Apple

A new Apple TV Plus movie called The Gorge sees Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick) and Anya Taylor-Joy (Furiosa) standing guard on opposite sides of a mysterious gorge.

They’re only supposed to prevent whatever’s in the gorge from escaping, and they’re not to have any contact with one another — a rule they break, of course. The Gorge debuts on February 24th.

While investigating apps that let livestream viewers pay to watch child abuse, The New York Times reports that it found “more than 80 apps that advertised children” on the Apple and Google app stores.

The livestream apps downloaded from Apple and Google illustrate an even darker aspect of the social media technology boom, particularly for children living in poverty in developing countries. There, with the ease of a smartphone, parents and other adults can connect with pedophiles in the United States and elsewhere who pay to watch — and direct — criminal behavior.

Trigger warning: This Times story includes descriptions of child sexual abuse.

Frog Design’s Hartmut Esslinger once created a slick, but unrealistic-for-the-time handheld Mac concept using Frog’s Snow White design language.

One 3D-printed chassis, a Raspberry Pi 4, and a 3rd-generation iPad display later, YouTuber Kevin Noki shows a functional version they made, using measurements apparently provided by Esslinger himself — with a floppy drive, a full complement of ports, and a pleasingly clicky keyboard, to boot.

A federal court overturned an injunction on Thursday that would have forced Apple to allow alternative payment systems and enable sideloading on iOS for Brazilian users within 20 days.

Brazil’s antitrust regulator can appeal the ruling and investigations are still ongoing, which means Apple may still need to introduce similar changes to those it rolled out in the EU.

Polysoft has reverse-engineered the Mac Studio’s removable storage modules and plans to sell its own boards next year for about half the price Apple charges, following a successful Kickstarter.

That’s promising for the M4 Mac Mini, which uses (different) removable storage modules. Both desktops can be upgraded already, if you have the soldering skills. Maybe soon you won’t need them.

If you’ve changed your mind (or have a family member who accidentally backed up their entire camera roll) Google Photos now offers an “Undo device backup” option in the settings.

Images and videos will be removed from the cloud but will remain on the device and backup will be turned off. The feature is now available to iOS users, and is coming to Android soon.

That’s from Wired’s video interview with the Apple CEO, which accompanies the publication’s text interview it published earlier. Cook also says he’s a “power user of Siri,” which I guess tracks with his previous bold statement that he uses every Apple product every day, somehow.

During an interview with Wired, Cook highlighted the Apple Watch’s AFib and sleep apnea detection, while also hinting at the possibility of using AI to alert users to serious illnesses:

I’m not going to announce anything today. But we have research going on. We’re pouring all of ourselves in here, and we work on things that are years in the making. We were working on hearing a long time before we got it dialed in to where we felt comfortable shipping it.

This time it’s Lucky, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy “as a young woman who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago, but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past.” No word on when the series will be streaming.

Apple’s mystery-packed thriller is coming back for season 2 early next year. The new season shifts the setting to London, as Sophie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) “continues her mission for answers in her hometown.” It starts streaming on February 21st, joining an early 2025 lineup that also includes the return of Severance in January.

The upcoming redesign teased in a (seemingly premature) video found on Samsung’s Spanish website shows off smoother animations and a revamped Quick Panel, with quick settings now packed in bubbles — just like on iOS. The pill-shaped live activities feature also shares some similarities with Apple’s Dynamic Island.

Following its collaboration with Neon Genesis Evangelion last year, Casetify has announced a new anime collection featuring Gundam-themed cases and accessories. The standout is this $155 RX-78-2 Gundam head case for the AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2 that’s more expensive than what the latest version of the earbuds are currently selling for during Black Friday promotions.