Apple has scheduled another product launch event with the tagline “Pro and tell.” Following last week’s consumer-focused launch, rumors point to high-end touchscreen MacBooks.

Apple’s new $299 HomeView combines a HomePod speaker with a small touchscreen and Siri AI, but its limited app selection and unclear purpose make it hard to recommend until real-world use cases emerge.

The fourth-generation Apple TV 4K brings hands-free Siri AI, an easier-to-find Siri Remote, and more home theater support. Pre-orders are open now, with devices arriving on 13 November 2026.

The HomePod mini 2 brings Siri AI, an S10 chip, Wi-Fi 6E, and Sound Glow lighting to Apple’s smallest smart speaker. It also enables four-speaker surround sound with the new Apple TV 4K. Pre-orders are open now at $149.

Full Disk Access is a blunt instrument with a lousy interface for users and developers alike. Here’s what Apple should fix, which apps legitimately need it, and which ones you can safely remove from your list.

Apple has announced a home-focused product launch for 13 October 2026. Expected products include a long-rumored touchscreen home hub alongside a new Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini. And more?

The free RetroMac app themes your Mac to look like System 6, Mac OS 9, or even Windows 98. Its companion browser Reframe wraps today’s Web in old browser chrome and can throttle your connection to modem speeds. Both are wonderfully impractical.

If you have an iPhone 18 Pro Max on AT&T, update to iOS 27.0.1 immediately and install new carrier settings to avoid a service-disrupting bug that may require hardware replacement.

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Apple has signaled forthcoming changes to Full Disk Access in macOS, seemingly in response to risks from AI agents like Meta’s Muse accessing users’ files, mail, messages, and browsing history. How important is Full Disk Access to your Mac use?

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max pair the faster A20 Pro chip with a variable-aperture Fusion Main camera, a smaller, more capable Dynamic Island, longer battery life, and higher prices, while otherwise changing surprisingly little from last year.

Apple’s new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 pair redesigned health sensors with the S11 chip for denser heart-rate data, Readiness scores, and Audio Intelligence, while Ultra 4 gains substantially longer battery life and Series 12 brings back ceramic cases.

Apple’s AirPods 5 bring Active Noise Cancellation to both models, improve water resistance to IP57, and add more AirPods Pro features, while the higher-end version offers longer battery life, wireless charging, and stem-based volume control at a lower price.

Comcast is promoting the WiFi Motion feature of its free Xfinity Shield service, which uses Wi-Fi signals to detect movement in your home. It’s opt-in, but the underlying technology could theoretically do far more than Comcast acknowledges—including identifying individuals.

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Apple has raised Apple TV subscription prices by $2 per month, marking the second significant increase in as many years. The annual plan jumps $20, from $99 to $119.

We’re taking a brief break from building an email issue of TidBITS next week for the Labor Day holiday in the United States, so look for the next issue in your mailbox on 14 September 2026. Check our website for coverage of Apple’s iPhone announcements on 9 September 2026.

Apple has announced its annual iPhone event for 9 September 2026. The “Surprise and Shine” event will be CEO John Ternus’s first product launch, with rumors pointing to a foldable iPhone alongside iPhone 18 Pro updates, new Apple Watch models, and the expected iOS 27 release.

A Vermont road trip in the Hyundai IONIQ 5 revealed the joy of the car’s speed limiter feature, the frustration of short Tesla Supercharger cables on older stations, the importance of downloading offline maps before venturing into rural areas, and the utility of ChatGPT in finding a restaurant on the route.

On 2 September 2026 at 11:30 AM EDT, veteran tech journalist David Pogue discusses his latest book, “Apple: The First 50 Years,” at a free NMUG presentation.

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Apple surprised everyone with a late August announcement of the M6 and M5 Ultra chips, along with updated Mac mini and Mac Studio models. The new Macs deliver substantial performance gains—but at prices that have increased even since June.

USB-C cables look alike but vary wildly in capability. WhatCable, a free utility for Apple silicon Macs, shows you exactly what each cable supports for charging, data transfer, and display. The paid WhatCable Pro adds persistent cable naming and additional diagnostic options.