Author: David Bernal Raspall

Microsoft has set a date and price for the Surface Laptop Ultra, a 15-inch machine that starts at $2,599 and takes direct aim at the 16-inch MacBook Pro. According to Microsoft, it will arrive on October 16 and will focus on creative, development, and AI-related work. Just as Apple prepares a much lighter OLED MacBook Pro, a machine we expect to get a major refresh, Microsoft will offer up to $1,000 if you switch.

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Plenty of power from Nvidia RTX Spark

The new Surface packs an Nvidia RTX Spark chip with a Blackwell GPU of up to 6,144 cores, a Grace CPU of up to 20 cores, and up to 128GB of unified memory. The mini-LED, touchscreen display can reach an HDR peak brightness that, according to Microsoft, is 25% higher than the MacBook Pro’s, although it hasn’t shared exact figures.

With three USB-C ports, one USB-A, an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and Magnetic Connect, Microsoft’s version of MagSafe, we’re looking at the most powerful Surface yet. Microsoft, again without sharing exact numbers, claims that it weighs less than the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Up to $1,000.00 for your MacBook Pro

As part of a presentation surprisingly focused on comparing itself with Apple’s offering, Microsoft is offering up to $1,000 if you trade in an eligible MacBook Pro with the purchase of the Surface Laptop Ultra.

Waiting for Apple’s new laptop? Rumors point to a thinner, lighter OLED MacBook Pro with a touchscreen. And don’t forget the recent launch of the new Mac mini and Mac Studio. We’ll see where Microsoft’s offering stands when it’s compared with Apple’s new models.

Ring has finally unveiled its first smart lock. As Apple and LG prepare their own range of cameras and locks, Amazon is making its move in the home automation space and doing so with an especially interesting idea: we can generate power by turning the lock’s own mechanism.

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A lock that can generate its own power

The Ring Smart Lock, like other smart locks on the market, comes with a fingerprint reader and a touch keypad and lets us control it from the Ring app. We can open the door from our phone, lock it from outside the house, and create temporary access for family members or visitors. But what if the battery runs out? It turns out that’s no longer a possibility. A few turns of the lock are enough to charge the battery so we can get into the house no matter how long the lock has gone unused.

According to Amazon, the new lock will arrive during the first quarter of 2027 for $249, in black, silver, and brass. Installation requires no wiring and it integrates with Echo, Alexa, and other Ring devices, which is especially interesting now that Alexa+ is gaining ground in the smart home.

Ring is pairing the lock with new Retinal Vision 4K cameras, which improve low-light performance and show more accurate colors. Without a doubt an excellent step forward now that Apple is setting the stage for a new phase in its home ecosystem. We’ll see what else arrives in the home automation space in the coming months.

OpenAI has unveiled a huge improvement for ChatGPT. We’re talking about the launch of GPT-6 and its Intelligent UI system. After the arrival of GPT-6 Astra and then the Sol and Luna models, the company wants to turn the chat we use to talk to GPT into an interface that can adapt directly to what we’re asking in real time. According to OpenAI, the responses combine text, graphics, buttons, forms, and interactive tools within the same conversation.

Intelligent UI completely changes the way we use ChatGPT

Until now, talking with ChatGPT meant getting a written response 100% of the time. Intelligent UI completely does away with that concept: every query becomes a visual and interactive experience generated on the fly based on the question. We can ask for a recipe and adjust the quantities based on the number of guests, see side-by-side comparisons of certain images, or understand a concept through an animated diagram.

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The idea continues the evolution that, in fact, we already saw with Canvas in terms of flexibility and with ChatGPT Work in terms of iteration. AI moves from answering questions to building tools in response to our requests. A calculator, an expense splitter, or even a small illustrative game can now easily appear in the chat and adapt to our instructions.

GPT-6 starts answering while it still thinks

OpenAI has trained GPT-6 to start giving us information while it continues reasoning and searching for data. The response appears more progressively and we can start reading it sooner, which allows us to add more details or clarifications in certain cases or, simply, stick with the initial explanation.

GPT-6 Sol is coming to the Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans, while GPT-6 Luna is aimed at the Free and Go plans and should appear in the selector, within the next few hours.

Google has unveiled the new Nano Banana 2.1, its model for generating and editing images using AI, and with it come several new features and improvements. The highlight is that now creating a 4K image drops from 15.10 cents to 7.56 cents, practically half of what it cost with Nano Banana 2, but the best part is that with the new generation we get better quality and faster speeds.

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Better quality, more references, and Flash speed

Nano Banana 2.1 uses Gemini 3.6 Flash and lets us add up to 14 reference images, which is key to being able to keep up to four characters and ten objects consistent. In this version Google also improves text rendering, panoramas, and the detail of infographics, which increases Gemini’s capabilities when it comes to presenting information.

The new 2.1 model can generate 1K, 2K, and 4K images at Flash speed. While we already take image editing through Gemini for granted and the company removes the option to alter satellite images with AI from Google Earth, it’s clear that image generation still has a long way to go.

Nano Banana Pro holds its position

Benchmarks place Nano Banana 2.1 ahead of other models in several tests, especially when reasoning is enabled. Nano Banana Pro keeps its advantage in realism, color, and proportions, but, given its price and speed, Google presents 2.1 as the most efficient option in its lineup.

Now that the rollout is complete, Nano Banana 2.1 is now available in Gemini, Google Search, AI Studio, Flow, Stitch, and also in Google Ads, almost in sync with the launch of the Gemini desktop app. In short: Higher resolution, better consistency, and practically half the price.

After learning what’s new in the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Ultra 4, we can see what’s under their screens. After doing the same with the AirPods 5, iFixit has taken both models apart and shows us how Apple has reorganized several internal components to get more out of a surprisingly small space.

A bigger battery and simpler connections

The Series 12 has a 1.461 Wh battery, compared with the 1.403 Wh one in the Series 11. In the Ultra 4, the battery is rated at 2.444 Wh, compared with the 2.313 Wh of the Ultra 3. A moderate improvement, yes, but one that helps improve the battery life and charging of these watches. What’s more, Apple has simplified the screen’s internal connection, replacing the previous connector with a snap-on one that makes repairs and battery replacements easier.

The teardown reveals the Taptic Engine, the new sensors and, in general, how enormously compact the whole arrangement is, since every millimeter of interior space is used with precision. We also see the new sensor array, but there’s more.

The Series 12 and the Ultra 4 share the new S11 chip, a key piece for Audio Intelligence and the new health capabilities. Hardware that supports software that keeps adding more and more features to the watch.

According to all the rumors, Apple is preparing major changes to its smart home offering. Just a few days before the supposed October 13 event, we have new information that expands what we expect in addition to the Home Hub, the new HomePod mini, and the new Apple TV. The big surprise, however, lies in Apple’s partnership with LG.

Apple and LG are preparing a complete smart home lineup

Mark Gurman reports in Bloomberg that Apple and LG have worked together on a video doorbell, a thermostat, a smart lock, and several security cameras. The products will carry the LG brand, which will take on manufacturing and support, while Apple participates in design, features, and engineering. It’s a very interesting formula, though surprising, for expanding HomeKit’s reach quickly.

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The accessories will use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, and Matter. The lock will add UWB to the mix, which will enable proximity features that could, for example, open the door automatically when we get home. And all of this will accompany the arrival of Siri AI on the HomePod and Apple’s other home products.

As far as we know, LG’s accessories would arrive a few months after Apple’s new home products. While Apple prepares more devices of its own, home automation is shaping up to become another part of Apple’s ecosystem, and the collaboration with LG may give it the scale it needs from day one.

Apple has been preparing one of the biggest changes to the Mac in many years for some time, and each new beta seems to bring us closer to it and give us more proof of what, let’s be clear, for now are only rumors. After years of macOS evolution, the latest betas point directly to a screen we’ll be able to touch, and that comes from within the system itself.

macOS 27.2 starts supporting touch input

In the third beta of macOS 27.2 we found several new features for recognizing different touch gestures in Safari, Photos, Notes and also in Quick Look. As MacRumors reports, the system now includes references such as PXGTouchDwellGestureRecognizer, ICTouchPressGestureRecognizer or dragTouch, fairly clear names that fit suspiciously well with that touchscreen MacBook we’ve been hearing so much about.

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macOS Golden Gate itself already includes gestures like pull to refresh and although support for touch interactions through Sidecar is a good explanation for these features, suspicions are growing quickly.

A MacBook Pro that will change quite a bit more than its screen

Rumors suggest a noticeably lighter OLED MacBook Pro, with a Dynamic Island and M5 Pro and M5 Max chips inside. OLED technology will be key to adding a touchscreen, and it’s something Apple has been working on for years.

The announcement could take place this very month, although the latest rumors push it back to November. Beyond the dates, everything is starting to line up in a way that’s hard to ignore. We’ll see how it develops.

Siri AI is already part of iOS 27, but in the European Union, things move on a different timeline and the arrival of Apple’s new assistant on the iPhone and iPad could take five months at best. For now, we’ll have to wait to see how Apple works with the European Commission to fit its capabilities within the Digital Markets Act without compromising the security and privacy of devices.

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Five months in the best-case scenario

According to Mark Gurman in the latest Bloomberg Power On, we’re facing a wait similar to the one we already lived through with Apple Intelligence. 

So the best-case scenario would be about five months, while Gurman is considering a longer timeframe. Meanwhile, though, Siri AI is already available on the Mac within the European Union, just as happened with the initial rollout of Apple Intelligence.

As we saw in Tim Cook’s talks with the EU, Apple wants to roll out the features while maintaining its security and privacy guarantees that make us choose its products and platforms in the first place.

While we’ve seen 125 questions we can ask Siri AI, the new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 27 and the requirements for using Siri AI, which currently exclude the European Union, it’s clear that the wait will be worth it. 

According to Gurman, Apple is using this wait to pressure the European Commission driven mainly by user demand. Cupertino’s priority is to bring Siri AI to Europe with all its capabilities, so, if we want to help, the European Commission’s usual contact channels are a good avenue for requesting that Siri AI launch in Europe as soon as possible.

OpenAI has announced changes to ChatGPT to comply with the European Union’s AI Act. The company will start adding an invisible watermark to ChatGPT and Codex texts, after Anthropic announced a similar system for Claude a couple of weeks ago.

An invisible signal between the words ChatGPT chooses

The key lies in textGrain, a technology that introduces a statistical signal into the model’s choice of words, so it carries over when the text is copied and pasted. According to OpenAI, the detector will then look for that pattern to determine whether a fragment contains the mark. For us, the text will look the same to us, but it may be detectable.

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The rollout will be gradual. ChatGPT and Codex will incorporate the watermark in the European Union over the next few weeks, while, if we use the API, we can already enable it on most models. The move, without a doubt, is especially interesting after years of work around detectors for text generated by ChatGPT that haven’t always worked as they should.

A detector that depends on context and that comes with limitations

Alongside the new marking system, OpenAI will open access to its detector to researchers and specialized organizations. Accuracy, according to OpenAI, varies greatly depending on the length and type of content: in 400-token texts, replacing 10% of the words with synonyms reduces detection from 92% to 66%, while 25% of changes brings it down to 17%.

This is a provenance tool rather than absolute proof of authorship. The mark indicates that an OpenAI system has participated in the text, while the user’s identity, ownership, and the degree of human intervention aren’t covered by the analysis.

John Ternus has already spent several weeks as Apple’s new CEO and, apparently, has focused on making sure design remains central to Apple’s product direction. As we understand it, Ternus devotes a considerable part of his time to the teams that develop new products and their interfaces.

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Ternus wants to be where products are created

As Mark Gurman reports in Bloomberg, Ternus works in the design studio several times each week. Some days, even several times, apparently, and always alongside the industrial design and Human Interface teams. A very hands-on approach from Apple’s top executive that fits very well with his background in hardware engineering.

It also fits with Ternus’s first message to employees, focused on people and products. Ternus wants to put decision-making closer to the people who turn ideas into products, something we already saw in his plans to speed up product launches.

Design returns directly to the top

Apple has Molly Anderson leading industrial design and Steve Lemay leading Human Interface, while Ternus, according to Gurman, serves as the key decision-maker. The structure, as it stands, places design directly under Apple’s CEO, restoring a closeness that recalls Steve Jobs and Jony Ive.

The fact that Ternus spends so much time in the studio is quite a statement of intent, but it goes even further. In this new Apple, the design of products, interactions, interfaces, and experiences is the top priority.