It’s almost time for Memorial Day weekend, and it may also be time for you to finally buy an Apple Watch Series 3. Most of the deals we’ve been seeing on Apple’s popular wearable focus on the Series 1, but Best Buy is selling the Series 3 for just $279 for the 38mm version and $309 for the 42mm version as part of its Memorial Day sale.

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These days it seems like Apple is always fighting several cases in court, but it’s rare that we hear much about them. In two separate cases presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh this week, however, quite a bit of news was made. In one, Apple won a bundle of money from Samsung. In another, it may have lost some face with its customers.

In the ongoing patent battle with Samsung that reaches way back to when Steve Jobs was still alive, a jury has awarded Apple $538.6 million in damages regarding the design of its phones. The jury took five days to decide the wide-ranging case that is as much about innovation as it is about rectangular pieces of glass.

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Six Sigma is a business management and improvement methodology that uses the following constructs to make changes to any process: Defining, Measuring, Analyzing, Improving, and Controlling. Also called DMAIC, Six Sigma measures the capability of a process to perform defect-free work with a minuscule failure rate of 3.4 parts per million, or 99.9997%. Lean Six Sigma combines Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to enhance performance by eliminating waste. You can now get all three of the Lean Six Sigma—Yellow, Black, and Green—Belt Training & Certification courses for just $49.99 (formally $1,200). That's an incredible 95% off retail.

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Legal music acquisition these days seems to be all about subscription services like Apple Music or Spotify, but there are still plenty of reasons to have lots of MP3 or AAC files lying around on your hard drive. Maybe you downloaded them from Bandcamp. Maybe you own CDs and ripped them yourself. Maybe you converted some old bootleg recording. Maybe they “fell off the truck.” 

Whatever reason you have an MP3 or AAC audio file you want to listen to on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll have to first transfer it there. Here’s how you do it.

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The recent 20-year anniversary of the iMac G3 reminded many folks that “fun” is as much a hallmark of Apple design as aluminum and understatement, and we were impressed by the response to our announcement that Spigen had released a series of iPhone cased that riffed off that colorful Mac’s quirky design. So get this: We’ve got one of those cases for the iPhone X that we’ve love to give to one of you.

And it’s a cool one, too. The case we’re giving away boasts the iconic blue-green “Bondi Blue” of the original iMac, and it’s the color that’s most likely to draw attention from fellow Apple admirers. At the time of writing, Spigen is selling the case for $25 as a part of its Indiegogo campaign. As the campaign continues over the next 23 days, the price will go up to at least $40.

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It’s that time of the year when we pull out our prognosticating hats—you were issued yours, right?—and try to imagine what Apple might announce a couple of weeks hence when they take the stage at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

The main event at WWDC is generally the future of Apple’s software platforms, most crucially macOS and iOS. So, with that in mind, it’s time to whip out that old standby: features that Apple’s platforms still need.

This week we’ll start with macOS, which just celebrated an important milestone, as the current generation of macOS (formerly OS X and Mac OS X) has now been shipping as long as the classic Mac OS was when Mac OS X first arrived on the scene. Seems like only yesterday, doesn’t it? 

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And just like that, Apple has killed the the Steam Link app. Earlier this month, Valve, the owner of the wildly popular gaming digital marketplace Steam, announced that it would soon release a Steam Link app that would allow players to stream games from gaming PCs directly to their iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs (as well as Android devices). The Android app made it into the wild last week, but for the last few days we’ve been patiently waiting for the app to make it through Apple’s approval process. This afternoon, Valve sent an email to Macworld letting us know that Apple had rejected it.

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Updated 05/24/18 to reflect the inventory change in the store, including stock of the iMac Pro.

Looking for a way to save some money on the latest Apple products? Consider a refurbished MacBook, refurbished iPhone, or refurbished iPad from the Apple Certified Refurbished store. A refurbished product is just like a new, but at a lower price.

Here’s a quick guide with links to the best deals you can find on the refurb store, along with a FAQ guide if you want to know more about the ins and outs of the Apple Certified Refurbished store and buying a refurbished MacBook, desktop Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

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Best Buy is having a big sale for Memorial Day, and we’re happy to see that some of its best deals focus on Apple products. Not only are there great deals on MacBook Pros (which, honestly, we’ve kind of come to expect from Best Buy sales at this point), but you’ll even find nice discounts on the iPhone 8/8 Plus and the HomePod. 

A few of these deals have been active for a couple of days now, but it’s nice to see them lumped together. You can get the most recent 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar (Core i7) for just $1,149.99 (down from $1,299.00), for example, and you can lop off an additional $50 if you qualify for student pricing. For that matter, you can save $200 on the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which brings the price down from $1,499.99 to $1,299.99. Other options are available as well.

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For the past several years, we’ve been reading reports about Apple’s ambitious self-driving car project. Dubbed Project Titan, the vision was once reportedly bolstered by a 1,000-plus member team tasked with building a vehicle that would be innovative and revolutionary, with an all-electric engine, luxurious amenities, and the smartest infotainment system on four wheels.

However, according to a new report by The New York Times, some things are too difficult even for Apple to conquer. For the past four years, Apple’s best engineers along with designer Jony Ive have been developing prototypes of a reimagined car worthy of the Apple name. As the Times describes it, the idea was to build a vehicle that would be “the automotive version of the iPhone.”

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High-end phones are a major investment, and a good case helps you protect that investment. If you’re looking to guard your phone from the wear and tear of daily abuse, you’re in luck—a ton of Caseology cases are on sale for up to 30% off on Amazon today.

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Anyone who spends even a few hours a week PC gaming needs a comfortable chair. While console gamers usually sprawl out on a couch, we the gamers of the PC are often stuck with office chairs unless we’re willing to shell out hundreds of dollars. Today, Amazon’s got a deal that will let you game like a pro without paying like a sucker.

The Essentials by OFM racing-style leather gaming chair in red is $68.84 right now. That’s $21 off its most recent price, and about the same amount you’d pay for a regular desk chair.

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Aura Premium uses cutting-edge AI that's designed to provide short, science-backed mindfulness meditation exercises every day, and now you can get lifetime access for $79.99.

With Aura Premium, you can choose 3- or 7- or 10-minute meditation durations depending on your availability and comfort. Once you complete an exercise, rate it, and Aura's AI will curate others like it to optimize your wellness journey. You can track your mood, learn about your mood patterns, and visually see yourself improve. Plus, Aura Premium also gives you daily reminders for mindful breathers to keep you centered.

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If you’re someone who does the writing of the things, you will eventually get on a PR mailing list or two. Or, well, more like 800. It’s closer to 800. Congratulations, you will never be alone. On the downside, your inbox will be buried with product announcements about which you could not care less. They all start something like this:

Hey, [MAIL MERGE FIELD #FIRSTNAME], hope you’re having the best day ever! I just wanted to see if you were interested in writing about the hottest new product to come out of the burgeoning field of hamster-related technologies. Starting with nothing but a loan of $1.5 million from their parents (and several subsequent runs of seed capital from angel investors) and working from a garage in Brentwood, these three techbros have created what Hamstertech Weekly called “Echo Show for hamsters”…

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As podcasts popularity continues to grow, the apps used to listen to those podcasts have matured. Apple offers its own free Podcasts app, but several freemium and paid options remain, each with their own approach and options. Supertop’s Castro stands out for its inbox approach, which allows triage for dealing with an abundance of podcast subscriptions.

The new Castro 3 adds requested features to the app, including a trim silences option (long available as Smart Speed in the competing Overcast app), as well as better chapter support, a rewritten voice enhancer, and per-podcast settings for several controls.

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Every day, Macworld brings you the essential daily news and other info about all things Apple. But staying on top of that torrent of information can be a constant challenge. One solution: the Macworld digital magazine.

In the June issue

We have the review of Apple’s new $329 iPad. Find out why the tablet is ‘pro’ enough for most of us. We also have a great roundup of all the best iPhone camera apps; which one is best for you?

Also in this month’s issue:

• MacUser: Read our 13-inch MacBook Pro battery replacement program FAQ. Plus, say goodbye to Apple's brushed-metal dinosaur, QuickTime Player 7.

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Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is coming soon, so where is iOS 11.4? There’s a movement for “sustainability in the App Store” for app developers. A new eGPU is on the market. We also talk about various other Apple news and feature your comments and questions for Jason Cross, Leif Johnson, Roman Loyola, and Dan Masaoka in the Macworld Podcast, episode 606.

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Smartphones make fantastic navigation tools while driving; alas, they’re also fantastically dangerous when you’re fumbling for a dropped iPhone on the floorboard so you can see if the upcoming exit is the correct one. With iOttie’s Easy One Touch 4 adjustable dashboard and windshield car mount, though, you’ll always have your maps easily visible with minimal danger. Even better, today you can get one for 20 percent off at Amazon.

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Late last year, Apple starting handing out $29 batteries to customers affected by unexpected shutdowns and slowdowns with their iPhone 6, 6s, and 7. That price represented a significant discount over the $79 Apple usually charges for a new battery, and customers predictably flocked to Apple stores to take advantage of the program.

But anyone who paid for a battery replacement before Dec. 29, 2017, was out of luck. While there were scattered reports of customers convincing Apple representatives to refund the money they paid for a replacement, there was no official way for customers to file for a refund, even if the battery replacement corrected the same issue covered by the new program.

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After admitting that it was purposefully throttling some older iPhones in order to conserve battery life, Apple has announced a new program that offers replacement batteries to all customers that may be affected. Here's everything you need to know about it.

Editor's note: Updated 5/23/18 with news that Apple is now offering a $50 refund to customers who replaced their battery last year.

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WWDC may be just around the corner, but once the iOS 12 dust clears all eyes will be on the next iPhone. With rumors suggesting three new models, including a 6.5-inch one, Face ID enhancements, and faster charging, there’s a lot to be excited about, but a new report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg suggests that the new iPhone could be revolutionary in a way most people might not even realize: the processor. iPhone supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has reportedly begun production on the processor for the next iPhone, and it could be an industry-first.

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The Motiv Ring is a stylish fitness tracker that shrinks down the guts of a traditional wearable to fit in a ring. The Motiv Ring blends into your wardrobe better than anything Fitbit has offered to date, but it’s a new device that’s severely lacking in app and community features—an area of strength of Fitbit.

In this review I’ll go over the Motiv Rings’ features and see how it stacks up versus the Fitbit Alta HR, a Huawei Honor Band 3, and a Fossil Q Founder smartwatch.

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Were I pressed to name a brand that pairs well with Apple products, Razer would be one of the last names to pass my lips. Its designs—which tend to favor mutagen-green lines snaking though sturdy plates of black metal and plastic—look better suited to the Borg than to the drawing board of Jony Ive. It’s a favored brand of the kind of gamers who lurk in the PC Master Race subreddit and make acidic quips about Apple, and for that matter, it caters to folks in love with resource-demanding PC games that often never get ported to the Mac.

And yet, for all that, the new Core X external graphics processing unit finds Apple and Razer as strangely accommodating bedfellows. In fact, after spending some time with it over the past few days, I feel comfortable in saying it’s even a better enclosure than the Sonnet Breakaway Boxes that Apple itself recommends.

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