MyAppleMenu

The Fundamentally-Flawed Edition Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries Are Honestly Pretty Bad, by Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica

I could sand down my assessment and get to an extremely charitable “inconsistent” or “hit-and-miss.” But as it's currently implemented, I believe the feature is fundamentally flawed. The summaries it provides are so bizarre so frequently that sending friends the unintentionally hilarious summaries of their messages became a bit of a pastime for me for a few weeks.

Stuff

Install Mac Apps On External Storage In macOS Sequoia, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

In macOS Sequoia 15.1, however, Apple has added a new option that lets you download and install apps that require more than 1GB of storage to an external drive. Anyone working with large apps like Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro, or gamers with space-consuming titles, will surely welcome this ability to download and install large apps to a separate disk.

Ongoing iOS 18 Bug Prevents Photo Edits From Being Saved, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

There is no complete fix, but duplicating a broken image with a "still photo" allows the edits to be saved, but it removes Live Photo and Photographic Styles. Apple is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.

Apple Dropping Support For iCloud Backups On iPhones And iPads Running iOS 8 And Earlier, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Starting next month, making a device backup over iCloud will require iOS 9 or later, Apple has informed some customers via email. New backups for iPhones and iPads running iOS 8 or earlier will no longer be supported, and Apple will delete all existing ‌iCloud‌ backups of those devices as well.

Kino Is The iPhone Camera App I'd Recommend To Everyone, by Nadeem Sarwar, Digital Trends

One of the most striking elements of Kino is that it tries to keep the UI nearly as clean as the iPhone’s stock camera app. At the same time, it makes sure that you get as many core controls for fine-tuning as possible. It’s not exactly for beginners, but it serves up creative controls in a way that a novice would appreciate and be able to understand.

Yuka, The App That Rates Food And Makeup, Now Lets Users Complain To Companies Directly, by Lauren Forristal, TechCrunch

When a user scans a product that turns out to be marked with Yuka’s red label — which indicates health concerns — they will see an option to email the product’s manufacturer, pushing them to rethink the use of harmful additives. Yuka provides a default message but allows users to personalize it if they wish.

Corsair Debuts K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard And M75 Mouse For Mac, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Corsair has announced Mac-compatible versions of its K65 Plus Wireless keyboard and M75 Wireless mouse, offering both peripherals in exclusive "Glacier Blue" and "Frost" color options designed to complement Apple devices.

Notes

‘Schmigadoon!’ Keeps Its Songs Intact As It Leaps From TV Screens To The Stage, by Mark Peikert, IndieWire

“Shooting Season 1 wasn’t as fun as I’d hoped it to be,” Paul told IndieWire with a rueful laugh. “Pre-COVID, we were greenlit, and I was like, ‘It’ll be so fun, and we’ll hang out between takes.’ I had this image of it in my head, and it was not everybody double-masked, and nobody get near the actors. So, in that sense, it was not the theater kid dream experience I’d hoped it would be.”

Paul is quick to add that, of course, it still was, just in a different way. But now he’s getting that more communal experience with the second life of “Schmigadoon!”: A live stage adaptation is scheduled to premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in January 2025, directed and choreographed by the series’ Emmy-nominated choreographer Christopher Gattelli.

Apple Breaks French Theatrical Release Windows With "Blitz", by J. Sperling Reich, Celluloid Junkie

Invoking a rarely used loophole, and a first for a major streaming service, Apple utilized an “exceptional visa” to release Steve McQueen’s World War II drama “Blitz” in French cinemas for a limited two-day run on November 9-10. The maneuver bypassed France’s strict media chronology laws, which usually require a 17-month window between theatrical and streaming releases for most platforms.

Apple TV+ Greenlights “Cape Fear” From Martin Scorsese And Steven Spielberg, by Apple

Today, Apple TV+ announced it will expand its award-winning original series slate with a series order for “Cape Fear,” a new series that will be written and showrun by Nick Antosca (“The Act,” “Candy,” “A Friend of the Family”) and executive produced by Academy Award winners Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, with Academy Award winner Javier Bardem starring and executive producing.

Apple Offers $100 Million To Undo Indonesia iPhone 16 Ban, by Faris Mokhtar, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. has increased its offer to invest in Indonesia by almost tenfold, according to people familiar with the matter, in the US tech giant’s latest bid to persuade the government to lift its sales ban on the iPhone 16.

The proposal would see Cupertino-based Apple invest almost $100 million in Southeast Asia’s largest economy over two years, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. Apple’s previous investment plan of close to $10 million would have involved the company investing in a factory making accessories and components in the city of Bandung, located southeast of Jakarta, Bloomberg News reported earlier.

Bottom of the Page

I've had a bad experience the other day when watching an Apple TV+ show.

It was an episode of Shrinking, which I do enjoy. But, while the episode was winding down, as one of the main characters in the show walks across the road and the screen faded to black, the TV app abruptly started up the first episode of a different show. It wasn't a show I wanted to watch, but now the Up Next queue suddenly have another item stuck in it.

Yes, I know I could have just easily remove that unwanted show from the Up Next queue, but this episode definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. If I am kind to Apple, this is just another bug arising from all these streaming companies disrespecting creatives by quickly cutting away from end credits. If I am being unkind to Apple, this seems like another example of the company trying to juice up audience count.

Leave the end credits alone, Apple.

~

Thanks for reading.