Damian Pickett · No. 17
Sunday 20 September 2026
Apple’s iOS 27 update is out for every supported iPhone, with tweaks the company says speed up more than 30 everyday tasks. No new features, just the same phone doing more with less lag.
Tom Cruise says the makeup process for his unrecognisable role in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s dark comedy Digger was trimmed from six hours to under one during filming. It opens in cinemas on 2 October.
The Cardiff-born actor won both lead drama and lead comedy Emmys at Saturday’s ceremony, a first for any performer. His sister said the family watched from home.
Read · Lenny's Newsletter
50+ useful/fun/clever examples of what non-technical people are building—to inspire your own vibe-coding journey
Fifty-plus real examples of people vibe-coding useful tools, good fuel for your own side projects.
Listen · Founders
A founder-and-brand-building story that speaks directly to your product marketing instincts.
Listen · David Senra
A conversation about taste and creative judgement, close to the craft questions you think about.
Listen · Acquired
A rare long conversation with one of the most consequential operators in business today.
Vals AI wants to become a neutral, trusted benchmark for judging AI models as new ones launch every week. Independent testing is scarce, and demand for it is growing.
Petlibro’s new Granary 2 feeders use a built-in scale, and on pricier models an AI camera, to track exactly how much each cat eats and when, useful in multi-cat households where owners cannot always tell who ate what.
UP.Labs, rebranding as Vantora, builds startups for industrial corporations and has raised $100 million to focus on physical AI, designing and launching new ventures rather than just investing in them.
Simon Willison shipped version 1.0 of his GitHub login plugin for Datasette, fixing a bug that was cutting authenticated sessions short. A small, useful release from someone building in the open.
SpaceX is aiming for 28 September for Starship’s 14th test flight, its first full orbital mission, with the vehicle circling Earth for about ten hours.
Anthropic has hired Accenture to run independent safety evaluations of its models, a step toward outside checks on how its AI systems behave.
Navy CTO Justin Fanelli described co-investing alongside VCs rather than funding research alone, including a $562 million autonomous refuelling deal, as part of trying to move faster on new technology.
Stalman shot photos side by side with a film SLR loaded with Kodak Portra 400 to compare against the iPhone 18 Pro’s new film-look Photographic Styles. Daring Fireball called it splendid.
Austin Mann spent a week testing the iPhone 18 Pro’s camera and variable aperture at a remote river camp in southwest Colorado for his annual review.
The iPhone 18 Pro Max’s battery is large enough that Apple added a specific feature to iOS 27 to handle it, according to a new support document.
Hardware engineering VP Tom Marieb told TechRadar the iPhone Duo’s matte nano-texture display is meant to hide its fold, and said Apple should be judged on whether that holds up.
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot, starring Austin Abrams, took $26.3 million on its opening day and is tracking toward a big weekend, the year’s best-reviewed horror title.
David Lynch’s neo-noir mystery Blue Velvet was released 40 years ago today, a film widely seen as a turning point for both Lynch and Hollywood more broadly.
Wilson’s new documentary is, fittingly, about the history of concrete. He argues too much of the documentary genre now retells stories that have already happened rather than finding new ones.
At the San Sebastián Film Festival, Watts dedicated her honour to her Mulholland Drive director David Lynch, saying ‘I miss you’, and thanked co-star Tom Holland.
Pritchard began last season as Boston’s starting point guard before moving to the bench in February when Anfernee Simons arrived. He now looks set for a big year with the Celtics.
New England had spent years using a tactic to unsettle opposing kickers at home, and the NFL has now changed its rules to stop it.
Pittsburgh’s offence pairs quarterback Aaron Rodgers with receiver DK Metcalf, and New England’s defence is preparing for the threat ahead of Sunday’s home opener.
Davis, listed as questionable with a neck injury on Friday, was downgraded to out on Saturday and will miss New England’s home opener against Pittsburgh.
Former F1 driver David Coulthard dismissed suggestions that championship leader Kimi Antonelli’s success is down to luck, calling the Mercedes driver a phenomenon.
David Coulthard praised Russell for openly admitting that his Mercedes team-mate Antonelli, now the championship leader, is currently doing a better job than he is.
Ferrari has designed a special-edition black race suit for Leclerc to wear at next month’s Singapore Grand Prix, departing from the team’s usual red.
Brayan Bello struck out 11 batters, but the Red Sox lost 2-1 to the Rays on a ninth-inning single, delaying Boston’s playoff clinch for at least another day.
Garrett Crochet and Tanner Houck are both progressing well in their injury rehab, good news for Boston as it heads toward the playoffs.
London studio IF_DO restored a neglected building in Hastings into Eagle House, a community centre with a green-concrete frontage, giving the town a new public space.
