Apple’s ‘HomePad’ reportedly to launch in October

We didn't see any smart home stuff at Apple's September event, but according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, we're about to on October 13th. He says that's when Apple will debut its long-rumored smart home hub, which will maybe be called the HomePod or something else, who knows. We should also expect a new HomePod mini and an upgraded Apple TV, according to Gurman. Apple Home users have been waiting on these updates for literally years. So, what's another fortnight to wait? Next up, Instagram announced a new AI creative assistant that will give you feedback on your posts and suggestions on how to increase engagement. YouTube announced a similar feature recently, and I know that this feels icky to some people, but personally I'm interested. If you make content for social media, you know that sometimes it's really hard to figure out why one thing hit and another thing didn't. It feels arbitrary a lot of the time. And so, a tool that can give you suggestions that are data-based rather than vibes-based actually feels useful to me. And finally, the most important news of the day. The Verge's Nathan Edwards reports that dads in his Texas neighborhood are sending each other single potatoes by drone. They're ordering them from Walmart using Wing drone delivery. The dads reportedly discovered that they can have the potatoes delivered to anyone's yard, not just their own yards. And the best part is that each potato delivery only costs 82 cents total. At that price, you can't afford not to send your neighbor a potato. You can read more at the verge.com. That's 90 seconds on The Verge for Wednesday, September 30th, 2026.