It's once again about time for Apple's annual, post-Labor Day product launch event, and this year it comes with a semi-big new product, with a lot of caveats.

Apple's big upcoming event day is Monday, September 9, when Tim Cook and other execs will make their latest splashy presentations in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino.

The teaser tagline this go-round is "It's Glowtime," and it's not yet clear what that refers to. As TechCrunch notes, new iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to have larger screens, and MacRumors suggests there will be a new haptic side button dedicated to taking photos. Also, there may be a new, larger Apple Watch model, and a couple new versions of AirPods.

The big news is likely to be the first iPhone built with generative AI capabilities in mind, as CNN reports, though it seems like some of those capabilities will not launch as fast as the phones hit shelves.

New features will come as part of the Apple Intelligence initiative, including AI-generated, personalized emoji called Genmoji. And Siri is expected to get a big upgrade with the help of Apple's recent with OpenAI — though because that is fairly recent, analysts say that a new ChatGPT-enhanced Siri is not likely to to be made available until late next year at the earliest.

Apple teased some of this move toward generative AI during the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Once this new, super-powered Siri goes online, though, Apple's longstanding personal assistant — which was always kind of an AI lite model — is likely to get (maybe creepily) more like Scarlett Johansson in Her. Some potential features include being able to tell you when a loved-one's plane is landing, summarizing what's in your email inbox, and answering questions about your schedule.

Given it's usually Apple's wont to try to bowl over fans with such new features long before they may be available, we can expect to see some of this demo'd two weeks from today.

As for how expensive these new iPhone 16 models will be, it's probably safe to say they will tick up in price from the iPhone 15s across the board.

Also, per CNN, some or all iPhone 15 models are expected to be capable of some of these software upgrades as well, down the line.

Previously: Apple Announces Their Plunge Into Generative AI in WWDC Keynote

After years of scrutiny by regulators and rumblings from states' attorneys general, and following similar prosecutions against Google and other major tech players, Apple was hit with a sweeping lawsuit Thursday accusing it of creating a monopoly around its popular smartphones.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey, with the U.S. Department of Justice joining 16 states in the suit. The 88-page suit, as the New York Times reports, accuses Apple of violating antitrust laws by making it difficult for customers to switch away from using iPhones, and making competitors' products less easy to use alongside or pair with Apple products.

"Apple has locked its consumers into the iPhone while locking its competitors out of the market,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco at a press conference, per the Associated Press. Monaco further alleged that Apple had "smothered an entire industry" by stalling others' advancements in smartphone development.

Apple has responded saying that the lawsuit is "wrong on the facts and the law." But the company also defended itself saying that Apple customers have come to rely on the very ecosystem of products that the suit claims is monopolistic.

"This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets," an Apple spokesperson said, in a statement to the Times. "If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple — where hardware, software, and services intersect. It would also set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology."

The legal complaint begins with a narrative about an email exchange in 2010 between an unnamed Apple executive and then-CEO Steve Jobs. In it, the executive talks about seeing an ad for Amazon's Kindle e-reader in which a woman is seen seamlessly switching between an iPhone, a Kindle, and an Android smartphone. "[One] message that can't be missed is that it is easy to switch from iPhone to Android. Not fun to watch."

Jobs then allegedly responded that Apple should "force" app developers to use its payment system, thereby locking them in to the iPhone platform.

"Over many years, Apple has responded to competitive threats like this one by making it harder or more expensive for its users and developers to leave... [and] more attractive for them to stay," the lawsuit says.

"Each step in Apple’s course of conduct built and reinforced the moat around its smartphone monopoly," the suit continues.

Apple has been able to effectively fend off other antitrust suits, as the Times notes, including one brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games. But this one could come at a steep cost, and the government has not seemed to be letting up in its pursuit of regulatory wins over the booming tech sector.

In a similar prosecution brought by multiple states over its Play Store, Google settled in December for $700, though Google still faces a major, landmark case from the federal government over its monopoly in search-engine technology, and there is a second case accusing Google of antitrust violations in the online advertising sector.

Meta emerged victorious in 2023 after a group of states came after it in an attempt to break up its social media empire, with a federal court ruling that the complaint had come years too late after the company's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

The Apple case could prove unique, though. As the Times notes, the Justice Department has been investigating Apple since 2019, and chose to go fairly broad with this prosecution. "Rather than narrowly focus on the App Store, as European regulators have, it focused on Apple’s entire ecosystem of products and services," the Times writes.

Previously: Feds’ Blockbuster Antitrust Suit Against Google Is Underway, Could (Maybe) Break Up Google As We Know It

Photo: Tyler Lastovich

A newly discovered security exploit is already taking over iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices in the wild, and Apple people should drop everything and get the latest software update.

Less than three weeks before introducing the newest iPhone is not the best time for Apple to announce that a massive security problem has been found in the last several years' newest iPhones. But that’s where we are, as CNN reports that an Apple security vulnerability has been discovered, one so severe that the DHS’ Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency says “An attacker could exploit one of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected device.”

In typical frustrating Apple language, they downplay it with the technical terminology that “An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.” But Apple is at least more clear on which devices can be affected, which per Apple, are “iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)”

The Verge explains how to update your Apple software, which is thankfully simple:

iPhone and iPad: Settings > General > Software Update

Mac:  System Preferences > Software Update

And do this ASAP, because security blog Dark Reading says the vulnerability is already being exploited in the wild. “The company said it is aware of reports of attackers actively exploiting the bug,” that site reports.

There are actually two security vulnerabilities identified, the more dangerous of the two is to an HTML rendering tool called WebKit. “A booby trapped web page can trick iPhones, iPads and Macs into running unauthorised and untrusted software code,” according to software form Sophos. “Simply put, a cybercriminal could implant malware on your device even if all you did was to view an innocent-looking web page.”

It is a pain, albeit a brief one, to update your software. But the risks massively outweigh the inconvenience, and Apple has at least given their users a heads up.

Related: Apple and Facebook Both Duped By Hackers Posing as Law Enforcement, Handed Over Personal Data [SFist]

Image: Haidan via Unsplash

The long-sought consumer “right to repair” will finally arrive from Apple, but only for iPhone 12 and 13, and you have to buy the tools from them.

Who among us has not violated our smartphone Terms and Conditions by getting a cracked screen fixed at some shopping mall kiosk or unauthorized little repair shop? The manufacturer can technically brick your phone if you do this, and it’s an insane practice considering we’re now paying more than $1,000 for these devices. Moreover, the practice has spread to the smart car and Tesla sector, with consumers being wildly overcharged by tech companies running monopoly repair rackets.

Consumer advocates have been squawking about this for years, and the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission has been vowing to force the “right to repair” through legislation. Apple seems eager to get ahead of this, and establish the right to repair on their own terms. The Associated Press reports that Apple will allow you to repair your own devices — but only some devices.

Let’s take a careful look at Apple’s right to repair announcement: “Available first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and soon to be followed by Mac computers featuring M1 chips, Self Service Repair will be available early next year in the US and expand to additional countries throughout 2022.”

Okay, so it’s only for the most expensive and recently purchased devices. And even then, there are more limitations.

“The initial phase of the program will focus on the most commonly serviced modules, such as the iPhone display, battery, and camera,” the announcement clarifies. “The ability for additional repairs will be available later next year.”

Busted lightning port? Not eligible!

And that shopping mall kiosk or unauthorized little repair shop cannot perform the repair, as reflected in the fine print. “To ensure a customer can safely perform a repair, it’s important they first review the Repair Manual,” the fine print says. “Then a customer will place an order for the Apple genuine parts and tools using the Apple Self Service Repair Online Store. Following the repair, customers who return their used part for recycling will receive credit toward their purchase.”

This is a first baby-step in the right direction. But this is also clearly an upsell strategy to promote buying new devices, as an iPhone 11 or older is not eligible, Plus it’s a new revenue stream for Apple.

As Jalponik observes, “maybe Apple saw an opening in a relatively small but likely still lucrative market, where it can cut out the middleman for device repairs.”

Related: Apple’s AirPods Die Within Two Years, Can’t Be Fixed, Cause Environmental Damage [SFist]

Image: Apple

A coming iOS upgrade will scan users’ iPhones for any images of child sexual abuse, but one wonders how many livelihoods will be ruined whenever the bots make a mistake.

Global smartphone kingpin Apple has long marketed itself as the great vanguard of privacy, and acquired significant credibility in the department when they went to war with Facebook over data sharing. That credibility has taken a haircut in the last few days, after the company’s Friday announcement that they would be scanning your iPhone for sexual images of children, and move that makes iPhone owners worldwide wonder, “Exactly how accurate is this technology?"

The Associated Press has a nice explainer of how this would work, noting that the scans would only flag images that have already been identified as kiddie porn in a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database. “The detection system will only flag images that are already in the center’s database of known child pornography,” the news service says. “Parents snapping innocent photos of a child in the bath presumably need not worry. But researchers say the matching tool — which doesn’t ‘see’ such images, just mathematical ‘fingerprints’ that represent them — could be put to more nefarious purposes.”

Their technical term for child pornography is Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and tech companies have been busting people for years on it, mostly because they are legally required to. But scanning your phone is a new rubicon for them to cross. Per Apple’s explanation, it will only scan those images stored on your iCloud Photos account. But honestly, what percentage of iPhone users know the degree to which their settings are automatically uploading every snapshot and texted photo to iCloud?

Could, say, an Android user “SWAT” me, by sending me a sexually explicit image of a minor from their burner phone, and could I then be flagged because of that? Do we have any assurance that these vaunted machine-learning bots won’t commit mismatches? The Center for Democracy and Technology has studied these tools and concludes they are “notoriously error-prone.”

Apple has been playing defense since Friday’s announcement of the program, putting out a set of FAQs, and promising it would not allow hostile governments to surveil any type of activity other than child sexual abuse material. But they’ve always promised “end-to-end encryption,” and now they’re created a “backdoor” into the contents of your phone. And once Apple has created the backdoor, they can’t actually guarantee that someone else won’t figure out how to use it.

Related: Apple Clashes With Justice Department Yet Again Over iPhone Backdoor [SFist]

Image: Lastly via Unsplash

At last, a couple years behind other cities, San Francisco now has added Apple Wallet and Apple Watch paying capability on mass transit, with Android capability on the way soon.

As SFist reported in February, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the intramodal Clipper Card finally got around to adding mobile payments during the pandemic. Now, as of Thursday, riders on BART and Muni can just wave their iPhone or Apple Watch over a Clipper reader to pay fares on trains and buses. Clipper Cards can be added to the Apple Wallet, and be managed using a new Clipper Card app.

Clipper will also work in Express Mode on the iPhone and Apple Watch, so no Face ID or passcode entry is required. And similar capability for the Android is coming next month.

"The last year has taught us the importance of contactless fare payment, and this is one more way Clipper is delivering on that promise," says MTC Chair Alfredo Pedroza in a statement. "With Clipper’s launch today on iPhone and Apple Watch, we are offering greater safety and convenience to riders, drivers, station agents and transit operators."

The safety thing with dirty surfaces and COVID is, as we know, kind of overblown at this point. And New York got mobile payments on the subway two years ago, pre-pandemic, because this is just how the world works now.

Also, this isn't just for BART and Muni.

"This new fare payment method works on all 24 Bay Area transit services that accept Clipper," says MTC Executive Director Therese McMillan. "Riders can easily add cash value from Apple Pay and just tag and ride. It couldn’t be more user-friendly, not to mention timely. We’re looking forward to offering the same convenience soon with Google Pay."

Apple has some simple instructions here for putting Clipper into your Apple Wallet, and you can take it from there.

Hopefully, we won't be plagued with the same privacy concerns that were raised last year with New York's OMNY system.

And if you're really that paranoid, you're probably still paying with cash anyway and don't own a cellphone.

Apple issued an 11-page report on Thursday titled "A Day in the Life of Your Data," and announced plans to roll out a new layer of privacy control this spring that will prevent iPhone apps from tracking our movements without our knowledge.

"Apple is taking the next step to protect users’ privacy within the app ecosystem," the company says in the report. "As a complex and growing set of entities access, track, and monetize personal consumer data, Apple is introducing two new features aimed at providing users with increased transparency, visibility, and choice so that they can make informed choices and exert greater control over their privacy."

The report follows on a frightening expose that the New York Times published in December 2019 that began to uncover the web of third-party data brokers and various entities that regular harvest vast amounts of information about us beyond just what apps we use and what we search for online. The piece described how the ostensibly randomized data nonetheless could be used by nefarious actors to track a person's every move — including celebrities to political figures — using just a few key bits of information.

And Apple's report begins with an illustrative story of a fictional man named John taking his seven-year-old daughter to a park, describing how each thing that John does with iPhone, from looking up the weather to stopping for ice cream afterwards, is being tracked and sold as information.

"During the ride, there are 4 apps on his phone collecting and tracking their location data periodically in the background," the report says. "After the data has been extracted from the device, app developers sell it to a host of obscure third party data brokers that John has never heard of. Although the location data collected is claimed to be anonymous, user tracking allows data brokers to match John’s location history from these apps with information collected from his use of other apps.  This means information tracked across different apps and from multiple sources is available for any company or organization to purchase, and could be used to create a comprehensive profile about him that includes his precise day-to-day movements."

Coming with Apple's next beta release for its iOS software, the company says, at an undetermined date in the spring, will be a new tool that allows users to actively allow or prohibit an app from collecting data about them, as well as new information on every app product page in the App Store explaining what that app company's data practices are — and what types of data, like photos and location data, it tends to use.

As the Associated Press reports, the delay in the rollout of this next salvo in Apple's war on privacy invasion is being delayed to allow Facebook and other app makers to make the necessary adjustments to come into compliance — or to keep from scaring consumers into deleting their apps.

Facebook earlier led an outcry about the rollout of this feature last fall, leading to the delay, and Mark Zuckerberg has not minced words about Apple's motives. Facebook took out full-page ads calling out Apple's move, saying it had "every incentive" to use the power of the App Store to impede competitors.

"Apple may say that they are doing this to help people, but the moves clearly track their competitive interests," Zuckerberg said.

The war between the two tech behemoths goes back years now, with CEO Tim Cook publicly throwing shade at Zuckerberg over the Cambridge Analytica scandal as that was coming to light in March 2018. Striking a superior stance as the public was beginning to learn the extent of Facebook's ability to put together monetizable profiles of all of its users, Cook said, "The truth is, [Apple] could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer — if our customer was our product. We’ve elected not to do that." When asked what he would do if he were in Zuckerberg's situation, Cook said, "“I wouldn’t be in this situation."

Zuckerberg responded calling these comments "extremely glib," and shot back that Apple was a company that "work[s] hard to charge you more."

But the debate about whether Facebook's free service isn't quietly costing us all more than we comprehend in terms of privacy has raged on in the three years since. And Apple has continued to maintain a party line as a champion of privacy and transparency. It even went so far as to abruptly disable Facebook's own internal app network in January 2019, disabling the company's operations for about a day, by revoking its distribution certificates. This was done, Apple said, because of a breach by Facebook that came to light a day earlier, when TechCrunch reported on a Facebook market Research app that used internal Facebook tracking tools to track the phone activity of teenagers who opted into their research program.

"We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization," Apple said at the time. "Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple. Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data."

But shortly thereafter, critics called out Apple for being somewhat hypocritical in this mess, with The Atlantic writing, "If Apple really cared about personal data, the company could take any number of actions to keep privacy violators off its platforms and away from its customers," and saying that Apple "enables the surveillance that supposedly offends its values."

Well, two years on, we have Apple responding to those criticisms and putting its money where its mouth is, potentially impacting the business models of scores of app makers.

While currently, iPhone and iPad users can proactively prevent apps from collecting certain data about them, many simply download apps without looking any further into the matter. As the AP reports, "Analysts expect a significant number of users to deny [these] permission[s] once [Apple] requires their assent," which could lead to a whole lot of trouble for Facebook and others.

In remarks on Thursday, Cook stepped up his rhetoric toward Facebook specifically, referring to the recent Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma and saying, "A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe."

As the AP reports, Cook was speaking at the virtually held International Conference on Computers, Privacy & Data Protection, and he went beyond just these questions about data privacy.

"Too may are still asking the question ‘how much can we get away with?’ when we should be asking ‘what are the consequences?’ What are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations? What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users join extremist groups and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends more?” Cook asked.

The Apple report released Thursday, notably, opens with a quote from tech-world demigod Steve Jobs, who said, "I believe people are smart and some people want to share more data than other people do. Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of your asking them. Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with their data."

Related: Apple Kicked Fortnite Out of the App Store, and Now Fortnite Has an Ad Mocking Apple's Famous '1984' Ad

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The next iOS update for the iPhone is set to include new software being developed with Google that uses Bluetooth signals to help identify if you've been in close contact with someone who's tested positive for COVID-19. Also, there's reportedly a fix for Face ID not working when you're wearing a face mask.

The next iOS update, version 13.5, is going to have a new feature that recognizes when an iPhone user is wearing a face mask, and will automatically pop up the passcode screen to unlock the phone. As CNN Business reports, multiple developers who have received the beta release of 13.5 have noted the new fix, which should come as a welcome relief for iPhone users who have been frustrated by having to fumble and/or remove their masks to unlock their phones.

So, no, your phone still won't ever recognize you from your smizing.

Additionally, the update will include the first rollout of software related to a previously announced contact-tracing program that Apple and Google are co-developing. The program involves the use of "identifier beacons" that emit from one's phone, allowing each person's device to become an anonymous tool in helping identify when someone has come in contact with a COVID-positive person.

The technology has some privacy advocates nervous, as CNN reports, because of how it might be abused in the future even if it is created with good intentions. But the concept works like this: A person who tests positive enters their status into an app provided by a public health authority — probably using a QR code given to them by the testing facility. Their identifier beacon is then associated with their COVID status, and other phones that have been in close proximity with it will then receive notifications of that contact, with instructions to go get tested.

Mathematician Vi Hart, who recently produced this video to explain the four-phased process of reopening the economy in a pandemic, explains the identifier beacons as "your phone basically yell[ing] nonsense, it's gibberish... Everyone's phone is just yelling random nonsense, and your phone collects the nonsense it hears."

The program is rife with potential flaws, not the least of which is that it will require near universal adoption for it to work — with users not only having to own a smartphone but also having to opt in to the program. Also, there's the issue of false positives getting into the system — which hopefully QR codes would solve — and the issue of phones mistaking being on the other side of a wall, like in a next-door apartment, for close proximity or virus exposure.

Apple and Google say there will be a second phase to the project in which users won't need a separate app, because the status-entry function will be part of a platform that is built into the phone software.

It's not clear when iOS 13.5, or an update to Google's Android software with this new feature, will be rolling out to the public, but it is expected sometime this month.

Apple has agreed to pay a 25 million euro fine (about $27 million) in a case brought by French regulators concerning the now widely known — and widely derided — practice of using software updates to slow down older iPhones and push people to buy newer models.

France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) announced Friday that Apple would be paying the fine, and recognized that it had lied to consumers by omission when they did not inform them of how certain iOS updates would affect iPhone 6, 7, and SE models.

As part of the settlement with the DGCCRF, per the BBC, Apple has to display a message on its French language website admitting that it "committed the crime of deceptive commercial practice by omission."

Apple admitted back in late 2017 that it was indeed slowing down older phone models by way of software. But the company has spun the practice as being what's best for the consumer — degraded batteries, the company said, were less able to meet the software's demands, so the company instituted a performance-management failsafe that slowed down older models but prevented them from unexpectedly shutting down.

The performance management setting now comes on automatically when a battery begins to degrade in all iPhone models, though the company says "The effects of performance management on [our] newer models may be less noticeable due to their more advanced hardware and software design."

Previously, in October 2018, Italian regulators fined both Samsung and Apple for releasing software updates that significantly slowed down older-model phones.

And following criticism over the slow-down issue, Apple apologized and offered $29 battery replacements to any iPhone owner with a degraded battery — but that program ended on December 31, 2018.

A case backed by Attorney General William Barr is escalating quickly at the Department of Justice that will once again pit Apple against the federal government in a fight over smartphone privacy. The DoJ has asked Apple to help it gain access to two iPhones that belonged to Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the suspected gunman in the December 6 shooting at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida.

Much as the company did in 2016 following a similar request in the wake of the San Bernardino massacre, Apple is intending to push back by any legal means necessary in order not to comply with the government's request. As the New York Times reports, the speed of this case is frustrating Apple executives because they don't believe that the government has invested adequate time or resources into trying to hack the phones themselves, and are seizing on this case to further larger motives held by Barr.

The devices in question are an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 7 Plus, and experts are balking at the government's handling of the case in part because the iPhone 5 in particular can already be easily hacked using tools created by third-party firms like Cellebrite and Grayshift. The phone used in the San Bernardino case, an iPhone 5C, was even newer than that model.

In early 2016, as Apple fended off FBI requests to hack the iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, the government ended up paying Israel-based Cellebrite to do the work for them. Within a week, Cellebrite had cracked the phone, and the government dropped its case against Apple. Edward Snowdon was quick to note on Twitter at the time that the government had been lying for several months when they said it was impossible for them to crack the phone without Apple's help.

Both for reasons of principle and — obviously — marketing, Apple has held firm to their refusal to build a law-enforcement backdoor into any of their devices. The company does, like Facebook and Google, comply with law enforcement requests to access data on its servers, and the Times notes that Apple has complied with "roughly 127,000" such requests over the past seven years.

At issue is whether personal privacy trumps national security, or vice versa, and CEO Tim Cook has said that any such backdoor would simply be exploited beyond the control of Apple or the government if it even existed. "In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone's physical possession," Cook said in 2016.

Barr stands on the opposite side of the issue and has likely not through the broader implications, because he's a law man. He gave a speech in October on this very topic, arguing against the existence of warrant-proof encryption and saying that "While we should not hesitate to deploy encryption to protect ourselves from cybercriminals, this should not be done in a way that eviscerates society’s ability to defend itself against other types of criminal threats." In other words, encrypt against bad hackers who want to, say, take down our power grid, but make sure there's a backdoor — that said hackers theoretically can't find? — so that the FBI can get in when they need to.

President Trump, of course, sees no nuance in this argument, and he tweeted today, "We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements."

Bruce Sewell, Apple’s former general counsel, said in a 2019 interview that he believes Cook has staked his reputation on Apple's stance to hold firm against such encryption-breaking demands, and over several iPhone models, the phones have only become more sophisticated in their security protocols.

NYU Marketing professor and tech pundit Scott Galloway tells the Times that the strategy, regardless of its ethical implications, is "brilliant marketing. "They’re so concerned with your privacy that they’re willing to wave the finger at the F.B.I.,” he says.

But Barr is a new adversary for Cook and Apple, so we'll see how this one plays out.

Know how your current iPhone performance gets crappier when a new version has been released? It’s the same with AirPods, which are designed to die, and the Washington Post found it’s basically impossible to fix them.

Apple’s AirPods have been a longer-lasting symbol of tech industry ostentatiousness than was the faddish Google Glass, but they’re not actually longer-lasting. In fact, they die in about two years, and cannot be fixed, according to a Washington Post examination wherein an AirPod-owning reporter took his suddenly non-functioning AirPods to an Apple store Genius.

“The employee said there were lots of people like me, with $159 AirPods purchased in 2016 and 2017 that now can’t hold a charge,” the Post said. “But even though Apple promises ‘battery service,’ the store had no way to fix my AirPods.”

The Post found that despite the hefty $159 price, the AirPods’ rechargeable battery simply stops being able to take a charge in as little as two years (or roughly however long it takes Apple to introduce the next-gen version). Third-party repair site iFixit gives the latest AirPods a repairability score of 0 out of 10.

There are some repair options, according to the Post, but none of them good: AppleCare+ for Headphones is available for $29, but the coverage only lasts for two years. And honestly what rubicon have we crossed here, insurance for headphones? You can also have Apple replace them for $49 a stick ($98 altogether, which is nearly the price of a new set, and Apple is obviously daring you to buy a new pair.)

And this gets to the massive environmental problem of AirPods. As Vice noted earlier this year, AirPOds cannot be recyled “because there’s no safe way to separate the lithium-ion battery from the plastic shell.” So AirPods aren’t just a symbol of disposable wealth, they’re designed to be disposable, and yet another e-waste menace the tech industry won’t acknowledge that it has.

Related: One Easy Trick To Never Lose Your Wireless Apple AirPods [SFist]

Image: pestoverde via Flickr

Apple has had a decent track record in recent years when it comes to its iOS updates, but the latest is being described by reviewers as "rushed out the door," "super messy," and "a clusterf**k." Be warned!

Your iPhone is going to keep telling you to upgrade to iOS 13 — mine already did, but I have so far hesitated because this ain't my first rodeo. Lo and behold, we have The Verge reporting that the update has "significant bugs" like "apps randomly crash when opening them, cellular signals drop, the Camera app can be slow, pictures have randomly gotten new dates assigned to them, AirDrop has had issues, the text field flips out sometimes in iMessages, and more."

Wired concurs, saying it's a "notably buggy rollout," noting that the software had a lot of issues going back to its beta release in June, some of which have been fixed with this week's release, but clearly not all.

The update comes with a new Dark Mode, new photo browsing capabilities, new maps, and some other bangs and whistles. But maybe you should a wait a sec to see them?

A producer over at KRON 4 updated her iPhone 8 and reports that she "can unlock her phone but none of her apps will open," and "she can’t answer phone calls or open text messages." A restart didn't help either.

Developer Craig Hockenberry wrote earlier this month about a "clusterfuck" involving things saved to iCloud. Users who had the beta release of iOS 13 had entire folders get deleted or encrypted in the cloud, and it's not clear if that issue has been fully resolved.

The Department of Defense even issued a memo to employees today telling them to avoid the update at all costs. As Inc reported, the DOD is telling staff to wait for iOS 13.1, which is due out next week or shortly thereafter.

So if you were thinking about doing the update right away, don't! And if you already did, sorry!

It's the second week in September, a traditional time for Apple to host an event and show off new products. This time around, CEO Tim Cook unveiled some more details and trailers for TV shows the company has produced for the rollout of its Netflix competitor Apple TV+, as well as a new 10.2-inch iPad, Apple Watch Series 5, and the new iPhone 11 models that are just supercharged versions of the ones that came out in 2018.

Apple had its biggest event of 2019 back in March, when it announced Apple TV+ for the first time, and invited a bevy of Hollywood names — and Oprah! — to its shiny new Cupertino campus. For this morning's event, Apple TV+ was the top-line item as Cook kicked things off, announcing that November 1 is the official launch date, and the price will be a mere $4.99 per month. The big pitch: All new iPhone and iPad purchases are going to come with a free one-year subscription to Apple TV+ — a move clearly meant to boost the company's flagging iPhone sales.

Cook bragged from the stage in Cupertino that the trailer for the Jennifer Aniston/Steve Carrell/Reese Witherspoon show The Morning Show is "One of the most-watched trailers of any TV series ever," which... I guess we have to take his word for it. He then played the sweeping, should-we-say epic? trailer for Jason Momoa-led futurist series See. (Long story short: In a post-apocalypse where people are living in huts, most human beings are blind, until suddenly a couple of babies are born who can see, and all hell breaks loose. Also: Alfre Woodard.)

Also, Apple Arcade, the company's gaming subscription service, launches September 19 for $4.99 per month.

For Apple Watch, the new Series 5 has a display that's always on — i.e. just like an analog watch, which doesn't go black — with the same all-day, 18-hour battery life. Prices start at $399 for the GPS model, and Apple Watch Series 3 is being discounted to $199.

In the new iPhone model, iPhone 11, there are new colors (green! yellow!), and a more sophisticated camera with an "ultra-wide" lens capability, a night mode that comes on automatically, and some new portrait options like a "mono" one that erases backgrounds and turns them white. Also, "ultra-wide" works for video too, with 4K, and the front camera now takes "slofies," i.e. slo-mo selfie videos.

The company is touting that iPhone 11 has the highest quality video camera of any smartphone ever.

And there's faster Face ID, the new A13 Bionic chip (the "fastest CPU ever in a smartphone"), and a battery with an hour more of life than the iPhone XR. The biggest news: It's starting at $699, way down from the thousand-dollar figure that came with the XR.

But the final big announcement was iPhone 11 Pro — the first phone that Apple has made with the "Pro" label. The back has a new matte glass finish, the body is made of surgical-grade steel, there are three 12MP cameras instead of two (telephoto, wide, and ultra-wide), and an upgraded display they're calling Super Retina XDR. And of course there's one step above, the iPhone Pro Max. There's also a new neural engine for the camera that they're calling Deep Fusion which is being called "computational photography mad science."

Pricing for the Pro model starts at $999, and goes up to $1299 for the largest Pro Max.

Pre-orders for all the new phones start Friday, and they will all ship starting September 20.

Apple kicks off its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose today, and the big announcements have begun rolling in — even though no major product announcements are expected at this one, except maybe a new Mac Pro. [Update: Here's that Mac Pro, retailing for $6K.]

Already Monday morning we have word on a new system-wide dark mode for iOS 13, which has been rumored to be in the works for months. Engadget reports from the conference that dark mode will be best appreciated in apps like iMessage, Apple Music, and Calendar. And it will conserve battery along with your eyes — all the newest iPhones with OLED screens don't use any power to display black backgrounds.

Bloomberg discussed the slate of expected software updates over the weekend, and the biggest of these is the expected announcement that iTunes is going away for good. Apple's pioneering music store is expected to be replaced with standalone Mac apps — several of which already exist in iOS form — for Podcasts, Music, and TV. Management of one's Apple devices will migrate from iTunes over to Music.

The other big updates in iOS 13 include a swiping keyboard called Quick Path, and 30-percent faster Face ID unlocking.

Some other expected tweaks and revamps are coming to Maps, Reminders, Notes, Health, Messages, Apple Books, Home, and Mail. Also, Find My iPhone and Find My Friends are getting merged into a single app.

As TechCrunch reports, some updates are coming to WatchOS 6 that move toward greater independence of the Apple Watch from the iPhone.

Back with the highest-rated smartphone camera ever, meet the new Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL → https://t.co/jdr9S9hBzb #madebygoogle pic.twitter.com/OtU78fLTJB

— Google (@Google) October 4, 2017

Google unveiled two brand new phones today: the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL, showing that they're ready to take on Apple's current reign over mobile hardware hype.

BuzzFeed highlighted some of the more notable features in this edition, which include: water and dust resistance; a new "squeeze" feature that activates Google Assistant, their version of voice control/Siri; and a 12.2 megapixel rear camera. The Pixel 2 XL improves on the old Pixel XL in terms of size, as well, clocking in at 6 inches, as opposed to the old version's 5.5 inches.

Disappointingly, Google also decided to forego installing 3.5mm headphone jacks, echoing Apple's "courageous" decision to do away with them when they introduced the iPhone 7. To that end, Google's taking another page from Apple's playbook, introducing their own branded Bluetooth headphone accessory called "Pixel Buds". But where they edge out Apple's hardware is that the buds also feature gesture control, allowing users to control their media players, answer their phone, or adjust the volume through the buds.

The Verge points out that the most notable feature of the "Pixel Buds" is that if they're paired with a Pixel phone, they can also perform real-time translation. By talking into the earbuds, users can have their phone translate and speak for them live. Again, this only works if they're paired with a Pixel phone, so if your 'Buds are paired with any other Bluetooth-enabled phone, you miss out on this neat feature.

These new phones mark a pretty big step for Google, as the company has only just recently leaned heavily into mobile hardware development. Previously, Google's full hardware lineup included their Chromebook line of laptops, the Chromebox home computer, their Pixel C/Nexus tablets, the Chromecast streaming adapter, Google Home, and their ill-fated Google Glass wearable. They officially entered the mobile phone market on this day last year when they unveiled the first generation Pixel phones. Going back further, their Android and Chrome mobile operating systems have been around for quite some time, but it was previously left up to third-party manufacturers like Samsung, LG, or HTC to develop hardware for that system. In fact, according to The Verge, Google doubled down on their commitment, hiring over 2,000 engineers from HTC (plus hardware and intellectual property) for $1.1 billion just last month.

If you're looking to snag your own Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL, you'll be unsurprised to know that their price points are comparable to Apple's. A 64 GB Pixel 2 will run you $649, with the Pixel 2 XL at $849. If you want to double your storage capacity, you're looking at ponying up another $100, putting them at $749 and $949, respectively. Oh, and get this: they come in three colors. "Kind of blue,” “just black,” and “clearly white," according to Mario Queiroz, Google's product chief.

Related: Google Patents Camera Hat, Triggers Painful Google Glass Flashbacks