Latest / Connecting the Dots / TikTok Deal Framework, Meta’s Smart Glasses Leaks, and iOS 26 Reviews

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TikTok Deal Framework, Meta’s Smart Glasses Leaks, and iOS 26 Reviews · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarful Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome to Connecting the Dots. I'm Alex.
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  And I'm Morgan. It's Tuesday, September 16th,
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  2025, coming to you from Snarful Solutions Group
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  here in Sacramento. And it is definitely warm
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  here in Sacramento today. We're looking at a
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  high... Near 96 degrees. So yeah, that's a sunshine
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  definitely but Looking nationally things are
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  a bit more. Well active weather wise Yeah, it
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  looks like a low -pressure system is heading
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  into the mid Atlantic right bringing rain some
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  gusty winds and even a risk for coastal flooding
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  through midweek But then you've got places like
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  the mid to upper Mississippi Valley the Great
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  Lakes the Northeast They're actually seeing unseasonably
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  warm, even hot temperatures holding through Thursday.
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  So quite the contrast across the country. And,
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  you know, the markets are showing a little bit
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  of that mixed feeling, too. How'd things close
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  yesterday? Well, the Dow Jones finished up, but
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  just barely. Forty five thousand nine hundred
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  and thirty four dollars is zero. That's a gain
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  of only point oh three percent for the day. OK.
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  But the week still looks decent. Yeah. Weekly
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  is still up over one point one percent. The S
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  &P 500, though. dipped slightly down 0 .04 %
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  to 6 ,621 .31. Still holding on to weekly gains
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  there too. Oh yeah, still up almost 1 .9 % for
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  the week, so pretty solid overall. And Bitcoin.
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  Always got to check in on Bitcoin. Right. It
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  closed at 115 ,477 .77. That's up just 0 .06
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  % daily, but the weekly gain is strong, up 3
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  .54%. Wow, okay. Strong week for Bitcoin, then.
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  Perfectly. Now, Some news closer to home for
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  us Northern California folks. Uh oh, I have a
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  bad feeling about this. Don't say it's the Giants.
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  Yeah, sorry. Our San Francisco Giants, they had
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  a rough one against the Diamondbacks yesterday,
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  September 15th. What was the final? A tough 1
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  -8 loss. Zach Gallin pitched really well for
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  Arizona, got the win. Anyone hit well for them.
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  Heroldo Perdomo for Arizona went three for three.
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  Just one of those knives for the Giants. Yeah,
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  tough loss. Okay. Well, we'll get them next time.
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  Got to shake it off. That's the spirit. Okay.
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  right, let's connect some dots now. We've got
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  three key stories from the SNARFL Tech article
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  report, our Morningstar, that really show how
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  tech news impacts, you know, your life, your
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  work, everything. Okay, first up, this has been
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  like the story that just won't end, but maybe,
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  just maybe, we're getting close on the TikTok
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  front. It seems that way. Treasury Secretary
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  Scott Besson announced there's a framework deal
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  reached between the U .S. and China about TikTok.
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  Oh, framework, okay. So not final final yet.
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  Not quite. President Trump and China's President
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  Xi Jinping are apparently scheduled to talk on
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  Friday to finalize the details. And the timing
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  here is key, right? Because that deadline for
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  ByteDance to sell. Exactly. The September 17th
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  deadline for ByteDance, TikTok's parent company,
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  to divest its U .S. business or, well, face a
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  potential shutdown. It was really coming down
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  to the wire. President Trump even mentioned it
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  on Truth Social, didn't he? Something about saving
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  a company young people wanted? He did. Bit cryptic
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  saying a deal was reached on a certain company
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  that young people in our country very much wanted
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  to save He's definitely aware of its popularity.
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  So this framework. What does it mean? US control
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  Besant suggested it could pivot the platform
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  to US controlled ownership But when asked if
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  China would keep a stake Trump apparently said
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  that wasn't decided yet Hmm. So still some unknowns,
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  but this is huge, obviously. Oh, absolutely.
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  And it matters directly to you listening. If
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  you're one of the 170 million TikTok users in
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  the U .S., this framework likely means the app
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  stays available. Which is huge relief, I imagine.
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  Your favorite creators, your videos gone overnight.
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  That would have been disruptive, to say the least.
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  Totally. And think about businesses. So many
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  small businesses creators rely on TikTok for
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  marketing. for actual income. The uncertainty
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  has been a huge headache. So this offers some
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  potential stability for them. Hopefully, yes.
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  And looking bigger picture, this whole saga really
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  highlights the complex tech and trade relationship
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  between the U .S. and China. It's that constant
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  tension, isn't it? National security concerns
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  about data versus the, well, the massive economic
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  and cultural footprint of an app like TikTok.
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  Precisely. And China's lead negotiator, Li Chenggang,
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  made it clear they don't want the U .S. to continue
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  to suppress Chinese companies and will protect
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  their interests. High stakes all around. It really
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  has felt like will they, won't they for so long?
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  Trump extended the deadline, what, three times
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  already? Yep, three times. This deal, if it holds,
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  would likely mean a fourth extension while details
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  are finalized. And that comment from Besant about
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  the deal being between two private parties. Interesting.
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  How much is really decided by the politicians
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  versus the companies? Good question. It's a real
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  tightrope walk. You've got Congress, bipartisan
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  support for divestment on security grounds. But
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  then the reality of the app's immense popularity,
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  especially with younger voters. Yeah, the administration
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  definitely has to weigh that. OK, so from geopolitical
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  drama to... Accidental leaks. Exactly. Let's
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  shift gears to meta. It looks like someone hit
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  the publish button a little too early over there.
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  What happened? They actually posted, and then
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  quickly took down, an unlisted YouTube video
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  revealing their next -gen smart glasses, just
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  days before their big Connect conference. Oh,
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  wow. Talk about spoiling your own announcement.
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  So what did the leaks show? Two major new products.
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  First, the Metare band display glasses. These
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  actually have a heads -up display, a HUD in the
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  right lens. A HUD. OK, that's cool, like projecting
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  info. Seems like it. And the control method sounds
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  wild. Yeah. It uses a wristband with something
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  called SEMG technology. SEMG? What's that? Surface
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  Electromyography. Basically, it reads tiny electrical
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  signals from your hand and finger muscle movements.
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  So you could, like, write a reply just by gesturing.
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  Whoa. OK, that sounds very sci -fi. Riding in
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  the air. My inner geek is excited. That confirms
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  those hypernova rumors then. That's like it,
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  yeah. Then there's the second pair. The Oakley
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  Metasphere glasses. Oakley! So aimed at sports.
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  Exactly. Designed for athletes. The big feature
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  here is a camera centered right on the nose bridge.
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  Oh, that makes sense for first person video.
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  Better than a camera on the side. Right. Perfect
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  for capturing skiing, running, whatever. These
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  probably don't have the display like the Ray
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  -Bans, but we'll have the cameras, speakers,
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  mics. So why does this leak matter to, you know,
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  us regular folks? Well, it's a big step in Meta's
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  whole strategy. They really want to make AI powered
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  glasses a mainstream thing. Moving AI off your
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  phone and onto your face, basically. Hands -free
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  AI notifications, maybe maps right in your view.
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  I can see the appeal. Definitely. And for athletes,
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  getting that perfect first -person shot without
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  messing with a phone or another camera, that's
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  a big deal. Being in the moment, but still capturing
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  it. What about the price? Weren't these rumored
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  to be super expensive? They were. Rumor said
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  maybe $1 ,400 for the Ray -Ban displays, but
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  the leak suggests they might start around $800.
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  $800? Still not cheap, but way more accessible
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  than $1 ,400. Exactly. It looks like an aggressive
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  move by Metta to really push adoption. Zuckerberg
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  even said people not using AI glasses could eventually
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  be at a cognitive disadvantage. Wow, cognitive
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  disadvantage? That's bold. He's really betting
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  big on this. He absolutely is. But of course,
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  this brings up the P word. Privacy. Always. More
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  cameras on faces. Yep, raises huge questions.
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  Meta says they're focusing on on -device AI,
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  processing data locally for privacy, but past
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  history with things like facial recognition experiments
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  makes people wary. Sure, and competitors are
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  offering things like removable cameras, right,
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  for more user control. They are. Meta CTO, Andrew
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  Bosworth, basically said, look, if people don't
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  want this, we don't have to make it, acknowledging
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  the concern, but the push is definitely on. You
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  have to wonder, was that leak really accidental?
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  or just brilliant marketing to build hype for
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  Kinect. Huh? Wouldn't put it past them. Remember
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  the first Ray -Ban Smart Glasses? They didn't
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  exactly set the world on fire. Not really, no.
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  These sound like a massive upgrade, though. A
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  serious upgrade. Yeah. And those Oakleys for
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  athletes? I can see those being really popular
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  for capturing action shots from your own point
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  of view. Definitely. OK, from Meta's future glasses
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  to Apple's present software, let's talk iOS 26.
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  Right, the new iPhone operating system is out.
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  And it's a mix, as usual. Some really cool new
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  stuff, some things that feel maybe not quite
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  finished. I installed it right away. And visually,
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  the big thing is that liquid glass look. Describe
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  that. What's it like? Everything's kind of translucent,
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  menus and stuff, and they have these little squishing,
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  wiggling animations. It looks slick. I know some
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  people didn't love it in beta. Yeah, it was a
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  bit divisive. Apple apparently tweaked it for
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  better legibility. They did. I think it looks
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  good now, but honestly. My absolute favorite
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  feature, maybe in the whole update, call screening.
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  Oh yeah, that one's huge. Explain how it works.
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  Okay, so if you get a call from a number not
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  in your contacts, you get options. You can tap
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  Ask Reason for Calling. And the phone asks for
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  you. Yeah. And it transcribes what the caller
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  says right on your screen in real time. So you
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  can see why they're calling before you decide
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  to pick up. That's brilliant for dodging spam.
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  Or just calls you don't want to take right then.
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  Totally. Or you can just hit silence for all
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  unsaved numbers and they go straight to voicemail
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  without ringing. The peace. That's amazing. Finally,
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  a real weapon against spam calls. What else is
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  good? quality of life stuff. You can finally,
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  finally change the alarm snooze lengths from
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  1 to 15 minutes. No more being stuck with that
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  weird 9 minutes. Uh -huh. That 9 minute default
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  was bizarre. About time. Right. And you get charging
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  time estimates on the lock screen now, plus some
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  adaptive power things for gaming. Small things,
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  but nice. And these things really matter for
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  just, you know, your daily experience. Call screening
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  saves time, saves annoyance. That adjustable
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  snooze makes mornings just a bit better. Exactly.
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  And the liquid glass look, it changes how your
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  phone feels to use. It's an aesthetic thing,
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  sure. But if you don't like that translucent
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  look? Apple thought of that. In accessibility
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  settings, you can reduce transparency or increase
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  contrast to make things more opaque. Smart. Good
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  to have options. But you mentioned some parts
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  feel unfinished. Yeah, the new games app, for
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  instance. It's meant to be a hub, but it feels
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  half -baked. How so? Well, you still can't delete
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  old games from your library. Even ones that don't
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  work anymore in iOS 26. They just sit there.
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  Oh, that's annoying. Like, digital plutter you
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  can't get rid of? Exactly. I have Crazy Taxi
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  in there. Love that game. Can't play it, can't
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  remove it. Drives me nuts. And you can't see
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  which friends play which games, and it doesn't
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  link up with Steam or anything. Hmm. Yeah, sounds
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  like it needs more work to be a... proper gaming
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  hub anything else feel incomplete visual intelligence
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  it's supposed to let you grab info from photos
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  like add an event to your calendar from a flyer
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  screenshot okay that sounds useful it is when
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  it works right but if there are multiple event
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  listings in the photo it often just grabs the
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  first one or gets the details wrong so you end
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  up having to manually edit it anyway kind of
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  defeats the purpose of the smart feature then
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  right So yeah, some great stuff like call screening,
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  but other areas like the games app and parts
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  of visual intelligence, they still need some
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  polishing. But hey, there are other fun bits
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  too, right? Like the new icon options, tinted
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  or clear. Oh yeah, those are cool. And spatial
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  scenes for 3D photos, upgraded genmoji where
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  you can mash up existing emojis, that's pretty
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  fun to mess with. So a solid update overall,
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  but with some room for improvement, which is...
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  Pretty typical for a .0 release. Exactly. And
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  hey, even the small wins, like the snooze button,
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  sometimes those make the biggest difference day
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  to day, really helping connect those dots in
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  our digital routines. Absolutely. OK, before
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• 13:08
  So let's quickly recap the big three today. First,
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  that TikTok framework deal. A huge potential
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  step towards resolving the standoff, bringing
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  relief to users and businesses, but still navigating
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  those tricky U .S.-China dynamics. Then we had
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  Meta's accidental reveal of their next -gen smart
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  glasses, the Ray -Ban display with the HUD and
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  that cool wristband control, plus the athlete
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  -focused Oakley Sphere, pushing wearable AI forward,
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  but definitely kicking up the privacy conversation
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  again. And finally, iOS 26. Lots to like. especially
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  the amazing call screening feature in the new
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  liquid glass look, even if some parts like the
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  games app feel like they need a bit more time
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  in the oven. Practical upgrades alongside some
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  works in progress. We're here to help at Snarful,
• 13:49
  so reach out on our website if you have any more
• 13:51
  questions. That's a wrap on today's top stories.
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  Remember, tech doesn't have to be complicated
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  and we're here to help connect the dots. If you've
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  got questions or want to learn more, visit us
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  at snarful .com. Thanks for listening and we'll
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  catch you next time.