In 2001, Danny Boyle had a problem. To make his new postapocalyptic horror movie, 28 Days Later, he had to capture footage of a then-unknown Cillian Murphy wandering the abandoned streets of London. Shutting down the city wasn’t an option for the low-budget production, however, and neither was re-creating it on a studio set. Instead, the 68-year-old director made a surprising choice: He filmed with lightweight, low-resolution Canon digital cameras. The technology, which was cutting-edge at the time, made it possible to record scenes at iconic locations like Westminster Bridge and Piccadilly Circus in under an hour each. It also gave 28 Days Later its unique grainy look that makes the movie stand out even today.
Almost three decades later, Boyle faced a similar dilemma. As its title suggests, 28 Years Later takes place exactly 28 years after the initial outbreak of a zombie-like “Rage Virus.” Abandoned by the rest of the world, a quarantined United Kingdom has returned to its natural state, even as pockets of humans and zombies survive. To bring that vision to life, Boyle once again had to rely on lightweight cameras to film in locations he normally wouldn’t be able to. But this time, the location was the untamed wilderness of Northumbria, and the camera was an iPhone.
Apple has solved this in an interesting way. What it’s not doing is allowing multiple apps access to the microphone (so far as I can tell, I just tried it and the moment I started a FaceTime call, my local recording app stopped). Instead, Apple has just built in a system feature, found in Control Center, that will capture local audio and video when you’re on a call.
To comply with a new regulation that takes effect today, Apple has added an energy efficiency label to its iPhone and iPad pages in EU countries. Apple is also required to start including a printed version of the label with the devices sold there.
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In a 44-page document detailing its testing methodology for the labels, Apple said its current iPhone models qualified for the highest energy efficiency grade of A, but the company voluntarily downgraded these scores to a B as a cautionary measure.
Apple has marked its day-old The Parent Presentation video on YouTube as private, meaning that it is no longer available to watch.
Apple has also moved The Parent Presentation to the bottom of its College Students page, effectively burying it. When we reported on the marketing campaign yesterday, the presentation was prominently featured at the top of the page.
The presentation mostly contains tongue-in-cheek comments, but it also outlines a few real benefits of Macs, such as the MacBook Air's portability.
While Seedtime used to be simply one gardening app among many I used to manage my outdoor tasks, it has gained so much functionality over the years (for example, this week it debuted a new inventory management feature for your seeds and other garden inputs like fertilizer) that it has become an indispensable tool for planning and managing my garden.
With iOS 26, developers are getting a new API that allows third-party apps to discover and connect nearby devices over Wi-Fi, without needing an internet connection.
Numerous technical obstacles still stand in the way of anyone releasing comfy, affordable, power-efficient glasses that rival the Vision Pro’s capabilities. I’m still not positive that anyone in the industry will pull it off soon. Nor is it certain that the concept will ever reach smartphone-like ubiquity. Nevertheless, watching Apple use the Vision Pro as a proving ground for some of the necessary building blocks right now is fun—and makes me wonder what VisionOS 27, 28, or 29 might bring.
Have a good weekend, and thanks for reading.