This week’s newsletter is brought to you by Incogni.
Just this weekend, my mom lost her purse, which meant backtracking her movements on Saturday morning until we tracked it down at a thrift store.
I was incredulous because this past year or two, we set up AirTags on just about everything she owns: her backpack, keys and luggage — but not her purse.
The purse we left out because it’s always in her backpack. Until, of course, it wasn’t.
Just goes to show, you can never have enough AirTags, and you should be tracking everything with them.
The new version, announced today, looks like a worthwhile upgrade. The range, accuracy and sound have all been improved — although the price has not.
A single AirTag still retails for $29, which seems outrageously high now that we’ve all grown accustomed to getting them for a lot less, thanks to regular sales.
Amusingly, Apple’s own FineWoven AirTag Key Ring holder costs more than the tag itself ($35).
Apple also released updates for all its operating systems to support the new AirTag, with one exception: the Mac. Macs aren’t usually used to track down AirTags, so that platform has been left out.
And check this out: Apple even updated iOS 12, which has been upgraded to iOS 12.5.8!
That means if you’re using an iPhone 5s — a 13-year-old handset — you can’t install YouTube, X or almost any other app (they’re not supported), but you can track down your new AirTags!
Also in today’s newsletter:
Celebrating Black History Month, Apple today launched a new Black Unity Apple Watch band — but no new wallpaper, which Apple has done in the past. It’s a good-looking band!
Incogni is a great privacy tool that automatically scrubs your personal data from the internet, reducing your exposure to spammers and scammers. It’s well-reviewed and highly effective — and we have an exclusive 55% discount with code CULTOFMAC.
Uh-oh: Earlier reports of anemic iOS 26 adoption appear to have been wildly underestimated, thanks to a tracking change in Safari. Oops! Maybe Liquid Glass isn’t as hated as some vocal critics claim.
Mark your calendars — late February might bring our first look at the new, smarter Siri.
I picked up three of these Find My smart cards for Xmas stocking stuffers, and I was amazed how they pack a rechargeable battery, speaker and all the tracking technology into a crazy-thin, credit card-size package. They work great, too! When I see mom again, this is what’s going in her purse.
I really should follow the sage advice in this how-to instead of bricking my Mac every beta season.
All weekend, my X feed was dominated by posts about Clawdbot, an AI agent that runs great on a spare Mac mini. Trouble is, it comes with big security risks. I put a couple of my favorite mocking X posts below.
On the latest Cult of Mac podcast, we discuss the rumor that Apple is working on its own AI pin, and wonder: What might it do?
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
A message from Incogi
Unknown number calling? It’s not random…
The BBC caught scam call-center workers on hidden cameras as they laughed at the people they were tricking.
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A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
Cult of Mac’s buyback program
Tweets of the day
Wallpaper of the day
One more thing ...
The way we’re running the company, the product design, the advertising, it all comes down to this: Let’s make it simple. Really simple.
Today’s poll
Do you use any third-party Find My trackers?
Results from last Friday’s poll: Should you get a new M5 MacBook Pro now or wait for the M6 models?
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