🎬A Unicorn, finally.

TECH
Apple’s very important week

Apple is rolling out announcements this week like a town crier fighting for relevance after discovering a radio set. Yesterday, the company kicked off a week of updates with a suite of new products and the launch of Apple Intelligence as it gears up to unveil earnings on Thursday.

What’s here: Apple Intelligence on iPhone 15 and newer models. Highlights include a better Siri, an option for your phone to proofread text, photo cleanup that edits strangers out of your roadside pics, and notification summaries. But the best is yet to come: Flashier features, like the ability to make your own emoji and Siri’s integration with ChatGPT, will launch with the next software update, iOS 18.2, in December.

What’s coming: A new 24-inch iMac, debuting November 8. The model uses Apple’s state-of-the-art M4 chip, a major tech upgrade that will bring more power and speed to the computer, so it can deal with AI and complex gaming.

• Apple also introduced a new keyboard, trackpad, and mouse.

• A new MacBook Pro and Mac Mini, also with the elite M4 chip, are expected later this week.

Zoom out: You may be gushing over the new butter yellow iMac, but Apple still faces headwinds. Indonesia blocked sales of the iPhone 16 yesterday due to Apple’s failure to meet local investment requirements. Meanwhile, demand for the iPhone 16 has been slower than expected and Thursday will likely show to what extent.-TD

TRENDING
Trouble translating?

Don’t ignore the AI warning labels: OpenAI’s transcription tool Whisper has a bit of a lying problem. Experts say the AI-powered feature frequently hallucinates, fabricating entire sentences when transcribing interviews and generating text. The untrustworthy tendency is more concerning given that Whisper is being used in medical centers to transcribe interactions between patients and doctors — despite OpenAI’s caution that the tool shouldn’t be used in “high-risk domains.”

SHOWER THOUGHTS

NEWS
Round the continent

• Nigeria-based fintech Moniepoint has secured $110 million in new funding from investors including Google, elevating its valuation to over $1 billion.

• Amid concerns about the perceived biases of major credit rating agencies, there is a growing discussion on the necessity of an African Credit Rating Agency to provide more accurate assessments of African nations' creditworthiness.

• France and Morocco have announced new investments in rail infrastructure worth $10 billion during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Morocco.

• Botswana goes to the polls today to vote in what will determine whether the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will extend its 58-year hold on power.