Apple – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

If You’re Moving From 1Password to Apple Passwords Check Out These Resources

Making tech choices shouldn’t be this hard

This is a wacky era for many when it comes to computing, regardless of platform. The rapid pace of change is letting up, propelled by Artificial Intelligence and a cascading series of factors. Another is users’ distaste with some companies and/or their leaders’ decisions in the political and social climate meltdown we are all living through. Too often it feels like we’re choosing the least worst of bad options in the same way it often does in politics.

Sasun bughdaryan WUJmdr8pNwk unsplash. A computer keyboard with a combination lock resting on it

I’ve been reevaluating my use of 1Password for some time. The app has served me well across multiple devices and multiple platforms. When Apple first released its Apple Passwords app in 2022 I thought of switching, but held off to see how the app would evolve, and because the cross platform and other features were still of use. But I’ve felt the tug several times since 2022, and at the moment, now feels like the time.

I say at the moment for several reasons. In a couple of months it will be time to renew my 1Password subscription. Apple Passwords keeps improving, even though it still doesn’t match 1Password’s feature set. Lastly, the ownership of 1Password has made one of those political decisions that doesn’t sit right with me and many others.

I won’t get into the political parts of that in this post. The Verge has a good summary of the issue at this link.

What I will do though is link to two excellent articles for those who might be interested in switching from 1Password to Apple Passwords.

The first is from Ricky Mondello who actually works at Apple in the password management and app/website authentication spaces.

The second is from Glenn Fleishman on Six Colors, also on how to migrate from 1Password to Apple Passwords.

Ricky’s piece is more of a broad overview. Glenn’s piece is quite thorough and covers a number of do’s and don’ts.

For whatever reason you might be thinking of migrating from 1Password to Apple Passwords both are excellent resources that you might want to keep handy.

The good news is it is possible to make such a switch, even though changing horses in midstream might lead to some new challenges and habit changing.

The bad news that keeps accumulating more than I think most want is that too often it feels like we’re in a situation when we might be choosing between lesser evils.

I hate that.

(Image by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash)

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.

BetterTouchTool Adds New Feature That Should Have Been In macOS From The Start

Follow your mouse for better focus

BetterTouchTool is an excellent Mac utility that I’ve been using almost as long as I’ve been using Macs. It lets you customize your Mac’s keyboards, trackpads, or mouse by adding actions to keyboard combinations, gestures, and mouse moves. And so much more. Believe me when I say the combinations of what you can do with this utility seem endless.

The developer, Andreas Hegenberg, is constantly taking feedback from the BTT community and cranking out updates with something new. The most recent addition is something that I’ve always thought should have been a part of macOS from the get go.

The control, which you can turn on in BTT settings, is called Focus Follows Mouse. It also works with trackpads. Simply put, as you move your pointer over a window, that window pops into focus under your pointer. You can configure the setting a number of ways including the timing of when the action occurs. If you use multiple displays it also helps shift focus between those displays as you move your mouse over a windows on each of the displays.

It’s just another in a long list of automation capabilities that BetterTouchTool offers. Given that there’s a very generous 45 day free trial, if you’re a Mac user you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Observations And Questions After Apple’s Latest iPhone Duo and Apple Watch Event

Waiting to see how things unfold

I’ve got questions, some observations, and a few thoughts after Apple’s latest product announcements. In my opinion this was the best product introduction, canned or live, that Apple has done in quite some time. It makes a difference that they actually had something new to show off.

And there is newness. There’s also quite a bit of new work for developers ahead.

iPhone Pro

There’s nothing really to say about the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models beyond steady as she goes. Apple changed some colors, added some camera updates, a few other new features internally along with the latest generation chip, and incrementally advanced the very successful iPhone 17 Pro. The 17 Pro is one of the best iPhones I’ve owned and probably Apple’s peak for that design. Nothing about the 18 Pro versions seem likely to change that. Only reinforce it.

But in all the hype about the shiny new iPhone Duo much of that will be largely ignored.

iPhone Duo

It’s both tiresome and accurate to say Apple is playing follow the leader as a late entry into the minuscule market (<2%) that is the folding smartphone game. Samsung and others have been trying to make creases disappear for some time now. Crease or no, I believe the jury is still out on whether or not folding smartphones will ever be more than a niche market. If that proves to be the case there’s nothing wrong with that, though I think Apple has more hopeful thoughts.

However this new chapter turns out, it begins with Apple replaying the same game of catchup they played after Samsung introduced large smartphones. Remember when they were called phablets? Quite frankly, I imagine Samsung and the rest are glad Apple is entering this segment because it might spark new life for the concept of folding smartphones, which hasn’t caught fire like larger smartphones did.

To lay out my bias up front, I’ve never been attracted to the folding phone concept. I’m an iPad guy and if I need a larger screen that’s my weapon of choice. And when I’m wielding an iPad I don’t want my iPhone near me, or any of the distractions like notifications I use my iPhone or Apple Watch for. Apple isn’t hyping the Duo as an iPad and that’s a good thing. That hasn’t and won’t stop the comparisons from others, although it may herald the end of the iPad mini down the road.

So, that’s my preference and my choice. And I’m both sure and glad that others have different preferences and make different choices. With that in mind, I’m glad that Apple is offering a new category of smartphone for those who do see their technology worlds unfolding differently than I do. I’m glad Apple’s competitors do as well.

I took a look at some of the earlier foldables when they started hitting the market years ago and largely wrote them off. This summer I took a look at Samsung’s most recent foldables and was actually quite surprised with the quality of the tech. I imagine once I get a chance to fondle the iPhone Duo in a store that my response will be much the same. Impressive tech, but not something I have a need for, no matter how cool it may be.

The iPhone Duo does indeed look cool. If nothing else, Apple knows how to market a product. As I’ve said many times before, the verdict on the Duo’s success or failure will be determined at a later date once we see how Apple’s claims about durability and the display hold up. Early reviews will be just that. Early. I’m also guessing there will be some attacking that screen and hinge to check out Apple’s durability claims. October is going to be an interesting month for those who follow these things.

What stood out most was Apple’s “own the whole widget” reimagining of the iPhone UX/UI to take advantage of the new device. It looks both new and familiar. Doing some reading post event I can see how much work developers have ahead of them to fully take advantage of the new device. Here’s hoping most do, because some of what I’ve seen about apps that aren’t tuned to the new device leave a lot to be desired, reminding me of how insufficient and wrong iPhone apps looked on iPads in the early days. Remember when Apple sold using iPhone apps on the iPad as a feature?

Apple’s developer website promises workshops and labs, but the Xcode 27.1 beta for developing apps for the Duo is listed as coming later this month. I’m guessing it’s going to be a challenging transition. For some, a long one.

Speaking of transitions, the fancy fading transition between the closed and open screen is not only impressively eye-catching, and speaks to the aspiration of Apple’s designers and is certainly not something we’ve seen from any competitors. Time will tell where that takes us beyond the wow factor of that first introduction.

To Crease Or Not To Crease

Apple’s engineers seem to have done a good job of hiding the crease. It’s still there, but hidden under a “perpetually flat matte surface” under a nano-texture finish. Perhaps we now know why Apple recently and surprisingly reduced by half the price of the Apple Polishing Cloth that was first introduced alongside the first nano-texture screens on the Pro Display XDR.

Left and Right Handedness

One of the questions I have that I’ve yet to see an answer for has to do with that new UI/UX. Apple claims that like the iPad, the iPhone Duo can be used in any orientation. Part of the UI/UX reimagining places the dock and controls in most images on the right of the display(s) away from the hinge. I’ve seen one image from Apple that places a menu on the left in landscape mode when two apps are in split view.

Landscape f7x2oe1oxemy large 2x.

I haven’t seen any that might do so when the device is closed and the indications from what I’ve seen is that the controls and dock mostly stay situated on the curved edge, whether the display is open or closed. This raises a question about right and left handed usage. This question came to me last night as I was using my iPhone to scroll through some reading about the Duo and realized that though I’m right-handed, I more often than not hold the iPhone in my left hand when reading or scrolling. I do the same with my iPad mini. I’m reasonably certain that if I ever purchased an iPhone Duo I would adjust. I’m not sure if the same is true for left-handers or how much it matters, even with what appears to be a very “hold it in your right hand” approach for the Duo when it is closed. I’m sure we’ll hear about it from left-handers if it does.

FaceID is one of the features iPhone and iPad users have become accustomed to. The iPhone Duo does not have FaceID, instead reverting back to TouchID for identification purposes. I’m not sure how many this might be a deal breaker for, if any. Quite a few folks are saying that if you’re wearing an Apple Watch you can use the unlock feature similarly to how you can use an Apple Watch to unlock a Mac. That might work. Although in my usage the feature worked so sporadically in unlocking my Mac that I turned it off. Maybe it’s been improved. We’ll have to wait and see.

iPhone Handoff

It’s often easy to forget that The iPhone Duo, like the iPhone Pro and other models that will be released next spring are phones. But they are. I remember when we called them cell phones rather than smartphones. Intriguing that I don’t recall seeing any imagery during the presentation of someone using the Duo to make a phone call.

Apple introduced an interesting feature that might appeal to some and might see some turbulence among carriers.

In these days of eSIMs, iPhone Handoff allows the use of one phone number between two devices so a user can switch back and forth whenever they want. I’m not sure what the demand for this will be, but some will certainly enjoy the feature. Depending on if the carriers can get their acts together.

At launch only T-Mobile and Germany’s Telekom support the feature, with Verizon saying they will later this year. AT&T apparently has some work to do on its infrastructure to make the feature possible.

Given how carriers love their ridiculous fees when you activate a new phone I wonder how this will get priced out. As I got ready to publish this, I noticed T-Mobile has announced that it will charge $5 a month for the feature.

Apple Watch Health and Privacy

Both the Apple Watch and the Apple Watch Ultra got updates to Series 12 and Ultra 4 respectively. Both also increased RAM to 4GB from 2GB. Apple continues its push into Health and Fitness in these next editions. Both got improved, but not new, health sensors to go along with a slew of new health features in the Health app, including something Apple calls Readiness that will let you know if you’re ready to take on whatever task or adventure awaits you or take it easy for the day.

There’s also a new Longevity tab that includes a feature called Health Age that lets you compare your statistics relative to others. Apple has entered into a partnership with Quest Diagnostics so that you can order a comprehensive lab test for $119 directly through the app to use as a baseline. This is sure to trigger a raft of social media posts bragging or complaining about how people’s Health Age scores compare in the way we have with sleep scores since that feature was introduced.

All of these features continue Apple’s forays into health guidance with wearables and are now promoted as being made possible by Apple Intelligence.

Speaking of Apple Intelligence, there’s also a controversial couple of new audio features for the Apple Watch that can record conversations. The privacy conscious, legal beagles, and pervert glasses foes have already begun stirring the pot and sounding alarms in this age when any kind of always on surveillance draws increasingly extreme negative pushback. Throw AI in the mix and the brew boils a lot faster.

Live Rewind lets you transcribe the last 15 seconds of a conversation you might have missed. The transcription can be saved to the new Siri app for viewing later. Siri Recap is an always listening feature that that uses ambient listening to take notes of conversations, summaries of which again can also be reviewed in the Siri App.

With Apple’s traditional bent towards privacy protection, they swear up and down that users are in control and that any of the summaries can only be viewed by you, are not accessible by Apple, and that audio is not recorded or stored. All of these features are opt-in and can be turned off. Apple also suggests “Be mindful of those around you. While audio is not recorded and stored, and no speakers are attributed, consider those around you where conversations might be private or sensitive.”

Seriously.

Siri recap with iphone.

My bottom line observation here is that this move into wearable AI by Apple is seeding the ground before Apple does or does not roll out any of the products we’ve heard rumored such as AirPods with cameras and its own smart glasses. Apple’s moves here, while cloaked in its usual privacy protection mantra comes at a time when there’s a growing distaste for anything AI related, a real backlash against smart glasses and any other surveillance tech no matter how cool or how beneficial it may be to those with accessibility challenges, and a blatant lack of trust for anyone on any level these days, especially big tech. That’s a broad brush to tar with, but it’s one that’s fully loaded and dripping these days.

It’s an old story now that Apple is behind when it comes to Artificial Intelligence. It’s not just the technology that’s lagging. It’s also that Apple has let others with much less social awareness define use cases in ways that turn off potential customers.

Even if this tech is only audio related, and all of Apple’s privacy claims prove out, I certainly don’t think Apple wants people to associate its popular Apple Watch brand with the toxicity of pervert glasses. And that’s before we get to the legal issues given how different states have different laws about the recording of conversations. Glenn Fleishman has an excellent article about this that you should read.

Timing is everything and I just don’t think this is the time, nor will there ever be a time when this kind of thing is accepted by a majority of users. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

A few other topics that caught my eye were announced during the day.

AppleCare One Family Plan

Apple has been offering AppleCare One allowing users to insure and get support for up to three devices for $19.99 and add other eligible devices for a cost. Apple’s new family plan will allow users who are or start a shared family group to ensure all eligible devices for each family member for $50 a month. This is a potential for real savings for some.

Apple Reference Image

This is a good thing that I wish wasn’t necessary. But these are the times we live in. Apple Reference Image is a way of providing proof that a photo was captured on an iPhone, and not an AI generated image. From Apple’s website:

Users can now prove the authenticity of a photo taken on iPhone 18 Pro models with Apple Reference Image, powered by the new sensor in the Main camera that can sign every pixel it sees. When a photo is taken in the new Reference mode, the camera captures signed sensor data that Private Cloud Compute develops into an unalterable reference image. Reference images can be viewed in the Photos app alongside the main image, like a digital negative, to visually compare the two assets and determine if any edits were made. APIs are available in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 27 for third-party apps to enable viewing of these reference images.

Image metadata and upcoming support for the SynthID standard can also help users identify images generated or edited with AI. Together with Apple Reference Image, this set of features represents a multifaceted approach to image authenticity — vital for photojournalists, photographers, and everyday viewers.

The Debut of John Ternus as CEO

Ternus did an admirable job in the canned presentation, though at times he looked a little gun shy. The opening film featuring a clever hand off from Tim Cook to Ternus was well done. Although it felt like it was two beats too long and would have been better served by getting to the punch line sooner. What’s apparent from how the event was structured is that Apple is loudly saying that they have a product guy at the top again. Ternus is “the guy” and there’s no doubt the pressure is now on for him to deliver.

As I said earlier. I felt Apple’s event was well done and the best it has done in some time. Picking a nit though, I was not a fan of all of the extras walking through the various locations while information was being presented. Each time someone walked through in the background it pulled my focus. The idea certainly established a nice mise-en-scène, but I largely found the extraneous traffic distracting.

It’s going to be interesting to follow how all of this continues to roll out. We won’t begin to hear real substance about the Duo from reviewers and users until October. That gives developers time to try and catch up, and it also will put the focus on Apple Intelligence and Siri AI as the operating systems that end in OS27 roll out next week for those with devices that support it. Note that most older Apple Watches do not support a lot of the new features. New Apple Watches and iPhone Pros will be getting in users’ hands late next week as well.

My hunch is there will be a lot of news unfolding this fall.

Recommended for Apple Geeks: Lex On Tech

Add Lex on Tech to your RSS feed

Here’s a recommendation for those who use Apple products. Lex Friedman has recently launched Lex On Tech, a website to feature news about mostly Apple tech. More to the point of my recommendation he’s spotlighting info on developers and apps.

New Screenshot.

Friedman has been writing about Apple tech for quite some time while involved in a variety of tech related exploits himself, which you can read more about on his site. He’s developed a few apps himself and he’s also a pretty funny guy based on my listening to him on The Rebound Podcast.

The Apple community is in need of new voices, though given his storied career I wouldn’t call Lex a new voice strictly speaking. That said, given the lack of coverage about new apps and developers these days, something that used to be a staple of Apple coverage, it’s good to see a new, yet knowledgeable voice highlighting apps and developers as a big part of his coverage.

Things are certainly transitioning with Apple. In my opinion within the coverage about Apple as well. In the early going, Lex On Tech feels like a breath of fresh air. Here’s hoping Lex On Tech continues providing that breath of fresh air at a time when Apple coverage feels like it needs one.

Ternus Steps Up. Cook Steps Down.

Changing of the guard

Just a quick post to mark the changing of the guard at Apple today. Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO, moving to Executive Chairman of the Board. John Ternus is stepping up to take the CEO mantle and responsibilities.

18928273_cook ternus split 2.

There’s excitement around the change, but who knows how things will go. Cook deserves all the accolades and brickbats that have come his way. He deserves both.

Ternus won’t get much of a honeymoon. I doubt we see much change right away given how Apple operates. But he’s got the target on his back now and every move is now his.

The only constant is change and change happens.

MacStories: Trouble In Apple Pundit Land

Changing, challenging, and sad times.

There’s no question that many of us are facing challenging times these days. On so many fronts. Given how nothing that once seemed remotely stable feels anywhere close to that anymore, I find myself alternating between being angry, sad, and numb with an increasing frequency that tends toward the numb end of the scale.

However, there’s disconcerting news in Apple pundit land that leaves me more sad than numb or angry. MacStories, an Apple-centric blog I’ve followed and subscribed to for a long time is undergoing some changes that rub me the wrong way.

From what I’ve been able to gather from social media, and in a belated explanation post from the blog’s founder, Federico Viticci, several of the team’s members have quit over a recent decision by the organization to resurface the MacStories presence on Elon Musk’s X, which used to be Twitter, and remains nothing short of cesspool of depravity.

To give you an idea of the turmoil this is causing internally for the site that belated explanation post doesn’t appear on MacStories as of this writing, but on Viticci’s own blog. MacStories also didn’t put out its regular end of the week newsletter and several of its podcasts are on hiatus.

I’ll share some links from some of the employees leaving MacStories.

A blog post from Devon Dundee.

A Mastodon post from Jonathan Reed.

A Mastodon post from Niléane.

From the sound of things it sounds like the MacStories decision was made without consulting other team members. That’s never a fun time. I know. I’ve experienced it myself. From both sides of the table.

I can’t and don’t pretend to speak to any more than what I’ve shared above regarding the decision making and the internal machinations. I can say that one of the reasons I’m saddened is that it points to puzzling moment for website that also hosts and generates several podcasts in which its talent feels free to judge and criticize corporate and tech screwups, with at times gleeful abandon. To my mind, this feels like one of those screwups, but who knows?

If I wanted to I guess I could gather some AI generated transcripts from past podcasts and offer some pretty damning quotes about Elon Musk and other tech titans as examples, but I won’t.

I guess this decision proves just how difficult it is to learn from the oft-repeated mistakes of others. At least I hope that’s what it means. Otherwise it borders on hypocrisy.

Perhaps this turnabout shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise. In the early days of this AI boom, MacStories was at the forefront of calling out how the industry was built on the outright theft of intellectual property. Going so far as to writing a letter to U.S. Senators saying that AI needed to be regulated.

MacStories was also quite vocal when it chose to leave Twitter and later Meta. Those choices fit well with the ethos Viticci and his co-editor John Voorhees had established in their writings and podcasts on their way to becoming legitimate superstars in the Apple pundit community. I eagerly anticipated their annual reviews of Apple operating systems, adventures with Shortcuts, coverage of apps that I might find of interest, and their news coverage.

But since those early days of AI skepticism, MacStories has become increasingly known for a site where Viticci and Voorhees have immersed themselves deeply in AI. To say they’re pushing the cutting edge would be accurate, and the website, and some of their other content has increasingly become more about those adventures.

More power to them if that’s where they want to take their endeavors. It’s their website and business. I will say though that this shift for MacStories feels as abrupt and expedient as how the tech bro community switched horses from essentially supporting the Democrats in the U.S to kneeling to Trump before and after his second election.

That said, I’ll admit I do enjoy reading about and listening to their recent AI exploits, even though I’m not directly interested in participating in the way I did with some of their pre-AI days.

I mean, I hate to say it, but this AI-shit on is on us, whether we like it or not, and my interest in listening is that I’d rather understand what it is I don’t like about it than not.

But the sadness I feel about this moment (and I think it will come to be seen as a defining moment in Apple punditry), has to do more with a bigger picture than just a potential shift in Apple tech coverage.

These mid-2020’s going into the 2030’s are going to be defined by and large by the tech oligarch takeover. We can yell all we want to about how corrupt, evil, and incompetent our politicians are, but what I think we’re just coming to realize is that in the end the politicians don’t matter. These new age robber barons have bought all the government(s) they need to essentially do whatever they want. Elon Musk in my view is the worst of the worst. I don’t support anything that supports anything he touches.

I’ve been saddened by watching more than I thought possible migrate back to X-Twitter after the great migration away from it. I think I’ve been successful in unsubscribing from most publications that still use that platform to promote their material. I’m not going to spend my money for a subscription that will put more pennies into the pocket of a man who thinks allowing the creation of nonconsensual child and other pornography on his website is free speech and not a crime, much less one who revels in the power to destroy anything and everything his drug addled brain takes a fancy to.

I’ve made business decisions in my life I’m not proud of and lived to regret them. We all have choices to make and we’re defined by them. I’d like to say that I try not to judge a person or a business for making one they feel they need to even when those decisions disappoint me. That’s not always true. When a decision is made or being planned under what feels like the cover of darkness, it feels like all that’s being hidden might be their own sadness and guilt. At least I hope so.

So, I’m sad to dissociate myself with MacStories. I wish them well. I also wish good things in the future for those who obviously made the tough decisions to leave the publication in the midst of all of this. I wish more of us had that kind of courage.

All things must pass.

Rough Perpetual Beta Season

Nothing is just local anymore.

The way tech happens these days it seems like things are always in beta. Even if you’re not running beta software.

I haven’t run betas the last few years, and so far this year I haven’t either. I did pick up a MacBook Neo to perhaps give macOS Golden Gate a try. Following my own advice to never install new software, especially betas, if you’re traveling (and I’ve been traveling a lot) so far I’m still beta free, though I have been touched by some issues relating to the betas.

These days, not running the betas doesn’t keep Apple users from suffering some of the headaches that can come during beta season for those who do. Several things are at play.

First, as Apple is rolling out betas for testing on devices, it’s also making changes behind the scenes with iCloud. Since just about everything touches iCloud in one way or the other, strange things can happen.

Second, developers are busy trying to further their apps along to be ready for the fall release. At times that leads to time and resource conflicts when it comes to maintaining existing software for prior releases.

Third, Apple might make a major change that affects an entire class of software. Menu Bar managers, the software some use to keep track of apps that offer functionality from clicking on an icon in the Menu Bar, took a big hit last year with Tahoe that never really got solved. From what I hear that continues with the Golden Gate betas as well.

It’s one thing to chalk things up to it being beta season. It’s another for those who aren’t really technically inclined to find software they are comfortable with not working, seemingly out of the blue.

I’ve been saying that we’re living in the land of perpetual beta software for some time now. Beta season used to be a window of time during the summer months and through the first point release of Apple’s new operating systems in the fall. I could usually count on things being relatively solid from about December through May each year. But that window is opening wider given the pace of things and that wider window continues to let in a lot of bugs that can’t seem to be swatted away.

At this point, we’re close enough to the official release of Apple’s new operating systems that I’ll most likely remain beta free. I doubt the Menu Bar issue will get resolved before the official release happens, so I imagine Menu Bar users will be dealing with those issues throughout the fall and into next summer, if not longer. I’ve also experienced issues with some Shortcuts that I rely on and that continues to be the case.

One other interesting note on this year’s beta season. Apple’s operating systems ending in OS 26.6 apparently included a head start on indexing users’ devices to prepare for Apple Intelligence and Siri AI in the fall. I, and several of the users I support, saw some weirdness during that indexing period following those 26.6 updates in Mail, Photos, and Messages. Mail, messages, and photos seemed to disappear or not load. That weirdness seemed to have worked out after the indexing concluded, but it did cause some consternation among several of the users I support.

That’s the thing in our always tethered to the cloud tech lifestyles. You never know what might happen on your local device when someone flips a switch to “fix bugs and improve reliability” on the backend.

Report: Apple To Launch Subscription Services for Devices

Softening the price increase blow and segmenting the marketplace.

As I have been saying for quite some time, even before Apple announced its recent price increases, Apple is, according to Bloomberg, getting ready to announce what amounts to a subscripton service for some Apple devices.

There have been rumors of Apple offering hardware subscriptions for some time, but with the costs of hardware rising due to the consumer device RAM shortages brought about by the demand for more AI ready chips for data centers and the like, the timing seems right that we were going to see some sort of financing type arrangement for computers beyond credit cards and others that currently exist.

While there are not many details in the Bloomberg report, I’m sure these will roll out eventually, but the one detail mentioned (assuming it is correct) is this:

The Apple Upgrade service will work like a subscription and users can pay off the device early during their term, upgrade early to a new model or keep it at the end of the leasing period. In certain cases, those transactions will incur an additional fee. Like a car lease, it can also be returned at the end of the term.

Leases for iPhones and Apple Watches will run for 24 months, while Mac and iPad plans will run for 36 months. Users will need to be approved for the program via a soft credit check.

Again, this is just a report, but what I find interesting is that Apple is leaning into the 2 and 3 year cycle for users leasing devices, while at the same time Apple and all of the AI bros are pushing technology in what seems like a race with no finish line that will inevitably require newer and faster chips more quickly than the duration of those leasing cycles

The Bloomberg report says that the program won’t include AppleCare, and also that the Apple Watch SE, entry level iPad, iPhone 16, and MacBook Neo will not be eligible.

As I’ve been saying, we’re heading into an age of segmented computing, dividing the “able to haves” from “those not able.” While this may look, feel and be marketed like a way to lower the cost of computing close to the edge and trend lines, in the end, and as always, those who control financing operations will be the winners.

Bushels of Apple’s Public OS 27 Betas Released

Adventures forthcoming

Apple released the public betas of its next round of operating systems, all ending with OS27 today for Mac, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and goodness knows what else.

Following close on the heels of the release, a slew of reviews and first looks were published on the usual blogs and websites, with I’m sure more to come. All of that will make interesting reading in the days ahead, but as to the big SiriAI come from behind update it appears from quick glances at some of those articles that things are very much on the right track, but not quite there yet. Most of that is being chalked up to things still being in beta. Keep in mind that SiriAI itself is also still a beta, nestled within a beta. It’s suspected to be released as a beta this fall when the official release happens.

I don’t find that strange, because regarding anything AI these days, things change so much so frequently that it seems like all of those who are chasing the constant changes for the other AI platforms are perpetually running in beta mode, even though the software is not advertised as such.

But to a large degree, we’ve all been in a perpetual beta mode with most software releases since before the AI explosion hit. It’s not that I expect things to ever be “finished.” But I do expect things to at least move forward and not break what was working before. “New” is only great if it works. Who knows, perhaps one day we’ll retire the beta label as meaningless.

As for me, this is going to be one of the first years in a long time that I install a beta. After buying and setting up a MacBook Neo for a client earlier this year, I picked up one for myself just to run the macOS Golden Gate beta. Fortunately, before the price hike. Given that I have some travel to do in the next few weeks, I’ll probably wait until the next public beta version is released before giving it a go.

It will be an adventure, I’m sure.

Connecting The Meta Privacy Dots

A poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

As dangerous as it is, I find it somewhat humorous to watch the reactions to some of the actions Meta is taking to gather up and reprocess what we see and hear. Especially from the always hungry for some new cool tech crowd. On the one hand you can’t blame someone from wanting the next new thing to play with. On the other you also can’t blame tech companies for taking advantage of hobbyists’ hunger.

Every where you turn on the Internet, everyone is posting about Meta changing its Instagram policy so that unless Instagram users opted out, any of their content on that platform was now free for the grabbing by anyone using Meta’s AI tools to create and distribute. You can imagine the possible nasty outcomes of what that would be like. Certainly if you’ve been paying even a smidgen of attention to the goings on with Grok.

It’s also been interesting to watch the small avalanche of users on other social media announcing that they are taking their Instagram accounts private, opting out by flipping the designated switches, or just bailing on Instagram altogether.

Almost parallel to this policy change happening word spread from Joanna Stern, among others, about a trend (and apparent underground business opportunity) of users of Meta’s smart glasses who were disabling the mechanism that displayed the warning light when the camera was recording. Talk about a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Meta quickly moved to put the kibosh on that with a software update that disabled the cameras if the warning light was tampered with. (I wonder if it works if you just taped over the camera?)

Privacy focused tech geeks were all over that, praising Meta for moving so swiftly to counter the hack.

But hold on a minute. These stories don’t end there. According to a report from The Financial Times, Meta is testing ‘super sensing’ AI glasses that can record video and audio continuously.

Here’s a quote:

The $1.5tn social media platform has been advancing a new hardware line of smart glasses that would continuously record audio while taking photos every few seconds, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. A user could then use AI to help query what they saw or heard, or recall their day.

And the worm continues to turn:

With Meta’s current AI smart glasses, an LED in the corner of the frame lights up to signal to others when a wearer is taking photographs or filming.

However, executives are currently planning not to activate the LED when the super-sensing features are being used, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. That would make it harder for bystanders to know when they were being recorded, potentially intensifying the privacy concerns surrounding the technology. Those plans could still change, however, several people said.

It’s pretty easy to connect the dots between these two stories. Mark Zuckerberg wants anything and everything he can on you, and he doesn’t care how it’s used once he has his paws on it and his data centers crunching it. The privacy implications are certainly real, even if you don’t use a Meta product but fall within camera or microphone range of someone who does.

We’ve heard all of this before in different contexts. Microsoft caught all kinds of hell for Windows Recall, a feature that continually monitored and recorded what was on your screen. I’m old enough to remember the hue and cry about Google Glasses back in the day.

It’s a bit eerie how those at the time very visceral reactions seem to have softened in this new era of folks rushing to turn over their data to the AI crunchers in order to better plan a party. Should be quite interesting to watch party videos if this prototype Meta is testing ever comes to reality and becomes accepted.

I predict we’re going to keep hearing about this kind of thing again and again as the tech companies keep thirsting after any morsel of data about you, what you do, and where you do it. For their purposes that thirst will never be quenched.

It used to be “their purposes” was simply defined as selling or brokering your data for advertising purposes, because despite all of the grand promises of how this can help users, it’s always been about making a buck hustling your data for advertisting. Add AI into the mix, and it’s also about continuing to feed and train that beast to help them with that same ultimate goal.

Apple is rumored to be working on a version of AirPods Pro that contains cameras, apparently for AI purposes. All the talk you hear about Apple and others creating pendants, pins, other wearables, and counter top robots all follow the track to the same end point regardless of how the user benefits are packaged and hyped. Even if some follow Apple’s announced approach of keeping your data on whatever device is recording your every moment, those that don’t, like Meta, will spoil any potential benefit. Heck, in the long run, that’s type of spoilage is probably going to be a good thing in this era of overreaching.

It’s a damn shame really. Because there are certainly legitimate accessibilty uses for this kind of technology. But I have to say, it sure feels like that’s going to be just another hyped up smokescreen to try and mask the real purposes behind all of this.

UPDATE: On Friday 7/10 Meta announced it was removing the feature mentioned above. I guess public pressure sometimes works.