Today, Apple unveiled an exciting lineup for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), including the Keynote and Platforms State of the Union. Taking place June 9-13, the free online conference will bring the global Apple developer community together to provide insights into the latest Apple tools, technologies, and features. Throughout the week, developers around the world can connect with Apple engineers, designers, and evangelists, and watch more than 100 sessions that will help them discover the newest enhancements to build platform-differentiating apps and games across Apple products. Apple will also welcome more than 1,000 developers and students to celebrate in person during a special event at Apple Park on June 9.
The iPhone maker is working on a software development kit and related frameworks that will let outsiders build AI features based on the large language models that the company uses for Apple Intelligence, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple expects to unveil the plan on June 9 at its Worldwide Developers Conference, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiative hasn’t been announced.
Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical is the first new Peanuts musical special in 35 years. Ben Folds (of Ben Folds Five, and also the guy who composed “It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown”) will write original music for the July 18 release, as will Jeff Morrow. A Summer Musical has a 40-minute runtime.
Warner Bros. Pictures decided to offer additional IMAX screenings due to "overwhelming popularity" for the film so far, with the initial 25 screenings that it offered all sold out.
Epic Games' wildly popular multiplayer shooter game "Fortnite" is available again on Apple's (AAPL.O) App Store in the U.S. from Tuesday, capping a ban of nearly five years and marking a major win for the video game company. [...] Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Fortnite's return to its App Store.
Microsoft filed an amicus brief late on Tuesday, in support of Epic Games’ ongoing fight with Apple’s control over the App Store. The brief takes issue with Apple’s attempt to overturn the injunction that allows Epic and other developers to freely advertise alternative payment methods in their apps, and not have to pay Apple additional fees for purchases made outside of apps.
It’s a key ruling that has already allowed Fortnite to return to the App Store in the US, complete with the ability for Epic Games to link out to its own payment system inside the game. Microsoft has wanted to offer a similar experience for its Xbox mobile store, but it says its solution “has been stymied by Apple.”
Apple today released a new firmware update for the USB-C version of the AirPods Max headphones. The new firmware is version 7E108, up from the prior 7E101 firmware the device was previously running.
Fender has released a free new recording app called Fender Studio that seems pretty powerful. The app [...] supports multitrack recording and offers a host of effects that emulate guitar pedals and several of the company’s iconic amplifiers over the years.
Adobe’s Creative Cloud All Apps subscription, which includes access to more than 20 Adobe apps, will soon be known as “Creative Cloud Pro,” the company announced last week. The renamed subscription plan will give users expanded access to Adobe’s AI-powered tools and apps, but for a price.
New leadership is almost always part of a turnaround. In part, that’s because poor financial performance is one of the few remaining sins for which CEOs are reliably held to account. But it’s also because certain kinds of changes need the credibility that only new faces can bring.
So what are those changes? What are the things I think Apple should do, but that its current leadership seems unwilling to budge on? What changes require a level of engagement and understanding that Apple no longer seems to have?
For me, a Murderbot fan and brain science nerd, “finding my way through it” involved talking to neuroscientists to understand how this seamless integration of brain and computer might work—because mixing brains and computer circuitry is not only science fiction. “It’s a very cool idea that we’re moving toward in many ways,” says Alexander Huth, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas at Austin (and fellow Murderbot fan). And as neuroscientists get better at linking up our minds with computers, they’re revealing some of what is so unique, and confounding, about the human brain and how we consciously experience the world.
I hope the worlds painted by Murderbot and other science fictions such as Terminator remain purely fictional. Humans cannot handle the responsibility of being god; heck, in many instances, there are too many humans that cannot even handle the responsibility of being human.
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