MyAppleMenu

The Turning-Into-Dust Edition Wednesday, June 19, 2024

When Convenience Becomes A Liability, by Matthew Haughey, A Whole Lotta Nothing

Shooting everything digitally made taking lots of candid snapshots of our lives cheap and easy, but maintaining decades of archives is no small feat. On top of that, photos can be so personal, so invasive, and so revealing that very few services even let you share entire libraries with anyone.

I have no idea what the long term plans are for people in my situation, where you have over 2 terabytes containing hundreds of thousands of photos and video memories that can all potentially turn to dust in an instant if I happen to unexpectedly perish anytime soon.

Apple Is Bringing A.I. To Your Personal Life, Like It Or Not, by Kyle Chayka, New Yorker

Algorithmic feeds—driven by machine learning, an earlier form of A.I.—push their consumers toward generic content and encourage creators to tailor their work toward the lowest common denominator. They prove our tendency to look in whatever direction machines point our attention. With A.I. on our phones, a similar force will exert itself on our lives even outside of social-media platforms. We will rapidly enter a world in which we don’t know whether a text message was written by the person sending it or by Apple Intelligence, a world in which our phones help shape who we’re in touch with and how we recall our own memories.

Apple Has 'Very Serious' Issues Under Sweeping EU Digital Rules, Competition Chief Says, by Arjun Kharpal, CNBC

"We have a number of Apple issues; I find them very serious. I was very surprised that we would have such suspicions of Apple being non-compliant," Vestager told CNBC's Silvia Amaro.

[...]

"[Apple] are very important because a lot of good business happens through the App Store, happens through payment mechanisms, so of course, even though you know I can say this is not what was expected of such a company, of course we will enforce exactly with the same top priority as with any other business."

Beats Solo Buds

Review: Beats Solo Buds Set A New Standard, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Beats says that Beats Solo Buds offer up to 18 hours of battery life. When I first heard this number, I thought it was too good to be true and asked Beats to confirm, which they happily did.

And to be ultra-clear: that’s 18 hours of battery life from the Beats Solo Buds themselves. There’s no marketing trickery going on here. In fact, the case included with Beats Solo Buds doesn’t feature an integrated battery. Instead, when you want to charge Solo Buds, you place them in the case, then connect the case to a USB-C cable. Beats says a 5-minute charge will get you an hour of battery life.

The Beats Solo Buds Have A Great Look And An Even Better Price, by Chris Welch, The Verge

The Solo Buds are the first true wireless earbuds from Beats to cost under $100. They omit features like noise cancellation and a battery case in favor of lengthy 18-hour playback time.

Stuff

Apple Launches 'Help Me Choose' Website For Finding The Right Mac, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple today debuted a new Mac website that's designed to help potential customers find the ideal Mac. The "Help Me Choose" site asks users a few questions and then suggests the Mac that will best meet the user's needs.

SuperDuper! Review, by Chris Barylick, Macworld

Shirt Pocket has always come through with solid updates, pinned down bugs when they surfaced and supported new protocols introduced by Apple. SuperDuper! is one of the very best local cloning and restoration apps available for the Mac.

Adobe’s New Terms Of Service Say It Won’t Use Your Work To Train AI, by Emma Roth, The Verge

For the past couple of weeks, Adobe has faced intense backlash over changes to its terms of service agreement — and now, it’s trying to patch things up. On Tuesday, Adobe announced a tweaked version of its terms of service agreement that makes it clear the company will not train AI on user content stored locally or in the cloud.

Habbo Launches Classic Version Of Game On Mac In Throwback To 2005, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Habbo Hotel Origins is nearly a carbon copy of the game as it existed in 2005, complete with nostalgic features like the console for messaging friends, a purse for in-game credits, and a virtual hand that holds your in-game items (aka furni).

Retro Videogame Streaming Service Antstream To Launch On The App Store Next Week, by John Voorhees, MacStories

Antstream is a retro game streaming service with a catalog of over 1,300 videogames. The service, which is available on multiple other platforms in the EU, US, and Brazil, will bring its licensed library of games to the iPhone and iPad next week on June 27th.

Notes

First Look At Malaysia’s First Apple Store At The Exchange TRX, Four Days To Its Official Launch, by Dhesegaan Bala Krishnan, Malay Mail

Lucky passersby got a sneak peek at the country’s first Apple Store at The Exchange TRX this morning, four days before it officially opens on June 22 this Saturday.

Nintendo Just Showed Why You Shouldn't Ignore Apple Arcade, by Giovanni Colantonio, Digital Trends

Apple Arcade has been one of gaming’s better values since its launch, and games like Fantasian show why. You could have played it three years ago, subscribing to the service for a handful of months for less than $30. You would have gotten access to plenty of other games during that time, including a wealth of indie and mobile classics.

Report: Apple Halts Work On Vision Pro, Aims To Release Cheaper Vision Headset Next Year, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper, cut-down version of the Apple Vision Pro, scheduled to arrive by the end of 2025, according to The Information. At the same time, the publication says development work on a second-generation high-end model of the Vision Pro has been shelved, seemingly to prioritize the cheaper hardware path.

Bottom of the Page

I find it interesting that, with all their money and clout, Apple doesn't seem to have enough people to work on both Apple Vision and Apple Vision Pro. I don't know what is the reason, or why was this rumor was leaked, or whether this rumor is true, but I am reminded again that computers and their software are some of the most complicated things that humans have ever invented.

Now, pardon me, I have to go and play Backgammon with a random person on my computer.

~

Thanks for reading.