Parker Ortolani

This story is part of 9to5mac’s series celebrating Apple’s 50th anniversary.

A lot of folks are going to find themselves thinking about a company today. That’s great, I’m one of them, but the best way to celebrate Apple and its contributions to society is to make something wonderful yourself. After all, that was what Steve Jobs believed.

This story is part of 9to5Mac’s series celebrating Apple’s 50th anniversary.

Fifty years ago today, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne incorporated Apple Computer. From a garage in Los Altos to the world’s most valuable brand, the company these three men founded has gone on to change the very fabric of our society. We wanted to celebrate this milestone with a series of stories about what makes Apple, Apple. We want to talk about the ethos, the idea that is Apple and the cultural impact it has had beyond the products themselves.

This story is part of 9to5Mac’s series celebrating Apple’s 50th anniversary.

It’s certainly not news that Apple has made tremendous contributions to the music industry. But what’s often overlooked is its role as a tastemaker in the music space, not just changing the way songs are bought and sold but what people are actually listening to.

I’ve compiled a comprehensive, but curated playlist of some of the best songs that Apple has used in commercials, product introductions, events, and more. You can stream it or add it to your library on Apple Music. But I also wanted to acknowledge a few songs that were made particularly iconic thanks to their inclusion in Apple marketing materials over the years.

I was originally very frustrated with my iPhone Pro Max. It had been a while since I used a phone this size, but when the new phones were released in September, I figured I’d just go all out. I loved it at first, but carrying around a phone this big has started to irk me. The flat sides are uncomfortable to hold in one hand, and reaching things up top requires two hands most of the time. I wavered over the idea of switching to a smaller iPhone, but I don’t want to give up the real estate or ProMotion. So I found a ton of ways to make using an iPhone this size much easier.

In November Apple refreshed the HomePod mini with three new fall colors. They’ve been particularly difficult to get recently – nearly unavailable in many retail stores and suffering from longer-than-usual shipping times. Despite this, the white and space gray models are widely available. With Apple’s March event now revealed, might we see a spring color refresh for the HomePod mini?

On Thursday, CNBC reported that fitness unicorn Peloton was in dire straits. The company saw its value plummet on the news that they were “temporarily halting production of its connected fitness products as consumer demand wanes.” As the pandemic starts to move to the back of many minds, there’s been a significant drop in the number of people looking to buy expensive home workout equipment. Because of this, the idea of Apple purchasing Peloton has come back up. It has lingered for awhile, but now the idea is gaining more traction in the press. I think everyone needs to cool their jets.

Apple’s home strategy has been all over the place, but the company appears to finally have a hit with the HomePod mini. Rumors have been floated about Apple making a HomePod with a display, but word on the street is that the product being tested looks a lot like an iPad mounted to a speaker. Instead of making a Frankenstein product very similar to Google and Amazon’s products, Apple should take the blueprint it’s laid out with HomePod mini and use it as a basis for a unique ambient smart display.

Instagram is launching a new paid subscription feature for creators today within its iOS and Android apps. With this new functionality, Facebook is targeting potential competitors like OnlyFans that continue to see growth. Despite Facebook’s dissatisfaction with the App Store, they are using Apple’s in-app purchases system for these subscriptions. With that, Apple will gather 30% of all subscription fees. Facebook says that they are developing a way for creators to see “how much they pay to Apple.”

The iPhone’s lock screen has gone through a small handful of design changes over the years, but it’s never truly been supercharged. With iOS 5, Apple improved the way multiple notifications appear. In iOS 6, they introduced the persistent camera shortcut. In iOS 8, notifications gained quick reply. iOS 10 brought widgets with a quick swipe to the left. The last major change was with iOS 11, when Apple added two haptic shortcuts and merged the lock screen with the Notification Center giving way to the “cover sheet.” But here we are in 2022 and the Lock Screen still isn’t truly customizable. It’s also nowhere near as proactive as other areas of the operating system that have been upgraded over the years.

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We can officially add Uber to the long list of major brands that have abandoned their Apple Watch apps. The ride-sharing company has quietly discontinued its watchOS app, displaying a brief message to users who try to launch it. Uber joins Twitter, Instagram, Target, Trello, Slack, Hulu, Evernote, and many other companies that have sunset their Apple Watch apps.

Apple’s first fashion-forward gadget is making a comeback. The second generation iPod shuffle introduced a little over 15 years ago is seeing a resurgence in popularity on none other than TikTok. The second, third, and fourth generation iPod shuffles all had built-in clips and came in a wide variety of color options making them easily wearable. TikTok is known for being a launchpad for trends just like this so it doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise. As noted by The Information, the iPod shuffle isn’t alone in seeing such an uplift in popularity. Other retro gadgets are also making a comeback led by millennials.

I’ve been waiting anxiously for years to get a glimpse at what the folks over at Humane have been working on. The company, founded by Apple inventors Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, launched in 2019 and has kept its work completely under wraps. Humane’s website has said that the mission behind the company is to build “innovative technology that feels familiar, natural, and human.” They want to build “the best human experience, ever.” That’s a tall order, and it’s been unclear what that actually meant, until now.

We’re holding out hope that this will finally be the year when Apple decides to let users natively customize their Home Screen icons. While we wait for a sound solution, you can still use the Shortcuts app to create your own alternate app icons. We’ve been working on a new set of icons with lots of detail, depth, and vitality that you can use to make your iPhone more fun.

Apple hasn’t made an affordable high quality external display since 2016 when they retired the final iteration of the Thunderbolt Display. The company has a long history of offering the best possible mass market monitors for notebooks and desktops, dating back to the late 90s or the early days of the Studio Display. Apple’s made a lot of weird decisions over the past decade and this certainly falls under that category. Now that the company has started to reboot the Mac and meet the needs of clamoring customers, it’s time for them to step up and make the display we actually need.

Like they did to celebrate the Year of the Ox in 2021, Apple has released a new special edition pair of AirPods Pro exclusively available in select markets. 2022 is the Year of the Tiger and Apple has created an adorable tiger emoji that’s engraved on these AirPods Pro. The company has also debuted a special Apple logo to celebrate the new year, just as they did last year.

Apple has announced a new promotion to celebrate the Japanese New Year. The company will be offering special deals to customers in Japan on January 2 and 3. Apple will give customers a gift card with the purchase of select products, but the first 20,000 customers that buy an eligible iPhone will receive a limited edition AirTag.

AirPods Max are officially one year old. That means we’re probably getting close to the first revision, assuming Apple is planning to keep them around. There are lots of ways Apple could improve upon these excellent over-the-ear headphones. But, we wanted to think realistically. What might Apple actually do to upgrade AirPods Max?

Intrepid concept creator Ian Zelbo is back with a fantastically detailed rendering of Apple’s long-rumored mixed reality headset. The renderings are based on illustrations created with credible information published by The Information earlier this year. Zelbo calls the concept “Apple View”, but the real name is still completely unknown.