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New Apple CEO John Ternus greeted customers in person at Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York as the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max went on sale, taking selfies and signing boxes for fans who had preordered the devices. It marked his first public product launch appearance since succeeding Tim Cook, continuing Apple's tradition of CEO-attended store openings.
Apple's latest Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 keep familiar shapes but introduce a new underlying Health Sensing System aimed at improving health tracking accuracy. The Series 12 gets a roughly 2% smaller display area, a slightly wider case, Ceramic Shield 2 glass on aluminum models, and four new aluminum finishes including Dark Bronze and Light Gold. Ultra 4 retains its titanium build in Natural and Black finishes.
A CNET reviewer who used the iPhone 17 Pro Max extensively while traveling says the newly unveiled iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max address key frustrations. The updated Dynamic Island can now display three live activities at once instead of two, and the phones feature a redesigned vapor chamber along with camera improvements aimed at competing with Android flagships.
Apple's Series 12 keeps the same screen size and case dimensions as the Series 11 but adds a returning Ceramic case option in white or blue, Ceramic Shield 2 on aluminum models, and new color choices including dark bronze and radiant gold. The bigger change is an overhauled 'health sensing system' with a larger skin-contact area and more diodes, electrodes and sensors packed into the same footprint.
Apple has unveiled the Watch Series 12, updating the aluminum casing with a Dark Bronze finish and tougher Ceramic Shield 2 glass, while adding a new Ceramic case option in Pearl White and Night Blue. The device also gains a faster S11 chip, double the RAM at 4GB, and a redesigned 'Health Sensing System' with improved heart rate tracking through a second-generation electrical sensor and always-on optical sensor.
Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, its debut foldable smartphone, at its September event in Cupertino, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. The device features a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner screen, a titanium frame, Ceramic Shield glass, and IP68 water resistance. Preorders begin October 16, with sales starting October 23 in Star White and Night Sky colors for $1,999.
A CNET reviewer used an iPhone 17 Pro Max caseless for nearly a year, enduring drops and pocket wear, and found the Cosmic Orange finish largely intact aside from minor chipping and dents. Comparing it to a similarly used iPhone 16 Pro, the newer model's screen showed noticeably fewer scratches, suggesting Apple's Ceramic Shield 2 coating delivers a real durability improvement.
Taiwan's Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau has pursued 166 investigations into companies illegally operated by Chinese owners disguised through shell firms or local nominees, resulting in at least 36 convictions since 2020. These businesses skirted Taiwan's Cross-Strait Act, which requires Chinese entities to obtain government permits before operating on the island, permits that are increasingly hard to secure amid rising cross-strait tensions.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, set for October 13-15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, will split its AI programming into two stages, adding a new Real World AI Stage alongside the existing AI Stage. The new stage focuses on physical applications of AI, including autonomous hardware, robotics, defense systems, and de-extinction science, with confirmed speakers from Nvidia, Shield AI, Colossal Biosciences, FieldAI, and Foxglove.
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel reported that after reviewing data from the Artemis II mission, the Orion capsule's heat shield showed only about nine sites of char loss, a dramatic improvement from the more than 100 sites, some over an inch deep, seen after Artemis I. NASA had altered Orion's reentry trajectory rather than redesign the heat shield following the 2022 issues, and the approach appears to have worked as the crew safely splashed down in the Pacific.