MacworldIts a first-world problem: You can never have enough iPhone battery life, and charging, despite it being faster than ever, is never fast enough. Swippitt offers a different approach to battery chargingif youre willing to pay the price.Swippitt is a two-part system. The first is Swippitt Link, a battery case for the iPhone. The second is a toaster-like device called the Swippitt Hub that houses and charges five batteries that work in the Link case. When you insert the Swippitt Link-encased iPhone into the Hub, the battery in the Link is swapped out with one of the charged batteries in the Hub. See the video below for a demonstration of how it works.So to call Swippitt a battery charger isnt accurate, though it does charge batteries, but just the ones for the Swippitt Link. Its really a battery system, where the Hub swaps out batteries with the Link case, and then charges the swapped battery. Swapping out the battery takes only a few secondsa lot faster than waiting for a fast charge via USB. The Hub holds five batteries and uses proprietary software to manage the batteries so that theyre ready to be swapped. Since it holds five batteries, a Hub can support up to five users.Swippitt is compatible with the iPhone 14, 15, and 16 models, and the company says it will create new Link cases should Apple introduce new iPhones designs.This charging convenience has a hefty price, starting at $450 for the Swippitt Hub which measures a sizeable 13.2 by 11.4 by 6.8 inches (335.6 by 288.7 by 172.5 mm), and $120 for the Swippitt Link case. The device starts shipping in June and the company is accepting pre-orders with a 30-percent discount during the Consumer Electronic Show this week.Instant Power System

MacworldWe all lose track of our keys, wallet, and baggage here and there, but a Blurtooth tracker can definitely take some of the worries off your mind. Todays deal will help: Amazon is selling a 4-pack of AirTags is only $70 right now, a remarkable 29 percent under its $99 MSRP and just $17.50 per AirTag.These AirTags look great; theyre tiny and light, and theyll effortlessly pair with your iPhone or iPad, allowing you to locate them via the Find My app. Their location will show up with great precision and you can even get them to make a sound if theyre nearby, which will significantly help you spot the keys theyre attached to, for instance.When out of range, the AirTags will ping off nearby Apple devices, even if they are miles away. If you lose an item, you can put it in Lost Mode through the app.We loved reviewing these tiny AirTags, giving them a four-star rating. We appreciated the excellent design, how inexpensive they are, and the fact that you can easily swap out the batteries. So dont miss out on getting this 4-pack of AirTags for their best price yet at $70.That's $17.50 for a single AirTagBuy now at Amazon

MacworldThe iPhone 16 launched in September 2024, but you can still buy 2022s iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Plus from Apple. And if youre prepared to shop around you may still be able to get theiPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max (both of which were discontinued in 2023).This article is designed to help you spend as little money as possible. We provide a summary of the best deals and promotions offered by popular retailers, plus automatically updated price-comparison tables covering the wider market, all of which will help you find the very best deal on your new iPhone.If youre looking for other models, check out our overall Best iPhone deals roundup. And if you cant decide which iPhone to buy, read our reviews and take a look at our Best iPhone chart.Where to get the best iPhone dealsBuying direct fromAppleis one option if youre looking for an unlocked, SIM-freeiPhone 14 oriPhone 14 Plus, and its the go-to place to join theiPhone Upgrade Program. Apple will also let you trade in your old iPhone and get up to $650 in credit toward a new purchase. Find an unlocked or SIM-free iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Plus at Apple.With the arrival of the 15-series iPhones in late 2023, Apple stopped selling the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, but they are still available from other retailers, as you will see in the price comparison tables below.Best unlocked iPhone 14 series deals in the U.K. Amazon, iPhone 14, 128GB: 549 (50 off, RRP 599)Best iPhone 14 series carrier dealsIf you want to buy a recent iPhone for less than the full retail price, youre probably going to need to get it from a carrier or mobile provider, and there will often be significant strings attached. These deals can be complicated, so be sure to read the fine print.In the U.S., Apple partners with carriers to offer discounts on the2022 iPhones. You get a $30 discount if you buy a phone activated on AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile/Sprint, however, if you shop around there are some good deals to be found. See our table below for the best deals right now. U.S. AT&T: Get up to $800 in bill credits when you buy a new iPhone 14 and trade in your old phone, with a qualifying unlimited plan.T-Mobile: Get up to $800 in bill credits when you buy an iPhone 14 and trade in your old phone when you add a new line.Verizon: Get up to $1,000 in bill credits toward an iPhone 14 Pro with trade-in and select Unlimited plans.U.K. Contract offers vary widely in price, but youll need to check the fine print and the perks and extras that are thrown in. You can browse the best current deals in the U.K. using the tool below; click Choose Smartphone to filter by model.Readers who would like to do their own research should try the following U.K. carriers:EEO2Sky MobileThreeVirgin MobileVodafoneBest iPhone 14 dealsThe iPhone 14 has now had two price cuts: once when the iPhone 15 came out, and again when the iPhone 16 was unveiled. At launch, the iPhone 14 started at $829 / 849, but youll pay less now:You can keep up with the best prices across a range of retailers for the iPhone 14 by using our automated table below:iPhone 14, 128GB: MSRP $599 / 599 NewRefurbishedRetailerPrice647View Deal669View Deal729View Deal608,90 View Deal629,00 View Deal634,34 View Deal641,95 View Deal648,00 View Deal649,00 View Deal652,79 View Deal669,99 View Deal669,99 View Deal680.28View Deal697,00 View DealPrice comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwideView more pricesProductPriceiPhone 14 128GB Gelb Ohne Vertrag535.59View DealPrice comparison from BackmarketBest iPhone 14 Plus dealsThe iPhone 14 Plus has also seen two price drops. It started at $929 / 949 at launch, but now costs less. iPhone 14, 128GB: MSRP $699 / 699RetailerPrice849View Deal793,18 View Deal793.18View DealPrice comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwideProductPricePrice comparison from BackmarketBest iPhone 14 Pro dealsThe iPhone 14 Pro has been discontinued by Apple, so it no longer has an official MSRP/RRP. The best we can do is look at the prices when it launched in fall 2022, and knock off a little to account for the price cuts it would have received in fall 2023 and 2024.iPhone 14 Pro, 128GB: MSRP was $999 / 1,099Best iPhone 14 Pro Max dealsThe 14 Pro Max has also been discontinued. If Apple had kept it around, we can assume it would probably have received price cuts in fall 2023 and 2024.iPhone 14 Pro Max, 128GB: MSRP was $1,099 / 1,199RetailerPrice1448.81View DealPrice comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwideProductPricePrice comparison from BackmarketWhere to get refurbished iPhone 14 dealsIf you havent already, you may want to consider buying a refurbished iPhone 14 to save money (and the environment). Refurbished devices are thoroughly tested and repaired to work and look just like new. In the case of official Apple refurbished iPhones, you get a brand-new body and screen, box, accessories, battery, and warranty. Its almost indistinguishable from buying a new iPhone.See our full guide tobuying refurbished or second-hand iPhonesfor more.The first place to shop for a refurbished iPhone is on theApple Refurbished Store. At time of writing, Apple does not yet offer refurbished iPhone 14 models for sale, but that could change at any time. Rest assured, the Apple Refurbished Store is where you can get the highest quality of refurbished iPhones. You may want to shop at the following refurbished resellers instead:U.S.BackMarket Best Buy Refurb.me GazelleReboxed U.K.Music MagpieEnvirofoneReboxed 4GadgetsSmartfone Store

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a post on X, says the AI company is currently losing money on its ChatGPT Pro subscription. People are using it much more than we expected, he wrote.The company introduced its ChatGPT Pro subscription in December. The subscription costs $200 a month and gives users access to an upgraded version of the o1 reasoning model, o1 pro mode, and has no user restrictions for tools such as the video generator Sora.In another post, Altman wrote that he personally chose the price for ChatGPT Pro in the belief it would bring in money for the company. But the high costs associated with training the large language models (LLMs) generative AI tools require make profitability difficult for OpenAI to achieve.

Apple has been forced to admit what every company involved in artificial intelligence (AI) should also be forced to state AI makes mistakes, just like people do.On the surface, its not a terribly big deal:Apples AI badly mangled a handful of news headlines. The BBC complained about the mangling. Because it was a story about Apple, everyone discussed it.Apple was eventually forced to answer the criticisms and come up with a plan of action to make things better in the future.What that plan means is that the company will update Apple Intelligence in the coming weeks with an update that will in some way clarify when a notification has been summarized by AI.The idea behind this is that people reading those headlines will know that there could be a machine-generated error (as opposed to an error by humans) in the news they are perusing. The inference is, of course, that you should question everything you read to protect yourself against machine-generated error or human mistakes.Question everything: Human, or AIThe humans who generate news are up in arms, of course. They see the complaint as a cause celebre from which to make a stand against their own eventual replacement by machines. The UK National Union of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and the head of Metas Oversight Board (if that boardstill exists by the end of the week) have all pointed to these erroneous headlines to suggest Apples AI isnt yet up to the task. (Though even Apples critics point out that part of the problem is that even under human control, public trust in news hasalready sunk to record lows.)Those critics also argue that telling users that a news headline has been generated by AI doesnt go far enough. They argue that it means readers must confirm what they read. It just transfers the responsibility to users, who in an already confusing information landscape will be expected to check if information is true or not, Vincent Berthier, head of RSFs technology and journalism desk,told the BBC.But is that really such a bad thing?Shouldnt readers of human-generated news reports already be checking what they read?French philosopher and media literacy theory thought leaderMichel Foucault would argue that every reader of any news brand should run what they read through an effective framework of critical media analysis. He would urge readers to criticize the workings of institutions that appear to be both neutral and independent.That includes Apple, of course, as well as the BBC or even me.Why this and not that?The idea and it really isnt a complicated one is that it is rare you should unquestioningly believe what you read, no matter who wrote it, human or machine.What is written is one thing, why it is written is another. In this case, why has the BBC focused particularly on Apples error, rather than exploring the other errors that come with AI?To some extent the story misses the biggest point: if AI isnt yet ready to handle a task as relatively trivial as automatic news headline summaries, then this bodes badly for all the other things were being told AI should be used for. By inference, it means every AI system, from autonomous vehicles to public transit management or evenmachine intelligence supported health servicescan make mistakes.Knowing that machines makes errors might help people better prepare to handle those errors as they transpire. As AI becomes more widely deployed, it becomes very important to plan for what to do when things go wrong.The relatively trivial Apple News headline storys biggest take-away is that things will go wrong, so what are we going to do when that happens particularly when the errors made are more serious than a headline.Why mistakes happenOne more difference between human and machine is that it is not always possible to identify where AI errors originate. After all, in most cases, human error can be discussed and its reasons for existing understood.In contrast, machine-driven errors take place in response to whatever algorithms are used to drive the AI, relationships and decision making processes that may not be at all transparent the so-calledblack boxproblem machine intelligence practitioners have been concerned about for decades. At times, this could mean the logic prompting those errors isnt visible, which means mistakes can easily recur.It is not just Apple Intelligence that hallucinates, either. All the machines hallucinate, and its incredibly important to recognize this beforetoo much discretionary power is given to them. It would also be useful to see major news corporations take a deeper look into the extent to which AI reflects the prejudices of those who own it, rather than trivializing this important matter around discussion of a single brand.There is a danger, after all, that AI in news becomes a living example of centralized media ownership on steroids, weaving a mirror of the world that reflects a narrowing outlook.We need tough scrutiny for AIGiven that AI is expected to have a profound impact on culture and society, it seems important togive its implementation serious scrutiny. At the very least, Apples proposed solution to ensure humans can easily identify when AI has been used to decide a news headline seems arelevant first steptowards putting such scrutiny in place.We should demand the same transparency wherever AI is applied such as health insurance payment denials, for example. Thats as true for Apple (itselfcurrently planning to extend Apple News into new markets) as it is for anyone else in the business of using AI to get things done.At the end of the day, the story is not the headline. The story is why the headline was put there in the first place. At Apple. And at the BBC.You can follow me on social media! Join me onBlueSky, LinkedIn,Mastodon, andMeWe.

Apple has moved on to its second round of developer betas, issuing fresh builds of iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, macOS 15.3, tvOS 18.3, watchOS 11.3, and visionOS 2.3.Examples of Apple Intelligence at work. The second round of betas for iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, macOS 15.3, tvOS 18.3, watchOS 11.3, and visionOS 2.2 follow after the first round, which landed on December 16.The second iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 developer betas share build number 22D5040d, replacing 22D5034e, the first build. The second macOS Sequoia 15.3 build is 24D5040f, up from 24D5034. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple deals continue to roll in during CES 2025, with Amazon knocking $150 off the all-in-one M4 iMac 24-inch with a 10-core GPU, eliminating the need to purchase an external display.Amazon's has dropped prices on Apple's M4 iMac.The standout discount across Amazon's M4 iMac sale is the $150 markdown on the silver colorway with a 10-core CPU/GPU chip, 16GB of unified memory and 256GB of SSD storage. The upgraded model also provides two extra Thunderbolt ports and a Gigabit Ethernet port compared to the standard spec.Buy for $1,349 Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Canadian smart home brand Nanoleaf released multiple new smart home products at CES 2025, including its first floor lamp and a new software subscription.The new Nanoleaf floor lampMost intriguing for Apple users will be the new Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp that is outfitted with LED lights for more than 16 million colors, music syncing, and gradient effects.It has an ultra-slim design to fit into many rooms and is now available to preorder from Nanoleaf's website for $99. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Rhode Island is the latest U.S. state to consider the implementation of a new public development office aimed at increasing the governments role in land acquisition, construction, and financing as it faces a housing shortage.The move would place it alongside fellow New Englanders Vermont and Massachusetts as well as New York (where the New York State Homes and Community Renewal was created in 2010) and Minnesota (the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency). Several other states (incl. California and Oregon) have some version of the office as well.According to Governing.com, "Its a model for a type of social housing broadly defined as publicly developed housing for people with different incomes that has been slowly percolating in other cities as well. [...] given the uncertainty around federal housing policy under the second Trump administration, state and local governments may have more incentive to use their own money and power to address their housing challenges."...

In this week'scurated employer highlightfromArchinect Jobs, we are featuring threearchitecture and design firms with current openings inLosAngeles, Portland, and Brooklyn.For even more opportunities, visit theArchinect job boardand explore our active community ofjob seekers,firms, andschools.Architecture and design studioWest of Westis hiring for two Designers, one in Portland and one in Los Angeles. Candidates should have a minimum of five years of experience, excellent knowledge of Rhino, Revit, and Adobe Creative Suite, as well as the ability toorganize multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment. In addition, one should possess effective interpersonal and communication skills.Alleyway courtyard by West of West.Design-build practiceCO Adaptiveis in search of a Practice Managerin Brooklyn with five to eight years of experience as an administrative assistant or office manager, ideally within the building industry. Candidates should be highly organized, detail-ori...