Cult of Mac

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Get your Orbi three-pack for under $200 — around half its usual price. This deal is good for today only, so don’t miss out!

Apple reportedly bought more companies developing artificial intelligence technology over the past five years than anyone else. A prime goal is to make the Siri voice assistant smarter, according to GlobalData, the market-research firm that compiled a list of AI-related acquisitions by many companies.

Consumer Reports on Thursday revealed its “Best Smartphones of 2021.” And Apple’s biggest and most expensive model beat every other iOS device. The iPhone 12 Pro Max was named the “Best iPhone”

The App Store lists Apple Arcade games that’ll debut soon. If one of these upcoming titles looks interesting, subscribers to Apple’s game service can set it to automatically install as soon as the app becomes available. No waiting… it’ll be on your iPhone or other Apple device as soon as possible.

Here’s how.

According to a recent complaint filed with a U.K. antitrust regulator, Apple and Google are working a bit too closely for comfort. The complaint alleges “collusion at a very senior level” of both companies when it comes to search engines.

But make no mistake: While things certainly cooled down since the days when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs threatened to go to “thermonuclear war” against Google, the two companies remain on a collision course. And the conflict will come over the exact same issue they’re currently allegedly colluding on.

It’s all about the future of search as we know it.

Canadian Angie Carriere dropped her iPhone into a lake while she was ice fishing. A month later, she retrieved off the bottom of the still-frozen lake. And it works.

Watch a video showing the amazing rescue.

For the first time ever, the Steve Jobs Theater is about to become a, well, proper theater through the airing of a play filmed at the Apple Park venue usually used for Apple keynote events.

The play, 12 Angry Men… and Women, is based on the book 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today. It will be available to watch for free via the Apple TV app from Friday, March 26 through April 22.

One of the big criticisms leveled at Apple over its control of the App Store is that it doesn’t allow ways of side-loading apps. That is to say that, if you want an app on iOS, it’s Apple’s way or the highway.

Apple, however, disagrees. In a response made as part of the Australian consumer watchdog’s probe into the App Store, Apple argues that this is not true at all — because people can create web apps or the internet.

Need a new Mac but not ready to make the leap to Apple Silicon? Pick up a new Mac mini with Intel processor at up to $150 off the usual price for a limited time. Prices start at just $999 for a speedy Core i7 model.

Oprah Winfrey will interview National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman on her show The Oprah Conversation this Friday. The 23-year-old inaugural poet, author, and activist wrote the poem “The Hill We Climb,” delivered at the inauguration of President Biden and VP Kamala Harris.

“Amanda Gorman is a young woman who stepped into a moment in history with enormous grace and dignity,” said Winfrey in a statement. “I was enthralled by her youthful spirit from the first moment we met, and very much looked forward to hearing her unpack all that has happened to her the past few months.”

Do some quick research into the habits of the most successful people in the world and you’ll see a running theme: Everyone from CEOs to motivational speakers lists reading as important. But with a packed schedule, how can even the busiest people manage to power through their reading lists?

One solution is a lifetime subscription to the 12min Micro Book Library, which delivers digestible summaries of books in less than 15 minutes. It runs on iOS or Android, and it’s available at a steep discount right now.

UPDATE: You’ve missed Best Buy’s deal on AirPods Pro now, but Woot is today offering the same deal on “grade A” AirPods Pro refurbs for one day only. Don’t miss it!

UPDATE 2: Woot has sold out of AirPods Pro refurbs now, too. But it is still offering regular AirPods (second-generation) at an all-time low of $99.99.

Best Buy’s 24-hour Flash Sale offers certified-refurbished AirPods Pro units for just $159.99 today only. That’s a whopping $90 discount and the lowest price we’ve seen on AirPods Pro so far.

Bag yours now before they all sell out!

Apple has long talked up the strides it’s making when it comes to being an inclusive workplace. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t examples of this not being the case.

As reported by Bloomberg Thursday, Apple has lost the early round of a discrimination lawsuit brought against the company by a female engineer from India. She alleges that her two male managers, one from India and the other from Pakistan, treated her as a subservient.

Apple ads consistently find fun, accessible ways of showcasing features without having to resort to technobabble. Case in point: Its new ad showing off the Ceramic Shield for the iPhone 12.

Apple could easily fill a 30-second ad talking about how this specially engineered glass is heat-treated so as to develop nano crystals similar to the ones found in ceramics, which are embedded into the glass matrix of the display. It could talk about the difference between hardness and toughness, and give percentage improvements over last year’s model.

But it doesn’t. Because most people only want to know whether this means they can drop their iPhone without it breaking. That’s where the “Fumble” ad comes in.

The fascination with Steve Jobs continues on a decade after he passed away. A handwritten job application the Apple cofounder filled out in 1973 sold on Thursday for $221,747 (£162,000). That’s far more than it went for three years ago.

Wednesday is the twentieth anniversary of Mac OS X. And those who went though the many versions over the decades can download some reminders. Every major new version came with a fresh wallpaper, and they’re all available for free.

The last year has made many pleasures inaccessible, so finding a way to safely take back something you used to enjoy is more valuable than ever. If you used to enjoy the sauna but haven’t been going due to health concerns or accessibility, a sauna you can fit on your bed will be a welcome addition to your home. The MiHigh Heated Sauna Blanket is an at-home infrared sauna that gives you many of the same benefits of a regular sauna for only $424.99.

An iPhone SE Plus with an edge-to-edge screen and Touch ID in the power button is supposedly coming in the second half of 2021. A concept designer transformed the leaked specs into a beautiful video exploring features of the proposed iOS handset. Watch it now.

Applications that trick users into paying huge subscription fees raked in over $400 million from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, according to research done by Avast.

The so-called “fleeceware” takes advantage of a weakness in both app stores: deleting an application tied to a subscription doesn’t cancel the subscription.

OS X, the most important piece of software in Apple history, turns 20 today.

Going on sale in its full, public version on March 24, 2001, Mac OS X 10.0 — code-named Cheetah, the first of many cat-themed names — transformed Apple’s operating system forever. It brought user interface enhancements that persist to this day, as well as technological advances that form the backbone of Apple’s current operating systems. In fact, OS X paved the way for today’s post-PC devices, from the iPhone and Apple Watch to HomePod and Apple TV. If you’d like to know more about Apple’s operating system evolution, check out this deep dive into its history.

While Apple eventually ditched the “OS X” branding for “macOS,” and switched from naming Mac software after big cats to California locations in 2013, Cheetah’s impact continues to be felt two decades after its introduction.

Apple TV+ on Wednesday promised a third season of the comedy series Trying. And it announced the second season of the show about a couple undergoing the herculean trials of adopting a child will debut worldwide in mid-May.

On social media, crowing about the beautiful computer setup you finally finished putting together can be a risky gambit. Because, you know, people. They might just gleefully and repeatedly point out small flaws in your masterpiece as if they’re the main thing. Picky, picky, picky.

Tom Hiddleston has signed on to star with actor Claire Danes in The Essex Serpent for Apple TV+. The drama series is based on a book about Victorian repression, science and faith, and fear of the unknown, which sold upward of 200,000 copies.

The Essex Serpent was originally due to star Keira Knightley in the lead. However, she dropped out of the project as the result of COVID-related scheduling issues. Knightley was replaced by Danes.

With the rise of premium streaming services like Apple TV+, HBO Max and Disney+, it’s no surprise that people spend more time watching video. And then there’s the sheer amount of work we do with our computers, tablets and phones.

All told, it’s the perfect time to invest in a second monitor that can connect to your Mac, iPad, iPhone and other devices. The Uperfect 15.6-inch Portable Monitor is the ideal pick to give you some streaming flexibility. It will let you watch content, do work or play games on a larger screen, wherever you want.

Apple has discontinued the original HomePod — easily the best-sounding smart speaker money can buy. But it’s not quite gone yet. Bag your brand-new model today for just $254.75, a generous $44.25 off the usual price.

You get a phenomenal audio experience, AirPlay 2 for easy streaming, and built-in Siri.