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Saranac Lake, New York. A weekly list named「7 Things This Week 」. Work at a gear shop and guiding service.
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Post-Apple Event Gadget Waffling

2025-09-10 03:41:00

I enjoyed writing gut reactions to the product announcements live during the event, but here’s how things are shaping up for my apple.com shopping cart plans, given a little more time and consideration. Shocker, they’re fairly in line with my pre-event predictions.

While the iPhone Air certainly has the thin/light/new appeal, the more I compare, the more I’m leaning toward the Pro for a few reasons: ​

  • Camera system. I use the camera so much these days for work, and the .5x ultrawide lens is pretty important for the mountain photography I take. Having a better telephoto lens would be great, too.
  • Screen size. I’m not thrilled about the even bigger screen of the Air. I already struggle somewhat with one-handed usage with the regular-sized 16.
  • ​Battery life. I’m tired of worrying about it. The Air actually has better battery life than my 16, but not by much, and it’s not uncommon for me to need to charge up during the day as it is.
  • Orange. Need I say more? (The iPhone Air’s colors, while illustrious with their high polish finish, are lackluster to me​.)
  • Future Fold. I’m mega tempted by the rumors of the iPhone Fold. It’s bound to be even heavier, so getting used to an incremental bump up in weight this year might prepare me for that hefty boy.

I’ll wait for reviews to come out next week to make my final decision, but that’s what I’m thinking at the moment. I could sway either way because damn that iPhone Air looks so good.

I already locked down the Apple Watch Ultra 3 with a pre-order this afternoon. Had to do some quick wrist measurements for the Titanium Milanese Loop (I’m right between a small and medium, so I went with the medium-sized band), but getting an Ultra 3 was an easy decision with how much I liked the original. I waffled a bit on doing a trade-in of my Ultra 1, but ultimately went for it. I’ll keep using an old Series 5 as a night watch/alarm clock, or maybe I can get back into the one-watch lifestyle with improved battery life and charging speed. I’m pretty excited for it to arrive on the 19th.

While the AirPods Pro 3 look really like quite an update, I’m not ready to pull the trigger on them — yet. The Pros have never fit my ears very well, and while I may give them a try at some point, I’m perfectly happy with my AirPods 4 with ANC. Touting the new Pros as the best-fitting AirPods ever” has me curious, but consider me still skeptical that they’d stay in my ears. No AirPods purchase for me today.


HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

Live Thoughts on Apple’s September Event

2025-09-10 01:12:00

AirPods

  • Did they say foam tips for the new AirPods? Moving away from silicone tips?
  • In-person live translation looks amazing. But you’ll need a newer iPhone for it to work, I’m sure.
  • Best-fitting AirPods ever” huh? Maybe they’re worth another shot.
  • Finally, you can start workouts with just your iPhone! I wonder if it’ll work with other heart-rate monitors, or just Apple’s headphones.
  • Looks like a great update!

Apple Watch

  • Here comes the tear-jerker video…
  • No more Jeff Williams to head off Apple Watch, and we’ll see if Jay Blahniks a no-show as well. Update: Was not seen.

Series 11

  • Yay, 5G! No snark, I was fighting the watch’s cellular connection just this morning. Hopefully this will help.
  • Whoa, they’re going after high blood pressure! Didn’t think we’d see anything about this for a few more years. That’s (potentially) huge.
  • Sleep Score is nice, I guess. I’ve used third-party apps in the past, but never found the data very actionable. I’ll try it out.
  • Damn, 24-hours of battery life on the Series 11. They’ve hit the full-day milestore.
  • Huh, Space Gray is back! Welcome back, old buddy.

SE 3

  • The most powerful watch chip, S10.” That doesn’t bode well for a faster watch chip coming today. But maybe it’ll come in the Ultra.
  • JK, the S10 is a new chip!
  • Double turns out, the S10 chip debuted last year in the Series 10 Watch. Which I guess makes sense. So now the whole lineup has caught up and has the S10, but they didn’t make a new watch chip this year. 😕
  • Lots of great improvements for the SE — it’s much easier to recommend now, particiularly with the always-on display. Stephen Hackett will be happy, even though it didn’t get the price drop it deserves.

Ultra 3

  • Let’s go!
  • Awesome, bigger display without a bigger case size.
  • Also getting 5G, unsurprisingly.
  • Woot woot! Sattellite connectivity not just for SOS, but the full messaging and location experience that’s on iPhone
  • 42 hours of battery life. Yay!
  • The case is 3D-printed. Wild!
  • No mention of GPS improvements. I’m really hoping that perhaps the issue is just with my particular watch and that this new one will be better anyway.
  • No mention of any on-device Apple Intelligence, like for workout buddy. That’s a miss in my books, I won’t run with my iPhone. Probably needs a new chip, which it also didn’t get.
  • Oof, I’d forgotten the Ultra is $800. But available to order today! That’ll be happening here at HeyDingus central momentarily…

iPhone

  • Four new models, as expected…

iPhone 17

  • Probably the device I’m least interested in today.
  • Hmm… wit that reveal video, it doesn’t look like anything is different than the 16. It was all software features they were showing off.
  • Ahh, it does have a slightly bigger display. And with ProMotion — the first in a non-Pro device.
  • Better scratch resistance on that new screen — but they always say that. Will it actually be any better?
  • 50% charge in 20 minutes sounds quite good.
  • 500 billion selfies last year. Wow.
  • Anything they can do to improve selfies is good in my book.
  • Ooh, a square sensor with easy switching of framing options. That’s nice! I’ll be glad to not feel like I’m going to fumble my phone trying to get a landscape selfie.
  • Starts at 256GB storage! That bump would have been nice last year. I wonder if that comes with a similar bump in price…

iPhone Air

  • Keeps the titanium. And glass on both sides. Didn’t see that coming.
  • Iconic Plateau”
  • With the power of Pro inside”. This is gonna be pricy.
  • The edges look a little more rounded, giving it an even thinner look.
  • Ahh… they’ve packed way more of the guts into that camera bar, including the silicon. Cool. Will probably keep the hottest parts away from your hand.
  • Tim Millet got out of the lab.
  • AI accelleration via the GPU. Interesting… they usually refer the AI talk to their neural cores. I wonder what they’ll do with that extra power.
  • N1 (for Networking) and C1X (for Cellular) chips. They sound great! I wonder if C1X will have the faster version of 5G (the C1 didn’t). Not a big deal either way.
  • Single camera. This may be it’s downfall for me. I’ll have to wait for reviews to know if it can hang.
  • Dual-capture video is going to be huge for content creators.
  • They’re talking about eSIM. Interesting. They’ve had it forever, so what’s new here?
  • Ah, it’s eSIM-only worldwide. Some countries still had physical SIM version.
  • All-day battery life.” But they didn’t quote time or compare to other iPhones.
  • 40 hours of battery life for video playback with the new MagSafe battery. Hmm. That’s not super convincing.
  • This is pretty tempting.

iPhone 17 Pro

  • Starting from scratch, huh?
  • Ah, they’re justifying the move away from titanium to alumium (first in a Pro phone) with a sexy industrial manufacturing video.
  • Biggest battery. Looks pretty thick. Hopefully lighter though?
  • And there’s the orange! Like the color, wish it came to the Air.
  • Lots of presenters in Apple Stores around the world. I like it. They have beautiful architecture.
  • They’re talking a lot about thermal management today. They must have gotten the feedback that their last few phones were too warm to the touch too often.
  • Seems like the Pro ate the Air’s extra battery with how much they keep mentioning it. 39 hours of video playback without a battery pack.
  • 48 MP cameras across the board on the back is pretty awesome. Fusion cameras across the board too. I like that the zoom levels are .5x, 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x. They double at every jump, which makes my brain happy.
  • Really pretty photos taken by professional photographers. But that’s always been the case. It’d be more fun if they put it in the hands of camera normies like me and let them try their best.
  • Joz says, How cool is that?”
    A person, wearing a hat and vest, gestures energetically in a forested, mountainous landscape. The trees and mountains provide a scenic natural backdrop.
  • It’s really cool how much pro video stuff they pack into these iPhones. It’s way over my head, but I love that it puts so much power in creatives’ hands.
  • TechWoven cases that offer great scratch and stain resistance”. That’s some FineWoven trauma right there. You can bet people will be putting that claim to the test.
  • The Apple logo placement looks good in the center of the two-tone glass” panel on the white and orange, but looks goofily low on the blue where the contrast is less.
    Three smartphones displayed against a black background. From left to right: a white phone, an orange phone, and a dark blue phone. Each phone features a prominent camera module with three lenses and the Apple logo on the back.

Pricing

  • iPhone Air takes the Pro’s old spot at $999, which the Pros get a $100 bump up starting at $1099. They try to spin away that bump by saying its the same price as last year’s 256GB model.
  • I think maybe they just discontinued the iPhone 16 and previous models altogether? Usually they show the whole lineup, but now it’s all iPhones that were introduced this year. 16e, 17, Air, and 17 Pro/Max. That’s a curious break from a longheld tradition in Tim Cook’s Apple. (But which actually started back during Steve Jobs’ time.)
  • Nope, the 16 and 16 Plus are still in the lineup.

Those good (snarky) tweets…

Bold move…

Always good when the keynote stream starts with me doing a spit take.

“Design is how it works. That’s why we made half the interface illegible”

why does the apple keynote keep cutting to some old white trump stan

Apple loves to talk about how many ears they’ve looked at

An illegible new watch face is an appropriate way to celebrate” Liquid Glass.

If your blood pressure spikes while listening to the US president speak, let Tim know

Can’t wait for my Apple Watch to tell me how shitty my sleep is.

I’ve never seen my timeline so negative during an #AppleEvent and honestly I’m so proud. Fuck Tim Cook for ruining what used to be such an exciting day for us Apple nerds

idk 42 hours of battery life definitely sounds bigger than the 10 hours my apple watch ultra 1 now lasts

It’s 90% faster at gaming but checking Slack is still slow.

looks the iphone started working with my trainer

Going to start referring to my forehead as an iconic plateau

“All-day battery life” proceeds to present a battery pack accessory #AppleEvent

THE BUMPER IS BACK BABY

What if Jony Ive voice but female

Joni Ive

Only British people can talk about materials.

ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE

We also drink every time they say vapor chamber”. Cheers!

I’d be pretty thin too if you ignore the bulky bits that stick out of me

“Fuck it, we’re doing seven layers”.

Nothing says Pro like We offer ProRes RAW video support, but you cannot adjust the gain level on an external mic.”

Is there really no black Pro phone?

Somebody check on @gruber

PROrange™


HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

Rapid-Fire Pre-iPhone Event Thoughts

2025-09-10 01:02:00

Can I publish this in the 4 minutes before the keynote starts??1

iPhone

  • I went way too low on device storage space last year, so I’m definitely buying a new phone this year
  • I’m using my camera for work more than ever, so I’m probably going to go with an iPhone Pro, but I’m not psyched about a bigger screen or heavier device. Hopefully, they’ve gone back to aluminum, as rumored.
  • We’ll see what it actually looks like, but the iPhone Pro’s rumored camera bar that retains the tripod of camera lenses on one side looks goofy to me. I expect it’s retaining that design so it can continue to do Spatial Videos.
  • I’ll be tempted by the iPhone Air, I’m sure, but battery life and camera performance are huge deals for me. And I’m more interested in a thin folding phone — next year?
  • Come on, Orange!!

Apple Watch

  • Please be a new Ultra 3! My Ultra 1’s battery life is not so good, and I’m also hoping for improvements in GPS sensitivity and cellular connection.
  • A better chip would be great too — the Ultra 1 is a little sluggish these days.
  • Could we see more happening with Double Tap? The more I can operate my watch without using the other hand would be great.

AirPods

  • AirPods Pro 3 are due, but they’re not for me. I can’t do the soft tips. Still really happy with my AirPods 4 with ANC.

Alright, here comes Tim Cook on stage”. Let’s go.


  1. It turns out no, I couldn’t. Published at 1:02pm.↩︎


HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

On Tim Cook, Cowardice, and Leadership

2025-09-10 00:54:00

In these, the minutes before the September 2025 Apple Event, in which I — and many others — will fawn over the company’s latest gadgets, I felt I had to get this one out.

Nick Heer wrote decisively and emphatically about how the transformation outlined in Apple in China that Tim Cook oversaw, led him straight toward kissing the ring in the White House. You should absolutely read the whole thing, but here’s an observation that I’ve been contemplating for a while now:

Cook has previously advocated for expressing social values as a corporate principle. In 2017, he said, perhaps paraphrasing his heroesMartin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, if you see something going on that’s not right, the most powerful form of consent is to say nothing”. But how does Cook stand firmly for those values while depending on an authoritarian country for Apple’s hardware, and trying to appease a wanna-be dictator for the good standing of his business? In short, he does not.

Heer’s article followed shortly after this post in which John Gruber took a slightly longer and broader view of Cook’s actions in the Trump 2.0 administration, and gives him more benefit of the doubt regarding when he chooses to play ball with Trump:

Did Cook’s Oval Office display of fealty and his grotesque golden gift make you feel something? Did it engender an emotional response? Grossed out, perhaps? A little sick? Angry? Offended? Me too. But did you feel good — reassured? proud? — when Cook skipped that Middle East Trump tour in May? You know, the one that ranged from Trump singing the praises of the murderous Mohammed bin Salman (“I like you too much”) to accepting as a gift (that he claims will wind up in the possession of his post-presidential library”) a 747 luxury jet from Qatar.

If you choose to believe that Tim Cook is weak, unethical, greedy, or even — despite his long-professed heroes — secretly a MAGA supporter, there’s likely nothing I can say to disabuse you of the notion. You can’t prove a negative. But I would argue that that line of cynicism is the easy way out. That you’re taking comfort in directing your ire at Cook, and the notion that if Cook had more backbone he’d refuse to play this game. It’s comforting to believe it’s him and his ilk, greedy selfish billionaires, not us as a collective whole.

If you didn’t read Gruber’s piece when it was published in August, I highly encourage you to do so now. It’s compelling and quite different from his usual writing, taking a timeline-of-events — dare I say investigative? — approach to understanding Cook’s actions. I’ll admit that I had completely forgotten that Cook had snubbed the Middle East trip, and that I was completely ignorant about the overall implications of that trip regarding the Saudi regime.

And yet, after reflecting on these two pieces for a while, I still come away disappointed and sickened by Cook’s compliance and reverence toward Trump’s agenda. Yes, as Gruber points out, the lion’s share of our collective ire should be pointed at Trump, his administration, and his voters. But we also look to those in leadership roles to, well, lead the way. To use their voice and actions, their stature and influence, and, yes, sometimes their money to usher us toward a better future. For if they throw their values to the wind when the going gets tough, what does that mean for the rest of us who lack the protections that their prominence affords them?

We’re taught not to judge people by what they say, but by what they do. I won’t go so far as to guess at what Cook feels in his heart toward this administration — only he knows — but his words and actions of late paint a cowardly story.

I can commend Cook for having the conviction not to participate in the Middle East trip. But I can also be supremely disappointed in his lack of leadership — sitting, as he does, in the seat as the most powerful man in one of the biggest and most successful American companies — in standing and speaking against the rot in the foundational Democracy of the country he claims to love.

And those pictures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy — true leaders who used their voices and actions to advocate for the very civil rights that Trump now openly threatens — that he has on his desk? Well, I’d have lain them down in shame.


HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

7 Things This Week [#180]

2025-09-08 10:39:00

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.


1️⃣ Jamie Thingelstad got a Messages-like style going on his website for chat-like blog posts and I love it. thingelstad.com

2️⃣ You don’t have to know anything about the Cortex Podcast to enjoy this hilarious animated short of their homescreen walkthrough. youtube.com

3️⃣ Passkeys are about to get even better with less lock-in when iOS 26 ships. They’re introducing a new way for credential managers to securely transfer the data for passkeys back and forth without the opportunity for man-in-the-middle attacks. Good stuff. hachyderm.io

4️⃣ Apple is milking Severance for all it’s worth and I love it. They’ve got Natalie in for a Fitness+ workout with Coach Kym P. and this promo video is spot on. instagram.com

5️⃣ Greg Morris has found enjoyment, success, and speed in running slow. gregmorris.co.uk

6️⃣ Manuel Moreale speaks emphatically about why blogs continue to matter in his marking of the 100th issue of his People & Blogs series. manuelmoreale.com

7️⃣ Seeing this tire roll down a sand dune for minutes is one of my favorite things I’ve watched in a while. It’s weirdly beautiful. youtube.com


🔗 Take a Chance

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.


HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.

7 Things This Week [#179]

2025-08-19 06:29:00

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet. Sometimes themed, often not.


1️⃣ Remember that wild painting in the final episode of Severance season 2? Well, now it’s an amazing real-life (and massive mural) in L.A.). [🔗 9to5mac.com]

2️⃣ This neat project by Avi Bagla keeps track of when every word in the dictionary has been used in a Bluesky post. [🔗 avibagla.com]

3️⃣ Robert Birming responded to my post about not posting with his thoughts on different motivations for blogging. [🔗 birming.com]

4️⃣ Herman’s got some really good, human tips for dealing with email. [🔗 herman.bearblog.dev]

5️⃣ McSweeney’s does it again, nailing these AI-assisted wedding vows with satire that I fear will become only too true. [🔗 mcsweeneys.net]

6️⃣ A throwback to a throwback. A couple of years ago, Parker Ortolani made a concept of modern apple.com showing off pre-iPhone products. Honestly, still looks great. I’m curious if their website will soon get a Liquid Glass makeover. [🔗 x.com]

7️⃣ Pratik gets it when it comes to taxes. [🔗 writing.desipundit.com]


🔗 Take a Chance

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.


HeyDingus is a blog by Jarrod Blundy about technology, the great outdoors, and other musings. If you like what you see — the blog posts, shortcuts, wallpapers, scripts, or anything — please consider leaving a tip, checking out my store, or just sharing my work. Your support is much appreciated!

I’m always happy to hear from you on social, or by good ol' email.