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Notes on product, design, and shipping.

Mobile
iPhone Lockdown Mode: The Pros And Cons Of Enabling Apple's Security Feature
10/27/2026
Lockdown Mode makes your iPhone much more secure against spyware, but most people don't need to use it. Primakov/Shutterstock The iPhone's Lockdown Mode has been around since 2022, but you might not have heard about it, let alone used it. I…
AI · Design · iOS · JavaScript

Web Development
Microsoft offers to buy out a quarter of its workforce
10/27/2026
On Monday, Microsoft said it will offer voluntary buyouts to eligible employees in select parts of the company. CNBC reports that the buyouts will be offered to roughly 60,000 employees, or about a quarter of its global workforce. The compa…
AI

Mobile
Grok Says Its AI-Generated Version of ‘The Odyssey’ Is ‘Not Historically Accurate’
10/27/2026
You don’t hear the defenders of so-called Western civilization talk much about The Odyssey these days.Maybe that’s because their rabid denunciations of Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of Homer’s epic were buried in an avalanche of money…
AI · Design · iOS

Web Development
Can You Run Regular Ethernet Cables Outside?
10/26/2026
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. alexkich/Shutterstock Cable category terms like Cat5e and Cat6 have that industrial twang, so, understandably, some may assume they're tough enough for outdoor use. And they can do …
AI · Design

AI & Platforms
What the US Movement Against Data Centers Can Learn From Abroad
10/26/2026
Paris Marx’s new book couldn’t have landed at a better time. The longtime critic of Big Tech and host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast has been thinking about data centers for years, and Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Da…
AI · Cloud

Mobile
The best apps for tracking your reading and discovering new books
10/26/2026
From discovering new books and organizing your reading list to tracking your reading goal and sharing recommendations, book apps make it easier to maintain reading as a hobby. There are numerous apps on the market that promise to do just th…
AI · Android · Design · iOS · Mobile · React

AI & Platforms
A 1,000-mile cloud on Mars may reveal physics never seen in nature
10/25/2026
On Earth, clouds usually form when water vapor creates droplets or ice crystals in the presence of tiny particles, such as dust or salt. The new study, published in Nature Geoscience, instead suggests AMEC could be forming through so-called…
AI · Cloud

Mobile
Here's What You Need To Know Before Buying A Wireless CarPlay Adapter
10/25/2026
There's a way to convert wired CarPlay to wireless, but you need to choose the right adapter first. Harry Howitt/Shutterstock We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. CarPlay is compatible with hundreds of vehicles, but man…
AI · Android · iOS · Performance

AI & Platforms
The PHP Meltdown Shows How AI Makes Bugs More Exploitable
10/25/2026
Welcome to Kernel Panic, a weekly newsletter by Lily Hay Newman and Matt Burgess from inside the new world of privacy and digital security. To receive this newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up here.As security teams and web admins sc…
AI · Cloud · Design