Apple has quietly released iOS 17.5.1 and iPadOS 17.5.1 to address what it says is a “rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.” Apple hasn’t yet updated either set of release notes with the text in the screenshot below, and I would be surprised if the company offered any explanation.
Also, the anecdote of photos being restored to the same device after it had been wiped has been deleted from Reddit. I have not seen the same claim anywhere else which makes me think this was some sort of user error.
This is obviously a privacy concern. It raises valid questions as to how Apple stores photo data and whether iPhone owners can truly trust that their deleted data is actually deleted. The Verge has reached out to Apple multiple times to comment publicly on the matter but has yet to receive a response. Doing so would at least shed light on why this bug happened, what’s been done to fix it, and what it’s doing to ensure that this won’t happen again. However, Apple has yet to respond.
What’s troubling is that, so long as Apple remains silent, we have no idea of how far this bug goes. Some iPhone owners have reported the same thing happening with deleted voicemails. Did the bug only impact people who use iCloud photo backups? Another post claimed that old photos appeared on an iPad that was sold to another person. All today’s fix confirms that this bug did exist, it was a problem, and it had something to do with database corruption. And by ignoring requests to comment publicly on the matter, it doesn’t impart confidence that this won’t happen again.
The most potent enemy of reading, it goes without saying, is the small, flat box that you carry in your pocket. In terms of addictive properties, it might as well be stuffed with meth. There’s no point in grinding through a whole book—a chewy bunch of words arranged into a narrative or, heaven preserve us, an argument—when you can pick up your iPhone, touch the Times app, skip the news and commentary, head straight to Wordle, and give yourself an instant hit of euphoria and pride by taking just three guesses to reach a triumphant guano. Imagine, however, that your foe were to become your literate friend. Imagine getting hooked on a book, or on something recognizably book-esque, without averting your eyes from the screen. This is where Blinkist comes in.
[...]
This takes us to the very nub of Blinkist. Apart from the vexed ontological question of whether blowing up little green pigs with crates of cartoon TNT does or does not have any meaning, in a universe already rich in absurdity, two features are worth noting. One, the mild shade of pedagogy in Seim’s gentle insistence on teaching and being taught. (German educators of an older and sterner school might well frown with approval.) Two, the way in which, far from denying that phones have assumed possession of our lives, Seim leans into that stubborn fact. Why struggle? Why not collaborate with our captors and see what comes of it? “The social-media apps—they made us addicted to checking our screens all the time,” Seim tells me. “That is happening. That is a trend, whether we like it or not.” Since I’m fated to doomscroll anyway, I might as well channel that itchy-thumbed habit into browsing a Blink of Eric Schlosser’s “Command and Control.” Or “Chernobyl,” by Serhii Plokhy. Or something on Fukushima. Get me some real doom.
The iPhone maker has filed a suit at the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg to topple the March decision, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
[...]
Apple declined to comment other than pointing to an earlier blog post in which it said that EU regulators failed to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm.
There are many sensible uses for it, even if it’s past its prime. If you have an old Mac mini that has been replaced by a newer model, here are a few ideas on how you can put it to good use.
Rogue Amoeba has issued Audio Hijack 4.4.1, introducing a new Audio Device Selection section for enhanced audio capture through Application blocks. These updated controls offer more refinement over how audio is captured from applications, including channel-level fine-tuning.
It was my first conference and solo business trip since the pandemic started in 2020, and it took some time to update my travel gear and habits.
MacWhisper is a super useful utility for quickly transcribing spoken audio on the Mac. Version 8 is launching today with new features around video, speed, AI, and more.
It was Segall who persuaded Jobs in 1998 to use “iMac” as a new computer name instead of the internally-developed and rather dreadful moniker MacMan. (Thank Segall that there was never such a thing as the ManPhone.)
[...]
“The 'i' needs to go,” he says. “It's now meaningless. Sure, [Jobs] built [Apple] around it, but remember, the 'i' has always been a sub-brand. There might be marketing experts who say Apple would be crazy to drop the prefix—it's still in front of some of the greatest brands ever—but it can't be protected, and for too long there have been companies with 'i' internet-connected things, and that's an issue for Apple, known for innovation.”
ASML Holding NV and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have ways to disable the world’s most sophisticated chipmaking machines in the event that China invades Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter.
So, Microsoft has released the new Copilot + PC thing, which, it seems to me, have two main messages for customers. Firstly, the brains of the new computers are finally competitive with Apple Silicon. Secondly: AI, AI, AI.
Two questions I am looking forward to see being answered by reviewers and customers in the next few months: Number one: is the performance per watt really that great, and can it keep up with what Apple is doing. Two: if Copilot is really helpful, or is it just a backseat driver?
But, this definitely does signal the end of Wintel.
~
Thanks for reading.