May 21, 2010: Apple quietly ends its award-winning “Get a Mac” ad campaign. Debuting in 2006, the ads starred actor Justin Long as the cool, youthful Mac. Comedian John Hodgman portrayed the stuffy, awkward PC.
Alongside the “Think Different” and iPod “Silhouette” campaigns, “Get a Mac” will become one of the most fondly remembered extended advertising blitzes in Apple history.
What’s almost as popular as a dual-display computer setup? A 3-display setup, of course. Today’s Mac Studio workstation has rocked the same external display configuration for more than a decade, but with newer monitors swapped in multiple times. Check it and its gear out below.
Elgato, the Corsair-owned maker of popular content creation tools, announced a major expansion of its Stream Deck ecosystem Tuesday with a new “Stream Deck Everywhere” strategy unveiled at Computex. It includes four significant innovations designed to make the customizable control interface accessible to more users and workflows beyond its traditional creator audience. And that includes a Virtual Stream Deck you can put right on your Mac’s screen.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds are the real deal: They’re what happens when Apple’s AirPods tech meets Beats’ workout DNA. Designed with athletes in mind, they feature built-in heart rate monitors and secure-fit earhooks made of nickel-titanium alloy.
The earhooks mean they’re not budging, no matter how hard your opponent (or your playlist) hits. Plus, they’re 20% lighter than the previous model and IPX4-rated sweat and water-resistant. Packed with these features and more, the earbuds list for $249.99. But right now you can grab pair of refurbished Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds in grade-A condition for just $169.99.
You can easily hide photos and videos on your iPhone to keep secret and/or illicit images out of your main Photos library library. Hiding items from the camera roll makes sure nobody except you can see your embarrassing pictures, salacious nudes or old selfies with your ex.
Apple introduced the Hidden photo album years ago in iOS 8. But after Apple redesigned the Photos app in iOS 18, you can no longer find it at the bottom of the Albums tab — because the tab bar is gone.
Here’s what hiding photos does to your iPhone, how you can do stash those incriminating or mortifying pix, and where to find them.
Gemini Live gets better on the iPhone, with Google rolling out free camera and screen sharing support to all users.
The feature allows you to feed a live stream of your surroundings using the iPhone’s camera, and interact with Gemini to get more information about it.
Fortnite can once again be installed on iPhones and iPads in the United States, developer Epic Games announced triumphantly on Tuesday. The very popular game is back in the U.S. App Store.
The change comes almost five years after Apple banned the battle royale game in a spat with Epic over in-app payments.
The Apple Magic Mouse doesn’t go on sale very often, so don’t miss a rare deal from a pair of retailers that saves you 14% on the svelte input device for your Mac or iPad. This new Apple Magic Mouse Deal drops the price to just $67.99.
The sale is on the recently released USB-C version, not the older Lightning model, so it could be a good opportunity to upgrade.
Hoping to spur innovative software development, Apple plans a strategic move in the artificial intelligence space by allowing third-party developers to access its AI models, according to a new report.
If Apple Translate doesn’t offer the languages you need, you can set Google Translate as your iPhone or iPad’s default translation app. Google’s translation app supports 249 languages, whereas Apple Translate currently can handle only 19.
That broad scope comes in handy if you regularly read materials written in languages that Apple Translate doesn’t cover. And Google Translate is not the only alternative translation app for iPhone.
May 20, 1988: Apple launches AppleLink Personal Edition, a user-facing online service that lets customers connect using a Mac-style user interface.
Years before Apple will get serious about its internet efforts, AppleLink offered a glimpse of things to come. Unfortunately for Apple, it did not become quite the hit many hoped!
Apple TV+ will give Peanuts fans something to sing about this summer. Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical premieres July 18, 2025, marking the first musical special featuring Charles Schulz’s beloved characters in over three decades.
Marking Peanuts‘ 75th anniversary, the new special sees Snoopy and the gang bring summer camp nostalgia to life with original songs by Jeff Morrow and Ben Folds.
★★★★★
“Budget” headphones keep getting better, and I’ve discovered a pair of over-ear wireless noise-canceling cans you can get for less than $70 that pretty much equal the excellent — and much pricier — Beats Studio Pro. In this EarFun Tune Pro headphones review, I’ll get into how they’re very nearly as good as Beats Studio Pro in every way that truly counts — sound quality, noise cancellation and comfort. And Tune Pro’s epic battery life blows away most headphones, full stop.
At launch, EarFun lists the cans for $89.99 marked down to $69.99, with a further 20% off coupon available on Amazon. That should make them about $56 at checkout before tax.
If you’re still blasting playlists from your iPhone speaker, it’s time for an upgrade to a Bluetooth speaker like the Sony SRS-XB33. While most budget options promise “big sound” without actually delivering, this surprisingly affordable Sony speaker packs enough power, clarity and stamina to run the party.
Thanks to this speaker’s refurbished status, the price tag may actually be the most shocking part. If you don’t mind the fact that it had a previous owner, you can save 46% — dropping the price to just $79.99 with free shipping until they’re sold out.
Let’s face it. Between iCloud photos, iMessage attachments and the dozen or so macOS Time Machine backups you swear you’ll clean out someday, Apple users run out of cloud storage fast. And if you’ve been getting those low storage notifications more than actual texts lately, it might be time for a smarter (and roomier) solution.
Meet FileRule, a cloud storage service offering a massive 2TB of space without the typical recurring cloud storage fees or subscriptions. Simply pay a one-time fee to score lifetime access to FileRule for just $69 (regularly $690).
Some Apple executives reportedly think the AI-powered chatbot the company developed in-house is comparable to recent ChatGPT versions. And there’s internal pressure to connect the Siri voice assistant to it.
If true, this shows that while Apple isn’t at the forefront of AI, neither is it languishing at the back of the pack.
Love it or hate it, the LG DualUp and its odd 16:18 aspect ratio — nearly square — has found a lot of fans among Mac users, including the owner of today’s M4 Mac mini setup with dual Studio Displays.
May 19, 2001: Apple revolutionizes the world of computer shopping by opening its first two Apple Stores. Located in Tysons Corner, Virginia, and Glendale, California, the new outlets represent the culmination of a long-term dream for Apple.
A couple of decades later, Apple will expand its retail operations to more than 500 stores in 26 countries and regions around the world. And they will become some of the most profitable retail outlets anywhere on a dollars-per-square-foot basis.
WiiM, a rising star in the affordable audio streaming market, unveiled its first-ever smart speaker last week: WiiM Sound. It looks a lot like HomePod 2 and directly challenges it — and whatever version of it Apple releases next — with an impressive feature set.
WiiM Sound could appeal to audiophiles seeking high-resolution audio in a smart package — at a price that undercuts Apple’s.
The new 11-in-1 OWC Thunderbolt 5 Dock promises to maximize the potential of the latest Thunderbolt 5 technology for computers like M4 Pro and M4 Max MacBook Pro, OWC said Monday.
The dock, scheduled to begin shipping in July with a price tag of $329.99, is one of the first comprehensive Thunderbolt 5 solutions available for Apple users looking to expand their connectivity options.
Apple’s upcoming super-slim iPhone 17 Air could weigh just 5.11 ounces, according to a new leak. That would make it one of the lightest smartphones on the market. However, the phone’s thinness could come at the expense of battery life.
The leaker says the device will come with a paltry 2,800mAh battery. But Apple might tap new technology to make that tiny battery last longer than you would expect.
Apple might allow users to replace Siri with another virtual assistant on iPhone, iPad and Mac, according to a new report.
While Apple’s smarter Siri will not arrive until at least next year, Apple users in the European Union might get something even better in the near future.
The wait for Apple’s next-gen AirPods Pro might stretch out longer than anticipated. According to a respected supply chain analyst, Apple won’t refresh its flagship earbuds until 2026.
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 get an exclusive tour of the new venue.
UPDATE: Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store on May 20.
Epic Games’ hope to get Fortnite reinstated on the U.S. iPhone App Store crashed and burned. Apple used a letter from one of its lawyers to deny the attempt to let iPhone users in the United States install and play the popular game. This is the latest clash in a long-running dispute between the two companies.
Epic claimed Friday that Apple had also blocked Fortnite in Europe, which Apple denies.