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A rare look inside the TSMC Arizona plant making chips for Apple [Video]

A look inside the TSMC Arizona plant making chips for Apple | Lithographic chipmaking machine in use

Apple was instrumental in TSMC setting up chipmaking plants in the US – not just by offering to be the first customer, but also in lobbying for the CHIPS Act funding that persuaded the company to proceed.

The Taiwanese company takes extreme precautions to protect the secrecy of its chipmaking processes, even for the somewhat older chips made in Arizona, but BBC News was given a very rare tour of the facility …

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Big tech lawyers for Apple and others ‘actively encouraging lawlessness’

Big tech lawyers for Apple and others 'actively encouraging lawlessness' – WSJ | Photo of judge's gavel on keyboard

A WSJ piece today suggests that big tech lawyers for Apple, Amazon, Google and other industry giants are not only failing to properly advise their clients, but are “actively encouraging” them to break the law.

The piece suggests that one reason Apple was rebuked by the judge in the Epic Games lawsuit was that its lawyers encouraged the company to abuse legal privilege …

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OWC announces Thunderbolt 5 dock, adding 11 ports to your M4 MacBook Pro

OWC has just announced their new OWC Thunderbolt 5 Dock, adding up to 11 ports of I/O expansion for your M4 MacBook Pro with M4 Pro or M4 Max, which was the first Apple laptop to feature the latest generation of Thunderbolt port. It joins the likes of the Anker Prime Docking Station and the CalDigit E5 in the market. The OWC dock is set to start shipping in July.

Thunderbolt 5 enables higher bandwidth, which allows the OWC dock to sport three daisy-chained Thunderbolt 5 ports, as well as power things like 2.5Gb/s Ethernet, and feed multiple high-res external displays.

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Gurman: Siri upgrades ‘unlikely to be discussed much’ at WWDC next month, more

In a new, lengthy report regarding Apple’s AI strategy, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has detailed a number of strategic failures for the launch of Apple Intelligence. As many of us have already believed, Apple was caught off-guard by the new generative AI trend.

Additionally, according to Gurman, Apple is ‘unlikely’ to spend a lot of time talking about Siri at this years WWDC. That includes future upgrades and the already announced (but since delayed) features from last years WWDC.

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Feeling nostalgic? Mac Themes Garden has you covered

Kaleidoscope scheme items on the default Mac OS 9 background. Credits: Mac Themes Garden and Eugene Jones

If the word Kaleidoscope means anything to you, you’re in for a treat. As spotted by Rob Beschizza (via BoingBoing), Mac Themes Garden features a collection of nearly 4,000 Classic Mac OS GUI customizations.

The site is a collection of pixelated bliss, and whether you’re already feeling fuzzy inside or have no idea what I’m talking about, you won’t want to miss out on this.

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Kuo: No major AirPods hardware updates until AirPods Pro 3 in 2026

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today tweeted that he does not forecast major updates to the AirPods lineup coming this year. Instead, he reiterates that new AirPods Pro with Infrared cameras are set to arrive in 2026.

This contradicts reporting from other publications that have suggested AirPods Pro 3 will launch in 2025, including new features such as improved active noise cancellation.

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Here’s when to expect the next generation of AirPods Max, reportedly featuring a new lighter weight design

AirPods Max

If you are a fan of Apple’s own-brand over-ear headphones, the AirPods Max, you may be wondering when to expect a new generation model. Apple revised the headphones last fall, adding a USB-C port, but the model was otherwise unchanged. Despite costing the most, AirPods Max lack features that are available in even the cheapest AirPods 4, and are driven by the outdated H1 chip.

And if you believe analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, you’ve still got a while to wait before Apple will be ready to release a next-generation model. In a tweet, Kuo reports that next-generation AirPods Max will not arrive until 2027.

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Seven tech accessories I keep coming back to [Video]

I’ve tested a lot of gear over the years, from laptops to smart rings to the kind of random tech accessories that get buried in drawers. But out of all of it, there are just a few items I keep reaching for over and over again. There is no method to the madness in terms of the type of accessories, but just know that they work. These are non-Apple tech products I rely on every day.

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Apple’s rumored iPhone 18 release strategy may sound odd, but it has these benefits

Recently, multiple reports have claimed that Apple will be switching up its iPhone release schedule beginning in 2026. Starting with the iPhone 18 lineup, we’ll have a split launch, with the higher end models launching in the fall, and the entry-level models launching in the following spring.

While this does feel like a weird decision, it will have some noteworthy benefits for all iPhone users.

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Indie App Spotlight: ‘Untold Novel’ is an intuitive planner for aspirational writers

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.


Untold Novel is an app built to help fiction writers get their ideas down in a pinch. It has a number of useful features, a cool design, and is available on iPhone and iPad. It’ll launch on macOS in the near future as well.

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Upgrade your CarPlay experience in 2025 with Ottocast NanoAI and Mini Wireless [20% off]

Ottocast has released two new products for 2025: the Ottocast NanoAI featuring Android 13 and intelligent assistant capabilities, and the Mini Wireless Adapter for cable-free CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. These devices offer different functionality based on driver preferences—from comprehensive Android integration to simple wireless convenience for existing systems.

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Apple @ Work: The role of augmented reality in streamlining service, training, and design

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Augmented reality has been floating around for years, mostly living in tech demo videos and marketing slides from people telling you it will blow up to be something huge. That’s starting to change, though Businesses are slowly starting to finding real value in AR, and in typical Apple fashion, the foundation in the hardware and software has been there all along; it just took time for use cases to crop up.

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Apple says it won’t yet ‘take action’ on Fortnite return to the App Store

Fortnite on iPad

Last week, Epic Games resubmitted Fortnite to the App Store in the United States. This followed a court ruling that stated Apple wasn’t allowed to charge a 27% commission on payments conducted through external payment services on the U.S. App Store.

However, when it submitted the new version of Fortnite for app review, Epic Games didn’t hear back for quite some time.

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How to upgrade the M4 Mac mini SSD and save hundreds [Video]

Opened M4 Mac mini with 2TB SSD

The base model M4 Mac mini is one of the best values in Mac computers, but upgrading the storage to the maximum 2TB significantly reduces that value proposition. That’s because Apple charges an insane $800 for the upgrade, turning the budget $600 computer into a $1400 one. In other words, you can purchase two base model Mac minis for less than the price of a single Mac mini with a 2TB upgrade.

But fret not, because Expand Mac mini offers a 2TB upgrade for the M4 Mac mini for just $320 – less than half of what Apple charges. In this hands-on step-by-step video walkthrough, I show you how to upgrade the M4 Mac mini SSD with 2TB of storage. Watch my full video, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Mac guides and tutorials.

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Apple research tackles the English accent of AI

The Apple Intelligence survey is meaningless, but we will pay for it

Ask any non-native English speaker, and they’ll probably tell you that LLMs tend to perform much better in Shakespeare’s language than in their own

Sometimes, the difference is subtle. Sometimes, not so much. Sometimes, it’s downright dangerous, as shown in this 2023 Carnegie Mellon study, which found that non-English inputs could more easily bypass safety filters.

Now, Apple has co-authored a study proposing a new method that could close part of this gap.

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Apple News+ is quickly becoming a hidden gem in the Apple ecosystem

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In iOS and iPadOS 18.4, Apple hit us with a little bit of a surprise feature: a new Food section in the Apple News app. While it’s only available for Apple News+ subscribers, it’s an extremely welcome addition. We’ll be delving into that here.

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