Apple has issued a Release Candidate (RC) build of iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6, and MacOS Sequoia 15.6, for users who are enrolled in the beta testing programs for current generation system software.

An RC build typically indicates the end of a beta testing cycle, absent the finding of any major critical issue, and can serve as an indicator of when a final release of that system software version is arriving. In this case, if the RC build is available now, it’s a high likelihood the final versions of iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6, and MacOS Sequoia 15.6, will be released as a final version to all eligible devices in the near future, possibly this week or next.

No major new features or changes are expected in iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6, and MacOS Sequoia 15.6, whose beta development are separate from the concurrent beta testing of iOS 26 beta, iPadOS 26 beta, and MacOS Sequoia 26 beta, the latter three of which are where the majority of beta interest from Apple, developers, and end users is focused.

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The M4 iPad Air comes with a 13″ LCD retina display, M3 chip with Apple Intelligence support, 128GB base storage, 12MP front and rear camera, Touch ID, great battery life, support for Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad Air, and is available at great discounts from Amazon in select color options. There’s also $100 off on the 11″ model, which is all the same feature wise, except the smaller screen.

• M3 iPad Air 13″ – $699 (down from $799)
• M3 iPad Air 11″ – $499 (down from $599)

M4 MacBook Air 13″ & 15″- Up to $175 Off

The M4 MacBook Air lineup is availabe at heavy discounts on Amazon again, taking up to $175 off in various configurations. The all new MacBook Air features the M4 chip with Apple Intelligence support, LCD display in 13″ or 15″ size, 12MP camera with Center Stage, Touch ID, backlit keyboard, all-day battery life, dual display support, MagSafe charging, two USB-C ports, and more. You’ll find the best deal, taking $175 off the 15″ MacBook Air 24GB/512GB model, in particular color options, so play around with configurations and colors until you find what suits you.

• M4 MacBook Air 13″ – 16GB / 256GB – $849 (down from $999)
• M4 MacBook Air 13″ – 16GB / 512GB – $1049 (down from $1199)
• M4 MacBook Air 15″ – 16GB / 512GB – $1249 (down from $1399)
• M4 MacBook Air 15″ – 24GB / 512GB – $1425 (down from $1599)

The Playstation 4 remains a wildly popular gaming console, and now if you have a Mac, Windows PC, or Linux machine, you can play quite a few Playstation 4 games on a fantastic free PS4 emulator called ShadPS4. So connect a PS4 Controller to your Mac and have at it!

Emulators are so much fun, and one of the best parts of having modern computer hardware is just how well many emulators run nowadays. Now the Playstation 4 is no different, and since shadPS4 is available for every major desktop operating system, it doesn’t matter what system you’re on, you can give it a try yourself.

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Amazon continues to offer fantastic deals on select Apple gear, taking $150 off many MacBook Air models in both 13″ and 15″ display sizes, offering AirPods 4 for just $89 and AirPods Pro 2 for $169, Apple Watch SE from $169 and Apple Watch 10 from $299, and more. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or someone else, enjoy the discounts, since there’s no reason to pay more than you have to!

M4 MacBook Air – $849 (down from $999)

Amazon is offering M4 MacBook Air 13″ for just $849 for the 16GB/256GB base model in various color options, and there are various other configurations and screen sizes available at the $150 discount too.

• 13″ M4 MacBook Air 16GB / 256GB for $849 (MSRP: $999)
• 13″ M4 MacBook Air 16GB / 512GB for $1,099 (MSRP: $1,199)
• 13″ M4 MacBook Air 24GB / 512GB for $1,299 (MSRP: $1,399)
• 15″ M4 MacBook Air 24GB / 512GB for $1,449 (MSRP: $1,599)
• 15″ M4 MacBook Air 16GB / 256GB for $1,099 (MSRP: $1,199)
• 15″ M4 MacBook Air 16GB / 512GB for $1,299 (MSRP: $1,399)

M4 MacBook Pro 14″ for $1399 (down from $1599)

If you want something with more power than the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro is available discounted from Amazon right now as well, in various configuration options. The best deal is on the base model:

• M4 MacBook Pro – 16GB / 512GB for $1399 (down from $1599)

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While MacOS automatically manages the cooling fans on your Mac, there are some particular situations where MacOS is not necessarily the most efficient. Advanced users might find it advantageous to manually control the fan speed of your Apple Silicon Mac, particularly on a MacBook Pro (remember, the newest MacBook Air models do not include a cooling fan at all).

One of the main benefits to manually controlling fan speeds on MacBook Pro models is that you can help to prevent a Mac from overheating in some situations where you know the laptop is prone to overheat, like when used outdoors in the sunlight, even on a mild temperature day. Additionally, some Mac users may want to control their Mac fan speed to run at faster RPM speeds for gaming, LLM usage, or rendering, which could potentially improve the performance of certain apps and games.

Now that we’re in the warm season throughout the northern hemisphere, some Mac users may be taking their MacBook Pro’s outside, but even on a milder 60° day you might find that a MacBook Pro completely overheats if it’s being used in direct sunlight. While there are a variety of tips to help keep a Mac cool in hot weather, one of the most direct methods involves using an app that manually manages the fan speed, allowing you to force the fans to run at full speed right away when in a warmer environment, rather than waiting for the Mac to overheat and then have the fans kick in. The app we’re going to use for this purpose is called Macs Fan Control, and it works for any fan-equipped Mac and Apple Silicon Mac.

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If you appreciate new wallpapers, you might be particularly interested in the stylish new default wallpapers for iOS 26 to spruce up your iPhone lock screen and home screen. They’re abstract glassy looking shapes with various soft colors that are kind of modern looking, and they go quite well with the Liquid Glass interface on iOS 26 for iPhone. But if you don’t want the buggy beta experience just for some fancy wallpapers, fear not, because you don’t have to install the iOS 26 beta just to enjoy and appreciate the iOS 26 wallpapers, you can just snag them using the links below.

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If you missed the Amazon Prime Day Deal of grabbing some AirPods for just $89, well you’re in luck because that deal is back from Amazon. Additionally, you’ll be able to snag AirPods Pro 2 for $169, $100 off Apple Watch, and $150 off the MacBook Air series too.

AirPods 4 – $89 (30% off $129)

AirPods 4 are discounted by 30% from Apple’s retail price, available at just $89. AirPods 4 are the popular wireless earbuds out there for a reason, featuring an iconic design, and great features like gesture support, spatial audio, voice isolation, water and sweat resistance, Siri support, and USB-C charging.

• Get AirPods 4 for $89 (down 30% from $129)

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Apple has issued the third beta versions of iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6, and MacOS Sequoia 15.6, to users participating in the beta testing programs of current gen system software. These beta releases are concurrent to iOS 26 beta and MacOS Sequoia 26 beta, and if you’re running one of the 26 betas you will not be able to access or see them without downgrading first. With that said, betas of current gen system software are basically just focused on bug fixes and security improvements, so any new features and major efforts for development are undoubtedly being deployed by Apple to the beta development of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Sequoia 26.

While these betas are comparatively unexciting, they do offer an idea of when the next notable software updates will arrive for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Since Apple goes through several beta releases before issuing a final version, it’s a good bet that iOS 18.6 and MacOS Sequoia 15.6 will be finalized sometime later this month or next month.

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Many modern Mac users have various apps that utilize menu bar items, whether for reminders, sports scores, a clipboard manager, watching system stats, or anything else. While menu bar items are super useful, a problem that can happen (especially with modern Mac laptops with the annoying Notch design) rather quickly is the menu bar being too cluttered, with menu bar icons either disappearing behind the notch, or not having enough room to show at all.

This is where Hidden Bar comes in, a free Mac app that allows you to collapse and hide menu bar icons, and reveal them with just a click. Hidden Bar is the perfect solution to a cluttered menu bar, so if you’re juggling tons of menu bar items, don’t miss this handy tool.

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While Prime Day may have ended, some of the great Apple deals from Amazon continue on, including taking $120 off Apple Watch Series 10, $70 off iPad 11, $120 off iPad Air 13″, and $150 off MacBook Air models. It’s not every day that you get up to 30% discounts on Apple gear, so don’t miss these great prices!

Apple Watch Series 10 – $279 (down from $399)

Apple Watch Series 10 has an always-on 42mm display, fitness and activity tracking capabilities, heart rate monitor, ECG with irregular heart beat detection, crash detection, fall detection, Emergency SOS, ovulation tracking, GPS, pinch gesture support for one handed operation, water resistance, voice control, Siri commands, all-day battery life, and more. Why pay full retail when you can save a bunch from Amazon?

• Get Apple Watch Series 10 for $279 (down from $399 MSRP)

iPad Deals – $120 Off 13″ iPad Air, $70 Off iPad 11″

Amazon is offering some great deals on iPad models, including taking $70 off the base model iPad bringing it down to just $279, and $120 off the iPad Air 13″ model bringing it down to just $679.

• iPad 11″ – A16 – 128GB – $279 (down from $349)
• M3 iPad Air 13″ – $679 (down from $799)

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Some Mac users who are running the latest versions of MacOS Sequoia and/or MacOS Tahoe beta have discovered an annoying issue where wi-fi spontaneously drops and the Macs internet connection is no longer available. The wi-fi dropping problem seems completely random, and there is rarely a cause or specific reason for the wireless internet connection to disconnect, but it seems to do so anyway for Mac users who are impacted by this. Sure you can reconnect to the wi-fi router easily through the menubar, but chances are high that anywhere from minutes to hours to days away, the wi-fi connection will drop again.

After experiencing this problem on my own MacBook Air even after updating to the latest available version of MacOS Seqouia (15.5, and again with the latest Tahoe release), I found an old trusty Mac wireless troubleshooting trick to resolve the random wi-fi disconnection issue, and that’s what we’re going to run through here to fix this problem.

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Today is the last day of Amazon Prime Day, which means Amazon Prime members have access to some pretty crazy deals right now on various products, but most notable are some huge discounts on Apple products. If you don’t have a Prime membership, you can sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime or if you’re eligible for a Prime for Young Adults (18-24) membership, and gain access to these great prices while they last.

Let’s check out some of the deals remaining, from AirPods to Apple Watch to iPad and MacBook AIr:

AirPods Pro 2 with Hearing Aid Functionality – $149 (down from $249)

AirPods Pro 2 have all the bells and whistles of standard AirPods but with some amazing advanced features too, including FDA approved hearing aid functionality for mild to moderate hearing loss, high fidelity sound, active noise cancellation, water resistance and sweat resistance, Spatial Audio, custom fit, transparency mode, ear detection, Siri support, and a USB-C charging case.

• AirPods Pro 2 – $149 (down from $249)

AirPods 4 – $89 (down from $129)

AirPods 4 are deeply discounted from Apple’s retail price, coming in at just $89. AirPods 4 have the iconic design of the most popular wireless earbuds out there, and have great features like gesture support, spatial audio, voice isolation, water and sweat resistance, Siri support, and USB-C charging.

• Get AirPods 4 for $89 (down from $129)

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Some Mac users have reported that the Contacts app is randomly missing all of their contacts, and the entire address book is suddenly blank on their Mac. This is obviously alarming, but the good news is that if this happens to you, it’s usually a pretty simple fix and your contact list and address book will be returned shortly.

The Contacts app not loading your contacts can be exceptionally stressful, since many of us have relied on Apple’s Contacts app and iCloud syncing to backup and maintain our entire address books, often with many years worth of individuals, businesses, family members, friends, coworkers, colleagues, peers, providers, and everyone else you’d typically save contact information for. Having just went through this myself on my Mac, I felt the panic and worry of losing all my Contacts, but troubleshooting mode kicked in and it was quick to resolve.

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Sports fans might appreciate a neat little free Mac app called MenuScores, which places a game of your choice in the menu bar, which you can use to keep track of scores or game start times with a quick glance. It’s that simple, no frills, nothing overengineered or fancy, just sports scores in your Mac menu bar. If that sounds good to you, grab the free app for your Mac, set the game of your choice to keep track of, and away you go.

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Amazon Prime Day is live, offerring some all-time-low prices on Apple products and generally stellar deals. To take full advantage of these offers, you will need to sign up for Amazon Prime if you have not done that already (and eligible students can get discounted Amazon Prime memberships).

Let’s check out the great Amazon Prime Day Deals for Apple gear:

AirPods 4 – $89 (down from $129)

AirPods 4 are available at 22% off Apple’s retail price, coming in at just $89. AirPods 4 have the iconic design of the most popular wireless earbuds out there, and have great features like gesture support, spatial audio, voice isolation, water and sweat resistance, Siri support, and USB-C charging.

• Get AirPods 4 for $89 (down 25% from $129)

Apple Watch Series 10 – $279 (down from $399)

Apple Watch Series 10 has an always-on 42mm display, fitness and activity tracking capabilities, heart rate monitor, ECG with irregular heart beat detection, crash detection, fall detection, Emergency SOS, ovulation tracking, GPS, pinch gesture support for one handed operation, water resistance, voice control, Siri commands, all-day battery life, and more. Why pay full retail when you can save a bunch from Amazon?

• Get Apple Watch Series 9 for $279 (down from $399 MSRP)

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If you use UTM virtual machines of MacOS on your Mac, let’s say to test out a beta version of system software (like MacOS Tahoe beta), you might be wondering how to copy files from the local host Mac, to the virtualized MacOS installation running in the virtual machine (in this case, with UTM).

While there are multiple ways to copy files and data between virtual machines and the local host Mac, including using a shared folder or clipboard between the VM and host, a much simpler and reliable way exists for these MacOS on MacOS situations, and it works not only with UTM (our focus here), but also Parallels, VMware, and basically any other virtualization software you can think of. The trick? Just use simple file sharing.

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The third beta version of iOS 26 beta for iPhone, and ipadOS 26 beta for iPad, has been made available for registered Apple developers. Any user can install the iOS 26 beta now by registering for the developer beta testing program, but generally speaking this is only appropriate for advanced users.

iOS 26 brings along the all new Liquid Glass interface look, new features for Phone app, Messages app includes new options to customize background wallpapers for threads and share polls in group chats, new ringtone, improvements to CarPlay, improvements to Apple Intelligence, new Shortcuts features, and more, while iPadOS 26 brings a new multitasking approach with windowing, along with the Preview app, and other various changes.

Additionally, macOS Tahoe 26 beta 3 for Mac, watchOS 26 beta 3 for Apple watch, and tvOS 26 beta 3 for Apple TV are available for beta testers.

It’s possible the iOS 26 beta 3 build could match the upcoming public beta, which has yet to be released by Apple.

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