DuckDuckGo AI features exit beta – both search and private chatbots
DuckDuckGo AI answers were first added to the privacy-focused search engine back in 2023, and have now finally exited beta – but you can still switch the feature off. Also out of beta is free, private access to your choice of AI chatbot … more…

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Desktop Mac buyer's guide: which Mac to buy in early 2025
Apple's update to the Mac Studio line has shaken up the premium end of its product catalog. Here's the best desktop Mac you should buy for your budget in early 2025.Apple's desktop Mac lineup as of March 2025The March 2025 update of the Mac Studio has made some changes to the landscape of desktop Mac models. At least, it did so on the premium end of the scale, with the more budget-friendly side kept as it is.The change now means that, if you have more budget available for a desktop Mac, you're going to get even more performance out of your purchase. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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CarPlay helps Australian police scan license plates automatically
Police in Australia are expanding their usage of CarPlay on the roads, with the in-car infotainment software now used to display information based on surrounding drivers' license plates.Australian police using CarPlay - Image Credit: Motorola SolutionsCarPlay is commonly used by drivers to display app information on a car's built-in display, enabling them to manage music or see Apple Maps, for example. In Australia, the Police have been taking the concept further, using it for policing matters for a number of years.In a new development, the Western Australia Police Force has seen an update to its PSCore mobile app to help with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). Police vehicles in the country are commonly fitted with such systems, which display details about a nearby vehicle on a display, informing police officers of its history and ownership. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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The 10th Generation iPad 64GB Wi-Fi is $50 Off
Amazon has the 10th generation iPad at $50 off, featuring a 10.9-inch display to watch your movies, play games, and draw your next artwork, and an A14 Bionic Chip for a reliably powerful performance for your tasks and daily activities. This Apple iPad comes with a 12MP Ultra Wide and Wide Back camera with center […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Standalone AI App made by Meta 
Meta is set to launch a standalone AI App in line with other companies that feature AI-powered products. The company has apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook, with news indicating that a Reels app is in the making, turning the once Instagram feature into a standalone app. Meta AI showcases generative abilities and is set […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Safari Technology Preview 214 launched
A new update for Safari Technology Preview was launched by Apple. The test browser the company designed was released in March 2016 to let users try out features that are set to be released in future updates for Safari. The latest update, 214 Safari Technology Preview features updates and fixes for CSS, Media, Javascript, Browser, […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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GPT-4.5 introduced by OpenAI
OpenAI has presented its new AI model for ChatGPT, the GPT-4.5, which they claim to be the best model they’ve made yet for the purpose of chatting. The GPT-4.5 model is capable of better understanding patterns, making creative insights, drawing connections, and providing a more natural feel with its enhanced personality. It can guide users […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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The $2000 to $2500 price tag of the first folding iPhone is pure guesswork
While Apple has been in no hurry to launch a folding iPhone, it does now seem like we’re getting closer to the day when it finally happens. Folding smartphones are never cheap, but a new report today suggests that the price could be even higher than some have anticipated, namely “above $2,000 and $2,500” … more…

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CCleaner review: A flexible Mac utility for clearing clutter
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Fast performance, clean user interface, good set of system tools Decent price point for one-time purchase or subscription Manage Startups tool was able to dig out malware remnants that other utilties missed Cons Duplicate Finder user interface requires clicking on a file’s check box as opposed to the name No quick access to a viable help or manual system, refers you to a web-based FAQ No response to media requests Our Verdict CCleaner achieves what it sets out to do: help clean up gigabytes of cache files, internet history files, and locate and purge large files on your Mac with an impressive collection of tools. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Retailer Price Macworld Software Store $14.99 View Deal Piriform Software (annually) $39.95 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Price When ReviewedFree; Pro version: $39.95 a year Best Prices Today: CCleaner Pro Retailer Price Macworld Software Store $14.99 View Deal Piriform Software (annually) $39.95 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket There’s something to be said for a software company releasing a product and heavily advertising its wares. There’s also something to be said for being something of a silent runner, having a good product and honing it over the years. Piriform Software’s CCleaner represents the latter of these two, and while not wrapped up in millions of dollars in advertising that seems to purvey every element of your internet experience, comes through with some useful tools in a friendly, appealing package. CCleaner, which is easy to install and assign full disk permissions to, requires macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or later to run, and retails for $39.95/£39.95 for CCleaner Pro, which covers one device for one year. There’s also a free version: CCleaner. Similar to other Mac cleaning utilities (see our round up of the Best Mac Cleaning Apps we’ve tested) such as CleanMyMac and DaisyDisk, CCleaner centers itself around several modules, which consist of Quick Clean, Clean Clutter, Clean Browser, Find Duplicates, Analyze Photos, Uninstall Apps, Manage Startups, System Monitor, and Statistics. The modules themselves work well and behave as expected, the Uninstall Apps tool worked well with no fuss, and the Manage Startups tool actually surprised me by digging up a chunk of files left behind from when we tested (the malware-like) MacBooster and offered an easy way to remove them. The Analyze Photos tool performed well, not only scaning the local Photos library, but allowing you to add custom external photos, devices, and specific photos on the fly. The Clean Browser tool offered a good interface, is speedy, and was able to locate and remove 2.01GB of cache files and cookies, while the Find Duplicates tool was able to find no less than 106.45GB of duplicate files, offered a preview of what’s potentially on the chopping block, and allowed us to choose and filter by file type. Foundry System Monitor proved interesting, and beyond a nice, clean interface, offered system specs, access to sensors, and information such as fan usage, disk usage, battery cycles, and temperature. The Quick Clean tool isn’t entirely original, but was able to locate app cache files, log files, trash, cookies, web cache, and duplicate files and I was able to clear 6.5GB of cache files alone. The Statistics tool did a good job of tallying what’s been cleaned up over either the entire usage of the app or over the last 30 days . Finally, the scheduling tool worked well, CCleaner offering a good level of customization to the user. We were able to clear 6.5GB of cache files.Foundry There’s room for improvement with CCleaner, but none of it represents a staggering need for a complete overhaul. While the Find Duplicates tool is generally excellent and offered good filters and categorization to help organize the returned files, you still have to click directly on the file’s check box and can’t simply click on the name, which gets annoying when you’re checking or unchecking a wide array of items. From a corporate perspective, I never heard back from Piriform over a period of two weeks when I emailed them with questions. CCleaner’s biggest weakness is arguably the help menu/manual system, and while there’s a generic FAQ posted online, there’s no quick access to a viable help menu or onboard manual, which feels like an Achilles heel. Yes, there’s a good set of tutorial videos for CCleaner’s various versions, but you have to go looking for them. I think the next logical step is for Piriform to incorporate a decent manual as well as quick links to the tutorial videos they’ve already produced and published. Should you buy CCleaner? Yes, there’s room for improvement, but there’s an excellent collection of tools to be found in CCleaner, and you can see where the software’s following has built up over the years. The interface is clean, it runs well, and it doesn’t make the mistake of trying to perform every task under the sun, such as adding antiviral, antimalware, and VPN functions to its overhead. This in turn lends it a focus that some of its competitors have forgotten, and leads to an impressive collection of tools that are worth your consideration.

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iPhone fold predicted to launch in late 2026 with no Face ID
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the expected iPhone Fold will lack Face ID, but come with a 7.8-inch crease free display, in late 2026 or early 2027.Render of a possible iPhone Fold - Source AppleInsiderRecent rumors claimed that an initial manufacturing run of a folding iPhone would begin in late 2025, with mass production coming ahead of a launch in the second half of 2026. Analyst Kuo now claims that the launch will not be until late 2026 or early 2027, although he has previously predicted launches starting in 2024.AppleiPhone Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Here’s why the C1 chip doesn’t have mmWave 5G, says Kuo
Apple’s first modem, the C1 chip, had one notable omission: there’s no support for mmWave 5G, the ultra-fast variant of 5G. While I expressed my view at the time that this was no big deal, given that there’s been very limited rollout by carriers, it seems there may be a very specific reason for the decision … more…

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Apple's mmWave C1 modem won't launch until 2026
A new report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that it will be 2026 before an updated version of the Apple C1 modem with mmWave will enter mass production.Apple's C1 modem — image credit: AppleFor all its power efficiency, the C1 5G modem does lack mmWave support. It's far from a surprise, though, that Apple is working on future versions of the modem, but now Ming-Chi Kuo claims that an mmWave C1 will not be ready for the iPhone 17 range.Apple's C1 modem process technology: Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Apple C1 modem real-world tests: Good enough, but a step slow
Macworld In many ways, the Apple C1—its first cellular modem—is the company’s most important product in years. Just as the company broke free from reliance on Intel with its own Mac processors, it is now breaking free from reliance on Qualcomm for cellular connectivity. Ditching Broadcom for its own Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is said to happen this year, too. But the chip was released to little fanfare, with the announcement all but buried in the details of the iPhone 16e. After testing the modem, we know why: it’s good enough for Apple’s “budget” iPhone 16e, but only just. We carried the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e all over Sacramento, Calif., taking multiple speed tests to compare Apple’s modem vs. Qualcomm’s. The results are clear: Apple can’t keep up, at least not yet. But speed is not all that matters to a cellular modem. Apple C1 modem: How we tested To thoroughly test a cellular modem requires taking thousands of measurements all over the world, when connected to various networks in different conditions, in addition to controlled lab conditions. We can’t do all of that, but we can schlep around an iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e, taking multiple measurements in multiple locations, until we get enough data to form some conclusions. We used the popular Ookla Speedtest app to test network performance. Since performance is so highly variable, we took three measurements in each location on each phone, one after the other, and averaged the results. Our tests were performed on the Verizon network at multiple locations throughout the Sacramento, CA area, primarily in the afternoon on a day with good weather. We tested indoors and outdoors, in a mix of challenging areas, such as within a grocery store or the locker room of a gym, and easy, high-performance areas such as outside the Golden 1 Center when there was no major event taking place. The C1 does not support mmWave, so we don’t expect multi-gigabit speeds, but even more important than occasional Wi-Fi speeds is how well it performs in areas where the connection is weak or saturated. Let’s see how the C1 holds up. Apple C1 modem: Downloads and uploads With the exception of the test run in my home office (which has poor connectivity with mobile networks), the Qualcomm X71M in the iPhone 16 raced past the Apple C1 in every location. In the supermarket where it’s hard to get a really good connection, the C1 bombed hard, downloading at only about 10 megabits/s while the Qualcomm modem managed over 200. Remember, this is the average of three successive tests, to reduce the natural variability of cellular performance. It’s possible the iPhone 16e wasn’t able to lock on to a signal on a band that performs better there, but regardless of the reason, through multiple tests, we simply couldn’t get a good connection. Foundry In the park or Golden 1 Center where the iPhone 16 gets over a gigabit of download speed, we’re not very concerned by the Apple C1 managing half the performance. Once you can download several hundred megabits per second, you’re not going to have a very different experience going faster—not on your smartphone. Upload performance was a lot closer, with the Apple C1 trading wins with the Snapdragon X71M. Foundry If there’s a problem, it’s with the tests taken inside the gym or out in the nearby shopping center, where the Qualcomm modem was several times faster than Apple’s. The gym in particular is a very challenging area; it’s indoors in a large building full of equipment where connectivity is spotty, and dozens of people are all on their phones at once while they work out. We couldn’t even get half a megabit of upload performance out of the iPhone 16e there. Apple C1 modem: Overall performance Taking the speeds from each location and averaging them together, we start to see a general overall picture of how the Apple C1 modem in the iPhone 16e compares to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X71M in the iPhone 16. Foundry You can say that, at least in our testing in a variety of locations, the Apple C1 delivers about the same overall upload speed as the Qualcomm Snapdragon X71M but about half the download performance. Again, that’s all highly dependent on location and conditions, but it was consistent enough to show a clear pattern. Apple C1 modem: Efficiency and reliability Of course, download and upload speeds are only part of the picture when it comes to cellular performance. It’s just as important that you don’t drop calls, and that this very power-hungry component doesn’t drain your battery too quickly. We made several spot calls during testing using both phones and noticed no significant difference in call quality. No call ever dropped on either phone. It would take hundreds of calls in lots of locations, all lasting ten minutes or more, to get a really clear picture of whether one modem drops calls more than the other, so consider our tests anecdotal at best. Power efficiency testing also requires some specialized equipment to isolate the power draw of the modem alone, and measure it with different signal strengths. That’s exactly what Chinese YouTuber 极客湾Geekerwan has done, and they found that indeed, under ideal conditions, the Apple C1 uses about 25 percent less power than the Snapdragon X71M in the iPhone 16, but that power savings grows smaller if the signal is weak. 极客湾Geekerwan We’re talking about a difference of one-fifth of a watt, which can add up over time, but it’s not really a massive contributor to overall battery life. The iPhone 16e has a higher-capacity battery than any 6.1-inch iPhone before; it holds about 12% more charge than the battery in the iPhone 16, and that seems to be the biggest factor in the iPhone 16e’s long battery life. The C1 is not good enough for flagship iPhones… yet The iPhone 16e is Apple’s “more affordable” iPhone, though at $600 or more it could hardly be considered a budget smartphone. It makes several concessions to shave $200 off the price, and we can consider cellular performance to be one of them. Making a competitive 5G modem is a herculean task, one that was beyond Intel’s reach (and hence why the company sold its whole modem division to Apple). There’s a reason Apple is years late in bringing a modem to market. That it works and seems to work just fine without any massive obvious flaws, is quite a feat in itself. But it can’t keep up with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X71M in the iPhone 16, and that’s not even Qualcomm’s best modem, which would be the Snapdragon x80. It’s not even the X75, which was found in a lot of phones last year. It appears to be some sort of custom-made-for-Apple variant on the X70, though details are scarce. The Apple C1 is good enough for the company’s less expensive model, but if you’re spending $800+ on the latest iPhone, or $1,000+ on an iPhone Pro, you expect better than “good enough.” Without obvious evidence that it drastically improves battery life, which we don’t see, it would be a huge disappointment to find the C1 in the iPhone 17 this fall. Thankfully, rumors claim that Apple will indeed stick with Qualcomm for at least another generation. But Apple says this is the first modem of many. The company already has C2 and C3 modems in the pipeline (it would have to, considering the multi-year development and testing process). Those are supposed to get closer to the performance of Qualcomm’s best modems while improving power efficiency and offering tighter integration with other Apple silicon. The C1 is a great start but Apple still has a long way to go.

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Apple announces M4 MacBook Air, discontinues M2 and M3-based models
You’ve been hankering for an M4 MacBook Air, and it’s here. On Wednesday, Apple officially announced the M4 MacBook Air, complete with a new sky blue color option and a cheaper starting price The new sky blue color replaces space gray in the lineup. It joins the midnight, starlight, and silver colors. The updated MacBook […] Source

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Apple announces M3 and M4-based Mac Studio desktops
If you’ve been hankering for an M3 or M4 Mac Studio, they’re here. Apple on Wednesday announced the M3 Mac Studio, the first major update to the workstation desktop in two years. Per Macworld, the Mac Studio starts at $1,999 with an M4 Max chip that has a 14-core CPU (10 performance cores and 4 […] Source

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Apple’s first foldable iPhone may feature crease-free display, but lacks Face ID and costs more than $2000
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared his expectations for the upcoming Apple foldable iPhone, which is set to launch in 2026. Kuo says the Apple foldable is positioned as a top-tier iPhone, with accompanying eyewatering price tag. It may cost well in excess of $2000. However, customers are expected to get premium hardware specs including a display that does not visibly crease when folded, stainless steel and titanium alloy hinge, in a casing that is just 4.5 mm thick when unfolded. However, the thinness also may come at the price of Face ID, with Kuo predicting that Touch ID will return. more…

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Macworld Podcast: All about the new MacBook Air, iPad Air, Mac Studio, and iPad
Macworld The MacBook Air, the iPad Air, the Mac Studio, and the iPad—Apple released new versions of these devices this week, and on this episode of the Macworld Podcast, we talk about what’s new, what’s not new, and what’s totally confusing! Stay tuned, it’s gonna be a good one!  This is episode 924 with Jason Cross, Michael Simon, and Roman Loyola.  Watch episode 924 on YouTube Listen to episode 924 on Apple Podcasts

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Apple didn’t make this credit card-sized tracker, but they should have
Macworld I love my AirTags, but they don’t fit everywhere. They’re great for tossing in a bag or tracking a sneaky pet, but they’re awkward in a wallet and don’t seamlessly slide into a laptop sleeve. If you’ve ever wished for a sleeker, more discreet tracker, the KeySmart SmartCard is the gadget you’ve been looking for. This credit card-sized tracker works like an ultra-slim AirTag (less than 2mm thick), so it fits easily in a wallet, laptop bag, or folio without creating a bulky lump. You’ll never have to dig through couch cushions searching for your missing wallet again. And since this 3-pack includes multiple SmartCards, you can track all your essentials—or gift one to that friend who’s always late because they misplaced their stuff. The KeySmart SmartCard integrates with Apple’s Find My app, so you can track its location, get alerts if you leave it behind, and even use Lost Mode to display your contact info. It’s waterproof, wirelessly rechargeable, and lasts up to five months on a single charge. If you love the idea of AirTags but need something sleeker, grab a 3-pack of KeySmart SmartCards for $79.97 until March 31 at 11:59 p.m.   KeySmart® SmartCard – Works with Apple Find My (3-Pack) – $79.97 See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Apple’s first foldable iPhone could cost a fortune
Apple's first folding iPhone could arrive in Q4 2026 with a book-style design, titanium alloy chassis, and dual rear cameras. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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YouTube Premium Lite brings a more affordable ad-free viewing experience
YouTube is now offering a cheaper YouTube Premium Lite subscription plan with a key perk: the ability to view videos ad-free. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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