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- Wednesday November 06
- 11:49 amApple Vision Pro may receive the M5 Chip in 2025
Ming-Chi Kuo, supply chain analyst, stated that Apple has plans to release a revamped Vision Pro Headset next year which will be equipped with the M5 chip, but is yet to be announced, with no other mentions of other changes parallel to the current headset that was released this year. Currently, the Vision Pro Headset […] The post appeared first on iLounge.11:47 amOLED may be coming as early as 2026 to the MacBook Pro
Rumors about the new MacBook Pro are emerging once more, this time featuring Thunderbolt 5 support, faster M4 Chip and nano-texture glass options, a thinner design, and an OLED Display which can be implemented on the device as early as 2026. Apple is believed to currently working on making the MacBook Pro that’s thinner and […] The post appeared first on iLounge.11:46 amBelkin head strap for the Solo Knit Band now available online at Apple
Apple is now selling Belkin head straps for the Vision Pro Solo Knit Band to add more stability and comfort when the headset is being used. This was found in a product listing that was seen by EOZ VR’s Brad Lynch and posted on X. The strap features adjustable and secure mechanisms to add to […] The post appeared first on iLounge.11:30 amHow Apple Intelligence can take over the world (or just the Apple ecosystem)
Macworld If you didn’t notice, Apple Intelligence is here. But it would be hard not to notice–Apple is marketing its new collection of AI features everywhere it possibly can, from television ads to its website to every single product announcement it’s made in the last two months. (Each video announcement Apple released last week–iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro–featured an original, extended Apple Intelligence segment.) But to say that Apple has gone all-in on Apple Intelligence wouldn’t be quite true. Yes, the Big Three are covered: iPhone, iPad, and Mac. But Apple makes many more devices than just those three! This year, understandably, the company is going to be focused on getting as many AI features up and running on the Big Three as it can. But sometime soon, probably next year, Apple is going to need to roll out a strategy regarding everything else in its product line-up. How’s it going to manage that? Apple TV The current Apple TV is powered by the A15 bionic chip and 3 or 4GB of RAM. That won’t do at all, but it’s not unreasonable to imagine that a future Apple TV could be upgraded to use either the A17 Pro chip found in the iPad mini or the A18 chip found in the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus. And while getting the RAM up to 8GB will cost, Apple seems to have finally accepted that in the Apple Intelligence era, all our devices will need more memory. So it seems fairly easy for Apple to build an Apple Intelligence-capable Apple TV box. The question is… what does that mean? Clearly, an improved Siri will be a winner on Apple TV. Siri in iOS 18 is still a work in progress, with an improved understanding of verbal commands but not much better in terms of results. Still, Apple says that those improvements are coming between now and the middle of next year. Every Apple TV ships with a remote with a Siri button; it would be gratifying to be able to more easily navigate the thing with a faster, more responsive, and more intelligent Siri. One of Siri’s forthcoming new features will be the ability to see what’s on-screen and act upon it, which might be a great way to let you ask questions like “What movies has that guy in the hat been in?” and actually get a good answer. And, of course, if Siri’s forthcoming ability to control individual apps were to be applied to the Apple TV, it might be easier to command apps to open and play the right episode of the show you’re watching. Apple TV also comes with a version of the Photos app, which hasn’t really been updated in the past year. But if it were to gain some of the search and video-generation powers of the Photos app on the Big Three, you could generate video slideshows from your photo libraries right from your sofa by talking into the remote. Or, at the very least, see instant results to photo search queries. The current Apple TV 4K hardware needs to be upgraded to support Apple Intelligence.Jared Newman/Foundry I’m not a huge fan of notifications on the Apple TV, but I do use them occasionally. I think it would be cool to use Apple Intelligence to be aware of alerts happening on your other devices and use the new Reduce Interruptions focus mode to decide if they might be worth showing to you while you’re watching TV. Finally, the Apple TV hardware is also a hub at the center of Apple’s smart home strategy. I could see a souped-up Apple TV using Apple Intelligence to be a better coordinator of the devices in your home. Maybe we could generate full home automation via voice command? It’s worth considering. Apple Watch It’s harder to imagine that the Apple Watch will get the horsepower to run the full version of Apple Intelligence anytime soon. It just requires too much processor power and memory, and the little Apple Watch and its tiny battery aren’t going to be capable of that for a while. But that’s fine. We should want the Apple Watch and watchOS to become better clients for Apple Intelligence running on the iPhone connected to the watch. Last year, Apple upgraded the Apple Watch to process Siri commands on the device, which was a huge boost. The next step is to update watchOS to determine if a request could better be served by Apple Intelligence and then pass those requests off to a properly smart device, whether it’s the iPhone or even an Apple server. What’s the use case for Apple Intelligence on Apple Watch? Really, I think that it’s all Siri-based, namely the ability to get better responses back on your wrist. But I’m also interested in the idea that as our iPhones get smarter, the Apple Watch could tap in on the power of individual iPhone apps without having to run those apps itself. Imagine asking your Apple Watch to grab some information from an iPhone app, or even orchestrate two apps together, to bring you a result. If you can leave your phone in your pocket–or even leave it behind at home–and have that still work, that would be pretty awesome. HomePods and beyond Like the Apple TV, I can imagine Apple building a new generation of HomePods that are properly equipped for Apple Intelligence, as well as additional HomePod-like products like a rumored HomePod with a screen. Again, these are products that are driven by Siri, so letting Siri be much more intelligent and giving it the power to summarize information found on the Web would make things a whole lot better. A device that knows it’s just a speaker and has no display, being able to reply with an answer that requires summarization and interpretation (including images!), would be a big upgrade over the fairly dumb HomePods of today. Apple Intelligence also needs to be able to build good Apple Music playlists on the fly, right? Not just on the HomePod, but everywhere. It should be smart enough that I can use my voice to rearrange playlists, remove items from the queue, and more. And as with these other devices, HomePods need to become better stewards of my entire device ecosystem. If I’ve got an important alert on an iPhone, my devices should be able to understand that the iPhone’s not with me and that I’m listening to something in the kitchen, and let me know that the important alert has come in. I know, I know, all the data being processed on my devices is part of Apple Intelligence’s appeal–but once the processing happens, I’d like my devices to talk to each other and do the right thing to get important information to me, wherever I am. Apple Intelligence could cause Apple to revamp its HomePod lineup.Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry AirPods and the future Finally, AirPods! They’re tiny, I know, and unlikely to be anything but a recipient of Siri conversations from other devices. And yet… some reports suggest Apple might be building cameras into future AirPods models. One possibility is that AirPods could become the eyes for an iPhone that’s otherwise tucked away in your pocket, feeding images to Apple Intelligence for a version of the new Visual Intelligence feature premiering with iOS 18.2. Even better, if Apple made a pair of glasses with cameras and built-in AirPods in the style of Meta’s Ray-Ban specs, your iPhone could also use those as its eyes and ears when it’s in your pocket. The future of Apple Intelligence is mostly unwritten. There’s a lot more for Apple to do just with the Big Three product lines. But it can’t leave its smaller devices and accessories behind. They will be important tools to feed data to Apple Intelligence and extend the intelligence of Apple’s platforms to the rest of our lives. I hope we’ll get a first sense of that future sometime next year after Apple’s built a stronger foundation with all of its forthcoming iOS 18 and macOS 15 releases.11:15 amThere’s a logic to Apple’s laziness
Macworld I can’t help but smile as the internet erupts with anger. The reason this time? Apple has switched its Mac accessories from Lightning to USB-C… and declined to take this opportunity to relocate the charging port on the Magic Mouse. I like to imagine that Tim Cook and the gang were sitting in a meeting and someone said, “Can’t we just troll everyone and keep the charging port in exactly the same place?” Whereupon Cook nodded his head in agreement and said in his mild Alabama tones, “I think they’re going to love it.” Don’t get me wrong, the Magic Mouse’s charging port is perhaps the silliest tech product decision since Philips tried to launch AmBX, a system that turned your desk into a maelstrom of cords, fans, speakers, and lights. But Apple chose not to correct this mistake, and I can’t help but find this rather charming. The company that strives for perfection and quality simply shrugs at the world’s worst-placed charging port and tells us to get over it. Unsurprisingly, this has not proved popular, and the internet is full of tech writers calling Apple’s decision into question. Tom Warren from The Verge wails “Whyyyyyy” on Twitter (now X). Marques Brownlee announced the move using the words “I have bad news.“ So what’s the thinking? Is it really an attempt to troll us? My guess is that Apple considers charging ports to be a necessary evil and something that should be as invisible as possible. The fact is that a fully charged Magic Mouse lasts about a month, and just 10 minutes of charging will give you days of use. Is it so difficult to charge the mouse when it’s not in use? For that matter, if Apple redesigned the Magic Mouse and put the charging port in plain sight, there’s a decent chance that the internet would now be filled with loud complaints that “They ruined the look!” How does that saying go again? Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And there you have Apple’s biggest problem. No matter what the company does, someone will always complain. That a product doesn’t feature the absolute latest features, or that the placement of the charging port disturbs their aesthetic sense and now requires years of therapy to work through the trauma. How many companies have created the perfect product that everyone likes? I can’t think of a single one. We can’t agree on anything. If Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in the Internet era, someone would be pounding away on their keyboard right now, complaining about the taste. But it’s time for me to wind up this column. I can’t work anymore, you see. I have to charge my Magic Mouse.10:00 amApple acquires Pixelmator, acquires company’s apps and technologies
If you love Pixelmator, so does Apple, and that could be why they bought the company. Pixelmator released the following update late last week advising its users as to the status of the company and its progress: “Today we have some important news to share: the Pixelmator Team plans to join Apple. We’ve been inspired […] Source04:01 amLogitech G915 X Keyboard review: Stylish and slim
The G916X is a flashy but effective low-profile mechanical keyboard for performance and RGB enthusiasts.Logitech G915 X Keyboard reviewLogitech is a major name in mice and keyboards when it comes to productivity, and Logitech G works to apply that expertise in gaming and recreation.Of course, turning a "regular" keyboard into a "gaming" keyboard implies RGB, but in practice, it emphasizes connectivity and speed more. The G915X does both well, creating a great typing experience for any user. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our ForumsTuesday November 0511:51 pmKottke on the Art and Power of Hypertextual Writing
Italic and bold emphasis are information-density additives. But as Kottke observes, used deftly, hypertext links are an information-density *multiplier*.11:47 pmApple Pay officially launches in Paraguay
Paraguay has become the latest country to support Apple Pay, according to a recent blog post from Mastercard. Here's what you need to know.Apple Pay has officially launched in Paraguay.Apple Pay makes it possible to complete payments on iPhone without the use of a physical card. While Apple's contactless payment method has been available in the United States for well over a decade, it's only now launching in Paraguay.As originally spotted by 9to5mac, Mastercard announced that cards issued by Banco Continental, Itau, and Ueno Bank can all be added to Apple Wallet and used with Apple Pay. The company revealed the move in a blog post, which highlights the user benefits of the Apple Pay launch. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums11:34 pmBerkshire Hathaway’s tax bill on 2024 Apple stock sales: $20 billion
Berkshire Hathaway's significant reduction in its Apple holdings is expected to result in a hefty tax bill. After selling over 600 million… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.10:44 pmEU might fine Apple for failure to comply with DMA, for real this time
The European Union's Digital Markets Act may lead to the first fine against Apple after repeated failed attempts to comply with the word and spirit of the law.EU could fine Apple soon over failure to comply with DMAApple has had a tough time trying to comply with the new laws meant to prevent monopolies from controlling a market. Specifically, Apple's anti-steering practices keep coming under fire.According to a report from Bloomberg, the EU may be gearing up to fine Apple for failure to comply with the DMA, though details are still unknown. The fine could be levied before Margrethe Vestager leaves office in November, or it could be pushed to a later date in 2024. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums10:41 pmApple Pay officially launches in Paraguay
Apple on Tuesday officially launched Apple Pay, its payment platform, for users in Paraguay. The news was confirmed by Mastercard on its website, which also reveals that customers of the main banks in Paraguay can now use Apple Pay. more…10:30 pmHow to plan multi-stop routes in Apple Maps
You can use Apple Maps to plan multiple stops along the same route. You can add three, four, fifteen stops of a journey if you want. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)10:00 pmApple Stores in three U.S. cities will change locations on November 9
Apple Stores in three U.S. cities will move to new temporary locations on November 9, possibly due to renovations. Here's what you need to know.Apple's La Encantada store is moving to a new location. Image Credit: Apple.On Tuesday, Apple announced that its La Encantada retail store, in Tucson, Arizona will move to a new location that opens on November 9, at 10 AM local time. According to the company's website, the temporary store will be located on Level 2 of the outdoor shopping center, just in front of the stairs.As MacRumors points out, the La Encantada store was originally opened two decades ago, in 2004. Apple may opt to renovate the original store location while the temporary store is in use. There are currently no details as to when the La Encantada store will return to its original location. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums10:00 pmPunch up your pix with this powerful Mac photo editor
Make even mundane photos look amazing with AI-powered photo editor Luminar Neo. This lifetime bundle also includes pro filters and training. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)09:39 pmLive Activities are one of Apple’s best features, and they keep getting better
iOS 18 means we’ve had 18 years of iPhone software, so you’d think that adding meaningful new features would be tough. But one recent iOS addition, Live Activities, is among Apple’s best recent updates. And it keeps on getting better thanks to ongoing enhancements. more…09:29 pmGlobalFoundries forecasts upbeat Q4 results on strong demand from iPhone supplier
GlobalFoundries, the world's third-largest contract chipmaker, has raised its fourth-quarter revenue forecast, exceeding Wall Street… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.09:17 pmApple could face EU’s first-ever DMA fine as soon as this month
Apple is set to face the first-ever fine under the Digital Markets Act in the EU as soon as this month, Bloomberg reports. The EU initially issued its decision that Apple was in breach of the DMA in June. more…08:49 pmApple’s global head of accessibility to attend Web Summit Lisbon 2024
This year’s Web Summit Lisbon kicks off next week, and guests will have the chance to attend a talk by Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s current global head of accessibility. Unsurprisingly, the presentation will discuss how Apple considers accessibility when building its products. more…08:30 pmApple News will let you watch live U.S. election results from your Home and Lock Screens | Mac Daily NewsApple News will let you watch live U.S. election results from your Home and Lock Screens
Apple's News app will deliver live U.S. election updates to iPhone and iPad users’ lockscreens. And if you’ve got a recent iPhone… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.