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RR Auction closed bidding on an 8th-grade science project Steve Jobs built in 1968 exploring the silicon-controlled rectifier, which included two demonstration circuits and a 10-page report. The item, kept for decades by his stepbrother John Chovanec at the Apple Garage property, sold for $34,375 as part of a larger Apple 50th Anniversary auction.
In the latest 9to5Mac Overtime episode, hosts Jeff Benjamin and Fernando Silva compare the discounted $899 M4 Mac mini against the newer M6 model, and cover the M5 Pro Mac mini alongside Apple's new Mac Studio desktops running M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips. They close by previewing Apple's rumored 'Surprise and Shine' iPhone event.
Apple's iOS 27 update brings major improvements to iCloud Shared Albums, including support for full-resolution photos and videos, custom emoji reactions instead of just likes, and easier one-tap saving. Android and Windows users can now contribute content via the web rather than only viewing shared photos, and users gain new participant permission controls plus the option to set album expiration dates.
Apple has increased subscription prices for Apple TV and Apple One bundles, with some plans rising by as much as 20%. The change affects both standalone Apple TV subscribers and those paying for bundled Apple One tiers that combine multiple services.
Ahead of a September 9 unveiling, reports suggest Apple Watch Ultra 4 will feature substantially upgraded health sensors, with Digitimes claiming the number of sensor components could double, alongside a new blood pressure-related feature reportedly under FDA review. Analyst Mark Gurman also points to fitness-tracking upgrades and a new, faster S-class chip replacing the S10 used since 2024, though reports conflict on whether the watch will get a major design overhaul.
Streaming tags like 'Dolby Atmos' and 'Lossless' refer to two separate audio technologies: Atmos creates a 3D soundstage by placing sounds in space, while lossless audio preserves the full quality of a recording without the data loss found in formats like MP3 or AAC. Because Atmos typically relies on the lossy Dolby Digital Plus codec, and lossless streaming uses formats like FLAC or ALAC, most platforms can't offer both simultaneously.
Apple has again raised subscription prices, with Apple TV climbing from $13 to $15 per month and its annual plan jumping 20 percent from $99 to $119. The individual Apple One bundle, which includes Apple TV, Music, Arcade, Fitness+, News+ and iCloud+, rose from $20 to $22 monthly. Existing subscribers get one month's notice before the new rates take effect.
Apple increased its Apple TV streaming service price from $12.99 to $14.99 per month, with the annual rate rising from $99 to $119. The Apple One bundle, which includes Apple TV alongside iCloud storage and Apple Music, also rose from $19.95 to $21.95 for individual plans.
President Trump has signed an executive order directing that Lake Ontario be renamed Lake America, echoing his earlier move to rename the Gulf of Mexico. Major map providers like Apple, Google and Bing may eventually adopt the new name based on federal geographic databases, but MapQuest has publicly declared it will not change its listing, mockingly suggesting users invent their own names for the lake instead.
Ahead of Apple's September 9 unveiling, leaks point to significant changes for the iPhone 18 Pro, including a redesigned Main camera with variable aperture and a wider-aperture Telephoto lens for better low-light shots. The device is also expected to house the new A20 Pro chip, built on the same 2-nanometer process as Apple's recently announced M6 chip.
A hands-on video test using an iPhone 16 Pro Max shows that Apple's Cinematic mode still struggles with basic depth-of-field challenges, producing visible focus halos and background objects drifting in and out of focus during a simple interview setup. The tester filmed a subject seated with railings and a distant landmark behind him, revealing recurring artifacts despite the phone's far more powerful hardware than the iPhone 13 that introduced the feature.
Dactyl has detailed how its cross-platform SwiftUI renderer works, describing it as a WebAssembly port of the iOS simulator that lets developers preview and build native apps for iOS, Android and web without a Mac. The system reimplements SwiftUI and related Apple frameworks like Charts, MapKit and ARKit in Swift, compiling apps to Wasm and linking them against Dactyl's own version of SwiftUI instead of Apple's.