Yesterday, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Permit Board (MDEQ) unanimously granted xAI a permit for an expanded power plant in Southaven, Mississippi. The plant will be powered by 41 natural gas turbines. Some of those turbines are already in place, with quest … | Continue reading
dreamwieber’s video on Hypercard is one of the best things I’ve seen on the topic: via Kottke | Continue reading
Basic Apple Guy: All I know about Lil Finder Guy is that it’s freakin’ adorable, assuming it means me no harm. And instead of doing literally anything productive or tending to my adult responsibilities like bills, taxes, or work, I have spent my weekend tumbling down the rabbit h … | Continue reading
In the midst of the whirlwind of news this week, Apple renamed its CPU cores. At Six Colors, Jason Snell has the details: Here’s what happened: Apple renamed its most powerful CPU cores, which had previously been called performance cores. As of the M5 Pro and Max, those cores are … | Continue reading
There are a handful of fun videos on Apple’s page, but these citrus ones are fun: @apple i love limes ♬ original sound – apple @apple pop pop pop pop ♬ original sound – apple @apple hello? ♬ original sound – apple Then there’s this little Finder character, as pointed out by Basic … | Continue reading
Apple has released an avalanche of new and updated products, and on this episode of the podcast, we come up for air to judge our predictions. | Continue reading
After years of rumors, Apple has finally taken the wraps off its new entry-level notebook. In some ways, the MacBook Neo is exactly what we expected, but in others, it’s not. I’ve been excited about this rumor for a long time, since it’s been a while Apple has done anything new a … | Continue reading
With a price point of $599 (or $499 for students!) Apple had to make some cuts when designing the MacBook Neo. Here’s a list of what separates the MacBook Neo from the MacBook Air: No MagSafe One of the two USB-C ports is limited to USB 2.0 speeds of just 480 Mb/s No Thunderbolt … | Continue reading
For the first time since the Cinema Displays went away in 2005, Apple has more than one display for sale with the same family name. Meet the 2026 Studio Display lineup: Yes, those are two different products, but they both feature 27-inch, 5K displays in the same enclosure as the … | Continue reading
It’s a big day for Mac laptop buyers. Let’s start with the simplest of the updates, the MacBook Air: M5 features a faster CPU and next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, enabling MacBook Air to power through a variety of workflows, from creative projects to co … | Continue reading
Apple’s week of news has begun. Up first is an updated iPad Air: With a faster CPU and GPU, iPad Air boosts tasks like editing and gaming, and is a powerful device for AI with a faster Neural Engine, higher memory bandwidth, and 50 percent more unified system memory than the prev … | Continue reading
Ashley Belanger, writing at Ars: For miles around xAI’s makeshift power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, neighbors have endured months of constant roaring, erupting pops, and bursts of high-pitched whining from 27 temporary gas turbines installed without consulting the community. … | Continue reading
Apple is hosting a mysterious media experience next week, and in anticipation of new products, we make predictions about what is coming. | Continue reading
Yesterday, Jason shared the results of his annual Apple report card. As per tradition, I’m now turning the answers I supplied Jason into a blog post.1 Mac: 4/5 Five years into the Apple silicon era, Apple seems to be firing on all cylinders, with regular releases for most of its … | Continue reading
This morning, Apple announced that it will begin producing Mac minis in America starting later this year: Apple today announced a significant expansion of factory operations in Houston, bringing the future production of Mac mini to the U.S. for the first time. The company will al … | Continue reading
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: grading time! Jason Snell: It’s time for our annual look back on Apple’s performance during the past year, as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking abou … | Continue reading
Stephen Clark, writing for Ars: A day after NASA officials expressed optimism that they could be ready to launch the Artemis II mission around the Moon next month, the space agency’s administrator announced Saturday that a new problem will require the removal of the rocket from i … | Continue reading
This week on the podcast, we look ahead to Apple’s March 4 event, talk through iOS 26.4 Beta 1, and ponder a world where Apple makes an AI-powered pendant. | Continue reading
Kailynn Johnson, writing for The Memphis Flyer: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called xAI’s plans to construct and operate 41 methane-gas turbines in Southaven a “civil rights issue” as opposed to a permitting one. The advocacy group asked … | Continue reading
In January, the EPA ruled against xAI in a case in which Elon Musk’s CSAM machine/AI company said that if gas turbines were used in a temporary fashion, they were exempt from regulations. At the time, I wrote: Time will tell if the company runs into similar legal issues in the st … | Continue reading
I am excited about the possibilities of a low-end MacBook powered by an A-series chip. I think the return of a fun consumer notebook would be good for Apple. There is one terrible disappointment in the most recent reporting about this machine, however. Here’s Mark Gurman: Like al … | Continue reading
Earlier today, Apple sent invites to some folks for an event “experience” on March 4, being held in New York, London, and Shanghai. This is in line with some other press events Apple has held over the last several years for smaller announcements that warrant a hands-on approach. … | Continue reading
This week on the podcast, what’s old is new again: some iPhone displays are tinted green, Jony Ive is using aluminum, and Apple is struggling with shipping a more intelligent Siri. | Continue reading
It’s not every day that supercar news makes it onto the page of tech-centric websites, but the Ferrari Luce has done just that. The upcoming EV has made huge waves due to its interior design: Of course, this cockpit is designed by Jony Ive and his collaborators at LoveFrom. Here’ … | Continue reading
My final episode of Mac Power Users was released over the weekend: David and Stephen celebrate the last seven years of Mac Power Users, reflecting on the topics, episodes, and community that make MPU so special. Then, Stephen Robles joins to accept the baton before his first epis … | Continue reading
You know how people say there is an XKCD for everything? Number 281 has always been funny to me, given FedEx’s huge presence here: Now the joke is on me, thanks to an ice storm that rolled through two weeks ago: | Continue reading
On [this week’s episode](This week, the guys discuss emo AI chatbots and Xcode 26.3, and Stephen tests Myke and Federico to determine which one is a true man of the people.) of the podcast: The guys discuss emo AI chatbots and Xcode 26.3, and Stephen tests Myke and Federico to de … | Continue reading
Eric Berger at Ars: On Wednesday night, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman revealed that the Crew-12 and Artemis II astronauts will be allowed to bring iPhones and other modern smartphones into orbit and beyond. “NASA astronauts will soon fly with the latest smartphones, beginning … | Continue reading
Artemis II is going to be on the ground a little longer. After a two-day “wet dress rehearsal” test in which cryogenic propellant was loaded into the rocket, a liquid hydrogen leak and an issue with a valve crew module hatch led to the launch being scrubbed for now. “NASA now wil … | Continue reading
In late 2018, David Sparks and I announced that I was joining Mac Power Users as a host. Here’s what I wrote at the time: On this week’s episode, Katie announced that she is stepping away from the podcast almost ten years after the first episode. I will genuinely miss hearing her … | Continue reading
Clawdbot has a new (worse) name, AirTags got an update, Camo served Apple with a lawsuit, and Sebastiaan de With has a new job. This week on the podcast, we talk about all of these stories and more. | Continue reading
Michael Kranish, writing at The Washington Post (Apple News), reflecting on the life and impact of Christa McAuliffe: On that day four decades ago, I was standing alongside McAuliffe’s parents and friends. I was a reporter in the Boston Globe’s bureau in Concord, New Hampshire, a … | Continue reading
Howard Berkes, NPR: Bob Ebeling was anxious and angry as he drove to work on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986. He kept thinking about the space shuttle Challenger, cradled on a Florida launchpad 2,000 miles away. Ebeling knew that ice had formed there overnight and that freezing temp … | Continue reading
John Gruber is still using macOS Sequoia, but he recently came across one feature of Tahoe worth upgrading for: But now that we’ve been poking around at column view in the Tahoe Finder, Jeff Johnson has discovered another enticing new feature. On Mac OS 26, the Finder has a new v … | Continue reading
Kate Conger, Dylan Freedman, and Stuart A. Thompson at The New York Times: Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, created and then publicly shared at least 1.8 million sexualized images of women, according to separate estimates of X data by The New York Times and the … | Continue reading
If everything goes to plan, NASA’s giant Space Launch System rocket will launch in early February with four astronauts strapped into the Orion capsule: Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist Victor Glover, pilot Reid Wiseman, commander Christina Hammock Koch, mission specialist This w … | Continue reading
At the end of December, stories began to break about Grok being used by X users to generate non-consensual sexual imagery of people, including children. I’ve been writing about xAI for over a year, as the company has built two massive data centers here in my hometown of Memphis, … | Continue reading
This week on Mac Power Users, we talk through the new Apple Creator Studio bundle and then I share my notes with David after switching to the Apple Weather app for a month. | Continue reading
Tim De Chant at TechCrunch: Elon Musk’s xAI has been illegally operating dozens of natural gas turbines to power its Colossus data centers in Tennessee, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled Thursday. The AI company has argued that because the turbines were being used on a te … | Continue reading
This week on the podcast: The two chairmen (and Myke) regroup to discuss beige accessories and Apple Creator Studio, including its icons. They then dig into what Apple could achieve by moving Siri onto Google’s foundation models. For members, we spoke about how our moms responded … | Continue reading
Back in the day, Apple had three suites of applications: iWork, which started with Keynote and Pages, then Numbers iLife, which included iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and for a short time, iWeb. Final Cut Studio, which was home to Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro … | Continue reading
This week on MPU: From fancy pens to blank screens with a blinking cursor, there are more ways to write than ever. This week, the guys discuss several of them, weighing their pros and cons, and share how they get the words out. | Continue reading
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the original MacBook Pro. In the spirit of this article, I’m going to review it as if I were blogging about Macs back in 2006. Just go with me here. My Laptop History I have been a PowerBook G4 user since 2002, when my boss handed me a […] | Continue reading
This week on Connected, we grade the predictions we made way back in January 2025, then make new ones for 2026. | Continue reading
Jason Snell at Six Colors: If many years-long rumors are true, 2026 will be the year when Apple’s long-gestating folding iPhone becomes a reality. But there are a lot of different approaches to folding phones out there, and there’s no guarantee that the folding iPhone you imagine … | Continue reading
S.M. Oliva writes an amazing blog named Computer Chronicles Revisited, a site dedicated to reviewing episodes of the seminal television show. (This article looking at episode 131 is a great example.) The host of Computer Chronicles passed away at the end of the year. Here’s a bit … | Continue reading
This coming weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Apple unveiling the first Intel Macs, which included the MacBook Pro that replaced the PowerBook G4.1 It was no secret that Apple couldn’t shoehorn a G5 into a laptop, but very few details are known about that project’s progress. … | Continue reading
Happy New Year! I’m back with some horrific AI news. Grok’s Gruesome New Hobby Elissa Welle at The Verge: xAI’s Grok is removing clothing from pictures of people without their consent following this week’s rollout of a feature that allows X users to instantly edit any image using … | Continue reading