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 This week's best deals include all-time low prices on AirPods 4 and Apple Watch SE, plus great deals on the M4 MacBook Air and Apple Pencil Pro.
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But look on the bright side: the most onerous of President Trump's tariffs have yet to take effect, so there are plenty of reasonably priced alternatives to consider.
Belkin stopped selling some of these Wemo products several years ago, but the company continued to operate the servers they depended on. After January of next year, however, you won't be able to operate them at all using the Wemo app or with any third-party services.
These recommendations are based on my assumption that you'll want to replace your Wemo devices with something equally simple, so I won't get into every alternative, including some that might be more appealing to smart home power users. I will, however, help you minimize the brands you buy into, so you don't need to juggle lots of smart home apps.
There are some cases where that won't be possible, however, because I'm recommending Lutron products as my top picks in many categories, and Lutron doesn't make smart bulbs or indoor smart plugs that can handle small appliances. Lutron also doesn't currently support Matter, if that's important to you (it's not to me).
If you're using Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, or Google Home, using more than one app isn't all that onerous once you've set up a given product and perhaps set up some on/off schedules, because most of your interactions with it will involve using voice commands. You'll find you won't need to rely on those apps all that much.
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Microsoft's newly published support document (found by Windows Central) is significant in that Microsoft is no longer selling video content via the Microsoft Store. It follows Microsoft's decision to stop selling music as part of its Groove Music services, which was shuttered in 2017.
But Microsoft's decision to stop providing movies and TV shows to rent or buy probably should be met with a shrug. Several streaming movie services already show movies just weeks after they're released in the box office, with rumors that the recent Superman release might be opened to streaming services just 45 days after first appearing in movie theaters. Microsoft doesn't offer a streaming service; instead, it provides direct sales and rentals to consumers. Plenty of services already do that.
So what will happen to movies and TV shows that you've already purchased? For now, they'll remain on Microsoft's servers. Microsoft's support document indicates that you'll be able to continue playing them
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When generating an image with ChatGPT, you will soon be able to select "Save without watermark" in the menu behind the three dots in the top-right corner of the app. Obviously, this feature would be rather useless if images weren't going to be watermarked.
Will all users be able to save images without watermarks? We don't know yet. Android Authority speculates that the feature may sit behind a paywall and only be available to paid ChatGPT subscribers.
None of this has been announced or confirmed by OpenAI as of this writing, and it's possible this feature won't make it through to the stable release versions of ChatGPT at all. We'll have to wait and see.
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The latest news is that Microsoft will be upping the "static analysis" requirements for driver certification, a move meant to improve the security and stability of Windows 11 25H2.
According to the Windows Driver Developer blog post from earlier this week, all drivers will be required to undergo a so-called static analysis. "Static analysis is a foundational requirement of Windows Hardware Compatibility Program," says the post. "The validation … [identifies] potential issues in driver code before deployment."
In other words, companies that want their hardware designated as reliably compatible with Windows 10 and 11 will need their drivers reviewed and validated by Microsoft.
Windows 11 25H2 will probably be released at the end of September, but expect the rollout to take a number of months.
Download and install the free app Time Lapse Creator.
Select either Import Folder or Import Files to sel
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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we catch up on all of the latest rumors about Apple's first foldable iPhone amid a multitude of reports about the device and its launch firming up for next year.
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 Amazon is discounting the 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE to $169.00 today, down from $249.00. This is a match for the best price that we've ever seen on the Apple Watch SE, and it's available in Starlight, Silver, and Midnight Aluminum color options.
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 Today is World Emoji Day, and Emojipedia's dedicated Emojitracker has a real-time list of the emoji that are most popular in the United States and other countries. Here are the top 10 most popular emoji in the U.S.:
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The Federal Communications Commission will be required to auction off public airwaves on the 6GHz band used by the latest Wi-Fi routers.
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This isn't a major multi-port hub or bulky docking station. Those might be great for home offices and turning your laptop into a full-blown workstation, but this miniature adapter is way smaller and more portable. You can slip it into your pocket and take it with you anywhere, allowing you to turn your laptop's USB-C port into a 4K HDMI port on demand.
Instead of fiddling around with wireless casting (which may or may not be compatible all the time) or struggling to find a large-enough hub to connect that screen to your laptop, you can just plug this thing in. It's short and it's covered with braided nylon, which helps it endure tons of bends and the wear-and-tear of travel in a backpack or pocket.
It supports monitors with resolutions up to 4K@60Hz, so it will serve you well with most displays excluding gaming monitors. It's compatible with Windows laptops, MacBooks, iPads, Galaxy phones, Chromebooks, and supports Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.
Snag your own Anker USB-C to HDMI adapter for 40% off before this limited-time deal vanishes into thin air! Remember, this is a Prime-exclusive promo, so if you aren't a Prime member yet, start a 30-day free trial to take advantage of this excellent deal.
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 The AirPods market appears to be flatlining in the United States, but the launch of AirPods Pro 3 later this year could boost sales, a new report claims.
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A hacker has exploited a vulnerability in TeleMessage to breach the service and steal data, according to reporting by 404 Media. TeleMessage is an Israeli company that provides modded versions of encrypted messaging apps like Signal and Telegram.
It was revealed last week that former US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz used TeleMessage's modified version of Signal to archive messages. Today's report indicated the presence of other high-ranking government officials in archived chats on the app, including Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard and Vice President JD Vance.
The unnamed hacker was able to access archived chats, but it doesn't look like they got into any of Waltz's conversations. The hack does, however, prove that the app's message archiving service is not end-to-end encrypted.
The hacker also accessed contact information of government officials, login credentials for TeleMessage and data pertaining to the US Customs and Border Protection agency. Some businesses who use the service, like Coinbase and Scotiabank, were also hacked. 404 Media spoke to the anonymous hacker, who said the whole thing only "took about 15-20 minutes" and that it "wasn't much effort at all." TeleMessage's parent company Smarsh has yet to comment on the matter.
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