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The Say-Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Edition Thursday, December 21, 2023

He Stole Hundreds Of iPhones And Looted People’s Life Savings. He Told Us How., by Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal

“I say, ‘Hey, your phone is locked. What’s the passcode?’ They say, ‘2-3-4-5-6,’ or something. And then I just remember it,” Johnson described. Sometimes he would record people typing their passcodes.

[...]

Within minutes of taking the iPhones, Johnson was in the Settings menu, changing the Apple ID password. He’d then use the new password to turn off Find My iPhone so victims couldn’t log in on some other phone or computer to remotely locate—and even erase—the stolen device.

Johnson was changing passwords fast—“faster than you could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” he said. “You gotta beat the mice to the cheese.”

Apple Loses Attempt To Halt Apple Watch Sales Ban, by Emma Roth, The Verge

Apple has lost its bid to delay an import and sales ban on the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2. In a filing on Wednesday, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) denied Apple’s motion to stay the ban while awaiting an appeal.

Apple Ramps Up Vision Pro Production, Aiming For Launch By February, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Production of the new headset is running at full speed at facilities in China and has been for several weeks, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The goal is for customer-bound units to be ready by the end of January, with the retail debut planned for the following month, the people said.

The company sent an email to software developers on Wednesday encouraging them to “get ready” for the Vision Pro by testing their apps with the latest tools and sending their software to Apple for feedback. It’s another sign of an approaching release.

Aston Martin, Porsche Preview Bespoke Apple CarPlay Interfaces, by Greg S. Fink, Car and Driver

Apple is collaborating with automakers to bring brand-distinct design details to the CarPlay environment. The first brands to openly take advantage of this capability are Porsche and Aston Martin, with both high-end performance vehicle manufacturers previewing the bespoke CarPlay interface that'll feature in upcoming models.

This next-generation CarPlay builds upon previous versions by integrating into all of the displays of a given vehicle and not just the central infotainment screen. Though the familiar CarPlay experience remains, multiple template options and special details ensure the interface reflects the ethos of a given brand.

Stuff

You Can Run A Generative AI Locally On Your Computer, by David Nield, LifeHacker

You may have already tested out generative AI engines such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. But while it's popular to accesses these tools in the cloud, you can also install them locally on your own computer. There are some real benefits to doing so: It's more private, of course, and you won't get hit by any warnings about the AI being over capacity or unavailable. Also, it's just kind of cool.

Resident Evil 4 Now Available On iPhone, iPad, And Mac, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Compared to the original 2005 title, the updated version includes overhauled graphics, new characters, and updated gameplay elements like crafting items and ammo from resources.

Death Stranding Director's Cut For iPhone, iPad, And Mac Delayed, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

Death Stranding Director’s Cut was one of the games highlighted by Apple during the iPhone 15 launch, noting that it would take advantage of the hardware-accelerated ray tracing of the two Pro models.

That was due to be released before the end of the year, but the developer has now said that it needs “just a little more time”.

Develop

Apple Updates IT Training For Enterprise Pros, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

Just in time for killing time over the holidays, Apple this week updated one of its most essential enterprise products: its Deployment and Management Tutorials, which now cover all the latest iterations of the company's iPhone, Mac, and iPad operating systems.

Notes

Apple Develops Breakthrough Method For Running LLMs On iPhones, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Apple GPT in your pocket? It could be a reality sooner than you think. Apple AI researchers say they have made a key breakthrough in deploying large language models (LLMs) on iPhones and other Apple devices with limited memory by inventing an innovative flash memory utilization technique.

Recapturing Early Internet Whimsy With HTML, by Tiffany Ng, MIT Technology Review

Anchored in the concept of “HTML Energy,” a term coined by artists Laurel Schwulst and Elliott Cost, the movement is anything but a superficial appeal to retro aesthetics. It focuses on the tactile process of coding in HTML, exploring how the language invites self-expression and empowers individuals to claim their share of the web. Taking shape in small Discord channels and digital magazines, among other spaces, the HTML Energy movement is about celebrating the human touch in digital experiences.

2023 In Social Media: The Case For The Fediverse, by David Pierce, The Verge

If 2023 was the year “fediverse” became a buzzword, 2024 will be the year it becomes an industry. (Hopefully one with a better name, but I’ll get over that.) We’ve spent too long living our lives online in someone else’s spaces. What’s next will belong to all of us. All that’s left to do is start posting.

Bottom of the Page

Let me tell you a long and winding story.

Firstly, you have to know that I am using a Windows 11 machine at work. And I go back into the office for three days a week.

Then, one fine day, while I was searching for some other random stuff on the internet, I came across the news that I can hide the date and time on Windows' taskbar.

So, I was thinking, I always have my iPhone on the desk with me whenever I am working on that Windows machine. No, my beloved iPhone mini doesn't have an always-on display, but I can simply touch the phone, and the lock screen will tell me the date and time immediately. The time is displayed in big fonts right at the top of the screen, while the date -- in smaller fonts -- is just right on top of the time. Perfect!

Since I do like a minimal screen (to some extent), so, what the heck, let's turn off the date and time display on the Windows machine altogether.

Half of this plan went perfectly: whenever I need to see the time, I can just touch my iPhone screen on my desk, and I immediately see the time.

The other part of this plan didn't go that perfectly, though. If the phone is sitting on my desk, not being charged, I will see the date immediately. However, if the phone is being charged, the line of text where the date is displayed will be replaced by the charging percentage instead. I have to wait... and wait... and wait, before iOS replaces that line of text back to the current date.

(And, for reasons I don't understand, sometimes instead of the current date, iOS will replace the date field with "Swipe up to unlock" text, and I will not know the date at all.)

So, at the end of this story, I've just added a lock screen widget below the time that do nothing but just show me the current date.

So much for minmalism.

~

Thanks for reading.