Wesley Hilliard
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hilli.tech
Wesley Hilliard
@hilli.tech
2K followers 840 following 1.6K posts
Writer and podcaster at @appleinsider.com. HilliTech blog. 10 year US Navy veteran. He/Him
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hilli.tech
The wedding went great! I’m now a married man, and our honeymoon starts today.
A bearded man in a suit and a woman with blue hair in a wedding dress smiling at the camera.
October 19, 2025 at 1:36 PM
hilli.tech
Reading Gurman's newsletter and my post yesterday and it's amusing how we land in such different positions. He echoes the pundit view of "Apple must get AI right" when customers are buying iPhone 17 faster than iPhone 16 in spite of less AI promise up front.

And I said this on glasses development:
Screenshot of text that says: "In the meantime, Apple plans to release a set of smart glasses. They're expected to be revealed in 2026 and sold by early 2027. If work on a thinner and lighter Apple Vision Pro has gone as far as it can in the short term, then there's no reason to leave team members focused there. I have little doubt that both Apple Vision Pro and smart glasses can and will exist in parallel."
October 12, 2025 at 12:22 PM
hilli.tech
Handheld 40x on iPhone 17 Pro Max. Not bad
A half moon shot on iPhone
October 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM
hilli.tech
Finished putting up our indoor and outdoor Halloween decorations today.
Agatha is our indoor black cat. He's in a box with red light shining on him, staring at me. Magic is our outdoor black cat that gets good and chunky this time of year. He's on the front porch looking at me asking for food.
October 1, 2025 at 10:37 PM
hilli.tech
iPhone 17 Pro Max 40x at night. Neat.

No AI in sight 😆
A 40x shot on an iPhone 17 Pro Max of street signs that remain legible showing stop and pedestrian crossing.
September 20, 2025 at 1:40 AM
hilli.tech
Ok maybe in 2 hours
Two iPhones connected by a cable, one shows a timer with 2 hours remaining. The other has a fan connected to the back via MagSafe, powered by a battery it is connected to.
September 19, 2025 at 8:45 PM
hilli.tech
Time to get to work
Blue iPhone 17 Pro Max, Black Apple Watch Ultra, AirPods Pro 3 on their packaging on a desk
September 19, 2025 at 8:04 PM
hilli.tech
Used my goofy cat to help explain what taking photos without an Ultra Wide Camera on iPhone Air might be like.
A photo of a black cat with detail in the fur in spite of the dim environment. A pumpkin pillow is next to him. An out of focus up close photo of a black cat getting curious about the camera in his face.
September 18, 2025 at 3:39 AM
hilli.tech
A couple of similar 10x-ish crops. It's not that I'm trying to win photography awards with shots like these, but I find wildlife fun to observe and I like capturing them to share or put in my daily journal entries.

These guys have taken over my Mom's smart bird feeder and they're fun to observe.
A small bird is perched on a wooden swing A group of small birds perch next to a smart bird feeder that has a camera and blue roof.
September 16, 2025 at 2:25 AM
hilli.tech
I'm constantly trying to take photos from about 10x the 24mm Main iPhone Camera. I expect the 8x Telephoto (yes, cropped sensor) will be a huge improvement for these kinds of shots.

Excited to test this out Friday.
A small bird with brown feathers sits on a trailer roof
September 16, 2025 at 2:21 AM
hilli.tech
I write about tech in a thoughtful way that gets beyond clickbait and tribalism. I want to help people care and feel excited about technology in spite of everything.

I do that on AppleInsider and our podcast:
appleinsider.com/editor/wesle...

And my blog:

www.hilli.tech

Also, I love my cats:
Marble the 1 year old Maine Coon mix photographed from under her chin with a wide eyed expression. She has brown and black fur. Agatha is a black cat resting on a chest next to a red globe light. His eyes are wide looking at the camera. Harvie is in a cardboard box hoping there are treats inside. She's got a split color face with black and orange.
September 11, 2025 at 1:46 AM
hilli.tech
Google Pixel 10 needs AI slop for it to achieve zoom, but no one ever talks about how good iPhone is at zoom, including digital crop zoom.

16.5x and 25x shot through a window and screen. Not something I'd hang on a wall, but that's plenty of detail and no AI involved on a previous gen camera.
A groundhog shot through a window and screen via iPhone. Using the 5x lens punching into 16.5x via crop. A groundhog shot through a window and screen via iPhone. Using the 5x lens punching into 25x via crop.
September 2, 2025 at 11:15 PM
hilli.tech
I wanted the purple so bad since it was the gameboy I had, but it sold out way too fast. The standard transparent color has been nice though.
A Gameboy-like console called Analogue Pocket sitting in a stand featuring five games on display with Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced and Zelda Link's Awakening visible.
September 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
hilli.tech
idk why the AP interpreted this paragraph differently, but these companies didn't agree to share patient data. They agreed to meet CMS interoperability framework criteria so patients can choose to share data.

Big distinction. Apple doesn't have our health data to share.
www.cms.gov/newsroom/pre...
Text that reads: More than 60 companies pledged to work collaboratively to deliver results for the American people in the first quarter of 2026. Twenty-one networks pledged to meet the CMS Interoperability Framework criteria to become CMS Aligned Networks. Eleven health systems or providers committed to participate and support patient use, and seven EHRs committed to facilitate data exchange and help “kill the clipboard.”
July 31, 2025 at 1:38 AM
hilli.tech
The AP post I quoted here wrote that paragraph based on this section of the press release in the image. Why say these companies agreed to share patient data when they've agreed to implement a framework for patients to *opt in* to sharing data with the new health network.

No need to sensationalize.
Test reading: More than 60 companies pledged to work collaboratively to deliver results for the American people in the first quarter of 2026. Twenty-one networks pledged to meet the CMS Interoperability Framework criteria to become CMS Aligned Networks. Eleven health systems or providers committed to participate and support patient use, and seven EHRs committed to facilitate data exchange and help “kill the clipboard.”
July 31, 2025 at 1:36 AM
hilli.tech
On another note, how are all of these idiots not bankrupt or dead?
A listing for Black Label Hormel maple bacon, nearly a pound of bacon for $6.47. This was posted to compare to Musk's diner that sells four slices of bacon for $12.
July 23, 2025 at 2:45 PM
hilli.tech
I love that shirt! I still have it but sadly this might have been the last time I wore it since it was obviously too small at that point. Good news is I'm almost small enough to fit it again.
Wesley is bearded wearing black jeans, glasses, and a black shirt with tiny classic Mac icons patterned across it. He's sitting next to his now fiancé Natalie, who has purple hair and is sporting a jacket she stole from Wesley.
July 13, 2025 at 11:46 PM
hilli.tech
@rmondello.com yeah, idk why people believe some rando. X really is a cesspool. Glad you stood up and said something.
X post from AppleInsider: No one has ever heard of Jack Fields. But everyone that knows Apple knows that @rmondello is on the Passwords team and worked hard to get the Messages and email 2FA codes, the Passwords app, and more on your Apple devices with their team. Don't believe some random account. Quote tweeting: Jack Fields @OrdinaryInds • Jul 9 1 am the reason your phone can autofill 2FA codes from your messages and emails. Messages, the intelligence teams, and SEAR collectively hated the idea, shooting it down unanimously. I fought for 2 years until
July 11, 2025 at 1:57 AM
hilli.tech
A Maine coon kitten laying on a table looking at the camera. Red curtains are visible in the background.
July 10, 2025 at 7:21 PM
hilli.tech
New cheat code: make a folder called Wallpapers then set their date to 1990 (or whatever is before your first photo) and get all your saved wallpapers out of your photo timeline.

You can't select photos from Files for wallpapers, so if they have to be in the Photos app, they can at least be grouped
Screenshot of the photos app showing a grid of wallpapers.
July 10, 2025 at 4:04 AM
hilli.tech
Pre-ordered Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Apple Wallet grabbed the receipt as if it were a physical item that will be delivered.

The new Mail detection of delivery status for Wallet is excellent, but this is a funny mistake. Leaving it in to see if it shows as delivered when I get the release email.
A screenshot of the Apple Wallet Deliveries section showing a PlayStation Store purchase.
July 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
hilli.tech
@bsky.app any reason my icon is gray after the latest update?

I'm running iPadOS 26 beta 3 btw, so I'm aware it could be a weird thing. Just sharing to share.
A screenshot of the iPad dock with blue Files and Mail icons next t o a grayed out Bluesky icon.
July 7, 2025 at 6:23 PM
hilli.tech
Like, wtf is this?

"Liberals will love him and the left will see him as a betrayer"

That's two sets of people now? ugh. You kids need to chill with all the political terms.
A Bluesky post from Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social. It reads: If Mamdani wins and he's half as politically astute and reasonable as he seems, within six months all the liberals will adore him and the left will regard him as a betrayer, a la AOC
June 25, 2025 at 2:11 AM
hilli.tech
How do you feel about the dark mode icon? There's also that odd touch of the color gradient on the smile.
macOS Tahoe beta 2 Finder icons in light and dark mode. The darker color is on the left in both, though that means the light icon is blue and while while the dark icon is black and blue.
June 23, 2025 at 9:40 PM
hilli.tech
Image Playground Animation style in iPadOS 26 vs the original version in iPadOS 18.

It's not perfect and has a way to go, but significantly better here.
A side-by-side of two images generated with Apple's Image Playground. The image on the left is more detailed with more natural hair and facial features, the one on the right is more cartoonish in proportions with deformed teeth and nose.
June 10, 2025 at 1:24 AM