December 21, 1994: Mac gamers get their hands on Marathon, a sci-fi first-person shooter designed as an answer to the massive success of PC title Doom.

Created by Bungie, the team that would later make the Halo games, Marathon introduces important features to the FPS genre. Just as importantly, it isn’t available on PC. Marathon quickly becomes a favorite among Mac gamers.

A little-known feature in macOS lets you share your Mac’s screen to someone else’s Mac directly from the Messages app — no third-party apps or downloads required. It’s great if you need to give tech support to a far-off family member in a pinch. Often, you just need to see what’s happening instead of counting on what your dear old father is trying to describe over the phone.

Get him to share his Mac’s screen with you, and you likely can solve his problem quickly. Even better, it’s not complicated setting up screen sharing on a Mac like it is on a PC. It takes only a few clicks in the Messages app. Let me show you all around this awesome hidden feature.

Want to extend your AirTag’s battery life to 10 years and keep the tracker dry and concealed? Well, that’s easy to do with ElevationLab’s innovative new TimeCapsule AirTag battery case. The weatherproof case keeps an AirTag safe and sound — and frees you from swapping out the Apple tracking tag’s coin-shaped batteries every year.

When you run a ton of peripherals with your Mac, how do keep it all connected and running smoothly? Well, today’s featured M4 Pro Mac mini user drives a pair of 4K external displays, runs a power hub and input devices, and keeps backups on portable storage devices. And they keep it connected without a hitch using the well-regarded CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 hub named “Element.”

December 20, 1996: Apple Computer buys NeXT, the company Steve Jobs founded after leaving Cupertino a decade earlier.

The deal costs Apple $429 million. It’s a massive price to pay for the failing NeXT, a computer company that already saw its hardware division crash and burn. But the price is worth it when you consider what Apple gets as part of the deal: the return of Steve Jobs.

Like Santa Claus and his reindeer, here comes the festive CdkeySales Christmas Sale! You can nab an incredible deal on Windows 11 Pro and score savings on other Microsoft software. The sale slashes some prices by up to 91%! And since the latest Windows 12 rumors indicate Microsoft won’t release its next big operating system update until late 2025, you can update your PC now the quick and easy way rather than waiting. Just buy a Windows 11 CD key on sale during the CdkeySales event.

You can get great deals on upgrade-ready Microsoft productivity software like Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office. Savings include Windows 10 Pro for just $17.05 — with a free upgrade to Windows 11 Pro.

Popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee recognized Apple’s iPhone 16 series in two significant categories in his much-anticipated 2024 smartphone awards Thursday. No one will be shocked to hear iPhone 16 Pro won for Best Camera in the MKBHD Smartphone Awards 2024. But some might raise an eyebrow to learn iPhone 16 won for Best Small Phone.

And no iPhone took the coveted MKBHD Phone of the Year prize. That went to the “boring” Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which also won Best Big Phone.

ChatGPT’s Mac app is getting a big usability boost. It will now work directly with coding and note-taking apps, including Apple Notes, Notion, and others.

Previously, the ChatGPT Mac app could only see, read, and improve code in XCode, Terminal, and selected other apps.

If you love a good nature documentary — especially because the photography is so mind-blowing nowadays — you’re in for a treat with The Secret Lives of Animals. Apple TV+ dropped an official trailer for it recently (see below). The 10-part series is now streaming, as of Wednesday, December 18.

“Welcome to a world beyond imagination, where fish can fly and lizards walk on water,” the trailer’s voiceover says, as those images appear onscreen. “Animals do the most remarkable things at every stage of their lives.”

Update: The Secret Lives of Animals 10-part docuseries started streaming on Apple TV+ Wednesday.

The Mac pointer (also called the cursor) is black with a white outline by default, but you can change the pointer color if you want to make it more prominent. Plus, you can even change the Mac pointer size. 

You might lose track of the small cursor if you have low vision — or just a really big monitor. Making the pointer larger can make it easier to see. 

Changing the pointer color to, for instance, bright red can make it easier to see, too. You can choose any color, like light purple or green, to fit the aesthetic of your setup. (This is especially cool if you have a matching colorful iMac.)

Here’s how to change your Mac pointer size and color.

December 19, 2007: Apple settles a lawsuit with reporter Nick Ciarelli, resulting in the shuttering of Think Secret, his masssively popular Apple rumors website. Writing under the screen name Nick de Plume, the Harvard University student broke a number of Apple stories on the site, raising Cupertino’s ire.

The terms of Ciarelli’s settlement with Apple remain secret. In a statement, he says he will “be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”

International journalism organization Reporters Without Borders called Thursday for Apple to remove its new artificial intelligence-powered news notifications, following a complaint from the BBC over a wildly inaccurate news summary. Apple Intelligence’s notifications summary feature generated a misleading BBC News headline last week about a high-profile murder case in the United States, falsely stating the accused shooter had shot himself.

AirDrop and AirPlay are the latest Apple technologies the European Union wants to make more interoperable. This would give third-party developers, including rival handset makers, access to the tech.

But Apple is pushing back hard. Apple has made the jaw-dropping claim that opening up AirDrop and AirPlay would allow companies like Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) to read all your emails, messages, photos and even passwords!

The PowerBand is a sporty Apple Watch band that comes with a built-in magnetic Apple Watch charger. The clever design will help you deal with two of the smartwatch’s most annoying shortcomings: its so-so battery life and the fact that you can only top up the Apple Watch battery using a specific type of charger.

Right now, you can snag a PowerBand for only $39.99 (regularly $49.99). That’s less than the cost of many Apple Watch bands that don’t come with a secret charger built in.

Apple reportedly dropped a plan to offer the iPhone to customers as a monthly subscription. It would have allowed customers to pay for handsets as though they were a magazine or software, and upgrade annually.

Those feeling disappointed by the news likely aren‘t aware that Apple already offers a very similar payment plan.

There’s an important new reason you might put AirPods Pro 2 on your gift list this year. If you know someone who resists getting the hearing assistance they need, Apple’s wireless earbuds can change their life.

It’s not hype — AirPods Pro 2 really can help people with mild to moderate hearing loss thanks to a software update released this autumn.

December 18, 2006: Apple fans mourn the death of the iPhone before it even launches. Linksys begins selling a new handset called “iPhone,” Cupertino watchers must come to grips with the fact that Apple’s rumored smartphone probably won’t bear that name after all. How did this happen? Linksys’ parent company, Cisco Systems, owns the iPhone trademark.

While Apple previously released the iMac, iBook, iPod and iTunes, Cupertino didn’t own the name “iPhone.”

Apple just enhanced its web version of Apple Maps by adding a beta version of Look Around, a street-level view similar to Google Street View in Google Maps. The new functionality lets users explore high-resolution, ground-level views of cities and points of interest directly through their web browser. The Apple Maps app already has Look Around.

With all the mousing and typing people do, you’d think products designed for ergonomic comfort — and to help avoid repetitive-strain injuy — would crop up in more computer setups. Well, today’s MacBook Pro and Mac Pro rig answers the call. The user, a smarty-pants undergrad at Harvard, relies on a Logitech MX Vertical wireless mouse setup plus a Logitech Pop Keys Mechanical Keyboard for data input.

As federal authorities in the United States investigate China-based TP-Link over national security risks, a ban of the most widely used home and small business internet routers in this country becomes a possibility, according to a new report Wednesday. Any ban would most likely come under the new Trump administration

Being able to see your iPhone battery percentage right in the status bar is incredibly useful. You can keep an eye on it throughout the day if you’re getting low and need to top up.

The standard battery icon gives you a rough idea of where your iPhone stands. But instantly seeing the exact battery percentage number can give you peace of mind. It’s useful seeing the precise number without pulling down Control Center or checking a battery widget, wherever you are.

For those of you with real battery anxiety, you can even add a widget to your Lock Screen and Home Screen. I’ll show you how.

ChatGPT can work wonders, both professionally and personally — if you know how to create the perfect prompts. If you want to learn how to use the white-hot AI chatbot to maximum effect, the Ultimate ChatGPT Prompts Guide is the perfect place to start.

Primed to help users maximize AI’s mighty potential, this guide to crafting ChatGPT prompts is available for just $24.97 (regularly $119). This resource is packed with advice, unlocking thousands of possibilities from the ever-advancing ChatGPT.

Is your home internet up to speed? If not, your Wi-Fi router could be to blame. Ensure you’re not lacking in that department by securing a deep discount on a HomeKit-compatible Linksys Velop mesh Wi-Fi setup.

Originally $299, you can get a two-pack of refurbished Linksys Velop tri-band Wi-Fi 5 routers for only $49.99. Score a pair of these Intelligent Mesh routers for less, and you should notice an immediate improvement in your in-home Wi-Fi performance.

Designer Basic Apple Guy, known for nifty wallpapers for Mac, iPhone and iPad screens, dropped his annual Apple Product Tier List Monday. The Apple product rankings give letter grades to everything the iPhone giant released in 2024. He considers M4/M4 Pro Mac mini the best of the best, by the way.

“For the third year in a row, I am once again painting a target on my head and releasing my tier rankings of the products Apple released in the 2024 calendar year,” he wrote. Undoubtedly, not everyone will love his choices, particularly those he grades in the low D and F tiers, but he takes care to explain them.

With purported details of the iPhone 17 Pro Max appearing online many months before the device’s launch, a Russian YouTube channel prepared renders that reveal what Apple’s next top-tier handset could look like.

Don’t expect last year’s model with just a few tweaks. According to rumors reflected in the new renders, 2025 will bring a substantial redesign, including potential changes to the humps on the device. Learn more about these design updates.