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• line 13, column 66: Unregistered link relationship: shorturl (48 occurrences) [help]

  	<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wo1" />
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Source: http://daringfireball.net/index.xml

1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
2. <feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
3. <title>Daring Fireball</title>
4. <subtitle>By John Gruber</subtitle>
5. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/" />
6. <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/main" />
7. <id>https://daringfireball.net/feeds/main</id>
8.  
9.  
10. <updated>2025-10-30T23:51:51Z</updated><rights>Copyright © 2025, John Gruber</rights><entry>
11. <title>Jason Snell on Apple’s Quarterly Results</title>
12. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/apple-results-holiday-dunks-and-questions-dodged/" />
13. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wo1" />
14. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/snell-apple-quarter" />
15. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42337</id>
16. <published>2025-10-30T23:48:00Z</published>
17. <updated>2025-10-30T23:49:35Z</updated>
18. <author>
19. <name>John Gruber</name>
20. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
21. </author>
22. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
23. <p>Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors:</p>
24.  
25. <blockquote>
26.  <p>In the post-results call with financial analysts, Wamsi Mohan of
27. Bank of America asked Cook for a little more detail about Apple’s
28. search revenue, given its lucrative deal with Google, and whether
29. that revenue growth might decelerate if Google’s search traffic
30. were to be impacted by the growth of AI. Cook’s response was, if I
31. do say so myself, an all-timer for these calls:</p>
32.  
33. <blockquote>
34.  <p><strong>Cook:</strong> This is Tim. The advertising category, which is a
35. combination of third-party and first-party, did set a record
36. during the quarter.</p>
37.  
38. <p><strong>Mohan:</strong> Okay, and sorry, just to be clear, both Apple’s own
39. internal advertising and within the licensing individually set
40. records?</p>
41.  
42. <p><strong>Cook:</strong> I actually I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that
43. the combination of the two set a record. We don’t divulge — I’m
44. dodging the question intentionally because we don’t split it at
45. that level.</p>
46. </blockquote>
47.  
48. <p>Look, these calls are almost entirely Apple execs dodging the
49. questions of fiscal analysts. At least Tim Cook admitted it this
50. time. <em>You want to know how much Google is paying us and if that’s
51. growing or shrinking? Well, I’m not gonna tell you!</em></p>
52. </blockquote>
53.  
54. <p>If Apple’s quarterly analyst calls were a podcast, “Dodging the Question Intentionally” would be a great episode title for this one.</p>
55.  
56. <div>
57. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Jason Snell on Apple’s Quarterly Results’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/snell-apple-quarter">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
58. </div>
59.  
60. ]]></content>
61.  </entry><entry>
62. <title>Microsoft Earnings Suggest OpenAI Lost $11.5 Billion Last Quarter</title>
63. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1_26_openai_loss/" />
64. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wo0" />
65. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/openai-quarterly-loss" />
66. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42336</id>
67. <published>2025-10-30T23:43:25Z</published>
68. <updated>2025-10-30T23:51:51Z</updated>
69. <author>
70. <name>John Gruber</name>
71. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
72. </author>
73. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
74. <p>Matt Rosoff, writing for The Register:</p>
75.  
76. <blockquote>
77.  <p>If Microsoft owns 27 percent of OpenAI, it stands to reason under
78. equity accounting that it bears 27 percent of OpenAI’s losses.
79. Microsoft’s admission that it shaved $3.1 billion off its net
80. income to account for its share of OpenAI losses therefore
81. suggests OpenAI lost about $11.5 billion during the quarter.
82. Microsoft declined to comment beyond confirming that the $3.1
83. billion loss “this year” referred to Microsoft’s current fiscal
84. year, which started July 1, not the calendar year. So that’s a
85. quarterly loss, not a nine-month loss.</p>
86.  
87. <p>That’s a humongous number for OpenAI given it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/openais-first-half-revenue-rises-16-about-43-billion-information-reports-2025-09-30/">reportedly</a>
88. generated only $4.3 billion in revenue for the first half of the
89. year, but a sum that won’t hurt Big Daddy Redmond too much given
90. it earned $27.7 billion in net income in the last quarter alone.</p>
91. </blockquote>
92.  
93. <p>A pre-IPO startup is a different animal from an established publicly-held corporation, but an $11.5 billion quarterly loss is quite different from the $20–30-ish billion quarterly profits <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/apple-q4-results">booked by the big six</a>.</p>
94.  
95. <div>
96. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Microsoft Earnings Suggest OpenAI Lost $11.5 Billion Last Quarter’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/openai-quarterly-loss">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
97. </div>
98.  
99. ]]></content>
100.  </entry><entry>
101. <title>Apple Reports Strong Q4 2025 Results</title>
102. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-reports-fourth-quarter-results/" />
103. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnz" />
104. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/apple-q4-results" />
105. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42335</id>
106. <published>2025-10-30T20:51:20Z</published>
107. <updated>2025-10-30T23:39:48Z</updated>
108. <author>
109. <name>John Gruber</name>
110. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
111. </author>
112. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
113. <p>Apple Newsroom:</p>
114.  
115. <blockquote>
116.  <p>Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2025 fourth
117. quarter ended September 27, 2025. The Company posted quarterly
118. revenue of $102.5 billion, up 8 percent year over year. Diluted
119. earnings per share was $1.85, up 13 percent year over year on an
120. adjusted basis.</p>
121.  
122. <p>“Today, Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue
123. record of $102.5 billion, including a September quarter revenue
124. record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record for Services,”
125. said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.</p>
126. </blockquote>
127.  
128. <p>Looking at Apple’s <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/fy2025-q4/FY25_Q4_Consolidated_Financial_Statements.pdf">Consolidated Statement</a> (PDF), the numbers look great across the board year-over-year: iPhone up 6%, Mac up 13%, iPad even, Wearables/Home even, and Services up 15%. Services now generates more revenue ($28.8 billion) than Mac, iPad, and Wearables/Home combined ($24.7 billion).</p>
129.  
130. <p>Six Colors, as usual, <a href="https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/charts-apple-caps-off-best-fiscal-year-with-q4-record/">has Apple’s quarter illustrated in charts</a>.</p>
131.  
132. <p>Here’s a comparison of net income (profit) from Apple’s peers for their most recent quarters:</p>
133.  
134. <ul>
135. <li><a href="https://s206.q4cdn.com/479360582/files/doc_financials/2025/q3/2025q3-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf">Google</a> (a.k.a. Alphabet): $35B (!)</li>
136. <li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2026-Q1/press-release-webcast">Microsoft</a>: $27.7B</li>
137. <li>Apple: $27.5B</li>
138. <li><a href="https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-second-quarter-fiscal-2026">Nvidia</a>: $26.4B</li>
139. <li><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251029099339/en/Amazon.com-Announces-Third-Quarter-Results">Amazon</a>: $21.5B</li>
140. <li><a href="https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2025/Meta-Reports-Third-Quarter-2025-Results/default.aspx">Meta</a>: $2.7B, but would have been $18.6B if not for a one-time income tax charge of nearly $16B.</li>
141. </ul>
142.  
143. <div>
144. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Apple Reports Strong Q4 2025 Results’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/apple-q4-results">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
145. </div>
146.  
147. ]]></content>
148.  </entry><entry>
149. <title>CarPlay Seems Essential for Rental Fleets</title>
150. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://joe-steel.com/2025-10-22-Why-GM-Will-Give-You-Gemini-But-Not-CarPlay.html" />
151. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wny" />
152. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/rosensteel-carplay-gm" />
153. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42334</id>
154. <published>2025-10-30T14:30:58Z</published>
155. <updated>2025-10-30T14:36:33Z</updated>
156. <author>
157. <name>John Gruber</name>
158. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
159. </author>
160. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
161. <p>Joe Rosensteel:</p>
162.  
163. <blockquote>
164.  <p>I have no plan to purchase a GM vehicle, but I do rent cars. GM makes up a sizable portion of rental car fleets. At some point in the future those cars will no longer support CarPlay. I’m not going to sign up for a GM federated ID that stores my login credentials in their cloud. I’m not going to individually sign into apps in the car like Google Maps with my Google ID that I use for way more than just navigation. There’s no chain of trust with me and this random car from GM. No convenience that is achieved in exchange for increased exposure risk for storing my sensitive data in a car I don’t own.</p>
165. </blockquote>
166.  
167. <p>If GM goes through with this abandonment of CarPlay, I don’t see how they’ll continue to sell any vehicles to rental agencies. I would never rent a car without CarPlay, and I would never consider signing up for a GM cloud service just to drive a rental car. Complete dealbreakers.</p>
168.  
169. <div>
170. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘CarPlay Seems Essential for Rental Fleets’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/rosensteel-carplay-gm">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
171. </div>
172.  
173. ]]></content>
174.  </entry><entry>
175. <title>‘Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology’</title>
176. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/hi-its-me-wikipedia-and-i-am-ready-for-your-apology" />
177. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnx" />
178. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/wikipedia-ready-for-apology" />
179. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42333</id>
180. <published>2025-10-30T11:52:38Z</published>
181. <updated>2025-10-30T21:23:04Z</updated>
182. <author>
183. <name>John Gruber</name>
184. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
185. </author>
186. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
187. <p>Tom Ellison, at McSweeney’s:</p>
188.  
189. <blockquote>
190.  <p>How are my competitors doing, the ones you all insisted students use instead of me? That’s right, they were supposed to go to the <em>American Journal of Social Sciences, Powered by OpenAI</em>. Or museums, like the Smithsonian’s Charlie Kirk Shrine to American Greatness. I guess they can still count on credible journalism, once they get past the paywall for <em>Palantir Presents: The Washington Post</em>, so they read the Pulitzer-Bezos Prize–winning work of coeditors-in-chief Bari Weiss and Grok.</p>
191. </blockquote>
192.  
193. <div>
194. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘‘Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology’’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/wikipedia-ready-for-apology">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
195. </div>
196.  
197. ]]></content>
198.  </entry><entry>
199. <title>Elon Musk’s Grokipedia Launches With AI-Cloned Pages From Wikipedia</title>
200. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.theverge.com/news/807686/elon-musk-grokipedia-launch-wikipedia-xai-copied" />
201. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnw" />
202. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/grokipedia" />
203. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42332</id>
204. <published>2025-10-29T23:06:53Z</published>
205. <updated>2025-10-29T23:36:07Z</updated>
206. <author>
207. <name>John Gruber</name>
208. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
209. </author>
210. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
211. <p>Jay Peters, writing for The Verge:</p>
212.  
213. <blockquote>
214.  <p>However, despite Elon Musk promising that Grokipedia would be a
215. “massive improvement” over Wikipedia, some articles appear to be
216. cribbing information <em>from</em> Wikipedia. At the bottom of the page
217. for the <a href="https://grokipedia.com/page/MacBook_Air">MacBook Air</a>, for example, you can see this
218. message: “The content is adapted from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Verge">Wikipedia</a>,
219. licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
220. License.” In some cases, the cribbing goes farther than a rewrite:
221. I’ve also seen that message on pages for the <a href="https://grokipedia.com/page/PlayStation_5">PlayStation
222. 5</a> and the <a href="https://grokipedia.com/page/Lincoln_Mark_VIII">Lincoln Mark VIII</a>, and both of
223. those pages are almost identical — word-for-word, line-for-line — to their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_5">Wikipedia</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Mark_VIII">counterparts</a>.</p>
224.  
225. <p>“Even Grokipedia needs Wikipedia to exist,” Lauren Dickinson, a
226. spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that
227. operates Wikipedia tells The Verge. You can read Dickinson’s
228. full statement in full at the end of this article.</p>
229. </blockquote>
230.  
231. <p>At launch, Grokipedia is to Wikipedia as a chewed piece of gum is to a fresh piece of gum still in its wrapper. And imagine that the gum was chewed by someone with a dipping tobacco habit.</p>
232.  
233. <div>
234. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Elon Musk’s Grokipedia Launches With AI-Cloned Pages From Wikipedia’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/grokipedia">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
235. </div>
236.  
237. ]]></content>
238.  </entry><entry>
239. <title>Local Note: WMMR’s Pierre Robert Found Dead at 70</title>
240. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://share.inquirer.com/A2DX3Y" />
241. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnv" />
242. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pierre-robert-rip" />
243. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42331</id>
244. <published>2025-10-29T20:26:02Z</published>
245. <updated>2025-10-29T22:55:25Z</updated>
246. <author>
247. <name>John Gruber</name>
248. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
249. </author>
250. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
251. <p>Nick Vadala, reporting for the Philadelphia Inquirer:</p>
252.  
253. <blockquote>
254.  <p>Longtime WMMR-FM host Pierre Robert was found dead in his home
255. Wednesday. He was 70.</p>
256. </blockquote>
257.  
258. <p>Robert’s surname, I must point out, rhymes with Pierre (and with Colbert).</p>
259.  
260. <blockquote>
261.  <p>A native of Northern California, Robert joined WMMR as an on-air
262. host in 1981. He arrived in the city after his previous station,
263. San Francisco’s KSAN, switched to an Urban Cowboy format,
264. prompting him to make the cross-country drive to Philadelphia in a
265. Volkswagen van. “I came because of a relationship,” <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/arts/pierre-robert-wmmr-philadelphia-radio-contract-extension-20240112.html">he told The
266. Inquirer last year</a>. “I was in love. The love part didn’t work
267. out, but the job part did.”</p>
268.  
269. <p>As a newly minted Philadelphian, Robert began working at a local
270. health food store as he interviewed for radio jobs around town,
271. but found little luck initially. One day, while dining at Astral
272. Plane, a long-closed restaurant formerly on Lombard Street, he
273. introduced himself to WMMR program director Joe Bonnadonna and
274. announcer Charlie Kendall, and despite getting on well with the
275. pair, he learned there were no openings at the station.</p>
276.  
277. <p>But weeks later, he received a letter from Bonnadonna, and
278. interviewed for a job at the station during a concert from Philly
279. rock band The Hooters at the Chestnut Cabaret. He soon started
280. working in the station’s music library and office making $3.50 an
281. hour, and later began appearing on the air.</p>
282. </blockquote>
283.  
284. <p>There’s no more <em>Philadelphia</em> a Philadelphia origin story than a radio host interviewing for his job during a Hooters concert at the Chestnut Cabaret — and then going on to stay at the same station for 44 years. Impossible for me to overstate just how much Robert’s voice was <em>the</em> voice of music for me and my entire friend group growing up and even through college. You tuned the dial to 93.3 FM and left it there.</p>
285.  
286. <p>My favorite bit of his was an obscure one, a character named Reginald the Butler. Robert always had Reginald on during the holidays, while spinning Christmas rock songs. But <a href="https://wmmr.com/episodes/david-lee-roth-with-pierre-robert-and-reginald-the-butler-4-16-1988/">here’s a classic segment from 1988 with Robert and Reginald interviewing David Lee Roth</a>, who was then on a solo tour and about to play the Spectrum.</p>
287.  
288. <p>Rest in peace, my fellow citizen.</p>
289.  
290. <div>
291. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Local Note: WMMR’s Pierre Robert Found Dead at 70’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pierre-robert-rip">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
292. </div>
293.  
294. ]]></content>
295.  </entry><entry>
296. <title>PCalc 4.11.1 for Mac</title>
297. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://mastodon.social/@jamesthomson/115458178673560956" />
298. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnu" />
299. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pcalc-4-11-1" />
300. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42330</id>
301. <published>2025-10-29T16:00:28Z</published>
302. <updated>2025-10-29T19:06:34Z</updated>
303. <author>
304. <name>John Gruber</name>
305. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
306. </author>
307. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
308. <p>James Thomson:</p>
309.  
310. <blockquote>
311.  <p>I’ve released a small PCalc 4.11.1 update that’s out now for
312. the Mac.</p>
313.  
314. <p>There was a bug with the theme getting reset, which I <em>could</em> have
315. fixed in five minutes, but I ended up doing what I should have
316. done over three decades ago, and added a dedicated section to the
317. settings that puts all the visual customisation in one place.</p>
318.  
319. <p>No more having to search for all this stuff in a submenu
320. somewhere!</p>
321. </blockquote>
322.  
323. <p>After <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/nisus-writer-kissell">the glum news</a> this week regarding Nisus Writer, it feels good to link to a <a href="https://pcalc.com/mac/thirty.html">similarly-aged</a> Mac app that’s still thriving. If you’ve never tried PCalc, <a href="https://pcalc.com/store/pcalcmac">you’re missing out</a>.</p>
324.  
325. <div>
326. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘PCalc 4.11.1 for Mac’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pcalc-4-11-1">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
327. </div>
328.  
329. ]]></content>
330.  </entry><entry>
331. <title>Toyota BEVs Gain Support for Apple Maps EV Routing</title>
332. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/28/toyota-bz-apple-maps-ev-routing/" />
333. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnt" />
334. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/toyota-apple-maps-bevs" />
335. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42329</id>
336. <published>2025-10-29T15:14:29Z</published>
337. <updated>2025-10-29T20:49:23Z</updated>
338. <author>
339. <name>John Gruber</name>
340. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
341. </author>
342. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
343. <p>Tim Hardwick, writing for MacRumors:</p>
344.  
345. <blockquote>
346.  <p>The Apple Maps EV Routing option will allow Toyota BEV users to
347. plan travel routes that include stops for charging. Without it,
348. drivers would have had to exit out of CarPlay in order to create a
349. route that included charging stops.</p>
350.  
351. <p>Apple Maps’ EV Routing feature uses real-time data from the
352. vehicle to guide drivers to their destinations more efficiently,
353. automatically suggesting charging stops when needed. The system
354. takes into account elevation changes and other driving conditions
355. to decide when a recharge is necessary. If the vehicle’s battery
356. level becomes too low, Apple Maps will automatically direct the
357. driver to the nearest compatible charging station.</p>
358. </blockquote>
359.  
360. <p>Meanwhile GM CEO Mary Barra is spending her lunch hour <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/gm-carplay-android-auto">eating another jar of paste</a>.</p>
361.  
362. <div>
363. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Toyota BEVs Gain Support for Apple Maps EV Routing’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/toyota-apple-maps-bevs">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
364. </div>
365.  
366. ]]></content>
367.  </entry><entry>
368. <title>Samsung Shows Off Tri-Fold Smartphone at APEC Forum in Korea</title>
369. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/28/samsung-tri-fold-smartphone-debut/" />
370. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wns" />
371. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/samsung-trifold-phone" />
372. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42328</id>
373. <published>2025-10-29T14:51:30Z</published>
374. <updated>2025-10-29T14:51:31Z</updated>
375. <author>
376. <name>John Gruber</name>
377. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
378. </author>
379. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
380. <p>The Onion, in February 2004: “<a href="https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/">Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades</a>”.</p>
381.  
382. <div>
383. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Samsung Shows Off Tri-Fold Smartphone at APEC Forum in Korea’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/samsung-trifold-phone">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
384. </div>
385.  
386. ]]></content>
387.  </entry><entry>
388. <title>Trump Is Deeply Unpopular</title>
389. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker" />
390. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnr" />
391. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/trump-unpopular" />
392. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42327</id>
393. <published>2025-10-29T14:40:28Z</published>
394. <updated>2025-10-29T14:43:02Z</updated>
395. <author>
396. <name>John Gruber</name>
397. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
398. </author>
399. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
400. <p>The Economist:</p>
401.  
402. <blockquote>
403.  <p>Presidents’ popularity tends to wane. In his second term Donald
404. Trump’s has fallen faster than that of his recent predecessors.</p>
405.  
406. <p>Since modern polling began most presidents have started their
407. terms with positive net approval ratings (the share of voters who
408. approve of their job performance minus the share who disapprove).
409. Both of Mr Trump’s terms began with public opinion split nearly
410. evenly. In both cases his net approval rating quickly turned
411. negative. Now it is -18, the lowest it has been since his
412. inauguration — and three percentage-points lower than at any
413. point in his first term.</p>
414. </blockquote>
415.  
416. <p>State-by-state, Trump is only above water in nine states: Idaho, Wyoming, West Virginia, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.</p>
417.  
418. <p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-popularity-dips-americans-sweat-cost-living-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2025-10-28/">Reuters, with its own poll</a>:</p>
419.  
420. <blockquote>
421.  <p>Donald Trump’s presidential approval rating fell in recent days,
422. tying the lowest level of his term, as more Americans frowned on
423. his handling of the cost of living, according to a new
424. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/data/trumps-approval-rating-2025-01-21/">Reuters/Ipsos poll</a>.</p>
425.  
426. <p>The three-day poll, which concluded on Sunday, showed 40% of
427. Americans approve of the Republican leader’s job performance,
428. compared to 42% in an October 15-20 Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump’s
429. popularity has been within a percentage point or two of its
430. current level in every Reuters/Ipsos poll since mid-May. The share
431. of people who say they disapprove of his performance has grown,
432. from 52% in a May 16-18 poll to 57% in the latest survey.</p>
433. </blockquote>
434.  
435. <p>So the Economist has him at -18, Reuters at -17.</p>
436.  
437. <div>
438. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Trump Is Deeply Unpopular’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/trump-unpopular">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
439. </div>
440.  
441. ]]></content>
442.  </entry><entry>
443. <title>OpenAI Acquires Sky, a Still-in-Beta System-Wide AI Automation Tool for the Mac</title>
444. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://openai.com/index/openai-acquires-software-applications-incorporated/" />
445. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnq" />
446. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/openai-acquires-sky" />
447. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42326</id>
448. <published>2025-10-28T23:21:09Z</published>
449. <updated>2025-10-28T23:21:09Z</updated>
450. <author>
451. <name>John Gruber</name>
452. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
453. </author>
454. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
455. <p><a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/thoughts_observations_and_links_regarding_chatgpt_atlas">Other</a> Mac-related news from OpenAI last week:</p>
456.  
457. <blockquote>
458.  <p>Sky is a powerful natural language interface for the Mac. With
459. Sky, AI works alongside you, whether you’re writing, planning,
460. coding, or managing your day. Sky understands what’s on your
461. screen and can take action using your apps.</p>
462.  
463. <p>We will bring Sky’s deep macOS integration and product craft into
464. ChatGPT, and all members of the team will join OpenAI.</p>
465. </blockquote>
466.  
467. <p><a href="https://software.inc/html/About%20Us">Two of the founders</a> of Software Applications Incorporated, the company behind Sky, are Ari Weinstein and Conrad Kramer, <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2015/08/27/workflow-for-ios-widget-sync/">who a decade ago co-created Workflow</a>, which Apple <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/22/apple-acquires-powerful-ios-automation-app-workflow-makes-it-available-for-free/">acquired in 2017</a> and turned into Shortcuts.</p>
468.  
469. <p>Federico Viticci got an advanced look at Sky and <a href="https://www.macstories.net/stories/sky-for-mac-preview/">wrote a glowing preview back in May</a>.</p>
470.  
471. <div>
472. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘OpenAI Acquires Sky, a Still-in-Beta System-Wide AI Automation Tool for the Mac’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/openai-acquires-sky">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
473. </div>
474.  
475. ]]></content>
476.  </entry><entry>
477.    
478.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/thoughts_observations_and_links_regarding_chatgpt_atlas" />
479. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wnp" />
480. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42325</id>
481. <published>2025-10-28T19:45:19Z</published>
482. <updated>2025-10-28T20:25:27Z</updated>
483. <author>
484. <name>John Gruber</name>
485. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
486. </author>
487. <summary type="text">Most people’s primary computing devices are their phones — and even for people whose primary devices are desktop computers, their phones are much-used satellite devices. And on both iOS and Android alike, people live their mobile digital lives through native apps, not websites.</summary>
488. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
489. <p>OpenAI, <a href="https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/">one week ago</a>:</p>
490.  
491. <blockquote>
492.  <p>Today we’re introducing ChatGPT Atlas, a new web browser built
493. with ChatGPT at its core.</p>
494.  
495. <p>AI gives us a rare moment to rethink what it means to use the web.
496. Last year, we added search in ChatGPT so you could instantly find
497. timely information from across the internet — and it quickly
498. became one of our most-used features. But your browser is where
499. all of your work, tools, and context come together. A browser
500. built with ChatGPT takes us closer to a true super-assistant that
501. understands your world and helps you achieve your goals.</p>
502. </blockquote>
503.  
504. <p>A few minutes into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/8UWKxJbjriY">the 22-minute introduction video</a>, Ben Goodger,<sup id="fnr1-2025-10-28"><a href="#fn1-2025-10-28">1</a></sup> engineering lead for Atlas, says:</p>
505.  
506. <blockquote>
507.  <p>“We wanted to make sure that Atlas didn’t feel like your old
508. browser, just with a chat button that was bolted on. But instead,
509. we made ChatGPT the beating heart of Atlas.”</p>
510. </blockquote>
511.  
512. <p>After giving it a try over the last week, to me Atlas feels like … Chrome with a chat button bolted on. I do not see the appeal, at all, despite being a daily user of ChatGPT. Atlas offers nothing to me that’s better than using Safari as a standalone browser and <a href="https://chatgpt.com/download/">ChatGPT’s excellent native Mac app</a> as a standalone AI chatbot. But, for me, my browser is <em>not</em> “where all of [my] work, tools, and context come together”. I use an email app for email, a notes app for notes, a text editor and blog editor for writing and programming, a photos app for my photo library, a native feed reader app for feed reading, etc. My web browser is for browsing pages on the web. Perhaps this sort of browser/chat hybrid appeals better to people who live the majority of their desktop-computing lives in browser tabs.</p>
513.  
514. <ul>
515. <li><p>The main interface isn’t a combo search/location field, but rather a chat/location field. Instead of getting search results for a query, you get a chat response. If I wanted this I’d just ask my prompt in ChatGPT. Oftentimes — usually, even — I really do want a list of search results, and I want them fast. ChatGPT responses in Atlas are not a list of web pages, and are — compared to Google Search or my preferred search engine, Kagi — very slow. ChatGPT is many things but a good search engine replacement it is not. But that seems to be the entire premise of Atlas.</p></li>
516. <li><p>Atlas offers an agent mode where it actually surfs the web for you. One of the demos from their launch video involved getting a list of ingredients from a recipe on a web page, and then allowing Atlas to buy all those ingredients for you. That seems crazy to me. Do not want.</p></li>
517. <li><p>Atlas is a Chromium browser, supports Chrome extensions, and but currently is only available for the Mac. It’s not particularly Mac-like though, <a href="https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/10/22/chatgpt-atlas/">as Michael Tsai notes</a>:</p>
518.  
519. <blockquote>
520.  <p>Alas, it doesn’t support AppleScript and has System Settings–style
521. preferences.</p>
522. </blockquote>
523.  
524. <p>System Settings-style preferences are certainly better than Chrome-style “settings in a web page tab”, though. Also, in my testing, Atlas doesn’t make good use of Apple Passwords for autofill.</p></li>
525. <li><p>ChatGPT is <a href="https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12608430-chatgpt-atlas-default-browser-promotion">running a promotion that offers users increased rate limits</a> if they make — and keep — Atlas their default web browser. I’ve never before seen a web browser offer any sort of incentive like this for making it your default. This promotion strikes me as simultaneously clever and icky.</p></li>
526. <li><p><a href="https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/21/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/">Simon Willison’s initial thoughts</a> echo my own:</p>
527.  
528. <blockquote>
529.  <p>I continue to find this entire category of <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/browser-agents/">browser agents</a>
530. <em>deeply</em> confusing.</p>
531.  
532. <p>The security and privacy risks involved here still feel
533. insurmountably high to me — I certainly won’t be trusting any of
534. these products until a bunch of security researchers have given
535. them a very thorough beating. [...]</p>
536.  
537. <p>I also find these products pretty unexciting to use. I tried out
538. agent mode and it was like watching a first-time computer user
539. painstakingly learn to use a mouse for the first time. I have yet
540. to find my own use-cases for when this kind of interaction feels
541. useful to me, though I’m not ruling that out.</p>
542. </blockquote></li>
543. <li><p>Lastly, Anil Dash’s assessment is rather scathing, “<a href="https://www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/atlas-anti-web-browser/">The Browser That’s Anti-Web</a>”:</p>
544.  
545. <blockquote>
546.  <p>In the demo for Atlas, the OpenAI team shows a user trying to find
547. a Google Doc from their browser history. A normal user would type
548. keywords like “atlas design” and see their browser show a list of
549. recent pages. They would recognize the phrase “Google Docs” or the
550. icon, and click on it to get back to where they were.</p>
551.  
552. <p>But in the OpenAI demo, the team member types out:</p>
553.  
554. <blockquote>
555.  <p>search web history for a doc about atlas core design</p>
556. </blockquote>
557.  
558. <p>This is <em>worse in every conceivable way</em>. It’s slower, more prone
559. to error, and redundant. But it also highlights one of the biggest
560. invisible problems: you’re switching “modes”. Normally, an LLM’s
561. default mode is to create plausible extrapolations based on its
562. training data. Basically, it’s supposed to make things up. But
563. this demo has to explicitly walk you through “now it’s time to go
564. search my browser history” because it’s coercing the AI to look
565. through local content.</p>
566. </blockquote>
567.  
568. <p>Chat is a great interface for, well, chatting. People love texting. And it turns out that chat conversations are a very good user interface for interacting with LLMs. We humans enjoy texting with other humans, and we enjoy texting with LLMs. But typed-out text commands are not a good user interface at all for browsing the web. We had an entirely text-based Internet before the World Wide Web, and the point-and-click visual metaphor of the Web won out.</p>
569.  
570. <p>Dash, later on:</p>
571.  
572. <blockquote>
573.  <p>It’s no coincidence that hundreds of people who work at OpenAI,
574. including many of the most powerful executives, are alumni of
575. Facebook/Meta, especially during the era of many of that
576. company’s most egregious abuses of people’s privacy. In the
577. marketing materials and demonstrations of Atlas, OpenAI’s team
578. describes the browser as being able to be your “agent”,
579. performing tasks on your behalf.</p>
580.  
581. <p>But in reality, <em>you are the agent for ChatGPT</em>.</p>
582.  
583. <p>During setup, Atlas pushes very aggressively for you to turn on
584. “memories” (where it tracks and stores everything you do and uses
585. it to train an AI model about you) and to enable “Ask ChatGPT” on
586. any website, where it’s following along with you as you browse the
587. web. By keeping the ChatGPT sidebar open while you browse, and
588. giving it permission to look over your shoulder, OpenAI can
589. suddenly access all kinds of things on the internet that they
590. could never get to on their own.</p>
591. </blockquote>
592.  
593. <p>This jibes with my impression after giving Atlas a try. The point of it doesn’t seem to be to provide a better web browser for me to use, but rather, to provide ChatGPT with the personal context of my digital life that it otherwise couldn’t get.</p></li>
594. </ul>
595.  
596. <hr />
597.  
598. <p>That last point raises the question of just how stable we should consider the Apple-OpenAI partnership for ChatGPT-backed Apple Intelligence features. Apple’s goal for a “more personalized Siri” — <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/03/something_is_rotten_in_the_state_of_cupertino">the whole thing</a> Apple promised at WWDC 2024 but had to postpone for a full year early this year — is for the ecosystem of native apps on Apple platforms, particularly iOS and MacOS, to serve as the personal knowledge context for personalized AI features through <a href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appintents">App Intents</a>. That’s the basis for the “When is my mom’s flight arriving?” type of interaction that Apple has promised, but still has not delivered. The premise of Atlas (and its brethren AI-integrated browsers like <a href="https://www.diabrowser.com/">The Browser Company’s Dia</a> and <a href="https://www.perplexity.ai/comet/">Perplexity’s Comet</a>) is that you should live your entire desktop computing life inside your browser, which in turn will give the AI agent that is integrated with your browser the contextual knowledge for your entire life.</p>
599.  
600. <p>OpenAI’s ambitions are clearly at odds with Apple’s.</p>
601.  
602. <p>OpenAI’s advantage here is that ChatGPT is the most popular LLM chatbot in the world, by far. Apple doesn’t even have an LLM chatbot of its own, let alone a good or popular one. But Apple’s advantage is a big one: most people don’t live their digital lives on desktop computers, where it’s an option to do most things in a web browser. Most people’s primary computing devices are their phones — and even for people whose primary devices are desktop computers, their phones are much-used satellite devices. And on both iOS and Android alike, people live their mobile digital lives through native apps, not websites.</p>
603.  
604. <div class="footnotes">
605. <hr />
606. <ol>
607. <li id="fn1-2025-10-28">
608. <p>Goodger is a titanic figure in the web browser world, having helped <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111116060139/http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/009698.html">create Mozilla Firefox</a> in the early 2000s, and then <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050210015629/http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/007366.html">joining Google in 2005</a> to help create Chrome. <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/11/26/openai-browser">I noted last year</a> that Goodger leaving Google for OpenAI was a pretty clear sign that OpenAI was creating its own web browser.&nbsp;<a href="#fnr1-2025-10-28"  class="footnoteBackLink"  title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">&#x21A9;&#xFE0E;</a></p>
609. </li>
610. </ol>
611. </div>
612.  
613.  
614.  
615.    ]]></content>
616.  <title>★ Thoughts, Observations, and Links Regarding ChatGPT Atlas</title></entry><entry>
617. <title>Nisus Writer: Schrödinger’s Word Processor</title>
618. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://tidbits.com/2025/10/25/nisus-writer-schrodingers-word-processor/" />
619. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wno" />
620. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/nisus-writer-kissell" />
621. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42324</id>
622. <published>2025-10-28T15:30:48Z</published>
623. <updated>2025-10-28T15:30:48Z</updated>
624. <author>
625. <name>John Gruber</name>
626. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
627. </author>
628. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
629. <p>Joe Kissell, writing at TidBITS:</p>
630.  
631. <blockquote>
632.  <p>For more than a year, we’ve heard scattered complaints: problems
633. with Nisus Software’s website, particularly the user discussion
634. forum; slow or absent responses to support requests; assorted
635. bugs; and other issues. But earlier this week, on 22 October 2025,
636. the reports changed to: “Did you know the Nisus website is
637. completely down, and that Nisus Writer is no longer in the Mac App
638. Store? Does this mean Nisus is out of business?”</p>
639.  
640. <p>On the one hand: The site is back online as I write this. The
641. app still works. I’m writing the first draft of this article in
642. Nisus Writer Pro on a Mac running macOS 26 Tahoe, and it’s fine.
643. You can still download it and buy a license. At least one person
644. is actively involved in the company, to some extent. It’s
645. (mostly) alive!</p>
646.  
647. <p>On the other hand: All available evidence suggests that
648. development and support for Nisus Writer have ceased, and barring
649. some new information, its future is doubtful. It’s (mostly) dead!</p>
650.  
651. <p>I’m going to tell you what I know. (Well, <em>most</em> of what I know.)
652. I’m also going to speculate a bit, because despite my best
653. efforts, I have been unable to obtain verifiable information about
654. certain topics, though I have a pretty good idea of what’s likely
655. the case.</p>
656. </blockquote>
657.  
658. <p>Seems like an ignominious demise for a once-great app. Nisus Writer has been an acclaimed Mac-only (and Mac-assed) word processor since 1989. I never got into it, but I could always see the appeal. Nisus had a macro language for automation and regex-style advanced search and replace. But when I wanted features like those, I wanted them in a plain text editor, not a word processor, so I got into BBEdit.</p>
659.  
660. <div>
661. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Nisus Writer: Schrödinger’s Word Processor’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/nisus-writer-kissell">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
662. </div>
663.  
664. ]]></content>
665.  </entry><entry>
667. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.jaho.com/s/df" />
668. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wnn" />
669. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/10/jaho_coffee_roaster" />
670. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/feeds/sponsors//11.42323</id>
671. <author><name>Daring Fireball Department of Commerce</name></author>
672. <published>2025-10-28T00:54:55Z</published>
673. <updated>2025-10-28T00:54:56Z</updated>
674. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
675. <p>Great coffee takes care. Family-owned since 2005, our slogan “Live Slow” guides our every day in and out of our roastery. From sourcing small-lot single origins to blending coffees for balance, we small-batch roast our award-winning coffees in Salem and Tokyo. For the at-home coffee drinker, we roast to order and pack the same coffees brewed and served in all of our cafés. For the office worker, Jaho is proud to be a wholesaler with select partners across the nation and in Japan. DF readers: take 20% off with DF.</p>
676.  
677. <p>Fresh beans shipped nationwide. <br />
678. Give up bad coffee for good.</p>
679.  
680. <div>
681. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Jaho Coffee Roaster’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/10/jaho_coffee_roaster">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
682. </div>
683.  
684. ]]></content>
685. <title>[Sponsor] Jaho Coffee Roaster</title></entry><entry>
686.    
687.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/apple_uk_lawsuit_app_store_commissions" />
688. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wnm" />
689. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42322</id>
690. <published>2025-10-27T20:33:32Z</published>
691. <updated>2025-10-27T20:33:39Z</updated>
692. <author>
693. <name>John Gruber</name>
694. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
695. </author>
696. <summary type="text">The best time to adjust the rules of the App Store — its exclusivity on app distribution for the entire iOS platform, the exclusivity of Apple’s IAP for purchasing digital content, the commission percentage splits on IAP — was over a decade ago. The next best time to make those adjustments is now.</summary>
697. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
698. <p>Sam Tobin, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/apple-loses-uk-lawsuit-over-app-store-commissions-2025-10-23/">reporting last week for Reuters</a>:</p>
699.  
700. <blockquote>
701.  <p>Apple abused its dominant position by charging app developers
702. unfair commissions, a London tribunal ruled on Thursday, in a blow
703. which could leave the U.S. tech company on the hook for hundreds
704. of millions of pounds in damages. The Competition Appeal Tribunal
705. (CAT) ruled against Apple after a trial of the lawsuit, which was
706. brought on behalf of millions of iPhone and iPad users in the
707. United Kingdom.</p>
708.  
709. <p>The CAT ruled that Apple had abused its dominant position from
710. October 2015 until the end of 2020 by shutting out competition in
711. the app distribution market and by “charging excessive and unfair
712. prices” as commission to developers. [...] The case had been
713. valued at around 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) by those who
714. brought it. A hearing next month will decide how damages are
715. calculated and Apple’s application for permission to appeal.</p>
716. </blockquote>
717.  
718. <p>Dan Moren and I discussed this at some length in <a href="https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/10/26/ep-432">the new episode of The Talk Show</a> that dropped over the weekend. What makes this ruling interesting isn’t that it’s particularly significant or different from other regulatory/antitrust investigations around the world. It’s the fact that it’s completely in line with other regulatory/antitrust investigations regarding the App Store (and Play Store) from around the world.</p>
719.  
720. <p>When is the last time an investigation regarding the legality of the App Store’s dominant market position went in Apple’s favor, in any country? I can’t recall one. Apple is clearly fighting a losing battle here. Whether Apple <em>ought</em> to be losing all these legal and regulatory battles regarding the App Store is, from a strategic standpoint, almost irrelevant. The obvious fact is, they <em>are</em> losing them.</p>
721.  
722. <p>Apple has approached all this regulatory conflict from a perspective that they’re right, and the regulators are wrong. That the App Store, as Apple wants it, is (a) good for users, (b) fair to developers, and (c) <em>competitive</em>, not anti-competitive, legally. But even if Apple is correct about that, at some point, after being handed loss after loss in rulings from courts and regulatory bodies around the globe, shouldn’t they change their strategy and start trying to offer their own concessions, rather than wait for bureaucrat-designed concessions to be forced upon them?</p>
723.  
724. <p>However Apple thinks all of this <em>should</em> work out is not the way it <em>is</em> working out. The best time to adjust the rules of the App Store — its exclusivity on app distribution for the entire iOS platform, the exclusivity of Apple’s IAP for purchasing digital content, the commission percentage splits on IAP — <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2021/06/app_store_the_schiller_cut">was over a decade ago</a>. The next best time to make those adjustments is now.</p>
725.  
726.  
727.  
728.    ]]></content>
729.  <title>★ Apple Loses Landmark U.K. Lawsuit Over App Store Commissions</title></entry><entry>
730. <title>App Store IDs Hint at Possible iPad Versions of Pixelmator Pro, Compressor, Motion, and MainStage</title>
731. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/27/apple-may-release-pixelmator-pro-for-ipad/" />
732. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnl" />
733. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/more-apple-pro-apps-for-ipad" />
734. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42321</id>
735. <published>2025-10-27T16:49:57Z</published>
736. <updated>2025-10-27T20:44:28Z</updated>
737. <author>
738. <name>John Gruber</name>
739. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
740. </author>
741. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
742. <p>Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:</p>
743.  
744. <blockquote>
745.  <p>Apple might be preparing iPad apps for Pixelmator Pro, Compressor,
746. Motion, and MainStage, according to new App Store IDs uncovered by
747. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. All four of the apps are
748. currently available on the Mac only. A quick overview of each app:</p>
749.  
750. <ul>
751. <li><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pixelmator-pro/id1289583905?mt=12">Pixelmator Pro</a>: Professional image editing app <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/11/apple-completes-pixelmator-acquisition/">acquired
752. by Apple</a> earlier this year</li>
753. <li><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/compressor/id424390742?mt=12">Compressor</a>: Final Cut Pro companion app for compressing
754. audio and video files</li>
755. <li><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/motion/id434290957?mt=12">Motion</a>: Final Cut Pro companion app for creating 2D/3D
756. titles, transitions, and effects</li>
757. <li><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mainstage/id634159523?mt=12">MainStage</a>: Logic Pro companion app for live performances</li>
758. </ul>
759.  
760. <p>There is already a less-capable <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pixelmator/id924695435">Pixelmator</a> app available
761. for the iPad and iPhone.</p>
762. </blockquote>
763.  
764. <p>Interesting though that — just like Final Cut and Logic — these new pro apps are reportedly iPad-only, with no support for iPhone.</p>
765.  
766. <p>Also: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith/115447184072770472">still no Xcode</a>, even for iPad.</p>
767.  
768. <div>
769. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘App Store IDs Hint at Possible iPad Versions of Pixelmator Pro, Compressor, Motion, and MainStage’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/more-apple-pro-apps-for-ipad">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
770. </div>
771.  
772. ]]></content>
773.  </entry><entry>
774. <title>Gurman Reports That Apple Is Preparing to Sell Ads in Maps Starting in 2026</title>
775. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-26/what-s-next-for-the-ipad-pro-iphone-17-pro-like-vapor-chamber-apple-maps-ads-mh7nq39h" />
776. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnk" />
777. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/gurman-ads-apple-maps" />
778. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42320</id>
779. <published>2025-10-27T15:59:13Z</published>
780. <updated>2025-10-27T17:00:14Z</updated>
781. <author>
782. <name>John Gruber</name>
783. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
784. </author>
785. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
786. <p>Mark Gurman, in his weekly paywalled Power On column for Bloomberg:</p>
787.  
788. <blockquote>
789.  <p>I <a href="https://archive.ph/o/Nv7RN/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-08-14/apple-aapl-set-to-expand-advertising-bringing-ads-to-maps-tv-and-books-apps-l6tdqqmg">reported a few years ago</a> that Apple was working to bring
790. more advertising to iOS. Well, now that effort is gaining traction — with a plan to start the ads as early as next year. The company
791. is focusing on Apple Maps, which will allow restaurants and other
792. businesses to pay to have their details featured more prominently
793. within the app’s searches.</p>
794.  
795. <p>The concept is quite similar to Search Ads inside of the App
796. Store, where developers can pay for their software to appear in a
797. promoted slot based on user queries. I’m told the Maps version
798. will have a better interface than what Google and other companies
799. offer inside of mapping services. The Apple approach also will
800. leverage AI to ensure that results are relevant and useful.</p>
801.  
802. <p>The big risk Apple faces here is a potential consumer backlash.</p>
803. </blockquote>
804.  
805. <p>I don’t love the ads in the App Store, but I don’t hate them. They’re restrained, and clearly labeled. I do, however, despise the ads in Apple News. They’re low-quality, distracting, highly repetitive, and appear far too frequently within articles.</p>
806.  
807. <div>
808. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Gurman Reports That Apple Is Preparing to Sell Ads in Maps Starting in 2026’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/gurman-ads-apple-maps">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
809. </div>
810.  
811. ]]></content>
812.  </entry><entry>
813. <title>Joe Rosensteel: ‘Creative Neglect: What About the Apps in Apple?’</title>
814. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/creative-neglect-what-about-the-apps-in-apple/" />
815. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnj" />
816. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/rosensteel-apple-apps" />
817. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42319</id>
818. <published>2025-10-27T15:39:42Z</published>
819. <updated>2025-10-27T15:40:17Z</updated>
820. <author>
821. <name>John Gruber</name>
822. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
823. </author>
824. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
825. <p>Joe Rosensteel, writing at Six Colors, regarding the demise of Apple’s Clips app:</p>
826.  
827. <blockquote>
828.  <p>It’s <a href="https://sixcolors.com/post/2017/04/clips-review-creative-fun-amidst-idiosyncrasies/">not that it was completely inept</a>, but <a href="https://sixcolors.com/link/2017/11/clips-20-the-spiritual-successor-to-photo-booth/">it was an
829. aimless showcase</a> to demonstrate what Apple <em>could</em> do.
830. It withered over the course of eight years before it was
831. quietly killed.</p>
832.  
833. <p>At no point did it supplant iMovie for iOS as the fun, easy-breezy
834. video editor, which is also in a similarly stagnant state. The
835. only updates iMovie has received in the past year were onboarding
836. screens for permissions settings.</p>
837.  
838. <p>Why is it that Apple can make what is widely regarded as the best
839. video recording experience on any smartphone, but it can’t make a
840. good video editor for a smartphone? Is it partly because these
841. apps don’t have direct payments, so they can only ever be demos
842. for hardware and services that <em>do</em> earn money?</p>
843. </blockquote>
844.  
845. <p>Rosensteel is concerned about the radio silence from Apple regarding Pixelmator and Photomator, the apps (and team) that <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/11/01/pixelmator-apple">Apple acquired a year ago</a>:</p>
846.  
847. <blockquote>
848.  <p>Of course, Apple may be assembling its own mirror of the Adobe
849. Creative Cloud suite so that it can charge one bundle price for
850. access to a suite of pro apps, and maybe that’s why pricing for
851. everything is frozen in place, and the iPad Pro apps aren’t in
852. step with the Mac ones.</p>
853. </blockquote>
854.  
855. <p>That’s what I hope: that Apple is somewhere near the cusp of announcing some sort of “pro apps” subscription.</p>
856.  
857. <div>
858. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Joe Rosensteel: ‘Creative Neglect: What About the Apps in Apple?’’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/rosensteel-apple-apps">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
859. </div>
860.  
861. ]]></content>
862.  </entry><entry>
863. <title>Inside the Math That Detects Cheating on Sports Bets</title>
864. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/10/24/nba-rozier-betting-cheating-math-monitors/86857550007/" />
865. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wni" />
866. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/inside-the-math-that-detects-cheating-on-sports-bets" />
867. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42318</id>
868. <published>2025-10-27T15:05:10Z</published>
869. <updated>2025-10-27T15:05:10Z</updated>
870. <author>
871. <name>John Gruber</name>
872. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
873. </author>
874. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
875. <p>Dian Zhang and Ignacio Calderon, reporting for USA Today:</p>
876.  
877. <blockquote>
878.  <p>Even before Terry Rozier dropped out of the 2023 NBA game in which
879. he’s accused of rigging his statistics, computers at an “integrity
880. monitor” firm flagged a flood of bets that did not match a
881. mathematical model of how this game should go. The company, now
882. called IC360, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2025/01/30/nba-terry-rozier-under-investigation-illegal-gambling-scheme/78054903007/">alerted the NBA and sportsbooks about the unusual
883. bets coming in on Rozier’s performance</a>.</p>
884.  
885. <p>The investigation that led to the arrest of the Miami Heat point
886. guard and dozens of others for illegal gambling started with math.
887. It ended Oct. 23 with Rozier charged with manipulating his
888. performance in that 2023 game so that gamblers in the know could
889. win tens of thousands of dollars.</p>
890.  
891. <p>Beep. Boop. Busted.</p>
892.  
893. <p>Federal authorities allege <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2025/10/23/terry-rozier-gambling-nba-scandal-arrested-earnings/86859092007/">more than $200,000 poured in</a>
894. betting that Rozier would turn in a below-average performance in
895. that game after Rozier told another defendant he would drop out of
896. the game early with an injury. Rozier played 9 minutes, 34 seconds
897. for the Charlotte Hornets in the game against the New Orleans
898. Pelicans before leaving with an injury and finished under his
899. usual totals for points, assists and 3-pointers.</p>
900. </blockquote>
901.  
902. <p>A lot of these stories about cheating on sports betting involve <a href="https://onefoottsunami.com/2023/07/18/bert-was-a-piece-of-work/">characters who aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed</a>. Makes me wonder how many inside-info cheaters are getting away with it, because they’re not doing anything conspicuous like placing very large wagers on very obscure games or prop bets.</p>
903.  
904. <div>
905. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Inside the Math That Detects Cheating on Sports Bets’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/inside-the-math-that-detects-cheating-on-sports-bets">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
906. </div>
907.  
908. ]]></content>
909.  </entry><entry>
910. <title>Behind the Design: Adobe Premiere on iOS</title>
911. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://adobe.design/stories/process/behind-the-design-adobe-premiere-on-ios" />
912. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnh" />
913. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/behind-the-design-adobe-premiere-on-ios" />
914. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42317</id>
915. <published>2025-10-27T14:00:28Z</published>
916. <updated>2025-10-27T14:01:23Z</updated>
917. <author>
918. <name>John Gruber</name>
919. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
920. </author>
921. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
922. <p>Adobe Design profiles Adobe’s new Premiere app for iOS, and interviews Christopher Azar, group design manager for Adobe Video, regarding the thinking behind the app and its design:</p>
923.  
924. <blockquote>
925.  <p><em>What was the primary goal when you set out to design Premiere
926. on iOS?</em></p>
927.  
928. <p>Christopher Azar: Our goal was to design a professional-grade
929. product that carried the powerful, precise spirit of Premiere
930. while feeling modern, approachable, and even fun. We call our
931. vision “intuitive precision”: a high-performance, intelligent tool
932. powered by cutting-edge AI that enables creators to work how and
933. where they want — in the field, experimenting, and honing their
934. storytelling craft.</p>
935.  
936. <p>That meant making this editing power available to a broader
937. creative community. Desktop software has traditionally been built
938. for professionals with large budgets. Our goal was not only to
939. make a professional tool easier to use, but to make it available
940. to more people than ever before. I would have wanted to use this
941. app when I was coming up as a creative, so I’m excited we’re
942. providing high-quality software for everyone who wants it — without a big investment in time or money.</p>
943. </blockquote>
944.  
945. <p>It really does seem like a breakthrough app for the platform. An Android version is in the works, Adobe says, but for now, Premiere is an iOS exclusive. Kind of weird that Apple itself makes Final Cut Pro for both the Mac and iPad, but still hasn’t made a serious video editing app for the iPhone.</p>
946.  
947. <div>
948. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Behind the Design: Adobe Premiere on iOS’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/27/behind-the-design-adobe-premiere-on-ios">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
949. </div>
950.  
951. ]]></content>
952.  </entry><entry>
953. <title>The Talk Show: ‘You and Frank Sinatra’</title>
954. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/10/26/ep-432" />
955. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wng" />
956. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/26/the-talk-show-432" />
957. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42316</id>
958. <published>2025-10-26T18:00:23Z</published>
959. <updated>2025-10-26T18:00:23Z</updated>
960. <author>
961. <name>John Gruber</name>
962. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
963. </author>
964. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
965. <p>For your weekend listening enjoyment, a new episode of America’s favorite 3-star podcast, with special guest Dan Moren. Topics include Atlas, ChatGPT’s new web browser (or anti-web browser) for the Mac; Apple’s loss in a “landmark” regulatory lawsuit in the UK regarding App Store commission rates; multiple reports of poor sales for the iPhone Air; and Apple’s M5 product announcements: MacBook Pro, iPads Pro, and Vision Pro.</p>
966.  
967. <p>Brought to you by these fine sponsors:</p>
968.  
969. <ul>
970. <li><a href="https://squarespace.com/talkshow">Squarespace</a>: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code <strong>talkshow</strong>.</li>
971. <li><a href="https://factormeals.com/talkshow50off">Factor</a>: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year.</li>
972. </ul>
973.  
974. <div>
975. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘The Talk Show: ‘You and Frank Sinatra’’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/26/the-talk-show-432">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
976. </div>
977.  
978. ]]></content>
979.  </entry><entry>
980. <title>The Sad State of Macintosh Hardware Back in 2018, at the Tail End of the Intel Era</title>
981. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2018/06/14/on-the-sad-state-of-macintosh-hardware/" />
982. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnf" />
983. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/26/sad-state-mac-hardware-2018" />
984. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42315</id>
985. <published>2025-10-26T17:15:20Z</published>
986. <updated>2025-10-26T17:27:39Z</updated>
987. <author>
988. <name>John Gruber</name>
989. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
990. </author>
991. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
992. <p>Worth a <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/25/boring-is-what-we-wanted">re-link</a>, following up on <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2018/06/14/sad-state-of-mac-hardware">my post yesterday</a> linking to Stephen Hackett’s “<a href="https://512pixels.net/2025/10/boring-is-what-we-wanted/">Boring Is What We Wanted</a>”, here’s Rogue Amoeba co-founder Quentin Carnicelli, writing back in 2018:</p>
993.  
994. <blockquote>
995.  <p>At the time of the writing, with the exception of the $5,000 iMac
996. Pro, no Macintosh has been updated at all in the past year. Here
997. are the last updates to the entire line of Macs:</p>
998.  
999. <ul>
1000. <li>iMac Pro: 182 days ago</li>
1001. <li>iMac: 374 days ago</li>
1002. <li>MacBook: 374 days ago</li>
1003. <li>MacBook Air: 374 days ago</li>
1004. <li>MacBook Pro: 374 days ago</li>
1005. <li>Mac Pro: 436 days ago</li>
1006. <li>Mac Mini: 1,337 days ago</li>
1007. </ul>
1008.  
1009. <p>Worse, most of these counts are misleading, with many machines not
1010. seeing a true update in quite a bit longer. While the Mac Mini
1011. hasn’t seen an update of any kind in almost 4 years (nor, for that
1012. matter, a price drop), even that 2014 update was lackluster. [...]</p>
1013.  
1014. <p>Rather than attempting to wow the world with “innovative” new
1015. designs like the failed Mac Pro, Apple could and should simply
1016. provide updates and speed bumps to the entire lineup on a much
1017. more frequent basis. The much smaller Apple of the mid-2000s
1018. managed this with ease. Their current failure to keep the Mac
1019. lineup fresh, even as they approach a trillion dollar market cap,
1020. is both baffling and frightening to anyone who depends on the
1021. platform for their livelihood.</p>
1022. </blockquote>
1023.  
1024. <p>Five years into the Apple Silicon era, and Apple is doing exactly that. The situation has completely reversed. Apple Silicon has been an utter triumph for the Mac platform.</p>
1025.  
1026. <div>
1027. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘The Sad State of Macintosh Hardware Back in 2018, at the Tail End of the Intel Era’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/26/sad-state-mac-hardware-2018">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1028. </div>
1029.  
1030. ]]></content>
1031.  </entry><entry>
1032. <title>The Scenario Where ChatGPT’s WhatsApp Gateway Was Useful: Airplane Wi-Fi</title>
1033. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/24/meta-whatsapp-rival-chatbot-ban" />
1034. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wne" />
1035. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/26/chatgpt-whatsapp-airplane-wifi" />
1036. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42314</id>
1037. <published>2025-10-26T16:11:43Z</published>
1038. <updated>2025-10-27T16:58:34Z</updated>
1039. <author>
1040. <name>John Gruber</name>
1041. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1042. </author>
1043. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1044. <p>Yours truly on Friday, regarding the news that Meta is going to ban rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp:</p>
1045.  
1046. <blockquote>
1047.  <p>Perhaps because I’m only a light user of WhatsApp, I had no idea
1048. that rival AI chatbots had accounts there. I just tried it with
1049. <a href="https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10193193-1-800-chatgpt-calling-and-messaging-chatgpt-with-your-phone">1-800-ChatGPT</a> and <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/10/whatsapp-chatgpt.png">it seems pointless</a>. It’s
1050. noticeably slower and uses an older model than just using the
1051. ChatGPT app.</p>
1052. </blockquote>
1053.  
1054. <p>A few readers have pointed to one good use case for this gateway: airplane Wi-Fi, particularly on airlines that offer “free” Wi-Fi for messaging apps like Apple Messages (iMessage) and WhatsApp. The ChatGPT app won’t work unless you pay for full Wi-Fi access on a flight, but WhatsApp does, and through January, you can interact with ChatGPT through that loophole. Clever.</p>
1055.  
1056. <p><strong>Update:</strong> Similarly, these WhatsApp bot gateways are also useful in third-world countries with spotty Wi-Fi networking, but where Meta’s apps — including WhatsApp — are zero-rated against cellular network bandwidth caps. India is one prominent example. In some parts of the world, the only reliable networks are cellular, and the only “free Internet” is Meta’s suite of apps and services that are zero-rated on those cell networks.</p>
1057.  
1058. <div>
1059. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘The Scenario Where ChatGPT’s WhatsApp Gateway Was Useful: Airplane Wi-Fi’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/26/chatgpt-whatsapp-airplane-wifi">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1060. </div>
1061.  
1062. ]]></content>
1063.  </entry><entry>
1064. <title>‘Boring Is What We Wanted’</title>
1065. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://512pixels.net/2025/10/boring-is-what-we-wanted/" />
1066. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnd" />
1067. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/25/boring-is-what-we-wanted" />
1068. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42313</id>
1069. <published>2025-10-25T23:46:39Z</published>
1070. <updated>2025-10-25T23:46:39Z</updated>
1071. <author>
1072. <name>John Gruber</name>
1073. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1074. </author>
1075. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1076. <p>Stephen Hackett, writing at 512 Pixels:</p>
1077.  
1078. <blockquote>
1079.  <p>Apple silicon has been nothing but upside for the Mac, and yet
1080. some seem bored already. In the days since Apple announced the M5,
1081. I’ve seen and heard this sentiment more than I expected:</p>
1082.  
1083. <blockquote>
1084.  <p>This is just another boring incremental upgrade.</p>
1085. </blockquote>
1086.  
1087. <p>That 👏 is 👏 the 👏 point.</p>
1088.  
1089. <p>Back in the PowerPC and Intel days, Macs would sometimes go
1090. <em>years</em> between meaningful spec bumps, as Apple waited on its
1091. partners to deliver appropriate hardware for various machines.
1092. From failing NVIDIA cards in MacBook Pros to 27-inch Intel iMacs
1093. that ran so hot the fans were audible at all times, Mac hardware
1094. wasn’t always what Apple wanted.</p>
1095. </blockquote>
1096.  
1097. <p>Consider the MacBook Air — by all accounts the most popular Mac Apple sells. There was <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2015/03/09Apple-Updates-13-inch-MacBook-Pro-with-Retina-Display-MacBook-Air/">a March 2015 update</a>, and then a <em>very</em> minor speed bump in June 2017. That June 2017 update was so insignificant that it didn’t even warrant its own press release from Apple. All it got from Apple was, at the very end of <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/06/imac-receives-major-update-featuring-more-powerful-graphics-faster-processors-thunderbolt-3-brighter-displays/">a press release</a> touting updates to the iMac, MacBook Pro, and late great 12-inch MacBook, this single sentence: “Apple today also updated the 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.8 GHz processor.”</p>
1098.  
1099. <p>It wasn’t until the very end of October 2018 that Apple released a significant MacBook Air update — the first models with retina displays. For the three-and-a-half-year stretch between March 2015 and October 2018, there wasn’t a single notable MacBook Air refresh — at a time when all other Macs had gone retina. Intel’s processor offerings were so unpalatable during that stretch that Apple just didn’t update their most popular Mac model.</p>
1100.  
1101. <div>
1102. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘‘Boring Is What We Wanted’’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/25/boring-is-what-we-wanted">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1103. </div>
1104.  
1105. ]]></content>
1106.  </entry><entry>
1107. <title>WorkOS</title>
1108. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://workos.com/?utm_source=daringfireball&amp;utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=q12025" />
1109. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnc" />
1110. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/25/workos" />
1111. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42312</id>
1112. <published>2025-10-25T22:45:23Z</published>
1113. <updated>2025-10-26T20:24:59Z</updated>
1114. <author>
1115. <name>John Gruber</name>
1116. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1117. </author>
1118. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1119. <p>My thanks to WorkOS for their continuing support of DF with another sponsorship week. With WorkOS you can start selling to enterprises with just a few lines of code. WorkOS provides a complete user management solution along with SSO, SCIM, and RBAC. The APIs are modular and easy-to-use, allowing integrations to be completed in minutes instead of months. WorkOS simplifies MCP authorization with a single API built on five OAuth standards.</p>
1120.  
1121. <p>Today, some of the fastest growing startups are already powered by WorkOS, including OpenAI, Cursor, and Vercel.</p>
1122.  
1123. <p>For SaaS apps that care deeply about design and user experience, WorkOS is the perfect fit. From high-quality documentation to self-serve onboarding for your customers, it removes all the unnecessary complexity for your engineering team.</p>
1124.  
1125. <div>
1126. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘WorkOS’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/25/workos">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1127. </div>
1128.  
1129. ]]></content>
1130.  </entry><entry>
1131. <title>Sora Has a Pervert Problem</title>
1132. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sora-video-openai-fetish-content-my-face-problem-2025-10" />
1133. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wnb" />
1134. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/25/sora-perverts" />
1135. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42311</id>
1136. <published>2025-10-25T22:18:42Z</published>
1137. <updated>2025-10-25T22:22:01Z</updated>
1138. <author>
1139. <name>John Gruber</name>
1140. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1141. </author>
1142. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1143. <p>Katie Notopoulos, writing at Business Insider:</p>
1144.  
1145. <blockquote>
1146.  <p>There are really two separate issues at hand: Should users be allowed to make fetish content of <em>any</em> woman who is stupid enough (like me) to allow anyone to make cameos of her? And how do you stop people from making fetish content of purely AI-generated characters that aren’t cameos of real people? Does OpenAI want to stop that? Maybe OpenAI thinks it’s fine for people to make belly-flation or foot-fetish videos as long as they’re not of a real person.</p>
1147.  
1148. <p>For now, I keep going back to a thought I had early on while scrolling <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sora-videos-openai-content-moderation-celebrities-teens-boys-girls-2025-10">Sora: There’s hardly any women on here</a>, and it’s no wonder why. Women innately understand the risk of letting anyone make videos with their faces — the likelihood of something being creepy is extremely high. These fetish videos are kind of goofy — I have to admit I even cracked up a little at the centaur one — but overall, it’s an icky and somewhat menacing feeling seeing a lot of them.</p>
1149. </blockquote>
1150.  
1151. <div>
1152. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Sora Has a Pervert Problem’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/25/sora-perverts">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1153. </div>
1154.  
1155. ]]></content>
1156.  </entry><entry>
1157. <title>Meta Announces Ban on Rival AI Chatbots From WhatsApp</title>
1158. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/meta-will-ban-rival-ai-chatbots-from-whatsapp" />
1159. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wna" />
1160. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/24/meta-whatsapp-rival-chatbot-ban" />
1161. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42310</id>
1162. <published>2025-10-24T21:16:38Z</published>
1163. <updated>2025-10-24T22:35:31Z</updated>
1164. <author>
1165. <name>John Gruber</name>
1166. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1167. </author>
1168. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1169. <p>Eric Hal Schwarz, reporting for TechRadar:</p>
1170.  
1171. <blockquote>
1172.  <p>Meta is closing the door on third-party AI assistants inside
1173. WhatsApp. Starting January 15, 2026, no general-purpose AI
1174. chatbot, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others, will be
1175. allowed to operate on the platform. The change is part of an
1176. update to WhatsApp’s Business API policy that bans developers of
1177. “large language models, generative AI platforms, or
1178. general-purpose AI assistants” from accessing the system.</p>
1179.  
1180. <p>In plain terms, Meta is locking down the world’s largest
1181. messaging app to ensure that the only chatbot you’ll find inside
1182. it is Meta AI.</p>
1183. </blockquote>
1184.  
1185. <p>Perhaps because I’m only a light user of WhatsApp, I had no idea that rival AI chatbots had accounts there. I just tried it with <a href="https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10193193-1-800-chatgpt-calling-and-messaging-chatgpt-with-your-phone">1-800-ChatGPT</a> and <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/10/whatsapp-chatgpt.png">it seems pointless</a>. It’s noticeably slower and uses an older model than just using the ChatGPT app. (You can also just place a regular phone call to 1-800-ChatGPT, which seems about as useful in today’s world as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XagGEi_n_ok">calling 555-FILM for Moviefone</a> to get movie showtimes.)</p>
1186.  
1187. <p>OpenAI, on X, <a href="https://x.com/OpenAI/status/1980794846752436597">has taken the news in stride</a>:</p>
1188.  
1189. <blockquote>
1190.  <p>Meta changed its policies so 1-800-ChatGPT won’t work on WhatsApp
1191. after Jan 15, 2026.</p>
1192.  
1193. <p>Luckily we have an app, website, and browser you can use instead
1194. to access ChatGPT.</p>
1195. </blockquote>
1196.  
1197. <p><a href="https://mastodon.social/@counternotions/115425046334250600">Via Kontra</a>, who quips:</p>
1198.  
1199. <blockquote>
1200.  <p>Why hasn’t the EU started an investigation of Apple already?!</p>
1201. </blockquote>
1202.  
1203. <div>
1204. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Meta Announces Ban on Rival AI Chatbots From WhatsApp’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/24/meta-whatsapp-rival-chatbot-ban">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1205. </div>
1206.  
1207. ]]></content>
1208.  </entry><entry>
1209. <title>SerpApi’s Public Customer List</title>
1210. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://serpapi.com/use-cases" />
1211. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn9" />
1212. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/23/serpapi-customer-list" />
1213. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42309</id>
1214. <published>2025-10-23T22:30:18Z</published>
1215. <updated>2025-10-23T22:40:31Z</updated>
1216. <author>
1217. <name>John Gruber</name>
1218. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1219. </author>
1220. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1221. <p>At the bottom of their “Use Cases” page, SerpApi lists the following companies and organizations as customers (“They trust us. You are in good company. Join them.”):</p>
1222.  
1223. <ul>
1224. <li>Airbnb</li>
1225. <li>Nvidia</li>
1226. <li>Meta</li>
1227. <li>Shopify</li>
1228. <li>Perplexity</li>
1229. <li>KPMG</li>
1230. <li>Ahrefs</li>
1231. <li>Grubhub</li>
1232. <li>Samsung</li>
1233. <li>AI21labs</li>
1234. <li>United Nations (!)</li>
1235. <li>Thomson Reuters</li>
1236. <li>BrightLocal</li>
1237. <li>Experian</li>
1238. </ul>
1239.  
1240. <p>From an August 21, 2025 <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-challenging-google-using-search-data">report in The Information</a> (paywalled up the wazoo, alas), however:</p>
1241.  
1242. <blockquote>
1243.  <p>OpenAI also isn’t the only Google rival to use SerpApi data.
1244. SerpApi’s website previously listed Apple as a customer. In
1245. addition to partnering with Google on search, the iPhone maker
1246. develops technology to power searches in Safari — a lucrative
1247. deal that the judge overseeing the DOJ case could also nix.</p>
1248. </blockquote>
1249.  
1250. <p>Was Apple removed from the list because they’re no longer (or never were?) a customer, or because they remain a customer but don’t want to be listed?</p>
1251.  
1252. <div>
1253. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘SerpApi’s Public Customer List’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/23/serpapi-customer-list">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1254. </div>
1255.  
1256. ]]></content>
1257.  </entry><entry>
1258. <title>Reddit Files Lawsuit Accusing ‘Data Scraper’ Companies of Stealing Its Information</title>
1259. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/technology/reddit-data-scrapers-perplexity-theft.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vk8.W49v.NYfYXfBwO0Ry&amp;smid=url-share" />
1260. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn8" />
1261. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/23/reddit-files-lawsuit-against-serpapi" />
1262. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42308</id>
1263. <published>2025-10-23T22:19:32Z</published>
1264. <updated>2025-10-23T22:20:48Z</updated>
1265. <author>
1266. <name>John Gruber</name>
1267. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1268. </author>
1269. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1270. <p>Mike Isaac, reporting for The New York Times:</p>
1271.  
1272. <blockquote>
1273.  <p>Eight years ago, SerpApi, a start-up in Austin, Texas, dived
1274. headlong into the byzantine world of using robots to “scrape”
1275. Google’s search algorithms, so it could collect information to
1276. help customers appear higher in search results.</p>
1277.  
1278. <p>Then OpenAI’s ChatGPT came along, kicking off an artificial
1279. intelligence revolution. As more tech companies began building
1280. A.I. chatbots to keep up, they needed large amounts of data to
1281. train their A.I. models — data that SerpApi had already gathered.</p>
1282.  
1283. <p>Practically overnight, a class of companies like SerpApi — known
1284. as “data scrapers” — found a new business selling data scraped
1285. from Google to companies looking to train their A.I. chatbots.</p>
1286.  
1287. <p>On Wednesday, the internet message board Reddit decided to fight
1288. the data scrapers. It filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court
1289. for the Southern District of New York claiming that four companies
1290. had illegally stolen its data by scraping Google search results in
1291. which Reddit content appeared.</p>
1292. </blockquote>
1293.  
1294. <p>I’d never heard of — or at least never noticed — SerpApi until a few weeks ago, when a good friend asked me if I’d ever looked into them. The entire premise of their business is crazy. SerpApi prints the crime right on the tin, describing their service as a “Google Search API” and “Scrape Google and other search engines from our fast, easy, and complete API.” What makes this so crazy is that <em>Google doesn’t offer a search API.</em> SerpApi is offering the Google search API that Google itself doesn’t offer, and charging companies money for it. Everyone, upon hearing the premise and nature of SerpApi, asks the same question: <em>How is this legal?</em> The answer is, it probably isn’t. But <a href="https://serpapi.com/">right on SerpApi’s home page</a> they claim to offer customers a “U.S. Legal Shield”:</p>
1295.  
1296. <blockquote>
1297.  <p>The crawling and parsing of public data is protected by the First
1298. Amendment of the United States Constitution. We value freedom of
1299. speech tremendously. We assume scraping and parsing liabilities
1300. for both domestic and foreign companies unless your usage is
1301. otherwise illegal. (Including but are not limited to: acts of
1302. cyber criminality, terrorism, pedopornography, denial of service
1303. attacks, and war crimes.)</p>
1304. </blockquote>
1305.  
1306. <p>My only surprise here is that it’s Reddit taking SerpApi (along with two similar companies, one from Lithuania and the other from Russia — the former Soviet states respect intellectual property about as much as China does) to court, not Google. Why Google hasn’t sued them yet, I don’t understand. Anyway, back to Isaac’s report for the Times:</p>
1307.  
1308. <blockquote>
1309.  <p>Perplexity was one of those buyers, according to Reddit’s lawsuit.
1310. Perplexity had scraped Reddit data in the past without payment but
1311. agreed to stop after Reddit sent it a cease-and-desist order. Even
1312. so, citations to Reddit data in Perplexity search results jumped
1313. “fortyfold,” the lawsuit said. Reddit has spent tens of millions
1314. of dollars on anti-scraping systems over several years.</p>
1315.  
1316. <p>“Perplexity’s business model is effectively to take Reddit’s
1317. content from Google search results,” then feed it into an A.I.
1318. model and “call it a new product,” the lawsuit said.</p>
1319.  
1320. <p>Reddit said it had set a trap for Perplexity by creating a “test
1321. post” on its site that could “only be crawled by Google’s search
1322. engine and was not otherwise accessible anywhere on the internet.”
1323. Within hours, Perplexity search results had surfaced the content
1324. of that test post, the lawsuit said.</p>
1325.  
1326. <p>Google, which is not a plaintiff in Reddit’s lawsuit, has tried
1327. and failed to stop SerpApi and other data scrapers, according to
1328. the lawsuit and <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-challenging-google-using-search-data?rc=fiplau">previous reporting from The Information</a>.</p>
1329. </blockquote>
1330.  
1331. <p>The people leading Perplexity aren’t just shifty — they’re stupid. That whole company <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/06/19/perplexity-bullshit-machine">just</a> <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/08/12/perplexity-jumps-shark-stunt-offer-to-buy-chrome">reeks</a> of <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/08/05/regarding-those-rumors-of-apple-pursuing-an-acquisition-of-perplexity">being a scam</a>.</p>
1332.  
1333. <p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="https://redditinc.com/hubfs/Reddit%20Inc/Content/Reddit%20v.%20SerpApi.pdf">Reddit’s PDF of their lawsuit, <em>Reddit v. SerpApi</em></a>.</p>
1334.  
1335. <div>
1336. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Reddit Files Lawsuit Accusing ‘Data Scraper’ Companies of Stealing Its Information’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/23/reddit-files-lawsuit-against-serpapi">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1337. </div>
1338.  
1339. ]]></content>
1340.  </entry><entry>
1341. <title>The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Is Jessica Chastain’s “The Savant” Ever Going to Be Released?’</title>
1342. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jessica-chastain-the-savant-delay-will-it-be-released-apple-1236406858/" />
1343. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn7" />
1344. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/23/will-the-savant-ever-air" />
1345. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42307</id>
1346. <published>2025-10-23T21:55:54Z</published>
1347. <updated>2025-10-24T02:09:53Z</updated>
1348. <author>
1349. <name>John Gruber</name>
1350. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1351. </author>
1352. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1353. <p>Tony Maglio, The Hollywood Reporter:</p>
1354.  
1355. <blockquote>
1356.  <p><em>The Savant</em>, which originally had a Sept. 26 premiere date, was
1357. yanked in the weeks following the Sept. 10 assassination of
1358. conservative political pundit Charlie Kirk. Language on the
1359. <a href="https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-savant/umc.cmc.aar44keiny3h54xvaakg260q">landing page for the series</a> has since vacillated from
1360. “Coming Soon” to “At a Later Date” to simply “2025.” As of this
1361. writing, the wording again reads, “At a Later Date.” (Lower down
1362. the same page it says, “Released: 2025” — likely an oversight.)</p>
1363.  
1364. <p>It’s odd the language has been tweaked several times over the
1365. course of the month. Altering wording on the app is a manual
1366. process, and since each new iterative phrase basically means the
1367. same as the last, why do it? Yes, “Soon” means soon and “Later”
1368. means later and “2025” literally means this calendar year, but
1369. it’s all close enough considering the shifting language was first
1370. noticed as summer turned to fall. To not premiere in 2025 feels
1371. like a death sentence for the series.</p>
1372.  
1373. <p>A spokesperson for Apple TV did not respond to The Hollywood
1374. Reporter’s requests for comment. A spokesperson for The Savant’s
1375. studio, Fifth Season, also declined comment.</p>
1376. </blockquote>
1377.  
1378. <p>Ominous vibe.</p>
1379.  
1380. <div>
1381. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Is Jessica Chastain’s “The Savant” Ever Going to Be Released?’’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/23/will-the-savant-ever-air">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1382. </div>
1383.  
1384. ]]></content>
1385.  </entry><entry>
1386. <title>GM Plans to Soon Ditch CarPlay and Android Auto on All Its Vehicles, Not Just EVs</title>
1387. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.theverge.com/transportation/804562/gm-apple-carplay-android-auto-gas-cars-mary-barra" />
1388. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn6" />
1389. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/gm-carplay-android-auto" />
1390. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42306</id>
1391. <published>2025-10-22T23:47:39Z</published>
1392. <updated>2025-10-22T23:47:39Z</updated>
1393. <author>
1394. <name>John Gruber</name>
1395. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1396. </author>
1397. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1398. <p>Nick Statt, The Verge:</p>
1399.  
1400. <blockquote>
1401.  <p>GM plans to drop support for phone projection on all new vehicles
1402. in the near future, and not just its electric car lineup,
1403. according to GM CEO Mary Barra.</p>
1404.  
1405. <p>In a Decoder <a href="https://www.theverge.com/podcast/803379/gm-ceo-mary-barra-sterling-anderson-cadillac-iq-ev-autonomy-interview">interview with The Verge’s Nilay Patel</a>, published
1406. Wednesday, Barra confirmed GM will eventually end support of Apple
1407. CarPlay and Android Auto on both gas-powered and electric cars.
1408. The timing is unclear, but Barra pointed to a major rollout of
1409. what the company is calling a <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/802452/gm-forward-ai-robot-level-3-autonomous">new centralized computing platform</a>,
1410. set to launch in 2028, that will involve eventually transitioning
1411. its entire lineup to a unified in-car experience.</p>
1412. </blockquote>
1413.  
1414. <p>Someone should investigate whether Mary Barra is a mole planted at GM by Ford. (<a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/05/05/ford-ceo-jim-farley-carplay">Previously</a>.)</p>
1415.  
1416. <div>
1417. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘GM Plans to Soon Ditch CarPlay and Android Auto on All Its Vehicles, Not Just EVs’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/gm-carplay-android-auto">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1418. </div>
1419.  
1420. ]]></content>
1421.  </entry><entry>
1422. <title>New M5 Vision Pro and Dual Knit Headband Are Assembled in Vietnam, Not China</title>
1423. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/22/apple-vision-pro-now-made-in-vietnam/" />
1424. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn5" />
1425. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/m5-vision-pro-and-dual-knit-headband-assembled-in-vietnam" />
1426. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42305</id>
1427. <published>2025-10-22T23:31:03Z</published>
1428. <updated>2025-10-22T23:31:03Z</updated>
1429. <author>
1430. <name>John Gruber</name>
1431. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1432. </author>
1433. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1434. <p>MacRumors:</p>
1435.  
1436. <blockquote>
1437.  <p>Apple’s upcoming wave of new smart home devices, including a smart
1438. home display, indoor security camera, and tabletop robot, will
1439. also be made in Vietnam, according to Bloomberg.</p>
1440. </blockquote>
1441.  
1442. <div>
1443. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘New M5 Vision Pro and Dual Knit Headband Are Assembled in Vietnam, Not China’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/m5-vision-pro-and-dual-knit-headband-assembled-in-vietnam">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1444. </div>
1445.  
1446. ]]></content>
1447.  </entry><entry>
1448. <title>Signal Moves Ahead on Post-Quantum Computing, But Still Sucks Ass When You Switch Phones</title>
1449. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/10/why-signals-post-quantum-makeover-is-an-amazing-engineering-achievement/" />
1450. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn4" />
1451. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/signal-quantum" />
1452. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42304</id>
1453. <published>2025-10-22T23:07:16Z</published>
1454. <updated>2025-10-22T23:41:07Z</updated>
1455. <author>
1456. <name>John Gruber</name>
1457. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1458. </author>
1459. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1460. <p>Graeme Connell and Rolfe Schmidt, writing earlier this month on the Signal blog:</p>
1461.  
1462. <blockquote>
1463.  <p>We are excited to announce a significant advancement in the
1464. security of the Signal Protocol: the introduction of the Sparse
1465. Post Quantum Ratchet (SPQR). This new ratchet enhances the Signal
1466. Protocol’s resilience against future quantum computing threats
1467. while maintaining our existing security guarantees of forward
1468. secrecy and post-compromise security. [...]</p>
1469.  
1470. <p>What does this mean for you as a Signal user? First, when it
1471. comes to your experience using the app, nothing changes. Second,
1472. because of how we’re rolling this out and mixing it in with our
1473. existing encryption, eventually all of your conversations will
1474. move to this new protocol without you needing to take any
1475. action. Third, and most importantly, this protects your
1476. communications both now and in the event that cryptographically
1477. relevant quantum computers eventually become a reality, and it
1478. allows us to maintain our existing security guarantees of
1479. forward secrecy and post-compromise security as we proactively
1480. prepare for that new world.</p>
1481. </blockquote>
1482.  
1483. <p>It is impressive that Signal is ahead of the curve on post-quantum computing. But speaking as someone who is currently switching between multiple phones regularly, they need to get their shit together on basic stuff like <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/07/whatsapp-phone-as-linked-device">using more than one phone</a> with the same Signal account, and making it take just a minute or less to switch your primary Signal phone from one device to another. Right now it takes me over 30 minutes to switch Signal from one phone to another, and I’m not a particularly heavy user of the app. Normal people don’t use Signal because it offers, by far, the worst and most limited user experience of any major messaging app. Signal is never going to get most people to even give the app a fair chance when the user experience is so much worse than Apple Messages and WhatsApp.</p>
1484.  
1485. <p>Again, I don’t mean to disparage the technical ingenuity of their post-quantum ratchet achievement. But they’re bragging about defenses against hypothetical threats from the future when, right now today, you still can’t use the same Signal account from two different phones.</p>
1486.  
1487. <div>
1488. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Signal Moves Ahead on Post-Quantum Computing, But Still Sucks Ass When You Switch Phones’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/signal-quantum">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1489. </div>
1490.  
1491. ]]></content>
1492.  </entry><entry>
1493. <title>Apple Pulls Dating Apps Tea and TeaOnHer From the App Store</title>
1494. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/22/apple-confirms-it-pulled-controversial-dating-apps-tea-and-teaonher-from-the-app-store/" />
1495. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn3" />
1496. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/apple-pulls-tea-and-teaonher" />
1497. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42303</id>
1498. <published>2025-10-22T23:02:21Z</published>
1499. <updated>2025-10-22T23:02:21Z</updated>
1500. <author>
1501. <name>John Gruber</name>
1502. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1503. </author>
1504. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1505. <p>Sarah Perez, TechCrunch:</p>
1506.  
1507. <blockquote>
1508.  <p>Reached for comment, Apple confirmed the apps’ removal, saying it
1509. removed Tea Dating Advice and TeaOnHer from the App Store because
1510. they failed to meet Apple’s requirements around content moderation
1511. and user privacy. The company also said it saw an excessive number
1512. of user complaints and negative reviews, which included complaints
1513. of minors’ personal information being posted in these apps. Apple
1514. communicated the issues to the developers of the apps, a
1515. representative said, but the complaints were not addressed.
1516. (Request for comment from the app developers has not yet been
1517. returned.)</p>
1518.  
1519. <p>Specifically, Apple cited violations of its App Review Guidelines
1520. 1.2, 5.1.2, and 5.6. <a href="https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/_e1_Cyp4m4hLQEx2TZf6uxDIKv?domain=developer.apple.com">Rule 1.2</a> says apps with user-generated
1521. content should offer reporting and blocking features and should
1522. remove objectionable content. <a href="https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/wr0PCzq8n8H4yv5wCXhAu9PQzu?domain=developer.apple.com">Rule 5.1.2</a> says apps can’t use or
1523. share someone’s personal information without permission, and
1524. <a href="https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/0EvSCA8LmLhEPMklt9i1uGY7-o?domain=developer.apple.com">Rule 5.6</a> says excessive customer reports and negative reviews
1525. violate Apple’s Developer Code of Conduct. [...]</p>
1526.  
1527. <p>After going viral and generating controversy, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/26/dating-safety-app-tea-breached-exposing-72000-user-images/">Tea suffered a data
1528. breach over the summer</a>, with hackers gaining access to
1529. 72,000 images, including 3,000 selfies and photo IDs submitted for
1530. account verification, as well as 59,000 images from posts,
1531. comments, and direct messages.</p>
1532.  
1533. <p>Later, a rival app called TeaOnHer launched to offer men the
1534. ability to dish on women in the same way, but it was beset by
1535. security issues that <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/a-rival-tea-app-for-men-is-leaking-its-users-personal-data-and-drivers-licenses/">exposed users’ personal information</a>,
1536. including government IDs and selfies, TechCrunch
1537. <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/13/how-we-found-teaonher-spilling-users-drivers-licenses-in-less-than-10-minutes/">discovered</a> in August.</p>
1538. </blockquote>
1539.  
1540. <p>Seems odd to me that Apple only pulled Tea from the App Store now, three months after multiple disastrous security breaches revealed their amateur hour approach to security. See previous coverage here at DF: <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/26/4chan-tea-breach">July 26</a>, <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/28/tea-breach-worsens">July 28</a>, and <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/tea_number_3_app_store">July 30</a>.</p>
1541.  
1542. <div>
1543. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Apple Pulls Dating Apps Tea and TeaOnHer From the App Store’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/apple-pulls-tea-and-teaonher">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1544. </div>
1545.  
1546. ]]></content>
1547.  </entry><entry>
1548. <title>Adam Driver Says Bob Iger Nixed a Kylo Ren ‘Star Wars’ Film He Pitched With Steven Soderbergh</title>
1549. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://apnews.com/article/adam-driver-star-wars-soderbergh-jarmusch-4e08164d0419759f1b5b50d69864975d?ref=cupofcoffeenews.com" />
1550. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn2" />
1551. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/soderbergh-driver-star-wars" />
1552. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42302</id>
1553. <published>2025-10-22T22:36:13Z</published>
1554. <updated>2025-10-22T22:36:14Z</updated>
1555. <author>
1556. <name>John Gruber</name>
1557. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1558. </author>
1559. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1560. <p>Jake Coyle, reporting for the AP:</p>
1561.  
1562. <blockquote>
1563.  <p>Driver says he took a concept to Soderbergh for a film that would
1564. take place after 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” That movie
1565. culminated in Ren’s redemption and apparent death. Driver had
1566. undertaken the trilogy with an arc in mind for Ren that inverted
1567. the journey of Darth Vader. As the trilogy evolved, it didn’t play
1568. out that way. Driver felt there was unfinished business for Kylo
1569. Ren, or as he was known before turning to the Dark Side, Ben Solo.</p>
1570.  
1571. <p>Soderbergh and Rebecca Blunt outlined a story that the group then
1572. pitched to Kennedy, Lucasfilm vice president Cary Beck and
1573. Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni. They were
1574. interested, so the filmmakers then pulled in Scott Z. Burns to
1575. write a script. Driver calls the result “one of the coolest
1576. (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of.”</p>
1577.  
1578. <p>“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They
1579. totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver
1580. says. “We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no.
1581. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”</p>
1582.  
1583. <p>“It was called ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ and it was really cool,”
1584. adds Driver. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.”</p>
1585.  
1586. <p>Soderbergh, in a statement, said: “I really enjoyed making the
1587. movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”</p>
1588. </blockquote>
1589.  
1590. <p>So an entire trilogy based on the dumb idea that Emperor Palpatine somehow survived Darth Vader tossing him down a 50-mile deep shaft into a hyper-matter reactor, that was fine. But a Steven-Fucking-Soderbergh-helmed <em>Star Wars</em> movie that maybe would’ve required a little bit of a shrug to accept the premise, nope.</p>
1591.  
1592. <div>
1593. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Adam Driver Says Bob Iger Nixed a Kylo Ren ‘Star Wars’ Film He Pitched With Steven Soderbergh’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/soderbergh-driver-star-wars">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1594. </div>
1595.  
1596. ]]></content>
1597.  </entry><entry>
1598. <title>Ke Yang, Apple’s Head of ChatGPT-Like AI Search Effort, Was Poached by Meta</title>
1599. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-15/apple-s-newly-tapped-head-of-chatgpt-like-ai-search-effort-to-leave-for-meta" />
1600. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn1" />
1601. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/yang-apple-meta" />
1602. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42301</id>
1603. <published>2025-10-22T19:05:14Z</published>
1604. <updated>2025-10-22T19:05:15Z</updated>
1605. <author>
1606. <name>John Gruber</name>
1607. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1608. </author>
1609. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1610. <p>Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg last week:</p>
1611.  
1612. <blockquote>
1613.  <p>The executive, Ke Yang, is leaving for Meta Platforms Inc.,
1614. according to people with knowledge of the matter. Just weeks ago,
1615. he was appointed head of a team called Answers, Knowledge and
1616. Information, or AKI. The group is developing features to make the
1617. Siri voice assistant more ChatGPT-like by adding the ability to
1618. pull information from the web. [...]</p>
1619.  
1620. <p>The new Siri is being developed as a joint effort between Apple’s
1621. artificial intelligence and machine learning group, known as AIML,
1622. and the Siri engineering team now overseen by Craig Federighi’s
1623. software organization. Within AIML, Yang was regarded as the most
1624. prominent executive working on the new Siri initiative. His exit
1625. ranks among the biggest departures from Apple’s AI organization
1626. this year — a period marked by a steady exodus of top researchers
1627. building the company’s AI core models.</p>
1628.  
1629. <p>Roughly a dozen members of that team — known internally as Apple
1630. Foundation Models — have departed, including its founder and lead
1631. scientist, Ruoming Pang. He and a number of others also joined
1632. Meta, which is building a new group called Superintelligence Labs.</p>
1633. </blockquote>
1634.  
1635. <p>I am reminded of a piece Guy English wrote back in 2012, “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210814031323/http://kickingbear.com/blog/archives/305">Three Things That Should Trouble Apple</a>”, and that <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/02/08/retention-of-talent">I’ve long thought</a> his third item, “People”, ought to have been the first:</p>
1636.  
1637. <blockquote>
1638.  <p>Ultimately, the retention of talent will be Apple’s
1639. Achilles’ heel.</p>
1640.  
1641. <p>The smartest people will always want to be working on the smartest
1642. thing. Sometimes that comes together in one amazing project. iOS
1643. has been that project for this decade.</p>
1644.  
1645. <p>If there’s a problem for Apple it’s that they’ve already invented
1646. the future. It’s a done deal. The best and brightest engineers and
1647. product managers may move on to other ventures. Less likely to
1648. succeed, of course, but that’s less of an issue for them given the
1649. rainfall of AAPL gains. We’ll have to see what happens.</p>
1650. </blockquote>
1651.  
1652. <div>
1653. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Ke Yang, Apple’s Head of ChatGPT-Like AI Search Effort, Was Poached by Meta’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/yang-apple-meta">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1654. </div>
1655.  
1656. ]]></content>
1657.  </entry><entry>
1658. <title>Nikkei Asia: ‘Apple Slashes iPhone Air Production Plans, Boosts Other 17 Models’</title>
1659. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/supply-chain/apple-slashes-iphone-air-production-plans-boosts-other-17-models-sources" />
1660. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wn0" />
1661. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/nikkei-asia-iphone-air-slashed" />
1662. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42300</id>
1663. <published>2025-10-22T14:37:10Z</published>
1664. <updated>2025-10-26T16:02:23Z</updated>
1665. <author>
1666. <name>John Gruber</name>
1667. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1668. </author>
1669. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1670. <p>Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang, reporting for Nikkei Asia:</p>
1671.  
1672. <blockquote>
1673.  <p>Production orders for the iPhone Air have been cut nearly to “end
1674. of production” levels, despite it only becoming available in China
1675. last week, due to weak demand in other markets, multiple sources
1676. briefed on the matter said.</p>
1677.  
1678. <p>Under the initial production plan, the iPhone Air accounted for
1679. roughly 10% to 15% of overall new iPhone production this year,
1680. said two sources familiar with the plan. The model is seen as
1681. strategically paving the way for the first foldable iPhone,
1682. expected to debut in 2026, three people with knowledge of the
1683. matter said. Nikkei Asia earlier reported that Apple has high
1684. hopes for the launch of such a phone next year.</p>
1685.  
1686. <p>Apple has told multiple suppliers to largely reduce component and
1687. electronics module orders for the iPhone Air, two people with
1688. direct knowledge of the situation said. One supply chain manager
1689. said production orders for the iPhone Air from November onward
1690. will be less than 10% of the volume compared with September.
1691. Another supplier executive said they received a similar notice
1692. from Apple. [...]</p>
1693.  
1694. <p>By contrast, demand for the iPhone 17 model and iPhone 17 Pro has
1695. exceeded expectations. Apple has increased production orders for
1696. the baseline iPhone 17 by about 5 million units and also added
1697. orders for the high-end iPhone 17 Pro, according to two sources
1698. with direct knowledge of the matter.</p>
1699. </blockquote>
1700.  
1701. <p>I don’t understand the argument that the iPhone Air “paves the way” for a foldable iPhone next year. Either the iPhone Air is a desirable iPhone that can stand on its own or it isn’t. I firmly believe it is. Apple obviously did too. If they didn’t they wouldn’t have shipped it. There was no reason to ship the iPhone Air “in preparation” for a foldable iPhone next year if they didn’t think the Air would be a success on its own. They could have just started with the foldable next year.</p>
1702.  
1703. <p>One thing that’s weird about these reports of low sales numbers for the iPhone Air is that it doesn’t seem like Apple is advertising it at all. If I were Joz, I’d be advertising the hell out of it. I’ve been watching a lot of sports on commercial TV since September, and I haven’t seen a single ad for the Air. Tons of commercials and billboards for the orange iPhone 17 Pro, <a href="https://www.threads.com/@thebasicappleguy/post/DQRyfheCYAW">but zip for the Air</a>.</p>
1704.  
1705. <p>Also, as <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/20/counterpoint-research-iphones-17">I just wrote Monday</a> and have repeated oft before, take these numbers with huge grains of salt. Whether the numbers are from “research firms” or supply chain sources, they’re not from Apple, and sales numbers that aren’t from Apple have <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/03/02/claim-chowder-kuo-iphones-16">often proved to be way wrong</a>.</p>
1706.  
1707. <div>
1708. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Nikkei Asia: ‘Apple Slashes iPhone Air Production Plans, Boosts Other 17 Models’’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/nikkei-asia-iphone-air-slashed">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1709. </div>
1710.  
1711. ]]></content>
1712.  </entry><entry>
1713. <title>Don Mattingly Finally Headed to the World Series</title>
1714. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.mlb.com/news/don-mattingly-first-world-series" />
1715. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wmz" />
1716. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/donnie-baseball" />
1717. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42299</id>
1718. <published>2025-10-22T14:05:34Z</published>
1719. <updated>2025-10-22T14:05:50Z</updated>
1720. <author>
1721. <name>John Gruber</name>
1722. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1723. </author>
1724. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1725. <p>Reason enough to be rooting for the Blue Jays. Put this man in the Hall of Fame already. For chrissake his name is Donnie Baseball.</p>
1726.  
1727. <div>
1728. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Don Mattingly Finally Headed to the World Series’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/donnie-baseball">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1729. </div>
1730.  
1731. ]]></content>
1732.  </entry><entry>
1733. <title>Trump Said to Demand Justice Department Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases</title>
1734. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/us/politics/trump-justice-department-compensation.html" />
1735. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wmy" />
1736. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/trump-230-million-doj" />
1737. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42298</id>
1738. <published>2025-10-21T22:59:17Z</published>
1739. <updated>2025-10-21T22:59:18Z</updated>
1740. <author>
1741. <name>John Gruber</name>
1742. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1743. </author>
1744. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1745. <p>Devlin Barrett and Tyler Pager, reporting for The New York Times:</p>
1746.  
1747. <blockquote>
1748.  <p>President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him
1749. about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations
1750. into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added
1751. that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior
1752. department officials who defended him or those in his orbit.</p>
1753.  
1754. <p>The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a
1755. presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and
1756. eventually won the election, taking over the very government that
1757. must now review his claims. It is also the starkest example yet of
1758. potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s
1759. former lawyers atop the Justice Department.</p>
1760. </blockquote>
1761.  
1762. <p>Subject only to the approval of his own lickspittle cronies.</p>
1763.  
1764. <p><a href="https://mastodon.social/@jimray/115414303432772255">Jim Ray</a>:</p>
1765.  
1766. <blockquote>
1767.  <p>In the world where Antonin Scalia dies six months earlier and RBG
1768. retires at some point before the third cancer diagnosis, a
1769. bankrupt Trump sits in a maximum security prison and costs us a
1770. single Secret Service patrol.</p>
1771. </blockquote>
1772.  
1773. <div>
1774. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Trump Said to Demand Justice Department Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/trump-230-million-doj">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1775. </div>
1776.  
1777. ]]></content>
1778.  </entry><entry>
1779. <title>1.5 Miles of Aluminum Foil Is, in Fact, No Big Whoop</title>
1780. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/20/london-phone-theft" />
1781. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wmx" />
1782. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/15-miles-of-aluminum-foil" />
1783. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42297</id>
1784. <published>2025-10-21T22:09:08Z</published>
1785. <updated>2025-10-26T15:53:02Z</updated>
1786. <author>
1787. <name>John Gruber</name>
1788. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1789. </author>
1790. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1791. <p>Here’s an update I just posted to yesterday’s piece on organized phone theft rings in London:</p>
1792.  
1793. <blockquote>
1794.  <p>I forgot to apply one of the <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2021/09/09/philly-plastic-bags-ban">core tenets</a> of Brian Kernighan’s
1795. wonderful book <em><a href="https://kernighan.org/mbz.html">Millions, Billions, Zillions</a></em> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Millions-Billions-Zillions-Defending-Yourself/dp/0691182779/?tag=df-amzn-20">$19 in
1796. hardcover from Amazon</a>; <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/millions-billions-zillions-defending-yourself-in-a-world-of-too-many-numbers/9780691209098">BookShop.org link to indie
1797. booksellers</a>): always do some back-of-the-envelope
1798. double-checking of the math in news stories. 1.5 miles of aluminum
1799. (or even aluminium) foil from Costco is just 12 rolls at <a href="https://www.costco.co.uk/Grocery-Household/Grocery-Delivery/Kirkland-Signature-Premium-Quality-Foodservice-Aluminium-Foil-30cm-x-200m/p/97405">200
1800. meters each</a>. I wouldn’t blink my eyes at someone with a dozen
1801. rolls of foil in the cart at Costco.</p>
1802. </blockquote>
1803.  
1804. <div>
1805. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘1.5 Miles of Aluminum Foil Is, in Fact, No Big Whoop’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/15-miles-of-aluminum-foil">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1806. </div>
1807.  
1808. ]]></content>
1809.  </entry><entry>
1810. <title>Consumer Confusion Regarding USB Power Adapters</title>
1811. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/20/heer-m5-mbp-charger" />
1812. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wmw" />
1813. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/consumer-confusion-regarding-usb-power-adapters" />
1814. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42296</id>
1815. <published>2025-10-21T19:08:23Z</published>
1816. <updated>2025-10-21T22:51:44Z</updated>
1817. <author>
1818. <name>John Gruber</name>
1819. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1820. </author>
1821. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1822. <p>Yours truly, yesterday:</p>
1823.  
1824. <blockquote>
1825.  <p>The problem I see with the MacBook power adapter situation in
1826. Europe is that while power users — like the sort of people who
1827. read Daring Fireball and Pixel Envy — will have no problem buying
1828. exactly the sort of power adapter they want, or simply re-using a
1829. good one they already own, normal users have no idea what makes a
1830. “good” power adapter. I suspect there are going to be a lot of
1831. Europeans who buy a new M5 MacBook Pro and wind up charging it
1832. with inexpensive low-watt power adapters meant for things like
1833. phones, and wind up with a shitty, slow charging experience.</p>
1834. </blockquote>
1835.  
1836. <p>Actual email, from actual reader <em>D.B.</em> today:</p>
1837.  
1838. <blockquote>
1839.  <p>Anecdotes to support your point about normal customers not knowing
1840. which power adapter to pick, I’ve had both my mother and a
1841. mid-level IT director at my work complain that their Macs no
1842. longer hold a battery. In both cases, they were using a 5 watt
1843. USB-A charger.</p>
1844.  
1845. <p>It’s hard for people to understand that not all USB chargers are
1846. the same.</p>
1847. </blockquote>
1848.  
1849. <p>And from actual reader <em>D.K.</em>:</p>
1850.  
1851. <blockquote>
1852.  <p>My mother in law called me to ask why her MacBook Air no longer
1853. turned on. She had called AppleCare and they told her to bring the
1854. computer to a store for repairs. Turns out she was using a very
1855. old 5 watt USB-A iPhone charger.</p>
1856. </blockquote>
1857.  
1858. <p>And of course, the real danger isn’t using an underpowered charger. It’s thinking you can save a few bucks by buying a cheap high-watt third-party charger and <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/04/cheap-batteries-are-dangerous">then burning your house down</a>.</p>
1859.  
1860. <div>
1861. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘Consumer Confusion Regarding USB Power Adapters’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/consumer-confusion-regarding-usb-power-adapters">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
1862. </div>
1863.  
1864. ]]></content>
1865.  </entry><entry>
1866.    
1867.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/not_boring_camera_and_adobe_project_indigo" />
1868. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wmv" />
1869. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42295</id>
1870. <published>2025-10-21T18:25:14Z</published>
1871. <updated>2025-10-22T15:48:11Z</updated>
1872. <author>
1873. <name>John Gruber</name>
1874. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
1875. </author>
1876. <summary type="text">Two new(ish) iPhone camera apps that take decidedly different approaches to distinguish themselves from Apple’s built-in Camera app.</summary>
1877. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
1878. <p><a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/10/sjt-june-2025.jpeg" class="noborder">
1879.  <img
1880.    src = "https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/10/sjt-june-2025.jpeg"
1881.    alt = "The lower atrium at Steve Jobs Theater, WWDC 2025."
1882.    width = 500
1883. /></a></p>
1884.  
1885. <p>I took the above photo on Monday, June 9, <a href="https://glass.photo/gruber/series/2skCCKMH4LYm8HAuxeoMHo-wwdc-2025-apple-park">this year at WWDC</a>. Keynote day, around 1:30pm PT. I captured it using my iPhone 16 Pro and <a href="https://notbor.ing/product/camera">Not Boring’s !Camera app</a>, using the built-in Mono Tokyo LUT. Like the other apps in Not Boring’s growing suite, !Camera can be mistaken by the too-cynical as a toy. It is fun and colorful, and some of its features exist for the sake of fun alone. But, just like Not Boring’s other offerings (my favorites: <a href="https://notbor.ing/product/weather">!Weather</a>, <a href="https://notbor.ing/product/calculator">!Calculator</a>, and <a href="https://notbor.ing/product/habits">!Habits</a>), it’s a genuinely serious tool. And of the bunch, I think !Camera is the most innovative. The fact that it’s fun makes me want to use it — a vastly underestimated attribute of tool design. <a href="https://notbor.ing/product/camera">From Not Boring’s website</a>:</p>
1886.  
1887. <blockquote>
1888.  <p>Go from snap to sharing without any editing. !Camera is the first
1889. camera app to enable professional-level color grading with 3D LUTs
1890. (“lookup tables”) used in high-end workflows by pro photographers
1891. to achieve realistic film simulations and unique cinematic looks.
1892. Use !Camera’s designed presets, add LUTs from your favorite
1893. creators, or make and import your own! New Styles and
1894. collaborations released every season.</p>
1895. </blockquote>
1896.  
1897. <p>!Camera <em>looks</em> gimmicky but I assure you it’s not — and what might strike you as gimmicky is really just plain fun and whimsical. My affection for it, and my use of it, has grown, not shrunk, as the months have gone by. While my hardware Camera Control buttons (plural, as I’m currently testing multiple iPhones) remain set to open Apple’s own Camera app, which I continue to use by default, I keep !Camera’s simple widget on my iPhones’ Lock Screens to launch it quickly after unpocketing my iPhone.</p>
1898.  
1899. <p>!Camera’s use of LUTs for filter-like effects opens the app to a wide world of non-proprietary looks. The best source I’ve found for new LUTs to import is the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/panasonic-lumix-lab/id6499262377">Panasonic LUMIX Lab</a> app — Panasonic’s built-in LUTs are boring, but the app has a whole community of user-submitted LUTs and I’ve found several of them that are lovely. !Camera’s custom “SuperRAW” format, is, in my opinion, key to the appeal of the app:</p>
1900.  
1901. <blockquote>
1902.  <p>No more flat lifeless photos, no AI processing, no weird
1903. artifacts. Our SuperRaw™ photo processing has been crafted to
1904. showcase more film-like tones and preserve a photo’s beautiful
1905. natural grain.</p>
1906. </blockquote>
1907.  
1908. <p>Rather than fighting the nature of the small (and thus, noisy) sensors in the iPhone camera systems, SuperRAW processing embraces the noise, imbuing images with <a href="https://x.com/asallen/status/1947321942127845853">natural-looking grain</a>. The results, to my eyes, are genuinely film-like. If you want, you can configure !Camera to save a raw DNG file alongside each capture, for post-processing in an app like Darkroom, Lightroom, or Photoshop. I’m glad that option is there, but I just shoot in SuperRAW, which saves ready-to-share HEIC files with the LUT applied in my camera roll, so what I see is what I get.</p>
1909.  
1910. <p>Each of Not Boring’s apps is available for a $15/year subscription, but the way to go is <a href="https://notbor.ing/plans">Not Boring’s $50/year “Super !Boring” subscription</a>, which grants you a license to their entire suite of apps. I was already a Super !Boring subscriber when !Camera launched, so, effectively, I got it for free. $50/year isn’t nothing, but it’s not much, and subscriptions have proven to be the best monetization strategy for indie developers in today’s world.</p>
1911.  
1912. <h2>Project Indigo</h2>
1913.  
1914. <p>Marc Levoy, Adobe fellow, and Florian Kainz, principal scientist, <a href="https://research.adobe.com/articles/indigo/indigo.html">on the Adobe Research blog back in June</a>:</p>
1915.  
1916. <blockquote>
1917.  <p>Second, people often complain about the “smartphone look” — overly
1918. bright, low contrast, high color saturation, strong smoothing, and
1919. strong sharpening. To some extent this look is driven by consumer
1920. preference. It also makes photos easier to read on the small
1921. screen and in bad lighting. But to the discerning photographer, or
1922. anybody who views these photos on a larger screen than a phone,
1923. they may look unrealistic. [...]</p>
1924.  
1925. <p>What’s different about computational photography using Indigo?
1926. First, we under-expose more strongly than most cameras. Second, we
1927. capture, align, and combine more frames when producing each photo — up to 32 frames as in the example above. This means that our
1928. photos have fewer blown-out highlights and less noise in the
1929. shadows. Taking a photo with our app may require slightly more
1930. patience after pressing the shutter button than you’re used to,
1931. but after a few seconds you’ll be rewarded with a better picture.</p>
1932.  
1933. <p>As a side benefit of these two strategies, we need less spatial
1934. denoising (i.e. smoothing) than most camera apps. This means we
1935. preserve more natural textures. In fact, we bias our processing
1936. towards minimal smoothing, even if this means leaving a bit of
1937. noise in the photo. You can see these effects in the example
1938. photos later in this article.</p>
1939.  
1940. <p>One more thing. Many of our users prefer to shoot raw, not JPEGs,
1941. and they want these raw images to benefit from computational
1942. photography. (Some big cameras offer the ability to capture
1943. bursts of images and combine them in-camera, but they output a
1944. JPEG, not a raw file.) Indigo can output JPEG or raw files that
1945. benefit equally from the computational photography strategy
1946. outlined here. [...]</p>
1947.  
1948. <p>In reaction to the prevailing smartphone look, some camera apps
1949. advertise “zero-process” photography. In fact, the pixels read
1950. from a digital sensor must be processed to create a recognizable
1951. image. This processing includes at a minimum white balancing,
1952. color correction to account for the different light sensitivity of
1953. the red, green and blue pixels, and demosaicing to create a
1954. full-color image. Based on our conversations with photographers,
1955. what they really want is not zero-process but a more natural look — more like what an SLR might produce. To accomplish this, our
1956. photos employ only mild tone mapping, boosting of color
1957. saturation, and sharpening. We do perform semantically-aware
1958. mask-based adjustments, but only subtle ones.</p>
1959. </blockquote>
1960.  
1961. <p>You may recognize Levoy’s name. After a distinguished career <a href="https://graphics.stanford.edu/~levoy/">at Stanford teaching computer science</a>, Levoy spent 2014 to 2020 leading the computational photography team at Google <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h7Is5MA3Ng">for their highly-regarded-as-cameras Pixel phones</a>. In 2020 <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2020/07/20/levoy-adobe">Levoy left Google for Adobe</a>, and Indigo is one of the first fruits of his time there.</p>
1962.  
1963. <p>Allison Johnson of The Verge — notably, she came to The Verge by way of <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/">DPReview</a> — wrote a splendid piece on Indigo shortly after the app debuted, under the headline “<a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/694014/adobe-project-indigo-camera-app-hands-on-hdr">Adobe’s New Camera App Is Making Me Rethink Phone Photography</a>”:</p>
1964.  
1965. <blockquote>
1966.  <p>If you hate the overly aggressive HDR look, or you’re tired of
1967. your iPhone sharpening the ever-living crap out of your photos,
1968. Project Indigo might be for you. It’s available in beta on iOS,
1969. though it is <em>not</em> — and I stress this — for the faint of heart.
1970. It’s slow, it’s prone to heating up my iPhone, and it drains the
1971. battery. But it’s the most thoughtfully designed camera experience
1972. I’ve ever used on a phone, and it gave me a renewed sense of
1973. curiosity about the camera I use every day.</p>
1974.  
1975. <p>You’ll know this isn’t your garden-variety camera app right from
1976. the onboarding screens. One section details the difference between
1977. two histograms available to use with the live preview image (one
1978. is based on Indigo’s own processing and one is based on Apple’s
1979. image pipeline). Another line describes the way the app handles
1980. processing of subjects and skies as “special (but gentle).” This
1981. is a camera nerd’s love language.</p>
1982. </blockquote>
1983.  
1984. <p>Slow and battery-draining is exactly why Apple hasn’t pursued these sorts of advanced computational photography techniques in the built-in Camera app. Apple’s Camera app is super-fast and takes extraordinary effort to go easy on the battery. Apple is making entirely different trade-offs — correctly — for the default Camera app. Pro and prosumer photographers may want to make completely different trade-offs when it comes to image processing time and energy.<sup id="fnr1-2025-10-21"><a href="#fn1-2025-10-21">1</a></sup> (For the last few years, Apple has shot its keynote events using iPhone cameras exclusively, but they use apps like <a href="https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccamera">Blackmagic Camera</a>, not the built-in Camera app, to shoot them.)</p>
1985.  
1986. <p>I’m deeply intrigued by Indigo, and I have a few friends who’ve shown me some extraordinary photographs taken with the app. If they hadn’t told me, I’d have wagered their photos were taken with dedicated large-sensor digital cameras, not phones. Johnson described Indigo as “not for the faint of heart”, and I’m just faint-hearted — or perhaps lazy — enough that, when venturing to a third-party camera app during the past few months, I’ve reached for !Camera, not Indigo, mainly because I don’t want to bother with any sort of manual post-processing for any but my very favorite of favorite images. But Indigo — available <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/project-indigo/id6742591546">free of charge from the App Store</a> — is well worth your attention.<sup id="fnr2-2025-10-21"><a href="#fn2-2025-10-21">2</a></sup> I hope it’s an app that Adobe is serious about maintaining and developing into the future.</p>
1987.  
1988. <div class="footnotes">
1989. <hr />
1990. <ol>
1991.  
1992. <li id="fn1-2025-10-21">
1993. <p>Johnson also interviewed Levoy last month on The Vergecast. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQI6G0cbZKY&amp;t=1822s">The interview starts at 30m:22s</a>.&nbsp;<a href="#fnr1-2025-10-21"  class="footnoteBackLink"  title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">&#x21A9;&#xFE0E;</a></p>
1994. </li>
1995.  
1996. <li id="fn2-2025-10-21">
1997. <p>Indigo is currently iOS-only, but <a href="https://research.adobe.com/articles/indigo/indigo.html">in their introductory blog post</a>, Levoy and Kainz write: “What’s next for Project Indigo? An Android version for sure. We’d also like to add alternative ‘looks’, maybe even personalized ones. We also plan to add a portrait mode, but with more control and higher image quality than existing camera apps, as well as panorama and video recording, including some cool computational video features we’re cooking up in the lab.” Also worth noting: Indigo’s computational photography is so tied to specific hardware that it <a href="https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-ecosystem-cloud-based-discussions/p-introducing-the-project-indigo-camera-app/m-p/15513112#M108265">doesn’t yet support</a> any of the iPhones 17 nor the iPhone Air.&nbsp;<a href="#fnr2-2025-10-21"  class="footnoteBackLink"  title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.">&#x21A9;&#xFE0E;︎</a></p>
1998. </li>
1999.  
2000. </ol>
2001. </div>
2002.  
2003.  
2004.  
2005.    ]]></content>
2006.  <title>★ Two Excellent New iPhone Camera Apps: Not Boring’s !Camera and Adobe’s Project Indigo</title></entry><entry>
2007. <title>‘Apocryphal Inventions’</title>
2008. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://jonathanhoefler.com/inventions" />
2009. <link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wmu" />
2010. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/hoefler-apocryphal-inventions" />
2011. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42294</id>
2012. <published>2025-10-21T17:02:57Z</published>
2013. <updated>2025-10-21T17:03:06Z</updated>
2014. <author>
2015. <name>John Gruber</name>
2016. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
2017. </author>
2018. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
2019. <p>Jonathan Hoefler:</p>
2020.  
2021. <blockquote>
2022.  <p>The objects in the <em>Apocryphal Inventions</em> series are technical
2023. chimeras, intentional misdirections coaxed from the generative AI
2024. platform Midjourney. Instead of iterating on the system’s early
2025. drafts to create ever more accurate renderings of real-world
2026. objects, creator Jonathan Hoefler subverted the system to refine
2027. and intensify its most intriguing misunderstandings, pushing the
2028. software to create beguiling, aestheticized nonsense. Some images
2029. have been retouched to make them more plausible; others have been
2030. left intact, appearing exactly as generated by the software. The
2031. accompanying descriptions, written by the author, offer fictitious
2032. backstories rooted in historical fact, which suggest how each of
2033. these inventions might have come to be.</p>
2034.  
2035. <p>These images represent some of AI’s most intriguing answers to
2036. confounding questions — an inversion of the more urgent debate,
2037. in which it is humanity that must confront the difficult and
2038. existential questions posed by artificial intelligence.</p>
2039. </blockquote>
2040.  
2041. <p>This project is art.</p>
2042.  
2043. <div>
2044. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘‘Apocryphal Inventions’’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/hoefler-apocryphal-inventions">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
2045. </div>
2046.  
2047. ]]></content>
2048.  </entry><entry>
2050. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://workos.com/?utm_source=daringfireball&amp;utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=q12025" />
2051. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wms" />
2052. <link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/10/workos_scalable_secure_authent_9" />
2053. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/feeds/sponsors//11.42292</id>
2054. <author><name>Daring Fireball Department of Commerce</name></author>
2055. <published>2025-10-20T22:55:19Z</published>
2056. <updated>2025-10-21T23:15:45Z</updated>
2057. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
2058. <p>With WorkOS you can start selling to enterprises with just a few lines of code. It provides a complete User Management solution along with SSO, SCIM, and RBAC. The APIs are modular and easy-to-use, allowing integrations to be completed in minutes instead of months. WorkOS simplifies MCP authorization with a single API built on five OAuth standards.</p>
2059.  
2060. <p>Today, some of the fastest growing startups are already powered by WorkOS, including OpenAI, Cursor, and Vercel.</p>
2061.  
2062. <p>For SaaS apps that care deeply about design and user experience, WorkOS is the perfect fit. From high-quality documentation to self-serve onboarding for your customers, it removes all the unnecessary complexity for your engineering team.</p>
2063.  
2064. <div>
2065. <a  title="Permanent link to ‘WorkOS: Scalable, Secure Authentication’"  href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/10/workos_scalable_secure_authent_9">&nbsp;★&nbsp;</a>
2066. </div>
2067.  
2068. ]]></content>
2069. <title>[Sponsor] WorkOS: Scalable, Secure Authentication</title></entry><entry>
2070.    
2071.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/m5_chip_launches_with_macbook_pro_ipad_pro_vision_pro" />
2072. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wm7" />
2073. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42271</id>
2074. <published>2025-10-15T21:04:41Z</published>
2075. <updated>2025-10-15T21:30:42Z</updated>
2076. <author>
2077. <name>John Gruber</name>
2078. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
2079. </author>
2080. <summary type="text">Thoughts and observations on the new M5 MacBook  Pro, iPad Pros, and Vision Pro.</summary>
2081. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
2082. <p><a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unleashes-m5-the-next-big-leap-in-ai-performance-for-apple-silicon/">Apple Newsroom, today</a>:</p>
2083.  
2084. <blockquote>
2085.  <p>Apple today announced M5, delivering the next big leap in AI
2086. performance and advances to nearly every aspect of the chip. Built
2087. using third-generation 3-nanometer technology, M5 introduces a
2088. next-generation 10-core GPU architecture with a Neural Accelerator
2089. in each core, enabling GPU-based AI workloads to run dramatically
2090. faster, with over 4× the peak GPU compute performance compared to
2091. M4. The GPU also offers enhanced graphics capabilities and
2092. third-generation ray tracing that combined deliver a graphics
2093. performance that is up to 45 percent higher than M4. M5 features
2094. the world’s fastest performance core, with up to a 10-core CPU
2095. made up of six efficiency cores and up to four performance cores.
2096. Together, they deliver up to 15 percent faster multithreaded
2097. performance over M4. M5 also features an improved 16-core Neural
2098. Engine, a powerful media engine, and a nearly 30 percent increase
2099. in unified memory bandwidth to 153GB/s. M5 brings its
2100. industry-leading power-efficient performance to the new <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unveils-new-14-inch-macbook-pro-powered-by-the-m5-chip/">14-inch
2101. MacBook Pro</a>, <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-introduces-the-powerful-new-ipad-pro-with-the-m5-chip/">iPad Pro</a>, and <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-vision-pro-upgraded-with-the-m5-chip-and-dual-knit-band/">Apple Vision Pro</a>,
2102. allowing each device to excel in its own way. All are available
2103. for pre-order today.</p>
2104. </blockquote>
2105.  
2106. <p>Some thoughts and observations:</p>
2107.  
2108. <h2>14-Inch MacBook Pro</h2>
2109.  
2110. <p>Apple Newsroom: “<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unveils-new-14-inch-macbook-pro-powered-by-the-m5-chip/">Apple Unveils New 14‑Inch MacBook Pro Powered by the M5 Chip, Delivering the Next Big Leap in AI for the Mac</a>”.</p>
2111.  
2112. <p>The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the no-adjective M-series chip has always been an odd duck in the MacBook lineup. This “Pro”-but-not-pro spot in the MacBook lineup goes back to the Intel era, when there was a 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar. That was the MacBook Pro that, in 2016, Phil Schiller suggested as <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/new-macbook-pro-should-have-been-named-air/">a good choice for those who were then holding out for a MacBook Air with a retina display</a>. (The <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/111933">first retina MacBook Air</a> didn’t ship for another two years, in late 2018.) It’s more like a MacBook “Pro” than a MacBook Pro. The truly <em>pro</em>-spec’d MacBook Pros have M-series Pro and Max chips, and are available in both 14- and 16-inch sizes. The base 14-inch model, with the no-adjective M-series chip, is for people who probably would be better served with a MacBook Air but who wrongly believe they “need” a laptop with “Pro” in its name.</p>
2113.  
2114. <p>Here’s a timeline of no-adjective M-series chips and when they appeared in the 14-inch MacBook Pro:</p>
2115.  
2116. <ul>
2117. <li><p>M1 13-inch MacBook Pro: <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/11/introducing-the-next-generation-of-mac/">10 November 2020</a>. This MacBook Pro was one of the three Macs that debuted with the launch of Apple Silicon — the others were the MacBook Air and Mac Mini. The hardware looked exactly like the last generation Intel MacBook Pro. The M1 Pro and M1 Max models didn’t ship for another year (well, 11 months later), and those models brought with them the new form factor design that’s still with us today with the new M5 MacBook Pro.</p></li>
2118. <li><p>M2 13-inch MacBook Pro: <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/06/apple-unveils-m2-with-breakthrough-performance-and-capabilities/">6 June 2022</a>. This model also stuck with the older Intel-era form factor, including the 13-inch, not 14-inch, display size.</p></li>
2119. <li><p>M3 14-inch MacBook Pro: <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/10/apple-unveils-new-macbook-pro-featuring-m3-chips/">30 October 2023</a>. The “<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/10/behind-the-scenes-at-scary-fast-apples-keynote-event-shot-on-iphone/">Scary Fast</a>” event. This model debuted alongside the pro-spec’d M3 Pro and M3 Max 14- and 16-inch models.</p></li>
2120. <li><p>M4 14-inch MacBook Pro: <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/10/new-macbook-pro-features-m4-family-of-chips-and-apple-intelligence/">30 October 2024</a>. Exactly one year after the M3, and also alongside the M4 Pro and M4 Max models. What was different in 2024 with the M4 generation is that <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-unveils-stunning-new-ipad-pro-with-m4-chip-and-apple-pencil-pro/">the M4 iPad Pros debuted back in early May</a>, all by themselves.</p></li>
2121. <li><p>M5 14-inch MacBook Pro: <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unveils-new-14-inch-macbook-pro-powered-by-the-m5-chip/">15 October 2025</a> (today). What’s different with today’s announcement is that it is <em>not</em> alongside the M5 Pro and M5 Max models, but <em>is</em> alongside the M5 iPad Pros.</p></li>
2122. </ul>
2123.  
2124. <p>This raises the question of when to expect those M5 Pro/Max models. The rumor mill suggests “early 2026”. I suspect that’s right, based on nothing other than the fact that if they were going to be announced this year, Apple almost certainly would have announced the entire M5 generation MacBook lineup together.</p>
2125.  
2126. <p>Basically, this is just a <a href="https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/compare/?modelList=MacBook-Pro-14-M5,MacBook-Pro-14-M4,MacBook-Pro-14-M4-Pro">speed bump upgrade over the just-plain M4 MacBook Pro</a>. But annual — or at least regular — <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2019/05/good_old_fashioned_macbook_pro_speed_bumps">speed bumps are a good thing</a>. The alternative is years-long gaps between hardware refreshes.</p>
2127.  
2128. <h2>iPad Pros</h2>
2129.  
2130. <p>Apple Newsroom: “<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-introduces-the-powerful-new-ipad-pro-with-the-m5-chip/">Apple Introduces the Powerful New iPad Pro With the M5 Chip</a>”:</p>
2131.  
2132. <blockquote>
2133.  <p>Featuring a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each
2134. core, M5 delivers a big boost in performance for iPad Pro users,
2135. whether they’re working on cutting-edge projects or tapping into
2136. AI for productivity. The new iPad Pro delivers up to 3.5× the AI
2137. performance than iPad Pro with M4 and up to 5.6× faster than iPad
2138. Pro with M1. N1, the new Apple-designed wireless networking chip,
2139. enables the latest generation of wireless technologies with
2140. support for Wi-Fi 7 on iPad Pro. The C1X modem comes to cellular
2141. models of iPad Pro, delivering up to 50 percent faster cellular
2142. data performance than its predecessor with even greater
2143. efficiency, allowing users to do more on the go.</p>
2144. </blockquote>
2145.  
2146. <p>I think the N1 wireless chip and C1X modem are more interesting generation-over-generation improvements than the M5 chip. Thanks to the N1, these iPad Pro models support Wi-Fi 7 — today’s new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro does not. I would wager rather heavily that the upcoming M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models <em>will</em> support Wi-Fi 7 (probably via the N1 chip, or perhaps even an “N1X” or something).</p>
2147.  
2148. <p>Other than that, this too <a href="https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-pro-11-m5,ipad-pro-11-m4,ipad-air-11-m3">is a speed bump upgrade</a>.</p>
2149.  
2150. <h2>Vision Pro</h2>
2151.  
2152. <p>Apple Newsroom: “<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-vision-pro-upgraded-with-the-m5-chip-and-dual-knit-band/">Apple Vision Pro Upgraded With the M5 Chip and Dual Knit Band</a>”:</p>
2153.  
2154. <blockquote>
2155.  <p>The upgraded Vision Pro also comes with the soft, cushioned Dual
2156. Knit Band to help users achieve an even more comfortable fit, and
2157. visionOS 26, which unlocks innovative spatial experiences,
2158. including widgets, new Personas, an interactive Jupiter
2159. Environment, and new Apple Intelligence features with support for
2160. additional languages.</p>
2161. </blockquote>
2162.  
2163. <p>The new Dual Knit Band (<a href="https://www.apple.com/shop/product/DUAL_KNIT_BAND_SA/apple-vision-pro-dual-knit-band">$99 on its own</a>) looks like a hybrid of the more attractive Solo Knit Band (which did not have a strap that went over the top of your head) and the Dual Loop Band (which did have an over-the-head strap, but which looked somewhat orthopedic). It’s a tacit acknowledgement that physical comfort has been a real problem for many people who’ve tried Vision Pro. (Me, personally, I find using it with the Solo Knit Band comfortable for as long as I care to use it — which is typically just 2–3 hours, tops.)</p>
2164.  
2165. <blockquote>
2166.  <p>There are over 1 million apps and thousands of games on the App
2167. Store, hundreds of 3D movies on the Apple TV app, and all-new
2168. series and films in Apple Immersive with a selection of live NBA
2169. games coming soon.</p>
2170. </blockquote>
2171.  
2172. <p>Translation: <em>Hey, there’s actually a growing library of immersive content to watch, software to use, and games to play for this thing now.</em></p>
2173.  
2174. <blockquote>
2175.  <p>With M5, Apple Vision Pro renders 10 percent more pixels on the
2176. custom micro-OLED displays compared to the previous generation,
2177. resulting in a sharper image with crisper text and more detailed
2178. visuals. Vision Pro can also increase the refresh rate up to 120Hz
2179. for reduced motion blur when users look at their physical
2180. surroundings, and an even smoother experience when using Mac
2181. Virtual Display. Vision Pro with M5 works alongside the
2182. purpose-built R1 chip, which processes input from 12 cameras, five
2183. sensors, and six microphones, and streams new images to the
2184. displays within 12 milliseconds to create a real-time view of the
2185. world. The high-performance battery now supports up to two and a
2186. half hours of general use, and up to three hours of video
2187. playback, all on a single charge.</p>
2188. </blockquote>
2189.  
2190. <p>It’s merely another speed bump upgrade alongside the other two speed bump upgrades today, but a bit more dramatic given that the Vision Pro is jumping from the M2 to M5. No price drop, no change to the form factor. But Apple’s interest in the platform is very much alive.</p>
2191.  
2192.  
2193.  
2194.    ]]></content>
2195.  <title>★ The Just Plain M5 Chip Launches in Three Updated Products: 14-Inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro (Both Sizes), and Some Sort of Headset Thingamajig Called Vision Pro</title></entry><entry>
2196.    
2197.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/iceblock_removed_from_app_store" />
2198. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wld" />
2199. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42241</id>
2200. <published>2025-10-03T20:56:36Z</published>
2201. <updated>2025-10-04T18:53:40Z</updated>
2202. <author>
2203. <name>John Gruber</name>
2204. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
2205. </author>
2206. <summary type="text">It’s rather chilling to consider what Apple would have done if the Trump administration had “demanded” a list of device IDs and user identities for everyone who had installed ICEBlock. Or what Apple *will* do if such a demand pops into one of their dimwitted but cruel minds.</summary>
2207. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
2208. <p><a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/apple-takes-down-ice-tracking-app-after-pressure-from-ag-bondi">Ashley Oliver, reporting for Fox Business</a>:</p>
2209.  
2210. <blockquote>
2211.  <p>DOJ officials, at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi,
2212. asked Apple to take down ICEBlock, a move that comes as Trump
2213. administration officials have claimed the tool, which allows users
2214. to anonymously report ICE agents’ presence, puts agents in danger
2215. and helps shield illegal immigrants.</p>
2216.  
2217. <p>“We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock
2218. app from their App Store — and Apple did so,” Bondi said in a
2219. statement to Fox News Digital.</p>
2220.  
2221. <p>“ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing
2222. their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable
2223. red line that cannot be crossed,” Bondi added. “This Department of
2224. Justice will continue making every effort to protect our brave
2225. federal law enforcement officers, who risk their lives every day
2226. to keep Americans safe.”</p>
2227. </blockquote>
2228.  
2229. <p>Fox, in its opening paragraph, describes Bondi as having “asked” Apple to remove ICEBlock from the App Store, but Bondi’s own statement uses the verb “demand”. The difference is not nitpicking. No one, not even Bondi, is claiming any aspect of ICEBlock is illegal. Thus it’s not merely inappropriate but outrageous — and yet another among dozens of other causes for alarm regarding Trump 2.0’s decidedly authoritarian turn — for the DOJ to “demand” that Apple do anything about it. But demand they did, and comply did Apple. (Check those lips <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2024/11/i_wonder">for Cheetos dust</a> before heading home today.)</p>
2230.  
2231. <p>Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, Peter Kafka, and Kwan Wei Kevin Tan, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iceblock-app-store-removed-2025-10">reporting for Business Insider</a>:</p>
2232.  
2233. <blockquote>
2234.  <p>Apple has removed ICEBlock, an app that allowed users to monitor
2235. and report the location of immigration enforcement officers, from
2236. the App Store.</p>
2237.  
2238. <p>“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to
2239. discover apps,” Apple said in a statement to Business Insider.
2240. “Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about
2241. the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and
2242. similar apps from the App Store.”</p>
2243. </blockquote>
2244.  
2245. <p>ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/iceblock.app/post/3m2alyaghbk2n">posting on the ICEBlock Bluesky account</a>:</p>
2246.  
2247. <blockquote>
2248.  <p>We just received a message from Apple’s App Review that #ICEBlock
2249. has been removed from the App Store due to “objectionable
2250. content”. The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure
2251. from the Trump Admin.</p>
2252.  
2253. <p>We have responded and we’ll fight this! #resist</p>
2254. </blockquote>
2255.  
2256. <p>There is clearly nothing illegal about ICEBlock.<sup id="fnr1-2025-10-03"><a href="#fn1-2025-10-03">1</a></sup> It’s just information, obviously protected by the First Amendment. Law enforcement officers in the United States have no right to avoid being recorded nor their actions being reported and shared. Reporting and publishing where police are policing is free speech and fundamental to the civil rights and liberties of a free society.</p>
2257.  
2258. <p>We can all wish Apple had fought this “demand”. I certainly do. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohPToBog_-g">John Oliver’s “Fuck you, make me”</a> argument <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/03/fuck-you-make-me">sprung to mind</a> for me this morning. But that’s wishful thinking. I believe there are many lines Apple would not cross, even if it means taking on the ire of Trump administration lickspittles, if not the barely literate wrath of the mad king himself on <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/truth_social_is_just_trumps_blog">his sad little blog</a>. Apple may well eventually — if not soon — be forced to define those lines. But keeping ICEBlock in the App Store isn’t one of them. You might believe it should be. There’s a big part of me that believes it should be. But I can also <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/08/gold_frankincense_and_silicon">see why it’s not</a>. Pick your battles.</p>
2259.  
2260. <p>I wrote about ICEBlock twice back in late July. <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/iceblock">Quoting extensively from my initial post</a>:</p>
2261.  
2262. <blockquote>
2263.  <p>The ICEBlock app is interesting in and of itself (and from my
2264. tire-kicking test drive, appears to be a well-crafted and designed
2265. app), as will be Apple’s response if (when?) the Trump
2266. administration takes offense to the app’s existence. Back in 2019,
2267. kowtowing to tacit demands from China, <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/10/10/apple-pulls-hkmaps">Apple removed from the App
2268. Store an app called HKmap.live</a> which helped pro-democracy
2269. activists in Hong Kong know the location of police and protest
2270. activity. The app broke no Hong Kong laws, but <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/10/10/768841864/after-china-objects-apple-removes-app-used-by-hong-kong-protesters">scared the
2271. thin-skinned skittish lickspittles in the Chinese Communist
2272. Party</a>. (Remember too that in 2019, <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/10/07/taiwan-flag-emoji">Apple removed the Taiwan
2273. flag emoji</a> (🇹🇼) from the iOS 13 keyboard for users in Hong
2274. Kong and Macau.)</p>
2275.  
2276. <p>One defense from Apple regarding HKmap.live, however, was that the
2277. iOS app was a thin wrapper around the website, which website
2278. remained fully functional and could be saved to an iPhone user’s
2279. home screen. Removing the app from the App Store thus did not
2280. prevent Hongkongers from accessing it. (<a href="https://hkmap.live/">That website</a> today
2281. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HKmap.live">seems to be defunct</a>.)</p>
2282.  
2283. <p>ICEBlock is different. It is <em>only</em> available as a native iOS app.
2284. According to the developers, this is for technical reasons. From
2285. their web page explaining <a href="https://www.iceblock.app/android">why they <em>can’t</em> offer an Android
2286. version</a>:</p>
2287.  
2288. <blockquote>
2289.  <p>At ICEBlock, user privacy and security are paramount. Our
2290. application is designed to provide as much anonymity as possible
2291. without storing any user data or creating accounts. While we
2292. understand the desire for an Android version of ICEBlock,
2293. achieving this level of anonymity on Android is not feasible due
2294. to the inherent requirements of push notification services.</p>
2295.  
2296. <p>To send push notifications on Android, it is necessary to use a
2297. mechanism that requires storing device IDs. This means that we
2298. would need to maintain a privately hosted database to store these
2299. identifiers. Storing such data, even if it’s anonymized,
2300. introduces significant privacy risks. [...]</p>
2301.  
2302. <p>In contrast, iOS offers us the flexibility to deliver push
2303. notifications while adhering strictly to our design philosophy.
2304. Apple’s ecosystem allows for push notifications to be sent
2305. without requiring us to store any user-identifiable information.
2306. This ensures that ICEBlock remains completely anonymous and
2307. secure.</p>
2308. </blockquote>
2309.  
2310. <p>To deliver push notifications on Android, the developers claim
2311. they would need to maintain a database of device IDs, create a
2312. user account system to manage those device IDs, and all of that
2313. server-stored data would be susceptible to law enforcement
2314. subpoenas and pro-ICE red hat hackers. (What “brown shirts” were
2315. to the Nazis, we should make “red hats” to MAGA.)</p>
2316.  
2317. <p>To maintain anonymity and store zero user data, there is and can
2318. be no web app version of ICEBlock. There is and can be no Android
2319. version. Only iOS supports the security and privacy features for
2320. ICEBlock to offer what it does, the way it does. Here’s to hoping
2321. that Apple will proudly defend it if push comes to shove.</p>
2322. </blockquote>
2323.  
2324. <p>Apple’s removal of ICEBlock from the App Store is, in multiple ways, <em>worse</em> than Apple’s removal of HKmap.live from the App Store back in 2019. First, you cannot take a disagreement with the Chinese government to court. Here in the United States, you can. But Apple chose not to. That’s a display of weakness. </p>
2325.  
2326. <p>Second, from the perspective of users, without the HKmap.live “app”, Hong Kong iPhone users could still access all the functionality via the website, and the website could be saved to their home screens as a web app that was, I believe, functionally identical to the version from the App Store. I put “app” in quotes above because the HKmap.live app was really just a thin wrapper around the service’s mobile website. Hongkongers lost some convenience, and they lost the ability to tell non-technical protestor friends “just get it from the App Store”, but it’s not <em>that</em> much more complex to explain how to add a website to your iPhone home screen as a web app.</p>
2327.  
2328. <p>With ICEBlock, the entire thing is simply no longer available. If you already have ICEBlock installed, the installed version still functions on your iPhone, but, until and if Apple changes its mind, there will be no further software updates and new users are unable to download it. Nor will current users be able to re-download the app on a new iPhone — and now is “new iPhone” season. And, seemingly, there can be no web app (or Android) version of ICEBlock that offers the same level of anonymity as the native iOS version — with notifications, but without user accounts nor any database of device IDs for notifications that would be subject to subpoena from ICEBlock.</p>
2329.  
2330. <p>The gist of <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/26/iceblock-trust-apple">my second post on ICEBlock</a> from back in July is that ICEBlock’s privacy-protecting architecture isn’t magic. It’s based on trust in Apple itself. Joshua Aaron doesn’t have access to ICEBlock users’ device IDs (let alone their personal identities), but ICEBlock can send push notifications to devices because Apple itself does know device IDs and users’ identities.</p>
2331.  
2332. <p>It’s rather chilling to consider what Apple would have done if the Trump administration had “demanded” a list of device IDs and user identities for everyone who had installed ICEBlock. Or what Apple <em>will</em> do if such a demand pops into one of their dimwitted but cruel minds.<sup id="fnr2-2025-10-03"><a href="#fn2-2025-10-03">2</a></sup> I suspect that’s one of the lines Apple would not cross. That Apple would stand its ground there and say “Fuck you, make us” and take it to court. But there’s only one way to find out.</p>
2333.  
2334. <div class="footnotes">
2335. <hr />
2336. <ol>
2337.  
2338. <li id="fn1-2025-10-03">
2339. <p>It’s interesting to consider how Aaron might “fight this”. I don’t think suing the Department of Justice is an option. All Pam Bondi did was issue a “demand” to Apple. That’s inappropriate and an embarrassment, and in any normal administration would be just cause for her immediate dismissal from the job. But it’s not against the law. She didn’t issue an unconstitutional legal demand to Apple. She just issued a verbal request with an implicit threat of turning the nation’s MAGA derps and Fox News junkies against Apple. What Apple was afraid of wasn’t fighting this demand in a court of law, but in the court of public opinion.</p>
2340.  
2341. <p>So maybe Aaron sues Apple? I’m not sure he has grounds for that either, but it’d be interesting to see Apple’s lawyers argue in court that the App Store is no place for apps that protect users’ civil liberties and personal privacy.&nbsp;<a href="#fnr1-2025-10-03"  class="footnoteBackLink"  title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">&#x21A9;&#xFE0E;︎</a></p>
2342. </li>
2343.  
2344. <li id="fn2-2025-10-03">
2345. <p>A few people have already asked me why it took the Trump administration several months to put ICEBlock in its crosshairs and issue a takedown “demand” to Apple. <a href="https://abc7ny.com/post/iceblock-new-iphone-app-lets-users-know-when-ice-agents-are-area/16902392/">Aaron shipped the first release of ICEBlock back in April</a>, and it achieved a significant amount of well-deserved publicity in July after Trump’s ICE goons began large-scale deportation raids in Los Angeles. My answer is simple: it took them months to issue this demand because they’re so goddamn stupid and incompetent. We should be thankful for that. In a competent regime attempting an authoritarian takeover of a liberal democracy, it would have been taken down in days, not months.&nbsp;<a href="#fnr2-2025-10-03"  class="footnoteBackLink"  title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.">&#x21A9;&#xFE0E;</a></p>
2346. </li>
2347.  
2348. </ol>
2349. </div>
2350.  
2351.  
2352.  
2353.    ]]></content>
2354.  <title>★ Complying With ‘Demand’ From Trump Administration, Apple Removes ICEBlock From App Store</title></entry><entry>
2355.    
2356.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/09/apple_on_the_digital_markets_act" />
2357. <link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wky" />
2358. <id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42226</id>
2359. <published>2025-09-26T15:47:03Z</published>
2360. <updated>2025-09-26T23:10:10Z</updated>
2361. <author>
2362. <name>John Gruber</name>
2363. <uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
2364. </author>
2365. <summary type="text">How in the world would that increase competition? iOS’s unique and exclusive features — which, yes, in many cases, are exclusive to the Apple device ecosystem — *are competition*.</summary>
2366. <content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
2367. <p>Apple, “<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/09/the-digital-markets-acts-impacts-on-eu-users/">The Digital Markets Act’s Impacts on EU Users</a>”:</p>
2368.  
2369. <blockquote>
2370.  <p>The DMA requires Apple to make certain features work on non-Apple
2371. products and apps before we can share them with our users.
2372. Unfortunately, that requires a lot of engineering work, and it’s
2373. caused us to delay some new features in the EU:</p>
2374.  
2375. <ul>
2376. <li><p><em>Live Translation</em> with AirPods uses Apple Intelligence to let
2377. Apple users communicate across languages. Bringing a
2378. sophisticated feature like this to other devices creates
2379. challenges that take time to solve. For example, we designed
2380. Live Translation so that our users’ conversations stay private — they’re processed on device and are never accessible to Apple — and our teams are doing additional engineering work to make
2381. sure they won’t be exposed to other companies or developers
2382. either.</p></li>
2383. <li><p><em>iPhone Mirroring</em> lets our users see and interact with their
2384. iPhone from their Mac, so they can seamlessly check their
2385. notifications, or drag and drop photos between devices. Our
2386. teams still have not found a secure way to bring this feature to
2387. non-Apple devices without putting all the data on a user’s
2388. iPhone at risk. And as a result, we have not been able to bring
2389. the feature to the EU. [...]</p></li>
2390. </ul>
2391.  
2392. <p>We’ve suggested changes to these features that would protect our
2393. users’ data, but so far, the European Commission has rejected our
2394. proposals. And according to the European Commission, under the
2395. DMA, it’s illegal for us to share these features with Apple users
2396. until we bring them to other companies’ products. If we shared
2397. them any sooner, we’d be fined and potentially forced to stop
2398. shipping our products in the EU.</p>
2399. </blockquote>
2400.  
2401. <p>Live Translation with AirPods and iPhone Mirroring are both <em>amazing</em> features. And EU users are missing out on them. I think Apple structured this piece exactly right, by emphasizing first that the most direct effect of the DMA is that EU users are getting great features late — or never. And that list of features is only going to grow over time.</p>
2402.  
2403. <p>Under the section “Is the DMA Achieving Its Goals?”:</p>
2404.  
2405. <blockquote>
2406.  <p>Regulators claimed the DMA would promote competition and give
2407. European consumers more choices. But the law is not living up to
2408. those promises. In fact, it’s having some of the opposite effects:</p>
2409.  
2410. <ul>
2411. <li><p><em>Fewer choices</em>: When features are delayed or unavailable, EU
2412. users don’t get the same options as users in the rest of the
2413. world. They lose the choice to use Apple’s latest technologies,
2414. and their devices fall further behind.</p></li>
2415. <li><p><em>Less differentiation</em>: By forcing Apple to build features and
2416. technologies for non-Apple products, the DMA is making the
2417. options available to European consumers more similar. For
2418. instance, the changes to app marketplaces are making iOS look
2419. more like Android — and that reduces choice.</p></li>
2420. <li><p><em>Unfair competition</em>: The DMA’s rules only apply to Apple, even
2421. though Samsung is the smartphone market leader in Europe, and
2422. Chinese companies are growing fast. Apple has led the way in
2423. building a unique, innovative ecosystem that others have copied — to the benefit of users everywhere. But instead of rewarding
2424. that innovation, the DMA singles Apple out while leaving our
2425. competitors free to continue as they always have.</p></li>
2426. </ul>
2427. </blockquote>
2428.  
2429. <p>This is all true. But I have a better way to put this. If Apple were to just switch the iPhone’s OS from iOS to Android, these DMA conflicts would all go away. Apple’s not going to do that, of course, but to me it’s a crystallizing way of looking at it. The DMA is supposedly intended to increase “competition”, which in turn should increase consumer choice. But the easiest way for Apple to comply with the DMA would be to switch EU iPhones to Android — which, by a significant margin, already has majority mobile OS market share in the EU. <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/europe/">Here’s a link to StatCounter’s mobile OS stats for Europe</a> (<a href="https://daringfireball.net/2024/03/eu_share_of_apples_revenue">which is not the same as the EU</a>, but as good a proxy as I could find). It’s two-thirds Android, one-third iOS — a 2-1 ratio.</p>
2430.  
2431. <p>If Apple just shipped all EU iPhones with Android instead of iOS, all of their DMA problems would be off the table. EU iPhone users would lose <em>all</em> iOS exclusive features and Apple device <a href="https://www.apple.com/macos/continuity/">Continuity</a> integrations. EU consumers would effectively have no choice at all in mobile OSes. They’d just get to choose which brand of Android phone to buy.</p>
2432.  
2433. <p>How in the world would that increase competition? iOS’s unique and exclusive features — which, yes, in many cases, are exclusive to the Apple device ecosystem — <em>are competition</em>.</p>
2434.  
2435.  
2436.  
2437.    ]]></content>
2438.  <title>★ Apple on the Digital Markets Act</title></entry></feed><!-- THE END -->
2439.  

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