Adrian Weckler

‪Outlook as Gaeilge‬

Not really! Just that the iPhone chips are powerful now for standard laptops

Fón as Gaeilge don seachtain (Outlook ina measc)

…

iPhone: Settings —> General —> Language & Region

Android: Settings —> System —> Languages/Input

Apple’s new budget (€699) MacBook Neo

- 13-inch size
- 256GB or 512GB
- iPhone chip (A18 Pro)
- MacOS
- battery life slightly less than other MacBooks
- multiple colours

So Apple has increased prices by $100 in US and £100 in UK

— but no price increase in EU.

= Apple forecasting strong € and weak $ and £

In fairness, not if you already have one (or five, like me!)

Apple has announced new MacBook Air M5 and MacBook Pro today.

Good news 1: twice the base storage

Good news 2: no price increase here in € (but $100 more in US! Trump tariff!)

Bad news: no charging adapters included anymore (charged separately!)

Today’s ep: “I was naive and stupid”.

Interview with a guy who had €30k of crypto stolen — he had stored the keys in a Gmail draft

(Big Tech Show podcast, Spotify/YT etc)

Yes, the more long term indicators are annual sales figures over multiple quarters.

eg In 2025, Tesla was down 28% across Europe for the year.

So the value of these snapshots is in wondering whether that steep downward curve is continuing

Full review now published: www.independent.ie/business/tec...

Apple’s best-selling iPhones are generally its most expensive ones (ie €1,300 iPhone 17 Pro).

But this plugs a big market hole for Apple — kids and young adults.

When given a choice, most of Gen Z won’t touch anything but iPhone, for some reason

Apple just soft-launched its new ‘budget’ phone — the iPhone 17e.

256GB, €729, one rear camera

Worth noting that EV sales in Ireland are rising strongly.

So Tesla’s sales collapse here appears to be a brand-specific decline.

Wonder whether it’s the cars, or something else?

Tesla has fallen out of the top 10 electric car brands in Ireland.

It has also fallen outside the 20 of overall car brands here.

Its best-selling car, the Model Y, is now a lowly 78th.

For that kind of query, almost zero difference.

It’s a step down but yeah, at least it’s recognisable!

More polished now (but still not really the match of iPhone or Galaxy)

Turned off

No, not in this case — that’s a live capture (you can see it in camera as you’re zooming in).

If it were more AI-generated, there’d be even less fuzziness and more distinct features

‪I mean, it doesn’t match ‘real’ camera + lens photos of the moon (eg this from a Fujifilm with a proper zoom lens).‬

‪But the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is soooo much better than the indistinct, rubbish moon pics most people currently get on their iPhones and Samsungs‬

I’ve taken thousands of photos of the moon.

I’ve never taken (or seen) a remotely passable one from a phone — until now.

Am astonished by the telephoto zoom lens on the new Xiaomi 17 Ultra which I’m currently testing.

Anthropic’s Claude suddenly soaring up app charts all over the world, after Trump ban.
eg Ireland

Israel Hacked Popular Iranian Prayer App to Urge Defections, Resistance Israel hacked a popular Iranian prayer app to send notifications to potentially millions of phones Saturday morning urging the country’s military personnel to defect from the regime and join a fight t...

‘Israel hacked a popular Iranian prayer app to send notifications to millions of phones on Saturday, urging the country’s military personnel to defect from the regime’

www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

😖

Dave Fanning turns 70 today. Happy birthday!

In the UK, Virgin O2 today announced first commercial satellite-to-phone service, but only on Samsung S25 models and no network calls (not even emergency calls, though maybe Whatsapp calls). Costs £3 per month and here are the apps/services you can use

www.reuters.com/business/med...

AST

It is not via Starlink

Vf claims 95% geographical coverage here. (99% population)

So apart from regular networks out due to storms, this 5% seems to be the market.

No detail on speed (“basic 4G”) or price (if any). But will work with unmodified smartphones.

Starlink also promised it but no sign yet

Vodafone plans satellite-to-phone services in Ireland – for coverage ‘not spots’ and storms Vodafone is planning to launch satellite-based direct phone and video calls in Ireland.

Vodafone plans satellite calls (inc video calls and data) direct to ordinary smartphones.

Testing it in Ireland now.

Has test license from regulator to do it.

Would be the first.

m.independent.ie/business/tec...