Jeff Benjamin

Apple includes privacy indicators in the upper-right corner of your Mac’s display to indicate when critical hardware is in use. An orange indicator means your microphone is in use, while a green indicator suggests the camera is in use. These indicators help users stay diligent about apps that may be using the camera or microphone legitimately or, in the worst case, unscrupulously.

While I appreciate having these indicators, they can become a distraction when taking screenshots or recording my Mac’s external display. Thankfully, Apple provides a solution to address the issue without compromising privacy.

Some of the new Siri features slated for iOS 26.4 are reportedly delayed; the struggle to balance useful AI-powered features with privacy; new AirPods Pro rumors; and Jeff and Fernando share frustrations about macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26 design.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

Apple just released the final version of iOS 26.3 to the public, and while it isn’t packed with new features, there are some notable additions worth exploring. Watch our hands-on video as we walk through everything new in iOS 26.3, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5mac on YouTube for more videos.

Apple releases iOS 26.3 RC, Jeff plays with Moltbot on his Mac mini, Fernando gets his iPhone’s screen fixed, Jeff laments what it’s like to use Apple Pay at drive thrus, why Apple should add native screen sharing from the iPad back to the Mac, and Fernando gets a new MacBook Pro and considers switching to Final Cut Pro.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

With the release of macOS Sonoma back in 2023, Apple introduced a new High Performance screen sharing feature for the Mac’s native Screen Sharing application. This mode dramatically increases the usefulness of screen sharing. Responsiveness is improved, stereo sound output from the native Mac is enabled, and HDR is available, among other features.

Users working with professional apps like Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro will find that High Performance screen sharing significantly enhances the experience using those apps via a Screen Sharing connection with few downsides. Watch my hands-on video walkthrough to learn more, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5mac on YouTube for more videos.

Tim Cook hints at innovative new products, AirTag 2 launch and hands-on, Apple Creator Studio is a great value, using iPad Pro as an external HDR display, high performance screen sharing on Mac, and Thunderbolt networking.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more…

After reviewing the CalDigit TS5 Plus, a Thunderbolt 5 dock with an insane array of 20 ports, 140W charging, and 10GbE, I admit that I wasn’t as excited to try out the regular CalDigit TS5, which only sports 15 ports.

Although not as powerful as the TS5 Plus, after trying the regular TS5 for the last month, I’d recommend it over its bigger brother for most Mac users. Like the TS5 Plus, it provides 64 GB/s max PCIe bandwidth, up to 140W of Power Delivery, and a heaping helping of I/O. But it also features an additional Thunderbolt 5 downstream port, and it’s $100 cheaper than the TS5 Plus.

Is the CalDigit TS5 the dock you should consider for your Mac? Watch our hands-on video walkthrough as we take a closer look, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more.

Fernando and Jeff discuss the future of Siri and Apple Intelligence after learning it will be powered by Google Gemini models.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

Reacting to Apple Creator Studio – another case of subscription fatigue, or a decent deal? Jeff and Fernando make the case for and against Apple’s latest services endeavor.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

Jeff and Fernando are back with a chit chat about the best tech from the last year, and what they’re most looking forward to in 2026.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

In macOS 26.2, which will be released soon, Apple is introducing a new low-latency feature that lets you cluster several Macs together using Thunderbolt 5 at up to 80Gb/s. Among other potential use-cases, this feature may prove to be handy for AI developers and researchers looking to run massive local models by pooling together device resources.

This clustering capability won’t just be limited to high end machines like the Mac Studio, but will work with any Thunderbolt 5-enabled Mac, including the M4 Pro Mac mini. It’s perfect timing, because I just went hands-on with Sonnet’s new rack mount solution for the M4-era Mac mini, aptly titled RackMac mini.

The RackMac mini lets users mount up to three Mac mini machines in a standard 19-inch rack footprint, and features a handful of intelligent design decisions – like front power buttons – that make managing multiple machines easy. Watch our hands-on video as we take a closer look, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more.

Asus has been on a roll of sorts with new display releases over the past few years, and it’s showing no sign of slowing down progress. One of the latest, and genuinely most exciting new releases is the $1300 Asus ProArt 6K Display, which offers an outstanding value for Mac users looking for something greater than 4K or 5K.

The $1300 Asus ProArt Display 6K PA32QCV features a native resolution of 6016 x 3384 within the confines of a 32-inch panel. For those keeping score at home, that’s the same 218 pixel density as Apple’s Pro Display XDR. Granted, the Pro Display XDR is in an entirely different league when it comes to display quality thanks to its 1600 nits of brightness, and 576 local dimming zones, but its base $4999 price tag (sans stand and matte texture) most definitely reflects this.

Asus has taken a decidedly more economical approach with its 6K display, providing the same amount of screen real estate as Apple’s monitor for less than a fourth the cost. But that doesn’t mean it sacrificed the ability to provide users with a display that performs admirably given its price. Watch our hands-on video review for the details, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more.

Season two of 9to5Mac Overtime is here! In this episode we discuss Apple’s upcoming iPhone event, iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro, what’s still missing from the iPad experience, adding a camera to Apple Watch, Fernando’s experience with a standalone camera, and several upcoming reviews from Jeff.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

Today, there’s a considerable debate over how necessary standalone cameras are in a world where smartphones dominate digital photography. While this debate has merit depending on the application, it’ll be long before a smartphone replaces my standalone camera, especially as a tool for shooting video.

My current camera of choice is the Sony FX30—it’s pound for pound the best value in digital videography. Instead of viewing smartphones like the iPhone as competition, Sony has welcomed smartphones with open arms by building an incredible app called Sony | Monitor & Control. With this app, you cannot only monitor your feed from cameras like the FX30, A7S III, A7 IV, and others, but it also affords users an insane amount of control—both wired and wirelessly!

In this video walkthrough, I showcase my Sony FX30 camera rig, with the iPhone 16 Pro as its companion. Be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more videos.

Jeff and Fernando discuss Nintendo Switch 2 thoughts, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

Jeff and Fernando discuss macOS 26 in-depth, including the Liquid Glass redesign, full bleed wallpaper with translucent menu bar, Control Center redesign, and Spotlight improvements.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

The second iOS 26 beta, which just released today, contains a new asset featuring the iconic clownfish wallpaper that Apple included with the original iPhone, and last remastered back in 2022 with iOS 16. But what makes today’s appearance notable is that this new wallpaper comes in a resolution that no other device currently has, strongly hinting at an all new device, like the rumored iPhone 17 Air.

Jeff and Fernando share their 1-week impressions with new Apple software, with a special focus on iPadOS 26.

Sponsored by Bitwarden: Check out Bitwarden Password Manager, featuring an Apple Watch authenticator integration, secure autofill on Safari and iOS apps, and enterprise-grade security tools that help you manage credentials with confidence.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been over seven years since I first got my hands on CalDigit’s TS3 Plus dock, and during its heyday, I labeled it as the best dock for Mac users. Since then, CalDigit released the TS3’s successor, appropriately called the CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, which offered a refined take on its predecessor.

Now, with the advent of Thunderbolt 5 adoption for the latest M4 Pro Macs and higher, CalDigit is back with an even more powerful version of its TS-series dock – the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 5 Plus, or TS5 Plus for short. Yes, CalDigit has retuned to its “plus” nomenclature of the past, as it plans to offer a less powerful 15-port version – simply dubbed CalDigit TS5 – in the future.

The TS5 Plus, of course, includes support for Thunderbolt 5, but is there any other reason why prospective buyers should consider it over the already great TS4? Perhaps! Watch my hands-on video review for a closer look, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Mac peripheral coverage.

Jeff and Fernando talk about Apple’s impressive history with accessibility, including our favorite accessibility tips and tricks, and upcoming accessibility features in iOS 26!

Sponsored by Bitwarden: Check out Bitwarden Password Manager, featuring an Apple Watch authenticator integration, secure autofill on Safari and iOS apps, and enterprise-grade security tools that help you manage credentials with confidence.

9to5Mac Overtime is a weekly video-first podcast exploring fun and interesting observations in the Apple ecosystem, featuring 9to5Mac’s Fernando Silva & Jeff Benjamin. Subscribe to Overtime via Apple Podcasts and our YouTube channel for more.

CalDigit’s Element 5 Hub is the follow up to its Thunderbolt 4-enabled Element Hub, but this time with the addition of Thunderbolt 5 / USB4 v2 connectivity. The CalDigit Element 5 Hub features a total of nine ports – gaining two additional 10Gb/s USB-C ports while losing only one of the USB-A ports featured on the unit’s predecessor.

Does having a Thunderbolt 5-enabled hub really matter, though? Watch our hands-on video walkthrough as we take a closer look, and subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple-centric hardware reviews.