Unlike other headset ecosystems, though, Apple is promising hundreds of thousands of apps on day one, a feat it’s able to pull off thanks to work on other platforms. Apple will automatically convert iPad and iPhone apps to “a single scalable 2D window” that works on the Apple Vision Pro — with no work required from developers unless they want to make any changes. And for the developers who want to create something new for the headset, Apple is making it easy for those already acquainted with its ecosystem to create apps for visionOS, its new mixed reality operating system.
I’m surprised to feel somewhat optimistic about the Vision Pro, or at least impressed. When you think of it as a device to use alone to do work and be more productive, it’s actually quite compelling, not least because it appears to expand the range of what is possible in computing.
But when you think of a work device literally strapped to your body, projecting information into your reality, and making you accessible when you wear it, the sheen wears off a bit.
Just reading this press release moved me to tears. The Personal Voice feature gives me hope that people with ALS and other speech-impacting conditions might suffer ever-so-slightly less. I wish this had been a feature when our mom was here, but I’m thrilled it’s something on the horizon for others.
I’d even go as far as to say that I think everyone should spend 15 minutes setting up the Personal Voice feature once it’s available. As my sisters and I learned with our mom, your ability to speak can be taken away in a matter of weeks, and it might be too late at that point to set up something like Personal Voice.
And just to spell it out: the point here isn't "stop multitasking and focus on one thing, and you're a bad person if you don't!" Rather, it's that (with a few technical exceptions) you never actually are multitasking to begin with. Instead, you're just anxiously switching your attention rapidly between things – because you're not sure which one's more urgent, and/or because you think you'll get them done quicker that way, which is almost never true.
This mediafication of sport is here to stay. Purists would like to believe that sporting leagues go about their own business organically and make agreements with media companies on the side. But really, these worlds are now explicitly converged: Professional sport’s organic purpose is to serve as media content.
I think a lot of us, and me is definitely included, will be trying out the new Personal Voice feature from the upcoming iOS. I wish the voice will survive through, I hope, quite a few more iPhones before I have to use it for real.
On a similar vein, I am seriously thinking of learning Voice Over on iPhone and iPad and macOS, just in case. Not sure how to start though.
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Thanks for reading.