MacworldWhen the M3 MacBook Air came out, we summed it up pretty simply as simply the best, but better and we stick by that. While this is Apples most affordable laptop line, we still love seeing it on sale. Right now, you can get one for $899 at Amazon, which is $200 under its MSRP and $400 less than it cost just a few months ago.The MacBook Air gets a nice performance boost, thanks to the M3 chip upgrade. The new dual external display support is a compromise, but its a welcome change in production environments, reads our review. Since our review Apple has boosted the RAM from 8GB to 16GB, which previously carried a $200 upcharge.Along with the superb peformance, this 13.6-inch laptop features a gorgeous Liquid Retina Display that offers sharp images and vibrant colors, no matter how bright the environment you work in. The combination of the M3 chip and 16GB of memory makes this laptop ready for just about any task you want to throw its way, from your everyday workload to light gaming, streaming, and more.This particular configuration features 256GB of storage space, which isnt a lot. Then again, getting a portable SSD these days is fairly cheap and will save you plenty of money youd otherwise spend on a storage upgrade from Apple. The 512GB version, for instance, is on sale for $1,099, and you can get a 1TB portable SSD for much cheaper.Either way, the new Apple MacBook Air is a great pick for a laptop, and if you can get it for $200 off, its even better. Go ahead and hurry up because we dont know how long this deal will last.Save $200 on your MacBookBuy now at Amazon

MacworldThe Mac Pro has garnered staunch criticism from the crowd that would usually buy onein most cases, its warranted. The Mac Studio is alarmingly good for much cheaper. I, too, bought into the critique of the Mac Pro being a bad buy. But the Mac Pro does have valuea lot of it. As a fan of the 2019 Intel Mac Pro, I tried the M2 Max MacBook Pro and Mac Studio but found that the Mac Pro has advantages that cant be overlooked.Hidden costs of other MacsWhen I tried to switch over to a MacBook Pro as my primary Mac, the problems started almost immediately as I attempted to mimic the hefty storage and port options that I had on my 2019 Mac Pro. I need more than the three Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports on the MacBook Pro so I required a Thunderbolt dock. The Mac Studio has more ports, so I fared better with it, but I still needed a Sonnet Thunderbolt 4 Dock to support all the external devices I use. The cost savings of the Mac Studio quickly start to dwindle when accounting for the expense of the external devices needed. Theres the hub, all the cables needed to connect to the hub, and the enclosures I had to buy to house the items that were internally installed in my Mac Pro. If no enclosure was available, I had to buy external replacements.The Mac Studio may be as fast as the Mac Pro, but it comes with a few extra friends on your desk.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryThose external replacements are where it really hits your wallet and the cost benefit of the Mac Studio shrinks substantially. More affordable USB-C external drives do not play nicely with MacsUSB performance is capped at lower speeds due to Macs not supporting USB 3.2 Gen 22 speeds. Youll be limited to USB 3.1 Gen 2 speeds of about 10Gbps, roughly half the theoretical speed on a PC with the same drive.That means that if you want faster performance, you must opt for more expensive Thunderbolt 4 external drives that can offer up to 40Gbps. (I cover the performance issues later in this article.)Youll likely need a Thunderbolt Dock to support more devices without a Mac Pro.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryGranted, if youre not a previous Mac Pro user and youre upgrading from an older MacBook Pro or a desktop Mac and already have an external device setup, your expense for setting up may be limited.Clutter- and noise-free (mostly)The Mac Studio and MacBook Pro may not occupy a lot of space, but they need a symphony of devices to replicate the capabilities of the Mac Pro on a desk. The horizontal space needed is multiplied by the heavy usage of raid arrays, docks, and PCIe external enclosures.MacBook Pro M3 Max is great, but it needs a supporting cast of devicesThiago Trevisan/FoundryIn addition to all the space the external devices take up, theres also cable managementeven if youre a pro at it, its a mess to deal with. You can daisy chain Thunderbolt devices to each other, but you will always have a large cacophony of cablesmost external devices need at least a power cable and their own Thunderbolt connection. Think of the Mac Pro like a large skyscraper, fitting most of these devices internally and verticallyno cable mess. The Mac Studio and MacBook Pro are silent machines, but the accompanying external devices can remove that magic because of their noisy fans for cooling. Most external Thunderbolt enclosures come packed with fansI have chased down Noctua fans to replace the stock fans in some external enclosures, adding to both cost and wasted time in trying to make a less-noisy workstation setup.With the Mac Pro, the large fans keep PCIe cards cool, and you rarely hear even a whimper from this elegant cheese-grater masterpiece.Cables quickly add up across needed devices.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryAppreciating PCIeYou dont have to be an audio engineer or YouTuber to benefit from the Mac Pros PCIe slots. You can skip many external Thunderbolt devices and use an internal PCIe-compatible option, instead. The Mac Pro has six PCIe gen 4 slotsits enough to free up the Mac Pros external ports, and suddenly the need for a pricey Thunderbolt 4 dock goes away.Beefy heatsinks on PCIe cards equates to silence, with only the Mac Pro fans needed.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryA minor win for the Mac Pro is that its internal Apple SSDs are upgradable, whereas the Mac Studios are not. If you bought 1TB and later want 8TB, you can have it. You may want to add PCIe cards for a better price-to-performance ratio, but the option is there.If you do need to connect external devices, the Mac Pro has eight Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-A ports. It also has two HDMI ports, two gigabit-ethernet ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. You wont need to buy a dock.The Mac Pro has six PCIe slots.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryIf you only need a few terabytes of storage that can be accomplished with a simple external SSD and no PCIe cards, then the Mac Pro has no real benefit to you. If you do need more storage, using the Mac Pros PCIe slots can make a lot of sense.Mac Pro PCIe performanceWhile cost, noise, and clutter are important for many, the real bread-and-butter is in the hardware performance. While the Mac Pro does have its bandwidth limitations with its PCIe lanes, it still beats out external devices. You can use external devices on the Mac Proit also makes for a great shelf.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryWith a fast Thunderbolt 4 external drive, such as the SanDisk Pro G40, you will hit rated speeds of about 3000MBps read and 2500MBps write. Even with an external RAID 0 NVMe setup such as the SanDisk Pro-Blade Station, the limitations of Thunderbolt limit the speed.You dont have to rely on Apples PCIe offerings, either. You can get an $800Sonnet M.2 84 Silent Gen4 PCIe Cardand then add 32TB of very fast NVMe storage, and it will be about the same price as the $2,800Apple 8TB SSD Upgrade Kitthat fits into a PCIe slot. Spend more on NVMe storage and you can fit 64TB onto the Sonnet card.The Sonnet card in one of the Mac Pros 16x PCIe slots can theoretically reach a whopping 30,000MBps read and 18,000MBps write. All of this comes in a silent package that relies on the fans of the Mac Pro to quietly keep it cool.Blackmagicdesigns Disk Speed Test benchmark of four Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe SSDs in a Raid 0 array on a Sonnet PCIe card. IDGEven a more mundane PCIe Gen 3 raid 0 of fourSamsung 970 EVONVMe SSDs results in an impressive 12,632MBps write and 9,634MBps read.An OWC Accelsior 4M2 NVMe RAID 0 array with four Samsung 980 Pros installed in an 8x lane on the Mac Pro still reached 6,622MBps write and 5,558MBps read.Do you want SSD and hard drive raid arrays for backup? You can have them, but youll pay more per terabyte for external Thunderbolt enclosures marketed toward MacBook Pro and Mac Studio users. They will typically be much slower than internal PCIe cards, too.PCIe Gen 3 performance can still be impressive with the OWC Accelsior 4M2 cardFoundryThere are limits to the PCIe bandwidth of the 2023 Mac Pro, of course. Even with this in mind, the overall utility and performance can make this cheese grater a potent sleeper workstation.Nuances of PCIe on the Mac ProWhile the numbers are impressive, there are some very important caveats to know about how the Mac Pro handles its PCIe lanes. An OWC Accelsior 4M2 NVME PCIe card in an 8x lane.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryHeres a list of PCIe hardware that I moved over from a 2019 Mac Pro to a 2023 model. Everything below works and is visible in macOS when installed. I simply moved it over from my new Mac Pro and it all workedthats a big bonus. This includes:Sonnet 44 NVME PCIe card in the bottom 16x laneSonnet 84 NVME PCIe card in the top 16x lane OWC Accelsior 4M2 NVME PCIe card in an 8x laneSonnet Fusion SSD PCIe card in 8x lane number 6 Apple supplied I/O Card in the top slot The PCIe lanes are shared and limited so you cannot use them all at once and expect uncompromised performance. I use multiple large arrays for sequential backups (such as with Time Machine), so drops in theoretical speed are acceptable. Theyre still faster than any external Thunderbolt drive.It looks scary, but it still works and automatically adjusts bandwidth.FoundryThe built-in Expansion Slot Utility in macOS shows my Pool A Allocation at a whopping 181 percent, and Pool B at 59 percent. It dynamically adjusts bandwidth between each pool for the best performance. You can also manually assign different PCIe cards to different Pools, but I found that keeping it the Automatic Bandwidth Configuration worked best.It may look scary, but it all functions fine, just with reduced speeds if you attempt to use more than one lane at a time. The 2019 Intel Mac Pro had a more generous allotment of bandwidth, but it also had to accommodate lane-hungry GPUs in its 16x slots, such as the Radeon W6800X Duo. The 2019 Mac Pro also only supported PCIe Gen 3; the 2023 Mac Pro supports Gen 4 speeds. This helps to balance some of the bandwidth differences, but the limits remain on Apple silicon. Thunderbolt connectivity is independent now with this Apple silicon Mac Pro, whereas in the 2019 Mac Pro Thunderbolt also shared available bandwidth. That is why I keep at least a single Thunderbolt SanDisk Pro-Blade Station with four NVMe drives, to balance the internal PCIe slots bandwidth out. Even 2.5-inch SSD drives can be added to a Mac Pro. With the Sonnet J3i or Promise Pegasus J2i, it is a simple drop-in upgrade. Hard drives with massive amounts of storage are likewise easy to add. Some PCIe cards, such as this Sonnet Fusion card with two WD Blue SSDs, must be used in specific PCIe slots.Thiago Trevisan/FoundryASonnet Fusion Dual 2.5-inch SSD RAID cardworks but only in the number 6 8x PCIe in the 2023 Mac Pro. (This is noted by Sonnet, who guides users to install it in this specific slot only for this Fusion card.)It played nicely with the other installed NVMe PCIe cards in both the 16x and 8x slots.Dont overlook the Mac ProOn paper, the Mac Pro seems like a bad deal. But for users who need tons of storage, its a sleeper pick. Adding PCIe cards is still cheaper per terabyte than adding external Thunderbolt solutions. Youll appreciate the noise reduction, the practicality, and the fast performance that fits neatly inside a Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is an excellent combination of power and beautiful design.

MacworldIn a new Medium post today, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo outlines a few expectations for the iPhone models coming this year. Most of it corroborates previous iPhone 17 rumors and Kuos own previous statements, but there is one interesting tidbit: The iPhone 17 Air could be a lot thinner than originally reported.While previous rumors have put the iPhone 17 Air at around 6.25mm, Kuo says the thinnest part of the iPhone 17 Air (or whatever Apple calls the super-slim model) will be just 5.5mm. Its unclear what he means by this, thoughthe ultra-thin iPhone 17 could have a tapered design, or he could just be referring to rounded edges that leave less room for certain internal parts that come near the edge of the phone. But it does mean the iPhone 17 Air will be incredibly thin.So thin, in fact, that compromises will need to be made. In Kuos report, its the SIM card tray that is the point of focus. Kuo says, as others have, that theres no room for one in the iPhone 17 Air for a physical tray so it will rely on eSIM only. Thats not a big deal for the U.S., which has used eSIM for a while, but it could cause big problems when trying to sell the phone in China, where physical SIM cards are required. Weve also heard reports that the phones thinness could mean a smaller batter and fewer cameras.This, and other factors, lead Kuo to believe that 2025 iPhone sales may actually come in 8-10 percent below expectations. This is even with the new iPhone SE launching this spring and the exciting new models in the fall. Kuo built a reputation for predicting future iPhone models and slaes targets more accurately than most, thanks to a bevy of contacts throughout Apples supply chain.Kuo further says that Apple Intelligence has not driven iPhone sales. Customers just arent excited about it, as the quality of Apples offering has lagged behind competing AI solutions. Whats more, Apple Intelligence is a staged rollout with its most interesting and unique new featurea more useful and personal Siristill a couple of months away from release.Apple si expected to release the iPhone 17 AIr in September as a replacement for the iPhone 17 Plus. However, its expected to have a higher price than the $899 iPhone 15 Plus, which could also hurt sales, Kuo claims.

Tech hiring rose in December, dropping the IT unemployment rate to 2% its lowest since November 2023, according to an analysis of the latest jobs data published today by the US Bureau of Labor statistics (BLS). The overall national unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, according to the BLS. The tech sector added a net 7,000 jobs, bringing the total core tech workforce to nearly 6.5 million, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce. The group found that the unemployment rate last month among tech professionals fell a full half a percent from November.CompTIAAnd as 2025 gets under wa, IT employment and hiring appears to be on a positive track, according to staffing agencies. According to ManpowerGroup, the net employment outlook for Q1 2025 is 2% higher than it was for the same period last year 37% this year compared to 35% in early 2024.ManpowerGroup recently published itsQ1 2025 report on hiring, which claimed hiring in IT fields will beat all other professions in the US. Still, the firm also predicted employers will pull back on hiring in the months ahead because of economic uncertainty.ManpowerGroupAs we move into 2025, were seeing stable year-over-year hiring trends, with employers holding onto the talent they have and planning muted hiring for the quarter ahead, said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup chair and CEO.Overall, studies by ManpowerGroup, online hiring platform Indeed, and Deloitte Consulting showed that IT hiring will increasingly be based on finding workers with flexible skills that can meet changing demands.In fact, employment within the tech sector encompassing all types of workers declined by 6,117 jobs in December, according to CompTIAs data. Positions in PC, semiconductor and components manufacturing accounted for the bulk of those cuts. The tech sector employs nearly 5.6 million people, which translates to a percentage decline of 1%.ManpowerGroupEmployers know a skilled and adaptable workforce is key to navigating transformation, and many are prioritizing hiring and retaining people with in-demand flexible skills that can flex to where demand sits, Prising said.Ger Doyle, ManpowerGroups US country manager, said the December BLS jobs report delivered a strong finish to 2024 and is a promising sign of whats to come in the new year. However, the labor market may still face challenges until inflation is under more control, which is necessary to prevent slower hiring, layoffs, and reduced job growth. Our real-time data shows that open positions have decreased by 8% month-over-month, but increased by 3% year-over-year.Overall, job postings have remained steady since November, up 13% year-over-year, reflecting growing demand in digital services, healthcare, and convenience retail, according to ManpowerGroups data.The temp job market was also a bright spot, with open job postings reaching their highest levels since September 2023 and new job postings at their peak since March 2022, according to Doyle. This surge is driven by an increased demand for IT roles as organizations turn to project work to develop artificial intelligence and machine learning, Doyle said.Kye Mitchell, head of Experis North America a ManpowerGroup tech recruiting business said demand increased among tech employers in December, particularly related to the gig economy. Uber led the surge in such jobs with a remarkable 4,150% increase in job postings, while Outlier Inc., a platform that connects experts to advance generative AI, saw a 342% rise in demand.This trend was also evident in the temp job market, where the demand for computer and information research scientists skyrocketed by 2,000% as organizations focused on developing artificial intelligence and machine learning, increasingly relying on temp workers, Mitchell said.In December, there were 434,415 active tech job postings, including 165,189 newly added (both down from November). Roles in software development, IT project management, cybersecurity, data science, and tech support saw the most activity, according to CompTIA.Top hiring companies included Amazon, Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, GovCIO, Robert Half, Lumen Technologies, and Insight Global. Job postings spanned all career levels: 22% required 0-3 years of experience, 28% wanted 4-7 years, and 16% sought 8+ years, CompTIAs data showed.Notably, 45% of postings across tech roles didnt require a four-year degree, according to CompTIA. Network support specialists (85%), tech support specialists (72%), and computer programmers (54%) had the highest percentages of degree-optional roles.For more historical data, heres a rundown of tech unemployment data dating back to mid-2020.

The next Apple TV is on the way, long overdue, and likely to bring with it multiple updates. Here's what the rumor mill believes is on the way for Apple's set-top box.Current-gen Apple TV 4KApple's last update to the Apple TV was in 2022. A new model is likely to arrive sometime in 2025, if rumors about the set-top box are to be believed.As usual for Apple hardware, there are a wide variety of changes expected for the device. What follows is what the rumor mill and online chatter propose Apple will do to its smallest device for the home's biggest screen. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple has launched a website and downloadable wallpaper for Apple Miami Worldcenter, a new store due to open on January 24.Downloadable wallpaper for Apple Miami WorldcenterAs part of its expansion in Miami, Apple has been working on adding a new store in the currently under construction luxury Worldcenter development. It's now officially due to open on Friday, January 24, 2025."Our brand-new store in downtown Miami is opening soon," says Apple on its new retail website for the store. "Get ready to discover an oasis in the heart of the city, where nature thrives and creativity flourishes." Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Summing up the whole Consumer Electronics Show in one word, explaining the sudden over-stressing about Siri privacy, and scratching our heads over just what Brazil and Indonesia want from Apple.Credit: AppleCredit: AppleIt's the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) week and, perhaps disappointingly, perhaps predictably, there isn't a huge amount to say about it other than it came, it stayed around a bit, and it's going again until next year. Still, it's quite an event when you can summarize all of the many releases there with just one word.Whereas, there have been very many words spoken this week about the absolute fact that we're getting the iPhone SE 4 and next iPad any minute now except we're not. Wes Hilliard takes apart the rumors and shows why wishful thinking won't get us these devices any sooner. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Vector Architects has shared details of a newly completed health spa project called the Wulingshan Eye Stone Spring in the northern suburbs of Beijing. The studio relates their vision of the house, which is raised on 10 supporting columns, as an "apparatus of the steaming hot spring, touching lightly upon the natural slope."Photo by Liu GuoweiOvercoming its challenging site affords views of the Yanshan Mountains while abutting a steep rock cliff to the west, opening onto an expansive vista of the alluvial plains to the east and mountain range beyond.Photo by Liu GuoweiPhoto by Liu GuoweiFunctional hot spring spaces are layered vertically in the tower on the west side, separated from the transportation and service programs which are set within the east-facing core and connected by corridor-like bridges on every level.Photo by Liu GuoweiPhoto by Liu GuoweiTheir two programs are then also vertically stacked, which helps to reduce the overall building footprint while creating a ser...

For this week's curated picks of architecture and design competitions listed on Bustler, we are featuring four calls seeking emerging and mid-career practitioners whose work focuses on the public realm, the best projects, products, and ideas from around the world, innovative artistic, inclusive, and sustainable seating solutions, and designs for an installation that will supply clean and reliable electricity and drinking water to Marou, Fiji.For the complete directory of newly listed competitions, click here.

While Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced quite some time ago, franchise director Tetsuya Nomura has started teasing the kind of themes that we can expect from the title. In a post on social media platform X where Square Enix is celebrating the 15th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, the company also had Nomura talk about the idea of crossroads.Apparently, the plan is the release my comment alongside the teaser trailer for BBS from the secret movie in KH2, says Nomura. So, taking my cue from that video, Id like to give you an insight into the crossroads.According to Nomura, the concept of crossroads where people wait for someone else is a major part of the themes of Kingdom Hearts, with the concept appearing several times throughout the franchise. Notable examples include three Keyblade wielders waiting for someone at a crossroads in the celebration video, as well as Sora meeting a character dressed in a black coat and getting an invitation to Castle Oblivion in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.In this video, three Keyblade wielders clad in armour wait for someone at a crossroads, he says. Meeting someone at a crossroads is actually a recurring motif in Kingdom Hearts.At the beginning of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (CoM), Sora meets someone in a black coat and is invited to Castle Oblivion.Nomura goes on to talk about various characters encountering protagonists at crossroads, and somehow being linked with each other by fate. The concept of crossroads even leads to the Keyblade War, and Kingdom Hearts 3 gets in on the action with the Lost Masters gathering at crossroads. Nomura cites a myth from American folklore of a young man making a deal with the devil to trade his soul for the ability to play the guitar at a crossroads.The first time a crossroads appears in Kingdom Hearts is in CoM, which is about losing something to gain something, says Nomura. And in fact, all subsequent appearances of crossroads have the same significance.Nomura then hints towards a similar Faustian bargain taking place in Kingdom Hearts 3 with the Lost Masters meeting up at crossroads.But wait when the Lost Masters gather at the crossroads in KH3, what is gained and what is lost? Thats a story for another time, Nomura concludes.Despite continuing these themes of crossroads across several Kingdom Hearts games, and potentially even in Kingdom Hearts 4, Nomura has previously stated that the next title will serve as a reset button for the franchise. This is to help new players get into the games without being overwhelmed with more than two decades worth of backstory.Since the original announcement of Kingdom Hearts 4 from all the way back in 2022, Square Enix has been quiet about the title. Rumours, on the other hand, have indicated that the game might be set for release later this year. Neither Nomura nor Square Enix have made any official announcement, however.Among the few details we know about Kingdom Hearts 4 is the fact that it is being developed in Unreal Engine 5. Square Enix has mentioned that this will help the game be several levels higher than its predecessors when it comes to the quality of lighting and detail.pic.twitter.com/KmxbWSPDBh KINGDOM HEARTS (@KINGDOMHEARTS) January 9, 2025