Tech Talk

Apple's hardware roadmap was in the news this week, with things hopefully firming up for a launch of updated iPad Pro and iPad Air models next month while we look ahead to the other iPad models and a full lineup of M4-based Macs arriving starting later this year. We also heard some fresh rumors about iOS 18, due to be unveiled at WWDC in a couple of months, while we took a look at how things are going with the iPhone 15 Pro now that it's halfway through its flagship lifecycle, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more! Macs to Get AI-Focused M4 Chips Starting in Late 2024 Apple plans to release its first Macs with the M4 series of chips in late 2024 , according to Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman. The report says that the MacBook Pro and iMac lines will be the first to be updated with the M4 series of chips later this year, while other models like the MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro are expected to be updated with M4 series chips thro

Pixelmator Pro 3.5.8 has gone live on the Mac App Store, and the latest update to the popular image editing app brings the ability to edit text in PDFs, along with a handful of other notable additions. Pixelmator recently added support to the app for vector PDFs, which allows users to import image, shape, and text elements in the portable document format as separate layers. With the newest version, this support has been expanded so that users can edit imported text as regular text layers. In practice, this means existing text in PDFs can be more easily replaced, formatted, and styled using Pixelmator Pro tools. As the developers explain: Typically, text in PDF documents is not directly editable. Instead, it's stored as vector shapes to keep documents looking consistent across various platforms and apps. To make text editable again, Pixelmator Pro extracts various embedded data from the original PDF, allowing it to recover the original text, fonts, and formatting. Even if som

Popular home lighting company Nanoleaf today introduced its latest product, Smart Multicolor Outdoor String Lights that bring HomeKit-compatible decorative lighting to decks, porches, backyards, gardens, pool areas, and more. Nanoleaf is known for unique light designs, and the Outdoor String Lights aren't an exception. The bulbs have an angular five-sided shape that makes them more geometric than soft. They're made from a hard, clear plastic material and they look like they're made from crystal or ice. If you want cozy, romantic-style lighting, Nanoleaf's lights might not be the right vibe because of the shape, but if you want lights that are fun and eye-catching, these are perfect. There are multicolor LEDs in each bulb, so you can control the lights individually and set them to any color, including shades of white. If you unscrew one of the bulbs, there's actually a second protective plastic dome inside that further diffuses the light. The bulb shape might n

Several third-party browser companies have experienced a spike in iPhone installs since Apple made major changes to iOS in order to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, but many are not happy with Apple's implementation of its default browser choice screen. In iOS 17.4, released last month, Apple no longer limits EU users to the handful of browser options that iOS currently offers as alternatives in other parts of the world. Instead, users in the EU who open Safari for the first time are presented with a choice screen that allows them to opt for a new default browser from a list of popular alternatives in their country. The change has led to a sharp increase in third-party browser usage, based on several reports. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that users of privacy-first browser Aloha had jumped 250% in March. The jump in users largely came in France, Belgium (3x growth), Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden (2.5x growth), and Denmark, Italy and P

Google One VPN will be discontinued later this year, according to a customer email seen by Android Authority . The service was rolled out for Android in October 2020, before coming to iOS devices and Macs in 2022. When it originally launched it was part of Google One's Premium 2TB storage plan, priced at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Last year, availability was expanded to all Google One plans, including the cheapest offering for $1.99 per month, making it significantly more affordable. The company told 9to5Google that it is killing the service because "people simply weren't using it." Existing users will be directed to third-party VPN alternatives instead. Google will continue to offer VPN functionality through its Google Fi cellular service . Google says Pixel users will also still be able to access its VPN features via Pixel settings if they have a Pixel 7 or newer model. Tags: Google , VPN This article, " Google One VPN to Shut Down Later Thi

Google next month will make its latest AI-powered photo editing feature available to all users of Google Photos on iOS, the company has announced . Magic Editor, which featured heavily in last year's Google Pixel 8 series marketing blitz, uses generative AI to perform complicated photo edits, such as filling in gaps in a photo, repositioning subjects, and additional foreground/background adjustments like making a cloudy, grey sky look blue. The edits mimic the kind of possibilities afforded by more professional editing tools like Photoshop, except Magic Editor achieves its automated results via AI, rather than the user having to do them manually. To editing tool debuted as one of the headline AI features on the company's flagship phone when it launched six months ago, and has since been exclusive to Google Pixel 8 owners and Google One subscribers. The tool will become available to all users of Google Photos starting May 15. Google Photos for iOS and Android will inclu

Apple on Wednesday sent threat notifications to users in 92 countries warning that they may have been targeted by mercenary spyware attacks, likely because of who they are or what they do. According to TechCrunch , Apple sent the alerts to the individuals at 12 p.m. Pacific Time, delivered via email and iMessage using the contact details associated with the user's Apple ID. A notification also appears at the top of the page if the user signs into appleid.apple.com . "Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID -xxx-," the company wrote in the warning to affected customers. "We are unable to provide more information about what caused us to send you this notification, as that may help mercenary spyware attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future." "This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what