Macworld Apple’s AirTag object tracker helps users find their keys, pet, or even vehicle in the supermarket car park by using the tracking device and the expanded Apple Find My network on their iPhone. Priced at $29/£29 each for one, or $99/£99 for four, AirTags have proved incredibly popular, but there are other similarly capable products available—some of which beat Apple’s AirTags in certain forms and functions? Look out especially for trackers that “Work with Apple Find My”, as these operate just like an AirTag, adhere to all Apple’s privacy protections, and use the power of the network of hundreds of millions of Apple devices that use Bluetooth wireless technology to detect missing devices and report their location back to…

Macworld It was decades ago when you could first pay for items online using a credit card; debit card payments followed. The security of such payments was often iffy in the commercial internet’s early years. Database breaches of unsecured information made for easy pickings. These days, a combination of factors has improved the safety of paying online. Firms offering online purchases of goods, services, and subscriptions are held to higher levels of compliance by the banks and processors that let them receive electronic payments. Companies like Stripe and PayPal, among many others, manage to receive card or other payment information directly, so those private and easily copied details are never stored, or even seen, by an e-commerce site. Apple Pay,…

The Dynamic Island is a potentially good idea that’s waiting for the next step Apple pulled off some unexpected surprises with the iPhone 14 Pro: there had been lots of solid rumors about the company switching from putting the front-facing camera and Face ID system in a pill-shaped cutout instead of the familiar notch, but the new “Dynamic Island” alert system came out of nowhere. And while it was getting clearer that Apple would have to follow the industry in using bigger camera sensors eventually, Apple went even further and rebooted its entire computational photography system as the Photonic Engine. There’s a lot of that sort of thing in the iPhone 14 Pro, whose prices in the United States still…

With better sound, improved noise cancellation, and a standout translucent design, these are everything the original Beats Studio Buds should’ve been. I can’t stop looking at these earbuds. You might’ve already seen leaks about the new Beats Studio Buds Plus, available beginning today for $169.99, but there’s something even more attention-grabbing about their translucent design in person. Maybe it’s because I came of age in the late ’90s, when these semiopaque finishes were a common sight on gamepads, household phones, and other gizmos. (I’m looking at you, iMac G3.) There’s certainly a nostalgia factor. But Beats also really nailed the execution with these. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself closely poring over all the small inner details now visible:…

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…

Macworld Apple has added a couple of new features with Apple Maps and Music to help users discover and explore live shows. New hand-curated Guides in Maps showcase music venues and allow you to browse their upcoming shows right in the app. In the Music app, a new Set Lists space lets you browse the set lists for major artist shows and tours. The Guides are somewhat limited. You can access them at apple.co/MusicVenues, or just browse Guides for one of the selected cities. While there are over 40 guides total, that’s only enough to span 10 cities worldwide: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, and Mexico City. The…