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:

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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.

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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.
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• 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.
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• 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

Stephen Hackett joins Jason to discuss emergency calls, reaction to Jason's "The Mac is the Model" piece, iPhone metals, our innate troubleshooting powers, Jason's laptop dilemma, the ChatGPT Mac app, and some very old Vision Pro news.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• DeleteMe: Get 20% off your plan when you use this link and code UPGRADE20.
• Smarter World: Enabling a better, safer and more secure connected world with breakthrough technologies.. Listen now.
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Guest Starring:

Stephen Hackett

Links and Show Notes:

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Upgrade+ - Relay FM

Give the Gift of Relay FM

Use Emergency SOS on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Once again, the only way forward is the Mac | Macworld

Vote on the Eleventh Annual Upgradies!

The Upgradies - history

Apple to Keep Titanium Chassis for iPhone 17 Pro Models, Claims Leaker - MacRumors

Mac Power Users - Relay FM

AI insiders worry that model progress is hitting scaling wall - The Verge

Indecision at the intersection of Mac Studio and Mac mini – Six Colors

How I turned the M4 Mac mini into a travel computer - 9to5Mac

ChatGPT on your desktop | OpenAI

LaunchBar 6

Apple has been working on Vision Pro since at least 2008 - 9to5Mac

Apple is most dangerous when it shows up late | Macworld

Fast charge your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro - Apple Support

Sol | Illuminate Your Mind

Apple might recommit to the smart home, Smart Siri feels a long way off, Apple's movie movies anger Hollywood creatives, and Jason's done with the era of App Store exclusivity.

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code UPGRADE.
• 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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Bears Stage Memorable Comeback To Win Big Game - California Golden Bears Athletics

Cal Highlight Vault: "The full Fernando Mendoza post game interview after defeating Stanford"

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Give the Gift of Relay

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

Apple’s first smart display needs to make the smart home just work - The Verge

Time for Apple to take the Smart Home seriously – Six Colors

How Apple Intelligence can take over the world (or just the Apple ecosystem) | Macworld

Jason Snell (@snell.zone) — Bluesky

Myke Hurley (@myke.social) — Bluesky

Introducing Sill | Tyler Fisher

The Eleventh Annual Upgradies Nomination Form

Apple Readies More Conversational LLM Siri in Bid to Rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT - Bloomberg

Mark Gurman on iOS 19 – Threads

Downstream - Relay FM

Jon Watts On Why He Canceled George Clooney & Brad Pitt 'Wolfs' Sequel – Deadline

Paramount Boss on Gladiator II, Scary Sequels and Wicked Showdown - Bloomberg

Once again, the only way forward is the Mac | Macworld

"Say Anything" - Myke at the Movies #6 - The Incomparable

Is Apple trying to boost revenue by truly embracing smart home products, or is it too late? Also, Jason reviews Kindles while lamenting the current state of e-readers, and the Vision Pro gets new accessories and a music video by The Weeknd!

This episode of Upgrade is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code UPGRADE.
• Fitbod: Get stronger, faster with a fitness plan that fits you. Get 25% off your membership.
• Notion: Try the powerful, easy-to-use Notion AI today.
• Smarter World: Enabling a better, safer and more secure connected world with breakthrough technologies.. Listen now.

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Planes, Trains and Automobiles - Wikipedia

The Incomparable Mothership

Get 20% off a year of Upgrade+

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The Eleventh Annual Upgradies – Nomination Form

Apple Home Hub Detailed: Apple Intelligence, HomeOS, Square iPad-Like Design - Bloomberg

David Smith: "Reading the report of a possible Apple Home Hub Device" - Mastodon

Kuo: Apple to release its own smart home camera in 2026, with AI features - 9to5Mac

Gurman: Apple 'evaluating' idea of releasing a TV set again - 9to5Mac

2024 Kindle Colorsoft and Paperwhite Review: No perfect choices – Six Colors

Apple debuts The Weeknd’s immersive music experience for Apple Vision Pro - Apple

Channel 4 launches Vision Pro streaming app with a Taskmaster environment - 9to5Mac

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

Jason's gotten his hands on the M4 MacBook Pros, the M4 iMac, and a visionOS widescreen Mac display. (And we're both considering Mac mini purchases.) Plus: Apple's issues with new products, and the threat of huge EU fines.

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.
• Vitally: A new era for customer success productivity. Get a free pair of AirPods Pro when you book a qualified meeting.
• Smarter World: Enabling a better, safer and more secure connected world with breakthrough technologies.. Listen now.

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The Eleventh Annual Upgradies Nomination Form

The Upgradies – Past Winners

Apple-backed Matter adds new smart home device types, better cross-platform experience, more - 9to5Mac

Testing the Vision Pro With New Ultrawide Display Option in visionOS 2.2 - MacRumors

Apple Explores Push Into Smart Glasses With Internal Study - Bloomberg

Connected #526: At Least Mine Has Four Legs - Relay FM

iPad Accessory Integration Becomes the EU's Next Regulatory Feud With Apple - MacRumors

EU puts iPhone interoperability with watches and headphones on notice - The Verge

Apple to Face First EU Fine Under Bloc’s Digital Markets Act - Bloomberg

M4/M4 Pro MacBook Pro review: Brighter, clearer, faster – Six Colors

M4 Mac mini Review: Phenomenal cosmic power, itty-bitty form factor – Six Colors

M4 iMac Review: Gloriously niche – Six Colors

Apple explains why the M4 Mac mini power button is located on the bottom - 9to5Mac

@macstadium • Racking the new M4 Mac mini? No problem – Threads

New iPad Mini Compatible With Final Cut Pro, But Lacks Stage Manager - MacRumors