Zac Hall is a Senior Editor, covering Apple, AI, and the modern technology landscape.
He joined 9to5Mac in April 2013, originally as a writer and copy editor.
He later served as Lead Editor from May 2016 through December 2020, before shifting focus to 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 created and hosted multiple seasons of the 9to5Mac Watch Time podcast, a health and fitness-focused interview series.
Zac currently focuses on writing for 9to5Mac. He is based in the lovely Gulf Coast town of Ocean Springs, MS, where he lives with his brilliant kids and Nova, his adventurous Cavachon rescue pup.
Contact: zac@9to5mac.com
It’s been 16 months since Apple purchased the three-year-old classical music streaming service Primephonic. Meanwhile, there are only a few days left for Apple Music to meet its plan of launching a stand-alone Apple Classical app that replaces the discontinued Primephonic app. (This seems unlikely.)
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Authorities in Tokyo are asking Apple to pay $98 million in back taxes after incorrectly exempting foreign tourists and resellers from a consumption tax. Nikkei reports that Apple stopped tax-free shopping in June after incorrectly exempting bulk orders of iPhones and other hardware.
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December 25 has arrived, and that means it’s time for a Steve Jobs Christmas story …
Steve Jobs had a knack for steamrolling over the road blocks and getting practical results. Regis McKenna is a tech veteran who helped Jobs put together the Apple I marketing campaign in 1976. McKenna briefly reclaimed the role of helping Jobs with publicity in 2010 when antenna-gate followed the iPhone 4 launch.
Yet it’s a favor from Jobs to McKenna that comes up around Christmas.
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Siri isn’t the worst voice assistant on phones today, according to MKBHD. In his latest video, Marques Brownlee conducts a four-way test between Siri and its competitors to see how voice assistants compare in 2022.
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If you have a new iPhone or iPad, Apple lets you create a customizable Animoji character called Memoji. A Memoji can look like you or have a totally different look. Want to add a Santa hat to your Memoji or create a Santa character of your own? Here’s how to make Memoji more festive for the holidays…
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I’ve seen my fair share of wear and tear on anodized aluminum, but this cosmetic misfortune on my M2 MacBook Air takes the cake. So here’s what happened…
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Apple is expected to release the first revision to the 2021 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2023. Here’s everything we expect to see with the M2 Pro chip and M2 Max chip MacBook Pro notebooks so far.
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Losing something with an AirTag attached is awesome. Ping the AirTag or locate it on a map and you’re well on your way to finding whatever thing you lost. Using an AirTag before you actually lose something? That’s another story.
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Setting up a new Mac, or just want yours to learn new tricks? These are my must-have Mac apps and Safari extensions that make my Mac feel like it’s mine.
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Apple recently proclaimed that iPhone production for holiday sales won’t come close to meeting demand. Citi analyst Jim Suva, however, doesn’t see this as a long-term problem for the company or investors.
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Disappointed that Tim Cook didn’t back the money truck up to the NFL for Sunday Ticket streaming rights? You can probably blame the rumored mixed reality Apple headset for the talks falling apart.
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Apple TV screensavers are a fan favorite with views from up in space, under the ocean,, and everywhere in between. There’s no built-in screensaver to turn your Apple TV into a fireplace, however, but there are apps for that.
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Speaking of the original HomePod, I came across something deeply disturbing during my search for used or refurbished models – not every owner of a white HomePod has treated their smart speaker as if it existed in Jony Ive’s white expanse.
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Apple Watch has had its own GPS since the Series 2 arrived six years ago. However, the watch has also relied on the iPhone’s GPS when possible. That changes with the latest round of Apple Watch models.
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Five years ago, Apple unveiled what I unequivocally consider the best smart speaker of 2022. It was late to the party, panned by tech press, and discontinued before its time. It was the original HomePod, and there’s still nothing else like it.
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The US Federal Trade Commission just hit the App Store critics at Epic Games with the “largest penalty ever” for children’s privacy violations and targeting kids with unwanted charges. The makers of Fortnite settled with the FTC for over half a billion dollars, according to the FTC statement.
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iOS 16.2 RC for iPhone and iPad is now available for testing through Apple’s developer beta program. Today’s release introduces a number of enhancements to end-to-end encryption across various services including Messages in iCloud. The release candidate also introduces the new Apple Music Sing feature announced yesterday.
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The excellent Mac desktop blogging app MarsEdit has landed with version 5.0 and some timely new features. MarsEdit 5 comes almost exactly five years after the last major version dropped, and it includes a modernized icon to match the rest of your Mac dock.
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Apple is expected to unveil its mixed reality handset project as soon as spring. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Apple has settled on a name for the operating system that will power the product: xrOS.
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How much truth is there to Elon Musk’s claim that Apple has “nearly stopped” buying ads on Twitter? New numbers may help put the actual story in context.
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Apple has announced its 2022 App Store Award recipients today, and this year’s list of winners all stand out for demonstrating “abundant possibilities” through the App Store and across Apple devices. The trendy social app BeReal takes the top prize on the iPhone for 2022. Apple also features the best iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch apps of the year alongside game winners.
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Whether you’re scuba diving below the surface or shredding snow down the hillside, Apple Watch Ultra just got even more capable for adventurers today.
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Apple’s iPhone 14 has spent two months on the market, so naturally, we’re racking up on rumors about next year’s iPhone 15. The latest detail describes how the next-generation of iPhone cameras will improve photography performance.
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Longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger recently returned to Disney after two years of retirement, and he’s already saying nope about a potential takeover by Apple.
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