They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I’m not sure I’m feeling more fond of my emails, but when they stopped arriving around Noon on Thursday thanks to Microsoft’s Great Outlook Outage of 2026, I certainly started feeling twitchy. It just doesn’t feel natural not to receive any emails. While Microsoft took something away from us, Apple was—once again—giving us something new. Today is the day that the Apple HomeView arrives in customers’ hands. Apple gave review units to a few reporters about ten days ago, and the initial reviews have been positive. I’m looking forward to receiving mine in a few hours and setting it up in my kitchen tonight. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Jason Snell of Six Colors notes that the HomeView reminds you of many other Apple products: it is a little like an iPad, a little like CarPlay, a lot like a large Apple Watch, and a natural extension of the HomePod. Overall, he calls the HomeView “a pretty great deal if you’re someone who is immersed in the Apple ecosystem and wants a little helper to answer questions, show pictures, play music, control devices, and otherwise just be a nice companion in the kitchen (or wherever else you might want one in your home).”
- Chance Miller of 9to5Mac says that the recipes feature “works incredibly well,” and “the HomeView’s software interface is really well done. … The software feels familiar because of its similarities to Apple Watch and iPhone, but it’s also clearly purpose-built for the smart display form factor.” And if you put this device in a common area such as a kitchen, what will your spouse think? “Her first impression was essentially, ‘It’s cute, but I don’t know what I’ll use it for.’ Over the last week, however, she’s remarked multiple times how much she likes it.”
- Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge says that the HomeView is “superb at controlling my smart home; it’s an excellent hands-free kitchen companion, a good speaker, and a gorgeous digital photo frame.”
- Tuohy was the only reviewer I saw who could somewhat bypass the personal security restrictions—when her daughter looked at her text messages on the HomeView and then stepped away, she could still see her daughter’s messages for a few seconds. Everyone else had an experience like Jacob Krol at TechRadar: “For instance, while I was viewing my messages, my dad walked into the camera’s view, and HomeView immediately stopped showing my personal content until it could recognize me again.” Perhaps Apple will tweak this setting in the future. For now, if you don’t want your spouse to know that you are having an affair with a Chinese spy, perhaps avoid looking at your text messages on a HomeView.
- Many reviewers, including Billy Steele of Engadget, report that the audio on the $299 HomeView is better than the $149 HomePod mini but not quite as good as the $349 HomePod. And if you have other AirPlay devices, the HomeView can be one of the devices to provide multiroom audio.
- Speaking of price, you can order the HomeView for only $289 on Amazon.
- It will be interesting to see what kind of stands people come up with for the HomeView. For example, Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider 3D printed an interesting mount that let him put a HomeView on one of his unused microphone arms so that it hovers above his office desk.
- The other new device that Apple released today is the new version of the Apple TV 4K. Here is the review by Chance Miller of 9to5Mac. It seems to me that for most folks, the new features it adds aren’t that important, but the more powerful processor may be more useful in the future.
- Although not a new product from Apple per se, Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac notes that the third-party smart home devices in the Apple Home Collection are available for pre-order today.
- Apple’s online Apple Support community was always a good idea that never really worked all that well. Countless times I would search for the answer to a problem, click a link to the community, and find either (1) people asking the same question as me without getting an answer or (2) an answer that was wholly unsatisfactory. It would have been great if Apple had found a way to breathe new life into the community. Instead, as Jason Snell of Six Colors noted, Apple is shutting down the service. That’s probably for the best because nowadays, when I have an Apple-related question, I just ask Siri AI. Siri AI doesn’t always give me the perfect answer, but its batting average is certainly better than the Apple Support webpages.
- In an article on Six Colors, Philip Michaels notes that the upcoming Live Rewind feature on the Apple Watch will be very useful for people who don’t have perfect hearing.
- If you need some more AirTags, Amazon is currently selling a four-pack of the latest AirTag (2nd generation) for only $69, the lowest price ever. (Here is my review from earlier this year.)
- Riley Hill of Slate Pad explains why he finds the new iPad mini more useful than the new iPhone Duo.
- In an article for Wired, Steven Levey discusses Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus.
- Federico Viticci of MacStories reviews the latest version of Screens, an app that lets you share a screen from one Apple device to another. This latest version supports Apple’s High Performance screen sharing so that you can view your Mac’s screen on an iPad or iPhone in very high quality.
- Apple released iOS 27.2.1 this week, and Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac describes the security issues that it fixes.
- Patrick Holland of CNET reports that the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have the best battery life of any smartphone.
- Apple has said that if you need to use Siri AI a lot, you may need to pay extra. This week, Apple launched $50 AI usage packs for the Apple Creator Studio apps such as Logic Pro, as noted by Christoffel. For consumer use of Siri AI, Apple will eventually ask people to pay for iCloud+ subscriptions to get more access.
- Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac describes the three new shows on Apple TV this week, including the heist series 12 12 12, which looks like it could be fun.
- And finally, do yourself a favor and grab a tissue before you watch Apple’s first 2026 holiday video, The Dreamer, which celebrates youth creativity.