David and Stephen compare the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Series 12, discuss David’s move to an M6 Mac mini for local AI and server work, and test Siri AI on everyday tasks. In the Bonus segment, the hosts look ahead to Apple’s rumored October hardware.

Episode Links

• AppleCare One
• forScore
• Apple Watch
• AnyList
• Google Fitbit Air
• Pedometer++
• Whisper Memos
• Mac mini
• Time to Say Goodbye… – YouTube
• M6 Mac mini has my Mac Studio sweating… – YouTube
• Satechi Mac mini Hub & Stand with NVMe SSD Enclosure
• How to get Siri AI — Apple Support
• Siri AI: Everything You Can Do – YouTube
• Fantastical
• What’s Really Happening with Siri AI and Apps
• 18 Apps that "Work" with Siri AI Right Now – YouTube
• FoodNoms
• Flighty
• Kan Do
• Things
• OmniFocus
• Dark Noise
• pdfu on X: Describe a Shortcut Could Soon Support Third-Party Actions
• iPhone Duo
• The iPhone Duo may already have its first killer app: a virtual Walkman | TechCrunch
• MOFT

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

• Ecamm: Powerful live streaming platform for Mac.
• 1Password: Never forget a password again.

The post Mac Power Users 869: It Was Basically a Wash appeared first on MacSparky.

I recently did a quarterly planning session with some of the MacSparky Labs members. I do that every quarter and find it really rewarding. It gives us a bit of a personal accountability circle. During the session, I started talking about the importance of quarterly review.

Now I know, reading this, you’re thinking that the new year is just around the corner. If you’re going to start thinking about planning and priorities, that seems like the ideal time to do it.

But think back to whatever you did this past January. Is it still on your mind? It likely isn’t, because January is a very poor boss of October.

I’m a big fan of quarterly planning. I think, as humans, we respond much better to a three-month plan than a year-long plan. It gives you a sense of renewal every three months, along with real, actionable feedback loops. Quarterly reviews give you a scheduled chance to make adjustments.

I’ve been working a lot lately on my health, but that isn’t a thing you can fix with one January resolution. In Q1, I was more focused on better eating habits and losing weight. In Q4, I’m thinking a lot more about how to gain more muscle and become more fit. Revisiting it quarterly lets me change the area of focus.

Annual planning gives your goals a lot of hiding places to disappear. Ninety days is much more concrete. You can pick a few things where you can actually move the needle and make progress.

I’ve got a lot more thoughts on this that I cover in the Productivity Field Guide, but here we are at the beginning of Q4. My advice to you is to start now. Don’t wait until January 1 to try to get serious about what’s important to you.

Figure out a few things today that you can do in the next 90 days and get to work.

The post Why Quarterly Reviews Matter More Than Annual Goals appeared first on MacSparky.

It was another fun week in the MacSparky Labs. A highlight for me was the Q4 Planning session where we talked about our plans for the final quarter of the year.

Below you’ll find the week’s new videos and podcasts, a few of the conversations happening in the member community, and what’s coming next week. Most of those links lead straight into the Labs community on Circle, so they’ll only open if you’re a member. If you’re a Labs member who hasn’t set up your Circle access yet, send me a note and I’ll get you in. For members, this is your week at a glance. If you’re not one yet, it’s a peek at what you’re missing.

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The Week’s Releases

September Deep Dive – The Mac Studio Home Server

Deep Dive Recording · September 28 · Pathfinder

The recording of last week’s home server deep dive is up. It has 15 chapters so you can jump straight to the part you care about, plus the big ideas in a short list, grouped resource links, the handout, and the Zoom transcript and chat as a download.

Pathfinder Link

2026 Q3 Q&A

Q&A Video and Podcast · September 29 · all tiers

It’s quarterly Q&A time again. This one covers Siri AI and the new operating systems, my one-laptop setup and Mac server plans, what the robot is actually doing, Endor Fieldbook, the move to Circle, our newly empty nest, and plenty more. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

Set Up Your Apple Legacy Contact

Post · September 30 · all tiers

Apple’s Legacy Contact setting gives someone you trust a way into selected Apple Account data after you die. It’s easy to put off because you don’t need it today. This post walks through picking the right person and getting it set up in a few minutes.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

This Month in the Labs – September 2026

Monthly Recap · September 30 · all tiers

September’s recap gathers the month’s Labs posts, videos, and live sessions in one place, with a version for each membership tier. Handy if you want to catch up on something you missed.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

Your New Labs Podcast Feed

Member Announcement · September 30 · all tiers

The Labs private podcasts are moving to new feeds. Use the personal link in your Transistor email to add your new feed to your podcast app, and make the switch before the old feeds close at the end of October. The community post has screenshots to walk you through it.

Setup Instructions

Fast Website and File Navigation with Keyboard Maestro

Video · October 1 · Pathfinder & Insider

I use Keyboard Maestro conflict palettes to jump straight to websites and folders, and to copy selected files to a destination. This video shows the three actions behind the system and includes a starter set of macros you can make your own.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link

Q4 Quarter Planning Meetup

Live Meetup · October 1 · Pathfinder

The quarter-planning session was on the calendar for Thursday morning, giving Pathfinders a chance to work on the last quarter of the year. The link below leads to the event page; the recording will follow.

Pathfinder Link

The Lab Report for October 2, 2026

Podcast · October 2 · all tiers

Apple has a fix for those unexpected iPhone restarts, and the iPhone Duo preorder process starts soon. I also look at Final Cut Camera’s new controls, Freeform folders, and Apple’s guide to family digital habits.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

In the Community

Am I Taking This Too Far? (Labs Discussion Board)

One member has built five personal apps in a couple of weeks and shares the latest, a simple dashboard they’d wanted for years. It’s a good reminder that an app can be useful even if it never goes near the App Store.

Follow-up from Browser meet-up (Labs Discussion Board)

After last week’s browser jam session, one member put Claude to work on a bookmark pile through the bookmarking service’s MCP connection, tagging and pruning thousands of saved links. A nice example of turning a meetup idea into an afternoon project.

If you’re a Labs member and haven’t joined the Circle community yet, let me know and I’ll get you set up.

Coming Up

Two more October sessions are coming up.

Labs October Meetup · October 8, 2:00 PM Pacific

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link

October Deep Dive – Local and Private AI on a Mac · October 15, noon Pacific

Pathfinder Link

Links of Interest

• Donald J. Robertson connects Stoic virtue ethics with behavioral activation, arguing that values-guided action can move forward even when anxiety comes along for the ride.
• Massimo Pigliucci takes on Mary Beard, Emily Wilson, and what classicists get wrong about Stoicism, part one of a series.
• Chris Bailey argues that handing every task to AI gives it more of your work to learn from, while hands-on, offline work helps preserve judgment and agency.
• Cal Newport calls for Congress to examine frontier-lab experiments, safety procedures, and the ideas guiding the people making consequential AI decisions.

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Join the Labs

The videos, podcasts, and live sessions above are inside MacSparky Labs. Join at macsparky.com/join.

The post This Week in the Labs — October 2, 2026 appeared first on MacSparky.

iOS 27 brings the long-promised Siri AI, but the part that matters most is what happens outside Apple’s apps. If Siri AI is really going to get legs, it needs third-party developer support. I had hoped Apple might use MCP as the bridge between Siri and third-party apps, which could have brought a lot of support along quickly. That’s not the route Apple chose. Given the security and sandboxing constraints of Apple’s operating systems, I’m not even sure it could have worked.

Instead, Apple’s plumbing for Siri AI is App Intents. Developers describe their app’s content and actions in a form Siri, Spotlight, and Shortcuts can understand. The first wave of updates is here, and it gives us a much better idea of what third-party Siri support will look like.

Things 3.24

Things 3.24 lets you speak more naturally when creating a to-do. You can also continue the conversation to add a note, schedule the task, move it to a project, or correct something Siri misunderstood.

The update also adds Spotlight indexing, which gives Siri a way to find to-dos and projects already in your database. This is much closer to talking with a task manager than dictating into one.

OmniFocus 4.9

OmniFocus 4.9 goes deeper. Siri treats OmniFocus actions as reminders, projects as lists, and folders as groups. It can create and edit actions, set due dates, add flags and repeat schedules, and work with notes and image attachments.

The visual piece is especially interesting. The Omni Group says you can point Visual Intelligence at a handwritten list and move those items into OmniFocus. Siri can also use Spotlight’s index to answer questions about your remaining and recently completed tasks.

Fantastical 4.2

Fantastical 4.2 connects Siri AI to Fantastical calendars. You can ask about your schedule, create an event, or move an existing event through a follow-up request. Those conversations also appear in the new Siri app.

Calendar work is exactly the sort of thing a voice assistant should handle quickly and reliably.

Fantastical is a MacSparky sponsor.

Dark Noise 3.6

Dark Noise 3.6 is a nice demonstration of Siri’s on-screen awareness. You can ask Siri to play a particular sound or one of your favorites without building a shortcut first. While looking at a sound in the app, you can say “Play this” or “Favorite this,” and Siri knows what “this” means.

Ulysses 41

Ulysses 41 adds on-screen awareness, Ask Siri, and Write with Siri. On the Mac, there is also a toolbar button for calling up Siri’s writing features while you work. If you would rather keep Siri out of your writing app, Ulysses lets you switch the feature off on the Mac.

The Ulysses implementation is less about commanding the app and more about giving Siri useful context while you write.

The Real Siri AI Test

Siri AI is still a beta. It requires supported hardware, language, and region settings, and the first wave of app support is uneven. The operating system also needs time to index an app’s actions and content, so a newly installed integration may not work immediately.

It’s nice to see apps showing up in multiple categories. If this is to get momentum, I think Apple needs to do everything in its power to really push the gas down on third party support. That means further available actions, code support, and they should continue to promote Siri AI-enabled apps.

The post Apps Adding Siri AI Support for iOS 27 appeared first on MacSparky.

Mike Vardy has spent his career inside the word “productivity.” He built frameworks around it, taught it, made a living off it. And for years the word itself bugged him. But don’t forget “Productivity” started out as a term for measuring the efficiency of factories.

Mike argues the better word is “productiveness”. Not how much you produce, but whether what you produce, and how you go about producing it, actually amounts to something.

That distinction is the subject of Mike’s new book, out now. Nine principles for keeping meaningful work sustainable once the systems around it start to strain. My congratulations to Mike for getting this book published.

The post Mike Vardy’s New Book, Productiveness appeared first on MacSparky.

This week MacSparky is sponsored by Daylite.

My calendar is great at telling me where I need to be. It’s terrible at telling me why. The appointment says “Call with client,” and everything I need for that call lives somewhere else.

Daylite just fixed that for people who run their day in Google Calendar. The new Google Calendar sync is continuous and two-way. Add or move an appointment in Google Calendar, and Daylite has it. Change it in Daylite, and Google Calendar gets the update. Meetings that Zoom or Gmail drop onto your calendar come along too.

The good part is what happens next. Once an event is in Daylite, you can link it to the people, companies, projects, and opportunities it belongs to. That meeting stops being a block of time and becomes part of the client’s history, sitting right next to the emails and notes.

You can connect your work and personal Google calendars, and there are privacy controls so your team sees you’re busy without seeing the details.

If you live in Apple’s Calendar app, this one isn’t aimed at you. But a lot of consultants and small teams run on Google Calendar, and for them, this is a big deal. Daylite runs on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and there’s a free 14-day trial. Take a look at Daylite.

The post Daylite Now Syncs With Google Calendar appeared first on MacSparky.

Rogue Amoeba opened its doors on September 30, 2002, and they’re celebrating 24 years with a birthday sale: 24% off anything in their store with the code 24YEARS. The discount runs through October 4.

I use Rogue Amoeba apps every day. Audio Hijack, Fission, and SoundSource are baked into how I record every podcast. My wife, who is very much not a power user, loves Piezo. If you’ve been eyeing one of their apps (or the upgrade to SoundSource 6), this is the week to do it.

The latest versions of their whole lineup also support macOS 27, and Rogue Amoeba says Golden Gate fixes several long-standing problems in the Mac’s audio system. Good news all around.

Happy birthday, Rogue Amoeba. Here’s to 24 more.

The post Rogue Amoeba Turns 24 (and 24% Off) appeared first on MacSparky.

I thought variable aperture meant more of that creamy background blur. Tyler Stalman joins Stephen and me to explain what the iPhone 18 Pro’s cameras actually give us, including better ways to work with Apple Log and ProRAW. We also compare pocket video cameras and the iPhone Duo, then do our best to spend Stephen’s camera budget.

Links and Show Notes

• iPhone 18 Pro: A Photographer’s Review
• Full Stack Creator Podcast with Tyler Stalman
• Stalman LUTs & Presets for iPhone
• DJI Osmo Pocket 4 vs iPhone 17 Pro
• Kondor Blue Stalman Smartphone Clamp
• Stephen’s 17 Pro vs 18 Pro Video Frame
• Halide Mark III
• Film(ish)
• VSCO
• Blackmagic Camera
• Lightroom
• Moment Pro Camera II
• Fujifilm X-M5
• Fujifilm X100VI Limited Edition
• Ricoh GR IV
• Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG DN OS Sports Lens

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

• Notion: Try the powerful, easy-to-use Notion AI today.
• 1Password: Never forget a password again.

The post Mac Power Users 868: Tyler Stalman Reviews iPhone 18 Pro Camera appeared first on MacSparky.

There is a world of difference between asking a robot, “Help me do this,” and asking, “What should I do?” AI can be remarkably good at the first question but lead you astray with the second. New users often learn that distinction the expensive way.

I’ve taught thousands of people how to use agentic AI, and I’ve seen a similar pattern. People get into trouble after they have some success with AI and try to push it further. Quite often, the thing they want on the other side just isn’t there.

At first, you’re skeptical of AI’s ability to provide any real help. With a little time and training, you figure out how to give it context, build skills, and assign the kind of donkey work it can reliably do unsupervised.

The moment that sinks in is liberating. Suddenly, you’ve got more time for creative work while the AI handles the grunt work.

As you get more reps in and the AI becomes reliable on this kind of work, your confidence in it grows. Then, somewhere along the way, you start giving it more credit than it’s due.

That’s where the drift begins.

The robot really isn’t equipped for the why. Put simply, the robot can’t exercise judgment and taste like you can. I’ve seen a lot of new models come out, and they keep getting smarter. Yet they still fail miserably in matters of taste and judgment.

I think the reason is context. The robot hasn’t lived your life. It doesn’t truly know your preferences. No matter how smart the model gets, its assertions of judgment are based on incomplete and inadequate context. It may have read a staggering amount of material, but it hasn’t been you.

I understand why people fall into this trap. The AI is fast, and it’s very confident in its answers. It feels authoritative. And yet, when you get beyond donkey work, these robots can be full of bullshit.

It doesn’t help that vendors of these frontier models keep promising the technology will change your life. Artificial intelligence is a transformational technology. It just isn’t nearly as transformational as the guy trying to pump up his company’s stock price claims.

People still give it more authority than they should. They ask it to do harder things than it can handle. After all that early success with donkey work, they start trying to make the AI smart enough to make those calls for them.

The fact is, it can’t make that judgment for you.

Trying to outsource judgment and taste to AI is an expensive way to get bad results. It’s like asking your toaster to pick the best bread for your turkey sandwich.

Also, even if it could exercise judgment and taste, do you really want it to? Isn’t that your job? Shouldn’t you get to decide what bread goes on your sandwich?

I see this often with people going through my coursework. They reach a point of frustration and give up on the utility of artificial intelligence because they pushed it beyond its capabilities.

My advice is always the same. Scale back. Get back to the useful zone.

Give the robot work where you know the outcome and can tell whether it’s any good. Limit its scope to jobs where you can provide enough context.

AI is great for grunt work that a computer can do. Stay in that space, and you’ll spend remarkably little time managing the AI. Draw clear lines in your head about how far you can take it and where it needs to step aside so humans can take over.

The reason I like the term “donkey work” so much is that it captures what AI does best. Granted, that doesn’t justify a trillion-dollar stock valuation, but it can make a real difference in your life.

You’re the human. You make the map. Hand the robot the shovel.

When you go beyond that, friends, there be dragons.

The post Don’t Ask the Robot What to Do appeared first on MacSparky.

Wow! A busy week for me. Coming off a cold, I did four podcasts and three webinars this week. Below you’ll find the week’s new videos and podcasts, a few of the conversations happening in the member community, and what’s coming next week. Most of those links lead straight into the Labs community on Circle, so they’ll only open if you’re a member. If you’re a Labs member who hasn’t set up your Circle access yet, send me a note and I’ll get you in. For members, this is your week at a glance. If you’re not one yet, it’s a peek at what you’re missing.

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The Week’s Releases

The Apple Refurb Store Is a Best-Kept Secret

Post · September 21 · all tiers

Apple barely admits the refurb store exists. It’s a link buried at the bottom of the store page, and the discounts are real, like $100 off an Apple Watch Ultra 3 the day I wrote this. A short post on why it should be your first stop before you buy new.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

A Deeper Dive into Siri AI

Video · September 22 · all tiers

Siri AI has been out long enough to move past first impressions, and it is much better than many people think. This hands-on video puts it through ordinary tasks involving calendars, messages, music, and visual intelligence.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

A Five-Minute Backup Check

Post · September 23 · Pathfinder & Insider

A short exercise to play along with. Check the date on your last completed backup, then pull one expendable file back out of it to prove the restore works. Five minutes now beats a very bad afternoon later.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link

September Deep Dive – The Mac Studio Home Server

Deep Dive · September 23 · Pathfinder

I came into this one with a plan to keep my old Mac Studio around as an always-on server, and I left seriously considering a Mac mini in its place. We worked through what jobs belong on a machine that never sleeps, how to get back in after a reboot, and the small self-hosted tools that make a server worth having. The recording is in the edit and lands September 30.

Pathfinder Link

Airversa QliQ Thread Smart Button

Video · September 24 · Pathfinder & Insider

I wanted a way to control the blinds and recording scenes in Endor Studios without waking up my Mac. In this video, I set up the Airversa QliQ, a rechargeable three-button Apple Home remote, for a spot under my desk.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link

Labs Jam Session – Browsers

Jam Session · September 24 · all tiers

An hour of open conversation about browsers, Thursday at noon Pacific. Every tier has a seat at this one.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

The Lab Report for September 25, 2026

Podcast · September 25 · all tiers

The 27.2 public betas are out, and the new Mac mini gives up its removable storage module. I also spend a few minutes on John Ternus’s case for giving Vision Pro time to find its job, and this week’s pick is Mayday on Apple TV.

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link | Member Link

In the Community

You Guys. Opus 5.5 is AWESOME. (Labs Discussion Board)

First-day impressions of Claude Opus 5.5 from a member who found it faster than the last two versions and easier on the weekly token budget. The question at the end, whether anyone else has tried it, pulled in eight replies.

Mail message links (Labs Discussion Board)

A member wants an agent to triage email and create OmniFocus tasks that link back to the original message, working across Mail.app with iCloud and Fastmail. They’re open to switching mail clients if that’s what it takes, and the thread has some ideas.

New “Health Age” (Labs Discussion Board)

A screenshot of the new Health Age readout in the 27.2 beta, with a question about who at Apple takes the complaint if it turns out to be wrong. Light thread, but a fun one.

If you’re a Labs member and haven’t joined the Circle community yet, let me know and I’ll get you set up.

Coming Up

October opens with planning and closes the first half with another deep dive.

Q4 Quarter Planning Meetup · October 1, 10:00 Pacific

Pathfinder Link

Labs October Meetup · October 8, 14:00 Pacific

Pathfinder Link | Insider Link

October Deep Dive – Local and Private AI on a Mac · October 15, 12:00 Pacific

Pathfinder Link

Links of Interest

• Mike Schmitz answers the critique that PKM has produced nothing measurable by arguing the point is the thinking you do while writing, not the archive.
• Massimo Pigliucci walks through Plato’s Hippias Major and why a dialogue that ends without an answer still teaches something.
• John Ternus compared Vision Pro with the early days of personal computing, and 9to5Mac calls it the best defense of the headset yet.
• If a Mac mini is on your server shortlist after Wednesday’s deep dive, note that the new one drops aftermarket storage upgrades.

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Join the Labs

The videos, podcasts, and live sessions above are inside MacSparky Labs. Join at macsparky.com/join.

The post This Week in the Labs — September 25, 2026 appeared first on MacSparky.

Britain’s Competition Appeal Tribunal is allowing part of a consumer lawsuit against Apple and Amazon to proceed over ​claims they restricted competition in the sale of Apple products on Amazon’s ‌UK marketplace, reports Reuters.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple and Amazon agreed in 2018 to limit which resellers could offer Apple and Beats-branded products on Amazon’s UK website, reducing market competition. Judge Kelyn Bacon has permitted claims regarding Amazon marketplace purchases to move forward, noting they were plausible and grounded in facts

The part of the case allowed to proceed could be worth between £289 million ($383 million) and £306 million, ​including interest, according to the claimant, according to Reuters.

Broader claims regarding products sold through Apple’s own stores or other independent retailers were dismissed as too speculative. Not surprisingly,Apple strongly disagrees with the claims, saying the 2018 deal was intended to protect consumers and reduce serious safety risks associated with counterfeit goods. [1]

I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support. 

The post Consumer lawsuit against Apple and Amazon in the UK can proceed, at least in part appeared first on MacTech.com.

On September 22, Apple announced the opening of Apple Music Hall, a new, state-of-the-art live music venue in London’s Battersea Power Station. Elton John will be the first artist to perform there in an appearance on September 28.

Following performances will be by Baby Keen on October 2, Skye Newman on October 7, Troye Sivan on October 13, Arlo Parks on October 22, Burma Boy on October 29, Chase & Status  on November 26, and a Charli XCC on December 2.

Apple Music Hall is designed to connect artists and fans through bespoke, intimate performances unlike anywhere else, according to Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and International Content. He said the venue will offer artists and music fans alike an exceptional live concert experience alongside the River Thames. 

Taking inspiration from the iconic Battersea Power Station, the new venue incorporates heritage brickwork, fluted arches, and bronze balconies reminiscent of the historic oriel windows. A giant glass wall further enhances the visual connection with the historic building, offering a panoramic view of the concourse and the river beyond.

I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support. 

The post Elton John will be the first artist to perform at the Apple Music Hall appeared first on MacTech.com.

OpenAI and the other defendants in Apple’s trade secret misappropriation lawsuit have made a new filing, asking the court to strike two expert declarations and disregard other evidence Apple recently submitted, reports 9to5Mac.

From the filing: Apple submitted with its reply brief five new expert declarations (including one entirely new expert), totaling 126 pages, as well as numerous new exhibits. These declarations go far outside the scope of Apple’s opening brief and Defendants’ opposition, and in any event do not save Apple’s deficient motion.

This is part of an ongoing legal brouhaha. In a lawsuit filed with the Northern District of California, Apple says it’s uncovered evidence of a months-long scheme to steal confidential information. The company says OpenAI hardware lead and former Apple designer Tan and former electrical engineer Liu directed Apple employees interviewing with OpenAI to provide details on unreleased devices, components, manufacturing processes, and vendor relationships.

Here’s what Apple said in a statement to MacRumors: At Apple, our teams are constantly developing breakthrough technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously. Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products. We will always defend our teams’ hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.

And from the lawsuit: 

OpenAI also instructs new hires on how to avoid scrutiny when they leave Apple. For example, Mr. Tan warns them not to tell Apple that they have taken jobs at OpenAI, so they can stay at Apple as long as they can. After his own departure, Mr. Tan improperly retained or obtained an internal Apple managers’ document marked “Need to Know” that describes security procedures for employee departures. Messages left on Apple-issued work devices show that Mr. Tan and his OpenAI colleagues have been sharing this document with new hires before they give notice to Apple of their departures, previewing Apple’s security protocols. Unsurprisingly, Apple’s investigation has found a pattern by employees who depart for OpenAI of taking steps to evade the security processes intended to protect Apple’s confidential information.

In response to the lawsuit, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told MacRumors that, “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”

I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support. 

The post OpenAI wants the court to strike two expert declarations in its battle with Apple appeared first on MacTech.com.

A federal jury in San Diego ruled that Taction Technology is owed more than $5.7 billion by Apple for infringing two haptic feedback patents, reports CBNC.

Taction, a haptics technology company, sued Apple in 2021. The tech giant has vowed to appeal the findings saying “Apple does not use Taction’s technology.” Also, a jury has found that Apple’s infringement wasn’t willful, which limits potential triple damages.

The dispute centers on Apple’s Taptic Engine, which provides the tapping and vibration sensations in iPhones and Apple Watches. Taction argued that Apple used its patented tactile transducer technology without permission under U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117. 

Taction initially filed the lawsuit in 2021. Apple won a dismissal in 2023. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit revived the case in 2025.

I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support. 

The post Jury rules that Taction Technology is owed more than $5.7 billion by Apple  appeared first on MacTech.com.

The holiday season is fast approaching and new Apple CEO John Ternus has told the company’s staff that most US divisions will get the whole week of Thanksgiving off.

Here’s what he said in an email seen by Bloomberg: 

Team,

Last week in New York, I had the chance to see customers discover for themselves what we already know: Our newest products are incredible! From the most advanced camera ever in an iPhone to intelligent health features in Apple Watch to the amazing listening experience of our latest Air Pods, it was so wonderful to see the joy in people’s faces as they experienced our new lineup for the very first time. And that’s before iPhone Duo even hits the shelves.

It takes an extraordinary amount of work to make moments like this possible. It takes teams across Apple all driving toward the same goal, every single day. This year has been filled with remarkable milestones, and for all your hard work, you deserve a break.

In recognition of your contributions, most US teams will get the Monday through Wednesday before Thanksgiving off. If you’re part of our Retail and AppleCare teams who serve our customers, or international teams, you’ll be able to take three extra days off at a later date. You can find all the details on the People site.

I’m so grateful for this amazing team, and I hope you’ll use this time away to unwind, recharge, and spend time with loved ones. As I’ve said, this is an incredibly exciting time to be at Apple. And I can’t wait for what’s next.

Thanks, John

The post Staffers in most Apple US divisions will get the entire week of Thanksgiving off appeared first on MacTech.com.

The post Omdia: Connected vehicle installed base to surpass 1 billion by 2035 as LTE shutdown approaches appeared first on MacTech.com.

Here are some of the top Apple stories from this week.

° A year after Apple TV put “The Savant,” a thriller starring Jessica Chastain on hold, the streamer has rescheduled it for spring 2027.

° A settlement website has been launched for Apple’s $250 million class action lawsuit.

° Some new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 units are rebooting unexpectedly.

° Apple has reportedly laid off a “handful” of Fitness + employees.

° The 20th anniversary iPhone may have slightly larger displays than the iPhone 18 Pro models.

° The long-rumored “HomePad” will reportedly debut next month.

° Some iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max users are reporting issues with Face ID.

° Apple has announced the opening of Apple Music Hall, a new, state-of-the-art live music venue in London’s  Battersea Power Station.

° Mac sales soar as iPad sales decline in Mainland China.

° Apple is working on an activity tracker that doesn’t have a screen.

° Apple is developing an all-new operating system that’s like a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS for its upcoming home hub.

° Apple has postponed plans for an “Apple Pin”  pendant device.

° Apple Intelligence is taking up to 30GB (or more) on some Macs running macOS 27.

° Apple has announced that, soon, in Apple Podcasts, content providers will be able to offer video directly through Apple Podcasts Subscriptions.

° Apple TV has announced holiday programming for the whole family, led by the all-new Peanuts special, “Snoopy Presents: 12 Days of Snoopy,” premiering Friday, November 13.

° Apple Music will host its first-ever video livestream for the Head Trip festival.

The post Top Apple-related stories for the week of September 21-25 appeared first on MacTech.com.

Apple’s record stock performance leads into a discussion of Vision Pro and John Ternus’ explanation of its long-term potential. The MacVoices Live! panel considers spatial computing’s growing role in medicine, productivity, and professional workflows, along with whether the technology is ready for broader adoption. They also examine iPhone battery shipping limits, SoftRAID 9's support of RAID 6, and local versus cloud storage.

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This week, a federal judge overseeing an antitrust class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. regarding allegations of anticompetitive behavior in the mobile wallet market certified a class of payment card issuers, in a major victory for plaintiffs.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White also denied Apple’s motion to exclude expert testimony attorneys say establishes common proof that Apple maintains monopoly power in a relevant antitrust aftermarket for tap-and-pay iOS mobile wallets, as well as a broader market for all mobile wallets, through Apple Pay.

The lawsuit accuses Apple of extracting up to $1 billion annually in fees in violation of federal antitrust law. You can read more here and read the judge’s order here. 

I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support. 

The post Credit Unions win class certification in Apple Pay antitrust lawsuit appeared first on MacTech.com.

This week, a federal judge overseeing an antitrust class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. regarding allegations of anticompetitive behavior in the mobile wallet market certified a class of payment card issuers, in a major victory for plaintiffs.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White also denied Apple’s motion to exclude expert testimony attorneys say establishes common proof that Apple maintains monopoly power in a relevant antitrust aftermarket for tap-and-pay iOS mobile wallets, as well as a broader market for all mobile wallets, through Apple Pay.

The lawsuit accuses Apple of extracting up to $1 billion annually in fees in violation of federal antitrust law. You can read more here and read the judge’s order here. 

I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support. 

The post Credit Unions win class certification in Apple Pay antitrust lawsuit appeared first on MacTech.com.