Apple News
Apple TV+ debuts trailer for season five of ‘Slow Horses,’ starring Gary Oldman
Apple TV+ on Wednesday unveiled the trailer for season five of “Slow Horses,” the Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning espionage drama starring Academy Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Sir Gary Oldman. Adapted from “London Rules,” the next novel in the CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning Mick Herron “Slough House” book series, the six-episode fifth season of “Slow Horses” premieres September 24, 2025 with the first episode, followed by one episode weekly until October 29, 2025.
“Slow Horses” is a darkly humorous espionage drama that follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 known affectionately as Slough House. Oldman, who has been honored with Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA Award nominations for his performance, stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but cantankerous leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes as they frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world.
In season five of “Slow Horses,” everyone is suspicious when resident tech nerd Roddy Ho has a glamorous new girlfriend, but when a series of increasingly bizarre events occur across the city, it falls to the Slow Horses to work out how everything is connected. After all, Lamb knows that in the world of espionage, the London Rules — cover your back — always apply.
The ensemble cast includes Academy Award nominee Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmy Award nominee Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Ruth Bradley, James Callis, Tom Brooke, and Academy Award nominee Jonathan Pryce. Season five will also welcome “Ted Lasso” star Nick Mohammed as a special guest star.
“Slow Horses” has been celebrated as “undoubtedly the best spy series on television,” a “truly epic espionage thriller” that is “utterly brilliant” and just “so damn good.” The complete first four seasons of “Slow Horses,” which are now streaming on Apple TV+, hold a Certified Fresh score, with two seasons receiving a rare, perfect 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. The globally acclaimed third season earned nine Primetime Emmy Award nominations, with a win for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, and the widely hailed fourth season recently earned five Primetime Emmy nominations in various categories, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Seasons six and seven of the darkly comedic spy drama have already been announced.
The series is produced for Apple TV+ by See-Saw Films and adapted for television by Will Smith. Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Julian Stevens, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Douglas Urbanski, Gail Mutrux, Smith and Graham Yost serve as executive producers on the series. Saul Metzstein, who earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for his work on “Slow Horses” season three, returns to helm season five.
Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 596 wins and 2,798 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning comedy “Ted Lasso” and Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Slow Horses” is one of the best series anywhere – highly recommended!
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Apple, Google stocks jump on antitrust ruling preserving Safari default search deal
After a U.S. federal judge issued his Google antitrust remedies after the close on Tuesday, the share prices of Apple and Google parent Alphabet surged in after-hour and pre-market trading.
Ed Carson for Investor’s Business Daily:
Late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google will be barred from exclusive search deals and must share search data. But the tech titan will not have to divest its Chrome browser or face other, more-serious penalties. Mehta also didn’t bar Google from making payments to third parties for default browser placement, suggesting that a Google-Apple search deal can continue.
The remedies ruling came nearly a year after Mehta said that Google had an illegal monopoly over online search. Google will appeal the ruling.
Google stock jumped in overnight trade, signaling a record high as Mehta’s antitrust remedies weren’t as harsh as feared.
Apple stock climbed solidly, pointing to a breakout above a 235.12 handle buy point.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is currently trading in the pre-market up $8.32 (+3.62%) to $238.04.
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Apple stock surges on U.S. ruling that spares default search deal with Google
On Tuesday, a U.S. judge ruled mostly in favor of Alphabet’s Google, denying U.S. prosecutors’ request to force the company to divest its Chrome browser and Android operating system.
However, the judge ordered Google to share data with competitors to foster competition in online search.
Alphabet’s stock surged nearly 6.7% in after-hours trading as investors welcomed the decision.
While sharing data may bolster Google’s competitors in its dominant advertising sector, retaining Chrome and Android alleviates major investor concerns, as these are critical to Google’s ecosystem.
The ruling also reassured Apple and other device and browser makers, with U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta allowing them to continue receiving ad revenue-sharing payments from Google.
Morgan Stanley analysts noted Google pays Apple $20 billion annually for search-related services.Google plans to appeal the decision, which could delay implementation for years.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple stock surged in after-hours trading, up $7.48 (+3.26%) to $237.20.
MacDailyNews Take: Rejoice! Cook & Co. can continue being lazy/inept, taking $20+ billion payments from rival Google instead of developing their own search/AI. Market seems to love free money for doing nothing.
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Apple’s brain drain continues as lead AI robotics researcher leaves for Meta
Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s lead AI researcher for robotics, Jian Zhang, has left the company to join Meta Platforms’ robotics division, contributing to a brain drain of AI talent from Tim Cook’s Apple. Meta confirmed Zhang’s move to its Robotics Studio on Tuesday.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Separately, three more AI researchers are leaving Apple’s in-house large language models team, adding to upheaval in that group, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The latest string of departures — all taking place over the last week — includes John Peebles, Nan Du, and Zhao Meng, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the moves haven’t been announced.
They were all part of an Apple Foundation Models team that has lost roughly 10 members, including its chief, in recent weeks. The group was central to the creation of the Apple Intelligence platform, launched last year as part of the company’s bid to catch up in AI.
Peebles and Du are heading to OpenAI, while Zhao is joining Anthropic PBC.
Zhang, the robotics researcher, led a small team of academics focused on automation technology and the role of AI in such products. That team has already suffered some turnover, with one of Zhang’s reports, Mario Srouji, leaving to run AI products at Archer Aviation Inc. in April.
MacDailyNews Take: Judging by the state of Apple Intelligence, how good could they be?
Still, an exodus of talent in an ever-growing AI brain drain train doesn’t happen at companies with inspiring, focused, visionary leadership. Nobody with any smarts wants to work for a canned video vaporware factory fronted by a cardboard cutout CEO clinging on a decade past his sell-by date.
From what we hear about Apple today, especially in AI, we don’t blame them for leaving.
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Apple may unveil AirTag 2 during ‘Awe Dropping’ event next week
Apple’s anticipated AirTag 2 may launch at next week’s annual iPhone event. In the November 2024 Power On newsletter, Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman noted that the AirTag 2 will resemble the current model and “certainly not” include a rechargeable battery, sticking with a replaceable CR2032 “coin” battery that lasts about a year.
Joe Rossignol for MacRumors:
Apple introduced the current AirTag during its April 2021 event.
For those unfamiliar with the AirTag, it is a Bluetooth accessory that you can attach to items like a backpack and keys, and you can then track the location of those items in the Find My app across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and iCloud.com.
The following changes have been rumored:
• A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, for up to 3× longer item tracking range compared to the current AirTag
• A more tamper-proof built-in speaker — an anti-stalking safety improvement
• “Very low” battery life alerts, alongside existing “low” battery alerts
• Vision Pro/spatial computing integration of some kind — details unclear
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip, known as the U2 chip, offers several advancements over its predecessor, the U1 chip, enhancing spatial awareness and connectivity in Apple devices, including the expected AirTag 2. Here are the key features and advantages:
• Extended Range: The U2 chip enables connectivity with compatible devices at up to three times the distance of the U1 chip. This allows for more reliable tracking and interaction over greater distances, such as finding friends in crowded spaces or locating items with AirTags.
• Improved Precision Finding: The U2 chip enhances Apple’s Precision Finding feature, providing more accurate distance and directional data, down to centimeter-level precision. This improves user experiences in applications like Find My, making it easier to locate devices, AirTags, or even friends in busy environments like concerts or train stations.
• Enhanced Device Integration: The U2 chip enables seamless interactions across Apple’s ecosystem. For example, it supports features like automatically opening the Now Playing screen on an Apple Watch Series 9 when near a HomePod playing music, or providing media suggestions via Smart Stack. It also improves proximity-based handoff between devices, such as transferring audio playback.
• Power Efficiency: The U2 chip is designed to be more power-efficient, potentially extending battery life for devices like AirTags. This reduces the frequency of battery replacements, a big plus for AirTag users.
• Broader Application Potential: The U2 chip opens up possibilities for new use cases, such as hands-free access in settings like hotels or workplaces, and more precise digital key functionality for cars (e.g., identifying which door a user is approaching). Its enhanced capabilities could also support future augmented reality applications and developer-driven innovations through Apple’s Nearby Interaction framework.
• Backward Compatibility: The U2 chip maintains compatibility with existing U1-equipped devices, ensuring that newer devices like the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 can still interact with older UWB-enabled products, while offering enhanced features for newer models.
These improvements make the U2 chip a significant upgrade, enhancing location-based services, user convenience, and ecosystem integration.
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