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One of our favorite budgeting apps is only $50 for the year for new users

One of our favorite budgeting apps is only $50 for the year for new users

A new year is the perfect time to get your spending in order, and if you're not trying to build your own spreadsheet, budgeting apps are one of the best ways to do it. To save yourself some money in the process, you can pick up a year-long subscription to Monarch Money , one of Engadget's favorite budgeting apps , for just $50 if you use code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout and you're a new subscriber. That's a 50 percent discount on the service's normal $100 price. Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can use the service via apps for iOS, Android, iPadOS or the web, and Monarch also offers a Chrome extension that can sync your Amazon and Target transactions and automatically categorize them. Like other budgeting apps, Monarch Money lets you connect multiple financial accounts and track your money based on where you spend it over time. Monarch offers two different approaches to tracking budgeting (flexible and category budgeting) depending on what fits your life best, and the ability to add a budget widget on your phone so you can know how you're tracking that month. How budgeting apps turn your raw transactions into visuals you can understand at a glance is one of the big things that differentiates one app from another, and Monarch Money offers multiple graphs and charts to look at for things like spending, investments or categories of your choice based on how you've labelled your expenses. The app can also monitor the spending of you and your partner all in one place, to make it easier to plan together. The main drawbacks Engadget found in testing Monarch Money were the app's learning curve, and the differences in features (and bugginess) between Monarch's web and mobile versions. Still, for 50 percent off, the Monarch Money is well worth experimenting with if you're trying to save money in 2026, especially if you want to do it collaboratively with a partner. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/one-of-our-favorite-budgeting-apps-is-only-50-for-the-year-for-new-users-204507183.html?src=rss

Apple Creator Studio is now available for $13 per month: What's included and what it means for creators

Apple Creator Studio is now available for $13 per month: What's included and what it means for creators

Services have been a huge part of Apple’s business for the past several years — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars in revenue last year alone. Now, with the new Apple Creator Studio bundle, the company is leaning harder into the professional creative software space. Apple Creator Studio packages a bunch of the company’s pro apps into a single subscription service that you can pay monthly or yearly for. It’s officially available starting January 28, and includes a one-month free trial. The key shift is that some of these apps are now subscription-only on iPad, even as Apple continues to offer one-time purchases on the Mac – albeit with slightly different feature offerings. Here’s everything you need to know about Apple Creator Studio and the programs it includes. What Apple Creator Studio includes At its core, Apple Creator Studio gives subscribers access to Apple’s professional video, music and imaging apps. The bundle includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor and MainStage . Pixelmator Pro (which Apple acquired in late 2024 ) is also coming to iPad for the first time, with a touch-optimized interface and Apple Pencil support. A Creator Studio subscription also unlocks premium content and features inside Apple’s productivity apps. Keynote, Pages and Numbers remain free, but subscribers get access to premium templates and themes, plus a new Content Hub with Apple-curated photos, graphics and illustrations. Similar paid features are coming to Freeform later this year, the company says. Apple is also using the bundle to introduce new “intelligence” features across several apps. In Final Cut Pro, the new Beat Detection feature can analyze a music track and show a beat grid so you can line edits up to the rhythm. The app is also getting tools like transcript search and visual search designed to make it easier to find moments across footage. Logic Pro is gaining new AI-assisted Session Players and workflow features on Mac and iPad. Pixelmator Pro continues to rely heavily on machine learning for tasks like background removal, image repair and image upscaling. Note that some of these features require an Apple Intelligence-capable device. Which devices are supported Apple Creator Studio works across multiple Apple platforms, though not every app is available everywhere. On the Mac, subscribers get access to all six apps: Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor and MainStage. On the iPad, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro are included. Motion, Compressor and MainStage remain Mac-only. On the iPhone, Creator Studio does not include full versions of Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro or Pixelmator Pro. Instead, it unlocks premium features and content inside Keynote, Pages and Numbers, and eventually Freeform. Apple says the best experience is on macOS 26, iPadOS 26 and iOS 26 or later, with individual app requirements varying by device and chip. Apple Creator Studio apps Apple Pricing and subscription options Apple Creator Studio costs $12.99 per month or $129 per year, and new subscribers can try the service free for one month. College students and educators get a steep discount: the education plan costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, and it also comes with a one-month free trial. A standard subscription can be shared with up to five other people using Family Sharing, allowing six users total. Education subscriptions are limited to individual use and cannot be shared. Apple is also offering three free months of Creator Studio to customers who purchase a qualifying new Mac or iPad around launch. But Creator Studio isn’t the only way you can access most of these apps. Apple says all of the major apps included in Creator Studio will continue to be available as one-time purchases on the Mac App Store. Final Cut Pro remains priced at $299.99, Logic Pro at $199.99, Pixelmator Pro at $49.99, Motion at $49.99, Compressor at $49.99 and MainStage at $29.99. Users who already own these apps can keep using them and re-download them from the App Store as usual. On the iPad, however, things are different. Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro for iPad are only available through the Creator Studio subscription. There is no standalone purchase option for those apps on iPadOS. Keynote, Pages, Numbers and Freeform remain free for everyone to download and use. Apple says those apps will continue receiving updates, including the upcoming visual design changes tied to iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. Without a Creator Studio subscription, you can still create, edit and collaborate in those apps. What you will not get are the paid templates, Content Hub assets and certain intelligence features. What happens to your projects if you cancel Apple says projects and content you create with an active subscription remain licensed as part of your original work. Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro projects remain on your devices and can be copied or shared elsewhere. But you will need an active subscription to open or edit projects in those paid apps. Keynote, Pages, Numbers and Freeform documents remain editable without a subscription. However, you will not be able to make new edits that rely on paid features once your subscription ends. Other information about the Apple Creator Studio app bundle Apple Creator Studio also comes with some immediate trade-offs. Alongside the bundle, Apple confirmed that the older Pixelmator app for iPhone and iPad, now described as Pixelmator Classic, will no longer receive updates. Apple says it will remain functional, but development is shifting to Pixelmator Pro, including the new iPad version included with Creator Studio. But don't expect the standalone versions of the apps to maintain feature parity with their Creator Studio counterparts. Per Apple's FAQ , "The Apple Creator Studio version of Pixelmator Pro includes access to the Warp Tool feature," which implies that feature isn't present on the standalone version. More broadly, the bundle puts Apple more directly in competition with Adobe and other subscription-focused creative platforms, especially for people who are looking for a lower monthly entry point. At the same time, Apple is keeping one-time purchases on the table for Mac users, even as iPad access moves behind a subscription. Apple Creator Studio will be available January 28. Whether it makes sense will likely come down to which device you work on and whether you would otherwise pay upfront for one or more of Apple’s pro apps. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-creator-studio-is-now-available-for-13-per-month-whats-included-and-what-it-means-for-creators-130000475.html?src=rss

Leak shows Google’s new Aluminium OS in action for the first time

Leak shows Google’s new Aluminium OS in action for the first time

Google is planning to replace ChromeOS—the operating system that currently powers Chromebooks—with a new one called Aluminium OS . It promises to combine the strengths of ChromeOS and Android into a single, cross-platform operating system… and though it’s far from an official release, we just caught a first glimpse of it thanks to a leak. 9to5Google was able to see official images of Aluminium OS in a Google bug report. These show the first real pictures of the OS’s interface and other elements, such as the status bar. The images were taken on an HP Elite Dragonfly 13.5-inch Chromebook with a split screen. Google reacted quickly and removed the images from the report, but not before the editor shared a video with the public. Here’s what Aluminium OS looks like Unsurprisingly, Aluminium OS looks like a mixture of Android 16 and the current ChromeOS. Although you can’t see much in the relatively short clip, this first glance is still pretty interesting. The taskbar and start screen, which are reminiscent of Android 16’s desktop mode, are particularly striking. For a brief moment, the Google Play Store also opens, providing a glimpse of available apps. Right at the top of the list of pre-installed applications is Google’s AI assistant Gemini, which will also play a central role in Aluminium OS. While Chromebooks are optimized for AI use, Aluminium OS is designed to run on more devices than merely Chromebooks, including tablets and smartwatches made by Google and other companies. The video also shows the process of updating apps in Aluminium OS, in this case Chrome. The update runs quickly and apparently without closing or restarting the application in the meantime, which is a significant improvement over how ChromeOS handles things. When will Aluminium OS be released? Aluminium OS is set to be a long-term replacement for ChromeOS. As of this writing, there’s no known launch date for the new operating system, nor a timetable for the phase-out of its predecessor. Nevertheless, Google promises to continue supporting ChromeOS for a while to come—even after Aluminium OS is released.

Apple Signs Deal for Brandon Sanderson's 'Cosmere' Universe Movies and TV Shows

Apple Signs Deal for Brandon Sanderson's 'Cosmere' Universe Movies and TV Shows

Apple has signed a deal with popular fantasy author Brandon Sanderson for film and TV rights to Sanderson's "Cosmere" universe, according to The Hollywood Reporter . Sanderson has a large body of work, but some of his most popular fantasy books could be adapted first. Mistborn could be turned into a movie series, while The Stormlight Archive is being considered for television. Mistborn is a book series that's split into two eras, with the first three books featuring a group of magic-using metal manipulators or "Allomancers" overthrowing a dystopian empire. The second set of books follows the exploits of Wax and Wayne, two lawmen with magical abilities in a more modern setting. There are two additional eras planned for the same Mistborn series, so Apple has access to content that could result in a dozen movies. The Stormlight Archive currently features five epic fantasy books, each of which could easily be used for multiple seasons of a TV show. The Stormlight Archive is a classic good vs. evil tale, featuring the Knights Radiant against Voidbringers who want to conquer the world. Sanderson has 10 total books planned for The Stormlight Archive, but the "Cosmere" universe also includes many other standalone novels, all of which are linked together. Sanderson is one of the most well-known current fantasy authors, and in addition to his own books, he finished Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time after Jordan passed away. A TV show based on the Stormlight Archive is already in the early stages of planning. Blue Marble, a film studio run by Pachinko producer Theresa Kang-Lowe, is set to produce. Kang-Lowe has an exclusive content production deal with Apple. Apple won the deal after Sanderson met with multiple potential partners. Apple agreed to give Sanderson unprecedented control over screen translations, so he will write, produce, and consult on any TV shows or movies that Apple makes about the Cosmere universe. Sanderson is known for having some of the most popular Kickstarter campaigns to date, raising close to $100 million by selling his books. Tag: Apple TV Plus This article, " Apple Signs Deal for Brandon Sanderson's 'Cosmere' Universe Movies and TV Shows " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums