Macworld Gaming subscription services are all the rage now, but Apple Arcade isn’t quite like Google Stadia or Xbox Game Pass. So if you’ve got questions about it, we’ve got plenty of answers. Updated 06/23/23: Retro Bowl+ and Retro Goal+ are now available. What is Apple Arcade? Apple Arcade is a gaming subscription service for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AppleTV that features more than 150 games. The games are a mix of genres and styles, and include original games you’ll only find on the service and others that can be found on the regular App Store or even other platforms. Apple Arcade isn’t a streaming service like Xbox Live Cloud Gaming or GeForce NOW. Games must be downloaded onto your…

Behold! A device with an actual headphone jack. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon Prime Day officially kicks off on July 11th, and while we’re expecting to see steep discounts on Amazon’s line of inexpensive Fire tablets, it’s safe to say that Amazon’s latest slates still can’t match an iPad when it comes to design and performance. Fortunately, the 2021 iPad is currently on sale at Amazon in the 64GB / Wi-Fi configuration for $249.99 ($79 off) at checkout — a price we haven’t seen since March of last year. On the whole, Apple’s ninth-gen slate remains the best budget iPad you can buy, even with the introduction of the 10th-gen model last year. The entry-level tablet…

The entry-level WF-C700N come in four colors, including two colorful pastel hues. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The old “times have changed” applies to a lot of things — the way we consume media, the general office environment, Taco Bell. It also applies to wireless earbuds, which have come down drastically in price since the first pair of Apple’s now-iconic AirPods landed in 2016. Sony’s WF-C700N earbuds are a prime example of how you can now get a lot of functionality for very little, particularly since they’re available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Sony for as little as $98 ($21 off). So what does a sub-$100 pair of earbuds look like in 2023? Well, in the case of…

Apple today opened its new store in Battersea, South West London – the second to feature the company's overhauled retail store design after the Tysons Corner revamp last month. Apple Battersea is the 40th Apple Store in the UK and it is located inside the redeveloped Battersea Power Station on the Ground Floor in Turbine Hall A. The building is a decommissioned coal-fired power station, regarded as an iconic landmark owing to its Art Deco fittings and status as one of the world's largest brick constructions. The store is positioned around four original brick piers from the 1930s, with exposed steel supports on the ceiling. The walls feature an overlaid oak framework of shelving and a revamped fixture set, defining…

British mobile phone operators Vodafone and Three UK have agreed a deal to merge their UK-based operations, which if approved by regulators will make it the biggest mobile network in the country. Currently the biggest players in the UK mobile market are Virgin Media O2, with around 24 million customers, and EE, which has 20 million users. Vodafone and Three UK are the third and fourth largest mobile firms, but the merger will give them around 27 million customers, taking their combined market share past Virgin Media O2's. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will now examine the merger, specifically to look at whether it will push up customer prices. Vodafone and Three claimed the deal will be "great for…

Macworld The Apple Vision Pro has been here for only a week (disclaimer: not actually here at all) and the general reactions seem to be a mix of awe, desire, fear, and sadness. Let’s see what we can unpack. Apple seems to believe that it has found a way to solve the isolation problem presented by every headset product to date. The Macalope thinks it’s a fine solution for the headset wearer. It’s less of a solution for people who have to interact with that person, however. As a mythical creature who has been guilty of claiming to be paying perfect attention to a conversation while playing a video game–in the past, of course, surely this hasn’t happened while playing…