Meta’s going on a Midjourney
Apparently, hiring every somewhat competent employee from Apple isn’t a surefire path to AI success. Meta today confirmed that it was partnering with Midjourney, “to license their aesthetic technology for our future models and products, bringing beauty to billions,” said Alexandr Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer.
“To ensure Meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people it will require taking an all-of-the-above approach. This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry,” Wang continued.
In other words, Meta feels that its homegrown tech isn’t up to scratch in the realm of artificial intelligence, forcing it to branch out and seek out the “best players in the industry,” — a similar tactic to what Apple is trying to achieve for its ambitious AI-powered Siri upgrades. Going forward, you’ll be seeing Midjourney’s tech in your AI slop, and not Meta’s own.
The specifics of the deal are still under wraps, with both ends declining to comment. We wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Meta at least tried to acquire Midjourney outright before eventually settling on the simpler licensing agreement. This way, Midjourney still gets to be Midjourney, while still raking in Meta’s bucks.
Apple gears up for three years of makeovers
You don’t need to tell us that Apple’s iPhone formula has become stagnant, Mark Gurman. Anybody with a pair of eyes can tell that trimming the bezels, making the camera bump a little bigger, and changing colours isn’t real innovation. We’re not quite sure that Apple’s reported iPhone makeover — scheduled for reveal in September — technically counts either, but hey, it’s something.
In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman mentioned that Apple isn’t just planning an iPhone makeover for this year, but rather “three straight years of major iPhone redesigns.” It’ll all kick off with the all-new iPhone Air at the September 2025 launch, which will replace the iPhone 16 Plus. As you might expect, it’ll be slimmer, lighter, and “instantly marketable.”
The bigger question is what comes after this newer, slimmer iPhone. An iPhone Air seems like a no-brainer, knowing Apple, but after it’s been done once, it becomes stale. Gurman reckons 2026 will give birth to the first folding iPhone, and while the device has reportedly entered prototype production, we’ll believe it when we see it.
And then there’s 2027, where Apple will celebrate the iPhone’s twentieth birthday with a curved-glass “iPhone 20,” that will finally ditch the old design and move on to something with curved glass edges all around the device. The idea is to match it up to the new Liquid Glass redesign that iOS 26 will bring about — something that doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence in the Apple lineup going forward.
Starship misses tenth flight, launches tomorrow
Just minutes before SpaceX was meant to celebrate a major milestone for the absolutely massive Starship on Sunday, the agency called off the flight — citing a big enough issue with the ground systems to halt all proceedings. No matter. SpaceX had prepared ahead of time in the event of a delay, scheduling two more potential launches on Monday and Tuesday.
When Starship eventually gets into the air again, it’ll take along features that previous iterations did not have — like increased thrust, a more resilient heat shield, and stronger steering flaps. This will serve as Starship’s tenth flight, following major stuff-ups that caused the seventh, eighth, and ninth Starship launches to go… not according to plan.
A few mishaps are to be expected when dealing with a spacecraft as large and magnificent as a Starship. It stands 52 metres tall (atop the 70-metre-tall Super Heavy booster under it), so for there to be issues with the ground systems rather than Starship itself is a good sign. If you’re interested in potentially seeing debris scattering over Texas, you can check out the launch on SpaceX’s website at 01h30 on the morning of Tuesday, 26 August.
Blade Runner 2099 hits in 2026
If you were hoping for more Blade Runner, you’ll have to make do with Prime Video’s rendition of Ridley Scott’s universe, which was confirmed by Amazon to arrive on the streaming platform in 2026. Blade Runner 2099, as it’s called, is set fifty years after the events of the Ryan Gosling-led Blade Runner 2049.
2099 first received the green light in 2022, but has suffered several setbacks since then, not least because of the various writer and actor strikes around then. The series is currently in post-production, though, so the chances of another delay are minimal.
The series already has quite a cast under its belt; namely, Michelle Yeoh, Hunter Schafer, Dimitri Abold, Lewis Gribben, Katelyn Rose Downey, and Daniel Rigby. Silka Luisa serves as the series’ showrunner and executive producer — working alongside the likes of Ridley Scott himself.
