2026-02-12 20:07:46
Apple has been issued a warning letter from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, urging it to review its content curation for Apple News so as to ensure that it is not suppressing conservative publications.
In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, seen by the Financial Times, FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson cites recent press coverage of a report from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center (MRC), which claimed that Apple has promoted "leftist outlets" in its content choices.
The report in question by the MRC said that in January, Apple News "refrained from using any right-leaning outlets in the top 20 articles of its morning editions between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2026." The outlets named in the report include Fox News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit.
The report went on to claim that Apple News was more favourable to including outlets such as The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal – publications that are traditionallly considered either center outlets or nonpartisan.
Ferguson, whom President Trump appointed to lead the U.S. competition and consumer protection watchdog, said Apple should conduct a "comprehensive review" of its terms of service and take corrective action if its content curation does not comply with them.
Ferguson added that the choice of stories on Apple News may violate the FTC Act, arguing that the stifling or promotion of content "based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication" may be “inconsistent" with Apple's terms of service or the "reasonable expectations of consumers."
"The FTC is not the speech police; we do not have the authority to require Apple or any other firm to take affirmative positions on any political issue, nor to curate news offerings consistent with one ideology or another. But Congress mandated that we protect consumers from material misrepresentations or omissions, including when the product or service offered to consumers is a speech-related product."The letter came the day after President Donald Trump shared coverage of the MRC report on Truth Social. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared coverage of the MRC report on X on Wednesday.
2026-02-12 18:34:06
Apple's retail inventory of iPhone 16e and iPad Air models has reportedly dwindled to almost nothing as the company inches towards the release of new versions of both devices. They are expected to launch in the coming weeks.
In a post on X (Twitter), Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said that stock of iPhone 16e models has "basically dried out," while the iPad Air is seeing shortages as well, based on what his Apple retail contacts are telling him.
Just this past weekend, Gurman reported that the iPhone 17e is set to launch "imminently" with four new features, including the A19 chip, MagSafe connectivity, Apple's new cellular C1X modem chip, and its N1 chip for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Thread connectivity. The device is expected to retain the same $599 starting price as its predecessor.
Gurman also said Apple is planning to launch a new entry-level iPad 12 and a new iPad Air in the near future. Both devices are not expected to feature design changes or major enhancements, and will instead feature new chips. The 12th-generation iPad is set to feature the A18 chip with Apple Intelligence, while the eighth-generation iPad Air will apparently feature the M4 chip.
We'll have all the details of Apple's product launches as soon as they happen, right here on MacRumors, so stay tuned.
2026-02-12 08:42:00
AI features are expanding to all kinds of apps, and it's getting difficult to find a service that hasn't embraced AI. Lately, AI playlists in music apps have been growing in popularity, and it's plausible that we'll see Apple adopt the trend in the near future.
2026-02-12 08:04:00
Anthropic today said that customers who use Claude without a subscription can create files, use connectors, and access skills, all of which are features that used to require a paid plan.
The announcement comes two days after OpenAI said that it was starting to roll out ads for ChatGPT users who don't have a paid subscription, or who use the most affordable Go plan.
Anthropic last week promised to keep Claude ad-free, potentially luring ChatGPT users to Claude. The new free options appear to be a continuation of its effort to target people who don't want to see ads when using a chatbot.
Free users can create, edit, and work with files directly in a Claude conversation using Sonnet 4.5 (Pro users have access to the more capable Opus model). Claude is able to generate Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and PDF files.
The new access to connectors will let Claude users connect to third-party services at no cost. There are connectors for a wide variety of apps and services, including Slack, Asana, Zapier, Stripe, Canva, Notion, Figma, and WordPress.
Skills are repeatable filesystem-based resources that give Claude domain-specific expertise. Anthropic offers PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and PDF skills, but users can create custom skills with their domain expertise and organizational knowledge.
Anthropic says that free users are also able to engage in longer conversations with Claude thanks to the addition of compaction to the free plan. Compaction allows Claude to automatically summarize earlier context so there isn't a need to start a conversation from the beginning. Anthropic does not appear to have increased the free tier cap, however, so free users will still run into usage limitations.
2026-02-12 07:37:00
T-Mobile today announced a new live translation feature that allows conversations to be translated in real-time when calling someone from any phone on the T-Mobile network.
Live translation does not require any apps, and it is a free service that T-Mobile is offering in a beta capacity. T-Mobile users can sign up to test live translation on the T-Mobile website, with limited spots available.
The feature works with more than 50 languages, and voice conversations are translated for each speaker "almost instantly." T-Mobile says that users can speak how they normally do on calls, with live translation detecting the languages and voices that are speaking for a natural conversation.
Live translation is built into the T-Mobile network, so it works with any phone on T-Mobile, from iPhones to flip phones. T-Mobile users can even call landlines and get translation capabilities because only one phone connected to the call has to be on T-Mobile for translation to work.
To use live translation, T-Mobile users will need to sign up for the beta. From there, when on a call, pressing * 87 * on the keypad will initiate the live translation process.
Apple rolled out a translation feature for phone calls with iOS 26, but T-Mobile's version does not require participants to have an iPhone, and it covers more languages.
While live translation is free during the beta testing process, there could be a fee associated in the future. T-Mobile has not mentioned what it will cost when the beta ends.
2026-02-12 06:47:45
The U.S. version of TikTok is being updated with a new community-focused "Local Feed," according to a blog post shared by the TikTok USDS Joint Venture.
The Local Feed is designed to let TikTok users "discover and connect with content, businesses, and services" wherever they are. Available from a tab on the TikTok home screen, the feed features content related to travel, events, restaurants, and shopping, plus posts from nearby small businesses and local creators.
TikTok U.S. says that posts are selected based on location, the topic of the content, and when the content was posted. TikTok users who want access to the Local Feed will need to turn on precise location.
"This approach is consistent with how many modern apps use location today and gives people the choice to enable it when they want more relevant, local experiences, while keeping them in control," reads the blog post.
Precise Location is off by default, and the feature is opt-in with location only relayed when the app is in active use. Location data is "protected in the TikTok USDS JV secure environment."
TikTok U.S. says that it wants to "make sure TikTok is useful, locally relevant, and trusted." A similar "Nearby Feeds" feature rolled out for TikTok users in Europe back in December.
TikTok's U.S. operations were transferred to a majority American-owned TikTok USDS venture in late January, and the transition hasn't gone smoothly. TikTok users were unable to upload videos and had posts flagged as ineligible for recommendation, an issue that U.S. TikTok said was due to a power outage at a data center.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is 80.1 percent owned by U.S. and global investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. The three companies each own 15 percent as managing investors, and other U.S. stakeholders include the Dell Family Office and affiliates of Susquehanna International Group. TikTok parent company ByteDance continues to hold a 19.9 percent stake.
A seven-member majority-American board of directors is operating the U.S. version of TikTok, with Adam Presser, TikTok's former global head of operations serving as CEO.
Under the agreement, the venture handles U.S. data protection, content moderation, and algorithm security. TikTok's recommendation algorithm is being retrained and updated on U.S. user data, and it has been secured in Oracle's cloud environment.
