Here are today’s 4 verified tech & science stories, covering Tech & Apps.
Table of Contents
Every item below links to its original source.
The TLDR
- Tech & Apps: Apple Gives Developers Their First Real Look at iPhone Duo Apps
Tech & Apps
Apple Gives Developers Their First Real Look at iPhone Duo Apps
Apple released the first beta of Xcode 27.1 on September 18, adding the SDKs and simulator developers need to build and test apps for the foldable iPhone Duo, per 9to5Mac. iPhone Duo opens for pre-order October 16 and ships October 23 starting at $1,999, running its own iOS 27.1 build before later syncing with standard iPhone software. Apps still targeting the iOS 26 SDK will need updating before they can take advantage of the larger, foldable display.
Unsealed Filings Show Microsoft and OpenAI Knew AI Was Hurting News Sites
Newly unsealed court filings from The New York Times’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, made public September 17, show a Microsoft executive privately describing a “doom loop” in which AI answer engines would keep pulling traffic away from the news sites that trained them, according to The Verge. Internal Microsoft data reportedly found Copilot’s AI search integration cut click-through rates to the Times by as much as 93% compared with regular Bing search. Another internal document reportedly called the companies’ data scraping “the largest theft of labor in human history.”
FAA Set to Test AI Traffic Tool Over Washington, DC
The FAA plans to begin advising air traffic controllers with an AI tool called SMART in the congested airspace above Washington, DC, with a limited launch that could start as soon as Monday, September 21, according to Ars Technica. SMART, short for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories, is part of an $875 million, 12-year contract the FAA awarded to Air Space Intelligence in June to predict traffic flows and flag potential conflicts using airline schedules, weather, and airspace data. If the DC pilot goes well, the FAA plans to expand SMART nationwide.
iOS 27 Quietly Overhauls Focus Mode
Beyond its headline features, iOS 27 reworked the Focus mode widget in Control Center so it can be resized from a small 1×1 icon up to a full 2×2 grid, according to Engadget. Shortcuts automations can now check which specific Focus mode is active and branch with “otherwise if” logic, and Sleep Focus is now available as an automation trigger, opening the door to routines like launching a workout app only when Fitness Focus turns on.
Explore more: your Gemini privacy settings, how ChatGPT and Gemini compare.
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Photo: Imagen 2 via Gemini; prompted by Adi Robertson / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.