The settlement comes just a week after Meta was dragged to trial by four US states.

Meta has agreed to pay up to $17bn in a landmark settlement to dozens of US states and territories over a lawsuit that alleged that the social media giant knowingly caused harm to children.

Alongside the proposed settlement, the social media giant has also agreed to make major changes to its products, and limit how much time minors can spend on its platforms. It also agreed to ban features including beauty filters and like counts for users under the age of 18.

The $17bn penalty will be paid to the states over the course of 10 years, the California Department of Justice said. California alone will receive $1.5bn to $2.1bn if this settlement is approved by the court.

“Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of a difference for children and their families,” said California attorney general Rob Bonta.

“Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms – and will do it within months.

“We are talking about time limits, stopping notifications during school, a block on the app during critical overnight hours, bans on plastic surgery filters, and so much more.

“I am proud to deliver this settlement that addresses the concerns at the core of our lawsuit and institutes real change, real transparency and real enforceable protections for children on Facebook and Instagram – right now, no more waiting,” Bonta added.

The settlement comes just a week after Meta was dragged to trial by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey.

The trial stems from a 2023 lawsuit filed by more than 30 states and territories which claimed that Meta specifically targets users under 13 years old, monetises their attention through data harvesting and targeted advertising, concocts ways to prolong their time on its apps and misrepresents its platforms as being safe.

The multibillion-dollar agreed settlement is a far cry from the $200bn that the four aforementioned states were seeking in damages from Meta, with penalties ranging from a few hundred dollars to $50,000 per violation, depending on the jurisdiction.

The social media giant still faces several other lawsuits from school districts and individuals in the US, with some scheduled for the coming months, as child safety takes political priority in an online-first world.

Earlier this year, a New Mexico court fined Meta nearly $1bn in damages after finding that the company endangered children by misleading users about the safety of its platforms. The damages included a $375m civil penalty and $567m to remedy social media harms to the state’s child users.

That initial ruling came just a day before the company’s platforms were found to be addictive for children in a separate lawsuit that also targeted YouTube.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Pro-Ject has spent years demonstrating that a themed turntable does not have to be the analog equivalent of a souvenir T-shirt from the airport gift shop. The Austrian manufacturer has already gone down this road with The Beatles, Metallica, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Peanuts, Elvis Presley and others, frequently using the collaboration as an excuse to do something genuinely interesting with the hardware.

Harley-Davidson is next, and subtlety has once again been left outside in the parking lot.

The officially licensed Pro-Ject x Harley-Davidson Turntable is a limited special edition priced at $3,299 in the United States, and unlike some lifestyle collaborations that amount to a logo, new paint and an inflated invoice, this one has been designed around Harley-Davidson’s visual identity from the ground up. The shape of the chassis follows the company’s instantly recognizable Bar & Shield logo, turning the entire record player into the branding rather than simply printing it across the top.

No kickstand appears to be included.

Related Review: Pro-Ject 2Xperience SB Sgt. Pepper Limited Edition Turntable Review

More Than Harley-Davidson Merch

The important part is underneath all of the Milwaukee cosplay.

Pro-Ject uses an Aluminum-MDF sandwich chassis designed to combine rigidity with internal damping, with the sculpted MDF structure topped by precision-machined metalwork. Polished aluminum, stainless steel and a genuine leather record mat reinforce the motorcycle connection without forcing buyers to sacrifice the fundamentals of a serious turntable. Pro-Ject says the leather mat was selected in part to evoke the material and feel of a traditional motorcycle saddle.

The drive system is substantially more interesting than the branding.

A diamond-cut aluminum sub-platter sits beneath a heavy 300mm glass platter, while a massive 915-gram Harley-Davidson record puck holds the LP against the platter and adds additional damping. Total moving mass for the drive system is 2.75 kilograms, which Pro-Ject says contributes to improved rotational stability.

The platter is driven by a belt and a synchronous AC motor powered through Pro-Ject’s DC/AC generator. Electronic switching between 33 and 45 RPM means owners won’t have to start moving belts around every time they pull out a 45. The three height-adjustable aluminum feet are damped to help isolate the deck from external vibration and acoustic feedback.

In other words, this thing might look like it belongs next to a Road Glide, but Pro-Ject hasn’t forgotten that the actual job is spinning records accurately.

The Tonearm Isn’t Decoration Either

Pro-Ject equips the Harley-Davidson Turntable with a hand-polished 8.6-inch S-shaped aluminum tonearm using an SME-style removable headshell, high-purity copper internal wiring and a TPE-damped counterweight.

That detachable headshell is more useful than it might initially appear. Cartridge swapping becomes considerably easier, and Pro-Ject specifically designed the arm to accommodate a wider range of cartridges should owners eventually want to move beyond the supplied model. An adaptive gravity-based anti-skating mechanism changes the effective anti-skating force as the stylus travels across the record.

A Pro-Ject Pick it PRO moving-magnet cartridge, manufactured in Denmark, arrives installed and adjusted. That’s a sensible choice for getting buyers up and running without turning the first evening into a cartridge-alignment seminar.

And if one of these lands at eCoustics for review, I already know what record is going on first.

Dolly Parton’s Jolene.

Parton died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80, leaving behind one of the most remarkable catalogs and careers in American music. Hearing “Jolene” come off a glass platter covered by a leather mat on a Harley-Davidson turntable sounds a little absurd when you write it down and somehow completely appropriate.

RIP, Dolly.

Pro-Ject Has Been Here Before

Anyone who follows Pro-Ject knows the Harley-Davidson collaboration didn’t appear out of thin air.

We’ve covered its Metallica Turntable, which used the band’s angular logo as a major structural element and paired it with an aluminum sub-platter, glass platter and removable SME headshell. We’ve also covered the rather less restrained AC/DC Turntable, complete with LED lighting and a wild acrylic tonearm inspired by the band’s lightning-bolt logo.

Then there was the Peanuts 75th Anniversary Turntable, the Elvis Turntable, and the considerably more traditional 2Xperience SB Sgt. Pepper Limited Edition, which we actually reviewed and found to be a legitimate high-end turntable beneath all of the Beatles artwork.

Pro-Ject’s Artist Collection has actually gone much further over the years, including multiple Beatles editions, a Rolling Stones model, Ringo Starr and George Harrison decks, the Vienna Philharmonic, Hard Rock Cafe and other collaborations.

The Harley-Davidson model feels like one of the more natural pairings. Both companies trade heavily on mechanical design, nostalgia, customization and owners who become very attached to the brand. Some of those owners also have enough disposable income to spend $3,299 on a record player that looks like a motorcycle badge.

Funny how that worked out.

What’s Actually Unique?

The biggest difference is that Pro-Ject hasn’t simply taken a conventional rectangular deck and dressed it up for Harley-Davidson. The Bar & Shield silhouette is fundamental to the chassis, while the leather, polished aluminum, stainless steel, heavyweight puck and exposed mechanical elements extend the theme into the materials themselves.

More importantly, the underlying hardware isn’t compromised for the sake of the visual stunt.

The heavy drive system, regulated motor power, aluminum sub-platter, glass platter, adjustable feet, removable headshell and Pick it PRO cartridge give this enough legitimate analog engineering to separate it from the mountain of licensed consumer products designed primarily to sit on a shelf.

Is it expensive? Absolutely. You are paying a significant premium for the industrial design, licensing and scarcity. There are excellent conventional turntables available for $3,299 that don’t arrive wearing a Harley-Davidson tattoo.

But that’s also missing the point.

Nobody considering this wants it to disappear into a rack.

Technical Specifications

• Drive: Belt drive
• Speeds: 33 / 45 RPM with electronic speed switching
• Chassis: Aluminum-MDF sandwich construction
• Platter: 300 mm heavy glass
• Sub-platter: Diamond-cut aluminum
• Total moving drive mass: 2.75 kg
• Record puck: 915 grams
• Record mat: Genuine leather
• Tonearm: 8.6-inch hand-polished S-shaped aluminum
• Headshell: Removable SME type
• Effective arm length: 218.5 mm
• Effective arm mass: 23.8 g
• Anti-skating: Adaptive gravity-based
• Cartridge: Pro-Ject Pick it PRO MM
• Main bearing: Stainless-steel axle in brass bushing
• Output: 5-pin DIN
• Included cable: Connect it Phono E 5P/RCA
• Feet: Three height-adjustable damped aluminum feet
• Dimensions: 543 x 124 x 437 mm
• Power consumption: 4W / 0W standby
• Manufacturing: Made in Europe

The Bottom Line

The Pro-Ject x Harley-Davidson Turntable could easily have become a very expensive piece of licensed memorabilia. It isn’t.

The $3,299 asking price undoubtedly includes a healthy premium for that Bar & Shield logo and the limited-edition status, but the underlying turntable uses legitimate Pro-Ject engineering and some unusually substantial hardware. The custom chassis, 2.75-kilogram moving drive mass, 915-gram puck, aluminum sub-platter, regulated motor system and versatile S-shaped tonearm make this far more interesting than another celebrity record player wearing a fancy paint job.

You can absolutely buy a superb turntable for less.

It just won’t look remotely like this.

And that’s sort of the entire point.

Pricing & Availability

The Pro-Ject x Harley-Davidson Turntable will sell for $3,299 and should arrive in both hi-fi dealer and Harley-Davidson showrooms by mid October 2026. With availability beyond the traditional hi-fi dealer network, the value proposition gets interesting. Put one beside a $40,000 motorcycle inside a Harley showroom and suddenly a $3,299 turntable doesn’t look quite so expensive.

We haven’t been told an exact production quantity, other than quantities will be limited. So waiting could be risky, and another production run is not guaranteed.

In addition, international pricing is set at €2,590 across Europe and £2,299 in the UK.

For more information: project-audio.com

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Waystar has launched agents that interpret payer responses and automatically resubmit denied healthcare claims, which it calls the industry’s first autonomous resubmission capability. Germany caps how many hospital invoices may be audited each quarter and charges a flat fee when one is reduced.

An American company has built software that argues with insurers on its own. Waystar has launched agents that read a payer’s rejection, apply that payer’s rules, decide what to do next and resubmit the claim unaided.

The scale behind it is the selling point. Waystar processes more than 7.5 billion healthcare payment transactions a year and says it touches roughly 60% of US patients, which is what gives its agents the history to act on.

The economics of the problem are peculiar. Payers eventually pay about 70% of the claims they initially deny, but only after providers spend money resubmitting them, and that delay is the gap being automated.

Every performance number belongs to the vendor. A 75% cut in analysis time comes from early adopters and “may vary by organization,” the 25% reduction in documentation review is expected rather than measured, and “industry’s first” is the company describing its own launch, a conditional payoff in miniature.

The most useful disclosure sits in the risk language. Waystar flags variability in AI claims-matching accuracy across payers, and the possibility that payers change the appeals and recoupment processes the agents were built to navigate.

Europe automates health administration too, just not this part. NHS England handed Copilot to 505,000 staff this year, inside a system that generates almost no denied claims to chase.

Where Europe does run this fight, it is capped by law. Germany limits how many hospital invoices a sickness fund may send for medical audit each quarter, at 5%, 10% or 15%, depending on how many of that hospital’s bills survived the previous review.

It also puts a price on losing. Since December 2024 a hospital pays a flat €400 surcharge when an audit reduces one of its invoices, which is a ceiling on the argument rather than an invitation to keep having it.

The AI rulebook does not reach any of this. The AI Act treats risk assessment and pricing in health insurance as high risk, and says nothing about the machinery surrounding a bill after it is issued.

Europe’s health regulators already know the gap exists. WHO Europe warned in July that nearly two-thirds of countries in the region use AI diagnostics while only 8% have a health AI strategy.

So the contrast is not about who has better software. America is automating an argument at scale, and Europe wrote rules to make the argument shorter.

Google has added four capabilities to Gemini Live, letting spoken commands trigger background agents that work across Docs, Sheets and Drive, alongside hands-free Gmail control and a spoken daily brief. Its DMA settlement requires it to let rival assistants reach comparable functionality on Android by July 2027.

Google has given its voice assistant the ability to keep working after you stop talking. Gemini Live can now pass a spoken instruction to Spark, which runs multi-step jobs across Docs, Sheets, Drive and the web over days, with the app closed.

Three smaller additions arrive with it. A spoken daily brief that merges Gmail and Calendar, hands-free inbox control covering search, summarise, star, archive and delete, and Personal Intelligence, which remembers past chats and reads connected apps.

The design assumption is stated openly. Google says 63% of Gemini users already speak to it, and product director Neel Joshi wrote that “speaking a prompt out loud is often the quickest way to get help with Gemini.”

Some of this is a second appearance. Spark and Daily Brief both arrived at I/O in May, and what is genuinely new is reaching them by voice in an unbroken conversation.

The tiers matter more than the features. Spark needs a Google AI Pro subscription or higher and Daily Brief needs AI Plus, so the agentic half sits behind the more expensive plan.

In Europe this lands on an obligation Google already carries. Its settlement with the Commission requires it to let rival assistants on Android reach comparable functionality, including voice wake commands and in-app actions, by July 2027.

That bar just moved. Every capability added to Gemini Live is also, in the EU, a specification for what a competitor must eventually be allowed to build.

The data side is a separate question under the same law. Article 5(2) of the Digital Markets Act stops a gatekeeper cross-using personal data from a designated service in other services it provides separately, absent specific consent.

Two of the four apps Google names are designated. Search and YouTube are core platform services under Alphabet’s designation, while Gmail and Photos are not.

Google’s answer is that nothing happens unless you ask. Users have to connect their apps in the Personal Intelligence settings before any of it works.

What the announcement never says is where. It names no countries, no languages and no European carve-out, from a company whose assistant skipped Europe at launch once already.

Amazon still markets this little black dongle as a way to watch movies. That pitch misses half the point. Second-generation Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a $49.99 (was $85) HDMI stick that also runs Xbox Game Pass, Amazon Luna, and GeForce NOW, so a living room TV becomes a cloud console after you pair a Bluetooth controller.

Plug the HDMI end into your television, and if the port is slightly recessed, use the provided extension to ensure it is firmly positioned. In addition, you’ll need to power it with the micro-USB charger included in the box. Setup normally takes a few minutes, providing you’re already an Amazon client and have your login information handy. On that topic, Fire OS 8 begins with a tile-heavy home screen that clearly promotes Prime Video, but you’ll also see Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Hulu, Max, and nearly every other big streaming service available.

Sale

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (newest model), streaming device, with AI-powered Fire TV Search, supports…

• The newest Fire TV experience (2026) – Our biggest update to Fire TV has a new, modern design that gets you to your entertainment fast. Browse…
• Elevate your entertainment experience with a powerful processor for lightning-fast app starts and fluid navigation.
• Play Xbox games – Stream Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, and hundreds of games on your Fire TV Stick 4K…

Menus open and apps load quickly thanks to the four ‘Cortex-A55’ cores clocked at 2.0 GHz, backed up by an 850 MHz GPU that keeps everything feeling quite fast. You can easily switch between services, and it feels more like a mid-range streaming box than the low-cost Fire TV sticks available. Oh, and 16 GB of storage is a pleasant addition, twice as much as the ordinary 4K model, which is useful if you end up storing games and extra programs rather than just video clients.

Video playback tops out at 4K at 60 frames per second, and with all of the fancy features available, such as Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG, it will all play smoothly on your LG or Samsung TV. Audio gets a boost with Dolby Atmos support if the show you’re watching and your soundbar can both do it. Wi-Fi 6E is one of those sensible upgrades that really makes a difference, especially if your router supports the 6 GHz band, which is quieter and less congested than the other alternatives. Get 5-6 Wi-Fi-enabled devices in the same house (e.g., phones, game consoles, and a 4K stream) and you might notice the difference.

The included Alexa Voice Remote Enhanced includes additional functions such as power, volume, mute, and even a channel rocker, allowing you to connect a compatible TV or soundbar without the need for another remote. Long-press the Alexa button and you may simply talk to it, asking it for something, and it will begin refining your search results without requiring you to start again. Recent software updates have also made Alexa+ search available on Fire TV in the United States at no additional cost, which is a nice bonus because you can just ask for “thriller with a female lead from last year” and continuing narrowing the search without having to start from scratch.

Gaming is one aspect that many people overlook when browsing a listing, only to realize after dinner. The official Xbox app on this small device transmits Game Pass titles directly to your television. Amazon’s own product page presently lists Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, and Fortnite, which is free through that app. Remember that you’ll need an Xbox Game Pass subscription and a controller to use any of this. They also got an official Xbox Wireless Controller that is easy to set up using Bluetooth 5.2. You can also use a DualSense controller or any other third-party controller you like, but if you want the whole experience, you’re best off with a true Xbox controller. HDMI 2.1 TVs can also assist with lag; utilizing Auto Low Latency Mode makes it much smoother on those.

Cloud gaming still relies on an internet connection, and Microsoft advises that you have at least 20 megabits per second on your 5GHz Wi-Fi. If you can manage 35-50 megabits and your internet connection isn’t too congested, 1080p or 1440p streaming look much better. Luna is also an option if you’re a top member who wants a rotating selection of games without having to add another subscription to your monthly expenditures. Party games can even use your phone as an additional controller, and if you already have a Steam or Epic library and want to play them on the same TV, GeForce NOW is also an option.

• Shanling Q2 unveiled as an iPod nano-alike upgrade for high-res music
• Fiio recently launched the Echo Nano, an original iPod shuffle-like player with a screen
• iPods are so nostalgic, they’re still being actively advertised by resellers

Remember the iPod? Of course you do: nostalgia is so high that you still have tech journalists dusting off their iPod Classics, they’re so popular on resellers that refurb site BackMarket is actively advertising them as though they’re new, and popular audio brands are releasing doppelgangers that have even more features than the originals.

In recent weeks, both Shanling and Fiio have released products that look like iPods going through their goth stage, but they’re not just cash-ins. These are devices that could end up on our best hi-res audio players list, with features and tools Apple never gave us.

Anthropic has signed a deal to rent about $45 billion in AI compute from Nscale, a British AI infrastructure company, a source familiar with the deal told TechCrunch.

Nscale, founded only in 2024, has already cut deals with the likes of Microsoft, and will supply Anthropic with compute via Nvidia’s Vera Rubin chips, its new state-of-the-art chip system.

The Vera Rubin system combines six different chips working in concert, and is considered the cutting edge of chip design. The compute capacity is expected to start powering the AI lab’s services in late 2027, the source said.

The deal, first reported by Bloomberg, is only the latest in a spree of compute partnerships for Anthropic. Bloomberg writes that the deal spans six years, with the computing power coming from Nscale’s flagship data center in West Virginia.

Over the past eight months, Anthropic has aggressively scaled up its compute capacity in an effort to better compete with rivals, most notably OpenAI.

Earlier this month, Anthropic signed a $10 billion deal with AI cloud startup Volta — founded only this past January — securing a six-year supply of cloud computing power from a data center in Norway. In July, the company also signed a $5 billion compute-related deal with AMD.

A few months before that, in May, Anthropic revealed it had entered into a large computing deal with SpaceX (run by Elon Musk, whose rivalry with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has made him an unlikely ally of Anthropic). That deal draws computing capacity from two different SpaceX data centers and is reportedly providing Anthropic with $1.25 billion worth of capacity each month.

In April, Anthropic also signed a deal to significantly expand its partnership with Amazon, gaining access to an additional 5 gigawatts of compute. That same month, the company also expanded its relationship with Google and Broadcom, adding even more power capacity.

Anthropic is hardly alone in its enthusiastic pursuit of more AI horsepower. The race to gobble up as much compute capacity as possible is ongoing, with other major players — including Google, OpenAI, and Meta — all following a similar track.

Apple has confirmed its September special event will be held on September 9. It won’t just be the iPhone 18 Pro or folding iPhone launch, but also the first event with John Ternus as CEO. Here’s what to expect.

Regular as clockwork, Apple holds an event in early September to launch new iPhone models and other products. Apple has just confirmed that this will be the case for 2026’s presentation.

Titled “Surprise and shine,” the event will be taking place on September 9, starting at 10 A.M. Pacific, 1 P.M. Eastern Time. As usual, it will be streamed on YouTube, the Apple Event page, and the Apple TV app, among other methods.

The event will be the first for the company following the long-awaited CEO transition. John Ternus will take over from Tim Cook on September 1, and will helm the presentation from the outset.

While there has been some speculation of the return of a live keynote, it’s doubtful that Apple will move away from its slick prerecorded video. There will be an on-site event at Apple Park for the media to try out Apple’s new launches, if not anything being streamed live.

As always, AppleInsider will be reporting in-depth about the product launches and the event in general.

What to expect for the September event

As with every Apple fall event schedule, there are many products that will launch, but not everything will appear during the prime September showcase. A second and a rare third event can also be held for select products that Apple plans to launch a little later.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max

The September event is chiefly when Apple launches its update to the iPhone range, and this year it is the iPhone 18 generation. However, it will only be part of the roster due to Apple’s decision to split the series into two separate launches.

For September’s event, Apple will introduce the premium members of the iPhone 18 family, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

A mock-up of a dark cherry iPhone 18 Pro, one of the rumored colorways.

After the 2025 refresh, the 2026 update is probably going to be a spec-bump update. Chiefly, that will mean a transition to a new 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip, which stands to run cooler for longer thanks to some packaging changes.

You can also count Apple’s C2 modem as being included in the model, too. As far as physical changes go, the camera bump may get a little bit bigger and colors like dark cherry may appear, but don’t expect a complete overhaul.

When it comes to cameras, there may be a few changes, including the possibility of under-display Face ID. On the back, the iPhone 18 Pro Max may be the only model to gain a variable-aperture camera, which can help create a real bokeh effect instead of a computer-generated version.

What definitely will change is the price. In the wake of the June price rises and the continuing memory crisis, the iPhone 18 Pro could cost $300 more than the iPhone 17 Pro counterparts.

Folding iPhone

The more important iPhone launch for the event will be the iPhone Fold, though it may also be called the iPhone Ultra. The long-awaited smartphone will be Apple’s first foray into the foldable marketplace.

It will be equipped with two screens, with an internal 7.8-inch screen that can be unfolded like a book. A second 5.3-inch display will be on the outside for more typical smartphone usage.

That internal display could be quite unusual for Apple. There are rumors that it could have asymmetrical corners.

A render of what the iPhone Fold could look like – Image Credit: AppleInsider

The model is expected to include premium specifications like the A20 Pro, 12GB of memory, and a large number of cameras. Rumors point to it having a pair of 48-megapixel rear cameras, as well as front-facing 18MP cameras in the front and back screens for video calls.

The lack of a telephoto camera could be a problem for early adopters used to premium specifications.

Rumors say the internal screen’s camera could use an under-display system, while the external display will be punch-hole style.

The iPhone Fold also stands to be the most expensive iPhone Apple sells, even ignoring the memory crisis. Pre-issue rumors forecast a price between $2,000 and $2,500, but it could end up being much higher.

Though a launch is anticipated to happen in September, you may not see it in stores until much later. The United States will probably still be the first market it launches in, with a slower rollout elsewhere.

While availability is questionable, the probability of it launching is sky high. On August 23, a report claimed that people have tried out the device ahead of its launch.

Apple Watch

Usually paired with the iPhone launches, you can expect an Apple Watch update too. We aren’t expecting much in 2026.

The Apple Watch Series 12 will not benefit from a major overhaul just yet, but it could gain a new health sensor via a fluoroelastomer band and a new band attachment method. Otherwise, don’t expect much more than a spec-bump update here.

The Apple Watch Ultra could see an update too, bringing it to version 4. There have been claims of a redesign and new sensors, though rumors have been light on actual detail.

The 2026 update may be a dull one for your wrist, but a revamp is still on the way.

Smart Home

Apple has been working to update its home devices, including the Apple TV and HomePod mini. Both are expected to see updates this fall, after being delayed by the Siri overhaul.

The HomePod mini stands to get a processing upgrade.

In both cases, the expectations are low for overhauls here, with it being more of a functionality-based refresh. Using newer chips for processing, they will be able to support Siri AI.

For the Apple TV 4K, you may also see an update to the Siri Remote, though we’re not entirely sure what that will be.

A third smart home device referred to as the Home Hub is also a possibility. An all-new device, it is expected to act as the center of your smart home network, complete with a seven-inch screen and a FaceTime camera.

That screen will manage your smart home devices, display notifications, calendar listings, and other pertinent information, as well as handle communications.

It will take two forms, rumors say, with the first being a half-moon dome with the screen attached to it. A second will attach to mounts using magnets.

While there’s no guarantee that all three will make it in September’s event, Apple Stores are apparently preparing for some kind of smart home shake-up and brand new devices.

iPad mini 8

While expectations for iPad appearances are low, there is one exception in the form of the iPad mini. The eighth-generation device is anticipated to also have a big glow-up for 2026, thanks to a new display.

The current-gen iPad mini, without OLED.

Rumors and a code leak have indicated that an OLED version is on the way. This should be an 8.4-inch LTPS panel with hybrid OLED, though without ProMotion.

It will also get the usual chip update too, potentially gaining the A20 chip.

AirPods Pro

An accessory often bought alongside the iPhone, AirPods Pro is believed by some to get another update in the latter stages of 2026. While a fairly pedestrian update is a safe bet, there may be something more on the cards.

We have regularly seen rumors about AirPods Pro with cameras to capture the user’s environment. Based on a demo video that leaked in a macOS Tahoe beta, they may arrive very soon.

The idea of the cameras is to feed data into Visual Intelligence. A user could then ask questions about what they’re looking at or nearby subjects, which Siri can then interpret and respond to.

This may not even need to be a verbal query. Apparently, gesture recognition is a possibility here.

Those cameras will be able to detect people and take stereoscopic imagery, albeit at a low 1-megapixel resolution. But it will still be able to take photos of others on command, complete with an obligatory status light.

Previous rumors said that the camera-equipped version could be out in 2027. The beta leak video hints that it could be here a lot sooner than anyone thought, but the better bet is still for next year.

LEGAL

Database from legal advocacy group details growing unease with warrantless panopticon

A mischief-maker in a Darth Vader suit recently endorsed Flock at a city council meeting, and it has not helped the company’s fortunes. Around the US, citizens have been protesting and sometimes vandalizing the company’s network of surveillance cameras. And the advocacy has caused some governments to change course.

Government officials, commonly hesitant to second-guess law enforcement practices, have become concerned enough to question these mass surveillance practices. US Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Wednesday wrote to Flock CEO Garrett Langley to announce an investigation of “Flock Safety’s collection, retention, and dissemination of data gathered by its artificial intelligence cameras.”

Despite “Darth Vader’s” comments last week at a San Diego City Council meeting about the need to “continue utilizing Flock technologies so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum,” a growing number of local governments in the US have been cancelling or choosing not to renew their contracts with Flock and other makers of automated license plate readers (ALPRs).

The Institute for Justice (IJ), a Virginia-based legal advocacy non-profit, on Wednesday published a new database that tracks the termination of local government ALPR contracts. As of Wednesday, the database documents 93 local governments that canceled ALPR contracts.

The IJ, which is challenging ALPR use on Fourth Amendment grounds in Norfolk, Virginia and San Jose, California, previously published a database that documents police abuse of ALPRs, a topic addressed in Hawley’s letter. Incidents include romantic stalking, wrongful traffic stops and detentions, and other forms of misconduct.

“I think what’s happened is that the American public has woken up to the mass surveillance that quietly arose around them,” said Robert Frommer, senior attorney at IJ, in an interview with The Register. “And they don’t like it.

“It does seem to me that the rate of cancellations, the rate of public protest has increased over the past few months. I think that’s both due to more news attention being paid to the real life abuses of this technology, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the geofence case,” Frommer said. In that case, SCOTUS ruled that cops need a warrant to grab location data.

Frommer said that he believes the IJ’s efforts to document ALPRs and associated abuses have helped focus the public’s concern and have illustrated the problems with warrantless mass surveillance.

ALPRs, from vendors like Flock, Motorola Solutions, and PlateSmart, among others, capture license plates whenever cars drive by, along with geodata and potentially images of people. This data can be combined with other information, effectively putting all passersby under constant surveillance without any warrant.

“I think what we’re seeing now is the reaction to that,” said Frommer, who explained that the problem with Flock cameras is that they’re accessible to anyone with login credentials, without any authorization from a supervising authority.

“You don’t need to go to a judge and get a warrant,” Frommer explained. “You don’t need anything. And when you basically give that search power to the bored officer in his cop car in the middle of a shift, it inevitably happens that they start using it and start misusing it, whether to look people up personally or whether to investigate people at political protests.”

These sorts of issues, Frommer said, have made people question whether we should live in a panopticon.

The IJ’s litigation and its Plate Privacy Project, said Frommer, follow from the belief that there are solutions, whether they come from the courts or lawmakers. Pointing to Hawley’s letter, he said that this is not just a state or local issue, but has become a federal concern.

“I think what the din that you’ve heard over the past couple of months shows that there absolutely needs to be a change, a reckoning,” he said. “And that’s what we’re pushing for in our litigation. We’re pushing for a warrant requirement. You want to go look up somebody’s past travels and see where they have been? Go to a judge, explain it, and get a warrant.”

Flock did not respond to a request for comment. ®