John Coltrane’s 1963 Impulse! Records release Impressions is sometimes overlooked by jazz newcomers and even established fans of the artist. But it represents an important stepping stone between his work on albums such as Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, and Africa/Brass, which I reviewed quite recently, and the final run-up to his January 1965 masterpiece, A Love Supreme.

Universal’s Verve / Acoustic Sounds Series has revived this excellent album and put it back within reach of the public with a fine new reissue. Again driven by Chad Kassem (of Analogue Productions fame), the lacquers for this new pressing of Impressions were crafted by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab.

The 180-gram vinyl discs were pressed at Quality Record Pressing (QRP), and each comes housed in an audiophile-grade, plastic-lined inner sleeve. The beautiful gatefold cover is manufactured to recreate the exacting look and feel of original editions, with glossy laminated cover artwork and the period-accurate, 1963-era orange starburst style Impulse Records label design (comparison of 1963 original to reissue below).

A mix of studio and live recordings, the fidelity changes a bit on this one, as it features two tracks from the same sessions that gave us Coltrane’s wonderful Live At The Village Vanguard albums. It still kind of blows my mind that, at a time when much of the pre-Beatles world was listening to often insipid pop fluff, the strong jazz underground could still allow an artist like Coltrane to thrive, creating such inspired music.

The music on Impressions, and the track “India” in particular, was definitely an influence on many artists. For example, The Byrds’ co-founder Roger McGuinn has frequently gone on record mentioning this album, as well as Africa / Brass, as important influences on the evolution of their expansive sound, particularly on tracks like “Eight Miles High.”

Unlike my last review of Africa / Brass, where I only had a 3rd or 4th pressing to compare it to, in this instance I actually own a quite nice condition 1st pressing. Short of being able to conduct a true A/B test, I made some quick back-to-back reality checks between both versions, and the new Acoustic Sounds reissue clearly bests my original.

It is less compressed and fuller sounding, with Reggie Workman and Jimmy Garrison’s twin double basses feeling far more present. When Eric Dolphy’s bass clarinet solo enters, the impact is stunning, with a rich presence at which the original only hints.

So now I am in a pickle: I love owning original pressings, but this presentation is so well crafted that I may well purge my OG. First-world problems for sure, I know.

You can get Impressions on Amazon for a very reasonable $38.98, which is a great deal, especially when you consider buying a vintage pressing on the collector’s market.

For example, at the time of this writing, a 1963 original stereo pressing in, at best, VG+ condition on Discogs would cost you at least $75. A more pristine copy, like the one I have, would cost much more. The choice is yours, but if you are simply looking for great sound and an authentic presentation of Impressions, this new reissue is a winner.

Our Ratings

★★★★★★★★★★ Music

★★★★★★★★★★ Sound

★★★★★★★★★★ Packaging

Where to Buy

Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc.  You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.

AI chatbots can help plan a vacation or suggest what to pack. But there are situations where advice from someone who actually knows what they are doing is the safer choice.

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, three novice hikers from Roseville, California, had to be rescued from Mount Shasta after becoming stranded overnight. According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, they had used Google Gemini to help plan the climb. The sheriff’s office said Gemini advised the group to carry far less food and water than they needed.

An eight-hour hike turned into an overnight rescue

The group started toward the summit at around 3 a.m. on Sunday. Hikers are advised to turn around if they have not reached the summit by noon, but the three continued and eventually reached the top at around 7 p.m.

Things went wrong on the descent. They lost their route in the dark and ended up in Mud Creek Canyon instead of staying on the Clear Creek Route. One of the hikers had also injured his knee, forcing the group to spend the night in a steep drainage before rescuers reached them the following morning.

The sheriff’s office advised hikers to carry multiple methods of navigation, including an offline option, and recommended calling the local U.S. Forest Service ranger station before attempting the climb. It also specifically warned people not to rely solely on AI for trip planning.

AI can give advice, but it cannot replace experience

Similar problems have surfaced when people turned to AI for legal and medical advice. We previously covered a lawyer who used ChatGPT for legal research, only to discover that the cases it cited did not exist. He even asked ChatGPT to confirm they were real, and the chatbot said they were. A study testing ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI, and DeepSeek also found that roughly half of their answers to medical questions were flawed or incomplete, while some included fabricated references.

Chatbots have their uses, but getting a plausible answer is not good enough when a mistake could put someone’s health, safety, or livelihood at risk. Advice from a professional or experienced expert should come first. At the very least, AI-generated information should be checked against reliable sources before anyone acts on it.

Even the chatbots themselves tell users not to take everything they say at face value. Gemini carries the warning, “Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.” Cases like this are a good reminder of why that warning is there.

Apple’s Time Machine tool removes the need to store everything online.

Setting up a drive for Time Machine

Adnan Ahmed for Engadget

How Time Machine works

Adnan Ahmed for Engadget

How far back can you go with Time Machine?

Adnan Ahmed for Engadget

AI AND ML

15 Mustangs on the city streets, but the Nissan LEAF follow-up could dispense with the safety driver

Wayve and Uber have launched self-driving rides in London, but what’s more interesting is what is planned for the next few months and years.

As of today, the plan is for 15 electric Ford Mustangs, equipped with the Wayve AI driver, to roam the capital, picking up passengers with a safety driver on hand to keep an eye on things.

However, at a launch event on Thursday, Wayve showed off the follow-up to the Mustang: a Nissan LEAF, which will run the Wayve AI Driver using NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion. This glimpse into the future was arguably more intriguing than today’s electric Mustang.

Unlike the Mustang, the LEAF’s self-driving equipment looked as though it might have been part of the car’s design, from a roof-mounted sensor pack that followed the roofline, through to sensors attached to the wings and bumpers.

A Wayve representative told us it had worked with Nissan on the integration. That said, the tech is relatively agnostic when it comes to platforms and sensor configurations.

Wayve was, however, a little less forthcoming at the launch event about the underlying technology changes between the Nissan-based prototype on show and the Mustang parked up in front of it. The hope is that the update will reach UK roads next year, although that depends on several factors, including technology and regulations. Right now, Uber stated, “The initial launch phase features supervised autonomous rides, meaning a trained and TfL licensed private hire driver is onboard to oversee the trip.”

So no San Francisco Waymo-esque rides with the driver’s seat spookily empty just yet. However, a Wayve representative told us the Nissan LEAF would eventually be capable of such a feat.

The rollout of the Mustang feels a little like a stunt to steal a march on competitors such as Waymo, which has also had vehicles rolling around the tricky streets and traffic of London. Waymo is presently in a testing phase, but Wayve and Uber are now taking paying passengers. Both services, however, must have a trained driver onboard, poised to intervene if the need arises.

The untried nature of the Wayve and Uber Mustang is evidenced by the words “TEST VEHICLE. KEEP A SAFE DISTANCE” printed on the rear of the car. Paying passengers are part of the AI Driver’s learning process, with lessons learned feeding into the next generation of autonomous vehicles, which might, or might not, still need that safety driver behind the wheel, just in case.

Wayve was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in London. It has trained its AI tech on the city’s roads since 2018. In 2024, Wayve partnered with Uber, which included an investment to deploy vehicles with Wayve’s technology in 12 markets worldwide, starting with London. The LEAF will first see action in Tokyo. ®

What just happened? Google introduced its Gemini Audio AI models earlier this year, during the latest developer-focused I/O conference. Now, the advertising corporation is going to bring these additional features to three of its most popular mobile apps for Workspace customers.

Google is significantly expanding Gemini Live’s reach to Gmail, Docs, and Keep, at least for paying customers of the enterprise-focused Workspace service. The Alphabet company highlights how these new capabilities will enrich its customers’ day-to-day lives with a new option to use their apps and personal data, but not all users seem ecstatic about the idea of talking to a mail client on the phone.

The newly announced features are based on Gemini Live’s conversational AI models, so they are conveniently named Gmail Live, Docs Live, and Keep Live. Thanks to Gmail Live, customers can quickly recall important details about a meeting or their kids’ school events. They will just need to ask the app what they want in natural language, and Gmail will (hopefully) bring the right details to the conversation.

Docs Live does not necessarily work on pre-existing data. The AI feature is designed to be a “co-writer” for new document projects, helping users lay out a first draft based on “rough” thoughts and ideas. Furthermore, Docs Live can also extract “relevant” details from other Workspace apps (Gmail, Drive, Chat, etc.) if the user grants specific permissions to do so.

Finally, Keep Live is conceived as a novel way to turn whimsical, undefined notes and ideas into more organized and therefore “actionable” notes. Google is inviting users to “dump” their mind’s content in the company’s note-taking app, and then ask Gemini Live’s AI engine to turn a stream of consciousness into a more useful list of data or ideas. Google added that Gemini should be able to understand everything being said.

Gemini Live’s new conversational features for Gmail, Docs, and Keep are already rolling out to eligible subscribers of Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra plans. Furthermore, they should arrive soon for business customers using Google’s Workspace productivity suite.

While some people consider talking to a mobile app a rather natural way to interact with computers and personal devices, others see it differently. Some early reactions to Google’s new conversational features highlight the ever-growing number of AI tools that are now being proposed to interact with Android apps, while one disgruntled user said that “chatting” with an email app is definitely not the most appealing thing to do on a phone.

In this week’s Sunday Reboot, the sudden top-table rule changes and how John Ternus will be a good Apple CEO, whether he likes it or not.

Sunday Reboot is a weekly column covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days. All to get next week underway with a good first step.

More than one job change

September is always a big month for Apple, but this one is bigger than ever. Not because of the inbound hardware, but because of the people making it.

The key change is at the top of the Apple executive food chain, as the multi-month transition process has almost concluded. John Ternus is now the CEO, taking over from Tim Cook, but that doesn’t mean the process has ended.

Of course, there’s some behind-the-scenes logistics happening, such as Cook moving out of his office and into a new one for the leadership-adjacent position of executive chairman of the board.

Ternus, meanwhile, will be watching some hardware lackeys shifting cardboard boxes full of circuit boards and unused tech from his old office to his new one. It’s a big move too, as he will be among his fellow executives instead of near his beloved hardware teams.

It’s a thing that has to happen, as Ternus takes the mantle. Though inevitably other unintended changes are also underway too.

Apple Fellow Phil Schiller

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Apple Fellow Phil Schiller has decided to reduce his workload. He’s switched out of running the App Store for a more relaxed existence within Apple, presumably taking another step to retirement.

Then there’s Luca Maestri, who was the previous CFO but continued managing Corporate Services. Except he’s not doing that anymore and current CFO Kevan Parekh has picked up those duties too.

We know that seismic change can prompt other employment updates, and a new CEO would certainly count as one. But there was no serious expectation of a mass exodus as Ternus took his seat.

There still isn’t that expectation, but it doesn’t stop things like this from happening. We do know that the Schiller change was in the last days of Cook’s management, but Maestri’s decision took place a few weeks ago, long before the CEO switch.

It’s probably safe to say that the two changes are not massively consequential to Apple.

At least, Schiller’s App Store withdrawal could be a bit worrying, until you consider it’s only part of a larger Services division. Maestri’s post-CFO role was also not what you would call critical to Apple’s success, or at least wasn’t as critical as managing a massive segment of the company.

Besides, this CEO transition has been going on for months. Anyone who would’ve seriously objected to Ternus being in control has had ample time to get out of Dodge.

The people who are still leading Apple are going to hang around for quite a while longer.

Ocean liner management

As the opening weeks and months of Ternus control continue, there may be the threat of more managerial shake-ups. But it certainly won’t be from radical moves by the CEO.

You can expect him to make small changes to how the company functions. I say small in a relative fashion, because Apple is a tech giant.

His changes need to be like a captain steering a cruise ship. It takes time to slow down and to adjust course, as rocking the boat of that size would be dangerous.

That is to say, anything he decrees will take a long time to become an actual problem for someone. If a problem does indeed manifest down the road.

Then there’s the corporate culture, since any decision Ternus makes will affect thousands of people. Even though the CEO’s word is effectively gospel, if there are enough people who disagree, there’s always the risk of a mutiny.

Apple CEO John Ternus [left] and previous CEO Tim Cook [right]

There is one more safety barrier in place to prevent Ternus from creating a Titanic-like situation. Cook is still hanging around.

Sure, he’s not going to have much of a say on what products Apple will develop. Nor should you expect him to appear during an Apple event video in the future.

But it’s hard to get away from the thought that Ternus won’t have free rein without Cook’s oversight or advice.

Cook has a wealth of experience as captain of the SS Cupertino, and it would be foolish for Ternus not to listen to anything Cook says.

You’re not going to get any insane company-destroying proclamations coming from Ternus. Anything that he does say will have been discussed and debated to an exhaustive degree to keep it sane and safe.

Ternus is a safe pair of hands. But even if he wasn’t and was hell-bent on hitting an iceberg, Cook would still be a sanity safety net.

Last week’s Sunday Reboot discussed Apple’s early Mac upgrades and John Ternus meeting Pikachu.