TechCapsules

Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, has spent 15 years refining the iPhone Duo, a foldable device that finally launched in 2026 after rivals beat Apple to market. Ternus, who joined Apple in 2001 and became Cook’s successor in 2026, led a team that filed a foldable‑display patent in 2011. He emphasized quality over speed, insisting on perfect glass layers and a unique nanotexture. The Duo showcases Apple’s commitment to in‑house innovation and design excellence.

TIME named the iPhone Duo a 2026 invention of the year, featuring Apple CEO John Ternus on the cover. Ternus, who began foldable research in 2011, explained that early competitors produced “cheap and crappy” devices, prompting Apple to invest heavily in materials and design. The Duo’s custom polymer surface and precision hinge, developed with global suppliers, reportedly leaves users unable to feel a crease. Ternus highlighted his hands‑on design work and the team’s focus on OLED flexibility. [...]

Meta announced a fix for its Ray‑Ban Meta smart glasses, which were unexpectedly recording audio without user prompts. Users reported that the glasses triggered Meta AI and began voice recording even when the “Hey Meta” wake word was not spoken or enabled. The devices still alert users with an LED light, but the unprompted recordings raised privacy concerns. Meta confirmed the issue is resolved and released an update that disables the camera if the LED privacy light [...]

Sean Endicott, a seasoned News Writer at Windows Central, has covered Microsoft’s software and hardware ecosystem since 2017, authoring over a thousand articles. His work spans Windows updates, Surface launches, Microsoft 365 changes, and the company’s AI initiatives. Endicott also hosts the weekly Windows Wrap column, curating key stories across Windows and the broader PC landscape. Prior to Windows Central, he earned a First Class degree in Broadcast Journalism and worked in live media production. Additionally, he [...]

Amazon’s mid‑October sale offers a $200 discount on Apple’s 13‑inch MacBook Air M5, lowering the 24‑GB RAM, 1‑TB SSD configuration to $1,599. The Sky Blue finish is highlighted, and units are in stock with free expedited delivery for Prime members. The promotion also includes other MacBook Air models, such as 13‑inch M5 with 16‑GB RAM and 512‑GB SSD at $1,234, and 15‑inch M5 models with varying specs and discounts. The deal reflects Apple’s continued focus on high‑performance [...]

Google announced the launch of Universal Cart, a shopping tool that lets U.S. users collect and track products across search results and the Gemini app. The feature, first previewed at Google I/O, aggregates items from multiple retailers into a single cart, preserving shopping progress and notifying users of price drops or restocks. It integrates with Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol, enabling AI‑driven payment suggestions and promo code discovery. Universal Cart expands Google’s AI‑powered e‑commerce suite, which also includes [...]

ZeroRISC, founded by former Google OpenTitan lead Dominic Rizzo, is accelerating commercial adoption of open silicon root‑of‑trust (RoT) designs. In May, the startup partnered with Qualcomm, Analog Devices, Meta, and the Max Planck Institute to launch Pavona under GlobalPlatform, a neutral ecosystem for building secure hardware. Pavona offers a production‑ready post‑quantum cryptography stack and a composable platform for RoT and chip subsystems, mirroring open‑source software projects. The initiative builds on RISC‑V’s maturity and the semiconductor industry’s shift [...]

Apple unveiled Minions, a system that aggregates idle Apple Silicon GPUs across Macs to form a virtual GPU cloud for AI inference. The architecture includes a central Minions Server, PostgreSQL metadata store, Minion Executors on macOS devices, and a watchdog for fault tolerance. Using Thunderbolt 5 RDMA, the setup combines compute and memory from multiple machines, reducing long inference jobs from over ten hours to minutes without extra hardware. Apple’s researchers already employ Minions internally, showcasing its scalability [...]