178: Reflecting on CES 2026, Apple Creator Studio and Gemini-Powered Siri

Happy new year and welcome back. A lot’s happened since we last talked, so we’re diving straight in with CES 2026—Hartley, your first Vegas CES, how’d it hit you?

Wild and massive. Vegas never sleeps, and the show floors felt endless—huge halls, crowds everywhere, and still impossible to see even a fraction of it.

Media days made it a sprint—pre-briefs, side events, embargo chaos. I usually only get two solid days on the floor, which never feels like enough. What stood out as your favorite?

The Clicks Power Keyboard. It snaps to the iPhone with MagSafe, has a backlit mechanical layout, charges the phone, and can pair to things like Apple TV or an iPad. It’s versatile, helpful for folks who like tactile typing, and a great companion for Vision Pro when text entry gets fussy.

I love their direction. The first case was clever but too bulky; this MagSafe approach is the right evolution. Key spacing still feels a bit tight to me, but I need more time with it.

I’d use it less for quick messages and more for longer writing where freeing screen space matters, like on a flight. Rotating to landscape helps too, and everyone will find their own groove with it.

It reminded me how much iPhone needs better landscape support across apps. Turning the phone shouldn’t feel like a gamble.

We had robust landscape layouts back in the Plus-era phones, then they faded. Maybe a foldable will force Apple to bring it back properly.

Clicks also teased a Communicator phone aimed at messaging-first workflows, which felt promising. On the flip side, what was your least favorite theme?

AI everywhere. I love the real advances, but the buzzwording was relentless—even accessories trying to badge simple features as AI. And the humanoid robot parade didn’t help.

Same. Useful bits were buried under AI-for-everything hype, and the robot overload was unsettling. Favorites for me: Displace’s wireless TV is still a trip, though the 65-inch at around six grand is tough; their battery mount for your own TV is the smarter buy if it’s priced right. Also, Strata’s remote-access demos via Apple silicon blew me away—editing and streaming files off a distant Mac and NAS with near-zero lag fits my workflow.

Quick pivot to Apple Creator Studio. Apple’s bundling pro and work apps into a monthly plan with new AI features, while existing one-time purchases keep core tools. Do we know how updates split?

Core features stay for outright owners, but AI and next-gen capabilities live in the subscription. The price is compelling, especially the student tier, yet the messaging feels muddy. Longtime buyers may feel sidelined, iWork perks seem paywalled now, and the rollout—icons included—landed awkwardly.

Microsoft 365 runs close in price but offers fewer creative tools. Subscriptions are the world we live in, so I’m hoping the bundle finally accelerates development for Final Cut and Logic. New AI features like visual and text search plus beat-aware music cuts look genuinely useful. Pixelmator Pro on iPad is great; I’m curious why Photomator isn’t in the bundle.

I’d like a clear consumer-pro split, like GarageBand versus Logic. Photomator’s ML tools could move into Photos, or Photomator itself could grow into the serious photographer option. And Apple often keeps acquired names—Siri, Logic, Final Cut—so Pixelmator staying Pixelmator fits.

Last topic: Apple confirmed Gemini will power the next Siri with private cloud compute and on-device processing. Thoughts?

It’s pragmatic. Apple’s own models aren’t there yet, and buying a mid-tier model wouldn’t bridge the gap. Gemini plugs into Apple Intelligence now, while Apple keeps building. Expect features like memory of past conversations and better suggestions, with the caveat that this came late and is a bit embarrassing timing-wise.

Does that push out ChatGPT?

Likely you’ll choose defaults. Gemini’s licensed, so ChatGPT may fade as a fallback. It won’t be fully seamless though—web-connected tasks, code, or big document workflows will still need the full chatbot. Those permission banners may shrink but won’t vanish overnight.

I’d love a one-time permission toggle. Beyond answers, I’m hoping for smarter personal context and actions that actually do stuff for me.

We should see the updated Siri in 26.4. Gemini gives Apple a shortcut, but deep, system-wide action-taking and rich third-party hooks will come in stages. Expect solid multi-step basics across Messages, Calendar, and Reminders now, with the bigger vision likely a year or two out.

So 26.4 should land real upgrades, and WWDC will layer on more for the next cycle. Big year ahead after CES. Creator Studio drops on the 28th at 12.99 a month, or 2.99 for students. Tell us what you think, and we’ll see you next week.