Top Stories - page 3

I’ve always noticed a certain breed of Apple enthusiast for whom less is definitively not more. While minimalist setups have their ascetic charm, the rigs below operate on an entirely different philosophy: more computers, more screens, more audio gear — more of everything. These are the top 10 maximalist setups.

They’re the ones that made commenters ask if the owner works at “the money factory making commerce,” for example, or declare, “OP has done it: they’ve finally hit the limit of too much screen space.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed during Thursday’s quarterly earnings call that the company intends to apply for refunds on tariffs it paid under trade measures that the Supreme Court recently ruled unconstitutional. And has a clear plan for where that money will go: straight into U.S. manufacturing.

Anyone still using an Intel Mac needs to know that when macOS 27 launches this fall, it won’t be available for computers that don’t use Apple’s own processors.

It’s not like your Intel-based Mac will suddenly explode in your face because it’s running an older version of macOS, but the odds of getting hacked go up considerably. Here’s why.

April 30, 2010: Almost a month after the first-gen iPad went on sale, the first Wi-Fi + 3G iPads arrive in the hands of U.S. customers.

The devices ship in boxes identical to the Wi-Fi-only models, but with an additional sticker noting their cellular connectivity capability. The tablets come preloaded with micro-SIM cards branded AT&T, the only wireless carrier that initially supports the iPad.

The Dwarf Mini smart telescope from DwarfLab cooperates with your iPhone to help you take amazing pictures of the stars — even in locations where you probably think it’s impossible. And it’s all thanks to the miracle of long-exposure images.

Even better, the telescope is comparatively tiny and sets up in minutes.

As a long-time stargazer, I was thrilled to test out the Dwarf Mini. And even more thrilled with the results.

Apple will put artificial intelligence front and center in the iPhone camera with a dedicated Siri camera mode coming in iOS 27, according to a new report. The move signals the company’s push to make on-device AI feel less like a hidden feature and more like a core part of the iPhone experience.

April 29, 2010: Apple CEO Steve Jobs pens “Thoughts on Flash,” an open letter to explain why, basically, Adobe Flash kind of sucks. The letter marks the beginning of the end for the once-omnipresent plugin that powered multimedia in internet browsers for years.

Following the devastatingly blunt broadside, Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen hits back at Apple, arguing against Jobs’ complaints. But the Apple leader has clearly made up his mind: iOS devices will never support Flash. The writing is on the wall.

Apple’s bid to freeze court-ordered App Store changes while it pursues U.S. Supreme Court review got rejected Tuesday as the latest decision in the iPhone giant’s long-running legal fight with Fortnite maker Epic Games. So the clock is now ticking on compliance pending another decision over what Apple can charge in fees.

With plenty of ports, power and bandwidth, Thunderbolt docks form the backbone of a modern MacBook-powered workstation — and the iVanky FusionDock Ultra takes things to the extreme. It packs an absurd number of ports and promises enough bandwidth to handle just about anything you can throw at it.

Find out what makes the iVanky FusionDock Ultra so special in our review.

You can easily remove any object from a photo using Apple Intelligence’s free Clean Up tool on your iPhone, Mac or iPad. It works fairly well — but it’s good to know its limitations.

As the only graphic designer among my friends, I’ve frequently been asked over the years to Photoshop unwanted elements out of pictures. Take, for example, a romantic shot of a couple in a gazebo, with a phone sitting on the handrail in an obvious spot. The image might look a lot better if you delete that stray device.

Or imagine a group photo from a fun night out, with someone’s dumpy tote bag sitting by their feet, or a picture from a big conference that shows an ugly lanyard around someone’s neck. With Apple Intelligence’s free Clean Up feature, anyone can make the tote bag and the lanyard disappear, right from their iPhone.

Now, you have the power to clean up your own photos — a chance to make your almost-perfect shots perfect in an instant. 

A New York ophthalmologist made history recently, becoming the first surgeon in the world to perform cataract surgery using Apple’s Vision Pro headset, according to a new report. It offers a compelling new use case for a device that has struggled to find mass-market traction.

“We are now able to bring the world’s best surgeon into any operating room, at any hour, from anywhere on the planet,” Dr. Eric Rosenberg said. “From residents performing their first cases to surgeons facing unexpected complications, this technology democratizes access to expertise — and that will save vision.”

April 28, 2003: Apple opens the iTunes Music Store, revolutionizing the music industry and digital distribution of content.

At a time when getting music online mostly means illegal downloads from pirate services like Napster, iTunes quickly proves that customers will pay for songs — provided the service is good enough.

Apple’s ecosystem has never sounded better — AirPods, HomePods, Apple TV with Dolby Atmos — and yet the humble desktop speaker often remains an afterthought. For Mac users who spend long hours at a monitor or in front of a gaming console or smart TV, the audio situation can range from mediocre built-in speakers to a rat’s nest of half-compatible gear. But this Edifier M90 speaker review explains how the stellar new boxes do a great job of solving any number of audio problems in different settings. They bring potent audio power to practically any gear. 

Tim Cook doesn’t get enough credit for launching groundbreaking products as Apple CEO. He quietly oversaw launches that reshaped how people listen, make purchases and monitor their health. He even revitalized the Mac.

With Cook leaving the CEO spot to become chairman of Apple’s board of directors in September, it’s time for some perspective on his time in office. Here are five examples of Cook embedding Apple deeper into our lives than ever before.

You can record a phone call on your iPhone for future reference using a built-in tool. This feature is a great way to refer back to a previous conversation. Who said what? What date did they say? What exactly did you agree to?

If your device supports Apple Intelligence, you’ll get transcriptions of the phone calls, too. They’ll go in a Call Recordings folder in the Notes app.

If you used a shady call recording app before, you can bid it adieu. There’s a convenient button built right into the Phone app. Here’s how it all works.

April 27, 2008: Psystar’s first Mac clones ship to customers. The company’s new Open Computer means that, for the first time since the mid-1990s, there’s no need to assemble a “hackintosh” to run OS X on a non-Apple computer.

Unlike previous clone Macs, however, Psystar’s low-priced computers don’t come with Cupertino’s blessing. Naturally, a fight ensues.

First announced at CES 2026 in January and released Monday, EarFun Clip 2 open-ear earbuds arrive with an unusually ambitious spec sheet for $79.99 (or less with launch discount). EarFun says Clip 2 is the world’s first Hi-Res comfort ear-clip earbuds with built-in AI translation priced under $80 — a claim that would sound like marketing bluster if the hardware didn’t largely back it up. After spending time with them, here’s my EarFun Clip 2 earbuds review with an honest verdict.

Each morning I wake up and check my sleep score on my Apple Watch. And then I wonder if it’s doing me any good. It’s certainly adding stress and hassle to my day.

That’s why I’m thinking of turning it off. Maybe you should, too.

The daily games hiding inside the News app are my favorite puzzles to play. Some are digital versions of classic games like crossword puzzles and sudoku. Others are entirely new.

All five games are available to all Apple News+ and Apple One Premier subscribers. Here’s how to play each of the daily word games in Apple News+ on iPhone. Check them out in this quick video.

iMessage effects can add extra meaning, emotion and fun to your texting. In Apple’s Messages app, you can add bold, italics, underline and strikethrough text, just like in a formatted document. You can even choose from a bunch of cool, animated effects, including full-screen blasts of lasers, confetti and fireworks.

Apple’s text message effects can make quite an impression. You can make congratulations more bombastic (to rejoice in someone’s finest moments). Or, you can use formatting and effects to convey sarcasm, stress and sorrow more clearly.

These text effects are fun and incredibly useful. Keep reading below or watch our video.

Apple rolled out version 1.8 of its Apple Invites app Thursday, bringing seven new features that make planning and sharing events easier than ever. The update, available on the App Store, is the second recent upgrade for the iCloud+-exclusive digital invitation service.

There’s a certain magic in watching someone squeeze maximum capability out of a beautifully spare workstation. While plenty of computer setups aspire to the look of a NASA mission control center — bristling with displays, peripherals and enough RGB to signal alien life — a different school of thought holds that the best setup is the leanest one. Fewer devices mean fewer cables, fewer distractions and more space to think. You can do a lot with a little.

Apple Music Classical is an iPhone app specifically designed to deliver a great experience browsing and listening to instrumental music. Apple carefully curated its catalog of millions of tracks, tagging them by composer, work, movement, instrument, orchestra, artist and more.

Why does there need to be a separate app for classical music? Apple says it succinctly on its support page: Classical music “has longer and more detailed titles, multiple artists for each work, and hundreds of recordings of well-known pieces.” This app “is designed to support the complex data structure of classical music.”

This is how to discover, find, add and listen to music in Apple Music Classical.

No patience for slow wireless chargers? Then you need to check out the Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station. It delivers up to 25W, and so can give an iPhone 17 a nearly 50% charge in half an hour. There’s even a fan to keep things cool.

At the same time, the accessory boasts charging mats for an Apple Watch and an AirPods wireless charging case. And it folds up for easy travel.

I put Anker’s sleek 3-in-1 fast-charger through its paces for this review. Here’s what I learned.

April 23, 2009: Less than a year after opening its virtual doors, the App Store reaches 1 billion downloads.

Peer-to-peer file sharing app Bump becomes the 1 billionth app to be downloaded. As a result of his purchase, 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey of Weston, Connecticut, wins Apple’s “1 Billion App Countdown” promotion.

He takes home an assortment of Apple products valued at more than $13,000, including a $10,000 iTunes gift card, a 32GB iPod touch, an Apple Time Capsule wireless router and a 17-inch MacBook Pro.