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- Monday February 03
- 02:10 pmThe iPad Mini 7 128GB is $100 Off
Apple’s iPad Mini 7 is marked 20% off on Amazon, featuring the A17 Pro Chip to provide you with a fast and powerful performance, combined with Apple Intelligence to keep your data safe and get your work done fast, with 128GB of memory to store your documents, videos, photos, and games library. The 8.3-inch Liquid […] The post appeared first on iLounge.02:09 pmApple gets tax break in India, a boost to iPhone production
Apple is benefiting from a new tax break in India, which will make it cheaper to assemble iPhones in the country. The change was announced by the government on Saturday. We first learned about the plans last month, which are expected to be worth at least $2.7B in benefits to companies like Apple and Samsung … more…02:08 pmiOS 18.3 enables support for Starlink on T-Mobile
People subscribed to T-mobile can now access Starlink satellites through the Starlink beta, according to Bloomberg. Apple has collaborated with T-Mobile and SpaceX to implement Starlink support for their iPhone models, and this has been confirmed on T-Mobile’s site. To access the beta, you must have an eligible iPhone with iOS 18.3. The collaboration of […] The post appeared first on iLounge.02:06 pmApple teams up with T-Mobile and SpaceX to support Elon Musk’s Starlink on iPhones
In 2022, Apple made its initial venture into satellite technology with the introduction of Emergency SOS on the iPhone 14… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.02:05 pmiPhone SE 4 will be featuring a notch
Ross Young, display analyst, reported that the new iPhone SE 4 will come with a notch instead of a Dynamic Island, which goes against a prior leak that stated that it will be the other way around. Evan Blass, a leaker, supplied images showing the new iPhone featuring the Dynamic Island instead of the notch, […] The post appeared first on iLounge.02:04 pmWhatsApp update for iOS addresses privacy issue
Version 25.2.3 was launched by the WhatsApp messaging platform. They released this patch for iOS in order to address the huge vulnerability in privacy that was targeted to the View Once feature the app has, where videos and photos that were supposed to disappear after viewing once could still be accessed and seen. The issue […] The post appeared first on iLounge.01:55 pmApple published a new Press Release
Apple just published a new Press Release:Apple Music kicks off Kendrick Lamar’s Road to Halftime ahead of Super Bowl LIX01:50 pmZero-click WhatsApp spyware targeted 90 journalists, says Meta
A zero-click WhatsApp spyware attack was made against 90 journalists and other “civil society members,” said Meta, which managed to detect the incident. A zero-click attack means that victims don’t need to tap on a link or take any action in order for their devices to be compromised – simply receiving the message is enough … more…01:24 pmApple Music Replay 2025 playlist now available
The new Replay playlist is now available on Apple Music. Users are noticing today that the Replay 2025 playlist is now showing up in their libraries. Apple Music Replay continuously aggregates your top songs, albums, and artists. The playlist updates throughout the year, culminating in a full-year-in-review feature in December. more…01:21 pmMicrosoft Defender VPN on Mac and iPhone will stop working on Feb 28
If you’re using the Microsoft Defender VPN on Mac or iPhone as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription, there’s bad news. The company has revealed in a support document that the privacy feature will cease to work at the end of this month … more…01:01 pmUltra Wideband smart door locks are coming – here’s why you’ll want one
If you own an iPhone 11 or later, it includes some tech which does very little right now but is set to quickly become an extremely useful feature: Ultra Wideband (UWB). Smart door locks incorporating UWB tech are now starting to hit the market, and these will offer the most convenient and secure unlocking experiences of all … more…01:00 pmDeepSeek and the High-Stakes Global AI Race
With the launch of DeepSeek, the AI-wars have kicked off, but this is just the opening salvo. It’s an impressive opening move that gives the world a heads up that Chinese companies are more than willing to compete. The post appeared first on TechNewsWorld.12:44 pm25 years of Apple's innovation with iPod
To celebrate 2025, I compiled Apple's top ten major areas of innovation over the past 25 years. Let's look at the decisions that led to this blockbuster success of the iPod and implications for new products today.The first segment discussed Apple's 2000 release of Mac OS X Public Beta, its most important innovation in the last 25 years. The second segment focused on Apple's reinvented retail operations. The third segment looks at iPod.If the "Apple Computer" of the new millennium had only focused on retrofitting the Macintosh to sell as its principal money maker, it is unlikely it would have survived a decade. At the time, Apple was selling about 3 million Macs annually. Apple was beleaguered. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums12:35 pmDeepSeek will help you make a bomb and hack government databases
Tests by security researchers revealed that DeepSeek failed literally every single safeguard requirement for a generative AI system, being fooled by even the most basic of jailbreak techniques. This means that it can trivially be tricked into answering queries that should be blocked, from bomb recipes to guidance on hacking government databases … more…12:21 pmIndia prepares for Trump trade disruption by cutting import taxes for Apple & others
Certain iPhone components including iPhone circuit boards will no longer face import taxes in India as the country positions itself to weather changes in global trade.Mumbai, IndiaIn 2024, the Indian government reduced its import taxes on chargers, printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) and smartphones themselves, from 20% to 15%. That 5% cut was estimated to mean Apple would earn between $35 million and $50 million more annually.According to Reuters, though, India has now entirely dropped import taxes on certain components and accessories, although not on smartphones. India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the removal of the tax during her annual budget speech and the government has prepared a list of affected components. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums12:12 pmClicks for iPhone 16 review – clever iPhone keyboard case (not) for everyone
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Pleasant typing feel Many clever shortcuts Backlit keyboard More space on the screen Cons Very unwieldy on the iPhone 16 Pro Max Lengthy setup Considerable battery Consumption Our Verdict The Clicks for iPhone is one of the most interesting accessory products for the iPhone in recent years. The combination of iPhone case and keyboard brings physical buttons to the Apple mobile phone and creates more space on the screen for content, as the on-screen keyboard is no longer needed, and being able to assign shortcuts to certain key combinations is an incredibly clever trick. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When ReviewedFrom $139 Best Prices Today: Clicks case for iPhone 16 Retailer Price Clicks $139 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Clicks is the only keyboard case for the iPhone on the market. It is one of those accessories that will inevitably divide opinion. The concept itself isn’t stupid, it’s just a bit out of date, because the era of smartphones with keyboards came to an end with the demise of Blackberry at the latest. Maybe I’m just susceptible to such concepts, after all I belong to the (probably relatively small) group of people who spent quite a while with keyboard smartphones and look back longingly in moments of weakness. The small company has launched a revised version of the keyboard case that works with the iPhone 16. Not only was the fit adapted to the two new devices, but changes were also made to both the keyboard and the workmanship. Eugen Wegmann Design & finish Three colors Good workmanship Apart from the keyboard at the bottom, Clicks is a standard iPhone case that comes in three colours: Surf, Spice and Onyx (aka blue, ochre and black). Clicks is not explicitly marketed as a protective case, but its design offers a certain degree of protection for your iPhone. The frame is made of a relatively rigid silicone, and the back is made of a piece of hard plastic in which magnets for MagSafe are embedded in a circle. On the inside, they are covered with a microfiber fabric, similar to the original Apple covers. The buttons are made of aluminum and therefore have a very high-quality feel, while the designers have opted for a simple cut-out for the camera control. So far, so normal. But then there’s the USB-C port on the lower edge of the inside, which you use to connect the Clicks to your iPhone and which is extended through the keyboard to the lower end so that you can also charge your iPhone and connect it to Carplay. Eugen Wegmann The eye-catcher and main function is of course the keyboard with its 37 black, optionally illuminated keys. In the interests of ergonomics, these are slightly dented and tilted slightly to the left on the left-hand side and slightly to the right on the right-hand side. All main keys are double and sometimes triple-keyed, with the most important special characters printed on the respective key. There are also three additional buttons in the bottom line: one for voice input (or for the backlight), one to switch the virtual iPhone keyboard on and off as required and a third click button for special shortcuts such as shortcuts. This cover conceals all the technology, but also weights.Eugen Wegmann On the back of the keyboard is a cover covered with a piece of artificial leather, behind which the technology is housed. If you want to know what it looks like inside, you can take a look at the last quarter of the video on the Jerryrigeverything YouTube channel, where the device is taken apart. See more options in our roundup of the best case for iPhone 16. The recommended handling: two-handed.Eugen Wegmann Ergonomics & haptics Great haptic feedback Pro-Max version unwieldy Requires two-handed operation Key fetishists get their money’s worth with Clicks. The pressure point is pleasant, as is the clicking noise. The key size and spacing are large enough, unless you have really big fingers. Even with the best will in the world, your thumb will not reach the opposite side, and if you want to press a button and still hold the iPhone securely in your hand, it will be very tight.Eugen Wegmann Due to its size, however, it brings with it two not insignificant problems. The lesser of these is that it makes one-handed operation of your iPhone practically impossible and forces you to hold the iPhone in two hands. This is actually very necessary, because the much bigger problem, at least with the Clicks variant for the iPhone Pro Max (and probably also for the Plus), is the weight distribution. With the Clicks, the already long iPhone models become even longer and their leverage increases when you hold them at a typical angle of 20 to 70 degrees to the ground. Even the best typing feel can’t change the fact that your wrists start to hurt after a while. Size comparison: Clicks for iPhone 16 Pro Max next to an iPhone 16 Pro Max.Eugen Wegmann The developers of the Clicks have already done a lot to bring the center of gravity as close as possible to the hands: In addition to the buttons and all the technology, there are also a few weights behind the artificial leather flap on the back. It is possible that the Clicks is more comfortable for the normal iPhone or the Pro iPhone without Max, but I can only speculate due to my lack of such a variant to test. Functions & software Keyboard shortcuts for shortcuts Clicks app for customizations and updates USB-C passthrough In addition to the actual physical keyboard, the secret superpower of Clicks is the ability to assign shortcuts to every single key. However, this requires a relatively high level of effort, as everything has to be set up. Clicks uses a function in the accessibility options to assign shortcuts, which makes it possible to control the iPhone with an external keyboard. The setup is not complicated, but lengthy. There is also a video (in English) that explains everything step by step (step by step). Fortunately, Clicks has now expanded the associated app so that some basic shortcuts can be set up easily. Beyond that, however, you will have to search for the corresponding shortcuts elsewhere or create them yourself. Unfortunately, this is not entirely trivial, because although the shortcut app is versatile, it is also confusing and for non-experts. One shortcut that I had to set up myself opens the Control Center, which has only been possible on the system side since iOS 18.1. The shortcuts that Clicks suggests in the app include starting Instagram, calling a specific contact, activating a focus mode, calculating a tip in the calculator and many more. In the app, you can also configure the behavior of some other buttons—such as whether the Enter key sends a message or inserts a line break—whether and when the Clicks goes into standby mode and whether and how strong the button illumination is. If you use your iPhone via cable in the car for Carplay, you have to switch from keyboard mode to data mode either in the app or via a key combination (123 space bar), as USB-C on the iPhone cannot do both at the same time. Nevertheless, the iPhone can also be charged with a case. Battery life As the Clicks connects to the iPhone via USB-C, it does not need its own battery but is powered by the iPhone. This has consequences for the iPhone’s battery life, although the manufacturer assures us that the effects are negligible. In my tests, Clicks consumed between 20 and 25 per cent of the battery throughout the day according to the iOS battery consumption. On one of my test days, only “Slay the Spire” came close to this consumption, but in a much shorter time. There are two settings in the Clicks app to reduce the case’s power consumption: the key illumination and the power-saving mode. It makes the most sense to switch the keyboard backlight off completely and only switch it on when needed, as it is usually the biggest power guzzler. Even in the dark, the screen glows brightly enough for the white letters on the keyboard to still be recognizable. Power-saving mode, on the other hand, is a double-edged sword. The clicks are simply switched off after a certain period of time, which initially seems to make perfect sense. However, this has the disadvantage that it always takes a really strangely long moment for Clicks to switch on again and connect to the iPhone. This is particularly annoying if you pick up the iPhone after a while, want to quickly execute a short command and press the button combination three or four times before anything happens at all. So you’re trading a slightly longer battery life for an annoying inconvenience. Which one you choose is up to you. (I recommend switching off the power-saving mode) Price & availability The Clicks for iPhone is only available for the entire iPhone 15 series and iPhone 16 series. For the iPhone 14, Clicks only supports the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. The price depends on the size of your iPhone: $139/£109 if you have a standard or iPhone Pro, $159/£129 if Plus or Pro Max. Buy Clicks for iPhone Eugen Wegmann Who should buy the Clicks keyboard case? I’ll be completely honest: For the average person’s everyday use, the Clicks keyboard case won’t appeal. The keyboard case is an absolute niche product and is aimed at productivity junkies who write a lot of long texts on their iPhone, execute a handful of shortcuts at the touch of a button and, ideally, also want to attract a little attention with their accessories in public. Clicks is also aimed at people who have never really got over the fact that smartphones with keyboards no longer exist. If you belong to either group, the Clicks is the perfect accessory for you. Clicks is one of the more interesting accessories to hit the market for the iPhone in recent years, and the ability to assign shortcuts to all the buttons has incredible potential if you have the leisure to spend a few hours with it and set it up.11:54 amApple makes Swift Build open source; Swift Playgrounds slightly renamed
Over the weekend, Apple announced that it is making Swift Build open source. This is the build engine used by both Xcode and for the company’s internal projects. Apple has also made a tiny name change to Swift Playgrounds, the app that helps people learn to code in Swift on iPad and Mac … more…11:15 amHere’s everything we expect from Apple in February 2025
Macworld February tends to be a pretty slow month for official Apple releases. The big fourth quarter is over, and any new “Spring” hardware usually launches in March or April. There’s an outside chance that Apple “direct to the website” launches the M4 MacBook Air this month, ahead of other springtime products we’re not expecting until March or April, but other than that, the new iOS/macOS betas and scrutiny on Siri is going to be what February is all about. New hardware releases We’ve heard for some time now that the new M4MacBook Air is in production and should ship “soon.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested Apple could launch the new laptop as a standalone release in February, but might hold it for a bigger event in March to go along with other expected spring products like the iPhone SE 4, new iPads, and maybe that mysterious new “HomePad” thing we keep hearing about. This is expected to be a relatively minor update, just upgrading the processor to an M4 and probably the camera to the 12MP Ultra Wide Center Stage FaceTime camera like you find in the M4 MacBook Pro. Apps and software updates Apple just released iOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3 (and related updates), but as January closed out, Apple hasn’t yet released the first iOS 18.4 or macOS 15.4 betas. We expect them soon (possibly this week) because they will need lots of testing. There will probably be a few minor tweaks, but the big component is the big Siri update. When Apple announced Apple Intelligence at WWDC last June, it showed a “coming in a later update” Siri that would build a personal profile of you based on the information on your phone, so it can understand your requests and perform actions while understanding your own individual personal context. It also could take actions within apps, thanks to a huge increase in developer hooks called App Intents. Getting this in the hands of developers so they can update their apps to use these new App Intents is critical, so this is probably going to be a long beta test that goes into wide release in April (Apple has already announced that additional language support for Apple Intelligence is coming in April. Just as importantly, it will be our first look at a new smarter Siri, and let’s face it, Siri needs big improvements. Apple is also rumored to release an update to the Calendar app that lets you keep track of event invites. It was hidden in the iOS 18.3 beta and could be released this month. Services Apple TV+ Here are the shows, series, and movies we expect to release on Apple TV+ in TK. If you want to know what’s coming later, check our full guide to upcoming Apple TV+ content. Love You to Death (A muerte): Tells the story of the cautious Raúl, who reconnects with free-spirited and newly pregnant Marta following his heart cancer diagnosis. They resume a friendship that began in childhood, and in a relationship brought together by fate, begin to test their beliefs about love. February 5 The Gorge: Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. February 14 Surface (season 2): Sophie is a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt. As Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends, she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is in fact the truth she has lived. February 21 Berlin ER: A German-language drama about managing a chaotic emergency room in the toughest and most overcrowded hospital in Berlin. February 26 Apple Arcade Apple releases most Apple Arcade games on the first Friday of each month. Check our Apple Arcade FAQ for a full list of Apple Arcade games and more details on the service. Occasionally, games are released with no forewarning, but you’ll usually see next month’s releases listed in the Coming Soon section. Doodle Jump 2+: The classic “endless jumper” returns. February 6 My Dear Farm+: A youth-oriented cute garden farming game. February 6 PGA Tour Pro Golf: A high-end, realistic golf sim with PGA licensing. February 610:30 amApple’s post-iPhone plan is working… so far
Macworld How long can Apple keep relying on the iPhone? Nobody knows, because there’s never been another product quite like it. But the plumpest golden goose in history isn’t going to keep laying eggs forever. Apple, to its credit, is fully aware of this. With its enthusiastic hyping of the latest cautious iPhone update, the company might occasionally sound faintly deluded: a little like the man in the old joke who falls out of a building and says to the people on each floor as he passes, “Everything’s fine so far!” But Apple is doing its best to find a cushion to land on. In the company’s latest financial results, we got an idea of how the cushion hunt is going, and the answer is “pretty well.” Tim Cook named Q1 2025 as Apple’s best quarter ever, with record revenue of $124.3 billion despite a small year-on-year dip in the iPhone’s fortunes. Who needs the iPhone when you have consistent growth in services to make up for any shortfalls? It’s certainly gratifying for the company to record its highest-ever quarterly revenue after launching one of its most boring iPhones (which didn’t even have its flagship feature at launch). But there are concerns we should discuss before we break out the champagne. One is that regardless of growth in other areas, the iPhone remains Apple’s most important product by an unhealthy margin. That burgeoning Services division, a portmanteau category combining various tenuously related revenue streams, brought in a total of $26.3 billion, compared to the iPhone’s $69.1 billion. Wearables, Home, and Accessories brought in a combined $11.7 billion, the iPad just $8.1 billion, and Macs $7.8 billion. In first place, there’s the iPhone. In second place is daylight. And only then do we get to the other products. In that light, it becomes a little clearer that simply growing services isn’t the straightforward solution to the iPhone’s eventual decline that it might sound like. This quarter, solid growth in services and iPads was just about enough to make up for a tiny drop for the iPhone. We’re still at a point where if the iPhone sneezes, Apple catches a cold. This wasn’t a sneeze. It was barely the first “Aaahh…” At some point, the iPhone will suffer a real setback, and we don’t yet know how Apple will handle that. Last week, research found that buyers of premium iPhones are becoming less inclined to pay extra for more storage, which could become a headache if it turns into a long-term trend. Apple has historically made a lot of money from iPhone storage upgrades, but with the rise of music streaming and cloud photo storage, there doesn’t seem to be quite the same demand. For a company of Apple’s size, it isn’t easy to pivot, and it should be applauded for trying its best to do so. By building a mixed-reality headset and an AI platform Apple has positioned itself for two possible post-smartphone futures, and by growing Apple TV+ and its other subscription services it has shored up revenues in the short to medium term. These are all positive steps. But the pivot hasn’t yet been tested. Dip or not, this was another epic quarter from the iPhone, and we don’t yet know what will happen when the good times finally come to an end. Foundry Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too. Trending: Top stories DeepSeek is making everyone look silly except Apple, reckons the Macalope. Have you restarted your MacBook this week? You should, pleads Michael Simon. Stephan Wiesend explains why your VPN isn’t as secure as you think. Your next iPhone and Mac might cost a whole lot more thanks to political factors. Apple’s push into the smart home is a decade late but right on time. Apple should smarten up the HomePod mini 2 with these 5 upgrades. This MacBook Pro was too busted for even AppleCare+ to repair! Apple honors Black History Month with color-morphing Apple Watch band. Podcast of the week Apple released an update to iOS, so what should you expect? In the latest episode of the Macworld podcast we take a look at what’s in iOS 18.3, plus talk about the latest Apple news. You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site. Reviews corner Mullvad review: A VPN that’s all about privacy. Mac Backup Guru review: A utility worth looking into. LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 review: Blazing back-up performance. The rumor mill New leak gives us a clear look at the iPhone SE 4–with a notch. It seems rumors of a Dynamic Island were mistaken. Software updates, bugs, and problems SLAP and FLOP browser vulnerabilities threaten nearly every Apple device since 2021. Whoops! Apple accidentally breaks watchOS updates on older devices. The latest iPhone update patches a security flaw exploited since 2023. We round up 5 small (but still kinda big) changes coming to your iPhone in iOS 18.3. On which subject, some iPhone users will soon get a ‘secret addition’ after upgrading to iOS 18.3. The latest iPhone update patches a security flaw exploited since 2023. And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.10:00 amApple releases Q4 2024 financial results, cites $124.3 in revenues and $36.3 billion profit | PowerPageApple releases Q4 2024 financial results, cites $124.3 in revenues and $36.3 billion profit
It was a great quarter for Apple, even if there are a few warning signs that might be worth paying attention to. Apple on Thursday released its Q4 2024 financial results for its holiday quarter, citing its “best quarter ever” with revenues of $124.3 billion and a profit of $36.3 billion, up four percent year […] Source