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Apple has officially released iOS 17.5 with developers to the general public. The update brings a handful of new features and changes for iPhone users. Head below for everything we know right now.

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When it comes to smart assistant availability, Apple has taken a vastly different approach with Siri than Amazon has with Alexa. Whereas the latter assistant can come baked into a variety of non-Amazon smart devices, Apple has largely restricted Siri to its own first-party products. One exception came in late 2021 when ecobee added support for Siri in its SmartThermostat. Now, three years later, a second product has received Siri integration.

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Update: Three weeks later, Meta has announced the feature alongside a new partnership with an airline. Original coverage from April 18 below…

Today I learned two things. First, apparently Meta Quest headsets don’t work on planes? I guess Apple knew to prioritize that feature for Vision Pro. And second, support is reportedly on the way. Add this to the list of ways competition from Vision Pro is making a better product.

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Today OpenAI held a spring update event, where it outlined some of its latest work on the ChatGPT platform. One key announcement was the arrival of a new Mac desktop app, but the larger focus was on a new flagship model of ChatGPT. This new model, GPT-4o, arrives just in time for a rumored deep integration into iOS 18 at WWDC.

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iOS 17.5 has landed for everyone with several new user-facing features. And there are also 15 important security fixes that come with the update. Here are the full details on everything that’s been patched.

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Macworld

Apple holds a Back to School promotion every year (now known as the Higher Education Offer to avoid confusion because it’s only open to students once they enter higher education, and the institutions and teachers, not school-age children). As part of the deal, Apple offers an incentive with purchases of qualifying Apple products.

Apple’s ‘Back to School’ deal runs in various locations around the world during the summer months. The deal usually ends about a month after the first university semester begins in that country.

Apple Higher Education Offer has already run in Australia, New Zealand...

We’re three months into Apple Vision Pro launching in the US and expectations are building for international availability to arrive after WWDC 2024 in June. But what do after-market sales look like now? As it happens, you can pick up a new Vision Pro on eBay at a $500 or more discount – although there are some caveats.

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Apple Vision Pro first launched in the US only back in February, and it was unknown how long it would take for Apple to bring the product to more countries. Now, a new report indicates the wait may not be much longer.

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After Apple’s iPad-focused event last week, many observers – including yours truly – pointed out that the new iPad Pro is actually thinner and lighter than the iPad Air. This had me wondering what “Air” actually means nowadays for Apple.

In a new interview, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, offered up an explanation.

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With new Apple gear about to get unleashed into the wild, and the recent debut of the 2024 Beats Solo headphones, today’s roundup of deals is loaded with the first price drops on the latest and greatest. Amazon has now knocked $50 off Apple’s new M2 iPad Air alongside discounts on the new M2 iPad Air from $570. From there, we have some of the best prices ever on the M3 MacBook Air from $950 as well as the very first price drop on this year’s Beats Solo 4 update at $150. Head below for a closer look at everything in today’s 9to5toys Launch Break.

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Even though the new iPad Pro and iPad Air feature bigger and better screens than ever before, they’ll also be cheaper than ever to replace – assuming you buy AppleCare+. Here are the full details.

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Macworld

With WWDC 2024 less than a month away, we’re starting to get a good idea of what Apple has in mind as its big software announcements, namely iOS 18. We already knew that AI was likely to be a major theme of the event, but a new report offers specifics of what that will involve.

According to the generally well-informed leaker Mark Gurman (citing “people familiar with the matter”), Apple “has closed in on an agreement” with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT features to the iPhone as of the launch of iOS 18 this year. Crucially, that would mean the technology...

Apple Music is kicking off a 10-day countdown today, during which it will share the 100 Best Albums of all time.

“The list is an editorial statement, fully independent of any streaming numbers on Apple Music — a love letter to the records that have shaped the world music lovers live and listen in,” Apple Music says.

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After Apple was required to make big changes in Europe to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Microsoft and Booking.com have also been ruled to be subject to the antitrust law …

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Macworld

At a glanceExpert's Rating
Pros

• Easy to use
• Analogue controls
• Nice clicky feel

Cons

• USB-C iPhones only

Our Verdict

The GameSir X2s Type C turns your iPhone into a Steam Deck-like gaming machine. Great feel and its great analog controls give you an edge when playing in the mobile world. For example, if you have a Game Pass subscription, you can play really heavy games with this bad boy attached to your phone.

Price When Reviewed

$45.99

Best Prices Today: GameSir X2s Type-C

Retailer

Price

$45.99

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Macworld

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.

Simple is as simple does

One of the first things they teach you at tech journalist school is to put yourself in the shoes of the casual reader. I’m immersed in the world of Apple products on a daily basis, but many of those who visit Macworld stubbornly insist on having a life. And things that might seem obvious to me, and to Apple’s head-in-the-clouds hipster marketing team, are baffling to them.

It’s worrying for all concerned, then, when I’m the one finding Apple’s product range baffling. But that’s been the case with the iPad for years: between staggered launches, inconsistent naming...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman gave an hour-long interview to the "All-In" podcast (hosted by Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg). And speaking on technology's advance, Altman said "Phones are unbelievably good.... I personally think the iPhone is like the greatest piece of technology humanity has ever made. It's really a wonderful product."

Q: What comes after it?
Altman: I don't know. I mean, that was what I was saying. It's so good, that to get beyond it, I think the bar is quite high.
Q: You've been working with Jony Ive on something, right?
Altman: We've been discussing ideas, but I don't — like, if I knew...
Altman said later he thought voice interaction "feels like a different way to use a computer."
But the conversation turned to Apple in another way. It happened in a larger conversation where Altman said OpenAI has "currently made the decision not to do music, and partly because exactly these questions of...

The is Apple’s thinnest product ever, with the 13-inch model measuring at just 5.1mm thick (excluding camera bump).

The last time the iPad Pro was redesigned, with the 2018 model, there was a big controversy as people noticed it was relatively easy to bend their iPads, with some arriving bent out of the box. For this ultra-thin redesign, the question of rigidity and durability inevitably has relevance again. But, in an interview with Arun Maini, Apple SVP John Ternus addressed these concerns, noting that the new iPad has a redesigned internal structure meant to improve the device’s stiffness.

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Macworld

In this new age of internet threats, you could spend more time worrying about your data privacy than you do actually working or comfortably browsing. If you wish to enhance your digital experience, Windscribe VPN offers an all-in-one solution to privacy and internet security that’s now available for a new low price of less than $70.

Trusted sites like Tom’s Guide and G2 gave Windscribe VPN high marks for its user-friendly interface and commitment to a true no-logging policy. This Windscribe VPN Pro subscription allows...

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There’s never a good time to migrate between device management vendors, but sometimes its necessary. If all of your devices are deployed at the same time (on a lease, etc.), you can time these device refreshes with the new device management...

Macworld

If your Mac is beginning to sound like it has a jet engine spinning up inside it’s not just annoying, it may also be a sign that something is wrong. There could be an issue that is causing your Mac to overheat, or you might have a faulty fan. Here’s what to do if those fans keep whirring even if nothing appears to be wrong.

Why is my Mac’s fan so loud all of a sudden?

Having the fans going at full pelt isn’t a sign that things are necessarily wrong with your Mac, as the reason they’re installed in the first place is to cool down the insides of your computer by increasing the airflow around the components.

If you’re running computationally intensive applications such as HD video editors or high-end games, then your Mac will be working very hard, which in turn creates heat. The fan sensor will notice that the temperature is rising and immediately spin up the fans to help keep the system from cooking itself...

Macworld

MacOS Recovery (often referred to as Mac Recovery Mode) was introduced back in 2010 with OS X 10.7 Lion. This Recovery HD partition contains the latest version of the macOS you installed on your Mac and makes it possible to troubleshoot issues with your Mac. It is a useful tool that the majority of Mac users will almost never need to use.

Why use macOS Recovery?

I did say almost. There are a few instances where you may need to use macOS Recovery:

• You need to wipe a Mac because you want to sell it or pass it on to a new user. MacOS Recovery will allow you to wipe your Mac, removing your data and your Apple ID. We have a detailed tutorial on...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Apple's top software executives decided early last year that Siri, the company's virtual assistant, needed a brain transplant. The decision came after the executives Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea spent weeks testing OpenAI's new chatbot, ChatGPT. The product's use of generative artificial intelligence, which can write poetry, create computer code and answer complex questions, made Siri look antiquated, said two people familiar with the company's work, who didn't have permission to speak publicly. Introduced in 2011 as the original virtual assistant in every iPhone, Siri had been limited for years to individual requests and had never been able to follow a conversation. It often misunderstood questions. ChatGPT, on the other hand, knew that if someone asked for the weather in San Francisco and then said, "What about New York?" that user wanted another forecast.

The realization that new technology had...

XGIMI is known for its premium home and portable projectors. With Mother’s Day just around the corner, the company is offering special discounts on its 1080p and 4K projectors, so you can enjoy time with your family watching your favorite movies and shows or viewing photos together with the best image quality.

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Adds barcode scanning capabilities to the reference management tool. ($74.99 new, free update, 114.3 MB, macOS 10.13+)

Brings a bevy of bug fixes to the calendar app. ($56.99 annual subscription, free update, 66.4 MB, macOS 11+)

After significant backlash, Apple has apologized for and pulled its “Crush!” ad showing creative and cultural objects pulverized by an industrial press. Was the ad just an ill-considered effort to shock or an all-too-accurate metaphor for today's tech industry?

Read original article

The new iPad Pro has debuted as Apple’s first device with the M4 chip, jumping up from the M2. How does the latest Apple Silicon improve over its predecessors? Here’s a detailed look at M4 vs M3 and M2 on CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and more.

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We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about a completely redesigned “Apple Watch X” to be introduced later this year, as the Watch is about to turn 10. We still don’t know for sure what this new Apple Watch X will look like, but a group of designers have created a concept imagining something like a thinner … with a FaceTime camera.

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Imagine squeezing your retina iMac screen down onto an iPhone 5. You can do it. It might look a bit silly and initially you might wonder why you'd bother, but it has long been possible to see and remotely control your Macs and PCs on even your iPhone. Now Google has released Chrome Remote Desktop for iOS and you can do it for free. You'll do it, too: try this once and you will forever keep finding other reasons why it's incredibly useful. It's fantastic when you forget a file, for instance, and can now just find and email it to yourself from afar. And it will save your soul, your sanity and yo...

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With over half a year remaining before Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone, a fresh rumor out of Taiwan suggests that the company may be considering a new dual-lens camera system and the addition of "Force Touch," the pressure-sensitive touch technology set to be introduced in the Apple Watch.

Ten years after giving away its first song, Apple has reportedly wound down the "Single of the Week" program that offered iTunes users a chance to download a free track from up-and-coming artists.

Makeover apps tend to be somewhat serious, and are generally geared toward adults. Instead of being a fun game, they tend to be more akin to photo-editing software, which is generally pretty complex and low on the amusement scale. Toca Boca, however, has stepped forth with Toca Hair Salon 2, a makeover game that offers a lot to younger gamers or future beauticians....

Google has expanded its Chrome Remote Desktop app to include iOS compatibility. Now available for download on iTunes, iOS users can now orchestrate accessing their desktop computer for free by downloading the accompanying Chrome browser app. Chrome Remote Access has been available for Android users since last year....

South Korean electronics giant Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy A7, the latest entry in the company's premium all-metal Galaxy A series that brings a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, 2 gigabytes of RAM and an 8-core application processor.

The Los Angeles Unified School District's failed iPad deployment was botched early on, according to a review by the US Education Department. The federal agency says that it first of all put too hard an emphasis on using Apple hardware and software, ignoring cheaper options that could have saved money for the District and taxpayers. In July the USD said it was shifting to a strategy involving Chromebooks and Windows devices, such as the Microsoft Surface....

It's a different world. You might be the sort who would never take photo from a website and use it in your own book, but today if an image is online, it's as if the world sees it as fair game. Maybe that's a peek into our base immorality and the ultimate cataclysmic self-destruction of humanity, or maybe it's just that cut and paste is easy. Whatever it is, though, it's happening and you cannot stop it – not even with an application like this: but if PhotoWatermark can't prevent the copying of images, it can help photographers and artists considerably by adding identifying text to your image...

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A good magic trick, even in the 21st century, will still get people to stop and watch and try to figure out how it is done. Over the weekend, Apple retail stores around the US debuted a new window display showcasing the company's iPad line and Smart Cover accessory on a thin tabletop that features a line of the products, with the Smart Cover opening and closing itself to demonstrate the magnetic latch feature that wakes or sleeps the machine automatically....

Apple is now seeding a fourth beta of iOS 8.2 via the company's developer portal, and as an over-the-air update for existing beta users. The build is listed as 12D5461b, and follows a little less than a month after beta 3, which was issued December 18. That build was 12D5452a. Accompanying the beta is a new version of WatchKit, the SDK and framework needed to build Apple Watch support into iOS apps....

Spotify is continuing to enjoy rising user numbers, with the popular music streaming service announcing it has reached a total of 15 million subscribers. At the same time, reports claim that the majority of Spotify streams stem from mobile listeners, with 52 percent of listening taking place on smartphones and tablets rather than desktops....

The 2016 model of the Chevy Volt will support Apple's CarPlay, at least if an early demonstration version is accurate. The car is on display at this week's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and its dash system shows options for both CarPlay and MirrorLink connections. Google's Android Auto is notably absent, but since the 2016 Volt isn't due to go on sale until mid-2015, there may be time to implement it....

Spotify will not include support for Google Cast any time in the near future, the company has revealed. Rather than allow for its apps to connect to the audio streaming technology Google Cast, Spotify will instead reportedly continue to work on its own competing Spotify Connect audio system, one which allows users to stream music to a number of networked speakers and audio equipment....