Top Five Tech

Hands-on with Apple’s first touchscreen MacBook Pro, Kevin Roose and Casey Newton’s new AI podcast, a full workday on iPhone Duo, my new Apple TV dashboard app, and Instagram’s second try at long-form video.

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• Macbook PROLED XDR Impressions: They Said They Wouldn’t! — Marques Brownlee
• The NEW MacBook Pro - First Impressions — Dave2D
• My iPhone Duo Video Playlist
• Inside Anthropic’s IPO + How AI Agents Spy on Your Messages — Machine Gods (01:26)
• The AGI Chronicles — Kevin Roose (Audiobook) (01:45)
• Machine Gods on YouTube
• I Worked for a Whole Day Using Only the iPhone Duo. Here’s How It Went — WIRED (02:12)
• iPhone Duo Apps — beardfm.app
• Lookout: TV Dashboard (02:45)
• Why Instagram Changed Its Mind on Long Form Video — The Colin and Samir Show (04:14)

It’s iPhone Duo week, Apple CEO John Ternus talks foldables with TIME, my return to The Vergecast to discuss vibe-coding apps, a new free iPad app for Apple Home, and an 11-year-old Scott Galloway talk that saw a lot of today coming.

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• Apple CEO John Ternus on the iPhone Duo, Apple Intelligence AI, and Apple’s Next Big Thing — TIME
• iPhone Duo Review: Apple’s First Foldable Is FINALLY Here. Does It Deliver? — Brian Tong
• Why Your Favorite Creator Is Building an App — The Vergecast (01:00)
• iPhone Duo Review: The Future Is Foldable — 9to5Mac (01:25)
• iPhone Duo for Creative Pros — Austin Mann
• HomePad — Elegant Home Control for Your iPad (02:26)
• All My Apps — beardfm.app
• The Four Horsemen: Amazon/Apple/Facebook & Google, Who Wins/Loses — Scott Galloway | DLD15

The best recaps of Apple’s Welcome Home event, Michael Fisher’s iPhone Duo interview, why Anthropic’s new Claude policy if off, an app to "walk" across Canada, and a TED talk asking if AI is turning us all into the same person.

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• Important Details from Apple’s Welcome Home Event — Eric Welander
• All Features of Apple’s New HomeView — The Verge
• Exclusive: The iPhone Duo’s Display, Exposed — MrMobile
• Anthropic Just Banned Being Cruel to Claude. The Reason Should Concern Us All — Inc. (01:44)
• Across Canada — Basic Apple Guy
• TrellisWM — The Fractal Window Manager for Mac
• Is AI Turning Us All Into the Same Person? — Sandra Matz, TED

Kurzgesagt explains how AI models broke containment and hacked Hugging Face, my interview on going independent, three free Mac apps I built this week, a clever iOS 27 Shortcuts launcher, and Alexandr Wang on Meta’s Muse agent.

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• AI Just Became Humanity’s Biggest Threat — Kurzgesagt
• He Left Riverside With No Safety Net — One Year Later, This Happened with Stephen Robles
• Leveler, Transcriber, and Captioner — beardfm.app
• SumClip — The Clipboard That Counts
• Deflector Turns iOS 27 Notification Triggers into a Shortcut Launcher — MacStories
• The Biggest Launch Since ChatGPT (Muse) — Cleo Abram

Craig Federighi goes in-depth on iPhone Duo, Joanna Stern questions Zuckerberg on AI and glasses, Bill Gates's blunt AI warning, Ron Johnson on building the Apple Store, a better Nextdoor, two great free apps, and MKBHD on YouTube's coming video A/B tests.

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• I Asked Craig Federighi Why iPhone Still Can't Swipe Back from the Right — Donald Decodes
• Mark Zuckerberg on Muse, Audio-Only Glasses and Killer AI — Joanna Stern
• Bill Gates's Blunt Warning on A.I. — The Ezra Klein Show (00:43)
• Ron Johnson on Letting the Best Ideas Win — Creative Effort (01:43)
• Roadrunner: Your Neighborhood's Bulletin Board
• The AI Industry Has a Jurassic Park Problem — Inc. (02:55)
• Ensemble: Music Player (03:11)
• Get in Losers, We're Ditching Raycast
• Hyperkey — The Extra macOS Modifier Key
• Dear YouTube! — Marques Brownlee

Tom at Byte Review goes hands-on with the iPhone Duo, a rare look back at Apple's Antennagate Q&A, Jason's warning about Meta's Muse AI, a handy AI prompt app from Parker Ortolani, and why the AI warnings are worth hearing out.

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• I Tried the iPhone Duo. I Get It Now — Byte Review
• Apple iPhone 4 "Antennagate" Q&A — Steve Jobs, Tim Cook & Bob Mansfield
• Inside Star Wars: Two Suns Setting (01:32)
• Inside Jaws (01:50)
• Meta's New Muse AI Agent Read My Private Messages. I Never Asked It To — Inc. (02:10)
• Meta Keeps Apologizing for Muse. Its Explanations Miss the Point Entirely — Inc. (02:30)
• QuillCue — App Store (03:10)
• The AI Warnings Are Getting Louder. Here's What You Need to Know — Apple News Today (03:59)

Tyler Stalman's camera review, a reader-submitted Apple Watch Series 12 heart rate study, 48 hours behind the scenes with MKBHD, Adam Conover on Decoder, Austin Mann's iPhone 18 Pro photos, how Apple Reference Image works, the return of AppZapper, and whether AI is really going to kill us.

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• iPhone 18 Pro: A Photographer's Review — Tyler Stalman
• Apple Watch Series 12 Heart Rate Study: Ranking All Wearables! — The Quantified Scientist
• 48 Hours at the Folding iPhone Event with MKBHD — The Studio
• Adam Conover explains how YouTube ruined everything — Decoder with Nilay Patel (01:21)
• iPhone 18 Pro Camera Review: Dunton, Colorado — Austin Mann
• Apple explains how the iPhone 18 Pro's new Reference Image camera mode works — 9to5Mac (02:10)
• AppZapper 3000
• AI Companies Love to Tell Us How Dangerous Their Products Are. This Time They Mean It — Inc. (03:08)
• Humanoid robot crashes into a wall during a sprint test at the 'Robot Olympics' in Beijing — The Straits Times

A hands-on look at the new iPhone Duo, a photographer's take on iPhone 18 Pro camera, Tim Cook's perfect handoff moment, free iPhone Duo wallpapers, and what it means that your Apple Watch is now always listening.

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• iPhone Duo - Hands-On — SuperSaf
• iPhone 18 Pro & Duo: A Photographer's Reaction — Tyler Stalman
• iPhone Duo Episode - Primary Technology (01:09)
• Tim Cook's Brief Appearance at the iPhone Duo Event Was Apple Stagecraft at Its Best — Inc. (01:46)
• iPhone Duo Wallpaper — Basic Apple Guy
• About Audio Intelligence features on Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 — Apple Support

A 30-minute investigation into how AI slop is killing educational YouTube, the Designed in California podcast from Myke Hurley and Jason Snell, Governor Kathy Hochul on Decoder, my own App Store featured spotlight, and a Shortcut that drops upcoming movies straight into your task manager.

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• The Death of Educational Content on YouTube
• The Origin of Apple — Designed in California (00:48)
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul thinks AI should be 'less evil' — Decoder with Nilay Patel (01:29)
• Stephen Robles' Productivity Picks — App Store (02:03)
• Christina Warren's Productivity Picks — App Store
• Jason Snell's Productivity Picks — App Store
• Quinn Nelson's Productivity Picks — App Store
• Upcoming Popular Movies to Kan Do
• Get the Kan Do App (02:41)
• How I Use iPad Every Day

MKBHD says yes to every wild gadget email again, Robert Downey Jr. and Joe Russo look back at Infinity War and the MCU, Bill Gates on our turbulent AI era, GoldenEye 007 running natively on iPhone, Super Mario 64 on  Vision Pro, and we may have a cancer vaccine.

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• MKBHD Said Yes to Every Email for a Month! (Again)
• EXCLUSIVE: Robert Downey Jr. and Joe Russo Look Back At Infinity War
• The choices we make about AI now are critical — Bill Gates
• GoldenEye 007 Running Natively on iOS and iPadOS — Chris Sotraidis on Threads
• Super Mario 64 VR — r/SuperMario64
• Stash: Fast Add to Clipboard
• How Big of a Deal is this Cancer Vaccine?

The strangely intriguing Minimal Phone 2 on Kickstarter, Ben Smith of Semafor on Decoder, John Gruber on Anthropic's text watermarking, a free app that fixes DMG installs forever, and the AirPods camera leak hiding inside macOS Tahoe.

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• Minimal Phone 2 Looks A Little TOO Good..
• It's about ethics in journalism, with Ben Smith (01:01)
• Traffic by Ben Smith on Apple Books (01:16)
• Anthropic’s ‘Watermark’ Text Adulteration in Claude Is a Perversion of Writing (01:52)
• Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Borges: South America's Titan
• EasyDMG — Automated DMG Installs for macOS
• Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action (03:53)

Mrwhosetheboss on what Google's Pixel 11 event means for Android's future, Colin and Samir on where the AI line is for creators, Casey Newton's take on Zuckerberg's AI manifesto, and the launcher that's better than Spotlight.

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• Send me a message
• Google Pixel 11 Hands on - The Phone Crisis Begins.
• The Cancellation of Hank Green & Why Gen Z Hates Ai (00:30)
• We need to talk about the Hank Green situation
• Superintelligence is a dragon — Platformer
• Raycast
• Everyone was right about Raycast
• How to spot AI writing — The Economist

Cleo Abram's tour of fascinating neutrino detectors, Kurzgesagt's video on why we're trapped in our Solar System, and if you're over 40, you're ready to use AI.

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• The Massive Machine Hidden in the Deep Ocean
• ‎Watch Silo - Show - Apple TV (00:39)
• Why Humanity Will Never Leave The Solar System
• The Puzzle of Grief - Summer Archive (00:55)
• See how Google Earth let people make fake scenes of bombings, riots and destruction (01:27)
• I Built the Task App I've Always Wanted - YouTube
• Kan Do: Project Management App - App Store
• After Years Building a Brand on Authenticity, Hank Green Says He Relied Too Much on ChatGPT (02:46)
• If You’re Over 40, You’re Ready to Use A.I.
• This changed our perspective on AI. Well put @debbiemillman

Andrew Clare tests the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as a primarily iPhone user, history podcasts I can't stop listening to, in-depth fitness tracker testing, two of my favorite apps got big upgrades, and the FCC just banned robots, including vacuums.

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• Testing the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as an iPhone User... No Fluff (00:05)
• World War II with Tom Hanks (00:31)
• The Halifax Explosion (Entry 562.JB0409) — Omnibus (00:48)
• The Wearable Showdown: Oura Ring 5 vs. Fitbit Air vs. Whoop MG vs. Apple Watch — WSJ (01:16)
• AI Broke Containment, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Lineup, Best Fitness Trackers with Lexy Savvides — Primary Technology (01:52)
• Pastebot 3 (02:11)
• Nutrition Tracker: Foodnoms (02:45)
• The US government just banned Roombas — The Verge (03:23)

Ludwig Göransson's incredible Odyssey score, a feature-length breakdown of Nolan's "invisible CGI," World War II podcast with Tom Hanks, a great smart home app, creativity in the age of AI.

• The Odyssey | In Studio: Ludwig Göransson
• The Odyssey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on Apple Music (00:26)
• NOLAN'S CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI ("no CGI" part 6)
• The Beginning (01:11) - WWII with Tom Hanks
• Dr. Jill Lepore on why the AI backlash is vital for the future
• The Odyssey (2026) Review (01:50) - Movies on the Side
• ‘The Odyssey’ Shows Us Just How Big, Bold, and Grown-Up Movies Can Be. Scream for More.
• HomeSnap - Smart Home Insights App - App Store
• The future of creativity on the internet in a world with AI

The 1X NEO robot's incredibly dexterous new hands, Hank Green interviews Helen Hunt on his new podcast, M.G. Siegler on why the new ChatGPT app sort of super sucks, a free Mac utility that tells you what your USB-C cables can really do, plus Facebook Marketplace food reviews and jaw-dropping bird calls.

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https://shortcut.bot/topfive

Movies on the Side
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/movies-on-the-side/id1373518864

Primary Technology
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/primary-technology/id1723943281

Mac Power Users
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mac-power-users/id458066753

1X NEO Hands Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRyXV3csReA

Helen Hunt: When the Universe Betrays You — Humans with Hank Green
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/helen-hunt-when-the-universe-betrays-you/id1896666596?i=1000773262872

The ChatGPT "Super App" Sort of Super Sucks — Spyglass
https://spyglass.org/chatgpt-gets-to-work/

WhatCable
https://www.whatcable.uk/

Gabriel Rivera on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/itsgabrielrivera

Samuel's Bird Calls — TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8GvPGPd/

A behind-the-scenes look at how IMAX projects 70mm film for The Odyssey, the JFK series that got me hooked on The Rest Is History, Derek Seaman's top macOS app picks, and the two apps I'm leaning on to track my media and get a second opinion on my health.

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How IMAX 70MM Film is Projected!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7S_geBV5bLQ&is=RiKJLJadWQUnE57P

Deepister.tech on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/deepister.tech

JFK: Death in Dallas (Part 3) — The Rest Is History
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jfk-death-in-dallas-part-3/id1537788786?i=1000634881247

My Top macOS App Picks (2026 Edition) — Derek Seaman's Tech Blog
https://www.derekseaman.com/2026/07/my-top-macos-app-picks-2026-edition.html

Sequel • Media Tracker
https://www.getsequel.app/

Trackables – Health Tracker
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trackables-health-tracker/id6745567488

Lexy Savvides pits Find My against Google's network, ATP digs into Apple's price increases, the book that reframed how I think about time, John Siracusa's disk-space app, and Holst's Jupiter.

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https://shortcut.bot/topfive

I lost my stuff on purpose. Who found it faster?
https://youtu.be/8DvGX96Obh8?is=IJjz38TkacpQt8gI

The Chart Is Terrifying — Accidental Tech Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/accidental-tech-podcast/id617416468?i=1000774400611

You're Not Ready For These iPhone Shortcuts
https://youtu.be/zUKCL70V-R4

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals — Oliver Burkeman
https://amzn.to/446h9yA

Hyperspace: Reclaim Disk Space — John Siracusa
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hyperspace-reclaim-disk-space/id6739505345?mt=12

Holst: The Planets — Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-planets-suite-jupiter/267986844?i=267987026

Shortcuts Community
https://create.beard.fm/checkout/community?coupon_code=HALFOFF25

First look at the $25,000 Slate EV Truck, why Apple just raised prices across the lineup, a plain-language Mac utility, and what Toy Story 5 says about our screens.

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Affiliate Prime Day Deals
https://geni.us/wN559wu

Shortcuts Community
https://create.beard.fm/checkout/community?coupon_code=HALFOFF25

Spider-Man: Brand New Day – New Trailer (4K)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62bIsvRcPv0

Slate Truck First Look: The $25,000 Modular EV!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0t7wpkFc6U

Can Patreon Fight Fire With Social Media Fire? — Decoder with Nilay Patel
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/can-patreon-fight-fire-with-social-media-fire/id1011668648?i=1000773706490

Apple Explains Why It Raised Prices on These 14 Products Today — MacRumors
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/25/apple-explains-why-it-raised-prices/

Apple Announces Significant Price Increases for MacBooks, iPads, More — 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/25/apple-price-increases-mac-ipad-more/

Substage — A Natural Language Command Bar for Your Finder Windows
https://selkie.design/substage/

Toy Story 5 — Disney Movies
https://movies.disney.com/toy-story-5

A behind-the-scenes look at how Apple builds those immersive visionOS environments, Version History episode on the Harmony remote, how Australia's social media ban is actually playing out, a fun shortcut for yesterday's sports scores, and shake-ups happening in tech journalism.

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How  Vision Pro Immersive Environments Are Made
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIqQSs6R-6Y

Harmony remote: Control freak — Version History
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/harmony-remote-control-freak/id1840983742?i=1000772624848

How Australia's social media ban has affected families six months on — The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/15/how-australia-social-media-ban-has-affected-families-six-months-on

Get Yesterday's Sports Scores
https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/86378520115643f0b0feca437620d2d8

Eater, The Verge and SB Nation Sold to Penske Media — The Hollywood Reporter
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/eater-verge-sbnation-sold-penske-media-1236624828/

The Siri Demo Apple Didn't Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtWNGnPj-kM

The New Siri is Actually Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ3lL68hNK4