Letterboxd Reveals Details of New Video Store Available December 10 on Web, iOS, tvOS, and More

By Jonathan Reed

Letterboxd today announced full details of its previously teased Letterboxd Video Store, along with a launch date of December 10. It was also revealed that members will be able to access films on the platform via the existing Letterboxd app on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS, as well as AirPlay, Chromecast, Android, and web.

Letterboxd claims Video Store is “the next evolution of the platform’s core mission of film discovery”. It builds on the hugely successful community platform, where members can log, rate, and review their film-watching, as well as follow and interact with other members’ reviews and film lists.

Video Store will follow a transactional video-on-demand rental model with no subscriptions, and the company says, “each title has been selected based on genuine member demand, while leaving room for discoveries the community has yet to find”. Pricing will take into account country, film availability, and life cycle. Launch films will be priced between $3.99 and $19.99 in the U.S.

Video Store will launch with just nine films, which seems to indicate how hand-picked the titles are and how difficult they may have been to procure. The initial batch – split across two themed “shelves” with more to come – includes Todd Haynes’s directorial debut, a restored Filipino classic, and a Cannes 2025 award winner.

Regarding the launch, co-founder and CEO Matthew Buchanan said:

We’re incredibly proud of what we and our community have built. We take their lead, and believe that has been integral to Letterboxd’s success. They tell us what’s really happening—a 1980s action film suddenly trending, a festival title from two years ago still being added to watchlists.

Video Store lets us act on that real demand, whether it’s helping a distributor unlock value from a forgotten gem in its vault or giving a filmmaker direct access to the audience they’ve been building on our platform. It’s our way of saying to the industry: let’s harness this interest to get films to the people who want them most.

Despite the very small collection of launch films, this is a big move for Letterboxd, a company that has so far resisted expanding beyond its core, beloved community framework. As a frequent user of the platform, I will be interested to see how they build on this and which films they add going forward.

Letterboxd wants this to be a way to champion filmmakers, find hidden gems, draw films out of vaults, and support the filmmaking ecosystem as a whole. In a time when traditional film studios are being swallowed up by big tech, it’s a refreshing approach to work directly with filmmakers, sales agents, and distributors to make films available to viewers.

What’s also interesting is the technological access to Letterboxd Video Store. Renting these titles will be as easy as opening Letterboxd’s existing app, and having direct access via Apple TV is a big win in my book.

Letterboxd Video Store launches December 10 at Letterboxd.com and in the Letterboxd app for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and Android. It will be accessible in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, and Cyprus.

iPhone vs $2000 Pro Camera — How Close Are They Really?→

Linked By Jonathan Reed

I constantly see articles or videos proclaiming that iPhones are better than traditional cameras or that traditional cameras will always be superior to the iPhone’s camera system. So it’s great to see a measured opinion – with plenty of comparisons – from someone who clearly loves shooting with both pieces of hardware.

That’s exactly what designer and creator Oliur has done with his latest video and blog post.

I took the new iPhone 17 Pro and the Fujifilm X100VI out with me, shot the same scenes, edited everything the same way I normally do, and then mixed them up to see whether anyone could guess which was which.

Some of the results genuinely surprised me.

I originally posted the challenge on X to see who could figure out which camera was which, and out of all the comments, only one person got them all right.

What’s striking is how, despite the Fuji camera’s evident technical prowess, it’s not so simple:

Technically, the Fuji should win. But in real-world photos — especially the kind most people share online — the gap isn’t as big anymore.

While the blog version is good, I’d recommend Oliur’s YouTube version for more in-depth breakdowns and an interesting conclusion.

The iPhone’s convenience and computational power make it competitive in almost every normal scenario. If someone told me they rely solely on their phone for photography today, I wouldn’t argue with them.

As someone who loves photography but doesn’t want to commit to a dedicated camera, it’s good to know that after some adjustments, the iPhone’s input can now result in an output that is competitive with a traditional camera – at least for my use cases.

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CarPlay in iOS 26: The MacStories Review

By Jonathan Reed

When CarPlay Ultra was announced… checks notes… three years ago, it was a bold vision for the future of in-car displays. There was as much drooling over the new designs as there was skepticism over whether any car manufacturer would agree to such an extensive display overhaul.

Underneath all that, there were also some concerns about where this left regular, vanilla CarPlay. The kind that many people had fallen in love with, and which was often a prerequisite when buying a new car. Was this going away, or would it just be left to wither on the vine?

Thankfully, with iOS 26, the answer seems to be a firm “no” as Apple brings much more customization to our in-car displays, mainly by letting the much heralded features of CarPlay Ultra trickle down to regular CarPlay. There’s more than you’d think, so let’s take a look.

watchOS 26: The MacStories Review

By Jonathan Reed

Last year was my first covering the watchOS beat with version 11. It turned out to be a trial by fire, with the annual software update for the world’s most popular smartwatch proving to be both sizable and significant.

While controversy reigned over iOS, iPadOS, and macOS regarding new Apple Intelligence features, watchOS took an exit off of that highway to a more peaceful, focused road that contained real, tangible updates. There were long-requested customizations to Activity Rings, as well as added power and functionality in the Smart Stack. Brand new features like Training Load and the Vitals app started to hint that Apple was maybe, finally, getting serious about, well, serious athletes.

If I’m being honest, I expected more of the same this year. The watchOS team seemed to be on a roll. Unfortunately, that hasn’t come to pass with watchOS 26, which – unlike watchOS 11 with Apple Intelligence – has been brought along for the ride with this year’s big controversy: Liquid Glass.

Can watchOS 26 handle this big UI overhaul and still deliver some tangible additions in this, the year of the Apple Watch’s tenth anniversary? Let’s take a look.

Sound Designer Dallas Taylor on the Audio Enhancements to AirPods Pro 3 →

Linked By Jonathan Reed

Source: Dallas Taylor.

While the highlights of Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 reveal seemed to be the addition of heart rate sensors, increased battery life, and improved Active Noise Cancellation, Dallas Taylor on YouTube went a bit deeper on the actual listening experience.

Taylor is a sound designer and the host of the excellent Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast. (I can highly recommend this episode about the famous sounds of Apple and this one about the iconic sound of HBO.) He also runs a YouTube channel and was invited to Apple Park yesterday to try out the new AirPods Pro for himself.

He came away very impressed with the improved ANC, but what stood out to me was the significant upgrade in sound quality he mentioned, especially the bass. You can watch Taylor give his thoughts below, but it’s interesting to hear about a notable improvement in what people use AirPods for the most: listening to music.

You can follow all of our September 2025 Apple event coverage through our September 2025 Apple event hub or subscribe to the dedicated September 2025 Apple event RSS feed.

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Jess Weatherbed Breaks Down Why Apple’s Crossbody Strap is a Great Idea →

Linked By Jonathan Reed

Source: Apple.

In the run-up to yesterday’s Apple Event, there were increasingly loud rumblings that Apple would introduce a crossbody strap or lanyard that could be attached to new iPhone cases.

What followed was a noticeable amount of confusion from those in the tech sphere as to why Apple was entering this market. Now that the Crossbody Strap has been released, Jess Weatherbed at The Verge has a great explainer on why crossbody straps are an increasingly popular trend and why Apple’s take on them is so good. (Spoiler: it’s magnets. It’s always magnets.)

This trend seems to be more popular in Europe and Asia, but it’s picking up steam in the United States, too. I personally see them all the time in London, both as fashion accessories and practical ways for people to carry their most important device. In fact, as a quick experiment, I counted almost 20 of them on my five-minute walk back from this morning’s school drop-off.

The Apple Crossbody Strap is available to order now and is only compatible with Apple’s cases for iPhone 17, Air, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max. For more on all the accessories Apple released this week, check out Niléane’s overview.

You can follow all of our September 2025 Apple event coverage through our September 2025 Apple event hub or subscribe to the dedicated September 2025 Apple event RSS feed.

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Apple Announces Final Cut Camera 2.0 with Support for ProRes RAW and Genlock

By Jonathan Reed

Today, in tandem with new video recording capabilities and lenses in the iPhone 17 Pro line, Apple announced version 2.0 of Final Cut Camera, its pro video recording app for the iPhone.

The update introduces support for ProRes RAW and genlock, which the new iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are able to record in. ProRes RAW is an industry-standard way to record video, allowing the capture of RAW data, which unlocks incredible control of recorded video in post-production. In upcoming releases of Final Cut Pro for Mac and Final Cut Pro for iPad, exposure, color temperature, tint, and demosaicing can all be adjusted on ProRes RAW footage.

Genlock, a process of synchronizing multiple video sources by having them lock onto an external reference signal, will allow filmmakers to make frame-accurate edits in a fraction of the time it would take when doing so manually.

As part of the recording process, version 2.0 supports open gate recording, allowing the use of the whole camera sensor to capture video, instead of the current cropped version. This opens up possibilities for reframing shots, stabilizing footage, and setting final aspect ratios without reducing the quality of the image.

As well as these announcements, Final Cut Camera introduces the following new functionalities:

Support for recording in portrait and landscape using the new square sensor-equipped front-facing camera. The new camera can shoot portrait or landscape video without the need to rotate the device
Manual adjustment of the new front-facing camera on the iPhone 17 Pro
Support for Apple Log 2, which features a wider color gamut
New Timecode options like Time of Day or other external timecodes.
Support for recording ProRes up to 4K60 fps with the new 200mm telephoto lens on the iPhone 17 Pro

Final Cut Camera will be available later this month.

Apple Announces Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch SE, and New Health Features

By Jonathan Reed

Source: Apple.

While most of the focus going into today’s event was on the heavily boosted iPhone lineup, predictions were cool for new Apple Watches. When the new lineup was unveiled, the upgrades were mostly spec bumps for the Series 11, while the Apple Watch Ultra finally got a proper update, and the SE got a notable bump. Apple also announced a potentially groundbreaking new health tracking feature. Let’s take a look.

Apple Watch Series 11

Yes, the Series 11 looks identical to the Series 10. Source: Apple.

The updates to the flagship Apple Watch are simple but noticeable quality-of-life improvements. First, there’s battery life, which jumps from 18 hours on a single charge to a whopping 24 hours. Additionally, Low Power Mode adds an extra 2 hours over the Series 10 to reach 38 hours of battery life. Then, while the fast-charging capability remains at 0–80% in 30 minutes, you can now add 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes.

Apple’s September 2025 Event: All the Small Things (Bento Box Version)

By Jonathan Reed

Several things are ubiquitous with Apple Events. Tim Cook’s “Good Morning!”, Craig Federighi being, well, Craig Federighi, and the keynote bento boxes. Offering up a summary to each keynote section, these bento box slides provide a great way to recap a new product.

So, after today’s bumper announcements, let’s take a look at today’s bento box slides.