Looks like Apple isn’t done with new products this month. Tyler Stalman shared this over on Threads:
I think the MacBook Pro is about to enter its touchscreen era.
Category: Apple
Duo Walk-In Purchases Discouraged⇢
Hartley Charlton at MacRumors with some bad news for me:
Apple Store employees told MacRumors that they have been advised that there will likely be no iPhone Duo stock available for walk-in purchases on launch day. Staff have been instructed to discourage customers without pre-orders from coming in expecting to buy the device, warning that they will be disappointed.
Apple’s online store tells customers to check back on Saturday, October 24 for pickup availability. Pickup reservations were briefly available when pre-orders opened before the option was disabled.
My iPhone Duo Pre-Order Went South
I am currently traveling, but dutifully set my alarm to order an iPhone Duo. Having multiple devices is the way to go in these situations, so I was at my laptop and had my iPhone.
The Apple Store app on my phone loaded first, and that’s when I learned a terrible truth:
I could only choose Apple Stores near me for pickup, and uhhh, I am not flying across the country again next week to pick this thing up.
The iPhone Duo is Expensive to Repair⇢
iPhone Duo preorders open tomorrow. AppleCare seems like a very good idea for this product:
| Repair | Price |
|---|---|
| Cover layer damage | $49 |
| Back glass damage | $199 |
| Battery service | $229 |
| Rear camera damage | $229 |
| Outer display damage | $379 |
| Outer display and back glass damage | $509 |
| Inner display damage | $999 |
| Other damage | $1,499 |
I’ve been using AppleCare One for a while now, and recently moved to the AppleCare One Family. For my family, it was a good bit cheaper than all five of us having our own AppleCare One accounts.
“I’d Just Use My Phone”
Years ago, Marco Arment said something that I think about all the time:
Don’t bet against the smartphone.
It’s amazing how many products have run straight into this idea, like a sprinting outfielder who hasn’t slowed down in time to avoid the wall.
There are some obvious examples, especially in our AI-crazed day. The Humane AI Pin never stood a chance. The Rabbit R1 is beautiful, but is at best a novelty. The friend is never going to escape the gravity of its own domain name.
With HomeView, Apple Shows How Powerful Its Ecosystem Can Be
Do you remember “Everything is a Remix,” the series of work by Kirby Ferguson? His main premise is that almost all the creative work we see in the world derives inspiration from what came before it.
I think Apple’s just-announced HomeView may be the latest entry in the list of things that prove Ferguson’s point.
To put it in another set of terms: the HomeView is “new but somehow familiar,” to borrow a Jony Ive phrase. I think it applies to just about every aspect of this product.
Siri AI Coming to HomePod mini 2 ‘In a Future Software Update’⇢
I’m a little surprised by this bit of news, and sad that my beloved orange model is gone.
“HomeView”⇢
Mark Gurman, writing two days before Apple’s event this week:
The centerpiece is a new smart home hub called the HomeView. Equipped with a display and an A18 chip, the product essentially serves as the Siri command center for an Apple-powered household…
The HomeView comes in two versions: a countertop model with a metal speaker base and a wall-mounted version with a flat, square base that sits against the wall beneath the display. The countertop offering will come in four colors: space gray, silver, starlight and pink, while the wall-mounted version will be limited to space gray and silver.
Welcome Home⇢
Next week should be fun.
Turns Out, Apple Maps Totally Knows About Smooth Pyramids
After my recent post about how Apple Maps butchers the Great American Pyramid, several readers sent in images of other pyramids Apple has rendered properly. One in particular is quite painful to see — Luxor Las Vegas.
Here is the hotel in satellite view, and then in Apple’s 3D rendered view:
It seems that Apple does have the technology to make smooth pyramids!
Apple in the Home
Mark Gurman, writing about Apple’s upcoming move into more smart home devices, which we may see as early as this month:
At the center of the strategy is a smart-home hub code-named J490, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple also plans to announce the first update to the HomePod mini since that device’s 2020 debut and its first new TV set-top box since 2022.
…
The hub’s defining feature will be its ability to serve multiple members of a household. It is designed to recognize who is speaking to it or approaching it, and then display personalized content and provide answers based on that person’s data and accounts.
Apple Maps Gave Us the Wrong Pyramid
This morning, I saw Basic Apple Guy’s recent post about Apple Stores popping up in Apple Maps, and I was reminded that we have some fancy Apple Maps features here in Memphis, too.
I present to you downtown Memphis, looking east from the Mississippi River:
Yes, we have a Bass Pro inside a pyramid. No, it doesn’t look like Apple’s rendering of it:
Ramesses now stands at the University of Memphis, but that’s a story for another time.