Apple is gearing up to launch HomePod in Japan — more than two years after the device got its first unveiling.

Smart speaker shoppers will be able to pick one up in the coming weeks for 32,800 yen (approx. $301). HomePod will then be available in a total of 11 countries.

I use my iPad for almost all my computing. I write, read, record and edit music, edit photos — you name it. I’ve used my decade-old Mac less and less in recent years, as the iPad, or rather iOS, has gotten ever more capable.

But this week I dusted off my Mac, ordered some extra RAM (yes, it’s still available!), and fired it up. Why? Because, as powerful as the iPad is, the Mac is still way, way better for some tasks. In my case, that task is recording and editing music.

Apple updated the design of its AirPods in-ear headphones this spring but reportedly isn’t resting on its laurels. A redesigned third-generation version will be out later this year, according to a market-analysis firm.

Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak thinks that people who value privacy should quit Facebook.

Woz, who quit Facebook last year after the Cambridge Analytics scandal, said that users could never be sure when they were being listened into.

Major League Baseball’s Ballmark app has added support for Apple’s Business Chat feature. The update means that users can ask location-specific questions about their favorite stadiums.

There’s a cornucopia of Apple betas out today. For starters, the public can download their second pre-release versions of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13.

And, in a curious move, developers just got tweaked versions of the betas introduced last week.

Apple fans might be underwhelmed by 5G because they’ll have to wait another year for an iPhone with this replacement for LTE, but there’s a lot to look forward to. A new study of finds that users can expect the new technology to bring download speeds that are 2.7 times faster than 4G.

In iPadOS, Safari sports a brand-new popup menu that lets you rearrange, copy and close tabs just by long-pressing on them. It offers only a few options, but they prove so useful that you will use this trick all the time.

Check out yet another great Safari feature in iPadOS.

Users running the latest iOS 13, iPadOS 13 or macOS Catalina betas can now sign into iCloud using either Face ID or Touch ID.

If you’re using these beta versions, visiting iCloud in Safari will present a pop-up asking if you want to log in using biometrics.

There are plenty of words used to describe Steve Jobs, but “wizard” isn’t one of the ones we hear too often.

That’s exactly what Jobs was, however, according to Microsoft co-founder and long-time Jobs frenemy Bill Gates. Speaking on CNN, Gates said that Jobs accomplished his Apple-correcting wizardry by “casting spells.” But Gates, as a “minor wizard,” was immune to Jobs’ hocus pocus.