Leander Kahney

A YouTuber turned an iconic “sunflower” iMac G4 into a DIY HomeView — and posted the necessary files on GitHub for anyone to use for free.

When creator Jesse Richards bought the iMac G4 for just $20, the computer wouldn’t even boot up. But after vibecoding a fix, Richards is now able to query his homemade HomeView about the weather, his calendar, recipes and more. It even controls some of his smart home, just like Apple’s official HomeView, hasn’t yet hit store shelves.

“It’s the most-used screen in my house,” said Richards.

Apple’s new HomeView smart home hub doesn’t come with an App Store, a decision that’s puzzling users accustomed to installing apps to customize their devices.

There seem to be several good reasons for Apple’s decision, related to the device’s memory, storage, ease of use, privacy and maybe even regulation. But perhaps the most important factor is all about elevating Siri AI as a next-generation user interface.

Update: iPhone Duos are now selling for almost $10,000 on eBay. 

iPhone Duo units are already fetching $5,000 on eBay after selling out on Apple’s website Friday morning. Listings on the auction website show dozens of sales of the in-demand foldable for as high as $4,999, which represents about $1,800 in profit for the seller.

The iPhone Duo went on sale at 5 a.m. this morning. But within minutes, ship dates slipped to late January — three months after the new handset is supposed to become available.

This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple’s new HomeView hub is a getting a lot of criticism, especially for its lack of a built-in app store. But the absence of an app store is a feature, not a bug.

The situation is reminiscent of the charging port on the bottom of the Apple Magic Mouse, which is famously misunderstood. The placement of the port was designed to force users to use it wirelessly, just like ditching the headphone jack on iPhone forced users to adopt wireless Bluetooth headphones.

Apple is pulling the same trick with HomeView: The absence of apps forces users to use Siri AI as the primary interface, instead of tapping away on the screen as though it were a mini iPad. It’s genius!

Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:

• HomePod mini gets a big update.
• Apple TV 4K gets a remote you can actually find down the back of the couch.
• Who exactly is the Apple Home Collection for?
• And Apple’s next event looks set for October 28 in LA.

Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in Apple’s Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. Or watch the video version, embedded below. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!)

Your name, home address and phone number are likely sitting on websites you’ve never heard of. Behind those listings are data brokers that collect and sell your personal information — to marketers, scammers and anyone else willing to pay.

Incogni’s free exposure scanner searches hundreds of these sites and reveals what personal information they publicly list about you. And it does it in less than a minute, with no account or credit card required.

The new iPhone Duo is selling out fast, with deliveries already slipping into late January, three months after they were supposed to be available. The sellout is unprecedented, even for a new iPhone, which is always in high demand.

The first folding iPhone was meant to be ready for delivery on Friday, October 23. But preorders backed up by months within 15 minutes of the new handset going on sale this morning.

Currently, the checkout at Apple’s online store shows the iPhone Duo, which starts at $1,999, won’t be delivered until January 25 at the earliest. Customers hoping to pick up a handset before Christmas might still be able to get one, however.

Judging by social media, the iPhone Duo looks like it will be a big hit, not least because the first folding iPhone appears to have no visible screen crease when opened to full size.

That’s a big drawback for other foldable devices. Here are some other revealing tidbits about the iPhone Duo.

John Ternus officially took over as Apple’s CEO on Tuesday, and his key challenge will likely be the classic “innovator’s dilemma.” Should he focus on maintaining Apple’s dominant position or ruthlessly cannibalize the products he helped develop during his 25-year career at Apple?

Ternus, a certified hardware guy, replaced operations whiz Tim Cook, who served as Apple’s CEO for 15 years after taking over from Steve Jobs. Apple updated its website’s leadership page to reflect this gigantic change — and it reveals some of Ternus’ top priorities going forward.

When fraudsters targeted an elderly relative of mine last year, they scammed her out of thousands of dollars. We tried to stop them, without much success. But then we scrubbed her personal data from the internet using a service called Incogni.

Surprisingly, using this affordable data removal service made all the difference. Here’s how I stopped my relative from getting scammed.

Apple reinvented its smart assistant Siri as “Siri AI,” with a new range of advanced capabilities and its own dedicated app, the company said Monday during its WWDC26 keynote.

Siri‌, Apple’s long-maligned smart assistant that was often not terribly smart, gets a new architecture that better understands personal context and can perform a wide range of actions across devices.

“We couldn’t be happier to bring you Siri AI, our new version of Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence,” said Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi during the keynote. “It’s more intelligent, knowledgeable and capable.”

President Donald J. Trump paid tribute to outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday. In a post on Truth Social, the president’s social network, Trump praised Cook in his signature style, calling Cook “Tim Apple” and claiming he called to “kiss my ass.”

Trump applauded Cook’s leadership at Apple, saying he did a better job than Apple co-founder Steve Jobs himself would have. And, as is his way, Trump littered the post with capital letters, hyperbole and a fair amount of not-so-humble brags.

Is Tim Cook Apple’s best CEO? No, that title belongs to Steve Jobs — but Cook definitely comes in a very close second.

In a remarkable 15 years at the helm of Apple, Cook oversaw extraordinary growth, released a string of innovative products, and instituted important internal changes.

He performed almost flawlessly, and, to my mind, has only done one thing wrong.

Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote a heartfelt letter of thanks to Apple users.

As Cook gets ready to step down as CEO on September 1, 2026, he expressed his gratitude to the Apple community for making his work meaningful.

It’s a nice, sincere note of appreciation — and typically humble. You can read the full text of Cook’s letter below.

Apple produced an amazing string of hit products over its 50 years, but to paraphrase Napoleon the pig: Some are more important than others.

Here are the most important products in Apple’s 50-year history. And no, this list is likely not what you were expecting. They’re not necessarily the biggest or the most well-known.

Bestselling author David Pogue just published Apple: The First 50 Years, an ambitious book about the history of Apple.

The approximately 600-page, full-color book spans the company’s epic saga, from its founding by two college dropouts to its latest machinations with Apple Intelligence. It’s a fun and informative book, and an easy read despite being a doorstop.

I interviewed Pogue about his book and the wild ride that Apple’s been on for the last five decades.

How would you like to own a ribbon cable once owned by Steve Jobs? Or how about a heat sink? What about his boyhood collection of bow ties?

These are just three of about 200 items associated with the Apple co-founder currently being auctioned online to celebrate Apple’s 50th anniversary.

Entitled “Steve Jobs & the Computer Revolution: The Apple 50th Anniversary Auction,” the collection of weird auction stuff is more interesting than usual. It provides a glimpse inside Jobs’ childhood home and the legendary Silicon Valley garage where Apple was born. There’s also Apple’s very first check, expected to go for a cool half million.

A decade after getting banned from the App Store, iFixit is back with a free DIY repair app that uses AI to diagnose problems and guide users as they fix their Apple devices.

iFixit trained the app’s AI-powered FixBot on 20 years of the company’s highly regarded repair guides. Now the iFixit app, released Tuesday, promises to make fixing broken iPhones and MacBooks a breeze (as long as you don’t have clumsy sausage fingers).

Plus, the iFixit app features a built-in real-time battery monitor that will prompt you when to replace a failing battery (with iFixit parts, of course).

Alan Dye, the former chief of Apple’s user interface design, has done brilliant, groundbreaking work — but almost no one is getting to experience it.

Dye just got poached by Meta, and the majority opinion among Apple fans seems to be “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Some of Dye’s critics, like John “King of the Apple nerds” Gruber, are scathing. “His tenure is considered a disaster by actual designers inside and outside the company,” Gruber wrote after Dye’s departure from Apple became public Wednesday.

Dye, of course, is not perfect. He is rightly getting criticized for Liquid Glass, the shiny new interface in Apple’s operating systems, that’s been tweaked, rolled back, tweaked again, and is now semi-optional for users who don’t want it.

Where’s the conviction Apple is famous for? Steve Jobs must be spinning.

But Dye’s best work is spectacular, important and deep. You’ve just not seen it.

Right after UI chief Alan Dye quit Apple, two more executives are poised to leave the company. Next out the door are Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, and Kate Adams, Apple’s general counsel, the company said Thursday.

Jackson will retire in late January 2026, according to Apple. Adams will retire late next year.

In the meantime, Apple said Jennifer Newstead, Meta’s chief legal officer, will become Apple’s general counsel on March 1, 2026.

Meet Steve Lemay, the new head of user interface design at Apple — the highest-profile software design job at the giant company, and possibly the world.

Unfortunately for Lemay, who has worked at Apple since 1999, he shares the same first name as the late Steve Jobs, who nicknamed him “Margaret” — a name that reportedly stuck.

Aside from being called “Margaret” internally at Apple, Lemay has a long and stellar design record at the company. He’s helped shape everything from OS X to visionOS. He is named on hundreds of patents and helped develop one of Apple’s most highly celebrated UI tricks.

Apple Watch Cyber Monday 2025 deals are live, featuring significant price drops on entry-level models and premium variations.

The best deal so far is the newest Apple Watch Series 11, which has dropped to its lowest price to date — just $339 (regularly $399). Another great buy is the entry-level Apple Watch SE 3, on sale from just $199 (save $50 or 20% off). This is a superb starter watch and perfect for kids (and you can use it to track the little darlings). And even the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on sale (although not by much).

Plus, if you want to save even more, you might be able to grab a previous year’s model before the clearance sales in effect decimate the inventory forever.

SAN FRANCISCO — The iPhone 17 Scratchgate drama is real. Demo units of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models in Apple retail stores are showing scratches on opening weekend. The scratches appeared on their aluminum frames and on the glass panels on their backs.

I examined demo iPhones at Apple Stonestown in San Francisco on Friday (the busy iPhone 17 launch day) and again on Sunday. Many of the new iPhone 17 Pros and iPhone Airs are already scratched, especially the iPhone 17 Pro in deep blue and the iPhone Air in space black. But other colors showed scratches, too, even the iPhone 17 Pro in cosmic orange — the hot color this year.

Apple’s innovative new high blood pressure alerts will not be exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch Series 11. The feature is coming to several older models, giving millions of Apple Watch owners access to potentially lifesaving hypertension alerts.

This week, invites are out for the “awe dropping” iPhone event! Also: Touch ID and bumper cases making a comeback like it’s 2013, how to combine emojis, the first ergonomic dual-ultra-widescreen setup, Twitter versus Mastodon and Leander’s review of PowerBeats Pro 2!

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Leander and Griffin are joined by Graham again to talk about the folding iPhone, the biggest little change coming to the M5 iPad Pro, more changes in iOS 26, tips for running with your Apple Watch and why we all lust for a colorful iPhone!