Top stories - page 157

This week on Apple TV+ show The Afterparty, we hear from the final suspect who attended the reunion that ended with pop star Xavier’s murder. So, if you’ve loved hearing about these events over and over — congratulations! You’re getting them one more time, this time delivered in the form of an unremarkable animated TV show.

Newly single mom Zoë takes Detective Danner through her version of the events that took place that deadly night. Naturally, she makes plenty of detours to talk about her life as a mom and a divorcee, and how hard all of this has been for her.

Her story would prove more compelling if these points hadn’t already been made in the previous five episodes of this dreadful show. It only took half of this short season for The Afterparty to run out of steam. All in all, it’s a pitiful display from comedy performers who should know better.

New Apple TV+ docu-series Lincoln’s Dilemma delivers a fine history lesson in classical PBS form. The four-part series, which premieres today, brings you the story of Lincoln’s presidency and the ways in which he approached the issue of slavery, from his first dealings with the issue until his death at the hands of a Confederate sympathizer.

Stewarded by executive producer/directors Jacqueline Olive and Barak Goodman, executive producer Jelani Cobb and a host of historians and activists, the series’ form is likely too sturdy and utilitarian to change the way anyone views Lincoln.

However, the filmmakers’ intent is admirable. They set out to neither oversell nor undersell Lincoln and his views on slavery, how history has sought to simplify the political figures of the 1860s, and how the Great Emancipator was and was not an adequate moniker for the 16th president of the United States.

Ever been in a situation where your hands aren’t free but you can’t speak out loud to Siri voice assistant, either? There could be a camera coming that understands your voice commands even if you’re not making a sound.

Two Cornell University researchers created a wearable infrared smart camera that detects voice commands not by sound, but by measuring movements in the neck and face from under the chin.

Monowear’s gorgeous Urban Canvas bands are a terrific match for Apple Watch. They’re nicely priced at just $38, and they come in a range of great color options that go well with almost anything.

Here’s why they’re some of the toughest and most surprising Apple Watch bands I’ve worn to date.

Most people use the awesome filmmaking potential of iPhone 13’s Cinematic Mode to shoot vids of their cats. But not South Korean director Park Chan-wook. In the latest in Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” series, he takes you into afterlife in a short film packed with martial arts wizardry and dream-like sequences. It’s called Life is But a Dream, and it’s shot entirely on an iPhone 13 Pro.

Even if you and your cat had a famous director’s resources — the cast, the sets, the costumes, the rich folklore — you still probably couldn’t come up with anything like this. But thanks to the technology in your iPhone, you can try.

When you see a computer setup with two monitors stacked on top of each other, what do you think? Maybe something like … doesn’t the person have to crane their neck to look at the top one? Isn’t it uncomfortable? Where does the webcam go? What’s wrong with side-by-side, maybe with one in portrait (vertical) mode instead of landscape?

The person behind today’s featured setup is confronting those very questions on the way to deciding a common multi-display conundrum: to stack or not to stack? That is the question.

iOS 15.4 gives some iPhone owners the ability to download software updates over a 4G LTE data connection for the first time.

It was previously possible to use 5G to get the latest over-the-air releases on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13. But Apple is now expanding that functionality by giving users in certain territories the ability to use 4G LTE as well.

New Apple TV+ dark comedy/thriller Severance centers on a company man with an unusual relationship to himself and his job. Every day he goes to work, and his brain stays behind.

At work Mark’s a new man — one who doesn’t have to think about his grief or his petty social problems. At home, he’s a sad sack who doesn’t know he’s about to stumble into a conspiracy.

Comedy veteran Ben Stiller and first-time showrunner/writer Dan Erickson collaborated on Severance, which premieres Friday. The unconventional show takes pointed satirical swipes at modern workplace culture, but ultimately offers a deeper look at the meaning of life.

Not a good time to send that important message to a colleague in Slack? The widely used communication platform lets you schedule messages to send later on desktop and mobile. You simply choose the date and time, and Slack takes care of the rest.

The feature comes in particularly handy if you work with colleagues in other time zones and don’t want to bother them after hours. Here’s how to send Slack messages later on iPhone, iPad and Mac so they arrive at appropriate times.

Rosetta Stone is one of the most reliable ways to learn a new language short of actually living where the language is spoken. The Social Distancing Lifetime Subscription Bundle Featuring Rosetta Stone gives you the chance to learn all 24 of the platform’s languages. Plus, you get a fantastic virtual private network (to keep your browsing safe) and the 12min microbook library.

Sound good? The Social Distancing Lifetime Subscription Bundle is on sale with coupon code LEARN10NOW.

Verizon this week made Apple Arcade a permanent perk for those who subscribe to one of its Unlimited 5G plans. The carrier last year began offering Apple Arcade for six to 12 months. Now it’s a fixture for eligible customers.

That’s a pretty generous bonus — especially now that Apple’s own Arcade trial is just a month long. And it’s in addition to other Verizon entertainment perks, like access to Hulu, Disney+, ESPN+ and Apple Music.

Charlie Munger, investment company Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman, laid out high praise for Apple during an interview with Yahoo! Finance on Thursday. He called the Cupertino juggernaut “ungodly well-managed.”

He also described Apple as “one of the strong companies” and said he expects it to remain so.

Lighting is one of the most important design features for making your home feel right for you.

Want to switch things up? You can control the lighting in your home without sacrificing any space by adding a few of Lamp Depot’s Minimalist LED Corner Floor Lamps to your rooms.

Apple subsidiary Beats by Dre said Thursday its new, limited-edition PowerBeats Pro earbuds will celebrate the NBA’s 75th anniversary, marked through the 2021-2022 season.

Designed in partnership with Canada-based brand and retailer Better, the new Powerbeats Pro are off-white and sport red and blue ear tips. The Beats logo goes head-to-head with the NBA logo on one bud and with the Better logo on the other.

If you find yourself lugging around your iPad on a regular basis, you probably need a stand that’s as mobile as it is effective. Compass Pro perfectly fits the bill with its durable, folding design that’s ready when you need it.

Built by the brilliant minds at Twelve South, the Compass Pro is made from ultra-tough metal and can be adjusted for everything you might want to do with your iPad — including drawing, typing, and watching movies.

A good crime story is hard to resist, and it looks like Apple TV+ has one. A new series and companion podcast called The Big Conn will tell the larger-than-life tale of a Kentucky attorney’s exploits. He defrauded the U.S. government out of $500 billion — the biggest Social Security scam in history.

Apple TV+ premieres the series’ first two episodes at the SXSW Film Festival in March. All four episodes and the podcast launch on May 5 on Apple TV+ and Apple Podcasts, respectively.

Google, which makes Chrome, and Mozilla, which makes Firefox, warn that those web browsers are about to reach version 100. And that could mean major websites stop working properly with them.

Why? Coded to recognize two-digit version numbers, websites may have trouble identifying browsers with three-digit numbers.

WhatsApp for iPhone just got a big improvement to voice messaging that means you no longer have to put other replies on hold. The app now continues to play a voice message you’ve already started even if you jump into another chat.

It’s part of a bunch of improvements WhatsApp plans for audio notes, which also include the ability to replay a message you’ve recorded before sending it.

From time to time you hear about Apple’s first computer, the Apple 1, selling to collectors at auction for big bucks. But did you know some of those surviving antiques carry an enduring mystery? For decades, no one could figure out who wrote the serial numbers on their circuit boards. Until now.

iPhone 14 Pro could be the first to match iPad Pro (and Samsung’s new Galaxy S22) in RAM capacity. A new rumor claims Apple’s next flagship is set for an upgrade to 8GB — up from the 6GB packed into last year’s iPhone 13 Pro.

The memory bump may be necessary to accommodate iPhone 14 Pro’s new cameras, which are expected to include its largest rear-facing sensor to date.

You don’t need a full lab setup to see the tiny details of the world. This WiFi Digital Microscope can magnify up to 1,000X and is on sale for just $55.95 (regularly $69).

Connect this powerful digital microscope directly to your smartphone and see a new side of the world around you. It can magnify 50 to 1,000 times. At the highest level, you can make out individual cells in everyday organisms. You could see microscopic bacteria, the cellular structure of organic specimens, or even your own blood cells!

A shareholder advisory group is urging Apple investors to vote against a $99 million compensation package awarded to CEO Tim Cook last year.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said it has “significant concerns” over the “design and magnitude” of the package — which is up $14.8 million from the year before. But it is Apple’s board, not investors, that make the final decision.

iOS and iPadOS 15.4 make a small but welcome change to the way in which Safari saves login information. As of the third beta release, which rolled out to developers on Tuesday, passwords without user names won’t be saved.

The change, which also applies to macOS 12.3 Monterey, means users will be prompted to add a user name before they can save a new password. It helps prevent a buildup of passwords you can’t remember the user names for.

If you own a MacBook Pro, an iPad Pro or any other power-hungry device, you are going to want to enter our latest giveaway. Cult of Mac is giving away 10 — count ’em, 10! — powerful GaN fast chargers from award-winning company Ugreen.

The 100W GaN fast charger packs three USB-C ports and one USB-A port, so it can charge up to four devices at once. If you want to stop using multiple charging blocks that take up all your power outlets, be sure to enter this giveaway.

Java is still one of the most useful coding languages in the world. You can master it with The Complete 2022 Java Coder Bundle.

On sale now for $39.99 (regularly $1,791), it’s a great way to learn Java — even for total beginners. (Don’t worry, advanced coders: This bundle offers plenty for you, too.)