Password Manager LastPass has warned about a fraudulent app called “LassPass Password Manager” which it found on the Apple App Store.

The app closely mimics the branding and appearance of LastPass, right down to the interface. So, even if the name was a “happy accident” it seems clear that this was a purposeful attempt to trick users installing the fake app.

The fake app can be recognized not only by the name, but other misspellings in the screenshots, and the app lists Parvati Patel as the developer and the privacy policy as hosted at bluneel[.]com. The developer of the legitimate LastPass app is LogMeIn, Inc. 

While using a genuine password manager provides extra security, entrusting your passwords to an app that is a rip-off does not. Obviously, storing all your passwords in an app that is not trustworthy can get you in all kinds of trouble, including identity theft.

We have not tested if the app sends your passwords to a third-party, but we should assume that it does just that.

In the App Store the impersonator claims to be “Trusted by over 1+ million users and 10,000+ businesses” which clearly can’t be right and was most certainly copied from LastPass.

LastPass states that it is:

“… actively working to get this application taken down as soon as possible, and will continue to monitor for fraudulent clones of our applications and/or infringements upon our intellectual property“

But at the time of writing the app was still available in the Apple App Store.

Malwarebytes Premium and Malwarebytes Browser Guard block the domain bluneel[.]com so users will see a warning about the trustworthiness of the app.

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Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using Malwarebytes Identity Theft Protection.

Apple announced PQ3, its post-quantum encryption standard based on the Kyber secure key-encapsulation protocol, one of the post-quantum algorithms selected by NIST in 2022.

There’s a lot of detail in the Apple blog post, and more in Douglas Stabila’s security analysis.

I am of two minds about this. On the one hand, it’s probably premature to switch to any particular post-quantum algorithms. The mathematics of cryptanalysis for these lattice and other systems is still rapidly evolving, and we’re likely to break more of them—and learn a lot in the process—over the coming few years. But if you’re going to make the switch, this is an excellent choice. And Apple’s ability to do this so efficiently speaks well about its algorithmic agility, which is probably more important than its particular cryptographic design. And it is probably about the right time to worry about, and defend against, attackers who are storing encrypted messages in hopes of breaking them later on future quantum computers.

We’re going to let you in on a little cybersecurity secret… There’s malware on Mac computers. There pretty much always has been.

As revealed in our 2024 ThreatDown State of Malware report, a full 11% of all detections recorded by Malwarebytes on Mac computers in 2023 were for different variants of malware—the catch-all term that cybersecurity researchers use to refer to ransomware, trojans, info stealers, worms, viruses, and more.

That 11% figure may not sound imposing but remember that many people today still believe that Apple devices, including Mac computers, are invulnerable to cyberinfections because of some sort of vague “Apple magic.”

In reality, “Apple magic” is more a byproduct of old advertising (this 2006 commercial from the “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” series did irreparable harm) and faulty conclusions concerning cybersecurity’s biggest breaches and attacks: People mistakenly believe that because most attacks target Windows computers and servers, no attacks target Macs.

The truth is far more nuanced, as the visible, overwhelming focus of cyberattacks on Windows machines is a consequence of Microsoft’s long-standing success in business computing.

For decades, every multinational corporation, every local travel agency, every dentist, every hospital, every school, government, and city hall practically ran on Windows. This mass adoption was good for Microsoft and its revenue, but it also drew and maintained the interests of cybercriminals, who would develop malware that could impact the highest number of victims. This is why the biggest attacks, even today, predominantly target Windows-based malware and the sometimes-unpatched vulnerabilities found in Windows software and applications.  

Essentially, as Windows is the biggest target, cybercriminals zero in their efforts respectively.

But new information last year revealed that could all be changing.

Mac malware tactics shifted in 2023

Apple’s desktop and laptop operating system, macOS, represents a 31% share of US desktop operating systems, and roughly 25% of all businesses reportedly utilize Mac devices somewhere in their networks.

Already, the cybercriminals have taken note.

In April 2023, the most successful and dangerous ransomware in the world—LockBit—was found to have a variant developed for Mac. Used in at least 1,018 known attacks last year, LockBit ransomware, and the operators behind it, destroyed countless businesses, ruined many organizations, and, according to the US Department of Justice, brought in more than $120 million before being disrupted by a coordinated law enforcement effort in February of this year.

While the LockBit variant for Mac was not operational upon discovery, the LockBit ransomware gang said at the time that it was “actively being developed.” Fortunately, LockBit suffered enormous blows this year, and the ransomware gang is probably less concerned with Mac malware development and more concerned with “avoiding prison.”

Separately, in September 2023, Malwarebytes discovered a cybercriminal campaign that tricked Mac users into accidentally installing a type of malware that can steal passwords, browser data, cookies, files, and cryptocurrency. The malware, called Atomic Stealer (or AMOS for short) was delivered through “malvertising,” a malware delivery tactic that abuses Google ads to send everyday users to malicious websites that—though they may appear legitimate—fool people into downloading malware.

In this campaign, when users searched on Google for the financial marketing trading app “TradingView,” they were sometimes shown a malicious search result that appeared entirely authentic: a website with TradingView branding was visible, and download buttons for Windows, Mac, and Linux were clearly listed.

But users who clicked the Mac download button instead received AMOS.

Just months later, AMOS again wriggled its way onto Mac computers, this time through a new delivery chain that has more typically targeted Windows users.

In November, Malwarebytes found AMOS being distributed through a malware delivery chain known as “ClearFake.” The ClearFake campaign tricks users into believing they’re downloading an approved web browser update. That has frequently meant a lot of malicious prompts mimicking Google Chrome’s branding and update language, but the more recent campaign imitated the default browser on Mac devices—Safari.

As Malwarebytes Labs wrote at the time:

“This may very well be the first time we see one of the main social engineering campaigns, previously reserved for Windows, branch out not only in terms of geolocation but also operating system.”

Replace “magic” with Malwarebytes

Cyberthreats on Mac aren’t non-existent, they’re just different. But different threats still need effective protection, which is where Malwarebytes Premium can help.

Malwarebytes Premium detects and blocks the most common infostealers that target Macs—including AMOS—along with annoying browser hijackers and adware threats such as Genieo, Vsearch, Crossrider, and more. Stay protected, proactively, with Malwarebytes Premium for Mac.

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Apple has released a security update for iOS and iPadOS to patch two zero-day vulnerabilities which are reported to already have been exploited. Zero-day vulnerabilities are discovered by attackers before the software company itself – meaning the vendor has ‘zero days’ to fix them.

Both the two vulnerabilities allow an attacker to bypass the memory protections that would normally stop someone from running malicious code. Reportedly, attackers used them with another unpatched vulnerability or malicious app, and the combination could be used to give them complete control over targeted iPhones.

The update is available for: iPhone XS and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 6th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later.

A patch for iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch 1st generation, running iOS 16.7.6 or iPadOS 16.7.6 is available for one of the vulnerabilities.

To check if you’re using the latest software version, go to Settings > General > Software Update. You want to be on iOS 17.4 or iPadOS 17.4, so update now if you’re not. It’s also worth turning on Automatic Updates if you haven’t already. You can do that on the same screen.

Technical details

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database lists publicly disclosed computer security flaws. The zero-day CVEs patched in these updates are:

CVE-2024-23225: a memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation. A patch is available for this issue in iOS 16.7.6 and iPadOS 16.7.6, iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4. An attacker with arbitrary kernel read and write capability may be able to bypass kernel memory protections. Apple says it’s aware of a report that this issue may have seen active exploitation.

CVE-2024-23296: a memory corruption issue in RTKit was addressed with improved validation. An attacker with arbitrary kernel read and write capability may be able to bypass kernel memory protections. Apple says it’s aware of a report that this issue may have seen active exploitation.

RTKit is Apple’s real-time operating system, running on multiple chips in iPhone, Watch, MacBook, and peripherals like the iPod. A real-time operating system, is software that manages tasks on a single core, which is crucial for real-time applications that require precise timing.

Apple included several other vulnerabilities in the update, some of which it listed but it also mentions “Additional CVE entries coming soon.” For protection against attackers reverse engineering updates to find the vulnerabilities, Apple doesn’t disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until an investigation has occurred and patches or releases are available.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Several Apple customers recently reported being targeted in elaborate phishing attacks that involve what appears to be a bug in Apple’s password reset feature. In this scenario, a target’s Apple devices are forced to display dozens of system-level prompts that prevent the devices from being used until the recipient responds “Allow” or “Don’t Allow” to each prompt. Assuming the user manages not to fat-finger the wrong button on the umpteenth password reset request, the scammers will then call the victim while spoofing Apple support in the caller ID, saying the user’s account is under attack and that Apple support needs to “verify” a one-time code.

Some of the many notifications Patel says he received from Apple all at once.

Parth Patel is an entrepreneur who is trying to build a startup in the conversational AI space. On March 23, Patel documented on Twitter/X a recent phishing campaign targeting him that involved what’s known as a “push bombing” or “MFA fatigue” attack, wherein the phishers abuse a feature or weakness of a multi-factor authentication (MFA) system in a way that inundates the target’s device(s) with alerts to approve a password change or login.

“All of my devices started blowing up, my watch, laptop and phone,” Patel told KrebsOnSecurity. “It was like this system notification from Apple to approve [a reset of the account password], but I couldn’t do anything else with my phone. I had to go through and decline like 100-plus notifications.”

Some people confronted with such a deluge may eventually click “Allow” to the incessant password reset prompts — just so they can use their phone again. Others may inadvertently approve one of these prompts, which will also appear on a user’s Apple watch if they have one.

But the attackers in this campaign had an ace up their sleeves: Patel said after denying all of the password reset prompts from Apple, he received a call on his iPhone that said it was from Apple Support (the number displayed was 1-800-275-2273, Apple’s real customer support line).

“I pick up the phone and I’m super suspicious,” Patel recalled. “So I ask them if they can verify some information about me, and after hearing some aggressive typing on his end he gives me all this information about me and it’s totally accurate.”

All of it, that is, except his real name. Patel said when he asked the fake Apple support rep to validate the name they had on file for the Apple account, the caller gave a name that was not his but rather one that Patel has only seen in background reports about him that are for sale at a people-search website called PeopleDataLabs.

Patel said he has worked fairly hard to remove his information from multiple people-search websites, and he found PeopleDataLabs uniquely and consistently listed this inaccurate name as an alias on his consumer profile.

“For some reason, PeopleDataLabs has three profiles that come up when you search for my info, and two of them are mine but one is an elementary school teacher from the midwest,” Patel said. “I asked them to verify my name and they said Anthony.”

Patel said the goal of the voice phishers is to trigger an Apple ID reset code to be sent to the user’s device, which is a text message that includes a one-time password. If the user supplies that one-time code, the attackers can then reset the password on the account and lock the user out. They can also then remotely wipe all of the user’s Apple devices.

THE PHONE NUMBER IS KEY

Chris is a cryptocurrency hedge fund owner who asked that only his first name be used so as not to paint a bigger target on himself. Chris told KrebsOnSecurity he experienced a remarkably similar phishing attempt in late February.

“The first alert I got I hit ‘Don’t Allow’, but then right after that I got like 30 more notifications in a row,” Chris said. “I figured maybe I sat on my phone weird, or was accidentally pushing some button that was causing these, and so I just denied them all.”

Chris says the attackers persisted hitting his devices with the reset notifications for several days after that, and at one point he received a call on his iPhone that said it was from Apple support.

“I said I would call them back and hung up,” Chris said, demonstrating the proper response to such unbidden solicitations. “When I called back to the real Apple, they couldn’t say whether anyone had been in a support call with me just then. They just said Apple states very clearly that it will never initiate outbound calls to customers — unless the customer requests to be contacted.”

Massively freaking out that someone was trying to hijack his digital life, Chris said he changed his passwords and then went to an Apple store and bought a new iPhone. From there, he created a new Apple iCloud account using a brand new email address.

Chris said he then proceeded to get even more system alerts on his new iPhone and iCloud account — all the while still sitting at the local Apple Genius Bar.

Chris told KrebsOnSecurity his Genius Bar tech was mystified about the source of the alerts, but Chris said he suspects that whatever the phishers are abusing to rapidly generate these Apple system alerts requires knowing the phone number on file for the target’s Apple account. After all, that was the only aspect of Chris’s new iPhone and iCloud account that hadn’t changed.

WATCH OUT!

“Ken” is a security industry veteran who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ken said he first began receiving these unsolicited system alerts on his Apple devices earlier this year, but that he has not received any phony Apple support calls as others have reported.

“This recently happened to me in the middle of the night at 12:30 a.m.,” Ken said. “And even though I have my Apple watch set to remain quiet during the time I’m usually sleeping at night, it woke me up with one of these alerts. Thank god I didn’t press ‘Allow,’ which was the first option shown on my watch. I had to scroll watch the wheel to see and press the ‘Don’t Allow’ button.”

Ken shared this photo he took of an alert on his watch that woke him up at 12:30 a.m. Ken said he had to scroll on the watch face to see the “Don’t Allow” button.

Ken didn’t know it when all this was happening (and it’s not at all obvious from the Apple prompts), but clicking “Allow” would not have allowed the attackers to change Ken’s password. Rather, clicking “Allow” displays a six digit PIN that must be entered on Ken’s device — allowing Ken to change his password. It appears that these rapid password reset prompts are being used to make a subsequent inbound phone call spoofing Apple more believable.

Ken said he contacted the real Apple support and was eventually escalated to a senior Apple engineer. The engineer assured Ken that turning on an Apple Recovery Key for his account would stop the notifications once and for all.

A recovery key is an optional security feature that Apple says “helps improve the security of your Apple ID account.” It is a randomly generated 28-character code, and when you enable a recovery key it is supposed to disable Apple’s standard account recovery process. The thing is, enabling it is not a simple process, and if you ever lose that code in addition to all of your Apple devices you will be permanently locked out.

Ken said he enabled a recovery key for his account as instructed, but that it hasn’t stopped the unbidden system alerts from appearing on all of his devices every few days.

KrebsOnSecurity tested Ken’s experience, and can confirm that enabling a recovery key does nothing to stop a password reset prompt from being sent to associated Apple devices. Visiting Apple’s “forgot password” page — https://iforgot.apple.com — asks for an email address and for the visitor to solve a CAPTCHA.

After that, the page will display the last two digits of the phone number tied to the Apple account. Filling in the missing digits and hitting submit on that form will send a system alert, whether or not the user has enabled an Apple Recovery Key.

The password reset page at iforgot.apple.com.

RATE LIMITS

What sanely designed authentication system would send dozens of requests for a password change in the span of a few moments, when the first requests haven’t even been acted on by the user? Could this be the result of a bug in Apple’s systems?

Apple has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Throughout 2022, a criminal hacking group known as LAPSUS$ used MFA bombing to great effect in intrusions at Cisco, Microsoft and Uber. In response, Microsoft began enforcing “MFA number matching,” a feature that displays a series of numbers to a user attempting to log in with their credentials. These numbers must then be entered into the account owner’s Microsoft authenticator app on their mobile device to verify they are logging into the account.

Kishan Bagaria is a hobbyist security researcher and engineer who founded the website texts.com (now owned by Automattic), and he’s convinced Apple has a problem on its end. In August 2019, Bagaria reported to Apple a bug that allowed an exploit he dubbed “AirDoS” because it could be used to let an attacker infinitely spam all nearby iOS devices with a system-level prompt to share a file via AirDrop — a file-sharing capability built into Apple products.

Apple fixed that bug nearly four months later in December 2019, thanking Bagaria in the associated security bulletin. Bagaria said Apple’s fix was to add stricter rate limiting on AirDrop requests, and he suspects that someone has figured out a way to bypass Apple’s rate limit on how many of these password reset requests can be sent in a given timeframe.

“I think this could be a legit Apple rate limit bug that should be reported,” Bagaria said.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Apple seems requires a phone number to be on file for your account, but after you’ve set up the account it doesn’t have to be a mobile phone number. KrebsOnSecurity’s testing shows Apple will accept a VOIP number (like Google Voice). So, changing your account phone number to a VOIP number that isn’t widely known would be one mitigation here.

One caveat with the VOIP number idea: Unless you include a real mobile number, Apple’s iMessage and Facetime applications will be disabled for that device. This might a bonus for those concerned about reducing the overall attack surface of their Apple devices, since zero-click zero-days in these applications have repeatedly been used by spyware purveyors.

Also, it appears Apple’s password reset system will accept and respect email aliases. Adding a “+” character after the username portion of your email address — followed by a notation specific to the site you’re signing up at — lets you create an infinite number of unique email addresses tied to the same account.

For instance, if I were signing up at example.com, I might give my email address as krebsonsecurity+example@gmail.com. Then, I simply go back to my inbox and create a corresponding folder called “Example,” along with a new filter that sends any email addressed to that alias to the Example folder. In this case, however, perhaps a less obvious alias than “+apple” would be advisable.

Update, March 27, 5:06 p.m. ET: Added perspective on Ken’s experience. Also included a What Can You Do? section.

It’s yet another hardware side-channel attack:

The threat resides in the chips’ data memory-dependent prefetcher, a hardware optimization that predicts the memory addresses of data that running code is likely to access in the near future. By loading the contents into the CPU cache before it’s actually needed, the DMP, as the feature is abbreviated, reduces latency between the main memory and the CPU, a common bottleneck in modern computing. DMPs are a relatively new phenomenon found only in M-series chips and Intel’s 13th-generation Raptor Lake microarchitecture, although older forms of prefetchers have been common for years.

[…]

The breakthrough of the new research is that it exposes a previously overlooked behavior of DMPs in Apple silicon: Sometimes they confuse memory content, such as key material, with the pointer value that is used to load other data. As a result, the DMP often reads the data and attempts to treat it as an address to perform memory access. This “dereferencing” of “pointers”—meaning the reading of data and leaking it through a side channel—­is a flagrant violation of the constant-time paradigm.

[…]

The attack, which the researchers have named GoFetch, uses an application that doesn’t require root access, only the same user privileges needed by most third-party applications installed on a macOS system. M-series chips are divided into what are known as clusters. The M1, for example, has two clusters: one containing four efficiency cores and the other four performance cores. As long as the GoFetch app and the targeted cryptography app are running on the same performance cluster—­even when on separate cores within that cluster­—GoFetch can mine enough secrets to leak a secret key.

The attack works against both classical encryption algorithms and a newer generation of encryption that has been hardened to withstand anticipated attacks from quantum computers. The GoFetch app requires less than an hour to extract a 2048-bit RSA key and a little over two hours to extract a 2048-bit Diffie-Hellman key. The attack takes 54 minutes to extract the material required to assemble a Kyber-512 key and about 10 hours for a Dilithium-2 key, not counting offline time needed to process the raw data.

The GoFetch app connects to the targeted app and feeds it inputs that it signs or decrypts. As its doing this, it extracts the app secret key that it uses to perform these cryptographic operations. This mechanism means the targeted app need not perform any cryptographic operations on its own during the collection period.

Note that exploiting the vulnerability requires running a malicious app on the target computer. So it could be worse. On the other hand, like many of these hardware side-channel attacks, it’s not possible to patch.

Slashdot thread.

In the middle of the 1980s, Apple found itself with several options regarding the future of its computing platforms. The Apple II was the company’s bread and butter. The Apple III was pitched as an evolution of that platform, but was clearly doomed due to hardware and software issues. The Lisa was expensive and not selling well, and while the Macintosh aimed to bring Lisa technology to the masses, sales were slow after its initial release.

Those four machines are well known, but there was a fifth possibility in the mix, named the Jonathan. In his book Inventing the Future, John Buck writes about the concept, which was led by Apple engineer Jonathan Fitch starting in the fall of 1984.

↫ Stephen Hackett

So apparently, the Jonathan was supposed to be a modular computer, with a backbone you could slot all kinds of upgrades in, from either Apple or third parties. These modules would add the hardware needed to run Mac OS, Apple II, UNIX, and DOS software, all on the same machine. This is an incredibly cool concept, but as we all know, it didn’t pan out.

The reasons are simple: this is incredibly hard to make work, especially when it comes to the software glue that would have to make it all work seamlessly. On top of that, it just doesn’t sound very Apple-like to make a computer designed to run anything that isn’t from Apple itself. Remember, this is still the time of Steve Jobs, before he got kicked out of the company and founded NeXT instead.

According to Stephen Hackett, the project never made it beyond the mockup phase, so we don’t have many details on how it was supposed to work. It does look stunning, though.

They say the only backup you ever regret is the one you didn’t make. iPhone backups can be used to easily move your apps and data to a new phone, to recover things you’ve lost, or to fix things that have failed.

The most convenient way to backup your iPhone is to have it backup to iCloud. Backups are made every day, automatically, provided your phone is connected to power and locked. Be aware though that backups take take up a lot of your iCloud storage, and your phones’ data plan if you choose to backup when you aren’t connected to Wi-Fi. If those are likely to be problems for you, you might prefer to backup your iPhone to your Mac.

This guide tells you how to enable backups to iCloud, and how to check that everything is working as you expect.

Open the Settings app.

Then tap where you see your name and Apple ID, iCloud+, Media & Purchases.

Next, tap iCloud.

Scroll down and tap iCloud Backup.

Toggle Back Up This iPhone to on.

This may reveal a Back Up Over Cellular Data or Back Up Over Mobile Data toggle. This creates backups when you aren’t connected to Wi-Fi. Because backups can use a lot of data, toggling this on may cause you to exceed your data plan.

Once you have made a backup, you can access it from this screen under ALL DEVICE BACKUPS.

You can return to the previous screen by tapping the < iCloud link at the top. This screen shows you how much storage space your backups are using. To see a little more detail, tap Manage Account Storage.

Scroll down the list of apps until you see Backups to see how much storage your backups are using.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

They say the only backup you ever regret is the one you didn’t make. iPhone backups can be used to easily move your apps and data to a new phone, to recover things you’ve lost, or to fix things that have failed.

One of the most cost effective ways to backup your iPhone is to save backups to your Mac. Backups are made automatically whenever you connect your iPhone to your Mac with a lead. Be aware though that backups can take up a lot of space on your Mac, and that if your Mac is lost, stolen, or inoperable, then you won’t be able to access your iPhone backups. If you need daily backups or backups that can always be accessed from anywhere, you may prefer to backup your iPhone to iCloud.

This guide tells you how to enable backups to your Mac, and how to check that everything is working as you expect.

First, connect your iPhone or iPad to a Mac using a cable.

Open the Finder app and select your iPhone from the list of Locations.

Click General.

Under Backups, choose Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac.

To encrypt your backup data and protect it with a password, select Encrypt local backup. You will be prompted for a password.

Click Back Up Now.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

They say the only backup you ever regret is the one you didn’t make. iPhone backups can be used to easily move your apps and data to a new phone, to recover things you’ve lost, or to fix things that have failed.

We’ve published posts on how to back up your iPhone to iCloud, and how to backup an iPhone to a Mac. Another method is to backup using the iTunes app on a Windows system.

Choose whichever backup method works best for you, and will continue to work.

First, connect your iPhone to the Windows system with a cable.

You are likely to see a prompt on your iPhone asking whether it can trust this computer.

To proceed, tap Trust and entering your passcode.

Then open the iTunes app on your Windows device.

In iTunes click the Device symbol in the upper left corner (next to the Music drop down box).

Note: It may take a while before the device icon appears

In the Settings of the iTunes app select Summary.

You’ll see some device data about your iPhone, and below that a Backups menu.

Here you can select either iCloud or This Computer.

To create a local backup select This Computer and click on Back Up Now to create a new backup of your iPhone on your Windows System.

To encrypt your backups, select Encrypt local backup, type a password, then click Set Password.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Backing up your Mac computer doesn’t need to be intimidating.

By taking advantage of a user-friendly feature released by Apple several years ago, the entire backup process can be handled almost automatically, preserving your most important files, photos, applications, and emails from cyberthreats and mishaps.

Before starting the backup process, you will need an external storage device that can connect to your Mac with a USB or Thunderbolt cable. External storage devices, which are sometimes called external hard drives, are developed and sold by many different companies, including Lacie, SanDisk, and Western Digital.

If you do not have an external storage device, you must first get one. You should also follow Apple’s recommendation that your external storage device be twice as large as the hard drive of your Mac computer.

To find the hard drive size of your current Mac, open the System Settings app on your computer. On the left-hand rail, click General and then, in the window open to the right, click Storage.

Several statistics and options will be shown.

At the top of the Storage section, the hard drive space is shown. Here, it is 494.38 GB, or 500 GB roughly.

The Mac shown here has 500 GB of internal storage. If we were to back this Mac up, we would need to use an external storage device of 1 TB (terabyte).

Once you have your external storage device, you can begin the actual backup processs.

The simplest way to back up your Mac is with the built-in feature “Time Machine.”

First, connect your external storage device to your Mac.

Then, you need to set up that storage device as your “backup disk.” This means that, from this point forward, your external storage device will have one primary use, and that is as a backup device that syncs with Time Machine. Apple recommends that you do not use your external storage device that you are using with Time Machine for anything other than Time Machine backups.

To set up your storage device as your backup disk, follow these instructions:

Go to System Settings.  

Click on General in the left sidebar.

From here, click on Time Machine in the main window displayed to the right.

From the Time Machine menu, click Add Backup Disk or click the “Add” button (+).

From here, select your external storage device and then click Set Up Disk.

At this point in the process, you may receive two options from Time Machine:

1. If your device has other files on it, you will be asked if you want to erase the device so that it can be used solely as a backup with Time Machine. You can erase the files immediately and then continue the backup process through Time Machine. If you do not want to erase the files, you need to get a separate external storage device that will be used exclusively as a backup with Time Machine.
2. If your external storage device already has backups from a prior computer, you will be asked whether you can to keep those backups and roll them into new backups made with Time Machine. This is up to you.

From here, the backup process is nearly done.

To make a backup, simply click on Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu.

Your first backup could take a long time to complete, but know that you can continue using your computer like normal while the process happens in the background.

From here on, whenever you attach your external storage device to your Mac, Time Machine will automatically ask to make a backup of the changes to your Mac. You can also change the frequency of your backups in your Time Machine Settings.

Simply put, MFA bombing (also known as “push bombing” or “MFA fatigue”) is a brute force attack on your patience. Cybercriminals use MFA bombing to break into accounts that are protected by multi-factor authentication (MFA).

MFA normally requires a user to enter a six-digit code sent by SMS, or generated by an app, or to respond to a push notification, when they enter a username and password. It provides an enormous increase in security and makes life much harder for criminals.

Because it’s so hard to break, criminals have taken to getting users to defeat their own MFA. They do this by using stolen credentials to try logging in, or by trying to reset a user’s password over and over again. In both cases this bombards the user with push notifications asking them to approve the login, or messages asking them to change their password. By doing this, the criminals hope that users will either tap the wrong option or get so fed up they just do whatever the messages are asking them to do, just to make the bombardment stop.

Now, according to this blog by Bran Krebs, these attacks have evolved. If you can withstand the pressure of the constant notifications, the criminals will call you pretending to come to your rescue.

In one example Krebs writes about, criminals flooded a target’s phone with password reset notifications for their Apple ID. Each notification required the user to choose either “Allow” or “Don’t Allow” before they could go back to using their device.

After withstanding the temptation to click “Allow”, and declining “100-plus” notifications, the victim receved a call from a spoofed number pretending to be Apple Support.

The call was designed to get the victim to trigger a password reset, and then to hand over the one-time password reset code sent to their device. Armed with a reset code, the criminals could change the victim’s password and lock them out of their account.

Luckily, in this situation the victim thought the callers seemed untrustworthy, so he asked them to provide some of his personal information, and they got his name wrong.

Another victim of MFA bombing learned that the notifications kept coming even after he bought a new device and created a new Apple iCloud account. This revealed that the attacks must have been targeted at his telephone number, because it was the only constant factor between the two device configurations.

Yet another target was told by Apple that setting up an Apple Recovery Key for his account would stop the notifications once and for all, although both Krebs and the victim dispute this.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a lot you can do once an MFA bombing attack starts other than be patient, and be careful not to click Allow. If you get a call, know that Apple Support will never call you out of the blue, so don’t trust the caller, no matter how convenient their timing.

If you lose control of your Apple ID, go to iforgot.apple.com to start the account recovery process.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Before the cancellation of The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+, Apple forbade the inclusion of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan as a guest and steered the show away from confronting issues related to artificial intelligence, according to Jon Stewart.

↫ Samuel Axon at Ars Technica

Just when you thought Apple and Tim Cook couldn’t get any more unlikable.

Apple has reportedly sent alerts to individuals in 92 nations on Wednesday, April 10, to say it’s detected that they may have been a victim of a mercenary attack. The company says it has sent out these types of threat notifications to over 150 countries since the start in 2021.

Mercenary spyware is used by governments to target people like journalists, political activists, and similar targets, and involves the use of sophisticated tools like Pegasus. Pegasus is one of the world’s most advanced and invasive spyware tools, known to utilize zero-day vulnerabilities against mobile devices.

The second number became known when Apple changed the wording of the relevant support page. The change also included the title that went from “About Apple threat notifications and protecting against state-sponsored attacks” to “About Apple threat notifications and protecting against mercenary spyware.”

If you look at the before and after, you’ll also notice an extra paragraph, again with the emphasis on the change from “state-sponsored attacks” to “mercenary spyware.”

The cause for the difference in wording might be because “state-sponsored” is often used to indicate attacks targeted at entities, like governments or companies, while these mercenary attacks tend to be directed at individual people.

The extra paragraph specifically calls out the NSO Group and the Pegasus spyware it sells. While the NSO Group claims to only sell to “government clients,” we have no reason to take its word for it.

Apple says that when it detects activity consistent with a mercenary spyware attack it uses two different means of notifying the users about the attack:

• Displays a Threat Notification at the top of the page after the user signs into appleid.apple.com.
• Sends an email and iMessage notification to the email addresses and phone numbers associated with the user’s Apple ID.

Apple says it doesn’t want to share information about what triggers these notifications, since that might help mercenary spyware attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future.

The NSO Group itself argued in a court case started by Meta for spying on WhatsApp users, that it should be recognized as a foreign government agent and, therefore, be entitled to immunity under US law limiting lawsuits against foreign countries.

NSO Group has also said that its tool is increasingly necessary in an era when end-to-end encryption is widely available to criminals.

How to stay safe

Apple advises iPhone users to:

• Enable Lockdown mode.
• Keep devices up to date.
• Protect devices with a passcode.
• Use Multi-Factor-Authentication (MFA) for your Apple ID.
• Only install apps from the App Store.
• Use strong and unique passwords online.
• Don’t click on links or attachments from unknown senders.

We’d like to add:

• Use an anti-malware solution on your device.
• If you’re not sure about something that’s been sent to you, verify it with the person or company via another communcation channel.
• Use a password manager.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

If you’ve read my first post about Spatial Video, the second about Encoding Spatial Video, or if you’ve used my command-line tool, you may recall a mention of Apple’s mysterious “fisheye” projection format. Mysterious because they’ve documented a CMProjectionType.fisheye enumeration with no elaboration, they stream their immersive Apple TV+ videos in this format, yet they’ve provided no method to produce or playback third-party content using this projection type.

Additionally, the format is undocumented, they haven’t responded to an open question on the Apple Discussion Forums asking for more detail, and they didn’t cover it in their WWDC23 sessions. As someone who has experience in this area – and a relentless curiosity – I’ve spent time digging-in to Apple’s fisheye projection format, and this post shares what I’ve learned.

↫ Mike Swanson

There is just so much cool technology crammed into the Vision Pro, from the crazy displays down to, apparently, the encoding format for spatial video. Too bad Apple seems to have forgotten that a technology is not a product, as even the most ardent Apple supporterts – like John Gruber, or the hosts of ATP – have stated their Vision Pro devices are lying unused, collecting dust, just months after launch.

In iOS 17.4, Apple introduced a new system called eligibilityd. This works with countryd (which you might have heard about when it first appeared in iOS 16.2) and the Apple ID system to decide where you physically are. The idea is that multiple sources need to agree on where you are, before giving you access to features such as those mandated by the Digital Markets Act.

↫ Adam Demasi

The way Adam Demasi managed to convince Apple his very much Australian iPhone in Australia was, in fact, a European Union iPhone in the European Union was by making sure not a single wireless signal managed to escape the device. He had to disable location services, insert an Italian SIM, set up a pfSense Wi-Fi router using the regulatory country of Italy, and go into his basement where there’s no mobile signal. Between all these steps, the phone was reset multiple times.

And then, and only then, did the iPhone think it was in the European Union, with all the benefits that entails. Demasi has no idea which of these steps are actually needed, but the process of figuring this all out is ongoing, and more information is sure to be discovered as smart people sink their teeth into the process by which Apple determines where an iPhone is from.

You can get this open-box Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad (10th Gen) on sale for $94.97 right now (reg. $249) with free shipping through May 22. The folio’s two-piece design is detachable, so you can use the keyboard wirelessly while the back panel holds up your tablet. You can use the keyboard’s click-anywhere trackpad for scrolling, a 14-key function row with loads of shortcut options, and an adjustable stand to make your tablet setup feel more like a laptop. Both pieces attach magnetically, and you can adjust the stand to different viewing angles. It’s an open-box item—excess inventory from store shelves or customer returns—but it’s been repackaged and is verified to be in new condition. 

You can get this open-box Apple Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad (10th Gen) on sale for $94.97 right now (reg. $249) with free shipping through May 22 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.

Enlarge (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Starting in March with the release of iOS 17.4, iPhones in the European Union have been subject to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a batch of regulations that (among other things) forced Apple to support alternate app stores, app sideloading, and third-party browser engines in iOS for the first time. This week, EU regulators announced that they are also categorizing Apple's iPadOS as a "gatekeeper," meaning that the iPad will soon be subject to the same regulations as the iPhone.

In a developer blog post released today, Apple said that it would comply with the EU's regulations "later this fall, as required." All changes that Apple has made to iOS on European iPhones to comply with the DMA will be implemented in the same way on the iPad, though it's not clear whether these changes will be brought to iPadOS 17 or if they'll just be a part of the upcoming iPacOS 18 update.

The EU began investigating whether iPadOS would qualify as a gatekeeper in September 2023, the same day it decided that iOS, the Safari browser, and the App Store were all gatekeepers.

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All three of the popular models of Apple's AirPods earbuds are discounted on Amazon right now, reaching a new record low price or matching the lowest price they've ever been. The 2nd Generation AirPods Pro is $179.99 (originally $249), which is the lowest I've ever seen them after looking at price-checking tools. The 2nd Generation AirPods are $79.99 (originally $129) after a 38% discount, $10 lower than it was a week ago. The 3rd Generation Apple AirPods also dropped to $138.59 (originally $169.99), which they last hit this past December.

If you're not sure which AirPods to pick, we have a breakdown of all three to help make the choice a little easier.

• Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) $179.99 (originally $249)

• Apple AirPods (2nd Generation) $79.99 (originally $129)

• Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) $138.59 (originally $169.99)

• Apple AirPods Max $519 (originally $549)

The AirPods Max are rarely discounted, but you can get them for $30 off right now.

Apple AirPods Max

Wireless Over-Ear Headphones, Active Noise Cancelling, Transparency Mode, Personalized Spatial Audio

$449.99 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $99.01

Get Deal

Get Deal

$449.99 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $99.01

The 2nd Generation AirPods Pro are some of the best earbuds you can get if you have the funds for them. This newest model, which came out in September, is the first to feature charging via USB-C as opposed to a lightning cable. They have a few new features, like adaptive transparency, but the change in the charging port is the biggest difference. You can expect solid battery life, with Apple claiming up to 30 hours of listening time on a single charge.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

If you've ever sent an iPhone in for repair, you might be familiar with the dance Apple asks you to do if your device still powers on: back up your data, then either erase the phone or disable the Find My feature so your phone can easily be serviced (or, if it's being exchanged for a new one, refurbished and resold). If you're also using the Stolen Device Protection and Security Delay feature introduced in iOS 17.3, this can be a pain, since you need to wait a full hour to turn Find My off after you make the request.

It looks like Apple is making some changes to that process in iOS 17.5, which is currently in beta testing. The update adds a new "repair state" mode that leaves the device functional while keeping both Find My and Activation Lock enabled. This means that iPhones swiped while in transit will still be trackable and that they'll still stay locked to your Apple ID so they can't easily be wiped and resold.

MacRumors has a good overview of the feature as it currently functions. You can set an iPhone to repair state mode by pulling it up in the Find My app and attempting to remove the device from your account while it’s still online and active. Rather than removing the device from your account, the app will offer to put it in the repair state instead; unlike when you try to disable Find My entirely, this doesn't trigger the one-hour Security Delay waiting period. If your phone is offline, Find My will offer to remove it from your account, as it currently does.

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Enlarge / Part of the cover illustration from "The Applesoft Tutorial" BASIC manual that shipped with the Apple II computer starting in 1981. (credit: Apple, Inc.)

Sixty years ago, on May 1, 1964, at 4 am in the morning, a quiet revolution in computing began at Dartmouth College. That's when mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz successfully ran the first program written in their newly developed BASIC (Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) programming language on the college's General Electric GE-225 mainframe.

Little did they know that their creation would go on to democratize computing and inspire generations of programmers over the next six decades.

What is BASIC?

In its most traditional form, BASIC is an interpreted programming language that runs line by line, with line numbers. A typical program might look something like this:

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Enlarge / John Schmidtlein, partner at Williams & Connolly LLP and lead litigator for Alphabet Inc.'s Google, arrives to federal court in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)

Halfway through the first day of closing arguments in the Department of Justice's big antitrust trial against Google, US District Judge Amit Mehta posed the question that likely many Google users have pondered over years of DOJ claims that Google's market dominance has harmed users.

"What should Google have done to remain outside the crosshairs of the DOJ?" Mehta asked plaintiffs halfway through the first of two full days of closing arguments.

According to the DOJ and state attorneys general suing, Google has diminished search quality everywhere online, primarily by locking rivals out of default positions on devices and in browsers. By paying billions for default placements that the government has argued allowed Google to hoard traffic and profits, Google allegedly made it nearly impossible for rivals to secure enough traffic to compete, ultimately decreasing competition and innovation in search by limiting the number of viable search engines in the market.

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Enlarge / The Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. (credit: Anadolu Agency | Getty)

Apple's earnings report for the second quarter of the company's 2024 fiscal year showed a slide in hardware sales, especially for the iPhone. Nonetheless, Apple beat analysts' estimates for the quarter thanks to the company's rapidly growing services revenue.

iPhone revenue dropped from $51.33 billion in the same quarter last year to $45.96 billion, a fall of about 10 percent. This was the second consecutive quarter with declining iPhone revenues. That said, investors feared a sharp drop before the earnings call.

Notably, Apple's revenue in the region it dubs Greater China (which includes China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong) fell 8 percent overall. The company fared a little better in other regions. China's economy is slowing even as China-based Huawei is taking bigger slices of the pie in the region.

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Enlarge / The promotional image for Apple's May 7 event. (credit: Apple)

On May 7, Apple will host a product announcement event at 9 am ET. Labeled "Let loose," we expect it will focus on new iPads and iPad accessories.

We won't be liveblogging the stream, but you can expect some news coverage as it happens. Below, we'll go over our educated guesses about why Apple might be doing this.

Why hold an event now?

It's unusual for Apple to host an event shortly before WWDC. New products debut at that event all the time, so if it's just a faster chip and a nicer screen for the iPad Pro and iPad Air, why not wait until June?

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The iPad is a product equally beloved and criticized: It has its devoted fans, who love it as it is, and use it for everything from work, passion projects, and entertainment. But it also has detractors, mostly those who see it as a limited experience thanks to an underpowered OS.

While Apple rarely seems to cater to the whims of its critics, it has made some iterative changes to the iPad over the years: iPadOS used to be an undeniably "tablet" experience, before Apple revamped its multitasking features, not once, but twice. Throw in mouse and trackpad support, and the iPad can be used as a computer replacement.

Apple hasn't made many fundamental changes to the overall design of the iPad in some time: The design of the Pro models remains almost identical to the ones released back in 2018, minus the 12.9-inch Pro's mini-LED display. This year, however, could mark some massive changes in the iPad lineup, across both hardware to software.

Apple's new iPads

iPad rumors have been in circulation for months now, but as we approach Apple's big iPad event next week, the claims are only getting more serious.

Case in point, a new Bloomberg report from noted Apple reporter Mark Gurman presents the highlights of Apple's iPad presentation: The star of the show is the iPad Pro. Apple is moving on from the mini-LED display on the 12.9-inch Pro (as well as the standard LCD on the 11-inch Pro) in favor of OLED. It's the first time Apple has used this display tech in an iPad before, but better late than never: On OLED displays, each pixel can be lit up individually, which means they can be completely shut off for dark scenes. The contrast is incomparable to LCD, which is lit by one solid backlight, and improved over mini-LED: The latter uses many dimming zones to boost contrast, but comes with the side effect of light bloom, or white zones in the dark areas around an image.

In addition to the display upgrades, the rumors suggest these iPads could be the first to get Apple's upcoming M4 chip, which may power many of Apple's upcoming AI features. (At least, the ones not outsourced to OpenAI or Google.) Perhaps the 2024 iPad Pro will usher in Apple's long-awaited AI strategy. We'll just have to see.

While OLED iPads will certainly make headlines, the iPad Air is also getting an upgrade: Gurman expects Apple to unveil a new 12.9-inch version of the Air, for those who want a larger iPad without paying Pro prices. The standard 10.9-inch will also be available for anyone who likes the traditional form factor of the Air, and both are expected to come with Apple's M2 chip. So, not the tablets to get for AI or the best contrast, but probably the best tablets for most people to consider.

Some new accessories for your new iPad

Of course, what's an iPad without some additional (expensive) accessories? Gurman expects Apple to unveil new versions of both the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. The new Pencil will come with haptic feedback, which I'm all for: Those are the tiny vibrations you feel in certain pieces of tech, which offers some physical feedback whenever completing an action. It's not clear how Apple plans to implement that into the new Pencil, but it'd be cool if they came into play when drawing, erasing, or selecting items on-screen.

The new Magic Keyboard also sounds like a step up: It will reportedly use more durable materials, like aluminum, and will make the iPad "look more laptop-like." While I'm a fan of the current Magic Keyboard, it does feel quite fragile compared to other Apple products. There are other areas I'd like to see improvements as well: The main keyboard is nice, but I hope Apple increases the size of the trackpad and adds a row of function keys. Honestly, if all they did was add brightness and volume controls to the keyboard, I'd be set.

The iPad is becoming a bit more like a computer

People have wanted to replace their Macs and PCs with iPads since the tablet's launch in 2010. And although we've come a long way since that initial design, there's no denying an iPad simply can't do everything a traditional computer can. Sure, you can now have up to four windows on your iPhone running at once, and the Magic Keyboard lets you interact with your tablet much like a laptop, but you will continue to run into roadblocks and jump through painful workarounds to accomplish tasks that would be simple on a Mac.

There are many such differences Apple still needs to iron out, but one big one comes down to apps. Yes, the App Store is full of apps you can discover and download, but it isn't the same experience as a computer: On a Mac or PC, you can find a fun app or utility on the web, install it, and be on your way. On iPadOS, if Apple didn't approve the app on the App Store, you're not running it.

That's changing this year, at least in Europe: Apple confirmed Thursday it will allow app developers to sell their apps through third-party app stores and through websites, following the same rules the company rolled out for iPhones as of iOS 17.5. While app developers will still need to play by Apple's rules and give a percentage of their revenue to the company (this isn't a way to skirt Apple's fees, after all), it gives users more options for where they can download their apps. It means iPhones feel more like Androids, and iPads feels more like computers: If you see an app online, and you want to install it directly on your iPad, you can.

Of course, the only reason Apple is doing this is because the European Commission is forcing them to. The E.U. sees the iPhone and the iPad as "gatekeeping technologies," and, as such, must open up their platforms to allow for more competition. Unless we see similar legislation passed in the U.S., it's unlikely we'll get sideloading on iPads anytime soon.

That said, this is a reality for European iPad owners: While there are still plenty of small advantages computers still have over iPads, this change is another small step towards a future where Apple's tablet can be most people's all-in-one device.

New iPads are always fun, but arguably the best part of a product release is watching prices on older devices shrink. If you want a new iPad, but don't want to pay new iPad prices, keep an eye on the prices for these iPads post-Apple event:

• 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro (renewed)

• 11-inch M2 iPad Pro (renewed)

• iPad Air (5th generation)

Enlarge / M2-based iPad Airs come out next week. (credit: Apple)

Apple today announced the first 13-inch iPad Air. The company is also releasing a revamped 11-inch iPad Air next week, meaning the tablet will be available in two sizes for the first time.

The 13-inch iPad Air has 30 percent more screen real estate than its smaller counterpart, so Apple is marketing it as being for multitasking and applications like iPadOS' Split View. During its Let Loose event today, Apple said it decided to release a 13-inch iPad Air because "about half" of iPad Pro users opt for the larger (12.9 inches versus 11 inches) size," Melody Kuna, director of iPad product design at Apple, said as part of the presentation.

The 11-inch versus the 13-inch iPad Air. (credit: Apple)

In addition to a larger screen, the 13-inch iPad Air will offer better sound quality than the 11-inch version, Apple says, due to it offering twice the bass. Both tablets have landscape stereo speakers and Spatial Audio support.

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Enlarge (credit: Apple)

Apple's newest iPad Pro puts an M4 chip inside a thinner frame and is available in new 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, while also upgrading the screens on both to "tandem" OLED displays for more brightness.

Compared to the last iPad Pro, released in early 2022, Apple is highlighting how thin and light these new Pros are. The 11-inch model is 5.3 mm thick and weighs less than a pound, while the 13-inch is 5.1 mm, which Apple says is its thinnest product ever, at 1.28 pounds.

The tandem OLED design, dubbed Ultra Retina XDR, delivers 1000 nits at full-screen brightness, and 1600 nits at peak HDR, equivalent to a high-end Samsung TV. The screens are "nano-texture glass," which is essentially a matte display finish.

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Enlarge / Apple's M4 chip in the new iPad Pro. It follows the M3 by just a few months. (credit: Apple)

In a major shake-up of its chip roadmap, Apple has announced a new M4 processor for today’s iPad Pro refresh, barely six months after releasing the first MacBook Pros with the M3 and not even two months after updating the MacBook Air with the M3.

Apple says the M4 includes "up to" four high-performance CPU cores, six high-efficiency cores, and a 10-core GPU. Apple's high-level performance estimates say that the M4 has 50 percent faster CPU performance and four times as much graphics performance. Like the GPU in the M3, the M4 also supports hardware-accelerated ray-tracing to enable more advanced lighting effects in games and other apps. Due partly to its "second-generation" 3 nm manufacturing process, Apple says the M4 can match the performance of the M2 while using just half the power.

As with so much else in the tech industry right now, the M4 also has an AI focus; Apple says it's beefing up the 16-core Neural Engine (Apple’s equivalent of the Neural Processing Unit that companies like Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and Microsoft have been pushing lately). Apple says the M4 runs up to 38 trillion operations per second (TOPS), considerably ahead of Intel's Meteor Lake platform, though a bit short of the 45 TOPS that Qualcomm is promising with the Snapdragon X Elite and Plus series. The M3's Neural Engine is only capable of 18 TOPS, so that's a major step up for Apple's hardware.

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Enlarge

Apple is lowering the price of its 10th-generation iPad from $399 to $349, the company announced at its Let Loose event today.

The 10th-generation iPad did away with the top and bottom bezels that previous iPads carried. The 10.9-inch tablet also doesn't have a home button, showing Apple, under pressure from European Union regulations, moving from a Lightning port to USB-C. It debuted with a $449 starting price in 2022 with an A14 chip.

However, Apple is also doing away with the $329 9th-generation iPad, effectively increasing the price of entry for an iPad.

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It might not have been as big a deal as WWDC or the annual fall iPhone event, but Apple's May 7 "Let Loose" event was an exciting affair all the same. The company made some highly-anticipated announcements about the iPad in particular, introducing new versions of the iPad Pro and iPad Air, and revealed refreshed accessories for both.

Don't forget about the Apple Vision Pro and new MacBook Air

Apple made a quick aside to the Vision Pro, talking about the use of the devices by companies like Porsche, filmmakers like Jon M. Chu, and doctors using the headset for healthcare. Tim Cook also highlighted the M3 MacBook Air, announcing it has become the world's best-selling laptop in both the 13-inch and 15-inch models.

Oh, were looking for actual news about Vision Pro or Mac, and not just marketing? Sorry.

The new iPad Pro is super thin

Credit: Apple

In pure Apple form, the new iPad Pro is even thinner than before. The Pros come in an 11-inch and 13-inch design, which are 5.3mm and 5.1mm thin respectively. Apple says it's even thinner than the iPod Nano. The previous iPad Pro design was already quite thin, so will this one feel...too thin? Either way, you can still choose Silver or Space Black.

As expected, Apple has added OLED displays (Apple's calling the tech "Tandem OLED") to both models of iPad Pro, the first time the company has used the display tech in an iPad of any kind. Previously, the 11-inch used an LCD display, which features one large backlight, while the 12.9-inch used mini-LED, which uses local dimming zones that offer finer control over what ares of the display are lit at once. With OLED, individual pixels can be lit or turned off completely, making it the best display format for contrast: The dark parts of an image or video can be completely black, as the display turns them off outright. The iPad Pros have a typical maximum brightness of 1,000 nits, and an HDR peak of 1,600 nits.

The rumors were also correct about the iPad Pro's SoC: These Pros use M4, the first Apple devices with the chip. M4 has four performance cores and six efficiency cores, and Apple says it can achieve 50% CPU performance over M2. (Apple loves to skip two generations back to compare its chips.) It has a 10-core GPU with support for ray tracing, a demanding process that render realistic lighting in video games and other graphic-heavy programs. Apple also touted M4's energy efficiency, but hands-on testing will show how those specs translate to real-world use.

Apple also wants you to know its serious about AI: While the company didn't unveil any of the generative AI features it's reportedly working on, it did focus on the M4's Neural Engine (NPU), which is designed for AI. It has a 16-core design, capable of 38 trillion operations per second. (Apple says its 60 times faster than their first NPU ever.) The company also says the thermal performance is better on these iPads, even with the thinner design.

Interestingly, the new iPad Pros seem to only have one rear camera. This time, there's a beefier LiDAR scanner, which can use AI to better detect documents. A welcome change is the fact that the front-facing camera is now on the landscape section of the iPad, where you'd expect it should be. This matches where the camera is on the 10th gen iPad. No more weird angles during video calls.

The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999 (wifi) and $1,199 (cellular). The 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,299 (wifi) and $1,499 (cellular). Both models come in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations. You can order beginning today, and the tablets will be available starting May 15.

iPad Pro (11-inch)

Also comes in 13-inch.

$999.00 at Apple

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Shop Now

$999.00 at Apple

The iPad Air gets a MacBook-level chip

Credit: Apple

Two years since its last refresh, Apple’s new iPad Air is finally here. The year’s model updates Apple’s smallest non-Mini iPad to the same M2 chip used in its 2022 MacBook Air, plus introduces a new larger size.

For the first time, the iPad Air is now available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes. While it might sound counterintuitive to make a larger iPad Air, the idea is to give users the same extra screen space they would get on the Pro without requiring them to pay a lot more for it. Specifically, Apple promises “30% more screen real estate” on the 13-inch iPad Air. (In contrast, the new iPad Pro line is introducing an 11-inch model to pair with the existing 13-inch one—Apple wants you to be happy with your device size, however much you're spending.)

Those hoping for OLED displays on the new iPad Air will have to keep waiting. While the iPad Pro is finally getting OLED, the iPad Air is sticking with the tried-and-true liquid retina display used in prior models.

What you do get is the M2 chip, which, while a generation behind what’s available on the newest MacBooks, is still promised to be powerful enough to run AI features in programs like Photoshop, as well as modern games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage. The M1 chip in the previous model is no slouch, but Apple claims the new iPad Air has 50% improved performance, and three times the performance of the 10th gen iPad running the A14 Bionic chip.

Video calls should also get a little nicer, with the camera and speakers finally getting moved to the landscape edges.

The new iPad Air starts at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model, with four available color options: blue, purple, starlight (gold), and space gray (off-black). Storage options range from 128GB to 1TB. You can order beginning today, and they will be available starting May 15.

iPad Air (11-inch)

Also comes in 13-inch.

$599.00

Shop Now

Shop Now

$599.00

iPad 10th gen is getting cheaper

The 10th gen iPad is staying the same, but the price is dropping. Now, the entry-level iPad starts at $349, down $100 from the previous price.

iPad 10th Generation

$349.00 at Apple

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Shop Now

$349.00 at Apple

Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2 get AI features

Credit: Apple

Apple also introduced new versions of its iPad apps for Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. These apps focus on some new AI features that take advantage of the M4 chip in the new Pros.

Apple says the new Final Cut Pro renders a final output up to two times faster on the M4 iPad Pro. A new Live Multicam feature can allow you to connect and preview up to four cameras at once, and a new app, Final Cut Camera, also lets you remotely control all these cameras, including features like expose. And, finally, you can edit projects off an external hard drive.

Logic Pro 2 also gets some new features: There's "Session Players," which expands the app's Drummer option with new bass and keyboard players. "ChromaGlow" lets you use AI to add "ultrarealistic" sound to your tracks. Stem Splitter splits one combined track into its different components, at least into Drums, Bass, Vocals, and Other instruments.

Logic Pro 2 will be available May 13 as a free update for existing users, and is still available for $4.99 per month or $49 per year. Final Cut Pro 2 has the same pricing scheme, but will be available "later this spring."

Apple Pencil Pro has some new sensors and haptic feedback

Credit: Apple

Apple finally slapped "Pro" onto Apple Pencil. The upgraded Apple Pencil has a new sensor that lets you squeeze to bring up a new tool palette. As the rumors suggested, the Pencil has a haptic engine for tactile feedback, so when you squeeze it, you feel a small vibration. You can also tilt your Pencil to adjust your pencil strokes in real time.

The Apple Pencil also supports Find My: The next time is rolls underneath your couch, just open Find My on your iPad or iPhone to find it.

Apple is charging $129 for the new Apple Pencil Pro, and it will be available starting May 15.

Apple Pencil Pro

$129.00 at Apple

Shop Now

Shop Now

$129.00 at Apple

The Magic Keyboard will deliver a more laptop-like experience

Credit: Apple

To go with its new iPad Pro, Apple’s upgrading the Magic Keyboard to give users a more laptop-like experience. Most notably, the trackpad has gotten a little larger, there’s now a full row of function keys, and the palm rest is now made from aluminum.

Apple’s site doesn’t mention specific trackpad measurements, but it does confirm that the new trackpad will have full haptic feedback throughout, helping it maintain parity with MacBooks. Unfortunately, the new Magic Keyboard will not work with the new iPad Air models, which means only Pro users will get access to that aluminum palm rest and the new, 14-key function row.

The 11-inch Magic Keyboard will run you $299, while the 13-inch one costs $349. It’s available in two colors: black, and the traditional Apple gray. You can order today, and it will be available starting May 15.

Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (11-inch)

Also available for iPad Pro 13-inch.

$299.00 at Apple

Shop Now

Shop Now

$299.00 at Apple

Apple’s iPad announcements are usually quick, low key affairs: Update the screen, put the latest MacBook chip in the iPad Pro, throw in some skits for razzle dazzle, and call it a day. But today’s iPad event surprised everyone by revealing the next Apple Silicon chip: the M4.

In an unprecedented move, the iPad Pro is actually leaping ahead of the MacBook by getting the first crack at Apple’s newest in-house chip. While it’s not a straight ahead replacement for pro-level silicon like the M3 Ultra, the M4 coming to the iPad Pro first means it’s feasible your next iPad will be more powerful than your current MacBook Air (or 14-inch MacBook Pro for that matter).

This all has major implications for Apple's place in the ongoing big tech AI war, where it has historically lagged behind.

What’s different about Apple’s M4 chip?

The Apple M4 chip is, predictably, all about AI. While M-series chips have always had a neural engine (or NPU) built-in, the M4’s neural engine is getting a massive efficiency boost. It’s still just 16 cores, but Apple claims it can now run “38 trillion operations per second,” a purported sixty times speed improvement over the company’s first neural engine. By comparison, the M3’s neural engine topped out at 18 trillion operations per second.

“The neural engine in M4 is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today,” said Tim Millet, VP of Apple’s Platform Architecture division.

That’s a big claim for a chip that’s debuting in a tablet, and one that may not be true for too much longer (more on that later). But the M4 is also improving in more traditional ways: In addition to its four performance cores, the M4 uses six efficiency cores, two more than on the M3. Its 10-core GPU is largely the same on paper as the M3’s, although Apple claims four times faster rendering performance than on the M2—a many fold increase over the claims it made with the M3.

Apple is also planning to continue leading the industry in power efficiency. “M4 can deliver the same performance as M2 using just half the power,” Millet claimed.

Rounding out these improvements is a new display engine, built largely to support the iPad Pro’s OLED screen. This engine will power the device’s 10Hz-120Hz dynamic refresh rate screen, plus aid in brightness and color compensation. Brightness is a typical pain point for OLED, and is something the iPad Pro is trying to fix with its new “tandem OLED” screen, which essentially stacks two OLED displays on top of each other. The display engine will also aid in keeping these screens in sync.

What does M4 mean for Apple AI?

All eyes are on Apple's forthcoming WWDC this June, where the company is finally expected to announce its AI competitor to the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The M4 chip debuting in a tablet first only lights a fire under these rumors.

With the launch of (and subsequent disappointment in) standalone AI devices like the Humane AI pin and Rabbit R1, it’s clear the market is aching for AI implementation that moves beyond novelty and actually integrates into your mobile operating system. Such an AI assistant could easily set appointments, change phone settings, send texts, and more. Google is expected to be the first to bat with such an AI at Google I/O next week, but the next month could easily see Apple’s mobile operating systems following suit. It’s unclear what the Cupertino developer has in store for iPhone, but when viewed in this light, it makes sense that M4 is coming to the iPad before the MacBook. Putting such a powerful neural engine in the iPad sets Apple's tablets up for success in what is likely to be the next big mobile OS battlefield.

Prior to WWDC, the neural engine in the M4 chip will continue to do what it always has–enable some fun magic tricks in Apple-developed programs. “It can do amazing things even faster,” Millet said. “Like easily isolate a subject from its background in 4K video with just a tap in Final Cut Pro.”

That's impressive, but I'm looking forward to finally seeing that kind of power applied to more robust ends. Until now, the M-series neural engine has come across as a bit of future-proofing, with most AI relegated to the cloud, rather than running locally. The M4 sets Apple up for the next stage of on-device AI.

When will the M4 chip come to the MacBook?

Apple’s M-series chips aren’t just for the iPad. More traditionally, they start off in MacBooks later before coming to the company’s iPads. While Apple doesn’t tend to announce new MacBooks until closer to the fall, the M4 debuting so early sets the groundwork for what the next generation of MacBooks will look like.

First, I'm calling it: Get ready for OLED MacBooks. OLED coming to MacBook has been hotly anticipated for years, as it is already a mature technology when it comes to PC laptops. With the M4 featuring a display engine built specifically to support OLED, there’s little doubt the next line of MacBooks will follow in the iPad Pro’s footsteps later this year.

OLED might even come to the MacBook Air, despite being reserved for the more expensive model of iPad, as the MacBook Pro tends to rely less on the base M-series chip and more on pro-level refreshes, which in this case would be the M4 Pro, M4 Ultra, and M4 Max. The new MacBooks will also likely integrate with whatever mobile-first AI initiatives Apple announces at WWDC. This would provide a quick way for the iPhone maker to establish a niche for itself that Google and Microsoft can’t, as it makes both full-fledged computers (sorry, Chromebooks) and smartphones.

What about AI on Windows?

Even as Apple is working to set the stage for a big AI showcase later this summer, it’s still going to have to play catchup. After Google I/O on May 14, Microsoft has told media that it will be holding a Surface AI event in Seattle on May 20. There, the company will share its “AI vision,” set to focus on Windows on Arm.

Sources “familiar with Microsoft’s plans” told The Verge in April that the company is confident its new Arm-powered Windows laptops will beat the M3 MacBook Air in CPU performance and AI tasks. Even with the M4 chip out now, that represents a significant threat for Apple—Arm is the same architecture powering Apple Silicon, and while it tends to lag behind Intel and AMD chips when it comes to power, it is usually far more efficient. If Microsoft can catch up to Apple on battery life without sacrificing much power, it will take away one of the few remaining hardware advantages MacBooks have over the much more diverse array of Windows machines, especially with M4 being limited to tablets until later this fall.

It remains to be seen just how much power we can expect from Microsoft's new Windows on ARM machines, which are reportedly powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite.

Enlarge / Apple's latest iPad Air, now in two sizes. The Magic Keyboard accessory is the same one that you use with older iPad Airs and Pros, though they can use the new Apple Pencil Pro. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple has a new lineup of iPad Pro and Air models for the first time in well over a year. Most people would probably be hard-pressed to tell the new ones from the old ones just by looking at them, but after hands-on sessions with both sizes of both tablets, the small details (especially for the Pros) all add up to a noticeably refined iPad experience.

iPad Airs: Bigger is better

But let's begin with the new Airs since there's a bit less to talk about. The 11-inch iPad Air (technically the sixth-generation model) is mostly the same as the previous-generation A14 and M1 models, design-wise, with identical physical dimensions and weight. It's still the same slim-bezel design Apple introduced with the 2018 iPad Pro, just with a 60 Hz LCD display panel and Touch ID on the power button rather than Face ID.

So when Apple says the device has been "redesigned," the company is mainly referring to the fact that the webcam is now mounted on the long edge of the tablet rather than the short edge. This makes its positioning more laptop-y when it's docked to the Magic Keyboard or some other keyboard.

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Enlarge / The new M4 iPad Pro. (credit: Apple)

When Apple announced the Apple M4 chip during its iPad Pro event yesterday, it mentioned that the chip came with "up to" four high-performance CPU cores.

Those short, easily missable words always mean that there's a lower-end version of the chip coming that doesn't include that many CPU cores, and the tech specs page for the new iPad Pro has the full details: iPad Pros with 256GB or 512GB of storage use a version of the M4 with three high-performance CPU cores and six smaller efficiency cores. Only the models with 1TB and 2TB of storage have an M4 with all four high-performance CPU cores enabled.

The 256GB and 512GB models also ship with 8GB of RAM, where the 1TB and 2TB models come with 16GB of memory installed. Though these changes are clearly spelled out on the Tech Specs page, the actual configuration page for the iPad Pros in Apple's online store doesn't give any indication that upgrading storage also upgrades your CPU and RAM.

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We've been telling you for some time not to buy iPads if you're the type of person who likes the latest tech, even if the iPad deals are tempting: If you managed to wait, the rumors about the new iPad were confirmed earlier this week during Apple's iPad event. The new 11th-generation iPad Pro will be the first Apple gadget to sport Apple's new M4 chip. You can get your preorders in now at Amazon, Best Buy, the Apple Store, and other retailers. Here are the best ones ready to ship your iPad starting May 15.

The iPad Pro starts at $999

iPad Pro 2024

Ultra Retina XDR Display, 256GB, Landscape 12MP Front Camera/12MP Back Camera, LiDAR Scanner, Wi-Fi

$998.98 at Apple.com

Pre-order Here

Pre-order Here

$998.98 at Apple.com

The iPad Pro has a new design, a new M4 chip, and an OLED display. You can choose between the 11- and 13-inch sizes that start at $999 and $1,299 for the 256 GB and wifi versions, respectively. The iPad Pro is Apple's thinnest product ever made at 0.2 inches thin for the 13-inch screen, according to their press release. iPads completely skipped over the M3 chip, going from the M2 straight to the M4, which is supposed to have a 50% faster CPU performance and up to four times faster GPU performance than the 10th generation iPad Pro's M2 chip. The new "Ultra Retina XDR" OLED screen can get up to 1,600 nits of brightness and claims to give rich, vivid colors and details.

• Best Buy: Best Buy offers the best preorder deal with $50 off for My Best Buy Plus Members, which costs $50 for a year of benefits. You can also get up to $600 off with eligible trade-ins. No matter which route you take, you will also get three months of Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade, and one month of the MLS season pass.

• Apple: If you're looking to trade in some old tech gadgets, Apple is offering up to $580 for eligible products.

• Amazon: Amazon has both the iPad Pro and iPad Air available, but it's offering no preorder deals, at least for now. They have done preorder deals in the past, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did come up with one before the May 15 launch date.

The iPad Air starts at $599

iPad Air 2024

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M2): Liquid Retina Display, 128GB, Landscape 12MP Front Cam/12MP Back Cam.

$599.00 at Apple.com

Pre-order Here

Pre-order Here

$599.00 at Apple.com

The new 2024 iPad Air now comes in two sizes, the 11-inch model, which starts at $599 and the 13-inch model, which starts at $799. The iPad Air is upgraded to the M2 chip and 128 GB, with 256 GB, 516 GB, and 1 TB options available. The new chip gives it a faster CPU, GPU, and neural engine speed. Some new features on the iPad Air include split view screens, subject lift, and live text features.

• Best Buy: Best Buy offers the same three months of Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade, and one month of the MLS season pass, but no $50 discount for My Best Buy Plus Members. You can get up to $310 if you trade in eligible products though.

• Apple: Apple offers the same trade in deal as the iPad Pro of up to $580 for eligible products.

• Amazon: Like the iPad Pro, there is no preorder deal at the moment, but they might come out with one later.

Do you sometimes miss the doorbell, or a knock at the door, because you're wearing headphones? Not everyone knows this but there's a built-in feature for recognizing sounds in the iPhone settings. By default this feature, which is in the accessibility section of System Settings, gives you a notification every time a given sound is heard, but you can take things even further by triggering a Shortcut.

Note that Apple's documentation clearly states this feature shouldn't be relied on "to recognize sounds in circumstances where you may be harmed or injured, in high-risk or emergency situations, or for navigation." If the stakes are lower than that, though, it might keep you from missing something.

To get started open System Settings and head to Accessibility > Sound Recognition. Turn the feature on.

Credit: Justin Pot

From here you can toggle which sounds you want the phone to passively listen for. The default list includes alarms, pets, and various household sounds like a kettle boiling or a knock at the door. You can enable sounds and get a notification every time your iPhone "notices" the sound. You can also train your phone to recognize your specific appliances and alarms. The process, which is guided, means triggering the alarm multiple times so your phone can learn to recognize it.

As I mentioned before, you can also use this feature to trigger Apple Shortcuts. The only limit here is the shortcut you manage to build. You could, for example, keep track of how many times you boil a kettle of water every day, or how often the neighbor's dog barks. Or you could, like I did, just set your phone to talk to you every time a fairly common thing happens because you think that's funny.

To get started open the Shortcuts application on your phone and open the Automations tab. Scroll down to near the bottom and you'll see Sound Recognition. You can choose which sound triggers the automation and which shortcut you want to run.

Credit: Justin Pot

Note that you can add as many automations as you like, meaning you could trigger different shortcuts for different sounds. Use this new power wisely.

So, your iPhone was stolen. You're sad, obviously, but must move on, so you file an insurance claim and get a new phone. Some time later, you start receiving worrying texts from a stranger, who claims they've bought your stolen iPhone and now have access to everything you saved to it. They say they have your messages, saved credit cards, passwords, even your SIM, so they intercept all your phone calls.

This stranger doesn't want anything from you, however. No, they're simply a good samaritan, warning you that this iPhone with all your personal identifying information is about to be sold on the black market, and that the smart move would be to remove it from your Apple ID. Then, you can erase the phone, and not have to fear your data falling into the wrong hands. They may even include instructions on how to remove the phone from your account, just in case you aren't sure how.

If you ever find yourself in this position, do not do this. This person isn't looking out for you, and your personal data is not in jeopardy: This is a scam. In fact, the reason they are desperate for you to remove your iPhone from Find My is because Apple's security feature is working too well. Here's what's going on.

How scammers use Find My against you

When you set up Find My on your iPhone, it doesn't just let you locate your phone in the event you lose it. This feature also automatically enables a security feature known as Activation Lock, which binds your iPhone to your Apple ID username and password. Activation Lock cannot be undone by a factory reset: Even if thieves erase your iPhone, they will not be able to set it up without providing your Apple ID credentials first.

It's one of Apple's best security features, and it ensures a stolen iPhone is worth about as much as a fashionable paperweight. Thieves aren't getting in without either your iPhone's passcode or your Apple ID credentials, which is why they need you to remove your iPhone from Find My: It's the only way to disable Activation Lock. Once you do, they're free to factory reset the phone and set it up with their own account.

As long as you keep that iPhone tied to your Apple ID, no one is getting in. Don't listen to aggressive scammers who lie about having access to your personal information: Likely the only reason they have access to your phone number is because you enabled Lost Mode, and possibly displayed your number on-screen as a way for someone to get in touch with you if they find your iPhone.

A locked iPhone isn't impervious

Now, I don't want to give off the impression that an iPhone with Activation Lock is impenetrable. It's perfect against thieves who randomly steal your iPhone, but not all thieves are random. Some are smart, and watch for you to enter your passcode before snatching your iPhone. If they know your passcode, not only can they unlock your iPhone, they can reset your Apple ID credentials as well, locking you out of your own Apple account.

In addition to Activation Lock, you should set up Stolen Device Protection on your iPhone as well. With it, iOS requires a Face ID or Touch ID scan when accessing passwords and passkeys. Following this scan, for certain features, iOS puts a one-hour delay on any major changes when using the iPhone in an "unfamiliar location." After that time is up, you'll need to authenticate again. In short, Stolen Device Protection keeps your iPhone safe from thieves that know your passcode, while Activation Lock protects against forced erasure.

Look, keeping a stolen iPhone on Activation Lock doesn't guarantee you'll get it back. In fact, if that iPhone was taken to another country, you'll likely never see it again. But why let the thieves get away with it? Keep that iPhone on your Find My, and let them stare at their expensive, useless bounty.

Enlarge / The new Chord Track feature. (credit: Apple)

If you watched yesterday's iPad-a-palooza event from Apple, then you probably saw the segment about cool new features coming to the iPad version of Logic Pro, Apple's professional audio recording software. But what the event did not make clear was that all the same features are coming to the Mac version of Logic Pro—and both the Mac and iPad versions will get newly numbered. After many years, the Mac version of Logic Pro will upgrade from X (ten) to 11, while the much more recent iPad version increments to 2.

Both versions will be released on May 13, and both are free upgrades for existing users. (Sort of—iPad users have to pay a subscription fee to access Logic Pro, but if you already pay, you'll get the upgrade. This led many people to speculate online that Apple would move the Mac version of Logic to a similar subscription model; thankfully, that is not the case. Yet.)

Both versions will gain an identical set of new features, which were touched on briefly in Apple's event video. But thanks to a lengthy press release that Apple posted after the event, along with updates to Apple's main Logic page, we now have a better sense of what these features are, what systems they require, and just how much Apple has gone all-in on AI. Also, we get some pictures.

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Enlarge / A screenshot of the Apple iPad ad. (credit: Apple via YouTube)

An advert by Apple for its new iPad tablet showing musical instruments, artistic tools, and games being crushed by a giant hydraulic press has been attacked for cultural insensitivity in an online backlash.

The one-minute video was launched by Apple chief executive Tim Cook to support its new range of iPads, the first time that the US tech giant has overhauled the range for two years as it seeks to reverse faltering sales.

The campaign—soundtracked by Sonny and Cher’s 1971 hit All I Ever Need Is You—is designed to show how much Apple has been able to squeeze into the thinner tablet. The ad was produced in-house by Apple’s creative team, according to trade press reports.

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While new iPads are always exciting, it was the iPad Pros' M4 chip that stole the show this week. M3 just came out in October, and Apple decides to launch its successor now—in an iPad, of all devices. Still, the chip is here, and is likely what will power Apple's big AI plans this year.

Apple touted M4's 3-nanometer architecture, its four performance cores and upgraded six efficiency cores, and claimed it can deliver up to 1.5 times faster CPU performance over M2. (The company does prefer to compare its chips to two generations prior, rather than one.) Of course, the iPad isn't out yet, so reviewers and users can't test these claims. While we could just take Apple's word for it, we could also just look to Geekbench.

The M4's stats starting appearing on Geekbench, the popular benchmarking site, on Wednesday. It's not clear who is testing the M4 through Geekbench, but it offers an interesting window into the chip's performance. At the time of this article, single-core performance ranges from 3,595 all the way to 3,824, while multi-core performance ranges from 13,910 to a whopping 14,748. (Single-core refers to testing one of the chip's cores, while multi-core refers to testing multiple cores at once. For context, the M4 has 10 total CPU cores.)

The iPad Pros being tested are running iOS 17.5, not yet released, with a base clock speed of 4.4 GHz. They're equipped with 16GB of RAM (although it comes through as 15.05GB on Geekbench).

These scores are impressive, especially considering they're running on iPads (and the thinnest iPads ever made, at that). Based on these scores, M4 modestly outperforms M3. If you look at Geekbench's scores for the M3 MacBook Pro (not M3 Pro or M3 Max, mind you), you see a single-core score of 3,079 and multi-core score of 11,524. If you look at the 6th gen iPad Pro running an M2 chip, the difference is more stark: Geekbench shows this tablet scores 2,613 in single-core, and 10,082 in multi-core. That's a near one-and-a-half times jump in performance, which tracks close to Apple's claims.

I'm interested to see how M4 performs once Apple puts it into a Mac. It's possible Apple is underclocking M4 on iPad since the tablets are so thin and light, they wouldn't be able to efficiency move the heat generated by pushing the chip. Theoretically, even a fanless MacBook Air would have a better chassis for heat distribution, so M4 should perform even better. Put it in something like the MacBook Pro with a dedicated fan, and the results should only improve, at least once you really start taxing it.

But regardless, my main focus now is on the M4's NPU (neural processing unit). This part of the chip is responsible for processing AI, which Apple is likely to focus on big time following WWDC. The company says M4's Neural Engine is capable of 38 trillion operations, and is 60 times faster than the company's first NPU they built for the A11 Bionic chip. (Again, Apple is comparing stats to a chip they released in 2017 for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X.) While I'm sure the M4 is going to be the best way to experience all the AI features Apple is cooking up, I'm skeptical it's going to be a huge leap over M3, M2, or even M1. Maybe there will be features exclusive to M4, but my guess is Apple's entire lineup of silicon chips will be capable enough to run most of the new AI features in iOS 18 and macOS 15.

Enlarge / Many different Apple stickers from many different products and eras. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

As a noted sticker enthusiast, I’m always on the lookout for news at the intersection of stickers and technology. Which is why this report from 9to5Mac caught my eye: Apple is apparently starting to wind down its decades-long practice of including Apple logo stickers in the box with all of its products.

If you buy a new iPad Air or iPad Pro, you’ll be able to get some stickers if you ask the people at the Apple Store to include them (stores will get a “limited quantity” of stickers they can distribute on request). But the little sticker insert that has come with Macs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and other devices and accessories for as long as I can remember will stop being one of the default pack-ins.

Apple is apparently cutting down on its sticker distribution to help meet its environmental goals. The stickers are some of the last bits of plastic included in most modern Apple packaging; in recent years, even the plastic backing layer for the stickers has been replaced with wax paper instead. This happened around the same time that the inner layer of packaging wrapped around new Apple devices also shifted from plastic to paper and when plastic-sealed boxes gave way to tear-away paper adhesive strips.

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Enlarge / RIP, Neofetch. (credit: Kevin Purdy)

Asahi Linux, the project that aims to bring desktop Linux to Apple hardware with Apple silicon—the M series of chips—is out with Fedora Asahi Remix 40. More hardware features of Apple devices are supported, the Fedora Linux 40-based distro ships with KDE's new Plasma 6 desktop, and untold numbers of bugs are squashed, to be replaced with reams more.

Fedora Asahi Remix is a "fully integrated distro," according to the Asahi team, and you can "expect a solid and high-quality experience without any unwanted surprises." It supports all the M1 and M2 devices in the MacBook, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and iMac lines. It's OpenGL 4.6 and OpenGL ES 3.2 certified, and comes with "the best Linux laptop audio you've ever heard."

So, should you install it on your Mac? Keep scrolling down Asahi's release page and check the "Device support" section. Still missing from most M-series Apple devices are support for Thunderbolt and USB4, built-in microphones, and Touch ID, as well as USB-C display support. Speakers are not supported on the iMac. And HDMI audio is in rough shape, being able to "break audio on the system completely."

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The AirPods Max are a luxury item in every sense of the word. They offer one of the highest-tier listening experiences but are also one of the most expensive headphones you can buy. These headphones rarely go on sale and are normally over half a grand, but you can get them for $100 off on Amazon if you have $449.99 to play with. If that's still too much, keep in mind all the other AirPods are also discounted at the moment.

Apple AirPods Max

$449.99 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $99.01

Get Deal

Get Deal

$449.99 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $99.01

When the AirPods Max came out in 2020 (yes, they're old now), there wasn't a lot of competition for headphones that could do active noise canceling (ANC) and ambient awareness and give you good audio well. These days, there's stiff competition in all of those categories, especially at this price point. However, buying AirPods Max is a statement. Even though they don't have the Apple logo, you're paying a premium price for the recognition. If that's what you're after, these headphones are it.

When it comes to features, the AirPods Max aren't jam-packed. But the few they do have are very good quality (on-brand from Apple's minimalist standard). They are one of the best ANC headphones you can buy (they don't give you that weird pressure sensation when you turn them on), have very good ambient awareness to hear your surroundings well, have adaptive EQ and spatial audio which adjusts the audio automatically to you and your environment, and hands-free Siri, according to PCMag's "excellent" review.

Some of the downsides are that they are heavier than regular headphones, at 13.6 ounces. This comes from the choice to use metal for the material of the design. You also can't manually adjust the EQ to your liking, so if you don't like the sound signature, you're out of luck. Finally, the smart case it comes with is ugly and doesn't protect the mesh that rests on your head (a delicate part of the headphones). You also need them to put your headphones in "sleep" mode so your 20 hours of battery aren't drained.

Enlarge / One of many human-created objects destroyed in Apple's "Crush!" ad for the iPad Pro. (credit: Apple)

Earlier this week, Apple took the wraps off of a thoroughly leaked iPad Pro refresh with a 1 minute and 8 second ad spot wherein a gigantic hydraulic press comprehensively smushes a trumpet, an arcade cabinet, a record player, paint cans, a piano, a TV, sculptures, a bunch of emoji, and plenty of other tools that one might loosely categorize as "artistic implements."

At the end of the ad, the press lifts away to reveal a somewhat thinner, somewhat faster version of Apple's iPad Pro. The message of the ad, titled "Crush!" and still available via Apple's YouTube channel and CEO Tim Cook's Twitter account, is obvious: look at all of the things we've squeezed into this tablet!

"Just imagine all the things it'll be used to create," wrote Cook.

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Disassembly and enhancements for Apple II DeskTop (a.k.a. Mouse Desk), a “Finder”-like GUI application for 8-bit Apples and clones with 128k of memory, utilizing double hi-res monochrome graphics (560×192), an optional mouse, and the ProDOS 8 operating system.

↫ Apple II DeskTop GitHub page

The goal of this project is to reverse-engineer Apple II DeskTop, and fix bugs and enhance it in the process. I didn’t actually know that the Apple IIgs initially shipped with this instead of the 16 bit GS/OS, which is the operating system I personally associate with the IIgs. Apple II DeskTop was largely 8 bit, and built on top of ProDOS 16, and didn’t really take full advantage of the IIgs hardware. It wasn’t until version 4.0 of the system software that the IIgs switched over to GS/OS.

The latest release is v1.4-alpha9, released a few days ago. Apple II DeskTop is still entirely compatible with Apple II machines and clones from before the IIgs, as well, and it runs in emulators, too. We actually already covered this project a few years ago, but a reminder that this exists never hurt anyone.