One connected lock does not a smart home make. If you want to get serious with home automation, start with a smart home platform. When you first get started with home automation, you’ll quickly find that your smart gadgets do even more when they work together. Yes, it’s great that your smart lights can turn on automatically at sunset and your smart lock will lock itself, but what’s even better is saying “Good night” to a voice assistant and having the shades lower, the lights turn off, the door locks lock, and the alarm system arm. For this, you need a smart home platform. As a smart home reviewer, I am often asked which is the best platform to use.…

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference didn’t disappoint. During today’s keynote, Apple showed off its highly anticipated mixed reality headset for the first time, confirming many of the rumors that have emerged over the past several months. While Apple’s Vision Pro headset took the spotlight this time around, the company made some other exciting hardware and software-related announcements as well. Here’s all the big news from the event. Apple announces its Vision Pro mixed reality headset Image: Apple Apple has finally revealed its Vision Pro headset. The device, which lets you partake in both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences, is designed to combine the real and digital worlds both for the…

Image: Apple Apple has unveiled Journal, a new journaling app for iOS that allows iPhone users to regularly log their daily activities. Announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Journal is the company’s latest step into the health and wellness segment, joining other iOS apps like Fitness, Sleep, and Breathe that help users track and manage aspects of their everyday lives. Journal will be released on iOS 17, which is expected to roll out in September later this year. Apple says that the new iPhone app will use on-device machine learning to curate personalized suggestions to inspire what users will write about, pulling information from messages, pictures, music, workouts, location data, and more. Journal is end-to-end encrypted, only storing…

Apple's AirTag 4-Pack has dropped to $79.99 today on Verizon, down from $99.00. Anyone can take advantage of this deal on Verizon, even if you don't have a Verizon cellular plan. The retailer offers free two-day shipping and also has same-day pick-up options. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Verizon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. This is the best price we've seen on the AirTag 4-Pack so far in 2023, and right now only Verizon has the sale. We aren't currently tracking any deals on the AirTag 1-Pack. $19 OFFAirTag 4-Pack for $79.99 In addition to the AirTag sale, Verizon is hosting…

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge I have two pieces of news for you this morning. The first is that My Photo Stream, the free cloud-based photo syncing feature Apple launched in 2011, is still up and running in 2023. That’s despite it being effectively superseded by iCloud Photo Library roughly eight years ago. Now that you’re up to date, the second piece of news is that My Photo Stream is shutting down in a couple of months’ time on July 26th, according to an Apple Support page spotted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The end of My Photo Stream won’t come as too much of a surprise. Although it was free, it came with a long list of restrictions on…

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge I have two pieces of news for you this morning. The first is that My Photo Stream, the free cloud-based photo syncing feature Apple launched in 2011, is still up and running in 2023. That’s despite it being effectively superseded by iCloud Photo Library roughly eight years ago. Now that you’re up to date, the second piece of news is that My Photo Stream is shutting down in a couple of months’ time on July 26th, according to an Apple Support page spotted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The end of My Photo Stream won’t come as too much of a surprise. Although it was free, it came with a long list of restrictions on…