MacRumors

Nvidia today announced the launch of a new higher-tier membership for its streaming gaming platform GeForce NOW, allowing gamers to get access to improved performance.

According to Nvidia, the GeForce NOW RTX 3080 membership provides gamers with access to the "greatest-ever generational leap in GeForce history," offering up the highest resolutions and fastest frame rates, plus low latency. Nvidia says the new gaming experience rivals the latest game consoles.

Each GeForce NOW cloud SuperPOD includes more than 1000 GPUs that deliver over 39 petaflops of graphics horsepower. Nvidia says each instance is 35 teraflops of performance, nearly 3x that of an Xbox Series X.

With the new membership tier, games can run at up to 1440p on Macs and PCs, and at up to 120 frames per second.

Access to the GeForce NOW RTX 3080 membership is priced at $99.99 for six months, which is introductory pricing. GeForce NOW founders and Priority members have early access to pre-order starting today, and pre-orders will open more broadly to all gamers later in the month. Quantities are limited.

At $99.99 for six months, access to the RTX 3080 rigs costs twice as much as the $49.99 priority membership. Those who choose the highest-tier plan get longer session allowances in addition to the higher quality streaming.

GeForce NOW offers several free games, but for the most part, titles need to be purchased to be played. GeForce NOW provides the gaming platform, but gamers need to supply their own games.

Apple device shortages threaten to undercut what could otherwise be a record-setting holiday season for the company, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Not long after Apple's iPhone 13 launch in September, shipping estimates for all models began slipping by several weeks. This trend was replicated for the iPad mini, ninth-generation iPad, Apple Watch Series 7, and most recently, Apple's new MacBook Pro models, all of which now show delivery times running into November or December. Even Apple's much-derided $19 polishing cloth is sold out until late next month.

Shipping delays for new Apple products aren't a new phenomenon, but several relatively older Apple products have been experiencing delayed shipping times since the first half of September, including the iPhone 11, iPhone 12, M1 Mac models, the 24-inch iMac, and across the Apple Watch lineup.

However, in a year when Apple should be seeing one of its largest product upgrade cycles ever, suppliers simply can't keep up with the pent-up demand.

The iPhone -- Apple’s flagship product, accounting for about half of its sales -- is the highest-profile case of shortages. One month after going on sale, the iPhone 13 Pro is hard to find in every color, configuration and size. That's not usually the case, according to Apple store employees, some of whom say they're increasingly dealing with frustrated customers.

The report highlights certain components that Apple has found particularly hard to get, including chips from Broadcom and Texas Instruments. During the company's third-quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that the chip shortage that has plagued the industry for the last few months would impact iPhone shipments this year.

While Cook was likely referencing constraints with the upcoming iPhone 13, the shortage appears to have crept into other product lines. Apple still has time to correct the supply-demand imbalance before the end of December, but Gurman's report suggests the delays in shipping older products are a "troubling sign."

On the positive side, Apple products like AirPods, the HomePod mini, AirTags, and the Apple TV remain available for near-immediate shipment, which Gurman describes as "stocking fillers" for those on the lookout for anything Apple-related to gift to someone this holiday season.

Apple Music subscribers who use Windows 11 and dislike accessing the service through iTunes or their browser can now run the ‌Apple Music‌ Android app on their desktop, thanks to the first preview release of Android apps support.

Microsoft released Windows 11 earlier this month, but its promised support for side-loading Android apps was delayed. That just got one step closer, however, with the first preview of the support now available to testers in the Beta Channel version of Windows 11, which means interested users need to opt into the Windows Insider program to gain access.

As it's a preview release, Microsoft has limited the number of Android apps that can be run on Windows 11, and has partnered with Amazon to make around 50 apps on the Amazon Appstore available to download and install. ‌Apple Music‌ isn't available on Amazon's Appstore, but it is possible to run the app using the app's APK and the Windows Subsystem for Android.

The process is a little convoluted for casual users, but for anyone who is not a fan of iTunes and doesn't like running ‌Apple Music‌ through a browser, it should provide a nice alternative.

Late last month, Apple issued an unusual standalone software update to macOS users called "Device Support Update," which it said was to "ensure proper updating and restoring for iOS and iPadOS devices with Mac."

While no other details were provided, it was assumed that the update added support for recently released devices, including iPhone 13 models, the new iPad mini, and the ninth-generation iPad. Still, the update was the first of its kind to come through System Preferences -> Software Update, which made some users curious about it.

Usually when you connect an iPhone, ‌iPad‌, or iPod touch to a Mac, a dialog pops up from an app called MobileDeviceUpdater that says "A software update is required to connect" to your iOS device. This normally happens when the device has been independently updated with a newer version of iOS or iPadOS that the Mac doesn't recognize, indicating that the download is required for your Mac to communicate with the device.

It looks as if Apple has now chosen to reduce the reliance on MobileDeviceUpdater by automatically delivering these downloads when they are ready via Software Update, so users no longer have to wait until they plug in an iOS device to get what is now referred to as a "Device Support Update." The change is likely an effort to reduce the frequency of the MobileDeviceUpdater dialog popping up upon connecting a device, which may strike some users as some sort of malware.

The change was helpfully confirmed by Tidbits' Adam Engst, who sat on the mysterious Device Support Update for a week or two to verify what it was.

I got that chance today when I plugged in my iPad Pro and got the usual MobileDeviceUpdater dialog. I made sure that Software Update was still offering me Device Support Update, and then I allowed the MobileDeviceUpdater dialog to update my Mac. After closing and reopening Software Update, the Device Support Update option was gone, confirming that they're one and the same.

As Engst notes, this isn't an earth-shattering discovery, but it's good to know what happens when installing future Device Support Updates from Software Update: They don't require a reboot, and users will still get a MobileDeviceUpdate dialog the next time they plug in their device if they haven't got around to installing the update.

Beats apparently has some new earbuds on the way, as assets bundled in the release candidate version of iOS 15.1 this week revealed upcoming "Beats Fit Pro" wireless earphones that look similar to the recently launched Beats Studio Buds but with wingtips for additional support in the ear.

Rumors suggest the Beats Fit Pro should launch around November 1, but at least one celebrity has gotten her hands on them a bit early, as Kim Kardashian was photographed out and about today wearing the purple version of the earbuds, as shared by Just Jared.

The photos give us our first real-world look at the Beats Fit Pro as they are worn. As with the Beats Studio Buds released a few months ago, the Beats Fit Pro appear to protrude from the ear a fair amount, so the wingtips should help with comfort by helping to ease pressure on the ear canal.

Beats Fit Pro will reportedly have Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) with Transparency mode, and they appear to have similar Beats "b" logo buttons on the exterior for controls as on the Beats Studio Buds.

Apple's next-generation AirPods Pro are rumored to adopt a stemless design that may resemble the Beats Studio Buds or Beats Fit Pro, but they reportedly won't be launching until sometime next year.

Multiple benchmarks have already given us a general estimate of the CPU performance of the M1 Max chip, but we've had little insight into GPU performance. The ‌M1 Max‌ is equipped with up to 32 graphics cores, marking a vast improvement over the 8-core GPU of the M1, which was Apple's first chip.

The first Metal benchmark for the ‌M1 Max‌ surfaced this afternoon, with the chip earning a score of 68870. Comparatively, the ‌M1‌ chip in the 13-inch MacBook Pro has a Metal score of 20581, and the Radeon Pro 5600M, which was the highest-end GPU option for the prior Intel-based 16-inch model, has a Metal score of 42510.

Compared to the fastest chip available in Apple's previous-generation 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, the ‌M1 Max‌ is 62 percent faster, and it's 3x faster than the ‌M1‌ chip in the 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, based on the Metal score we have so far.

It's not clear if this ‌M1 Max‌ chip is the 24-core variant or the 32-core variant. This is also just one result, so we should be able to get a better picture of the graphics performance when additional benchmarks are available.

According to Apple, the 32-core GPU in the ‌M1 Max‌ is up to 4x faster than the ‌M1‌. Apple has said that the chip delivers performance "comparable to a high-end GPU in a compact pro PC laptop" while consuming up to 40 percent less power.

Since we last shared CPU benchmarks for the ‌M1 Max‌/Pro chip, several additional results have surfaced. Comparing multiple benchmarks, the ‌M1 Max‌/Pro earns an average single-core score 1742 and an average multi-core score of 12135.

The chip has the highest single-core score of any Mac to date, and it is only beaten in multi-core performance by the 16, 18, 24, and 28-core Intel Xeon chips used in the higher-end iMac Pro and Mac Pro models.

Following in the footsteps of the macOS Monterey release candidate seeded earlier this week, Apple has released a fourth beta version of Safari 15.1 for macOS Big Sur and Catalina to developers that restores the previous tab design that was in place prior to Safari 15.

Safari 15.1 now features a standard Big Sur tab design, which is enabled by default and is labeled "Separate" in Safari preferences. For those who preferred the Safari 15 design rolled out last month, there is also a "Compact" option that merges the URL bar with the tab bar.

As with Safari in the macOS Monterey release candidate, the new Safari 15.1 beta also scales back on the option to have the Safari window chrome blend in with websites, moving the option to the Accessibility section of the Advanced page in Safari preferences and limiting it to only the Compact Tab Bar design.

With the public release of Safari 15.1 in macOS Monterey, Big Sur, and Catalina, Apple is scaling back on many of the design changes made in Safari 15, which was released for those macOS versions last month alongside iOS and iPadOS 15. Many users were unhappy with those design changes, so Apple will now be offering them as an option rather than the default or only layout.

Registered developers can download the new Safari 15.1 beta by logging in to Apple's developer downloads portal and then navigating to the More Downloads section. The latest version of macOS Big Sur or macOS Catalina is required to install the beta.

AppleCare+ for the new 16-inch MacBook Pro is priced at $399, which is a $20 increase over the cost of ‌AppleCare‌ for the prior-generation 16-inch model. ‌AppleCare‌+ for the 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ is priced at $279, which is a $10 increase over the cost of ‌AppleCare‌+ for the prior-generation 13-inch Intel machine.

Those who are picking up one of the new M1 Pro or M1 Max ‌MacBook Pro‌ models may want to consider ‌AppleCare‌+ given the high price of the machines and the fact that they are the first generation of a new design, which can sometimes lead to issues.

‌AppleCare‌+ extends repair and support coverage for a ‌MacBook Pro‌ to three years, along with protection from two incidents of accidental damage every 12 months. For accidental damage, a deductible must be paid, but for manufacturing issues, Apple will cover repairs at no cost.

While ‌AppleCare‌+ is priced at $279/$399 for the new Macs, there are also renewable annual payments available at $150 for the 16-inch machine or $100 for the 14-inch machine, which will continue to be available until canceled. Apple also allows Apple Card customers to pay ‌AppleCare‌+ fees in monthly installments.

Apple has not provided details on what it will cost to repair a 14-inch or 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ outside of the warranty period and with no ‌AppleCare‌+. ‌AppleCare‌+ can be purchased when buying a new ‌MacBook Pro‌ or within 60 days of receiving one of the new machines.

Apple corporate employees who are unvaccinated or who have not shared their vaccination status with Apple will need to undergo a COVID-19 test each time they come into the office, reports Bloomberg.

An employee going into the office on a daily basis would need to be tested each day of the week under the new rules. Apple is still stopping short of implementing a vaccine mandate that would require employees to be vaccinated to return to the office. Apple corporate employees that have been vaccinated will need to do a rapid test once per week.

As for retail staff, unvaccinated employees will need to test twice per week instead of on a daily basis, and vaccinated retail employees will need to take a rapid test once per week.

Employees submitting to testing will be able to use at-home rapid tests that can be picked up from Apple's corporate offices and retail stores. Tests take 15 minutes and require employees to self-report the results.

Many other tech companies have implemented vaccine mandates, which Apple has declined to do so far, but as Bloomberg points out, Apple may soon need to change its rules. The Biden administration is requiring all federal contractors to require their employees to be vaccinated by December 8, and Apple sells products to the government.

Apple has asked employees to provide their vaccination status by October 24, and they'll also need to provide proof in the near future. The new testing requirements go into effect on November 1.

Apple is now planning for employees to return to the office at least three days per week starting in January.

The $19 "Polishing Cloth" that Apple introduced alongside the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models has proven to be wildly popular, and it is now sold out until the end of December/early January.

Orders placed today have delivery estimates ranging from December 20 to January 17, so those who hoped to purchase one for use with their new ‌MacBook Pro‌ or another Apple device will need to wait for two to three months.

Made from a "soft, nonabrasive material," the cloth is suitable for Apple displays, including the nano-texture glass of the Pro Display XDR. It can also be used with the mini-LED display of the new ‌MacBook Pro‌ models and all of Apple's iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

As of right now, the Polishing Cloth is available exclusively from the online store, and it is not available in Apple's retail locations or from third-party companies. Apple may potentially start selling the cloth in stores at some point, but for now, those hoping for a cloth will need to wait patiently.

Update Oct 21 7:48 a.m.: Shipping estimates have now slipped to 10–12 weeks, pushing deliveries into early January.

In late 2021, Apple announced a major update for its standard AirPods, with the new earbuds featuring spatial audio, Adaptive EQ, force sensor controls, sweat and water resistance, MagSafe charging, and more.

Should you consider purchasing the $179 third-generation AirPods, or do you need the higher-end AirPods Pro, which sell for $249? Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these sets of AirPods is best for you.

Comparing the AirPods and AirPods Pro

The AirPods and AirPods Pro share a large number of important features such as spatial audio, sweat and water resistance, and the H1 chip. Apple lists these identical features of the two devices:

Similarities

• Custom high-excursion Apple driver
• Custom high dynamic range amplifier
• Motion-detecting accelerometers
• Speech-detecting accelerometers
• Dual beamforming microphones
• Inward-facing microphones
• Force sensors
• Bluetooth 5.0
• H1 chip
• Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking
• Adaptive EQ
• Hey Siri
• Automatic device switching
• Live Listen audio
• Headphone levels
• IPX4 sweat and water resistance
• ‌MagSafe‌ Charging Case
• Five minutes in the case provides around one hour of listening time or around 1 hour of talk time
• Personalized engraving option

Apple's breakdown shows that the two sets of AirPods a share large number of key features. Even so, there are some meaningful differences between them that are worth highlighting, including design and Active Noise Cancellation.

Differences

➜ Click here to read more...

Apple's product design has improved since former design chief Jony Ive left the company in 2019, according to an opinion column by Bloomberg reporter Alex Webb.

Webb believes that Apple has reemphasized function over form since Ive's departure. For example, while the design of the previous Siri Remote for the Apple TV made it easy to pick up the remote upside down by accident, a new Siri Remote was released in May with an improved design and added power and mute buttons for a TV.

There's also the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models this week, which feature the return of several ports that Apple had removed in 2016, including an HDMI port, an SD card slot, and MagSafe. Function over form certainly applies here, as the new MacBook Pro models are slightly thicker and heavier than the previous-generation models, but gain back expanded connectivity that many professional users appreciate having.

Webb argued that the flat edges on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models also prioritizes function over form, arguing that the curved edges on previous iPhones made the display prone to cracking if the devices were dropped on their sides.

"There is merit in sometimes listening to your customers, particularly when the pendulum has swung too far away from function and towards form," wrote Webb. "After all, you're liable to lose professional customers – architects, musicians, film-makers – if they can't plug their laptops into external monitors. And professional users can afford to pay for the top-of-the-range devices that are more profitable to Apple."

Webb acknowledges that perhaps at least some of these design changes would have happened under Ive, but he ultimately feels there has been a change of philosophy.

We also think it's worth noting that Ive might have had a hand in designing some of the aforementioned products before his departure, and possibly even after given that Apple announced it would remain a primary client of Ive's independent design firm LoveFrom. Apple said that Ive was involved with the design of the colorful 24-inch iMac released last April, well over a year after he departed the company.

Of course, as Webb notes, Apple would not be the same today without Ive, a highly-respected creative who helped design some of the company's most iconic products, ranging from the iMac and iPod to the iPhone and iPad.

The Box desktop experience for Mac users has been improved with the adoption of Apple's File Provider Extension APIs, which will offer a more secure and simple setup system for Mac users.

Box Drive users who have Macs can expect full support for Apple silicon, a more seamless experience thanks to Finder integration, and compatibility with the upcoming macOS Monterey release.

The update also brings a streamlined install experience for Box Drive on Macs, and broader application compatibility.

Box says that the updated architecture will allow it to build new Box Drive capabilities on macOS more quickly going forward. The updated Box Drive experience for Macs is available today for all users on macOS Big Sur 11.5 and later and macOS Monterey.

Known for its range of battery pack options and other Apple accessories, Hyper just recently launched its newest products, the HyperJuice 245W USB-C Battery Pack and 245W GaN charger.

Hyper says that the 245W GaN Charger and Battery Pack are more powerful than four 61W chargers because at 245W, it's capable of charging up to four laptops at the same time.

The Battery Pack features four 100W USB-C ports and it can provide a maximum of 245W for various devices. So you can charge four 61W MacBook Pro models all at the same time, or do a 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, an iPad, an iPhone, and another accessory all at full charging speeds.

It's a 100Wh battery so though it provides up to 245W, it can still be brought on an airplane. The Battery Pack has enough juice to charge a ‌MacBook Pro‌ or MacBook Air up to two times with 27,000mAh capacity.

A built-in OLED display lets you know your battery status, providing real-time battery information like charging status, capacity, time to recharge, and the power being drawn from each port.

With the 245W GaN charger or any 100W USB-C PD charger, the battery pack can be charged up in as little as an hour.

Hyper is offering the new products on Indiegogo, and pricing for the battery pack starts at $149, while pricing on the 245W GaN charger starts at $99. A combo deal is available with Hyper offering both the battery pack and charger for $239.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Indiegogo. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Apple today informed developers about a Tech Talks 2021 venture, which will allow developers to connect with Apple experts in more than 100 live online sessions and 1,500 available office hour appointments.

Apple says that developers can use the sessions to dive into technical content, get answers to questions, and seek one-on-one meetings for guidance. Sessions will be held online from Apple locations around the world in multiple time zones, including Bengaluru, India; Cupertino, California; London; Mexico City; São Paulo; Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai; Singapore; Sydney; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Tokyo.

"Every single day, developers around the world are creating incredible apps and games for our platforms, and it's our goal to provide them with every resource we can to help make the hard work they put in that much easier and more impactful," said Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "Our team is looking forward to connecting with even more developers around the world so we can better support the important work of this incredibly valued community, and listen to and learn from them."

Live sessions will provide developers with details on how to integrate the latest technologies into their apps, while 30 minute office hour sessions can be used to make app improvements, design revisions, and bug fixes.

Tech Talks will take place from October 25 to December 17, and developers can register for sessions and submit office hour requests starting today. The first Tech Talks will start on October 25 and new sessions and office hours will be posted every two weeks.

Bonhams today announced that it will be auctioning several rare prototype Apple devices on November 3, including an unreleased VideoPad.

The VideoPad was intended to be a personal digital assistant (PDA) device similar to Apple's Newton MessagePad series, with Apple testing three versions of the device between 1993 and 1995, including the VideoPad 1, VideoPad 2, and VideoPad 3, according to Bonhams. The auction company says the VideoPad 2 headed to auction is the only surviving concept prototype, and it is estimated to fetch up to $12,000.

The three VideoPad prototypes were based on a conceptual design sketch drawn by Apple's former CEO John Sculley, but the devices were ultimately scrapped by Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple in the late 1990s, according to Bonhams.

The prototype VideoPad 2 features a hinged flip-top design with two screens, although the top screen appears to be missing. The device was apparently going to have a built-in camera for video conferencing, two speakers, a memory card slot, a power socket, and a phone line input, but it was ultimately never released to the public.

The prototype was purchased from an Apple engineer in Palo Alto in 1999, and it comes in its original black leather carrying case with the Newton logo, according to Bonhams. More details are available on the auction website.

Also headed to auction is an early prototype of the original Macintosh, an early prototype of the original iPad, and a handwritten letter from Steve Jobs.

Twelve South today launched the PowerPic Mod Wireless Charger ($59.99), which is a Qi-enabled charging stand that doubles as a picture frame. Unlike the previous model, the new device is made of a magnetic lucite frame, which detaches to fit any 4x6 photo.

The frame can be positioned vertically or horizontally, and it will require a 20W USB-C power adapter, which is not included. The accessory can charge any smartphone that supports Qi charging, as well as devices like the AirPods Pro.

Similar to the previous model, the idea behind the PowerPic Mod is to hide a wireless charger within an unassuming piece of home decor. Twelve South says that the device works well on desks, bedside tables, and in kitchens.

The PowerPic Mod will charge at 7.5W max speed for Apple devices. You can get the PowerPic Mod in White or Black today on Twelve South's website for $59.99.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Twelve South. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros include entirely new designs and a new chassis, and one improvement of the newer chassis compared to its predecessor is improved thermals.

Apple says that the new thermal system in its latest high-end MacBooks is capable of moving 50% more air at lower fan speeds. While the new thermal design is greatly improved, the efficiency of the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips mean that for most customers, the "fans never turn on" for tasks done daily, according to Apple.

Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, touted during this week Apple's event that the new chassis was designed with an "intense focus on performance and utility." The new MacBook Pros are "precisely machined around an advanced thermal system," he added. All in all, the new thermal architecture allows the new MacBook Pros to maintain high performance over more extended periods, without overheating or requiring the fans to turn on at higher speeds.

The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, both configurable with the ‌M1 Pro‌ or ‌M1 Max‌ chips, are currently available for pre-order and will begin shipping to customers next week. Catch up on everything you need to know about these new MacBook Pros using our roundup.