Damian Pickett · No. 49
Thursday 22 October 2026
iPhone Duo launches in Apple stores this Friday, and the Patriots play the Bears tonight on Thursday Night Football.
Reviews of Apple’s iPhone Duo, out before Friday’s launch, highlight a well-engineered hinge alongside inconsistent app support and widespread complaints about losing Face ID.
Anthropic launched Claude Duet, a proactive agent that works across connected apps without being asked, following Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots into the same space.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli heads into this weekend’s United States Grand Prix with a chance to clinch the Formula 1 title, while still washing his own car by hand.
Read · Lenny's Newsletter
VP of Product Glen Coates on how Shopify plans around yearly themes, organizes around jobs to be done, tracks using a homegrown tool, why they shifted away from a GM structure, and much more
With Apple and Anthropic both shipping big product bets this week, a look at how Shopify plans, organises and ships product is a useful companion for a product marketer.
Listen · Founders
Tesla’s Cybercab sales push and Optimus production ramp make this a timely look at how Elon Musk thinks.
Listen · David Senra
A builder’s story of turning a protein bar into a category leader, useful craft for any product marketer.
Listen · Acquired
With Anthropic and Apple both making big product bets this week, Ballmer’s view from inside Microsoft’s biggest calls is a good companion.
Meta says its Muse AI app has passed 10 million users, with shopping and personal productivity among the most common uses, the company said at Q3 earnings.
Startup Recursive released Flint, a free, laptop-sized coding model it says was built largely by its own AI research system, an early test of self-improving AI.
As Amazon blocks AI shopping agents, Walmart is doing the opposite, rolling out technology that lets agents buy on customers’ behalf with spending controls.
Blacksmith, whose platform helps companies build and test AI code, raised a $66 million Series C led by Sequoia, valuing the company at $1 billion.
Tesla said it will start selling its Cybercab to customers by the end of the year, even as regulators investigate whether the vehicle meets safety standards.
Sony’s new PlayStation Pulse headset launches on 19 November for $100, with pre-orders opening on 29 October.
GM’s fourth-generation EV platform will add a new central computer and AI-driven electrical architecture, debuting in 2028 on the Cadillac line, as it looks to compete with Chinese rivals.
Microsoft is previewing a paid cloud gaming option for Xbox players who don’t subscribe to Game Pass, alongside new rate limits.
John Gruber’s review says the iPhone Duo feels like ‘an extraordinarily polished prototype’ rather than a finished product he’d want to buy, after a week of use.
An Australian federal judge has ordered Apple to open the iPhone to alternative app stores following its long antitrust battle with Epic Games. Apple plans to appeal.
Code in next week’s iOS 27.2 points to a long-requested Messages change: the ability to exclude muted conversations from the unread badge count.
Joanna Stern put more than 32,000 folds on her iPhone Duo review unit over four nights to stress-test the hinge, a test Apple itself hasn’t published.
Critic Mark Kermode and restorer Daphne Dentz discuss piecing together a definitive version of Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Devils, more than 20 years after Kermode first tried.
Variety’s review calls Clayface a gross, fun body-horror entry in the DC Universe that doesn’t require knowledge of the wider franchise to enjoy.
Tom Cruise will receive the 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award at a gala in Hollywood on 24 April 2027, the American Film Institute announced.
Cory Michael Smith has joined the ensemble cast of Ari Aster’s thriller Scapegoat, starring Scarlett Johansson alongside Jacob Elordi, Jude Law and Ella Purnell.
The Celtics gave up a 20-0 fourth-quarter run and lost their season opener to the Pistons, despite a big debut from new signing Paul George.
The Patriots will need to contain Chicago’s run game and limit the Bears’ clock control to win Thursday night’s Week 7 matchup, Boston.com says.
New England will be without both starting guards for Thursday’s game against the Bears, with Walter Rouse and Matt Pryor stepping in at the position.
Reigning champion Lando Norris is on course for one of the worst title defences in Formula 1 history, a year after winning his first championship.
The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council has approved new rules stopping teams’ non-F1 staff from working on Formula 1 projects, closing a cost cap loophole.
The Red Sox have reportedly made two more changes to Chad Tracy’s coaching staff, months after overhauling it following Alex Cora’s firing.
Colorado’s new wildlife-only highway bridge, the largest of its kind in North America, has already cut vehicle collisions with animals by 91 percent since opening in December 2025.
