Locator: 49170iPHONE.
Initial reports suggested Apple iPhone 17 launch day, Friday, September 19, 2025, was a big day for Apple. And again, the premium Pro and Pro Max models, in particular, appear to be the top sellers, with some reports suggesting the new iPhone Air seeing lower demand.
I asked AI how sales appeared to go on Saturday, today, the day after launch day:
This report suggests the higher-end phones were most in demand, something I addressed yesterday, launch day of the iPhone 17.
Locator: 49169META.
Link here to The New York Times.
Many, many story lines.
Most important for me: Apple has nothing to worry about.
At Meta’s software developers conference in Menlo Park., California, this week, Mark Zuckerberg strutted onto the stage to show off a new gadget: a pair of glasses with cameras and a tiny screen projected into the corner of the frame.
The presentation was similar in ambition to product unveilings of Macs, iPhones and iPads when Steve Jobs ran Apple. Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, laid out his vision for how computerized glasses would become the future of personal computing. The new glasses, the $800 Meta Ray-Ban Display, which runs apps similar to a smartphone, were supposed to show that Meta was light years ahead of the competition. But it failed its first public demonstration. And then another.
Unlike the “big tent” moments that Mr. Jobs oversaw for years as the ringmaster of Apple’s product demonstrations, Mr. Zuckerberg drew more snickers than applause. He became a meme on social media, and tech news sites mocked his glitch-filled performance.
But at the end of the day: the glasses were simply creepy. Maybe some day. But not yet.
Locator: 49168VISAS.
Now it's H-1B visas.
And, again, so much misinformation. Lots of fake news.
Already, folks are correcting their initial tweets on x.
The press secretary -- on a Saturday -- was busier than usual. Link here.
Once explained:
Companies with most H-1B visas at this link, but you have to scroll down a bit at the link.
Again, president Trump is anticipating the future. For American college graduates.
We'll see Monday if I've misread any of this. I'm not worried.
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The Retro-TV Page
Binge watching The Rockford Files this past month. Of the extended family members, I think I am the most nostalgic.
The intro brings back a lot of fond memories of my years in Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, San Pedro, Rolling Hills, Malibu, Santa Barbara. Some of the best years of my life. I particularly enjoy the 3M interstate signs for the "101" Hollywood Freeway, the Ventura Freeway in The Rockford Files introduction.
The plots never matter. It's all about the ensemble. And the car chases (generally averages two or three car chases each episode). And, of course, the women.
Tonight, coincidentally, the episode opens in the USC-LA County Medical Center, where I trained and spent four years.
Locator: 49167EVS.
Breaking: Texas Tech (#17) absolutely annihilates Utah (#16). Led by freshman quarterback. Texas Tech makes a statement, 34 - 10.
Updates
October 1, 2025: Ford's monthly sales results, the end of the EV federal subsidies, and Ford's assessment of EVs now. Link here.
September 25, 2025: Honda to end production of Acura EV assembled by GM in US (GM's Spring Hill assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, about an hour south of Nashville).
September 22, 2025: EVs reality check. Canada. Link here.
September 21, 2025: it's gonna take longer than expected. Link here.
September 21, 2025: BRK / Warren Buffett completely drops out of Chinese EV market -- a Charlie Munger recommendation -- link here.
Original Post
Now back to regular programming:
Two big stories just off the radar scope. Stories dwarfed by all the tech stories coming out of the US. The gap between the US and the EU continues to widen.
Porsche (VW): will scrap planned release of a new range of electric vehicles; link here.
Volkswagen has warned of a €5.1bn hit to its operating profits this year after its sports-car maker Porsche said it would delay the rollout of its electric vehicles and prolong internal combustion engine products.
Europe’s largest carmaker is lowering its annual profit guidance for the second time this year, blaming “a dramatically declining demand” for luxury goods in China and a 15 per cent US tariff on vehicles imported from Europe.
EU vows to deliver 2035 climate target before COP30. Link here. But the story is in the fine print. The EU continues to deindustrialize, does it even matter any more?
The European Union’s leaders will arrive at a global climate summit next week with a vague promise to soon deliver a new emissions-cutting target after ministers struck a face-saving deal Thursday evening.
The United Nations has called on world leaders to present their climate plans for 2035, a requirement under the 2015 Paris Agreement, at a meeting in New York next Wednesday.
But EU governments have struggled to find the consensus required to agree on the plan, known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC) in U.N. jargon. Earlier this week they acknowledged they would miss the end-September deadline for the new targets.
To avoid showing up empty-handed in New York, countries resorted to drafting a “statement of intent.”
Other news:
Locator: 49168CUDA.
September 21, 2025: a-ha! Beth explains it! Link here.
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Updated: September 21, 2025
I don't understand the specifics at all, but maybe someday I will.
This is where this blog all began: link here.
This is where I track Nvidia's CUDA. I haven't updated that page in a long, long time.
