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The Balancing-Act Edition Thursday, June 19, 2025

Craig Federighi Opens Up About iPadOS, Its Multitasking Journey, And The iPad’s Essence, by Federico Viticci, MacStories

The word we keep going back to in this interview is “balance”. The iPad has, historically, always been a balancing act for Apple, from the very first keynote when Steve Jobs had to explain the “third category” it represented to now, when Federighi is talking about balancing the needs of different users, balancing familiarity and consistency in the user interface design, and balancing features between macOS and iPadOS. Speaking of consistency – another central theme of this year’s WWDC – Federighi tells me that “absolute consistency would be to optimize for nothing” when I ask him about how Apple weighs the idea of consistent design across platforms against the fact that, according to them, each device in their lineup has its own reason to be. “We want consistency where it makes sense, but we tailor these experiences to each device”, he adds.

Apple, Siri, And The Booted Blogger: A Conversation With John Gruber, by Peter Kafka, Business Insider

"I feel them deciding not to do my show this year is a total win for me and was a huge loss for them," Gruber says.

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"My argument was: Given everything that's going on, including between me and Apple, the fact that Apple had to delay that, everything going on right now for Apple … I was like: 'I don't think, for your sake, this is the year to skip my show.'

"But they did."

F1

Apple Continues F1 Movie Marketing Blitz With New Immersive Hot Lap Experience On Apple Vision Pro, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Apple is certainly going out of its way to push awareness of the film. We’ve already seen Apple release a special haptic trailer, kickoff WWDC with a F1 sketch, Tim Cook and Brad Pitt made a surprise appearance at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store at the weekend, among many other media interviews. And today, it has expanded the pool of Apple Immersive content with a new Hot Lap Immersive instalment, available now in the TV app on Apple Vision Pro.

Apple Partners With Fandango For 'F1: The Movie' Ticket Discount, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple is teaming up with Fandango to offer Apple Pay users a special discount on upcoming Apple TV+ movie F1. When purchasing two or more tickets to F1 through Fandango using ‌Apple Pay‌, movie goers can get a $10 discount.

Stuff

Apple Begins Selling Wide Range Of Accessories In Fun Summer Colors, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple has teamed up with a handful of accessory makers to offer chargers, stands, cases, power banks, cables, and more in fun new color options, like Teal, Coral, and Deep Purple.

Apple Shares New 'Shot On iPhone 16 Pro' Short Film, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

The mini movie features Stormzy as Tenzman, a washed-up, world-weary musician who runs into two joyful kids. The three embark on a journey that ultimately inspires Tenzman to make new music. The film was directed by Aneil Karia, known for Surge and The Long Goodbye.

Worried About Phone Snatchers? These 5 Invaluable iPhone And Android Settings Will Help Keep You Safer This Summer, by Paul Hatton, TechRadar

It's no longer enough to simply have a passcode and Face ID-style features, so below, I've detailed my five top tips to better secure your phone this summer.

'Frames' Is A Film Photographer's Digital Companion That Syncs Metadata With Scans, by Jeremy Gray, PetaPixel

Unlike a more general-purpose note-taking app, Frames is built specifically for film photographers, so it understands the info that analog shooters care about most. It comes preloaded with more than 200 film stocks, allows users to log push and pull exposures, and has all the metadata fields photographers care about, including flash use and exposure compensation tracking.

Notes

How People Decided It’s OK To Wear AirPods Anywhere, Anytime, by Lauren Weber, Wall Street Journal

Then he wonders if the person might use them as hearing aids, or have a diagnosis like autism where earbuds help control sensory overload. Most of the time, Weisel has no idea if the devices are serving a legitimate purpose or simply delivering the latest episode of “Smartless.”

Most confusing of all is never knowing whether the wireless earbuds are on or off. “It’s the unknown that’s sort of uncomfortable.”

Apple Eyes Using AI To Design Its Chips, Technology Executive Says, by Stephen Nellis, Reuters

Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab is interested in tapping generative artificial intelligence to help speed up the design of the custom chips at the heart of its devices, its top hardware technology executive said in private remarks last month.

[...]

"[Electronic design automation] companies are super critical in supporting our chip design complexities," Srouji said in his remarks. "Generative AI techniques have a high potential in getting more design work in less time, and it can be a huge productivity boost."

Apple And Spotify Are Killing The Album Cover, And They Must Be Stopped, by Daniel John, Creative Bloq

Of course, times change, and perhaps it's unrealistic to imagine that we have decades of new classic album covers ahead of us when the very format itself is being replaced by the fruits of streaming. But if my iPhone lock screen is becoming one of the last places to enjoy the bold and singular piece of artwork designed to accompany the album I've chosen, I'd rather it didn't feature distracting animations.

Bottom of the Page

I have not used an iPad with the upcoming iPadOS 26 yet, so I have no idea how well did Apple execute, but I appreciate Apple has not forgotten me who just want to use apps in full-screen one-at-a-time.

I do very occasionally use split view, so I wonder how I well I can transition to a occasionally-will-use-windowing user. I never use slide over, and probably because of that, I struggle to remove any slide over windows whenever I accidentally triggered one. (Usually in Safari.)

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Apple has the biggest soap box, so it probably doesn't need to go to The Talk Show to explain themselves. Write a blog post, Apple.

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Thanks for reading.