TikTok troubles; Apple Intelligence to be turned on by default; the UK moves toward its own DMA; Apple leans into the smart home; and Samsung joins Apple in the chase for the ultra-thin smartphone.
Look, if you know of a better way to say X number of customers are using Apple Intelligence at the next keynote, I’d like to hear it.
Turns out, a lot of people are not terribly thrilled with this decision. Much like how Apple touts the convenience of paying for iOS apps through its payment process when most of its customers don’t have a choice, the company is so convinced that people are going to love Apple Intelligence that it’s pushing it on them.
Other than the part that’s getting lots of things wrong, though, it’s going great.
Still, it could be worse. Could be Siri. As Paul Kafasis notes, Siri’s record on giving the correct results of Super Bowls (Supers Bowl?) throughout the years is about as good as the Cleveland Browns’ win/loss record. The results would be considered a comedy of errors except this is sports, not comedy, and Apple frequently touts sports as one of Siri’s strengths.
Unlike me in high school.
I lettered in enthusiasm, OK?
Low friends in high places
Good new, everyone! Selling out reaps big dividends!
One day your grandchildren will ask you what you did in the great war to take Bermuda from the UK to stop its legal actions against our beloved monopolies.
“They wanted to give developers more freedom to sell their apps. We just couldn’t allow it. We fought them at the Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa. We fought them at the Reefs Resort & Club. We had to get between the two on rented mopeds while holding drinks with umbrellas in them. It was hell.”
You might wonder how Cook can handle this but he helpfully put his ability to compartmentalize things on display this week when he appeared as a new Lumon Industries employee in a promo spot for season 2 of Severance that appeared on the platform owned by a guy with a penchant for questionable hand gestures (you can also see it on YouTube).
Tim’s seeming chumminess with the new administration is causing some discord (small “d” although some of it may actually be happening on Discord) in the Apple community. Seems that while there are benefits to the relationship, there might be costs as well.
Teach the controversy
Controversy isn’t just for AI and rolling over for despots! Remember, this is still the Apple community! If we weren’t arguing about Apple rumors, who would we even be?
Behold, what might possibly be the iPhone 17 Air. Or not.
The images depict a single camera in a camera bar extending across the width of the top of the iPhone 17.
What is this, a Pixel? We are iPhone owners, Apple. We like our cameras in a cluster in the corner that makes the phone wobble when it’s face up on the table! This is how we do.
Unbelievable.
We’ll see how customers react to a thin iPhone, yes, but one with less battery life, a worse camera, and a new look. And just when it seemed like it was all going so well.
[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]
Joe Adalian joins Jason to discuss Netflix’s big moves, price hikes, and what drove Jason to cancel it. Also we answer your letters and make some TV picks! (Downstream+ members also get: the return of CNN+, death of Venu, and Tubi spikes the football.)
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I know the road is well-trod by now, but yes, we’re back to talk about Apple Intelligence once again. Why? Well, for better or worse, it seems to be pretty much all that Apple wants to talk about these days, and when the company has put this much time, energy, and, yes, marketing attention onto a single feature, then scrutiny is, also for better or worse, what you get.
While the features under this Apple Intelligence banner have had their fair share of problems so far—everything from inaccurate news summaries to misidentifying spouses—none of that seems to have slowed Apple’s adoption of the technology. With the news that the upcoming iOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3 updates will activate Apple Intelligence by default, the company continues to plow full speed ahead, directly into a minefield that’s also somehow replete with both asteroids and icebergs.
Apple enabling Apple Intelligence features by default, the AI summaries that work for us, Samsung’s boring new phones, and our cable management predilections.
Two office views from 2014. Left: My final docked work setup at IDG. Right: My first setup in my garage.
When I started Six Colors more than a decade ago, I maintained continuity with my corporate job in a bunch of ways. I had been using a MacBook Air as my primary computer, taking it back and forth on the bus to San Francisco in my backpack, and had set up a work-from-home space in my garage, with an external monitor that replicated my setup at work, so I just kept using that.
But that fall, Apple introduced the 5K iMac, and I was so smitten with the Retina display that I decided to become an iMac user full-time, leaving behind the laptop-only lifestyle. (Later on I went from iMac to iMac Pro to M1 Max Mac Studio with Studio Display.)
A little background: Even though I live in California and our weather is mild, my garage workspace has a garage door that leaks cold air efficiently, and my sturdy electric oil heater can only do so much.1 As a result, in the winter, my garage is always cold, and I often find myself shivering uncontrollably in the late morning until I stand under the shower for half an hour.
Also, my daughter is now an actual adult with her own job and life a state away, and her bedroom is well-heated and sitting right there, largely unused. Last winter, I created an outpost in that room, moving in my first work-from-home desk and attaching my MacBook Air to a Studio Display. I was a lot warmer, but it meant using different computers in different rooms.
While cloud-based syncing makes everything much easier than it ever used to be—I can access most of the files I’m working on from anywhere—there are a lot of Mac features and functions that don’t sync, or don’t sync easily. When I switch between the two rooms, all context is lost.
One thing leads to another
This fall’s release of the new M4 Mac Mini made me consider whether I wanted to replace my M1 Mac Studio with a Mac Mini. While I decided against it, I had broken the seal on reconsidering my entire computing life. And I realized that maybe going back to the way I used to work, back when I commuted between Mill Valley and San Francisco, might work when going from the garage to my daughter’s old bedroom.
With a laptop, whether I’m just carrying it down the hallway or putting it in a backpack and riding a bus across the Golden Gate Bridge, I’m always maintaining context. All my documents are in one place, all my settings remain the same at all times, and I don’t need to update apps that were already updated elsewhere before I can get back to work. That sounds pretty good.
And then there’s the performance of the M4 Max chip on the MacBook Pro, which is a big boost from the M1 Max Mac Studio. The only real downside is that this decision required me to give up my beloved M2 MacBook Air, which doesn’t have enough horsepower to satisfy everything I need to do across video, podcasts, and more. When I do travel, I’ll be carrying almost a full pound (0.38 kg) more than I was before. But at the same time, when I do travel, I will now be traveling with the same computer I use all day at my desk(s), not one that’s sporadically used (especially in the warmer months).
The desktop/laptop lifestyle
So, after a few weeks of living with a laptop as my main computer—with nearly all of that time spent in lid-closed mode attached to a Studio Display—how has it gone?
Generally, it’s been amazing. When I update an app, it stays updated. If I download obscure command-line apps or update Homebrew or Python, I don’t have to worry about a mismatch on another device. All the right software is installed. Wherever I go, there’s just a single Mac, and it’s mine. And when I do pull the laptop out and use it somewhere else, I get to stare at that spectacularly good 14-inch MacBook Pro display.
What’s not so great is the extra pound, obviously, when traveling. I’ve had to deal with the fact that my two different docking locations have different inputs and peripherals, which can lead to some confusion with settings that don’t switch automatically.
Since setting up the laptop, I’ve noticed that how I use my computer has changed. Having my “real” computer available in the main part of my house, just a keypress away from waking up has meant that I will sometimes pop in on an evening or over a weekend and do something quick when I previously would’ve deferred it until the next workday. I’ll need to watch this—I don’t want to get sucked into work when I don’t want to be.
I’ve also, on a few occasions, pulled my laptop out of the dock and brought it into the living room. Again, I’m trying to keep up some barriers—this is why I mostly limit my in-home device use to my iPad—but these were unusual occasions where I probably would’ve been running back and forth between two rooms, and instead, I could just bring my MacBook Pro into the living room and make it all happen in one place.
A surprising side effect, at least thus far, is that I haven’t written on my iPad at the bar in my kitchen, a favorite winter change of pace. Maybe part of the reason I liked to sometimes work inside is because I was feeling cold out in the garage? I wouldn’t be surprised if I still do this from time to time, but it’s worth pondering if having the ability to take my main computer literally anywhere will reduce the amount of time I use my iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard attached.
Even in the winter, I generally spend Mondays and Tuesdays out in the garage because that’s where I prefer to record Upgrade and MacBreak Weekly. (It’s a more photogenic space, and both podcasts offer video versions.) In the past, I’d spend the rest of the day working out there, but since switching to the MacBook Pro I’m only staying out there for the recording. I started writing this article in the back bedroom, transferred to the garage to record MacBreak Weekly, and then returned to the bedroom.
Now, many long-time laptop users will read my descriptions of my behavior and find themselves utterly boggled. “Yes,” they’ll say, “that is what happens when you use a laptop. You get to move the computer around.” And I know that, but for me, the big difference is that I’m really shuttling between two separate desktop setups. It’s something I haven’t experienced in more than a decade.
What’s on my desks
With that all said, let me detail my two new setups, since I’ve had to buy some new hardware to make it all work the way I wanted. A key to this entire approach is that I wanted to be able to plug into either desk with a single Thunderbolt cable to supply all data connectivity and power. One cable, one plug, and I’m in or out.
The big addition was the CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt Dock in the garage. The Mac Studio had an awful lot of external ports that a MacBook Pro lacks, and of course I also wanted to reduce down to that single cable! While the CalDigit dock is not cheap, it’s loaded with ports. Even better, I was able to set my power-saving auto-switching power strip to use the CalDigit dock as the device that signifies whether or not to switch the rest of the strip on or off. By itself the dock doesn’t draw a lot of power, but when I attach the MacBook Pro, it has to supply power to the laptop—and power use surges, which crosses the outlet’s threshold and sends power to the Studio Display. I’ve got a few devices plugged into the back of the Studio Display, so when my laptop isn’t present, none of those devices are powered. That’s how I want it.
That’s it! Two rooms, one appreciably warmer than the other—at least, for now. The next question is, what happens when the temperature in the garage returns to normal. I’m assuming I’ll stay out there all the time, but you never know. (Also, what happens if my daughter decides to move home? She’s welcome to, but… let’s cross that bridge if we ever get to it.)
We have opted not to convert the garage and attach it to our central heating system for several mundane reasons involving spending lots of money. ↩
VFX artist and movie fan (and Friend of Six Colors) Todd Vaziri, in a post from 2018 that he updated Monday with new information that debunks the myth that there was an “actual shooting star” in a couple of shots in the movie “Jaws”:
I reached out to film historian Jamie Benning about this issue. He said, “let me ask Joe Alves.” Alves was the “Jaws” production designer and also worked with Spielberg on “The Sugarland Express” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, and has spoken extensively about his experience on “Jaws”. Paraphrasing, this is the response he got from Alves in August 2023: yes, the shooting stars in the movie were animated. Yes, they were added in post-production….
Another source has access to Steven Spielberg. So this person asked Steven Spielberg in September 2023… Paraphrasing from Spielberg: Yep, it’s animated shooting star, animated by Albert Whitlock.
This was a bombshell for me. No, not that Spielberg confirmed that it was animated, but that it was supervised by none other than Al Whitlock who passed away in 1999, the veteran visual effects artist who contributed to some of the most amazing visual effects of all time. Not to mention that really terrific illusion in “The Blues Brothers” (1980) that I documented on Twitter.
Todd’s site FXRant seems to be slowly emerging from hibernation, and just as he does on social media, he’s using it to combat misinformation about how special effects are used in movies. (If you didn’t know, Todd is a longtime VFX artist for Industrial Light and Magic.) Just yesterday, he slapped down that meme about how it took five months to film one scene in ‘Severance’, which of course it didn’t.
But still… going to Spielberg to debunk misinformation about how he made “Jaws.” That’s next-level stuff, even for Todd.
Summing up Apple’s devil’s bargain when it comes to AI features; what TikTok says about the chaotic future of tech regulation; Apple TV+ in the era of “Severance” and “Silo.”
Heads will continue to roll until apps and sales improve.
It is apparently worth asking, would Steve Jobs have approved this app? He might have had the chance if he had listened to Tony Fadell.
After a report by The Information indicating an unnamed former Apple executive had encouraged Jobs to buy Sonos back in the day when kids were still saying things like “back in the day”, John Gruber reached out to Tony Fadell who confirmed it was he who made the suggestion to Jobs. The suggestion fell upon dismissive if not deaf ears as Jobs said in typically Jobsian fashion: “No one wants what they are selling.”
Season two of the critically-acclaimed Apple TV+ show *Severance* begins today, so… happy *Severance*? That seems wrong for a show so bleak. Also, how am I supposed to start season two of this dystopian Apple TV+ show about people working in an office building when I haven’t even finished watching season two of the dystopian Apple TV+ show about people working in a silo?!
At least they’re currently filming another season of “Ted Lasso”. That’s not dystopian.
If you couldn’t wait until today for that hot, dystopian content that’s so popular with the young people these days, maybe you made it to Grand Central Station (motto: “It’s literally like Grand Central Station in here!”) where Apple staged a pop-up Lumon Industries set, complete with the actual actors from series and a visit from creator Ben Stiller.
[snort] Of course this makes no sense as we know that it is the elevator ride down to the offices that converts outties into innies. Therefore, they could not be in their innie personas in the middle of Grand Central Station. Thank you, but I shall consider this non-canon. Good day to you.
[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]
We got together with Backstage pass members live on Zoom earlier today to discuss all sorts of stuff related to Apple Intelligence, Home tech, and more.
When you enable notification summaries, iOS 18.3 will make it clearer that the feature – like all Apple Intelligence features – is a beta.
You can now disable notification summaries for an app directly from the Lock Screen or Notification Center by swiping, tapping “Options,” then choosing the “Turn Off Summaries” option.
On the Lock Screen, notification summaries now use italicized text to better distinguish them from normal notifications.
In the Settings app, Apple now warns users that notification summaries “may contain errors.”
Additionally, notification summaries have been temporarily disabled entirely for the News & Entertainment category of apps.
Turning off summaries for an entire category is a quick fix, though it doesn’t address the larger long-term problem of inaccuracy. Empowering users to turn things off more easily is good, and styling them differently from regular notifications is important.
In short, this seems like a good bit of damage control, but there’s much more work to be done here—and these features should all have been in iOS 18 to begin with.
Sometimes a solution is simpler than you think it’s going to be. I was trying to figure out a way to write a shortcut to take a folder and have all of its sub-folders compressed into individual archives—i.e., one archive per folder. Alas, selecting them in the Finder and choosing Compress turns all your folders into one big archive.1
As easy as this feels like it should be, Shortcuts was thwarting me. I wrote a workflow that seemed like it ought to be fine, and it did nothing. I could have fallen back to a shell script, but I’ll be honest, I was feeling stubborn.
So I hit the old search engine and found this post by Lukas Polak, which from its description seemed like it should work, even if I didn’t really understand why.
Sure enough, it does. The secret is in opening the Archive Utility app, which is the macOS program that handles compressing/expanding files—yes, there’s actually a whole app with an interface! Drag the folders onto that app icon in the Dock and it will, by default, compress them into individual archives. You may also want to change the compression format to ZIP—the default, compressed archive, is a .cpgz file, though that’s more a matter of personal preference—the behavior is the same.
While I wish this was easier to do in Shortcuts, I’m gratified that there was a pretty simple way to do it with no scripting at all. Always a nice discovery.
Weirdly enough, if you hold down option while bringing up the contextual menu, it changes the text from “Compress” to “Compress X items”…but the end result is the same: one archive for everything you select. I’m not even sure why it changes the text—perhaps it’s a bug? ↩
In the past couple of weeks, two different projects of mine have been released that were powered, at least in part, by a Python script that eliminated enormous amounts of labor from a process that used to take hours of drudgery.
Both The Upgradies and Feuding Families rely on compiling a list of most common answers from hundreds of submissions into a free-entry box in a Google form. As you might expect, this leads to some pretty inconsistent data entry. Poll people about their favorite Apple product of the year and you’ll get Mini, Mac mini, M4 Mac mini, The Mini, The Mac Mini, The New Mac Mini, and even things like Macmini and Mca mini and Macini.
I started down the path of automating because I just thought computers would do a better job of counting identical input than humans would. And that’s true, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the tool to go beyond counting identical entries—I wanted it to throw all the similar entries into the count as well. Why not?
Our use of CarPlay, Android Auto, or other systems for navigation; creative AI problem-solving cases we’ve encountered; thoughts on Sonos’s struggles and future as a customer; and whether we use TikTok amid its potential US shutdown.
