Federal ‘click to cancel subscriptions’ rule is ratified (but weakened)

A “click to cancel” law was last month passed in California , and now the FTC has ratified a federal rule designed to achieve the same goal.

The idea of both is to force companies to make it as easy to cancel an online or app subscription as it is to sign up in the first place. Both were introduced in response to sketchy practices by companies designed to make it as difficult as possible to unsubscribe …

We reported last month on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) plan to replicate California’s


M4 MacBook Pro production appears well underway, as launch expected soon

We’re expecting Apple to launch the M4 MacBook Pro by the end of the month, and supply-chain reports appear to corroborate this.

Revenue and shipment reports from three Mac suppliers suggest that production is well underway, as Apple stockpiles machines ready for launch …

Apple now appears to be on an annual upgrade cycle for Macs, and the M3 MacBook Pro and iMac models were launched at the “Scary Fast” event in October of last year .

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported back in the summer that


Apple reportedly worked with China’s BYD on batteries for its car project

The Apple Car project was canceled before it even saw the light of day, and although Apple has never publicly acknowledged the project, we know a lot of details about it thanks to different insiders. Now a new report has revealed details about a partnership between Apple and BYD to work on batteries for the so-called Apple Car.

As reported by on Wednesday, Apple has worked closely with Chinese automaker BYD. Both companies reportedly reached an agreement around 2017 to build batteries using lithium iron phosphate cells (LFP


Apple Silicon

New iPad mini 7 seems to have a binned version of the A17 Pro chip

Apple on Tuesday announced a new generation of the iPad mini , coming three years after the introduction of the iPad mini 6. From the outside, looks exactly the same as its predecessor, but there’s an important change inside: the A17 Pro chip. Although many have claimed that this is the same chip as the , it seems that the is powered by a binned version of the chip.

The A17 Pro chip was introduced last year with the , and until then these were the only devices

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Apple’s first-ever ‘Chief People Officer’ departing after less than two years

Another shakeup is on its way to Apple’s executive team. today that Carol Surface, Apple’s Chief People Officer, is departing the company. Surface joined Apple less than two years ago in March 2023.

Surface was Apple’s first-ever Chief People Officer, reporting directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Surface took over those responsibilities from Deirdre O’Brien, who served as Apple’s senior vice president of Retail + People from 2019 through March 2023

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The Vision Pro is being used to assist surgeons during live procedures

Often when Apple’s Vision Pro is discussed, the device’s tech is praised as impressive. However, there’s common rhetoric about whether the device has enough practical use cases . Can it add value not offered by other computing devices? It turns out, a team of medical professionals have found Vision Pro extremely useful for live surgeries in the operating room.

At the University of California, Santiago Horgan and other surgeons have reportedly performed “more than 20 minimally invasive operations” while wearing the Vision Pro.


Sonos confirms ‘major outage’ affecting Apple Music integration

The struggles continue for Sonos. The company has confirmed that an ongoing “major outage” means that Apple Music is currently unavailable via the Sonos app.

, some Sonos users say they are unable to access their library of Apple Music content. Other users say they were randomly signed out of their Apple Music account and are unable to sign back in. Many have been impacted by the outage since Tuesday afternoon.

On its , Sonos has confirmed the “major outage” and says it is working on a fix. There is


Apple Silicon

iPhone SE isn’t known for new tech, but one cutting edge upgrade is coming

No one knows what the ‘SE’ in iPhone SE really stands for. But we do know one thing: Apple’s SE devices aren’t known for introducing brand new tech. That’s set to change this spring, though, when the new iPhone SE is expected to come with one cutting edge upgrade: the very first Apple-made modem for handling 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Once upon a time, Apple’s SE branding didn’t refer to budget

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Apple previews new iPhone features including enhanced caller ID for businesses and brand logos in Mail

Apple today announced an extension of the Apple Business Connect program, which allows companies to submit information about their businesses to Apple to be surfaced in Apple Maps, Siri and increasingly more places across the operating system.

In iOS 18.2, the Mail app will be able to show brand logos next to emails from participating businesses. Next year, the Phone app will be able to identify the incoming call from a business with a logo badge and descriptive name. The enhanced caller ID and branding will help users distinguish legitimate


macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta 7 now available ahead of public launch [U: Public beta]

Today Apple has released a new beta for Mac users with a developer account. macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta 7 offers the latest version of the big Apple Intelligence update ahead of the fast-approaching public launch. Here’s what to expect. [ Update 10/16 : Public beta 4 is now available too, one day later.]

We are only about two weeks out from the expected public release date for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 1

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