SoundByte 372 – February 2026

ChristopherNews, SoundByte

AirTag

Welcome to SoundByte! 

In this issue:

February MEETING

Join LMUG, next Monday evening, February 9 at 7pm GMT to discuss using AI on our devices. What’s new and what can we do now? Bring your own experiences to share!

Check the email this newsletter came in for the Zoom link to the meeting. You can also find the link in our Slack Meetings Channel. 

Tag!

Apple’s AirTag has been updated with new internals. What’s changed? It contains Apple’s second generation Ultra-Wideband chip and updated BlueTooth. Together, they enable precision finding (using the arrow directions on iPhone) over double the range. It also has a louder speaker and end-to-end encryption to keep locations protected. The price stays the same at £29, and for the love of a hole to actually tag the thing, the design remains the same as well. Brian Tong reviews it below:

A new option for creative professionals

Apple has released a suite of products for creative professionals that heavily undercuts Adobe’s creative solutions. The Apple Creator Studio combines creative software with business productivity tools. Apple explains it here:

  • Final Cut Pro
  • Motion
  • Compressor
  • Logic Pro
  • Mainstage
  • Pixelmator Pro
  • Keynote
  • Numbers
  • Pages and
  • Freeform

It’s basically all the main Apple apps, but with the Studio plan, enhanced with AI features, for just £12.99/month or £129 per year. It’s just £2.99 per month/£29 annually for students. Cheap enough for them not to bother with piracy when starting out as new creatives, perhaps. New Mac owners can access a 3-month free trial and everyone else gets a 1 month free try-out. Have a look at this review:

What is Vision Pro for?

Apple updated the Vision Pro with the M5 chip recently. Despite the significant performance increase, not much else has changed apart from a more comfortable strap to hug your head. But the fundamental question of what is it for remains. Is it just immersive entertainment? Looking at productivity options, there is the floating Mac screen (apparently, not as clear as Mac monitors though) and lots of floating iPad apps. Spatial productivity, if that’s a thing, isn’t here yet.

Instead we have some new intriguing apps that take advantage of where Vision Pro excels. This first one is called AirDraw, which means a new mind-bending way to create art:

Next up is the 3D TV of the future. At least what I imagined when I thought of a 3D TV. Not things jumping out of the screen, but a stage with actors in front of you like 3D holograms. See what the bleeding edge of the Vision Pro technology envelope looks like here:

Siri brain donor confirmed!

Don’t call it Gemini, but Google has been selected as the donor to provide Siri with a new brain. Apple ran a competition and think about the implications of Google winning it. They will provide the AI for every smartphone on the planet. It’s not that simple of course. Apple will very likely still control the front end and Apple may allow other AIs to co-habit, like choosing your favourite search engine. Since Gemini exists now, we may not have wait for long to see what it can do with Apple’s magic (👀! and who knows what else) on top.

Get your files in order

Ahead of spring, here’s some file management tips for iPad users. It’s not the same as Finder on the Mac, but there are lots of improvements and change. Have a look and learn!

Spotlight’s new powers

Ahead of Mac getting new AI prowess, last summer, macOS got a refreshed Spotlight. Apple’s internal search has a storied history. Does anyone remember Sherlock and Watson? It’s where the term Sherlocking came from. Here’s a history of Apple’s search engines. The new version of Spotlight has evolved in a similar vein. A new claim of sherlocking comes from Spotlight’s similar appearance and functions to the productivity tool Launchbar. Apps like this must innovate ahead of Apple to survive. Good luck to them.

So what’s this new Spotlight? First, how do you invoke it on the Mac? It’s Command+Spacebar.

Spotlight Search in Tahoe
(c) iGeeksBlog

Notice the icons on the right. Its Applications, Files, Actions and Clipboard. When you click:

  • Applications, you see all your apps, and you can search for what you need. Spotlight can also search compatible apps to find functions hidden in menus!
  • Files, its all your files, neatly arranged, ready to search

Its the next two where the new abilities can increase your productivity:

  • Select Action and you see a list of…actions. This lets you do various things like send a message or run an automation, shortcut or AI action.
  • Select Clipboard and if you have been copying and pasting while using your Mac, it should all appear there. A clipboard history that wipes when you log out.

There’s some learning curve and experimentation needed to master the Actions function for sure, have a look at this introduction to its capabilities:

Updates for older devices

If you have an older Mac or iDevice, have a look in Software Update, you might be surprised. Apple has released security updates for older devices that can’t be updated to the latest software. These update certificates to keep them working with features like FaceTime. Read more on OSX Daily here and install them to extend the useful life of your devices!

What cost, your Mac?

It’s 50 years this year for the Mac. Can you believe it? Rumours are for some special products this year to mark it. We’ll see. But a persistent question that has followed the Mac through its life has been the high price, especially compared to the (usually inferior) competition. But really? Have a look at this chart:

Rather than getting more expensive or even staying expensive the cost of a new Mac has actually decreased in the long term. But how long? Have a look at this retrospective across the whole 50 years!