For a bit of festive cheer, Apple has released a short film called A Critter Carol (top) about forest animals having some fun with an iPhone 17 Pro dropped by a hiker.
The light-hearted Critter Carol features the various animals using the iPhone 17 Pro to record a “song of friendship” — inspired by Flight of the Conchords’ Friends — before the hiker returns to pick up his lost phone containing the heartwarming surprise.
But Apple’s flagship’s phone didn’t only feature in the short movie — it was also used to film it.
“The power of the iPhone 17 Pro allowed me to capture the story in a really immersive way,” said the film’s director, Mark Molloy, adding, “That power is in all of our hands now.”
While Molloy’s claim is true to a degree, it’s worth noting that the highly polished and professional piece also utilized a movie crew, a studio set, experienced puppeteers, and some post-production magic, evidence of which you can see in the video below.
Apple CEO Tim Cook also shared the video on his X account, commenting, “Holiday cheer, a little bit of magic, and a whole lot of heart, captured on iPhone 17 Pro by a few handmade puppet friends!”
With each iteration of the iPhone, Apple likes to collaborate with filmmakers to showcase the handset’s latest camera features.
A recent example saw director Danny Boyle use a special rig kitted out with 20 iPhones to create a special effect for 28 Years Later that’s similar to the famous bullet-time sequence in The Matrix.
“There’s an incredible shot in the second half [of the film] where we use the [20-camera rig], and you’ll know it when you see it,” Boyle said prior to the movie’s release in June. “It’s quite graphic but it’s a wonderful shot that uses that technique, and in a startling way that kind of kicks you into a new world rather than thinking you’ve seen it before.”
Another recent Apple-supported effort, this one using the iPhone 16 Pro, starred British music legend Stormzy.
Apple itself also used an iPhone — in this case the iPhone 15 Pro Max — to shoot the entire event for the launch of its flagship laptops in 2023.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.