim, wireless, Apple-friendly design. The low-profile design gives you that satisfying mechanical feel, without taking over your desk. It’s also pretty quiet, which is great if you (or the people around you) get annoyed by the clickity-clack of typical mechanical keyboards.
Right now, you can grab this fan favorite mechanical keyboard for just $74.99 — with free shipping to the contiguous United States.
Finishing a book takes time, patience and a whole lot of follow-through — but AI-powered book writing software BookBud.ai can help.
Many would-be authors start drafting something, but never actually get it ready for readers. BookBud.ai gives you a way to move past that wall by smoothing out the hardest parts of the writing and publishing process. And for a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription to BookBud.ai for just $99 (regularly $1,200).
You’ve probably seen some beautiful custom iPhone Home Screens on social media. Some people go to great lengths to creatively customize their Home Screen. You can go for a specific theme and aesthetic using custom icon colors and widgets.
Why spend so much time and effort? For one thing, you likely look at your Home Screen dozens (or even hundreds) of times every single day. A custom Home Screen that matches your style can bring a little spark of joy to your daily life every time you whip out your iPhone. And iOS makes Home Screen customization easier than ever.
Keep reading (or watch our video) for a quick introduction into the world of custom iPhone Home Screens. You’ll find out about new features in iOS 26, how to go above and beyond using Shortcuts, and how you can top off your iPhone aesthetic with widgets. I’ve scoured the internet (Reddit, mostly) to find the finest examples.