★★★★★
The GameSir X5 Lite is the game controller for those who’ve hoped for a truly affordable way to add physical buttons and sticks to their iPhone. It costs a fraction of the price of its chief rival.
But don’t call it cheap. The accessory includes Hall Effect sticks plus a full set of the buttons and triggers needed for cloud gaming or on-device apps.
I enjoyed my time testing the GameSir X5 Lite — read the full review to find out why.
The excellent Beats Studio Pro noise-canceling headphones from Apple subsidiary Beats by Dre normally cost $349 — though they’re often on sale at around $250. But right now you can grab a nice Beats Studio Pro deal on Amazon for just $169.99 in two colors, dune and matte white (51% 0ff). Meanwhile, Best Buy goes with the $250 price, as does Amazon for several colors.
And if you want to save even more, you can buy open-box Beats Studio Pro headphones for just $145 from Cult of Mac Deals.
Want your videos to go viral ASAP? You need AI-generated captions. Joyspace is a powerful, easy-to-use solution that lets creators of all levels add stunning, brand-ready captions to videos and podcasts with just a few clicks.
And right now, you can get lifetime access to Joyspace for just $79.99 (regularly $379), with no recurring fees.
You can now access Meta AI through a dedicated iPhone app, bringing the Llama AI assistant right to your fingertips. Until now, you could only access Meta AI through WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
Meta calls the app a first step toward creating a “more personal AI experience.”
Memories fade, and so does film. Whether it’s old negatives or a box of dusty slides, your memories are safer in a digital format. The Kodak Slide N Scan digital slide and film scanner transforms old film negatives and slides into digital images you can save, share and enjoy — forever.
Normally, this classic media scanner would cost $224. But you can grab one for just $164.97 for a limited time.
Put a Satechi OntheGo 3-in-1 Charger on a hotel nightstand and it’s ready to juice up your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all at once. When it’s time to go, it folds up into a travel-friendly shape.
There’s also a 2-in-1 version, and both hit store shelves on Tuesday.
The new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 lineup opens the Camera app, takes pictures and adjusts camera settings on the fly. It offers a quick shortcut to using one of the most popular and important iPhone features.
Apple baked a lot of controls and interactivity into this innovative button. But while Cupertino’s designers are usually restrained, some people find this new user interface a little fiddly. The physically clicking button also accepts touch input when you swipe your finger along it. And it utilizes pressure sensitivity and haptic feedback as you maneuver through the iPhone’s camera settings.
Learn how to master the iPhone 16’s new Camera Control button in our guide below.
Apple’s redesigned Photos app in iOS 18 brings the biggest changes ever to how you browse your pictures, videos and memories on your iPhone. Gone are the separate tabs across the bottom. Now the Photos app delivers a single, scrollable view. Scroll up to see your library; scroll down to sort through albums, people and memories.
It takes some getting used to — and the big changes are driving some people absolutely insane. To get a grip on all the changes, you need to learn where to find your recently saved images, deleted photos and your album of hidden photos.
Here’s how it works.
With zero fanfare Apple launched a new website Tuesday called “Snapshot.” It appears they designed it as a discovery platform for fans to learn more about celebrities across Apple’s ecosystem of services, like Apple TV+, Apple Music and Apple Podcasts.
While the concept shows promise, the execution leaves much to be desired in its current form because it’s so limited.
April 29, 2010: Apple CEO Steve Jobs pens “Thoughts on Flash,” an open letter to explain why, basically, Adobe Flash kind of sucks. The letter marks the beginning of the end for the once-omnipresent plugin that powered multimedia in internet browsers for years.
Following the devastatingly blunt broadside, Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen hits back at Apple, arguing against Jobs’ complaints. But the Apple leader has clearly made up his mind: iOS devices will never support Flash. The writing is on the wall.
The new Maono DM40 Pro Wireless Gaming Microphone brings professional-grade audio quality and cool features like AI voice effects, the company said Tuesday. Also sporting Apple-esque design sensibilities, the new mic looks like a great companion for your Mac gaming and streaming setup. And you can get 10% off right now, too.
★★★★☆
The M4 Mac mini stands out as one of the best value-for-money Macs in Apple’s lineup. But it’s not perfect, with the lack of an SD card slot and USB-A ports being two major annoyances. Satechi’s Mac Mini M4 Stand & Hub with SSD Enclosure aims to address these flaws while offering a way to expand storage on the cheap.
That’s a bold pitch. So, does the accessory deliver? Here’s what I found.
Treblab’s X-Open wireless earbuds prove you don’t need to pay a high price for premium wireless audio. These open earbuds deliver all-day comfort, crystal-clear sound and a surprisingly impressive feature set for just $39.99 (regularly $99.97) with free shipping.
With one great Anker charger deal — or maybe two or three — you can cover most if not all of your device-charging needs. That’s because accessories powerhouse Anker offers an array of deals on charging combos like power banks bundled with cables or pairs of different chargers bundled together at up to 10% off through June 30. So with one purchase, you can save up to $55 and get two products at once. Whether you want to save even more with additional purchases is up to you. See the deals below.
You can manually add a workout to Apple Fitness+ if you need to log some exercise while you weren’t wearing your Apple Watch. Maybe your watch ran out of battery at the start of your run, or maybe you simply forgot to turn it on. By adding a missing workout, you can give yourself credit for the exercise you did.
This power could be used for evil as well as good. You could, hypothetically, say you ran a three-hour marathon every day last week. But you would only be fooling yourself.
To find out how to add a workout to Apple Fitness+, watch our short video or keep reading below.
The iPhone 17 Pro will reportedly miss out on a key display upgrade. Apple seems set to skip the planned anti-reflective coating on its next Pro iPhones.
Apple offers a similar nano-texture coating as an optional upgrade on the MacBook Pro lineup.
The Casa Hub 360 lifts laptops and tablets off your desk to make them more ergonomic to use. But this iPad and MacBook dock stand also packs a happy surprise in its incredibly flexible (and sturdy) arm. The load-bearing arm — capable of holding aloft nearly 10 pounds — doubles as a USB-C hub, offering multiple ports.
It moves elegantly, something like the iMac G4, and spins around 360 degrees, so you can get your viewing angle just right. (See it in action in the video below.) Right now, you can grab a Casa Hub 360 on sale for just $94.97 instead of the usual $129.
iPhones are, by definition, wireless devices, but a connection via Ethernet adapter brings speed, security and reliability. Fortunately, adding a wired internet connection to your iPhone is very easy.
Here’s how.
OK, today’s MacBook setup doesn’t actually live in a camera and Lego museum like the headline on this post suggests — but close enough. The user is clearly a collector. The sheer number of cameras on display is impressive, and the Lego Star Wars spaceships flying up high on a shelf in the photo inspire some awe, too. And it’s not every day we see a dual-MacBook setup with both mounted open on stands, either.
Celebrated Apple TV+ shows Slow Horses, Bad Sisters and The Velveteen Rabbit won BAFTA Television Craft Awards at a ceremony Sunday in London. Espionage thriller Slow Horses nabbed two while the others took home one apiece.
BAFTA’s craft awards are similar to technical Emmy and Oscars awards, bestowed separately from the main awards. The main BAFTA awards ceremony takes place May 11.
April 28, 2003: Apple opens the iTunes Music Store, revolutionizing the music industry and digital distribution of content.
At a time when getting music online mostly means illegal downloads from pirate services like Napster, iTunes quickly proves that customers will pay for songs — provided the service is good enough.
April 27, 2008: Psystar’s first Mac clones ship to customers. The company’s new Open Computer means that, for the first time since the mid-1990s, there’s no need to assemble a “hackintosh” to run OS X on a non-Apple computer.
Unlike previous clone Macs, however, Psystar’s low-priced computers don’t come with Cupertino’s blessing. Naturally, a fight ensues.
If you want a reliable place to keep your photos, videos and other files, try Internxt Cloud Storage’s 10TB cloud storage plan. Instead of paying Apple or Google every month for a little extra space, you can get 10TB of secure cloud storage for life for a one-time payment of $280 with code STORAGE20.
Yeah, it costs more than any single month of Google Drive or iCloud+, but you only pay once. Take a look at what makes this cloud storage a solid investment.
April 26, 1996: Mac OS Copland, Apple’s eagerly anticipated but much-delayed operating system for the Macintosh, suffers a fatal blow when the senior VP in charge of the project leaves the company.
David C. Nagel, Apple’s chief technologist, previously promised Mac OS Copland would ship to users by mid-1996 at the latest. With meeting that deadline no longer possible, he leaves Apple for a job running AT&T Laboratories.
It’s yet another sign that Apple’s top-to-bottom Mac operating system upgrade is in major trouble.
Confused about which Apple Watch to buy? With Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch SE currently vying for your wallet’s attention, it all depends on what you want out of a smartwatch — and how much you’re willing to pay.
This buying guide breaks down what each Apple Watch does best, helping you match your needs (and budget) with the right device, whether you’re a fitness enthusiast, an outdoor adventurer or simply looking for a reliable, everyday smartwatch.