Testing Apple’s 2026 16-inch MacBook Pro, M5 Max, and its new “performance” cores

Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max make deceptively large changes to how Apple’s high-end laptop and desktop chips are built. We’ve already covered those changes in some depth, but in essence: The M5 Pro and M5 Max are no longer monolithic chips with all the CPU and GPU cores and everything else packed into a single silicon die. Using an “all-new Fusion Architecture” like the one used to combine two…

March 9, 2026
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Feds take notice of iOS vulnerabilities exploited under mysterious circumstances

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has ordered federal agencies to patch three critical iOS vulnerabilities that were exploited over a 10-month span in hacking campaigns conducted by three distinct groups. The hacking campaigns came to light on Thursday in a report published by Google. All three campaigns used Coruna, the name of an advanced hacking kit that amassed 23 separate iOS exploits into five potent exploit chains. While some…

March 6, 2026
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Apple’s 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

If the only thing you had to go off was Apple’s string of product announcements this week, you’d have little reason to believe that there is a historic AI-driven memory and storage supply crunch going on. Some products saw RAM and storage increases at the same prices as the products they replaced; others had their prices increased a bit but came with more storage than before as compensation. And there’s the…

March 6, 2026
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Workers report watching Ray-Ban Meta-shot footage of people using the bathroom

Meta’s approach to user privacy is under renewed scrutiny following a Swedish report that employees of a Meta subcontractor have watched footage captured by Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses showing sensitive user content. The workers reportedly work for Kenya-headquartered Sama and provide data annotation for Ray-Ban Metas. The February report, a collaboration from Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet, Göteborgs-Posten, and Kenya-based freelance journalist Naipanoi Lepapa, is, per a machine translation, based on…

March 5, 2026
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Amazon appears to be down, with over 20,000 reported problems

Based on over 20,000 reports, Amazon appears to be experiencing an outage. According to Downdetector, reports of problems started increasing at 1:41 pm ET today. By 2:26 pm, ET, Downdetector received 18,320 reports of problems with Amazon’s website. The number of complaints peaked at 3:32 pm ET at 20,804. As of this writing, Amazon hasn’t confirmed any specific problems. However, an Amazon support account on X said at 3:02 pm…

March 5, 2026
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Trump gets data center companies to pledge to pay for power generation

On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced that a large collection of tech companies had signed on to what it’s calling the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. By agreeing, the initial signatories—Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI—are saying they will pay for the new generation and transmission capacities needed for any additional data centers they build. But the agreement has no enforcement mechanism, and it will likely run into issues with…

March 5, 2026
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Google and Epic announce settlement to end app store antitrust case

Google is in the midst of rewriting the rules for mobile applications, spurred by ongoing legal cases and an apparent desire to clamp down on perceived security weaknesses. Late last year, Google and Epic concocted a settlement that would end the long-running antitrust dispute that stemmed from Fortnite fees. The sides have now announced an updated version of the agreement with new changes aimed at placating US courts and putting…

March 4, 2026
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MacBook Neo hands-on: Apple build quality at a substantially lower price

NEW YORK CITY—Whether you’re talking about the iBook, MacBook, or MacBook Air, Apple’s most basic laptops have started at or within $100 of the $1,000 price point for over 20 years. Sure, the company had quietly been testing the waters with a Walmart-exclusive M1 MacBook Air configuration for several years, first at $699 and then at $599. But as far as what Apple would actively advertise and offer on its…

March 4, 2026
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Downdetector, Speedtest sold to IT service provider Accenture in $1.2B deal

IT consultant and services provider Accenture has agreed to buy Speedtest and Downdetector owner Ookla from Ziff Davis for $1.2 billion in cash. Accenture plans to integrate Ookla’s data products into its own offerings that are targeted at helping communications service providers, hyperscalers, government entities, and other types of customers “optimize … mission-critical Wi-Fi and 5G networks,” Accenture’s announcement today said. Ookla’s platform also includes Ekahau, which offers tools for…

March 3, 2026
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M5 Pro and M5 Max are surprisingly big departures from older Apple Silicon

As part of today’s MacBook Pro update, Apple has also unveiled the M5 Pro and M5 Max, the newest members of the M5 chip family. Normally, the Pro and Max chips take the same basic building blocks from the basic chip and just scale them up—more CPU cores, more GPU cores, and more memory bandwidth. But the M5 chips are a surprisingly large departure from past generations, both in terms…

March 3, 2026
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