Our long national nightmare is over. No, not that one. This one. According to posts on social media, Apple has completed installation of the more durable rainbow arches found within the circular campus.

continues to be one of the best smart home vendors for HomeKit fans. This week, the company announced a major update to its Matter integration that will benefit anyone using HomeKit as their primary platform.

CarPlay is used and loved by millions of iPhone owners. And while the wait for CarPlay 2 keeps getting longer, iOS 18.4 and other recent updates hint at a promising CarPlay trend.

Here’s a weird one. My son and I were discussing shapes on the drive to school earlier this week. His question for me was, “What is the name of the shape that looks like a square with uneven sides?”

I’m now in the habit of saying “ask ChatGPT” before any Siri request that isn’t taking an action like creating a reminder or sending a message. In this instance, though, I picked up my iPhone and pressed the Action button to open Advanced Voice Mode on ChatGPT. The results satisfied his curiosity.

A few days later, I decided to use his query as an example for how ChatGPT through Siri is useful. The results surprised me.

iOS 18.4 arrived late last month packed with a variety of new features, including an upgrade you might have missed that provides a fast way to open your go-to conversations in the Messages app. Here’s how it works.

Your Friday edition of the best Apple deals is starting off with a straight up $200 price drop on the 13-inch 512GB M4 iPad Pro in Space Black – but you can also score this one a $345 off in open-box condition with a full Apple warranty. Then it’s on to the new M4 MacBook Air lineup – some new all-time lows have hit alongside the $110 off open-box deals – as well as a series of particularly notable accessory deals. We have an exclusive 50% off all Burton Goods leather iPhone cases and wallets alongside new lows on Twelve South’s latest 15W 2-in-1 Butterfly MagSafe travel charger, Find My gear, chargers, and more. 

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I’ve recently found myself down the rabbit hole of lesser-known Terminal features. These past months, I covered everything from enabling Touch ID for sudo authentication to cleaning up public Wi-Fi connections stored on your Mac. But this past week, I journeyed deeper and found even more neat features you probably didn’t know Terminal could do, and I’m not talking ping command here. In this edition of Security Bite, allow me to elevate your command line prowess further.

The behind the scenes journalistic recaps of Apple’s AI drama continues today at The New York Times. And in this latest report, blame for Apple’s struggles to compete in AI is assigned to a surprising source: Luca Maestri and budget.

It’s been a busy couple days for in-depth journalistic explorations of Apple’s recent Siri and AI struggles. Following yesterday’s The Information report, today The New York Times has its own deep dive. One of the biggest takeaways? Apple’s planning to launch its new iOS 19 Siri upgrades sooner than we expected.

Apple last year introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, which allowed users of other platforms to access the company’s mapping service for the first time. However, Apple Maps on the web was labeled as “beta” — until now. And as the platform is no longer beta, it has also gained support for mobile devices.

The most recent instance of benefiting from Apple Intelligence with about 70% satisfaction just occurred. I’m writing another piece using an and Magic Keyboard. I selected the opening paragraph, invoked Writing Tools, and selected Proofread.

This is how the proofread version was presented:

Apple has finally and officially released the iPhone 16 for customers in Indonesia. Not just the recently introduced iPhone 16e, but the whole lineup that was announced last fall. New iPhones typically don’t take more than 200 days to reach other markets. However, the Indonesian government forced Apple to pay for the opportunity to bring the latest iPhone technology to customers in its country.

Apple launches its latest prestige series today, Your Friends & Neighbors starring Jon Hamm in the lead role. The mix of drama and comedy sees Hamm playing a disgraced former hedge fund manager called Andrew Cooper, who turns to a life of crime to preserve his lavish lifestyle.

The first two episodes are available to stream right now on Apple TV+, with the remainder of the season airing weekly. Apple is running a special promo where new subscribers can get Apple TV+ for $2.99 per month for 3 months, enough to cover the full run of Your Friends & Neighbors.

If I could snap my fingers and make AirPods in any color, we’d have AirPods in black by now. My second choice? Translucent AirPods. Apple sells a version of “Transparent” colored that I should probably own just to support the clear product cause. AirPods, of course, only come in white with the exception of the AirPods Max line.

This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: new iOS 19 leaks, iPad Fold on track for 2026, HomePad status update, and a special 20th anniversary iPhone Pro design. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.

I used to change up task managers often, always looking for a new app that could make keeping up with todos just a little bit better. But for years now I’ve stuck with Apple’s Reminders app, and a tiny new iOS 18 feature has turned out to make a big difference for me.

Benjamin and Chance react to the unfolding trade tariffs and Apple’s uncharacteristically silent stance on matters. Also, there’s a bunch of new purported renders of iOS 19 design changes, and Apple is said to be working on bold new iPhone designs for next year’s 20th anniversary. Also, Chance comes away super impressed with the new Vision Pro Yankee Stadium tour.

And in Happy Hour Plus, Benjamin preps his iPad for an upcoming road trip, and bemoans Plex’s latest app update. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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We’ve seen many good examples of how AI can help people make their lives easier, and AI agents play an important role in this, as they can complete many tasks on behalf of the user. Last month, the popular web browser Opera announced its AI-based Browser Operator, and now we’ve seen it live in action.

For as long as the Apple Watch has existed, users have shared stories of the device offering life-saving aid. Recently, a couple especially powerful such stories have emerged. Yesterday we reported on a woman’s Apple Watch helping her catch cancer early. Now per a new video, the Apple Watch Ultra and Emergency SOS were involved in an ocean rescue in Australia.

Today’s Apple gear deals are headlined by a couple notable open-box listings with full Apple warranties – the most affordable M4 iPad Pro is now $180 off and we have some rare discounts on the USB-C Magic Mouse (including both the black and white models). From there a new low has emerged on the 13-inch M3 iPad Air in brand-new condition alongside unlocked iPhone 15 Pro units at up to $650 off the original listings. All of that and more awaits below.