The article is a week old. Apple has since announced a leasing program and told The Verge this isn’t for that. They didn’t say what it is for though.

That’s from May. Today: After gaining independence from Xbox, Double Fine are laying off a quarter of their staff.

I already had it set, and so far my LG monitor hasn’t caused an LG software to be installed. But I’m on Windows 10 and I guess there’s a chance this software is only for 11.

From the comments on the article:

• Open Settings → System → About → Advanced system settings → Hardware tab → Device Installation Settings.
• Select No to Automatically download manufacturer apps and icons.

Capital expenditures are for things that are expected to last a long time, like buildings and vehicles, so I guess the accounting rules around them are meant to allow the costs to be realized over a similarly long time. The idea is probably that companies would be less likely to invest in capital if it meant taking a big hit all at once. But I’m not an accountant.

How can something be profitable, but also have negative cash flow?

It’s been about thirty years since I took an accounting class, but I think capital expenditures like this AI spending are amortized (deferred?) over several years and don’t fully count towards present expenses. So the chunk that counts for this quarter/year can still be small enough to make the company profitable (income > expenses). Free cash flow I would guess is money that came in minus money actually spent, so something like a $1m capital expenditure might count as $100k for this year’s expenses but the full $1m for calculating cash flow.

Macrumors is reporting it as an “Apple Upgrade” financing program to replace the existing iPhone Upgrade Program. Financing, not leasing.

And with Artist Profile Protection (currently in beta), artists now have greater control over what appears on their profile, which helps to ensure the music you see is coming from them.

From the Artist Profile Protection link:

Music has been landing on the wrong artist pages across streaming services, and the rise of easy-to-produce AI tracks has made the problem worse. That’s not the experience we want artists to have on Spotify, and that’s why we’ve made protecting artist identity a top priority for 2026. Today, we’re announcing a first-of-its-kind solution to a problem that’s affected streaming for years.

How the hell is that something that is only in beta in 2026 and not a standard feature? It’s currently optional, but they better automatically opt in verified “No AI” artists if the label is going to be worth anything. There should not be AI-generated songs from randos getting attached to a “No AI” artist.