MacRumors is pleased to announce our Twelfth Annual MacRumors Blood Drive, throughout the month of May 2021. Our goal is to save lives by increasing the number of life-saving donations of blood, platelets, and plasma. While most blood drives are specific to a geographic location, our blood drive is online and worldwide.
Over the past 11 years, MacRumors Blood Drives have recorded donations of 827 units of blood, platelets, and plasma, and celebrated new signups for the organ donor and bone marrow registries. We've heard from people whose lives were saved by blood donations from strangers.
With a worldwide health crisis, blood donations are more important than ever. Donation centers have taken necessary precautions to protect donors.
This year we pay special tribute to user Timelordprime, whose MacRumors Blood Drive totals exceed 130 units of platelets and plasma. He will reach his 400th lifetime blood and platelet donation next month, having donated well over 500 units to strangers in need!
How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive - during May 2021
If you are an eligible donor, schedule a blood, platelet, or plasma donation (see FAQ), at any donation center near you. Then post in the MacRumors 2021 Blood Drive! thread to tell us about it. You'll be added to our Honor Roll.
Also post if you register as an organ donor or register for the bone marrow registry (see FAQ). You'll be added to our Honor Roll.
If you aren't eligible to donate or are deferred, please encourage someone else to make a donation, and let us know. If they donate, you'll both be added to our Honor Roll.
Share our message with friends, relatives, and followers. Thank the people who post in the MacRumors 2021 Blood Drive! thread.
How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive - from June 2021 to April 2022
In between the MacRumors Blood Drives each May, record your donations on our Team MacRumors page. We'll tally your donations and count them for the MacRumors Blood Drive next May.
Go to the Team MacRumors page and click PLEDGE TO GIVE BLOOD. (Bookmark the page for the future.)
Fill in your MacRumors username as your first name. Fill in @ macrumors as your last name.
In the comments field, tell us what type of donation and how many units, e.g., 1 unit of whole blood, 2 units of platelets, etc.
The email address and zip code fields don't matter. MacRumors won't use that information.
We look forward to another successful MacRumors Blood Drive.
Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
Saturday November 15, 2025 2:40 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is preparing for Tim Cook to step down as CEO of the company "as soon as next year," according to the Financial Times.
The company's board of directors and senior executives "recently intensified preparations for Cook to hand over the reins," the report said.
While the report said that Apple is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January, it went on to ...
Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone.
iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
Friday November 14, 2025 3:23 pm PST by Juli Clover
Most of Apple's Macs are slated to get M5 chips across 2026, and there's a possibility we'll even see the first M6 chips toward the end of the year. Updates are planned for everything from the MacBook Air to the Mac Studio.
MacBook Air (Early 2026)
The MacBook Air will be one of the first Macs to get a 2026 refresh, with an update planned for the first few months of the year. The MacBook...
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...
Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account.
In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
Walmart's Black Friday sale has officially kicked off today, with an online shopping event that's also seeing some matching deals in retail locations. There are quite a few major discounts in this sale, including savings on headphones, TVs, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...
Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose.
Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
Monday November 17, 2025 3:20 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers with the third beta of an upcoming iOS 26.2 update, and there are still new features that are being added with each beta that we get. We've rounded up all of the changes that Apple made in beta 3.
AirDrop
Apple added new AirDrop functionality, providing a way for two people to share files temporarily without having to add one another as contacts.
iOS 26.2...
For those of us in the UK who are gay/bisexual, note that the rules will soon be changing to lift the current wide-ranging ban on blood donations and replace it with a more granular assessment of risk.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55296525
Sadly not in time for this year’s MacRumours Blood Drive, but should be ready for the next one… :cool:
This is an unpopular opinion, but I think everyone should boycott blood donation.
The United States has absolutely absurd laws about who they ALLOW to donate that aren’t based in science, and they specifically disallow guys who are into other guys based on AIDS hysteria that lingers from the 80s (which is when these laws were concocted). Just because a guy has sex with dudes doesn’t mean he automatically has AIDS, and in any case, they test EVERY donation anyway. It’s just antagonistic Puritan policy that only serves to otherize a group of people.
And Macrumors’ little “if you’re deferred just go beg someone to donate on your behalf” line is garbage. You might as well be telling deferred people to say “hey pal I can’t donate blood because the government says my blood is contaminated, will you please go do it on my behalf since your blood is cleaner?”
If everyone stopped donating, politicians would probably feel more compelled to change the laws. If they don’t, then let them carry the guilt for the people who died because blood banks were empty.
Boycott blood drives.
I understand the rules need to change, but people will die without blood. So if you boycott you will get someone killed so that’s not the answer
This is an unpopular opinion, but I think everyone should boycott blood donation.
The United States has absolutely absurd laws about who they ALLOW to donate that aren’t based in science, and they specifically disallow guys who are into other guys based on AIDS hysteria that lingers from the 80s (which is when these laws were concocted). Just because a guy has sex with dudes doesn’t mean he automatically has AIDS, and in any case, they test EVERY donation anyway. It’s just antagonistic Puritan policy that only serves to otherize a group of people.
And Macrumors’ little “if you’re deferred just go beg someone to donate on your behalf” line is garbage. You might as well be telling deferred people to say “hey pal I can’t donate blood because the government says my blood is contaminated, will you please go do it on my behalf since your blood is cleaner?”
If everyone stopped donating, politicians would probably feel more compelled to change the laws. If they don’t, then let them carry the guilt for the people who died because blood banks were empty.
Boycott blood drives.
That makes zero sense. The issue is the absurd law, not the blood drive. You're protesting the wrong thing here.
For those of us in the UK who are gay/bisexual, note that the rules will soon be changing to lift the current wide-ranging ban on blood donations and replace it with a more granular assessment of risk.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55296525
Sadly not in time for this year’s MacRumours Blood Drive, but should be ready for the next one… :cool:
In my country (Belgium) gay people can only donate blood if they haven't been in a sexual relation for 1 year. Absurd.
