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“A growing number of scientists believe that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may instead be subtly altering our immune systems.” Is Covid-19 to blame for “the global surge in non-covid infections”?

Apple Security Engineering and Architecture (SEAR):

Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE) is the culmination of an unprecedented design and engineering effort, spanning half a decade, that combines the unique strengths of Apple silicon hardware with our advanced operating system security to provide industry-first, always-on memory safety protection across our devices — without compromising our best-in-class device performance. We believe Memory Integrity Enforcement represents the most significant upgrade to memory safety in the history of consumer operating systems.

That is, to say the least, an incredibly bold statement. But I think it’s true. This is a fascinating post, cogently written.

Link: security.apple.com/blog/memory-integrity-enforcement/

The Wall Street Journal (gift link): President Trump on Thursday led leaders of the world’s biggest technology companies in a version of his cabinet meetings, in which each participant takes a turn thanking and praising him, this time for his efforts to promote investmen...

Apple Newsroom posts:

• Apple unveils iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max

• Introducing iPhone Air, a powerful new iPhone with a breakthrough design

• Apple debuts iPhone 17

• Apple debuts Apple Watch Series 11, featuring groundbreaking health insights

• Introducing Apple Watch Ultra 3

• Apple introduces Apple Watch SE 3

• Introducing AirPods Pro 3, the ultimate audio experience

• Apple announces Final Cut Camera 2.0

Link: apple.com/newsroom/

Tim Hardwick, MacRumors:

For the first time, every model in Apple’s latest flagship iPhone 17 lineup features a base 256GB storage capacity, up from the lowest 128GB option in the iPhone 16 series. The regular iPhone 17 now comes in 256GB and 512GB storage options, while the all-new ultra-thin iPhone Air and the iPhone 17 Pro come in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is offered in the same three capacities as the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro, but with the addition of a maximum 2TB option.

I know it’s been 18 years, but it’s kind of wild to compare today’s storage tiers to the original iPhone’s 4, 8, and 16 GB options.

Link: macrumors.com/2025/09/09/iphone-17-lineup-starts-256gb…

I haven’t watched it yet, but I have seen so many recommendations for this gonzo birdwatching documentary called Listers over the past few days that I wanted to share it with you.

Two brothers travel across the United States in a used minivan on a mission to find as many bird species as they can in a single year.

Yeah, not your typical birdwatching fare…the vibe of the brothers’ quest is more like a surf or skate video. Here’s the trailer:

And the whole 2-hour movie is available on YouTube as well:

I’ve hoping to make some time to watch it this weekend; it looks great. The two brothers have also released a companion book, Field Guide of All the Birds We Found One Year in the United States.

Tags: birds · Listers · movies · trailers · video

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An interview with Rebecca Solnit. “It feels like part of this horrible new culture where you can have any truth you want — as if history began and ended yesterday. Everything’s infinitely revisable, and there’s no accountability.”

Todd Weaver uses analog & in-camera experimental techniques to achieve subtly geometric and colorful surfing photographs. Of one of his photos, Weaver says: This one was taken on my half-frame camera at my favourite place to surf, First Point in Malibu. The colour is a one of a kind. I don’t think I could repeat it in a thousand tries. The stripe is an artefact of my pre-exposing process. You can find more of Weaver’s work on his website and Instagram. If you like these surf photos, you might be interested in getting a copy of Dream Weaver Journal Volume 2. Tags: photography · sports · surfing · Todd Weaver 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Without looking it up, what’s the longest single-syllable English word you can think of? (Here are the answers.)

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It’s getting to be that time again: The 2025 Fall Foliage Prediction Map.

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I Replaced Animal Crossing's Dialogue with a Live LLM by Hacking GameCube Memory Brilliant retro-gaming project by Josh Fonseca, who figured out how to run 2002 Game Cube Animal Crossing in the Dolphin Emulator such that dialog with the characters was instead generated by an...

• 🗣️ It’s St. Jude time again! 🗣️
  • The Marco Offset
• iPhone event
  • AirPods Pro 3
  • Apple Watch Series 11
    • No new System-in-Package?
    • Whoop Band
  • Apple Watch SE 3
  • Apple Watch Ultra 3
    • LTPO
    • Satellite can-kicking continues
  • iPhone 17
    • Memory Integrity Enforcement
  • iPhone Air
    • iPhone Air MagSafe Battery 💔
  • iPhone 17 Pro & Pro Max
  • Software ship dates
• Post-show:
  • Apple trade-in
  • ✨ Tina’s dream has come true! ✨
• Members-only ATP Overtime: Apple’s competing implementations for the new Siri
  • Gurman, 13 August
  • Gurman, 22 August
  • Gurman, 3 September

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Become a member for ATP Overtime, ad-free episodes, member specials, and our early-release, unedited “bootleg” feed!

Dan Moren: There were no doubt some shouts of joy when Apple mentioned it had a new version of its MagSafe Battery, but if you want one of those to boost your phone’s longevity, be aware: it’s an iPhone Air exclusive. The key’s in the name “iPhone Air MagSafe Battery”—Ap...

This is what could happen to a child who doesn’t get vaccinated. “Pneumonia struck first. Then tonsillitis spiraled into sepsis. Malaria battered him next, and after treatment, the other illnesses flared back up again.”

There has never been a successful, widespread malware attack against iPhone. The only system-level iOS attacks we observe in the wild come from mercenary spyware, which is vastly more complex than regular cybercriminal activity and consumer malware. Mercenary spyware is historically associated with state actors and uses exploit chains that cost millions of dollars to target a very small number of specific individuals and their devices. [...] Known mercenary spyware chains used against iOS share a common denominator with those targeting Windows and Android: they exploit memory safety vulnerabilities, which are interchangeable, powerful, and exist throughout the industry.

— Apple Security Engineering and Architecture, introducing Memory Integrity Enforcement for iPhone 17

Tags: apple, privacy, security

One of my favorite “memes” of all time is Drunk Jeff Goldblum. The first video, a slowed-down ad for Apple from 1999, is still the best. “In ter net?! I’d say In ter net.”

But this new one about PayPal is pretty great too.

“Buying a chair… while sitting in a chair…” (via ★interesting)

[This is a vintage post originally from Oct 2012.]

Tags: Apple · Jeff Goldblum · remix · timeless posts · video

A clicker game where the click reloads the page in your browser. (Let’s see if we can crash the server?)

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Gabriel Bonnin, aka Singer Sound System, plays an electro-acoustic hurdy-gurdy that’s driven by an old Singer sewing machine pedal.

My instrument is an electro-acoustic hurdy-gurdy. I just removed the crank and use a Singer machine to drive it :-) It is equipped with four integrated microphones that allow me to process the sound live, especially in Ableton Live.

Some of his most popular recent covers include the Doctor Who theme¹:

Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train:

The X-Files theme:

And Enter Sandman by Metallica:

Oh and Daft Punk!

You can find his stuff on YouTube and Instagram.

1. One commenter on Instagram remarked: “This sounds more like the Dr Who theme than the Dr who theme does”.↩

Tags: Gabriel Bonnin · music · remix · video

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Today on the Anthropic blog: Claude can now create and edit files: Claude can now create and edit Excel spreadsheets, documents, PowerPoint slide decks, and PDFs directly in Claude.ai and the desktop app. [...] File creation is now available as a preview for Max, Team, and ...