Oklahoma residents can finally leave their physical driver’s licenses at home — at least sometimes. The state is now rolling out support for adding driver’s licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch.
Oklahoma becomes the 16th U.S. state or territory to support Apple’s digital IDs.
September 2, 1985: Reports claim Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is on the verge of setting up a new company to compete with Cupertino. The rumors fly after Jobs sells Apple stock holdings worth $21.43 million.
For anyone who thinks speculation about Apple’s future is an invention of the blog era, today’s edition of “Today in Apple history” is a reminder that the tech rumor mill was alive and well in 1985.
Want an iPhone for less? You can … and we mean for way less. For a limited time, you can pick up a refurbished second-gen iPhone SE on sale for just $89.99.
What’s that, like two and a half sandwiches these days?
Yes, this budget iPhone is a few years old, so it obviously doesn’t have all the latest features. However, it also doesn’t come with the hefty price tag of recent high-end models.
Perplexity Hybrid Compute is now live on Mac. The feature splits a single AI task between the cloud and the local model, so all your sensitive files stay on the machine.
“In the newest release of the Perplexity for Mac app, users can now add a compact local model post-trained for Perplexity Computer and choose to run tasks on device on their Mac,” said Perplexity in a press release Tuesday.
Cloud models handle the research and heavy reasoning, while a compact, local AI model on your Mac handles any step that touches private data.
Apple’s latest Mac mini and Mac Studio computers don’t just come with faster M-series chips. They also pack certain underlying upgrades that make them even more capable and appealing than their predecessors.
That includes faster storage, better connectivity and boosted memory bandwidth. Here are five important Mac mini and Mac Studio upgrades you might have missed.
John Ternus officially took over as Apple’s CEO on Tuesday, and his key challenge will likely be the classic “innovator’s dilemma.” Should he focus on maintaining Apple’s dominant position or ruthlessly cannibalize the products he helped develop during his 25-year career at Apple?
Ternus, a certified hardware guy, replaced operations whiz Tim Cook, who served as Apple’s CEO for 15 years after taking over from Steve Jobs. Apple updated its website’s leadership page to reflect this gigantic change — and it reveals some of Ternus’ top priorities going forward.
Apple TV is giving subscribers another reason to stay in and watch a movie this month. The service just added 15 more popular Hollywood movies to its catalog, and they’re included with an Apple TV subscription at no additional charge.
This seems to be a new habit by the streamer: it offered a bunch of big-name Hollywood hits in August, too. Subscribers surely welcome Apple TV expanding beyond its usual lineup of original shows and movies.
This clever bike tracker adds extra security to your bike while being incredibly discreet. It’s a bike bell with a built-in tracker that integrates with Apple’s Find My app. Think of it as an AirTag for your ride!
Give yourself some peace of mind and get this stealthy bike bell with built-in tracker while it’s on sale for only $19.99 (regularly $29.99) at Cult of Mac Deals.
AirPods 4 could give way to AirPods 5 in the coming weeks, likely ushering in improved audio quality.
It’s a somewhat surprising development — a new version wasn’t really anticipated for another year — but there’s solid evidence that Apple is preparing to give its entry-level wireless earbuds a refresh. Perhaps as soon as this month.
Here’s what we can look forward to.
September 1, 2010: Apple’s new music-focused social network, Ping, ships as part of iTunes 10. Apple says the service will let users discover new music and more easily follow their favorite artists.
“In iTunes 10, we’re announcing something really cool, and we call it Ping,” says Apple CEO Steve Jobs during his demo of the new service. “And what Ping is, is it’s a social network for music. It’s sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes. You know, it’s not Facebook, it’s not Twitter. It’s something else that we’ve come up with.”
Ping racks up 1 million signups in the first 48 hours. Nevertheless, Apple’s social network is doomed from the start.
Apple added three more MacBook models to its official obsolete device list. That means the laptops no longer qualify for standard hardware service, so owners hoping for an easy trip to the Genius Bar will mostly be out of luck.
The three laptops had spent the last few years on Apple’s vintage list, and now they’ve crossed into obsolete territory for good. Apple confirmed the change in an updated support document published on Monday.
★★★★☆
The Orico MacData Vault puts five SATA drives and hardware RAID into a compact aluminum enclosure that looks right at home beside a Mac. It feels solid and runs quietly.
However, its screw-mounted drive trays and hardware-only RAID controls make the setup feel more dated than I expected from a premium direct-attached storage, aka DAS, device in 2026. There is also an important catch for Mac users. Find out more in my review.
Tim Cook isn’t the only high-level Apple executive changing roles: Phil Schiller, one of the most recognizable faces in Apple’s modern history, is reportedly stepping away from his remaining major responsibilities at the company.
The 66-year-old Apple veteran is giving up oversight of the App Store and Apple’s product events, according to a report published Monday.
But Schiller isn’t completely walking away from Apple. He will supposedly remain an Apple Fellow and work on unspecified projects.
August 31, 2004: Apple launches the iMac G5, a distinctive, white plastic computer that looks a little like the world’s biggest iPod.
Housed in a 2-inch-thick enclosure reminiscent of Apple’s Cinema Displays, the new all-in-one machine bridges the gap between the pleasing plasticity of the iconic original iMac and the minimalist form factor of the ultra-slim aluminum Macs that will follow.
“Just like the iPod redefined portable digital music players, the new iMac G5 redefines what users expect from a consumer desktop,” says Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, in a press release. “With the entire system, including a gorgeous 17- or 20-inch display, just two inches thin, a lot of people will be wondering ‘where did the computer go?’”
Apple Maps still calls it Lake Ontario, but perhaps not for much longer. President Donald Trump is trying to rename it “Lake America,” and reportedly asked Apple directly to make the change in Apple Maps.
The push to rename the lake is part of Trump’s pressure campaign against Canada as the two countries remain locked in a trade war.
Your iPhone has known for years that it’s about to rain. Your car’s dashboard, running Apple’s own CarPlay software, has had no idea — because Apple Weather never made the jump to CarPlay. But starting today, you won’t have to wait on Apple to fix that.
The Weather Channel’s Storm Radar app version 4.0.19 just rolled out. The centerpiece is a dedicated CarPlay experience that finally puts live weather where you’re already looking while driving. If your commute was ever ambushed by a storm your map app couldn’t see coming, this is the update you’ve wanted.
Apple’s OLED iPad mini is closing in on release. A fresh report says the redesigned tablet would reach store shelves by the end of October.
Expect a sharper, brighter screen as well as a faster chip built for Apple Intelligence. Apple is also said to be reworking the tablet’s shell for better water resistance.
Read on for everything to expect in the OLED iPad mini.
The Mac mini and Mac Studio are apparently a huge hit among AI companies. OpenAI reportedly purchased tens of thousands of Macs from Apple for reinforcement learning and “computer-use” AI agents.
Anthropic, which offers Claude AI, is renting Mac minis through Amazon Web Services (AWS) for similar reasons.
This heavy demand helps explain why Apple launched new versions of the Mac mini and Mac Studio last week, months before the usual fall release window.
The upcoming Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 might feature continuous heart rate monitoring for better health tracking. The two watches should also come with a speedy new S-series chip for better performance and longer battery life.
Unfortunately, Apple does not plan to introduce any design changes this year. But the Apple Watch Series 12 could come with a premium ceramic casing option, which Apple last offered on Series 5 models.
The folding iPhone expected in September will open to become what is essentially a small iPad. But that doesn’t mean that it will support Apple Pencil, the stylus designed for Apple tablets.
Apple tested a version of the stylus for its upcoming foldable phone, but nixed the idea for multiple reasons, according to an unconfirmed report published Sunday. The most notable reason for cancellation: danger that the stylus might damage the iPhone’s folding screen.
August 30, 2010: Just two years after opening its virtual doors, the iOS App Store passes a key milestone: one-quarter of a million apps for sale.
It’s a massive demonstration of success for a service Apple CEO Steve Jobs didn’t even initially want to offer.
Not every Cult of Mac reader is all Mac, all the time. We know many of you use PCs for various reasons — and here’s the big Windows 11 sale you’ve been waiting for.
For a limited time, you can get a lifetime license to Windows 11 Pro for just $7.97 from Cult of Mac Deals.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple sent out invites for its Surprise and Shine event this week, and the big question is, will there actually be any surprises on September 9?
The invite itself doesn’t reveal much, naturally. And a crazy deluge of rumors and leaks already painted a pretty thorough picture of what to expect from the iPhone 18 Pro, the first folding iPhone and more.
Still, it’ll be incoming Apple CEO John Ternus‘ first time running an event, and surely he’ll want to make it special. We discuss how he might make the event shine.
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 version, embedded below.
August 29, 2001: During a meeting, Apple’s board of directors awards CEO Steve Jobs new stock options that will become part of a stock-backdating scandal several years later.
When the matter eventually ends up in court, Apple’s former general counsel pays $2.2 million to settle charges that she backdated stock options for Jobs, herself and others — and created fake paperwork to hide this fact.
The iPhone 17 Pro is barely a year old, but its successor could bring some meaningful upgrades. Rumors point to camera, display and performance improvements for the iPhone 18 Pro, along with a potentially unwelcome price hike.
Here’s how Apple’s next flagship could compare with the iPhone 17 Pro.