Apple once designed a Tetris clone called "Stacker," with the game featured on a prototype version of the third-generation iPod. AppleDemoYT, known for sourcing rare prototype devices, shared images and a video of the unreleased iPod.
The iPod in question is a "DVT" device, which means it was a mid-stage prototype that was still in "Design Validation Testing." It has a model number of A1023, which is not a known model number of any version of an iPod Classic, and had custom serial interfacing designed by an Apple engineer.
The third-generation iPod was manufactured in week 14 of 2003 (over a month before the release of the third-generation iPod), and it was purchased from an electronics recycler in China that sold it as is for parts. The device was non-functional when it was purchased, but was able to boot when the hard drive flex cable was replaced.
The iPod runs a prototype version of iPodOS 2.0, and one of the games is "Stacker." Stacker works a lot like Tetris, where the Tetris pieces are moved from left to right using the scroll wheel. Pieces fall when the middle button is pressed, and the idea is to clear more lines at once to rack up points.
There are other games on the iPod, and all of them have placeholder non-release names, including Block0, Chopper, and Klondike. There's also a battery testing playlist on the device that has classical songs that play in a loop, suggesting Apple used this iPod to test the battery life of the third-generation iPod before it was released.
AppleDemoYT says that he asked "iPod godfather" Tony Fadell why the Stacker game was not released, and Fadell said that it was because games were added "with a later software release."
Apple did add several games to the iPod 3G over time, including Brick, Solitaire, Parachute, and Music Quiz. In 2006, Apple released games through the iTunes Store that people could purchase for later versions of the iPod, including an official version of Tetris.
Other games available through the iTunes Store included Bejeweled, Mini Golf, Mahjong, Zuma, Cubis 2, and Pac-Man, all of which pre-dated the App Store.
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss Apple's new iPad Air and iPad Pro models, the latest rumors about an all new iPhone 17 "Slim" model, and the newly announced Sonos Ace over-ear headphones.
We talk through first impressions of the new iPad Air and iPad Pro models, including their pricing and the state of the iPad lineup as a whole, giving attention to the reduced price of the tenth-generation iPad, which now costs just $349, which is $250 less than the starting price of the iPad Air.
We also examine the recent wave of rumors about the iPhone 17 "Slim," an all-new iPhone model expected to sit above the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max in Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup with a higher price tag. The device will reportedly feature a 6.55-inch display, a significantly thinner design with an aluminum chassis, an "A19" chip, 8GB of RAM, a rear camera array relocated to the center, a 24-megapixel front camera, and a 48-megapixel telephoto camera. Simultaneously, Apple is expected to discontinue its "Plus" model to make way for the "Slim," although it may not actually be called this when it debuts in the fall of next year.
Meanwhile, Sonos just announced its "Ace" over-ear headphones with active noise cancelation, soundbar integration, a more lightweight design, and longer battery life, so we look at how they compare to the AirPods Max. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips:
The MacRumors Show is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
Another regulatory agency has approved Apple's new version of the Beats Pill speaker ahead of its official announcement (via 91mobiles).
Following its recent appearance in the United States FCC database, the upcoming Beats Pill speaker has now been spotted on Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) website. The device, carrying the model number A3211, matches the specifications seen in the FCC listing. Certification listings such as these are necessary steps before a product can be brought to market, and their appearance typically signals a launch within weeks.
Images included in the NCC listing provide additional views of the new Beats Pill's design, which retains the familiar pill-shaped aesthetic of its predecessors. The front of the device is entirely covered by the speaker grille with prominent "Beats" branding. There are four physical buttons on the top and a USB-C port is located on the rear. The new model also includes a lanyard hole on the side. The device is expected to be available in three colors: Black, Gold, and Red.
Basketball star LeBron James and Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo were among the first to be spotted with the new Beats Pill over the past month. These sightings were followed by the speaker's appearance in the iOS 17.5 Release Candidate. While Apple has not officially announced the new Beats Pill, the multiple certifications and celebrity sightings indicate that its launch is almost certainly very soon.
Best Buy today kicked off its Memorial Day weekend sale, and it has some of the best prices we've tracked in weeks on iPads and MacBooks. Specifically, you'll find record low prices on the 5th generation iPad Air, iPad mini 6, M2 MacBook Air, and M3 MacBook Pro.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Of course, Best Buy's Memorial Day sale is a sitewide event that reaches far beyond just Apple products. You can find great discounts for the next three days on home appliances, TVs, video games, headphones, sound bars, e-readers, smart home products, and more.
Starting with the cheapest iPad in this sale, you can get the 64GB Wi-Fi 9th generation iPad at $249.99, down from $329.00. My Best Buy Plus/Total members can also get a low price on the 256GB Wi-Fi model this holiday weekend at $389.99.
Best Buy also has a host of deals on the previous generation iPad Air, offering record low prices on the entire lineup in all colors. You can get $200 off every one of these tablets this weekend, starting at $399.99 for the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Air.
Another iPad on sale is Apple's iPad mini 6, available for $399.99 in every color of the 64GB Wi-Fi model, down from $499.00. You'll also find the 256GB Wi-Fi model discounted, and both cellular models.
Every model of the 2022 13-inch MacBook Air is available for $150 off this weekend at Best Buy. The 256GB model is on sale for $849.00 and the 512GB model is available for $1,049.00. These deals beat the previous prices by about $50, and you don't need to be a My Best Buy Plus or Total member to get them.
You can get the 512GB M2 15-inch M2 MacBook Air on sale for $1,199.00, down from $1,499.00. Now that this computer has been discontinued, we aren't seeing as much stock at third-party retailers, so this could be one of your last chances to get a steep discount on this model.
Moving to the newer M3 MacBook Air, Best Buy has the 13-inch model at a discount right now, offering $100 off nearly every model. Prices start at $999.00 for 256GB and also include both 512GB notebooks.
These deals are focused on the 14-inch models of the MacBook Pro, and only a select few are being discounted for My Best Buy Plus/Total members. If you don't have a membership, you can still get these computers for solid second-best prices this weekend.
Note: My Best Buy Plus/Total membership required to see final deal price.
Apple has requested OLED display panels designed for future iPad mini models from its suppliers, ZDNET Korea reports.
Samsung Display reportedly started developing sample 8-inch OLED panels for a future iPad mini last month, with plans to initiate mass production at its facility in Cheonan in the second half of 2025. The move is also apparently visible in Samsung's own supply chain in Korea. Samsung already supplies Apple with OLED panels for the new iPad Pro, which features a tandem design for improved brightness and power efficiency. The report adds that Apple will bring an OLED panel to the iPad Air alongside the iPad mini in 2026.
Apple's plans to move the iPad mini and iPad Air to OLED displays is now widely rumored. Research firm Omdia believes that the iPad Air will gain an OLED display in 2026, with the iPad mini following in 2027, but Korea's ET News agrees with ZDNET that both models will be refreshed with OLED simultaneously in 2026, and there is a chance that Apple will delay bringing OLED to the 13-inch iPad Air until 2027. While the OLED iPad Air will retain an 11-inch display, the iPad mini's screen may grow from 8.3- to 8.7-inches in size.
Unlike Apple's latest iPad Pro models, which feature two-stack low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) OLED panels, the iPad mini and iPad Air may have single-stack low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) panels, meaning that they may be dimmer and continue to lack ProMotion.
Last week, some iPhone users reported that Apple's iOS 17.5 update had introduced a bug that caused old photos that were deleted to reappear in the Photos app. Apple quickly released an iOS 17.5.1 update to fix the issue, but for many users, its explanation of "database corruption" in the release notes was all too brief, and did little to allay concerns about the privacy of their data.
Apple has now offered more details on the problem and what caused it. Speaking to 9to5Mac, Apple reportedly said the issue had nothing to do with iCloud Photos, and the company never had access to the deleted photos. Rather, a corrupted database entry on affected devices was the cause of deleted photos reappearing. In other words, the deleted images that were restored resided locally and never left those devices.
Apple said that in some rare cases iOS 17.5 had inadvertently restored files from the corrupted data and repopulated the Photos app with the deleted images. Apple claimed the issue affected a small number of users and a small number of photos.
To explain reports that some restored photos were very old, Apple said that in some cases the corrupted data may have been copied from one device to another when restoring a local backup, performing a device-to-device transfer, or restoring an iCloud device backup (i.e. not involving iCloud Photos).
One claim that was posted on Reddit, which has since been deleted, alleged that the user's photos reappeared on an iPad that had been erased and sold to a friend. Apple said that this could not have been the case if the user had wiped the device prior to sale using the Erase All Content and Settings option found in Settings ➝ General ➝ Transfer or Reset. Either the user had not performed this necessary step, or the claim was false.
Notably, Apple's iOS 17.5.1 update to rectify the issue does not remove any previously deleted photos that reappeared after updating to iOS 17.5. Affected users will therefore need to manually delete these images again, and they will be moved to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app, where they will remain for 30 days. Recently deleted photos in this folder can also be immediately deleted by choosing Delete from All Devices.
Device repair company iFixit is ending its repair relationship with Samsung, iFixit announced in a blog post today. The partnership is being dissolved after a two-year period because iFixit and Samsung have been unable to negotiate a new deal.
iFixit said that it wanted to build a repair-friendly ecosystem for independent businesses and consumers with its Samsung Repair Hub, something that it has not been able to do. The company says it ultimately doubts "Samsung's commitment to making repair more accessible."
Samsung used iFixit to facilitate a self-repair program for its customers, with iFixit offering step-by-step repair guides for replacing display assemblies, back glass, charging ports, and other components. iFixit says that there were continual obstacles working with Samsung, including the high price of components.
Repair parts "were so costly" that customers ended up replacing their devices rather than repairing them. Batteries and screens, for example, were in pre-glued bundles and customers could not replace a battery without also swapping out the screen, which is a much more expensive repair. iFixit was also unable to provide parts to repair shops at prices and quantities "that made business sense," and iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens told The Verge that Samsung limited iFixit to selling no more than seven parts per customer within a three-month period.
Samsung never even shipped iFixit components for the Galaxy S23 series, the Z Flip 5, and the Z Fold 5, and has not sent anything since the S22 lineup launched. Samsung is instead selling components for its latest smartphones through Encompass. A separate report from 404 Media gives further insight into Samsung's repair requirements, with a leaked contract suggesting that independent repair shops must give Samsung the contact information and other details of every customer that has a repair done. Samsung's contract also has a clause that requires repair shops to "immediately disassemble" any smartphone that has been previously repaired with aftermarket parts.
Starting in June, iFixit will no longer be Samsung's designated third-party parts and tools distributor. Existing repair information won't be removed from iFixit, but iFixit also will no longer collaborate with Samsung to develop new repair manuals. iFixit plans to continue to sell parts and repair kits for Samsung devices using OEM parts when available as well as aftermarket components, which is similar to what it does for iPhone replacement parts.
Samsung previously worked with iFixit to announce a Galaxy Upcycling program that ultimately never materialized, so this is iFixit's second failed Samsung venture. "We clearly didn't learn our lesson the first time, and two years ago we let them convince us they were serious about embracing repair," reads the iFixit blog.
iFixit said that it "tried to make this work," but Samsung was profiting from unpaid work on repair guides. Ultimately, iFixit is "bummed" and won't let "one bad apple spoil the bunch." iFixit is still working with Google, Valve, Lenovo, Motorola, Microsoft, and others on repair ventures.
Samsung will likely bring more of its self-repair options in house, mirroring what Apple does. Apple has a Self Service Repair program that was introduced in 2021, with Apple offering repair manuals and components so customers can do their own repairs.
Popular photo editing app Pixelmator Pro was today updated with an overhauled set of AI-powered masking tools that make it easier than ever to make selective edits. Masking was "reengineered from the ground up" in the new 3.6 version of Pixelmator Pro, so it's quicker to create and refine masks.
There is a new Hide Background option that uses AI to nondestructively remove the entire background from an image with a click. The tool detects the subject of the image and adds a background mask to hide the rest of what's in the photo.
Masking a layer or creating a mask from a layer can now be done with a double click on the canvas with the Arrange tool, and then there are controls available for resizing and repositioning the mask. Pixelmator says this makes it easier to do things like round image corners or crop individual layers in multi-layer compositions.
Tools for refining masks are now located at the bottom of the screen whenever a mask is selected or created, so it's faster to adjust transparency, change edge softness, invert the mark, add a new mask, and more.
Pixelmator has also gained support for vector masks, so layers can be masked into specific shapes. Adding a vector mask causes the area inside the vector shape to remain visible, while other areas are hidden. Masking a layer can be done by selecting a shape from the Mask menu at the top of the layers sidebar or creating a mask with the Pen tool. Vector masks are editable, so each point can be adjusted just like a regular shape.
The new features are available for free to current Pixelmator Pro users. Pixelmator Pro is priced at $50 and it can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]
Arc Search from The Browser Company was today updated with a new "Call Arc" feature that's designed to let you conduct a search in a gesture that mimics a phone call. To use the feature, open up Arc Search, raise the iPhone to your ear, and ask a question.
The gesture of raising the iPhone to your ear activates the search option, and answers are provided verbally, so the entire voice-based search experience makes it look as if you're simply talking on the phone.
Arc Search now has voice-activated search, triggered by holding your phone to your ear and saying your query -- just like you're making a phone call. Upon using Call Arc, you'll instantly hear your search results, accompanied by an animated smiley face! You can also click "Read More" to access full Browse for Me results for each query.
After asking a question, Arc Search will play hold music briefly before providing a verbal answer and standing by for another question. The interface of the voice search resembles a phone call interface with a smiley face, an end call option, and a "speaker" option to have results spoken aloud.
Arc Search first launched in January as search app that incorporates AI to present search results in a curated, easy-to-read format. It has a minimalist browser interface where users can conduct a standard search or use the "browse for me" option to get an AI-summarized list of results to a query, similar to what you might get from a Chatbot.
Browse for Me is powered by large language models (LLMs) from OpenAI and others, and there's also a "pinch to summarize" feature that works with any webpage and an option to enable a reader mode to get rid of cruft on websites.
Arc Search is available for free on the App Store and requires iOS 16 or later. [Direct Link]
With the macOS 15 update that is set to debut at WWDC in June, Apple plans to rearrange "menus and app UIs," according to a report from AppleInsider. The System Settings app, which was last updated with macOS Ventura, will get one of the biggest updates.
With macOS Ventura, Apple renamed the System Preferences app to System Settings, introducing a design similar to the Settings app on the iPhone and iPad. System Settings in macOS 15 is said to feature a new organizational system based on "priority and overall importance."
The Notifications and Sound categories in System Settings will be moved lower in the list, with General settings moved up right under Network settings. Apple plans to move the existing Wallpaper and Displays sections into the same section with General settings, and Privacy and Security will be paired with Touch ID and Password and other relevant settings. Siri and Spotlight will be paired with Internet Accounts and Game Center.
Apple also reportedly plans to redesign the Siri menu bar icon, making a flat black and white icon to replace the current colorful icon, and there are said to be design changes coming to Calculator (a more iOS-like design) and Safari (a unified menu for page controls). Other rumored macOS 15 changes include a Printable Account Recovery Summary option, a new iCloud preference pane, and a "modern" user interface for AirDrop.
Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote is set to take place on Monday, June 10, and it will see Apple unveil macOS 15, iOS 18, tvOS 18, visionOS 2, and watchOS 11.
Less than two hours after Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said a MacBook with either an 18.8-inch or 20.2-inch foldable screen would launch in 2026, display industry expert Ross Young has said the device will indeed feature around an 18.8-inch screen.
In a post on social media platform X, limited to his paying subscribers, Young said he expects the device to be equipped with an 18.76-inch display instead of a 20.25-inch display for "cost reasons." In a folded position, Kuo said an 18.8-inch MacBook would be similar in size to a traditional 13-inch or 14-inch MacBook.
It is expected that a MacBook with a foldable screen would feature an all-screen design with a virtual keyboard, but exact design details have yet to be rumored.
Kuo said Apple is aiming to make the foldable screen "as crease-free as possible," and he said this could result in the device being nearly as expensive as Apple's Vision Pro headset, which starts at $3,499. He also said the foldable-screen MacBook will be equipped with Apple's next-generation M5 chip, which has yet to be announced.
It seems like a foldable-screen MacBook is still a few years away, and Apple will firm up its plans for the device as its launch gets closer.
Apple has announced that "Tap to Pay on iPhone" is available in Canada starting today through select payment platforms in the country.
Tap to Pay on iPhone allows businesses to accept contactless payments on an iPhone, with no additional point-of-sale hardware like a Square Terminal required. The feature allows customers to pay by simply tapping their iPhone or Apple Watch, contactless credit card or debit card, or other contactless payment option on the merchant's iPhone. Payment is securely completed using the same NFC technology behind Apple Pay.
Businesses in Canada can offer Tap to Pay on iPhone through iPhone apps offered by Adyen, Moneris, Stripe, and Square. In the coming months, Apple said Aurus, Chase, Fiserv, and Helcim will also offer the feature in the country.
Apple said Tap to Pay on iPhone will be available at Apple Store locations across Canada, and at merchants such as Sephora, later this year.
Launched in 2022, Tap to Pay on iPhone is also available in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan, the U.K., and Ukraine.
Today we're tracking a few discounts on Apple's 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro at Amazon and Best Buy, including multiple record low prices on the notebook. Shoppers should note that at Best Buy, you'll need a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership in order to see the final deal prices.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The most notable discount is on the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro (16GB RAM/1TB) for $1,799.00, down from $1,999.00 [matched at Best Buy]. There's also the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro (8GB RAM/512GB) for $1,449.00, down from $1,599.00 [matched at Best Buy], which is a second-best price.
If you're looking for an upgraded model, Amazon has the 14-inch M3 Max MacBook Pro (1TB) for $2,899.00, down from $3,199.00. This is an all-time low price on the high-end MacBook Pro, and at $300 off it's one of the steepest discounts we've seen on the late 2023 lineup.
Finally, Amazon has one notable discount on the larger 16-inch MacBook Pro. You can get the M3 Pro/36GB RAM/512GB 16-inch MacBook Pro for $2,599.00, down from $2,899.00. This one is only available in Silver, and it has a delivery estimate of May 25 for Prime members, or May 28 for regular shipping.
LG is aiming to begin mass production of display panels for a MacBook with a 20.2-inch or an 18.8-inch foldable screen in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to information shared today by Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In a post on Medium, Kuo said Apple is aiming to make the foldable screen "as crease-free as possible," which will require the use of high-cost components. As a result, he said the foldable MacBook could be nearly as expensive as Apple's Vision Pro headset, which starts at $3,499. The 16-inch MacBook Pro currently starts at $2,499.
Kuo estimated that foldable MacBook shipments will exceed one million units in 2026, suggesting that the device will launch in around two years from now.
He expects the device to feature Apple's next-generation M5 chip, which has yet to be announced.
The data, covering the twelve months ending in March 2024, shows that 67 percent of repeat iPad buyers keep their old iPads or pass them on to family and friends. This is a notable contrast to iPhone users, where only 41 percent keep or hand down their previous phones. About one-third of old iPads are handed down to family members or friends, compared to about 10 percent of old iPhones.
This suggests that iPads, even when they are replaced, remain highly desirable and usable, which diminishes the urgency to upgrade to a newer model. This behavior contrasts with iPhone users, who are much more likely to trade in their old devices. Nearly half of iPhone upgraders trade in their previous phones, taking advantage of the secondary market and higher trade-in values. In contrast, fewer than 10 percent of iPad upgraders opt for trade-ins.
23 percent of iPad upgraders report replacing their old devices due to loss, theft, or damage, whereas only six percent of iPhone upgraders cite these reasons. This indicates that iPads are frequently replaced out of necessity rather than a desire to upgrade.
CIRP's report also sheds light on the upgrade cycles for these devices. Forty percent of iPad users wait three years or more before upgrading, a figure that has steadily increased over recent years. This is in stark contrast to iPhone users, who typically upgrade more frequently and are influenced by a much stronger trade-in market.
These trends suggest that iPads continue to serve valuable roles within households even after being replaced by newer models. The secondary market for refurbished iPads appears to be much less developed than that for iPhones, possibly due to the high retained value that old iPads provide to their owners. While Apple may prefer customers to be motivated to upgrade to the latest models for their new features, the data indicates that many iPad upgrades are still driven by necessity rather than desire.
On May 13, OpenAI during its Spring Update announced that it would be releasing a desktop ChatGPT app for the Mac in the "coming weeks," and said that ahead of a wider launch it had started rolling out the app to some ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
After testing the app for a few days, we thought it was worth sharing some reasons why ChatGPT users may find that the Mac app is a useful addition to their AI-assisted workflow.
Access the ChatGPT Launcher
For a while now, it's been possible to use OpenAI's chatbot on iPhone via the official ChatGPT iOS app, but most desktop users have relied on visiting the website in a browser. Thanks to ChatGPT for Mac, things feel a lot more integrated. Using the keyboard shortcut Option + Space, you can instantly invoke the app's Launcher and ask the conversational AI to help you with some task or project, but you also get fast access to several other key features.
The small window that appears on your desktop feels similar to when you invoke Spotlight (Command + Space) in macOS: It floats above any windows or apps that you have open and feels just as convenient. A paperclip button lets you include a file or photo that you may want to get help with, and adding an attachment sends it to ChatGPT where you can ask follow-up questions in a dedicated app window.
Take a Screenshot
Clicking the paperclip icon also brings up some useful additional options, such as the ability to take a screenshot of any open app window (even if it's off-screen) or your entire desktop, and query it with ChatGPT. For example, we queried a screenshot of a recent MacRumors article covering Apple Music's Top 10 Albums of All Time, and asked ChatGPT to provide a summary of top critics' reviews for each album, which it duly did.
On another occasion, we got ChatGPT to extract the text from a dropdown selection menu on Apple's website and format it in HTML as an unordered list, which it did in seconds. From proofing an open document to getting troubleshooting help, it's easy to imagine all manner of scenarios where this feature could help save time and improve productivity.
Currently, it's not possible to directly query ChatGPT about what is shown on your Mac's screen, but OpenAI says this feature is coming in a future update.
Take a Photo
"Take a Photo" is another option that you can access via the paperclip button. Clicking it automatically brings up the current output of your Mac's FaceTime camera or an attached webcam.
This is useful if you just want to hold an object in front of your Mac that you'd like to query. However, you can also select the camera of your nearby iPhone, which gives you more freedom to move around and line up the subject of your photo more carefully.
The only problem right now is that the shutter button remains on the camera feed on your Mac's screen, rather than switching to your iPhone. This is probably an oversight that OpenAI will rectify soon.
Customize ChatGPT
In the app's settings (accessed via ChatPGT ➝ Settings… in the menu bar when the app's main window is active) there are several options that let you customize how ChatGPT works. You can control whether or not OpenAI uses your content to train its models, as well as change the desktop launcher keyboard shortcut and enable/disable GPT capabilities including web browsing, DALL·E image generator, and Code Interpreter.
You can also add custom instructions that influence how ChatGPT responds (also known as prompt engineering). So you can make responses more formal or more casual, or specify how long or short they should be. You can also personalize ChatGPT to cosplay a certain profession or character. If you want it to respond like an academic thesis advisor, or Samuel L Jackson, for example, you can specify that in settings.
The main app window also lets you access your conversation history and switch between any custom GPTs you have parked in your sidebar. Not only that, you can choose which version of ChatGPT you wish to query. For example, the introduction of the new multimodal GPT-4o model enhances response times, improves reasoning capabilities, and offers a better understanding of images and other content types.
Voice Chat
When interacting with ChatGPT in the app's main window, there are buttons to dictate your query or alternatively start a two-way voice chat with the bot. In theory it sounds great, but in practice there's a delay between responses, and you have to wait for ChatGPT to stop speaking before you can give it a follow-up query or command. It's also not possible to access other features like taking a photo via voice. Fortunately, there's more to come on this front.
At OpenAI's Spring Update, the company demoed ChatGPT's new real-time voice conversation feature, which includes the ability to interrupt the chatbot and redirect the conversation. As of writing, the ChatGPT Mac app does not support these features, but OpenAI says we should see them added to GPT-4o in the coming weeks.
Summing Up
If you are a regular user of ChatGPT on Mac, using OpenAI's official app should be your go-to method of interacting with the AI chatbot. For a first version, the client is surprisingly polished, and invoking the Launcher via a keyboard shortcut makes using ChatGPT quicker and easier than ever before. It also offers a peek into a possible future where ChatGPT is fully integrated with Apple's operating systems.
Note that the ChatGPT Mac app is currently only available to Plus subscribers ($20 per month), and only a limited subset of those users have been offered the download so far. We will say that there are download links to the app floating around on social media, and there is a fairly reliable way for any Plus subscriber to bypass the waitlist and get it to work. But if you have the patience to wait in line, OpenAI says that the ChatGPT Mac app will be available to users "more broadly in the coming weeks."
A significant Microsoft outage has affected several key services, including Bing.com, Copilot for web and mobile, Copilot in Windows, ChatGPT internet search, and DuckDuckGo. The disruption began around 3.00 a.m. Eastern Time, primarily impacting users in Asia and Europe.
User reports and MacRumors' tests indicate that attempts to access Bing.com result in either a blank page or a 429 HTTP code error. Notably, the Bing search functionality remains operational if accessed directly via a specific URL, though the homepage remains inaccessible.
For users needing to perform searches on Bing, accessing the search engine directly through the alternative URL is a workaround. However, Copilot services are entirely offline across all platforms, including the website, app, and Windows integration.
As noted by Bleeping Computer, ChatGPT internet search and DuckDuckGo are also experiencing disruptions due to their reliance on the Bing API. DuckDuckGo users encounter an error message stating, "There was an error displaying the search results. Please try again." Despite the widespread impact, Microsoft has not yet issued a statement, though OpenAI has acknowledged the ChatGPT internet search issues on its support page.
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) will soon stop showing public "likes" on users' profile pages, the company has said. The plan was confirmed on Wedndesday by X engineers, after MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris uncovered a flag in X's iOS app revealing the coming change.
Perris found that turning off the flag completely removes the "Likes" tab from all user profiles. His discovery was shared on X, which was then reposted and subsequently confirmed by X engineers.
"Yeah, we are making likes private," responded X's director of engineering Haofei Wang. "Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behavior. For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be 'edgy' in fear of retaliation from trolls, or to protect their public image.
"Soon you'll be able to like without worrying who might see it," Wang continued. "Also a reminder that the more posts you like, the better your For you algorithm will become," he added.
Yeah, we are making likes private.
Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behavior. For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be "edgy" in fear of retaliation from trolls, or to protect their public image.
Soon you’ll be able to like without… https://t.co/vPGllc4pB0
— Haofei (@wanghaofei) May 22, 2024
To clear up some confusion among users, X senior software engineer Enrique Barragan also responded with a post, saying that users will still be able to see who liked their posts, as well as the like count for all posts, replies, and so on. The change involves hiding which posts other people liked, which means removing the Liked tab on public profiles.
X Premium subscribers have been able to optionally hide the Likes tab on their profile, but the platform is set to take it away wholesale. It's not clear when the change will be rolled out, but once it does, everyone on X, including owner Musk – who has received blowback in the past for liking controversial posts – will be able to like whatever they want without it being made public.
A foldable-screen MacBook concept 
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
