Basically, I don’t think much will change for E.U. users, or for developers. But a lot of people — including Vestager and the European Commission — expect a lot to change. It’s just not clear at all exactly what Apple needs to allow to comply with the DMA, nor do any of us outside Cupertino have any idea what Apple plans to do.
The group, which also has offices in China, India, Ireland and Spain, is responsible for improving Siri by listening to queries to the voice service and determining if it heard and handled questions accurately. [...]
An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the relocation decision, saying the company is bringing its “Data Operations Annotations teams in the US together at our campus in Austin, where a majority of the team is already based.” She added that “everyone currently employed will have the opportunity to continue their role with Apple in Austin.”
The only thing resembling data that anyone had given out before Thursday came from Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services. Cue said at last November’s Soccerex business conference that “we’ve had more than a million viewers to watch the biggest games this season.”
Cue also notably said “nobody expected that,” which raised some eyebrows. The last MLS Cup final before Apple’s deal started, 2022′s Union-LAFC epic, drew 2.155 million viewers just in the United States. So one million viewers seems like a low bar for a global telecast on a big brand’s platform, even if it’s a subscription streaming package.
These days, apps of all shapes and sizes are putting artificial intelligence (AI) to use. Popular note-taking app Goodnotes is no different, and Goodnotes 6 comes with a slate of AI-enhanced features that make writing and doodling an absolute breeze.
Artifact, the news app created by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is shutting down just a year after launch. The app used an AI-driven approach to suggest news that users might like to read, but it seems it didn’t catch on with enough people for the Artifact team to continue making the app.
But perhaps the most significant shift toward interoperability at CES was the widespread support for Qi2: the charging standard that could finally allow both Android phones and iPhones to wirelessly charge with the same chargers at the same 15W rate. Things are still early — only the iPhone 13, 14, and 15 support the standard so far. However, Qi2-compatible Android devices are bound to show up soon, and many Android phone cases already come with magnetic charging support.
I don't think Apple will volunteer to do anything extra at all to satisfy regulators and their need to… well… regulate. No matter what Apple does, someone will claim that the company is not doing enough. Might as well wait for actual rulings to come down and do the bare minimum.
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Thanks for reading.