Damian Pickett · No. 56
Thursday 29 October 2026
Apple’s MacBook Pro event spills into its second day, and the Mexico City GP title picture sharpens this weekend.
Apple’s new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro brings a touchscreen tandem OLED display to the Mac for the first time, starting at $2,899, with battery life unchanged at up to 24 hours.
Google DeepMind has released Gemini 4 Carbon, the latest entry in its Gemini line, as AI labs keep up a rapid pace of frontier model launches.
Jayson Tatum scored 40 points and hit the game winner as the Celtics beat the 0-3 Nets 125-124 in overtime on the second night of a back-to-back, their 39th win under Joe Mazzulla.
Read · Lenny's Newsletter
A guest post by Deb Liu
On a day stuffed with big product launches, Deb Liu’s account of how a landmark feature actually got built and shipped is worth your time.
Listen · Founders
Edwin Land was one of Steve Jobs’s heroes, and his story of inventing and launching a breakthrough hardware product echoes today’s MacBook Pro event.
Listen · David Senra
Today’s new episode: how Kenn Ricci built a small Cleveland charter company into Flexjet, the world’s largest Gulfstream operator.
Listen · Acquired
A look back at Apple’s biggest acquisition ever, fitting on a day Apple unveiled its biggest MacBook Pro redesign in years.
Microsoft said it made $10 billion in revenue from commercial OpenAI arrangements, including revenue-sharing payments, in the quarter to 30 September, underlining how central the partnership remains.
Anthropic has introduced tools letting companies track how they spend on its models, giving customers more visibility ahead of the firm’s planned IPO.
Google is launching a developer platform letting businesses bring their services into Gemini and Search, aiming to reshape how people discover and use apps through AI.
Simon Willison argues October 2026 looks like the inflection point for AI-built games, mirroring how November 2025’s model upgrades transformed coding agents.
Cloud security startup Upwind raised a $400 million Series C at a $3.8 billion valuation, choosing independence over an acquisition offer from Datadog at the same price.
Nvidia has released a free speech-to-text model that transcribes up to 40 languages, though it works only on recordings rather than live audio, a step for meeting and medical transcription tools.
Reddit is rolling out a For You feed that blends posts from communities users have joined with personalised recommendations, following other platforms toward algorithmic discovery.
Sony is releasing transparent DualSense controllers and matching PS5 console covers, echoing the clear-plastic look of 1990s consoles.
In an interview with Wired, Apple executives John Ternus, Johny Srouji and Greg Joswiak discussed the decision to finally bring touch to the Mac after years of resisting it.
Federico Viticci reflects on Apple’s first touchscreen MacBook Pro, having used touch on the iPad since 2015, and on how the Mac has finally caught up.
Despite the switch to an OLED touch display, the new MacBook Pro still offers up to 24 hours of battery life, matching the previous mini-LED models.
Apple’s overhauled Siri AI, released with the 27.2 software updates, is expanding to more languages as part of its push to make the assistant more conversational and personal.
Early reactions to The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping call the prequel a near-perfect adaptation, with particular praise for Joseph Zada’s performance as young Haymitch.
Esposito discusses his new film The Only Living Pickpocket in New York with Turturro, and reveals he has already conceived a Breaking Bad prequel centred on Gus Fring.
The two-time Oscar winner accepted one of the art world’s most prestigious prizes and will take part in the Tokyo International Film Festival this week.
Hellraiser director David Bruckner will take over Smile 3 from franchise creator Parker Finn, who developed the story and remains involved as producer.
A feature on the Celtics’ overtime win over the Nets, in which Tatum’s late heroics turned what looked like a routine night into their 39th win of the season under Joe Mazzulla.
Rob Gronkowski, the most productive tight end in NFL history, will be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame on 7 November at Patriot Place.
With a playoff spot in sight, the Patriots are weighing what they can add before the trade deadline to strengthen their roster for the stretch run.
Sergio Perez has signed a multi-year extension to stay at Cadillac until at least 2029, days before he starts his 300th grand prix at home in Mexico.
The FIA has signed a partnership with Amazon Web Services to use AI in drawing up the rules for Formula 1’s next era of cars.
As part of a season review, Over the Monster looks back at one of 2026’s strangest and most memorable moments at Fenway Park.
The architect has designed his first watch with British brand Lebond, saying the process felt very similar to architecture.
