This week’s release of Matter 1.1 is the result of the collective effort of hundreds of companies and individuals who have gathered as members of the Connectivity Standards Alliance and contributed to the ongoing progress and success of this evolving technology. Matter 1.1 creates an improved path forward for developers, and new user experiences, preparing for the next leg of Matter’s journey. Matter 1.1 released The updates in 1.1 make it easier for device makers and developers to get started with Matter, and to more easily certify products they’ve developed and get them to users faster. It features enhanced support for battery-operated devices — an important feature across many smart home categories. One of the benefits and differentiators of Matter…

After nearly two months of leaks, the Beats Studio Buds + earphones are now official, with the audio brand from Apple revealing improved performance and some new color choices compared to the original Beats Studio Buds, including an eye-catching Transparent option. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Priced at $169.99, a $20 increase over the original model, the Beats Studio Buds + deliver improvements to fit, Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Transparency mode, microphones, battery life, and more. The most immediately obvious change for the Beats Studio Buds + is the overall look, with the new Transparent color option being the standout alongside a Black option with Gold accents and an Ivory option. The Transparent design is reminiscent…

Macworld If you’re choosing between two different types of Mac, or two generations of the same Mac, you may be wondering just how much of a difference the processor will make. Since November 2020 all new Mac have featured one of Apple’s own system-on-chip based on the ARM architecture and sometimes referred to as Apple Silicon. A number of Apple chips have joined the line up including the M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max so far. The only Mac yet to move from Intel to Apple Silicon is the Mac Pro. Mac Pro aside, it has been a while since Apple sold any new Macs powered by an Intel chip, but since some…

Apple today started selling refurbished 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips for the first time in the United States. These models launched in January alongside a new Mac mini, which is not available refurbished yet. The refurbished models are discounted by approximately 15 percent compared to the equivalent brand new configurations. Apple tests, inspects, cleans, and repackages all refurbished Macs to ensure they are fully functional and in good condition, and they are covered by a one-year limited warranty and eligible for AppleCare+ coverage. The latest MacBook Pro models provide up to 20% faster performance and up to 30% faster graphics compared to the previous generation. The laptops can also be configured with…

Macworld Macs may be a far less tempting target for malware and viruses, but they’re not immune from attack. Even if you don’t care about adware or being used as means to infect users on other platforms, it’s still possible to fall victim to ransomware, or password theft. Accordingly, good antivirus for Mac software will protect your Mac on all of these fronts. It’ll catch malware that’s still spreading or in circulation; block ransomware; protect older systems with out-of-date software from security vulnerabilities; prevent your Mac from acting as a carrier for malware aimed at other operating systems; and keep infected files off of any virtual machines you’re running. As to the question of which Mac antivirus software you should choose,…

Macworld If you want to buy a Mac Studio, and get the best deal possible, you’ve come to the right place. We’re looking at where you can buy the Mac Studio at the best price. The main problem is actually finding the Mac Studio in stock, especially the M1 Ultra version, which has a three to four week wait if you buy from Apple! Plus not all the usual resellers are stocking the Mac Studio. You may also want to consider when Apple will add the next generation of M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips to a new Mac Studio. Best Mac Studio deals US deals: DataVision: Mac Studio M1 Max (10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, 32GB unified memory, 512GB SSD):…