July 21, 1999: The iBook, Apple’s colorful clamshell laptop that’s a hybrid of the iMac and the PowerBook, arrives and launches a Wi-Fi revolution.
Apple’s new AirPort networking card is the key component that delivers cable-free internet access to the masses for the first time.
July 18, 1994: Apple launches the Quadra, LC and Performa 630 Macintoshes, three similar computers with slight differences tailored for the professional, educational and markets. Aimed at multimedia use, the new 630 series Macs bring innovative hardware and software at a much more affordable price than previous Apple computers.
July 17, 2002: Apple ships a new super-sized iMac G4 with a 17-inch widescreen LCD display that becomes the envy of most computer users at the time.
“The best consumer desktop just got even better,” says Steve Jobs of Apple’s new all-in-one computer in a press release. “Having this gorgeous 17-inch flat screen floating in mid-air right in front of you is simply breathtaking. There’s nothing like it in the PC world.” He wasn’t wrong!
You can download the macOS Sequoia public beta for free — right now. You can get a look at the exciting new features coming to the Mac before the update is shipped to everyone. And if you’re already running the Sequoia developer beta, you can switch over to the public beta for additional peace of mind.
Of course, there are a few things you should look out for. Beta software can be buggy and can lead to data loss or apps that don’t work. Not to mention, a lot of the most exciting features announced at WWDC24 aren’t included yet, like Apple Intelligence.
If you’re still sure you want to try it out, you should make sure you have a backup of your most important data with two copies of your photo library before you try installing. I’ll show you how.
No PC maker is growing faster than Apple. Mac shipments increased 20.8% year over year in Q2, according to market analysts. That’s a growth rate that dwarfs larger rivals.
It’s the second quarter in a row of double-digit growth for Apple.
July 9, 2001: Apple earns the title of No. 1 computer manufacturer in the education market, with twice as many machines in schools as runner-up Dell Computer.
It marks a big turnaround from a couple of years earlier, when Dell overtook Apple and people accused Steve Jobs of abandoning this important market.
You can make a GIF on your iPhone or Mac out of any Live Photo or video you have in your photo library or saved to your computer. You don’t need to download any apps — simply add a shortcut, and you can do it directly from the share sheet.
Of course, not all looping animated images are GIFs. A faster way to animate your Live Photos is with the iPhone’s built-in Loop effect. In the Photos app, just tap on the “Live” tag in the upper left and select “Loop.” This will produce higher-quality results, but might not be compatible with third-party apps like Snapchat or Discord.
If you need an actual GIF file, there’s still a pretty easy way to make them on your phone or Mac. I’ll show you how.
July 4, 1985: Steve Jobs visits Moscow for the first time, with the aim of selling Macs to the Russians. During his two-day trip to the Soviet Union, Jobs lectures computer science students, attends a Fourth of July party at the American embassy and discusses opening a Mac factory in Russia.
The Apple co-founder also reportedly almost runs afoul of the KGB by praising assassinated Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky.
Apple only shows off its finished products, which makes the company’s secret prototypes and early concepts all the more fascinating. Details of these first-draft designs usually don’t come out until years after Apple dreams them up and discards them. Even if you’re well-versed in Apple history, these alternate-history unreleased Apple products will intrigue and confuse.
The wild and crazy ideas go back more than 40 years. If anything, it proves that Apple continuously skates toward the next hit. The quest for innovation continues, no matter whether the company is in dire straits or cruising on success. Keep reading or watch our video to see the wildest Apple products that might have been.
If you’re trying to listen to podcasts or music on your phone, it can be annoying when your AirPods keep switching to other devices, like your Mac or iPad.
Personally, I don’t mind this behavior. If I’m sitting at my Mac, I want to use the Music and the Podcasts apps on the Mac. But a lot of people consider their phone to be their primary device and always want to play audio from their phone, no matter which other device they’re using.
If you want your iPhone to keep supreme control over your ears, here’s how to disable AirPods auto-switching.
Consumer and business computer spending data for 2024’s first quarter shows iPad maintaining dominance in tablet sales, while Mac shipments show significant growth in the PC sector, according to a new report.
And in even better news, the analysts expect to see computer market growth through 2025.
June 23, 2003: Apple launches its gorgeous Power Mac G5, a powerhouse desktop computer with a perforated aluminum chassis that earns it the affectionate nickname “the cheese grater.”
Starting at an affordable $1,999 (more than $3,400 in today’s money, adjusted for inflation), the Power Mac G5 is the world’s first 64-bit personal computer. It’s also Apple’s fastest machine yet.
June 19, 1995: Apple releases the Power Macintosh 9500, a high-end Mac that boasts a second-generation PowerPC chip that’s much faster than its predecessor.
The Power Mac 9500 is also significant for coming with six Peripheral Component Interconnect, or PCI, slots. They allow owners to attach hardware using Intel’s industry-standard connection. Along with seven bays for internal drives and a swappable daughterboard, this makes the 9500 the most expandable Power Mac ever produced.
The easiest way to convert a YouTube video to an MP4 for free is with an app called 4K Video Downloader for Mac and PC. This tool gives you all kinds of options for converting video and audio from YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Soundcloud, Twitch and more.
If you want to save videos or podcasts to your computer to include in a video of your own, this app is the easiest way to download the highest-quality original.
It has other uses, too. If you’re going on a flight, or if you simply have a slow internet connection, you can use it to download what you want to watch in advance. If you’re privacy-conscious but you still want to watch a TikTok sent to you by a friend, you can download the clip without visiting the website.
Here’s how it works.
We found more precious nuggets in new software releases from WWDC24: new wallpapers for Apple devices. They include Mac versions that reference old-school icons, iPad landscape and portrait wallpapers in various colors, and similar pretty images for iPhone.
“This new dynamic wallpaper floats over old Macintosh iconography, Control Panel, and applications like the Calculator and MacWrite, Apple’s early word processor,” Basic Apple Guy said of the new-old Mac wallpaper he found.
macOS Sequoia brings the “incredible features” of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 to your Mac. This includes improvements to the Messages app, Math Notes and more.
Craig Federighi, the Apple software VP who unveiled macOS Sequoia during Monday’s WWDC24 keynote, said the new Mac operating system “introduces even more features to help you effortlessly get things done.”
June 8, 2009: Apple introduces OS X Snow Leopard, a version of its Mac operating system that ranks among the company’s finest desktop updates.
Showcased at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Snow Leopard doesn’t seem as flashy as some other Mac operating system upgrades. In fact, Apple famously includes a slide in its WWDC presentation touting “0 new features.” However, OS X Snow Leopard more than delivers on Apple’s core values, paving a path to a bright future for the Mac.
June 7, 1993: Apple debuts the PowerBook 180c, a solid upgrade that brings a world of dazzling colors to the company’s laptop line.
The 180c’s big improvement over the grayscale PowerBook 180, which launched the previous October, is its active-matrix, 256-color screen. Such a screen is something of a novelty for laptops in the early 1990s.
June 6, 2005: Steve Jobs reveals that Apple will switch the Mac from PowerPC processors to Intel.
Speaking at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Jobs’ revelation reminds the tech world that he is a leader who can get things done. Given Intel’s focus on mobile computing, the move also offers a hint at what Apple’s CEO has planned for the second half of his reign.
If you want to know the fastest and easiest way to send someone photos, videos, files and so, so much more, you should know how to AirDrop. There’s no need to send an iMessage — Apple’s slick AirDrop feature will immediately send and open the content on someone else’s iPhone (or other Apple device). There’s no middle step.
AirDrop works iPhone-to-iPhone, iPhone-to-Mac, iPhone-to-iPad, Vision Pro-to-Mac — any combination and permutation of two Apple devices. And if you’re both running iOS 17, there’s a convenient AirDrop superpower you should definitely know about. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about how to take advantage of AirDrop.
Don’t get your heart set on new Macs launching at WWDC24 next week. A generally reliable tipster predicts that that’ll be none unveiled at Apple’s developer conference.
And not just Macs. Supposedly the agenda includes no new hardware at all.
June 2, 2014: Apple shows off Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite for the first time at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Following the Jony Ive-redesigned iOS 7, Yosemite boasts an aesthetic change that brings Apple’s desktop computers closer than ever to the look of the company’s mobile software.
Named after Yosemite National Park, the update follows the previous year’s Mavericks as the second Mac operating system named after a California landmark.
A great way to personalize your Mac is with custom Mac folder icons. In fact, you can change any icon on your Mac to customize it to your taste. That includes any app, folder, disk or file icon.
Personally, I didn’t like the yellow icon of my external hard drive — so I changed it to blue. I’ve also edited a few app icons for better consistency in my Dock.
I’ll show you how to do it yourself.
Whether you run a video production studio or you’re starting a hobby YouTube channel, you’ll want to make sure you have the best Mac for video editing.
Video editing is a good stress test for any computer. Cutting together an epic two-hour video essay requires high-speed storage, a lot of memory, processing power and GPU power. Apple silicon delivers all this in spades. Apple’s chips also come with special built-in hardware for processing video — the Media Engine.
These days, every Mac is capable of 4K video editing. The best Mac for you comes down to whether you want a desktop or a laptop — and the size of your budget. Keep reading or watch our latest video.
You might only use the Mac’s built-in Preview app when you need to read a PDF or zoom in on a picture, but there’s much more to the software than meets the eye. It’s a pretty handy image editor for Mac, too.
In this how-to, I’ll go over six features that will let you make the most of Preview, a handy tool that’s an overlooked benefit to using a Mac. I have three tips for working with documents and three for editing pictures.