Every great holiday gift guide deserves a punchy theme that captures your attention and inspires your gift giving season. My theme this year? Stuff I received to review but haven’t yet, and stuff I honestly use daily. What… the smart home gift guide idea was already taken. Seriously, though, I think this is my favorite list yet.

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After seeing the first cash deals on the and this week, we are now turning our attention to the very first Amazon deals on the new configurations. All of the details you need on these offers are waiting down below alongside some seriously wild deals on the official Apple Watch silicon and Braided Solo Loop bands with on these regularly $49 and $99 straps – not to mention the return of the best prices yet on the 2024 model . We have a new all-time low on and loads

Live Activities are having a moment. Yesterday Apple rolled out a popular Live Activity for tracking election results via Apple News. Now, a new Safari Live Activity has been discovered in the latest iOS 18.2 beta for tracking a file’s download progress.

I wrote yesterday about how Live Activities are one of my favorite iPhone and Apple Watch features. They debuted two years ago, but only recently have they started becoming especially valuable to my daily iOS experience.

Apple keeps making them better, too. The latest

The European Commission has its latest antitrust investigation, and it could once again have an impact on Apple.

The EC says it is investigating whether Corning, a key Apple supplier, “may have abused its dominant position on the worldwide market for a special type of glass that is mainly used to protect the screens of handheld electronic devices, such as mobile phones.”

Apple and Corning have a long-running relationship with the company suppling glass for the iPhone out of a factory in Kentucky. The partnership extends back to the

For managed service providers (MSPs) and IT administrators working with the Department of Defense or its contractors, staying compliant with cybersecurity rules isn’t just important—it’s essential. Yet, ensuring compliance with standards like the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) has traditionally been a time-consuming, complex process. is changing that.

Today, Addigy announced the launch of its one-click deploy CMMC and DISA STIG benchmarks. With

Apple on Tuesday officially launched Apple Pay, its payment platform, for users in Paraguay. The news was confirmed by Mastercard on its website, which also reveals that customers of the main banks in Paraguay can now use Apple Pay.

, Mastercard praised the technology built by Apple and confirmed that cards issued by Banco Continental, Itaú and Ueno Bank can now be added to Apple’s Wallet app.

“We are delighted to work with our issuers to bring the ease, security and privacy of Apple Pay to consumers in

iOS 18 means we’ve had 18 years of iPhone software, so you’d think that adding meaningful new features would be tough. But one recent iOS addition, Live Activities, is among Apple’s best recent updates. And it keeps on getting better thanks to ongoing enhancements.

Apple is set to face the first-ever fine under the Digital Markets Act in the EU as soon as this month, . The EU initially issued its decision that Apple was in breach of the DMA in June .

Today’s report from Bloomberg comes after a similar report from the Financial Times in June , which said fine could be as high as 5% of Apple’s “average daily worldwide turnover,” which is over $1 billion.

From today’s Bloomberg report:

Watchdogs are readying the penalty

This year’s Web Summit Lisbon kicks off next week, and guests will have the chance to attend a talk by Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s current global head of accessibility. Unsurprisingly, the presentation will discuss how Apple considers accessibility when building its products.

“For four decades, Apple has designed with disability in mind. Accessibility is a core value at Apple, infused into all of the company’s products, services and operations,” says the event description (via ).

Herrlinger has worked at Apple since