Macworld Apple has a rich, if checkered, history of releasing new Macs for hardcore computing professionals. Now that the Mac Pro has had a long-awaited revamp to Apple Silicon, let’s remember the days when pro Macs were towering beasts using more metal than the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and more plastic than a nursery full of Lego bricks. Today some pro Mac users are happy with a flimsy bit of aluminum like the Mac mini. Wimps. We demand something that looks like it contains a nuclear reactor. It needs to be bigger than a suitcase with warning stickers all over it, hotter than a barbeque and noisier than a drag car. Yes, something like the old Power Mac G5. Here’s…

Macworld Apple’s big keynote presentation to kick off WWDC 2023 was over two hours long. I’m as excited about new products as the next person, but who has that kind of time? If you want to catch up on everything Apple announced but don’t have two hours to watch the video, we’ve got your back. Here’s a quick summary of the announcements, with links to our further coverage when you want to dive in and learn more. 15-inch MacBook Air Apple The M2 MacBook is getting a big brother, as we’ve long suspected. It’s essentially identical to the 13-inch M2 model, only with a bigger 15-inch display. Prices start at a very reasonable $1,299, and the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air…

Image: Apple Apple’s Vision Pro headset will let you replace your face with a hyperrealistic avatar when you’re using FaceTime. As shown during WWDC 2023, you can scan your face using the headset to create a digital “persona” of yourself that will appear during video calls. Unlike the cartoony avatars you can make with apps like Microsoft Teams and Meta’s Horizon Worlds, it looks like Apple is aiming to create a virtual version of your face that’s accurate to how you really look. In the video Apple showed at WWDC, a user holds the headset in front of their face, allowing the device to scan it with “an advanced encoder-decoder neural network” that Apple says has been trained on a…

Macworld After months—years, even—of rumors, Apple has finally unveiled its mixed-reality headset. Dubbed Apple Vision Pro, it supports both AR and VR applications and boasts features and specs that make other competing products look like toys. Apple calls it “the most advance personal electronics device ever” and has filed over 5,000 patents related to it. But it will cost you. Apple says it starts at $3,499 and will be available early in 2024. Apple claims it is a high-end TV, sound system, computer, and more–making the cost a bargain by comparison. Apple calls it a new type of product that blends the digital and real world. It’s the first Apple product you look through, and not at. You control everything…

iOS 17 is official. Apple’s iOS 17 is official, making its debut on WWDC 2023’s keynote stage. Highlights include new safety features, a built-in journaling app, a new nightstand mode, redesigned contact cards, better auto-correct and voice transcription, and live voicemail. And you’ll be able to drop the “hey” from “Hey Siri.” Your contact book is getting an update with a new feature called posters, which turns contact cards into flashy marquee-like images that show up full-screen on your recipient’s iPhone when you call them. They use a similar design language as the redesigned lock screens, with bold typography options and the ability to add Memoji, and will work with third-party VoIP apps. There’s also a new live transcription feature…

Macworld The HomePod and HomePod mini are unique creatures in Apple’s line-up: unlike nearly all other hardware Apple sells, these assistants/speakers are not permanently locked to your iCloud account nor to a paired iPhone or iPad. An iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Watch has Activation Lock enabled if you turn on Find My. Most Beats and Apple audio devices, as well as all Find My devices (AirTags and third-party), use what Apple now calls Find My Lock–Find My Lock connects a device without a visible interface to your Apple ID, and the lock can only be disabled via an iPhone or iPad in the Find My app. (Audio devices can be used with other hardware but they remain trackable by the…