LTA 130: June 2024

Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots

This jumbo solo show starts with a few followups from last month before diving into just a few regulatory legal stories, some HR news, and a few highlights from Apple’s services and original content. The five main stories are a big-picture overview of WWDC, a look at the software announcement from WWDC, the Apple Intelligence announcement at WWDC, the preliminary finding that Apple is in breach of the DMA, and Apple’s “Longevity by Design” initiative. The show finishes with a rundown of two other quick Apple-related stories that made the news in June.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Updates & Followup

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

• Vision Pro developments:
  • The broader rollout of Vision Pro has started — www.cultofmac.com/… ( but not Ireland )
    • Launched in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore
    • Available for pre-order in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK
  • Apps continue to arrive on Vision Pro:
    • Experience T20 World Cup on Apple Vision Pro with ICC’s New Immersive App — www.macobserver.com/…
    • There are now two ways to stream Steam VR games to Apple Vision Pro — appleinsider.com/… (ALVR & iVRy)
    • ‘Warped Kart Racers’ and ‘Cityscapes: Sim Builder’ Hit Apple Vision Pro as Spatial Titles — www.macobserver.com/…
• The (disappointingly slow) rollout of AirPlay for hotels continues: iPhone and iPad Users Can Now AirPlay to Samsung Hotel TVs — www.macobserver.com/…
• The contours of Apple’s tolerance of emulation on iOS become clearer:
  • Open Source PC Emulator UTM Blocked by Apple for Notarization, Including Through EU Marketplaces — daringfireball.net/…
  • Apple rejects PC emulators on the iOS App Store — arstechnica.com (iDos)
  • Apple has drawn a fuzzy line about what counts as console emulation on iPhone — appleinsider.com/… (Apple: “PC is not a console”)

Notable Numbers

• Regulatory Rundown

• Japan’s parliament has approved a law that will force third party App Stores on Apple & Google — appleinsider.com/…
  • Related: consoles are exempt — daringfireball.net/…
• Apple fined in South Korea for collecting users’ data without their consent — appleinsider.com/… (Google also fined, and not clear what either has supposedly done wrong)
• Four more states are jumping onto the DOJ’s antitrust suit against Apple — appleinsider.com/…
• Recommended Read: All of the active antitrust cases Apple is fighting around the world — appleinsider.com/…

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Female employees launch a new Class Action suit against Apple:
  • Proposed class action lawsuit accuses Apple of underpaying women — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple punishes women for same behaviors that get men promoted, lawsuit says — arstechnica.com

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• Apple Pay will be able to be used from any browser on any OS with the help of a QR code later this year — www.macobserver.com/…
• Apple Pay Later is being discontinued (just 10 months old!), Apple’s new plan is to integrate with third-party providers — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Possibly for regulatory reasons — arstechnica.com/…
• Apple Books now offers Reese’s Book Club audiobook recommendations — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple)
• Seven new games launch on Apple Arcade, including Outlanders 2: Second Nature — Apple
  • Related: Apple Offering Popular Games for up to 75% Discount on Mac App Store — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Related: First iPhone game-streaming service brings 1,300 retro classics — www.cultofmac.com/… (Antstream)
    

    Main Stories

• WWDC — Big-Picture
  • Apple’s 2024 Design Award winners run the gamut of classic puzzle games to immersive experiences — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple)
  • Watch Apple’s WWDC24 keynote in just 90 seconds — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • WWDC24 Highlights — Apple
  • Strong focus on privacy across the board: Apple extends its privacy leadership with new updates across its platforms — Apple
    • Top 5 security and privacy features of macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18 — www.intego.com/…
    • WWDC Session: What’s new in privacy — developer.apple.com/…
    • Better control over contact sharing — www.macobserver.com/… ( WWDC Session)
    • Automatic passkey upgrades
  • Continued focus on gaming:
    • New Game Mode will boost iPhone and iPad gaming performance — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • Developers Can Now Build Bigger Games and Apps for iOS 18 and tvOS 18 — www.macobserver.com/…
    • macOS 15 to Reduce Storage Requirements During App Installation — www.macobserver.com/… (used to need 2x which was a problem for big games)
    • macOS Sequoia brings version 2 of Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit — appleinsider.com/…
    • Related:
      • ‘Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’ coming to iPad, iPhone, and Mac — appleinsider.com/…
      • Assassin’s Creed Mirage Arrives on iOS and iPadOS, But You May Not Be Able to Play It — www.macobserver.com/… (requires quite beefy and recent devices)
      • ‘Zenless Zone Zero’ officially lands on iPhone & iPad on July 4 — appleinsider.com/…
      • Opinion: Why AAA games promoted by Apple flop in the App Store — appleinsider.com/… (Analysis by MobileGamer.biz suggests major titles don’t do well financially on Apple’s platforms)
• WWDC — Software Upgrades
  • Services features — Apple
    • All the Changes in Maps: Curated Hikes, Offline Mapping, Custom Walking Routes, and More — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Apple Wallet — www.macobserver.com/…
      • Tap to Cash – transfer Apple Cash by tapping phones — www.cultofmac.com/…
      • Enhanced Event Tickets can show key information about the event with live updates
    • Apple TV+ gets Insights feature (like Amazon Prime’s X-Ray feature) on Apple TV Originals — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Apple ID will become Apple Account
  • Cross-Platform Apps & Features
    • The passwords feature in the settings app becomes a stand-alone app — www.macobserver.com/…
      • iOS 18 Passwords app can’t import passwords, but macOS can — appleinsider.com/…
      • Review: Apple Passwords App: Great for Passwords, But Not Your All-in-One Solution — www.macobserver.com/…
    • The Photos app gets a major re-design and some new features — appleinsider.com/…
      • The Photos app gets Clean Up, an on-device generative AI tool for removing unwanted elements in photos similar to Adobe’s Generative Fill — appleinsider.com/…
    • Safari’s Reader mode gets some tweaks across all the platforms — appleinsider.com/…
    • Messages gets some tweaks — www.cultofmac.com/…
      • Send Later: How to Schedule a Message in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia — www.macobserver.com/…
      • Emoji Tapback
      • How To Animate Text in Messages iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15 — www.macobserver.com/…
      • (iPhone-only) Messages via Satellite — appleinsider.com/… (no longer just for emergencies)
    • Reminders & Calendars are better integrated on all platforms — appleinsider.com/…
    • The Settings app gets another re-work — www.macobserver.com/…
    • iCloud files can be marked for permanent download on Mac, iOS & iPadOS — appleinsider.com/…
    • Training Load and screen customisations come to Workouts on watchOS & iOS
  • AirPods to Get Head Nod Controls, Improved Call Quality, and Spatial Audio in Gaming — www.macobserver.com/… ( Apple)
  • Apple Home — Apple
    • HomeKit
      • Guest access
      • Shareplay for HomePods
      • Robot vacuums in the Home app
      • Door locks with UWB chips will be able to be unlocked hands-free
      • It will be possible to manually specify which of capable devices will act as your home hub — appleinsider.com/…
    • Apple TV/TV OS
      • The 8 Best Features in tvOS 18 — www.macobserver.com/…
      • On-device Siri
      • Automatic subtitles on mute
      • Review: tvOS 18: The MacStories Overview — www.macstories.net/…
  • CarPlay — appleinsider.com/…
    • Apple CarPlay 2.0 Will Be Highly Customizable to Match Automakers’ Styles — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Related: Apple CarPlay to Soon Appear on Motorcycles — www.macobserver.com/… (Nepali EV startup Yatri Motorcycles)
  • VisionOS 2 — www.macstories.net/… ( Apple)
    • System-wide gestures
    • Better virtual Mac displays (equivalent to 2 4K displays) — arstechnica.com/…
    • Apple Releases Tools For Bringing iOS or iPadOS Games to visionOS — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Review: visionOS 2 offers small, but promising, steps forward — sixcolors.com/…
  • WatchOS 11 — www.macstories.net/… & appleinsider.com/… ( Apple)
    • Bento breakdown: what Apple wants you to know about watchOS 11 — appleinsider.com/…
    • Live Activities come to the watch — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Vitals app for better view of health info
    • Check In comes to the watch
    • Apple Watch gets automatic sleep tracking with watchOS 11 — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • Custom Ring Tones — www.macobserver.com/…
    • watchOS 11 will run on Apple Watch 6 and newer models — www.macobserver.com/…
  • iOS & iPadOS 18
    • HomeScreen improvements – darkmode icons, tinted icons, and put icons anywhere in the grid — appleinsider.com/…, www.macobserver.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
    • You can now lock any app so it requires a biometric unlock, and, you can even hide them — appleinsider.com/…
    • Control Centre gets a re-design to make it easier to drill down into more details by just swiping further — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • SharePlay is being expanded to support easy screen sharing with remote control — www.macobserver.com/…
    • The new AccessorySetupKit API will make it easier to pair devices (other vendors will be able to support the same kind of experience we now get with AirPods) — www.macobserver.com/…
    • The Files app can format external drives — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • These are all the devices compatible with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 — arstechnica.com
    • Review: iOS and iPadOS 18: The MacStories Overview — www.macstories.net/…
    • iOS 18 only ( Apple)
      • Everything new in iOS 18 coming this fall — appleinsider.com/…
      • iOS 18 changes just about everything about lock screen controls — appleinsider.com/… (the tyranny of the flashlight and built-in camera is over!)
      • iPhone gets RCS for better texting with Androids — www.cultofmac.com/…
      • Apple’s Journal app is getting new features in iOS 18, but it’s still not on iPad — appleinsider.com/…
      • How to use Vehicle Motion Cues in iOS 18 to reduce motion sickness — appleinsider.com/…
      • iPhone finally gains T9 dialing with iOS 18 — www.cultofmac.com/…
      • iOS 18 allows iPhone to display the time even with dead battery — www.cultofmac.com/…
      • iOS 18 dramatically accelerates iPhone 15 Pro Max neural processing — appleinsider.com/…
      • iOS 18 will run on iPhone XS and newer models — www.macobserver.com/…
    • iPadOS 18 only ( Apple)
      • The iPad finally gets a calculator, but not just any calculator – ML-powered Maths Notes — www.cultofmac.com/… & appleinsider.com/…
      • Smart Script – improves your hand writing in notes while still making it look like yours — www.cultofmac.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
      • iPadOS 18 Will Run on iPad 7th Gen and Newer Models — www.macobserver.com/…
      • Review: iPadOS 18: A Disappointment in the Shadow of macOS? — www.macobserver.com/…
  • macOS 15 Sequoia — www.macstories.net/… ( Apple)
    • Bento breakdown: What’s new in macOS Sequoia — appleinsider.com/…
    • How To Use Window Tiling in macOS 15 Sequoia — www.macobserver.com/…
    • iPhone Mirroring (screen & notifications)
    • All of your presentations will get better in macOS Sequoia — appleinsider.com/… (Presenter Preview & Background Replacements from the menubar)
    • macOS 15 Gets a Headphone Functionality That Has Been on iPhones Since 2020 — www.macobserver.com/… (Headphone Accommodations, an accessibility feature for tuning audio frequency distributions)
    • Apple honors original icon designer Susan Kare in macOS Sequoia wallpaper — appleinsider.com/…
    • MacBook Air gets hosed, other models hold steady in macOS 15 as Intel support fades — arstechnica.com
• WWDC — Apple unveils “Apple Intelligence” AI features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS — arstechnica.com (Apple’s Press Release)
  • Platforms State of the Union explains Apple Intelligence and new OS features — www.cultofmac.com/… ( Watch on YouTube)
  • Fundamental Improvements to Siri — appleinsider.com/… & macobserver.com/…
    • WWDC session: Bring your app to Siri — developer.apple.com/…
    • Uses foundation models to better understand language — allows for interruptions, re-phrasings, and related queries
    • Uses an on-device Semantic Index to understand the context of the information on your phone — huge privacy advantage over using large LLMs
    • Builds on the existing App Intents framework to allow apps to expose their functionality to Siri ( WWDC Session)
  • System-wide writing assistance tools — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Rewrite, proofread & summarise
    • WWDC session: Get started with Writing Tools — developer.apple.com/…
  • Priority Notifications & Message Summaries — www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple Intelligence brings live recording and transcription to the Phone app in iOS 18 — appleinsider.com/…
  • Safari surfaces web page highlights, summaries and video control — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Image Playground and Genmoji bring AI images to iMessage and more — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • Apple’s Image Playground is a new system-wide AI-powered image generation tool — appleinsider.com/…
    • How Apple will label AI-generated images made with Image Playground — appleinsider.com/…
    • Genmoji will allow custom AI-created emojis in iOS 18, and might resurrect Memoji — appleinsider.com/…
    • How To Create Custom Emojis with Genmoji on iOS 18 — www.macobserver.com/…
    • WWDC Session: Bring expression to your app with Genmoji — developer.apple.com/…
  • Third-Party LLM Integrations (initially just ChatGPT)
    • ChatGPT Now Integrated Into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and Siri — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Report: Apple isn’t paying OpenAI for ChatGPT integration into OSes — arstechnica.com
    • Opinion: Apple and OpenAI currently have the most misunderstood partnership in tech — arstechnica.com
  • Copilot-like AI assistance in XCode — Apple
  • Privacy by-design
    • Most processing is on-device, then on Apple’s cloud built on Apple Silicon with hardware protections to ensure privacy, and only out to traditional LLMs when integrations are enabled, and specific permission is given each time, and even then, through an anonymising relay
    • Apple’s AI promise: “Your data is never stored or made accessible to Apple” — arstechnica.com
    • Apple Users’ AI Data Will Be Minimally Sent to Cloud, To Be Destroyed After Processing — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Apple’s detailed description of how Private Cloud Compute works — security.apple.com/…
  • Training does include the public web
    • Excluding your website from Apple’s AI crawler — sixcolors.com/…
  • The rollout will be slow and limited
    • Most of Apple Intelligence Features Won’t Arrive Until 2025 — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Apple Intelligence – what Macs, iPads, and iPhones are required — appleinsider.com/…
    • No, your Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro aren’t getting Apple Intelligence — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple’s Press Engagement:
    • Tim Cook: Privacy Sets Apple Intelligence Apart, Though It Could Still Hallucinate — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Tim Cook chats Apple Intelligence, Privacy, and More with Marques Brownlee — www.macobserver.com/…
    • The Talk Show Live From WWDC 2024 — daringfireball.net/… (with John Giannandrea, Craig Federighi & Greg Joswiak)
  • Related:
    • Apple Developer Academy gets new Artificial Intelligence curriculum — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple)
    • Apple researchers add 20 more open-source models to improve text and image AI — appleinsider.com/…
  • Opinion & Analysis:
    • Apple Intelligence Explained: The Cutting-Edge AI Technology Behind the Magic — www.maginative.com/… ⭐
    • Preparing for the era of orchestrated apps — sixcolors.com/… ⭐
    • John Gruber’s Analysis — daringfireball.net/… ⭐
    • Why you shouldn’t fear Apple Intelligence — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • Apple Intelligence & Private Cloud Compute are Apple’s answer to generative AI — appleinsider.com/…
    • Apple enters AI arms race with new Apple Intelligence feature — www.bleepingcomputer.com/…
    • Apple Intelligence is AI, done Apple’s way — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • Apple Intelligence: The MacStories Overview — www.macstories.net/…
    • OK, fine, here’s Apple Intelligence — sixcolors.com/…
• Big Digital Markets Act (DMA) headaches for Apple
  • The EU Commission issues a preliminary ruling that Apple’s anti-steering rules are violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA) — sixcolors.com/… ( EU Commission)
    • Apple has the right to respond
    • The final decision will come in March 2025
    • The DMA allows for fines of up to 10% of global revenue, so about $38Bn — www.macobserver.com/…
    • Analysis: John Gruber’s break-down of the commission’s statement — [daringfireball.net/…](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/06/24/ec-dings-apple
  • In the same statement the EU Commission also announced and investigation into the Core Technology Fee
  • Apple have said they will not be rolling out Apple Intelligence to the EU initially over fears it might be interpreted as not complying with DMA — appleinsider.com/…
    • Two other features will also not be available to EU users, at least initially – iPhone screen mirroring on the Mac & SharePlay screen sharing — arstechnica.com/…
    • Related: EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager made a comment in an interview that was critical, but the questioner didn’t understand the question from the audience and it was a short off-the-cuff comment, it’s being reported with more significance than it probably deserves by many — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple’s ‘Longevity by Design’ initiative — PDF Download
  • Apple’s ‘longevity by design’ initiative is a balance between repairability & secure engineering — appleinsider.com/…
  • Repairing iPhones to Get Easier; Apple Opens Up to Third-Party Parts — www.macobserver.com/…
    • When a third-party part is used there will be a notification on next boot
    • The settings all will permanently show that a third-party part is in use
    • Battery stats (with a disclaimer) will be shown for third-party batteries
    • TrueTone will be enable-able on third-party displays, but results may vary
  • Apple’s iPhone & Mac self-service repair program is expanding to Europe — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple PR)
    • 32 countries, including the UK
    • Canada will follow in 2025
    • Covers all 42 products currently covered in the US (iPhone, Mac & Studio Display)
    • Total coverage is now 33 countries and 24 languages
  • Better calibration for third-party components and easier sourcing of official repair parts — www.cultofmac.com/…
    

    Quick Stories

• Apple Back to School deals on Mac and iPad get you up to $150 gift card — www.cultofmac.com/…
• Apple’s new ‘Help Me Choose’ quiz helps users find the right Mac — appleinsider.com/… (I took the quiz and it recommend the Apple Studio I own )

Legend

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.