This is the news from Monday 26 October. Read the latest news
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Touchscreen MacBook Pro on Wednesday, a Google wobble and IPv6
Today in 30 seconds
- Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro reportedly lands this Wednesday
- Google rankings swung again on Saturday, with no confirmed update
- Half of Google’s users now reach it over IPv6
- Block’s Dessa voice model laughs, pauses and runs on a MacBook
- Kimi K3.1 Pro ranks fourth, but faces paid promotion claims
- Instagram arrives on Apple TV with Reels and live shows
- Android links your phone number to every Google account on it
- Raspberry Pi Desktop gives old PCs a second life
Good morning. The web had a quiet weekend, but Apple has a big week ahead. New Macs may land on Wednesday, Google’s rankings had a wobble, and half of Google’s users now arrive over IPv6. Let’s go.
Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro reportedly lands this Wednesday
Apple will reportedly show new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with touch OLED screens on Wednesday 28 October. The report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Apple has not confirmed it, and MacRumors expects a press release, not a full keynote.
The notch reportedly gives way to a Dynamic Island. Gurman has said the laptops will use the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. macOS Golden Gate is said to change its controls based on whether you last touched the screen or the trackpad. The OLED models could cost up to US$500 more than today’s models, which start at US$2,499. A new iMac and a 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip are also expected that day.
Why it matters Touch on the Mac means more people will tap your site with a finger on a big screen. Hover menus and tiny links will feel clumsy. My guide to touch-friendly buttons and menus shows what to check before Wednesday.
Google rankings swung again on Saturday, with no confirmed update
Rank tracking tools showed big swings in Google results on Saturday 24 October, Search Engine Roundtable reports. Google has not confirmed an update. It follows other unconfirmed swings on 16 October and on 20 and 21 October.
In forums, some site owners reported falling traffic from Google Discover. One said Discover now sends traffic to an article “for less than 6 hours at best”. These are forum claims, not Google data.
Why it matters One weekend of movement is not a reason to rewrite your site. Note the date in your analytics, wait a week, then compare. If traffic fell, find which pages dropped before you change anything. My list of five SEO fixes is a calm place to start.
Half of Google’s users now reach it over IPv6
Just under 51% of Google’s users reached it over IPv6 on 17 October 2026, according to Google’s own statistics. Engadget points out that this was about 33% on the same date in 2020. France leads at 87%, and the US sits at 55%.
IPv4 ran out of fresh addresses years ago. IPv6 has a far bigger pool. The two can’t talk to each other directly, so most networks run both at once. This is called “dual stack”.
Why it matters About half of your visitors may arrive over IPv6. Your site should answer on both. Ask your host if your server has an IPv6 address, and check that your DNS has an AAAA record. If you use Cloudflare, my Cloudflare 101 guide walks through the basic setup.
Block’s Dessa voice model laughs, pauses and runs on a MacBook
Block, Jack Dorsey’s company, has shown Dessa, an AI voice model that can listen and talk at the same time. Block calls it “the most authentic full-duplex speech model ever built”. It can laugh, pause and even cry.
Block says Dessa learned only from speech, not from a text model. It says Dessa runs on home computers, such as a MacBook with an M4 Max chip or better. There is no public access yet. Block has asked safety researchers to test it first, especially for voice agents that could trick people.
Why it matters Phone bots that sound fully human are close. Running on your own machine means no cloud bill and more privacy. It also means scam calls will be harder to spot. Teach your staff to check odd requests by calling back on a known number.
Kimi K3.1 Pro ranks fourth, but faces paid promotion claims
Moonshot’s Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, which VentureBeat lists as fourth overall. Its API costs US$2 per million input tokens and US$10 per million output tokens. Moonshot says the open weights come on 4 November.
There is a catch. An X user posted screenshots he said were instructions for a paid Kimi campaign. The purported instructions told creators not to use the paid partnership label. Nobody has checked the document yet, and VentureBeat found no reply from Moonshot.
Why it matters When a wave of glowing posts follows a launch, stay sceptical. Test any model on your own tasks before you switch. Cheap and strong is great, but only your tests show if it fits your work.
Instagram arrives on Apple TV with Reels and live shows
Instagram now has an app for Apple TV, MacRumors reports. It needs tvOS 26 or later. It brings Reels, longer videos and live shows to the big screen for the first time on Apple’s box.
You can watch creators you follow, find new videos and pick up where you left off on another device. Instagram’s TV app first appeared on Amazon Fire TV in December 2025, then on Google TV and Samsung TVs.
Why it matters If you make Reels for your business, they may now play on a living room TV. Keep text large and video sharp, because small captions are hard to read from across the room.
Android links your phone number to every Google account on it
Android phones attach the SIM’s phone number to every Google account signed in on the device, Engadget reports. That includes work and second accounts. It has been the default since September 2025, but many people only noticed after Google emailed to say their number was verified.
Google says the link helps with account recovery, RCS messages and finding a lost phone. It says it doesn’t sell phone numbers. To stop it, open Settings, then Google, All services, Privacy & security, and Phone number verification. Turn off “Verify phone numbers automatically”. Numbers already linked stay until you remove them under Personal info, then Phone, in each account.
Why it matters If your work account lives on your personal phone, your number may now sit in that account too. Check it today. Turning verification off can make RCS chats fall back to SMS, so pick what matters more to you. My guide to 2FA, MFA and passkeys covers safer ways to protect accounts.
Raspberry Pi Desktop gives old PCs a second life
The Register has tested Raspberry Pi Desktop, the PC edition of Raspberry Pi OS. The new version is based on Debian 13 and runs on 64-bit x86 PCs. It needs about 8 GB of disk space once installed.
It is too heavy for Windows XP era machines. It suits Vista era hardware and older Intel Macs. You can download it from the bottom of the Raspberry Pi operating systems page.
Why it matters An old office PC can become a free browsing or kiosk machine instead of e-waste. If you like Raspberry Pi projects, my Raspberry Pi media centre guide is a fun next step.
Quick hits
- Steam has a new Personal Calendar that suggests fresh games based on what you play. Engadget
- Apple Stores reportedly scan sealed iPhone boxes to catch returns with parts missing. MacRumors
- iPhone Duo failed JerryRigEverything’s dust test, as grit got into the hinge. MacRumors
- Belkin has new semi-solid-state power banks, including a 220 g, 10,000mAh model for US$89.95. 9to5Mac
- Goose is a new memory-safe systems language, coded almost entirely by AI from a human design. Goose
- Replit reportedly moved most of its AI spending from Anthropic to OpenAI. The Information
- Windows XP turned 25 on Sunday. It first hit shops on 25 October 2001. Tom’s Hardware
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