The original Mac let you erase disks right on the Desktop, with the feature returning thanks to macOS Sequoia. Here's how to use it.


When the original Mac was released in 1984, its desktop allowed users to perform common actions simply by pointing to and clicking on items. This paradigm most people are now familiar with survives today in macOS and other operating systems.

The first Macs didn't have SSD or hard drives, but used small 3.5-inch floppy disks - small magnetic discs encased in a plastic shell with a sliding metal door for access. These disks were usually blank with nothing on them, but the original Mac OS and third-party software shipped on floppies.


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On the tenth anniversary of Apple Pay, the Vice President of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet has revealed new details about the future of contactless payments and digital keys on iPhones.


Apple's mobile payment service was launched on October 20, 2014, and the company recently celebrated 10 years since the feature's launch. Apple Pay made it possible to complete payments on an iPhone without the use of a physical card, but the service wasn't an instant hit.

In an interview with The Points Guy, Jennifer Bailey, Apple's Vice President of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, explained that the company had to educate consumers and work with merchants to try and convince them to use the service. According to Bailey, Apple "worked really hard on getting a great consumer experience."


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Music fans will be able to relive the concerts of their favorite acts, as Apple Music is now allowing artists to turn their set lists into playlists.


Apple's new tool for musicians is detailed in Apple Music for Artists as a form of promotion. Musical acts can share a playlist of their concert set list with fans via their Apple Music page.

While this does provide fans a way to listen to songs from the concert and relive the experience at home, it also helps before a concert. Fans will know what songs will be played ahead of time, so they will know if their favorite song will be performed.


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If you've ever wanted to create a new note in the Apple Notes app almost instantly, your iPad can do that — with the help of an Apple Pencil. Here's how.


The Instant Note feature on iPad allows users to create a note in the Apple Notes app incredibly quickly. An Instant Note allows access to all the features of the program — including new features added in iPadOS 18.

You must be running at least iPadOS 15 in order to use the Instant Note feature. Whether you've arrived late to class and the lecture has already started, someone is imparting important information to you over a phone call, or you've just had a brilliant idea, you can get it down right away.


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Halloween Boo Baskets are all the rage this year, and if you're on the hunt for non-sugary gifts for the Apple fan in your life, we've got top deals on Apple gear that's currently on sale at Amazon.


While a Boo Basket filled with Apple products is a bit on the extravagant side, it is a memorable way to treat a loved one to products that will last far past Halloween.


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Former President Trump claims that Apple CEO Tim Cook phoned him recently to complain about the billions of dollars that the EU has fined the company.


The former president has previously referred to Cook as "Tim Apple," and in March 2024 said Apple should unlock shooters' iPhones because of "foreign apps." But now he says that Cook phoned him at some point after the news broke that the EU had ruled Apple should pay Ireland $14 billion in back taxes.

"Two hours ago, three hours ago, he [Cook] called me," Trump said on the PBD Podcast. "He said the European Union has just fined us $15 billion... Then on top of that, they got fined by the European Union another $2 billion."


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Apple Belfast, which opens on Friday October 18, 2024, replaces the city's previous Apple Store as the only one on the island of Ireland.


The city's original Apple Store opened in 2008 as Apple Victoria Square. It closed on October 15, 2024, and has been replaced by Apple Belfast in a new location. That location is in Belfast's Cornmarket, approximately one minute's walk away from the previous location.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, the move follows a similar exodus of high profile brands from Victoria Square. Apple Belfast is now situated in a new shopping location called The Keep, which reportedly also recently added a multi-floor H&M store after that departed Victoria Square.


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Apple Pay has started to offer Klarna installment plans for online purchases, while a future update will bring PayPal balances to the Apple Wallet.


Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the launch of Apple Pay, the mobile payments platform is gaining more features that involve other services. The changes will give shoppers more ways to buy items, while also managing their finances.

The first and immediate change is support for Klarna for online and in-app purchases. Rolling out on Thursday, consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom will be able to access Klarna's flexible payment options at the time of checking out.


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Roadside Assistance via Satellite has expanded into the United Kingdom, allowing iPhone owners to call for help when they're in a cellular blackspot.


Launched in September 2023, Roadside Assistance via Satellite provided a way for drivers to seek assistance if they're having trouble with their vehicle. While the initial launch covered the United States, it's just become available to use in the United Kingdom.

The feature requires an iPhone 14 or later model, and for the user to be in an area without any Wi-Fi or mobile coverage. If the user has a vehicular issue, the feature can be opened from within the Mobile Data section of Control Center or under Satellite in the Settings app.


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Users are posting on social media that iOS 18 is causing their iPhone batteries to drain quickly. Historically, it's been temporary and is common with new hardware and a big OS update.


The annual Battery Drain Season is now in full force, as even long-term iPhone users are complaining that their battery charge is dropping quickly after updating to iOS 18. Long-term iPhone users, though, should know that this happened with iOS 17, too.

And also with iOS 16, just as it did with iOS 15, and before that, iOS 14. Looking back through AppleInsider's archive for five minutes, it was easy to see our coverage on iOS 14.


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Apple's mobile payments platform, Apple Pay, is now ten years old. In that decade, it's become an invaluable tool for shoppers around the world.


Apple initially launched Apple Pay on October 20, bringing the service live only within the United States. At the time, it was an interesting addition to the iPhone, providing consumers with in-store payments without using their physical card, but that was just the start.

As the ten-year anniversary creeps up, Apple has marked the occasion by having Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, look back over the decade. In her Newsroom post, Bailey proposes that Apple "saw a unique opportunity to leverage Apple's hardware and software to make a meaningful impact on the financial health and lives of our customers."


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The new iPad mini will fast charge at 20W for sure, although mention of a 45W charger in regulatory filings may mean it could charge faster with the right accessories.


Regulatory filings often turn up details about Apple products that Apple itself doesn't publicize. In the case of the seventh-gen iPad mini, China has revealed some details about its power capabilities.

The China Compulsory Certification (3C) listing for the iPad mini was spotted by 91Mobiles on Thursday, and it offers a few power-related specifications for the tablet.


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Best Buy is throwing a massive Apple trade-in event, and its iPad mini deals deliver trade-in values higher than what Apple offers on several models.


If you have a last-gen iPad mini 6 and are eager to upgrade to the 7th Generation, it's worth checking out Best Buy's trade-in offer for your particular model. The sweet spot is the $350 value for the 256GB iPad mini 6 Wi-Fi, which is $120 more than Apple's $230 trade-in incentive.

View the trade-in specials


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Apple provides security features in macOS to give apps access to files on your local storage and removable drives. Here's how to configure them.


Years ago, Apple added the ability for macOS to restrict which apps can access your files and folders stored on local volumes attached to your Mac.

Some apps, such as Finder, require this access. But in the case of third-party apps, you may or may not want them to have access to your files.


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Subscriptions are getting much easier to manage thanks to the new FTC "Click to Cancel" rule that blocks companies from deceptive or malicious tactics that keep customers from canceling.


We've all had a subscription we wanted to cancel but discovered the price of keeping it was worth avoiding the hassle. A new rule from the Federal Trade Commission will go into effect in 180 days that will make it easier for customers to cancel pesky subscriptions.

According to the release from the FTC, companies essentially have to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. If you sign up for a subscription online, for example, you must be able to cancel it online.


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Before the Project Titan was scrapped, Apple reportedly worked with Chinese automaker BYD on custom batteries for Apple Car for years, but ultimately abandoned that partnership too.


The Apple Car project has been canceled since at least February 2024, but details about the decade-long $10 billion expense keep dripping out. While Apple considered many battery manufacturers, one potential partnership has been revealed.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Chinese automotive company BYD worked with Apple on a custom battery destined for Apple Car. However, even after years of working with BYD, Apple decided to abandon the partnership in search of other options.


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Carol Surface joined Apple in early 2023 as the new Chief People Officer, but she is set to depart the role after less than two years on the job.


Chief People Officer is a role that was created by taking the human resources department originally under Deirdre O'Brien and forming its own unit. O'Brien had been senior vice president of People and Retail since 2019 until the role split.

According to report from Bloomberg, Carol Surface is departing Apple and the responsibilities Chief People Officer will once again fall under Deirdre O'Brien. The reason for the quick turnaround in the position is unknown.


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Apple's free business promotion service is now available to companies without a physical location, such as online-only ones, plus it offers more branding options.


Apple Business Connect launched in 2023 as a free way for firms to promote themselves through Apple's services such as Maps, and Wallet. Companies register with Apple and can fill out a Business Connect form with logos, images, and so on, which will then be displayed on Apple Maps.

The service is free, but it was specifically limited to businesses with physical locations, such as retail stores. Now, however, any firm can go to businessconnect.apple.com and register without having a real-world address.


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Supergiant Games has brought the sequel to its Underworld brawler "Hades II" to macOS, with it now natively supporting Apple Silicon hardware.


Hades II is a sequel to the Supergiant Games rogue-like dungeon crawler Hades, with it available as an early access game on Steam. While it was initially distributed for Windows, the developers have now made it available on macOS.

In Wednesday's "Olympic Update" patch, the game has been given many updates and tweaks to gameplay. One of the highlights is the addition of Mac support, with it now running natively on an M1 chip or later.


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Apple's App Store and Mac App Store are having issues on Wednesday, with users unable to download apps among other problems with the digital sales platform.


A number of Mac and iPhone users discovered that they were not able to download apps from the App Store and the Mac App Store. AppleInsider editorial team members were able to confirm the problem existed, but it was a periodic issue for some writers.

It is unclear how many people are affected by the outages, but some have taken to X to post about their inability to install apps. It doesn't appear to stop users from browsing the App Store, only downloading new apps.


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Despite Apple's dominance in consumer tech, its smart home speaker strategy is lagging behind Amazon and Google. But the company has a new strategy.


Apple, a leader in smartphones, tablets, and wearables, has struggled to replicate its success in the smart home market. Recent reports show that the company's smart home offerings struggle to secure a significant market share.

Apple's woes with smart speakers are particularly evident, with Amazon's Echo series and Google's Home devices dominating the market. A Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) survey reveals that Amazon's Echo commands over two-thirds of the U.S. market, while Google holds about one-quarter.


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Begun in 2017, Apple's $1.3 billion data center in Waukee, Iowa, has at last opened — at least partially.


Apple has technically had data centers that took longer to build, but only because protests ultimately led to the abandonment of one in Athenry, Ireland. In the case of Waukee in Dallas County, Iowa, Tim Cook himself gave a speech about it in 2017, saying that he hoped Apple would help the local community.

Seemingly nothing then happened for five years, until 2022, when Iowa authorities reportedly reviewed Apple's plans. Then in August 2024, Apple applied to the city for permission to rehabilitate some of the land it bought, aiming to create a wetland restoration area around the data center.


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