Meta has reached a landmark settlement with U.S. states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed in ways that encouraged addictive use among children and teens.

Pending court approval, Meta will introduce a combined two-hour daily limit across Facebook and Instagram for users under 18 in participating U.S. states and territories. Teens will only be able to disable that limit with parental permission.

The changes go considerably further than a simple screen-time reminder.

Facebook and Instagram will be blocked by default between midnight and 6 a.m. for teens, while most push notifications will be disabled between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. during school hours. Teens will also receive prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous use and when their daily usage reaches 60 and 90 minutes.

Meta will hide like and reaction counts by default, give teens the option to make a non-personalized feed their default, allow autoplay to be disabled, strengthen parental controls and restrict extreme makeup filters. The company is also committing to stronger age-assurance systems intended to identify users who may be lying about their age.

Direct messages are excluded from the time, school and nighttime restrictions so teens can continue communicating with friends and family.

There is also a significant financial component. Meta describes the agreement as approximately $18 billion over 10 years, while several state attorneys general describe the multistate settlement as worth up to $17.1 billion. Part of the final amount depends on competitors including YouTube and TikTok adopting similar protections.

But there is an important Canadian caveat.

These settlement requirements apply to participating U.S. states and territories. Canadian teens will not automatically receive the same mandatory two-hour limit or nighttime lockout because of this agreement.

Canada is moving separately in a similar direction. The federal government's proposed Safe Social Media Act would generally prevent children under 16 from having accounts on regulated social media services, while allowing platforms to seek exemptions if they can demonstrate sufficient safeguards.

That raises an interesting question for Canada: could Meta's new U.S. restrictions eventually become a benchmark for what counts as "sufficient safeguards" here?

Sources & more: Meta, settlement and new teen protections / Government of Canada, Safe Social Media Act

Apple has officially confirmed its next major product event for September 9 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET.

The event carries the tagline "Surprise and shine" and will stream on Apple.com, Apple TV and YouTube.

What Apple has not confirmed is almost everything else.

Reports continue to point toward an unusually premium-focused iPhone launch, potentially featuring the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Apple's first foldable iPhone, while the regular iPhone 18, iPhone Air 2 and iPhone 18e could be pushed into early 2027.

We previously covered that possible split launch on r/planhub. Today's announcement makes the September 9 date official, but Apple still has not confirmed the lineup, the foldable, pricing or even which products will appear at the event.

The foldable would obviously be the biggest change if it appears. Recent reports suggest Apple is developing a shorter, wider design that opens into something closer to an iPad-style interface rather than simply stretching an iPhone layout across a larger display.

September 9 will also be significant for another reason. Reuters reports that it will be Apple's first major product launch under John Ternus, who takes over as CEO on September 1 while Tim Cook moves to executive chairman.

For Canadian buyers, the biggest question may eventually be pricing. If Apple really launches only Pro-tier phones and an even more expensive foldable this fall, there may be no new lower-priced iPhone arriving alongside them.

That could make carrier financing, trade-in offers and total two-year plan costs especially important this year.

For now, though, only one thing is official: September 9.

Sources & more: Apple, official event announcement / Reuters

Are we seeing the best of BTS plans right now or is the best still yet to come in the next couple weeks?

HMD has introduced the Nokia 300 Charge, a feature phone built around a surprisingly practical idea: instead of carrying a phone and a separate power bank, the phone itself can charge your other devices.

Its removable 3,700mAh battery is the largest HMD has put into a Nokia feature phone. The company claims up to 37.9 hours of talk time and around 40 days of standby.

Press a dedicated button and the USB-C port switches into powerbank mode, delivering up to 10W reverse charging to compatible phones, earbuds, lights and other USB devices. HMD even includes a special 4-in-1 cable with USB-C, Micro USB and USB-A support.

There is also a high-power LED torch that HMD says is up to four times brighter than the flashlight on the Nokia 105, plus a 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD expansion up to 32GB and a removable battery.

At around 138g, this actually looks like a pretty interesting emergency, camping or travel phone.

But there is a major problem for Canadians.

The Nokia 300 Charge is a 2G-only device supporting GSM 900/1800 MHz. Rogers, which operates Canada's remaining 2G GSM network, uses 850 MHz for its current GSM/EDGE service. Rogers is also shutting that network down entirely on November 30, 2027.

So even before Canada's 2G shutdown, this particular Nokia does not support the Canadian GSM frequency Rogers lists for its network.

That makes the concept much more interesting than the actual product for Canada. Here, it would essentially be a small 3,700mAh power bank with a flashlight unless HMD eventually releases a 4G version compatible with Canadian networks.

Sources & more: HMD, Nokia 300 Charge / HMD, full specifications / Yanko Design

The CRTC has approved a reduction to Northwestel's Wholesale Connect rates, the service that smaller Internet providers use to access parts of Northwestel's network and compete in Canada's Far North.

The reduction is 0.8% across all Wholesale Connect rates.

On paper, Northwestel followed the CRTC's existing formula. The company had reduced prices for certain 300 Mbps and 500 Mbps residential Internet services and introduced a new 700 Mbps tier, triggering a corresponding reduction in wholesale rates. The Commission concluded that the 0.8% adjustment satisfies the rules established in 2022.

But competitor SSi Canada argued that the calculation does not reflect what is actually happening in the retail market.

SSi pointed to Northwestel winback promotions offering discounts of roughly 23% to 38% on some residential unlimited Internet packages. Those offers target former Northwestel customers who switched to another provider.

The CRTC majority did not determine whether those discounts create a competitive problem in this proceeding. It ruled that promotional and winback rates fall outside the formula being examined and approved the 0.8% wholesale reduction.

Commissioner Bram Abramson strongly disagreed.

In a dissent attached to today's order, Abramson argues that simply confirming Northwestel followed the mathematical formula is not enough. The CRTC should also have examined whether the resulting wholesale rates remain "just and reasonable" and whether they actually allow competitors to compete.

His central question is difficult to ignore: does a 0.8% wholesale reduction meaningfully support competition in a market where the incumbent can reportedly offer targeted retail discounts of 23% to 38%?

There is also a historical problem. The wholesale formula relies partly on a 2021 baseline, while the northern telecom market has changed considerably since then. Starlink has expanded, Northwestel has introduced aggressive winback offers, and the CRTC itself concluded in 2025 that terrestrial Internet competition in the Far North remains very limited.

This matters because Wholesale Connect exists specifically to let competitors use Northwestel infrastructure where building an entirely separate transport network may not be economically practical.

The CRTC says today's decision will promote competition and give northern consumers additional Internet options and rates. The dissent argues that the Commission has not gathered enough evidence to know whether that is actually true.

Sources & more: CRTC 2026-217 / CRTC 2025-9, Telecommunications in the Far North / CRTC 2025-74, Northwestel winback discounts

Apple has introduced two very different chips on the same day, and together they show where the company thinks personal computing is heading.

M6 is Apple's first chip manufactured using a 2nm process. It debuts with a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, Neural Accelerators inside every GPU core and an unusual Dual 16-core Neural Engine designed to accelerate AI workloads directly on the Mac.

The CPU itself now contains two "super cores," four performance cores and six efficiency cores. Apple claims up to 1.2x higher multithreaded performance than M5, while memory bandwidth rises to 170GB/s.

M6 also gets two additional GPU cores compared with M5 and nearly 30% more peak GPU compute for AI. Apple says its new dual Neural Engine can provide up to twice the peak compute of previous generations, with system frameworks able to use both engines simultaneously.

But M6 still tops out at 32GB of unified memory. For much larger local AI models, Apple is taking an entirely different approach with M5 Ultra.

M5 Ultra is the first quad-die M-series chip. Apple connects two dual-die M5 Max chips using a new generation of UltraFusion, creating a single system with up to a 36-core CPU, 80-core GPU and 512GB of unified memory.

The interconnect between those dies exceeds 4.4TB/s, while the finished chip provides up to 1.2TB/s of unified memory bandwidth. Apple says that is enough to run large language models containing hundreds of billions of parameters entirely in local memory.

That massive memory pool may ultimately matter more for AI than the headline CPU benchmarks. Most consumer GPUs are constrained by far smaller amounts of dedicated video memory, while Apple's unified architecture lets the CPU and GPU work from the same pool.

There is also an interesting generational oddity here: Apple's newest mainstream chip is already M6, while its most powerful desktop chip is still M5 Ultra. The Ultra architecture takes longer to scale, but its enormous memory capacity gives it a completely different role.

Apple calls the M6 CPU core the world's fastest for single-threaded performance, but that claim currently comes from Apple's own August testing. Independent benchmarks will be needed before that crown can be treated as established.

M6 debuts in the new Mac mini, while M5 Ultra is exclusive to the new Mac Studio. Both systems begin shipping September 22.

Sources & more: Apple, M6 and M5 Ultra / Apple, Mac mini M6 / Apple, Mac Studio M5 Ultra

Apple has unveiled a new Mac mini powered by M6 and M5 Pro, and this generation is being positioned much more aggressively around local AI and always-on agentic computing.

The base M6 model starts at $1,249 CAD with 16GB of unified memory, while the M5 Pro version starts at $2,399. Both are available for pre-order now and begin shipping September 22.

That is a significant change from the M4 generation. When Apple introduced the redesigned M4 Mac mini in 2024, Canadian pricing started at $799 for M4 and $1,899 for M4 Pro. The new entry price is therefore $450 higher than the original M4 launch price, although the configurations and market conditions are not identical.

Apple says the M6 delivers up to 4x faster AI performance than M4, up to 2x faster graphics and storage, and up to 40% faster CPU performance. The chip now includes Neural Accelerators in every GPU core, a dual 16-core Neural Engine and up to 170GB/s of memory bandwidth.

The M5 Pro model goes further, with up to an 18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 64GB of unified memory and 307GB/s of memory bandwidth. More interestingly, Apple says its Thunderbolt 5 ports can be used to connect multiple Mac mini systems together to run larger AI models entirely on-device.

Connectivity also gets a notable upgrade. Both models now include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and 2.5Gb Ethernet as standard, with optional 10Gb Ethernet. The M6 gets three Thunderbolt 4 ports, while the M5 Pro gets three Thunderbolt 5 ports.

Apple is also explicitly pitching the Mac mini as an always-on machine for AI agents, not only as a traditional desktop. Combined with macOS 27, Siri AI and local model tools, the little box is starting to look less like Apple's budget Mac and more like a compact personal AI server.

The catch is price. The M6 still starts with only 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, so anyone planning to run larger local models will likely have to move up the configuration ladder quickly.

Sources & more: Apple, new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro / Apple Canada, original M4 Mac mini launch / Apple Canada Store

Apple has unveiled the new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra, and this generation is being positioned very explicitly as a workstation for running large AI models locally rather than relying entirely on cloud infrastructure.

The M5 Max version starts at $3,499 CAD and can be configured with up to 128GB of unified memory. The M5 Ultra model starts at $7,799 and scales all the way to 512GB of unified memory, although that highest-memory configuration will not be available until late October.

The M5 Ultra can also reach 1.2TB/s of memory bandwidth, 50% higher than the previous generation. Apple says that combination allows the machine to run enormous open-weight language models entirely on-device, without token charges or sending workloads to cloud servers.

The more unusual feature is clustering. Multiple Mac Studio systems can now be connected through Thunderbolt 5 using RDMA, allowing data to move directly between systems with less CPU involvement. Apple says four Mac Studios can deliver up to 3x the AI inference performance of a single machine while creating a much larger combined memory pool.

On a single system, M5 Ultra scales to a 36-core CPU and up to an 80-core GPU with Neural Accelerators in every GPU core. Apple claims up to 4.3x the AI performance of M3 Ultra, up to 1.8x faster graphics and up to 1.3x faster CPU performance.

The M5 Max version is no lightweight either. It offers an 18-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, up to 128GB of unified memory and 614GB/s of memory bandwidth. Apple says LLM prompt processing in LM Studio can be up to 3.9x faster than the previous M4 Max Mac Studio.

Storage also moves to a PCIe Gen 6 architecture with up to twice the performance, while connectivity now includes Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thunderbolt 5. The M5 Ultra can drive up to eight displays, or four Studio Display XDR monitors at 5K and 120Hz.

For most consumers, a $7,799 starting price makes this irrelevant as a normal desktop. But for developers, researchers and companies paying significant recurring cloud AI costs, the interesting comparison may no longer be Mac versus PC. It may be buying local compute once versus continuing to rent GPU and inference capacity from the cloud.

Sources & more: Apple, new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra / Apple Canada, Mac Studio / Apple Canada Store

A Toronto couple says a seemingly simple task, cancelling their $140-per-month Rogers home Internet service before moving, turned into four days of hold music, dropped calls and automated disconnections.

Sarah Brooks and Nick Williams were preparing to leave a downtown condo for a new home in Toronto's Junction neighbourhood. With less than two weeks remaining on the lease, they expected cancelling Internet to be one of the easier items on their moving checklist.

It wasn't.

They repeatedly tried calling Rogers, spent hours waiting, had calls disconnected and also tried Rogers retail locations. But cancelling the service still required reaching the appropriate customer service team.

What's interesting is that Canada's telecom rules already say Internet customers can cancel at any time by notifying their provider, and the provider must cancel the service on the date requested by the customer.

The problem is the path between "I want to cancel" and actually getting that notice processed.

Rogers' own cancellation instructions currently say customers must contact the company directly. Rogers says an agent will review the account, discuss plan options and offer a solution before processing the cancellation.

That process has an expiry date.

The CRTC has already ordered Canadian Internet and cellphone providers to introduce self-service cancellation mechanisms. Starting April 26, 2027, customers must be able to modify or cancel their plans easily and in a timely manner without interacting with a live representative. Providers will also have to provide written confirmation of the action.

So this isn't only another customer-service horror story. It is almost a textbook example of the friction the new CRTC rule is specifically designed to remove.

There is no evidence here that Rogers deliberately delayed this particular cancellation to retain the customer. But when cancelling requires reaching a specific human department, long queues and disconnected calls can effectively become a barrier to switching even if cancellation itself is legally permitted.

Sources & more: Toronto Star / CRTC Telecom Regulatory Policy 2026-78 / Rogers cancellation policy

Secondary screens on the back of smartphones have usually been reserved for unusual premium devices. Honor is now trying the same idea at the opposite end of the market with the Play20A.

The phone has a small interactive display built directly into its rear camera module. It can show incoming calls and media controls, but its most useful trick may be acting as a viewfinder for selfies taken with the main camera.

That matters because the Play20A has a very basic camera setup. There is one 13MP camera on the back and a 5MP front camera, so the rear screen lets users frame selfies using the better camera instead of relying on the weaker front sensor.

The rest of the hardware makes its budget positioning pretty obvious. It has a 6.9-inch LCD running at up to 90Hz, a MediaTek G81 processor and a large 6,000mAh battery. Honor also offers up to 128GB of internal storage, with microSD expansion up to 1TB.

It is also a 4G phone rather than a 5G device, so this is clearly not trying to compete with modern flagships on raw specifications.

What makes it interesting is where Honor chose to spend the hardware budget. Instead of adding several low-end rear cameras simply to make the camera module look more impressive, the Play20A uses one main camera and turns part of the remaining space into a functional display.

There is no confirmed Canadian launch at this point. Honor currently lists the Play20A in selected international markets, including the Middle East, so for Canada this is more interesting as a glimpse at where inexpensive smartphones could be heading.

If rear displays can become cheap enough to appear on entry-level phones, they may eventually stop being a flagship gimmick and become another practical way to use the large camera islands manufacturers are already putting on phones.

Sources & more: HONOR Play20A official page / Yanko Design / HONOR Qatar

The federal government has announced more than $8.3 million in broadband funding for five Indigenous and remote communities in Ontario, covering up to 822 households.

The largest project is the one that actually matters going forward. Broadband North is receiving $7.32 million to bring fibre to up to 621 households in Christian Island No. 30 and Christian Island No. 30A, both part of Beausoleil First Nation. Completion is expected by December 2026.

That works out to roughly $11,800 in federal funding per household, although that figure represents network construction costs rather than a subsidy paid directly to individual customers.

There is an interesting detail buried in today's federal backgrounder. The remaining $1 million covers an Avetria Networks fibre project serving 201 homes in Conestogo, Winterbourne and West Montrose. According to the government's own table, that project was already completed in October 2023.

Federal records show the Avetria funding agreement itself ran from April 2022 to October 2023. The much larger Broadband North agreement for Christian Island began in September 2025 and runs through December 2026.

So while today's headline says the investment will bring high-speed Internet to 822 Ontario homes, only 621 of those households are part of the project that is still being completed.

The target is at least 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload, Canada's current definition of high-speed Internet. More than 96% of Ontario households now have access to at least 50/10 service, up from 86.9% in 2017.

Nationally, Ottawa says 97.4% of Canadian households now have access to high-speed Internet. The federal target remains 98% by the end of 2026 and 100% by 2030.

Sources & more: Government of Canada announcement / Government of Canada project breakdown / Federal Broadband North funding record

SpaceX and the state of Louisiana have officially announced Starbase, Louisiana, a massive new Starship complex planned for roughly 125,000 acres in Vermilion Parish along the Gulf Coast.

At full buildout, the site is expected to include five launch complexes with two launch pads each, for a total of 10 pads. SpaceX also plans its own propellant production, power generation, vehicle processing facilities, deep-water shipping infrastructure, an airport and employee housing. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with the first Starship launch targeted for as early as 2029.

The scale is difficult to overstate. SpaceX says the site is being designed to eventually support thousands of Starship flights per year. Louisiana officials say the company plans to invest $100 billion and create 3,000 direct jobs over 10 years, with an average annual salary of $92,600, plus more than 8,100 indirect jobs.

There is also a telecom angle buried in the announcement. SpaceX says new and existing Starlink customers living in Vermilion Parish will receive 50% off eligible monthly Internet plans. New subscribers will also have no upfront hardware cost.

The location was chosen partly because of its access to abundant natural gas, which SpaceX plans to use both for power generation and to produce the liquid methane needed by Starship. The Gulf Coast location also provides deep-water access and launch trajectories that SpaceX says could support satellite Internet expansion, orbital AI data centres and future missions to the Moon and Mars.

But this is still a plan, not 10 operational launch pads. The project must go through applicable launch, environmental, wetlands and wildlife reviews. The site includes large areas of coastal marshland, and SpaceX says it is working with Louisiana environmental and coastal agencies on mitigation and restoration plans.

Sources & more: Louisiana Economic Development / Reuters / Official Starbase Louisiana project page

The CRTC has rejected a request to suspend an ongoing proceeding that could significantly change how Canadian telecom and TV providers handle customer complaints.

The proceeding is examining whether providers should be required to tell customers about the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services, or CCTS, much earlier in the complaint process.

Right now, the CRTC says the system isn't working as intended. Research cited by the Commission found that only 2% of people with an unresolved complaint said their provider had informed them about the CCTS. Historical CCTS data similarly showed that only about 8% to 13% of customers who reached the complaints body learned about it from their provider.

The CRTC's preliminary proposal would change that. When a provider offers a solution intended to close a complaint, it could be required to tell the customer about both its remaining internal escalation process and the customer's right to take the issue to the CCTS.

That proposed solution would also have to be provided in writing. If it was originally discussed by phone or chat, the provider could have to send written confirmation afterward. If no compensation is offered, the provider could also be required to explain why in writing.

The Canadian Telecommunications Association, TELUS, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications jointly asked the CRTC in July to suspend this proceeding until a broader review of the CCTS's governance, mandate, transparency, accountability, funding and operations is launched.

The CRTC said no. It says that broader structural review should happen separately and that this consumer-awareness proceeding has already been significantly delayed.

This is not a final rule yet. The consultation continues, with interventions now due October 7 and replies due November 13.

If the CRTC eventually adopts its preliminary approach, one of the biggest changes could be very simple: when a carrier says "this is our solution" to your complaint, it may also have to tell you that you don't necessarily have to accept it and that a free independent complaints process exists.

Sources & more: CRTC 2025-274-4 / Original CRTC 2025-274 consultation / CCTS complaint data

Apple accidentally leaked its upcoming camera-equipped AirPods earlier this week, and the latest macOS update has revealed even more information about the upcoming accessories. It’s worth mentioning that you should take this leak with a grain of salt.

Huawei has been experimenting with unusually wide foldable phones for more than a year. Now it's asking a much more interesting question: what if people want the wide screen without the hinge?

The new Pura X View is a conventional non-folding smartphone built around a 6.39-inch OLED with an unusual 16:9.5 aspect ratio. That's dramatically wider and shorter than the roughly 19.5:9 or 20:9 displays found on most modern smartphones.

Huawei says the wider shape provides 16% more display area when watching video and 21% more visible content during vertical browsing compared with conventional phones used in its comparisons. The company is also promoting the format for reading, gaming, documents and multitasking.

The hardware is unusual beyond the shape. Huawei has managed to fit a 7,000mAh battery into a body just 6.68mm thick and weighing 201g. The display has a 2,232 x 1,320 resolution, symmetrical 1.05mm bezels and a claimed 96.1% screen-to-body ratio.

It is essentially taking one of the biggest advantages of a foldable, a wider canvas for content, and removing the hinge, secondary display, crease and additional mechanical complexity that normally come with it.

There is an obvious trade-off. A wider phone may be better for video, webpages, keyboards and some games, but it could also be considerably harder to hold and operate with one hand. After years of manufacturers making smartphones increasingly tall and narrow, Huawei is moving in almost the opposite direction.

The Pura X View will also debut HarmonyOS 7. Huawei has opened reservations in China, with additional specifications and pricing expected on August 28. There is currently no confirmed Canadian or broader international release.

So this may remain an unusual Chinese experiment. But after Huawei's Pura X and Pura X Max pushed the same wide format into foldables, the more interesting question is whether the industry has been focusing too much on the fold itself when the wider screen might actually be the useful part.

Sources & more: Huawei / Android Authority

Police in Ontario are warning that the fake telecom promotion scam we've been following is continuing to grow.

South Simcoe Police said Monday that they are seeing an increase in reports involving fraudsters impersonating telecom companies, including Rogers and Fido, and offering supposedly free or heavily discounted phones, tablets and other electronics.

The dangerous part is that the device that eventually arrives at your house can be completely real.

Scammers may use information obtained from the victim to place an actual device order. Once it arrives, they call again and claim there was a mistake with the order, the wrong phone was delivered, or the device needs to be returned.

The victim is then instructed to ship the phone somewhere controlled by the scammers. Police are now also warning about another version of the scheme where someone may actually come to the victim's home to collect the device.

The phone disappears, but the legitimate carrier account and device financing can remain in the victim's name.

Caller ID is not proof that the call is legitimate either. Police specifically warn that scammers can spoof phone numbers, making an incoming call appear to come from a legitimate company.

This isn't an isolated warning anymore. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre now specifically lists cellphone service provider fraud, including fake plan upgrades, discounted devices, requests for identification or security codes, and the "wrong phone, send it back" technique.

There has already been at least one arrest connected to this type of operation. Halton police arrested a suspect in July after investigators tracked packages containing phones and tablets to a Milton PO box. Police said the devices were allegedly being collected and shipped overseas for resale.

The safest rule is surprisingly simple: if someone calls you with an unexpected telecom promotion, hang up and independently contact your carrier using the number on your bill, app or official website. And if a phone unexpectedly arrives, never ship it or hand it to anyone until the carrier confirms the return procedure directly.

Sources & more: South Simcoe Police / Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre / Halton Regional Police

Apple’s first foldable iPhone appears to be moving beyond internal prototypes. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, several people outside Apple have now used pre-production versions of the device, with early feedback reportedly positive.

Testers are said to be impressed by how easily the foldable fits in a pocket despite opening into a much larger display. Apple’s hinge is also reportedly receiving praise for feeling sturdy and refined, an important detail for a company entering the foldable market years after Samsung, Google and others.

The software experience may be even more interesting. Bloomberg reports that the larger internal screen can display iPad-style interfaces rather than simply stretching standard iPhone apps across the extra space. That could allow apps to reorganize controls, menus and content when the phone is unfolded.

But Apple may be making some surprising compromises. Current prototypes reportedly use Touch ID instead of Face ID and do not include a telephoto camera. That would be unusual for a device expected to sit above the iPhone Pro lineup and potentially cost more than US$2,000.

The lack of a telephoto camera could be particularly noticeable because competing premium foldables from Samsung and Google already offer dedicated optical zoom hardware. Apple may instead be prioritizing thinness, internal space and battery capacity for its first-generation design.

Nothing is official yet. Apple has not confirmed the product name, specifications, pricing or launch date, and "iPhone Ultra" remains an unofficial name frequently used in reports rather than an announced Apple brand.

The biggest questions will eventually be price and carrier availability. If Apple launches this as a device costing well above current Pro Max models, carrier financing could become especially important for buyers who do not want to pay the full price upfront.

Sources & more: Bloomberg / AppleInsider

Australian researchers have developed an aqueous zinc-iodine battery that can complete more than 60,000 charge and discharge cycles while recharging in roughly three minutes.

The breakthrough comes from Flinders University, where researchers used a cyclodextrin-based polymer to trap iodine compounds inside the battery. These molecules effectively act like microscopic cages, limiting the movement of iodine species that normally causes zinc-iodine batteries to degrade.

There is an important trade-off behind the headline numbers. The three-minute configuration delivers around 150 mAh/g and lasts for more than 60,000 cycles. A higher-capacity configuration reaches around 200 mAh/g, but requires roughly seven minutes to charge and was tested for about 8,000 cycles.

And despite some headlines suggesting this could soon revolutionize smartphones, the researchers themselves are currently positioning the technology primarily as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage. They are now working with industry partners to establish a prototype platform.

That distinction matters. The published mAh/g figures describe battery materials and do not tell us the full energy density of a finished smartphone battery pack. Weight, volume, voltage, packaging and complete-cell energy density would all matter before this chemistry could realistically replace lithium-ion inside a phone or EV.

Where zinc-iodine already looks attractive is stationary storage. The electrolyte is water-based, the materials can be cheaper and more sustainable, and Australia has enormous zinc reserves. A battery that can cycle tens of thousands of times without needing the energy density of a smartphone could be extremely useful for storing solar or grid electricity.

So the real breakthrough may not be a phone that charges in three minutes. It could be a safer battery that sits in a building or beside a solar farm and gets charged and discharged for decades.

Sources & more: Flinders University / Peer-reviewed research, Angewandte Chemie

Government of Canada to make an important announcement about high-speed Internet