The redesigned Powerbeats Pro 2 unveiled Tuesday are Apple’s first earbuds to feature built-in heart rate monitoring. The fitness-oriented wireless earbuds feature ear hooks for a secure fit during workouts. Plus, they come with Apple’s H2 chip and bring adaptive EQ, Spatial Audio and improved active noise cancellation with Transparency Mode.
Apple calls the new Powerbeats Pro 2 “the most advanced product we’ve ever developed.”
President Donald Trump’s recent threat to cancel the CHIPS and Science Act, which offers tax credits to companies that produce processors in the United States, could throw a monkey wrench into plans to boost U.S. chip production. Trump argues that tariffs would do the job better.
That raises questions about the future of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plants being built in Arizona thanks to the CHIPS Act. TSMC’s Arizona chip fabs already make processors for iPhone and Apple Watch.
Fed up with gigantic smartphones? If even the iPhone mini seemed oversized to you, maybe you’ll appreciate an incredibly small smartphone like the NanoPhone. Smaller than a credit card, this mini smartphone proves ideal for those moments when you need something extraordinarily compact, featherweight and fuss-free.
Whether you’re traveling light, hitting the gym or just getting tired of lugging around a bulky device, the NanoPhone is your streamlined solution to staying connected without the extra weight. And you can get this teensy smartphone for a small price: just $99.97 (marked down from $199.99).
iOS 18.3.1, iPadOS 18.3.1 and more updates went out Monday. These bring bug fixes, while a security update makes them highly recommended for anyone with a compatible iPhone or iPad.
In addition, you can download macOS Sequoia 15.3.1, watchOS 11.3.1 and visionOS 2.3.1 — each with their own fixes — now as well.
Apple’s Vehicle Motion Cues feature will help you use your iPhone in the car by reducing feelings of motion sickness. With the feature turned on, dots along the edge of your iPhone screen will animate in sync with the motion of the plane, train or automobile you’re riding in.
According to Apple, “Motion sickness is commonly caused by a sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel.” Apple says these animations “reduce sensory conflict.”
It may sound weird, but the feature evidently works really well. Here’s how you can enable it.
This Apple Magic Keyboard deal means you there’s no reason to use an old-fashioned wired keyboard with your Mac. Not when you can get an Apple Magic Keyboard on sale for 20% off, and say goodbye to cables.
Or maybe you’re using a third-party keyboard you don’t like. Perhaps your Apple keyboard is close to wearing out. Whatever the reason, get a new one at a welcome discount.
Everybody loves a big, beautiful external display in a computer setup — and this LG OLED TV monitor is a great way to go. Today’s setup is built around a 42-inch LG OLED TV plugged into a MacBook Pro.
Also: See if you can guess what the cool-looking desktop wallpaper showing on the display pictures. Answer below.
February 10, 1993: Apple launches the Macintosh Color Classic, the company’s first compact Mac with a color screen.
As the first all-in-one Mac with an integrated color display, and the last U.S. Mac to offer the original model’s compact form factor, this model represents a landmark in the evolution of the Macintosh. A Color Classic unit also happens to become the 10 millionth Macintosh that Apple ships.
As a longtime Mac power user, I’ve come to rely on a handful of essential apps that supercharge my workflow. These Mac productivity apps not only streamline my daily tasks but also simplify complex jobs, making my work faster and more efficient.
Check out my favorite Mac apps that I can’t recommend enough as a power user.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Our first glimpse at Apple’s AI-powered robotic lamp makes us giddy with hope for the secret iPad-on-a-stick project we’ve been skeptical about in the past. The surprisingly lifelike Apple robo-lamp looks just like Pixar’s Luxo Jr. How cute is that?!?
Join us for the conversation about the future of Apple robotics. (We really want the lamp.)
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast 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 live stream, embedded below.
February 9, 1993: NeXT Inc., the company Steve Jobs founded after being pushed out of Apple, quits making computers. The company changes its name to NeXT Software and focuses its efforts entirely on producing code for other platforms.
In a mass layoff, 330 of NeXT’s 500 employees lose their jobs in an event known internally as “Black Tuesday.” Cruelly, many people hear of their fate on the radio.
The iPhone SE 4 could launch this week, bringing a significant redesign to Apple’s budget handset. It’ll reportedly mean the end of features that were iPhone hallmarks for many years, like the Home button. Plus, it’ll support Cupertino’s new collection of AI-powered features. Stay updated with the latest iOS news and what this means for iPhone SE owners by checking out this article.
Read on to learn everything that already leaked out describing the revamped fourth-generation SE.
Apple could launch its first foldable iPhone as early as 2026. With iPhone sales slowing down and smartphone competition increasing, Apple “intends” to launch the foldable iPhone next year, according to a new report.
Android foldables have yet to go mainstream, but they have improved leaps and bounds in the last few years. Apple risks falling behind its competitors if it does not launch a foldable device soon. Given the premium pricing of Apple’s devices, many are curious about the mac cost, especially for this first-generation foldable model.
A Costco Gold Star Membership can help you secure high-quality goods — including iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches and iPads — at bargain-basement prices. You can hop on the savings train now with a Costco membership deal that lets you join the warehouse club for less.
Right now, you can pick up a year-long Costco Gold Star Membership for only $65. You’ll also score a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card*!
February 8, 2010: Steve Jobs reportedly flips out over a tweet sent from an iPad by an editor at The Wall Street Journal.
The reason? Apple showed the iPad to top staffers at the news outlet months ahead of its official release. While Jobs already unveiled the device to the public a couple of weeks before, the suggestion that people outside Apple gained early access to the tablet apparently upset the CEO.
The iPad tweet quickly disappeared.
To tackle your party planning, the new Apple Invites app can help you get organized with RSVPs and keep everybody up to date. It can even handle a shared music playlist and photo album that anyone can contribute to.
And yes, you can invite people who don’t have the app installed yet, don’t have an Apple Account or don’t have an Apple device at all. You can invite people via email; they can RSVP on the web and get follow-up notifications in their inbox.
Keep reading or watch our video guide — and download the app here.
Apple offers end-to-end encryption for many more types of iCloud data than it once did. Advanced Data Protection encrypts iCloud Photos, Notes, iCloud Backup and more. But you have to activate the feature to take advantage of the data protection. It is easy … once you find the switch buried in Settings.
We can save you some time. Here’s how and why you should activate it.
It’s never too cold to play golf on your Mac or iPhone, and PGA Tour Pro Golf features iconic locations like Pebble Beach Golf Links and Harbour Town Golf Links.
The game just launched on Apple Arcade.
Even folks who don’t pay for access to TV channels can stream the Super Bowl live — and for free — on any Apple device or on the web. For Super Bowl LIX this Sunday, Fox Sports plans to stage a “takeover” of the Tubi streaming app. The free live Super Bowl stream will include a pregame run-up and the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar. And it requires no viewer sign-in.
So now what’s your excuse to blow off the year’s biggest sporting event? Oh, you probably hate football, not to mention all the commercialist hoopla that comes with America’s modern-day gladiatorial bloodsport. Oh well. For tens of millions of others, Super Bowl Sunday is like a national holiday.
The government of the United Kingdom reportedly wants a backdoor into Apple accounts so it can spy on any iPhone or Mac user anywhere. It allegedly ordered Apple to allow it to access everything from any iCloud account globally, breaking the encryption protection on the files.
Apple is fighting the order.
If you don’t have big bucks to spend on high-end, audiophile-worthy speakers and headphones to use in your computer setup, you can’t really go wrong with uber-affordable Edifier audio gear. Today’s featured M2 MacBook Pro setup — an exotic entry from Nepal, no less — keeps the tunes flowing through a nice set of Edifier bookshelf speakers and a comfortable pair of over-ear noise-canceling headphones. They simply get the job done well — without breaking the bank.
February 7, 1981: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is involved in a serious plane crash in California, resulting in his first lengthy leave of absence from the company.
At the time, Wozniak is flying a turbocharged, single-engine, six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC. In the plane with Woz is his fiancé, Candi Clark, her brother and her brother’s girlfriend. Fortunately, nobody dies in the crash, although Woz suffers minor head injuries.
Sonos has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, but that doesn’t mean its audio gear isn’t great. Sonos Ace headphones made a big splash when they came out as an AirPods Max rival, and right now you can grab Ace headphones for $100 off on Amazon. That’s a great deal on great cans.
In the updated Notes app in iOS 18, you can transcribe audio to text for free: Your iPhone will automatically transcribe voice notes for later.
This is a great feature to use in a college class, if you want to record audio of a lecture alongside your notes. You can use it in meetings — the irritating in-person kind — for recording what people actually said alongside your notes. It’s also great for generating podcast transcripts or any kind of writing. It’s a quick and easy way to get a first draft.
Read more or watch our video guide.
★★★★☆
In our Severance season 2 episode 4 recap, we follow our friends from Lumon Industries’ Macradata Refinement (MDR) department into a wintry wilderness central to Kier Eagan’s lore. In the most bizarre corporate team-building event ever, two of them find forbidden love and one may never return. And it’s the first episode to take place completely outside of Lumon’s halls without visiting outies’ lives.
Last week’s episode 3 went further down innie rabbit holes in amusingly confounding ways. Ultimately, an improved-yet-still-dangerous outlaw reintegration procedure seemed like it might be outie Mark S’s path to returning to his beginnings at Lumon, cracking the sinister company’s mysteries and finding his wife. It made likely plot trajectories a little more clear. But episode 4 actually unravels some mysteries, and gives Irving B. (John Turturro) center stage for the first time.