gshc2020.com

The other features I will list in order of how excited they make me: Cinematic effects on regular videos, Apple Reference Image, Photographic Styles 3 and Audio Mix for music.

In the interest of staying on topic, I'll focus this section on these new features. But before that, I'll quickly tell you that the Pro continues to have the best camera performance of any iPhone. Photos I took were bright and vibrant, and I particularly loved being able to adjust them after the fact. They still fall short of Google's Pixel series when it comes to Portrait and Night shots, but the addition of variable aperture has meaningfully narrowed the gap. That is, in my experience so far anyway.

Variable aperture's impact lies beyond point and shoot

I've long complained about the rigidity of Apple's Portrait mode, because it forces you to be a certain distance away from your subject and you can't really achieve the effect unless the phone deems you're far enough away. While Variable Aperture doesn't specifically fix Portrait mode on the iPhone 18 Pro, it does offer an alternative means to get a pleasant-looking soft focus effect.

After setting up the redesigned camera app to feature easy access to the new aperture and shutter speed settings, I tried out the iPhone 18 Pro on any subject that seemed suitable. For instance, I stood for a while in front of a plant along a hallway at the San Francisco airport, switching between all four aperture settings to see just how much of the long walkway in the background would come back into focus.

Cherlynn Low for Engadget

As expected, the difference between shots taken at f/1.48 and f/4.0 (the current ends of the spectrum) isn't very stark. In fact, there's only a very subtle softness in the background in the f/1.48 sample, but the picture was still lovely to look at, thanks largely to the amount of light.

Before I get too far ahead, it's worth noting that by default the camera app will automatically adjust aperture settings on the fly, based on what it thinks is right for the scene. I didn't pay very much attention here, again since the difference between the four currently available levels is so subtle. Plus, upon looking back through all the pictures I took on auto, the settings were almost always at f/1.48, which seems odd in hindsight.

Things got significantly better when I paired the aperture controls with shutter speed tweaks. As most people who shoot in manual mode on any camera will know, being able to have full control over ISO, shutter speed and aperture gives you much more leeway in determining how your shots appear.

The fastest available shutter speed of 1/6000s and slowest of 1 second brings a lot more versatility to the iPhone camera app, and I was able to pair the f/1.48 aperture setting with a 1/250 second shutter speed to capture the twinkling shape of sunlight peeking through some foliage at dusk. By the way, in case you were wondering, the shape of the very subtle bokeh on display here is somewhat off-circle and almost like a wonky heart.

I also like that the manual controls allow me to finally capture lowlight shots to my exact preference. Before this, I had to choose between complete darkness, using the flash or enabling Night mode, which frequently makes scenes seem lighter than they really were. With a fast shutter speed and larger aperture, I was able to make a single light bulb look clear and stark against the white wall it was in front of, without the flare obscuring the filament inside. As a bonus, you can control these settings for video as well, though you'll have to set them before hitting record.

Cherlynn Low for Engadget

While the redesigned, customizable Camera app will be coming to all phones that can upgrade to iOS 27, these Pro tools will be exclusive to the iPhone 18 Pro as they require the variable aperture to work.

Cinematic effects on regular video is hit or miss

I loved the idea of applying cinematic effects to any video after the fact, because I genuinely like the look of Apple's Cinematic videos. There's something about their lighting and slight blur in the background that appeals to me, so I thought I'd like that effect in all my footage.

The problem is, the execution, at least in my testing so far, is quite subtle and unpredictable. First, it's worth noting that this will only work with videos shot on the iPhone 18 Pro. Sadly, that meant that all my hands-on videos with the iPhone Duo that I took with my iPhone 17 Pro Max were not eligible for the cinematic effects.

Even when I was able to apply them to clips I took of a singer in a low lit room at Apple Park or that plant in the airport hallway or even my partner riding an e-scooter along our driveway, the results were mixed. I think I was the right distance away from the musician, so the cinematic effects were clearer (side note, the stage lights sparkled thanks to the aperture setting) and thus easier to tell when on or off.

My partner, meanwhile, was moving closer and farther away from the camera throughout, so things never really stayed in the same setup long enough. Finally, I suspect I was too close to the plant, because the blurry effect was applied to the background, but at times switched to some of the leaves in the foreground.

This is less a criticism of the new feature that lets you retroactively add cinematic effects to a video and more a clearer look at what scenarios work best for cinematic videos in the first place. And with the ability to apply Cinematic after recording a video, even if you forgot to switch to the right mode at first, users do gain a bit more flexibility and freedom, which is always nice.

Apple Reference Image is a step in the right direction

I'm a fan of any tool added to our arsenal in the fight against AI-exacerbated misinformation, and I think that Apple's Reference Image is not just a useful feature, but also an important signal to the rest of the world. It's basically a mode in the camera app that appears when you enable it, and is one swipe away from the default Photo mode. When photos are captured in that mode, two versions of the image will be saved. One is the picture that typically shows up in your gallery, with the usual HDR, lighting or other tweaks made based on your settings (if you've picked a specific Photographic Style, for example).

The other is a RAW file (DNG, if you're interested) that has to be developed within the Photos app, using the sensor-signed data recorded when you pressed the shutter button. After it's developed, the reference image can be shared to others, but is only viewable on iPhones, iPads or Macs running iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or macOS 27.

In my experience, the reference images developed almost instantly, though it's worth noting here that you'll need an internet connection to develop a reference image. In the Photos app, you can tap on the picture to compare and contrast the two versions and see if anything has changed.

I should point out that by default, there will be some differences between the Reference Image and what is saved to your gallery. The Reference Image is very close to the original RAW file, with minor processing for lens correction and tone mapping, while the version in your camera roll was processed by the camera with specific color treatments and other "computational photography" enhancements.

I used Apple's new Clean Up tool to delete some lines of text in a picture of a Slack conversation on a laptop screen. Then I went into the Reference Image by tapping the "Reference" label on top of the picture in the Photos app. The app prompts users to tap the Reference Image to compare differences and it was easy to see where I had deleted the messages.

It's a pretty basic tool. And while I wish I didn't have to go into a specific mode to create Reference images, I can appreciate the impossible storage demands if reference data was saved every time I took a photo (too many times a day). And though other services and approaches like SynthID and Content Credentials exist, the general public might find it easier to use something as simple as a one-click compare-and-contrast that's right within the Photos app. It could potentially be useful in situations where you were documenting a protest, and you have to somehow prove that something you photographed was not actually edited by AI. A lot of education would still be necessary to make sure the public is aware how this tool works, but of all the verification means out there, Apple Reference Image might be the easiest to use.

Photographic Styles 3 effects are subtle

The last big update to Photography is Photographic Styles. Apple has added a new layer of edits to its well-received filters, so there's one more dimension (in addition to the existing color/light effects) to play with.

On older iPhones, the Photographic Styles options ranged from color treatments like Amber, Rose Gold, Bright and Cool Rose to vibes like Ethereal, Dramatic, Cozy, Luminous Black and White and Stark Black and White. Basically Instagram filters circa 2015.

With the iPhone 18 Pro, you'll be getting additional options to pair with the first group of the above. So you can choose from Rose Gold and Glow, Amber and Glow, Gold and Soft Skin, Bright and Soft Skin etc.

Tap any of these, including the vibey options, and you can access a new Texture edit window that lets you add Glow, Soft Skin or Film effects. Under each of these sits a slider to edit the intensity of its effect. I dragged the soft skin slider all the way to its maximum on a selfie, and was pleased to see that even at its extreme, the effect was relatively mild.

Screenshots

Glow was even subtler, and the only difference I saw when playing with its slider was the lightening of some shadows. I also could barely tell there was anything done when trying out Film, although when you enable Film, you can also toggle on the additional "Grain" filter at the right. This adds some noise to the image, which sounds a bit counterintuitive, but does lend a certain nostalgic effect.

The intensity of the grain depends a bit on the picture, as photos in darker environments naturally have the propensity to show more noise. My daytime pictures of plants definitely showed little change, but the picture I took of that light bulb in low light had a more pronounced difference. %!s()

Written by Daisuke Tengan, this loose remake opens with a block of onscreen text that fades too quickly for the human eye, before introducing the divorced, drug-addled detective Yabuki (Shun Oguri). After dropping his kids at school and snorting coke in full view of their friends — the only moment of hilarity in an otherwise bland retelling — Yabuki is called to a violent crime scene where a diminutive Yakuza member has been tied up in a sexual rendezvous gone awry, before having his neck turned nearly all the way around. The grisly diorama doesn’t faze Yabuki, and although he’s expected to offer expert testimony given his Yakuza-chasing past, he would rather let things lie. Instead, he offers a tip about the story to a bookie to clear some of his own gambling debts before going right back to baccarat.

In the pockets of unsavory people (some of them Yakuza bosses), Yabuki is soon pulled into a second series of killings, this time involving a gang member released from prison hacking his way through past associates, and turning their remains into meatballs — the only image here that provokes a visceral reaction. A little digging takes Yabuki to the suspected killer’s former orphanage, where he learns a tidbit about his past, only for the film to sweep all this aside in favor of several new detours which, although semi-connected, never fully cohere.

Running parallel to this butchery investigation is the arrival of perpetually hungover FBI agent Gwen Birgssen, played by British actress Lily James with an incomprehensible southern drawl and some clunky platitudes that veer into genre parody. Also beholden to major power players, Birgssen is in Japan searching for the wild-child daughter of an American politician, culinary student Megan (pro wrestler Gionna Daddio, credited by her WWE name Liv Morgan). After a chance meeting with Yabuki, she decides to enlist his help: At this point, it mercifully seems like the movie might finally kick off, only for it to stall for the umpteenth time.

First-act setups extend through the majority of the 108-minute runtime, constituting a plotless meander without the aesthetic allure to justify such a languid journey. Despite being set against the sprawl of Tokyo’s nightlife, the film feels severely limited in its use of time and place, and never crafts an atmosphere worthy of Miike’s previous work — one alluring or lurid enough to counterbalance its thematic and dramatic emptiness.

Apart from brief flashes Yabuki sees of a former partner he betrayed, there’s nothing really going on beneath the surface, as empty Japanese and American suits talk in circles about their opaque pasts. They don’t connect any major dots in either criminal case; both are solved by other people calling them with information. The occasional neon nightclub plays host to a skirmish here or there — the only major setpiece unfolds practically at random, completely disconnected from the plot — before Birgssen disappears for lengthy periods, leaving us to follow the passive Yabuki doing little of interest beyond borrowing money, visiting sex workers, and having repetitive interactions with low-level goons and the occasional mob boss.

Where Ferrara’s original and Werner Herzog’s 2009 version (“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”) shoved their violent lawmen towards spiritual agony, Miike only goes as far as cornering Yabuki within the frame a few times, before hitting the reset button yet again. By the time the film takes its first intriguing turn — some 15 minutes before the credits — it loses the time and the goodwill to have it mean much, beyond a puzzling series of loosely interconnected scenes that, at best, echo an underdeveloped idea of what a Japanese “Bad Lieutenant” might look like. %!s()

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, increased to 6.97% from 6.85% percent, with points rising to 0.72 from 0.67, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment. That is a weekly average run by the MBA, but by last Thursday, rates had moved over 7%, according to a separate survey from Mortgage News Daily.

"Ongoing market concerns over spiking energy prices, persistently high inflation, and future monetary policy pushed bond yields and mortgage rates higher last week," said Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA.

Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly rate changes, dropped 9% for the week and were 65% lower than the same week one year ago. Last year at this time, the interest rate on the 30-year fixed was 58 basis points, or more than half a percentage point, lower.

"The current level of rates eliminated much of the benefit to refinance for many borrowers, resulting in declines in conventional, FHA, and VA refinance applications," Kan added.

Get Property Play directly to your inbox

CNBC's Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox.

Subscribe here to get access today.

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home dropped 1% for the week and were 19% lower than the same week one year ago. Potential buyers are still contending with high home prices. While the supply of homes for sale has been gaining in much of the country, much of that supply is on the higher end of the market.

Mortgage rates continued to move higher to start this week. The average rate on the 30-year fixed hit 7.22% on Tuesday, according to Mortgage News Daily, just ahead of the next meeting of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. Rates are now almost a full percentage point higher than they were a year ago.

"Over the past 6 [business] days, the average is up 0.33%, which is is the most abrupt jump since October 2024," wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. "At least some of the recent volatility is due to the implications of recent economic data and oil price implications on Fed policy." %!s()

Irrigation increases crop yields, which means the same amount of food can be grown on a smaller area. According to the researchers, if irrigation across the United States were suddenly eliminated, making up for the lost agricultural production would require expanding farmland. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with that land conversion would be 363 times greater than the emissions currently produced by irrigation itself.

The team estimates that the emissions avoided by preventing this additional land use are equivalent to 363 years of current annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from irrigation.

Why Saving Land Matters for the Climate

Natural ecosystems store enormous amounts of carbon in vegetation and soils. When forests, grasslands, or other landscapes are converted into farmland, some of that stored carbon is released into the atmosphere.

Agricultural land use and land conversion associated with producing food, fiber and fuel account for nearly one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the study, published on September 14 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That makes changes in agricultural land use an important consideration in efforts to reduce emissions.

"It was clear from this work that irrigation has a net positive effect on emissions," said lead author Avery Driscoll, who conducted the research as a CSU Ph.D. student. "The avoided emissions from reductions in indirect land-use change were much greater than the direct emissions, and that could decline further with electrification."

Where Irrigation Emissions Come From

The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions linked directly to irrigation is the energy required to move water. Pumps are used both on farms and to transfer water between river basins, and when that equipment relies on fossil fuels, it produces emissions.

The researchers say this source could also be relatively straightforward to reduce. Replacing fossil fuel-powered pumping systems with electric equipment could lower irrigation-related emissions, especially as the electricity grid becomes cleaner. They suggest that policymakers could consider incentives for electrification when designing climate-smart agriculture programs.

Earlier studies by the research team examined other direct emissions associated with irrigation. These include smaller releases of nitrous oxide caused by microbial respiration, along with carbon dioxide that is dissolved in groundwater and released when that water is sprayed across fields.

The new analysis is the first from the group to directly compare those emissions with the indirect greenhouse gas benefits created when irrigation reduces the need to convert additional land into agriculture.

Nearly 7 Gigatons of Avoided Emissions

The researchers calculated that irrigation prevents an estimated 6.86 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions through avoided land conversion.

That total exceeds all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 (5.91 gigatons) and is equal to roughly 13% of total global emissions that year, according to Driscoll.

The findings, the researchers argue, show why climate-smart agricultural policies need to account for both the emissions created directly on farms and the indirect effects that agricultural productivity can have on land use elsewhere.

"This comprehensive approach to accounting for direct emissions from the field and for the indirect land-use impacts lets us identify local opportunities to reduce emissions, through pump electrification and grid decarbonization, while also maximizing benefits associated with increasing productivity," said Driscoll, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University. "Ideally, this is a win-win for addressing local emissions and also harnessing the global benefits of irrigation."

Modeling a United States Without Irrigation

To determine how much land irrigation currently spares, the scientists first measured how much irrigation improves crop yields across individual U.S. counties.

They calculated the relationship between rainfed and irrigated crop yields using existing agricultural survey data combined with a machine learning model.

Next, the team used a global economic model that simulates agricultural production, consumption, and international trade. This allowed them to estimate how farming would shift if all U.S. crops suddenly depended entirely on rainfall.

The model considered economic supply and demand as well as which crops could realistically be grown in different regions. From there, researchers mapped where additional agricultural land would likely be needed if U.S. irrigation disappeared.

They then combined those results with maps showing how much carbon is stored in vegetation and soils. Using information about how those carbon stores change when natural landscapes are converted into farmland, they calculated the greenhouse gas emissions that could result.

The researchers noted that their analysis did not include emissions from several other agricultural activities, including nitrogen fertilizer application or methane produced by livestock.

Irrigation Comes With Broader Trade-Offs

"We're able to show this large benefit of U.S. irrigation to greenhouse gas emissions from the food system," said co-author Nathan Mueller, a CSU associate professor in the departments of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and Soil and Crop Sciences. "Yet, when we talk about water use, particularly in the western U.S., there are trade-offs with every use and trade-offs beyond food and beyond greenhouse gas emissions. Our work provides one piece of the puzzle to help examine some of the very complicated societal cost-benefit questions surrounding water use."

Those trade-offs are particularly important in the western United States, where much of the agricultural system depends heavily on irrigation.

Water supplies in the region must support farms as well as communities, ecosystems, and other demands, which means the greenhouse gas benefits identified in the study represent only one part of a much broader debate over how water should be used.

A Colorado Farm's Dependence on Irrigation

CSU alumnus Alex Brown's family has farmed and raised livestock on the same property in Yuma County, Colorado, for 120 years.

"We need irrigation to fulfill our needs and our duty to continue to feed the world," Brown said, adding that if they couldn't irrigate, farmers would have to plow up less productive and more ecologically sensitive pastureland for crops, and they would be dependent on unreliable rainfall. "As the population increases, the demand for food increases and the demand for agriculture on less land increases."

Yuma County is one of Colorado's leading counties for both crop and livestock production. Brown said farmers in the region take conservation seriously, and his family continues to improve irrigation efficiency by adopting newer technology and modern equipment.

"I'm very passionate about it because I'd love to see our farm continue on for generations," Brown said about using water wisely.

Irrigation as an Adaptation Strategy

Beyond increasing yields, irrigation can also help farms withstand increasingly difficult growing conditions.

"Irrigation is a powerful adaptation strategy," study lead Driscoll added. "It increases productivity; it increases resilience to heat and drought stress, and of course, maintaining and increasing agricultural production is a critical priority. At the same time, we need to reduce food system emissions, so understanding how those two challenges interact with one another is a priority. This work allows us to grasp some of those trade-offs and synergies a little better."

The National Science Foundation and the AI Institute for Land, Economy, Agriculture & Forestry funded the study, with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Collaborators included University of Minnesota economist Justin Johnson and researchers Joey Blumberg (U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station), Alison King (University of Maine) and Seth Spawn-Lee (The Nature Conservancy). %!s()

Author of the CMO Insider newsletter

Grindr became one of the world's best-known dating brands by helping men meet each other using their phones. Its marketing dollars, on the other hand, are increasingly being deployed in the real world.

Grindr CMO Tristan Pineiro told me that there are two pertinent — and digital — business reasons he's betting big on IRL.

The photos and videos that people organically share when they're enjoying an event can travel further on social media than the brand's own posts. Then there's a quirk of Grindr's advertising business: Many brands are still wary of placing their ads inside a gay hook-up app.

"There is a lot of nervousness about it, with the whole rollback of DEI, a lot of brands have felt emboldened to say, 'Oh well, we don't need to bother anymore,'" Pineiro said. "There are brands we do work with that stuck with us, and there are others that have disappeared, or say the budget just isn't there anymore."

Getting into the IRL groove

Grindr joins brands like language-learning app Duolingo, home-improvement retailer Lowe's, and AI company Anthropic, which have all been upping their experiential game in recent months. As big monoculture media moments dwindle and social feeds become ever more personalized, marketers are turning to events and pop-ups to build brand affinity and loyalty.

There's another incentive to create experiences people want to talk about. A Brandwatch study published last year, analyzing more than 900 million online mentions, found that brand-owned accounts initiate fewer than 1% of posts about their own brands on X. For CMOs chasing social reach, increasingly, it pays to give people a reason to grab their phones.

During Pride Month in June, Grindr announced a surprise Madonna concert in New York's Times Square to promote her new album "Confessions II." Grindr sent out a push notification within the app 30 minutes before the show, prompting 50,000 people to turn up, the company said, with many more viewing the livestream and clips on social media.

The Grindr-exclusive picture disc album vinyl was "the best-selling by far" of the "Confessions II" records, Pineiro said.

"I always say footfall isn't enough," Pineiro said. "It's great to have people experience it in real life, but if they're not taking a picture of it, and sharing it, and talking about it, and writing about it, then we haven't really done our job."

The broader four-month campaign included exclusive merch, an in-app takeover, content such as a celebrity quiz in Grindr's in-app media hub, "Grindr Presents," and a London launch party. (Grindr did take some heat on social media after users who opened the app were greeted with an audio message from Madonna saying, "Hi Grindr, it's mother," which some complained could unexpectedly "out" them in public. Grindr apologized and removed the message.)

Upcoming events include Grindr's annual "Pleasure Ball" Halloween party, which returns to New York City on October 22 with a "Future Lovers" theme.

The company is also taking a branded Grindr bus on tour around Europe, offering merch giveaways, a profile-pic photo booth, and entertainment from DJs and drag queens. This week, it's stopping at the Brava Madrid festival in Spain.

IRL events open up partnership opportunities for brands that are nervous about advertising in the Grindr app, particularly for CMOs with content-adjacency concerns top of mind.

"We can get some of their brand glow, they can get our reach and a partnership with the community," Pineiro said.

Grindr has had an ad business since the launch of its free app in 2009, and has long pitched marketers on its global audience of millions of predominantly affluent, tech-savvy men. Grindr generated $73.6 million in "indirect revenue," primarily from advertising, in 2025, up 37% from the prior year, attributing the increase to programmatic ads and international growth.

Nathan Feather, an internet analyst at Morgan Stanley, said that Grindr has around 60% global brand awareness despite historically spending "almost nothing" on marketing. But high brand awareness doesn't inherently translate to brand love.

Feather said that "Grindr's lack of marketing has limited its ability to tell its own story." IRL marketing can help with that, and events can make money through VIP offerings.

"If Grindr is able to improve brand perception, that could help bring in more advertisers who want to reach its higher-income demographic," Feather said.

The Edge

Grindr has around 15 million monthly active users, 1.4 million of whom pay for its services, according to its August financial filings. The company is preparing a push into more premium offerings, including Edge, a new AI-enabled tier with a significantly higher subscription price that Grindr hopes will become a key revenue driver in 2027.

If Grindr could get 0.25% of its users to subscribe to Edge at a $200-per-month price point, that would be equivalent to an entire year of revenue growth, Morgan Stanley's Feather said. He added that it would take a "scaled effort" to convince users to fork out $100 or more a month.

Don't expect a splashy launch campaign for Edge, though. Pineiro said Grindr instead wants to harness the word-of-mouth energy that helped the app take off in the first place.

"We're going to have a very focused campaign through influencers, through events, through getting the right voices talking about it, getting it in the right hands, sort of like a member-get-member affiliate program," Pineiro said.

Read next

Lara O'Reilly

You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.

Lara O'Reilly is the anchor of the CMO Insider newsletter.She is a chief correspondent who has covered the digital advertising, marketing, and media industries since 2010. Her current beat includes big tech companies like Alphabet and Meta, adtech firms, agencies, publishers, the creator economy, and CMOs.Lara has previously worked as a reporter and executive producer at titles including The Wall Street Journal, Digiday, Yahoo Finance, and Marketing Week. She was previously Business Insider's senior global advertising editor from 2014 to 2017.Lara is a regular guest on TV and radio and has appeared on outlets such as the BBC, NPR, SiriusXM's Wharton Business Daily, and CTV Television Network. She also frequently speaks on stage at major events such as Web Summit, IFA, VivaTech, Advertising Week, and Cannes Lions.To get in touch with Lara O'Reilly, email [email protected] or contact her on Signal at @loreilly.71 %!s()