The Touch Bar is one of Apple’s most controversial innovations of recent years. Located inconspicuously at the top of the MacBook Pro keyboard, where the function keys used to sit, some users ignore it altogether. Others actively hate it.

For pro users, like software developers, the lack of a physical escape key and function keys can be a real pain. And the Touch Bar’s touch-sensitivity makes it all too easy to trigger Siri by accident when you aim for the delete key.

But love it or loathe it, we’re stuck with the Touch Bar. Apple includes it on all its high-end laptops, without even offering function keys as a built-to-order option. So we might as well learn how to get the most out of it.

The good news is that once you get in touch with your Touch Bar, it turns out to have some genuinely useful time-saving features. Especially if you use apps that support it, like Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office. Here are my top 40 Touch Bar tips.

The first HomeKit-compatible video doorbell finally has a launch date in the USA, giving iPhone lovers an alternative to Amazon’s Ring doorbell and Nest Cam from Google.

Robin Telecom Development — a tech hardware company from the Netherlands — revealed today that its ProLine Doorbell will launch in over 50 countries on January 31, but people in the USA and Canada will have to wait until February 28.

A teen-aged golf prodigy could lose her amateur status after she appeared in a 15-second video for the Apple Watch.

Lucy Li, 16, is ranked ninth among the world’s women’s amateurs. The United States Golf Association could revoke her status as early as next week – even though, according to her mother, she received no compensation for appearing in the ad.

The next version of the iPhone XR could offer significantly faster cellular connections than the current one, according to industry analysts. That’s because the new model is supposedly getting 4×4 MIMO — the iPhone XS series are currently the only Apple devices with this speedy tech.

The Apple Watch is already saving lives, but it could turn out to be even more of a powerful tool if the results of new research turns out positive.

For the study, Apple teamed up with pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson to establish whether the Apple Watch — in conjunction with a new app — could help diagnose one of the leading causes of strokes.

Slack is everybody’s favorite way to waste time when they’re supposed to be working. And today, the biggest conversation in Slack chats everywhere is Slack’s hideous new logo.

It’s dull. It’s ugly. It has none of the personality of the original logo, and it doesn’t look like the Slack hashtag even if you squint at it hard.

If you’re on iOS, tough. You’re stuck with this awful new corporate abomination. But if you’re on the Mac, there’s good news: You can keep the old Slack app icon.

Step one is DON’T UPDATE THE SLACK APP YET!

Apple may have only debuted its latest iPads at the end of 2018, but it is reportedly gearing up to launch at least two more in the first half of 2019.

According to a new report, Apple touchscreen suppliers are expecting new “entry-level” iPads, including a new iPad mini and an upgrade on last year’s cheaper 9.7-inch iPad.

A huge chunk of the internet runs on WordPress – like, a third of it. So if you’re going to build a website, this ubiquitous platform is a great tool. But signing up is just the start. For a site that looks and works how you want, you will need extra resources.

FAANG stocks suffered a massive dip before the holidays, wiping out $1 trillion in combined value. Now they’re bouncing back — with one notable Apple-shaped exception.

While Facebook, Google, Netflix and Amazon have all gained between 10.7 percent and a massive 50 percent since Christmas Eve, Apple is severely lagging. It’s up just 5.5 percent over the same period.

Only a small percentage of phone users expressed real concerns in a recent survey about how much time they spend on their device. And a large number of respondents were fine with it.

Still, a significant percentage of people use the tools offered by Apple and others to track their screen time.

Tim Cook has called for “comprehensive federal privacy legislation” in the U.S. that would fight the “shadow economy” of data brokers. Cook’s comments were made in an op-ed for Time Magazine, published today.

This is just the latest example of Cook calling out companies which make their money trading in user data, often gathered without the full understanding of users of a particular service.

Plenty of tech companies “borrow” from Apple’s designs when it comes to new products, but it’s relatively rare for other industries to play copycat.

A Swiss watch company, however, is making an exception to the rule. The Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black from H Moser & Cie offers a hands-free Swiss watch that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Apple Watch.

Apple spent $310,000 on Tim Cook’s personal security last year. That figure alone may be around 5x the median household income in the U.S., but it’s a bargain compared to the figures some tech companies spend keeping their executives safe!

Amazon and Oracle, for example, spent $1.6 million each protecting Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison. Google, meanwhile, spent $600,000 looking after CEO Sundar Pichai. All of those pale in comparison to Facebook, however — whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s security detail cost a reported $10 million.

Slumping iPhone sales have caused Apple to rethink its hiring strategies for certain division.

During an employee meeting earlier this month, Tim Cook was asked if the company is about to go on a hiring freeze. Cook reportedly responded that a total hiring freeze wasn’t a solution, the company would reduce hiring in some areas.

One rumored change to the 2019 iPhone might not happen: a generally reliable source indicates that Apple’s next handset will hold onto its Lightning connector.

And the same source says the iPhone XI will have very high-resolution front- and rear-facing cameras.

Apple clearly says its new battery cases aren’t compatible with the iPhone X but some users of that handset claim that they’ve gotten the two to work together.

The designs of new iPhone XS and older X are nearly identical and the 2017 model mostly fits in the Smart Battery Case. Nevertheless, the handset gets power only under some conditions.

You know how iOS’ accessibility features often prove handy for all users? Like Live Listen, which lets you turn your AirPods into remote listening devices? Or a combo of settings that resurrects an iPhone with a broken screen?

The same is true for Screen Time. This feature tracks how long you spend using apps every day, and can help you limit that time. But you can also use Screen Time to password-protect any app on your iPhone or iPad.

This post is presented by Tenorshare.

The more we use our iOS devices, the more likely we are to lose data that’s important to us. Whether because of theft, damage or neglect, plenty of us know how valuable it can be to quickly get back the data we’ve lost. Even better if you can target just the files you want, like certain photo albums or text exchanges.

Apple may have found the perfect TV executive to help it produce a bevy of squeaky-clean TV shows for its upcoming streaming service.

Jason Katims, who created Parenthood and produced Friday Night Lights inked a multi-year deal with Apple will have the award-winning TV veteran develop and produce a number of shows for Apple.

Hey, iOS musicians. Not just you, in fact: Hey anyone who likes fun! Meet Korg’s new music-making boxes, the Volca Drum and the Volca Modular. They’re new additions to the Volca family of paperback-size music machines that hook up together or work alone. And they work great with your iPad or Mac, if you like.

Apple’s self-driving car development could be headed for a cliff. Maybe. A questionable report from industry analysts says that there are layoffs in this division and the whole project might even be scrapped.

The cause is supposedly the slowdown in iPhone sales caused by the weakening Chinese economy. The reduction in revenue leaves less room for non-core programs.

It seems Samsung is still struggling to match the performance of the iPhone.

Alleged early benchmarks for the upcoming Galaxy S10+ suggest the company’s flagship device doesn’t come close to competing with the iPhone XS Max. It doesn’t even beat the aging iPhone X.

Apple’s stealth play to hype HomeKit devices at CES gave the home-automation platform a major boost.

A slew of new HomeKit-compatible devices are headed our way. From locks and TVs to blinds and video doorbells, they promise to make smart homes more exciting in the very near future. 

Apple and a handful of private Medicare insurers are exploring a deal that could subsidize the cost of Apple Watches for people over 65 to use for health tracking.

Insurance companies offering the Apple Watch free or at a reduced cost as a carrot to get healthy is a growing trend as the watch continues to grab headlines for its health benefits.

Motorola is planning to bring back its popular pre-iPhone line of Razr handsets — but don’t expect it to cost what a cellphone cost back in the early 2000s.

According to a new report, Motorola’s revived flip phone brand could carry a price tag of $1,500 when it launches. In other words, it’s trying to take on the iPhone, a handset whose popularity helped cement the Razr’s fate, with a new phone that costs more than Apple’s flagship. We’ll give it to Motorola: That’s a bold strategy!