The Next Big Idea Daily Apple at 50 — and the War to Break Its Grip
10 snips
Jun 3, 2026 
Tim Higgins, WSJ business columnist who tracks tech conflicts, and David Pogue, Emmy‑winning tech writer and Apple chronicler. They trace Apple’s rise, myth‑busting origin stories, Face ID testing, theatrical product reveals, and the fierce fights over the App Store that reshaped app economics and legal battles.
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Engineer Solves Overlapping Windows By Rethinking The Impossible
- Bill Atkinson solved the overlapping-windows memory problem for the Lisa by inventing a technical hack after weeks of effort.
- He later realized he had misremembered seeing the solution at Xerox PARC, proving invention can come from rethinking assumed impossibilities.
The iPod Fish Tank Story Is A Myth
- The famous iPod fish-tank story about Jobs dropping a prototype to show remaining space is false and never happened.
- David Pogue checked sources and found no one remembers fish tanks or the stunt, showing how tech myths propagate.
Face ID Was Tested With Hollywood Prosthetic Heads
- Apple tested Face ID aggressively with Makeup Mondays, twins conferences, Harley rallies, and Hollywood special-effects heads to prevent spoofing.
- They even sent hyper-realistic prosthetic heads that startled a mailroom worker, but the masks couldn't fool Face ID.
