Why is my local Target selling protein powder in the tampon aisle? An investigation. This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Op…
Over ten years after shelving the Fire Phone, Amazon is reportedly planning to launch another smartphone, this time focused on Alexa. According to Reuters, the phone, which is code-named "Transformer," will center around Amazon's AI assistant, but Alexa won't "necessarily be the primary operating sy…
There's a big, and increasing, disconnect in culture right now when it comes to artificial intelligence. Companies of all shapes and sizes are hunting for places to deploy AI and can't stop talking about how this new technology will change everything. But when you ask people about AI, the consistent…
The AirPods Max 2 brings some upgrades, but does little to address the old problems. That makes the premium price harder to justify. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
If you’re looking for the best time to get a deal this spring, it might very well be during Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, which kicks off at 3:01AM ET on March 25th and runs through 2:59AM ET on April 1st. Some early deals have already begun (we’re compiling them here), but we’ll also be highlighting ne…
I know, we’ve been waiting forever for the new Siri and it still isn’t here yet. Many are adopting the cynical view that it won’t be worth the wait, and that AI is mostly hype anyway. I’ve long felt that my own view of AI is somewhat at odds with the very polarized views mostly expressed on the inte…
Many organizations have called employees back to offices following covid-related lockdowns, but the Iran war and ensuing energy crisis may quickly see workers returning to work from home. The International Energy Agency (IEA) - an energy watchdog established to help safeguard global power supplies f…
Late yesterday, Anthropic announced messaging support for Claude Code, allowing users to connect to a Claude Code session running on a Mac from a mobile device using Telegram and Discord bots. I spent a few hours playing with it last night, and despite being released as a research preview, the messa…
Macworld At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Seven top-end ports Portable Solid stand for all iPads Cons Limited angle adjustment HDMI capped at 4K/60Hz Short built-in cable Our Verdict There are enough fast ports to enable you create a desktop setup, and it’s portable enough to slip into your backpack…
OpenAI is working on a desktop "superapp" that merges its ChatGPT app, the Codex AI coding app, and its AI-powered Atlas browser into one app, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company is making the change as part of an effort to simplify its various product efforts, according to a memo cited by…
Following last week’s fantastic Apple@50 panel, the Computer History Museum has announced “TechFest: Happy Birthday, Apple,” to be held on March 28. Here are the details. more…
Sony’s WF-1000XM6 are on sale in both color options. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Sony’s WF-1000XM6 are the best noise-canceling wireless earbuds you can buy, but they’ve been hard to recommend over the last-gen model because of the price. While the older version is often on sale fo…
Apple’s AirTag successor launched earlier this year, arriving five years after the original model. Here’s every feature that’s new and improved with AirTag 2. more…
Between January and August 2025, App Store revenue from generative AI apps nearly tripled, largely driven by ChatGPT subscriptions. Here are the details. more…
What inner life? | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images I admit, this is an innovation I did not see coming: Silicon Valley has invented the philosophical zombie from the classic thought experiment "lol how crazy would it be if there were a philosophical zombie." Until recently, the philos…
The MCON includes an adhesive-backed ring for phones that aren’t MagSafe- or Pixelsnap-ready. | Image: OhSnap The MCON is the closest to a Swiss army knife that a controller can be. No, it doesn’t contain a can opener, but it makes up for it with a surprising array of features. Once you attach your…
Apple Maps in iOS 26 benefits from several new features, but the personal standout for me—Visited Places—has become a favorite for an unexpected reason. more…
AirPods have long supported touch controls via the earbuds’ stems, but the list of supported actions and gestures has grown substantially over time—including in iOS 26. Here are all of the 10+ hidden controls now offered by AirPods Pro. more…
Nvidia’s most expensive game streaming plan now supports 90 frames per second gameplay on Apple Vision Pro. GeForce Now also streams at higher resolution for Vision Pro compared to other headsets. more…
Following yesterday’s Comet iOS browser release, Perplexity is back with another AI announcement: Perplexity Health. The new “suite of connectors” includes integration with Apple Health, Perplexity says. more…
Meta has pulled the plug on its plan to, well, pull the plug on a big but unpopular part of its metaverse. more…
There are two new developments in Apple’s ongoing legal battle with health technology company Masimo over the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen feature. First, an ITC Administrative Law Judge Monica Bhattacharyya found in an initial determination that Apple’s redesigned version of the Apple Watch’s blood o…
Apple’s TV app recently got a new change for users across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and more: when browsing titles, autoplaying video has expanded to more parts of the app. more…
![This travel adapter replaces every charger in your bag [Review] ★★★★☆](https://www.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/tessan-voyager-205w-front.jpeg.webp)
The Tessan Voyager 205 combines a travel adapter with a high-output multiport charger that can charge seven devices simultaneously. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
One of the most exciting times of the year for Apple fans is coming soon. WWDC is held every June, and this year will mark the launch of iOS 27 and much more. When will Apple announce and hold WWDC this year? Head below for our expectations. more…
Last month, Apple upgraded its Apple Sports app with new NCAA tournament tracking features, a huge soccer expansion, and the ability to track leagues and teams in more markets. Now that March Madness is here, we have a look at how the feature appears in the app. more…
App Store Award winner SmartGym just rolled out an update packed with customization options and general quality-of-life improvements. Here’s what’s new. more…
With the new Firefly custom models, rolling out today in public beta, creators can train a model on their own aesthetic to consistently generate images that match their style. Here are the details. more…
Apple added yet another subscription service to its roster last summer in the form of AppleCare One, and it now appears that the company is preparing to launch it in Europe. A European trademark application has been accepted for “AppleCare One,” and it is now pending approval by the European Union I…
We learned this week that Apple has become an official partner of this year’s London Marathon, which takes place next month. The Apple Watch has of course helped a great many runners prepare for their own marathons and other long-distance races, but one of them wonders whether the sponsorship indica…
An eye-opening story from Steve Troughton-Smith, who tested Codex for a month and ended up rewriting a bunch of his apps and shipping versions for Windows and Android: I spent one month battle-testing Codex 5.3, the latest model from OpenAI, since I was already paying for the $20 ChatGPT Plus plan a…
Both the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) have confirmed that they’re buying location data of US citizens from data brokers without warrants. Senator Ron Wyden has described this as both “dangerous” and an “outrageous” privacy abuse of the Fourth Amendme…
![HomeKit Secure Video hits 24-hour outage as downtime continues [U: Fixed]](https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/03/homekit-outage.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600)
Update: Apple’s System Status page now lists the issue as resolved. Apple’s platform for recording and managing security camera footage has been experiencing performance issues for over 24 hours. Here are the details. more…
AppleVis has released its 2025 edition of the Apple Vision Accessibility Report Card, which focuses on the needs of people who are blind, DeafBlind, or who have low vision. Here are the highlights. more…
Overcast, the third-party podcast player for iOS, will soon include transcripts for podcast episodes. When the feature arrives, it will have an edge over the version in Apple’s Podcasts app. more…
Apple redesigned the Workout app in watchOS 26, but not everyone has loved the new Apple Watch exercise tracking experience. It turns out Apple has been listening, because watchOS 26.4 addresses a major complaint about the new design. more…
Apple is named in a new AI lawsuit by publisher Chicken Soup for the Soul, reports Reuters. However, the lawsuit points to a data set that Apple has already said doesn’t power Apple Intelligence. more…
With the iOS 26.4 RC released earlier today, Apple solved one of the longest-standing limitations of Family Sharing. Here’s what’s new. more…
Apple just seeded the iOS 26.4 Release Candidate to beta testers, signaling to iPhone users when the launch date will be. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
Use the built-in Apple Watch Camera Remote app to take your iPhone selfies to the next level with these helpful tips and tricks. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
iOS 26.4 is launching soon, headlined by many new features in Apple Music. There’s also a music-related improvement to Control Center in iOS 26.4: Shazam song recognition will now work even when you’re offline. more…
Macworld After Apple released iOS 26.3 last week, we were anticipating the first beta release of iOS 26.4 with bated breath. That’s because rumors for the better part of a year have pointed to this update as the one to bring the revamped Siri that has been expected since 2024. It turns out there’s n…
Beta testers, the RC (Release Candidate) versions of tvOS 26.4, watchOS 26.4, and more are now available. Here’s what to expect. more…
![PSA: Spotify investigating outage that’s kicking users off their plans [Update: Fixed]](https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/08/spotify-logo-3.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600){kind=logo}
Update 1:30 p.m. ET: Spotify says the issues have been resolved. Original story below. If you’re having trouble accessing Spotify this afternoon, you’re not alone. The streaming music service has confirmed an ongoing issue causing some listeners to be kicked off their subscription. more…
Apple just shipped the RC (Release Candidate) version of iPadOS 26.4 for testing, which means the public launch is coming very soon. Here are the details. more…
Nvidia CloudXR for visionOS can handle graphically intensive games, sims and 3D apps for use with the Vision Pro headset. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
Comet for iOS. [Update: Perplexity has released an iPad version of Comet alongside the iPhone version, which you can install using the same App Store links below. However, because it wasn’t part of the TestFlight version of the app that we tested, we were unaware that it was launching with the iPhon…
I’ve been testing a robot vacuum and mop from Matic Robots for several months now. It’s a solid product built on privacy and intelligence. I’ll share more about my overall experience with Matic in the future. For now, I want to quickly highlight an exciting update that rolled out overnight: Apple Ho…
On March 18, 1991, Steve Jobs married 27-year-old Laurene Powell. They had three children together and remained married until his death. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
Apple One bundles together popular Apple services at a discount, and it continues becoming a better value all the time thanks to new improvements for each service. Here are some of my favorite recent Apple One additions. more…
Apple's high-end, noise-canceling earbuds already provide incredible value, and this AirPods Pro 3 deal makes them way more affordable. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
Apple created an adorable Little Finder Guy to promote the MacBook Neo on TikTok, and PCalc developer James Thompson turned them into some equally delightful 5K wallpapers. Three of them are in the classic blue and white color scheme, while two others are rather more colorful … more…
We noted yesterday that Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations, which began in New York, were moving on to China. CEO Tim Cook was spotted at a celebratory event in Chengdu. Unfortunately for the company, the party atmosphere has been rather dampened by a dispute with the Chinese government … more…
Ikea smart home products have long been the preferred choice of those who want to begin or expand a smart home at an affordable price. The company’s use of physical remotes also simplified the process for those new to the technology. But when the company expanded its lineup with some budget Matter-o…
Claude Cowork Dispatch Today, Anthropic launched a new Cowork feature called Dispatch as a research preview that allows you to control a Mac-based, sandboxed Cowork session from a mobile device. Currently, the feature is only available to Max subscribers, but Anthropic has promised Pro users will ge…
9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated…
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple’s hardware chief for home devices, Brian Lynch, is leaving the company to join smart ring maker Oura. Here are the details. more…
Following a few weeks of testing, WhatsApp is officially rolling out the new profile tab to iOS users. Here are the details. more…
Duck.ai now includes more powerful reasoning models, including GPT 5 mini for free users and GPT 5.2 for subscribers. Here are the details. more…
I wasn’t fully sure what to call this blog post, but I caught myself doing a few things on my iPad Pro today that I hadn’t previously mentioned on MacStories, and they seemed worthy of a mention here. Hence, the short blog post. Let’s start with this screenshot: You’re looking at a couple of things…