The Apple Watch AFib feature – which detects abnormal heartbeat patterns indicative of atrial fibrillation – has received a new tick of approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Doctors have already credited the health feature with saving lives.

While the FDA had previously granted clearance for AFib detection, that was a limited endorsement …

A court is being asked to decide whether or not Meta has a legal obligation to allow the use of Unfollow Everything – a browser tool which effectively empties your Facebook feed.

The idea behind the tool is that instead of being sucked into an effectively endless feed of posts from every friend, group, and page you have ever followed, you get to proactively choose the posts you read …

Songs from UMG artists are now again available to TikTok creators, after a dispute over royalty payments and AI policies was resolved.

This has seen the return of a lengthy list of artists, including Bad Bunny, Sting, The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, Drake, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Rosalía, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Bob Dylan, and Post Malone …

As the frantic investor hype around streaming dies down, every studio is re-evaluating the way they do business, what shows they are commissioning, and their relationships with creators.

The financially-rich Apple has less pressure to do this than most, but we have seen changes at Apple Studios too, albeit perhaps to a lesser extent compared to other streaming outlets. The Ankler reports today in its Dealmakers column that Apple is talking to producers and agents about a potential new deal structure for their originals going forward.

It’s no secret that Google pays Apple a lot of money to be the default search engine for the Safari web browser on iOS and macOS. In 2021, the company paid $15 billion to keep Google as the default search engine on Apple platforms. Now a report has just revealed how much Google has spent to keep the deal going in 2022.

We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about an “Apple Watch X,” which would be a completely redesigned Apple Watch to celebrate the product’s 10th anniversary. However, little has been said about what to expect from the next generation Apple Watch Ultra – so read on as we dig into the details.

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Today, Snap announced a host of feature updates coming to Snapchat that are sure to make its users happy. The two standout improvements center around messaging: editable messages and emoji reactions. These join a handful of service-wide enhancements that are driven by Snap’s AI efforts, such as AI reminders, creating custom Bitmoji looks, and more.

I’m someone who likes to replace my devices often, always getting the latest and greatest of what Apple produces. One glaring exception has been the iPad. I used to buy nearly every new generation, a trend that continued after I made the iPad my primary computer. But for nearly six years, I’ve been using the 2018 iPad Pro—a shockingly long time by my standards. And despite several new models releasing in recent years, I’ve never been enticed enough to upgrade.

Why? Because the 2018 model has worked remarkably well. Next week though, my new iPad drought will finally come to an end. Based on what’s widely expected in the 2024 iPad Pro—whether it includes an M4 chip or not—I’m eagerly ready to upgrade. And I suspect a lot of 2018 owners plan to do the same. Let me explain.

Apple Watch with watchOS 10 has with a range of new health and fitness features with one in particular aimed at supporting mental health. Follow along for how to track mood on Apple Watch in the latest Mindfulness app and the benefits of doing so.

Mac display aficionados know that pixel count must scale with screen size to maintain Apple’s standard for “Retina” resolution.

That’s why the 24-inch iMac is 4.5K, the 27-inch Studio Display is 5K, and the 32-inch Pro Display XDR is 6K. These resolutions and display sizes each amount to 218 pixels per inch. The result is a balance of sharpness and screen real estate for the price of $1499, $1599, and $4999, respectively.

The pursuit of pixels per inch is also why the Mac community endured the LG UltraFine 5K monitor for so long, and why Samsung’s more featured version of the Studio Display gets our attention.

With that being said, is a larger display with less resolution always a compromise? I’ve been reviewing a BenQ DesignVue Design Monitor for several weeks, and this 4K 32-inch setup has solved a real problem for me.

Apple is reportedly planning to supercharge the Calendar and Reminders apps with iOS 18 and macOS 15 this year. These updates join a long list of other expected iOS 18 improvements, including new AI features, upgrades to Safari, and more.

Technology comes with its pros and cons, and among modern Apple devices that’s been especially true with AirTag. Like other Bluetooth trackers, since their debut AirTags have been used by stalkers and other bad actors to track others without their consent or knowledge. Authorities have begun taking action, with Pennsylvania the latest state to move toward criminalization of unauthorized trackers.

Following a report that iPhone activation market share has hit a new low, CIRP released its newest study today. The data shows which iPhone models are the most popular in the US for Q1 2024 and how the iPhone 15 lineup is being adopted compared to the iPhone 14 devices and earlier.

In time for Mental Health Awareness Month, Apple Podcasts is shining light on a new category of podcasts to listen to.

The new Wellbeing category collects shows featuring health, fitness and wellness topics. As noted by AdWeek, listenership for shows in this genre has increased 40% in the last five years.

We’re now halfway through the work week with a fresh batch of new deals – all headlined by Apple’s 10th Generation iPad at $470. It comes joined by iPhone 14 Pro at $705 if you don’t mind going with an Amazon refurbished model, while Apple Watch Series 9 remains at $100 off. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

If you’ve been keeping up with generative AI and large language models on iPhone, then you may be aware that Anthropic’s Claude AI was notably absent from iOS.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has been updating ChatGPT on iPhone for a while now, and Google’s Gemini exists in its iOS app. Starting today, however, Claude for iPhone is joining the party.

LG has become the first TV maker to add native support for Dolby Atmos in the Apple Music app on its TVs. The new feature has arrived through a software update to the Apple Music app on LG TVs, bringing a more immersive surround sound experience to LG users on compatible TV sets. It is unclear exactly which TVs are supported, but at a minimum certain 2020 models and later appear to have received the update.

Ahead of WWDC 2024 kicking off in June, Apple has officially announced its Swift Student Challenge winners. 350 students from around the world have won with 50 selected as “Distinguished Winners” that will be heading to Apple Park for WWDC. Along with that, Apple is celebrating 3 winners with detailed profiles about their top-tier app ideas.

The first ever Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor camera has today been announced, offering a full 360 degrees of horizontal coverage, with 160 degrees of vertical tilt.

The motorized base can be remotely controlled using the Ring app. The security camera comes with a manual privacy blind, and is available in five different colors …

Last year Nomad launched a fun limited edition Glow in the Dark Sport Band for Apple Watch. It ended up selling out in the first day. Now the company is back with a new and improved Glow 2.0 Sport Band plus a Sport Case for iPhone 15 Pro/Max – available for a short time.

Update 5/1/24: The Glow 2.0 iPhone Sport Case is all sold out (scalpers have even taken to eBay). But there is a dwindling supply still available of the Glow 2.0 Apple Watch Sport Band, grab it while you can.

It’s clear that we’re going to see some exciting new Apple AI features this year, and the usual way for the company to announce major new iOS features would be to preview them at WWDC, and then launch them in September with the new iPhone line-up.

But there could be a couple of reasons to hope for some kind of preview of these new features on the new iPad Pro during the May 7 Let Loose Apple event …

A little over a year ago, General Motors made what may well turn out to be one of its biggest gambles in many years: dropping support for CarPlay for all future EVs.

To most of us, the decision seemed insane, likely to result in a huge number of lost sales – but a new report suggests that the company felt it had little choice …

AAPL Q2 earnings are set to be announced tomorrow, and the company had already warned that we should expect a year-on-year revenue drop of around $5B.

Analysts expect the same thing, and the outlook for Q3 isn’t expected to be any better, so investors will be listening carefully to any more clues Apple gives about what to expect further ahead …