TSMC investigates former Executive who retired and went to Intel.

Bloomberg (paywalled):

Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan dismissed reports about a new hire taking trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to his company, saying the US chipmaker respects other firms’ intellectual property.

Taiwanese newspapers spent the week reporting on the transition of Lo Wen-jen, 75, from his retirement from TSMC earlier this year to joining Intel in recent weeks. The executive is alleged to have taken proprietary knowhow from his former employer just before his departure.

“It’s rumor and speculation. There’s nothing to it. We respect IP,” Tan told Bloomberg News on the sidelines of the Semiconductor Industry Association Awards in San Jose on Thursday. […]

TSMC has opened an internal investigation about whether Lo has taken trade secrets without its consent, according to a person familiar with the matter. It is unclear whether TSMC has reached a conclusion about any potential damage to the company, the person added, asking not to be identified since the information is private.

Lo Wen-jen’s role at TSMC:

Lo was responsible for corporate strategy before his retirement from TSMC in July. He was at one point in charge of research and technology development at TSMC and played a key role in facilitating the mass production at TSMC of cutting-edge chips, including those used to make AI accelerators. He is also a laureate of Taiwan’s prestigious Industrial Technology Research Institute.

He also was part of Intel before he joined TSMC:

Before he joined TSMC in 2004, Lo spent some time at Intel focusing on advanced technology development, including running a chip factory in Santa Clara, California. He has a doctorate degree in solid state physics and surface chemistry from UC Berkeley.

Many companies have this issue, but things get more sensitive when TSMC gets involved, being the low-key hub of the world’s economy.

Putting an iPhone 17 Pro under a microscope.

If you love macro photography and videography, this one’s for you. Also informative for those who didn’t know it is normal to have some extremely tiny dust inside the camera lenses because you can’t get a perfect dust-free enclosure.

Where does Apple stand in the mix of AI deals?

A nice infographic from Bloomberg showing all the AI dealings that are happening. Who's missing from this Infographic?

Apple.

Not a huge surprise since Apple is struggling from an AI perspective to not only release useful features, but also to retain key figures who are defecting left and right. On the flip side, what is almost certain is Google Gemini will be the backbone of the new improved version of Siri that will eventually launch, so you can kinda throw Apple piggybacking on the Alphabet bubble.

Apple doesn’t restock the iPhone Pocket, but releases the limited edition Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand.

Not what we were expecting on Friday, but it’s nice to see these partnerships from Apple with other, lesser known companies.

The Product overview from Apple:

The Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand is a MagSafe compatible adaptive accessory for iPhone designed by Bailey Hikawa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple. Designed with direct input from individuals with disabilities affecting muscle strength, dexterity, and hand control, this ergonomic grip was designed with accessibility in mind from the ground up. The grip uses magnets to securely snap onto any iPhone with MagSafe, can be removed with ease, and doubles as a stand to support iPhone at two different viewing angles, both vertically and horizontally. Inspired by modern sculpture, each Hikawa product is an art object unto itself. The limited edition Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand is available in two colors, a bold, high-visibility Chartreuse and recycled Crater, exclusive to Apple.

Of course it’s already sold out, but you can still pre-order additional colors and get it directly from the Bailey Hikawa website. Not egregious at $69.95, but it looks to be even more low stock than iPhone Pocket.

P.S. It works with iPhone mini, but without a case.

Car makers going all in on touchscreens is a bad idea.

Kirk Kreifels does a mini rant/analysis why touchscreens and physical controls need to coexist in cars, and why voice assistants and touchscreens shouldn’t replace physical buttons.

Either way you fall on this spectrum, it’s getting to the point where the safety features in cars are almost a self-fulfilling prophecy:

Make the cars safer with more sensors and cameras, because of more distractions while driving, caused by poor driver controls.

iPhone Pocket is still sold out, after launching a week ago.

Will we get another opportunity to get this extremely limited product? We can only hope that Apple drops some more stock today?

Apple shows off its 3D printing capabilities for Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the Titanium Apple Watch Series 11.

Nothing short of visual ASMR for the nerdy.

I’ll be rewatching the clips from Apple’s post when I leave my current location - my current, bluish-gray tinted monitor with its 1024 x 768 resolution isn’t doing it justice.

My kids like my 2013 MacBook Pro for one reason…

The glowing light.

Simple, elegant, and no longer an “in your face” flex. Times have changed, along with Mac security, meaning the glowing Apple logo is no longer a theft target on your back. It would be nice if it made a return in the next generation of MacBook Pro devices, but in Apple’s new (more justified) quest for thinness and possible touch-screen capabilities, don’t expect it to make a comeback.

The perfect midlife crisis watch face for Apple Watch Ultra.

You’re backpacking in the Alps, trying to get some fresh air and a fresh perspective on life. In your mind, you’re trying to prove your self-worth and let yourself know that you still, “got it.”

“I’m not getting old,” you say to yourself.

I’m still young, strong, and have the stamina to keep up with life’s challenges.

You delude yourself and start thinking, “I’m not getting old, I’m getting optimized.”

You’ve built up some wealth, are able to stay in shape, started a family, got a good calcium score, all with God’s blessings, and are wondering:

What is the next path in my life?

But before you get too existential, you realize that you’re way too deep into the cavernous mountains, and need some assistance getting back to base. Fortunately, you have the latest and greatest Apple Watch Ultra, and you’re using your favorite watch face:

Waypoint.

It’s the perfect watch face because it provides a nice big digital clock for your bifocal-ready eyes, surrounded by a compass pointing to your waypoints and other places of interest for your shrinking brain. The watch face and compass are also flanked by 3 corner complications that you struggle a bit to focus on, but there’s a plus-sized complication that comes to the rescue.

No bifocals required.

This (officially named as “circular”) complication, combined with other convenient and larger features of the watch face, makes Waypoint the perfect transition to Senior Citizenship. It’s got a conflicting vibe, just like the mid-life crisis, where you have regular and large complications, and an adventurous vibe all mashed into one. This wasn’t Apple’s intent because the bigger complication by default is a smaller compass, making it worse for people with poor vision, but if you change the complication to anything else, it an accessibility feature.

From small compass, to accessibility text bubble.

1x, 2x, and 4x, sized text bubbles (from my crude measurements).

Much easier to read your unread message count with the larger circular complication, whether it’s Waypoint or X-Large.

Whether it is battery life, health, communication, or prayer, you can use the larger complication to focus (pun intended) on what matters most to you.

Hopefully more developers start taking advantage of this new complication.

Tesla to support CarPlay in future software update.

Mark Gurman from Bloomberg:

Tesla Inc. is developing support for Apple Inc.’s CarPlay system in its vehicles, according to people with knowledge of the matter, working to add one of the most highly requested features by customers.

The carmaker has started testing the capability internally, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort is still private. The CarPlay platform — long supported by other automakers — shows users a version of the iPhone’s software that’s optimized for vehicle infotainment systems. It’s considered a must-have option by many drivers.

It will be the standard version of CarPlay with wireless support, not CarPlay Ultra. How will CarPlay integrate with Tesla’s infotainment system? The article continues:

Tesla plans to feature CarPlay within a window inside its broader interface, the people said. That means the Apple software won’t fully replace the Tesla operating system as it does in many other vehicles.

CarPlay also won’t tap into Tesla features like FSD, or full self-driving mode. Drivers will need to rely on Tesla’s own navigation app for that.

It would be interesting to see how this, “window inside its broader interface” pans out. I spent a decent amount of time in the latest Model Y in a buddy’s car that had all of the self-driving features, and it would be weird to have two maps side-by-side in certain situations (one for self-driving and one with Apple Maps). You can bet your bottom dollar that other car manufacturers are going to watch this integration closely, as Tesla pioneered big-screen integration and a software oriented car UI before anyone else.

This is obviously great news for Apple customers and a strategic, aka desperate move from Tesla to get those sales going since the end of the EV tax credit. It’s not their only move on the chessboard, with a rental program that starts at $60/day:

The rental duration is a minimum of three and a maximum of seven days, starting at $60 per day and increasing depending on the model.

Tesla appears to be using this to show potential buyers how convenient it is to own a Tesla vehicle, since it also includes Supercharging and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) for free with every rental.

If a rental customer decides to order a vehicle within a week of having rented one, Tesla gives them a $250 credit toward the purchase.

You can buy a MacBook sleeve that looks like a macOS folder.

The Untitled Folder Purse is the Untitled Folder Wallet grown up to laptop size, this time as genuine leather instead of vegan (fake) leather. A great gift for any Apple fan, and more practical than the iPhone Pocket.

For a genuine leather product, the $120 (14-inch) and $140 (16-inch) price tags seem reasonable.

BasicAppleGuy releases his famous iPhone 17 Pro internal wallpapers.

A no-brainer purchase for iPhone 17 Pro users. He leaves a bit of a cliffhanger for iPhone 17 and Air users:

Right now, the plan is to start work on the iPhone Air internals wallpaper, aiming for an early December 2025 release. I’m still on the fence about doing one for the iPhone 17—it’s tough to know if the time and effort will really pay off. Still weighing my options…

Sounds like good news for iPhone Air users, but is that really the best option? Passion wise it is, but realistically, iPhone 17 sales are higher, meaning higher demand (and purchases) for a wallpaper set. Then again, iPhone Air users have extra cash to spend and are more likely to be enthusiasts, so is that the better option? It is quite the pickle.

For all you Pro users, go ahead and buy the 17 Pro wallpapers.

Apple releases iPhone Pocket.

I thought this was a prank on X when I first saw it. If this wasn’t a collaboration with a design brand, I would assume the prices would be half the real price of $149 (short version) and $229 (long version).

One change I would suggest to Apple - swap out the iPhone 17 in this provocative photo to the iPhone Air.

Thinner and sexier.

Will Apple’s “Can’t Decide Guide,” video for the 2025 iPhones become its most popular YouTube video?

It’s been out for 2 months, already has 50 million views, and only 1 million views away from being the number 2 video behind the glorified MacBook security features video that has 79 million views.

For context let’s look at the video release dates of Apple’s top 4 videos along with view count to really see the impact of this year’s iPhones:

1. The Underdogs: Swiped Mac | Apple at Work - 79 million views, released 7/19/23

2. Heartstrings | Apple Holiday | Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 - 51 million views, released 11/28/24

3. Someday, by Spike Jonze | AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation - 44 million views, released 3/18/25

4. The Can’t Decide Guide: A Guided Tour of the New iPhone Family | Apple - 50 million views, released 9/9/25

I’ve been checking it every few days, and it keeps going up by a few million each time. My assumption is it will continue to gain tons of views for the holiday season, and then drastically taper off. It’s still slotted as the fourth most popular video even though it has the 3rd highest view count. (Even YouTube can’t keep up?)

Will it pass the 79 million views mark before then? Whether that happens or not, there’s no denying that the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air lineup is going to be a super-cycle upgrade year for Apple with 3 amazing choices.

It genuinely is tough to decide this year. You have the base iPhone 17, which has the best value in any smartphone today and even feels more premium than the 17 Pro. The iPhone Air is a glimpse of the future, with the most durable and slimmest chassis ever to be offered by Apple. Finally, the 17 Pro is chock full of features that most people will never use, but are still glad they have. It’s the soccer mom’s off road SUV that never touches grass.

The Modular Ultra watch face is reason enough to buy an Apple Watch Ultra.

Ryan Christoffel from 9to5Mac, describing why he loves Apple Watch Ultra:

But overall, my favorite Apple Watch Ultra 3 feature is something not exclusive to the Ultra 3 at all: it’s the Modular Ultra watch face.

After years spent using the standard ‘Modular’ face on my previous Apple Watch models, Modular Ultra has been the single biggest upgrade in going ‘Ultra’ this year.

And in a way, that spotlights what I’d call the Ultra line’s unfair advantage.

Despite Apple Watch Series 11 and Series 10 having very “Ultra-like” screen sizes in their 46mm models, Modular Ultra is exclusive to the more pricey Ultra line.

Is there a hardware reason for this limitation? No, it’s entirely a software decision by Apple.

To be honest though, I have a hard time faulting Apple for this move.

Modular Ultra and the other Ultra-exclusive faces are fantastic differentiators for the Ultra line.

Since the watch face is the primary interface for Apple Watch, getting the ideal face for your needs could itself make upgrading to an Ultra model worthwhile.

I think it has been for me.

I agree wholeheartedly. All the other upgrades are nice year over year, but the exclusive watch faces for the Ultra are worth it, something I can’t say about the exclusive Hermès watch faces. I currently have 3 different Modular Ultra watch faces that I use daily with 3 different layouts, and a 4th one setup for testing purposes to see if Apple (hopefully) allows complications to update every second in always off mode.

Doing my hearing test on AirPods Pro 3.

While I was testing the AirPods Pro 3, I figured it was the right time to do a hearing test, now that the Noise Cancellation is twice as good as AirPods Pro 2. I’m happy with the results, especially since I disabled headphone safety notifications. I would say the 6 dBHL for my left ear was due to the air conditioner being on, which I couldn’t tell since the AirPods go into Noise Cancellation mode during the test. I only noticed it after the left ear was done, it was totally silent, and then I heard the AC cycle off. Then the right ear test started. I didn’t feel like doing another one, but I’m sure the results would have been a lot closer to the 1 dBHL.

Still, I don’t have the robust ears of someone in their 20s. I’m reminded of this fact every time my younger brother (17 years younger!) tells me to unplug my charger since he can hear the coil whine.

For more official numbers, check out ASHA’s website.

Is Apple opening up the walled garden for car manufacturers?

Patrick George from The Atlantic:

Among all of Apple’s achievements, one of the most underrated has been making driving less miserable. Before Apple CarPlay debuted, about a decade ago, drivers were stuck with whatever clunky tech features were preloaded into their car. By projecting a simplified iPhone layout onto the car’s central screen, CarPlay lets you use apps such as Apple Maps and Spotify without fumbling for your phone, make hands-free calls, and dictate text messages. It is seamless, free, and loved by millions of iPhone owners.

Now one of the world’s biggest car companies is taking it away. Last month, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that new cars made by the auto giant won’t support CarPlay and its counterpart, Android Auto. Ditching smartphone mirroring may seem to make as much sense as removing cup holders: Recent preliminary data from AutoPacific, a research firm, suggest that CarPlay and Android Auto are considered must-have features among many new-car shoppers. But according to GM, the company can create an even better experience for drivers by dropping Apple and making its own software. And like it or not, the move says a lot about where the auto industry is headed.

I think GM knows things we don’t know and just can’t say it in public. According to Mary Barra in a recent Decoder interview with Nilay Patel, GM has a great relationship with Apple at the most senior level:

I would say we have a good relationship with Apple. I mean at the most senior level with Apple, with Google, with all of the tech companies. We’re bringing Apple Wallet. We’ll be announcing that shortly, that we’ll have that and have the ability to do some of the vehicle functions through that. So we’re having continual conversations with Apple, and I would say we’re talking about the opportunity and looking for win-wins. We also have a very good relationship with Google and we don’t enable Android Auto either. So I would say you’re talking about a moment in time versus where the industry is heading from Dolby Atmos and the relationship that we have with Apple. I wouldn’t make some of the broad-based assumptions you’re making.

When Nilay asked about getting the Apple Music app on his Cadillac, Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson responds:

We don’t have anything to share on that right now.

There’s obviously a lot of “hush, hush” discussions in the background between car manufacturers and the tech giants, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple decides to change the CarPlay model altogether and make it more compatible with Android Automotive.

Apple Maps has been unleashed from the walled garden allowing Android users to use it, and with their recent update to the App Store web interface, Apple is giving us teasers that maybe, just maybe, they might make their ecosystem more open to say, car manufacturers?

There’s still a few years left before GM tapers off CarPlay for their gas-engine vehicles, but I’m sure there’s a solution in the works that will satisfy Apple, car manufacturers, and consumers.

There has to be.

Apple Watch Ultra Titanium Milanese Loop - why you might want to go for a larger size.

Normally I just follow Apple’s sizing before picking a watch band, but this time I was able to try out the larger size, and I liked it better. My wrists are 160mm, and I chose the large size band which is supposed to be for wrists measuring 180-210mm. In theory the medium band is ideal with a range of 155-185mm, but I’ll tell you why I went with large.

The larger size gives you a more classic look similar to the classic buckle because the clasp swings further into your view. You also get a double-layered mesh on about 80% of the band instead of 50% of the band, making the feel more substantial and symmetrical.

Medium vs Large Titanium Milanese - loop side down

You can see the clasp peaking out on the large band since it’s pushed back. Gives it a more “Ultra” look. (My wrist size - 160mm).

The large band really does look like the classic buckle and much beefier than the asymmetric medium size.

The clasp is almost hidden from view in the large configuration, making your wrist more comfortable when typing.

Medium vs Large Titanium Milanese - loop side up

If you prefer the loop on top, aka, the “Elvis look,” the large band once again looks beefier with the clasp visible on the bottom.

The clasp positioning doesn’t change a whole lot on the underside.

The best way to find out what size to get is to go in-store and try it out for yourself. They usually have medium and large bands on display, but if you are deciding between small and medium, ask to try on a small and they will get one for you. If no one is there to help you or you found the size you like, confirm the size by looking inside the band connector.

The iPhone Decision.

It’s been a grueling month, the annual September - October tech month where I decide what new Apple hardware to buy. It’s also the month where my wife sighs every time I change my mind about what to buy, sell, trade-in, etc., because it involves using her Facebook marketplace account where she has a good reputation, score, or whatever seller rating metric they use.

After going back and forth between the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air, I have finally decided on the Air. It just gives me the most satisfaction every time I hold it. Even when taking it off my MagSafe dock in my car, that feeling is unparalleled.

I have absolutely no regrets choosing the iPhone Air. I’ve realized over the past few weeks that my preference leans towards the feel, aesthetics, and premium quality of my iPhone over the feature set. Heck, even the slimmer iPhone 17 feels more premium than the bulbous 17 Pro now that the displays are the same, and if there was no iPhone Air, I would seriously consider the regular iPhone 17.

The blend of both premium quality and top features were always intertwined in the Pro lineup, but after they were unraveled this year, it really led to an iPhone identity crisis. Once I found out what mattered to me most and looked deep with myself, the answer became crystal clear. This year, the iPhone Air is hands down the most premium and most aesthetically pleasing device Apple has made, and it might even be the most premium device they have made, period.

And I am all in.

Apple’s new M5 chip is impressive, but raises some questions about contextual Siri.

I’m a bit behind with the news and with my thoughts on all things Apple, but I think the new M5 chip and future Pro and Max chips will be a cut off point for AI features. The marketing for this chip and its AI capabilities are beyond anything else Apple has ever released:

Just a teaser from their full Newsroom article:

A Next-Generation GPU Architecture Optimized for AI and Graphics

With the next-generation GPU architecture in M5, every compute block of the chip is optimized for AI. The 10-core GPU features a dedicated Neural Accelerator in each core, delivering over 4x peak GPU compute compared to M4, and over 6x peak GPU compute for AI performance compared to M1.1 And now with M5, the new 14-inch MacBook Pro and iPad Pro benefit from dramatically accelerated processing for AI-driven workflows, such as running diffusion models in apps like Draw Things, or running large language models locally using platforms like webAI.

Apple is still working on the new contextual version of Siri that allegedly can pull information from multiple apps to give you a proper answer to the hallmark question - “When is Mom’s flight landing,” and I think older hardware that was promised this feature will have significantly reduced performance.

The Catch-22 is, Apple has always been about top-notch performance and would axe features on older devices if they performed poorly, so that begs the question (or questions):

Will the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 line of devices even get contextual Siri? Will it have the hardware guts to truly support it without feeling slow and broken? Which Macs will receive the new contextual Siri? Surely an M1 with 8GB of RAM can’t spit out contextual Siri’s answers fast enough to satisfy Apple and even consumers?

Currently, only iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air have 12 GB of RAM, and all iPhone 16 devices and the 15 Pro devices have 8GB of RAM. Next year’s iPhone 18 lineup is rumored to have 12GB of RAM across the lineup to fully support what I would call “Apple Intelligence 2.0” (via MacRumors):

With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing.

The iPhone 17 is the only new model to continue to feature 8GB of memory. It looks like that will change with the ‌iPhone 18‌, with Apple reportedly seeking memory parity across all four models.

At this point we won’t get contextual Siri until WWDC 2026, which means it will release with iOS 27 in September 2026 along with the new iPhone 18 lineup.