I visited some friends this weekend and talked about Apple’s latest software updates. The general sentiment seems to be that they don’t like the updates (iOS 26 as well as the “new weird and fuzzy look”). Apple no longer delights users. 😔

iPhone 18 Pro: Leaker Reveals Alleged Size of Smaller Dynamic Island — MacRumors

The account “Ice Universe” today claimed the Dynamic Island cutout on the iPhone 18 Pro models will be approximately 35% narrower than it is on the iPhone 17 Pro models. Specifically, they said it will have a width of around 13.5mm, down from around 20.7mm, and they shared the mockup image above to show what it would look like.

When Apple eliminates the camera and sensor cutout from the display, maybe next year or the year after, what will happen with the dynamic island? My take is that the dynamic island continues to show content popping up from the top of the screen, just like before.

Intel puts consumer chip production on back burner as datacenters make a run on Xeons — The Register

If you notice PC prices creeping up over the next few months, the rising cost of memory won’t be the only reason, because on Thursday Intel said it is reallocating foundry capacity from client chips to meet surging demand for Xeon processors used in AI servers.

I wonder if Apple can manage to keep iPhone prices stable this fall with the release of the iPhone 18. They are certainly facing headwinds.

So far this year, AI and Claude Code have completely changed my plans to learn writing extensive Apple Shortcuts. In fact, I would even argue that Apple has to find a way to enable a Claude Code like experience to write Apple Shortcuts (and why not AppleScript while at it).

How long will it take Apple to fix the Apple Watch setup process involving restoring from previous backups? It’s been an issue for many people for years! My setup process when I upgraded from Series 6 to Series 8 was hindered by this issue. Same when I upgraded from Series 8 to Series 10. Either the backup found wasn’t recent, or there was no backup to restore from. Michael Tsai is one such person. Anyone at Apple is setting up a new watch? 🤔

First visit to the new Ste-Catherine Apple Store in downtown Montreal. It’s quite a different vibe than the previous store. More to come in a short article.

On the impossibly thin iPhone Air, the camera protuberant area acts like a place to help secure the phone in my hand using my finger.

The end of an era.

Doing multitasking on the iPad mini is… really? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Who is actually doing this?

Tomorrow, I’m planning to visit Apple’s new Ste-Catherine store in downtown Montreal. From the outside, it certainly looks much better than the previous store on the same street, 100 m further west. I don’t plan to buy anything; I just want to look at the architectural details, the crowd, and the mood. Expect some photos and maybe a short video.