I can’t remember when the last time I visited an Apple Store. This means I didn’t go to see the new iPhone 17 series. Now with the availability of the M5 iPad Pro or M5 MacBook Pro, I might decide to go even if I’m not upgrading any of my things. What’s wrong with me?

I would be curious to do the exercise of going back in time and counting the number of occasions where Apple, after introducing a significant change in the design of a user interface element or its functionality, following users outcry, reversed its decision by adding a parameter in the Settings app to appease frustrated users. I applaud this change.

We are not out of the woods but this new Apple Liquid Glass toggle in iOS 26.1 beta 4 makes a significative improvement. We wish we had a more gradual toning, but hey, it’s better than nothing.

Apple cemetery: Aperture. iWeb. TouchBar. iTunes Ping. iTunes Radio. iTunes. iPhoto. iLife. Clips. I very much like the first two.

I visited a friend this weekend, who had an Amazon Echo Show 8 in his kitchen. Physically, not a bad-looking device, but man, this thing is slow, and Alexia isn’t that good. I’m really curious to see what Apple will do in this space in the coming years. I would probably get such a thing if software execution proves to be better.

Statistically, nobody cares about Liquid Glass. There has been no user revolt, no viral TikToks, no nothing. Nobody's even complaining about the Music app. On the flipside, nobody is proclaiming its virtues, either. It just kinda… is, and everybody is moving on with their lives.

The only thing anybody seems to care about is transparent & tinted icons — which a certain kind of person seems to *love*

True.

At work, I moderate a user forum for iOS and iPadOS products. I recently asked community members for their general opinion of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. Although it’s not a scientific survey, the responses I received surprised me. A majority of respondents say they have a generally positive impression of the latest versions of iOS and iPadOS. Well… 🤷🏻‍♂️

As reported by 9to5Mac:

“Apple will be leaning into the vertical stack of Apple TV in Apple TV on Apple TV”

All bets are on the table.

iOS 26.1 b3 breaks the folders appearance in a big way if you are using tinted icons. WTF! 🫣😵‍💫

TV is hard, and Apple not only never shipped a TV set, but it also never quite figured out the whole Apple TV branding (hardware, software, service). Removing the + from Apple TV won’t help unless something else comes along. I’m betting that Apple will double down on the HomePod brand moniker¹.