Logitech today announced the launch of the Keys-To-Go 2, a new portable wireless keyboard that's designed for tablets and mobile devices like the iPad, and it works as a lightweight alternative for those who do not want to invest in Apple's Magic Keyboard.
The keyboard is designed to work as a standalone device, so it does not attach to the iPad, and you will need to pair it with a stand or smart cover for a Mac-like experience. Available in lilac, pale gray, graphite colors, the Keys-To-Go 2 is just under 10 inches long, four inches wide, and it weighs 7.84 ounces.
There is a built-in cover that protects the keyboard during travel, keeping it safe from scratches and spills. It is equipped with scissor keys that have 1mm of travel for a comfortable typing experience, and there is an option to connect to up to three devices and swap between them quickly.
Logitech designed the keyboard with two layouts, including a Universal layout and a dedicated Apple layout for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The top key row features several shortcut keys for adjusting volume, media playback, and screen brightness levels, as well as locking the iPad's display.
The keyboard pairs to an iPad using Bluetooth, and there are replaceable coin cell batteries that Logitech says will last up to three years depending on usage.
Apple today debuted a new Mac website that's designed to help potential customers find the ideal Mac. The "Help Me Choose" site asks users a few questions and then suggests the Mac that will best meet the user's needs.
Questions include what the Mac will be used for, necessary day-to-day essentials, info on the user's creative pursuits, the need for portability, which peripherals will be used, and budget.
Apple's algorithm for suggesting a Mac takes all of these factors into account, and it doesn't just present buyers with base configurations. It suggests upgrades to memory and storage that would be useful, and it will also present options if your selected budget is a little flexible.
The Help Me Choose website can be found under the Mac section of Apple's website when selecting the "Compare" option or the "Shop Mac" and then "Shopping Guides" option.
If you were a kid who grew up using the internet in the early 2000s, there is a good chance that you heard of Habbo Hotel. Once a massively popular virtual world with millions of players, the game slowly died out over the years as the young teenagers who played it eventually became adults and moved on with life.
With the modern version of Habbo no longer offering the experience that older players remember, a classic version of the game has long been requested. And today, that wish finally became reality with the launch of Habbo Hotel Origins.
Habbo Hotel Origins is nearly a carbon copy of the game as it existed in 2005, complete with nostalgic features like the console for messaging friends, a purse for in-game credits, and a virtual hand that holds your in-game items (aka furni).
"After discovering an old decrepit server with some long-lost files at the beginning of this year, over the past six months or so long-time Habbo developer and player Macklebee has lovingly restored an old version of Habbo Hotel first released in 2005," said Habbo, in a blog post announcing the launch of the game.
You'll need a new account to play Habbo Hotel Origins. To sign up, go to the origins.habbo.com website, click on the "check-in" link on the left side of the page, download the Habbo client for macOS or Windows, and create an account within the game. Yes, that means you have another chance to secure a rare username that you missed out on as a kid. I snagged the username iPod, so feel free to send me a friend request!
Once you have created an account, you can relive classic public rooms like the Welcome Lounge, Habbo Lido, and the Hallway. Many guest rooms have already popped up too, with players discussing their memories on the game.
Just like in the good old days, Habbo Hotel Origins is available on desktop computers only. You must be 18+ to sign up for this version of the game, rather than 13 on regular Habbo, or even 11 in the earliest days. With many players woefully admitting they are in their 30s now, I suspect that isn't much of an issue. It's a fresh start for everyone, with blank rooms just asking to be decorated with Plasto chairs and Yukka plants.
MacBook Pro models with an M4 chip are expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to display analyst Ross Young. In a tweet for subscribers, Young said that panel shipments for new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are set to begin in the third quarter of 2024, which suggests a launch toward the end of the year.
Apple started its M4 chip refresh in May with the launch of the M4 iPad Pro, but the first Macs with M4 chips are also slated for a 2024 launch. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will refresh both the MacBook Pro and Mac mini lineups this year.
The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro is expected to get an M4 chip, while the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will be updated with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. The Mac mini will get M4 and M4 Pro chips. The MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro models won't be updated with M4 chips until 2025, and it is not yet clear when the iMac might see an update with the refreshed chip technology.
Apple's M4 chip is built on an upgraded 3-nanometer node, with Apple first introducing 3-nanometer technology with the M3 line. In Geekbench 6 benchmarks, the M4 chip is up to 25 percent faster than the M3 chip when it comes to multi-core performance, so we could see similar gains for the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.
Aside from M4 chips, the upcoming MacBook Pro models are not expected to have significant feature updates. Apple is working on OLED display technology, but an OLED MacBook Pro is not expected until 2026 at the earliest.
Apple today told developers that it is expanding the Vision Pro App Store to new markets ahead of when the device is set to launch in additional countries. Since its February launch, the Vision Pro has been limited to buyers in the United States, but at WWDC, Apple announced plans to bring it to eight new markets.
The Apple Vision Pro will launch in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore on Friday, June 28, and it will expand to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on July 12. Pre-orders for the Vision Pro for the first wave launch countries started on June 13, while pre-orders for the second wave launch countries will begin on June 28.
Apple says that developers can expect their apps and games to be automatically available on the App Store in regions selected through App Store Connect. visionOS app availability and the availability of iPad and iPhone apps on the headset can be managed through the App Store Connect interface.
The Vision Pro is priced at $3,499 in the United States, and has similar pricing in local currency in the countries where it is set to launch.
Amazon today has a selection of M3 MacBook Pro models on sale at steep discounts, including both 14-inch and 16-inch devices. Most of these computers are in stock and ready to be delivered as soon as the end of this week, and none of the deals below require a coupon code in order to see the discounted price.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
14-Inch MacBook Pro
Starting with the smaller display, Amazon has a pair of all-time low prices on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, starting at $1,399.00 for the M3 512GB model, down from $1,599.00. You can also get the M3 Pro 512GB model for $1,699.00, down from $1,999.00. Other than these two record low prices, you can find even more 14-inch MacBook Pro discounts on Amazon in the list below, including the M3 Max model.
For the bigger display, Amazon has another set of all-time low prices, starting at $2,199.00 for the M3 Pro 18GB RAM/512GB model, down from $2,499.00. Amazon also has the M3 Pro 36GB RAM/512GB model for $2,549.00, down from $2,899.00. These are the biggest discounts currently available on 16-inch MacBook Pro models on Amazon right now, but we've also listed a few M3 Max models below.
Apple has suspended work on the second-generation Vision Pro headset to singularly focus on a cheaper model, The Information reports.
Apple was widely believed to have plans to divide its Vision product line into two models, with one "Pro" model and one lower-cost standard model. The company is said to have been deprioritizing the next Vision Pro headset over the past year, gradually assigning fewer employees to the project.
Apple first shifted focus to reducing the cost of the first-generation model's components and creating an upgraded display for the next model. Now, the company has apparently told at least one of its suppliers that it has suspended work on the next-generation of its Vision Pro headset. It still is continuing work on a more affordable "Vision" product with fewer features.
The company purportedly began work on a cheaper Vision device in 2022 with the codename "N109." The objective is to sell this model for around the same price as a high-end iPhone, which retails for up to $1,600. At the time Apple began work on the device, it sought to release it at the end of 2024, but as of earlier this year, it still did not have a firm prototype. The company is said to have been struggling to find ways to reduce the model's costs without sacrificing too many features, which means that it will likely slip beyond its revised release date of the end of 2025.
Apple apparently wants to retain the Vision Pro's high-end display components in the low-cost model, which are among the most expensive components in the device. MacRumorspreviously reported that the cheaper model will feature the same high-end displays as the Vision Pro, but with fewer cameras, a simpler headband, and smaller speakers. Apple also wants to make its cheaper headset at least one-third lighter than the Vision Pro.
One supplier that makes key components for the Vision Pro apparently cut production by 50% in May after receiving a forecast from Apple that predicted weaker demand than expected. Information from this supplier suggests that Apple has produced no more than 500,000 Vision Pro units this year, with no plans to make significantly more than this through August.
The Information says that it is still possible Apple will resume work on a second-generation Vision Pro headset at some point in the future.
In the watchOS 11 beta, the Activity app for Apple Watch lets you schedule custom activity goals for different days of the week, and also lets you pause your goals if you need to rest up.
If you tap the +/- button when viewing your Move, Exercise, or Stand goals in the Activity app, a new Change Daily Goal option takes you to a schedule list for the days of the week, allowing you to set each one individually.
So if you want to set custom workout goals for, say, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with lower goals during the weekend, you'll soon be able to do that.
This schedule can also be managed through the Fitness app in iOS 18. The Move, Exercise, and Stand activity summaries include the same +/- button that lets you adjust the goal for just today, or adjust your schedule for each day of the week.
In addition, if you tap the main Activity Rings display on Apple Watch, there's also a new Pause Rings option that mutes coaching and goal tracking while maintaining your Move streak. So if you're aiming for a streak and something unexpected upends your efforts (if you fall ill, for example) you can pause tracking without losing out and having to start again.
You can initiate a pause for just today, until next week, for the whole month, or until a date of your choosing. Currently, you can pause your rings for up to 90 days and resume at any time.
watchOS 11 is in developer beta, so it's worth noting that some features could always change or be removed completely before Apple releases the new Apple Watch software in the fall.
Following their announcement back in late April, the new Beats Solo Buds earbuds are now available to order ahead of their launch later this week. Priced at $79.99, the Solo Buds offer 18 hours of battery life right in the buds themselves and come in the smallest case ever for a Beats earphone product.
We've had a chance to spend a few days with the Beats Solo Buds, and we've been pretty impressed with what you get for that budget price point. These are true wireless earbuds with a similar design and fit as the more expensive Studio Buds +, but without some of the more advanced features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Transparency, hands-free "Hey Siri" support, and auto play/pause ear detection. There's also no official sweat and water resistance rating, although they should still stand up pretty well to everyday usage.
Even without ANC, the in-ear fit of the Solo Buds does a pretty good job of blocking out exterior noise compared to the standard AirPods that don't seal in the ear canal, and the audio quality is surprisingly good though definitely a notch below higher-end options. Four ear tip sizes ranging from XS to L are included, so most users should be able to find a good fit and we thought they were reasonably comfortable even during extended usage sessions. Support for Spatial Audio is included, but head-tracking is not.
The tiny case for the Solo Buds is possible due to the fact that it carries no internal battery of its own, meaning it serves only as a storage case and mechanism for charging the buds themselves when they run out of battery. A USB-C port on the back of the case delivers the charge to the buds, but with 18 hours of battery in the buds, you should be good for multiple days of listening before you need to plug the case in to charge them back up.
With no battery on board the case, the whole package is extremely light, weighing under 35 grams with the buds inside. The case is slightly wider than an AirPods Pro case and about the same thickness, but it's significantly shorter, which makes it even more pocketable, and the flat bottom makes it easy to stand the case up for convenience.
The iconic "b" logo button is present on both buds, and the default functions include the usual press for play/pause, double press to skip forward, and triple press to skip backward. For phone calls, a single press answers a call, while a double tap either ends or rejects a call. A single press and hold on the button activates Siri, but you can customize that gesture in the Settings app so that the two earbuds control volume up and down if you prefer.
While there's no Apple W or H chip onboard, the proprietary Beats chip platform supports a number of native Apple features such as one-touch pairing with iCloud syncing across your devices, automatic audio handoff to your Apple Watch when you go out of range of your iPhone, Find My support for the last known connected location, and audio sharing. Android users get many of the same features including one-touch pairing with device syncing via your Google account, Find My Device support, and audio switching with multi-point pairing.
Overall, the Beats Solo Buds are shaping up to be a great budget earphone pick if you don't need the features present on more expensive options. The 18-hour battery life right in the buds is certainly convenient, and they're supremely portable with their light and tiny case.
In addition to more subdued Matte Black and Storm Gray colors, the Solo Buds are also available in an Arctic Purple shade that's exclusive to Apple and Target in the U.S., plus a Transparent Red that lets you see into the case a bit. All four colors are available to order now for $79.99, with a launch following this Thursday, June 20.
Apple is set to conclude a lengthy antitrust investigation by the European Union into its mobile payments system by making significant concessions to give competitors access to the iPhone's NFC technology, the Financial Times reports.
The European Commission charged Apple in 2022 with violating competition law, contending that Apple was preventing competitors from accessing its near-field communication (NFC) technology to favor Apple Pay. In response to these charges, Apple apparently made several commitments to the European Commission in January, which now appear to have satisfied the regulators.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Financial Times claims that Apple agreed to provide third-party developers with open access to the iPhone's NFC. This access is said to not require the use of Apple Pay or Apple Wallet, effectively allowing competitors to create their own contactless payment solutions. London-based payment app Curve has already expressed interest in implementing its own NFC system on the iPhone once the agreement is official. Apple reportedly pledged to maintain this openness for a decade.
The settlement, which is expected to be finalized over the next few weeks, should help Apple avoid a potential fine by the EU that could have been as high as 10% of the company's global annual revenue. Given Apple's reported revenue of $383 billion in 2023, the fine could have amounted to approximately $40 billion.
Apple in iOS 18 has given the Calendar app a major update, adding some welcome interface design changes, not to mention long-awaited integration with Reminders.
In the month-by-month calendar view, the month now appears in large bold font in the top left, while the Events list toggle has been replaced by a new button that lets you choose between Compact, Stacked, Details, and List views.
The Compact view looks similar to the standard view in iOS 17, with events indicated by dots (but now colored to indicate which calendar they belong to), while the Stacked view displays each day's events as long thin pills on top of each other.
The new Details view shows the title of every event across the month. One neat additional touch here is that you can use a pinch to zoom gesture to expand or reduce the calendar and create more or less space between the days to view more items. This action also gradually switches between the Compact, Stacked, and Details views. Elsewhere, the List view should be familiar, and shows the month with the selected day's events listed below.
In the Today view, you can now switch between a Single Day or Multi Day view, with the latter providing details of all the day's events alongside any upcoming events for the following day.
When you tap the + icon in the top-right corner, a "New" card appears where you can switch between "Event" and "Reminder" tabs at the top. Reminders now appear in your calendar views, where you can mark them as completed.
You can also tap a reminder to get a Reminder Details screen, which includes the associated reminder list, plus a link to view that item within the Reminders app. There's also an Edit button in the top-right of the Reminder Details screen, which lets you change everything about the reminder that you can in Reminders, except without you having to leave the Calendar app.
iOS 18 is currently in beta for Apple Developer Program members, with a public beta to follow in July. The update should be widely released in September, but bear in mind that Apple could always make Calendar app changes based on feedback before then.
Apple today announced plans to introduce new AI curriculum at its Apple Developer Academy locations in Brazil, Indonesia, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the United States. Apple Developer Academy students and mentors will learn about tools and technologies that take advantage of artificial intelligence.
The AI curriculum is being added to the program as a foundational skill, and students will learn how to build, train, and deploy machine learning models on Apple devices. Some of the available courses include the fundamentals of AI technologies, Core ML, and training AI models from the ground up.
"At Apple, we see coding as a universal language and believe in empowering developers, creators, and entrepreneurs across the world with tools and technologies that will allow them to create phenomenal experiences," said Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "With the introduction of curriculum dedicated to AI and other new technologies, we're excited to see what students will build to share with their communities and the world."
Apple Developer Academy students, mentors, and alumni will have access to the curriculum starting this fall.
T9 dialing, or Text on 9 keys, is a predictive text technology that emerged in the late 90s to make it easier to type text messages on devices with limited input options, such as traditional mobile phones with numeric keypads. Each number key (2-9) on a T9 keypad is mapped to a set of letters. For example, the key "2" corresponds to "ABC," "3" to "DEF," and so on.
Android phones have had the feature for years, and in iOS 18 beta, Apple has finally added T9 dialing support to the Phone App. So now you can type a contact's name using the number pad, and matching contacts will appear above the keypad.
When you press a key, T9 doesn't just consider the individual letters that the key represents but predicts the most likely word you are trying to type. In the same way, iOS 18 combines all possible letter combinations to filter results from your contacts. To bring up your Dad's number, for example, you would tap 3-2-3 (D-A-D). Or if you have someone called Ben in your contacts, tapping 2-3-6 (B-E-N) should bring up their number.
The best match appears first above the keypad, and tapping the person's name will call them. If there are several possible matches in your contacts, they can be revealed as a list by tapping "X more..." below the first match. Taken together, the new options should enable faster calling.
In addition, when you type in a new number into the keypad in iOS 18, it now gives you two options to add it to your contacts. In iOS 17, a single "Add number" option appears above the keypad, whereas in iOS 18 there is a new button in the top-left corner that reveals "Create New Contact" and "Add to Existing Contact."
iOS 18 is currently in beta for Apple Developer Program members, with a public beta to follow in July. The update should be widely released in September.
The United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission today levied a lawsuit against Adobe [PDF] for imposing a hidden termination fee on subscribers who want to cancel their Adobe plans. Adobe is accused of forcing subscribers to "navigate a complex and challenging cancellation process designed to deter them from cancelling subscriptions they no longer wanted."
Adobe offers its Creative Cloud products on a subscription basis, with fees that are paid monthly. A monthly payment suggests that it's possible to cancel anytime, but that's not how Adobe works because most customers are actually locked into a hidden annual agreement.
Customers who sign up for a free trial and are then charged and signed up to the default Creative Cloud plan, which is actually an annual contract. Canceling the annual contract requires customers to pay a lump sum of 50 percent of the "remaining contractual obligation" to cancel, despite the fact that service ends that month.
Adobe does let customers sign up for a month-to-month subscription plan, but at a higher cost than the annual contract that's paid monthly, and the difference is not always clear to new or existing customers. Adobe even has a whole help page because of the confusing nature of its subscription. If you look at the Adobe website, for example, Adobe lists a $60/month fee for accessing its full suite of apps, but that's only if you agree to the annual contract. A true month-to-month plan that you can cancel anytime is $90/month, and if you pay for a year upfront, you get no money back when you cancel after a 14-day period.
According to the DoJ, Adobe's setup violates the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) through the use of fine print and inconspicuous hyperlinks to hide information about the Early Termination Fee.
The complaint alleges that for years, Adobe has profited from this hidden fee, misleading consumers about the true costs of a subscription and ambushing them with the fee when they try to cancel, wielding the fee as a powerful retention tool.
The complaint alleges that Adobe has further violated ROSCA by failing to provide consumers with a simple mechanism to cancel their recurring, online subscriptions. Instead, Adobe allegedly protects its subscription revenues by thwarting subscribers' attempts to cancel, subjecting them to a convoluted and inefficient cancellation process filled with unnecessary steps, delays, unsolicited offers and warnings.
The lawsuit asks for "unspecified amounts of consumer redress" along with monetary civil penalties and a permanent injunction that would prevent Adobe from continuing to use hidden fees to thwart customer cancelations.
watchOS 11 appears to include a new feature that allows an Apple Watch to automatically detect and record when you're taking a nap. As shared on Reddit, an Apple Watch owner took a nap and was able to see the sleep data recorded in the Health app, despite not putting the device in Sleep Mode.
Right now, the Apple Watch only tracks and records sleep when it is in Sleep Mode, and there is no support for tracking naps.
The change should allow an Apple Watch running watchOS 11 to record and include a nap in the Sleep section of the Health app, and it may also support automatic sleep tracking even when Sleep Mode isn't activated. Nap tracking has long felt like a missing feature from the Apple Watch, and this will be a welcome feature for those who supplement sleep with naps.
Image via Reddit
Apple did not mention a change to the Sleep app in its preview information for watchOS 11, and the only mention of sleep is related to the new Vitals app, which collects data for your health metrics during sleep in order to populate a typical range feature.
Apple appears to be planning to unveil its new Beats Pill speaker on Tuesday, June 25, according to a teaser shared on social media site X (formerly Twitter) today.
The Beats by Dre account posted a short video starring LeBron James and featuring the Beats Pill speaker, with the text "6/25," which seemingly hints at the debut date of the device.
Signs of a new Beats Pill speaker first surfaced in April when NBA superstar LeBron James was spotted carrying it in a photo. It was later spotted with F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, soccer star Lionel Messi, and Kim Kardashian.
While no official details have surfaced on the Beats Pill feature set, it has a pill-shaped design that's similar to the Beats Pill speaker that was discontinued in 2022. The new model includes a lanyard that was not provided with prior speakers, and based on the iOS 17.5 leak, we know it will come in gold, red, and black. Other likely features include upgraded Bluetooth 5.3, Find My integration, and USB-C charging, all of which are upgrades Apple has been adding across its product lineup.
Apple shared iOS 18 beta release notes on its developer website last week, and they reveal some smaller changes related to FaceTime, Siri, and the Wallet app.
iOS 18 is currently in beta for Apple Developer Program members, with a public beta to follow in July. The update should be widely released in September.
FaceTime
Apple says FaceTime will use more data in Low Power Mode on iOS 18 when network conditions are good, for improved video call quality.
Siri
iOS 18 includes a new setting that can "significantly" improve Siri's audio quality in Bluetooth-enabled vehicles that lack CarPlay, according to Apple.
The new option can be found in the Settings app under Siri → Siri Responses → "Respond over Media Source." The description for this setting says that "Siri will respond over A2DP car stereos, which is ideal while listening to media from your phone."
Wallet
As noted by Nicolás Álvarez, the notes indicate that users adding an ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone may now be asked to take a Live Photo instead of, or in addition to, conducting a series of head and facial movements. Apple says the Live Photo will be evaluated by the device to ensure that the real and rightful person is adding the ID.
Apple first announced the ability to add a driver's license or ID to the Wallet app in 2021, but only four U.S. states have rolled out the feature so far, including Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, and Georgia. The feature provides a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports, businesses, and venues.
Apple will launch its annual Back to School promotion for university students in the United States and Canada this week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple's back to school sales provide students with a free Apple gift card when purchasing a Mac or an iPad, and this year's promotion could help Apple push the new M2iPad Air and M4 iPad Pro models. Last year, Apple offered U.S. students up to $150 when purchasing a Mac and up to $100 when purchasing an iPad.
Apple actually began advertising its Back to School sale on social networks in early June, with some Instagram users seeing an ad promoting Macs with discounts to college and university students.
The ad depicted a Back to School image with the following text: "Buy Mac for university or college with education savings. Plus get a gift card for up to $200." The screenshot of the ad was from a Canadian user, and that price point suggests we will see the same $150 discount in the United States that Apple provided last year.
Clicking on the ad redirected to Apple's education website, but the ad seems to have gone up early as there has been no sign of a Back to School promotion as of yet. Last year's back to school sale began on Monday, June 5.
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