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Received yesterday — 13 February 2026

Homeland Security Demands Social Media Sites Reveal Names Behind Anti-ICE Posts

13 February 2026 at 18:24
The department has sent Google, Meta and other companies hundreds of subpoenas for information on accounts that track or comment on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials and tech workers said.

© Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its efforts to identify Americans who oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

F.T.C. Chair Warns Apple Against Bias in Apple News

13 February 2026 at 13:59
Andrew Ferguson of the F.T.C. said in a letter to Apple that it might be violating consumer protection law by stifling conservative speech in its news aggregation service.

© Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Trump-appointed leaders of federal agencies have been using consumer protection laws to punish media and tech companies for perceived left-leaning bias.
Received before yesterday

Apple Reports Record iPhone Sales Amid Holiday Bump

29 January 2026 at 16:59
New phone designs, coupled with robust holiday spending, continued to lift iPhone sales in the quarter and drove the company to record profits.

© Lucia Vazquez for The New York Times

Apple has achieved record sales in its most important business, the iPhone, even though it has lagged other tech giants in the A.I. race.

Apple Teams Up With Google for A.I. in Its Products

12 January 2026 at 16:23
Apple was facing increasing questions about its plans for artificial intelligence as other big tech companies invested tens of billions in the technology.

© Andria Lo for The New York Times

New versions of Apple’s Apple Intelligence models will be based on Google’s Gemini A.I. models and its cloud computing services.

Apple’s John Ternus Could Be Tim Cook’s Successor as CEO

John Ternus, a low-profile but influential executive at Apple, could be next in line to replace the company’s longtime chief executive, Tim Cook, if he steps aside.

© Photo Illustration by Klawe Rzeczy; Source Photographs by George Etheredge for The New York Times; Juan Arredondo for The New York Times; Amy Osborne for The New York Times; Lucia Vazquez for The New York Times; Jim Wilson/The New York Times; Shutterstock

How Well Does Apple’s Live Translation Work for Japanese? I Tested It in Tokyo.

26 December 2025 at 05:00
A non-Japanese-speaking first-time visitor used Apple’s new in-ear translation feature to connect with locals at bars, sushi classes and even a fire ritual.

© Wenjia Tang

Texas Age-Verification Law for App Stores Is Blocked, a Win for Apple and Google

23 December 2025 at 22:02
A preliminary injunction in federal court cited the First Amendment, handing a win to tech companies like Apple and Google.

© Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Texas’ App Store Accountability Act was set to take effect next month.

Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin’ Xmas Song

“We were roadkill,” says Colin Angle, former chief executive of iRobot, maker of the robot vacuum.

© Photo illustration by The New York Times; Nick de la Torre/Houston Chronicle, via Getty

Apple mocks Windows blue screens in hostile 8-minute ad video

8 October 2025 at 10:51

The iconic “Blue Screen of Death” (now known as the Black Screen of Death) has grown increasingly rare with Windows 11 users hardly seeing it anymore. But that isn’t stopping Apple from using it in its latest advertising/marketing campaign.

Apple’s new “Macs don’t panic” ad video is over eight minutes long and mocks Windows being used at a trade show, where an initially successful event ends in the glow of a blue screen fiasco.

Apple describes the video:

The Underdogs are ready for their first-ever trade show until a PC outage strikes and the Blue Screen of Death threatens their beloved Container Con. Thanks to the security of their Apple products, the Underdogs are unaffected and experience extraordinary success. See how the magic of Mac, iPhone, and iPad comes together to help the Underdogs meet potential clients, bag new business, and even lend a hand to a fellow packaging company.

Okay, only marketing people could come up with copy like this. The “Underdogs” are a small start-up and Container Con is a trade show. The short film occasionally shows off Apple elements like the ringtone of an Apple Watch or the “Find My” feature to locate a lost iPhone.

But the central concept here is Windows bashing, where the room turns blue because the Windows PCs used at the event crash with blue screens. According to Windows Latest, this is a reference to the global CrowdStrike IT outage, which incidentally was not Microsoft’s fault.

Apple seems to be manufacturing a false impression with this short film, as modern Windows 11 computers don’t actually crash en masse like this, nor are Windows users panicking over their operating systems. The scaremongering culminates at 5:03 into the video with the statement: “Huh? It’s a PC problem. Your Macs are secure.”

Further reading: How to troubleshoot a Windows blue screen error

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