Was this a money grab, a hope of latching onto a rapidly rising sector of the economy? Or, does this come from a genuine desire to exist as an antidote to the commodification and playlistification of our entire society, let alone music consumption? The answer exists somewhere in the middle, I suspect—but after two days of immersing myself in Apple’s Chill station, I can’t help but feel like it's a shelter from an increasingly violent storm.
Chill is hosted by singer and radio host Sabi, who, per Apple, “guides you through a full day of programming by introducing each new set of songs—meant to help you relax, unwind and unplug.” Sabi is also in charge of the station’s Mindful Moments, which are “brief breaks in programming that serve as reminders to be present and Chill.” Sabi is the day-to-day guide for the program, but Apple also enlisted Zane Lowe, Brian Eno, and Stephan Moccio to handle their own shows.
Perhaps Spotify understood the stakes—that when it removed real classical, jazz, and ambient artists from popular playlists and replaced them with low-budget stock muzak, it was steamrolling real music cultures, actual traditions within which artists were trying to make a living. Or perhaps the company was aware that this project to cheapen music contradicted so many of the ideals upon which its brand had been built. Spotify had long marketed itself as the ultimate platform for discovery—and who was going to get excited about “discovering” a bunch of stock music? Artists had been sold the idea that streaming was the ultimate meritocracy—that the best would rise to the top because users voted by listening. But the PFC program undermined all this. PFC was not the only way in which Spotify deliberately and covertly manipulated programming to favor content that improved its margins, but it was the most immediately galling. Nor was the problem simply a matter of “authenticity” in music. It was a matter of survival for actual artists, of musicians having the ability to earn a living on one of the largest platforms for music. PFC was irrefutable proof that Spotify rigged its system against musicians who knew their worth.
Reporters Without Borders, also known as RSF, said it was was "very concerned by the risks posed to media outlets" by AI tools.
The group said the BBC incident proves "generative AI services are still too immature to produce reliable information for the public".
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"RSF calls on Apple to act responsibly by removing this feature. The automated production of false information attributed to a media outlet is a blow to the outlet's credibility and a danger to the public's right to reliable information on current affairs."
The EU’s proposed iOS interoperability measures cover interactivity features like automatic audio switching, background activity like maintaining Bluetooth and network connections, and notifications — which could address long-standing complaints from iPhone users who are unable to send quick replies from connected Garmin watches, for example. The EU also proposes several measures to improve iOS data transfer interoperability across Airdrop, Airplay, media casting, Wi-Fi sharing, and close-range file transfers, alongside device configuration measures covering proximity-triggered pairing and automatic Wi-Fi connectivity.
Apple has raised concerns about the DMA’s interoperability mandates, as you’d expect. In a white paper published shortly after the EU’s announcement, Apple criticized “data-hungry companies” like Meta that have made numerous requests to access the iPhone maker’s software tools.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which Apple has always supported, set a strong set of privacy rules for all companies to comply with. The DMA was not intended to provide a way around the rules. But the end result could be that companies like Meta—which has been fined by regulators time and again for privacy violations—gains unfettered access to users' devices and their most personal data. If Apple is forced to allow access to sensitive technologies that it has no ability to protect, the security risks would be substantial and virtually impossible to mitigate.
(This is a PDF document.)
Meta has made 15 interoperability requests thus far, more than any other company, for potentially far-reaching access to Apple's technology stack, the latter said in a report.
"In many cases, Meta is seeking to alter functionality in a way that raises concerns about the privacy and security of users, and that appears to be completely unrelated to the actual use of Meta external devices, such as Meta smart glasses and Meta Quests," Apple said.
McCue’s best explanation of Surf’s big theory is this: in a decentralized social world, the internet will be less about websites and more about feeds. “You won’t put in, like, theverge.com and go to the website for The Verge, but you can put in ‘the verge’ and go to the ActivityPub feed for The Verge.” Your Threads timeline is a feed; every Bluesky Starter Pack is a feed; every creator you follow is just producing a feed of content.
Surf’s job, in that world, is to help you discover and explore all those feeds.
The need for something like what Flipboard is trying to build with Surf—an immersive, one-stop social experience curated by people rather than algorithms—seems manifestly obvious. I know the old system has failed me [...] It might take quite a while for Surf to reach its full potential, but at least it’s finally technically possible. That’s exciting in itself. And the fact that the Flipboard app is still alive, kicking, and evolving after almost a decade and a half—long after a flurry of knockoffs have come and gone—suggests the company could have the patience to keep at it.
While there are no new Apple Intelligence features for the iPhone or iPad, macOS Sequoia 15.3 brings Genmoji to the Mac for the first time, so Mac users are now able to create custom emoji characters that can be used in place of standard emoji.
Billie Eilish is Apple Music’s 2024 Artist of the Year, and to celebrate, the superstar and her brother Finneas performed a live acoustic set in their hometown of Los Angeles earlier this month.
This article started as an in-depth examination of my desk, the accessories I use, and the hardware I recommend. As I was writing it, however, I realized that it had turned into something bigger. It’s become the story of how, after more than a decade of working on the iPad, I was able to figure out how to accomplish the last remaining task in my workflow, but also how I fell in love with the 11” iPad Pro all over again thanks to its nano-texture display.
The move is part of a broader shift in how Apple approaches payment services. The subscription effort was overseen by the company’s Apple Pay group, which also shuttered a “buy now, pay later” program earlier this year. That service let shoppers pay off purchases over multiple installments, but Apple is now steering consumers toward third-party programs instead.
Apple is in talks with Tencent and TikTok owner ByteDance about integrating their artificial intelligence models into iPhones sold in China, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
While it’s true that the game does feature poker imagery and poker hands that a player could translate into an actual game of poker, it’s worth noting that Balatro doesn’t actually have any gambling as part of playing the game.
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Games like EA Sports FC include in-game purchases with randomized content, which is what LocalThunk takes issue with. “I’m way more irked at the 3-plus for these games with actual gambling mechanics for children than I am about Balatro having an 18-plus rating,” he said on Sunday.
Dear Apple, even if you don't want to remove Apple Intelligence notification summarization feature, can you allow app developers to opt out?
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Thanks for reading.