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Confirmed: Apple’s October Event Will Take Place Next Week
Apple will likely announce two new MacBook Pro models, a high-end Mac Mini, and third-generation AirPods.
Not much time has passed since the last Apple event, and another one is already right around the corner. Apple has recently confirmed that its next hardware event will take place next week, on October 18th, at 1:00PM ET / 10:00AM PT.
Called “Unleashed,” the upcoming event was teased on Twitter by Apple marketing executive Greg Joswiak. Let’s take a look at the most likely announcements Apple will make:
- New 14- & 16-Inch MacBook Pro Models: According to available information, the stars of the show will be two new MacBook Pro models with an Arm-based processor called the M1X. The new processor is expected to have ten CPU cores and 16 or 32 GPU cores, giving it a substantial performance boost over the already admirably powerful M1 chip that debuted last year. The new MacBooks will likely use mini-LED display technology and offer more connectivity options.
- High-End Mac Mini: The new M1X processor may appear in one additional product: a high-end Mac mini aimed at power users who edit high-definition video, produce music, develop software, and do other demanding tasks on their computers. Additional ports compared to the current M1-powered Mac mini are to be expected, and Apple might even use the same magnetic power plug that doubles as Ethernet cable the new M1 iMac users.
- Third-Generation AirPods: Everyone was expecting Apple to announce the third-generation AirPods during the last event, but that didn’t happen. As such, it’s almost certain that we’ll finally get to see them next week. Their design is anticipated to be similar to the AirPods Pro, but they probably won’t support active noise cancellation nor feature replaceable ear tips.
How To Watch Apple’s Unleashed Event
Just like the previous few events, the October 18 Apple event will be streamed online, and there are several ways how you can watch it as it takes place:
Should you miss it, you’ll be able to watch the archived version of the stream at a later date.
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Instagram Now Lets You Tune Its Algorithm, But There’s One Big Catch
The new controls promise users “agency” over their feed, but asking to see more from accounts you actually follow returns an error.
Instagram has expanded its algorithm personalization feature to the main feed, letting users specify which topics they want surfaced more or less often in recommendations.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri framed the change as a matter of user control. “I believe it’s in our best interest as a business to empower people to shape Instagram into something that works for them, and that people should be able to have a meaningful amount of agency over the products they spend so much time in,” he wrote on Threads.
Though it turns out that agency has limits. The controls only accept interest-based topics, such as “rescue dogs” or “parenting humor”. Requesting “posts from people I follow” returns no results, which is obviously a sore point for creators whose posts rarely reach their own audiences. Mosseri conceded the tension: “Who you follow used to be a meaningful tool people had for shaping their own experience, and as recommendations took over the main feed that tool quietly stopped working”.
Also Read: How To Find & Cancel Pending Instagram Requests
Instagram credits large language models for making its algorithms legible enough to personalize, and says it is “actively working on supporting requests for people, different moods or vibes, content types, and more” – potentially leading to a fully “bespoke” version of the app.
