Apple Extravaganza-Folding iPhone, iPhone Pros, Watches, Air Pods

Posted: September 9, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Welcome, one and all to the Apple reality distortion field…or at least my recap of it! Apple rolled out their latest, greatest iPhone Pros, Watches, and Air Pods today, and the inevitable ‘one more thing’ we all knew was coming…the folding iPhone. We all called it the Ultra, but Apple has dubbed it the iPhone Duo. Not being Apple, I will start with the one more thing, the Duo. Honestly, there is a lot to be impressed with about the folder Apple waited several years to drop. They have done a great job minimizing the crease in the screen, the hinge itself has a lot of tech in it, and it has better battery life than expected. It is, as Apple noted, about the size of your passport in your hand folded, and open has an inner screen of some 7.6 inches…much like an iPad Mini. 

Later this year, you will be able to use an Apple Pencil with either screen, too. When you are using the outer screen, and open the phone, the larger screen picks up right where you left off. There is a selfie cam on the inner screen that is hidden under the display…no hole punch or pill-shaped cutout to take away from the full screen experience. It is worth mentioning that the outer screen is no slouch…it is 5.4 inches. You can shoot a pic while using the inner screen, and your subject can see themselves in the outer display. Pretty cool. The phone has the 2 nanometer A20 processor like the iPhone 18 Pros, and has 2 neural engines. Dual batteries give you up to 31 hours of video viewing on the big display and 24 hours on a charge. Here’s the crazy part…it starts at $1999 with 256 gigs of storage! I expected it to be more like $2400. Preorders start October 16th, and the launch is October 23rd.

For the rest of us mere mortals that may not be getting a folding phone right now, the Pro and Pro Max also have the A20 Pro chip, and Apple strongly emphasized AI and especially on-device AI. The AI and new version of Siri may be exciting to use as you get into your daily use of the phone, but for now, we’ll talk about a couple other features that everyone will notice…improvements to the cams and battery life. The banner cam hardware feature is sort of amazing…a variable aperture to let in light. They have tiny leaves about the thickness of a human hair that open and close. Lots of manual control is available if you are up for it. Apple noted that the entire presentation today was shot on iPhones. If you aren’t a cinematographer or pro photographer, the software is there to take advantage of all that for you. By the way, it is only the 48 MP main cam that has the variable aperture. 

Another really great photo feature is Apple Reference Image…the phone will authenticate photos shot on it right down to the pixel level, so people can detect if something is AI. The Reference shot lives on your phone and in your library right along with a finished shot you have edited using software. Battery life grows to 36 hour for video playback on the Pro and 48 on the Pro Max. Both should bet 24-30 hours on a full charge. Speaking of charging, the Pro gets up to 50% in 15 minutes with a wire charger, or the same in 30 minutes charged wirelessly. With the chip shortage due to AI both phones got a price bump this year. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1199, and the Pro Max at $1299. Preorders open this Saturday, with availability September 18th. 

The Apple Watch Series 12 has a new chip and upgrade health sensors. The Watch Ultra now has 2 day battery life and upgraded health tracking. Both will track your heart rate better, among other things. A cool feature that plays on Apple’s Visual Intelligence is an Audio Intelligence feature. The Watch will record the last 15 seconds or so of voice with what Apple calls Live Rewind. This can be handy if a wait person rattles off the daily specials, and you didn’t get it. You can check your phone, and the Watch will have sent the text to it so you can see what’s on the menu. It can also be set to record and transcribe meetings. For hard of hearing, the watch can also pick up sounds like alarms, doorbells, or a baby crying.The Watches didn’t get a price hike. The Ultra starts at $799 and the Series 12 at $399. Preorders are open now, and they are available September 18th.

AirPods 5 bowed today, and get improved noise cancellation and audio quality…always appreciated. The base models start at $129. The $149 models have a Wireless Charging case, plus a swipe to change volume feature. You move the finger up or down the stems to change the volume. The new AirPods are available for preorder today, and out Friday, September 18th.

I’m Clark Reid, showing you the exit to the Apple reality distortion field for today!

Google Being Forced to Change Search in Europe; Qualcomm Up on Data Center Deal with Amazon; EV Batteries Last Longer Than Thought; Tesla Cybercab-Hidden ‘Virtual’ Joystick for Manual Control

Posted: September 8, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The European Union continues to flex its muscle, and squeeze tech companies into toeing the line as they act to protect European consumers. Now, android authority.com reports that after whacking Google with a billion dollar fine for allegedly violating the Digital Markets Act, Google is changing how search works in the European region. Google reps say the change could deteriorate the quality of results for people in the EU. The changes appear to apply particularly when users search for services such as flights or hotels (also known as vertical search services or VSS), where Google will now be required to show results from its top competitors before serving its own Flights, Hotels, or other services.With these changes, users in the EU will now see different carousels for top VSS results. As per Reuters, “the revamped search results will ​highlight one specialized search engine at the top of the page, followed by two others with fewer details while a ‌carousel ⁠of hotels, airlines and restaurants for example will sit below them with key features such as real-time prices stripped out. The rankings will be determined by Google’s algorithm.” Users outside the EU won’t be affected by the changes. 

Qualcom has cut a data center infrastructure partnership with Amazon Web Services, and got a nice 4% bump in their stock price. According to cnbc.com, Qualcomm will work with Amazon “across multiple generations of customized silicon” to help build out AWS’ AI infrastructure, specifically focused on inference. The chipmaker said the new CPU was built for agentic AI and focuses on offering computing performance without using too much power. Qualcomm said at the time that it’s targeting $15 billion in data center sales in fiscal 2029, and pointed to a roadmap for going after the market with several different products, including an AI chip and a product that will tie multiple chips together. Qualcomm’s warrant to Amazon runs until September 2036.

Besides range anxiety, one of the biggest fears people have about electric vehicles is what happens when the battery pack goes out. The expense to replace it can be as much as an entire nice used car. Well now, arstechnica.com says that EV batteries are lasting considerably longer than feared by drivers. Most EVs retain about 90$% of original useable battery capacity after 93,000 miles. This is according to a study published by Aviloo, an Austrian group that analyzes battery health. They ran some 500,000 tests on various EV models made between 2022 and 2026. The model that had the most useable capacity after the 93,000 mile mark was the EQA, the Mercedes-Benz EV…which had 94% left. Ioniq 5 from Hyundai was 2nd with 93.8%, the BMW i4 was third with 93.6%, the Hyundai Kona followed with 93% even, and the Volvo XC40 was 5th with 92.8%. The Nissan Leaf was last, but still had 86.7% of useable battery left. The net is…breathe, EV buyers and lookers. You may not be facing a giant expense at 100,000 miles after all. 

Elon Musk finally rolled out the Tesla Cybercab last week. One ding on it from states, the feds (which are now investigating), and insurers…no steering wheel or pedals for emergency manual operation by the human occupant or occupants. Now, eletrek.co is reporting that a rider discovered something of a manual driving mode. The touchscreen can show a virtual joystick to drive the car by hand. The fellow who found the car with that screen up noted that he probably wasn’t supposed to see it, but he posted a video about it on X. There is still nothing that would help an occupant hit the brakes…the joystick seems to be mainly for fine maneuvering in close quarters like a garage or parking lot. Will the kludgy virtual joystick make a difference to regulators? I doubt it, but we will see as time goes on.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Google Avoids Another Breakup Attempt; FTC Alleges Amazon Rigged Ad Auctions; Uber Deleting 3,000 Jobs; Apple Joins Google in Shameful ‘Lake America’ Label

Posted: September 2, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When I read about attempts to break up Google…or for that matter, Meta or Amazon, I keep coming back to the government’s years long work on breaking up AT&T. How’d that work out? The pieces of AT&T basically reassembled as a couple large telcos, and now we have really 3 big cell companies…two of which are Verizon and AT&T…both large chunks of the old AT&T that was supposedly broken up. With that said, Google has dodged the bullet on another break up attempt by the government. Theverge.com reports that a US district Judge, Leonie Brinkema, has declined the Justice Departments’s request to make Google sell off parts of its ad tech business. The court DID say it would adopt most of the behavioral changes proposed by the parties, with some modifications. But those won’t become public until the parties meet to work out any additional proposed revisions and to review the judge’s opinion for confidential information that must be redacted. They could include proposals like restricting Google from using self-preferencing ad auction tactics or letting third-party ad tech tools access the same real-time information as Google. Google can still appeal, but they may really want to go with this deal, and at least put off risking a ruling that does force them to spin off part of their very lucrative ad business.

The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have sued Amazon, alleging that it has conducted a secret scheme to overcharge advertisers for seven years. According to arstechnica..com, the filing asserts that Since 2019, Amazon.com, Inc. has secretly and systematically overcharged its approximately 1.2 million advertising customers by manipulating the ‘auctions’ that it uses to set the price of ads on its platform,” the lawsuit said. “Amazon represents, and advertisers believe, that competitive auctions set the prices for advertising on its leading e-commerce website. But, in reality, Amazon overrides and replaces the actual auction results with higher prices set by Amazon to increase its profits.” Amazon says the ‘FTC cherry-picked’ details, and that the lawsuit is ‘misguided.’ The FTC says customers paid more than they would have if Amazon operated the auction in the way it claimed it did. This should be an interesting trial to follow, unless the online giant decides to settle…with the Feds and 22 states after them, that might be their best option. 

Uber has chopped about 3,000 jobs, as it moves to what it claims is a more efficient organization. This will be close to 10% of the 34,000 employees of the ridesharing firm. Engadget.com says they are removing management layers and aiming to be  “simpler and faster.” Uber will continue to have its global teams based in New York and San Francisco, and will continue to have tech hubs, as well as regional and country-based teams. 

Apple has joined Google in caving to the whims of Donald Trump and his latest antic of renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America. They had previously done so with the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Techcrunch.com reports that the foolish name will only appear on the Maps app in the US, and not elsewhere. Reportedly, this came after a call direct from the White House to the C Suite at Apple. Also according to reports, rank and file Apple employees are furious that the top suits gave in to Trump on this ridiculous move. This has also caused Apple Maps users….like Google Maps users…to leave in sizable numbers and switch to Mapquest, which has stayed at the top of Apple’s App Store downloads, besting ChatGPT…which had been at the top for some time. It is rather appalling that huge tech firms fear a megalomaniacal president enough that they feel like they have to go along with such foolish and childish moves. It’s sad for us that we will have to put up with this clownish behavior for the next two years. As for me, I am unaffected…I will just keep using the Inrix map software in my car that I haven’t paid to update…so the lake will remain Ontario, as the gulf has stayed Mexico!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Galaxy Fold 8 Popularity-Samsung Diverting Parts from Next Year’s Phones; Waymo Is Expanding to More Markets; Amazon Drivers Rig Trucks to Keep the AC On; Dyson’s Camera-Equipped Toothbrush

Posted: September 1, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

They are expensive, and have had the dreaded crease in the middle, but folding phones are finally really gaining steam with the public. They are not close to the numbers of regular smartphones, but at Samsung the gain is serious. 9to5google.com reports that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 sales are so strong now that Samsung is syphoning off parts for the phone from it’s 2027 smartphones to meed the demand for the folder. Specifically, it is Display Driver ICs that are the bottleneck. They are made by UMC, a semiconductor foundry in Taiwan, which claims it has reached its limit for now on making the chips. Samsung’s Fold 8 is in short supply in the US, and with Apple coming out with a folder this month, Omdia reported this week that they project foldable shipments will double by 2028 with up to 36 million units. 

On one hand, it is understandable…with the growing fleet of electric vans, Amazon uses software to limit the air conditioner running, as that drains the battery packs. According to bgr.com, the system is set to shut off if the door to the van is left open more than 10 minutes. Where a driver is making multiple trips to say apartments or condos in a building, they are going to tend to need to leave the door open longer. When they get in on a hot day, it’s gonna take a while to cool back off. Amazon drivers have come up with a unique work around. They put a good sized package on the driver’s seat to fool the sensors there, then jam a carabiner into the female slot on the door jam where the door latches. Bingo…the software thinks the vehicle is closed and the air conditioning will run longer. Certainly after word has gotten out, Amazon will push out an update and try to negate this, but count on human ingenuity to find yet another work around!

Alphabet’s Waymo is expanding its robo taxi service to more markets. CNBC.com notes that you will now be able to catch a ride in them in San Diego, Tampa, and Denver. Waymo will now have over 4,000 vehicles operating in 14 US Cities. Tesla has an event this Thursday introducing their new robotaxi model, but even if it is the greatest since sliced bread, it is going to have a heck of a time catching Waymo. The same can be said for Zoox, which right now only operates in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Zoox says it is beginning testing of its toaster shaped carriage style vehicles…with human drivers on board in Houston and San Diego. 

They make great but pricy vacuums, and really expensive hair dryers, those blade hand dryers, and fans. Now, apparently after years of research and development, we get the CameraJet toothbrush from Dyson. What on earth makes a toothbrush worth $499? Well, thenextweb.com says Dyson’s brush has a tiny camera…and not for beauty shots of your teeth. It is there to guide the toothbrush where to aim. The brush can identify gaps between teeth and aim a tiny jet that sprays mouth rinse between your teeth. James Dyson says the tech is called Gap Optical Targeting. This gadget is designed to replace flossing. Besides the brush and camera, a tiny jet draws mouthwash from a little pump and pressure chamber to blast gunk out from between your teeth. Dyson notes that for tooth brushing, the cam doesn’t have to be high resolution, and that it is only on when you have the toothbrush on…so no worries about spying on you in the bath. The brush has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth because of course it does…and it connects to the MyDyson app…which guides your cleaning and maps where you have brushed…offering personalized feedbacks. If you are in the market, it is on the Dyson website and through Dyson Demo Stores.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

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