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
iPhone MagSafe battery packs are fantastic for extending device usage between charging sessions. While most solutions only work with compatible iPhones, the Aulumu M10 Multi-Charging Dual-Mag Power Bank is a high-capacity MagSafe battery pack that does the job of three distinct chargers.
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XChat, the standalone messaging app from X, is now available. X’s new iPhone and iPad app has officially arrived on the App Store.
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This week, Spotify released new AI features that work inside Anthropic’s Claude app. Spotify isn’t the only service with newly launched Claude integration, though.
Meanwhile, Anthropic has upgraded two existing features this week, including a recently introduced Claude Code tool.
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The all-new $599 MacBook Neo has been a hit for Apple since the delightful introductory video in March. Now Apple has shared a behind-the-scenes look at how it made the magic.
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As I’m spending more time outside this spring, I keep having the same thought: “I wonder what kind of bird I’m hearing sing?” Birdsong is the sound of the season for me, and a free iPhone app is adding more color to the mystery.
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There’s a new Apple Watch face that will be included in the upcoming watchOS 26.5 software update.
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Apple Invites has its second new version in as many months, adding seven new features. One key highlight is an iMessage app for sharing invitations without leaving the Messages app.
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OpenAI is capping off a busy week of announcements with the release of GPT-5.5, its latest model upgrade for ChatGPT and Codex. The company calls its new model “a new class of intelligence for real work.”
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Spotify is celebrating its 20th birthday today, and one new gift for users is Claude integration. Spotify’s music and podcast streaming service now integrates with Anthropic’s AI. Here’s how it works.
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Apple has released a new video ad that highlights how the Health app works with iPhone and Apple Watch. The commercial centers around someone receiving lots of unsolicited health advice from strangers in public.
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OpenAI is expected to be nearing an announcement around GPT-5.5, its next model upgrade to ChatGPT. A cryptic post on X includes a hidden teaser, suggesting the news is coming soon.
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Command-line interfaces are having a moment, and the great MacWhisper transcription app is here for it. MacWhisper CLI has arrived, giving Mac users a new way to run AI transcription workflows from the Terminal.
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Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to be thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro Max due to increased depth around the camera plateau. YouTuber Vadir Yuryev behind the Max Tech channel shared numbers based on iPhone 18 Pro Max dummy units. Yuryev also compares an iPhone Ultra dummy unit to iPhone 17 Pro Max.
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Pioneer was first to bring Apple CarPlay to existing cars in 2014, and now the company is pulling off another CarPlay first. The new Pioneer Sphera is the first system with aftermarket Dolby Atmos support, and it’s now shipping.
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OpenAI launch week continues today with the introduction of workspace agents in ChatGPT.
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Apple has released a new version of GarageBand for Mac. The new version finally includes an app icon optimized for macOS Tahoe.
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Apple’s upcoming Siri overhaul got a moment of stage time during Google’s Cloud Next ’26 opening keynote today.
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OpenAI is announcing its upgraded ChatGPT image generation model with ChatGPT Images 2. The company is also scaling up Codex for enterprise with a new Codex Labs initiative.
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Apple has released the third iOS 26.5 public beta. The previous public beta introduced a new splash screen that signaled the upcoming arrival of ads in Apple Maps.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is giving up the title and passing the torch to John Ternus on September 1.
Unsurprisingly, Cook is taking on the role of board executive chairman, a position in which Cook is expected to remain very active as Apple’s chief global diplomat. Retiring as CEO? Yes. But retiring into the sunset? Hardly. You can take Tim at his word when he says he can’t imagine life without Apple.
As Apple’s CEO transition shifts into the public-facing phase, I couldn’t help but revisit some of the official press material from the previous changing of the guard.
That happened under very different circumstances, of course, with Steve Jobs at the end of his life. It’s incredibly touching to revisit now. There are also echoes of Steve’s endorsement of Tim Cook in Tim’s endorsement of the next Apple CEO, John Ternus.
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OpenAI has teased its next AI software product announcement happening later today. The teaser gives us a good idea of what to expect.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down, and John Ternus is taking over. The CEO transition has quietly been underway for some time now. Starting today, the transition is happening publicly and will be complete this fall.
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Last week, OpenAI released an all-new version of Codex for Mac that includes the best example of AI-driven computer use yet.
Today, Codex for Mac is taking its recently gained memory feature further with a feature OpenAI calls Chronicle.
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Apple has released the third iOS 26.5 beta for developers. The previous beta introduced a new splash screen that signaled the upcoming arrival of ads in Apple Maps.
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