Apple and its customers can breathe a sigh of relief today after the White House carved tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, and more. The iPhone maker was facing a 145% fee on products imported into the United States from China. This caused weeks of speculation that the iPhone and other electronics could be subject to price hikes to cover the cost.
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Our long national nightmare is over. No, not that one. This one. According to posts on social media, Apple has completed installation of the more durable rainbow arches found within the circular campus.
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Here’s a weird one. My son and I were discussing shapes on the drive to school earlier this week. His question for me was, “What is the name of the shape that looks like a square with uneven sides?”
I’m now in the habit of saying “ask ChatGPT” before any Siri request that isn’t taking an action like creating a reminder or sending a message. In this instance, though, I picked up my iPhone and pressed the Action button to open Advanced Voice Mode on ChatGPT. The results satisfied his curiosity.
A few days later, I decided to use his query as an example for how ChatGPT through Siri is useful. The results surprised me.
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The most recent instance of benefiting from Apple Intelligence with about 70% satisfaction just occurred. I’m writing another piece using an M4 iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard. I selected the opening paragraph, invoked Writing Tools, and selected Proofread.
This is how the proofread version was presented:
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Apple has finally and officially released the iPhone 16 for customers in Indonesia. Not just the recently introduced iPhone 16e, but the whole lineup that was announced last fall. New iPhones typically don’t take more than 200 days to reach other markets. However, the Indonesian government forced Apple to pay for the opportunity to bring the latest iPhone technology to customers in its country.
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If I could snap my fingers and make AirPods in any color, we’d have AirPods in black by now. My second choice? Translucent AirPods. Apple sells a version of “Transparent” colored Beats Studio Buds + that I should probably own just to support the clear product cause. AirPods, of course, only come in white with the exception of the AirPods Max line.
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Sonny Dickson has shared a real world photo of two clear cases purportedly for the iPhone 17 Pro series due out this fall. We’ve been expecting the rear camera bump to expand across the width of the phone, and these cases show just how mountain range-sized the camera bar will be.
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Zens recently sent over their Quattro Charger Pro 4 to try after Apple started selling it, and it’s already become a family favorite. In testing, I also discovered a fun, off-label use that potential buyers may appreciate.
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Hyperspace, the new utility from Macintosh veteran John Siracusa, has been updated a handful of times since we covered its launch in February. If you haven’t tried Hyperspace since it first launched, there are new capabilities that could reveal even more space to reclaim.
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Apple is updating its iWork suite of productivity apps with new features that require iOS 18.4. This includes version 14.4 of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers for iPhone and iPad.
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I started using OS X full-time when I was 18 and the Mac was 25. Booting up my first Apple computer, a 2009 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5 Leopard, was like getting behind the wheel of a Porsche for the first time after being raised on pedestrian PCs.
Now it’s the iPhone and its software that are 18. In Macintosh terms, the iPhone and iOS are in the iMac G4 “iLamp” running OS X 10.2 Jaguar era — maturing products and platforms that still have room to grow up.
For this reason, I am still one to welcome changes to the way things look with open arms. ‘It looks different’ is a great feature if the way it looks is cool. “Does it look cooler” is a different question than “does it look better.” The former has more to do with trends while the latter is a matter of longevity.
If a change can be both stylish and practical such that it can last for years, then that’s a design change success. iOS 7 was too polarizing and required too many iterations before reaching stability to really hit that mark. iOS 19 has the potential to meet both metrics. It could also be a bigger deal than iOS 7 for three reasons.
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Hot off the heels of releasing iOS 18.4 to everyone, Apple has pushed out the first developer beta version of its next big point update. iOS 18.5 beta 1 is now available to developer beta testers. We’ll dig in to learn what’s new and report back so stay tuned.
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Apple has a major artificial intelligence opportunity before it that the company could potentially address in one multibillion-dollar transaction. If this startup founder is able to productize AI, finally fix Siri, and unlock a wealth of new revenue streams for Apple, I would argue that she might also be a future Apple CEO candidate someday.
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Sophia and Zac basically discuss some stuff about AI that goes off the rails, some stuff about autonomous vehicles that goes off the deep end, some stuff about Nintendo and the Switch 2 that manages to stay on track, and a special message at the end about love and kindness.
Note: recorded 3/14/2025 and released 3/25/2025 because… reasons. Thanks for viewing!
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Apple is putting the final touches on the upcoming iOS 18.4 release. The release candidate version of the upcoming iPhone and iPad software update is now available for developer and public beta testers. iOS 18.4 brings a lot of new features to both devices.
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Ever see Jason Vorhees, hockey mask and knife in tow, out on the town on a Friday that isn’t the 13th? It turns out the masked serial killer from the movies uses Siri. Here’s how we know…
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I know, I know. I’m late to the Siri Sucks party. In my defense, Siri’s degree of suck has increased. Siri never used to trip when asked what month it is. Apple’s designers nailed the glow effect though.
It’s not just that Siri has steadily fallen apart over the years. The floor for what’s expected of a system like Siri is quickly rising.
Meanwhile, Siri is waiting for someone to decide if maintenance can feasibly repair the elevator while we all take the stairs to the top of the world’s tallest building.
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MacWhisper has been a must-have transcription tool for a while now, and the new version 12 update makes it downright essential. New customers can save 15% at checkout with the promo code listed below
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Eric Migicovsky, the founder of Pebble, announced plans just 50 days ago to bring the beloved e-paper display smartwatch back to market this year, iPhone support included. Starting today, Pebble fans can pre-order the spiritual successor to the Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 smartwatches.
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Two years ago, Apple effectively censored a core iPhone communication feature. The change was reportedly initially made at the request of the Chinese government. However, Apple quickly implemented the change to all iPhones globally a few months later.
Apple essentially endorsed China’s censorship demands by voluntarily enforcing the limit on all iPhone users, including the United States and every other democratic nation. Despite being controversial at the time, Apple’s decision has not faceted sustained public scrutiny. Instead, user control and a decentralized communication method were lost under the guise of safety.
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Apple is one step closer to releasing iOS 18.4. The fourth developer beta version of the upcoming iPhone and iPad software update is now available for testing. iOS 18.4 brings a lot of new features to both devices.
Update 4:20 p.m. ET: Public betas are now also available for iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 betas.
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Double-decker AirPower. That’s basically the pitch for this wireless charging station from Zens that Apple is selling. Unlike Apple’s AirPower charging mat, this two-story power apartment for iPhones and AirPods is an actual shipping product.
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Sophia and Zac inspect the last week of humanoid and non-humanoid robots while unpacking several days of AI announcements, including Amazon’s new Alexa+ AI, Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 and Claude Code, and much more.
Note: recorded 2/27/2025 and released 3/16/2025 because… reasons. Thanks for viewing!
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Still using an Intel MacBook Air? You’re now free to throw it in the recycling bin without feeling guilty.
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