It's Myke's last episode before paternity leave, so he and Jason draft Apple things they think will happen between now and his return.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

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TikTok is back in the App Store | The Verge

Powerbeats Pro 2 review: the workout buds to beat | The Verge

Netflix says its brief Apple TV app integration was a mistake | The Verge

Netflix Says Its Brief Apple TV App Integration Was a Mistake – Unauthoritative Pronouncements

Bluesky: "There is no way it just accidentally happens."

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday - MacRumors

NFL Bluesky Accounts: Patriots Social Comments Spark X, Reddit Convos – Sportico

Draft Scorecards

Apple Plans to Overhaul China iPhones With AI by Middle of Year - Bloomberg

Apple’s Long-Promised AI Overhaul for Siri Runs Into Bugs, Possible Delays - Bloomberg

Apple Working on New 27-Inch Mini-LED Studio Display - MacRumors

Apple Vision Pro: visionOS 2.4 adds Apple Intelligence, Spatial Content - Bloomberg

Eve Thermo | evehome.com

Is the era of tech giants allowing their customers to secure their data coming to an end? We also discuss AltStore picking a fight with Apple, and Apple's calculated response, rumors of robots, a rumor source's apology, and the future of Ted Lasso.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Ecamm: Powerful live streaming platform for Mac. Get one month free.
• Google Gemini: Supercharge your creativity and productivity.
• Oracle: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is a single platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI needs.
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The Upgrade Episode 600 Draft of the Ages Scorecard

A second look at the 2024 Six Colors Report Card – Six Colors

Report: Ted Lasso season 4 will focus on new AFC Richmond women’s team - 9to5Mac

Apple Leaker Issues Apology: 'Profound and Expensive Mistake' - MacRumors

‘The Interview’: Ben Stiller Knows How ‘Severance’ Ends - The New York Times

Apple iPhone SE Overhaul to Be Unveiled in Coming Days - Bloomberg

iOS 18.4 beta with expanded Siri capabilities coming 'fairly soon' – 9to5mac

One Foot Tsunami: Not So Super, Apple

Apple’s friendly table lamp robot prototype – Six Colors

U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts - The Washington Post

UK government demands access to Apple users' encrypted data - BBC News

Apple’s Invites invites you to send invitations – Six Colors

Connected #538: A Future That Is Now Stuck in the Past - Relay

AltStore pokes the bear – Six Colors

Subtitle: The 2024 Six Colors Apple Report Card

We discuss the results of the Six Colors Apple Report Card for 2024 in depth, with our opinions on every category. Also, Apple had another record financial quarter, and there's a little bit of Rumor Roundup.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code UPGRADE.
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The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott Podcast — Apple Podcasts

"Section 31" and ranking Trek movies - Vulcan Hello #92 - The Incomparable

Apple Enlists Company Veteran Kim Vorrath to Help Fix AI, Siri - Bloomberg

Daring Fireball: Apple Moves Kim Vorrath to Siri / Apple Intelligence Team

iPhone SE 4 to Have Notch Instead of Dynamic Island - MacRumors

Apple Scraps Work on Mac-Connected Augmented Reality Glasses (AAPL) - Bloomberg

Apple in 2024: The Six Colors report card – Six Colors

Apple’s reports record revenue for Q1 2025 (with charts) – Six Colors

This is Tim (and Kevan!): Apple’s Q1 results call, transcribed – Six Colors

Here’s why Tim Cook says not to worry about huge iPhone miss in China - 9to5Mac

Lex.Games

TikTok troubles; Apple Intelligence to be turned on by default; the UK moves toward its own DMA; Apple leans into the smart home; and Samsung joins Apple in the chase for the ultra-thin smartphone.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

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Milford Sound - Wikipedia

Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days - The Verge

Daring Fireball: Let’s Not Mince Words Regarding Trump’s Executive Order to Pause Enforcement of the TikTok Law...

China Signals It Is Open to a Deal Keeping TikTok in U.S. - WSJ

Is MrBeast Buying TikTok? Bids Swirl as Trump Vows Deal to 'Save' App – Variety

Liftoff - Relay

iOS 18.3 automatically enables Apple Intelligence for users, requires opt-out to disable - 9to5Mac

20 Macs #14: iBook G3 (#7) - Relay

20 Macs for 2020: #7 – iBook – Six Colors

iBook - Wikipedia

The iMac G4... Now M4 Powered - Action Retro - YouTube

Striking 13 | Ian Dunt | Substack

Report: Apple in Talks with Tencent, ByteDance for Chinese iPhone AI - MacRumors

Apple Intelligence Isn't Driving iPhone Upgrades - MacRumors

iOS 18.3 hints at new 'Invites' app from Apple to manage events – 9to5Mac

Apple Doorbell: Company Explores Amazon Ring Competitor; AirPods Heart Rate - Bloomberg

New iPhone SE 4 images reveal premium finish, colors, more - 9to5Mac

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name - MacRumors

Both iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Three 48MP Cameras - MacRumors

iPhone 17 Air leak showcases large 'camera bar' design - 9to5Mac

This is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge - The Verge

This is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge - The Verge

I saw the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge at Unpacked — and I'm super excited and super confused | Tom's Guide

OnePlus 13 Review: The Bar Has Been Set! - YouTube

Here’s what Samsung’s first Android XR headset looks like in person - The Verge

Apple Fitness Plus and Strava collaborate with a new integration - The Verge

Rumor: Apple developing 90Hz display tech for iPad Air, Studio Display, and iMac - 9to5Mac

Superwhisper

Testing superwhisper - MacSparky

Summing up Apple's devil's bargain when it comes to AI features; what TikTok says about the chaotic future of tech regulation; Apple TV+ in the era of "Severance" and "Silo."

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code UPGRADE.
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The Flop House

iOS 18.3 makes 5 changes to Apple Intelligence notification summaries - 9to5Mac

Apple Intelligence: iPhone AI news alerts halted after errors - BBC News

Joanna Stern on Notification Summaries

Apple’s historic successes have bred its recent failures – Six Colors

TikTok is partially back online in the US, but it’s not back in the App Store yet - The Verge

Daring Fireball: BrikTok

About availability of TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. apps in the United States - Apple Support

Marvel Snap gets surprise US suspension as stateside TikTok ban takes effect | Eurogamer.net

Apple TV+ Has Big Day With 'Severance' Return and 'Silo' Season Finale - MacRumors

Severance — Inside the Grand Central Terminal Pop-Up | Apple TV+ - YouTube

Lumon Takes Grand Central - by Parker Ortolani

Brandon's list of our 'The Rest is History' recommendations

Apple's Redesigned Mail App is Expanding to the Mac — Here's When - MacRumors

Nintendo Switch 2 to be released in 2025 - News - Nintendo Official Site

Downlink

20 Macs #12: iMac G4 (#9) - Relay

Bonnets off to the BBC, the trouble with headlines, Socrates on mountain skis, some slight existential dread about Mac software, irrational love of old computers, Apple's smart home strategy for 2025, and the long wait for some AI features.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Ecamm: Powerful live streaming platform for Mac. Get one month free.
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Connected #534: The Rickies (January 2025) - Relay

Apple Intelligence summaries might get warning labels. That’s not enough. – Six Colors

LLMs aren’t always bad at writing news headlines – Six Colors

Artifact’s killer feature was rewriting bad headlines – Six Colors

Fires Deal Another Blow to Reeling Entertainment Industry, City - Bloomberg

Report: Apple’s US chip manufacturing grows by adding Apple Watch S9 SiP - 9to5Mac

How TSMC’s Arizona Chip Plant Seeded a Tiny Taipei in the Desert - The New York Times

Apple Intelligence | Imagine it. Genmoji it. | iPhone 16 - YouTube

After 30 years, Script Debugger is being retired – Six Colors

Upgrade #338: Loved by Podcasters the World Over - Relay

The mortality of software – Six Colors

Apple 2025 Plans: iPhone 17, Smart Home Hub, iOS 19, AI, Apple Watch, iPads, M5 - Bloomberg

The MacBook Air’s wedge is truly gone — and I miss it already - The Verge

Apple Watch | Quit Quitting | Apple - YouTube

WHOOP

Kuo: Ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air will be just 5.5mm at thinnest point - 9to5Mac

A new year dawns! We consider what it has in store for Apple and why the company's A.I. features need to be judged critically. Then we turn back the clock to 2000 and consider the moment when Mac OS X changed everything.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

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The Rest Is History

Apple Stops Selling iPhone 14 and iPhone SE in More EU Countries - MacRumors

Apple Intelligence falsely claimed Luke Littler had already won - BBC News

Jason's post on Bluesky

2025 will be the year of Apple Intelligence (again) | Macworld

Vision D’oh: The "Fun" Problem Facing Apple’s VR Ambitions – Julia Alexander

Apple, Google, and Samsung will accept Matter certification of smart home products - The Verge

25 years since the Dock’s debut – Six Colors

25 years on, Mac OS X continues to be Apple’s standard bearer – Six Colors

Looking back 25 years later, even Steve was wrong about Mac OS X | Macworld

Macworld 2000 Keynote - YouTube

Hypercritical: SwitchGlass

Subtitle: These Go to Eleven

It's time for the 11th Annual Upgradies! Myke and Jason discuss their favorites of 2024, take the input of many Upgradians, and hand out awards in numerous categories! Only the finest will walk away with the most coveted of titles: Upgradies Winner.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Shareshot: Promote, share and present screenshots. Download for free and get 50% off your first year of Pro.
• Fitbod: Get stronger, faster with a fitness plan that fits you. Get 25% off your membership.
• Data Citizens Dialogues: Unpacking the importance of data and its impact on the world. Listen now.

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upgradies.com

Ivory

Flighty

Carrot Weather

Croissant App

Balatro

Shareshot

Delta

Mimestream

Raycast

Pixelmator Pro

SwiftBar

Retrobatch

Downie

BBEdit 15

Affinity Designer

Apple Passwords

iPhone Mirroring

ChatGPT

visionOS 2

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Astro Bot

Balatro

Inside Out 2

Deadpool & Wolverine

Dune: Part Two

Godzilla Minus One

Past Lives

American Fiction

Shrinking

Slow Horses

Shōgun

Silo

Bad Monkey

Dark Matter

Hacks

Shoresy

Masters of the Air

The Diplomat

A Man on the Inside

The Penguin

How to Be a Dad

Service Model

Wind and Truth

The Armageddon Protocol

Titanium Noir

The Book of Love

The Rebound

Connected - Relay FM

Upgrade #492: The 2023 Upgrade Holiday Special - Relay FM

The Rest Is History

The Rest Is Politics

NPC: Next Portable Console

Diggnation

The Town

Steam Deck

Google Pixel 9

Meta Ray-Bans

Ozlo Sleepbuds

Miyoo Mini Plus

EverLights

Traeger Ironwood Grill

Review: Belkin Travel Bag and Head Strap for Vision Pro – Six Colors

Humane AI Pin review: the post-smartphone future isn’t here yet - The Verge

2024 CrowdStrike-related IT outages - Wikipedia

Subtitle: The 2024 Upgrade Holiday Special

To celebrate the season we discuss Christmas lights, tech gifts, favorite holiday food items, holiday TV and movies, and answer some holiday-themed listener questions. Happy holidays to all Upgradians!

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code UPGRADE.
• Vitally: A new era for customer success productivity. Get a free pair of AirPods Pro when you book a qualified meeting.
• Lex Games: Word games, word games, word games, words games, Who's got all the word games?

Links and Show Notes:

Gift lists

Myke:

• Racing Sim Setup for F1 games
• M4 Pro Mac mini (64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, 10GB Ethernet, Two Studio Displays)
• PlayStation 5 Pro 30th anniversary edition
• Remarkable Paper Pro
• Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

Jason:

• Retro arcade cabinet (Dream Arcades, Arcade1Up, Xgaming)
• Sony BRAVIA XR A95L 77 inch QD-OLED 4K HDR Smart TV
  
• Litter Robot 4
• A proper set of reliable video cameras for the outside of my house
• A robot mop, probably

Final food tier list

• S – Roast Potatoes, Chocolate, Ginger snaps/Gingerbread
• A – Mashed Potatoes, Brussels sprouts, Stuffing, Pigs in blankets, Pumpkin/Sweet Potato Pie
• B – Turkey, Maple glazed parsnips and carrots
• C – Roast Beef, Ham, Egg Nog
• D – Candied Yams
• F – Green bean casserole, Aspic

Christmas content draft results

• Jason: A Charlie Brown Christmas
  
• Myke: Home Alone 2
  
• Jason: Miracle on 34th Street
  
• Myke: Die Hard
  
• Jason: Elf
  
• Myke: Frozen
  
• Jason: Duck Soup
  
• Myke: Jingle All the Way
  
• Jason: Doctor Who: “Last Christmas” and “A Christmas Carol”
  
• Myke: The Bear: “Fishes”
  
• Jason: Muppets Christmas Carol
  
• Myke: Love, Actually
  

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Upgrade 526: Journal and Learnal - App Icon Tier List - YouTube

Green Bean Casserole

"Miracle on 34th Street" - Myke at the Movies #46 - The Incomparable

Jingle All the Way - Wikipedia

Why Can't All Movies Be Muppet Movies? - The Incomparable Mothership #570 - The Incomparable

Ginger-Molasses Cookies — Pixels + Crumbs

Holiday Cocktails ft. How to Drink | Basics with Babish - YouTube

Incomparable Game Show 245: Mind Meld (with Nog)

A Marshmallow World - Wikipedia

Myke prepares the way for a big arrival (including of many Upgrade guest hosts), we're deeply puzzled by reports of a large folding Apple device, and Myke gets out the conspiracy yarn regarding what Tim Cook is up to in the United Kingdom.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

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Baby Hurley! – Myke Hurley – Instagram

iOS 18.2/macOS 15.2 Review: Picture not so perfect? – Six Colors

Mango Baby: Newborn Tracker with Siri Shortcuts

Appearance: Apple Intelligence’s generic humans – Six Colors

Report: Apple to Stop Selling iPhone 14 and iPhone SE in EU This Month - MacRumors

Get 20% Off an Annual Membership of Upgrade+

BBC complains to Apple over misleading shooting headline - BBC News

The Upgrade Episode 600 Draft of the Ages

ChatGPT Won't Say Certain Names and No One Seems To Know Why - Newsweek

Apple’s new Messages features are great, but the notifications are overwhelming – Six Colors

Apple expands U.K. investment and doubles local engineering teams - Apple (UK)

Tim and Keir – Instagram

His Majesty King Charles III visits Apple’s U.K. headquarters - Apple

Tim Cook is the latest tech CEO to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago - The Verge

Daring Fireball: The Information Suggests, in an Aside, That Apple Scrapped Work on a Quad-Max/Double-Ultra M-Series Chip

Apple Working on Giant Foldable iPad, Revamped Mouse, Longer-Range AirTag 2 - Bloomberg

Apple Plans Thinner, Foldable iPhones to Revive Growth - WSJ

Report: Apple designing all new Magic Mouse, fixing charge port placement - 9to5Mac

Apple Watch Could Get Blood Pressure Monitoring in 2025 - MacRumors

iOS 18.3 beta 1 now available - 9to5Mac

Carbon Copy Cloner

Jason's Bluesky post

Jason bought a laptop, Apple and Sony may be cooking up a Vision Pro scheme, and we review Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.2.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• DeleteMe: Get 20% off your plan when you use this link and code UPGRADE20.
• Ooni Pizza Ovens: Bring restaurant quality pizza to your home. Discount automatically applied at checkout.
• Data Citizens Dialogues: Unpacking the importance of data and its impact on the world. Listen now.

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Get 20% off a year of Upgrade+

Why I'm finally ditching my desktop Mac for something better | Macworld

The Eleventh Annual Upgradies Nomination Form

Apple, Sony Talk PlayStation VR Hand Controller Support for Vision Pro - Bloomberg

Apple’s Vision platform needs to do more than get cheaper – Six Colors

Simply brings its piano app to Vision Pro – Six Colors

It's Good for Apple, and Okay for You - Allen Pike

Daring Fireball: Mountain Lion