MacRumors

Apple's next-generation AirPods are "ready to ship," and the second-generation AirPods will be discontinued this month as a result, a proven leaker known as "Kang" said today on Chinese social media website Weibo.

Apple is widely rumored to be working on third-generation AirPods, with leaked images and renders suggesting that the new earphones will have a similar design as the AirPods Pro, including shorter stems. While the new AirPods may look similar to the AirPods Pro, they are not expected to feature Active Noise Cancellation.

"Kang" also shared their belief that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will outsell the 11-inch model in 2021, suggesting that the next-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro could have at least one exclusive feature compared to the 11-inch model. Apple is widely rumored to have a new iPad Pro with a Mini-LED display in the pipeline, but most rumors have only mentioned the 12.9-inch model, so perhaps Mini-LED will be exclusive to the 12.9-inch model.

The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro is also expected to feature a faster A14X chip and support for 5G networks on models with cellular connectivity. It's possible these two features could extend to a new 11-inch model, but it's unclear.

"Kang" recently suggested that Apple plans to host an event on Tuesday, March 23, where the new AirPods and new iPad Pro could be announced. Other products rumored to be in Apple's pipeline include the long-awaited AirTags item trackers, a new Apple TV with more of a gaming focus, and a redesigned iMac powered by Apple silicon, but it's unclear if any of those products will be unveiled this month.

"Kang" has a nearly perfect track record with Apple rumors, having previously leaked accurate details about iPhone 12 models, Apple Watch Series 6 models, the fourth-generation iPad Air, the HomePod mini, and many other devices in recent months.

Google's Chrome browser has been criticized for years for being a system resource hog, but Chromium developers are making some loud claims about how much smarter the latest version is at using and freeing up memory on macOS.

According to a new post on Google's Chromium blog, Chrome developers recently managed to shrink the memory footprint of background tabs on Mac by up to 8%, or just over 1GB on some systems in version 89 of the browser.

Tab Throttling, which acts on pages that are not currently active, is also said to have led to significant improvements by reducing JavaScript Timer wake-ups. Background tabs no longer wake up the CPU as often and preserve battery life, and as a result, Chrome uses up to 5x less CPU, while battery life is up to 1.25 hours better, says Google.

According to the developers, since its introduction in Chrome 87 and wider rollout in Chrome 88, the feature has been responsible for a 65% improvement on Chrome's Apple Energy Impact score for pages in the background.

The highlighted improvements are in stark contrast to recently reported independent measurements which claimed to demonstrate that Google Chrome uses 10x more RAM than Safari on macOS Big Sur.

The interpretation of those measurements has since been contested, but separately Apple still claims that Safari on ‌macOS Big Sur‌ is "50% faster on average at loading frequently visited websites than Chrome." Apple also says Safari can stream video for up to one and a half hours longer, and can keep users browsing normally on a single charge for up to one hour longer, compared to Chrome and Firefox.

Google Chrome for Mac is a free download available directly from Google's servers. Google Chrome for iOS is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

In its latest emailed Apple Pay promotion, Apple is offering deals on three different grocery and meal plan delivery services from now until March 17 when using the company's digital payments service.

The first deal partners with Instacart to offer new subscribers a two-month Express membership for free. People who sign up for the offer also get $5 off their first order when they use ‌Apple Pay‌ at checkout.

The second deal is for meal plan and delivery service HelloFresh. New customers can get 50% off their first box and 25% off the next three boxes they order when using the code APPLEPAY at checkout.

The third and final deal is for Daily Harvest, another meal plan delivery company. New customers can get $30 off their first box by using the code APPLEPAY at checkout.

‌Apple Pay‌ users can still take advantage of Apple's last emailed promotion, which runs until March 18 and offers Bed Bath & Beyond customers 10% back on purchases in the form of My Funds rewards.

T-Mobile has plans to rapidly expand the availability of 5G across the United States, with the company aiming to offer "Ultra Capacity 5G" to 90 percent of Americans by the end of 2023.

"Ultra Capacity 5G" includes T-Mobile's mid-band and millimeter wave 5G connectivity, with the company also planning to offer slower "Extended Range 5G" across 97 percent of the U.S. by the end of 2022.

As highlighted by The Verge, T-Mobile shared the forecast during a virtual analyst event that took place today. At the current time, 125 million people have access to T-Mobile's Ultra Capacity 5G, a number that will expand to 200 million by the end of 2021.

According to T-Mobile, those who have access to Ultra Capacity 5G can expect an increase in speed from 300Mb/s to 400Mb/s as T-Mobile builds out its 5G network with spectrum acquired during its merger with Sprint.

T-Mobile recently purchased C-band spectrum (which was also made available to Verizon and AT&T) that will become usable in 2023 and will help the company reach its availability goals.

As Apple prepares to implement App Tracking Transparency changes in iOS 14.5, CNBC spoke with several former Facebook employees to get details on why Facebook has been so heavily against the planned privacy updates.

Starting this spring, Facebook and other app developers will need to get express permission to access a user's advertising identifier, or IDFA, which is used to track usage across apps and websites for ad targeting purposes. Facebook has campaigned heavily against App Tracking Transparency, taking out full page newspaper ads and attempting to position Apple as an enemy of small businesses.

One of Facebook's main arguments is that Apple's changes will hurt businesses that use Facebook's advertising tools, but former Facebook employee Henry Love told CNBC that for many businesses, the change might not even be noticeable.

Less ad tracking data will prevent Facebook and its clients from targeting ads as effectively as they can now, but a lot of businesses may not need much data for effective ad targeting. A small coffee shop in Texas, for example, likely uses broad targeting categories like zip code and age range for ads, which is data that Facebook can collect from its own apps without the need for the IDFA.

"If you talked to any restaurant owner anywhere and asked them what IDFA is, I don't think any of them would know what that is," Love said. "It's affecting Facebook at scale. Not the small business owners."

Among the few "small business owners" who might feel the effects of the IDFA change are start-ups backed by venture capital money who have hired professionals with the skills to target users with sniper precision, Love said.

People who are targeting users across mobile, web, and the Facebook Audience Network with the IDFA are "not small businesses," with Love calling such companies "sophisticated, VC-backed startups."

App Tracking Transparency will threaten Facebook's view-through conversion tracking, a metric that lets ad companies figure out how many people saw an ad, didn't click it, but later made a purchase related to the ad. Retailers can record the info of the person who bought an item and then share it with Facebook, with Facebook able to determine whether that person's IDFA matches with a user who saw an ad for the product purchased.

CNBC says that the loss of this info could heavily impact Facebook because if advertisers can't accurately measure the effectiveness of Instagram and Facebook ads, they might shift more of their budget to other apps and services.

Facebook's Audience Network, which provides advertisements in non-Facebook apps, will also be impacted because it uses IDFA data to choose the best ads to show to users based on Facebook data. If users opt out of sharing the IDFA, Facebook's ad personalization efforts will be rendered useless outside of its own apps.

Facebook is planning to ask users for permission to access the IDFA, and is testing wording that suggests the tracking will provide a better ad experience. Facebook test prompts encourage customers to allow IDFA usage to "support businesses that rely on ads to reach customers."

Netflix may be cracking down on those who share passwords between separate households, according to a test found by The Streamable. Some Netflix subscribers have been getting a message about not living with the account holder when attempting to stream content.

"If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching," reads the warning message. From there, users are prompted to verify the account with an email or text verification code, or to sign up for a separate Netflix account.

Netflix told The Streamable that the test is "designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so." It's not clear if the warning is popping up based on IP address or another metric.

Netflix's terms of service do prohibit subscribers from sharing their passwords with people outside of their households, but many people do so anyway. Back in 2020, Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters told The Wall Street Journal that Netflix monitors password sharing, but at the time, had no plans to announce on the topic.

There are built-in limits to the number of devices that can simultaneously stream content from Netflix. The $8.99 basic plan is limits streaming to a single device, while the $13.99 standard plan allows for streaming on two devices. The $17.99 plan allows for streaming on up to four devices.

The MagPad by Cozy is a soft, silicone pad that's designed to fit over Apple's MagSafe Charger. Priced at around $7, the MagPad comes in a range of colors and patterns.

Size wise, the MagPad adds about an inch of additional space to the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger, and it's about the size of a standard Qi-based wireless charger. The silicone material is textured and the bright colors are more attractive than the standard white ‌MagSafe‌ color.

The back of the MagPad has a cutout for the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger where it fits in tightly, with a space for routing the cord. There's a bit of a lip that fits over the MagPad to hold it in place, so it won't go anywhere when attached to a ‌MagSafe‌ Charger.

The silicone surface where the MagPad covers the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger is thin, but it does weaken the magnetic connection, something that I found to be a plus. When I'm using the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger on my desk, detaching it from my iPhone is a hassle.

I tend to use a gesture where I use a thumb or my fingers to detach it and slide it off so I don't have to pick it up with my ‌iPhone‌, and that's made easier with the MagPad on. I have a lot more surface area so it just takes the tips of my fingers to pull my ‌iPhone‌ up, leaving the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger in the MagPad on my desk without disturbing it.

At the same time, there's still enough of a magnetic connection that I can set my ‌iPhone‌ down and have it attach in just the right place for charging, so the actual quick magnetic adherence isn't impacted, nor is the charging speed. The ‌iPhone‌ aligns perfectly through the silicone layer, so charging isn't impacted anymore than it is when you use a case.

In my testing, my ‌iPhone‌ 12 charged to 67 percent from dead in an hour with the MagPad and a ‌MagSafe‌ Charger, which is even faster than I've seen the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger charge on its own in some situations.

If you have a ‌MagSafe‌ Duo, the MagPad functionality is similar. It's a lot easier to detach an ‌iPhone‌ from a ‌MagSafe‌ Duo than from a standard ‌MagSafe‌ Charger just because of that extra bit of material that lets you get your fingers in the right spot to pry the ‌iPhone‌ off of the charger quickly and easily.

With the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger as a desk charger, the MagPad works great to make it easier to use. Cozy says that it's also able to prevent the rings that can be imprinted into the Leather Cases from Apple, but I don't own a leather case to test this out. The premise makes sense, though, because the MagPad is adding a silicone layer that makes the magnetic connection weaker to lessen the force of the charger.

Someone who uses the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger as a charging option while the ‌iPhone‌ is in use may not prefer the MagPad, but if you use it in multiple ways, it's worth noting that it's easy to pull off when needed. It works with a naked ‌iPhone‌ and with an ‌iPhone‌ in a MagSafe-compatible case.

Bottom Line

If you want an accessory to make the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger look better on a desk, or if you want a simple solution to make your ‌iPhone‌ 12 model easier to pick up, the MagPad is well worth checking out. It's affordable, functional, and overall a great little add-on option to improve Apple's ‌MagSafe‌ Charger for desktop use.

How to Buy

The MagPad can be purchased from Amazon for $6.91, with a two-pack also available for $9.87. Those outside of the United States or who don't use Amazon can buy the MagPad directly from Cozy's website.

Apple today filed a lawsuit against Simon Lancaster, a former employee who allegedly used his position within the company to steal "sensitive trade secret information" from Apple that was then leaked to a journalist and published in rumor articles.

Lancaster worked at Apple for more than a decade, using his seniority to attend internal meetings and access documents that Apple says were "outside the scope of his job's responsibilities." Details he obtained were published in media articles that "cited a 'source' at Apple."

In exchange for the leaked information, Lancaster asked the media person he was in contact with for favors, such as providing favorable coverage of a startup company that Lancaster invested in.

Until November 1, 2019, Lancaster was employed as an Advanced Materials Lead and Product Design Architect involved with multiple hardware projects. His role was evaluating materials and prototyping innovations for future hardware devices. He began leaking details to the media contact on November 29, 2018 through text messages, emails, and phone calls.

After resigning from Apple, Lancaster "deepened" his relationship with the media correspondent he was speaking to, and Apple's internal investigation of Apple-owned devices that Lancaster returned after employment suggested that he communicated about "specific Apple trade secrets" while also taking "specific steps" to seek out additional information. On his last day, Lancaster downloaded a "substantial number" of confidential Apple documents.

Further, forensic review of the devices Apple provided to Lancaster for his work at Apple shows Lancaster and the Correspondent coordinated to pilfer specific documents and product information from Apple. On numerous occasions, the Correspondent had requested Lancaster obtain specific Apple trade secret documents and information. On multiple occasions, Lancaster then sent the Correspondent certain of the requested confidential materials using Apple-owned devices. On other occasions, Lancaster met with the Correspondent in person to provide them with the requested confidential Apple information.

According to Apple, the information that Lancaster shared included details of "unreleased Apple hardware products, unannounced feature changes to existing hardware products, and future product announcements." He also took on a new role at Arris Composites, a vendor serving under Apple, and Apple says that he accessed confidential information that would assist Arris in addition to leaking Apple documents to the media.

Apple does not provide detail on which products were leaked by Lancaster, but many of the leaks happened right around October and November of 2019, and concerned what Apple calls "Project X." Just after Lancaster left, in fact, he spoke with the journalist that he leaked details to, congratulating the person on the success of an article that contained details he had leaked.

Like all Apple employees, Lancaster signed a "Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Agreement" prior to being hired by Apple that prohibits them from sharing secret and proprietary information, plus he attended "security trainings" and "Business Conduct" events centered on preventing theft of secret documents.

Apple is now seeking damages that were incurred as a result of the trade secrets that Lancaster stole, with Apple planning to determine the amount at trial. Apple also wants to recover from Lancaster all gains, profits, and advantages that he obtained through the document theft.

The lawsuit was first shared by AppleInsider this afternoon. We've uploaded the full document, and it's a fascinating read that covers leak culture within Apple and the lengths the company will go to in order to put a stop to it.

Google today announced a number of improvements that are coming to the Google Maps app in the near future, including a tool that makes it easier to highlight missing roads and transportation errors.

Choosing the Missing Road option lets users add missing roads by drawing lines, which is an upgrade from the prior tool that was pin based. Users could drop a pin where there was an error, but the new road drawing tool allows for better accuracy.

In addition to drawing lines to add missing roads, the tool lets users rename roads, change the direction of a road, and realign or delete incorrect roads. There are also tools for informing Google about road closures with specific dates, reasons, and routes.

Google is vetting all contributed road updates before publishing them to maps. The new editing feature is rolling out over the coming months to more than 80 countries.

Along with new road editing tools, Google is adding a photos update option to Google Maps. In the coming weeks, Google plans to add a tool that will let users "share experiences and highlights" with their recent photos.

Photo updates can be added by going to the "Updates" tab when viewing a specific place in Google Maps and tapping the "upload a photo update" button. The tool will also display photos shared by others.

Apple today updated its privacy website with a new "Labels" section that brings privacy labels for all of Apple's apps together in one place, making it easier for users to learn about how Apple apps handle their personal data.

Apple already provided privacy labels for its apps since the feature launched last year, but on individual support pages, so this new "Labels" section makes it easier to view the labels all in one place, and in alphabetical order. Privacy labels are available for Apple's apps across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, so some apps like GarageBand appear more than once. Apple has also included labels for developer tools like Xcode and even the App Store itself, providing a very comprehensive level of privacy information.

Apple emphasizes that users will not find any data under "Data Used to Track You" for its apps, as Apple does not track users. Apple says it holds itself to a higher standard than it does for all other developers, who will be permitted to track users if they obtain their permission via the App Tracking Transparency framework that will be enforced as of iOS 14.5.

Apple introduced privacy labels on the App Store in December, providing users with a broad overview of the data types an app may collect, and whether the information is used to track them or is linked to their identity or device. These labels appear in App Store listings for third-party apps and downloadable Apple apps like Apple Podcasts, while built-in apps that cannot be removed like Messages have labels on Apple's website.

Apple has required developers to fill out the privacy labels when submitting new apps and app updates to the App Store since early December, but the labels function on an honor system. Apple previously said it "conducts routine and ongoing audits of the information provided" and works with developers to correct any inaccuracies, adding that apps that fail to come into compliance may ultimately face removal from the App Store.

Apple's custom-designed 5G cellular modem will likely debut in all 2023 iPhone models, according to Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Thomas O'Malley. In a supplier-focused research note shared with MacRumors, the analysts said chipmakers Qorvo and Broadcom should be among the companies that benefit from the shift to Apple's in-house solution.

Fast Company's Mark Sullivan and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman are among several sources who have reported that Apple is working on its own modem for future iPhones. Apple reportedly began development of the modem in 2020, after acquiring the majority of Intel's smartphone modem business a year earlier to bolster its efforts. Barclays previously said the modem will support both sub-6GHz and mmWave bands of 5G, as to be expected.

Apple currently uses Qualcomm modems, including the Snapdragon X55 modem in iPhone 12 models. In 2019, a legal settlement between Apple and Qualcomm revealed that Apple will likely use the Snapdragon X60 modem in 2021 iPhones, followed by the Snapdragon X65 modem in 2022 iPhones. The roadmap did mention the possibility of 2023 iPhones using an unannounced Snapdragon X70 modem, but this now appears less likely.

Apple's modem would likely be manufactured by its longtime chipmaking partner TSMC.

The developers behind the popular note-taking app Notability today announced a brand-new version of Notability for macOS, based on Apple's Mac Catalyst technology.

The latest version will bring popular features from Notability on the iPad to the Mac. Now, Notability on macOS supports shape detection, paper backgrounds, Apple Pencil for ‌iPad‌ when using Sidecar, and more. Marc Provost, the apps team director, calls the update "especially useful for students who take notes on ‌iPad‌ and also use a Mac for studying."

Mac Catalyst enables us to maintain feature parity across Apple devices, something we've wanted to offer for a long time. This can be especially useful for students who take notes on iPad and also use a Mac for studying. They can easily pick up where they left off with the same functionality and experience.

Existing customers of Notability for iPhone and Pad can download the new Mac version of the app for free from the Mac App Store. New customers can purchase the new app for a discounted price of $3.99, compared to its regular $8.99 price tag.

The full-size Space Gray HomePod is currently unavailable from Apple in the United States for purchase and delivery, as first spotted by French site Consomac.

The White model of the ‌HomePod‌ remains available for purchase and delivery, indicating this is likely simply a shortage of the Space Gray model, rather than an indication of an imminent product refresh. Furthermore, the Space Gray ‌HomePod‌ is fully available on Apple's website in the UK, France, Australia, and several other countries.

For customers in the United States looking for a Space Gray ‌HomePod‌, Best Buy currently has them listed as in stock. As a complete alternative, both the White and Space Gray models of the smaller and cheaper HomePod mini are available for purchase on Apple's website in the United States.