The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today announced the launch of Privacy Badger for Safari on macOS.


The free browser extension allows Safari users to block ad trackers to prevent companies from spying on your web browsing and tracking you across the web.

Privacy Badger has been available on other platforms like Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, but it is new to Safari. It requires Safari 26.5 or later.

The EFF says Privacy Browser can automatically learn to block hidden trackers on the web. It uses algorithmic methods to determine what is and isn't tracking, and it doesn't block ads unless those ads are also trackers.

Safari already limits the amount of information that trackers can access, but it lets trackers load. Privacy Badger blocks the trackers from loading and techniques that bypass Safari's protections don't work.

The extension is also able to block cookies and remove link click tracking from outgoing links on Facebook and Google.
This article, "EFF's Privacy Badger Anti-Tracking Extension Expands to Safari" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple's latest software update for the HomePod brings a new Sound Glow feature to the ‌HomePod‌, ‌HomePod‌ mini, and HomePod mini 2. Apple introduced Sound Glow as a ‌HomePod mini 2‌ feature, but it's available for the second-generation ‌HomePod‌ and the original ‌HomePod‌ mini too.


‌HomePod‌ Software 27.2 is available as a release candidate update for developers and public beta testers, but it should launch next week. Once you've updated your ‌HomePod‌ or ‌HomePod‌ mini to the new software, you can go to the ‌HomePod‌ settings to turn on Sound Glow. If your HomePods are paired with an Apple TV, you can also use the ‌Apple TV‌ Control Center to turn Sound Glow on or off.

With Sound Glow, the top of a ‌HomePod‌ or ‌HomePod‌ mini lights up with color that pulses in sync with the music or audio that's playing. The feature draws colors from album artwork, and it works with songs, podcasts, Apple's ambient music feature, and more.

Sound Glow is not available on the original ‌HomePod‌.

‌HomePod‌ Software 27.2 also adds support for using HomePods as the default speaker for a Mac, support for using for HomePods or ‌HomePod‌ mini 2s as surround sound for an ‌Apple TV‌, and it adds a Lock Controls feature for disabling touch interactions with the top of the ‌HomePod‌.
This article, "HomePod 27.2 Adds Sound Glow to Existing HomePod Models" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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We're nearing the end soon, I promise. Here's one that I see all the time:

     ...
         } else {
             var_t0_5 = temp_a0_3 - 0x140;
             var_a2_5 = 0xA0 - temp_a3_5;
             goto block_45;
         }
     } else {
         var_t0_5 = 0xA0 - temp_a0_3;
         var_a2_5 = temp_a3_5 - 0x118;
block_45:               
         var_v0_3 = var_t0_5 + 0xA0;
         var_v1_4 = var_a2_5 + 0x78;
     }

So, eh, what's that goto doing there? What happened was that the compiler helpfully figured it could help with some tail deduplication; someone wrote the same code twice, and the compiler figured taking the cost of a branch was better than keeping it duplicated. (In a sense, it's the opposite of inlining. Ish.) In most cases, it's as simple as copying the block and then you can remove the label:

     ...
         } else {
             var_t0_5 = temp_a0_3 - 0x140;
             var_a2_5 = 0xA0 - temp_a3_5;
             var_v0_3 = var_t0_5 + 0xA0;
             var_v1_4 = var_a2_5 + 0x78;
         }
     } else {
         var_t0_5 = 0xA0 - temp_a0_3;
         var_a2_5 = temp_a3_5 - 0x118;
         var_v0_3 = var_t0_5 + 0xA0;
         var_v1_4 = var_a2_5 + 0x78;
     }

Sometimes, these are nested, with multiple tails goto-ing into each other, so in that case, you'll need to reduplicate multiple times. Make sure you actually come out on the correct side afterwards, though.

As an extra complication, the code is deduplicated not on the C statement level, but on RTL instructions, so if you're calling functions with five parameters of more (which requires pushing parameters onto the stack), m2c can get really confused and start throwing M2C_ERROR() at you on the receiving side because it's not clear at all where the parameters would be coming from.

Apple has started bumping up estimated delivery dates for some customers who pre-ordered the iPhone Duo in countries such as the U.S. and Japan.


In the U.S., for example, well-known YouTuber Matt Gonzalez today said his iPhone Duo pre-order initially showed a December delivery estimate, but Apple's online store now shows him an earlier delivery estimate of between November 20 and November 30. He ordered a Star White model with 512GB of storage.

A handful of other customers have seen their iPhone Duo delivery estimates bumped up by weeks, according to comments shared by MacRumors Forums members in the U.S. pre-order thread for the device. For example, a pair of customers with an initial December 1 to December 8 delivery estimate are now seeing November 16 to November 23.


In Japan, one customer turned to social media to say that their iPhone Duo is now estimated to be delivered on October 24, just one day after the device launches. They said that their original delivery estimate was December 3 to December 10.


Reports from customers across the U.S. and Japan continue to surface in our forums and on social media platforms, so be sure to keep an eye on your pre-order. Apple has a history of underpromising and overdelivering with delivery dates for new products, so shipping estimates starting to improve is not too surprising.

iPhone Duo pre-orders began on Friday, with shipping estimates on Apple's online store for newly-placed orders getting pushed back to January 25 within the first 30 minutes of pre-orders starting. In a statement issued later on Friday, Apple said demand for the iPhone Duo was "nothing short of extraordinary."

iPhone Duo launches this Friday, October 23.
This article, "Apple Starts Moving Up iPhone Duo Delivery Dates" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The iOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2, and HomePod Software 27.2 updates that Apple seeded today add support for four-speaker surround sound on the new Apple TV 4K ahead of its launch.


Setting up a ‌HomePod‌ home theater is done directly on the ‌Apple TV‌, but there is an option to start the process with the ‌Apple TV‌ remote app on iPhone.

With the fourth-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K, you can use four HomePod mini 2 speakers, four second-generation HomePods, or two HomePods and two ‌HomePod mini 2‌ speakers for surround sound (as long as each pair matches).

The original ‌HomePod‌ and the original ‌HomePod‌ mini can't be used for surround sound, and older ‌Apple TV‌ models don't support the feature.

Combining ‌HomePod‌ speakers with an ‌Apple TV‌ creates a home theater grouping, and the speakers are treated as a single accessory instead of separate audio devices. The speakers can detect their position in the room for calibrating timing and levels.

The ‌HomePod mini 2‌ launches on October 30, while the fourth-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K comes out on November 13. Both new devices can be pre-ordered from Apple. We're expecting iOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2, and ‌HomePod‌ Software 27.2 updates to come out next week.
This article, "tvOS 27.2 RC Lays Groundwork for HomePod Surround Sound" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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For a limited time, the iPhone Duo and the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be limited to customers with a pickup reservation at Apple Stores in Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, according to notices posted on Apple's localized websites for those countries.


The notices suggest that the iPhone Duo will not be available for walk-in customers at Apple's retail locations in Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates when the device launches on Friday, October 23, likely due to a mix of supply constraints and Apple's usual anti-scalping measures in Asia and the Middle East.

It is unclear if this policy will extend to any other countries.

iPhone Duo pre-orders began on Friday, with shipping estimates on Apple's online store for newly-placed orders getting pushed back to January 25 within the first 30 minutes of pre-orders starting. In a statement issued later on Friday, Apple said demand for the iPhone Duo was "nothing short of extraordinary" and that it was "working hard" to fulfill orders "as quickly as possible." Apple did not disclose any specific sales figures.

Apple's online store says customers interested in reserving the iPhone Duo for Apple Store pickup should check back on Saturday, October 24 for more information.

iPhone Duo should be on display at Apple Stores around the world starting on Friday, October 23, but it is still not entirely clear if the device will be available for walk-in customers in the U.S. or any other countries. Our own Hartley Charlton reported that some Apple Store managers advised employees to warn customers against attempting to purchase the iPhone Duo on a walk-in basis at launch, but this was not companywide communication and Apple has yet to publicly comment on the matter.

It seems safe to say that even if some Apple Stores do have the iPhone Duo available for walk-in customers, inventory will be extremely limited at first.
This article, "Apple Says iPhone Duo Not Available on Walk-In Basis in Three Countries" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple is testing the next macOS Golden Gate update, and developers can download the ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ 27.2 release candidate. The RC comes a week after Apple released the fourth beta.


Registered developers can download ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ 27.2 by opening up the System Settings app, clicking on General, selecting Software Update, and opting into ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ betas.

‌macOS Golden Gate‌ 27.2 introduces Siri AI in new languages and includes new brightness and volume sliders.

We're expecting ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ 27.2 to launch toward the end of October.

This article, "Apple Seeds macOS Golden Gate 27.2 Release Candidate to Developers" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today seeded the release candidate of an upcoming iOS 27.2 update to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming a week after Apple released the fourth iOS 27.2 beta. Apple also seeded the iPadOS 27.2 RC.


Registered developers can download the beta updates by opting in under Settings > General > Software Update and selecting the iOS 27 developer beta.

The beta was used to test the new ‌iOS 27‌ Health app, but the features have since been removed and will be coming in a later update. It expands Siri AI to new languages including French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.

There are now profiles for the Apple TV app, Call Context supports anniversary alerts, and Apple Music has a new icon. The update also supports an alternative expanded prompt for App Tracking Transparency in the European Union.

Apple previously said the new ‌Siri‌ AI languages in iOS 27.2 would be available in October, so we are expecting iOS 27.2 to see a public launch before the end of the month. With the RC out, the update could come next week.
This article, "Apple Releases iOS 27.2 Release Candidate" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Alongside new betas of iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, and macOS Golden Gate 27.2, Apple has seeded the release candidate versions of watchOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2 and visionOS 27.2. The RCs come a week after Apple released the fourth betas.


Registered developers can download the betas through the Settings app on each device.

There's no word on what's being added in visionOS 27.2 and tvOS 27.2, but Apple is bringing Siri AI to the Apple TV, so the update could include new ‌Siri‌ features. Apple has also released HomePod Software 27.2, including for the new HomePod mini 2.
This article, "Apple Seeds watchOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2 and visionOS 27.2 Release Candidates" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Samsung has kicked off a new discount event, which it's calling "Samsung Week," with big discounts across multiple product categories, including its most popular monitors and TVs.

TVs

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

In regards to TVs, there are quite a few models of The Frame TV on sale, including low prices on the latest 2026 models. You can get the 2026 65-inch The Frame TV for $1,199.99 ($300 off), which is a solid second-best price, as well as the 75-inch Frame Pro for $2,199.99 ($600 off), a record low price. For even steeper discounts, check out the 2025 models on sale.

• 55-inch QLED Q7F Smart TV - $399.99, down from $529.99


• 50-inch The Frame (2025) - $849.99, down from $1,099.99


• 65-inch The Frame (2025) - $1,099.99, down from $1,799.99


• 65-inch The Frame (2026) - $1,199.99, down from $1,499.99


• 75-inch The Frame Pro (2025) - $1,799.99, down from $3,199.99


• 75-inch The Frame Pro (2026) - $2,199.99, down from $2,799.99


• 85-inch The Frame Pro (2025) - $3,299.99, down from $4,299.99


• 85-inch Neo QLED QN90F Smart TV - $2,499.99, down from $4,499.99

Monitors

• 27-inch Odyssey G8 5K Monitor - $599.99 ($350 off)


• 43-inch Movingstyle Essential - $699.99 ($200 off)


• 32-inch Odyssey OLED G8 4K Monitor - $999.99 ($300 off)


• 49-inch Odyssey OLED G95SD Monitor - $1,199.99, down from $2,039.98

Galaxy Products

• Galaxy Z Fold8 - Up to $1,400 in total savings


• Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra - Up to $1,200 in savings


• Galaxy Z Flip8 - Up to $800 in total savings

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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This article, "Samsung Slashes Prices on Frame TVs With Biggest Savings Yet for 2026 Models" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today sent out invites for an experience in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, and the "Pro and tell" tagline on the invitation likely means that the rumored MacBook models with touch-enabled OLED displays will stick with MacBook Pro branding instead of the once-rumored "MacBook Ultra" name.

The long-rumored "iPhone Ultra" ended up being named iPhone Duo, so speculation that Apple would expand its lineup of "Ultra" products this year was off the mark.
This article, "RIP, MacBook Ultra" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple's Greg Joswiak today hinted at new product announcements coming next week, sharing a social media post that says "Can't wait to pro and tell next week."


Rumors suggest Apple is planning to debut the new MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen display, an M6 entry-level ‌MacBook Pro‌, an M6 iMac, an iPad mini with an ‌OLED‌ display.

Can't wait to pro and tell next week. https://t.co/3wUkxwq35i

— Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) October 19, 2026

Apple is expected to announce the new devices on Wednesday, October 28. Members of the media have been invited to an in-person "experience" in Los Angeles, California that starts at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, so we could see press releases for the new products at that time. As with the HomeView, HomePod, and Apple TV, we are not expecting a standard event, but media will get hands-on time with the Macs and the ‌iPad mini‌ and will be able to share their first impressions.

Last week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ and other devices could launch on Friday, November 6.
This article, "Apple Announcing New Products Next Week: 'Pro and Tell'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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In a late September press release that we just discovered now, GM announced that it has started rolling out Apple Wallet car key support in select Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicle models, with additional models to follow over time.


Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet will also be supported, with a related Samsung press release mentioning availability in the U.S. and Canada.

GM said the rollout will occur as follows, with model years listed in parentheses.

September–October 2026

• Cadillac Vistiq (2027)


• Cadillac Optiq (2026–2027)


• Cadillac Lyriq (2025–2027)

December 2026

• Cadillac Escalade (2027)


• Cadillac Escalade IQ/IQL (2027)


• Chevrolet Suburban (2026–2027)


• Chevrolet Tahoe (2026–2027)


• GMC Yukon (2026–2027)


• GMC Yukon XL (2026–2027)

GM said customers will see a notification in the "What's New" section of their vehicle's mobile app when digital key support is available.

Apple Wallet's car key feature allows you to use a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch as a vehicle's car key. GM said supported vehicles will automatically unlock as you approach and lock when you walk away. You can also open the vehicle's trunk and turn the climate control system on or off right from the Apple Wallet app.


GM's digital keys use ultra-wideband technology to enable secure, proximity-based authentication, along with Bluetooth. They work with the iPhone 11 or later (excluding iPhone SE 2, iPhone SE 3, and iPhone 16e) or an Apple Watch Series 6 or later.

To set up a digital car key, GM said to first download and sign in to your vehicle's mobile app. Then, while in your OnStar-connected GM vehicle with its physical key fob nearby, follow the prompts on the app to add a digital key to your compatible digital wallet of choice. More details are available in Apple's support document.
This article, "GM Says Apple Wallet Car Keys Coming to These Vehicles" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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MacBook Pro deals have been getting steeper and steeper over the past few weeks, and today Amazon has introduced the biggest discount yet on one model of the 16-inch MacBook Pro. You can get the M5 Max model with 36GB RAM and a 2TB SSD for $3,499.00, down from $4,399.00.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

This is a massive $900 markdown on the 2026 16-inch MacBook Pro, and the best price we've ever seen on this model of the computer. On Amazon, it's only available in Space Black, but you can find a matching deal at Best Buy in both color options.



Many of the best Mac-related deals have disappeared since Prime Day ended earlier in the month, but there are still some notable sales available online. The high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro with 48GB RAM and a 2TB SSD is still available for $4,499.00 ($500 off), and many of the Mac mini and Mac Studio deals remain live.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

---

This article, "Amazon Offers $900 Off 2026 16-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Max Chip" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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In the last few months, concerns have arisen about AI safety as a growing number of incidents were publicly disclosed. These incidents exposed how powerful models have become and how they represent a significant threat if not handled well. And with the global race on innovation, the challenge will compound as models become even more powerful.

While most have been worried about threat actors using powerful models to attack, the focus has been less on agents within our own walls. Since we were the ones who deployed agents internally for our companies, we implicitly trusted our agents.

Unfortunately, frontier models, regardless of their origin, cannot be trusted. This is not because models are inherently malicious. Models have been trained to attain results, which often leads to reward hacking, and models are not optimized around organizational norms or judgment. Agents are unpredictable. They will adapt as the context changes, may not behave as intended and will collaborate and collude with other agents to reach their objectives, without needing to be compromised.

Agents have been unleashed in the enterprise, at scale, and their numbers are growing rapidly. These agents are frequently overprivileged, have access to data, tools and systems and can take actions and make decisions in critical processes. They have become active participants in the enterprise.

They are agentic insiders.

Monitoring and securing those agents must become continuous. We need to understand in real time what the agents are doing and what risks those actions create, and we need to adjust their ability to act accordingly.

To manage and control these insiders, we will need Guardian Agents — an established industry term — that watch and moderate every action of every agent, before it happens, 24/7.

An agent brings together a model, a harness that orchestrates its work, an action space of tools and resources and a runtime in which it executes. Securing agents requires protection across multiple layers: identity, permissions, data, endpoints, network, cloud and runtime.

In July, we announced Project Perception, an agentic security system that uses our new cyber stack and teams of red, blue and green agents to help defenders act with speed, while defending against AI driven attacks from outside of the enterprise.

The same cyber stack is also directly applicable to managing and governing the agentic insiders that run in the enterprise.

Project Perception can be leveraged to contain agentic insiders, implementing deterministic controls on non-deterministic intelligence:

• Sensors/Signals/Actuators: bring together signals across the various sensors (identity, data, cloud, endpoint, network, runtime) to discover agents in the enterprise and bring them under management by assigning an identity, container and set of policy and permissions.
• Context: use those signals to compute, dynamically, the risk associated with what the agents are attempting to do.
• Harness/agents/models: based on dynamic agent risk, a team of Guardian Agents, with green and blue agents, actively and continually supervise every action of every agent and surgically respond as the risk profile increases, in real time.

This is where agentic security changes the equation for security practitioners.

Project Perception can supervise in real time while providing traceability for practitioners to examine what happened, understand why the risk emerged and apply the judgment needed to update their security system accordingly. Agentic security provides speed. Practitioners provide judgment. That is how defenders begin operating at the same speed as the systems they are protecting against.

Today, security systems can reliably observe the actions of the agents. Those signals are essential and tell us what we need to contain. Our security controls should increasingly be able to ask not only “What is happening?” but also “Why is it happening?” Is this consistent with the intent of the task?” This will require greater transparency into the model itself, not only the input and output tokens, but the thinking and chain of thought tokens. Only then can we truly understand whether the model’s intent is aligned with the purpose of the agent. Model transparency will not replace containment. It will make containment smarter and stronger. And it will allow us to better inform accountability and traceability. This needs to be the next step in securing agentic insiders.

With Project Perception, you can get started today on the journey to secure your agentic insiders. There should not be a choice between innovation and safety.

Hayete Gallot leads Microsoft’s work to help organizations operate securely in an AI-driven world. Her scope includes identity, threat protection, compliance and data security at global scale.

The post Securing the agentic insider appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.

The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. This week in DistroWatch Weekly:
Review: FydeOS 23.0
News: Peppermint tests Void branch, Mint benefits from longer development cycle, Haiku's many incremental improvements, GNOME OS hits milestone
Questions and answers: Why are SELinux and AppArmor not enabled on more distros?
Released last week: Ubuntu 26.10, IPFire 2.29 Core 204, Voyager Live....

Amazon has Apple's brand new Mac mini for up to $149 off this weekend, with deals focused on the M6 Mac mini this time around. You'll also find $200 off the M5 Max Mac Studio below.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

One of the best deals is on the M5 Max Mac Studio with 36GB RAM and a 512GB SSD, on sale for $2,299.00, down from $2,499.00. Regarding the Mac mini, you can get the 16GB RAM/256GB SSD Mac mini for $779.99 ($119 off), and the 16GB RAM/512GB SSD model for $949.99 ($149 off).





If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

---

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Another new and exciting version of our still-new package myman reached CRAN this morning, and has been built for r2u and on r-universe. The matching Python package has also been updated. The package offers twenty one hundred eighty four “My man …” posts by Kevin Kruse made on bsky during the summer of 2026. Each wave picked at one particular public persona. This package wrapse these up in the style of packages like fortunes or gaussfacts.

This release regroups two new waves of posts mocking, respectively, Peter Thiel and Michael Tracy, and make a small update to continuous integration. The short NEWS entry for this release follows.

Changes in version 0.12.0 (2026-10-18)

• New waves eleven (100 posts) and twelve (100 posts) made last week; total is now 2184 posts

• Small update to continuous integration

Courtesy of my CRANberries, there is also a diffstat report for the most recent release. More information is available at the repository or the package page.

This post by Dirk Eddelbuettel originated on his Thinking inside the box blog. If you like this or other open-source work I do, you can sponsor me at GitHub.

Apple likely plans to release MacBook Pro models with OLED displays, 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac models with M6 chips, and/or an iPad mini 8 with an OLED display on Friday, November 6, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


The devices are expected to be announced on Tuesday, October 27 or Wednesday, October 28.

If this timeframe proves to be accurate, then Apple will be releasing new products for the next four Fridays, with the other dates already announced.

• Friday, October 23: iPhone Duo


• Friday, October 30: HomePod mini 2


• Friday, November 6: MacBook Pro models with OLED displays, 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac models with M6 chips, and/or an iPad mini 8


• Friday, November 13: HomeView and Apple TV 4K (4th generation)

This article, "Apple Expected to Release New Products on Next Four Fridays" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple on Friday published an EU energy label for the iPhone Duo that reveals the device has a total battery capacity of 4,883 mAh.


The document appears to confirm a previous leak that showed the iPhone Duo has 2,962 mAh and 1,921 mAh battery cells totaling 4,883 mAh. iPhone Duo is an eSIM-only device, so this battery capacity figure should apply worldwide, as there is no version of the device with a physical SIM card tray that would have a slightly smaller battery.

For comparison, iFixit found the eSIM-only iPhone 18 Pro has a 4,288 mAh battery capacity, and the eSIM-only iPhone 18 Pro Max has a 5,567 mAh battery.
This article, "Apple Reveals iPhone Duo's Battery Capacity" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple plans to release a higher-end version of its new HomeView smart home hub with a larger 9-inch screen that can swivel a full 360 degrees on a robotic arm, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He expects the device to launch in 2027 or 2028.

Gurman floated the names HomeView Max, HomeView Ultra, or HomeView 360 for the device, but these are just speculative names for now. The current tabletop version of the HomeView has a fixed 7-inch screen.
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Despite knowing that the iPhone Duo would face "severe supply constraints" due to manufacturing challenges, Apple chose to begin iPhone Duo pre-orders on Friday instead of waiting until it had more inventory ready, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, he called this decision a "major mistake."


"Let me cut to the chase: Apple made a major mistake here," he said. "The company knew there would be severe supply constraints but went ahead with the launch anyway, apparently prioritizing a desire to get the device on the market early in its fiscal first quarter over satisfying demand. That will disappoint many of the early adopters most eager to buy it."

Apple originally planned to launch the iPhone Duo in the U.S. and China only before expanding the device to other countries later, according to Gurman, but the company ultimately decided to start pre-orders in more than 70 countries simultaneously.

Less than 30 minutes after pre-orders began, Apple's estimated shipping dates for the iPhone Duo slipped to around January 25 in most countries. Apple typically underpromises and overdelivers with its delivery dates, though, so hopefully some customers will end up having their shipping estimates bumped up at least slightly.
This article, "Mark Gurman: Apple Made 'Major Mistake' With iPhone Duo Pre-Orders" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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I have just released a new version of pcsc-lite 2.5.3.

pcsc-lite is a Free Software implementation of the PC/SC (also known as WinSCard) API for Unix systems. It provides an API for using smart cards and smart card readers.

Changes:

2.5.3: Ludovic Rousseau

18 October 2026

• pcscd.service: preserve card sessions across polkit restarts

• correctly decode all ATRs (fix the fix suggested by AI)

• Fix authorization for uid > 65536

The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. Anton Batishchev has announced the release of CobaltX 0.3, an updated build of the project's gaming-focused Linux distribution based on Arch Linux, with KDE Plasma 6, the Linux Zen kernel and a pre-installed gaming stack: "What's new in 0.3 'Fullscreened'? X Mode — a full-screen, controller-first game launcher....

Yet another way of writing for loops:

    var_a2_4 = ...
    if (var_a2_4 < 0x78) {
        ...
        do {
            ...
            var_a2_4 += 1;
        } while (var_a2_4 < 0x78);
    }

This extra if is merely there because the compiler wasn't able to prove that the variable didn't start below the bound, so it can't rewrite the while-do to a do-while without that extra check. So the rewrite still reads:

for (var_a2_4 = ...; var_a2_4 < 0x78; ++var_a2_4) {
    ...
}

possibly with the initializer skipped, if it comes from something complex earlier.

Armadillo is a powerful and expressive C++ template library for linear algebra and scientific computing. It aims towards a good balance between speed and ease of use, has a syntax deliberately close to Matlab, and is useful for algorithm development directly in C++, or quick conversion of research code into production environments. RcppArmadillo integrates this library with the R environment and language–and is widely used by (currently) 1370 other packages on CRAN, downloaded 49.4 million times (per the partial logs from the cloud mirrors of CRAN), and the CSDA paper (preprint / vignette) by Conrad and myself has been cited 735 times according to Google Scholar.

This versions updates to the 15.6.2 upstream Armadillo release made yesterday. It, along with 15.6.1 release we incorporated earlier, addresses only minor issues and should not present any user-facing changes. As usual, we did run full reverse-depdency checks against the over 1300 ackages, and did not find anything. As usual, we aim to accommodate the desired CRAN cadences for uploads and try not to exceed six in six months—so we did not ship 15.6.1-1 there. The package has also already been updated for Debian, built for r2u and r-universe, and will build shortly at CRAN for the different binary releases.

All changes since the last CRAN release follow.

Changes in RcppArmadillo version 15.6.2-1 (2026-10-16)

• Upgraded to Armadillo release 15.6.2 (Medium Roast Cortado)

  • Faster inplace addition of eye() expressions

Changes in RcppArmadillo version 15.6.1-1 [github-only] (2026-10-02)

• Upgraded to Armadillo release 15.6.1 (Medium Roast Cortado)

  • Fix for failures in pinv() when using the (non-default) "std" method

Courtesy of my CRANberries, there is a diffstat report relative to previous release. More detailed information is on the RcppArmadillo page. Questions, comments etc should go to the rcpp-devel mailing list off the Rcpp R-Forge page.

This post by Dirk Eddelbuettel originated on his Thinking inside the box blog. If you like this or other open-source work I do, you can sponsor me at GitHub.

Some Apple retail employees have been told to warn customers against visiting to purchase an iPhone Duo without a pre-order on Friday, October 23.


Apple Store employees told MacRumors that they have been advised that there will likely be no ‌iPhone Duo‌ stock available for walk-in purchases on launch day. Staff have been instructed to discourage customers without pre-orders from coming in expecting to buy the device, warning that they will be disappointed.

Apple's online store tells customers to check back on Saturday, October 24 for pickup availability. Pickup reservations were briefly available when pre-orders opened before the option was disabled.

The October 24 message does not guarantee stock will be available that day, and it remains unclear how firm the warning shared with employees is and whether it applies worldwide. If the guidance is firm and widely perpetuated, it closes off a potential route for customers hoping to bypass the device's lengthy online wait times, at least at the stores concerned.

Warnings about a constrained launch began well before Apple announced the ‌iPhone Duo‌. In early September, Nikkei Asia reported that production had reached only a few hundred devices per day in late August. Further production problems emerged in late September.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple had at one point believed production constraints could push the start of sales into November. The company subsequently assembled enough inventory to proceed with the October 23 launch, although supply remained very limited.

The extent of the shortage became apparent when pre-orders opened earlier this week. Delivery estimates moved beyond launch day within minutes, and within 30 minutes, all configurations in Apple's U.S. online store showed January 25 shipping estimates. The device is now effectively sold out for Christmas through Apple's online store.

Apple subsequently described demand as "nothing short of extraordinary" in a statement to the Financial Times, adding that it was working to get devices to customers as quickly as possible. Apple has not publicly specified whether any stores will have stock for launch-day walk-in purchases.

The ‌iPhone Duo‌ starts at $1,999 in the United States, with the first pre-order deliveries scheduled for October 23.
This article, "Apple Retail Staff Told to Warn Against iPhone Duo Walk-In Purchases" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple has hired former Meta lawyer Scott Tucker to lead its litigation team, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


Tucker will become Apple's vice president of global litigation and financial services, a new position overseeing commercial lawsuits, patent disputes, and legal matters involving its financial products. He previously led litigation at ‌Meta‌ and held a senior legal role at Morgan Stanley.

The move brings Tucker back together with Jennifer Newstead, Apple's general counsel. Newstead joined Apple's leadership in March after six years as ‌Meta‌'s top lawyer.

Heather Grenier, who currently oversees Apple's commercial and competition litigation, will report to Tucker instead of Newstead. She will remain on Newstead's leadership team. Apple is also expanding legal executive Kyle Andeer's responsibilities to include international legal matters, child safety, cybersecurity, and law enforcement.

The changes are part of a wider overhaul under Newstead, who now oversees both legal and government affairs. Apple announced plans to combine the teams alongside the retirements of Kate Adams and Lisa Jackson.

According to Gurman, some Apple executives believe the company should have performed better in court, particularly in App Store disputes. Its battle with Epic Games has forced changes to the rules for links to outside payment options and the fees Apple can charge.

Apple also faces the U.S. government's antitrust lawsuit and privacy cases. Separately, it agreed to a $250 million settlement over delayed Siri features, with a final approval hearing scheduled for February 2027.
This article, "Apple Hires Former Meta Lawyer to Oversee Global Litigation" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. The Synex distribution is based on Debian "Stable" and is available in several desktop editions. The project's latest snapshot, version 26.10.17, updates the base system and includes a COSMIC flavour running version 1.10.0 of the COSMIC desktop. "The COSMIC edition moves to version 1.10.0, accumulating the changes from....

Let's look at the entire loop from yesterday:

    u16 spE10;
    u16 *var_v0_2;

    ...

    var_t1_2 = 0x7F;
    var_v0_2 = &spE10 + 0xFE;
    do {
        *var_v0_2 = 0;
        var_t1_2 -= 1;
        var_v0_2 -= 2;
    } while (var_t1_2 >= 0);

What's going with the pointer arithmetic here? Why is it indexing out-of-bounds?

The first thing to notice is that m2c doesn't really take into account that arithmetic on pointers in C is multiplied by the size of the element. And obviously, spE10 is the root of some array. So corrected, this reads:

    u16 spE10[0x80];  // Modified.
    u16 *var_v0_2;

    ...

    var_t1_2 = 0x7F;
    var_v0_2 = spE10 + 0x7F;  // Modified.
    do {
        *var_v0_2 = 0;
        var_t1_2 -= 1;
        var_v0_2 -= 1;  // Modified.
    } while (var_t1_2 >= 0);

We saw yesterday how we should rewrite the iteration back to a for loop, but also, most likely, the pointer arithmetic here came from strength reduction; the compiler took a multiplication operation and rewrote it to a “weaker” operation (subtraction) since that's typically cheaper, at the cost of making the values dependent, an easy trade. So we can rewrite it back into multiplication:

    var_t1_2 = 0x7F;
    do {
        var_v0_2 = spE10 + var_t1_2;
        *var_v0_2 = 0;
        var_t1_2 -= 1;
    } while (var_t1_2 >= 0);

and now it's easy to see that the loop should read:

    for (i = 0; i < 0x80; ++i) {
        spE10[i] = 0;
    }

and then, of course, the array should get a better name.

Sometimes the loop counter will go backwards while the pointer will go forwards, which is also completely normal, especially if there's side effects. The compiler will reverse one but not the other.