Apple’s big AI push has reached the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but a couple of noticeable devices are missing from the conversation. The Apple TV and HomePod have largely been left watching from the sidelines, despite Siri being such an important part of how you interact with both. That could finally change.

With iOS 27 getting closer to its public release, the latest beta appears to contain another clue that Apple is preparing to bring Apple Intelligence features to its living room devices. As spotted by Apple Home Authority, the Home app now includes a new menu called “Apple Intelligence Report” for compatible Apple TV and HomePod devices running beta software. On its own, a menu buried inside a beta might not sound particularly exciting. But considering neither the Apple TV nor HomePod currently supports Apple Intelligence, its appearance raises some interesting questions about what Apple has planned for later this year.

Siri could finally get smarter in your living room

The strongest possibility here is an upgraded version of Siri. Apple has been pushing toward a more consistent Siri experience across its ecosystem, which makes the current situation a little awkward. You could eventually have a much smarter assistant on your iPhone while asking the HomePod sitting a few feet away the same question and getting a far more limited response.

Bringing the newer Siri experience to the HomePod and Apple TV would help close that gap. On a HomePod, that could make everyday voice requests more useful, particularly when you don’t have another Apple device in your hand. The Apple TV could similarly benefit from a smarter assistant for finding something to watch, answering questions, or navigating content without forcing you to phrase every request carefully. There is an important catch, though. Simply installing iOS 27 on your iPhone isn’t enough to make the new Apple Intelligence Report appear. According to the discovery, the connected Apple TV or HomePod also needs to be running the tvOS 27 or HomePod 27 beta. That makes this look like more than an iPhone feature accidentally referencing other devices.

New hardware may be the missing piece

The bigger question is whether current Apple TV and HomePod models will actually get these AI features. Apple Intelligence has relatively demanding hardware requirements elsewhere in Apple’s lineup, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the company needed new chips inside its home devices before bringing its latest AI features over. Previous rumors have already pointed toward refreshed Apple TV 4K and HomePod hardware, making the timing of this new discovery particularly interesting.

Some existing devices may still receive at least part of the new functionality. The menu’s appearance doesn’t tell us which models will be supported, and Apple hasn’t officially announced Apple Intelligence support for either product yet. Fortunately, we may not have to wait much longer for answers. Apple is expected to hold its next major event on September 9, where it could finally explain why Apple TV and HomePod were so quiet during its earlier software announcements. If that happens, your iPhone might not be the only Apple device getting a much smarter Siri this fall; the little speaker in the corner of your room could finally be joining the AI party, too.

Apple TV just handed viewers a first look at its newest crime drama, and the pitch practically writes itself. Picture Grand Theft Auto colliding with Heat, then add two leads who can carry a screen on charisma alone. That’s 12 12 12, an eight-episode heist thriller starring and executive produced by Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, set to premiere globally on November 13 with a two-episode debut. From there, new episodes drop every Friday until the finale lands on December 25.

What is 12 12 12 actually about?

The catchy title actually describes the show’s whole structure. Each episode moves across three timelines tied to one elaborate heist, covering the 12 months spent planning it, the 12 hours it takes to pull off, and the 12 days of fallout afterward.

Mackie plays a disgraced FBI agent squaring off against Dornan’s American career criminal, and their rivalry plays out as a tense game of cat and mouse across Europe. The endgame is a massive heist on a bank vault buried beneath the streets of Zurich.

The cast and crew behind Apple TV’s 12 12 12

The supporting cast brings real range, including Jack Kesy (Hellboy: The Crooked Man), Agathe Rousselle (Titane), Sallie Harmsen (Blade Runner 2049), José Garcia (Now You See Me), and Emmy nominee Kali Reis (True Detective).

Behind the camera, we have Emmy-nominated and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Kari Skogland directing multiple episodes, including the pilot, and also as an executive producer. She’s known for her work on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so expect a steady hand guiding the tone.

Series creators Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble also serve as executive producers, with Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content producing. With that much talent stacked on both sides of the camera, 12 12 12 has high expectations to live up to.

This year, gluten-free dishes included a lemon-oregano shrimp with schug and feta—a lemony-herbal romp served over rice livened up with dried apricots. (Adding dried fruit to liven up rice is a favored trick by Green Chef, one I might plan to add to my normal cooking routines.) The American-fished shrimp were plump and hearty, with no briny fishiness.

Yemeni schug remains one of my favorite condiments in existence, though this version could have been spicier. And the rice could have been more plentiful, perhaps. But these are small quibbles on a light, bright meal with lovely layers of flavor from herbal schug to toasted cauliflower and kale and the lightly tart bite of apricot.

I would almost never bring together this many ingredients on a weekday night, were they not helpfully bagged up in single portions. Indeed, if I tried, I probably would end up spending more at the grocery store than on the meal kit, as I discovered after an experiment last year.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

But especially, I have been impressed with protein sourcing. A well-trimmed bavette steak last year came from a fourth-generation meat purveyor in Texas. So did my chicken breast this year, on a harissa chicken dish. Shrimp are Atlantic coast, not Southeast Asian coast. My salmon was wild-caught. My steelhead came from a fishery in Norway. Each is clearly and transparently marked—a rarity among proteins from meal delivery services.

That steelhead in particular was among my favorite home meals of the summer. The dish’s secret, again, was layering: earthy spice on the fish, citric accents and crispness on the gremolata. The pleasing chew of dates countered the soft give of ginger-spiced couscous.

While eating it, I actually felt proud of myself—though it only took a scant 40 minutes to make. If anything, this summer’s meals were more sophisticated, but lower effort, than the Green Chef meals I tried last year.

Quibbles

Green Chef’s recipe cards are thoughtfully designed, with helpful pictures guiding the way. But their format tends to separate out each prep step in full, carrying the entire step through to completion, whether veggie chopping or couscous cooking.

This makes sense, of course. But this does lead to a simple caution: Green Chef does not hold your hand as well as some meal kits as regards the best order of operations. Read through each recipe in its entirety before cooking, and decide your game plan.

We’ve all been there. You meet someone new on a dating app, start to envision a life together, only to wonder: Is the person actually who they say they are?

It’s an experience that has led many singles, sometimes out of concern or just genuine curiosity, to prescreen dates by tracing their digital footprint: scanning social media posts, browsing their LinkedIn profile for clues.

The platform Stud or Dud—not to be confused with stud’s use as a slang term for a masculine-presenting Black lesbian—wants to introduce even more transparency into that part of the dating process. According to its website, the platform uses “public records, publicly available information, and other permitted sources” to create a profile of your potential match. It launched today in the US and was created by the company behind PeopleFinders.com, the online data broker service that collects public records from multiple sources and makes them searchable to help clients locate individuals or run background reports.

Intended to help daters make informed decisions about the people in their life, like identifying possible warning signs, Stud or Dud aggregates courthouse documents, bankruptcy filings, tax liens, pre-foreclosure data, phone directories, social media posts, and more to create a snapshot of your potential suitor’s personal life. All daters need is the person’s name or phone number to run a search. The aggregated data is presented in a single report, where it is divided into four categories: finances, property or assets owned, employment history, and criminal background. Each report comes with an AI-generated overview.

The tool will also earmark what it determines to be red or green flags about the person. Criminal records—a DUI or time spent in prison, for example—signal a red flag, but PeopleFinders CEO Amber Higgins encourages users not to pass judgement even if the site does.

“We give enough information for the user to determine, is that really a red flag for them or not? And that all kind of speaks to your lifestyle expectations.” In this sense, the reports lean prescriptive since the company suggests what safety details to consider, calling attention to things like how many times you’ve been evicted or if your name is on a sex offender registry. There is also an AI assistant (“the dating detective”) users can chat with when they want more tips for first dates or general advice.

According to the company, one of the biggest historical use cases of PeopleFinders.com has been for online dating safety.

“Modern dating has changed dramatically, and the tools people have used to establish trust haven’t kept pace,” Higgins says. “People are meeting across dating apps, social media, DMs. They have very little context of who’s actually on the other side.”

While some might consider that the whole point of dating—the early talking stages, however awkward, are all about navigating the unknown when getting to know someone—Higgins adds that the site, which requires a subscription, was built to provide additional context on a potential match. She recommends that people use it as a “sidekick” to the apps. “This is meant to confirm your trust about a dating profile.”

Even as online vetting is a crucial safety measure and fully part of the modern dating process—daters in San Francisco, for example, lost more than $40 million to romance scams in 2025, according to the FBI—there also seem to be legitimate opportunities for bad actors to exploit the information gathered from the site. The platform assumes that the person doing the searching is the one at risk, but that may not always be the case.

Security

No timeline to restore IT systems as probe remains ongoing

Medical device maker Boston Scientific’s global operations have been disrupted by an ongoing cyberattack, the company disclosed on Wednesday. According to an SEC filing, the “cybersecurity incident” affecting its IT systems started on Tuesday, and resulted in a “global disruption to the company’s operations.”

Upon detecting the digital intruders, the company began an investigation with third-party infosec experts who are working to contain the threat, the filing says.

The medtech firm did not immediately respond to The Register’s inquiries, including if this was a ransomware infection and what data, if any, the criminals stole after breaking into the IT systems.

“The incident has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, disruptions and limitations of access to certain of the company’s information systems and business applications that support aspects of the Company’s operations, including the ability to process and ship customer orders,” Boston Scientific reported to federal regulators.

The company doesn’t have a timeline for full restoration, and noted the “full scope, nature and impacts, including operational and financial impacts” of the cyberattack remain unknown.

The news did, however, send Boston Scientific shares spiraling down more than 4% on Wednesday morning.

At press time, none of the usual suspects had claimed responsibility for the attack. In recent months, both ransomware/extortion gangs and government-backed hackers have disrupted other medtech firms’ operations and stolen sensitive data.

In March, Stryker was hit by a cyber crew with ties to Iran’s intelligence agency, causing a global network outage at the company.

A month later, medical-device maker Medtronic disclosed a cyberattack in a filing with federal regulators. Notorious data-theft-and-extortion group ShinyHunters claimed to be behind this intrusion, and the company in July warned patients that their names, contact details, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and health information was stolen in the breach. ®

ASCENDO Immersive Audio returns to CEDIA Expo in 2026 with something more ambitious than another conventional architectural loudspeaker. The company will debut its new Panoramic Surface On-Wall, an ultra-shallow speaker designed around ASCENDO’s proprietary full-range composite radiating surface technology for immersive home cinema systems.

The technology was developed specifically for surround and height-channel applications, where conventional loudspeaker dispersion can become a significant design challenge. As frequencies rise, traditional drivers tend to become increasingly directional, concentrating more acoustic energy in front of the speaker. Cone drivers, dome tweeters, compression drivers, and waveguides can all be engineered to control that behavior, but high-frequency beaming remains an inherent consideration in conventional loudspeaker design.

That becomes particularly important in an immersive cinema, where surround and height speakers are supposed to create a convincing acoustic environment rather than draw attention to individual boxes mounted on the walls or ceiling. Consistent dispersion can help maintain tonal balance, spatial cues, and perceived sound levels across multiple seats instead of delivering the best experience only to listeners positioned directly on-axis.

Solving Beaming Issues

The ASCENDO Panoramic Surface Speaker takes a different approach by replacing a conventional multi-driver arrangement with the company’s proprietary full-range composite radiating surface technology.

ASCENDO says the surface is engineered to distribute acoustic energy across a much broader area than a typical point-source loudspeaker while allowing the enclosure to remain exceptionally shallow. In practical terms, the design is intended to function more like a controlled acoustic surface than a conventional speaker with distinct high- and low-frequency radiators.

According to ASCENDO, the resulting radiation pattern approaches 180 degrees and maintains that broad dispersion into the high-frequency range, extending up to 20 kHz.

“Panoramic Surface follows a principle that has always driven ASCENDO: We don’t take an existing loudspeaker concept and force it into an application it was never designed to serve,” says Geoffrey Heinzel, ASCENDO Co-Managing Partner. “We start with what the acoustic environment actually requires and engineer the solution around those demands.”

Advantages For Listeners

For listeners, the Panoramic Surface Speaker is intended to deliver more consistent tonal balance across a wider seating area, with less audible variation between on-axis and off-axis positions. In an immersive system, that can also help surround and height effects feel more continuous and less dependent on a single ideal listening position.

ASCENDO also says the broad radiating behavior can reduce the level changes that listeners may experience when seated relatively close to a surround or height speaker. For installers, that could provide greater flexibility when arranging seating in rooms where individual channels cannot always be positioned far from every listener.

Wide dispersion, however, is only part of the equation. An immersive cinema loudspeaker still has to reproduce transient information, spatial cues, and dynamic changes with sufficient precision and control. ASCENDO says the Panoramic Surface design was engineered to combine its broad radiation pattern with the speed, clarity, and dynamic performance expected from the company’s cinema loudspeakers.

Designed to Work With Room Architecture

The Panoramic Surface also addresses another challenge in surround and height-channel installations: the interaction between a loudspeaker and the wall or ceiling on which it is mounted.

Because the speaker is designed to operate very close to an architectural boundary, ASCENDO says it can greatly reduce front-boundary SBIR (speaker-boundary interference response). SBIR occurs when direct sound from a loudspeaker combines with sound reflected from a nearby boundary, potentially creating cancellations and uneven frequency response.

By minimizing the distance between the radiating surface and the mounting boundary, the Panoramic Surface is designed to reduce those problematic reflection paths and associated comb-filtering effects. The approach also reflects ASCENDO’s broader philosophy of engineering loudspeakers as part of the complete cinema environment rather than treating the speaker and room as separate elements.

Experience ASCENDO at CEDIA Expo 2026

ASCENDO will demonstrate its Panoramic Surface speakers and latest immersive audio technologies at CEDIA Expo 2026 in SR10 (Sound Room 10), where the company is integrating them into a scalable luxury home cinema system.

The demonstration will feature a 9.8.4-channel configuration, giving attendees an opportunity to hear how the Panoramic Surface speakers perform as part of a complete ASCENDO immersive cinema installation.

Here is a brief system rundown. 

Ascendo: In addition to the new Panoramic Surface speakers, Ascendo will also debut its new DSP4-6602 DSP/Amplifier and spotlight THE 18 SUB PASSIVE VENTED.

StormAudio: To provide the processing and amplification required for the demonstration, StormAudio is supplying its ISR Fusion 20 immersive AV receiver. The Fusion 20 is a 20-channel processor with 16 channels of built-in amplification, delivering up to 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms in single-ended operation.

AcustiMOD: Drawing on the heritage of Officina Acustica, AcustiMOD is outfitting the room with its modular acoustic architecture system. The approach is designed to provide a more engineered and repeatable path to room treatment, bringing elements of bespoke acoustic design to a broader range of installation budgets.

Christie and Seymour Screen Excellence: These companies are teaming up to provide the best possible visual experience with a yet-unnamed Christie 4K projector and Seymour Excellence reference Enlightor-Neo acoustically transparent, multi-format, patented screen. 

madVR: The award-winning madVR Envy Core MK2 will be providing reference-level image processing, which includes patented HDR dynamic tone mapping, full HDMI 2.1 8K input support, AI-powered upscaling, Dynamic Subtitle Overlay, and advanced screen masking automation.

Moovia: A great home theater demo also needs comfortable seating. With that in mind, Moovia is providing Marbella media sofas for long-lasting audience comfort and style. The sofa is controlled by the new Moovia app, streamlining control and automation for integrators and their clients with a tactile new user interface.

The Bottom Line 

ASCENDO has built its reputation around solving specific installation and performance problems rather than simply adding more conventional speakers to the catalog.The DIRECTOR addressed placement challenges created by LED walls and non-acoustically transparent displays, while its Infrasonic Subwoofers pushed meaningful bass reproduction below 20Hz.

For 2026, the Panoramic Surface applies that same philosophy to dispersion, targeting the narrowing radiation patterns and beaming behavior that can compromise surround and height-channel performance. CEDIA Expo attendees will be able to hear the technology in a complete 9.8.4-channel immersive cinema system in Sound Room 10, which is exactly where a claim like this should be evaluated: in a real room, with multiple seats, rather than on a spec sheet.

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PERSONAL TECH

Users have a little more time to migrate from Azure storage to OneDrive

Microsoft is giving customers who are still clinging to its doomed legacy Whiteboard technology a lifeline, and has pushed the deletion date to October 16, 2026.

The migration tooling for “legacy enterprise whiteboards” will be retired on September 25, 2026, and the standalone Microsoft Whiteboard app will be deprecated on November 30, 2026.

To be clear, Microsoft Whiteboard as a concept is not going away – this is more about migration for Azure-based files.

The original dates were August 22 for the migration tooling, September 5 for the permanent deletion, and September 14 for the app deprecation. Therefore, customers have been granted a little more time to make the transition to OneDrive-backed whiteboards.

Microsoft did not respond to a query about why it had moved the milestones. The lateness of the announcement suggests it either ran into technical problems or that enough customers were still on the legacy platform that Redmond uttered the computing equivalent of FINE! Have another month!

New whiteboard files for commercial customers have been in OneDrive rather than Azure since 2022. However, legacy whiteboards could still be stored in Azure and, if not migrated to OneDrive, will be deleted on October 16. Migration happens automatically when a whiteboard is opened in Whiteboard on the web, Teams desktop, Teams web, or using the Whiteboard Windows app (through to September 22, 2026). If migration doesn’t happen, then users have until October 16 before somebody at Microsoft hits the delete key.

However, only owners of Azure Whiteboards can trigger migration. Users on vacation, or who have left the organization, could also present a headache for administrators, who might need to transfer ownership to active users. In Microsoft’s original announcement, it promised a set of PowerShell cmdlets to ease the process.

The Microsoft Whiteboard app became generally available in 2018. It was a useful collaborative tool for Microsoft 365 subscribers (or could be used standalone with a Microsoft account, although these days organizations are the target). It is very much a relic of a past era at Redmond, when touch-based experiences were all the rage. Today, the company would likely prefer users to bark instructions at an AI assistant.

According to Microsoft, “Moving these files to OneDrive improves security, accessibility, revision history, eDiscovery, and access to current and future Whiteboard features.” ®