Macworld I have spent the last couple of decades writing about new features in Apple’s operating systems. Tens of thousands of words about new items, large and small, that enhance the experience of using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices. And yet this past weekend, I was reminded that most users simply don’t notice new features, even when they’ve been available for years. If you’re reading this column right now, you’re one of the most well-educated people on the planet about Apple stuff. But your friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances? They might never know about flashy new operating-system features unless you personally show them off. It’s one of Apple’s most vexing problems: keeping devices relatively simple while also…

This is the future Richard Lawler and few others will desire. | Image: Apple Slowly, everyone is agreeing that the Vision Pro is a TV, but I’m struggling to believe that it will actually replace the TV sets in your home. Apple’s Vision Pro is a TV. It’s not even out yet, but that feels well established at this point. While it can play games and do VR experiences and mimic AR through terrific feats of engineering, the use case with the most traction so far is you can strap it on your face and effectively have a 100-plus-inch 4K HDR TV set without the need to find wall space in your house. But while it’s clear Apple has crafted…

Illustration by Samar Haddad for The Verge My smart home journey began, like so many others, with a poorly placed light switch. My partner and I had just bought our first house, and the switch that illuminated the kitchen was in the laundry room all the way on the other side, meaning we had to wander through darkness to get to it. I hated that light switch. So what to do? Well, I could spend a bunch of money I didn’t have to hire someone to move it, try to do it myself and accidentally burn my house down with a bad wiring job, or take the plunge on a smart home. I took the path of least resistance (that’s…

Earlier this year, Reuters published an excellent report exposing the false recycling practices of Dow Inc. and the Singapore government using Apple’s AirTag item tracker. In a similar vein, journalist Pamela Cerdeira has now shared a new video in which she used AirTags to track donations made in Mexico that were supposed to be sent to Turkey in response to the devastating earthquakes that hit the country earlier this year. The donations were collected by the Mexico government, but it turns out those donations never made it to Turkey. In fact, they never made it out of Mexico City. more… The post AirTags reveal officials in Mexico stole items donated for earthquake relief in Turkey appeared first on 9to5Mac.

The new Mac Pro next to a Pro Display XDR. | Image: Apple Apple has completed the Mac’s move away from Intel. Now it needs to prove Mac Pro upgrades can keep up with pro users. In recent years, Apple’s Macs have been on not one but two journeys. The first is obvious; it’s the company’s transition away from using Intel chips toward its own Arm-based Apple Silicon. And with the new Mac Pro announced this week, this transition is complete. Intel’s chips have been expunged from Apple’s computers. But Apple has also been on a second journey: to build high-end machines for professional users that those pro users actually want. It’s been almost exactly a decade since Apple launched…

I’m supposed to believe this isn’t a VR headset? | Image: Apple As Apple CEO Tim Cook was winding up to reveal the company’s new Vision Pro headset on Monday, I was struck by his very particular choice of words: “So today, I’m excited to announce an entirely new AR platform with a revolutionary new product.” Catch that? He didn’t say “VR” or “virtual reality,” which might have positioned the headset and its new software more directly against Meta’s headsets. Before we knew anything about the Vision Pro — what it looked like, what it could do, what it cost — Cook said that Apple was announcing a new augmented reality platform, setting us up for a device that would…