According to Mark Gurman (posting on X / Twitter), those who purchase an iPhone Duo at an Apple Store in the US will be able to have the initial setup screen customized with their name:
Fun little touch for the iPhone Duo launch: Apple retail stores will have a system to customize the boot of the device with the buyer’s name so it says “Hello, Mark” (for example) when it turns on for the first time. (US only, Duo only, English and Spanish).
I think this small detail will be a nice touch, especially given the cost of the phone. It will be interesting to see what it looks like!
Went to Barrett’s Haunted Mansion with my brother and a friend tonight and had a great time! It’s always fun to see what they come up with for their attractions each year!
Apple recently announced a “Welcome Home” event for Tuesday, October 13th. It’s rumored that Apple will be announcing several smart home devices, made in partnership with third-party companies, like LG.
Just checked out planewx.ai and think it looks like a pretty useful tool for pilots looking to get weather information prior to their flights. It uses AI to analyze weather forecasts and data to help with trip planning and making “go vs. no-go” decisions.
Had a great time in Vermont this past weekend, with the highlight of the trip being the Sugarbush Soaring Fall Fly-In on Saturday!
A number of people either flew in or stopped by the airport for some lunch, with proceeds benefitting Flight Experience for Youth (FEFY), an organization that helps young people learn about and experience flight!
One of the local news stations, WCAX, even stopped by and did a story on FEFY, which was awesome!
Went to my local Target this afternoon and saw that they had a bunch of older iPhones on clearance (still new, in the box), including the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and iPhone 13.
From my understanding, Target recently stopped selling phones through Target Mobile, so these may have been old devices that were sitting around in back-stock for a while.
Downloaded and installed iOS 27 on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. While there is still a bunch of stuff for me to check out, I like the improved natural language processing when creating calendar events in the native iOS “Calendar” app.
Took a walk through Boston Common yesterday with my brother and his wife. It was a beautiful day for it!
Downloaded my X / Twitter archive the other day and, while looking through some of my old tweets, I came across a one from April 17, 2011 where I mentioned uploading some videos to Amazon’s Cloud Drive (now Amazon Photos).
Having forgotten that I even had anything stored in Amazon Photos, I logged in and it turns out they were some old videos from when I was back in high school! It was a nice surprise to see!
Pre-ordered the iPhone 18 Pro Max (1TB) in silver. Since I have been using the iPhone Upgrade Program for the past several years, I decided to give the new Apple Upgrade Program a try this time around.
Apple today introduced iPhone Duo, the first foldable iPhone. Opened, it is the thinnest iPhone ever, with a 7.6-inch inner display that provides a large canvas for viewing content, gaming, and multitasking, and a special nano-texture finish that minimizes glare for an unparalleled viewing experience. Closed, the 5.4-inch outer display delivers 90 percent of the screen area of iPhone 18 Pro in a compact, pocketable design.1 Both displays share the same aspect ratio, so content scales proportionally, ensuring visual continuity. iPhone Duo is built to last with an innovative hardware design and a precision hinge that offers a smooth, satisfying feel with every use. Powered by the new A20 Pro, iPhone Duo features an advanced thermal management system with a custom-designed vapor chamber and a dual-battery architecture, delivering pro performance and impressive all-day battery life. The advanced camera system takes stunning photos and videos, with the folding design unlocking fun new ways to use the camera that aren’t possible on any other iPhone. iOS 27 is reimagined, remaining familiar and intuitive while adapting to the versatile ways users can interact with iPhone Duo. And with Apple Intelligence2 and Siri AI,3iPhone Duo brings powerful AI capabilities together with a user’s personal context.
The long-rumored iPhone Duo looks to be a pretty interesting phone and is one that I am very interested in checking out once it’s released.
The new iPhone Duo Folio case looks pretty neat, as well, as it feautres a built-in kickstand that can be used to hold the phone up when it’s open.
The iPhone Duo will be availalbe in two colors - star white and night sky - with pricign starting at $1,999 for the 256 GB version of the device (with options including 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB). iPhone Duo pre-orders begin on Friday, October 16th, with availability beginning on Friday, October 23th.
Apple today announced iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, delivering the most advanced pro camera system in an iPhone, and huge leaps in battery life and performance. The new 48MP Fusion Main camera, now with variable aperture, brings creative control that wasn’t possible before, and new Pro controls let users customize their experience in the Camera app. Both models feature a smaller and even more useful Dynamic Island, as well as A20 Pro and a next-generation vapor chamber that together deliver the highest sustained performance in iPhone history. iPhone 18 Pro Max also delivers the largest increase in battery life ever on iPhone, thanks to advancements in Apple silicon and a larger battery.1 Featuring iOS 27 with Apple Intelligence2 and Siri AI,3 iPhone 18 Pro models bring powerful AI capabilities together with personal context to become an intelligent personal hub with privacy and security at its core.
As someone who has been in the iPhone Upgrade Program for sevearl years, I enjoy upgrading my iPhone every year and one of the reasons I like upgrading so forequently is so that I can have the best cameras hardware available. They say that “the best camera is the one you have on you” and this year’s iPhones look to bring some pretty nice camera upgrades.
The Apple Intelligence and Siri improvements should be fun to check out, as well, especially as they continue to improve over time.
What’s also nice is that the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are available in some new colors - black, silver, glacier, and burgundy.
Pricing starts at $1,199 for the iPhone 18 Pro and $1,299 for the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max begin Saturday, September 12th, with availability beginning Friday, September 18th.
Apple today announced AirPods 5, delivering the industry’s best Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) in an open-ear design and even better sound quality, at an outstanding value.1 AirPods 5 feature an all-new multiport acoustic architecture and next-generation Adaptive EQ for even more immersive sound. Their breakthrough open-ear ANC removes up to 50 percent more external noise compared to AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, alongside a more natural Transparency mode. Combined with Siri AI and iPhone, AirPods enable users to draw on their personal context and get answers with broad world knowledge, entirely hands-free.2 Users can also respond to Siri using head gestures, or use Live Translation to help connect across languages.
I currently have a pair of AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation and I think it works pretty well. While the ANC likely isn’t as good as that offered by the AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, I still think it works pretty well. I’d be curious to see how the ANC offered by the AirPods 5 compares!
Both watches feature Apple’s new Health Sensing System and are powered by a new S11 chip, which enable them to take higher-frequency heart rate and heart rate variability measurements.
Additionally, the new S11 chip enables Apple’s new Audio Intelligence feature (slated to arrive later this year), which will “help users remember key moments from their conversations and stay alert to important sounds, built with privacy, security, and accessibility innovations at the core.”
The Apple Watch Series 12 will also bring back the ceramic version (for the first time since the Apple Watch Series 4, which was announced in September, 2019), which will be available in pearl white and navy blue colorways.
I’m still rocking an Apple Watch Series 10, which I purchased a couple of years ago and still enjoy using. That said, the AppleCare+ plan that I purchased for it is set to expire later this month, so it might be time to start considering a possible upgrade in the near future.
Had a great time in Vermont with Zeba, my brother, and his wife this weekend! We took a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s factory, went to American Flatbread and Mad Taco, checked out the Mad River Valley Craft Fair, and I even got a glider lesson in at Sugarbush Soaring!
Saw the Savannah Bananas at Gillette Stadium last night! It was a fun experience!
Just tried a new Banana Pudding Oreo and thought it was quite good.
I’m generally a pretty big fan of banana flavor, so when I saw these in the grocery store the other day, I figured I’d give them a try!
Chance Miller, writing for 9to5Mac.com, provides some information about the new Polishing Cloth:
Not to be overshadowed by the new Mac mini and Mac Studio, Apple today has also released an updated version of its Polishing Cloth. In an age of everything getting more expensive, the new Polishing Cloth is cheaper than before at $9 (down from $19). It’s also available on Amazon
I have yet to use an official Apple Polishing Cloth, but now that it’s $10 cheaper, maybe those of us who haven’t used one before will be more tempted to pick one up and see what the hype is all about!
Some of the devices rumored to be announced at this event include a new, foldable, iPhone called the iPhone Ultra, as well as new iPhone 18 Pro models.
Apple today debuted M6 in the new Mac mini and M5 Ultra in the new Mac Studio, providing an extraordinary leap in performance and AI capabilities. M6, Apple’s first state-of-the-art 2-nanometer chip, advances every compute block, delivering gains across every dimension of performance. The chip features a larger 12-core Neural Accelerators, a Dual 16-core Neural Engine, and up to 170GB/s of unified memory bandwidth.1 M5 Ultra, the ultimate powerhouse for pro and AI workloads, uses next-generation UltraFusion technology to form a quad-die architecture for the first time in an M-series system on a chip (SoC). The chip includes an up-to-36-core CPU and up-to-80-core GPU with a massive 1.2TB/s of unified memory bandwidth, 50 percent more than M3 Ultra. With their advanced technologies, these SoCs deliver extraordinary compute with industry-leading power efficiency, empowering users to do even more on a desktop.
These new processors were accompanied by the announcements of a new Mac Mini (which will feature the M5 Ultra and the M6 processors) as well as a new Mac Studio (which will feature the M5 Max and the new M5 Ultra processors).
The new Mac Mini will be priced starting at $899 (up $300 from what it used to be not too long ago) and is available for order starting yesterday and will be available to customers for delivery and in-store pickup on September 22, 2026.
The new Mac Studio with an M5 Ultra processor will start at $5,499 (compared at $2,499 with an M5 Max processor), with both models being available for order starting yesterday and will be available to customers for delivery and in-store pickup on September 22, 2026.
