Today, I’m very happy to introduce Apple Frames 4, a major update to my shortcut for framing screenshots taken on Apple devices with official Apple product bezels. Apple Frames 4 is a complete rethinking of the shortcut that is noticeably faster, updated to support all the latest Apple devices, and designed to support even more personalization options. For the first time ever, Apple Frames supports multiple colors for each device, allowing you to mix and match different colored bezels for each framed screenshot; it also supports proportional scaling when merging screenshots from different Apple devices.

But that’s not all. In addition to an updated shortcut, I’m also releasing the Apple Frames CLI, an open source command-line utility that lets developers and tinkerers automate the process of framing screenshots directly from the Mac’s Terminal. And there’s more: the Apple Frames CLI is also designed to work with AI agents, and it comes with a Claude Code/Codex skill that lets coding agents take care of framing dozens or even hundreds of screenshots in just a few seconds, from any folder on your Mac.

Apple Frames 4 is the result of an idea I had months ago that enabled me to remove more than 500 actions from the shortcut, going from over 800 steps down to ~300. I did all that work manually, but it was worth it; the improved shortcut is faster and vastly more reliable than before thanks to a more intelligent logic that adapts to the growing ecosystem of Apple screen sizes and display resolutions.

I’d started to become worried that Apple Frames had been abandoned since the last update was so long ago, and could not be happier to see this announcement.

The previous version wouldn’t work with the new Ultra 3 Watch so I had to switch over to Shareshot for the time being. That app has far more features than I actually require so I am fine with dropping the $15 per year subscription.

Since its launch in 2007, the Wii has seen several operating systems ported to it: Linux, NetBSD, and most-recently, Windows NT. Today, Mac OS X joins that list.

In this post, I’ll share how I ported the first version of Mac OS X, 10.0 Cheetah, to the Nintendo Wii. If you’re not an operating systems expert or low-level engineer, you’re in good company; this project was all about learning and navigating countless “unknown unknowns”. Join me as we explore the Wii’s hardware, bootloader development, kernel patching, and writing drivers - and give the PowerPC versions of Mac OS X a new life on the Nintendo Wii.

This very in-depth blog post is well worth a read. Most impressive to me was getting IOkit drivers running on the Wii’s custom SoC.

Developed by a research team led by Professor Chen Jiehua from Wuhan University’s Satellite Navigation and Positioning Technology Research Centre, the clock only loses a second every 30,000 years, according to the official newspaper Changjiang Daily.

The device measures just 2.3 cubic cm (0.14 cubic inch), less than one-seventh the size of the leading US models and about the size of a fingernail.

“Even if traditional atomic clocks are miniaturised, the minimum volume limit is still several hundred cubic centimetres and the minimum power consumption is at least several watts,” Chen told the newspaper.

According to Chen, the US has produced a 17 cubic cm product, but his team’s clock has a comparable performance even though it is much smaller.

“We have achieved mass production of chip-scale atomic clocks, successfully applying them to time synchronisation systems such as micro-PNT [positioning, navigation and timing], underwater BeiDou [China’s equivalent of GPS], low-orbit satellites and drone swarms.”

In recent years, my iPhone display was always covered in subtle scratches that you only really noticed in low lighting – like indoors. They were especially visible when the screen was off. I’m convinced this is why always-on display was invented.

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Apple changed the formula with the iPhone 17 line. The company says Ceramic Shield 2 cover glass is three times more resistant to scratching. That’s exactly what the iPhone has needed, and Ceramic Shield 2 is on every new model.

The improved formula for Ceramic Shield 2 has definitely followed through on its promise of being more scratch resistant. It normally takes about a month for the screen of my iPhone to become covered in small scratches. The same way Zac describes them, visible with the screen off but invisible with the screen on.

As of today I see absolutely none. The front glass of my iPhone 17 Pro Max looks as new as the day I received the device. Here’s to hoping that future iterations don’t result in a regression in this regard, as has been the case in the past.

In December, the Federal Communications Commission banned all future drones made in foreign countries from being imported into the United States, unless or until their maker gets an exemption. Now, the FCC has done the exact same for consumer networking gear, citing “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons.”

If you already have a Wi-Fi or wired router, you can keep on using it – and foreign companies that have already gotten FCC radio authorization for a specific product can continue to import that product.

But since the vast majority – if not all – consumer routers are manufactured outside the United States, the vast majority of future consumer routers are now banned. By adding all foreign-made consumer routers to its Covered List, the FCC is saying it will no longer authorize their radios, which de facto bans new devices from import into the country.

Now, router makers need to A) secure a “conditional approval” that lets them keep getting new products cleared for US entry while they work to convince the government that they’ll open up manufacturing in the US, or B) make the decision to skip selling future products in the US, like dronemaker DJI already did.

Like with the foreign drone ban, the FCC has a National Security Determination that it says justifies these actions, one which claims that “Allowing routers produced abroad to dominate the U.S. market creates unacceptable economic, national security, and cybersecurity risks,” and that “routers produced abroad were directly implicated in the Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon cyberattacks which targeted critical American communications, energy, transportation, and water infrastructure.”

Today it’s widely acknowledged that the future of computing will involve the quantum realm. Companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and a few well-funded startups are frantically building quantum computers and routinely claiming advances that seem to bring this exotic, world-changing technology within reach. In 1979 all of this was unthinkable. But that summer, two scientists met in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Puerto Rico, and their aquatic conversation led to a body of work that created quantum information theory. In a larger sense, their contributions helped bring computer science into the quantum age.

Those water-logged scientists, Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard, are now the latest recipients of the ACM A.M. Turing Award, the Nobel Prize of the field.

Arizona filed criminal charges Tuesday against Kalshi, accusing the popular prediction market of hosting bets on state and federal elections.

“Kalshi may brand itself as a ‘prediction market,’ but what it’s actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. “No company gets to decide for itself which laws to follow.”

Kalshi is facing four counts of election wagering, a Class 2 misdemeanor, for taking bets on the 2028 presidential race, the 2026 Arizona gubernatorial race, the 2026 Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary and the 2026 Arizona secretary of state race. It faces 16 additional Class 1 misdemeanors for wagering on events like Arizona college sports, professional sports and whether the SAVE America Act — a collection of bills intended to crack down on voter fraud — will become federal law.

There are currently about twenty federal lawsuits against Kalshi, and you can expect more states to follow suit with Arizona. The idea that this company is allowed to operate an unregulated gambling website is just insane to me.

Technology journalist Joanna Stern will join NBC News as part of a new partnership between the reporter and the news organization, an arrangement that seems to be increasingly popular as more news personnel test out creator-driven ventures.

Stern, who recently departed The Wall Street Journal to pursue an independent business, will create what NBC News billed as “premium multimedia content” and also contribute reporting across NBC News platforms , as well as the NBCUniversal division’s its newly launched subscription product. Her efforts will include vertical videos, explainers and investigative stories, newsletters created by her own business; a new franchise series called “AI in America” that will appear across various NBC News outlets.

As traditional media outlets and linear broadcasters see their reach and revenues falling, individuals are realizing their name recognition and audience is more valuable. Joanna Stern is a perfect example. For years I paid for a Wall Street Journal subscription largely so I could access the articles and videos she published. There were rumors circulating that Bari Weiss offered her a seven figure contract to join CBS News, but thankfully we know now that isn’t happening.

We are extremely excited to share that MotionVFX is joining the Apple team to continue to empower creators and editors to do their best work.

For over 15 years, we’ve been on a mission to create world-class, visually inspiring content and effects for video editors. From the very beginning, we’ve been all about quality, ease of use, and great design. These are also the values that we admire most in Apple’s products, and we’re thrilled to be able to embrace them together.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our amazing customers and supporters who have been with us through all these years. You inspired us, you challenged us, and you helped our products become what they are today. We are incredibly grateful to be part of this amazing community and excited to continue our work to serve you.

This is the beginning of something truly wonderful!

I take this as a very positive sign since Final Cut Pro and Motion have transitioned to a recurring subscription model as part of the Creator Studio bundle. Apple simply cannot make that ask of customers while keeping app updates at the glacial pace they have been for the past two decades. First Pixelmator, now MotionVFX, and you can expect many more to follow.

Among the artifacts recently accessioned into the Museum’s permanent collection is an authenticated iPhone 17 Pro used during an Apple TV broadcast of Friday Night Baseball. The Sept. 26, 2025 matchup between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers incorporated live game footage from four devices, marking the first use of an iPhone as a primary camera in a professional sports broadcast.

I can see this becoming a trend for a variety of sports just given the always-on connectivity of the iPhone paired with industry leading video and audio quality.

Fifty years ago in a small garage, a big idea was born. Apple was founded on the simple notion that technology should be personal, and that belief — radical at the time — changed everything.

April 1st marks 50 years of Apple. From the first Apple computer to the Mac, from iPod to iPhone, iPad to Apple Watch and AirPods, as well as the services we use every day — the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV — we’ve spent five decades rethinking what’s possible and putting powerful tools into people’s hands. Through every breakthrough, one idea has guided us — that the world is moved forward by people who think different.

That’s because progress always begins with someone — an inventor or scientist, a student or storyteller — who imagines a better way, a new idea, a different path. That spirit has guided Apple from the start. But it has never belonged to us alone.

Every invention we bring into the world is just the beginning of a story. The most meaningful chapters are written by all of you — the people who use our technology to work, learn, dream, and discover. You’ve made breakthroughs and launched businesses. You’ve cheered up loved ones in the hospital and captured your toddler’s first steps. You’ve run marathons, written books, and rekindled friendships. You’ve chased your curiosity, found your new favorite song, and shared stories that connect us all.

In your hands, the tools we make have improved lives, and sometimes even saved them. And that is what inspires us — not what technology can do alone, but everything you can do with it.

At Apple, we’re more focused on building tomorrow than remembering yesterday. But we couldn’t let this milestone pass without thanking the millions of people who make Apple what it is today — our incredible teams around the world, our developer community, and every customer who has joined us on this journey. Your ideas inspire our work. Your trust drives us to do better. Your stories remind us of all we can accomplish when we think different.

If you’ve taught us anything, it’s that the people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

So here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

Here’s to you.

Tim Cook

This letter would land quite differently if Cook hadn’t spend the past year running Apple’s name into the dirt by kissing Trump’s butt. The company also published an uninformative newsroom post claiming more to come over the next few weeks leading up to the 50th anniversary on April 1st.

David Pogue moderated a great panel for Computer History Museum last night marking the anniversary, the video is now available on their YouTube channel and well worth watching.

Dozens of employees at Ford’s Chicago Assembly plant, in the pope’s hometown, worked on a custom 2026 Ford Exploder Platinum hybrid, which CEO Jim Farley and his wife, Lia, delivered to the Vatican on February 28.

The sleek black Explorer SUV was fitted with a custom hybrid transmission, as well as an antenna that is compatible with the European broadcast radio system, Ford said in a press release. The vehicle also features plenty of tributes to the Pope’s American roots - including Chicago flags on seat tags and the Windy City’s skyline etched into the center console.

The Chicago skyline engravings in the scruff plates, and Chicago flag seat tags are a very nice touch. I love feel good stories like this.

In this unconfirmed result, the M5 Max with an 18-core CPU achieved a score of 29,233 for multi-core CPU performance, which tops the 27,726 score achieved by the Mac Studio’s M3 Ultra chip with a 32-core CPU. M5 Max is now the fastest Apple silicon chip ever, and it even topped every other consumer PC processor in the Geekbench database.

In terms of multi-core CPU performance, the M5 Max is up to 5% faster than the M3 Ultra, and up to 15% faster than the M4 Max chip with a 16-core CPU.

The M3 Ultra chip was announced exactly one year ago, today. The M5 being 5% faster than a year old CPU that has nearly twice as many cores is freaking wild. The next Mac Studio update is going to be a beast. 💻🔥

There were initial impressions going around earlier today knocking the fact that one of the USB-C ports is only rated to USB 2.0 speeds. Sure, that feels very ‘90s, but for the customer base this machine will attract I guarantee you next to nobody will ever notice. It will be referred to as “the charging port” because they will never use it for any other purpose. According to an Apple spokesperson it was an inherent limitation to using an A-series chip that was originally designed for devices that only have a single USB-C port, the bus can’t handle more.

Yesterday I spoke about how impressed I was with recycled materials being a major focus of the Studio Displays, and now today I am even more impressed with the Neo. From the press release:

It features 60 percent recycled content — the highest percentage of any Apple product. This includes 90 percent recycled aluminum overall and 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery. The enclosure is manufactured with a material-efficient forming process that uses 50 percent less aluminum compared to traditional machining methods.

There being no RAM upgrade beyond the stock 8GBs is disappointing, but not surprising necessarily. I think within a year or two a newer A-series chip will be added, and that will result in a RAM bump to 12GBs like we’ve seen with recent iPhone releases. What I do not understand whatsoever is Touch ID being a $100 upgrade from the base model (that also bumps storage to 512GBs). For a company that touts security every chance they get it is an odd choice, especially since they sell the iPad for $349 with Touch ID included.

Both are made with recycled content, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in the stand and 80 percent recycled glass in the standard glass option. Studio Display and Studio Display XDR are designed to be durable, repairable, and also offer industry-leading software support, while meeting Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency and safe chemistry. The paper packaging is 100 percent fiber-based and was designed to collapse so it can be easily recycled.

The majority of the display being recycled glass is a first in an Apple product, and it’s fantastic to see such a large panel given this treatment (even though it will obviously have much lower unit sales compared to more popular, small-screened devices). The 100 percent fiber-based packing being made collapsible so it easily fits in the bin is also a nice touch. The attention to these very small details is how the company will likely reach their goal of being carbon neutral across its entire footprint by 2030.

During the iPhone event last September, the new iPhone Air took the $999 price slot; this pushed the 17 Pro to a starting price of $1,099 coupled with a base storage bump to 256GB, up from 128GB. So while the entry price technically increased, in actuality it was priced the same as the 256GB 16 Pro model it replaced. With the 17e being solely a cost-sensitive product aimed at emerging markets, I think the increased value on offer after a single 12-month cycle is hard to argue with. I also believe within a few years a price tag of $499 is a realistic goal for the company.

The most curious part of today’s iPhone update is the inclusion of MagSafe. It’s great to see it now, but why weren’t the magnets added last year when the case design remained the same? This also doubles the wireless charging rate to 15W, which is nice until you compare it to the 25W speed in the iPhone 17 and Pro models.

The iPad Air was quite literally a “chip it and ship it” update with M4, N1, and C1X additions. They didn’t even bother to change the colors — the 17e, by contrast, comes in a nice new soft pink. The best news for the iPad today was not seeing an expected price increase due to RAM shortages.

After spending 2025 through January 2026 building their largest leveraged positions in history, bets on digital assets have unraveled with unnerving speed.

In January 2026, US margin debt had surged to a record $1.28 trillion – its ninth consecutive monthly increase and a 50% rise from April 2025. That financial leverage added bids to crypto assets which made new all-time highs in May, July, August, and October 2025.

Then, despite investors continuing to pile on more margin debt than ever, prices collapsed 47% and shed $2 trillion in combined market capitalization as a sector rotation to AI and precious metals ensued.

Crypto losses since October are staggering.

US margin debt increased $53 billion from December to January alone. Worse, the ratio of margin to real disposable personal income exceeded 6.0% in January for the first time on record.

That ratio measures more financial leverage in January 2026 relative to income than the dot-com mania.

While it really reached a tipping point in 2025, the futures margin bros have been building up to where we are now since 2022. This is a perfect example to underscore the need for regulation in this wild west market.

The quantum-resistant cryptographic data needed to transparently publish TLS certificates is roughly 40 times bigger than the classical cryptographic material used today. A typical X.509 certificate chain used today comprises six elliptic curve signatures and two EC public keys, each of them only 64 bytes. This material can be cracked through the quantum-enabled Shor’s algorithm. The full chain is roughly 4 kilobytes. All this data must be transmitted when a browser connects to a site.

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To bypass the bottleneck, companies are turning to Merkle Trees, a data structure that uses cryptographic hashes and other math to verify the contents of large amounts of information using a small fraction of material used in more traditional verification processes in public key infrastructure. Cloudflare has a much deeper dive into Merkle Trees here.

Merkle Tree Certificates, “replace the heavy, serialized chain of signatures found in traditional PKI with compact Merkle Tree proofs,” members of Google’s Chrome Secure Web and Networking Team wrote Friday. “In this model, a Certification Authority (CA) signs a single ‘Tree Head’ representing potentially millions of certificates, and the ‘certificate’ sent to the browser is merely a lightweight proof of inclusion in that tree.”

I had a feeling either Google or Cloudflare (if not a university student) would be the first to resolve this pending security nightmare.