Two Star Trek legends died three days apart, and meanwhile Apple finally caved on something it said no to for fifteen years.
So this week was about saying goodbye. And about admitting you were wrong.
Plus: two grown men stood outside a mall before dawn, refusing to say what they were really there for, and then lost the phone anyway. Reddit is putting up a login screen. General Motors is paying $220 million for selling your data.
And the Hang Jury: is Apple’s first touchscreen Mac the future of computing — or the most expensive admission in Apple history?
This is The Tech Hangout. Let’s get into it.
🕐 Timestamps
- 0:00 — Cold Open
- 1:31 — Intro & Banter
- 11:27 — Patrice: Walter Koenig & Patrick Stewart
- 21:42 — Marty: Reddit Goes Logged-In-Only
- 32:30 — Ben: GM’s $220M Data Settlement
- 40:45 — Jeff: Google Admits AI Search Makes Less Money
- 41:10 — The Hang Jury: Apple Finally Caved
- 55:03 — The Drop
- 1:16:57 — Outro & Find Us
🗂️ The Feed
👻 Two Star Trek Legends Die Three Days Apart — The Guardian / Deadline
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/oct/26/walter-koenig-actor-star-trek-dies
https://deadline.com/2026/10/patrick-stewart-dead-1237208580/
🔐 Reddit Is Going Logged-In-Only — 9to5Google
https://9to5google.com/2026/10/29/reddit-will-soon-be-a-logged-in-only-website/
💰 GM Will Pay $220 Million for Selling Driver Data — Engadget
https://www.engadget.com/2301934/general-motors-220-million-settle-multi-state-data-privacy-lawsuit/
🔍 Google Admits AI Search Makes Less Money — Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/google-admits-ai-search-makes-less-money-but-its-fixing-that-with-more-ads/
⚖️ Hang Jury: Apple Finally Caved. Should We Be Happy About It?
Apple spent years telling us we didn’t need a touchscreen. Then the iPad arrived, ate the Mac’s lunch, and Apple spent the next decade pretending the keyboard was enough.
Now Touch is finally on the MacBook Pro. The Dynamic Island is on a laptop. And the cheapest version costs $2,899.
So, is Apple’s first touchscreen Mac the future of computing — or the most expensive admission in Apple history?
Because one of those things is innovation. The other is Apple finally admitting it was wrong for fifteen years.
Which one is it?
Sources:
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/apple-unveils-groundbreaking-macbook-pro-with-proled-xdr-display/
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/apple-unveils-new-imac-with-m6/
📦 The Drop
⚙️ Patrice: iPhone Duo — Apple’s first foldable, and she’s already in love with it
https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/
🎬 Marty: Adonit Mini 4 — pocket-sized precision-disc stylus with a built-in clip
https://www.adonit.net/products/mini-4
🎬 Marty: Blunt Talk — Patrick Stewart as a snipey British newscaster in LA. “The dark side of Picard”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4197508/
⌨️ Ben: 14″ 4K OLED Touchscreen Portable Display — $269, and it works exactly like the touchscreen on your MacBook Pro
https://a.co/d/0gCuJNYf
🎮 Jeff: No Man’s Sky for iPad and iPhone — free to try, then a one-time $19.99 unlock. Use a controller
https://apps.apple.com/app/id1615755735
🔍 Find Us
🦋 Bluesky:
https://bsky.app/profile/thetechhangout.com
🐘 Mastodon:
https://techhangout.social/@thetechhangout
📺 Twitch:
thetechhangout
▶️ YouTube:
@techhangoutshow
🌐 thetechhangout.com
👤 Ben:
@BenRoethig
RoethigTech.com
👤 Chuck:
MacVoices.com
👤 Dave:
@daveginsburg (Mastodon/Blue Sky)
intouchwithios.com
👤 Jeff:
@JGamet
jeffgamet.com
freshbrewedtales.com
👤 Marty:
@Jencius (Mastodon/Blue Sky)
thepodtalk.net
👤 Patrice:
ThePatrice.com
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