GoKawiil
Tech News
Amazon has launched early fall Prime Day discounts that include a record-low $125 pre-order price on Apple's new AirPods 5 with ANC, alongside $150 off all four colors of the 1TB 13-inch M5 MacBook Air, bringing it to $1,449. The retailer is also running cash discounts on AirPods Pro 3, AirTag 2, entry-level Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, and an Anker MagSafe car charger mount.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman outlines Apple's near-term product roadmap, saying six devices should ship before year's end, including touchscreen MacBook Pro models, an updated non-touch 14-inch MacBook Pro, a refreshed iMac with an M6 chip, a HomePod mini 2 and Apple TV 4K with Siri AI, and an OLED iPad mini. The long-rumored HomePad smart display remains unconfirmed for this window, with Gurman calling its timing still fluid. He also previews a first-half-2027 wave covering an iPhone Air 2, an OLED iPad Air, and mostly iterative chip upgrades across iPhone, MacBook Air, MacBook Neo and iPad Pro lines.
Apple's MagSafe charging technology, first introduced in 2006 and revived after being dropped for USB-C in 2015, offers a magnetic, snap-on connection that reduces the risk of a MacBook being pulled off a surface if the cord is tugged. However, it remains a proprietary cable that only charges MacBooks, unlike USB-C cables which charge multiple devices and connect displays, drives and other peripherals.
Apple has begun taking pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro, AirPods 5, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Series 12, while retailers continue discounting older models. AirPods Pro 3 remain $50 off at $199, AirTag 2 is $20, and the M5 MacBook Air is up to $150 off at Amazon, alongside a record-low price on the 2026 Apple Studio Display and discounted Anker MagSafe chargers.
Dell has revived the XPS 13 line with a redesigned thin-and-light laptop starting at $699.99, positioning it as a lower-cost alternative to Apple's MacBook Neo. The tested units pair a six-core Intel Core 5 320 'Wildcat Lake' chip with 512GB storage, differing only in RAM—8GB in the base model and 16GB in the $999.99 version. Dell has since introduced a new $699.99 base configuration with just 256GB of storage while raising prices on the 512GB models by $100.
MagSafe cables detach safely if yanked, protecting a MacBook from being dragged off a table, while USB-C stays firmly plugged in and can pull the laptop down in an accident. On charging speed, MagSafe reaches up to 140W with Apple's $99 adapter, enabling a 50% charge in 30 minutes, whereas standard USB-C tops out at 60W unless users buy specialized 100W or 240W cables.
9to5Toys compiled a weekend list of Apple product discounts, including pre-order savings on the new AirPods 5, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12, plus a $50 cut on AirPods Pro 3 and an all-time-low price on AirTag 2. Other highlights include a $500 discount on the 2TB M5 Pro MacBook Pro, an all-time-low deal on the entry Studio Display, and ongoing M6 Mac mini pre-order offers ahead of this month's shipments.
Electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso, made up of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, dropped their latest record Ow ∞ this past Friday. The album marks a stylistic shift toward distorted guitars and breakbeats reminiscent of early-2000s acts like Soul Coughing and Blur, while still retaining some of the electronic production the band is known for. The duo also took part in a weekly questionnaire, discussing their reliance on laptops and frustrations with smartphones.
At IFA 2026, laptop makers showed a market polarizing into cheap machines under $800 with 8GB of RAM and premium AI-oriented systems costing thousands with up to 192GB of memory, leaving little in the middle tier. Companies including Lenovo, Dell and Acer unveiled colorful budget models like the IdeaPad Vibe, Dell 14S and a 16-inch Swift Air, directly responding to Apple's MacBook Neo with varied chip choices from Qualcomm, AMD and Intel.
Following this week's iPhone Duo reveal, Apple is said to be preparing an October rollout that includes three new Macs—among them a redesigned touchscreen MacBook Pro/Ultra with OLED, an updated M6 MacBook Pro, and an M6 iMac. The lineup is also expected to bring Siri-powered Apple Home upgrades, plus a new OLED iPad mini and possibly an updated base iPad.
Apple's new AirPods 5 are available for pre-order at $129 and $149, while retailers are already discounting the newly launched Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 by up to $325. Separately, the entry-level M5 MacBook Air is selling for $1,099 through Apple's refurbished store, $200 under its regular price.
Linux developer Justin Schroeder shared a photo of an older Intel MacBook pointing its webcam at a mirror reflecting its own screen, letting an AI coding agent visually monitor its progress while tuning AMD Radeon GPU support for the Omarchy Linux distribution. Omarchy is built as an 'agent-first' OS with tools designed to let AI agents install, configure and debug the system autonomously.