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The On-Device Edition Thursday, August 6, 2020

Here’s Why Apple Believes It’s An AI Leader—and Why It Says Critics Have It All Wrong, by Samuel Axon, Ars Technica

Machine intelligence-driven functionality increasingly dominates the keynotes where Apple executives take the stage to introduce new features for iPhones, iPads, or the Apple Watch. The introduction of Macs with Apple silicon later this year will bring many of the same machine intelligence developments to the company's laptops and desktops, too.

In the wake of the Apple Silicon announcement, I spoke at length with John Giannandrea, Apple's Senior Vice President for Machine Learning and AI Strategy, as well as with Bob Borchers, VP of Product Marketing. They described Apple's AI philosophy, explained how machine learning drives certain features, and argued passionately for Apple's on-device AI/ML strategy.

Stuff

Apple Shares New ‘Vertical Cinema’ Shot On iPhone Short Film, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

Apple today shared a new short film that was entirely shot on the iPhone. However, unlike other clips that the company has already promoted, this one was recorded vertically.

The Apple Store App Is Hiding A Virtual Surprise Party, by Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac

Open up the Apple Store app on your iPhone or iPad and tap the Search tab. Type in “10 years,” and press search. Surprise! Blue balloons reading “10” will float up from the bottom of your display and bounce around.

LibreOffice 7: Now More Microsoft-compatible -- And Still Free, by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet

This new major release comes with several improvements. At the top of the list for users who've spent their working lives with Microsoft Office, the best feature is better compatibility with DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX files.

SoundSource 5 Brings A Streamlined Interface And More To The Powerful Mac Audio Control Utility, by Eric Slivka, MacRumors

Longtime Mac developer Rogue Amoeba today announced the launch of SoundSource 5, the next-generation version of its software utility that gives you much greater control over audio on your Mac.

Day One Releases 5.0 Update For iOS & Mac, by Chris Gonzales, The Sweet Setup

One of the great things about journaling is being able to revisit what you were doing and thinking about precisely one year ago, or two, or five. Or seeing what you were up to the last time you were in a certain city or other place. The Today screen seamlessly presents you with all those memories in a way that’s wonderful to browse through.

Crouton Review: An Elegant, Modern Recipe Manager And Cooking Aid, by Ryan Christoffel, MacStories

Crouton offers a handful of valuable aids for cooking, but the feature at the center of it all is the app’s recipe management system. Once you have recipes stored in the app, you can view those recipes in a well-designed, intuitive format, but you’ll also be able to easily assign recipes to your weekly meal plan, add ingredients to your grocery list, or be guided through step-by-step instructions while cooking.

Notes

Now-fixed Exploit Used Microsoft Office Macros To Hack macOS, by Mike Peterson, AppleInsider

The attack is complicated, but illustrates a good point about the way an attacker may think. By leveraging multiple vulnerabilities and techniques, Wardle was able to create an exploit that only required users to double-click a Word document.

Bottom of the Page

I've just finished Alex Trebek's book, The Answer Is…, and I am sort-of in tears towards the end of book. But this is what he has to say about crying: "And not pretending, being willing to let your guard down and show people how you truly feel and admit that you’re a wuss is one of the toughest things a person can do. It’s also the most helpful thing a person can do."

I'm glad Alex Trebek has written this book to let me get to know him a little bit more.

Thank you.

~

Thanks for reading.