716: Take the Null

The hosts begin by admitting they rarely use Siri AI for anything beyond old Siri functions, which now often feel slower and require more follow-up questions. Timer setting improved in iOS 27.2, but Siri still produces baffling mishearings such as “set a timer” becoming something else. They list successes: a Manhattan weather forecast, sunrise time, Blue Bottle’s parent company, the correct alternating cardboard-recycling night from a calendar, and an address recovered from messages with John Gruber. But Siri could not find a quote in Fineliner, gave the wrong northern entrance to the High Line, failed to provide walking directions to Little Island, and made a police-number lookup awkward. They conclude that Siri’s failure rate remains far too high.

The hosts promote the ATP store at ATP.fm/store, saying the sale ends Sunday, November 8, at midnight ATP time. The A18 Pro shirt reached its printing threshold, while the ATP Pride and Trans Pride shirts were the strongest sellers; proceeds will be donated to Trans Lifeline and the Transgender Law Center. They warn listeners not to assume products will return: the hosts frequently receive requests for discontinued merchandise, but may never reproduce it. The polo is expensive enough that ATP makes no money on it, while gift memberships remain available year-round. The non-on-demand chip shirts are generally printed once, so there will not normally be another M5 Ultra or M5 Ultra Interposer shirt.

Nick Foster creates a Fineliner profile in which every letter uses Palm OS Graffiti, along with an exportable profile containing the font, avatar, and icons. Marco explains that Fineliner profiles are SQLite-based exports, so the file can be imported directly. The idea made him revisit Graffiti through a Palm Vx emulator: although he fondly remembers it, entering text is now painfully slow compared with a modern keyboard. Marco says Fineliner is doing well with a deliberately organic, non-explosive launch. Asked why the apps use Overcast Radio LLC, he says consolidating Unforgetful and Fineliner under the existing LLC and Apple developer account simplified banking, hosting, domains, invoicing, taxes, and his S-election payroll arrangement; selling an app someday is too hypothetical to justify separate entities.

Allison catches an earlier dimensional mistake: the 14-inch MacBook Pro is two-hundredths of an inch, or about half a millimeter, thinner, not two-tenths; the 16-inch model is 8.8 millimeters thinner, and the new machine is half a pound lighter. Marco canceled and reordered his computer after discovering that New York offers a sales-tax exemption for computers primarily used to make software available for sale. Apple also offered $3,650 for his old configuration, which compared favorably with sold eBay prices of roughly $3,100–$3,900. He cautions that the trade-in remains pending, but recommends checking Apple’s offer before selling elsewhere.

For people who dislike a touchscreen MacBook Pro, Gui Rambo found an accessibility setting called “Ignore touch gestures,” which disables touchscreen interaction and also applies to Sidecar. The hosts also discuss a pinch gesture that can act like a control-mouse-wheel or control-two-finger-swipe zoom, useful for accessibility. Rambo’s research indicates that the new glowing Apple logo is controlled by software through a framework called CoreBrightness, with automatic brightness, display/logo coordination, a 25 Hz PWM frequency, and per-device calibration; logo brightness varies with enclosure color. The hosts treat these findings as evidence that the logo can potentially be controlled through private APIs.

The hosts react angrily to the new MacBook Pro’s physically rounded top and bottom display corners. Jeff explains that AppKit and UIKit now expose layout regions and corner-inset APIs so apps can move controls away from the changing radius; a demonstration shows a window’s own corners becoming rounder and its controls shifting as it approaches the screen corner. The hosts argue this is backwards: OLED could include the pixels and simply leave them black, as the original Macintosh effectively did for menu-bar corners. They cite Reimar Servas and Marcin Wichary’s broader criticism that rounded corners consume space throughout windows, toolbars, and sidebars, and now physically reduce the display area too.

Some iPhone Duo buyers see a personalized greeting such as “Hello, Luke” in cursive when opening the device, apparently written into the phone before it has Wi-Fi or cellular access. The hosts infer that Apple’s small in-store “toaster” or “pizza oven” device programs the phone while it remains boxed. Casey bought the first Duo collected from his Apple Store but did not receive the greeting, so the feature is not consistently executed. Because stores are struggling with severe shortages, queues, stock-monitoring services, and even AI purchasing bots, the hosts suspect retail employees currently have little time for optional personalization; it may become more common once supply improves.

Early reports show iPhone Duo inner screens breaking in the same place: vertically along the crease with a horizontal bar roughly two-fifths up the right side. Apple acknowledged an issue affecting a “small number” of units and directed owners to AppleCare replacement, but the hosts note that shortages make replacements slow or unavailable. A CuriousHagi teardown reproduced a failure and found a cracked hinge component directly beneath the damaged screen, suggesting a manufacturing run or localized component weakness rather than an unavoidable design failure. Reviewers’ durability testing did not produce the break, so the hosts expect a real but non-universal defect, possibly eventually covered by an extended service program.

JerryRigEverything compares the Duo’s inner display with and without its matte protective layer; removing the layer improves colors but sacrifices protection and is not a practical home modification. More importantly, sand placed around the phone prevents it from opening or closing fully. iFixit’s teardown with brightly colored fine dust shows why: the phone’s computing halves are sealed, but the intricate hinge is an ingress point. The hosts distinguish this from the out-of-box screen failures: a hinge damaged after grit enters and the user forces the phone open may not represent the same manufacturing defect. They recommend avoiding beaches and dusty environments, because a foldable phone’s moving hinge cannot be sealed like a conventional slab phone.

Settings lists the Duo’s two differently sized batteries separately, though both currently show matching capacity, cycle count, manufacture date, and first-use date. iPhone Mirroring works only on the outer screen. Sam Shepherd’s workaround registers the fleshy area near the first knuckle of the right index finger for Touch ID, making it easier to unlock while holding the phone; Casey approves it, but the others warn that the area has fewer distinctive ridges and may reduce biometric security. They debate whether Apple should offer a lower-security camera-based unlock for devices without convenient Face ID hardware, but note that Apple currently fully unlocks the phone even with a weak passcode. Reachability will arrive in iOS 27.3, shifting outer-screen content left or right rather than downward.

Bloomberg reports that new CEO John Ternus wants faster product development, fewer management layers, more experimentation, and less dependence on spring and fall releases. He has also discussed new revenue sources and extracting more from existing services. A separate report says Phil Schiller’s departure may reflect disagreement with Ternus and Eddie Cue over squeezing more recurring revenue from the App Store, though the hosts doubt the interpersonal explanation and note that Schiller presided over many of the same policies already. They are more receptive to faster releases and smaller bureaucracy, but worry that Apple is already known for unusually small engineering teams and that further cuts could worsen under-resourcing.

Ternus reportedly told Tim Cook he was not Cook and questioned whether he could fill the role; Cook replied, “I know you’re not me,” urging him to spend time where he adds the most value. Ternus is leaving finance and supply-chain operations to Kevin Parekh and Sabih Khan while spending substantial time with hardware and design teams, attempting to restore design’s influence after departures to LoveFrom and OpenAI. The hosts see this as sensible, but argue Apple’s more urgent weakness is software: Siri AI, macOS, and other interfaces increasingly let strong hardware down. Craig Federighi remains senior vice president of software, and the hosts disagree about whether he is likely to leave, but agree that Apple lacks an obvious executive responsible for making its overall software experience excellent.

Ternus has moved into the CEO office, while Cook receives a new office and remains deeply involved. Cook’s 2027 package includes a $2 million base salary and a $45 million restricted-stock target; Ternus receives a $3 million salary and a $55 million restricted-stock target. The hosts say Cook’s compensation is extraordinary for a chairman, but argue that retaining an Apple celebrity with operational knowledge may be worthwhile, especially if he continues handling difficult relationships with political leaders such as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. They hope Cook gives Ternus room rather than second-guessing him. Casey remains optimistic about Ternus’s product focus; John is less confident because the rounded MacBook display corners show that hardware judgment can also have serious blind spots.

After the formal close, Marco says he exchanged the 2 TB Duo for a 256 GB model and is using it as his phone, though he is still unsure whether he will keep it after a full trial. Casey recommends carrying it for at least one or two weeks before judging it and says the outer screen is useful for roughly half to three-quarters of his use. Casey’s major complaint is the camera system: limited zoom, awkward orientation, unreliable display switching, and difficulty holding the open phone while taking a selfie. Marco also dislikes Touch ID and the pocket dynamics, while both note that many apps remain unoptimized and appear in a centered black box on the inner screen. They agree the Duo’s future depends on improvements such as better cameras, Face ID, and a more practical hinge design.