Zac Hall is a Senior Editor, covering Apple, apps, and AI. His work is regularly featured by Techmeme.
He joined 9to5Mac in 2013. He later served as Lead Editor from 2016 through 2020, before creating the Space Explored website.
In 2015, Zac began co-hosting 9to5Mac Happy Hour, establishing the format of the site’s premier podcast, which he hosted for eight years.
In 2018, he created 9to5Mac Daily, providing audio recaps of Apple and technology news each weekday. He also hosted multiple seasons of the 9to5Mac Watch Time podcast, a health and fitness-focused interview series.
Zac is based in the lovely Gulf Coast town of Ocean Springs, MS, where he lives with his brilliant kids and Nova, his loyal Cavachon rescue.
Contact: zac@9to5mac.com
The Information reports that Apple may be interested in PrismML’s technology. The firm is focused on shrinking AI models that generally require servers to function, offering on-device functionality with comparable intelligence.
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A shiny new model isn’t the only upgrade coming to ChatGPT this week. In addition to GPT-5.6’s release tomorrow, OpenAI is announcing an all-new ChatGPT voice mode experience as well.
Because ChatGPT works with CarPlay, today’s release also is a major upgrade to the CarPlay voice mode experience as well.
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OpenAI unveiled GPT-5.6 at the end of June, but the public release was held back while the U.S. government reviewed the new AI models. Now the company has shared an update on when customers will be able to use the upgraded model: this week.
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Fresh off its polarizing disco ball icon fix, Spotify is continuing to listen to users with easy-win changes. Starting today, the company is giving users a highly requested feature that has sparked feedback for years: vastly expanded pinning.
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My new favorite Apple Watch and Apple Health metric is one that has been quietly working in the background for years. Specifically, it’s a bit of a hidden Apple Watch feature for tracking a great healthy habit: Time in Daylight.
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Notion Mail is out, Notion Agents is in. Last month, Notion announced that it’s discontinuing its year-old email app. Today, the company released a brand-new iPhone app called Agents.
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Earlier this year, Meta replaced its Llama AI models with Muse Spark, part of its newly built Meta Superintelligence Labs effort.
Today Meta is releasing its first image generation tool from Superintelligence Labs as part of the Meta AI app. The company says its new image-gen tools also power creative experiences in Instagram and WhatsApp with more to come.
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Heads up, parents. Microsoft just released an update to their Xbox Family Settings app for iPhone and iPad that adds new console parental controls.
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There’s a new version of Pocket Casts out for podcast listeners today, and it includes three new features. One in particular will be of interest to drivers with CarPlay.
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Apple is no longer signing iOS 26.5 and iOS 26.5.1, preventing downgrades to these software versions from newer releases. The move comes after a critical security fix was issued for iPhone last week.
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Apple’s upgraded Siri AI experience and the standalone Siri app have arrived on the Apple Watch with today’s watchOS 27 beta 3 release.
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Today’s macOS 27 Golden Gate beta 3 release includes two new wallpaper and screen saver options for your Mac.
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Apple released iOS 27 beta 3 today, giving developers the second follow-up update since iOS 27 debuted at WWDC. Developers can download the new beta now, ahead of this month’s expected public beta release.
iOS 27 is a major iPhone update centered around Siri AI, Apple Intelligence, Liquid Glass refinements, and a long list of quality-of-life changes. Here’s what we’ve found so far in iOS 27 beta 3.
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Apple has released the third iOS 27 beta for developer testing. iOS 27 beta 3 replaces the second iOS 27 beta and continues Apple’s summer beta cycle ahead of a public release this fall. We’ll update our devices and share what we discover.
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Update: A day later, the public beta version is now available as well.
While iOS 27 is very much the new focus for pre-release software, Apple is still preparing iOS 26.6 as the next iPhone update. Apple has released the fourth iOS 26.6 developer beta. iOS 26.6 beta has been in testing since the end of May.
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Last week, Apple announced dramatic price increases on Macs, iPads, and other products due to rising component costs. As a result, Apple’s stock price took a dive. As we head into the holiday weekend, however, $AAPL has rebounded with a 5% gain today.
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Apple plans to manufacture and sell around 10 million foldable iPhone Ultra models, according to a new report. That’s roughly a third more than the average build targets previously expected.
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Apple reportedly wants to buy Chinese RAM for its products from not one but two different firms. The move would likely require permission from the United States government.
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Apple isn’t the only company with AI-focused products in the works. According to a new report, SpaceX has an artificial intelligence hardware prototype that’s “slimmer than an iPhone” in development.
Update: Musk has denied the report, tweeting that it is “utterly false.”
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Baseball season is well underway, and the MLB app just gave fans a new way to keep up with real-time scores and more.
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June 30, 2026: Personal finance is now available to ChatGPT Plus customers in the U.S., expanding the feature from OpenAI’s $100/month plan to the $20/month version. Original story from last month is below.
OpenAI is catching up with some competitors and offering new personal finance features inside ChatGPT. The new personal finance experience is rolling out starting today for some subscribers.
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Anthropic is upgrading Claude Sonnet, replacing Sonnet 4.6 from February with Sonnet 5 as the best medium-sized model.
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Anthropic just launched a brand-new desktop app called Claude Science. The new app joins the main Claude app on the Mac, which includes Claude AI, Cowork, and Code.
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Remember Clawdbot, the effort to put AI models to work as agents? Clawdbot eventually became OpenClaw and gained OpenAI’s support. Now there’s an official iPhone (and Android) app for OpenClaw for the first time.
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