Over the weekend, Apple released a touching new holiday ad called "The Song," focusing on a woman who found an old record of her grandmother singing a love song to her grandfather, which she then enhanced with her own vocals and musical accompaniments using Apple's tools.
Apple has now released a second video, which offers details on how the spot was created. As explained by the musician who starred the ad, Dana Williams, and vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, a series of recordings were made with a voice-o-graph, a 1940's booth for recording short spurts of audio directly onto a record.
The voice-o-graph used in the spot was supplied by Third Man Records, which is Jack White's indie label. Giddens, voicing the grandmother, sang the "Love Is Here to Stay" audio, and it was then transferred into GarageBand for editing by Williams, who says that she uses the app for recording "basically all of her music." "Anyone who's not tech savvy like myself can just kind of find their way around it," she explains.
"The Song," which highlights both GarageBand and the iPad mini, follows in the footsteps of last year's sentimental holiday ad, "Misunderstood,", which focused on the video recording capabilities of the iPhone.
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026.
"I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April.
Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far.
iOS 26.3
iPhone to Android Transfer Tool
iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
Tuesday February 3, 2026 12:45 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to Financial Times sources. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014.
This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019....
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do.
The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up.
Upgraded Architecture
The next-generation...
I've come to the conclusion that everything good in the world is "hipster". The term is thrown around so often I really don't know what's not hipster anymore. But I guess if it replaces the offensive "That's gay" slur I can support the usage.
how about you lower the price to make it not such a hard decision to choose iphone over top line android competitors
Says the guy who spent $140 on Beats headphones when audio professionals I know say they aren't very good if you care about accurate sound. If you like a ton of bass, great. If you want to hear the music as it was intended, no.
Buy a used iPhone if you don't like the price of a new one.
1st of all you never mix using just one output medium. second of all i really dont think you've heard the beats solo 2. third, you can brand-name drop all you like but at the end of the day you have no idea what you're talking about. buddy.
yes, buddy is gender neutral, get your political correctness anal retention out of here.
Ok, I stand corrected. I figured if you were so worried about paying for an iPhone you probably weren't really at a professional level and buying a Beats headphone was an amateur move you should be encouraged to rethink.
P.S. Calling a woman "buddy" must be a Canadian thing because it just doesn't happen in the US, at least not in my 50 years. I'll have to ask my Canadian friend who is a professional audio engineer aboot that.
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In defense of the person replying to your message, it is not "stalking" when using the forum's tools to click on a user's name to see other posts. In fact, I believe it is a good idea to see who you are dealing with when posting a reply.
To get back on topic... I liked the ad, and I found the "making of" video pretty cool.
Thanks for the defense. Before responding, I pretty much always check a person's history of posts to assess their age, technical knowledge and how they tend to operate on the forums (trolling, non-Apple user just starting arguments, etc.). Then I decide whether I want to engage with them.
cool stalking there buddy. im a recording engineer. professional. I like the sound of the beats solo 2. it's one of the best if not the best on-ear headphones in existence.
look it up. inner fidelity, headfi, whathifi, whatever. if you actually know what you're talking about.
also, it's nice having earphones that everyone else will be listening on when you're mixing.
Ok, I went on Head-fi and someone asked in the forums what headphones professionals use in professional recording studios. No Beats were mentioned. Sony, Sennheiser, Beyer, AKG, others. No Beats. But if you like them, fine. As long as you never mix for cds or radio play, I'm sure that would be good enough. I would highly doubt a professional would want to mix to a distorted version of their music, burn it and then have it sound bad to someone not wearing the same headphones.
P.S. Did you assume I was a guy when you called me "buddy"? lol
