MacRumors

Apps designed for the Mac don't typically receive as much attention as apps made for iPhones and iPads, so we have a series here at MacRumors designed to highlight useful and interesting Mac apps worth checking out and potentially investing in.

This month's picks include apps for overhauling your Touch Bar, updating forgotten Mac apps, controlling music, managing windows, and more, with many of these apps recommended by MacRumors readers.

• MacUpdater ($9.99) - MacUpdater is a simple little app that keeps track of the updates for all of the apps installed on your Mac so you can see at a glance which apps are out of date and need updating. It's super useful for apps that have been installed outside of the Mac App Store. You can scan your apps for free using MacUpdater, but updating more than 10 costs $9.99.
• Moom ($9.99) - Moom is an app that's designed to let you quickly and easily move and resize windows on your Mac. It has preset sizes and locations, and also lets you draw grids to create custom window display sizes. There are also custom controls for moving, zooming, moving windows to a secondary display, centering, resizing and more, and window layouts can be saved.
• Background Music (Free) - Background Music is an audio utility that's designed to automatically pause your music player when other audio starts playing on your Mac, unpausing it afterwards. It also offers per-application volume controls so you can make certain apps quieter than others, and it has an option for recording system audio.
• GoldenChaos BTT (Free) - GoldenChaos BTT is a Touch Bar replacement interface that lets you overhaul the way that your Touch Bar works. It lets you change up the Home Strip, access modifier menus with the app switcher, control strip, window snapping controls, and more, and customize the size of dynamic menu options. It supports dock badges, widgets, and more. GoldenChaos is free, but requires BetterTouchTool, a Touch Bar customization app that costs $7.50.
• EasyFinder (Free) - EasyFinder is a menu bar app that offers up quick access to important and frequently used files and folders, so you can get to what you need with just a click or two. You can add files and folders in different categories like Personal, Work, and Others, and you can get to that content right from the menu bar.

If you have a favorite must-have Mac app that we haven't highlighted yet, let us know in the comments, and we might feature it in a future video. For more of our Mac app picks, make sure to check out our Mac app archives.

Ahead of the launch of the Apple Card, the customer agreement for the card has been found on the Goldman Sachs website [PDF], offering up a look at the ins and outs of how it will work.

Most of the details included in customer agreement have already been shared or leaked in previous reports, but this puts all of the information in one easy to access spot.

The agreement goes over eligibility (an Apple ID and two-factor authentication are required), how accounts may be used (no illegal activity), credit limit details, eligible devices, returns, payment info, fees (there are none) and more. Goldman Sachs expressly forbids jailbreaking a device associated with an ‌Apple Card‌, and says that doing so could result in the closure of the ‌Apple Card‌ account.

If you make unauthorized modifications to your Eligible Device, such as by disabling hardware or software controls (for example, through a process sometimes referred to as "jailbreaking"), your Eligible Device may no longer be eligible to access or manage your Account. You acknowledge that use of a modified Eligible Device in connection with your Account is expressly prohibited, constitutes a violation of this Agreement, and could result in our denying or limiting your access to or closing your Account as well as any other remedies available to us under this Agreement.

It also covers Daily Cash back, the feature that will let customers get a daily payout when making purchases. Goods purchased directly from Apple earn 3%, Apple Pay purchases earn 2%, and all other transactions earn 1%. If a transaction fulfills two categories, such as an ‌Apple Pay‌ purchase in an Apple Store, customers get the highest payout.

Daily Cash is paid out based on the amount of each transaction, multiplied by the appropriate percentage for the transaction type. Daily Cash is rounded up to the nearest cent and provided via the Apple Cash card in the Wallet app. Customers without an Apple Cash card will have Daily Cash accrue that can be applied as a payment credit using the Wallet app.

The document has details on how interest rates are determined, how daily balances are collected, when interest begins to accrue (it works like any standard credit card), how minimum payments are calculated, and when payments should be made to avoid interest (11:59 p.m. ET on the last calendar day of the month).

Your Account automatically has a "Grace Period on New Transactions" in a month where your New Balance for the prior month is $0 or a credit balance. Your Account will also obtain a Grace Period on New Transactions in a month if your Account has a New Balance for the prior month that is greater than $0 and you pay the New Balance for the prior month on or before its payment due date. In a month in which your Account qualifies for a Grace Period on New Transactions, we will not charge interest during that month on any new Transactions that post to your Account.

Payments can be made via an Apple Cash account or a bank account located in the United States, and Goldman Sachs will not issue cards tied to an account in another person's name. So, in other words, one card per ‌Apple ID‌.

For those interested in more specifics on how the ‌Apple Card‌ will work, the customer agreement is worth a look and can be found on the Goldman Sachs website. Our Apple Card guide also has a detailed look at everything you need to know about ‌Apple Card‌.

Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the ‌Apple Card‌ would launch in August, so it could become available as soon as next week.

Last year, Apple began selling many of its products on Amazon, including the latest iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. As part of Apple's agreement with Amazon, unauthorized resellers who offered new or refurbished Apple products on Amazon had their listings removed after January 4, 2019.

Since then, independent sellers have been required to apply for Apple Authorized Reseller status and the Amazon Renewed program to continue to offer used or refurbished Apple products on Amazon, but this is not always feasible due to hefty requirements outlined by The Verge earlier this year:

The first is to purchase at least $2.5 million worth of refurbished inventory every 90 days from Apple itself or through a retailer with more than $5 billion in annual sales, like a wireless carrier or big-box retailers like Target or Walmart. The second is to reach out directly to Apple to become an authorized reseller. Apple has yet to make its reseller requirements known to the public, but to become an Apple-authorized provider of repairs requires a physical retail space for customers to enter.

Now, The Verge reports that the FTC has looked into the Apple-Amazon deal, although it has yet to formally raise any antitrust concerns.

Specifically, the report claims that FTC lawyers recently reached out to John Bumstead, a Minnesota man who sold refurbished MacBooks on Amazon until his listings were removed from the platform due to the new policy:

"They wanted to know how Amazon works, how eBay works. I went into describing how a listing works on Amazon. Amazon is interesting in that you don't necessarily create a listing. You just sort of tag on to an existing listing," Bumstead tells The Verge. "If that listing gets deleted, chances are you're not allowed to sell that product. That's how Amazon did this. They created a bunch of renewed listings from the people who were certified, and they let those people sell on those listings, and they abandoned everyone else."

Bumstead has been vocal since being squeezed out of Amazon, arguing that a significant number of lower-cost refurbished or used Apple products are no longer available through Amazon, reducing choice for consumers. Apple would likely argue that it is cutting down on the availability of counterfeit products to protect consumers, although it has not officially commented on the deal since it went into effect.

The Verge claims that "experts say the Apple-Amazon deal could easily be grounds for an antitrust complaint," citing Sally Hubbard, the director of enforcement strategy at the OpenMarkets Institute:

"You put a gate around the brand and say all the third-party sellers of whatever that brand is get a notice saying you can no longer sell this product on our platform unless you get authorization from the brand," Hubbard tells The Verge. "But of course the brand is not going to let you sell if you're under the [minimum advertised price]. Problem is that it's illegal under antitrust law."

Whether the FTC shares that view and/or takes action remains to be seen.

Apple is set to launch its own credit card this month, and ahead of time, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Jennifer Surane have revealed a few more details.

The report claims that the iPad will have a dedicated app for signing up for and managing the Apple Card, as confirmed by hidden iOS 12.4 references uncovered by developer Steve Moser. This is because the Wallet app, where the ‌Apple Card‌ will usually be found, is limited to the iPhone and iPod touch.

Meanwhile, in new terms disclosed this week, the report adds that ‌Apple Card‌ holders will be offered standalone financing plans for select purchases, in addition to the ability to carry a revolving balance. This could possibly allow users to make a large purchase and pay it off over a set period of time for a fixed monthly fee.

Last, the report notes that the Barclaycard Visa no longer offers Apple rewards, such as $50 worth of Apple Store or iTunes gift cards to new customers and three points per dollar spent on Apple products. The card remains available for now with special financing rates for qualifying Apple purchases.

Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed the Apple Card will launch in August in the United States, but he did not provide a specific date. In a previous report, Gurman said the ‌Apple Card‌ will be available as early as the first half of the month.

Apple is working on a range of MacBooks with 5G cellular connectivity for launch as early as next year, claims a new report today by DigiTimes.

According to the hit-and-miss Taiwanese publication, Lenovo, HP, and Dell will kick off the 5G laptop market later this year, and Apple is set to follow with its own high-speed cellular notebook in the second half of 2020.

The world's top-3 notebook vendors Lenovo, HP and Dell are set to introduce their first 5G models in the second half of 2019, and Apple is also expected to roll out its 5G MacBook series in the second half of 2020, according to industry sources.

The English version of the DigiTimes story is currently paywalled, so the following details are based on a machine-translation of the same report on DigiTimes Taiwan.

‌DigiTimes‌' notebook supply chain connections claim that Apple has finalized its integrated 5G MacBook design and though it did so later than other vendors, its 5G transceiver offers higher efficiency and superior high-speed transmission rates than rival designs.

Apple is said to be achieving better 5G performance in its notebook designs through the use of a ceramic antenna board, which costs six times that of a regular metal antenna board but offers twice the transmission and reception efficiency. Another reason a 5G-enabled MacBook will be high-cost is reportedly down to the case: A metal chassis shields the 5G signal, meaning the notebook will require 13 to 15 antennas, where a 5G smartphone typically uses 11.

This is the first time we've heard anything about Apple planning to launch a MacBook or MacBook Pro with 5G, and ‌DigiTimes‌ has a mixed track record in relation to reporting on Apple's future plans, so it's best to treat its rumors with some skepticism until the info is corroborated by additional sources.

That said, Apple has explored the possibility of developing MacBooks with cellular connectivity in the past. Indeed, the company reportedly considered launching a MacBook Air with 3G connectivity, but former CEO Steve Jobs said in 2008 that Apple decided against it, since it would take up too much room in the case and would lock customers to a specific carrier.

Despite retreating from the idea, Apple received approval for two patents in 2016 that would enable it to add LTE connectivity to its MacBooks. Both describe the use of an installed "cavity" antenna that runs parallel with the notebook's hinge which could be used for long-range communications such as cellular telephone bands. The patents also describe other uses including near-field communications (NFC), light-based wireless connectivity, satellite navigation, and more.

While it appears that Apple and Qualcomm's multi-year licensing and chipset supply agreement will result in Qualcomm supplying modems for the first 5G-enabled iPhones, expected to launch in 2020, multiple reports have indicated that Apple is on the path to developing its own cellular modems.

Indeed, Apple recently announced that it plans to acquire the majority of Intel's smartphone modem business, subject to regulatory approvals. The acquisition will certainly benefit Apple's cellular technologies team, but whether it will factor in on any plans for a series of 5G MacBooks remains to be seen.

Apple is suspending a Siri program that allows employees to listen to ‌Siri‌ recordings for quality control purposes, reports TechCrunch.

Apple is going to review the process that's currently used, where workers listen to anonymized ‌Siri‌ recordings to determine whether ‌Siri‌ is hearing questions correctly or being activated accidentally.

Apple in the future also plans to release a software update that will let ‌Siri‌ users opt out of having their ‌Siri‌ queries included in this evaluation process, called grading.

"We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy," Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch. "While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading."

The decision to suspend the program and offer an opt-out option comes following a report from The Guardian that shared details gleaned from one of the contractors working on evaluating ‌Siri‌ queries.

The employee expressed concern with Apple's lack of disclosure about the human oversight and said that contractors who work on the program have overhead confidential medical information, drug deals, recordings of couples having sex, and other private details from accidental ‌Siri‌ activations.

When The Guardian report came out, Apple confirmed that a small number of anonymized ‌Siri‌ requests are analyzed for the purpose of improving ‌Siri‌ and dictation. While Apple anonymizes ‌Siri‌ data that's evaluated for quality control and ‌Siri‌ improvement, its current privacy policy and security documents do not explicitly mention human oversight.

IKEA teamed up with Sonos to launch a new line of smart speakers called "Symfonisk," and as of today, those speakers are available for purchase in IKEA retail stores across the United States.

There are two Symfonisk products that are available: A Symfonisk Table Lamp with Wi-Fi Speaker ($179) and the Symfonisk Wi-Fi Bookshelf Speaker ($99).

The Symfonisk Table Lamp functions as a standard lamp but it's also got a smart speaker base, with "rich and vibrant sound" according to IKEA. It comes in both black and white and is designed to save space by combining a lamp with speaker functionality.

The Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker also has a dual purpose, attaching to a wall with a speaker bracket and serving as a bookshelf for small items. The rectangular speaker can also be as a standard speaker or hung up on Symfonisk speaker hooks.

Both of the speakers can be controlled through the Sonos app and both support AirPlay 2, allowing them to be used for multi-room audio with other ‌AirPlay‌ 2 devices. As with all Sonos devices, music, podcasts, radio, and more can be streamed over Wi-Fi even without a smartphone or tablet nearby.

Purchasing two of the same speakers allows for stereo sound to be set up, and Sonos also says that two speakers paired together can be used for a Sonos home theatre system.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence previously suggested that the Symfonisk Table Lamp's audio quality would be similar to the Sonos One speaker, and reviews have thus far been decent.

The speakers are in IKEA stores today and can be located using the website's store locator, and they should also be available online in the near future.

Apple today shared a new video in its ongoing "Behind the Mac" series that highlights the various ways creators use the Mac for art, education, music making, coding, and more.

Today's video, "Test the Impossible," is a short 38 second spot that shows brief clips of the Mac being used for various creative pursuits, with a voiceover about what's possible when you don't know what's impossible.

You have no idea what you're doing. This is great. People who know what they're doing know the rules and know what is possible and what is impossible. You do not. The rules on what is possible and what is impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can.

Apple has shared multiple videos in its Behind the Mac series so far, with the goal of highlighting its Mac lineup, from the iMac to the Mac notebooks.

Apple is now selling LEGO's "Hidden Side" LEGO kits that are designed to offer a mixed physical and augmented reality experience.

Hidden Side is a new series of LEGO sets that are based on a "chilling, creative world of ghosts," providing kids with a building toy that comes to life thanks to augmented reality on a smartphone.

Kids can build up the sets and then view the sets on an iOS device for interactive augmented reality gameplay that varies based on the set. With the Wrecked Shrimp Boat set, for example, kids explore a sunken boat that has "strange, surreal secrets," and then engage in a boss fight.

All of the sets have unique interactions, with mysteries to solve, items to find, games to play, ghosts to collect, and a ghost boss battle. Apple is selling four of the LEGO Hidden Side sets:

• Newbury Haunted High School - $129.95
• Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 - $59.95
• Wrecked Shrimp Boat - $29.95
• Graveyard Mystery - $29.95

Like traditional LEGO sets, all of these kits come with mini figures, animals, and other accessories that fit the theme along with all of the building materials to create the intended design.

All of the sets are available from the Apple online store as of today, and may soon be available in Apple retail stores as well.

Apple today released a new macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update, which comes a week and a half after the initial release of the macOS Mojave 10.14.6 update.

The macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update can be downloaded by going to the "Software Update" section of System Preferences and selecting the Update Now option.

Today's Supplemental Update addresses an issue that could prevent certain Macs from waking up from sleep properly. Apple recommends that all users install the new Supplemental Update to fix this problem.

The macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update fixes an issue that may prevent certain Macs from waking from sleep properly.

The original macOS Mojave 10.14.6 also addressed a bug that could cause a graphics issue when waking from sleep, and it included multiple other bug fixes. It also offered up several improvements to the Apple News+ service in the ‌Apple News‌ app.