MyAppleMenu

Archive for August 2025

The Studio-Making-History Edition Sunday, August 31, 2025

The Bright Side Of A Studio Sweep At The Emmys, by Joe Reid, Vulture

The Studio is a show that likes to show off, formally speaking. A single-take episode, a noir parody guest-starring Zac Efron, an escalating battle of wills between two supporting characters, a vibes-accurate re-creation of the Golden Globes. All of these required varied and rigorous work by the show’s craft departments, which is why I’d anticipate a strong showing in the Creative Arts Emmys as well. Production design, costumes, cinematography (a shoo-in win for “The Oner” episode), makeup — they all feel poised to go for The Studio’s high-end production values, especially if the craftspeople casting those votes responded to The Studio’s comedic take on their place of business.

By my back-of-a-napkin tally, I have The Studio conservatively winning nine awards. The record for wins for a comedy series is 11, set by The Bear just last year. That means that only two awards (Music? Supporting Actress? Writing?) have to fall The Studio’s way in order to make history.

Why Do Waymos Keep Loitering In Front Of My House?, by Rachel Kraus, The Verge

Whether a human or AI drives a taxi, it makes sense that a car would idle for some time before it’s dispatched on its next ride. But what makes Lisa Delgin’s home or the Pico / Fairfax building a safe haven for the robotaxis, with such apparent specificity? Neighbors have their theories: proximity to high-traffic areas, central locations, a lack of parking restrictions, ample curb space. But none of that accounts for the repeated specificity of the parking choice.

And unfortunately, not even Waymo the company necessarily fully knows the answer.

Bottom of the Page

I enjoy 'talking' to computers because I can figure out things. There is no mystery that cannot be solved if one puts in the work in figuring out.

I think, underneath all the facade, generative AI is still deterministic. Except that the dataset is so large, and the chaotic elements so strong, that it is really not easy to figure out the whys, and it is really no fun at all.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Laptops-This-Tiny Edition Saturday, August 30, 2025

I Turned Apple’s iPad Mini Into A Baby MacBook Using iPadOS 26, But I Have Some Regrets, by Ben Johnson, Pocket Tactics

So, iPadOS 26 looks like it does the job, no? Well, it does — you can now do more stuff with your iPad without having to pay for a new one. That is great news for most people, and if you don't want it, that's fine; just stick with the original way of interacting. The choice is yours.

The problem, however, or rather the mistake I made, was thinking that an iPad mini would be anything but irritating to use as a laptop. Of course! No one uses laptops this tiny, not even the folks on their commute in Tokyo! Their laptops are at least 11 inches, not the tiny 8-inch restriction of the mini. What I've discovered with using the iPad mini as a baby MacBook is this: Apple was right. You don't want to. And yet you now have the choice.

On Security

Mosyle Identifies New Mac Malware That Evades Detection Through Fake PDF Conversion Tool , by Arin Waichulis, 9to5Mac

According to Mosyle’s research, JSCoreRunner unfolds in two stages. The first installer, FileRipple.pkg, pretends to be a harmless working PDF tool while malicious code runs quietly in the background. Though this package is now blocked by macOS because its developer certificate was later revoked by Apple, the true payload comes in a second installer called Safari14.1.2MojaveAuto.pkg. Being unsigned, it slips past Gatekeeper’s default protections and is not blocked by default.

WhatsApp Fixes 'Zero-click' Bug Used To Hack Apple Users With Spyware, by Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch

WhatsApp said on Friday that it fixed a security bug in its iOS and Mac apps that was being used to stealthily hack into the Apple devices of “specific targeted users.”

The Meta-owned messaging app giant said in its security advisory that it fixed the vulnerability, known officially as CVE-2025-55177, which was used alongside a separate flaw found in iOS and Macs, which Apple fixed last week and tracks as CVE-2025-43300.

Tax and Regulation

France And Germany Reject Trump's Threats On EU Tech Legislation, by Andreas Rinke and Michel Rose, Reuters

France and Germany on Friday defended Europe's right to adopt its own legislation on technology after U.S. President Donald Trump criticised European rules on digital services, saying any U.S. coercion would be met with retaliation.

[...]

"Tax and regulation issues are the preserve of our national parliaments and the European parliament," Macron said. "We won't let anyone else decide for us," he said.

The EU Surrendered To Trump Over Trade Tariffs – Now It’s In Danger Of Capitulating Again, by Thierry Breton, The Guardian

How long are we, citizens of the EU, going to tolerate these threats? Submit to those who want to impose their rules, their laws, their deadlines on us? Surrender to those who now presume to dictate our fundamental democratic and moral principles, our rules for how we live together and even how we protect our own children online? Why and in whose name would we agree to cast aside our twin digital regulations, the DSA and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which were voted into law with clarity, courage and conviction by a landslide in the European parliament?

[...]

The DMA and the DSA are, in truth, nothing more than the extension of our social and democratic norms from the physical world into the digital one. In other words: the rule of law. Europe is the first and only continent to have taken this step. It has every reason to be proud.

Notes

Apple Says App Store Changes Go Too Far In New Epic Games Appeal Filing, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

The court order that required Apple to change its anti-steering App Store rules is unlawful and unconstitutional, Apple said today in a reply brief directed at Epic Games and filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Apple argues that it has been stripped of its rights to be compensated for its intellectual property in a ruling that sets a dangerous precedent for all companies.

The Fight Against Labeling Long-term Streaming Rentals As “Purchases” You “Buy”, by Scharon Harding, Ars Technica

Often, streaming services like Amazon Prime Video offer customers the options to “rent” digital content for a few days or to “buy” it. Some might think that picking "buy" means that they can view the content indefinitely. But these purchases are really just long-term licenses to watch the content for as long as the streaming service has the right to distribute it—which could be for years, months, or days after the transaction.

A lawsuit recently filed against Prime Video challenges this practice and accuses the streaming service of misleading customers by labeling long-term rentals as purchases. The conclusion of the case could have implications for how streaming services frame digital content.

Bottom of the Page

Random thought of the day while in the shower: If Apple is working on a foldable iPhone that can transform into an iPad… can we have a preview of that magic on the iPhone Mirroring app over on my Mac?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Back-Door-Access Edition Friday, August 29, 2025

UK Sought Broad Access To Apple Customers’ Data, Court Filing Shows, by Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times

The UK government made a broader attempt to force Apple to provide “back-door” access to private customer data than was previously known, a new court document suggests.

The legal filing, seen by the Financial Times, also indicates the Home Office is yet to modify its demand for Apple to grant access to data belonging to customers outside the UK, despite claims by Trump administration officials last week that the British government had “agreed to drop” its effort to tap American citizens’ private information.

Apple Sought ‘Constructive And Open Dialogue’ With New EU Competition Chief, by Jack Power, Irish Times

Tech giant Apple looked to develop a “constructive and open dialogue” with the European Commission’s new competition chief, in an attempt to draw a line under years of bitter fighting over its tax arrangements, correspondence shows.

[...]

The meeting, which took place over a video call, discussed Apple’s “activities and interests” in the EU, according to the minutes. At the end of the call, Mr Cook and Ms Ribera agreed on “the importance of maintaining open channels of communication”, notes state.

Stuff

A Better Camera App? Reflections On Adobe’s Project Indigo, by Joe Rosensteel, Six Colors

There are still a few noteworthy tricks it pulls off that are worth a look.

Notes

OpenAI Says It's Scanning Users' Conversations And Reporting Content To The Police, by Noor Al-Sibai, Futurism

In other words, OpenAI is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The PR blowback from its users spiraling into mental health crises and dying by suicide is appalling — but since it's clearly having trouble controlling its own tech enough to protect users from those harmful scenarios, it's falling back on heavy-handed moderation that flies in the face of its own CEO's promises.

Indonesia Boosts Innovation With New Apple Developer Academy In Bali, by Antara

The Ministry of Industry has officially launched the Apple Developer Academy BINUS Bali, marking the fulfillment of Apple’s investment commitment in Indonesia.

Bottom of the Page

Well, I'm not surprised.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Outside-Company's-App Edition Thursday, August 28, 2025

Apple Makes Music Push In Radio After Losing Ground To Spotify, by Rolfe Winkler, Wall Street Journal

The deal with digital radio platform TuneIn is the first time Apple Music’s six radio stations will be available outside the company’s app. Beginning Wednesday, the Apple stations will be available to TuneIn’s 75 million monthly active users.

[...]

A link inside the TuneIn app and on its website will redirect users back to Apple Music, where Apple can convert them to paying subscribers.

Apple Pulls iPhone Torrent App From AltStore PAL In Europe, by Jess Weatherbed, The Verge

While Apple bans torrent apps on its own iOS store, the EU’s Digital Markets Act gave iPhone users within the bloc greater freedom to install apps from third-party app stores that the Cupertino company doesn’t directly manage. iTorrent was added to AltStore PAL in July last year, which raises the question of why now, and what sparked its removal?

Apple Warns UK Against Introducing Tougher Tech Regulation, by Chris VallanceSenior, BBC

According to Apple, the watchdog's proposed changes repeat mistakes made by the EU in its enforcement of its tech competition law the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

[...]

It argues the rules are effectively allowing other firms to demand its data and intellectual property for free.

However, the CMA argues that, unlike the EU, it is focused on ensuring the interoperability of particular aspects of Apple's tech such as digital wallets and watches, so that UK developers can use them to create innovative new apps.

Coming This Fall

iOS 26 Vs iOS 18: Five New Icons You May Not Recognize After Updating, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

iOS 26 is launching soon, headlined by a fresh Liquid Glass design that makes your iPhone look brand new. Apple has a ton of new app icons coming with its redesign, but the following five icons might be especially hard to recognize after you update.

This Liquid Glass Toggle Is A Window Into Apple’s Broken Design Process, by Alex Blake, Macworld

And that’s where the humble toggle comes in. Because in iOS 26, the transparent slider illustrates everything that’s wrong with Liquid Glass – and how far Apple has strayed from Steve Jobs’ guiding philosophy.

Stuff

More Great Wallpaper In The Run-up To Two More Apple Stores, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

Apple is doubling its retail footprint in India with the imminent opening of two new stores next week, one in Bengaluru and the other in Pune.

Razer Pro Click 2 Review: A Mighty Mac Mouse With Powerful Features, by Cliff Joseph, Macworld

It’s fairly expensive, but the mouse is well designed and comfortable to use – as long as you’re right-handed – and we like the ability to program the various buttons in the Synapse app. The app could be more straightforward to use, but powerful features such as macro recording can provide a useful productivity boost for pro users at work.

Chipolo Bluetooth Trackers Enter The Rechargeable Realm With The New Loop And Card, by Chris Thomas, Android Police

Eco-conscious buyers can appreciate the use of at least 50% recycled plastics, and anyone tired of keeping coin cells around will probably prefer topping up with the same USB-C cable or Qi charger they use for their phone.

Notes

BBC Buys Apple TV+ Sitcom ‘Trying’, by Max Goldbart, Deadline

In a first-of-its-kind deal, the pubcaster has acquired the first three seasons of Andy Wolton‘s show starring Rafe Spall and Esther Smith for both linear and iPlayer, and Season 1 will launch September 8. We understand the deal comes with the option to buy further seasons of Trying, which will soon launch its fifth season on Apple. BBC Studios brokered the deal.

[...]

The BBC has never bought an Apple TV+ show before but, once their initial windows run down, Apple shows represent a real opportunity for local linear networks around the world. The streamer still has a relatively low take-up in big territories and now boasts a healthy originals library of shows that can be sold in second windows.

Apple's Tim Cook Era: 14 Years Of Prolific Products, Profits, And Politics, by Jason Snell, Macworld

The Apple of 2025 is quite different from the company Cook took control of back in 2011. Today’s Apple generates nearly four times the revenue that the company did when Cook took over, driven by more-than-quadrupling iPhone revenue. Back in 2011, there was one iPhone; now there are five, along with several iPad models, a wearables business that basically didn’t exist, an experimental headset, and a revitalized Mac powered by iPhone chips.

It’s been a ride. And while it’s not over yet, now seems as good a time as any to look back at what Cook has done and consider where he and Apple may be going in the future.

Bottom of the Page

Apple does need to diversify its Services revenue to be less dependent on other Apple products. Android, TuneIn: these are good first steps.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Output-From-Thermal-Camera Edition Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Apple Event Set For September 9, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

Apple is nothing if not consistent. That announcement we all expected might happen today, happened today: Apple is giving the world two weeks’ notice that its next media event (which we all know is an iPhone launch event, though Apple never admits that) will be on September 9 at 10am Pacific.

Apple Designed Interactive Logo For September 9 Event, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

The Apple logo for the "Awe Dropping" event is designed to look like a thermal map or the output that you might see on a thermal camera. The colors change from shades of blue to shades of orange, perhaps a nod to the new iPhone colors that are expected.

I Reverse Engineered Apple’s Thermal Logo Effect, by sam henri gold, hachyderm.io

I reverse engineered Apple’s thermal logo effect. It’s a Three.js shader that combines 4 inputs.

Coming This Fall

Apple Wallet In iOS 26 Adds A Toggle To Disable Controversial Feature, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

In the notifications menu inside Wallet, there’s a new toggle: Offers & Promotions.

It’s on by default, but you can disable it to prevent any future unwanted advertising from the app.

Stuff

Apple Invites Adds A Helpful New iPhone Feature, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Starting with Apple Invites version 1.4, users can add a countdown widget to any Home Screen. The new widget will work with any upcoming event in the app on iPhone.

OmniFocus Gets Planned Dates, Mutually Exclusive Tags, More, by Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

While some projects have hard kickoffs and deadlines, in which case, Defer Dates and Due Dates do the trick in OmniFocus, that may not be the case for all types of projects. That’s why OmniFocus v4.7 introduces Planned Dates, which are meant “for scheduling when you plan to work on an action, action group, or project.”

Tot 2.0: A Thoughtful Extension Of An Already Elegant Note-Taking App, by John Voorhees, MacStories

The three tentpole features – automatic indenting, custom smart bullets, and text dividers – are all meaningful improvements that don’t compromise the apps’ simplicity. Those features, along with several quality of life improvements and other bug fixes that you can read about in Tot’s version history, add up to an excellent update that should serve users well for a long time.

Notes

Apple Watch Not A 'CO2-neutral Product,' German Court Finds, by Rachel More, Reuters

Apple based its claim of carbon neutrality on a project it operates in Paraguay to offset emissions by planting eucalyptus trees on leased land.

[...]

However, the Frankfurt court said that leases for 75% of the project area were not secured beyond 2029 and that the company could not guarantee these contracts would be extended.

Why Apple Is Fighting Legal Battles Over 12 Cents Per iPhone, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

What concerns Apple is not the $0.12 difference, but the global precedent that this would set. The cellular modem in an iPhone costs Apple around $20. If you scaled up all of the SEPs required for that modem by the increase awarded in the UK, then the company would be paying a total of around $40 in patent licenses, compared to the $5-6 it pays currently.

What’s even more worrying for Apple is that the UK Supreme Court declared it had the power to set rates that would apply globally, not just within the UK itself. Apple has applied for leave to appeal, and Optus is expected to respond sometime next month. A decision may not be made until next year.

Bottom of the Page

So, if the rumors are correct, and Apple does introduce the iPhone Air, I hope that I, as someone who loved my iPhone mini, will not be too jealous, and wished that I've had waited one more year to upgrade.

If, on the other hand, Apple gives us the foldable iPhone + iPad mini combo this year at any price less than the price of a regular iPhone plus iPad mini, I will have to figure out a way to convince myself to spend the money.

:-)

~

Thanks for reading.

The Finalized-Looks-and-Behaves Edition Tuesday, August 26, 2025

iOS 26 Is Probably Complete, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Will there be an iOS 26 developer beta 9? Probably not. Apple shipped eight developer beta versions of iOS 13 through iOS 18. That could obviously change with iOS 26 if something needs to change between now and the first release candidate, but the way iOS 26 looks and behaves is most likely finalized.

MacOS 26 Tahoe’s Dead Canary Utility App Icons, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Is it a big deal in the grand scheme of things that the icons for these seldom-used utility apps have gone to shit? No. But consider the proverbial canary in a coal mine. The problem isn’t that one little bird has died. The problem is that the bird might be dead because the whole mine is filling with deadly carbon monoxide or highly flammable methane gas. The icons in /Applications/Utilities/ in MacOS 26 Tahoe represent a folder full of dead canaries.

Stuff

Demote A macOS Administrator To A Standard User, by Glenn Fleishman, Six Colors

So not only is an administrator account overkill for users on a Mac who don’t need such privileges, it can be a toehold for a naive user to grant permission to the few pieces of malware that successfully target Macs.

Apple Music Transfer Tool For Switching From Spotify Now Available In UK And 7 Other Countries, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

The feature initially launched in Australia and New Zealand in May 2025, and is now available in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, according to an updated Apple Support document.

Airfoil 5.12.5, by Agen Schmitz, TidBITS

The new Spoken Content special source (replacing Text to Speech) captures audio from the Accessibility settings Spoken Content area, as well as from apps that play text-to-speech audio. The Notification Center special source captures other audio that plays through the system’s Notification Center (like alarm sounds).

Notes

Matter Is Finally Ready To Deliver The Smart Home It Promised, by Paul Lamkin, Wired

The good news is that Matter is now in a much better place both for the consumer and for the companies building products. As those companies push forward with their idea of what the smart home should be with the help of AI—as Google puts Gemini in all the places Assistant used to live, as Amazon ramps up Echo's capabilities with Alexa+ and Apple works out what exactly next-gen Siri looks like ahead of expected new smart home hardware releases—Matter is working to ensure it can finally make the experience of linking that all together much smoother.

Publishers Race To Counter ‘Google Zero’ Threat As AI Changes Search Engines, by Daniel Thomas, Financial Times

Publishers are racing to find ways to counter the threat of “Google Zero” — the sharp fall in web traffic that many media executives worry about following the launch of AI-based tools on the US platform.

Bottom of the Page

Fall (the northern hemisphere) is almost here, and I am dying to listen to AutoMix on Apple Music while playing from the Classical Music playlists.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Major-Redesigns Edition Monday, August 25, 2025

Apple To Kick Off Three-Year Plan To Reinvent Its Iconic iPhone, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

For the first time ever, Apple is planning three straight years of major iPhone redesigns. After playing it safe for a long time, the company is planning to reinvigorate its flagship phone — even as others in the industry pivot toward more AI-centric products.

It all starts in September with the iPhone Air — a skinny new model that will replace the iPhone 16 Plus. This product follows the MacBook Air laptop strategy that Apple first embraced in 2008: thinner, lighter and instantly marketable.

Apple's F1 Movie Tops $600m At Worldwide Box Office, Surpassing All Expectations, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

This figure beats even the most optimistic expectations ahead of release, which cost Apple about $250 million to make. The film hit buy or rent video on demand on Friday, but a streaming date on Apple TV+ has not yet been announced.

Bottom of the Page

We have all seen Apple, over the many years, slowly chipped away all that is not a slab-of-glass to get to where iPhone is today, and I think many of us expected the company to continue chipping away anything that is not a slab-of-glass.

So, it will be interesting to see how an iPhone can also be not a slab of glass.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Collapse-Baked-In Edition Sunday, August 24, 2025

Who Killed The Narrative Podcast?, by Eric Benson, Rolling Stone

The fall of the industry has been so vertiginous that it’s been hard to fully comprehend its decline. But in many ways, this collapse was baked into its spectacular rise, when a flood of dumb money, pollyannaish entrepreneurs, and hungry journalists rushed to build an industry that would soon turn into a house of cards.

You Might Get A Secret Discount Offer When You Go To Cancel Apple TV+, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Users on Reddit discovered that when they went to cancel their subscription in the Apple TV app, they were presented with a 54% discount offer for two months.

[...]

The format of the offer looks identical to the messaging that Apple now allows third party apps to show. As part of the Confirm Cancellation sheet, a developer can show a custom message or retention discount to try and convince the customer to stick around.

Stuff

The Best Free Public Transit Apps To Get You From A To B Anywhere In The World, by David Nield, Popular Science

If you spend a lot of time on public transit, or you’re about to—maybe you’re going traveling—then we recommend getting one or more of these excellent apps installed alongside whatever you already have on your phone. You’ll find them very helpful for buses, trains, trams, cabs, and more.

The Three Best Focus Timer Apps To Limit Distractions While You Work, by Lindsey Ellefson, Lifehacker

These not only keep track of your working time and maintain a schedule for you, but they can prevent you from getting sucked into your phone or other distractions. Here are three of the best ones.

Do You Have A Ton Of LEGO Pieces & Nothing To Build? This App Can Help, by Jonathan H. Kantor, Slashgear

Brickit is designed to help builders come up with designs for their spare pieces.

'Grano' Scans Barcodes To Help You Understand What's In Your Food, by Michael Burkhardt, 9to5Mac

It scans barcodes, creates a personalized score for you, and breaks down what’s actually in your food by dietary group. It also provides a detailed breakdown of the ingredients – explaining any potential additives, allergens, and how processed it is.

Bottom of the Page

I always see 'podcast' as a technical term, describing how episodes of a program are delivered to the audience. But there are so many people who see the term as a genre instead. And there are arguments on what kind of content is a podcast, and what is not.

If I can follow a show in my podcast app, then it is a podcast.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Stick-with-Tradition Edition Saturday, August 23, 2025

AppleCare One Stumbles Over Multiple macOS User Accounts, by Adam Engst, TidBITS

For now, if you use multiple user accounts on your Mac—which is common for developers, families sharing computers, and people who maintain separate work and personal environments—you should avoid AppleCare One. The service might make sense for those with simple account setups, but Mac power users should stick with traditional AppleCare+ plans until Apple addresses this limitation.

Coming This Fall

Apple Gets Ready For AI In The Enterprise With New ChatGPT Configuration Options, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Apple’s support documents indicate that IT administrators will be able to restrict or allow any “external” artificial intelligence provider, not just OpenAI’s technology. That leaves the door open for Apple to forge other deals with large AI players used in the enterprise environment, without having to recode things at the protocol level.

Stuff

Apple Pay Supporting U.S. National Parks — Here's How You Can Help, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Now through August 29, Apple will donate $10 to the National Park Foundation for every purchase made in the U.S. using Apple Pay on Apple.com, in the Apple Store app, or at an Apple Store, up to a maximum of $1 million.

Apple Original Films’ “F1 The Movie” Is Available On Video On Demand And Electronic Sell-through, by Apple

Apple Original Films announced today that its high-octane summer blockbuster, “F1 The Movie,” is now available to experience at home on premium video on demand and for digital purchase, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, beginning today, August 22, on participating digital retailers.

Belkin’s First 25W Qi2 Chargers Power Up Multiple Devices, by Andrew Liszewski, The Verge

After announcing certification from the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) a month ago, Belkin is now debuting its first three devices that support the Qi2.2 standard and faster 25W wireless charging speeds.

One Month With The Aqara G410 Video Doorbell, by Jonathan Reed, MacStories

It’s simple to set up and reasonably priced, it maintains a good connection with your smart home, and it allows for advanced customization if you so wish. It’s hard to ask for more from a video doorbell.

Develop

When A Bug Saved The Company, by Paul Kafasis, Rogue Amoeba

As days of sustainable sales turned into weeks, we were thrilled but confused. Initially, we couldn’t figure out what had happened. Eventually, though, we tracked down the change. It was a bug!

Notes

70% Of Japan Smartphone Games Bypass In-app Payments To Avoid IT Giants, by Kyodo News

Nearly 70 percent of popular Japanese smartphone games have introduced external payment systems for items and services to avoid hefty commission fees from U.S. tech giants Google LLC and Apple Inc., a Kyodo News tally showed.

The move comes ahead of a new Japanese law tightening regulations on Google and Apple, which dominate smartphone platforms, set to take full effect in December. The legislation requires the two companies to open their payment systems.

Foxconn’s Recall Of More Chinese Staff Tests Apple’s India Push, by Sankalp Phartiyal and Debby Wu, Bloomberg

The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology, a Foxconn component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state is the second such move in a few months. Foxconn has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the information is private.

A New Guard Of Startups Is Racing To Bring Back The 'Old Internet', by Sydney Bradley, Business Insider

Relics of the "old internet" are respawning in new social media startups.

Myspace's profiles, Tumblr's vibes, StumbleUpon's spontaneity, Twitter's status updates — they're being reinvented by a new guard of startup founders.

Bottom of the Page

Either Apple did a lousy job with AppleCare One…

… Or accounts are going away on Mac computers?

… Or younger engineers growing up on iPhones and iPads don't know anything about multiple accounts personal devices?

… Or paranoid gripped everyone working at Apple such that they will go to all lengths to prevent anyone from ever taking advantage of the company with any loopholes?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Higher-than-Average-Churn Edition Friday, August 22, 2025

Apple TV+ Hiking Price, Will Now Cost $13 Per Month In U.S., by Todd Spangler, Variety

Apple TV+, the tech giant’s money-losing streaming service, is bumping up its price by 30%: For U.S. customers, it will now be $12.99 per month, up $3 from $9.99.

The company said it is raising the price of Apple TV+ in the U.S. and select international markets, effective starting Aug. 21 for new customers. Existing Apple TV+ subscribers will see the higher prices within 30 days of their next renewal date.

Apple TV+ Subscription Price Increasing From $10 To $13 Per Month, But The Annual Price Remains Unchanged At $99, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Churn is just naturally higher with streaming video — people subscription hop. Subscribe, catch up on all the exclusive content you’ve missed, then unsubscribe. Subscribe again when there are a few more exclusive shows you’ve missed again. Unsubscribe again. And Apple TV+ has been reported to have higher than average churn. So I think today’s price hike, affecting only the monthly price, is about dealing with that.

Stuff

Super Farming Boy Is A Wild Mix Of Farming, Action And Puzzles, by Brent Dirks, AppAdvice

A fast-paced and exciting game, you’ll enjoy the mix of action and puzzles along with farming simulator.

Notes

Apple Expands India Push With New Store In Bangalore Next Month, by Sankalp Phartiyal, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. will open a new store in India’s southern tech hub of Bangalore early next month, ramping up its push into a key growth market.

[...]

The Cupertino, California-headquartered company now runs two stores in India — a flagship shop in the country’s financial capital of Mumbai and a store in a southern Delhi mall. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook attended the openings of each in 2023.

FTC Chair Warns Tech Firms Not To Weaken Data Privacy To Comply With EU, UK Laws, by Jody Godoy, Reuters

The chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission warned Apple, Alphabet, and other technology companies on Thursday that efforts to comply with British and European digital content laws could violate U.S. law if they weaken privacy and data security protections for American users.

What’s Wrong With Innovation?, by Matthew Wisnioski, MIT Press Reader

Innovation expertise had grown into a diverse and widely practiced vocation. Think tanks proffered their own models, such as the Brookings Institution’s blueprints for “Innovation Districts” distributed to municipalities nationwide. Universities, high schools, and even elementary schools developed innovation and entrepreneurship programs that reached thousands of students. A new generation of innovation experts came to prominence. Start-up founders and community activists alike argued that every stale and oppressive element of the status quo stood to be positively disrupted.

Then came the backlash.

Bottom of the Page

Dear Apple TV+, how about getting some good long-running shows to encourage subscribers to stick around? Do something like Jeopardy!, perhaps? Or soap operas, like The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon?

Just don't bother trying to get Stephen Colbert. He probably remembers what happened to Jon Steward.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Write-Weakness Edition Thursday, August 21, 2025

Apple Fixes New Zero-day Flaw Exploited In Targeted Attacks, by Sergiu Gatlan, BleepingComputer

Apple has released emergency updates to patch another zero-day vulnerability that was exploited in an "extremely sophisticated attack."

Tracked as CVE-2025-43300, this security flaw is caused by an out-of-bounds write weakness discovered by Apple security researchers in the Image I/O framework, which enables applications to read and write most image file formats.

[...]

"Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals," the company revealed in security advisories issued on Wednesday.

Apple Shows How iPhone's Action Mode Helps People With Parkinson's, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple today shared a touching video that highlights how the iPhone's Action mode allows for people with Parkinson's disease to record stable videos.

[...]

"For Brett, Bette, and Ellen, every moment matters," adds Apple. "With Action mode on iPhone, they can capture smooth hand-held videos and reclaim the joy of filming their favorite moments — supported by accessibility features like Voice Control, which help them operate the camera and navigate their iPhone with ease."

Stuff

Greater Manchester Gets Support For Apple Pay Express Mode, by Hartley Charlton, MacRumors

Support for Apple Pay's Express Mode has this week been added to the Bee Network in Greater Manchester, enabling passengers to pay for bus and tram travel without unlocking their iPhone or Apple Watch.

There’s An App For That: Finding A Sunny Cafe In Paris, The City Of Light, by Kari Paul, The Guardian

Finding the perfect seat on the pavement outside a cafe may be a matter of a chance stroll or a timely text from a friend. This summer, though, a digital solution has gained popularity in an extremely French instance of the old Apple slogan “there’s an app for that”: Jveuxdusoleil, an app that tracks the sun’s movement through the city’s maze of buildings to pinpoint exactly where you can claim a sunny spot on a terrace for your coffee. It arrives at a precarious moment for this particularly Parisian pursuit.

This Mac App Automatically Removes Unnecessary Junk From Any URL, by Justin Pot, Lifehacker

Available for macOS and iOS devices, this application can automatically remove all of the crap that's embedded in a URL. On the Mac it can even strip that junk from every URL you copy, automatically.

Mountain Duck 5 Released With Faster Performance And New Features For Remote File Access, by Wayne Williams, Betanews

Mountain Duck is a handy desktop tool that lets users mount server and cloud storage accounts as local drives in Finder on macOS and File Explorer on Windows. This allows remote files to be opened, edited, and saved directly in applications as if they were stored on the computer itself.

Hank Green's Passion Project To Help You Stop Scrolling Is Dominating The App Store, by Grace Snelling, Fast Company

The app, called Focus Friend, was made through a collaboration between Green—an author, YouTuber, and science educator—and Bria Sullivan, founder of the mobile game studio Honey B Games. Sullivan describes the app as a “gamified focus timer,” built with the primary goal of encouraging users not to doomscroll on social media.

Moises App Can Now Generate AI Bandmates, by Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

In an update earlier today, the 2024 iPad App of the Year, Moises, released an impressive feature called AI Studio. It takes a recording of a single instrument and generates other instruments that match the original beat and style.

Notes

Masimo Sues US Customs Over Approval Of Apple Watch Imports, by Blake Brittain, Reuters

Masimo said in the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., federal court that Customs improperly determined that Apple can import watches with pulse oximetry technology, reversing its own decision from last year without notifying Masimo.

The Strange Ways Writers Are Proving That Their Writing Isn’t ChatGPT, by Laurie Clarke, Slate

The other week, I was reading an email I’d written when a strange notion occurred to me. Upon seeing a small typo, I hesitated for a moment before correcting it. Would it perhaps be better, an unsettling new voice suddenly whispered, to leave it in?

This is a thought that would’ve appalled me a year ago. As a professional writer, I have long prided myself on impeccable grammar, judiciously wielded punctuation, and (at times indulgent) verbosity. But in the age of A.I. paranoia—when the comment sections of social media posts and online articles are littered with accusations decrying the dehumanizing warp of ChatGPT—suddenly, writing that appears too polished, too bedecked with literary devices, not to mention a dubious affinity for the word delve, now arouses suspicion.

Bottom of the Page

Some people are going to get rich doing updates to all those corporate training videos 'teaching' us all the tell-tale signs of phishing emails -- bad grammar, bad spelling -- to take into account the wide availability of Gen AI to bad actors.

Or maybe not. Can Gen AI just re-do all these corporate videos?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Now-It-Sucks Edition Wednesday, August 20, 2025

My Petty Gripe: Forced Software Updates Just Make Everything Worse, by Patrick Lum, The Guardian

The promise of forced software patches is that they improve the software and apps we use every day; make them more convenient, maintain our security and so on. But what actually happens most of the time is that updates just change perfectly fine tech – now it sucks.

Was I finally used to how my inbox works, secure in the knowledge that buttons weren’t going to move randomly around? Too bad – it’s entirely different now! How about that handy feature I used all the time, like YouTube’s community-contributed subtitles or my running app’s ability to check my historical statistics? Sorry, it’s been completely deleted or placed behind a paywall. The practice invokes paranoia, too: I’ve found myself deep in Reddit threads full of people convinced the latest operating system update halved their phone’s battery life. Did it? Who can say?

Stuff

Apple Wallet Support For IDs Expands To Eleventh State, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Support for IDs in Apple Wallet is expanding to another new state today: Montana. If you live in Montana and head to the Wallet app on your iPhone, you’ll now have the option to add your ID for easy mobile access.

Spotify Debuts Playlist Mixing Tool Ahead Of Apple Music AutoMix, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Apple's upcoming Automix feature for the Music app differs slightly from Spotify's implementation – it creates DJ-style transitions automatically across the entire music library, whereas Spotify is focusing here on playlist-specific customization.

Bottom of the Page

With so much of the software we are using dependent on components that only exists in the 'cloud', stuff can go missing even if you have turned off software updates and whatnots.

Yes, I have experienced discovering podcast clients that I was using failed to download any new episodes after I stepped out of the house and start my long commute.

(So, now I do have a backup podcast client, that does not rely on a server component to fetch new podcast episodes.)

~

Thanks for reading.

The High-Bar Edition Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Why Apple Is Taking This Controversial Symbol Off Its Packaging, by Adele Peters, Fast Company

In Europe, surveys showed that many people misunderstand “carbon neutral” to mean that a company has eliminated its own emissions. And because there’s so much variation in how brands actually make carbon neutral products, EU regulators decided to ban the claims completely.

Apple argues that instead, regulators could require companies to meet a high bar for transparency and accuracy when they call a product carbon neutral. “I think that rather than banning certain terms, it would behoove us all to set high standards and hold people to them,” says Chandler.

No, Apple Has Not Destroyed Steve Jobs’ Vision For iPad, by Victor Wynne

The beauty of iPadOS lies in its layered approach. Someone buying their first iPad can still experience that magical simplicity Jobs championed at the product unveiling. Apps open full-screen by default. Touch remains the primary interface. The learning curve stays very gentle. But power users can gradually discover features like true windowed multitasking as their needs grow.

This is Apple fulfilling Jobs’ vision more completely than he could have imagined. He wanted computing to feel natural and accessible to everyone, not just technical experts. Today’s iPad achieves this across a much broader range of tasks than the original could handle. A child can play games and watch cartoons just as easily as a designer can create professional illustrations or a writer can manage complex documents.

US Claims UK Has Backed Down In Apple Privacy Row, by Zoe Kleinman, BBC

The US director of national intelligence says the UK has withdrawn its controversial demand to access global Apple users' data if required.

[...]

The BBC understands Apple has not yet received any formal communication from either the US or UK governments.

Stuff

Apple Launches Two Repair Programs In Canada, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple today announced that its Self Service Repair and Genuine Parts Distributor programs are now available in Canada.

Apple Announces $500 Beats Pill Speaker Bundle With Collectible Holder, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple today announced that Beats and Japanese graphic artist Verdy have teamed up to bring back a collectible Beats Pill holder.

Notion Brings Its AI-powered Email App To The iPhone, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

The app uses AI to help sort incoming messages automatically. Users can tell the system which types of emails matter most, and it will label and organize them accordingly.

ScreenFlow 10.5, by Agen Schmitz, TidBITS

The screencast recording and video-editing app now enables you to exclude ScreenFlow and specific applications from recordings, adds support for recording screen regions, and enables looped and timed recordings.

Notes

Some Key Facts About Passkeys And How They Work, by Glenn Fleishman, Six Colors

Passkeys’ biggest flaw right now is that they aren’t exchangeable across password-management systems. I recommend Apple-centric people use the Passwords app to leverage the Safari and iCloud Keychain infrastructure and end-to-end encryption at the moment. If you regularly use Android or Windows, 1Password can manage passkeys across all its supported platforms, so it’s a better choice for now.

The whole industry touts the portability of passkeys without yet offering such a thing. But it’s inevitable, as there’s no lock-in benefit. Finding a secure way to sync or transfer passkeys without introducing security holes that bypass their value is the key (sorry) issue remaining.

How ‘The Studio’ Mastered The Art Of The Unbroken Take: ‘It Was A Learning Experience For Everyone’, by Alex Welch, The Wrap

The solution that Rogen, Kissack and Goldberg landed on was bringing the editor to the set of “The Studio” every day of principal photography so that he could give notes and “live edit” scenes as they went along. That created a dynamic on set that Rogen said only made “The Studio” better.

Bottom of the Page

The more I read about how movies and television is made, the more I wonder what does the director really do?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Pixels-and-Bezel Edition Monday, August 18, 2025

Liquid Glass. Why?, by Craig Hockenberry, Furbo.org

It’s like when safe area insets appeared in iOS 11: it wasn’t clear why you needed them until the iPhone X came along with a notch and a home indicator. And then it changed everything.

[...]

All of this makes me think that Apple is close to introducing devices where the screen disappears seamlessly into the physical edge. Something where flexible OLED blurs the distinction between pixels and bezel. A new “wraparound” screen with safe area insets on the vertical edges of the device, just like we saw with the horizontal edges on iPhone X.

Pebblebee Is Getting Serious About Personal Safety Tracking, by Sophie Charara, Wired

“Safety, specifically, has been on the roadmap, I'd say probably for three or four years, once we started implementing the DULT,” says Pebblebee’s founder and CEO Daniel Daoura. “So ever since then, we’ve wanted to do it but we just didn't have the bandwidth and ability. We wanted to make sure we've established ourselves as a trustworthy and dependable company.”

The DULT specification, which is also supported by Apple, Google and the likes of Chipolo and is waiting on IETF ratification, is, says Daoura, “very close to being perfect.” Safeguards including the tracker devices buzzing or chiming so as not to go undetected, and notifications to the user being tracked without the need for a dedicated app are ideas the IETF is considering.

iOS 26 Tweaks iPhone Always On Display In A Way You Might Not Like, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Instead of simply dimming your Lock Screen wallpaper, the system now blurs it by default. The tweak makes the clock and widgets stand out more, but it also defeats the purpose of displaying a photo if that’s what you like about the feature. Luckily, there’s also a toggle to bring back the original behavior.

Notes

Should Europe Wean Itself Off US Tech?, by Daniel Thomas, BBC

At the root of these concerns is the fact just three US giants - Google, Microsoft and Amazon - provide 70% of Europe's cloud-computing infrastructure, the scaffolding on which many online services depend.

[...]

Even the region's main mobile operating systems - Apple and Android - and payment networks - Mastercard and Visa - are American.

Is Roblox Getting Worse?, by David Gilbert, Wired

Roblox can’t keep up. After years of criticism that its platform isn’t safe for the young gamers it caters to, the multibillion-dollar company announced in July that it was rolling out new measures to protect users, including an AI-powered age-verification system and other privacy tools. But researchers, experts, and lawyers have concerns the changes won’t stop Roblox’s bigger problem: staying ahead of individuals using the platform to exploit players.

Bottom of the Page

IMHO, governments and regulators should not focus all their energy in curtailing what dominant players can and cannot do. Rather, spend more effort to make it easier for competitors to emerge and flourish.

Why spend all that effort and capital just to help dating apps and clipboard apps and games and game emulators on the existing platforms? Instead, start figuring how to bring about additional viable mobile platforms. Invest in new companies and people, invest in open standards.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Smashed-in-the-Face Edition Sunday, August 17, 2025

What Would You Do If Google, Apple And Microsoft Closed Your Cloud Accounts Without Warning?, by Craig Grannell, Stuff

Think that could never happen to you? You’re probably right. Chances are your Google or Apple account will outlive you. However, the tech world regularly coughs up a horror story that, if it happens to you, will feel like being smashed in the face by a nasty critter from Alien.

'Notify' Is A Free App That Lets You Easily Monitor Website Changes, by Michael Burkhardt, 9to5Mac

The headlining feature of Notify is the ability to detect website changes on device, at scheduled intervals – and that part is fairly self explanatory. You can configure whatever websites you’d like to monitor for changes, schedule how regularly you’d like to check for updates – and easily view change history as they accumulate.

How The Studio Scored Scorsese, by Nicholas Quah, Vulture

With The Studio and its avalanche of celebrity cameos, the primary challenge was scheduling, which is inevitable when juggling so many famous people’s calendars. Because of that logistical complexity, the team shot all episodes simultaneously, with actor availability playing a major role in how production was structured. And despite the enormity of Kostenbauder’s assignment, she was able to take a grounded approach: “Seth and Evan wanted each guest actor to fit into the scenario,” she said. “They always talked about things in terms of making each given situation successful.” She hasn’t yet started work on season two, but in the run-up to the Emmys, Kostenbauder shared her experience casting some of the biggest episodes of season one.

Bottom of the Page

I sure hope that all these companies doesn't make me talk to an AI when anything goes wrong, because AIs don't know anything, cannot do anything, and different interactions with the AIs will gives you different and contradicting results.

Come to think of it: different and contradicting results: isn't that what the humans over at App Store reviews are infamous for?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Soul-of-the-iPad Edition Saturday, August 16, 2025

Apple Finally Destroyed Steve Jobs’ Vision Of The iPad. Good, by Craig Grannell, Wired

Which means the iPad no longer sits between two extremes—instead, you switch between them. The iPad is now two devices in one, the iPad that Steve Jobs imagined and the machine that pros have begged for. A touchscreen consumption slate and a windowed productivity machine. An Apple spork.

So, yes, an iPad running iPadOS 26 may still contain the soul of the original iPad, lurking deep in Settings, waiting to be turned on. But the Jobs dream of a focused, elegant third device category between smartphone and laptop is effectively dead.

Stuff

I Use This App For All My Lecture Notes—You Should Too, by Mahnoor Faisal, MakeUseOf

It’s made capturing, sorting, and finding my lectures so effortless that I can’t imagine going back.

Trailforks Launches Long-awaited Apple Watch App, Saying "We’re Meeting Users Where They Are", by Julia Clarke, Advnture

You can now access and navigate trails offline, track your activities and monitor your performance all from your wrist.

Les Amis, The European App Helping Women Form Friendships, Launches In New York, by Lauren Forristal, TechCrunch

Les Amis uses AI to pair users with similar interests and encourages them to join local events offered within the app, such as pottery classes, book clubs, wine tastings, and Pilates.

Notes

Ben Folds On Writing For Charlie Brown, When Music Lost Its Sense Of Humor, And How “Stupid” The Critics Were About Billy Joel, by Tony Maglio, The Hollywood Reporter

I think that one thing I could do for [Apple TV+] with this show was just to bring a real, old-fashioned craft of songwriting, which is dying out. That doesn’t mean that there’s not good songs these days, but there are different kinds of songs, far less about the craft, which is a good thing. But it makes me think of something specific: David Bowie and Bing Crosby sang that famous duet (“Peace on Earth”/“Little Drummer Boy”). Well, the story, roughly, behind that was that Bowie walked into this whole thing and was like, “I’m not singing ba rum pum-pum-pums.” And they were like, “Well, what if we made it something— a little bit expanded?” So a staff writer just wrote the half of the song. They call it a mashup, but the song didn’t exist. So the other one, where it says “Peace on Earth,” or whatever, the other they’ve mashed up, the staff writer pulled that out of his ass And that’s the kind of craft that existed in that era, where people who were just writing on staff were writing better than stuff that people make now.

Why Is Apple Planning To Make A Robot?, by John Herrman, New York Magazine

Every company is trying to become an everything company, in other words, which means Apple’s moves here are less about forging new paths than filling gaps in its own omni-conglomerate portfolio (more urgently, perhaps, as its core product, the iPhone, approaches its 20th anniversary).

Bottom of the Page

It shouldn't be difficult to decide whether you want to buy a MacBook, or if you want to buy an iPad. Or both, as Apple likes to remind us again and again.

If this decision ever becomes difficult, Apple has blew it.

With all the new multitasking and windowing stuff thrown in iPadOS 26, and with whatever new Mac devices Apple is planning for, the "No" answer that Apple has previously answered about merging Mac and iPad may continue to be a No, but an asterisk may increasingly play a larger role.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Yet-Another-Subsidiary Edition Friday, August 15, 2025

From Theo Von To Mel Robbins, What Works In Podcasting Has Radically Changed, by James Hibberd, Hollywood Reporter

Indeed, a couple years ago, Apple was the No. 1 method by which podcasts were consumed, followed by Spotify. But a recent study by Coleman Insights and Amplifi showed that YouTube is now No. 1, Spotify is second and Apple is third. “There is an expectation that all content lives on YouTube,” Goldstein says. “And I was shocked how much of podcasting is now consumed on big-screen TVs at home.”

Yet the rise of YouTube has some in the industry concerned that podcasts — along with their independent advertising streams — could effectively become yet another Google subsidiary. “What worries me is if the ‘podcast industry’ becomes just an unclear subset of YouTube video-makers, then we don’t have a podcast industry anymore,” says Podnews editor James Cridland. “We’re literally just a bunch of YouTubers.”

Stuff

Apple TV+ Premieres The First Snoopy Musical Special In 37 Years, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

As part of its exclusive deal with Peanuts, Apple TV+ today premieres Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical. This is the latest original Snoopy special to air on the platform, and this one stands out as it is a song-filled musical. The last time Peanuts premiered a new musical episode was more than 37 years ago.

This Sleep App Helped Me Romanticize My Nighttime Routine, by Carolyn Steber, Bustle

Instead of scrolling until you nod off — and inevitably drop your phone on your face — Loóna encourages you to disconnect from the stresses of the day another way. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean putting your phone away or trying to fall asleep in the dark. With this app, you can still stare at a screen as you settle in for the night.

I’m Always Looking For New Movies And Shows – These Are The 5 Apps I Rely On To Make Streaming Simple, by Tom Wardley, TechRadar

So, if you’ve ever found yourself overwhelmed in a sea of content, knowing there’s stuff you’d love but with no idea how or where to find it, read on, as we outline our five favorite apps designed to help you navigate the streaming landscape.

Notes

Inside Apple’s Legal Black Box, by Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times

So here’s the tricky part: to square the circle between the Official Secrets Act and NCND ("Neither confirm nor deny policy") while still allowing the court to be open, Apple’s case will be heard based on what the IPT (Investigatory Powers Tribunal) calls “assumed facts”.

[...]

There also seems to be a “back door” in the whole “assumed facts” construct: the lack of transparency into how they are agreed. The actual facts will only emerge if the tribunal finds in Apple’s favour. But if the court sides with the government, the rest of us will be left with questions over exactly what the Home Office asked of Apple, why it did so and whether it is making the same demands of other tech companies.

Bottom of the Page

Yes, most of the podcasts that I follow are essentially a bunch of people talking to each other on microphones in a Zoom meeting.

But I hope that so long as RSS feeds still exist, so long as podcast listening apps still exist, there will always be podcasts outside of YouTube?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Calculated-on-Paired-iPhone Edition Thursday, August 14, 2025

An Update On Blood Oxygen For Apple Watch In The U.S., by Apple

Apple will introduce a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update coming later today.

Users with these models in the U.S. who currently do not have the Blood Oxygen feature will have access to the redesigned Blood Oxygen feature by updating their paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1 and their Apple Watch to watchOS 11.6.1. Following this update, sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch will be measured and calculated on the paired iPhone, and results can be viewed in the Respiratory section of the Health app. This update was enabled by a recent U.S. Customs ruling.

Apple Launching ‘Redesigned Blood Oxygen Feature’ On Apple Watch In The U.S. Today, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

This means your Apple Watch can collect data in the background and pass it off to the iPhone for calculation.

[...]

Apple explains that this move comes after U.S. Customs issued a ruling stating that Apple may import Apple Watch models with this new software design for the Blood Oxygen feature.

Art vs Commerce

‘The Studio’: Seth Rogen On Why Record Emmy Noms Might Make His Life Easier And Adding Sarah Polley To Next Season’s Writers Room, by Chris Gardner, Hollywood Reporter

The general conundrum of art versus commerce is a theme that we really like and will continue to lean into. But how it manifests itself in how the season is structured will evolve. We do have a lot of ideas as to how to explore different elements of that.

Coming Soon?

Next iPad Mini To Feature A19 Pro Chip, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features an A19 chip, according to information found in code that Apple mistakenly shared.

Apple Code Confirms Vision Pro With M5 Chip, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Based on Apple's code, it looks like the next-generation Vision Pro will use the M5 chip.

Stuff

Funky New Wallpaper To Welcome The Latest Apple Store, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

Apple has today previewed its latest retail store ahead of its opening on Saturday. As usual, the company has created a funky new wallpaper to celebrate the opening, and made it available for download.

Notes

A New Apple Watch Is Coming. It's Time To Break The Mold, by Jason Snell, Macworld

Too often, people take Jobs’s move to simplify an overcomplicated product line a bit more literally than they should. The Mac product line Jobs found on his return was too complex, yes, but as he rebuilt Apple, he knew he would have to simplify and focus things to get started. After the Power Mac, PowerBook, iMac, and iBook all shipped, Jobs was happy to toss in all sorts of Macs that didn’t fit into the grid, including the G4 Cube and Xserve.

Similarly, as modern Apple has grown in the years since Jobs, it has done so in part by dropping the simplicity and offering many different variations of its products. It just makes sense. And over the next few years, we may find new versions of familiar products that go far beyond what we’ve come to expect from Apple. Does this apply to the future of the Apple Watch? Let’s look at what history may tell us.

Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay: Impoverished Streaming Services Are Driving Viewers Back To Piracy, by Gabriel V Rindborg, The Guardian

Today, the crisis in streaming makes this clearer than ever. With titles scattered, prices on the rise, and bitrates throttled depending on your browser, it is little wonder some viewers are raising the jolly roger again. Studios carve out fiefdoms, build walls and levy tolls for those who wish to visit. The result is artificial scarcity in a digital world that promised abundance.

Whether piracy today is rebellion or resignation is almost irrelevant; the sails are hoisted either way.

Apple Could Be A Major Force In Limiting Climate Change, But It's Not, by Auden Schendler, Bill Weihl, Trellis

Apple and Cook could really lead by deploying a different playbook: the one business has always used to drive change in society. That approach uses power, voice, lobbying force, political influence, money, marketing machinery and customers to create the right social, economic and legal incentives to drive desired outcomes.

Bottom of the Page

This new sensor-paired-with-a-separate-computer workaround sounds... interesting.

~

Thanks for reading.

The One-Obsession-For-Another Edition Wednesday, August 13, 2025

A Moment That Changed Me: I Resolved To Reduce My Screen Time – And It Was A Big Mistake, by Joe Stone, The Guardian

I traded one obsession (looking at my phone) for another (not looking at it). In my second week, I was down to two hours of screen time a day. By my third, it was an hour and a half – and I became determined to get it below 60 minutes. Part of me was impressed that I could appear normal while quietly (nobly?) wielding this superpower. However, I was unable to keep my gift a secret. I soon began boring friends, acquaintances and service workers with tales of my herculean discipline.

Before long, my quest was disrupting my day in new ways. I resented having to open Maps on my phone, so I found myself getting lost while cycling to appointments. If I wanted to show someone a picture or a meme, I would ask to Google it on their phone, rather than my own. I refused to order Ubers after nights out (the painstaking process of watching a cab crawl towards my location while the minutes of screen time racked up was torturous) and instead offered to transfer the money (later, on my laptop) to whoever did.

Stuff

Apple Arcade Gets New NFL And Jeopardy Games And More Next Month, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Just in time for the start of the upcoming NFL season on September 4, NFL Retro Bowl '26 features authentic NFL players and rosters with retro styling. In this year's version of the game, there is a new Retro Bowl Championship Leaderboard that tasks players with competing against each other in weekly matchups, in line with the NFL schedule.

Older Apple TV+ Movies Available To Purchase Directly, by Hartley Charlton, MacRumors

Older ‌Apple TV‌+ titles including Sofia Coppola's 2020 movie "On the Rocks," Sian Heder's Academy Award-winning 2021 film "CODA," and Aaron Schneider's 2020 World War II drama "Greyhound" are now available to buy or rent in 4K HDR options within the store section of the ‌Apple TV‌ app.

This Designer Turned The New Beats Pill Into A Cool Art Piece You Can’t Get Everywhere, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Beats is rolling out a fresh limited-edition version of its recently relaunched Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker, teaming up with Bulgarian-born fashion designer Kiko Kostadinov.

Cassette's New App Turns Your Videos Into Retro, VHS-like Home Movies, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

To use the app, you virtually “load” one of the tapes laid out across the screen by selecting the year’s videos you want to view. The videos are labeled with what look like handwritten stickers with the year attached to the VHS tape’s cover sleeve.

You can then watch your life unfold on the screen with no further interaction required on your part.

This App Switcher For Mac Is Way Faster Than Command-Tab, by Pranay Parab, Lifehacker

My favorite Dory feature is the ability to permanently assign certain keys to launch certain apps.

Pebblebee’s AirTag Alternative Can Now Share Your Real-time Location In An Emergency, by Andrew Liszewski, The Verge

Alert Alive expands your automatically contacted Safety Circle from just a single person to up to five, and it shares your real-time location with them until you’re safe and turn it off.

Notes

This Auction Is Selling A Treasure Trove Of Vintage Apple Tech, by Grace Snelling, Fast Company

The collection of items, titled “Steve Jobs and the Apple Revolution,” is currently being sold by RR Auction, and will remain live until August 21. It’s one of the company’s 12 annual speciality auctions, which focus on specific subjects like space exploration, the Olympics, and animation.

Bottom of the Page

Lowering your screen-time of your device is, I feel, not a worthwhile goal. Rather, it should be lowering your screen-time of specific apps that you choose.

My iPhone is not just a phone and an 'internet communicator'. It is also my book, my book-on-tape, my on-demand radio, my walkman, my newspaper, my magazine, my camera, my telegram, my map, my notebook, and my calendar. Why would I want to decrease the usage of any of the above?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Treading-Water Edition Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Apple’s AI Ambitions Leave Big Questions Over Its Climate Goals, by Sophie Charara, Wired

So while, yes, the current top iPhone is better for the environment than five years ago (and the figures for some of the base models show even greater improvements), most of that progress was made between 2020 and 2022. As Apple has pushed forward with AI and introduced emissions-heavy technological innovations to support it, the company has been left mostly treading water.

[...]

As the kids say, the bar is in hell. At least Apple hasn’t backtracked; Apple’s still playing. But as Tim Cook doubles down on Apple's commitment to AI, can Cupertino keep up with its climate goals while pushing forward in its AI ambitions?

Beta 6

Apple Folds On One Change To Its New Camera App In Latest iOS 26 Beta, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

First, the “Classic Mode Switching” toggle found in the Camera section of the Settings app has been removed. So did Apple simply remove the rather clunky option? Nope. That’s the second change in today’s developer beta release. The swipe direction has returned to the way it has been since the dawn of time.

Apple Changes Liquid Glass Again In iOS 26 Beta 6, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

The Lock Screen clock has been updated with additional transparency, allowing more of the background to peek through.

iOS 26 Gets More New Ringtones, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

In addition to the standard Reflection ringtone, there are now six variants: Buoyant, Dreamer, Tech, Pop, Reflected, and Surge.

iOS 26 Beta 6 Makes iPhone Apps Launch So Much Faster, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

Apple seems to have significantly sped up the animation used when you tap an app icon on your Home Screen.

The New Preview App Has A Fun Interactive Liquid Glass Easter Egg, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Next to the UI chrome is a 3D loupe, just like the one you can see in the app icon. It looks cool as is, but the real easter egg is you can actually pick up this loupe with your finger and drag it around.

Stuff

You Can Now Watch Apple TV+ Shows For Free On United Airlines Flights, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

However, note that the full Apple TV+ content library is not available. At least right now, only the first season of flagship shows will be offered. This means flyers can check out the first season of Severance at no extra charge, but season two is not available to select.

Backing Up iCloud Photos In Other Ways, by Glenn Fleishman, Six Colors

I recently wrote about duplicating iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos to a network-attached storage (NAS) system. This struck a nerve for folks who want to keep full-resolution backups of their Photos Library when they don’t have enough local storage. (That column was focused on not needing to keep your Mac powered up to handle these iCloud offline backups when the Mac was otherwise not in use.)

Readers wrote in or replied via social media with strategies and workarounds, as well as suggesting three software options that can let you sync iCloud Photos outside of Apple’s limitations. Meanwhile, a developer dropped a line to Jason about his new app, which can sync and archive iCloud Photos and files from iCloud Drive.

Ocean's New App Brings Inbox Triage, Tasks, And Invites To Gmail Users, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

A new personal productivity app called Ocean is launching to help you triage your overloaded inbox, take action on your emails by turning them into tasks, and share your availability for meetings with others, all in one app.

This Magnetic Charger Brings The Conveniences Of Wireless Charging To The iPad, by Andrew Liszewski, The Verge

Like wireless chargers for the iPhone, the M30 magnetically attaches to the back of supported iPad models, but instead of transferring power through wire coils and induction, it uses the same Smart Connector pins that iPad accessories like the Magic Keyboard rely on.

Develop

It's Probably Time For A Deload, by Lex Friedman, Your Intermittent Lex

We are bad at deloads, across all aspects of our life. Many of us struggle with shutting off work — when we’re home, when we’re on vacation… We’re always connected and we can always see our inboxes and Slack, and there’s always more work. And so we feel obligated or even motivated to always be on, all the time.

That motivation itself isn’t a bad thing. But you know what’s even better? Self-care.

Bottom of the Page

Will we see a return of translucent computer cases, perhaps with a hint of bondi blue, from Apple? And how frosted will the translucency be?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Entire-Purpose Edition Monday, August 11, 2025

Apple Is Killing The Mac’s Launchpad, Here's Why I'll Miss It, by Bobby Jack, How-To Geek

Launchpad is unique in that list for one important reason: its entire purpose is app launching. Every other option displays running apps, mixes in files and folders, or offers another world of complexity.

This App Helped Me Fix iPhone Shortcuts' Biggest Limitation, by T.M. Amrita, How-To Geek

IFTTT extends automation beyond your Apple ecosystem by connecting your iPhone and Shortcuts app with third-party services, actions, and triggers that are not readily available within Shortcuts' scope.

Notes

AOL Is Finally Shutting Down Dial-up, by Thomas Ricker, The Verge

AOL dial-up is ending on September 30th according to a statement posted on the company’s website. It marks the end of the service that was synonymous with the internet for many since its launch in 1991.

Apple Permanently Closes Its First Store In China, by Fatbobman’s Blog

When the store opened in 2015, it was situated in Dalian’s most prominent commercial district. In its early days, it indeed attracted large numbers of Apple enthusiasts, and given its prime location, many tourists visiting Dalian also made it a must-visit destination, contributing positively to Apple’s brand promotion and customer service. However, with urban expansion and the restructuring of functional zones, this once-premier shopping district has been replaced by multiple emerging commercial centers over the past few years. Both foot traffic and the infrastructure of the shopping complex have declined significantly, with current visitor numbers less than one-tenth of peak levels. Within the same district, numerous international brands have also adjusted their presence or withdrawn entirely.

Why Paying For Spotify Mostly Pays Taylor Swift, by Mert Bulan

So even if you only listen to indie artists, your money still mostly goes to the big names, because the payout is based on total listening across all users, not just you.

Bottom of the Page

Speaking of launching apps, why hasn't the iPadOS' App Library arrived on macOS' dock yet?

My guess: since most apps for macOS doesn't come from the App Store, Apple has no idea how to recreate the App Library with its categories of apps yet.

Maybe Apple Intelligence -- and some web crawling -- will help in the coming future?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Noise-Blocking Edition Sunday, August 10, 2025

Ear Protection Is The New Sunscreen, by Jessica Furseth, Slate

Society is having a reckoning about noise. Hearing is a sense we can’t physically turn off, and until recently, unless we were willing to cosplay as a construction worker by wearing ear defenders, we just had to suck it up. But as active noise-canceling technology goes from good to great, it’s become easier than ever to protect our ears from dangerous sound levels. Noise blocking has gone from yellow foamies to glittering style accessories seen all over this year’s Coachella. We’ve increasingly turned down the volume on the world—and our mental and physical health might depend on it.

Coming This Fall

macOS Tahoe 26 Beta Brings Over A Dozen New Aerial Screen Savers To Your Mac, by Michael Burkhardt, 9to5Mac

With macOS Tahoe, Apple will be adding a bunch of new screen saver options, which you can also set as wallpapers. There are a couple new variants of the previously introduced Tahoe screen saver in beta 5, as well as around a dozen other options introduced in a previous beta that flew under the radar.

tvOS 26 Changes 'HomeKit' References To 'Apple Home' In Settings App, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Does this serve as evidence that Apple is slowly phasing out its HomeKit brand in favor of Apple Home, or did Apple simply realize that Apple Home was the better wording in these instances? It could be the latter, but it would not be surprising if Apple eventually did retire the HomeKit name in favor of the more generic Apple Home for both its smart home app and framework, especially as the company prepares to launch an all-new home hub.

Stuff

I Still Use This Forgotten Mac App Every Day, by Andy Betts, How-To Geek

The simplicity of Stickies is the key to its greatness. The app is less than 2MB in size and has no significant features. It won't sync your notes to your other devices over iCloud, and doesn't even have a Settings option in the menu. If you're looking for more, you're missing the point. But what is here makes it genuinely useful.

Apple Vision Pro Immersive Video Explores Borneo’s Orangutans In Stunning Detail, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

The fourth episode, “Orangutans,” puts the viewer face-to-face with young orangutans at a rehab center in Borneo, a giant, rugged island in Southeast Asia.

Log Your Weight In Apple Health Quickly And Cheaply With This iPhone-compatible Smart Scale, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

It will connect to the scale and your weight will be logged inside eufy Life, which then also sends it to the Apple Health database. You don’t have to press any buttons, just have the app open, so it’s pretty painless.

Is This Seat Taken? Makes Seating Fussy People Fun, by Jay Peters, The Verge

Creating seating arrangements can be pretty stressful; the empath part of me strives to find the perfect seat for every person even if it’s a nearly impossible task. If it’s for a big, meaningful event, I get even more anxious. When you find the right place for everyone, though, it’s even more satisfying than a great jigsaw puzzle. Chasing that feeling is what Is This Seat Taken? is all about — and it does so in a low-stakes and relaxing way.

Notes

OpenAI Will Not Disclose GPT-5’s Energy Use. It Could Be Higher Than Past Models, by Aisha Kehoe Down, The Guardian

“A more complex model like GPT-5 consumes more power both during training and during inference. It’s also targeted at long thinking … I can safely say that it’s going to consume a lot more power than GPT-4,” said Rakesh Kumar, a professor at the University of Illinois, currently working on the energy consumption of computation and AI models.

Bottom of the Page

There is something magical with apps that do just one or two things well. As opposed to 'super' apps that cram everything plus the kitchen sink into tiny tiny screens.

(I have old eyes. Every screen that is smaller than the monitor on my desk is a tiny tiny screen.)

~

Thanks for reading.

The Basically-Zero Edition Saturday, August 9, 2025

Smartwatches Offer Little Insight Into Stress Levels, Researchers Find, by Rachel Hall, The Guardian

Researchers found almost no relationship between the stress levels reported by the smartwatch and the levels that participants said they experienced. However, recorded fatigue levels had a very slight association with the smartwatch data, while sleep had a stronger correlation.

Eiko Fried, an author of the study, said the correlation between the smartwatch and self-reported stress scores was “basically zero”.

Stuff

Apple Releases New ‘Here’s To The Dreamers’ Wallpaper For iPhone, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

This year, Apple’s latest “Here’s to the Dreamers” campaign features creatives in a wide array of fields, including music but also art, app development, and more.

Apple has also published a new iPhone wallpaper to fit the occasion, available now on its website.

This Mac App Automatically Triggers 'Do Not Disturb' When You're On A Call, by Justin Pot, Lifehacer

Imagine an incredibly embarrassing text popping up on your screen while you're giving an online presentation. Now imagine you never have to worry about this ever happening again. On Air Mode is a free Mac application that does one thing: It sets your Mac to Do Not Disturb mode whenever your microphone is active.

RetroStrip Review: Nostalgic Utility Brings Back The Legendary Mac Control Strip, by Thomas Hartmann, Macworld

I find it quite practical and nostalgically beautiful to have such a small control bar for certain frequently used apps permanently floating in the foreground without being intrusive.

New iOS App Takes The Mystery Out Of HomeKit Troubleshooting, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

HomeCare for HomeKit is designed as a complete toolkit for diagnosing and fixing smart home problems. At its core, it scans your entire setup to instantly identify devices that are unresponsive, slow, or running on low battery. Each failing device shows a “Last Time Online” timestamp to help pinpoint when trouble began.

There's A Better Way To Watch YouTube On iPhone (Without Ads, The Algorithm, Or Shorts), by Khamosh Pathak, Lifehacker

The answer you've been looking for is a third-party Watch Later app like Play. Play isn’t a fully-featured YouTube client (Google made sure to nerf all of those), but that’s actually a good thing. You use the app to find and sort videos you actually want to watch, without getting bothered by the algorithm. No comments, no feed, and yes, there’s an option to disable Shorts as well.

Nintendo’s New Hello, Mario! Mobile App Lets Kids Play With Mario’s Face, by Andrew Liszewski, The Verge

Nintendo has announced a new free mobile app coming to iOS, Android and the Switch. It’s called Hello, Mario! and was revealed alongside a new collection of Mario-themed products designed for kids and toddlers launching in Japan later this month.

Notes

You Sound Like ChatGPT, by Sara Parker, The Verge

This isn’t a question about whether AI will continue shaping how we speak — because it will — but whether we’ll actively choose to preserve space for the verbal quirks and emotional messiness that make communication recognizably, irreplaceably human.

Bottom of the Page

Today, I've a heong peng for breakfast, ramen for lunch, and ayam penyet for dinner.

Yes, this has been a satisfying day.

(Except for the part where I am wrestling with SwiftUI.)

~

Thanks for reading.

The Harder-to-Use Edition Friday, August 8, 2025

This macOS 26 Icon Strategy Punishes Mac Users More Than Developers, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

When it comes to iOS 26, Liquid Glass and legibility have been the subject of much discussion around the iPhone software redesign. On the Mac, however, app icon decisions have stirred up a lot of feelings for macOS Tahoe users. One change in particular arguably makes the Mac harder to use.

The Absolutely Insane Camera Swipe Direction In iOS 26, by Benjamin Mayo

The fact this setting exists at all is wild to me, and even more so that the default is for that toggle to be off, suggesting that having the Camera app defy the fundamental logic of the iPhone’s direct manipulation user interface is the preferred path forward.

Stuff

Apple Arcade Received These Four New Games Today, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Exclusive to Apple Arcade, Play-Doh World lets you create digital Play-Doh characters and more.

My Streaming Queue Was Out Of Control—Here's What Saved Me, by Tyler Hayes, PC Magazine

I use Sequel to manage my watchlist. It’s great for TV shows and movies, but also handles books, audiobooks, and video games. It’s a full-featured media tracker that taps into databases of content so it shows posters, overviews, and descriptions.

Is This The Future Of Filmmaking? DaVinci Resolve Takes Big Immersive Video Leap, by Kalum Carter, Digital Camera World

DaVinci Resolve 20.1 introduces support for Apple Immersive workflows, marking a major leap into the future of spatial video.

Notes

Should You Be Using A Nutrition App?, by Jo Williams, Good Food

Overall, these apps can be educational and are a useful entry point for raising awareness about the food you're eating. But, it’s hard to be sure how accurate or consistent the information is. Nutrition is rarely black and white, and apps are not a substitute for tailored, professional, individualised information, especially for complex cases. If you focus on cooking with whole foods and fresh produce, you can be confident you are making good choices without the need for apps.

Here's When ChatGPT Integration Within Apple Intelligence Will Use GPT-5, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Following today’s reveal of OpenAI’s latest model, Apple tells me that ChatGPT integration within Apple Intelligence will use GPT-5 with iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe 26.

‘The Studio’ Guest Stars Anthony Mackie, Zoë Kravitz And Dave Franco On Playing Twisted Versions Of Themselves: ‘The Crazier You Get, The Better’, by Max Gao, Variety

“That said, when you’re playing yourself, the crazier you get, the better,” says Franco. “I have no ego about any of this. I just want to make myself look like a complete idiot. When I’m working with Seth and Evan, I feel so safe and protected. I feel liberated to take huge swings knowing that they will reel me in if I ever go too far. But more often than not, they just keep pushing me further and further, and that’s when you get some of this really wacky, fun stuff.”

Bottom of the Page

I have two devices that will not be receiving the 2026 OS updates. I am considering not replacing them ever.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Mandate-For-Browsing-Apps Edition Thursday, August 7, 2025

Apple's WebKit Browser Requirement May Break Japanese Law, by Thomas Claburn, The Register

Apple now faces challenges to its WebKit browser requirement in three jurisdictions, as authorities around the globe try to jumpstart competition in the mobile software industry.

Japan last week published legal guidance for its recent smartphone competition law, the Mobile Software Competition Act, indicating that restrictions like Apple's WebKit mandate for browsing apps will not be allowed.

‘F1’ Returns To Imax Theaters After Becoming Brad Pitt’s Highest-Grossing Movie Ever, by Jordan Moreau, Variety

“F1” recently crossed $552 million at the global box office, making it the highest-grossing original feature of the year and Apple’s largest film ever. It lapped Pitt’s previous best movie, his 2013 zombie movie “World War Z” which made $540 million at the box office (not adjusted for inflation). Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, “F1” has made $85 million and counting from Imax theaters alone, which is the highest of any film this year and accounted for 23% of its North America opening and 19% of its global launch.

Stuff

Singapore Gets Apple Maps' Detailed City Experience With Custom 3D Landmarks And New Features, by Aloysius Low, CNA

iPhone and iPad users in Singapore will now be able to get an upgraded Apple Maps experience, thanks to the new Detailed City Experience update that was rolled out on Thursday (Aug 7). Singapore is also the first city and country in Asia to receive the update.

The new Apple Maps experience will let you zoom in to check out a highly detailed Singapore map that features custom designed 3D landmarks that will be familiar to locals and really helpful for tourists, such as the Fullerton Hotel, Lau Pa Sat, the Merlion, as well as Apple’s floating Marina Bay Sands store.

Apple Maps Cycling Directions Expand To Taiwan And Hong Kong, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Apple Maps has expanded the availability of cycling routes in East Asia by adding support for Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Apple Park Visitor Center's Rooftop Terrace Is Temporarily Closed, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple says the rooftop terrace will be receiving some unspecified "improvements," and it will be closed until Monday, September 1 as a result.

Notes

The Internet Wants To Check Your I.D., by Kyle Chayka, New Yorker

The Tea spillage is emblematic of what’s at risk when we attach our real-life identities to our online activities. Yet the tethering of identity to digital access is precisely what is prescribed by a new wave of laws going into effect around the world and in bills under consideration in the U.S. [...] In theory, such laws protect minors, but in practice they affect all users’ experience of the internet. In order to verify who is a child online, after all, sites must also determine who is not.

Bottom of the Page

During assembly of today's edition, there are some links I didn't put in.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Original-DNA Edition Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Ben Stiller Wants To Make ‘Severance’ More Quickly—but First, He Needs To Get It Just Right, by David Canfield, Vanity Fair

The challenge and the scary thing of that is: You don’t want to lose the original DNA of what the show is, and what people like about it. But it’s interesting with this show,, because different people like different things in it. So we just try to stick to what we feel is the core of the show, but allow it to evolve into something that maybe we never even imagined.

Beta 5

Mail No Longer Buries The 'Select' Button In iOS 26 Beta 5, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

The issue? iOS 26 beta 1 through 4 required an additional tap before entering select mode to choose multiple emails to mark as read or archive. It doesn’t sound like a big deal when you put it like that, but the feedback was more about a general trend of burying primary controls behind “…” buttons.

RIP To The Macintosh HD Hard Drive Icon, 2000–2025, by Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica

The old Macintosh HD hard drive icon, for years represented by a facsimile of an old spinning hard drive, has been replaced with something clearly intended to resemble a solid-state drive (the SSD in your Mac actually looks like a handful of chips soldered to a circuit board, but we'll forgive the creative license).

iOS 26 Beta Adds A Cute New Low Battery Animation, by Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

There is also a new low battery notification that shows a red circle animation that resembles a radar pulse.

Stuff

Apple Launches Early Preview Of ChatGPT-Like Support Assistant, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

In the Apple Support app, the Support Assistant early preview can be accessed by tapping on a dedicated "Chat" button that's been added to the navigation bar. Only a select number of ‌iPhone‌ users will see the chat option at this time.

Apple Planning ‘National Fitness Day’ Apple Watch Challenge In China, by Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

As in previous years, Apple will challenge users in China to complete a 20-minute workout to unlock a custom animated sticker pack to be used in iMessage, FaceTime, and other messaging apps, as well as a special achievement in the Fitness app trophy gallery.

Notes

What Kids Told Us About How To Get Them Off Their Phones, by Lenore Skenazy, Zach Rausch, and Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic

What we see in the data and from the stories parents send us is both simple and poignant: Kids being raised on screens long for real freedom. It’s like they’re homesick for a world they’ve never known.

Bottom of the Page

I finally did it. I have my iPhone Mirroring up on my laptop screen, and I lifted my finger, up in the air, ready to scroll the content on the mirrored iPhone window, with my finger, on my MacBook.

Something is not quite right, my brain was telling me at that moment.

~

Yes, Apple has already added windowing and traffic-lights to iPadOS. Should we all expect touch-screen MacBooks, too, will be out soon?

~

Thanks for reading.

The Interface-Regression Edition Tuesday, August 5, 2025

UI Ambiguity, Exhibit №917, by Riccardo Mori

‘A Mac’? Which Mac? If I don’t recognise this device (whose name you’re not telling me straight away), I can remove it in Settings. Yes, I can do the extra step of going to Settings > Apple ID (or Apple Account) and look through the — long, in my case — list of devices to see if some new device with a name I don’t recognise has perhaps appeared there.

There are, of course, far worse examples of bad or ambiguous UI; what’s annoying for me in this case is that this is yet another interface regression.

Slice of Tech Nostalgia

Ode To The EarPods, by Basic Apple Guy

If AirPods never seem to fit quite right, you might find the slimmer EarPods slip into your ears more comfortably than the plumper wireless AirPods.

[...]

They don't need charging, they work with just about anything, and they've quietly aged into a little slice of tech nostalgia.

‘I’m Just Telling You That’s A Little Bit More Secure’: Kamala Harris Says She Uses Wired Headphones Over Wireless As A Result Of What She Was Told In Senate Intelligence Committee Briefings, by Carrie Marshall, TechRadar

Everybody loves wireless headphones – but perhaps everyone shouldn't. That's what Kamala Harris suggests, and she knows more than most of us: speaking to Stephen Colbert last week, she explained why her preference for wired earbuds over wireless ones wasn't because she's old-fashioned.

"I know I've been teased about this," she said. "But I like these kinds of earpods that have [a cable] because I served on the Senate Intelligence Committee."

TV Didn't Kill Radio

Amazon Slashes Wondery Podcast Team As Focus Shifts To Video, Five Years After Apple’s $400M Interest, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

While it’s always sad to learn that people are losing their jobs, the story itself shows that the transition from paid audio to video-first podcasts is well underway.

What We Get Wrong About New Businesses Over And Over Again, by Lex Friedman, Your Intermittent Lex

It’s okay to focus on being great at what you do, and as the flipside of that, focus on doing the things you’re great at. If you built a team of audio professionals, don’t think one video hire is your path to pivoting to video. Video existed when podcasts were born. TV didn’t kill radio. Multiple things can exist.

Stuff

Sideloading Audiobooks To An iPhone, by Glenn Fleishman, Six Colors

Through some trial and error, as well as more careful reading, I uncovered some useful tidbits that helped me solve the problem, and I think they will be useful if you’re ever faced with an audiobook you want to load.

Castro Podcast App Launches On iPad For The First Time, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

Castro, the inbox and queue-based podcast app for iPhone, has just launched its first ever iPad app.

Time Flies Review – Existential Flight Game With A Bittersweet Buzz, by Sarah Thwaites, The Guardian

The death of a housefly is usually an unceremonious event. Within minutes of the insect’s appearance in our periphery, a tide of annoyance rises, and with the quick thwap of a swatter or rolled-up magazine, the bug is gone. Time Flies, a perception-warping bug puzzler, reimagines this inevitably short lifespan as an absurd tragedy – by providing the soon-to-perish pest with a bucket list.

Proton Fixes Authenticator Bug Leaking TOTP Secrets In Logs, by Lawrence Abrams, BleepingComputer

While this log data can't be exploited remotely, the concern was that if the logs were shared or posted anywhere to help diagnose an issue or bug, it would also expose the sensitive TOTP secret to a third party.

Spotify Raising Prices In Multiple Countries, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Spotify today said that it is raising prices for Premium subscriptions in multiple countries across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Develop

The Creative Tension Between Developer And Language, by Krishna's Blog

I think it's important to stay mindful of where the language is pushing you, and consciously decide whether to follow or resist.

Notes

Apple Wins US Court Ruling To Allow 'Reality' Software Trademarks, by Blake Brittain, Reuters

A Virginia federal judge has ordered the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to award Apple federal trademarks covering its augmented reality software-development tools "Reality Composer" and "Reality Converter."

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said on Friday that the two phrases were distinctive enough to merit trademark protection, reversing a USPTO decision that the phrases could not be trademarked.

Didn’t Take Long To Reveal The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About, by Mike Masnick, TechDirt

This is what happens when politicians decide to regulate technology they don’t understand, targeting problems they can’t define, with solutions that don’t work. The UK has managed to create a law so poorly designed that it simultaneously violates privacy, restricts freedom, harms small businesses, and completely fails at its stated goal of protecting children.

Bottom of the Page

Speaking of pivoting to video podcasts… Here I am, using my audio podcast player to sideload videos from a certain video website so that I can just listen.

I am so glad that Castro has found a good home with its new (actually, not so new already) owner and developer.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Nod-Your-Head Edition Monday, August 4, 2025

This AirPods Feature Keeps Embarrassing Me, But It’s Too Useful To Turn Off, by Nadeem Sarwar, Digital Trends

When the digital assistant starts reading the alert, you can decline the narration by moving your head sideways. And if you want to hear the contents, you just nod your head up and down, like an obedient child ready to lap up all the instructions the world has to offer.

Except, these gestures look terrible. Irrespective of whether you are sitting alone, in which case, you risk being seen and made fun of by total strangers. And if there’s a person sitting in front of (or people around) you, things can quickly go haywire.

What Happens To Your Data If You Stop Paying For Cloud Storage?, by David Nield, Wired

What Apple is less clear about is what will happen to your existing data. The official documentation implies, but doesn't specifically say, that your files will be kept in a read-only state, with no backups completing until you delete files or increase your storage plan. The iCloud terms and conditions state that if you've not backed up a device for 180 days, Apple “reserves the right” to delete any existing backups (including photos and videos)—so it may delete your files, and it may not.

Bottom of the Page

I, too, feel uneasy to nod or shake my head when a notification announcement comes in while I am wearing my AirPods. I can't find any settings to turn this off, and have Siri read my messages however long they are.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Standard-Feature Edition Sunday, August 3, 2025

iPads Are Basically Laptops At This Point, by Samantha Mangino, Mashable

But the final piece of evidence to prove my hypothesis came at Apple's 2025 WWDC, when the brand announced the newest feature coming to iPads called "Windows." The feature allows users to resize the app windows within the screen to view multiple applications at once. While this feature is new to iPads, it's been a standard feature of laptops for most of their existence.

PSA: Make Sure You Have These Privacy Features Enabled On Your iPhone, by Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

Over the years, Apple has introduced multiple features that help preserve your privacy and curb abusive tracking and data mining from your activity. Here are three settings every privacy-conscious user should have enabled on their iPhone.

This Bird ID App Has Helped Me Practice Mindfulness More Than Any Meditation App, by Anna Gragert, CNET

One of my favorite features of Merlin Bird ID is that you can use it to keep track of your bird sightings and, like an IRL Pokemon GO, "collect 'em all."

Notes

Apple Sues Movie Theater Chain With Similar 'Apple Cinemas' Name, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Established in 2013, Apple Cinemas maintained a limited presence in the Northeastern U.S. until last month, when it opened a theater in San Francisco. The complaint alleges that Apple Cinemas is pursuing a nationwide expansion across the U.S., including in areas near Apple's headquarters and retail stores, leading Apple to take action.

Bottom of the Page

Now that iPads are 'basically laptops', I hope Apple still have a vision on how to evolve iPads, and a different vision on how to evolve Macintosh computers.

If the only difference is simply because Apple refuses to make a Mac with touchscreen, and refuses to allow 'sideloading' on iPads, then there are really no visions.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Modern-Versions Edition Saturday, August 2, 2025

Apple CEO Tells Staff AI Is ‘Ours To Grab’ In Hourlong Pep Talk, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, holding a rare all-hands meeting following earnings results, rallied employees around the company’s artificial intelligence prospects and an “amazing” pipeline of products.

[...]

“We’ve rarely been first,” the executive told staffers. “There was a PC before the Mac; there was a smartphone before the iPhone; there were many tablets before the iPad; there was an MP3 player before iPod.”

But Apple invented the “modern” versions of those product categories, he said. “This is how I feel about AI.”

Stuff

Most Of Your iCloud Data Isn’t Fully Protected – How To Change That, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

Apple uses two different forms of encryption for your iCloud data – a strong form for particularly sensitive data like the Health and Journal apps, but a weaker one for a lot of other data you still wouldn’t want falling into the wrong hands.

Fortunately the company gives you the option of switching to strong encryption for all your iCloud data, and while there are a few steps involved, it’s a worthwhile security and privacy safeguard.

Tracking Local Weather In HomeKit Is Simple With The Eve Weather, by Bradley C, 9to5Mac

Over the past few years, I’ve used sensors for everything from knowing when to drip faucets in freezing weather to adjusting the sprinkler schedule with the Eve Aqua on hot days. The Eve Weather has been part of my setup for a while now, and with its 2024 Matter upgrade from last summer, it’s now even more useful across more platforms.

Notes

How To Listen To BBC Radio Outside The UK, by James Cridland

The generally accepted rules for music radio’s payment of international music rights are that if your radio station a) is not marketed in a country other than yours, and b) you don’t earn revenue from that country, then you aren’t liable for additional music rights in that country. On the South Coast of England, you can often get radio stations from France - but because they’re not marketed to UK listeners, nor earning money from them, they have no music fees to pay for the UK.

Japan: Apple Must Allow 3rd-party App Stores, Payment Systems, by Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

Since 2020, Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has investigated Apple and Google’s dominance in the mobile market. This week, the watchdog published a series of new guidelines that the two companies must comply with, chief among them allowing third-party app stores.

[...]

Much like many recent regulatory guidelines across the world, Apple and Google will have to allow third-party app stores, and third-party payment systems within apps available either in their own app stores, or in third-party app stores.

Bottom of the Page

I just did the math. The automation in Shortcuts is great, but I have to swipe to remove the Shortcuts notification on my lock screen every time the automation has run. Which means I have to do about the same work with or without the automation.

I deleted the automations.

~

Thanks for reading.

The Beating-Expectations Edition Friday, August 1, 2025

Apple Revenue Forecast Beats Estimates, Tariff Costs Projected At $1.1 Billion, by Stephen Nellis and Akash Sriram, Reuters

Apple reported $94.04 billion in revenue for its fiscal third quarter ended on June 28, up nearly 10% from a year earlier and beating analyst expectations of $89.54 billion, according to LSEG data. Its earnings per share of $1.57 topped expectations for $1.43 per share.

[...]

Sales of iPhones, the best-selling product for the company based in Cupertino, California, were up 13.5% to $44.58 billion, beating analyst expectations of $40.22 billion.

Apple Accelerates The Roadmap And Ratchets Its Revenue, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

One of the advantages of Apple having a range of different products is that there are so many opportunities to convert people to other parts of the ecosystem. If we assume that for most people the iPhone is the entry point, then selling them AirPods is a logical next step, followed perhaps by an Apple Watch. But when it comes time to buy a new computer, or give a tablet a spin, why wouldn’t the Mac or iPad be at the top of the list? And of course, services revenue is a part of the story too.

[...]

Apple doesn’t have a lot of one-time customers, is what I’m saying. And that’s why the boring quarters are soon going to be in the triple digits of billions.

Apple Says Trump’s Tariffs Are Adding Another $1 Billion To Its Costs, by Emma Roth, The Verge

Cook says Apple has already spent around $800 million during the June quarter, which is less than the $900 million that the company predicted in May. “The bulk of the tariffs that we paid were the IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] tariffs that hit early in the year, related to China,” Cook said.

Apple Has Now Sold Three Billion iPhones, by Amanda Silberling, TechCrunch

It took Apple nine years to sell the billionth iPhone, a milestone the company reached in 2016. This implies that Apple sold 2 billion between 2016 and now — also a nine-year period — marking the product’s growing popularity.

The Tim Cook Era Is Fully Cemented, by Nick Heer, Pixel Envy

On 16 September 1997, Steve Jobs became interim CEO of Apple. 5,090 days later, he handed the reins to Tim Cook, weeks before he died.

5,090 days after 24 August 2011 is today. The Cook era is now as long as the Jobs renaissance era.

Stuff

Proton Releases A New App For Two-factor Authentication, by Ivan Mehta, TechCrunch

Privacy-focused productivity tool company Proton released a new authenticator app today, allowing users to log in to services using dynamically generated two-factor codes.

Notes

Curate Your Own Newspaper With RSS, by Molly White, Citation Needed

RSS offers readers and writers a path away from unreliable, manipulative, and hostile platforms and intermediaries. In a media landscape dominated by algorithmic feeds that aim to manipulate and extract, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is choose to read what you want, when you want, without anyone watching over your shoulder.

Design And Development Shop The Iconfactory Is Selling Some Apps —And AI Is Partially To Blame, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

On Wednesday, the company known as the Iconfactory admitted it was at a crossroads and was putting up several of its apps for sale due to a lack of resources. While the announcement positioned the matter as a situation where the Iconfactory’s app catalog had simply grown to include too many apps to keep up with and not enough time to do so, the reality is that the business today has no choice but to focus on the apps that offer a better return on investment.

Bottom of the Page

I don't think Apple Intelligence helped the company sell significantly more devices… nor do I think the delay of many Apple Intelligence features caused any notable decrease in revenues.

In other words: meh.

~

Thanks for reading.