Apple Caves: A Touchscreen Mac

Apple unveiled a touchscreen MacBook Pro, finally ditching Jobs’s stance. Then Amazon unloaded gadgets: a $500 Echo Show 16, the Echo Time alarm clock, an Alexa Photo Frame, and an Echo Studio with a camera. Not one AI story all day.

• Apple unveils a touchscreen MacBook Pro with a 14" or 16" PROLED XDR display, a light-up Apple logo, Dynamic Island, M5 Pro and M5 Max, for $2,899+ and $3,399+ (apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/apple-unveils-groun…) (Apple)

• The new touchscreen MacBook Pro has a tandem OLED “PROLED XDR” display with up to 2,000 nits and 120Hz, a Dynamic Island, a glowing Apple logo on the lid, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and up to 24 hours of battery (theverge.com/gadgets/1019554/apple-touchscreen…) (The Verge)

• New CEO John Ternus introduced the touchscreen MacBook Pro on stage, reversing Steve Jobs’ long-held opposition to touch Macs, which Tim Cook once compared to merging a fridge and a toaster (bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-28/apple-u…) (Bloomberg)

• Amazon unveils the $500 Echo Show 16, the $200 Echo Time alarm, and the $200+ Alexa Photo Frame, raises smart speaker prices, and previews Alexa Home Map (bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-28/amazon-…) (Bloomberg)

• Panos Panay spent about 45 minutes introducing five new Echo speakers and displays, plus a “new brain” for Alexa Plus that can do “deeper research” and a Card interface that collects each chat (theverge.com/tech/1020388/inside-amazons-echo-…) (The Verge)

• Hands-on with the Echo Show 16: customizable Screen Styles could make it the versatile family hub Alexa users have wanted, but at double the price of the Echo Show 11 it may be too expensive (theverge.com/tech/1020286/amazon-echo-show-16-…) (The Verge)

• Amazon debuts the Alexa Photo Frame and Echo Time smart clock, plus other upgraded devices (techcrunch.com/2026/10/28/amazon-debuts-the-al…) (TechCrunch)

• The $199.99 Echo Time smart alarm has a 3.2-inch round touchscreen, a screen that dims below 0.3 nits, and opt-in sleep sensing that wakes you up to an hour early at the optimal point in your sleep cycle (theverge.com/tech/1020352/amazon-echo-time-sma…) (The Verge)

• Amazon’s new Echo Studio speaker has a camera (theverge.com/tech/1020241/amazon-echo-studio-h…) (The Verge)

• The $249.99 Echo Studio with Home Camera lets you ask Alexa about objects in the room, doubles as a home video feed, and handles video calls, though visual information is processed in the cloud (gizmodo.com/echo-studio-with-home-camera-hands…) (Gizmodo)

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