But I’ve been genuinely impressed by what they are capable of. If you just put the AirPods 4 in and turn on noise cancellation without any audio playing, you might not be wowed. You’ll hear… well, absolutely everything — but the din is less overwhelming. The ANC is best at tackling lower-frequency noises from airplane cabins, city traffic, and those random hums at many offices. The AirPods 4 even did a fairly remarkable job of cutting down the rumble of ferry engines at the pier near our office.
You’re always going to hear a fair amount of ambient sound if you’re not listening to something, but once the music starts, that’s where the ANC proves its worth. I’ve found that I can keep the volume at around 50 percent and barely notice any distractions. With past AirPods (and with the non-ANC AirPods 4), I routinely find myself cranking the volume to combat my surroundings. You won’t need to face that battle with the AirPods 4 with ANC, and that means you should be listening at safer levels more often than not.
The AirPods 4 struggle with TV noise and human voices, but they do well with constant, low rumbling distractions. On similar models I’ve tested from other companies, active noise cancellation made little to no difference, and only served to drain the battery faster. If you’re looking for something close to silence, the AirPods 4 won’t give you that. However, the earbuds will deliver a noise reduction that will put a dent in raucous environments, and do so most effectively with low-frequency sounds.
While it doesn't entirely block out the world around you in the way that the best noise cancelling earbuds do – remember these are open-ear earbuds – when paired with music, it can reduce loud rumbles, like a jet engine, down to a drastically reduced sound.
I think folks who desire the ability to block out the world around them without fully sealing off the ear will find a nice middle ground here. The Transparency mode, as well as how these pick up the user's voice, is very well done and sounds incredibly natural.
The US Food and Drug Administration Monday published approval for sleep apnea detection on the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Watch Ultra 2. The green light comes four days ahead of the Series 10’s September 20 release date.
The feature, announced at last week’s iPhone 16 event, will arrive as part of the imminent watchOS 11 release. Once enabled, it requires 10 nights of sleep tracking data spread out over a 30-day span to determine whether a user may have the condition. During that time, it also offers insights into nightly sleeping disturbances, utilizing the on-board accelerometer.
It’s not just a new clicker with some haptic-like feedback like the Action Button. This means it’s not as simple as just slapping some extra rubber or a nice metal cap on top and calling it a day for the case makers. Because you can slide your finger across the touch sensor in the button as well as click it, case makers are going to have to find a way to ensure these finger movements can translate through the case.
Apple Stores can replace the battery inside an iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max for $119 in the U.S., which is up from $99 for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
There's still plenty of friction possible ahead with Apple challenging the Commission's fine and DMA enforcement in the courts even as it wrangles with regulators over how to comply with the law and how its services can meet the new legal standard.
Tonight at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, Apple TV+ scored wins for acclaimed, hit Apple Originals, with “Slow Horses” making its Emmy debut and “The Morning Show” star Billy Crudup earning his second Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his magnetic performance in the celebrated series.
Occasionally I stop and think about how drastically the world has changed since 2006, in many ways for the better. The iPhone has framed almost every memory I have of my adult life. What’s changed, too, is my perception of freedom. Sometimes I wonder who’s more free – me now, with the whole world at my fingertips, or my teenage self. My world was unquestionably smaller, but perhaps I was able to experience more of it on my own terms. I suppose there’s no knowing who I’d be if smartphones hadn’t altered life so enormously. But I do know that experiencing the world through the filter of a screen doesn’t do it justice.
Groups supporting women in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) fields are struggling to survive as corporations’ shrinking budgets, and cultural changes, see diversity strategies take a back seat.
Ada Lovelace Day – a global annual celebration of women working in Stem – is on borrowed time.
Happy operating system upgrade day… if you are going to update to the latest and greatest on day 1.
For me, I'll wait until the weekend. Make sure there are no hard-disk erasing bugs. :-)
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Thanks for reading.