Apple

While season 3 sure seemed like a finale, Ted Lasso is nonetheless back on Apple TV next week. The upcoming season sees Ted taking charge of a new women’s football team, and it’s coming just in time for those of us suffering through post-World Cup withdrawal.

Instead, Apple says users can either finish making payments on their device or switch to its new Apple Upgrade program, which will allow them to lease an iPhone, Mac, iPad, or Apple Watch. The company notes that customers can also finance a new device with monthly installments on the Apple Card.

Apple is patching dozens of flaws across iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6, including a vulnerability that could allow apps to access a user’s contacts, as well as a security hole that could allow malicious apps to escape their sandbox in the Game Center. Several fixes are rolling out to macOS Tahoe 26.6 as well.

It’s the first expansion outside the US for the service, which covers multiple Apple devices against loss, theft or accidental damage under a single subscription. Availability opens on August 4th, with prices starting at £16.99/€20.99/$29.99 AUS per month to cover up to three products.

Chipmaker Changxin Technology Group is now the most valuable China-listed company after IPO’ing this morning, rising nearly 500 percent on speculation that RAMageddon will drive demand for its memory chips in a market dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. Tim Cook’s said to have asked for an exception to use CXMT’s chips in Apple products sold in China to keep costs down.

We just got a first look at Blade Runner 2099, and now Apple has finally shown an initial glimpse of its adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. It’s a quick, minute-long trailer, but it does at least include a date: the show will start streaming on January 22nd.

Apple announced that one of its biggest early hits will be coming back for a fifth and final season in 2027. The Morning Show premiered alongside Apple TV as one of its prestige plays, with a notably star-studded cast. The news comes the same day Apple announced a new dating series.

The streamer announced its first dating show, called The Last Person on Earth, which it describes as an “eight-episode dating documentary series” about how opposites attract. No word on when it will release, but it’s part of a steady push from Apple to make its streaming service more mainstream.

Right now, the iPhone maxes out with a 6.9-inch display. That could climb to a full 7 inches if reliable leaker Digital Chat Station is correct. We’ll have to wait until next year to find out.

According to sensor tower, apps added to the App Store almost doubled to about 560K in the first half of 2026, compared to about 600K added in all of 2025. The surge comes as AI makes it increasingly trivial to develop apps. That’s good if it means useful apps finding an audience, bad if Apple’s reviewers can’t keep up and more junk and malware slips through.

As 9to5Mac reports, the release notes for the latest iOS 26.6 beta say it “optimizes the Spotlight index to prepare for iOS 27.” This is likely aimed at speeding up the indexing process so it doesn’t take days when iOS 27 officially launches, like some users on the developer beta have reported.

A hidden popover interface has been discovered in the macOS 27 Golden Gate beta that surfaces AI-powered contextual actions and writing tools when text is highlighted, including Rewrite, Proofread, and “Edit with Siri.” Beta users can try the unfinished feature by following the instructions provided by MacRumors.

The reputable Design Docs YouTube channel has a new documentary about Apple’s first graphic designer. Kare is responsible for the smiling Mac icon, that weird looped-square Command symbol still found on Apple keyboards, and many other “pictures that taught a generation of nervous, non-technical people that a computer could be approached without fear.”

San Francisco city attorney David Chiu demanded that Apple and Google remove 13 apps that could generate non-consensual nude images. Adam Dema, a spokesperson for Apple confirmed their removal in a statement to The Verge:

The DOJ sued Apple in 2024, but the two sides are in “early” and “active” discussions about a settlement, Bloomberg reports.

San Francisco city attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to both companies, demanding that they remove 13 apps that can be used to generate nude images of someone without their consent, according to a report from Wired. The letters ask Google and Apple to stop “aiding and abetting” the sale of sexualized AI deepfakes, which is prohibited under California law.

Around 40 employees received the letters, which ask for meetings with Apple’s lawyers and tell them to “preserve documents and communications,” according to a report from the Financial Times. Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI last week and accused two of its former employees of helping the AI giant steal its trade secrets.

Major League Baseball is cracking down on league-issued iPads provided to teams since 2016. Teams can no longer install custom apps that tap into generative AI to recommend “substitutions, pitch calling, and other in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches.” It seems up to “a third of the league used the dugout iPads for at least one of these purposes.”

MacBooks have hard, pointy edges. But would you take a hand file or sanding block to your laptop? Software engineer Max Bretschneider did just that, and the results look pretty good. The more heavily filed MacBook Pro he cites for inspiration from designer Kent Walters? Less so. (Yikes!)

The EU is excluding wearable devices, including smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart glasses, from an incoming rule that will require a wide range of electronics to have user-replaceable batteries. The Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t exempt, though, and will come with a replaceable battery in the EU by the time the law goes into effect in February 2027.

Apple’s on-device generative AI service has officially been registered with China’s cyberspace regulator, clearing a major hurdle for device rollout. To navigate local regulations, Apple is tapping domestic tech giants, integrating Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu’s AI models to power the experience for Chinese users, as reported last year.

Apple’s lawsuit said that OpenAI “never responded” to outreach in February. But NBC News reports OpenAI did respond, though communication stopped after one of Apple’s lawyers apparently mixed up OpenAI staffers with the last names Wang and Chang.

Here it is, given to Bloomberg:

If you wouldn’t dream of wearing socks with sandals or using accessories that clash with your laptop, Satechi announced two new USB hubs and new versions of its Slim EX Wireless Mouse that match the silver, blush, citrus, and indigo color options of the MacBook Neo. They’re available now for $29.99 to $44.99.

As the World Cup nears its end, Apple Arcade is getting the surprise addition of Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition, which hits the service on August 6th. It’s part of a big sports-themed update for Arcade which will also include NFL Retro Bowl ’27 and Retro Bowl College+.