I’ve been using the iPhone Air nonstop for over a week and I still can’t tell if I love it or hate it. In so many ways, it just feels like the future. But every day I run into some compromise or cut corner that frustrates me. In a very real sense, the iPhone Air asks you to pay more for less. It’s less in good ways: It’s the slimmest iPhone ever and is so light for its size that it surprises you every time you pick it up. But it’s also less in bad ways: a single rear camera, one poor earpiece speaker, and significantly less battery life. It delights and disappoints in equal measure, especially for an iPhone that costs a thousand dollars or more. THE iPHONE AIR…
One of the best things about owning a Mac is the fact that you are less likely to be a victim of malware than with a Windows PC. However, macOS isn’t foolproof, and you shouldn’t be too lax about protecting your investment. Here are our tips for keeping your Mac safe from day one: 1. CHOOSE A STRONG LOGIN PASSWORD The first thing you should do with your Mac is set up a good password. You might think that there is no need to password-protect your Mac if you’re only going to be using it at home, but there are various reasons why you need this layer of protection. For one thing, without a password on your Mac, nothing on your Mac is secure, and someone could gain access to your email,…
Apple Arcade is one of Apple’s more opaque services. The company doesn’t disclose any subscription figures and keeps other key data under wraps. Occasionally, specialist media manage to glean a few insights by interviewing a developer in a forthcoming mood, but most of the time we’re kept in the dark. Is it a success? Is it a failure? That’s hard to say. What we can say for sure is that Arcade has some really good games. Everything from indie classics such as Slay the Spire and Stardew Valley and current titles such as Vampire Survivors and Balatro to surprising (and surprisingly good!) franchise additions such as Sonic Dream Team and Cypher 007. On the other hand, there’s some real rubbish on there too: the kind of junk that should have…
The Mac Pro has garnered staunch criticism from the crowd that would usually buy one—and in most cases, it’s warranted. The Mac Studio is alarmingly good for much less money. I, too, bought into the critique of the Mac Pro being a bad buy. But the Mac Pro does have value—a lot of it. As a fan of the 2019 Intel Mac Pro, I tried the M2 Max MacBook Pro and Mac Studio, but I found that the Mac Pro has advantages that can’t be overlooked. HIDDEN COSTS OF OTHER MACS When I tried to switch over to a MacBook Pro as my primary Mac, the problems started almost immediately as I attempted to mimic the hefty storage and port options that I had on my 2019 Mac Pro. I need…
One of Apple’s greatest fears has come to pass: Fragmentation has come for the iPhone and iPad. By the end of the year, users in part of the world will be able to harness the power of Apple Intelligence for various tasks—while users in the European Union will be able to set default apps, delete stock Apple apps, buy from alternative App Stores, play Fortnite, use a clipboard manager, and more. Get ready for the debates over which flavor of iOS is better—the EU version or the AI one. But that debate isn’t what Apple should be concerned about. No, it’s that after years of insisting on locked-down iOS policies, users will see what’s going on in the EU, and rather than feeling grateful that Apple keeps a close watch on…
Apple’s macOS 26 public betas are now out, marking another major milestone on the road to their release this fall. While all the social-media discourse has been about Apple’s new Liquid Glass design, that talk obscures some of Apple’s other interesting choices in this year’s operating system cycle. While Apple would probably insist (like a proud parent) that it doesn’t have favorites among its platforms, the choices Apple has made in this cycle say an awful lot about the company’s priorities, especially when it comes to the Mac. LIVING IN GLASS HOUSES Let’s start with the Liquid Glass design itself. The entire premise of this design is that Apple’s devices are largely featureless glass slabs, so creating a software interface that plays on the illusion that it’s actually a set of glass…
There are plenty of 3-in-1 magnetic chargers that cater to all your Apple portable device needs, charging iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch. Indeed, we’ve reviewed and tested the best 3-in-1 Apple chargers. Some are stands that sit on your desk or nightstand, while others fold up to fit in your pocket. The HyperJuice Qi2 3-in-1 Magnetic Charging Stand sits somewhere in between. It has a smaller sibling, predictably called the Qi2 2-in-1 Magnetic Charging Stand. This is much more pocketable, but still offers fast charging when connected to a USB-C charger. It can charge those same three Apple products, but not all of them simultaneously. DESIGN It’s small enough to be portable but not so svelte that it will slip into your pant pocket or purse. It weighs very little (9.6oz,…
On Wednesday, February 19, Apple launched a completely new iPhone SE. However, unlike a fall iPhone launch, which takes place at a special media event and is therefore flagged a week in advance by a clue-filled invite, Tim Cook’s teaser on X wasn’t for an event. Rather, the new iPhone SE followed the less glamorous route of an emailed press release that went out sometime that Wednesday morning. It’s a similar route Apple chose for last October’s Mac announcements. We expected an event, but instead we got three days of press releases. Press release announcements may let Apple retain the element of surprise (and save money on video production and acting coaches), but they lack a certain something when it comes to excitement. I complained recently about the injustice of a product…
Back in the day, I had one computer. It was a laptop bought for me by my employer, and at work, I’d attach it to an external display and use it at my desk. At the end of the day, I’d close it up, put it in my backpack, and take it home. For the last 10 years, I’ve worked at a desk at home, with a desktop Mac as my primary computer. But over the last year or so, I’ve been using my MacBook Air a lot more, whether I’m traveling or spending the winter in a heated room rather than my unheated garage. So what’s better, the single-Mac life or being a Mac vagabond? As someone who’s been there, and back, and there again, I can tell you…
Since macOS is such a mature operating system, there’s no need to rush to upgrade to the latest version as soon as it’s released. But Apple does include features that you’ll want to use regularly as soon as you discover them, and macOS Sequoia is no exception in this case. Here are the top six features in the latest Mac operating system, macOS Sequoia. Sequoia has many more features, but these are the ones that will convince you to press that download button. 1. iPHONE MIRRORING SEQUOIA Mac users tend to also use iPhones, and while iCloud helps with syncing between the two platforms, there’s still a clear line of separation between the two. With iPhone Mirroring, that line blurs quite a bit, allowing users to access their iPhones directly…
Certainly one of the main highlights of iOS 26, which was announced in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, is the new Liquid Glass interface. But the update also comes with a lot of other new features—such as many new application programming interfaces that open up a lot of possibilities for app developers. While Liquid Glass is the most notable change for anyone trying out the iOS 26 public beta, it’s not the only one. With smarter battery tools, improvements for AirPods and Apple Music, and more capabilities powered by Apple Intelligence, the update brings improvements to everyone. So even if you’re not a fan of the new Liquid Glass interface or are wondering what else iOS 26 has to offer, we’re here to show you that the update…
The Apple Vision Pro is a perplexing piece of hardware. It’s a technological marvel that stuns the senses, but it lacks the killer app and content needed to overcome the initial cost of investment and awkward ergonomics. I’m fascinated by its potential and was brave enough to hold on to the Vision Pro beyond the return window. When I use it, I am reminded of its unique abilities, such as its Mac Virtual Display feature. Bringing a boring “real world” experience to a hybrid virtual one sounds good on the surface, but the original Mac Virtual Display was limited and didn’t offer much of a benefit. But in visionOS 2.2, Apple added the ability to support a wide or ultrawide monitor, making the feature much more useful. It was one feature…
Slip in an SSD module into the Dockcase Smart Magsafe M.2 NVMe SSD case, then attach it magnetically to an iPhone 15 Pro or 16 Pro, connect it with a USB-C cable, and the video fun can begin. The Dockcase SSD enclosure enables 4K60Hz ProRes recording directly to the SSD, an ideal solution to conserve internal storage. You can then simply connect the SSD to your Mac or iPad Pro for editing. The enclosure supports compact NVMe M.2 SSDs in 2230 and 2242 formats that you must buy separately. You can get a maximum capacity of 2TB, enough for up to three hours of recording in 4K ProRes. A 1.54-inch 240-by-240 pixel IPS LC display shows real-time details on SSD health and transfer rate. The integrated display may appear playful…
I have been using Apple Vision Pro on and off for the last nine months. When it was released in February, I described it as a device with a ton of potential but with huge challenges to overcome. Now, with its first major operating system update available and plenty of time for developers to get on board, I’m left with a more pessimistic view. For spatial computing to be a hit, it’s going to need more than the Vision Pro can deliver. The first major update fixed some issues and added welcome features, but too many problems remain—and some simply can’t be fixed in a software update. If Apple is going to make spatial computing (aka mixed reality) its next major software platform, it will need to drastically accelerate its…
