New Apple TV rebrand is the right move at just the right time (3 minute read)
Apple has officially dropped the “+” from Apple TV+, rebranding its streaming service simply as Apple TV. The change aligns the service with the Apple TV app, reflects how most people already refer to it, and comes just as new Apple TV 4K hardware is expected to launch—offering the perfect moment for a unified brand rollout.
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Video Overviews on NotebookLM Get a Major Upgrade with Nano Banana (2 minute read)
NotebookLM has upgraded its Video Overviews feature with Gemini's Nano Banana image generation model, which automatically creates contextual illustrations in six visual styles, including Watercolor, Papercraft, and Anime. Users can now choose between two formats: "Explainer" for comprehensive summaries or "Brief" for quick highlights of their uploaded documents. The update is rolling out to Pro users this week and to all users in the coming weeks across all supported languages.
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Telegram adopts a Liquid Glass-like design, no iOS 26 required (2 minute read)
Telegram's latest iOS update introduces its own version of Apple's Liquid Glass design, bringing transparent, refractive interface elements even to devices not running iOS 26. The update also adds group call comments and reactions, contact notes and birthday suggestions, customizable profile colors, threaded AI bot chats, and improvements to the gifts marketplace and bug reporting tools.
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The UX Butterfly Effect (9 minute read)
Social media platforms like TikTok create reinforcing feedback loops that increase user engagement through personalized content. Still, these design decisions lead to unintended consequences, including mental health issues among teens, environmental damage from data center energy consumption, and reduced time for studying and socializing. Systems mapping tools, impact ripple canvases, and iceberg visuals help designers identify and plan for these second and third-order effects. Organizations that fail to consider broader systemic impacts risk severe consequences, as seen when Uber overlooked safety concerns in São Paulo or Juul marketed vaping products to teenagers.
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Why User Self-Efficacy Matters for AI Product Success (8 minute read)
A study of 306 GenAI chatbot users revealed that adoption depends on user self-efficacy rather than being impressed by AI sophistication itself. Warmth and empathy work as emotional shortcuts (especially under information overload), while competence matters through clear, reliable performance. Notably, perceived intelligence doesn't boost user confidence. The research demonstrates that different human-like features influence adoption through distinct psychological pathways, suggesting designers should prioritize making users feel capable and supported over showcasing advanced AI capabilities.
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If print is not dead, who's keeping it alive? (8 minute read)
Print isn't dead, but its craft and knowledge are increasingly rare in a digital-focused world. Studios like Make-Ready, Knust, Small Editions, and DTAN show print as an autonomous art form, blending skill, materials, and collaboration. Rising costs and education gaps make production harder, yet the tactile, limited-edition nature of print gives it renewed cultural value. Its future relies on small presses, knowledge-sharing, and emphasizing the unique physical and emotional experience of printed work.
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Impressive Product Demos in Minutes (Website)
Tight Studio helps you create impressive product demos from rough screen recordings in minutes. Get smart auto zooms to focus on key details, use AI narration to help you with mic setup or accent problems, and a lot more.
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Liquid Glass is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26 (11 minute read)
iOS 26's new "Liquid Glass" visual language prioritizes decorative effects over usability, making interfaces harder to read through translucent elements, text-on-text overlays, and distracting animations. Apple has shrunk tap targets, moved search from top to bottom, removed breadcrumb labels from back buttons, and made controls appear and disappear unpredictably, forcing longtime users to relearn basic navigation. The design breaks established iOS conventions in favor of Android-style patterns while adding visual spectacle that obscures content rather than highlighting it.
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Craft, Not Fame, Makes Your Story Worth Telling (2 minute read)
Popular recording artists with millions of Spotify streams have received book deals, but their memoirs can be surprisingly boring. The traditional publishing industry often prioritizes celebrity status over narrative quality, assuming that fame alone will drive book sales regardless of the story's merit. Anyone with a meaningful story can now write and publish independently by choosing the right experiences to share, crafting them with care, and giving them meaning. This approach may not bring prestige or advances, but it can create a genuine connection with readers who understand themselves better through the work.
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AI interface: When intelligence outgrows its container (6 minute read)
Alan Kay's idea that interfaces shape how we think applies strongly to today's AI era, where the interface—not the model—has become the true differentiator. As AI shifts from command- to intent-based systems, chat interfaces dominate for their simplicity but also limit user control, creating a “category error” where powerful tools act like simple windows instead of creative rooms. The future lies in Generative UI, where AI not only generates content but dynamically chooses how to present it—merging output and interface to balance human agency with machine intelligence.
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