Joe Miller, reporting for the Financial Times (via Political Wire):
\n\n\n\n\nVeteran socialist Bernie Sanders and rightwing activist Steve\nBannon are joining forces to call for greater guardrails on AI,\neven as Donald Trump insists concerns about the technology are a\nhoax that will help China overtake the US.
\n\nIn a sign of how the outcry over AI safety is reshaping the US\npolitical landscape, speakers from the far right and left of the\npolitical spectrum will join an event billed as the “Pro-Human\nAssembly” in Washington on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to do more to\ntackle the effects of AI.
\n
One take would be that Sanders is a voice of sound reason and compassion, and Bannon is aligned with him on this issue in the way that a stopped clock shows the correct time twice a day. Another take is the horseshoe theory, which holds that leftwing and rightwing zealots are more alike than different, because they’re all crackpot ideologues.
\n\nLink: ft.com/content/bab5c4c5-5377-4dd0-8b46-d8c4ce9a36d5?syn…
\n" }, { "title" : "★ Thoughts and Observations on Apple’s ‘Surprise and Shine’ Event; the Announcements of the iPhones 18 Pro, AirPods 5, Apple Watches Series 12 and Ultra 4, and the iPhone Duo; and the Dawn of the Ternus, John Ternus Era at Apple", "date_published" : "2026-09-15T17:54:09Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-15T19:14:39Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/thoughts_and_observations_on_apples_surprise_and_shine_event", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/thoughts_and_observations_on_apples_surprise_and_shine_event", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nI loved the keynote’s “You want a great opening scene?” opening, which ran through a series of genre-inspired hook-you-from-the-first-shot pretend movie openings. Apple started with a title card that said “The following was shot on iPhone”, but the whole keynote — including the fun fake-movie openings — was shot on iPhone 18 Pros. Apple started shooting its keynote movies using iPhone Pros in October 2023, with the “Scary Fast” Mac event. That first one was shot on the then-just-released iPhone 15 Pro, the first iPhone Pro generation to support the necessary pro video features to enable Apple-level production quality (e.g. ProRes recording and Apple Log encoding).1 For the next few years, Apple shot each of its keynotes using whatever the current iPhone Pro model was. But last year, with the September 2025 “Awe Dropping” event, they shot the keynote using the as-yet-unreleased iPhone 17 Pro itself — a bit of a risk given that it was running mid-summer iOS 26 beta software. They did the same this year, shooting the entire keynote, including the prelude fake movies, using iPhone 18 Pros. But, they couldn’t say that it was the 18 Pro on the title card because the 18 Pro wasn’t announced until later in the keynote.
\n\nThere was at least one report from an ill-informed know-it-all who claimed, with odd certainty given how often he’s wrong, that Tim Cook would not appear in the keynote. But the last segment of the keynote’s cold opening gave us Cook, Tim Cook, framed in an obvious homage to the opening of 2012’s Skyfall:
\n\n\n\n\n\nI’ve stolen those comparison frames from this splendid blog post by Vaziri, Todd Vaziri, in which he points out a few other Bond homages in this keynote — including using the new variable aperture on the 18 Pro’s main camera as a reference to the Bond title-sequence gun barrel. Fun stuff all around, and a perfect way to commemorate the Cook-to-Ternus passing of the torch.2 Also, the variety of visual styles in these mini movies really showed off the capabilities of the iPhone 18 Pro as a cinematic camera.
\n\nThe little Cook / Bond homage that closes the opening segment starts with a voiceover from Cook himself (starting at 2m:07s):
\n\n\n\n\nForget all that. Keep it classic. Open on an aerial shot, high\nabove the California coast. A car drives down the highway. Then it\ndisappears into a tunnel. Cut to an interior. Camera follows a\nmysterious figure, before revealing our main character...
\n\nNo no no no no. Not me. That’s your guy. That’s your opener.
\n
It’s a perfect segue, and Cook’s line reading is sublime. Cook’s on-screen persona improved a lot in the 15 years he served as CEO and keynote emcee, but even at his best he always came across as a bit, well, stiff. Voicing this introduction of John Ternus, on the other hand, he sounds cool as hell — relaxed, certain, and comfortable. I think the chairman role suits him better than CEO did. He’s a natural born éminence grise. And if this was Cook’s last appearance in a keynote, he went out on top.
\n\nFor those of us invited to Apple Park, Ternus actually took the stage in person at 9:58 am, for a brief in-person greeting and introduction. What I recall isn’t anything he said but how he was greeted, which was with tremendous enthusiasm. The annual iPhone events always have a unique charge to them. WWDC is a far bigger event attendee-count-wise, but the September iPhone event is sharper, higher pressure. The exclusivity heightens the stakes — Apple only invites as many people as fit in Steve Jobs Theater: 1,000. The new era begins energy was palpable, if subtle. In the morning meet-and-greet coffee-and-apple-tarts mingling in and outside the Steve Jobs Theater upstairs atrium, attendees were genuinely unsure what to expect. A few were genuinely wondering if Ternus would bring back live-on-stage keynotes. (The apple tarts were supposedly made using apples grown on campus, and were quite good.)
\n\nIn person, Ternus wore a dark t-shirt and jacket. In the keynote video, a burgundy shirt that clearly served as a reference to burgundy as the color of the year. (It’s hard to imagine Ternus in crayon orange shirt if he’d taken the top job a year prior.)
\n\nI think Ternus came across fine as emcee. Not great, but fine. He’s comfortable but I think the role still feels like a new pair of shoes he hasn’t yet broken in. Ternus’s opening line in the video was “Hello, and welcome to Apple Park”. I think that’s what he said on stage too. They’re leaving “Good morning!” as Cook’s signature, as they should.
\n\nBefore any product announcements, Ternus laid out his theory of an “intelligent personal hub” for the AI era, making the case that if one were to design such a device from the ground up, starting today, you’d wind up with something exactly like an iPhone — with you all the time, with a great display, ubiquitous networking, great cameras and mics, and long battery life. The cynical take would be that this is an “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” guiding doctrine. Apple is not a leading AI model company, is completely sitting out the capex data center rat race, and so of course they’re going to argue that the most popular product they make — the iPhone — is the central device of the AI era. But, well, I think it’s true. You need devices to run AI. I wrote an entire column about this back in May — “AI Is Technology, Not a Product” — responding to Steven Levy’s argument that Ternus “needs to launch a killer AI product”.
\n\nLevy, in Wired, wrote:
\n\n\n\n\nBy the end of this decade, it’s unlikely that people will swipe on\ntheir phones to tap on Uber or Lyft. They will just tell their\nalways-on AI agent to get them home. Or that agent will have\nalready figured out where they need to go, and the car will be\nwaiting without the friction of a request. “There’s an app for\nthat,” may be replaced by “Let the agent do that.”
\n
I wrote:
\n\n\n\n\nActual products have to be real. Actual experiences have to rely\non actual products. How exactly in Levy’s end-of-this-decade\nscenario will we tell our “always-on AI agent” to get us home?\nWhat microphone is listening to the command? What speaker is\ntelling us the request was understood and acted upon? What screen\ndo we look at to see how far away the hailed car is? I’d bet a\npretty large sum of money that in 2030, when someone hails a\nride-share vehicle to take them home, the most common product\nthey’ll use to do that will be their phone. Whether they’re doing\nit via a verbal command issued to an “always-on AI agent” or good\nold tapping and swiping, it’ll be a phone.
\n
Ternus’s “intelligent personal hub” doctrine seems very much in line with my retort to Levy’s not-entirely-thought-through fantasy. It also sounds an awful lot like a modern-day reimagining of a former Apple CEO’s “digital hub” strategy for the Mac. I highly recommend you take 8 minutes of your time, right now, and watch Steve Jobs’s introduction of the digital hub strategy from January 2001’s Macworld Expo. History doesn’t repeat but it does echo, and Ternus’s “intelligent personal hub” sure sounds exactly like Jobs’s “digital hub” echoing a quarter century later. If Ternus’s “intelligent personal hub” strategy works out like Jobs’s “digital hub” one did a quarter century ago, Apple’s going to be alright.
\n\nHeretofore, to my recollection, the iPhone Pro always came last in the September keynotes (including the years when the higher-tier iPhones didn’t yet have the word “Pro” in their names, like the XS in 2018 and X in 2017). This year the 18 Pro came first. This worked both as the immediate product announcement after Ternus’s expression of Apple’s intelligent personal hub strategy, and to clear the final act of the keynote for the much-anticipated Duo. (It’s somewhat telling that the Air didn’t get that cleanup spot in the announcement batting order a year ago.3)
\n\nThoughts on the colors, based on my hands-on experience:
\n\nPricing:
\n\n\n
| \n | 256 GB | \n512 GB | \n1 TB | \n2 TB | \n
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Pro | \n$1,200 | \n$1,400 | \n$1,800 | \n$2,400 | \n
| 18 Pro Max | \n$1,300 | \n$1,500 | \n$1,900 | \n$2,500 | \n
Compared to the 17 Pro one year ago:4
\n\n\n
| \n | 256 GB | \n512 GB | \n1 TB | \n2 TB | \n
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Pro | \n$1,100 | \n$1,300 | \n$1,500 | \n— | \n
| 17 Pro Max | \n$1,200 | \n$1,400 | \n$1,600 | \n$2,000 | \n
So:
\n\n256 and 512 GB are by far the most popular sizes (and I think 256 in particular far outsells 512 — the base size truly is large enough for the majority of users), so for most 18 Pro buyers, the RAM/SSD shortage is only resulting in a $100 year-over-year price increase. The higher storage tier prices aren’t too bad, all things considered.
\n\nIt’s worth pointing out here that coincident with the announcement of the iPhones 18 Pro and Duo on Wednesday, Apple raised the prices of all existing iPhones in its lineup by the same amounts, depending on storage — $100 for models with 128, 256, or 512 GB storage; and $300 for the iPhone Air with 1 TB.
\n\nTechnically, the iPhone 18 Pro mostly offers three new things compared to the 17 Pro: the A20 Pro SoC (faster cores, two Neural Engines instead of one, and 50% faster memory bandwidth); variable aperture on the 1× main camera, ranging from ƒ1.48 to ƒ4.0; and an all-new thermal management system inside, including a much larger vapor chamber. The A20 Pro means peak performance is faster; the new thermal system allows it to maintain peak performance longer.
\n\nIn a curious decision, the regular-sized 18 Pro models ship with Apple’s C2 cellular modem worldwide, but the 18 Pro Max models use a Qualcomm modem in the U.S., and the C2 everywhere else. Apple’s C-series modems are power efficiency marvels, with (in my experience) just as good reception and speed. I’d be just ever so slightly bummed about this if I were a Pro Max fan in the US.
\n\nThat said, both the 18 Pro and Pro Max models continue to get slightly longer battery life in the US models than worldwide models, because the US models are eSIM-only, but most (all?) models elsewhere still have a physical SIM tray. The US models use the space occupied by the SIM tray in international models to make the batteries physically larger. Going by Apple’s new “typical use” tech spec, the US Pro / Pro Max models are rated for 24 / 30 hours respectively; the international models with a physical SIM tray for 23 / 29. Not a big difference, but not nothing.
\n\nIn line with my belief that modern iPhones are best thought of as cameras with phones, not phones with cameras, most of the 18 Pro’s year-over-year improvements (and the features that set the Pro models apart from all other iPhones, including the Duo) are related to photography — both still and video:
\n\nPhotographic Styles is now up to version 3, adding new controls for “texture”, film-look, and grain. One stated goal of this is to enable shooting images with a less processed look; on the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, though, I think it will also enable shooting with a more processed look, with the addition of “glow” and “soft skin” as texture alternatives alongside “film” (which is the only texture with the new grain option). The other, and default, texture option is “standard”, which effectively means no texture processing.
Apple Reference Image is a new shooting mode (main 1× camera only, because it’s tied to new features on that sensor) that performs pixel-by-pixel signing of the sensor data and embeds that signature in the file. After capture, reference images can be sent to Private Cloud Compute servers for verification and comparison to the original image sensor data. To capture images in Apple Reference format, you must shoot them in that mode, and you must enable that shooting mode first. The embedded sensor data doesn’t make files that much larger, but the sensor data does uniquely identify your iPhone. That’s part of the verification. When you share a photo captured in Apple Reference Image format, you have the option to share a plain version without the embedded verification data. Apple Reference Image capture is not available in the EU or China, the world’s two largest bastions of freedom, but according to an Apple footnote, users in the EU “with iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 will be able to develop and view reference images.”
Cinematic Mode can now be applied after shooting a regular video; on previous iPhones the Cinematic Mode effect was only available via a specific shooting mode.
To the layman’s eye, though, the 18 Pro just looks like it comes in new colors. That’s not a complaint, just a fact. Oh, but the Face ID infrared camera is now underneath pixels on the display, so the Dynamic Island cutout is now smaller. So the part of the Dynamic Island that is always black is smaller, but because there are now more display pixels next to it, the 18 Pro Dynamic Island can now show three active Live Activities, up from two. Apple is getting closer and closer each year to achieving a no-notch / no-cutout display.
\n\nJust like with AirPods 4, Apple continues to make two different products under the same name. For $130, AirPods 5 now have active noise cancellation (previously reserved for the higher-priced tier of AirPods 4), including Transparency and Adaptive modes. For $150, you get AirPods 5 with a wireless charging case (using MagSafe, Qi, or Apple Watch pucks), volume control by swiping up / down on the earbud stems, and longer battery life. It’s a much better product for just $20 extra, but it must have worked out well for Apple with a similar split with AirPods 4. I honestly can’t see why anyone should buy the $130 models, but someone must be buying them.
\n\nApple provided me with a pair (the $150 model) to review, with no embargo. I wore them on the cross-country plane ride home, and compared them to my own AirPods Pro 3 for noise cancellation. It’s hard to make a direct comparison of the overall acoustic quality, but solely in terms of reducing the noise of the airplane cabin while trying to work, I found the new AirPods 5 with full noise cancellation to be roughly equivalent to the AirPods Pro 3 in Transparency mode. That’s pretty good, and makes the ambient noise level in an airplane much more pleasant. But the full noise cancellation mode of the AirPods Pro 3 is an entire step change in noise reduction that the open-ear AirPods 5 cannot match.
\n\nI feel bad for people who despise airplane cabin noise but whose ears aren’t comfortable with closed-ear fit earbuds like AirPods Pro. But the noise reduction quality of the AirPods 5 seems impossibly good given their open-ear design. I don’t find AirPods Pro uncomfortable, but I do find regular AirPods more comfortable, especially for long stretches like hours-long flights. I’ll take the small trade-off in comfort for the big improvement in audio quality and noise cancellation with the AirPods Pro, though. With AirPods Pro you can truly forget you’re on an airplane at all if you’re watching a movie with Vision Pro or even on a MacBook or iPad display in a dark cabin.5
\n\nThe big new health thing is a next-generation heart sensor that takes readings every 5 seconds — 60× as frequent as with Series 11 / Ultra 3 a year ago. Apple commissioned a study comparing their new watches against a slew of competing heart rate monitoring devices, and released a paper with the results, claiming that Apple Watch was the most accurate. That’s an Apple-commissioned, Apple-released study, so take it with a grain of salt, but it looks solid to me and I’m unaware of any other studies showing otherwise. (And if I’m reading the results correctly, rings like Oura’s are crummy heart rate monitors.)
\n\nUltra 4 looks the same as Ultras 1–3 (although Ultra 1 only came in natural titanium, not black). Series 12 comes in some tweaked colors in matte aluminum ($400) and polished titanium ($700), and for the first time since Series 5 seven years ago, brings back ceramic, in two colors: pearl white and night blue ($900). Those prices are for the smaller 42mm size; add $50 to each of them for the larger 46mm size. As has been true for every Series model to date, only the higher-priced materials come with sapphire crystal displays; the entry-model aluminum models still use Ion-X glass. But now those glass displays offer Ceramic Shield 2, which treatment has proven to be a tremendous boon to scratch resistance on iPhones.
\n\nThe S11 chip powering the new watches enables two very interesting, and instantly controversial Apple Intelligence features:
\n\nLive Rewind is a feature that allows you to double-click the digital crown to bring up a transcript of the last 15 seconds of conversation around you. Apple claims, somewhat preposterously, that audio isn’t being continuously recorded, when it clearly is. What they mean is that audio is only being cached for 15 seconds, continuously. There is no way to set Live Rewind to transcribe more (or less, for that matter) than the last 15 seconds of audio.
Siri Recap is a feature that produces Apple Intelligence-generated summaries of your conversations throughout the day, while the feature is enabled on your Apple Watch. These are not transcripts, just bullet-point style summaries. You can set Siri Recap to only be enabled in certain times (like work hours), and you can toggle it on and off in Control Center at any time. But when it’s on, that’s the only control you have over it. You can’t manually start / stop conversations to record, like you do when recording something with Voice Memos. You just turn Siri Recap on, and Siri generates summaries when it thinks you’ve had a conversation worth summarizing. It’s entirely and exclusively automatic, when the mode is enabled.
Neither of these features are available in WatchOS 27.0. They’re both described as coming “in beta later this year”. I asked Apple reps if that meant 27.1, and they wouldn’t answer other than to repeat “later this year”, but I thought I saw a smile. Both features are English-only for now.
\n\nSome people are objecting to the very existence of these features as privacy intrusive. I think they’re pretty reasonably thought out. There are surveillance cameras all over the place now. I was walking home from dinner here in Philadelphia a few weeks ago with a friend visiting from out of town, talking about this, and he stopped midway between the restaurant and my house and asked me to count how many cameras we were on at that spot. I think we counted seven or eight. Who knows how many we missed? I’m not saying that’s good or bad, it’s just the world today. So too it’s soon going to be with personal devices recording audio. This is inevitable. I’m glad to see Apple ship features like this early, with pretty limited scope, to provide good examples before other companies ship devices that record and save audio continuously throughout the day. I think it’s better for Apple to lead with privacy-minded versions of ambient transcripts and AI-generated conversation summaries than to follow after other products have hit the market with all-day recordings and whole-life transcripts.
\n\nThink back to Apple’s announcement of AirTags. A lot of people had a perfectly reasonable “Hey I don’t know if it’s a good idea for a product like this to even exist” initial reaction. But having Apple lead the way actually proved good. I suspect Live Rewind and Siri Recap will turn out like that.
\n\nIt’s also interesting to think about why these two features are only on Apple Watch, not iPhone. I think it’s because once an Apple Watch is on your wrist and unlocked, it remains a “trusted device” until you take the watch off. An iPhone is only a trusted device while it’s unlocked. It’s locked, and thus untrusted, while it’s in your pocket or bag, or even just sitting on a desk. I leave my iPhone unattended in our kitchen all the time. I’m often not in the room for conversations that take place in the kitchen while my iPhone is there, sitting on the counter. I shouldn’t get summaries of those conversations. And, thinking more nefariously, I shouldn’t be able to hide my iPhone on or near someone’s desk, or in a conference room, or in a car, or anywhere else to get Siri Recap summaries of conversations where I’m not present. Making this an Apple Watch exclusive feature avoids that. Thus, I think Apple Watch can be trusted to “listen” ambiently, all the time while it’s unlocked on the wearer’s wrist, in ways that even an iPhone can’t.
\n\nTernus broke out the hallowed “But actually, there is one more thing...” to introduce the Duo, which line — to circle back to the keynote’s intro — is for Apple CEOs what “Vodka martini, shaken not stirred” is for actors playing James Bond.6
\n\nPre-orders for the Duo don’t start until October 16, and it doesn’t ship until October 23. In my experience, Apple never seeds review units for any product until a few days before pre-orders open, so we’re not going to hear or see anything more about the Duo until those review embargoes lift on October 20 or 21, I bet.
\n\nDuo is available in only two colors: star white (polished silver) and night sky (a deep blue-black). As predicted, the Duo is expensive. I’ll put it alongside the 18 Pro models for comparison:
\n\n\n
| \n | 256 GB | \n512 GB | \n1 TB | \n2 TB | \n
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Pro | \n$1,200 | \n$1,400 | \n$1,800 | \n$2,400 | \n
| 18 Pro Max | \n$1,300 | \n$1,500 | \n$1,900 | \n$2,500 | \n
| Duo | \n$2,000 | \n$2,200 | \n$2,600 | \n$3,200 | \n
Effectively, it’s $800 more than an 18 Pro and $700 more than an 18 Pro Max.
\n\nKey facts:
\n\nIt has no Face ID sensor, either open or closed. The only authentication is an iPad Air-style Touch ID side button.
It has a Camera Control button, but does not have an Action button.
The interior display has a matte nano-texture display. It looks great and apparently this is a key element of Apple’s efforts to make the crease as unnoticeable as possible. By next year I expect all competing foldables to have matte interior displays and 1.4 : 1 aspect ratio displays.
It is very satisfying to open and close.
The outer glossy screen has a “Center Stage” 12 megapixel front-facing camera, that seems equivalent if not identical to the Center Stage front cameras in the iPhone 17 generation phones. Year-ago tech but still high quality. There’s a circular hole punch in the corner of the display for this camera.
The inner matte screen has an under-the-display “FaceTime” camera for which Apple hasn’t even given a megapixel count. Clearly this is a lesser camera — the question is how much lesser. The idea presumably is that this camera is for use in Zoom or FaceTime apps, where you might want to use the bigger inner display to view the meeting, and don’t care as much about your own image quality. If the Duo is opened, and you care about image quality for self portraits, you can shoot using the main camera and use the outer display to frame yourself. When not using the inner FaceTime camera, there is no visible cutout showing where it goes. If you look closely at the display however, you can see where it is. Under-display cameras aren’t magic.
The regular cameras are a 1× / 2× main, and a 0.5× ultra wide. I suspect the main 1× camera is very similar optically to that of the iPhone Air, but it has A20 Pro features like Photographic Styles 3. (The Air only has last year’s Photographic Styles 2.)
The initial introduction of the Duo was handled by two keynote newcomers: industrial design VP Molly Anderson, and human interface VP Steve Lemay. A hardware / software design duo (ahem), if you will. What made it worth having Anderson and Lemay present together is that the iPhone Duo exemplifies Apple’s integrated approach to product design. Are they a hardware company that writes their own software or a software company that makes their own hardware? The answer is yes.7 The defining aspect of the Duo isn’t that it folds open and closed — we’ve seen almost a decade of Android phones that do that — but its aspect ratio, roughly 1.4 : 1. Because that’s effectively the square root of 2, doubling the outer display’s shorter dimension when you unfold it produces an inner display with roughly the same aspect ratio. That’s elegant and satisfying conceptually. And I think in practice it will feel right, too.
\n\nHeretofore the iPhone has only had three display aspect ratios:
\n\nThe original iPhone (2007) display was precisely 3 : 2 (480 × 320 pixels), and this remained true through the iPhone 4 and 4S (960 × 640 pixels, 2× retina).
Then the iPhone 5 (2012) display size went from 3.5 inches to 4 inches, but added all the extra pixels on the long dimension. Held vertically, it got taller, but not at all wider, changing the aspect ratio to 16 : 9 (roughly 1.77 : 1). This 16 : 9 aspect ratio held for all of the 5, 6, 7, and 8 generation iPhones, including the Plus models.
The iPhone X (2017) introduced the “all-screen” era. The actual device hardware didn’t change size or aspect ratio by much, but eliminating the chin (with Home button) and forehead and filling those areas with the screen, the display aspect ratio went to roughly 2.17 : 1, and every new model since then, including the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, has maintained that aspect ratio.8
Thus, over 20 years, iPhone displays (and thus all phones, since all the other phones mostly just copy iPhones) have only gotten more elongated: from 1.5 : 1 to 1.77 : 1 to 2.17 : 1. Now, though, the iPhone Duo goes squatter than the original iPhone for the first time, to 1.4 : 1 on both the outer and inner displays.9 That’s a noticeable change from the original iPhone, but it’s a downright striking change from every iPhone released in the last 10 years.
\n\nThis aspect ratio is so different that it demands a different UI layout for the Duo to have any chance at being a good experience. That’s exactly what Apple has done, and what Steve Lemay was there in the keynote to unveil. A lot of UI chrome that previously was at the top or bottom of the display is now on the right — the dock on the home screen, the toolbars in apps, etc. And these elements are always on the right. You can’t turn the Duo upside down to move them to the left, nor is there an accessibility setting to move them to the left. This layout puts these controls on the right not because 90 percent of people are right-handed and Apple thinks lefties can get bent, but, I think (and so I’ve been told in conversations with Cupertinoites), because that’s the nature of a book-like shape. The arrow keys on keyboards always fall on the right, publishers don’t print left-handed books, and carmakers don’t make left-handed steering wheels. The right-side bias in the Duo iOS layout is like that.
\n\nI’ve only spent a few minutes, in total, playing with the Duo, so I really can’t say whether it succeeds or not. But I will say that it’s weird. Not saying it’s weird good or weird bad — just weird different. In some ways iOS on the Duo feels more different from iOS on all other post-iPhone-X phones than iOS on the original iPad felt from iOS on the iPhones of that time. The original iPad just felt like a much bigger iPhone. The Duo feels like a different layout entirely, in every single app that I had time to poke around with.
\n\nIs the Duo good? I do not know. Is it different? Very much.
\n\nHere’s the thing. If you take a 2 : 1 or even 2.2 : 1 aspect ratio phone display and turn that into a book-like foldable, the inner screen comes out square — or so close to square that we might as well just call it square. Nobody makes any device of any sort that just has a square display. Square is a terrible aspect ratio for a phone or a tablet or a laptop or a desktop display. The only square displays on the market are the inner displays for Android foldables from the last decade. Square being a shitty aspect ratio is half the reason almost no one has bought those things. The other half of the reason is that no developers truly adapted software to take advantage of the double-area inner displays. Google didn’t do it, Samsung didn’t do it, and since neither of them bothered to do it, of course third-party developers didn’t do it either. Nothing adapts to the inner display on Android foldables — it just expands to fill the space.
\n\nApple’s insight to go with 1.4 : 1 on the outside and thus also 1.4 : 1 on the inside gives the Duo a chance. Maybe this will be a huge hit. But maybe not? There are no 5-inch phone displays with aspect ratios anywhere near as squat as the Duo’s. That’s a tablet aspect ratio. The current A17 Pro iPad Mini has a 2266 × 1488 pixel display: roughly 1.5 : 1. The 11-inch iPad Air is 1.4 : 1 and the 13-inch Air is 1.33 : 1. So I think the Duo’s inner display is going to feel just right.
\n\nBut that outer display? I don’t know. Even in the best case, it’s going to be no better than a tolerable compromise. If it were actually a good idea there would be non-folding phones with 1.4 : 1-ish squat displays, and there aren’t any such phones. And even if the Duo proves to be a hit, I don’t think there will be. If you only have one display you don’t want it to be the size and shape of the Duo’s outer display. So the questions are: How tolerable has Apple’s UI redesign made it? And how will Duo users split their time between using it closed vs. using it open? Someone who spends more of their time using it open might absolutely love it with a “you’ll take it away only from my cold dead hands” fervor. Someone who winds up mostly using the outer display because so many of their iPhone interactions are quick take it out → use it for a bit to check something, jot something down, or snap a quick photo → put it back in pocket / bag situations, might wind up regretting it.
\n\nGiven the design brief of creating a book-shaped foldable phone, I feel quite certain already that Apple has nailed it with the Duo. But having only seen the keynote spiel and poked around with one in hand for a few minutes Wednesday afternoon, I think it remains an open question whether a book-shaped foldable phone is a good idea in the first place. Folks from Apple who have actually spent time carrying the Duo seem genuinely enthused. I remain highly skeptical about its appeal for me personally, and somewhat skeptical about its appeal broadly. That’s OK if it’s not suited for me, but is suited for many (but not most) people. No one in the keynote described the iPhone Duo as the future of iPhone, like they did when introducing the iPhone X in 2017. I just wonder if the fundamental idea appeals to all that many people at all. We’ll find out starting in late October.
\n\nRegarding some specific Duo details:
\n\nThe lack of Face ID is a serious sad-trombone bummer, and in my opinion could sink the first-generation model. Side-button Touch ID is OK, but OK is not good, and even good is not insanely great. Face ID is insanely great. For whatever reason, the only iPads with Face ID are the iPad Pro models. Every time I review an iPad Air or iPad Mini, my biggest gripe is the lack of Face ID. I complained about it reviewing the iPad Air in 2022 and the iPad Mini in 2021, and in the five years since then my annoyance has only grown. With Face ID, so long as you’re looking at the screen as you unlock the device, it’s like not having it locked at all. It just unlocks, seemingly automatically. With Touch ID you must think about putting one of your registered fingers on the button every single time you unlock it. It never ever feels automatic. I feel quite certain Apple tried to fit a Face ID sensor on the outer Duo display and could not make the engineering work.
I’m much more concerned about convenience than security, but Face ID is 20× more secure than Touch ID. That’s according to Apple’s own Apple Platform Security whitepaper, updated just last month, which states:
\n\n\nThe probability that a random person in the population could\nunlock a user’s iPad, iPhone, or Apple Vision Pro is less than 1\nin 1 million with Optic ID or Face ID — including when Face ID\nwith a mask is turned on. For a user’s iPad, iPhone, Mac models\nwith Touch ID, and those paired with a Magic Keyboard with Touch\nID, it’s less than 1 in 50,000. This probability increases with\nmultiple enrolled fingerprints (up to 1 in 10,000 with five\nfingerprints) or appearances for Face ID (up to 1 in 500,000\nwith two appearances).
\n
As a sign of how inconvenient the lack of Face ID is, Apple is promoting the fact that the iPhone Duo can be unlocked by your Apple Watch, like a Mac. No other iPhone needs such a crutch.10 Based on my experience with Touch ID iPads, wearing an Apple Watch all the time to unlock the Duo will feel essential. I don’t wear an Apple Watch all the time, and don’t want to start wearing an Apple Watch all the time, so I suspect this alone will keep me from switching to an iPhone Duo personally. On the other hand, for people who do wear an Apple Watch all the time and are happy to do so, the Duo’s lack of Face ID might prove to be only an occasional inconvenience rather than a constant annoyance.11
Contrary to some speculation, the Duo does support MagSafe. (Samsung’s latest, the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra, support inductive Qi charging but don’t have magnets, so you need to use a case or something to get chargers to snap into place.)
Closed, the Duo has — per Molly Anderson’s dulcet keynote description — “a distinctive asymmetric shape, with two rounded corners, that invites you to open it.” Expect this to be copied by every other foldable phone in 2027, and then for Android dorks to argue that it’s a totally obvious design. (Same for the matte interior display.)
Apple rates the Duo as IP68 for dust and water resistance, with exactly the same description as the iPhones 18 Pro (and all other iPhone models currently in the lineup): “Rated IP68 (maximum depth of 6 meters up to 30 minutes) under IEC standard 60529”. Samsung’s new Z Fold8 is only IP48. With these IEC ratings the second numeral is for water. The first numeral is for “solid foreign agents” (read: dirt and dust). iPhone Duo’s IP6x rating means “dust-tight”. The Z Fold8’s IP4x rating isn’t even “dust-protected” (that would be IP5x) but instead only protection against particles 1mm or larger. 1mm is pretty big for a piece of grit. That doesn’t mean it’s susceptible to ingress from every particle smaller than 1mm, but it’s not good. Pocket lint is a real thing and people put their phones in their pockets.
Yours truly, back on April 14:
\n\n\n\n\nI have no inside knowledge about what Apple plans to name this\ndevice, but I’ll eat my proverbial hat if they name it “iPhone\nFold”. That name is so dumb it’s what Samsung calls their\nfoldables. You don’t name a device for what it does, you name it\nfor what it connotes. A good name conveys feeling, not just\nfunction. “iPhone Ultra” or “iPhone Max” would both work, and\nUltra sounds more luxe. So while unsurprising, that’s probably\nthe best bet, even without the reliable word of Mr. Digital Chat\nStation.
\n\nBut if you want my take on a wildcard name, one with some\nhistory, how about “iPhone Duo”?
\n
My thinking re: “Duo” seemingly jibed with that of Apple’s crack marketing team:
\n\nWhen I suggested “Duo” in April and again the day before the event, the number one objection was that Microsoft had used the name “Duo” for one of its many forgettable Surface products. The half dozen or so readers who argued thus might be the only people alive who remember this product. No one cares. Microsoft also had a Surface Neo, and no one cares about that one either. Even if Apple hadn’t offered a line of (successful, memorable) PowerBook Duos from 30 years ago, it wouldn’t matter that Microsoft had used “Duo” in 2020. For chrissakes Cisco had the rights to the name “iPhone” in 2007 and had been making products with the name since 1998.
\n\nI love the name Duo for this iPhone. It just feels right. And, just five days in, I already find myself saying and writing just “Duo”, without “iPhone”, when referring to it.
\n\nToo many cooks spoil the stew. It was very fun and a little touching to have the Cook hand things off to Ternus at the start, but I think there were too many presenters in the keynote. Duo was effectively introduced three or four separate times. First by the Anderson / Lemay (I’m going to pun it again) duo, then Joz, then Craig Federighi (covering much of the same software ground Lemay did), then Johny Srouji (covering much of the same ground Anderson did). Maybe the thinking was that everyone wanted a part in Ternus’s debut keynote. Maybe this is just the way of the future — many small segments, rather than one continuous on-stage live monologue. It didn’t make the keynote run overly long (running time was just 1h:17m), so maybe I’m all wet here. But I think what I wanted was to see Ternus do more of the explaining — not just the what but the why.
Apple’s YouTube video of the entire keynote has over 49 million views, and that doesn’t count the views from Apple’s own hosted version, presented on Apple.com and Apple TV. Apple has 12 other shorter keynote-related videos on YouTube, including “Introducing the new iPhone 18 Pro” with 18 million views, and “Introducing the new iPhone Duo” with 28 million views. For comparison, this year’s WWDC keynote on YouTube has 8.9 million views. 9 million views is a hell of a view count for the introduction of operating systems, but the iPhone remains king — not just for Apple, but the industry. It remains the Super Bowl of the annual tech calendar.
For an even better comparison, in the full version of that 2001 Macworld Expo keynote that I suggested you watch earlier in this column — the one where Steve Jobs introduced the Mac-as-digital-hub strategy — when Jobs takes the stage, he’s beaming with pride when he says there are “tens of thousands” of people watching the stream live. Both streaming and Apple have come a long way in 25 years.
I’ll just tuck in a footnote here that another necessary technical feature was high-speed USB-C, for recording video to external SSD drives. EU regulatory cheerleaders hang their hats on the belief that Apple switched iPhones from Lightning connectors to USB-C solely because of the EU charging port mandate. Some of them believe that absent EU intervention, iPhones today would still be on Lightning. That’s nonsense. These things are all true: the EU now mandates USB-C charging ports for phones (and most other devices); Apple opposed the EU USB-C mandate; the iPhone switched to USB-C in 2023 with the iPhone 15 generation; and the iPhone’s Lightning port was the last remaining proprietary phone connector that anyone cared about. But correlation is not causation. Apple opposed (and still opposes) the EU USB-C mandate not because they think USB-C is bad today, but because the mandate will stymie moving to something better (thinner / smaller / faster) in the future. (In 2011 the EU soft-mandated the terrible Micro-USB connector in a “Memorandum of Understanding” that Apple of course ignored. USB-C is a good connector, but the lesson the European Commission took from their Micro-USB attempt was to hard-mandate their preferred universal connector this time — to switch from should to must.) Apple started moving iOS devices from Lightning to USB-C all the way back in 2018 with the iPad Pros. The EU USB-C mandate didn’t come into effect until December 2024. Apple had planned to move the iPhone to USB-C starting with the iPhone 15 generation years prior. If Apple had complied with the EU mandate only begrudgingly, they would have waited until 2024; Apple never complies early with regulations they disagree with. They also might have shipped USB-C iPhones exclusively within the EU. For years Apple shipped iPhones with two physical SIM card slots in China — region-specific hardware wouldn’t be new. They still today ship new iPhones with physical SIM card trays in most of the world but without them in the US models. But the best proof is that the iPhone 15 Pro models had camera features that required USB-C for data transfer performance.
\n\nThe theory that the EU dragged Apple kicking and screaming into switching the iPhone to USB-C is predicated on the notion that because Lightning was proprietary and USB-C is not, that Apple made a fortune selling Lightning accessories and didn’t want to give up that revenue stream. But Apple sells just as many $20–30 USB-C cables as they did $20–30 Lightning cables, and dirt-cheap Lightning cables from third-party companies were always plentiful (albeit not in Apple Stores). The iPhone switching to USB-C hasn’t affected Apple’s bottom line at all. This footnote, I’m sure, will put this matter to rest. ↩︎
\nAlso interesting knowing that this was the first keynote produced after Phil Schiller stepped down from running events, yet Schiller is as big a Bond fan as anyone I know. The Bond references in the keynote might have been a nice nod to Schiller from his former team. ↩︎︎
\nLast year’s keynote announcement order: AirPods Pro 3, Apple Watch (Series 11 and Ultra 3), iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro. This year’s order: iPhone 18 Pro, AirPods 5, Apple Watch, iPhone Duo. ↩︎︎
\nAs I write this in mid-September, you can still purchase the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max at last year’s prices from carriers like AT&T and Verizon, including the 1 TB 17 Pro for $1,500 and 2 TB 17 Pro Max for $2,000. It doesn’t make much sense to me to buy a 256 or 512 GB 17 Pro today just to save $100, unless you really love cosmic orange and feel disappointed by the 18 Pro colors. But if you really want 1 or 2 TB of storage, you’ll save $300 or $500 respectively buying a 17 Pro model instead of an 18 Pro. That’s real money. ↩︎︎
\nHave you noticed that more and more, people in window seats keep their windows closed, keeping the cabin dark, even for mid-day flights? I get it for early morning flights, but I don’t get it for mid-day and late afternoon flights. Sunlight is good. I’m an aisle-seat man myself, but when I get stuck with a window seat the best part is the view out the window. With the window closed, those seats aren’t much better than middle seats. ↩︎︎
\nRoger Moore played Bond in seven films, but never once ordered a martini nor uttered the “shaken not stirred” line. He did enjoy martinis in three of the movies, but in each case, the drink was ordered or prepared for him. This, despite Moore himself having been a dry martini aficionado. ↩︎︎
\nBut the fact that the new CEO spent his career in hardware engineering tells you which side at Apple is the bigger 50 percent. ↩︎︎
\nThe iPhone X (2436 × 1125 pixels) worked out to 2.1653 : 1. This week’s new iPhone 18 Pro (2622 × 1206 pixels) is 2.1741… : 1, and the 18 Pro Max (2868 × 1320) is 2.172 : 1. To two decimal places they’re all 2.17 : 1. ↩︎︎
\nLet’s keep going with the math pedantry. The Duo’s 5.4-inch outer display is 2034 × 1398 pixels, which works out to about 1.455 : 1. The 7.8-inch inner display is 2670 × 1878 pixels, which works out to about 1.422 : 1. Calling them both “1.4 : 1” is close enough for government work. ↩︎︎
\nBack in 2021 during the COVID era, iOS 14.5 added a then-much-needed feature that allowed Apple Watch to unlock your iPhone. That feature remains available, and I guess that’s what Apple is promoting for use with iPhone Duo. But I had to check that this feature was still available in iOS because I haven’t used it since last wearing face mask five or six years ago. ↩︎︎
\nWhich raises an obvious question that I’ve never really thought hard about before: Why the hell can’t you unlock a Touch ID iPad with your Apple Watch, like you can with a Mac (or, now, an iPhone Duo)? ↩︎︎
\nSSO is table stakes for enterprise deals, but building it into your app yourself means writing SAML controllers, parsing XML assertions, and handling IdP-specific quirks for each provider.
\n\nLearn how SAML flows work, the tradeoffs between building or buying, and best practices for security, routing, and UX. Or skip the hassle and add SSO with WorkOS.
\n\n\n\nLink: workos.com/guide/the-developers-guide-to-sso?utm_source…
\n" }, { "title" : "Apple’s 27.0 OS Updates", "date_published" : "2026-09-14T19:41:41Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-14T19:41:41Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/14/apples-270-os-updates", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/14/apples-270-os-updates", "external_url" : "https://scriptingosx.com/2026/09/apple-27-platform-updates-september-2026/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nArmin Briegel at Scripting OS X has compiled links for all the release notes for all of today’s OS updates (features, developer, security). In addition to the 27.0 updates, Apple also released 26.7 updates and MacOS 15.8 Sequoia. Big day.
\n\nLink: scriptingosx.com/2026/09/apple-27-platform-updates…
\n" }, { "title" : "Dumpster Fire – Litterbox-Inspired Extension for Firefox", "date_published" : "2026-09-14T14:47:43Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-14T14:47:44Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/14/dumpster-fire", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/14/dumpster-fire", "external_url" : "https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dumpster-fire/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMiles Abbott:
\n\n\n\n\nOpen x.com links in a popup so you can read the one post and\nleave. Port of the Litterbox Safari extension.
\n
Litterbox is a cleverer name, but Dumpster Fire is funnier.
\n\nLink: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dumpster-fire/
\n" }, { "title" : "XCancel Shuts Down Again", "date_published" : "2026-09-14T13:24:10Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-14T17:22:51Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/14/xcancel-shuts-down-again", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/14/xcancel-shuts-down-again", "external_url" : "https://xcancel.com/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nXCancel:
\n\n\n\n\nUnfortunately, due to a new development in the ongoing legal\nproceedings, we are required to suspend this service again until\nfurther notice. We can’t share more details.
\n
Not surprised, and not sure what to make of the “can’t share more details” part. Again, if you want to avoid visiting X but want to see the content posted there linked from other sites (and, let’s admit it at this point: there’s not just a lot posted on X, it is outright resurgent in popularity), install a browser extension like Litterbox (Safari) or Post Peek (Chrome).
\n\nLink: xcancel.com/
\n" }, { "title" : "Glyphs 4", "date_published" : "2026-09-13T21:44:17Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-14T03:25:51Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/13/glyphs-4", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/13/glyphs-4", "external_url" : "https://glyphsapp.com/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMy thanks to Glyphs for sponsoring this last week at DF. Glyphs 4 is a truly native Mac app for creating fonts, lettering, icons, and pictograms. Glyphs lets you draw with flexible strokes and efficiently reuse shapes across huge sets of glyphs, and explore variable vector designs with complex higher-order interpolation. Glyphs lets you build and manage massive font family and icon sets with ease, and it exports all modern font formats, as well as SVG, PNG, and PDF.
\n\nEarlier this year Glyph co-creators Georg Seifert and Rainer Scheichelbauer were awarded the RIT Frederic W. Goudy Award for their work on Glyphs. The list of previous winners of this prestigious award reads like a hall of fame for typography: Matthew Carter, Adrian Frutiger, Gudrun and Hermann Zapf, Robert Bringhurst, and Robert Slimbach, to name a few.
\n\nGlyphs hits my personal interests hard. I’m deeply interested in and fascinated by typography, and nothing pleases me more than a Mac-assed Mac app. I am not, however, a typeface designer. Glyphs is so good, though, that it makes me want to be. This comment from one Glyphs user says a lot: “After using Glyphs, the pen tool in Illustrator feels like carving a chicken with a chainsaw.” In addition to Glyphs 4, the complete font editor, they also offer Glyphs Mini, a “light-weight Mac font editor for beginners”. Their documentation is thorough, and both Glyphs 4 and Glyphs Mini have 30-day free trials. To say it’s been a pleasure to have Glyphs sponsor Daring Fireball is an understatement.
\n\nDownload Glyphs 4 today, and make note of a special offer just for DF readers: use code FIREBALL to save $30 if you purchase in the next month.
\n\nLink: glyphsapp.com/
\n" }, { "title" : "Unread 5.0", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T19:27:37Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-12T19:28:19Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/unread-5", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/unread-5", "external_url" : "https://www.goldenhillsoftware.com/2026/09/unread-50/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nJohn Brayton:
\n\n\n\n\nUnread 5.0 is available now from the App Store. This update adds these improvements and more:
\n\n\n
\n- Improvements around hero images, article list thumbnails, and widget thumbnails
\n- Syncing with FreshRSS and Miniflux
\n- The ability to quickly mark old articles read
\n
I’m a NetNewsWire man personally, but I’ve long admired Unread as a different, very good take on a feed reader. Just a gorgeous app. One of the very best things about RSS is that feed readers take such different shapes and approaches.
\n\nLink: goldenhillsoftware.com/2026/09/unread-50/
\n" }, { "title" : "Post Peek — Litterbox-Inspired Tweet Viewing Extension for Chrome", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T18:05:01Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-12T18:05:01Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/post-peek", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/post-peek", "external_url" : "https://github.com/tsvb/post-peek", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nTim VanBenschoten:
\n\n\n\n\nPost Peek is an independent, open-source project inspired by\nLitterbox, the Safari extension by Zhenyi Tan (And a Dinosaur).
\n
Link: github.com/tsvb/post-peek
\n" }, { "title" : "Where Are the AI-Generated Killer Apps?", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T16:23:57Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-12T16:25:41Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/paul-ford-ai-killer-apps", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/paul-ford-ai-killer-apps", "external_url" : "https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/opinion/ai-software-coding-apps.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AlE.C9EE.H2j5a1eHFUbQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nPaul Ford, writing for The New York Times (gift link):
\n\n\n\n\nFor a while, I must admit, it looked as if software developer\nroles like mine were done for. How could we fight against tireless\nrobots? But our industry is slowly realizing that making truly\ncutting-edge software still requires humans to think and work\ntogether, to maximize their skill sets and to practice their\nrespective crafts. A.I. can write very good software, but it also\nmakes it easy to do someone else’s job badly, which is part of why\nall those projects fail. Now that everyone can code, it’s become\nclearer why many shouldn’t.
\n
Ford, linking to his own column on Bluesky:
\n\n\n\n\nI just want one killer app before we get a killer robot.
\n
Link: nytimes.com/2026/09/12/opinion/ai-software-coding-apps.html…
\n" }, { "title" : "Yours Truly on Off Protocol With Jim Ray", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T15:36:53Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-12T15:36:53Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/yours-truly-on-off-protocol-with-jim-ray", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/yours-truly-on-off-protocol-with-jim-ray", "external_url" : "https://atproto.com/off-protocol/2026-09-11-make-your-own-thing-john-gruber", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMy old friend Jim Ray now runs developer relations at Bluesky, and part of that gig is hosting a podcast, Off Protocol (“a show about building a better Internet”). I was delighted to appear as his latest guest. I generally don’t like talking about my career, but I did enjoy talking about it with Jim. He has that effect on people.
\n\nLink: atproto.com/off-protocol/2026-09-11-make-your-own-thing…
\n" }, { "title" : "T-Mobile Is Charging $5/Month for iPhone Handoff", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T15:24:09Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-12T15:26:12Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/tmobile-iphone-handoff-price-gauging", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/tmobile-iphone-handoff-price-gauging", "external_url" : "https://www.t-mobile.com/news/devices/iphone-18-pro-iphone-duo-apple-watch-release", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nT-Mobile, in their iPhone 18 Pro / iPhone Duo press release:
\n\n\n\n\nPlus, T‑Mobile is one of the first to support Apple’s new iPhone\nHandoff feature, where customers with two compatible iPhone\nmodels can use their T‑Mobile number across both devices and\nchoose which phone is active at any given time. The secondary\niPhone works seamlessly, including essential T‑Mobile services\nlike calls, texts, data, mobile hotspot, Scam Shield and\nT-Satellite on eligible plans, allowing customers to get the most\nfrom two devices without clunky handoffs or the hassle of managing\nanother number. iPhone Handoff is available on any iPhone with iOS\n27 via iPhone settings and ready to use from day one on the new\niPhone 18 Pro lineup and iPhone Duo. T‑Mobile is introducing the\nfeature at $5/month.
\n
This seems like a ridiculous thing to charge for. It’s not adding a separate device to your plan, like adding a cellular iPad or even an Apple Watch. It’s just switching your active eSIM between two iPhones. You can do this for free, now, on any carrier via Settings → Cellular — but it takes a bunch of taps, confirmation on both iPhones, and a few minutes for the carrier to register the eSIM transfer. iPhone Handoff just eliminates all the annoying friction and waiting.
\n\nBut, it’s utterly unsurprising that a carrier will charge a ridiculous monthly fee. I’ll be very surprised (pleasantly) if Verizon doesn’t do the same. Verizon charges for everything.
\n\nStill curious to me why AT&T isn’t yet announced as supporting iPhone Handoff at all. I have no idea why anyone remains on that turd of a network unless they live or work in a location where only AT&T provides a good signal, but even then, if it were me, I’d use AT&T by way of US Mobile. AT&T is the worst company I’ve ever dealt with, and I live in Kabletown.
\n\nLink: t-mobile.com/news/devices/iphone-18-pro-iphone-duo-apple…
\n" }, { "title" : "Tristan Buckmaster’s Statement on Getting Scooped by OpenAI on the Navier–Stokes Problem", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T14:55:12Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-13T21:02:22Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/buckmaster-statement", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/buckmaster-statement", "external_url" : "https://cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/statement.pdf", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nTristan Buckmaster, professor of mathematics at NYU, in his own statement, regarding his and Levent Alpöge’s interactions with employees at OpenAI regarding this week’s math-proof controversy:
\n\n\n\n\nI asked when the first prompt had been sent by them. This question\nwas not answered directly by OpenAI for some time. Eventually it\nwas agreed that it had been sent in the past few days, after\ninformation about our work had reached OpenAI.
\n\nI asked whether the model had been trained on, or had access to,\nour sessions in Codex, into which we had been putting all our\ndrafts for the whole of this project. I was told the model did not\nlook up user data. I asked again, about training, and I did not\nget an answer.
\n\nTwo proposals were offered to me. The first was that we post our\nEuler result, and that OpenAI post its Navier–Stokes result the\nnext day. The second was that, after posting Euler, I alone write\na paper presenting the Navier–Stokes result, acknowledging that an\ninternal OpenAI model had resolved it. Sebastien twice asserted\nthat he wanted Levent removed from authorship, and said it would\nall be simple if only it were not the case that, and it was so\nannoying that, Levent works at Anthropic. It was also said that if\nOpenAI posted after us, they would say that we deserved the Clay\nPrize, and that we were the “closest humans to the problem”. I\ndeclined both offers.
\n\nI said that if OpenAI released its result in the way proposed I\nwould go public with what happened. The reply was, “Why would you\nruin your career?” I replied that I am an academic, and asked why\nhe thought going public would ruin my career. The reply was, “If\nyou don’t want me to be nice, then I don’t have to be nice.”
\n
“Sebastien” is Sebastien Bubeck, who came to OpenAI by way of Microsoft (shocker).
\n\nLink: cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/statement.pdf
\n" }, { "title" : "Gary Marcus on This Week in AI Drama", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T14:25:07Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-13T21:13:27Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/marcus-ai-drama", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/12/marcus-ai-drama", "external_url" : "https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/two-dire-warnings-one-from-terence", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nI have been busy with new-iPhone-week stuff, so I haven’t been able to follow either of these stories closely, but Marcus summarizes them both well. First: the drama regarding OpenAI claiming a solution to the Navier–Stokes math problem. In short, OpenAI continues to prove itself to be a company full of cheaters. In this case, they seemingly were willing to tank the company’s reputation to first claim the solution to one of mathematics’ top unsolved problems. Apparently they spent $23 million in compute to win a $1 million prize, and admit they used a model that might have trained on the work mathematicians Tristan Buckmaster and Levent Alpöge had been working on for months, who had been using a combination of tools from OpenAI and Anthropic (where Alpöge is employed). With no hyperbole, the message here seems to be “Don’t use Codex or ChatGPT unless you’re OK with OpenAI stealing your work if it’s of interest to them.”
\n\nAs for Anthropic, the news of the week is this guy Jacob Coxon, who quit the company in a public huff (on X, where most of this public drama is taking place), because he thinks they’re increasingly reckless despite everyone inside Anthropic believing that there’s a good chance LLMs will destroy humanity (or at least civilization?) in the next few years. Here’s Evan Hubinger, still at Anthropic, not dismissing Coxon as an alarmist but agreeing with him:
\n\n\n\n\nJacob is correct here — we really do earnestly believe AI could\nkill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next\ndecade. I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet\nhave a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not\nclearly on track to.
\n
This is crazy talk. Put aside whatever the actual risks are. If you truly believe there’s a greater than 10 percent chance that “AI could kill all humans ... within the next decade”, this is not how a reasonable person in their right mind would talk about it. Coxon thinks he’s blowing the whistle that Anthropic is a threat to the world. What he’s actually done is confirm that Anthropic is a cult, and its employees can’t really be talked to rationally, because they’re cultists. Sometimes members leave cults and they reveal to the world details about what’s going on inside the cult. But a lot of the time you can tell those whistleblowers still aren’t hooked up right, because they’re still people who joined and spent years inside a cult. They leave the cult not because they suddenly snap back to sanity but for other reasons.
\n\nLink: garymarcus.substack.com/p/two-dire-warnings-one-from…
\n" }, { "title" : "Last Year’s iPhone Share Amongst Users of Widgetsmith", "date_published" : "2026-09-12T00:19:57Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-12T14:14:27Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/last-years-iphone-share-amongst-users-of-widgetsmith", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/last-years-iphone-share-amongst-users-of-widgetsmith", "external_url" : "https://mastodon.social/@_Davidsmith/117253170115740653", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nDavid Smith, developer of the widely-used Widgetsmith, on Mastodon:
\n\n\n\n\nThe eve of iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders seems a good time to look back\nat the iPhone 17 family’s adoption. Here’s the 17 family data as a\npercentage of overall usage for Widgetsmith.
\n\nGenerally they followed the usual adoption pattern, and overall\ndid very well ending at around 20% of total usage.
\n\nWith the exception of the Air really struggling to find market\nshare. For comparison the 16 Plus ended its first year at around\n1.4% (vs the Air’s 0.3%).
\n
The chart looks rough for the iPhone Air. Amongst all Widgetsmith users, here’s the share as of September by model:
\n\n![\n](\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2026/09/craig.jpeg\"){kind=link}
![\n](\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2026/09/cook.jpeg\"){kind=link}
![The chart](\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2026/09/widgetsmith-iphones-17-share.png\"){kind=link}
iPhone 17 7.2%\niPhone 17 Pro Max 5.9%\n iPhone 17 Pro 5.8%\n iPhone 17e 0.5%\n iPhone Air 0.3%\nBut if we only consider the 19.7 percent of Widgetsmith users using one of these new 17-generation iPhones, the percentages look like this:
\n\n iPhone 17 36.5%\niPhone 17 Pro Max 29.9%\n iPhone 17 Pro 29.4%\n iPhone 17e 2.5%\n iPhone Air 1.5%\nIn the entire year since the iPhone Air was announced, I’ve never seen Apple advertise it. No billboards, no commercials. It raises a chicken/egg question: did no one buy it because Apple didn’t market it, or did Apple not market it because no one wanted it?
\n\nIt’s a shame, because I truly believe not only that it’s the nicest iPhone Apple has ever made, but that if most people tried it, they’d love it. They don’t need a bigger battery and, wouldn’t take better photos with a Pro model, and would love the thin feel and low weight. But the shame of these low iPhone Air sales reminds me, very much, of the late great iPhone 12 and 13 Mini — also a truly great design, also terribly disappointing sales numbers.
\n\nIf the iPhone Air 2 rumored to be coming in the spring doesn’t turn things around, it might follow the Mini as a twice-and-done design.
\n\nThat said, the 17e seemingly isn’t setting the world on fire either. That’s a bit surprising to me. (Maybe the sort of people who buy the “e” models (and the SE models before them) aren’t the demographic for an app like Widgetsmith.)
\n\nLink: mastodon.social/@_Davidsmith/117253170115740653
\n" }, { "title" : "Clarus the Dogcow Easter Egg in Apple’s OS 27 Settings", "date_published" : "2026-09-11T20:33:03Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-11T23:52:10Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/clarus-settings-ios-27", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/clarus-settings-ios-27", "external_url" : "https://9to5mac.com/2026/09/11/apple-hid-a-classic-mac-easter-egg-in-the-ios-27-settings-app/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nBenjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:
\n\n\n\n\nMany have complained that Apple design has been sapped of some of\nits trademark whimsy in recent years. Well, here’s the latest\nexample of how the tides seem to be changing.
\n\nBuried in the Settings app on iOS 27, Apple has hidden an easter\negg that hails back from classic Mac OS; Clarus the Dogcow. Here’s\nhow to trigger it …
\n
Very fun. Alas, this easter egg isn’t present in MacOS 27, only iOS 27. But the MacOS 27 version of the Liquid Glass settings panel does have a drawing glitch that makes the magnifying glass in the fake search field flicker terribly, so Golden Gate does have that going for it.
\n\nUpdate: A bunch of readers have kindly reported that the Clarus easter egg is present in MacOS 27 Golden Gate, illustrated on X by Andreas Storm and at 512 Pixels by Stephen Hackett. I still can’t get it to work on the MacBook Neo I’m running the latest beta of Golden Gate on though. One of the readers who sent a note says they don’t see the magnifying glass flicker, either.
\n\nLink: 9to5mac.com/2026/09/11/apple-hid-a-classic-mac-easter-egg…
\n" }, { "title" : "XCancel Is Back", "date_published" : "2026-09-11T19:15:19Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-11T19:15:52Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/xcancel-is-back", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/xcancel-is-back", "external_url" : "https://xcancel.com/cdclegal", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nXCancel:
\n\n\n\n\nFollowing the legal progress as announced in the Nitter GitHub\nproject. The XCancel service is resumed.
\n\nMore details will be shared on the Nitter GitHub project page.
\n
Glad to hear it and I wish them well, but I think Zhenyi Tan’s Litterbox Safari extension is a much better solution for viewing tweets on X without going to X.
\n\nLink: xcancel.com/cdclegal
\n" }, { "title" : "iPhone Duo Only Works With the $80 USB-C Apple Pencil, Not the $130 Apple Pencil Pro", "date_published" : "2026-09-11T16:32:21Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-11T16:42:15Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/iphone-duo-pencil-support", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/11/iphone-duo-pencil-support", "external_url" : "https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/09/apple-pencil-usb-c-iphone-duo/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nJuli Clover, MacRumors:
\n\n\n\n\nIt’s likely the iPhone Duo doesn’t support the Apple Pencil Pro\nbecause there’s no magnetic surface for charging the pencil. The\nApple Pencil Pro charges magnetically when connected to a\ncompatible iPad, while the Apple Pencil with USB-C charges with a\nUSB-C port hidden behind a sliding cap.
\n
Charging is the least of the problems. Because the Duo doesn’t have the magnetic attachment for Pencil Pro, there’s no way to even pair a Pencil Pro. The easiest way to think about it isn’t to compare which devices support which features (like pressure sensitivity, or double-tapping) — it’s just to think about which devices can even pair with which Pencil models. Unless I’m missing an exception in Apple’s compatibility support document, if a Pencil-compatible iPad or iPhone can pair with a certain Pencil’s connector, then it can use that Pencil. The iPads with both the magnetic attachment point and USB-C can use either the Pencil Pro or regular Pencil, and the devices without the magnetic attachment can only use the regular Pencil.
\n\nBut the bottom line is that Apple’s entire Pencil compatibility story remains a mess. Imagine you own an iPad Pro and a Pencil Pro, and you love using the Pencil. You’ve always wanted to be able to use a Pencil with your iPhone. Now you can, if you buy a Duo. But you also have to buy a different Pencil — and then pack two different Pencils whenever you leave the house with both your iPad and iPhone. That’s ridiculous.
\n\nLink: macrumors.com/2026/09/09/apple-pencil-usb-c-iphone-duo/
\n" }, { "title" : "Apple’s OS 27 Updates Will Be Released on Monday, 14 September", "date_published" : "2026-09-10T20:15:52Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-10T20:18:54Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/10/os-27-release-date-monday-14-september", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/10/os-27-release-date-monday-14-september", "external_url" : "https://9to5mac.com/2026/09/09/apple-confirms-macos-27-golden-gate-launch-date-september-14/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\n9to5 Mac has the iOS 27 release notes too. I haven’t spent much time using Golden Gate, but I’ve been using iOS 27 full-time ever since WWDC. It’s in excellent shape for a .0 release.
\n\nNow I need to think about how long I want to still hang onto MacOS 15 Sequoia on my main Mac. I’ll probably skip 27.0 and wait for 27.1, but maybe I’ll bite the bullet and upgrade when a 27.0.1 update comes out.
\n\nLink: 9to5mac.com/2026/09/09/apple-confirms-macos-27-golden-gate…
\n" }, { "title" : "Joanna Stern on the iPhone Duo", "date_published" : "2026-09-10T17:29:30Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-10T17:34:00Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/10/joanna-iphone-duo", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/10/joanna-iphone-duo", "external_url" : "https://youtu.be/VNzl-q0EGfg", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nOne thing I learned from this video is that I’m way, way too careful when playing with the hands-on area demo units. I handle them like museum pieces; Stern treats them like hot dog buns.
\n\nLink: youtu.be/VNzl-q0EGfg
\n" }, { "title" : "★ The iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro", "date_published" : "2026-09-09T00:55:53Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-15T17:54:29Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/the_iphone_air_and_iphone_17_pro", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/the_iphone_air_and_iphone_17_pro", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nLast year, an unplanned personal hiatus coincided with the time when I should have been reviewing the then-new iPhones 17 and iPhone Air. In my brief note explaining my absence, I wrote:
\n\n\n\n\nI look forward to getting back to writing very soon. I can feel\nit: I will be back soon. I’m itching to go. I mean, jiminy, it’s\nnew iPhones week. But it’ll be a few more days before I get those\nreviews out.
\n
354 days is arguably more than a few, but given that I missed the window for reviewing them when they were new, I thought it might be interesting to consider the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air on the cusp of their being obsoleted by the next generation of iPhones.
\n\nThe iPhone Air is the nicest phone Apple has ever made, and probably the nicest device Apple has ever made, period. It’s just so goddamn nice. Over the years, Apple has gone back and forth with its treatment of the metal side rails on iPhone hardware: some years polished like jewelry, other years, matte like a tool. The iPhone Air is polished, and the effect is luxe. (And it stands in contrast to the matte iPhones 17 Pro.)
\n\nThe whole point of the device is that it is absurdly thin. A year later, it still feels remarkably thin and light in hand — and, even better, thin and light in pocket. It is delightful to hold and carry. The screen is terrific. The buttons are perfect: they stick out just enough and have just the right clickiness.
\n\nThe big concern most people have regarding the Air is battery life. I used my Air review unit extensively and battery life was never once a problem. Yes, battery life is shorter than with other iPhone models, but it’s more than long enough. When you know you might need to top it off, you just do it here and there throughout the day. I not only never once ran out of battery by the end of the day with the Air, I never once came all that close. It’s fine.1 I mean, if you’re the sort of person who struggles to get through the day battery-life-wise with a regular (thicker) iPhone, the iPhone Air obviously isn’t for you. But that’s really obvious.
\n\nMy biggest concern going into it was the camera system. The iPhone Air has only a single rear-facing camera, with non-interpolated 1× and 2× zoom factors.2 In practice, yes, sometimes while carrying the Air I regretted not having either the ultra wide 0.5× lens or telephoto lens, both of which I’m accustomed to having at my disposal. But ultimately I didn’t miss either of those lenses enough that I regretted having the Air in my pocket that day. And conversely, there’s something mentally freeing about having just one lens. There’s no question which lens you should use. Zoom with your feet.
\n\nAnd the one lens the iPhone Air has is excellent. It’s not quite as good as the main 1×/2× lens on the Pro models, but it’s much closer to the Pro models in image quality than it is to the single-lens iPhone 17e. (But even the 17e is a damn good camera for a phone.) One thing you miss by not having a 0.5× ultra wide lens is a true macro mode. But because it uses a slightly smaller sensor, the camera on the iPhone Air has a closer minimum focus distance than the iPhone 17 Pro’s main camera (15 cm vs. 20 cm — those 5 cm often make a big difference). I like the iPhone Air camera so much that it didn’t factor all that much into my decision whether to buy one to use as my personal iPhone for the last year. It’s that good.
\n\nBut I did not buy one to use as my personal iPhone for the last year. I bought an iPhone 17 Pro. The reason is size.
\n\nThe iPhone 17 Pro comes in two sizes: regular and Max. I find the Max sizes too big — unpleasant to hold, unpleasant to pocket. The iPhone Air comes in only one size — a sort of one-size-fits-all midway point between the regular iPhone models and Max models.
\n\n WIDTH HEIGHT THICKNESS WEIGHT\niPhone 17 Pro Max 78mm 163mm 8.75mm 233g\n iPhone Air 75mm 156mm 5.64mm 165g\n iPhone 17 Pro 72mm 150mm 8.75mm 206g\nWidth- and height-wise, the Air is pretty much halfway between the Pro and Pro Max. For me, in practice, the factor that really matters is width — and I find the Air too wide. Just holding the phones as objects to admire, the dramatic thinness and lighter weight make the iPhone Air the nicest, by far. But holding them to actually use, I find the Air feels too wide. Specifically, too wide to use with one hand, gripping it with my palm and fingers and swiping and tapping with my thumb. If I had my druthers, the regular-sized iPhones would be slightly smaller, footprint-wise. The regular iPhone 17 Pro is pretty much as wide as can be for me to use it one-handed. The Air is too wide for that — it’s a two-handed device for me. And that was the dealbreaker.3 I use my iPhone one-handed frequently, often while walking around the city carrying a bag or beverage in my other hand.
\n\nIf the iPhone Air came in two sizes, regular and Max, corresponding to the widths and heights of the two Pro sizes, I would have bought the regular-sized Air model and, I’m convinced, been delighted with it for the past year. But the iPhone Air only comes in one size, and that size is too wide for my taste, and in practical use, that factor overrides everything I love about the Air.
\n\nIf you use your iPhone two-handed almost exclusively — perhaps because you find even the regular-sized models too wide to use one-handed — there’s a good chance you’d be happier with the Air than whatever model you’re currently carrying. It’s so goddamn nice.
\n\nThe iPhone 17 Pro is the best phone Apple has ever made, and perhaps the best device Apple has ever made, period.
\n\nAfter two years of titanium side rails and full-glass backs \n(the 15/16 Pro generations), the 17 Pro went back to aluminum, and the metal is now more of an entire frame for the device than just a side rail. There remains a matte glass panel on the back, but only for the bottom three-quarters or so, underneath the camera plateau. (Inductive MagSafe/Qi charging doesn’t work through metal.) The camera plateau is now aluminum, and, most noticeably, extends across the full width of the device, even though the three camera lenses (0.5×, 1×/2×, 4×/8×) remain in a triangle arrangement in the corner.
\n\nThis new full-width plateau is a winning design. I think it looks good, but more importantly, feels great. It looks more balanced and feels more balanced too. It still wobbles when placed on a table, but it wobbles less. The camera capabilities, to me, are the defining aspect of the Pro models. It thus feels correct for them to be so physically prominent on the devices.
\n\nThe iPhone 17 Pro was offered in three colors: cosmic orange, deep blue, and silver. All three colors are excellent, and each of them tempted me to some extent. I’m not sure why silver didn’t get an adjective — it’s a very nice colorway. But cosmic orange is the eyecatcher. For years, Apple has been releasing non-pro iPhones in fun colors, and Pro iPhones only in no-fun (or at best low-fun) colors. It really seemed like a mystery why Apple never released an iPhone Pro model in a vibrant fun color. Now that they finally did it, it seems like even more of a mystery why it took them so long — anecdotally, cosmic orange has been an incredibly popular choice. I see orange iPhone 17 Pros in use every day, often in clear cases to show off the color.
\n\nMy personal rule has been to always buy black, or the nearest to black offered. Deep blue isn’t all that near to black, but it was the nearest, so that’s what I bought. I wouldn’t call it fun but I liked it when I bought it and I’m not tired of it now, nearly a year later. It’s a serious blue. After 10+ months of near-daily use, the anodization is beginning to wear away at the top corner of my iPhone’s camera plateau, where there’s a bit of a sharp corner. I find this to be a charming patina, not a flaw, and looking at that wear increases my affection for this little guy.
\n\n\n\n(Photo taken with the iPhone Air, using Halide Mark III.)
\n\nI’ve shot (and kept) 5,365 photos and 97 videos with the iPhone 17 Pro. (Perhaps I should shoot more videos.) The iPhone camera has long been the best camera in the sense of “The best camera is the one you have with you.” With each successive year, they come closer and closer to being the best camera I’ve ever owned, period. It’s really quite remarkable how good a camera it is.
\n\nBattery life has been excellent. I charge to 100 percent every night while I sleep, and never worry about it during the day. Very seldom is the battery under 25 percent by the end of the day. According to the statistics in Settings → Battery → Battery Health, maximum battery capacity remains at 96 percent after 230 cycles. That seems pretty good.
\n\nDurability has been terrific as well. I mentioned a month ago that Apple’s “Ceramic Shield 2” process seems to be the real deal. Even under close inspection, there’s seemingly not a single micro abrasion on the front glass. I used a Nomad leather back during the very coldest weeks of the East Coast winter, but otherwise have never used a case. Despite near-daily use for 10-ish months, it’s in near-mint condition. I’ve also found that the phone, naked, is about as grippy as one could hope in most weather conditions, the frigid cold being the one exception.
\n\nDust and fuzz accumulates in the USB-C port — just like every phone with a USB port. I clean it out every few months. Some sort of crud also accumulates in the very thin, easily overlooked slit for the speaker at the top of the display. That requires something like a pin or needle to clean. I don’t know what that crud is and I don’t want to know. I also don’t know what Apple could do about this crud accumulation, but I need to reach deep to find anything at all to complain about regarding this iPhone. I look forward to a future hermetically sealed iPhone which has no crevices in which to accumulate crud.
\n\nOne year later and it feels like both the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air could be announced tomorrow, not a year ago, and would seem fresh and exciting.
\n\nApple also created a battery pack exclusively for the Air: the $100 iPhone Air MagSafe Battery. Like Apple’s late great Lightning MagSafe Battery Pack, the Air MagSafe Battery is a much better product than any third-party battery pack I’ve ever tried, and I’ve tried an embarrassing number of them. It sticks better magnetically, and there’s software integration with iOS that shows the battery pack’s remaining power when you first connect it, and in the Battery widget. iOS also seems smarter about when to draw power from it, making it last longer. It’s a no-brainer recommendation for anyone who buys an iPhone Air. You won’t need it most days, but on the days when you need it, it’s perfect.
\n\nMy only gripe about the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery remains the same from the day it was announced last year: it has “Air” in the name because it’s designed exclusively for the iPhone Air. Apple’s old Lightning MagSafe Battery Pack was designed to fit any iPhone. (In fact, it debuted in 2020 alongside the iPhone 12 Mini, an iPhone that actually needed help getting through the day on a single charge.) The old Lightning battery pack remains so good that I continue to use mine (I own two) instead of the numerous third-party ones I’ve blown money on in the intervening years. The old Lightning ones don’t pack much of a punch, juice-wise — particularly because they’re now several years old — but no matter how much I use my iPhone, it’s always enough to extend me through the day. (The key is not to start using it until your iPhone drops under 30 percent — it takes less energy to recharge a mostly depleted battery.) I continue using them because they stick to the back of the iPhone so strongly, and, once attached, are so comfortable. It’s the last Lightning device I actively use, but unless Apple comes out with a proper USB-C replacement that works on iPhones other than the Air, I don’t foresee retiring mine until they’re completely shot. ↩︎
\nThe front-facing camera on the iPhone Air is the new (for 2025) Center Stage camera. It’s exactly the same front-facing camera as the iPhone 17 Pro and non-pro models, and uses a square sensor with a wider field of view. ↩︎︎
\nThis, of course, makes me wonder about the one-handed usability of the passport-sized foldable iPhone that Apple is expected to unveil tomorrow. ↩︎︎
\nThere are good Elle Cordova videos, and there are great ones. (Last mentioned here for her “Fonts Hanging Out” trilogy.)
\n\nLink: youtube.com/watch?v=0Ck-NPqf2c8
\n" }, { "title" : "★ SuperDuper 4", "date_published" : "2026-09-08T14:55:20Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-08T14:55:22Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/superduper_4", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/superduper_4", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nI have mentioned and recommended Shirt Pocket’s Mac backup app SuperDuper quite a few times over the years, and for good reason: it performs very important functions very well. Version 4, which shipped just over a month ago, is an extraordinary update to an extraordinary app.
\n\nVisually, the interface is all new. That took some getting used to, but not much. It didn’t take long for me to see how the new UI is better in every way. The style of presentation is new and modern, but the core idea remains the same: the interface of SuperDuper is self-explanatory. It explains what, exactly, is going to happen. It remains a marvel of clarity, especially when you consider the complexity of what it does.
\n\nFunctionally, SuperDuper 4 is also much improved. SuperDuper has never been slow, but now some copy operations are over 2× faster. Scheduling options are more powerful. You don’t need to worry about the details to use SuperDuper, but the details are there for your inspection.
\n\nShirt Pocket’s Dave Nanian designed it, implemented it, and thoroughly documented it. I don’t know how that’s possible. SuperDuper feels like impossibly good software. Read his post announcing version 4 to start, then catch up on the rest of the blog to get a feeling for how much work he’s put into SuperDuper 4. Just extraordinary.
\n\nIn the 22 years since SuperDuper first shipped, Shirt Pocket has never charged for updates and never raised the price. (This too seems impossible, at least for a company that remains in business.) Version 4 costs $44 — an astonishing value — and discounts are available for anyone who bought version 3 after July 2020. Sans license, free of charge, SuperDuper 4 still allows you to make bootable backups.
\n\nI recommend SuperDuper 4 wholeheartedly.
\n\nSee also: Dan Moren at Six Colors and Michael Tsai.
\n\n " }, { "title" : "[Sponsor] Glyphs 4", "date_published" : "2026-09-07T22:16:26Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-07T22:16:27Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2026/09/glyphs_4", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2026/09/glyphs_4", "external_url" : "https://glyphsapp.com/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "Daring Fireball Department of Commerce" } ], "content_html" : "\nGlyphs 4 is here: a Mac-native app for creating fonts, lettering, icons, and pictograms. Draw with flexible strokes and efficiently reuse shapes across huge glyph sets, explore variable vector designs with complex higher-order interpolation. Build and manage massive font families and icon sets with ease, export all modern font formats, SVG, PNG and PDF. Hundreds of refinements and native Tahoe support make designing, testing and shipping your vectors smoother than ever. Glyphs 4: Create. Love the process.
\n\nDiscover Glyphs 4, and use code FIREBALL to save $30 if you purchase in the next month.
\n\nLink: glyphsapp.com/
\n" }, { "title" : "Trackables 1.5", "date_published" : "2026-09-07T22:01:27Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-07T22:02:33Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/trackables", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/trackables", "external_url" : "https://trackables.app/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nTrackables:
\n\n\n\n\nThere are plenty of health tracking apps. Surprisingly, nearly all\nof them are bloated, subscription-gated, or blatantly harvesting\nour data; often all three. We wanted something simpler, less\nannoying and more fun, that’s where it started.
\n\nTrackables turns the data your Apple Watch already collects — activity, sleep, steps, heart rate — into a clear, friendly,\ntransparent interface.
\n
Totally free of charge, totally private, made by a small team of ex-Apple folks. (They might add a paid tier in the future, but core functionality will remain free.) I’ve been using Trackables for months and it’s just a better dashboard to the stats I care about than the Health app itself.
\n\n(One interesting detail: HealthKit only makes raw data available to apps. Apple Health’s “sleep score” isn’t part of that data — only the raw input, like how many hours you slept, and how much time was spent in each sleep stage. So Trackables computes its own sleep score. When I bother to compare, Trackable’s score is almost always similar to Apple’s, but seldom exactly the same. But I personally find that Trackable’s sleep score corresponds better to how I feel I slept. Which, admittedly, is usually pretty good.)
\n\nLink: trackables.app/
\n" }, { "title" : "The Onion’s Exclusive Interview With Larry Ellison", "date_published" : "2026-09-07T20:09:27Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-07T21:30:19Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/onion-ellison", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/onion-ellison", "external_url" : "https://theonion.com/the-onions-exclusive-interview-with-larry-ellison/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nThe Onion:
\n\n\n\n\nThe Onion: How did you get into the entertainment industry?
\n\nEllison: I remember going to the movies as a kid, and when the\nhouselights went down and that hush fell over the crowd, I’d\nthink to myself: I’d like to build a massive propaganda apparatus\none day.
\n
Link: theonion.com/the-onions-exclusive-interview-with-larry…
\n" }, { "title" : "McKinley 1.0", "date_published" : "2026-09-07T20:00:00Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-07T22:13:26Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/mckinley", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/mckinley", "external_url" : "https://mckinleysymbols.com/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nCrackerjack new Mac app for creating and editing custom SF Symbols, from developer Amy Worrall:
\n\n\n\n\nMcKinley is an all-in-one studio for drawing and annotating SF\nSymbols. It bundles vector tools with knowledge of the SF Symbols\nstructure, so you can edit one set of objects across multiple\nweights, sizes and colours. Import SVG or start from scratch, live\npreview your work using Apple’s own renderer, and export directly\nto Xcode, so you never need touch the SF Symbols app again!
\n
McKinley is Mac-assed out the wazoo:
\n\nI mean just look at McKinley. It’s both beautiful and quite obviously a serious professional tool. McKinley is a $60 one-time purchase, and there’s a 15 percent launch discount this week only (taking the price to just $51). What a remarkable 1.0.
\n\nSee also: Michael Tsai; Worrall on Mastodon.
\n\nLink: mckinleysymbols.com/
\n" }, { "title" : "Matt Birchler’s Folding iPhone Predictions", "date_published" : "2026-09-07T19:59:36Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-08T12:35:24Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/birchler-folding-iphone-predictions", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/07/birchler-folding-iphone-predictions", "external_url" : "https://birchtree.me/blog/my-folding-iphone-predictions/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMatt Birchler:
\n\n\n\n\nSo, yeah, I do think that, especially this year, unit sales will\nfar lag behind the 18 Pro models, the normal iPhone 18, and\nprobably the Air 2 and 18e. I think they will lag next year as\nwell for similar reasons. I don’t know if this will ever become\nthe most popular iPhone, but I do not think it will fail, and I\nthink it will sell more units every year for its first few years\non the market (especially if they can get the price down over that\ntime as well).
\n\nMy evidence for this is the increasing market share folding phones\nhave in the Android world, as well as my personal experience using\nsomething very similar to what Apple is about to announce and\nhaving my own aha moment, where it really clicked with me.
\n
Birchler has been using a Samsung Galaxy Fold8 — the new one that preemptively copied the folding iPhone’s aspect ratio — for the last month or so. So I’m intrigued by his firsthand experience with the same general form factor. But I have no idea what he’s talking about regarding “the increasing market share folding phones have in the Android world”. For 2025, Counterpoint and TrendForce both pegged foldable phones at 1.6% of the global market. Just today Counterpoint released a report that says “Foldables still account for only about 2% of the overall smartphone market, leaving plenty of room for the category to grow.”
\n\nAnecdotally I find it hard to believe the 2 percent number. It’s my nature to take notice of the phones people use, and there’s no way that 1 in 50 people I see have foldable phones. I don’t even think it’s 1 in 100. On a recent vacation, I didn’t see a single foldable at the airport nor at the resort hotel where we stayed. Obviously my own anecdata could be all wet, but I think “2 percent” is generous — and presumably, if it’s accurate, it’s almost entirely from outside the U.S. It’s like saying “touchscreen phones” had “increasing market share” before the iPhone. Going from 0.1% to 0.2% is a doubling of share, but the share is still tiny.
\n\nRegarding the name, Birchler spitballs a decent suggestion:
\n\n\n\n\nFinally, there’s the name. Everyone seems to think it’s going to\nbe the iPhone Ultra, and I guess if I were putting money down,\nthat’s what I’d bet on as well.
\n\nBut I just don’t like it. I don’t like it because it’s not\n“ultra” in many ways, and I don’t like it because what do you\ncall the bigger version of it in a year or two? The Ultra Max?\nMaybe you do…
\n\nI personally think it should be called the iPhone Folio. I think\nthere’s a 99% chance I’m wrong, but hey, won’t it be amazing if\nI’m right?
\n
The problem with “Folio” is that it’s too descriptive only of the form factor. Not the feeling it’s supposed to convey. I’m betting on “Ultra”, but I’m still rooting for “Duo”, which has some history and sounds like a nice companion adjective to “Neo”.
\n\nLink: birchtree.me/blog/my-folding-iphone-predictions/
\n" }, { "title" : "★ And It’s True That I Stole Your Lighter, and It’s Also True That I Lost the Map", "date_published" : "2026-09-07T16:31:55Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-07T21:00:20Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/its_true_that_i_stole_your_lighter", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/its_true_that_i_stole_your_lighter", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nLast week both Google and Apple updated their maps to accommodate Trump changing the United States Geological Survey’s recognized name for Lake Ontario to “Lake America”. Just as with Trump’s fiat renaming of the Gulf of Mexico back in the first days of his 2.0 administration, Google and Apple are showing the same names to the same people, by region. Here are the names you now see for Lake Ontario, based on what region your device is set to:
\n\nThis is exactly the same as their joint solution to the Gulf of Mexico renaming — the U.S. sees “Gulf of America”, Mexico sees “Gulf of Mexico”, and the rest of the world sees “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
\n\nHere is the solution I strongly believe Google and Apple should follow:
\n\nThere is no reason to show these new Trump-dictated names anywhere outside the U.S., even putting them in parentheses. There is no reason to show only the actual traditional names exclusively for users in Canada (for Lake Ontario) and Mexico (for the Gulf). Treating Canada and Mexico as special cases only makes sense if they’re part of some sort of dispute over the names. They’re not. The names of these two bodies of water are not contentious. There is no long-simmering debate about them, like there is with Denali/Mount McKinley in Alaska. The one and only country on the planet with a crackpot kook-ridden government that claims these bodies of water have new names is the United States; the only country that should see the new names is the United States.1
\n\nSo, I disagree with how Google and Apple have chosen to handle these re-namings. But it is correct that users in the United States do see the new names.
\n\nHere’s Andy Ihnatko, at his eponymous website:
\n\n\n\n\nWe all have every right to be upset. Google’s receiving plenty of\nflak over this move (as is Apple; Apple Maps now shows “Lake\nAmerica,” reportedly after being pressured directly by\nTrump). I dislike Google’s and Apple’s choices, but I can’t\npersonally fault them.
\n\nThat said, Trump’s move is clearly meant to antagonize Canada\nduring a volatile period in our relations. He’s throwing gasoline\non a tariff fight that’s already creating uncertainty and\nsuffering among vulnerable businesses and consumers on both sides\nof what was once an impeccably peaceful border. Google and Apple\ndidn’t need to move so damned quickly. I wish they’d deferred\nthe name change long enough for things to cool down a little.\nDoing so would have avoided creating the perception of handing one\nside a swift, validating victory.
\n
I doubt a cooling-off period would help. Wounds don’t feel better when they’re reopened after healing. It’s best to get it over with. Applying the change to Google and Apple Maps while the GNIS database ink is still wet at least serves to remind who made this change and why. And whose change it rightfully is to make.
\n\nThis is a bitter pill for some to swallow. What a lot of people want is for Google and Apple to just ignore the U.S. government’s official new names. E.g., to pick just one high-profile pundit, here’s Kara Swisher regarding Google (“quislings”) and Apple (“craven”, “pathetic”). But I suspect, quite strongly, that the people who profess to be the most angry at Apple and Google for going along with this change are the same people who would argue most strongly that Goliath tech companies and mega-billionaires wield too much anti-democratic power and influence.
\n\nIt’s not coherent to argue that Google and Apple should decide which names to put on their maps only when you want them to ignore the names from the official government database. Neither Google nor Apple are going to sell their maps apps, but it’s not outlandish to think that in some alternative universe, one or more of the leading maps app might be owned by, say, Elon Musk or Larry Ellison. Would the people who want Apple and Google to ignore the official names from the GNIS support the same stance if the two leading maps apps were owned by SpaceX and Oracle instead? Obviously they would not.
\n\nWhat we want is a system where geographic names are determined democratically, by voting. And that is the system we in fact have. Trump won. The Department of the Interior has the power to change these names. If you’re angry that their official names in the United States are now Lake America and Gulf of America, stay angry that Trump won the 2024 election. Stay angry that our president continues to debase his office and embarrass our nation. Directing your anger at Google and Apple for reflecting that change is shooting the messengers.
\n\nBut this is why I find it embarrassing that both Google and Apple are foisting these absurd names on the rest of the world, even if only between parentheses. These names are nonsense, and they are Americans’ nonsense to deal with.
\n\nChina is another country with ridiculous geographic dogma. China demands that Taiwan, which is an independent free nation, be falsely labelled as a province of China. Apple Maps reflects that policy — within China. It doesn’t label Taiwan as “(Province of China)” on maps outside China. Bullshit inside parentheses is still bullshit. Less seriously but more preposterously, the Chinese government also insists that the obscure Diaoyu Islands, subject of a long-running territorial dispute with Japan, be drawn larger than they actually are on maps. Apple Maps dutifully renders those inflated false island sizes to users in China. It doesn’t show them to users anywhere else in the world — not even as dotted outlines. Chinese users see Chinese government dogmatic nonsense; no one else does.
\n\nSo too it should be for U.S. government dogmatic nonsense. Spreading the nonsense to the rest of the world only makes it more embarrassing.
\n\nNeither Google nor Apple claim to be cartographic editorial authorities. I do not think we should want them to be. Other non-governmental institutions do claim to be independent authorities. The Associated Press has stuck to their guns even in the face of losing its White House press pool seat over their refusal to adopt the “Gulf of America” name. And then there’s Wikipedia, whose reputation, integrity, popularity, and independence haunt the right wing. From Politico, last week:
\n\n\n\n\nOther platforms will soon follow, a senior administration official\ntold Politico on Tuesday. “We got Lake America changed on Google\nMaps, and many other maps are changing in a couple days. And\nWikipedia is going to change as well,” said the official, who was\ngranted anonymity to speak frankly.
\n\nAs of Wednesday, Wikipedia was still using the original names of\nboth the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, while noting that Trump\nhad signed orders to rename them.
\n
Regarding this, Molly White noted:
\n\n\n\n\nA Wikipedia editor put it well: “You almost want to pat them on\nthe head and say ‘Yes, of course it will’ in the same way you’d\ntell a small child that Santa Claus will be delivering their\npresents.”
\n
And, I feel strongly, the traditional names should remain visible, in parentheses, even for users in the U.S. for a period of, say, five years. What is someone who doesn’t follow current events — god bless them — to think if they go looking for Lake Ontario on Google Maps or Apple Maps and don’t see it? ↩︎
\nZac Hall, writing for 9to5Mac on August 19:
\n\n\n\n\nThe new Meta AI desktop app is version 1.0 beta at launch and\nweighs just 16MB once installed. Based on initial inspection, it\nruns natively on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 15 or later, using\nan AppKit and SwiftUI shell with WebKit for richer chat content.\nIn other words, this is not an Electron app or a repackaged iPad\nrelease.
\n\nIt includes Mac-specific hooks, making the desktop experience more\nrobust than the Meta AI mobile app. Quick Invoke uses Option-Space\nto place a compact Meta AI composer over whatever you are doing. A\nseparate dictation feature lets you hold a shortcut, speak, and\nhave the resulting words typed into any app, from Mail and\ndocuments to code editors.
\n\nMeta AI can also attach another Mac window to a conversation. With\nScreen Recording and Accessibility permission, the app reads the\nwindow’s visible text and captures a screenshot for the next\nquestion. This is context gathering rather than computer control\nfor now.
\n
Passes the Settings window sniff test too — it actually has a Settings window. Meta, institutionally, seems more keen on native Mac apps than they are native Windows apps.
\n\nUpdate: The Mac app is not available in the App Store. You need to download it directly from Meta’s web page, using the “Download for Mac (Beta)” link. The ChatGPT and Claude Mac apps aren’t in the Mac App Store either — they do too many things outside the App Store’s mandatory sandbox (and probably use APIs require that special entitlements in the App Store too).
\n\nLink: 9to5mac.com/2026/08/19/meta-ai-is-now-available-as-a-more…
\n" }, { "title" : "WorkOS: How to Give an Agent a Task Instead of a Token", "date_published" : "2026-09-06T19:06:27Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-06T19:06:28Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/workos-agent-task", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/workos-agent-task", "external_url" : "https://workos.com/blog/delegated-access-for-ai-agents?utm_source=daringfireball&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=q32026", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMy thanks to WorkOS for once again sponsoring Daring Fireball. Give an agent an access token and it spreads: into the context window, into tool call logs, into notes it keeps between steps. Each copy works from anywhere, long after the fact.
\n\nRelay keeps the credential at WorkOS. Your agent names the user, WorkOS attaches that token, refreshes it, and releases it only to allowlisted hosts. A hijacked agent session is a live process you can kill.
\n\nLearn how it works at WorkOS’s blog.
\n\nLink: workos.com/blog/delegated-access-for-ai-agents?utm_source…
\n" }, { "title" : "Matt Haughey: ‘The Car Industry A/B Tested Selling a Car With and Without CarPlay and the Results Are Not Shocking’", "date_published" : "2026-09-06T19:04:12Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-06T22:24:49Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/haughey-chevy-honda-carplay", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/haughey-chevy-honda-carplay", "external_url" : "https://a.wholelottanothing.org/the-car-industry-a-b-tested-selling-the-same-car-with-and-without-carplay-and-the-results-are-not-shocking/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMatt Haughey:
\n\n\n\n\nOne case in point is the Honda Prologue EV. It’s a partnership\nbetween Honda and Chevrolet, where the Prologue is basically a\nChevy Blazer EV with Honda badges, slight visual differences in\nthe sheetmetal and interior, but all the underpinnings are\nstraight up Chevy. Even though the keys say Honda on a Prologue,\nit’s a General Motors key design with a Honda logo over it.
\n\nBut one big difference the Prologue has from the Blazer it is\nbased on is this: it includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto\nintegration. [...]
\n\nFor the years these cars were sold together, the Honda outsold the\nBlazer by 43%, 73%, and 166% in each time period. Today in 2026,\npeople are buying a Honda Prologue over one and a half times more\noften than the Chevy Blazer EV the Prologue is based on.
\n
It’s not a perfect test. It’s reasonable to argue that Honda has a better brand and reputation than Chevrolet, and is just plain better at selling cars. But the trendline over the last three years is pretty stark.
\n\nLink: a.wholelottanothing.org/the-car-industry-a-b-tested-selling…
\n" }, { "title" : "Trump Administration Launches Rip-Off Video Games at Arcade.gov", "date_published" : "2026-09-06T17:51:09Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-06T22:28:16Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/trump-arcade", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/trump-arcade", "external_url" : "https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2095615734567100766", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nA handful of Temu-style knockoffs of games like Flappy Bird, Snake (that’s the one where you round up border-crossing migrants), and, most notably, Tetris (the one where you “build a wall” to keep border-crossing migrants out) — the copyright to which is held by the notoriously litigious The Tetris Company, which tweeted:
\n\n\n\n\nAt Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing\npeople together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we\nlove you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our\ncommunity.
\n\nP.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of\n ‘Build the Wall’.
\n\nP.P.S. We take copyright infringement very seriously.
\n
Whatever you think of these games, just like with the rebranding of Lake Ontario, Trump Arcade shows American voters that this administration is focused on their problems and concerns.
\n\nLink: x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2095615734567100766
\n" }, { "title" : "Gurman on Schiller’s Departure and Ternus’s Goals for the App Store", "date_published" : "2026-09-06T17:00:01Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-06T17:04:04Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/gurman-schiller-app-store", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/gurman-schiller-app-store", "external_url" : "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-09-06/apple-s-new-ceo-like-cook-pay-package-shows-he-s-going-nowhere-sept-9-event-mtpvpcj1?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODcwNTgwOCwiZXhwIjoxNzg5MzEwNjA4LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS1k0ODFLR0NURlEwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9.VPVLP03ZWjEbH48efjq8Q7n0_vk4t7OynYeaUbOfYzU&leadSource=article-gifting", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMark Gurman, in his weekend Power On column at Bloomberg (gift link):
\n\n\n\n\nThe Schiller exit is a bit more notable. Unlike Maestri, he still\nhad a real job: The veteran executive ran the App Store and Apple\nEvents. The App Store portion alone is no joke. It generates an\nestimated $30 billion a year and can be very challenging to\nmanage. Apple’s app marketplace is loved by many consumers, but\noften criticized by developers and subjected to increasingly\nonerous regulations. It was a busy, all-encompassing gig and\nnowhere near a semiretirement. Apple Events, meanwhile, is how the\ncompany communicates its new product launches to customers. It’s\nalso nothing close to fun and games.
\n\nNow, Schiller is 66 and clearly wanted to have some semblance of\nretirement. He can focus on philanthropy and spend more time with\nfamily. But there’s a bit more to the story, I’m told. Ternus and\nservices chief Eddy Cue want to make even more money from the App\nStore and figure out ways to raise margins and squeeze additional\nrecurring revenue from the platform. Schiller, on the other hand,\nseems to believe that such moves will only further irk developers\nand governments. While there was no internal blowup or anything\nlike that, it’s something he wanted no part of.
\n
I sure hope that’s not true, because that would be awful — making a bad situation worse — and pretty much the exact opposite of what Apple ought to do.
\n\nFrom the archive: Schiller, in a 2011 email to Cue and Steve Jobs:
\n\n\n\n\nJust as one thought, once we are making over $1B a year in profit\nfrom the App Store, is that enough to then think about a model\nwhere we ratchet down from 70/30 to 75/25 or even 80/20 if we can\nmaintain a $1B a year run rate? I know that is controversial, I\njust tee it up as another way to look at the size of the business,\nwhat we want to achieve, and how we stay competitive. Again, just\nfood for thought.
\n
Link: bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-09-06/apple-s-new-ceo…
\n" }, { "title" : "Dickover of the Week: Slashdot Put One in Their RSS Feed", "date_published" : "2026-09-06T16:30:00Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-06T16:30:01Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/dickover-slashdot-rss", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/dickover-slashdot-rss", "external_url" : "https://discourse.netnewswire.com/t/dickover-in-the-slashdot-rss-feed/372", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nHow does this even happen? Who is this for? What possible purpose could by served by injecting a “We value your privacy” dickover into an RSS feed via iframes in the entry bodies?
\n\nLink: discourse.netnewswire.com/t/dickover-in-the-slashdot-rss…
\n" }, { "title" : "Litterbox: Safari Extension for Viewing X Tweets", "date_published" : "2026-09-06T16:19:31Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-06T16:20:44Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/litterbox", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/06/litterbox", "external_url" : "https://andadinosaur.com/launch-litterbox", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nIn the wake of Nitter/XCancel’s demise, here’s a delightful new Safari extension from Zhenyi Tan (of And a Dinosaur fame):
\n\n\n\n\nBut sometimes people still post X content. Maybe you want to see\nGruber roast Google Design. Maybe you want to see posts by\nFederico Viticci who recently returned to X. So I made\nLitterbox, a Safari extension that opens x.com links in a\npopup. The idea is you open it, take a look, gag a little, then\nclose the lid. [...]
\n\nLitterbox doesn’t send your cookies when you open those popups,\nbecause of course. It uses the same API X uses for its website\nembeds. I don’t think they’ll kill the website embed feature. But\nif they do, it will be very funny.
\n
I love it. I’ve got it installed even though I don’t avoid visiting X.com. It’s just faster and nicer to view tweets in Litterbox’s popup. And if I do want to proceed to X.com, there’s a link at the bottom of the popup. Perfect.
\n\nLink: andadinosaur.com/launch-litterbox
\n" }, { "title" : "Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay", "date_published" : "2026-09-05T19:42:43Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-05T19:42:44Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/05/steinem", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/05/steinem", "external_url" : "https://www.newyorker.com/culture/life-and-letters/gloria-steinems-final-essay?cndid=66114350", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nGloria Steinem, in a posthumous essay for The New Yorker:
\n\n\n\n\nFor me, saying that I am a feminist has always meant that I\nbelieve in the social, economic, and political equality of all\nmales and females of all races and groups. I know this sounds too\nsimple to need a word, but equality is still the exception, not\nthe rule.
\n\nMaybe we should call it egalitarianism, or even humanism. The\nproblem with humanism is that it is often interpreted as being\nanti-religion, so I don’t think it’s inclusive enough. Regardless\nof what we call it, it just means treating each of us as uniquely\nhuman. The experiences of race and gender and class are very real\nand important, but they are also constructed and changeable. Our\nhumanity is consistent and sacred.
\n\nStill, for some, it remains a mystery why women need a movement to\ndistinguish our efforts toward equality. For me, it seems quite\nobvious.
\n
Link: newyorker.com/culture/life-and-letters/gloria-steinems…
\n" }, { "title" : "‘Bob and Van’", "date_published" : "2026-09-05T16:08:24Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-05T16:08:25Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/05/bob-and-van", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/05/bob-and-van", "external_url" : "https://marco.org/2026/09/04/bob-and-van", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMarco Arment:
\n\n\n\n\nAnd I can’t help but feel that maybe we were better off before we\nknew everyone’s hot takes on everything.
\n\nThe town coffee shop was just a coffee shop. We weren’t publicly\nshamed for going there because one of the owners was an ass. It\nwas just a place to hang out with our friends.
\n
Link: marco.org/2026/09/04/bob-and-van
\n" }, { "title" : "Adobe Names Anil Chakravarthy as CEO, Replacing Shantanu Narayen", "date_published" : "2026-09-05T00:05:47Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-05T00:05:47Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/adobe-new-ceo", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/adobe-new-ceo", "external_url" : "https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/03/adobe-anil-chakravarthy-ceo.html", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nAnnie Palmer, CNBC:
\n\n\n\n\nAdobe on Thursday named Anil Chakravarthy as its next president\nand CEO, succeeding Shantanu Narayen, who announced he would step\ndown earlier this year. Chakravarthy, who most recently served as\npresident of Adobe’s customer experience orchestration and\nworldwide field operations, will take the helm Dec. 1, the company\nsaid. He will also join Adobe’s board.
\n
I’m sure promoting the head of “customer experience orchestration” to CEO will restore Adobe’s focus on creating great tools for artists and designers.
\n\nLink: cnbc.com/2026/09/03/adobe-anil-chakravarthy-ceo.html
\n" }, { "title" : "NBA Brings the Hammer on the Clippers — $30 Million Fine, 5 First-Round Draft Picks, and Steve Ballmer Is Banned for a Year", "date_published" : "2026-09-04T23:23:34Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-04T23:28:14Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/nba-clippers-ballmer", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/nba-clippers-ballmer", "external_url" : "https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7513882/2026/09/02/clippers-kawhi-leonard-punishment-fine-suspensions-nba-investigation/?unlocked_article_code=1.-lA.wcSN.awOHwzojR5nR", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMike Vorkunov, reporting for The Athletic (gift link):
\n\n\n\n\nThe NBA levied the largest punishment in league history on the LA\nClippers and owner Steve Ballmer on Wednesday after a year-long\ninvestigation determined that they circumvented the league’s\nsalary cap rules to help funnel millions to Kawhi Leonard. The\nClippers will lose five first-round picks — selections in 2029,\n2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 — and are being fined $30 million, the\nleague announced.
\n\nBallmer has been suspended for one year, the NBA said, “for\nknowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income\nopportunities.” The NBA said Ballmer approved a Clippers deal with\nAspiration because he knew it was a precondition for the company\nto enter into a sponsorship deal with Leonard.
\n\nThe Clippers, according to NBA investigators, tried to evade NBA\nrules on circumvention by creating a “novel theory” that it was OK\nto introduce business partners to players if the player or their\nrepresentative asked for introductions. The NBA did not find that\npersuasive.
\n
Basically Steve Ballmer invested over $50 million in a now-bankrupt startup named Aspiration. Aspiration was the jersey-patch sponsor for the Clippers, and after Leonard signed with the Clippers, Aspiration signed Leonard to a $28 million no-show “endorsement” deal. Leonard asked for, and then received, more money than his on-the-books salary.
\n\nIt’s a classic Microsoft dirty-tricks move to circumvent the NBA’s player salary cap. There’s nothing illegal about what Ballmer and the Clippers did. They violated league rules, not the law. The difference is that the NBA is a league with a strong commissioner’s office that can investigate cheating and impose serious penalties. If tech companies were teams in a similar league, Microsoft would have been fined dozens of times throughout the ’80s and ’90s and ’00s. Ballmer would have been suspended multiple times and Bill Gates would have been suspended so many times he probably would have been kicked out of the league. If there was anything underhanded Microsoft could do to get ahead — or to stick the knife in a competitor — they did it.
\n\nThat worked out fabulously well for Microsoft. It doesn’t work in the NBA. The Clippers remain a loser franchise that not only has never won a title, but has never even appeared in the Finals. Losing a first-round draft pick each year from 2029–2033 (inclusive) certainly won’t help get them off the schneid.
\n\nLink: nytimes.com/athletic/7513882/2026/09/02/clippers-kawhi…
\n" }, { "title" : "Apple Fixed TestFlight’s Screwy Sort Order", "date_published" : "2026-09-04T20:04:47Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-04T20:55:29Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/testflight-sort-order-fixed", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/testflight-sort-order-fixed", "external_url" : "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/testflight/id899247664", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nI wrote two weeks ago about how the v4.3.0 update to TestFlight (released on July 21) broke the sort order for apps in the sidebar. Apple yesterday released v4.3.1, with these helpful release notes:
\n\n\n\n\nThis update includes stability improvements and bug fixes.
\n
One of the weirdest parts about this sort-order bug is that it only affected some people. I was obviously one of them; so was John Siracusa. For both of us, yesterday’s v4.3.1 update fixes the bug.
\n\nLink: apps.apple.com/us/app/testflight/id899247664
\n" }, { "title" : "Vinted", "date_published" : "2026-09-04T19:55:45Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-04T19:55:45Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/vinted", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/vinted", "external_url" : "https://www.vinted.com/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nRemarking on MapQuest taking the #1 spot in the App Store (in the wake of their decision to ignore President Trump’s fiat renaming of Lake Ontario to “Lake America”), I mentioned yesterday that I’d never heard of Vinted, the #3 app. (A day later and MapQuest is still #1, by the way.)
\n\nVinted, it turns out, is an eBay-like market for buying and selling used clothing. From a Lithuanian startup and the whole thing has been popular in Europe for a while, and obviously now is gaining popularity in the U.S.
\n\nLink: vinted.com/
\n" }, { "title" : "★ Writing With Unnatural Constraints", "date_published" : "2026-09-04T18:07:18Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-06T00:20:11Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/writing_with_unnatural_constraints", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/09/writing_with_unnatural_constraints", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMarcin Wichary, writing at Unsung, regarding a rather subtly astonishing FAQ for the game Super Metroid, written in the late 1990s by “rs1n”. It’s over 17,000 words long, and the whole thing is full-justified when viewed with a monospaced font, using no trickery with extra spaces or hyphenation to achieve the layout:
\n\n\n\n\nThe author lightly covers in the FAQ at the bottom:
\n\n\n\n\nWhat program did you use to justify the text?
\n\nNone. I just chose words carefully so that everything lined up on\nthe right hand side. Everything was done with an ASCII editor.
\nI’m sharing this mostly as a curiosity; some rewrites for physical\nbooks are par for the course to avoid widows and orphans, but you\ndon’t see them as much in onscreen writing.
\n
The FAQ reads pretty well, but to my ear, there’s something obviously off about it. The justification gimmick is very fun and the fact that the prose reads as well as it does is quite the feather in rs1n’s cap. He tried something very difficult and pulled it off with aplomb. And I’m sure many people have read the FAQ without even noticing the accomplishment, or considering just how difficult it is to write with such an unyielding constraint. There were many FAQs and other documents from the plain-text era that were full-justified, using extra spaces between words and paragraphs and occasional hyphenation to achieve the effect. rs1n’s FAQ achieves the effect with no trickery, and the result looks so natural that it doesn’t call attention to itself. It just looks nice.
\n\nBut it doesn’t read entirely naturally. It’s stilted, as though written by someone for whom English is their second language. Which, for all I know, is true for rs1n, but I doubt it — I think the ESL-like stiltedness is just the result of making word choices to fit the line length, not simply for meaning and tone.
\n\nThe line-length constraint brings to mind lipograms, “writing paragraphs or longer works in which a particular letter or group of letters is avoided”. Ernest Vincent Wright published an entire novel in 1939, Gadsby, without using the letter e. The Wikipedia page for lipograms lists more examples. That’s a hell of a trick, but there’s a reason why Gadsby is almost unheard-of, and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby remains famous. Gadsby is miserable to read. Wright was obviously a fine writer. Gadsby’s “Introduction” is written without the no-e’s constraint — and largely about the no-e’s constraint — and it reads just fine. But the text of the novel is a goddamn laborious slog. I couldn’t get through more than two paragraphs before deciding that my point was proven. It’s a fun challenge to compose lipograms but it’s no way to actually write. The gimmick necessarily becomes the highest priority of your word choices, not clarity or meaning.
\n\nSo too, goes my thinking, regarding the “watermarking” of AI-generated text through word choices alone. Fitting words into the watermarking pattern surely results in prose far less stilted than omitting the letter e, and surely also less stilted than rs1n’s hard-wrapped-at-75-characters-per-line Super Metroid FAQ, but it’s necessarily stilted to some degree. It’s sophistry to argue that one can write within a constraint without the constraint affecting the quality of the writing.
\n\nWichary opens his post with the following:
\n\n\n\n\nI don’t think anyone particularly enjoys typesetting in monospace.
\n
I disagree! I think typesetting in monospace is fun — or at least satisfying. I think it’s part of the appeal of Markdown that you can make a document look just right. What you see reading Markdown is what I saw writing it. And just look at the fun people still have printing “large type” banners using ASCII punctuation characters or fancier box-drawing Unicode glyphs. When you format something in plain text, you know exactly how it’s going to look everywhere.
\n\n " }, { "title" : "FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses", "date_published" : "2026-09-04T16:15:43Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-04T16:16:12Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/fbi-krebs-153-million-ids", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/04/fbi-krebs-153-million-ids", "external_url" : "https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi-probes-service-selling-153m-drivers-licenses/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nBrian Krebs, reporting at KrebsOnSecurity:
\n\n\n\n\nOn Monday, Aug. 31, a source alerted KrebsOnSecurity to a service\nadvertised by a new user on the Russian cybercrime forum Exploit,\noffering access to digital scans of identity documents on more\nthan 170 million people in North America. The source brought it to\nmy attention because the proprietor of this identity theft service\noffered my Virginia drivers license as a free sample in their\ninitial sales thread on Exploit.
\n\nThe service, dubbed Nexus, claims to have more than 153 million\ndrivers licenses for people in the United States and Canada, as\nwell as more than 10 million identification cards; more than three\nmillion travel documents and/or international IDs; and at least\n579,000 medical cards.
\n\nA quick look around Nexus finds they are likely not exaggerating\nabout that 153 million number: Running a blank search in Nexus\n(with no search parameters entered) returns approximately 11.5\nmillion pages of results, with roughly 15 results displayed per\npage. It includes documents from people in both Canada and the\nUnited States, but the bulk of these records are on Americans:\nsearching for just Canadian drivers licenses returns approximately\n1.1 million results, with the largest concentration from Ontario\n(473,673 records).
\n
Krebs seemingly tracked down the source: IDScan.net, an outfit that is used by car rental agencies like Hertz (seemingly where they got Krebs’s own drivers license) and marijuana dispensaries. They kept over 150 million ID card scans and lost them all in a data breach. Unreal.
\n\nLink: krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi-probes-service-selling-153m…
\n" }, { "title" : "OpenAI Soft-Releases GPT‑6 Astra", "date_published" : "2026-09-04T01:35:24Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-04T01:36:58Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/03/gpt-6-astra", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/03/gpt-6-astra", "external_url" : "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/3/gpt6-astra/", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nSimon Willison:
\n\n\n\n\nGPT-6 Astra is “rolling out today to a limited set of organizations and over the coming days will become available to all ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, as well as through the OpenAI API and AWS” — I’ve not tried it yet myself, so I don’t have a great deal to say about it yet.
\n\nIt’s going to be API priced at the same rate as Claude Fable 5 and 5.1: $10/million input and $50/million output. This is clearly OpenAI’s Fable competitor, and appears to score higher than Fable on most of OpenAI’s self-reported benchmarks.
\n
Link: simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/3/gpt6-astra/
\n" }, { "title" : "Phil Schiller Steps Down From Running App Store and Product Events", "date_published" : "2026-09-03T16:39:09Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-03T21:13:56Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/03/schiller-steps-down", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/03/schiller-steps-down", "external_url" : "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-31/apple-s-phil-schiller-steps-down-from-running-app-store-and-product-events?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODE5Mzk5NywiZXhwIjoxNzg4Nzk4Nzk3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS0VDTE1LSkg2VjQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9.G1fAbZQH31AQBLUajPYPUJ7BqRyeIUN7SbxQZFAqMXE", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nMark Gurman:
\n\n\n\n\nApple Inc.’s Phil Schiller, one of the most visible and\ninfluential executives across both the Steve Jobs and Tim Cook\neras, has stepped down from his role leading the App Store and\nproduct events.
\n\nThe 66-year-old executive, who was Apple’s senior vice\npresident of marketing until leaving that job in 2020, made the\nlatest change in recent days, according to people with\nknowledge of the matter.
\n
This is true, I’ve confirmed. Seems natural for this to coincide with the CEO transition. What a run for Schiller.
\n\nLink: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-31/apple-s-phil…
\n" }, { "title" : "MapQuest Refuses to Relabel Lake Ontario, Rewarded With Surge in Popularity", "date_published" : "2026-09-03T16:30:09Z", "date_modified" : "2026-09-03T21:20:00Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/03/mapquest-surge", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/09/03/mapquest-surge", "external_url" : "https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6063924-mapquest-tops-apple-google-maps-in-downloads-after-refusing-trumps-lake-america-change/?ref=ihnatko.com", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nFinya Swai, reporting for The Hill two days ago:
\n\n\n\n\nMapQuest has surged in popularity on the app charts after the\nmapping service said it would not rename Lake Ontario to “Lake\nAmerica” after President Trump signed an executive order changing\nits name.
\n\nThe company said its mobile app received hundreds of thousands of\ndownloads after it announced Thursday that the name Lake Ontario\nwould remain on its apps, despite Trump directing the Interior\nDepartment to update the lake’s name in the Geographic Names\nInformation System (GNIS).
\n\nBy Monday morning, MapQuest had climbed to No. 1 among navigation\napps in Apple’s U.S. app store and No. 4 in non-gaming apps. In\nCanada, which shares the lake with the U.S., the app reached No. 2\noverall over the weekend. The app’s usage also jumped to roughly\n50 times its normal level, according to MapQuest.
\n
Here we are on Thursday and MapQuest still holds the #1 spot, ahead of ChatGPT, Vinted (never heard of it), “TikTok Pro - Events” (a confusing new app, apart from the main TikTok client), ESPN Fantasy Sports (the NFL season is about to start), Claude, and Gemini.
\n\nWhen opportunity knocks, you need to open the door. The political corner that both Apple and Google get painted into when Donald Trump asserts a new name for an established geographic feature is a huge opportunity for an underdog like MapQuest. Good for them.
\n\nLink: thehill.com/homenews/administration/6063924-mapquest-tops…
\n" }, { "title" : "★ Thoughts and Observations on Apple’s First Immersive MLB Broadcast, a Yankees 1-0 Win Over the Red Sox", "date_published" : "2026-08-29T17:53:34Z", "date_modified" : "2026-08-29T17:53:42Z", "id" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/08/thoughts_and_observations_apple_immersive_mlb_broadcast", "url" : "https://daringfireball.net/2026/08/thoughts_and_observations_apple_immersive_mlb_broadcast", "authors" : [ { "name" : "John Gruber" } ], "content_html" : "\nJason Snell, writing at Six Colors, has an exemplary review of the experience:
\n\n\n\n\nI didn’t mind the reduced pace of the NBA broadcast, which toggled\nbetween cameras under each basket, but Stratechery’s Ben Thompson\nfelt strongly that the best option would’ve been a single\ncamera at mid-court, to completely eliminate the disorienting cuts\nand replicate being at the game in person.
\n\nApple’s approach with baseball, at least based on Friday’s game,\nseems to lean toward Thompson’s preferred approach — and it does\nbenefit from it. Each half inning was shown from a single camera\non the dugout rail next to the on-deck circle, giving a great view\nof pitcher and hitter and the infield, as well as the goings on\nright in front of the dugout in foul territory. The camera\nswitched between innings, so you were always viewing from the\nperspective of the at-bat team’s dugout.
\n\nMaking it all work better was Apple’s addition of a “virtual\njumbotron” floating in the sky, a scoreboard with graphics and a\nvideo feed of the standard 16:9 telecast on Apple TV. It was easy\nto look up and catch a replay or even get a better view of\nsomething happening in the far-off outfield, without getting in\nthe way of my view of the game itself.
\n
I concur with Snell’s review. The camera placement was terrific. You watched each team bat from the perspective of its own dugout. Perfect. A few other thoughts:
\n\nThe whole thing was legit exciting. Vision Pro continues to get a bad rap because Apple hasn’t sold many of them, and isn’t going to sell many of them until they come out with new models that are cheaper and lighter and less fussy. But there’s no denying that these immersive experiences are fucking cool. And an immersive live experience adds something else. It’s ineffable. Hard to say why, but feeling like you’re at another place watching something happen live is magic. Just a few years ago it would have required literal magic. It wasn’t possible. Now it is.
The immersive audio was terrific. It really sounded like being at Yankee Stadium, and truly added to the you-are-there feel of the experience. It seems corny to say this, but I really had the urge to stand during the national anthem, and it felt slightly wrong not to take the “hat” off my head (where the “hat” was the Vision Pro). It’s exciting to feel 43,000 fans roar around you. Baseball is a slow game but when the crowd roars, it erupts. That never comes across on regular TV broadcasts. It did here.
Like Snell though, I felt Apple’s commentators were too chatty. I’d love an option to toggle the commentary on and off, to just experience the natural audio of the ballpark.1
The only thing missing was aroma. Cement, grass, dirt, sweat, beer, peanuts, hot dogs with the works. Ballparks smell like fun. (Even Fenway.) But the you-are-there experience was so visceral I swear I could almost smell it. It’s like my brain was filling in the missing sensation. It didn’t feel like watching a 3D TV broadcast. It didn’t feel like a better version of TV broadcasting. It felt like something new and different. Something at least as different from watching on TV as watching on TV is different from merely listening on radio. It’s profound. TVs are small — laptops, tablets, and phones are even smaller. Yankee Stadium is huge. Watching this game immersively felt huge. Awesome, in the literal sense.
I love how you could look around and see how filthy everything really is in baseball: the on-deck mats, the interior of the dugouts, the tiny bits of schmutz on the warning track. It’s a lot of dirt and quite a bit of spit. That’s baseball, Suzyn.
There’s a resolution and/or depth of field limitation with the cameras, exacerbated by the fact that Vision Pro’s displays are, compared to reality, low resolution. They’re the highest-resolution VR displays on the market but I still couldn’t see the ball once it left the infield. When balls were hit to the outfield you just kind of had to judge what was happening by what the infielders and baserunners were doing. Ben Rice hit a double in the first inning and I thought the Sox outfielder caught it and I was confused why Rice was running to second base. Turns out the outfielder stopped running because Rice hit the ball over his head and he was waiting to play the carom off the left field wall. I was happy to be wrong. A few years from now, with better cameras and better Vision headset displays, these problems will be solved. But in the meantime, the outfield is fuzzy.
The best part about the immersive perspective compared to a traditional broadcast is watching how complex infield play really is. It’s fun to quickly look around the whole infield right before the pitch. You really see how much more stressful it is for the pitcher once there’s a runner on base — let alone more than one. It’s what I love about going to the ballpark — so much more complexity and intricacy is revealed — and watching this immersive broadcast enables the same thing. You can see the whole game, at all times, not just the pitcher, catcher, and batter.
The virtual “jumbotron” is a fine idea but I wish you could move it a bit higher, and it would be even better if you could configure it with the stats you want to see. But positioning it higher is my big request.
I have to admit I hadn’t used my Vision Pro in quite a few weeks before last night’s game. One thing that really struck me, almost certainly because baseball is a long game, is how heavy it is. My chin wants to droop and my face wants to look down when I’m wearing it. It’s the weight more than the isolation that makes it tiresome for anything other than short-form content, for me at least.
The whole thing was a great success. I’m writing these notes on Saturday afternoon while watching the old flat broadcast of game 2 of this 4-game series, and it feels ... well, boring. And small. Bodes well for the future of sports.
\n\nEven better would be an option to swap in the local radio broadcasts, like bringing a portable radio to the ballpark. Go skeuomorphic with the UI and make it look like an old handheld Sony or Panasonic transistor radio, and make the toggle “click” on and off. Go skeuomorphic with the audio too — make it sound like it’s coming out of a little speaker or a little earpiece and have the tuner play static as you switch between home/away (and English/Spanish) stations. That’d be so fun. And the regular old flat Friday Night Baseball telecast already supports swapping in local radio broadcasts — they’ve already got the rights. Bring that to these immersive games! ↩︎
\n![\n](\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2026/09/iphone-17-pro-deep-blue-one-year.jpeg\"){kind=link}
![“Download for Mac (Beta)” link](\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2026/09/meta-ai-mac-download-link.png\"){kind=link}