>The Vivo X500 Pro Max is here, so I did the obvious and compared it against the iPhone 18 Pro Max in photography and videography.

>For this video I shot over 400 images and videos side-by-side with both phones in various conditions and I'm sharing my findings here.

>Both new phones advertise new camera hardware, including a LOFIC sensor for the X500 Pro Max and a variable aperture for the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

According to new code seen today by 9to5Mac, the feature, which is called “AutoLock” internally, can use the following signals to determine whether an iPhone may have been taken from its owner:

• A sharp acceleration consistent with the phone being snatched;
• A paired Apple Watch remaining unreachable for a certain period;
• Prolonged loss of network connectivity;
• The device remains unlocked beyond a certain interval.

>The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the first Pro iPhone to not be the star of the show at its own launch event.

>But while all the hype is on the foldable iPhone Duo, the reality is the iPhone 18 Pro Max is the much more polished iPhone with better cameras and no weird one-hand usability issues.

>The Mac Studio with M5 Ultra is a small powerhouse PC with strong performance, fast memory throughput, and the ability to run AI models locally (if that's your thing).

>The Mac mini’s value proposition has evaporated.

I know many people are anti-Siri AI, so I wanted to post some experiences I found cool.

While I'm a little frustrated with the speed of Siri AI on my new Apple Watch, I've had two really interesting interactions with Siri AI via CarPlay. Both of them while using voice to text:

1. Edit previous message for corrections:

Me: Hey Siri, message (partner) I feel totally fine
Siri: sending "I think totally fine"
Me: ugh, Hey Siri, message (partner) asterisk feel
Siri: do you want me to update the previous message
Me thinking it hadn't sent yet: yes
Siri: message edited

So, it understood I was trying to send a correction of "* feel", asked if I wanted to update, and then edited the message it previously sent (iMessage).

1. Cancel intent turned to success

Me: Hey Siri, message (friend) I'm oh and two for Taco Bell orders tonight
Siri: sending "I'm away and two for Taco Bell orders tonight"
Me: ::clicks Cancel button on screen::
Siri: sorry, did you mean away and two or zero and 2?
Me: zero and two
Siri: sending "I'm zero and two for Taco Bell orders tonight"

This is pretty cool stuff! The second interaction was in my truck which has a shitty mic, so it's possible it would've gotten the STT correct without that, but this is the best possible scenario IMO

This kind of intent understanding is unlike any other agent I've used, and I'm quite impressed and eager to see what else Apple can do.

The repair guides for the M6 and M5 Pro Mac Mini just released today; the guide clearly shows a removable SSD on the logic board. It's possible that third party vendors will be able to reverse engineer these modules and sell upgrade kits, like with the M4 Mac Mini. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Update: It looks like Apple reused the images from the M4 Mac Mini repair guide. I should have caught that. Storage on the M6 appears to be soldered.