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MacworldApple is adding more and better ports to its latest MacBooks but for true flexibility and the very best extra functionality you should consider a docking station to expand your laptop into a full top-end desktop solution.We have tested and recommended the best Thunderbolt docks for Mac and best USB-C hubs for Mac, but now is a great time to look for deals in Black Friday and Cyber Monday weeks. Below we list the best Black Friday deals on some of these docks and hubs that we have recommended as the best of the best in our reviews.Examples of great deals include the iVanky FusionDock Max 1 (uniquely boasting two Thunderbolt 4 chips), the Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Triple Display Docking Station (our favorite budget Thunderbolt 4 dock), the Satechi Dual Dock Stand (our best choice for Mac USB-C dock) and the CalDigit TS4 (the most powerful Thunderbolt 4 dock in our tests), as well as super hubs such as the Baseus 10Gbps USB-C Hub with 50% off its retail price. The Anker 675 is a combination monitor stand and fast USB-C dock, and has a third slashed from its MSRP.While the official Black Friday is on November 29 and Cyber Monday on December 2, were already seeing fantastic deals, so you might not want to wait. Well be updating this page regularly as more discounts come in.Some Amazon deals are for Prime subscribers only, so, you need to have a subscription to the service ($14.99 / 8.99 / CA$9.99 / AU$9.99per month or$139 / 95 / CA$99 / AU$79per year). You can sign up for the 30-day free trial to cover the Prime-only deals.However, there are many deals available when a subscription to Prime is not necessary and anyone can enjoy.Want to see how much you can save on Apple products? Take a look at ourBest Black Friday Apple Deals.First we look at the best Black Friday dock and hub deals in the U.S. and then the best we have found available in the U.K.Best Thunderbolt 4 docking station and hub Black Friday deals (U.S.)Docks include a multitude of ports from USB to HDMI and Ethernet to SD card readers. Connect Mac and dock via a single cable and all these extra ports are now at your disposal. Thunderbolt 4 has a super-fast 40Gbps data-transfer rate equal to that of most Macs own ports. They usually offer more advanced display options than USB-C docks.Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Dock, 13 ports, dual HDMI 4K displays, 100W charging: now $159.99 (20% off at Amazon Prime, MSRP $199.99)iVANKY FusionDock Max 1, 20 ports, four 6K displays, 96W charging: now $373.98 ($70 off at Amazon, MSRP $439.99)Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Multimedia Pro Dock, 16 ports, dual 4K, 96W charging, now $244.99 ($105 off at Satechi with code HOLIDAY30, MSRP $349.99)CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, 18 ports, dual 6K displays, 98W charging,now $379.99 (16% off at Amazon, MSRP $449.95)OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock, 11 ports, two 5K displays, 90W charging, now $249.99 ($22 off at Amazon, MSRP $299.99)Kensington SD5700T Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station, 11 ports, dual 4K displays, 90W charging: now $167.49 (24% off at Amazon, MSRP $219.99)CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub, 8 ports, Dual 4K Displays, 60W Charging: now $143.99 (20% off at Amazon Prime, MSRP $179.99)Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Slim Hub: 4 ports, dual 4K, 60W charging, $93.80 (45% off at Satechi with code HOLIDAY30, MSRP $169.99)Best USB-C docking station Black Friday deals (U.S.)USB-C docks have a lesser data-transfer rate of between 5Gbps and 10Gbps but are usually cheaper and will suit many people as well as the faster Thunderbolt docks. Satechi Dual USB-C Docking Station and Stand, 10 ports, 10Gbps, Dual 4K HDMI, 75W charging, SSD enclosure: now $97.49 (35% off at Amazon, MSRP $149.99)Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station, 12-port 10Gbps monitor stand: now $169.99 (32% off at Amazon, MSRP $249.99)Best USB-C hub Black Friday deals (U.S.)Hubs offer fewer ports than full docking stations but eight strong ports may be all you require, so you could save money with one of these simple hubs.Anker 555 USB-C Hub, 8 ports, 4K display, 100W charging: now $39.99 (20% off at Amazon, MSRP $49.99)Baseus 10Gbps USB-C Hub, 6 ports, 4K HDMI, 100W charging: now $24.99 (50% off at Amazon, MSRP $49.99)Satechi USB C Hub Multiport Adapter V3, 8 ports, 4K display, 85W charging: now $69.99 (30% off at Amazon Prime, MSRP $99.99)Ugreen USB-C Hub, 4 USB-A ports: now $9.99 (33% off at Amazon Prime, MSRP $14.99)Satechi USB-C Hub Multiport Adapter Pro Hub Max, 7 ports, 4K HDMI, 100W charging: now $59.99 (40% off at Amazon Prime, MSRP $99.99)Anker 565 11-in-1 USB-C Hub: 11 ports, 4K display, 100W charging, now $54.99 (17% off at Amazon, MSRP $65.99)Best DisplayLink dock Black Friday deals (U.S.)DisplayLink is software that can help you connect more than one display to plain M1 and M2 MacBooks and also expand the external display capabilities of non-Pro/Max M3 and M4 Macs. Here are some tasty Black Friday deals we found on these handy docks and hubs.Plugable Thunderbolt 4 Dock for Quad Monitors, 11 ports, four 4K displays, 100W charging: now $239.96 (20% off at Amazon, MSRP $299.95)Plugable USB-C Laptop Docking Station: 14 ports, DisplayLink, dual 4K displays, 100W charging, now $159.96 (27% off at Amazon Prime, MSRP $219.99)Wavlink USB-C to Dual 4K DisplayPort & HDMI Adapter: 4 ports, DisplayLink, dual 4K HDMI or DisplayPort, now $55.99 (25% off at Amazon Prime, MSRP $74.99)Ugreen Revodok Pro 209 USB-C Docking Station: 9 ports, DisplayLink, dual 4K displays, 100W charging, now $118.99 (30% off at Amazon, MSRP $169.99)Now we move across the Atlantic to the best U.K. Black Friday dock and hub deals this year.Best Thunderbolt docking station Black Friday deals (U.K.)Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Dock, 13 ports, dual HDMI 4K displays,100W Charging: now 129.59 (24% off at Amazon Prime, RRP 169.99)iVANKY FusionDock Max 1, 20 ports, four 6K displays, 96W charging: now 379.99 (120 off at Amazon, RRP 499.99)CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, 18 ports, dual 6K displays, 98W charging,now 341.99 (10% off at Amazon, RRP 379.99)CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub, 8 ports, Dual 4K Displays, 60W Charging: now 143.99 (28% off at Amazon Prime, RRP 199.99)Best USB-C docking station Black Friday deals (U.K.)Satechi Dual USB-C Docking Station and Stand, 10 ports, Dual 4K HDMI, 75W charging, SSD enclosure: now 56.86 (51% off at Amazon, RRP 115.47)Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station, 12-port monitor stand: now 189.98 (24% off at Amazon, RRP 249.99)Best USB-C hub Black Friday deals (U.K.)Anker 555 USB-C Hub, 8 ports, 4K display, 100W charging: now 39.98 (46% off at Amazon, RRP 74.49)Anker 565 USB-C Hub: 11 ports, 4K display, 100W charging, now 49.99 (44% off at Amazon, RRP 89.99)Baseus 10Gbps USB-C Hub, 6 ports, 4K HDMI, 100W charging: now $24.99 (50% off at Amazon, RRP 115.47)Satechi USB C Hub Multiport Adapter V3, 8 ports, 4K display, 85W charging: now $67.49 (25% off at Amazon Prime, RRP 89.99)Ugreen USB-C Hub, 4 USB-A ports: now $9.49 (37% off at Amazon, RRP 14.99)Satechi USB-C Hub Multiport Adapter Pro Hub Max, 7 ports, 4K HDMI, 100W charging: now 53.99 (40% off at Amazon, RRP 89.99)Black Friday 2024: Best deals for Apple productsCheck out these roundups for the best Apple deals:Apple Black Friday 2024 saleBest Black Friday 2024 Apple dealsBest Black Friday 2024 Mac DealsBest Black Friday 2024 MacBook dealsBest Black Friday 2024 AirPods dealsBest Black Friday 2024 Apple Watch dealsBest Black Friday 2024 iPad dealsBest Black Friday 2024 iPhone dealsBest Black Friday 2024 Mac monitor dealsBest Black Friday 2024 SSD and external hard drive dealsBest Black Friday 2024 Apple accessory deals

MacworldYou might think that connecting anonymously to a public Wi-Fi network doesnt reveal much about you. You might be using a VPN (virtual private network) to protect everything you do. Even if you arent, the vast majority of websites and email servers (and pretty much all those run by companies) use client-to-server encryption. But what if you could be tracked anyway?Apple has a solution for this as it does for many tracking systems. The companys trick lies in how Wi-Fi (and ethernet) adapters identify themselves over a local network. How MAC addresses workEvery network adapter has a unique, factory-assigned address baked in or programmed in at its manufacture. Its called a Media (or Medium) Access Control address; the abbreviation is MAC, confusingly enough, but it has nothing to do with Macintoshes. Where an IP (Internet Protocol) address defines your machines location on the internet, a MAC address defines it on your local area network (LAN). The MAC is in part how devices on a LAN all communicate with one another, whether over Wi-Fi or ethernet.Apple recognized that any fixed identifier could be used to track someone if the ID could be tied to records shared beyond a local network. When you connect to a wireless hotspot, your Wi-Fi MAC address gets transmitted because its an inherent part of that connection. If that MAC address doesnt change over time, the backend of a hotspot portal or a business locations point-of-sale system could build up a profile of you (or your device) using a variety of clues that includes any Bluetooth broadcasts, logging into a portal to gain free access, using a discount card while paying, and emitting other broadcast identifiers.They could sell this information to third-party information brokers who could track you widely across locations that also share and sell information and target you with ads even if all your web, email, and file-transfer connections were secure, as is the case in most scenarios today. Worse, its clear that law enforcement and government agencies routinely purchase access to location information without use of subpoenas or legal mechanisms that a provider or you would be informed of and could fight.While a MAC address is factory assigned, it can be changed. For instance, you may have had the experience of connecting to a Wi-Fi gateway to configure it and seeing an option buried in advanced settings to modify the MAC address. (This can sometimes be helpful when youre replacing a router, and your ISPs broadband modem or adapter is registered to that older devices MAC address.)The ability for a MAC to change and the potential for a MAC to be tracked is why Apple introduced a Private Wi-Fi address as a feature in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7. It later added it to macOS. The feature is enabled by default for all Wi-Fi connections on all platforms. Apple made this feature more granularoffering ways to tune it furtherin iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15 Sequoia, and watchOS 11.Apple uses the term Private Wi-Fi address to refer to the MAC address for a Wi-Fi adapter. Its identical to a MAC address, but the company doesnt offer private MAC addresses for Ethernet connections.Change your private address settingsYou can view the settings only for individual networks because Apple lets you have different settings for each network to which you connect.On an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and tap the connected network name. You can also change Private Wi-Fi options by tapping the i (info) icon next to a nearby network, or tapping Edit at the top of Wi-Fi settings and tapping the i icon.On a Mac, go to System Settings > Wi-Fi and click Details next to the connected network. You can also tap the (More) button next to a network shown as nearby to make changes to the Private Wi-Fi address settings. (You cant change stored MAC settings in macOS.)On a Watch, go to Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the name of the network, and the Private Address setting appears.The Private Wi-Fi address setting lets you control how much long-term information you leak about your device to nearby networks.FoundryThe latest releases of operating systems added a menu that offers Off, Fixed, and Rotating choices.By default when you connect to an open network (one with no encryption) or one using outdated encryption methods (WEP or the original WAP flavor), your operating system automatically sets the option to Rotating. In this case, your device invents a MAC address for every network you join and uses that address for two weeks. The address also changes if you choose Forget This Network and then connect again after 24 hours, or if you use the devices settings to reset your network settings (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone/iPad > Reset > Reset Network Settings).You might ask: what if Apple generates a MAC address already in use? The number of possible addresses is vastover 280 trillion possibilitiesand unlike a global IP address, it only needs to be unique on the local network.If you connect to a network with WPA2 or later encryption, your device uses Fixed by default. You might also choose this on a personal or office local network even if Apples default isnt set to Fixed in order to ensure your address stays consistent.If you pick Off, youre warned about tracking and have to confirm before Private Wi-Fi address is disabled.You might change from Rotating to Off or Fixed if you think youre experiencing problems with a hotspot network that keeps losing your login. Ive seen this with airplane Wi-Fi and havent diagnosed whether its an issue with the airplanes authentication system or private MAC addressing.This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by a Macworld reader.Ask Mac 911Weve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns:read our super FAQto see if your question is covered. If not, were always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours tomac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we dont reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

The announcement that Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be Anthropics primary training partner confirms rumors of an even tighter partnership between the two companies.They announced Friday that Anthropic will use AWS Trainium processors to train and deploy its Claude family of models. Further, as predicted earlier this month, Amazon will invest an additional $4 billion in the startup, making its total investment $8 billion.AWS is already Anthropics primary cloud provider, and the OpenAI rival will now also primarily use Trainium and Inferentia chips to train and deploy its foundation models. Anthropic will also contribute to Trainium development in what the companies call a hardware-software development approach.While its unclear whether the agreement requires Anthropic to exclusively use AWS chips, it is a move by Amazon to challenge the likes of Nvidia and other dominant players as the AI chip race accelerates.This is a first step in broadening the accessibility of generative AI and AI models, Alvin Nguyen, Forrester senior analyst, told Computerworld.Accelerating Claude developmentAnthropic, which launched in 2021, has made significant progress with its Claude large language models (LLMs) this year as it takes on OpenAI. Its Claude 3 family comprises three LLMs: Sonnet, Haiku (its fastest and most compact), and Opus (for more complex tasks), which are all available on Amazon Bedrock. The models have vision capabilities and a 200,000 token context window, meaning they support large volumes of data, equal to roughly 150,000 words, or 500 pages of material.Notably, last month Anthropic introduced Computer Use to Claude 3.5 Sonnet. This capability allows the model to use computers as people do; it can quickly move cursors, toggle between tabs, navigate websites, click buttons, type, and compile research documents in addition to its generative capabilities. All told, the company claims that Sonnet outperforms all other available models on agentic coding tasks.Claude has experienced rapid adoption since its addition to Amazon Bedrock, AWS fully-managed service for building generative AI models, in April 2023, and now supports tens of thousands of companies across numerous industries, according to AWS. The foundation models are used to build a number of functions, including chatbots, coding assistants, and complex business processes.This has been a year of breakout growth for Claude, and our collaboration with Amazon has been instrumental in bringing Claudes capabilities to millions of end users on Amazon Bedrock, Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic, said in an announcement.The expanded partnership between the two companies is a strategic one for both sides, signaling that Anthropics models are performant and versatile, and that AWS infrastructure can handle intense generative AI workloads in a way that rivals Nvidia and other chip players.From an Anthropic point of view, the benefit is guaranteed infrastructure, the ability to keep expanding models capabilities, and showcase them, said Nguyen, noting that it also expands their footprint and access.Its showing that they can work well with multiple others, he said. That increases comfort levels in their ability to get training done, to produce models, to get them utilized.AWS, meanwhile, has a premiere client, one of the faces of AI in Anthropic, said Nguyen.From silicon through the full stackAs part of the expanded partnership, Anthropic will also help to develop and optimize future versions of AWSs purpose-built Trainium chip. The machine learning (ML) chip supports deep learning training for 100 billion-plus parameter models.Anthropic said it is working closely with AWS Annapurna Labs to write low-level kernels that allow it to interact with Trainium silicon. It is also contributing to the AWS Neuron software stack to help strengthen Trainium, and is collaborating with the chip design team around hardware computational efficiency.This close hardware-software development approach, combined with the strong price-performance and massive scalability of Trainium platforms, enables us to optimize every aspect of model training from the silicon up through the full stack, Anthropic wrote in a blog post published Friday.This approach provides an advantage over more general purpose hardware (such as Nvidias GPUs) that do more than what is absolutely necessary, Nguyen pointed out. The companies long partnership also means they may have mitigated performance optimization advantages that Nvidia has with their CUDA platform.This type of deep collaboration between the software and hardware engineers/developers allows for optimizations in both the hardware and software that is not always possible to find when working independently, said Nguyen.