Tech Talk

Ford CEO Jim Farley said that Ford has no plans to drop support for CarPlay due to its popularity with Ford customers. He made the comment in an interview with The Wall Street Journal 's Joanna Stern. "70 percent of our Ford customers in the U.S. are Apple customers. Why would I go to an Apple customer and say good luck?" he said. Farley was commenting on car manufacturers that do not support ‌CarPlay‌, like Tesla and General Motors. Tesla has never added ‌CarPlay‌ support into its vehicles, and GM earlier this year announced plans to phase out support for both ‌CarPlay‌ and Android Auto starting in 2023. Ford CEO @jimfarley98 says he’s sticking with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and his reason makes A LOT of sense https://t.co/0ZEvV5icyD — Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) May 3, 2023 GM plans go with a built-in infotainment system co-developed with Google as it transitions from combustion vehicles to electric vehicles. ‌CarPlay‌ will be available in non-elec

Amazon and B&H Photo today have a collection of discounts on the 2021 MacBook Pro, including both 14-inch and 16-inch models. These savings reach up to $800 off select notebooks and are the best prices we've ever seen on each computer. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Starting with the 14-inch MacBook Pro (10-Core M1 Pro, 1TB), this model is available for $1,998.99 , down from $2,499.00. Amazon has this notebook in Silver and Space Gray, with an estimated delivery window of May 5 through May 9 for most United States residences. $500 OFF 14-inch MacBook Pro (10-Core M1 Pro, 1TB) for $1,998.99 The 16-inch MacBook Pro (10-Core M1 Pro, 1TB) has hit $2,099.00 on B&H Photo, down from $2,699.00. Additionally, the 16-inch MacBook (10-Core M1 Max, 1TB) is available for $2,699.00 on Amazon, down from $3,499.00. These are bo

Google today announced that it is introducing support for passkeys, providing an easier and more secure login method for Google accounts. Apple integrated passkeys into iOS with the launch of iOS 16 , and it is also available in iPadOS 16.1 and later as well as macOS Ventura . Passkeys are an industry standard developed by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium, so Google's passkey integration will work on Apple devices as well as on other devices that support the feature. As Google notes: Last year — alongside FIDO Alliance, Apple and Microsoft — we announced we would begin work to support passkeys on our platform as an easier and more secure alternative to passwords. And today, ahead of World Password Day, we've begun rolling out support for passkeys across Google Accounts on all major platforms. They'll be an additional option that people can use to sign in, alongside passwords, 2-Step Verification (2SV), etc. Passkeys are both easier to use and more

Reddit's official iOS app has received an update that gives users the ability to more easily share content on the social discussion website with the help of rich link previews. Previously, sharing a link to a Reddit post via a messaging service such as Apple's Messages app only displayed the URL address in the conversation thread, offering the recipient little idea of its contents. By contrast, rich link previews display a visual preview of the post being linked to, including the subreddit name, total upvotes, and comments, providing the recipient with a clearer gist of the content they can expect to see if they decide to tap the link and visit the post. In another update addition, it's now easier for people to share content in the Reddit app to Instagram, thanks to a new Instagram Stories button in the sharing options. The new button automatically generates a similar preview of the post that appears on Instagram. Outlining the new sharing features in a blog post ,

Apple and Google today jointly submitted a proposed industry specification to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth item trackers for unwanted tracking of individuals. As part of this initiative, the companies plan to expand AirTag-like unwanted tracking alerts to third-party item trackers in future versions of iOS and Android. Tile, Chipolo, Samsung, Eufy, and Pebblebee have expressed support for the draft specification, according to Apple's announcement . The specification has been submitted via the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards organization and will be subject to a comment period over the next three months. Following the comment period, Apple and Google will partner to address feedback, and plan to release a "production implementation" of the specification by the end of 2023 that will then be supported in future versions of iOS and Android. Since launching in April 2021, there have been several news stories about the AirTag being used for unwan

Marketing renders of Google's long-rumored Pixel Fold have emerged online, including detailed hardware specifications, leaving seemingly little still to be revealed ahead of the device's expected official unveiling later this month. Coming courtesy of the ever-reliable leaker Evan Blass , the genuine renders essentially corroborate design details that have been floating around for some time: The Pixel Fold adopts a form factor similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, featuring a 5.8-inch OLED display on the outer cover, and a main 7.6-inch OLED display (the same as the Galaxy Z Fold 4) that unfolds like a book. Both screens have a 120Hz refresh rate. Based on details from Blass, the device is 5.5" tall by 3.1" wide by 0.5" thin when folded (139.7mm x 79.5mm x 12.1mm) and 5.5" x 6.2" x 0.2" (139.7mm x 158.7mm x 5.2mm) when unfolded. That should make the device able to fit easily in a pocket when folded. The Fold is powered by Google's Tensor G2 chip

Today Amazon has a pair of discounts on Apple's iPad mini 6 and 2021 iPad, both of which have hit some of the best prices we've seen so far this year. As of writing, these deals are only available on Amazon, and most of the tablets are in stock and available to deliver by this weekend. Additionally, we're tracking a return of the best price on Apple Pencil 2. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. iPad mini 6 Starting with the iPad mini 6, you can get all four colors of the 64GB Wi-Fi tablet for $399.99 , down from $499.00. We haven't tracked this best-ever price on the iPad mini 6 since March, so it's a great opportunity for anyone who's been waiting to pick up the 8.3-inch miniature tablet at a good discount. $99 OFF iPad mini 6 (64GB Wi-Fi) for $399.99 Similarly, the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 6 has hit an all-time low pric

Apple plans to announce the rumored 15-inch MacBook Air at WWDC, according to Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman . The laptop is expected to be unveiled alongside iOS 17, macOS 14, watchOS 10, tvOS 17, and Apple's long-awaited AR/VR headset. Gurman revealed the plans in his newsletter on Sunday: As part of watchOS 10, the company is planning to bring back widgets and make them a central part of the interface. This new strategy will debut at WWDC in June, alongside the unveiling of iOS 17, macOS 14, the 15-inch MacBook Air, and, of course, the much-anticipated mixed-reality headset. The well-connected Apple reporter previously said new MacBooks were coming at WWDC, but this is the first time he explicitly confirmed the 15-inch MacBook Air will be unveiled at the conference, which will begin with Apple's keynote on June 5 . 15-inch MacBook Air rumors began in early 2021, and production of display panels for the laptop reportedly ramped up in recent months as its launch nears. L

Apple is working on next-generation display technology called microLED, which will be coming to the Apple Watch Ultra first. We're not expecting the ‌Apple Watch Ultra‌ with microLED until 2025, but rumors about the device have been ramping up already. This guide highlights everything we know about Apple's work on a microLED watch and what Apple has in store for microLED in the future. MicroLED Apple Watch Ultra Introduced in 2022, the current ‌Apple Watch Ultra‌ uses standard OLED technology. MicroLED is, as the name suggests, LED display technology rather than OLED display technology, but it offers many of the benefits of OLED along with some improvements. The microLED Apple Watch is expected to include a 2.1-inch diagonal display, but we aren't aware of any other features that the device might get as of yet. Apple is already testing microLED displays for the Apple Watch, and the displays are said to feature brighter, more vibrant colors and a look like conte

WWDC is a little over a month away, and rumors about iOS 17 are continuing to come into focus with new reports surfacing this week about enhancements to the Lock Screen, Apple Music, and App Library, as well as new health tools and perhaps a brand-new journaling app. Apple also appears to be gearing up to release some new Macs, while the upcoming Beats Studio Buds+ earphones saw their full details prematurely posted to Amazon, so read on for all the details on these stories and more! iOS 17 to Include Mood Tracker, Health App Coming to iPad iOS 17 will include new tools for tracking emotion and managing vision conditions in the Health app , according to Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman. He also expects the Health app to expand to the iPad this year. In addition, Gurman said Apple is working on an artificial intelligence-powered health coaching service that it plans to launch next year. He said the feature is designed to encourage exercise, healthy eating, and quality sleep. Th

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Apple launching the iTunes Music Store, allowing Mac users to download music for "just 99 cents per song." At launch, the iTunes Music Store offered over 200,000 songs from music labels such as Sony, Universal, and Warner, with free 30-second previews of any song. The store provided convenient access to songs on an à-la-carte basis at a time when pirating music was rampant via peer-to-peer file sharing programs such as LimeWire and KaZaA. "The iTunes Music Store offers the revolutionary rights to burn an unlimited number of CDs for personal use and to put music on an unlimited number of iPods for on-the-go listening," said Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs, in an April 28, 2003 press release . "Consumers don't want to be treated like criminals and artists don't want their valuable work stolen. The iTunes Music Store offers a groundbreaking solution for both." Apple expanded iTunes and the online music stor

Apple will report its earnings results for the second quarter of its 2023 fiscal year on Thursday, May 4 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Apple's CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will discuss the results on a conference call for investors a half hour later. Keep reading for some key things to know about the quarter, including a recap of new products announced, revenue expectations, and more. New Products During Quarter The quarter ran from January 1 through April 1, according to Apple's fiscal calendar, and included the following product launches: 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Pro and M2 Max chips) Mac mini (M2 and M2 Pro chips) HomePod (2nd generation) iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus (Yellow) Black Unity Sport Loop Year-Over-Year Revenue Decline Expected Apple has not provided guidance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but analysts currently expect the company to report revenue of around $93 billion on average this quarter, according to Yahoo Fi

Apple this week shared a Mother's Day gift guide with a variety of product and accessory recommendations. Mother's Day is on Sunday, May 14 in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several other countries around the world. Gift ideas priced under $100 in the U.S. include the AirTag , HomePod mini , Apple Watch bands , iPhone cases , Apple Polishing Cloth , MagSafe Wallet , MagSafe Battery Pack , AirFly Pro , and various other accessories. Apple also sells an all-in-one gift card that can be used to purchase products at the Apple Store or apps on the App Store, pay for an Apple Music subscription or extra iCloud storage, and much more. The physical version of the gift card has a $25 minimum and includes a collectible Apple sticker. Apple offers free engraving for several devices and accessories, allowing you to include a personalized message or emoji on the Apple Pencil, iPads, AirPods charging cases, and more. Gift wrapping with a customized card, or a

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show , we talk through all of the top features and improvements we'd like to see come to tvOS 17, the HomePod , and HomeKit at WWDC later this year. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos Apple is expected to unveil tvOS 17 and "audioOS" 17 at WWDC in June, offering a range of enhancements and new features. 2022's tvOS 16 was only a minor update to the Apple TV , so we discuss where we would like the OS to go next with features like widgets, Up Next improvements, and apps like Weather and Home. We discuss how the ‌HomePod‌ could make better use of its top display, true surround sound, and synced alarms. Last year, Apple's Home app got a significant upgrade with a full redesign and a new ‌HomeKit‌ architecture. We consider how the Home app could take another leap forward with more powerful automations and camera feed improvements. We also look at some of the latest Apple news, including iOS 1

With all four iPhone 15 models expected to feature a USB-C port instead of Lightning, several Apple accessories will switch to USB-C as well. For example, EarPods with a USB-C connector are already in mass production, according to a tweet today from leaker ShrimpApplePro . They previously said Foxconn is supplying the earbuds. The new EarPods would connect directly to the USB-C port on iPhone 15 models, without an adapter. Apple's wired earbuds are currently available with a Lightning connector or a 3.5mm headphone jack , with both versions priced at $19. EarPods have become less popular since Apple released wireless AirPods in 2016, and removed the headphone jack on iPhones, but they remain a more affordable option for customers. EarPods also provide a simple plug-and-play wired listening experience, with a built-in remote and no charging or pairing necessary. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup in September, and the new EarPods would likely launch around t

Earlier in the week, we tracked a new all-time low price on Apple's 8-Core GPU, 256GB M1 iMac, and now today Amazon has introduced more colors of this computer on sale. You can get four colors now at $999.99 , down from $1,499.00, which is a massive $499 discount on the 24-inch iMac. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Colors on sale include Yellow, Purple, Orange, and Pink. Shipping estimates have slipped into the middle of May with the fastest options, and as far into early June for some. This is quite a discount, so we recommend getting your order in as soon as possible if you're interested; these have been known to disappear quickly. $499 OFF M1 iMac (8-Core GPU, 256GB) for $999.99 With this discount, the 8-Core/256GB model is now cheaper than the entry-level 7-Core/256GB model, which has only ever reached as low as $1,099.00 in prev

Siri and Apple's use of AI has been severely held back by caution and organizational dysfunction, according to over three dozen former Apple employees who spoke to The Information 's Wayne Ma. The extensive paywalled report explains why former Apple employees who worked in the company's AI and machine learning groups believe that a lack of ambition and organizational dysfunction have hindered ‌Siri‌ and the company's AI technologies. Apple's virtual assistant is apparently "widely derided" inside the company for its lack of functionality and minimal improvement over time. By 2018, the team working on ‌Siri‌ had apparently "devolved into a mess, driven by petty turf battles between senior leaders and heated arguments over the direction of the assistant." ‌Siri‌'s leadership did not want to invest in building tools to analyse ‌Siri‌'s usage and engineers lacked the ability to obtain basic details such as how many people were using th

Earlier this week, Google updated its Authenticator app to enable the backup and syncing of 2FA codes across devices using a Google Account. Now an examination by Mysk security researchers has found that the sensitive one-time passcodes being synced to the cloud aren't end-to-end encrypted, leaving them potentially exposed to bad actors. Prior to the integration of Google Account support, all codes in the Google Authenticator app were stored on device, which meant that if the device was lost, so too were the one-time passcodes, potentially causing loss of account access as well. But it seems that by enabling cloud-based syncing, Google has opened up users to a security risk of a different sort. "We analyzed the network traffic when the app syncs the secrets, and it turns out the traffic is not end-to-end encrypted," said Mysk via Twitter . "This means that Google can see the secrets, likely even while they're stored on their servers. There is no option to a

Apple is working on software updates that will make it possible for users to pair their Apple Watch with multiple Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Mac, according to a new rumor. Currently, an Apple Watch can be paired to one iPhone only, and though it is possible to pair multiple Apple Watch models to the same iPhone, Apple offers no facility for pairing or syncing Apple Watches to other devices in its ecosystem. Once an Apple Watch is paired to an iPhone, it can be used in conjunction with an iPad logged into the same Apple ID to follow Apple Fitness+ workout routines on the iPad's screen. Also, Mac users can use their Apple Watch to unlock their computer, authenticate apps and view passwords, and authorize online Apple Pay transactions, but that is where the exceptions end. These limitations could be set to change, however. According to the Twitter account holder @analyst941 , Apple is planning changes to the pairing/syncing process that mean an Apple Watch will

Apple's 2022 iPad is seeing multiple discounts today on Amazon, with savings across nearly every model of the tablet. Below you'll find record low prices across both Wi-Fi and cellular models of the 10.9-inch iPad, some of which require you to head to the checkout screen in order to see the markdowns. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Starting with the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad, you can get this tablet for $399.00 , down from $449.00. It's available in three colors at this price, which is the best price we've ever tracked on the 2022 iPad. The Silver and Blue colors require you to head to checkout in order to see the discounted price. $50 OFF iPad (64GB Wi-Fi) for $399.00 The 256GB Wi-Fi iPad is on sale for $539.99 , down from $599.00, and it's available in two colors: Blue and Silver. This is a new low price on this tablet, beating