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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 8h

I expected Siri AI to be very good at local data search and very well integrated with the OS, apps, and files, while struggling with online-related use cases and world knowledge. Shockingly, Siri AI is the opposite:... [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

One of the most powerful features of Siri AI is that it’s great at understanding the context of what you’re doing. When I was working on an article in Pages, I couldn’t remember the name of a feature I was writing about. Previously, I would’ve googled for the information. This time... [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Sometimes Siri AI fails spectacularly. I read a newsletter article (sent to me over email) that mentioned that Wardogs was confirmed to have sold 3 million copies. Having finished reading this email, I asked Siri AI about how many copies Wardogs sold. [1/5]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

One of the first things I tried to do with Siri AI was files and documents search. I asked it to search for certain files on my Mac, and to its credit, Siri AI found what I needed. It showed the icons of the documents I was looking for. However, when I pointed my cursor to these three icons... [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This week on A Different Road, both topics I’m covering are related to Apple Intelligence: my early impressions of Siri AI, and the upcoming Audio Intelligence features on the Apple Watch. adifferentroad.substack.com/p/siri-ai-im...

adifferentroad.substack.com

Siri AI impressions, and the always-listening Apple Watch

This week, both topics I’m covering are related to Apple Intelligence: my early impressions of Siri AI, and the upcoming Audio Intelligence features on the Apple Watch.

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Meta VR Glasses highlights Apple’s lack of urgency with the Vision product line. Apple Vision Pro is 2.5 years old, and aside from a recent spec bump with the M5 chip and visionOS updates, it hasn’t changed or evolved. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Meta VR Glasses are full of compromises and trade-offs. Are these the right trade-offs? What will customers care about? Compared to Meta VR Glasses, Apple Vision Pro offers a dramatically more immersive and higher-quality spatial computing experience and more refined and thoughtful software. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My instinct is that Muse Charm is dead on arrival. Nobody wants to carry with them another device when their phones already do everything they need. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Architecturally, it’s remarkable how Meta Muse is the polar opposite from Siri AI. Apple built Siri AI in a way that it runs on-device whenever possible, interacts with your personal data and files on the devices, and only goes to Private Cloud Compute when necessary. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Siri AI is a faceless “bubble” that you talk to or type into. ChatGPT is a boring chat window. On the contrary, Muse attempts to appeal to a regular, non-tech-savvy consumer through interesting branding and personality. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This week on A Different Road, I’m talking about how Meta attempts to undercut OpenAI and Apple with Muse, the curiosity around Muse Charm, and Meta’s aggressive push with spatial computing with Meta VR Glasses. adifferentroad.substack.com/p/meta-assau...

adifferentroad.substack.com

Meta assaults Apple with Muse and Meta VR Glasses

Let's talk about how Meta attempts to undercut OpenAI and Apple with Muse, the curiosity around Muse Charm, and Meta’s aggressive push with spatial computing with Meta VR Glasses.

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Across a growing roster of operating systems and form factors, the on-device vs in-the-cloud paradigms, and integration with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, developers are increasingly asked by Apple to do more work for them in order for the Apple ecosystem to provide the best user experience. [1/2]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

OpenAI (and Meta) don’t have problems that Apple has. Their models run in the cloud, are basically unlimited in compute, train on the entirety of the world’s knowledge and data from the web, and are getting smarter all the time by absorbing an ever-growing amount of users’ data. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Beyond Siri AI integration with Apple’s OS and first-party apps, the capabilities of Apple’s “Intelligent Personal Hub” are limited by support from third-party developers. If relatively few apps support and provide deep integration with Siri AI, Apple’s personal assistant is no good. [1/2]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Apple’s pitch is that iPhone is your device that stores personal data locally and does most of the AI processing on-device. The problem with this approach is that by building products around local AI computing, Apple will always be at a disadvantage to cloud-based AI companies. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

AI devices are supposed to constantly see and hear the world around you, whereas your iPhone mostly stays locked in your pocket. Apple already has Apple Watch, AirPods, and Vision Pro that are becoming your AI assistant’s “ears” and “eyes”. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Other companies who have lost the smartphone wars (or haven’t even participated in them) are trying to paint a picture of a world where you need some sort of a dedicated AI device that would serve as your personal assistant. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The list of various operating systems – and developer platforms and App Stores – Apple is running today is growing, and it’s rumored to grow even longer soon with the expected introduction of the home hub device. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I suspect Apple doesn’t want to segment the app development across the Duo and non-Duo iPhones. All iOS apps will work on iPhone Duo even if developers don’t update them to support the new device, and there is no way for iOS developers to opt out of having their apps run on the iPhone Duo. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The differences between iOS 27 for traditional iPhone models and iOS 27 for the iPhone Duo are massive. They mean a lot for developers too. If you are an iOS developer today, this forking of iOS dramatically changes how you think about your development process. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The iPad has never been under such a massive pressure – not from the competition, mind you, but from Apple’s own other product lines. The iPhone Duo is a direct assault on the iPad, and particularly on the iPad mini. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A cynic would say that the iPhone Duo invents little to no new things. Foldable smartphones have existed for almost a decade. Most of the software features and ideas that iPhone Duo uses have been tried before by other companies. [1/5]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

iPhone Duo will occupy a slot in your life that no other product currently holds – a productivity, entertainment, and advanced communication device that is vastly more flexible and versatile than your current phone and yet the one that you can carry with you anywhere, all the time. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

iPhone Duo, with the custom version of iOS that it runs, is a perfectly capable productivity device because it invites focus and engagement. There is a stereotype that one can’t do any “serious” work on a phone. But it’s not because the phone’s hardware or software is not powerful enough...[1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

iPhone Duo invites and encourages you to open it frequently and to use it unfolded. It gives you so much more value when unfolded that the question of “why would I unfold it?” is answered thoroughly and convincingly. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The iPhone Duo name highlights what this device is. It’s not iPhone Fold; the Fold name would’ve called back to the existing foldable phones idea, which is essentially about enabling a pocketable phone with a secondary large screen – the iPhone Duo is more ambitious than that. [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

There is something profoundly appealing – and risky – to the idea of devices that combine multiple products’ use cases into one. They are very hard to execute, as more often than not, one can come up with a “toaster-refrigerator”, something barely useable, awkward, and frustrating... [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

If you ignore Apple’s marketing messaging and would only look at the pictures, you would likely think that last week Apple introduced a brand-new product category for the first time in 3 years. (The previous new category debut was with Apple Vision Pro.) It’s a completely new, unique device. [1/5]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Microsoft’s game business is a headless chicken running in circles. There appears to be no strategy at all. Even before the current components crisis hit the industry the sales of the XBOX consoles were a disaster, so it would make sense for the company to exit the games hardware business... [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If Apple were to design and produce their own game controllers, that would signal the company’s growing interest and increasing focus on core gaming. It’s puzzling why Apple would design controllers that operate very similarly to products from Sony, Microsoft, and many other manufacturers. [1/2]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The arrival of Siri AI allows the Apple Watch to evolve into an AI companion device that I long hoped it would become. There is something very powerful to the idea of having advanced computer intelligence on your wrist... [1/2]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

adifferentroad.substack.com/p/watchos-27... This week on A Different Road, I’m talking about software changes with the Apple Watch, rumors about Apple’s game controller, and Microsoft’s ongoing struggles with their gaming strategy.

adifferentroad.substack.com

watchOS 27 changes, Apple controller rumors, and XBOX is at it again

Today I’m talking about software changes with the Apple Watch, rumors about Apple’s game controller, and Microsoft’s ongoing struggles with their gaming strategy.

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Apple’s investment in ads is another step in the company’s years-long battle with social media. Yes, millions of customers are using Apple’s products to access social media, but it doesn’t mean that Apple likes social media or that social media is good for society. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Through creating ad surfaces, Apple is trying to fix a broken ad industry that exists today. A major problem Apple is trying to solve is the dependence of Apple’s developers on external (often predatory and malicious) third-party ad networks such as social media and data tracking companies. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Today on A Different Road, I’m talking about reasons for Apple to run ads across their first-party apps, and the new Mac hardware, including M5 Ultra and M6 chips. adifferentroad.substack.com/p/reasons-fo...

adifferentroad.substack.com

Reasons for ads in Apple apps, and new Mac hardware

Today I’m talking about reasons for Apple to run ads across their first-party apps, and the new Mac hardware, including M5 Ultra and M6 chips.

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

When Apple Vision Pro was announced in 2023, I was confident that the product would sell out and would become a hot tech toy. I was wrong. The response to Apple Vision Pro from the consumers was an equivalent of a shrug: people looked at it curiously, scratched their heads, and moved on. [1/5]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Foldable phones might be niche products and irrational purchases in 2026, but the idea of carrying around large screens that we could use for anything from casual content consumption and social media to focused productive work is clearly the ultimate goal of mobile computing. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

iPhone and iPad individually would do a better job than a foldable phone that tries to combine their use cases into one device. A regular iPhone will likely be thinner, lighter, will have better thermals, a better camera system, and will have Face ID, unlike the rumored foldable iPhone. [1/5]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

In theory, I definitely want a foldable iPhone. The idea of carrying an almost iPad mini-size tablet with me everywhere, which I could use to consume content and games on, and to be productive with various apps in multitasking... [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

To nobody's surprise, Samsung couldn’t pass on an opportunity to clown around yet another time by releasing a clone of an upcoming foldable iPhone with Galaxy Z Fold8. [1/5]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Valve decided not to subsidize Steam Machine. But perhaps they didn’t even need to do it. First, if one decides to build a gaming PC for a similar budget, the total current cost of components would allow one to conjure up a PC more powerful than the Steam Machine... [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Valve positions Steam Machine as one of the gaming PC options on the market – but there is no denying that Valve is not just another PC OEM. Instead, Valve is a massively profitable business that earns double-digit billions in USD every year through its Steam platform. [1/3]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

When compared directly with the prices of current game consoles – even with recent price hikes – Steam Machine is dramatically more expensive while being significantly less powerful than many. First tests show that Steam Machine is comparable... [1/4]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The way Siri AI is architected is fascinating, so we can speculate what this means for future products. Siri AI is designed to be consistent across various hardware products through Private Cloud Compute and Apple Account syncing. [1/5]

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

In today’s second article for A Different Road, let’s talk about the revealed prices of Steam Machine, and the recent Apple products price increases. adifferentroad.substack.com/p/steam-mach...

adifferentroad.substack.com

Steam Machine prices, Apple’s price hikes

Let’s talk about the revealed prices of Steam Machine, and the recent Apple price increases.

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

This is the first A Different Road article for today. A few weeks ago, I published an article with a list of the questions I hoped we would get answers to at WWDC26. Now is the right time to revisit these questions and see what we now know. adifferentroad.substack.com/p/wwdc26-ans...

adifferentroad.substack.com

WWDC26: Answers to my questions

A few weeks ago, I published an article with a list of the questions I hoped we would get answers to at WWDC26. Now is the right time to revisit these questions and see what we now know.

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A Different Road @adifferentroadblog.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Siri AI is joining a growing list of Apple ecosystem features that are not enabled in the EU due to local regulations (specifically, the DMA). As time goes on, it will become increasingly obvious to more people inside and outside of the EU that DMA is at best nonsensical... [1/3]

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