iPhone 16 Pro Max ‘fails’ drop test… just like all other glass phones
Macworld With each passing year, Apple tries to make its costly smartphones more and more resistant to physical damage. In many respects this mission has been a success: certainly today’s iPhones are far more water-resistant than was the case a decade ago. And the Ceramic Shield feature introduced with the iPhone 12 in 2020 means the glass of the screen is harder to break, too. One of the trumpeted upgrades for the newest 16-series iPhones is the inclusion of a new version of Ceramic Shield, which Apple claims is “two times tougher than any smartphone glass.” That may be accurate, but don’t think it means you can toss your iPhone 16 Pro on the floor and walk away scot-free. The insurance firm Allstate Protection Plans regularly tests the drop- (and dunk-) resistance of various devices, and yesterday revealed how the iPhone 16 got on in the latest round of simulated spills. The news isn’t entirely positive. The company uses what it refers to as a “DropBot” to simulate falls from six feet (which is perhaps on the high side if we’re imagining the phone being dropped from a pocket or hand unless you’re a giant) to gives a general (and consistent) sense of how well each device stands up to this kind of impact. And the answer is that even the latest iPhones don’t stand up to it very well. “When dropped face down on a sidewalk from six feet, the 16 Pro Max shattered, and the display failed completely, rendering the device unusable,” Allstate reports. Dropping it on the back panel was less catastrophic, but still inadvisable: while remaining fully functional, the phone shattered and suffered significant damage to the camera housing. “So while the iPhone 16 may be the smartest smartphone to date, one thing hasn’t changed,” the company concludes. “It’s still made of glass.” This may sound bad… and certainly isn’t reassuring to hear. But as MacRumors points out in its coverage of the story, this is just a really hard test. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has glass on both front and back, and no glass-based smartphone has ever survived Allstate’s DropBot test.

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Apple Music Classical adds thousands of booklets to album listings
Apple Music Classical's new version 2.0 adds a new Recently Added section as well as thousands of album booklets.Apple Music ClassicalApple Music Classical was introduced in March 2023 as a curated experience for classical music. A year and a half later, the app has finally reached version 2.0.The update in the App Store on Tuesday introduces a few changes to the app, including a collection of album booklets for thousands of albums on the service. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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TikTok to shutter music streaming business in November
TikTok has announced plans to discontinue its music streaming service in November, ending a multi-year effort to compete with Apple Music… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Halide rejected from the App Store because it doesn’t explain why the camera takes photos
Halide may have been featured during the iPhone 16 keynote, but it seems that wasn’t enough to protect it from an over-zealous App Store reviewer. Lux co-founder Ben Sandofsky shared that the latest version of Halide was rejected from App Store … more…

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How to downgrade macOS update: Rollback Sequoia to Sonoma
Macworld macOS Sequoia arrived on Macs in September 2024. Many people have installed Sequoia and love it, while others have installed the updated only to regret it later. Perhaps you’ve discovered that an app you rely on no longer works or is buggy? Maybe you hate one of the new features? Or you are frustrated that your Mac can’t take advantage of all the new features. The good news is that it is possible to revert to a previous macOS version. Another issue is that sometimes when Apple updates the Mac operating system with new features, users encounter problems with the latest version and need to revert back to the previous macOS. Our advice is usually to wait a few days or weeks before installing a major update for this reason (although sometimes it’s recommended you install it straightaway if the update is necessary for security reasons.) Luckily it is possible to revert to the previous version of macOS from before the update, but, unfortunately, it isn’t as simple as finding the older version of the Mac operating system and reinstalling it–and it can mean you lose some of your data. Maybe you need to run an older version of the macOS on a Mac you are using to test apps as part of your job. We have a separate article that looks at various ways to downgrade to older versions of macOS. You may also want to look at other ways to install the older version of macOS, such as installing it on a separate volume (also known as dual booting) or running it on a separate drive. Below, we’ll run through the steps to downgrade your Mac from the latest version of macOS Sequoia to an older one, or from Sequoia to Sonoma. If you want to downgrade from a beta version of macOS we have a separate article dealing with downgrading from a beta version of macOS. If it’s iOS you want to roll back it’s not so simple because Apple stops older versions of iOS being available. Read about how to downgrade from iOS 18 to iOS 17. Foundry Foundry Foundry How to revert a macOS update It’s not always a completely new version of macOS you want to revert from. Apple issues multiple point updates throughout the year and if something breaks on your Mac following that update you may want to go back to the previous version. This could be from Sequoia 15.1 to 15.0, or it could be from macOS Sonoma 14.7 to 14.6. At the time of writing Sequoia hasn’t been updated beyond 15.0, but when it is it will be possible to drop back to the previous version of Sequoia. So, if there is something in an update to Sequoia that is causing problems for you, you can revert to an older version of macOS, but you will need to wipe your Mac to do so. The method will be determined by whether of not you already have a backup (and how old that backup is). With a backup from before your update: If you have a backup, all you need to do is wipe your Mac and then recover your backup with the older version of the backup from before your update to the new macOS. Without a backup: If you don’t already have a backup, you will need to backup the data on your Mac because the process involves wiping your Mac and then doing a clean install of the macOS you want. For your backup you should use a backup tool other than Time Machine*. You’ll find more details on how to use both of these methods to revert to an older version of macOS below. *Why you shouldn’t use Time Machine for this backup: Apple’s Time Machine is no good here because when it backs up your Mac it will back up the current version of macOS as well, and when you recover your Mac from the backup you’ll recover that version too. You could use a tool like Carbon Copy Cloner (which has a free 30-day trial or costs £52/$49.99), and doesn’t make you back up the operating system. Check out our recommendations here: Best backup software for Macs. We also have advice about How to back up a Mac. How to downgrade from Sequoia to Sonoma Chances are you arrived on this article because you have updated to Sequoia and regret it. The process is just the same as if you are reverting from a minor update to macOS. With a backup from before your update: If you have a Time Machine backup from before the update, you can revert to that, but you will lose any new data, so make sure you back up (but not with Time Machine, as explained above). Without a backup: If you don’t have a backup you will need to make one and then recover your data to your Mac after wiping your Mac and doing a clean install of macOS Sonoma. We’ll look at the various options and how you can downgrade from macOS Sequoia to Sonoma below. Foundry Foundry Foundry Option 1: Downgrade macOS using a Time Machine backup If you have an older Time Machine backup from before you upgraded the downgrade process is a lot easier. With your pre-Sequoia Time Machine backup in hand, you can recover your machine from before the update and then copy back any files you created after you installed Sequoia. This is our preferred method because Time Machine backs up your settings and apps so that when you recover from that backup everything is exactly the way you are used to it being, which can be comforting. As long as you have old backups you should be able to go back to a date before your upgrade and recover that version of your Mac. Just remember that anything you have done since then will be lost because you’ll wipe everything on your Mac as part of the process, so you will need to make a non-Time Machine backup of those files. Here’s how to recover the old version of macOS using Time Machine: Plug your Time Machine disk into your Mac. Restart your Mac. If you have an Intel Mac hold down Command + R until the Apple logo appears. If you have an M1 or later Mac you need to press and hold the power button until the Options menu comes up. When the options appear on the screen, choose ‘Restore From Time Machine Backup’ and click Continue. The next screen will show the words Restore from Time Machine, click Continue again. Next, select your Restore Source – this should be your backup drive. The next screen shows all your backups over time, pick the last one you made prior to updating to the newer version of the Mac operating system. (You can see which version of macOS the back up was made in). Once you have restored the older version of macOS from your Time Machine backup, you can recover the files you created since from your non-Time Machine backup. But what if you don’t have a Time Machine backup?… Option 2: Wipe your Mac and do a clean install of the older macOS Note that this method will erase your Mac, so do make sure you have a backup of important files. If you don’t have a Time Machine backup from before you updated your Mac, all is not lost. You can install an older version of macOS on your Mac, but you will need to wipe your Mac first. Wiping your Mac means you will lose your data if you don’t back it up. Remember backing it up with Time Machine won’t be useful here as you would recover Sequoia along with your data. Take a look at our recommendations in: Best backup software for Macs. We also have advice about How to back up a Mac. 1. Get the installer Screenshot Foundry The first stage of this method is to get the installer for the version of macOS you require, with the prerequisite that your Mac needs to be able to run it. See: macOS compatibility–the versions your Mac can run. We have links to some recent versions of macOS below so you can download the one you want. Sonoma Ventura Monterey Big Sur Catalina To start you need to grab the installer of whichever version of macOS you want to install from the Mac App Store using the links above. If you want an older version see this article: How to download old versions of macOS. When you click the link above it should take you directly to the Mac App Store, if that doesn’t happen close the Mac App Store if it is open and make sure you are using Safari.  Click on Get. The Software Update window from System Preferences will open and you should see a pop-up overlaying it with the version you want to download. Click on Download and confirm that you want to download the software (you’ll also see a warning that you are downloading an older version of the OS, ignore it.) Once it’s downloaded DO NOT click on Open – you don’t want to install it yet.  2. Create a bootable installer Foundry You won’t just be able to install Sonoma over Sequoia, or any old version of macOS over a newer one. In order to install an older version of macOS on your Mac you have to make a bootable installer that includes the installation files. To make a bootable installer, from which you can reinstall the older macOS, you will need a memory stick with at least 15GB space but we’d recommend more. You’ll need to reformat that drive and prepare it in Disk Utility and then use Terminal to input the createinstallmedia command for the version of macOS you are installing. In the case of Sonoma this is: sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sonoma.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume You will need to replace MyVolume with the name you have given to the drive you are using as the bootable installer. We recommend that you follow the steps outlined in this article: How to create a bootable installer of macOS to create your bootable installer. You will find all the createinstallmedia commands in that article. 3. Use the bootable installer to downgrade your Mac Foundry Now you have your bootable installer you should be able to install the older version of macOS on your Mac using it. Connect the bootable installer to your Mac. Open System Settings and click General > Startup Disk. Choose the external drive with your installer as the startup disk and click Restart. Your Mac will shut down and restart in Recovery mode. You will need to connect to Wi-Fi because your Mac will need to connect to the internet during this process. Access Wi-Fi settings from the Wi-Fi menu. Select Reinstall macOS from Utilities. Click Continue. 4. Set up your Mac as new and recover your backed-up files Foundry Now that you have wiped your Mac and installed the version of macOS you wanted you will need to run through the set-up process. See How to set up a new Mac for help with that. Once your Mac is up and running you can recover the data you backed up. How to fix problems downgrading a Mac These things don’t always go smoothly. Here are a few issues you might encounter: Wiping an older Mac If your Mac is old than the last few Intel Macs, or you aren’t running Monterey, you will need to erase your Mac following the steps in our tutorial on wiping a MacBook or Mac. We recommend that you follow that tutorial as there are a lot of steps you should take to ensure that you don’t create more problems for yourself. What to do if booting from external media doesn’t work If you are using a Mac with a T2 Chip then you need to ensure that you enable booting from external media or this will not work. To do this you need to access Recovery Mode and then choose Startup Security Utility from the menu. Here you will see a number of options including those for Secure Boot and those for Allowed Boot Media. It is in this second section that you will find Allow booting from external or removable media. You will need this selected to boot from a bootable drive. What to do if the old macOS won’t install If the above doesn’t work you may need to completely wipe your Mac before reinstalling macOS from the bootable drive. We explain in detail how to erase a Mac in this article: How to erase a MacBook or Mac: restore to factory settings and we advise that you follow that tutorial. If you have a Mac with T2 chip, or an M-series Mac erasing your Mac is very simple thanks to the Erase All Content And Settings option. This setting used to be found in the menu of System Preferences but with the arrival of System Settings it’s now located in System Settings > General > Transfer or Reset. Foundry Foundry Foundry Reinstalling an older macOS via Recovery mode Depending on the age of your Mac there might be an option to recover the original version of macOS it shipped with using macOS Recovery. You won’t be able to revert to something older than the macOS your Mac shipped with. Follow these steps to reinstall the version of macOS your Mac came with, or one that is close to that: Turn off your Mac. Restart it while holding down Shift + Option/Alt + Command + R to enter Internet Recovery Mode (make sure you are connected to the internet).  Choose the Reinstall macOS option. Click Install. This may allow you to install the operating system that your Mac shipped with. Unfortunately, when we tried this method we were unable to recover an older version of macOS, it seems that it works only for some Macs. How to avoid problems when you downgrade macOS Reversing an upgrade carries with it a number of wrinkles and pitfalls. Most of these are due to changes in file formats and settings between versions of the OS. So, for example, if you create a document or work on a file in a new version, whether it’s a beta or full release, of macOS and then try and open it in an older version, it may not work. To mitigate this, it’s wise to export any documents you’ve created or worked on in the newer OS in a standard file format. So, for example, if you use Scrivener or Ulysses, export documents as RTF files. That way, if the native files don’t survive the reverse upgrade, you’ll be able to re-import the RTF files. Take screenshots of preferences and settings Whenever you perform a clean install of macOS, which is what you’re doing here, it’s a good idea to take screenshots of any custom settings you’ve created in apps or in System Settings (or System Preferences). That makes it easier to re-create them later. You should also make a note of user account and password details for anything you’ve set up while running the new version of the OS. If you don’t use iCloud or Chrome to synchronise bookmarks, it’s a good idea to export those and make a copy. And unless you’re using the migrate data option outlined above, you’ll also need installers and license codes for apps you use. If those are downloads from the Mac App Store, you can just re-download them from the Purchased section in the App Store. If not, make sure you can download them from the vendor’s website. If you don’t use a password manager to store license codes, make sure you’ve got a copy of them before you start. Synchronize If you use Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or any other form of cloud storage, make sure your data is in sync before you start the process of reversing an upgrade. It’s easy to forget that the files that live in your Dropbox folder, for example, are local files and that while synchronization is frequent, the loss of an internet connection will prevent it and you could have files in your local folder that haven’t yet been copied to the cloud. Clicking on the cloud service’s logo in your menu bar should tell you whether synchronization completed successfully and files are up to date. If you use Gmail, iCloud mail or any other IMAP server for your email, make sure it’s up to date and any drafts you’ve composed recently have been synchronized. If you use a POP3 account you’ll have to manually back up the mail database and restore it after you reverse the upgrade. Or, if you only have a few messages you need to keep, forward them to a Gmail account – you could set one up especially for that purpose.

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Bridging the AI Training Gap in the Workplace
Many employees lack sufficient AI training, creating a significant skills gap. Companies that address this issue can unlock innovation to drive organizational success. The post appeared first on TechNewsWorld.

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iPhone 16 vs iPhone 16 Pro compared — Going Pro in 2024
Apple's standard and Pro tiers of iPhones are more different than they've ever been. This is what you should consider when choosing between an iPhone 16 or an iPhone 16 Pro.iPhone 16 [left], iPhone 16 Pro [right]The Pro models of iPhone have been around for quite a few years, and it often provides owners a number of advantages over the non-Pro version. For the iPhone 16 generation, going Pro adds a little bit more to the overall package.But even so, some may not necessarily believe the few-hundred difference in price is actually worth going Pro for. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Jimmy Fallon and Tim Cook walk in Central Park, talking iPhone 16, AI, and mustard
With Apple CEO Tim Cook visiting New York for the iPhone 16 launch, comedian and The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon took a walk with him in Central Park. Cook said that he tried to visit the Fifth Avenue store every iPhone launch “because it’s sort of the center of the world, and the enthusiasm is so incredible there” … more…

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macOS Sequoia screen recording permission nags can now be permanently vanquished
macOS Sequoia screen recording permission reminders can now be permanently vanquished, thanks to a new pay-what-you-like app. Apple’s new security feature was intended to make Macs safer, by reminding us that we’d granted a powerful and potentially dangerous permission to an app, but many experienced users simply found it irritating … more…

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AirPods 4 with ANC review: Great sounding, better fitting, more pro than ever
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Great overall audio quality Effective active noise cancelation Case with wireless charging support and Find My speaker cons Will they fit? Price considerations compared to AirPods Pro 2 Our Verdict The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation at $179 are a general-consumer product that offers many pro features. They sound great, the Active Noise Cancelation is extremely useful, they fit better than previous AirPods, and the wireless charging and Find My speaker on the case are much-welcomed conveniences.  Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Retailer Price $169 View Deal $179 View Deal $179 View Deal $179 View Deal $179 View Deal $179.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Price When Reviewed$179 with Active Noice Cancelation Best Prices Today: Apple AirPods 4 (with ANC) Retailer Price $169 View Deal $179 View Deal $179 View Deal $179 View Deal $179 View Deal $179.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket AirPods sure have come a long way in the eight years since its debut. So much so that their iconic status has waned a bit as the competition (including Apple’s own Beats product line) has caught up–some may even say surpassed. What can Apple do to compete? Easy: Offering a model that delivers more with better design at an excellent price. That is what Apple has done with the AirPods 4: They offers many of the features found in the AirPods Pro 2, have a better fit than their predecessor, the AirPods 3, and they have the same $179 price tag. Overall, Apple has made the AirPods 4 a better value than the version they replaced. How they literally fit, however, does play a major role in whether you should pay the extra money and step up to the AirPods Pro 2.  AirPods 4 with ANC: Design and fit The AirPods have been redesigned with each generation, each one promising a better fit. The AirPods 4, according to Apple, has a design with “a natural and secure fit for more people than ever.” The company said it used an “unparalleled data set” to make “the most comfortable AirPods ever.”  Apple says these are the best-fitting AirPods ever but don’t take their word for it. If you can, try them on before you buy. Apple says these are the best-fitting AirPods ever but don’t take their word for it. If you can, try them on before you buy.Foundry Apple says these are the best-fitting AirPods ever but don’t take their word for it. If you can, try them on before you buy.Foundry Foundry Can “50 million individual data points” be wrong? In my specific case, the AirPods 4 are closer to being a proper fit than the AirPods 3, but I have a personal issue where the right earbuds fit better than the left ones, and that is still the case here. Both stayed in my ears while walking, but the left one fell out when running upstairs. Overall, however, they’re a vast improvement over the original AirPods from 2016, which I’ll admit, I hated. They barely stayed in either of my ears and I spent more time bending over and picking them off the ground than actually listening to them. For me, the AirPods Pro with silicon ear tips fit a lot better and securely. However, there are some situations where I want the open design of the AirPods, so I’m not giving up on the AirPods 4 in those situations. (I acknowledge the luxury of having two sets of AirPods at my disposal.) I’d like to say the AirPods 4 will fit your ears but every ear is different (even for one person) and how they fit will be the determining factor in your buying decision. If you can, try them on first before you buy. AirPods 4 with ANC: Active noise cancelation and sound quality Apple offers the AirPods 4 in two variations: a $129/£129 model and a $179/£179 model with active noise cancelation. Within active noise cancellation are two sound isolation modes: Adaptive Audio and Transparency. They also get Conversation Awareness, which was previously only available on the AirPods Pro. Whether you get the AirPods 4 with or without Active Noise Cancelation, the hardware looks identical on the outside. Inside they’re basically the same as well with Apple’s newest H2 chip and an identical feature set aside from active noise cancellation. It’s not clear if the $129 AirPods 4 have a modified H2 without the feature or if Apple is simply not enabling it through a software block on it. But either way, that’s the only difference. Apple AirPods 4 (without ANC) Price When Reviewed: $129 without Active Noise Cancelation Best Prices Today: $119 at Amazon | $129 at Adorama | $129 at Apple In use, the effectiveness of the AirPods 4’s active noise cancelation is heavily affected by the open design. For example, while walking down a busy street, I found that the AirPods 4 cut down a majority of traffic noise to a point where you’d have to pay close attention to notice it. The AirPods Pro 2 do a better job, but it’s close. The AirPods 4 don’t absolutely cancel the noise around you, which might be preferable, depending on your situation. If you’re in conditions where you need to muffle as much as possible, you’ll want to turn to the AirPods 2’s snug ear tips.  My favorite feature is Conversation Awareness, where the volume automatically lowers when the AirPods 4 detect your voice and keeps it lowered as long as you are talking. The feature did a good job when I had one-on-one conversations, but when I was in a group where multiple people often talked at the same time, the volume would turn back up. It would turn back down again when I spoke in the group. The feature is really meant to be used for short person-to-person encounters, like at a store checkout or a discussion with a kiosk representative. The overall sound quality is quite delightful for general-purpose, open earphones. The AirPods 4 handle loaded tracks like 311’s “Need Somebody” and Buñuel’s “Crack Shot” with ease; these songs sound like a muddled mess on lesser earbuds. The bass in Real Boston Richey’s “Help Me” is clean, heavy, and most importantly, lacks distortion. Katy Perry’s “Woman’s World” and glaive’s “minnesota is a place that exists” exude the energy you want from pop tracks. And the guitars in acoustic tracks like Fog Swamp’s “Split the Sky” and Indigo Girls’ “Romeo and Juliet” are crisp and clear. When you first set up the AirPods 4, Apple walks you through the setup of its features. When you first set up the AirPods 4, Apple walks you through the setup of its features.Foundry When you first set up the AirPods 4, Apple walks you through the setup of its features.Foundry Foundry I was also impressed with the clarity and volume of voice recordings in podcasts and during phone calls. I didn’t think voices would be as good as with the AirPods Pro with their ear tips–it’s not, but it’s close and I can say the AirPods 4 produced excellent voice quality. The AirPods 4 has the same H2 chip as the AirPods Pro 2 so it seems logical to think that the sound generated is the same quality, with the major difference being the effect of open earbuds versus ear tips. AirPods 4 with ANC: Charging case The AirPods 4 USB-C case is also where you’ll find Apple has made differences between the two models. Like the AirPods Pro 2 case, the $179 model has a speaker to play alerts through Find Mys. It also supports USB-C or wireless charging–it works with the Apple Watch charger as well as Qi chargers. (It doesn’t support MagSafe like the AirPods Pro case, but a MagSafe charger will work as long as you place the case in the dead center of the charger and balance it, since it doesn’t make a magnetic connection to stay in place.) The $129 model’s case has only wired USB-C charging. The case is a bit smaller than the AirPods 3 case, but still wider than the original AirPods case. But compared to competitors in the market, the AirPods 4 case is solid and most importantly, very compact. Some of the cases out there are way too big for the earbuds they are housing. In a strange move, Apple also decided to get rid of the setup button on the back of the case. Instead, you press the area in front of the case, below the status light. Apple notes this in the AirPods 4 documentation, but since most people don’t read manuals, there will be more than a few users wondering what to do if they’re having setup problems. At least with a visible button, there’s an intuitive sense to push it when troubleshooting. But to be fair to Apple, I can’t remember the last time I had to push that button on any AirPods cases that I’ve had. The setup button on the back is gone. The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation has a case equipped with a Find My speaker (the three dots in this photo). The setup button on the back is gone. The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation has a case equipped with a Find My speaker (the three dots in this photo).Foundry The setup button on the back is gone. The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation has a case equipped with a Find My speaker (the three dots in this photo).Foundry Foundry AirPods 4 with ANC: Battery life If you use active noise cancelation, it shortens the AirPods 4’s battery life—when fully charged, Apple states a 4-hour listening time with the earbuds and 20 hours of charge with the case. Turn off ANC, and fully charged earbuds can last 5 hours, and the case adds 30 total hours. I got a bit better than that. To test the earbuds battery, I used the AirPods 4 until the earbuds ran out of power, switching back and forth between the different active noise cancelation modes. I set the volume to six clicks below the full volume and listened to a variety of songs and podcasts, and chapters from an audiobook. The earbuds lasted 4 hours and 16 minutes, a few minutes longer than the stated battery life with active noise cancelation on. When I put the earbuds in the fully-charged case, their battery life was at 27 percent after five minutes–Apple says that a five-minute charge provides an hour of life. AirPods 4 with ANC: Price The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation in this review are $179/£179. Apple sells the AirPods Pro 2 at its list price of $249/£249, but it’s not difficult to find it at a discount at third-party retailers such as Amazon. For example, during this review, Amazon in the U.S. was offering the AirPods Pro 2 for $190, only $11 more than the AirPods 4. If you want “full” noise cancellation and you’re comfortable with silicon ear tips inside your ear canal, it’s worth the extra $10. Another bonus: the AirPods Pro 2 will soon get the new hearing aid support, which is not coming to the AirPods 4. Third-party retailers will eventually offer the AirPods 4 below its list price, likely in the $150 range, which makes the decision a bit harder. AirPods 4: Cheaper alternative Throughout this review, I’ve mentioned the AirPods 4 without ANC several times. In the interest of helping you make your buying decision, here’s a summary of what these are and what they aren’t. Apple identifies this product as the AirPods 4, and they are priced at $129. The earbud and case designs are the same as the $179 AirPods 4 with ANC. However, the $129 AirPods 4 does not have the following features: Active Noise Cancelation (as well as Adaptive Audio and Transparency mode) Conversation Awareness Wireless charging case Speaker on the case for Find My alerts Otherwise, they’re the same. The AirPods 4 have an H2 chip like the AirPods 4 with ANC with the same audio quality, fit, and features. So you’ll have to consider if those features listed above are worth the extra $50. I think they are. Should you buy Apple AirPods 4? The AirPods 4 with ANC for $179 are a much better value than the 3rd-gen AirPods with numerous pro-level features. They sound great, the active noise cancelation is extremely useful and works surprisingly well, they fit better than previous AirPods, and the wireless charging and Find My speaker on the case are much-welcomed conveniences. In short, the AirPods 4 are a great, all-around set of earphones. As long as they can stay in your ears.

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Tim Cook says iPhone launches are an 'out-of-body experience'
Apple CEO Tim Cook joined late night host Jimmy Fallon for a walk and talk on the day the iPhone 16 range came out.Jimmy Fallon (left) with Tim Cook in New York City"The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" host is a long-time Apple user, and for the iPhone 16 launch, was at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. He was presented with the iPhone by Tim Cook, and then the two walked a mile together to the Apple Upper East Side store."Every launch, I try to come to Fifth Avenue because its sort of the center of the world," Cook told Fallon, "and the enthusiasm is so incredible there [and] I love walking around New York." Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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California law requires schools to limit or prohibit the use of phones by students [U]
More schools are banning students from using smartphones in classes, with calls for a federal ban rather than the current mix of state laws. Apple’s home state of California is expected to be the next state to introduce a ban. Update: California has now signed The Phone-Free Schools Act into law. School districts have until July 1, 2026, to “adopt a policy to limit or prohibit the use by its pupils of smartphones while the pupils are at a school site” … more…

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We’re on the iPhone 16 and Apple still doesn’t understand apps
Macworld It is the year of our Lord 2024. Chappell Roan is taking the world by storm, everyone is trying to make that omelette from “The Bear,” and the App Store approval process is still a Rube Goldberg machine that produces random, often craptacular results. Halide cofounder Ben Sandofsky posted on Mastodon: The latest Halide update was rejected because, after seven years, a random reviewer decided our permission prompt wasn’t descriptive enough. I don’t know how to explain why a camera app needs camera permissions. The current prompt says: The camera will be used to take photographs Hmm. Interesting. Interesting. Tell me more about that. What are these “photographs,” exactly? Explain it to me like I’m a 14th-century stablehand who just arrived in this century thanks to a time travel mishap involving a bog witch and then immediately got a job as an App Store reviewer. Because that’s actually what happened. The Macalope has to agree with Sandofsky here, it seems pretty straightforward. You downloaded a camera app. It needs access to the camera. To take the photographs. Photographs are much less fun without the lenses and such. Sandofsky could, of course, add more verbiage to the prompt — “The camera will be used to take photographs for the app that you just downloaded to take photographs for. Photographs are images created and stored by interpreting light waves digitally. Also, they steal your soul. A lot of people think that’s just a superstition expressed by stereotypical backward tribal cultures in movies but, yeah, they actually steal people’s souls. Sorry you have to find out this way, in a prompt. Are you still reading this? Just tap ‘OK’ for crying out loud.” — but the Macalope’s not sure how that actually makes the prompt or the user experience any better. The very odd thing here is that Halide was featured in Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” keynote. And is an Apple Design Award winner. And is just incredibly popular and well-known. And, finally, what are you doing, App Store review? Is this what you wanted to be when you grew up? This is not to say that other, less well-known developers should have to wade through this fetid swamp full of bear traps. It shouldn’t happen to anyone. Yes, this will probably get sorted out one way or another and, sure, we can just chalk it up to Halide being assigned an overly zealous reviewer who just really wanted to impress their bosses by being the most obtuse troll on the bridge over Services Revenue River, but it should not work this way. Or not not work this way, as the case may be. IDG IDG IDG Sadly, the situation is not going to change because Apple’s platform is where all the money is. This is Apple’s real monopoly, a monopoly on developers. If you’re a developer and you want to get paid for your work, you kind of have to be on iOS (sure, there are exceptions, but this is more true than not). The E.U. has made a lot of steps to address this. We can argue about whether or not they’re the best moves, but they are moves that attempt to address the actual problem. The U.S. Department of Justice suit against Apple, however, doesn’t address this problem at all. Despite Apple’s contentions, however, making these flaws public does actually work, at least sometimes. So, there’s that. Still, if the rejections must continue until morale improves, can they at least be consistent?

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Cellular Apple Watch buyers call out Verizon's maddening activation block
Apple Watch owners can't activate their cell plans through Verizon — unless they bought the device from the carrier, or complain at length.Apple Watch Series 10Verizon has frustrated Apple Watch users before, but now it is preventing some from connecting to the cell network at all. AppleInsider has been contacted by users reporting having to spend hours on the phone to Verizon support for what appears to be a common issue.According to one user's summary that others are saying fits their experiences, the issue is specifically over whether an Apple Watch is bought through Verizon itself, or not. An Apple Watch sold by the carrier will activate correctly and without difficulty. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Apple @ Work Podcast: Surviving System Extensions
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple. In this episode of Apple @ Work, Aaron Webb from Jamf joins the show to talk about Apple’s changes to System Extension management. more…

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Apple adds several Macs to its vintage and obsolete product lists
Your beloved Mac can’t be top of the line forever, and Apple on Monday added three Mac models to its vintage products list as well as nine additional Mac models from its vintage list to its obsolete products list. The company classified the following Mac as vintage: The following Macs are now classified as obsolete: […] Source

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Some iPhone 16 Pro users complain of “dead spots” with the touchscreen interface
As nifty as your brand-new iPhone 16 Pro may be, there may be a few bugs to iron out on the software end. Per Macworld and Reddit, a number of iPhone 16 Pro owners are complaining that the handsets are failing to respond correctly to touchscreen gestures. Certain actions appear to be setting off the […] Source

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iPhone 16 Pro users facing intermittent touchscreen issues
Several iPhone 16 users are facing touchscreen issues on their units, leading to missed touches and swipes. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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iPhone 16 Pro’s tougher Ceramic Glass pitted against iPhone 15 Pro in drop test
A YouTuber subjected the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max to multiple drop tests in comparison to the iPhone 15 Pro to test their durability. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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How to use Disk Jockey for retro emulation on your Mac
Disk Jockey is an app that allows you to create disk image files for a variety of retro computers and emulators. Here's how to use it.Disk Jockey is a retro disk image formatter.Retro computing is popular these days, and one aspect of vintage computing is managing the various disk and file formats one has to deal with when using these machines.Jean-Michel Durand of Belgium has created a disk image formatter called Disk Jockey for retro computers. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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