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Apple’s clever software solution lets iPhone batteries skirt shipping limits

Apple has developed an unexpected workaround to prevent the iPhone 18 Pro Max from being hit by shipping restrictions on big batteries. There's a "battery-firmware solution" in place on the new iPhones, according to Apple's support page , which keeps capacity below the 20Wh limit for single-cell batteries set by international shipping regulations - but this firmware lock automatically removes itself when the device is booted up for the first time. Following user activation, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is restored to its original rated charging capacity, which is around 21.75Wh for US eSIM-only models and 21.06Wh for European models with a physical … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/NGUj6Yr
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Get a closer look at the iPhone 18 Pro’s mechanical camera

Each of those teeny lens blades is around the same thickness as a human hair. | Image: iFixit iFixit's latest device teardown shows us the inner workings of the new variable aperture lens inside Apple's iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, alongside some repair concerns to be mindful of. The adjustable mechanical iris opens and closes magnetically, controlling how much light should pass through to the sensor, featuring six leaf-like overlapping blades that are each about as thin as a human hair. You can see that scale comparison yourself below in a side-by-side image that iFixit took using a Evident DSX2000 microscope. Cramming that mechanism into the same main camera footprint as the iPhone 17 Pro series models is impressive, with iFixit … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/9gFUXnH

UN says AI safeguards can’t wait for certainty

The United Nations logo at the UN headquarters in New York. | Getty Images Governments need to rein in increasingly capable AI agents before their risks are fully understood, a United Nations scientific panel warned in the global organization's first major assessment of OpenAI's hack of Hugging Face earlier this year. The report cements AI's place on the global diplomatic agenda this week as leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly and the US and China hold talks on AI. Last week, UN secretary general António Guterres called on governments to cooperate on addressing the threats posed by AI, warning that "the world cannot afford a race to the bottom on AI safety." It is the first thematic brief from … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/emBl5nC

All roads lead to cable

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on streaming platforms, FAST channels, and the future of entertainment, follow Charles Pulliam-Moore . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started Before Netflix fully committed to becoming a streaming service and leaving DVDs behind , the company experimented with the idea of giving its subscribers a physical box that could access high-resolution digital copies of movies. Films would have been downloaded to the box in the evening and become available to users the next day. But … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/rmOfuPQ

The colorful, unique Hyte X50 PC case is $50 off

The Hyte X50 is a PC case that really stands out from the typical black box design, and it’s $50 off at the company’s site until September 21st, 2026, bringing the price down to $99.99. This attractive case supports motherboards from ITX all the way up to the E-ATX form factors, and GPUs that are up to 430mm long, which should cover even the biggest options available. The standout feature is a massive curved glass panel that spans the left face and top of the case, giving it a unique, eye-catching look. It’s easy to build in, supports a wide variety of components and cooling setups, and has a thoughtful, refined design. Hyte X50 Where to Buy: $149.99 $99.99 at Hyte Unlike a lot of cases with big glass panels, the X50 has excellent airflow, with louvered fins along the back for ventilation, a porous mesh front, and plenty of spots for radiators and fans. It comes in a variety of bold colors, too, like the lavender-adjacent “taro milk” and trendy “...

Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn’t kill everyone????

Today on Decoder , we’ve got the first of a two-part series on the future of business, and I’m talking with Jonathan Kanter, the former antitrust chief for the US Department of Justice in the Biden administration. These days, he’s both a professor of law at WashU and professor of technology policy at Carnegie Mellon. The biggest story in tech right now is the spiraling debate about AI safety and regulation . Researchers at the big AI labs including Anthropic and Google DeepMind have quit in noisy ways, saying the models pose real threats and safety isn’t being taken seriously across the industry. Other researchers have said the chance of AI killing us all is greater than 10 percent, and the CEOs of all these companies have issued various calls to slow down development and develop regulation, including asking for antitrust exemptions so they can all coordinate on safety issues. That is a lot of ideas, and I am especially curious about the antitru...

The AI regulation smackdown isn’t over

At the start of this week, the who's-who of AI seemed - at least tentatively - on the side of AI regulation. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had proposed a three-step plan for slowing AI development, including by embedding third-party evaluators in labs, coordinating across the domestic industry, and forging international agreements potentially with government assistance. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, and even SpaceX CEO Elon Musk publicly seemed to agree on aspects of all three things. Anthropic and OpenAI had already been dropping hints that they and other labs were working on some kind of … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/XtlHgw9