Heading into the weekend, all of today’s best deals are headlined by a rare $200 discount on Apple’s new M2 MacBook Pro. You can also save on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard at $299, as well as on M1 MacBook Air at $850. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

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A new helpful Today at Apple tutorial video has been released today. The latest has Apple Creative Pros Jahmyra and David teaming up with professional photographer Eddy Chen to explore how to capture and edit “Dramatic Summer Light” with your iPhone camera.

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One of the controversial changes in macOS Ventura is the new System Settings application, which takes the place of the iconic System Preferences app. Another macOS app overdue for a revamp is Contacts, and a new concept from Basic Apple Guy imagines what that might look like…

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Apple today premiered Luck, its first feature film released as part of an exclusive deal with Skydance Animation. The multi-year deal will see Skydance produce 3D animated movies and TV shows exclusively for Apple TV+.

Skydance is headed up by long-time Pixar veteran John Lasseter (who left the company a few years ago following incidents of professional misconduct), and has brought many high-profile Pixar producers along for the ride, as they look to recreate the Pixar formulae independent of Disney.

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Apple Watch Series 8 will be announced at the iPhone 14 event in September. In the meantime, Twitter user and “time traveler from Earth 616” @VNchocoTaco aka ShimpApplePro has shared what they’re hearing about the lineup. Details include Apple Watch Series 8 colors, production timing, and more.

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A scandal surrounding the use of NSO’s Pegasus spyware by Israel’s police has provided a rare look at early screenshots of the app in action when remotely accessing a compromised smartphone.

A series of screenshots show the spyware doing everything from displaying the contents of WhatsApp messages to activating the camera to spy on the owner’s surroundings …

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We’ve seen the results of a whole bunch of benchmarks measuring M2 Mac speeds in the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. We can now add web browsing speed into the mix – for whatever that’s worth.

On the one hand, web browsing is probably the single most frequent activity on a Mac. On the other, the speed of the browser itself pales when compared to your connection speed, and the speed of the webserver at the other end. There’s a third real-life factor too …

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The post Not that it much matters, but M2 Mac speeds for web browsing are the fastest ever seen appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Amazon is making another acquisition to shake up the smart home industry and further expand its presence inside your home. The company announced on Friday that it is dropping $1.7 billion to acquire iRobot, the makers of the .

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US consumers are downloading fewer mobile games this year than last, thanks to a combination of factors, including the end of COVID restrictions, and rapidly-rising inflation.

Of 14 mobile games genres tracked by app analytics company Sensor Tower, only one saw increased downloads in the first half of 2022, and there were steep declines in most others …

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In May, the privacy-first browser DuckDuckGo suffered backlash from the community after a publication posted that while the browser blocked Google and Facebook trackers, it allowed Microsoft trackers to continue running.

At the time, the company’s CEO made a statement about what was happening – by saying it wasn’t allowing all or even most Microsoft tracking attempts in its browsers – and promised changes. Now, DuckDuckGo is announcing increased protection from Microsoft trackers through its browsing apps.

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Apple has reportedly warned suppliers about a further act of Chinese revenge for this week’s controversial visit to Taiwan by the speaker for the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. China’s response may disrupt shipping of iPhones and/or their components.

China has expressed its extreme displeasure at the visit, applying a whole raft of measures – ranging from imposing sanctions on Pelosi and her family, to live-fire military exercises within Taiwan’s waters. Now a further measure of revenge has been revealed which is reportedly disrupting iPhone production …

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New family animated movie Luck debuts today on Apple TV+. This is Apple’s first 3D animated feature film, made in partnership with Skydance Animation, as Apple looks to compete against Pixar for the prestige of top-tier animated movies. Here’s how to watch Luck.

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Despite Apple’s claims that the App Store is a “safe place you can trust,” it seems that some developers still find ways to bypass the company’s review process to distribute fraudulent apps to iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. This time, a researcher identified as “Privacy1St” (Alex Kleber) has shared a report about multiple Chinese apps that have fooled the App Store review team.

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OBS is one of the most popular apps for livestreaming. Although the app has been available for macOS users for quite a while, the current version of OBS is only fully compatible with Intel Macs. Luckily, this is about to change. The platform this week released the first beta of OBS Studio 28, which not only adds new features but also runs natively on Apple Silicon Macs.

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Back in June, Twitter began rolling out a new feature called “Location Spotlight” to a limited number of professional accounts so that these accounts could have location and contact information on their profile. Starting today, Twitter now lets any business account use the new Location Spotlight feature.

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mophie is out with five new Apple accessories today from a sharp portable battery that can power up a MacBook to a new 4-port 120W GaN charger, to a fresh lineup of single and dual USB-C car chargers. Along with direct availability, the new accessories are all being sold by Apple.

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Google’s latest earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro, are well positioned to be a strong competitor to Apple’s AirPods Pro, especially for Android owners. But which set will take the crown as the better noise canceling earbuds? Let’s break it down.

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Apple’s partner bank for the Apple Card, Goldman Sachs, has disclosed that it is facing an investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The investigation is focused on Goldman’s credit card account management practices in the United States, of which Apple Card is a major component.

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Apple is rolling out a new firmware update for its Studio Display today. As we’ve reported before, the Studio Display runs firmware based on iOS and is powered by an A13 Bionic chip inside. This combination allows Apple to roll out firmware updates to the Studio Display, and today’s update is referred to as Apple Studio Display Firmware Update 15.5.

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The M2 MacBook Air brings a totally refreshed design and new chip to Apple’s entry level laptop. But at an increased price with a slower SSD and possible overheating, is it worth it to choose the M2 Air over the cheaper M1 Air?

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