A reading list of predictions and commentary heading into WWDC 2024.
There are always lots of predictions about what Apple will announce at its annual World Wide Developer’s Conference each year and this year is no different. I’ve written a few of them myself. Here’s a quick list of some pieces from others and myself that I think provide a good pre-WWDC reading list.
Gurman also expands on his thoughts about Apple Intelligence here.
As a companion to that check out John Gruber’s take on Gurman’s Epic Pre-WWDC Leak Report. Gruber seems to think it’s indeed a leak and the folks inside Apple aren’t too happy. IYKYK
Since Artificial Intelligence, or as it appears soon to be christened Apple Intelligence, seems to be the order of the day, Craig Grannell has some intriguing thoughts on how Apple can avoid the pitfalls others have made in this great AI gold rush.
It’s always interesting to see what comes out of each year’s WWDC announcements because one way or the other they set much of the agenda for the next year and beyond.
You can 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.
It’s time to share a little Sunday Morning Reading. Words on Apple, words on politics, words on loss, and some words on photography. Read some words.
This week Apple will hold its annual World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) focusing eyeballs on Cupertino and what everyone expects to be Apple’s big push into the Artificial Intelligence game, now looking like Tim Cook’s version will be called Apple Intelligence. This has been no secret for quite some time. That said, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg seems to have gotten quite a few of the details, whether leaked or planted who really knows, on what’s about to unfold. Check out Here’s Everything Apple Plans to Show at It’s AI-Focused WWDC Event.
As a companion to that check out John Gruber’s take on Gurman’s Epic Pre-WWDC Leak Report. Gruber seems to think it’s indeed a leak and the folks inside Apple aren’t too happy. IYKYK
As I stated the focus will be on AI. I’m thinking it will be just as hard to cleanly view where this is all headed as it has been with announcements from other companies, given that no one has nailed down an AI or LLM that seems to live up to the promises or provide reliably accurate answers. Check out Google’s and Microsoft’s AI Chatbots Refuse to Say Who Won the 2020 US Election by David Gilbert.
Natasha MH has penned a lovely piece about the lives we cherish and the ones taken from us with Weeping For Relationships Made Out of Dreams and Denials. There have been lots of dreams and denials dashed in this last decade. Some very personal and some quite global.
In many ways, Natasha’s piece linked above is a a companion to this David French piece The Day My Old Church Canceled Me Was a Very Sad Day. We’ve gotten far to used to loss and far too accepting of how we’re experiencing so much of it because of the turmoil visited on us by one orange-tinged demagogue. Brenda Wineapple says this is Trump’s Most Dangerous Gift., and that it will never rise to the level of public tragedy. If that’s the case, nothing ever will.
We think it’s all happening to us in the here and now. But while today’s issues are horribly threatening and provoke chatter of Civil War, we’ve had our share of the same from our past. Jon Grinspan takes on a bit of a tour of some long forgotten American history that actually led to our actual Civil War with Long Before the Woke, There Were The Wide Awake.
And as a final Sunday morning palette cleanser check out The 25 Photos that Defined the Modern Age in a piece put together by M.H. Miller, Brendan Embser, Emmanuel Duma, and Lucy McKeon. The pictures are worth thousands of words but the words accompanying the pictures are worth quite a bit as well.
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
Bring in the new and shiny, but fix the old and buggy too.
The Internet is filled with wish lists of things Apple fans would like to see announced next week at WWDC. New things. New capabilities. New all round. The majority of those wishes are the same and focus ahead. Nothing wrong with that. We’re always advancing. Or so we’re told.
Perhaps I’m stuck in the past, but I’d rather see Apple devote time to correcting some longstanding issues that bug me. Many of these issues are part of the glue that holds Apple’s ecosystem together, or what Apple calls iCloud and I call the unnamed operating system, iCloudOS. So, I’ve compiled a list of things I’d like Apple to fix, repair, or at least pay some real attention to.
Chances are better than good that you won’t hear much about any of this next week or in the weeks that follow. Many of these issues have existed for a few years now and seem to be such a low priority that Apple must be content to let them exist. Quite a bit of this could be considered small in comparison to the bigger challenges brought on by adding new features that bring new complexity. But one of the reasons so many prefer Apple’s way of doing things is the attention to detail in both design and practical matters. When it’s good it’s great and often magical. When Apple loses focus and doesn’t pay attention it can be like watching a magician pull a dead rabbit out of a hat.
For me these issues are rough enough and present enough inconsistency to diminish that attention to detail. The longer they are ignored or put off the more they point to glaring weaknesses in Apple’s process and I think we get farther away from that “magical” or “it just works” lore.
It’s apparent that not enough others feel the same or have the same experiences to pressure Apple into devoting the resources necessary to address these annoyances. That’s not a surprise. New always takes precedence in a market driven by delivering something new each year. And AI is the big new thing this year and Apple has assigned all hands on deck to ready what most expect to be the newly christened Apple Intelligence ship to sail.
Yes, we’ll hear quite a bit about AI. I’m also sure we’ll hear about things like emoji, flashy Messages and other novelties that show well in demos. Many of those I consider trivial or “meh” features that will be forgotten shortly after all of the reviews are written. Though the money I spend on Apple products is a small drop in Apple’s buckets of cash, I’d much rather see it spent putting resources into fixes for these annoyances. The list below certainly isn’t a complete one, but these are the things I’d love to see Apple address.
iCloud OS: Apple’s Unnamed Operating System. The second in a series heading into Apple’s WWDC 2024.
WWDC is designed to highlight future directions for Apple’s increasing number of operating systems and how they work together. The OS list is long and getting longer, but there’s actually one that Apple has never mentioned as an operating system, yet it’s the one that glues every other piece of the ecosystem together. I call it iCloudOS. Like any glue it can fasten and bind, but apply it without care and you can end up with a sticky mess. iCloudOS is a bit of both.
If you use multiple Apple devices iCloud ties them all together creating a supposedly fluid connection between devices and services. That’s the attraction of the ecosystem. When it works as designed it can feel magical. Copy and paste between devices, universal control, handoff, shared Notes and Reminders and others all make Apple computing life more productive and often more fun.
When things don’t work it reminds every parent of raising a child. There are moments of sheer wonder and joy, but you know at some point the kid is going to shit the bed. There’s too much of the latter to ignore.
I’ve written extensively about my iCloud woes (here, here, here, here, and here). I’ve had numerous conversations with Apple tech support personnel. What I’ve discovered is that there are ongoing iCloud backend issues that Apple hasn’t been able to solve. They keep trying, but they keep getting put on the back burner once Apple gears up to roll out its next big new thing, as is the case with this year’s now well predicted AI announcement. Things reach a point when a “wait until next year” mandate takes hold that would test even a Chicago Cubs fan’s patience.
In my most recent adventures into the backend of iCloudOS it has been acknowledged that all of the work we were doing to pin down the issues I and others have been seeing has been put on hold until after whatever is coming next in the various operating systems due to be announced next week. All well and good, I suppose, but here’s the problem with that. That approach essentially makes all users of the ecosystem beta testers. I do not run betas on my devices but I’ll suffer through the numerous summer releases and whatever changes Apple makes on the backend during the summer beta season. That will continue with each point release throughout the year. Keep in mind, we’re all, always at the mercy of the backend.
I’ve already seen this begin to happen and the betas don’t roll out for a week or so yet. One of the early warning signs(and there are quite a few) that things are happening in iCloudOS is when notifications for Apple’s Reminders app get out of sync between my macOS devices and iOS devices.
Here it comes. Apple is heading into its annual World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) with announcements of its next big things beginning June 10th. By all accounts, this year those next big things will center on AI which is short for Artificial Intelligence. There won’t be any shortage of AI in a tech world that has grown both AI crazy and AI fearful, putting Apple is in the unusual position of playing follow the leader in more obvious ways than in the past.
There will be other new features announced for iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches, perhaps even the Vision Pro, but as always the focus will be on what’s new. Even though a goodly portion of what’s new and exciting each year often ends up being a bit “meh” in the end. Either “meh” or rolled out and forgotten as Apple shifts its attention to what next year’s next big things will be. That seems to be what’s happening this year as Apple has turned most of its focus to AI.
Apple is also unfortunately positioned to have to work harder in making its splashy announcements splashy and dodging seemingly already diminished expectations on a number of fronts. Most anticipate Apple’s AI announcements to be less than sexy and the iPad faithful/hopeful seemed to be poised to continue piling on the criticism (some necessary, some not) that greeted newer iPads less than a month ago.
So, on two big fronts, AI and iPadOS, Apple has some tougher challenges ahead than it usually does this time of year. And bad timing is at the root of both.
The iPad Issue Is Touchy
On the iPad front, for whatever reason Apple went more than a year before releasing new iPads. When they did debut them last month they surprised everyone by including new M4 chips in the new Pro lineup, upsetting every pundit’s attempts at trying to assign a predictable timetable to the continued Apple Silicon evolution. Coming just weeks ahead of WWDC, and without any new operating system software to accompany it, Apple opened up a slew of doors for the salivating pundit class to rush through, cranking up the complaints about iPadOS not taking advantage of very powerful and much loved hardware. And, as always, the married at the hip debates about being able to run macOS on an iPad or adding a touch screen to the Mac tagged along as noisy bridesmaids.
It’s a bit frustrating for a regular and religious iPad user. While the issues are genuine, they negatively dominate the conversation given that they come from the influential voices that helped turn the iPad into a success in the first place. I know the issues are long simmering, well intentioned, and come from the heart of those who love the device, but the recent sudden crescendo was deafening enough to fire up a Loud Environment warning on an Apple Watch. With WWDC just around the corner everyone knew the new devices alone were not going to offer anything remotely close to a new and different iPad experience. It just seemed premature to me. If they were meant as a warning to Apple, then I would call it not only premature, but a misfire given the timing.
Those debates and complaints probably aren’t going to end in the foreseeable future as entertaining and exhausting as they can be. Between manifestos, and well thought through lists of what some desire on iPads, there was some general vitriolic piling on. It heralds a tough year ahead for Apple and its iPad lineup.
My prediction is that no one is going to be remotely satisfied with this year’s iPadOS release. Most rumors say not much of consequence will be announced. It’s certainly going to be interesting to follow the commentariat class as they wrestle with how many different ways they can say the iPads are great devices but Apple keeps holding them back for another year.
Perhaps this year changes things, but typically big OS changes come to the iPhone first with iPads and Macs bringing up the rear in the year or years that follow. Given Apple’s push into AI as this year’s big iPhone tent pole, if the iPad doesn’t get included it will add even more to those complaints and increase the volume.
Just before this year’s World Wide Developer Conference debuts Apple has released a new ad for the iPad Pro. It’s probably the one it should have released in the first place, instead of the now infamous Crushed ad. It’s better than the previous ad in a lot of respects. Certainly it better shows off the iPad Pro’s capabilities, but I’m not sure it’ll ever erase the crushing response from that first ad.
You’ll remember that furor visited on Apple after releasing Crushed featuring all sorts of musical instruments and other creative tools being crushed by a hydraulic press into an iPad Pro. I for one wasn’t that upset about the ad, but quite a few folks thought Apple misread all sorts of rooms and moments. Given how the creative classes are a bit squeamish about AI possibly replacing artists and crushing the human element out of the act of creation it lit a spark that eventually led to a rare Apple apology.
This new ad shows off what the new iPad Pro’s can do featuring three different artists creating three different backgrounds while actress Sofia Wylie dances around in front of a green screen. Even the Apple Pencil gets some screen time.
Here’s the new ad called Worlds Made on iPad. Better to make than crush.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
Sunday Morning Reading is back while we continue to unpack. The environs are different, but everything remains the same.
Everything changes and everything remains the same. We’ve completed the Big Move and are now in our new abode. Heads sleep on the same pillows, coffee is sipped from the same mugs, but we’re still living out of boxes and unpack others. That’ll be the state of things for a bit still. That’s life on the home front as everything has changed but remains the same. That seems to be the case in the world in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.
Kicking things off is an excellent series of articles from The New Republic. What American Fascism Would Look LIke is a collection of essays by a collection of writers, each one worth your time. Start with Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s The Permanent Counterrevolution, but check them each out.
There was lots of big news on the Artificial Intelliegence front. There was also not much new in much of that news. LLMs still bung things up. Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI pushed their newest in a race that feels very much like the runners keep tripping over themselves. Nico Grant in the New York Times points to the ongoing snafu in Google’s A.I. Search Errors Cause a Furor Online. At some point this is all going to end up like the streaming entertainment wars. Once all the players are on the field there will be consolidation. There will still be problems. Those new subscription prices will rise. And everyone will complain.
NatashaMH pens a nifty piece about how the act of writing gives a teacher a window into the mind of her student in Writing The Unpretentious Prose.
And while we were busy moving, Apple released new iPads. Not surprisingly everything changed and everything remained the same. The new software that may or may not yield potential changes is due to roll out in a few weeks, but until it does, those iPads remain behind the software curve while setting the hardware pace. Or at least that’s the accepted line in Apple circles. Federico Viticci penned an excellent summary of what he feels iPads are still missing in Not an iPad Review: Why iPadOS Still Doesn’t Get the Basics Right and Steve Troughton-Smith also put out The iPad Pro Manifesto (2024 Edition).
Closing things out this weekend as I try to get these old bones moving again to unpack some more boxes, check out Margaret Dean’s A Mutiny of Bones about recalcitrant bones and aging and how it’s not just the joints that stop bending. The one constant as everything changes around and within you, some things just don’t work the same as they once did.
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
A great story about how technology can help give voice to the voiceless.
This is a terrific story. Jordyn Zimmerman is autistic and nonspeaking. She uses an iPad and Apple’s Assistive Touch and Live Speech accessibilty features to give voice to her thoughts.
She’s accomplished quite a bit since she began using the technology. It’s an amazing story and one you should watch. Here’s the video.
Hat tip to my friend Sumocat for alerting me to this.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
Buried Treasure? My wife discovered her iPod Nano and iPod touch while packing to move.
When you’re packing to move you discover all sorts of things when you start rummaging through closets and under beds. Last night, my wife dug up these treasures.
An iPod Nano and an iPod Touch, her first forays into Apple devices. We no longer even have a charger in the house anymore to plug in the iPod Nano. Unless we uncover more treasures. Memories.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
Our judicial system has been exposed as corrupt beyond repair, much like our political systems. Neither is going to save us from a deranged orange tinged rapist who is willing to blow anything and everything up. Regardless of how the election turns out.
Destroying musical instruments for advertising purposes is apparently a sin against nature.
There are bears in the woods.
There are no answers for the problems in the Middle East. Too many prayers. Not enough thoughts.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 