Macworld Whether you have a MacBook Air or a Mac mini, you can always use more ports. And today’s deal turns one port into seven with this ultra-portable dock on sale for a whopping 60 percent off: Amazon is selling the Baseus 7-in-1 USB-C Docking Station for $16, a savings of $23 and the best price we’ve ever seen. This mini portable dock connects to your Mac with a single built-in USB-C cable and adds seven ports: HDMI, three USB-A ports, an SD/TF card slot, and USB-C PD. The HDMI port can power a 4K monitor at 60Hz, while the USB-C port can transfer data up to 5Gbps and the SD card slot is ..read more

Macworld Son, your mother and I want to talk to you about AI. No, don’t get up. Look, we don’t want you to learn about it on the streets. Because it’s an ugly business. The Macalope probably doesn’t have to detail the many problems with AI. First of all, it’s a misnomer. Calling today’s large language models “artificial intelligence” is like calling the first combustion engine a warp drive. Second, much like a coal furnace, all these various constructs have to be fed a corpus of content to be able to generate anything at all. Where does all this come from? Uh, blurgle frangle blooble hammer ..read more

Macworld Following a brief sojourn at the top of the table, Apple has dropped down to the number-two spot (by units shipped) in the global smartphone market. According to IDC’s figures for the first quarter of 2024, Samsung has moved back to the top position with 60.1 million shipments, a market share of 20.8 percent. Apple is in second place with 50.1 million (17.3 percent) while the Chinese firm Xiaomi sits in third place with 40.8 million units and a share of 14.1 percent. Samsung outperformed Apple across 2023 as a whole, but the Cupertino company did top the table at the end of the year ..read more

Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Fast standards on every port Four USB-C data ports with three at 10Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2) 8K video output (up to 30Hz) 85W of passthrough power over USB-C Well-labeled ports Cons No dedicated Micro SD slot Our Verdict The Satechi USB-C Multiport 8K dock provides four USB-C data ports (three at 10Gbps USB 3.2), gigabit ethernet, the latest in SD Card standards, 8K video, and 85W of passthrough USB-C power making it a compact powerhouse sized correctly for mid-range laptops. Price When Reviewed $99.99 Best Prices Today: Satechi USB-C Multiport Ad ..read more

Macworld Microsoft 365 puts all the most useful apps you and your family need in the cloud, so you can tap into them anywhere. This Microsoft 365 Family subscription gives you 15 months of access for six people, with an extra 20% off with code ENJOY20 through April 21. Microsoft 365 gives you access to the full-featured versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PowerPoint, and more, offering productivity apps in use by companies across the world. You also get other tools like the video editing suite Clipchamp, Teams for virtual calls, Outlook for seamless email management, and OneNote fo ..read more

Macworld iPhone owners feeling skeptical about the reliability of AI may be pleased to hear that Apple’s take on the technology will probably work on device rather than via the cloud. Initially, at any rate. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman made the revelation in the Q&A portion of this week’s Power On newsletter. “As the world awaits Apple’s big AI unveiling [at WWDC] on June 10, it looks like the initial wave of features will work entirely on device,” he said (via MacRumors). “That means there’s no cloud processing component to the company’s large language model, the software that powers ..read more

Macworld You’ve spent hours working on an Excel workbook on a MacBook, but now it’s gone. Or, when you exit an Excel file, you unintentionally select “Don’t Save”. Is this to say that your entire effort has been in vain? This article systematically explains how to recover lost Excel files on a Mac. With our 4 methods, you can recover unsaved Excel files quickly. After selecting the “Don’t Save” option or shutting down the MacBook without saving files, the Excel file vanishes on the Mac. Then, you should apply data recovery as quickly as possible; there is still a good chance you can recover y ..read more

Macworld Whether you’re looking to host a spring dinner party or summer picnic, you’ll likely need food, decorations, furniture, and other goods. Rather than sprint across town to different stores to grab what you need, you can streamline your shopping needs for fun events and daily essentials by shopping at Costco. Costco, a nationwide warehouse chain, makes one-stop shopping possible, and for a limited time, a one-year Costco Gold Star Membership is only $60 and comes with a $40 Digital Costco Shop Card*. Offering over 500 physical locations across the U.S., Costco Gold Star Mem ..read more

Macworld With the release of the M3 MacBook Air about a month ago, Apple’s laptop lineup became up-to-date, with each MacBook sporting some version of the M3 chip, the latest in Apple silicon. So, now it should be time for the other shoe to drop: the updates to the desktop Mac lineup. But of the four models in Apple’s desktop Mac lineup, only one has an M3 chip, the iMac. That update came five months ago after a two-year wait, and we don’t even know if the rest of the lines are going to get an update before the M4 arrives. So, what’s going on with Apple’s desktop Macs? Only Apple knows for su ..read more

Macworld Microsoft is a world leader in tech because of its vast range of useful applications and software solutions. For those who are interested in a variety of the most popular selections, you can save with this limited-time bundle deal.  Through April 16th at 11:59 PM PT only, you can save on this Ultimate 2019 Microsoft Bundle featuring Microsoft Office, Visio, and Windows with code ENJOY20 bringing the rate down to $79.99 (reg. $927). Project Professional features pre-built templates and data visualization tools to help project managers. Visio features tools for building flowcharts ..read more