Joe Rossignol

The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone adds an Ambient Music feature to Control Center. Below, we take a closer look at how it works. iOS 18.4 is currently in beta, so the Ambient Music feature is not widely available yet. The update will likely be released to the general public next week. To use the feature on iOS 18.4, open Control Center and tap on the plus sign in the top-left...

Starting today, the Apple Maps app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac now displays Indigenous lands in Australia and New Zealand, such as reserves and protected areas. In a press release, Apple said the mapping updates were informed by Indigenous peoples, cartographers, language holders, and others in each country. In Australia, Apple said it referenced language data published by the Australian ...

Apple is preparing to sell new Beats-branded charging cables, according to placeholder product listings on a handful of reseller websites in Canada and Europe. There are listings for three different 5-foot/1.5-meter cables, including USB-C to USB-C, USB-C to Lightning, and USB-C to USB-A variants. All of the cables have a tangle-free, braided design for extra durability and convenience. The...

Walmart recently explained why it doesn't accept contactless payment options like Apple Pay at its more than 4,500 stores across the United States. Earlier this year, a Walmart spokesperson told MacRumors that the retailer remained focused on its own convenient payment technologies available in the Walmart app, including Walmart Pay and Mobile Scan & Go. Walmart Pay allows customers to...

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today shared bad news for fans of the iPhone mini. In a live-streamed Q&A session today, Gurman said that Apple currently has no plans to reintroduce a smaller iPhone model. Apple discontinued the iPhone 13 mini in September 2023, and it has not offered a mini model since then. Apple is not expected to release an iPhone 17 mini this year, and Gurman's revelation...

In the United States, the Apple Card offers a high-yield savings account option, allowing you to earn far more interest on your money compared to the average bank's basic savings account. However, the account's interest rate was lowered this week, with the annual percentage yield (APY) dropping from 3.9% to 3.75%. If you deposited $1,000 into the account, and maintained that balance for one...

Apple today announced that WWDC 2025 starts June 9, and the logo for the conference hints at iOS 19's rumored new design. Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will feature a new design that is inspired by visionOS, the software platform for Apple's Vision Pro headset. The new design is expected to include more translucent buttons and menus, with a glass-like appearance. The "25" in this ...

Apple today announced that Apple Music is now integrated with many DJ software and hardware platforms, allowing DJs with an Apple Music subscription to build and mix sets from Apple Music's catalog of more than 100 million songs. The popular DJing app djay by Algoriddim already offered Apple Music integration since last year, and additional platforms that are now supported include...

Apple Music Classical was updated today with time-synced listening guides, curated stations, and personalized recommendations on the Home tab of the app. "Dive deeper with time-synced listening guides for 150+ popular works, enjoy nonstop music with curated stations, and get daily personalized recommendations on Home," says the release notes for Apple Music Classical version 2.2, released...

Apple is expected to release iOS 18.4 to the general public as soon as next week, following more than a month of beta testing. Apple's website says some iOS 18.4 features will be released in "early April," so the update should be out as early as Tuesday, April 1. Apple this week seeded the iOS 18.4 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, barring the discovery of any...

Apple today announced that AirPods Max with a USB-C port will be gaining support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio with a firmware update next month, alongside the release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. For context, audio files are typically compressed to keep file sizes smaller. There are lossy compression standards like MP3 and AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), which...

In a blog post this week, software engineer Andrew Rossignol (my brother!) detailed how he managed to run generative AI on an old PowerBook G4. While hardware requirements for large language models (LLMs) are typically high, this particular PowerBook G4 model from 2005 is equipped with a mere 1.5GHz PowerPC G4 processor and 1GB of RAM. Despite this 20-year-old hardware, my brother was able...

Apple today announced it has committed up to 720 million yuan (nearly $100 million) towards accelerating the development of clean energy sources in China, as part of the company's goal of transitioning its supply chain to 100% renewable energy by 2030. The investment will go towards the second phase of the China Clean Energy Fund, which aims to add approximately 550,000 megawatt-hours of...

AirPods Max with a USB-C port are getting three new features next month, at no extra cost. Apple today announced that iOS 18.4 will add support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio to the AirPods Max when they are connected to an iPhone. An accompanying AirPods Max firmware update will also be required. As noted by 9to5Mac's Michael Burkhardt, this means the AirPods Max with a...

While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...

Apple is working on multiple new Apple Watch models with built-in cameras for release by 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple plans to add a camera in the screen area on a future Apple Watch Series model. On a future Apple Watch Ultra, he expects the camera to be on the right side of the watch, near the Digital Crown. Gurman does...

There might not be a plastic Apple Watch SE this year after all, according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the plastic Apple Watch SE is now in "jeopardy" for two reasons: design and cost issues. "The design team doesn't like the look, and the operations team is finding it difficult to make the casing materially cheaper than...

Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today reiterated that the A20 chip in iPhone 18 models will be manufactured with TSMC's 2nm process. Kuo said TSMC's trial production of 2nm chips has now reached yields well above the 60-70% range. The yield refers to the percentage of functional chips that can be obtained per silicon wafer, which is essentially a large, circular disc of chips....

Apple continues to explore the idea of adding tiny cameras to future AirPods, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman briefly reiterated this possibility in his report this week about Apple executive Mike Rockwell becoming the new head of Siri development:Rockwell's experience with hardware also could help the company more deeply embed AI into its future devices. Already, the company is ...

A few years ago, the American automaker General Motors (GM) announced that it would be phasing out support for CarPlay and Android Auto in its new electric vehicles, in favor of its own software platform. It was a controversial decision, as many drivers who are in the market for a new vehicle consider CarPlay to be a must-have feature. Looking to capitalize on the situation, one GM...