IDG

For this episode of the Macworld Podcast, we'll be discussing Epic Games' removal of the Infinity Blade series from the App Store and what it says about app maintenance and game preservation. We'll also be discussing The New York Times' report on how apps constantly track your location data, even when using an otherwise secure device like an iPhone. We'll then close by discussing the best Apple products to give as holiday gifts.

To read this article in full, please click here

And just like that, the Infinity Blade games are gone. Yesterday Infinity Blade and Fortnite maker Epic Games stripped them from the iOS App Store, claiming that “it has become increasingly difficult for our team to support the Infinity Blade series at a level that meets our standards.”

So much for infinity.

You can’t buy the games anymore, but if you already own them, Epic claims it will keep supporting 2013’s Infinity Blade III with updated Clash Mobs and “other surprises” throughout the next month. For that matter, you can also download a free collection of Infinity Blade stickers from 2016.

To read this article in full, please click here

Apple has announced a fleet of new iPhones. The most affordable of the bunch is the iPhone XR, starting at $749. The 6.1-inch phone has many of the premium features found in the more expensive iPhone XS and XS Max, and comes in six different colors. (See why we think the iPhone XR is a worthy upgrade to the iPhone X.)

It might be the more affordable option, but it’s still a significant expense, so you’re going to want a case to protect it. Fortunately, there are some very nice case options to choose from. We rounded up our top picks to help you decide. We’ll add more to the list as new cases become available, so watch this space.

To read this article in full, please click here

Amazon is selling the latest 128GB MacBook Air for just $1,059, which amounts to $140 (or 12 percent off) the regular retail price of $1,199. You can only get it at this price in silver, but fortunately the space gray model is also on sale for an agreeable $1,069.

Not bad. If Amazon had chopped the price down just $60 or $70, that’d be how much it’d cost you to buy the previous-generation MacBook Air at retail price.

I personally like the new model. I prefer the slightly inclined design over the flat expanses of the MacBook Pros, and I like the extra room and extra USB-C port it provides over the smaller 12-inch MacBook. I even like the keyboard, which has the same membrane-padded butterfly design of the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro. That makes it quieter than the 12-inch MacBook, and for me, the tiny bit of resistance makes it more pleasurable to write on.

To read this article in full, please click here

We all know December can get busy, and for cord-cutting TV fans, it can be hard to squeeze in time to watch all of your favorite shows. The Amazon Fire TV Recast over-the-air DVR lets you record live HD broadcasts do you can watch whenever you want, and today Amazon's running a great sale: you can grab a two tuner for $190 or a four-tuner one for $230Remove non-product link, down from a list price of $230 and $280, respectively.

To read this article in full, please click here

Apple is missing out yet again and it’s nothing at all like the other times Apple was supposedly missing out but that didn’t actually end up amounting to anything. Unless we’re talking about network speeds.

What?

Oh. The Macalope is being informed that, yes, we’re talking about network speeds.

Gordon Kelly proudly declares that originality has no place at the Forbes contributor network and Institute for the Advancement of Understanding Why There Are So Many Spider Eggs In Your Hair.

“Apple's New iPhones Have An Expensive Nasty Surprise.” (Tip o' the antlers to @JonyIveParody.)

To read this article in full, please click here

After Apple received a spate of bad publicity about how it chose to throttle older iPhones with degraded batteries, it apologized and offered a battery replacement program for many phones at reduced cost. But it also pledged to improve how it disclosed to users the state of their battery.

It’s a little hidden, as you have to launch Settings and then tap Battery to see monitoring details. Tap Battery Health, and you see two important stats.

Maximum Capacity measures the peak charge that the battery can hold. (Mine is currently 91 percent after about 14 months of solid use.) It’s normal for this to decline slowly over a period of time, and decline faster the more frequently you run through a charge on your phone.

To read this article in full, please click here

Nowadays, physical storage never seems to satisfy our demands. The files we download and share are getting larger, but the laptops we own are getting smaller, leaving less room for plentiful yet bulky storage options. Because of this, cloud storage services have become a popular alternative for storing our files. If you use cloud services often, CloudMounter can help you save time uploading your files for $19.

To read this article in full, please click here

Premiere Rush CC, a brand new video app from Adobe, emphasizes speed in the creation and sharing of online video targeted to the social media crowd.

Unlike Premiere Pro, Premier Elements, and Premiere Clip (Adobe’s other desktop and mobile video apps), Rush operates across devices with nearly identical desktop and mobile versions that can save all footage in the cloud. Your movie is accessible anytime, anywhere via an auto sync feature that you can enable if you choose, or you can save your video locally. Rush, powered partly by Adobe’s Sensei artificial intelligence framework, is compatible with the latest version of Premiere Pro.

To read this article in full, please click here

Nobody wants the beautiful aluminum body of their MacBook scuffed or scratched. Fortunately, MacBook cases and sleeves are to the rescue.

They’re a great way to keep your MacBook protected, store it for traveling, or just look classy when you’re carrying your computer around the office.

But there are an overwhelming number of cases and sleeves for the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro. It can be hard to tell which are good quality and worth the money. 

So Macworld is getting hands-on with some of the best-known brands as well as more eclectic designers to pick out the best cases for Apple’s line of MacBooks, both new and old models. Watch this space as we’ll be keeping it updated with our favorites.

To read this article in full, please click here

In celebration of "Green Monday," B&H Photo is offering a mini price drop on the 2018 Mac mini. The discounts range from $70 to $100, which are enough to push the newer models closer to the retail prices for the high-end models from 2014.

And the 2014 models are on sale, too. If you’re not interested in the latest and greatest units, today’s sale lets you walk away with a 2014 Mac mini for a mere $399.

You can view the entire sale here, but we’ve listed the standout deals below:

2018 Mac mini for $724Remove non-product link (down from $799)

To read this article in full, please click here

If improving your heath is part of your new year's resolutions, a fitness tracker needs to be on your holiday wish list. And today's a great day to buy one. Amazon is running a fantastic sale on some of Fitbit's best trackers and smartwatches, most of which are at all-time lows.

Most notably, the flagship Ionic is on sale for $150, $120 off its $270 list priceRemove non-product link and $50 less than its Black Friday pricing. With a five-day battery life, the Ionic is built for athletes, and is the only Fitbit to feature built-in GPS to keep track of locations and distances without having to use your phone. It also features full smartwatch features, with notifications, calls, and quick replies for messages, as well as on-board storage for phone-free music listening, on-screen coaching and routines, 50M water resistance, and of course, sleep, activity, and heart rate tracking. We gave the Ionic 3.5 out of 5 for its long battery life, detailed movement tracking, and comfortable design.

To read this article in full, please click here

Today we've found a collection of deals that’ll make your home a little smarter, and make life a little easier when you’re feeling lazy or have your hands full.

First up is this TP-Link Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini for $15.82 at Amazon. We’ve seen the plug priced this low before but only recently. Typically, the price jumps anywhere between $20 and $30. This smart plug only takes up a single socket, allowing you to buy two and stack them. The beauty of a smart plug is that it turns any standard appliance—such as a light, coffee maker, or even a phony electric fireplace—into a smart device. The plug connects directly to your Wi-Fi and doesn’t require a hub or bridge. Instead, you control it via the Kasa smartphone app, or by using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

To read this article in full, please click here

Nuheara’s IQbuds Boost are expensive—even at their current street price of $399 ($100 off the MSRP of $499), they still cost lot of money. By comparison, the B&O Beoplay E8, our current pick for best-sounding true wireless earbuds, can be had for $299.

That said, $399 (or even $499) isn't exorbitant for a hearing augmentation appliance. In fact, audiologist-prescribed hearing aids often cost thousands of dollars. The IQbuds Boost are designed to boost one’s hearing for a fraction of the cost of a traditional hearing aid, making them a tempting purchase for anyone who has trouble hearing, but hasn’t yet committed to rigorous testing and ultra-expensive hardware.

To read this article in full, please click here

It’s easy to think that an iOS backup would include all the personal data stored on your iPhone or iPad. But Apple explains in a support page that some things aren’t copied off your phone, because they’re stored elsewhere. This includes “data stored in other cloud services, like Gmail and Exchange mail.”

What if you download messages from an email account to your iOS device and they’re deleted from the server? Those emails are gone for good when your iPhone or iPad is restored from backup or dies. Apple doesn’t mention this in the support note or elsewhere, even though it can affect people who store certain messages locally on their devices instead of synced with a mail server.

To read this article in full, please click here

Designed with on-location video production in mind, Sony’s PSZ-RA4T Professional RAID is not the fastest RAID box we’ve tested, but it’s certainly fast enough. Made for travel, the PSZ-RA4T is thoroughly ruggedized and especially easy on the eye.

Add the ability of this dual-drive unit to function via Thunderbolt 2 or USB 3.1 on your cohort’s or client’s Windows machine as well as your Mac, and you’ve got a winner.

Design and features

The PSZ-RA4T has enough deft design flourishes that leave no doubt that folks that work with such products supplied more than a little input. Or there’s simply an especially brilliant and practical designer at Sony. Kudos to the company, whatever the scenario.

To read this article in full, please click here

The chief criticism of the HomePod has always been its price. Almost everyone agrees it’s a fantastic speaker, but few potential buyers have been willing to stomach the $349 price tag when it lacks many of the voice commands you’ll get from cheaper competition from Amazon and Google.

So how does $249 sound? That’s Target’s current price for the HomePodRemove non-product link in both space gray and white, which amounts to a full $100 off the normal retail price. That discount brings it back down to the Black Friday pricing we saw from Best Buy, and if I were still in the market for a HomePod, this discount would suffice to convince me to buy one.

To read this article in full, please click here

Earlier this week were we impressed that Amazon was selling Apple’s latest 9.7-inch iPad for as little as $289, but that’s nothing compared to the prices you can get today. Right now, Amazon is selling the entry-level 32GB version of the scrappy tablet for just $269.99—a savings of $59.01 off the regular price of $329.

That’s a savings of 18 percent, and it’s approaching some of the prices we’ve saw on Black Friday. Even better, the pricing extends to all three colors available: space gray, gold, and silver.

You can also save a ton of cash if you move up to the 128GB model with Wi-Fi, as it’s on sale for just $349.99, down $79.01 from the normal asking price of $429. That’s just $20 more from what you can expect to pay for the 32GB model at its normal retail price.

To read this article in full, please click here

If you're reading this post, you have a device that needs a charger. And today's a great day to stock up on them. Amazon is offering fantastic deals on two of Anker's most popular charging accessories, with one hitting an all-time low.

First up, you can grab the PowerPort Speed 1 USB-C wall charger for $30Remove non-product link, 25 percent off its $40 list price and the lowest price we've ever seen. The 60W plug is equipped with USB-C power delivery so it can safely charge everything from a cell phone to a laptop. A tight design with a foldable plug allow you to take this charger with you on the road, while a built-in LED indicator lets you see when your device is charging at a glance.

To read this article in full, please click here

The Mac App Store (MAS) registers downloaded apps—paid and free—to the Apple ID associated with the store at the time of download. Most people only ever log in with a single Apple ID for app purchases or retrievals, and thus all apps installed on their Macs remain correctly licensed to that Apple ID.

However, it’s possible even using a single Apple ID that you will see an error when you attempt to update certain apps that reads, “Update Unavailable with This Apple ID.” This seems to happen commonly with Apple’s productivity apps: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

The message goes on to say, “This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or canceled.” If none of those conditions are true, you may still see the error in some readers’ (and my family’s) experience. (Why does this happen? Apple hasn’t provided any insight.)

To read this article in full, please click here