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Louie Mantia:

Apple’s announcement of “dark mode” icons has me thinking about
how I would approach adapting “light mode” icons for dark mode. I
grabbed 12 icons we made at Parakeet for our clients to
illustrate some ways of going about it. […]

Unfortunately, some icons appear to have lost or gained weight in
dark mode. For example, the Settings gear didn’t change size in
dark mode, but it appears to occupy less space because the dark
circle around it blends with its background. That makes it
appear smaller than the Find My icon, which now looks enormous
next to FaceTime. This is a remnant of some questionable design
choices in iOS 7 that have lingered now for the last decade.

That last sentence is the most diplomatic thing I’ve ever heard from Louie. What a splendid post this is — exemplary work to illustrate his advice.

 ★ 

Louie Mantia:

Apple’s announcement of “dark mode” icons has me thinking about
how I would approach adapting “light mode” icons for dark mode. I
grabbed 12 icons we made at Parakeet for our clients to
illustrate some ways of going about it. […]

Unfortunately, some icons appear to have lost or gained weight in
dark mode. For example, the Settings gear didn’t change size in
dark mode, but it appears to occupy less space because the dark
circle around it blends with its background. That makes it
appear smaller than the Find My icon, which now looks enormous
next to FaceTime. This is a remnant of some questionable design
choices in iOS 7 that have lingered now for the last decade.

That last sentence is the most diplomatic thing I’ve ever heard from Louie. What a splendid post this is — exemplary work to illustrate his advice.

Read More 

Interesting two-part interview, with far more information than we’ve heard about the demise of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. Part two is here; Overcast links to parts one and two; Apple Podcasts links to parts one and two.

Some nuggets:

The split seemed very much amicable. Stewart isn’t one to hold back, and he emphasized repeated there’s no hard feelings. He even professed to getting his morning news in Apple News.
Apple paid the show’s staff for all of season 3, despite cancelling the show before production began. That’s nearly unheard of in the entertainment industry.
Stewart himself admits that season one more or less stunk.

Well worth a listen.

 ★ 

Interesting two-part interview, with far more information than we’ve heard about the demise of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. Part two is here; Overcast links to parts one and two; Apple Podcasts links to parts one and two.

Some nuggets:

The split seemed very much amicable. Stewart isn’t one to hold back, and he emphasized repeated there’s no hard feelings. He even professed to getting his morning news in Apple News.

Apple paid the show’s staff for all of season 3, despite cancelling the show before production began. That’s nearly unheard of in the entertainment industry.

Stewart himself admits that season one more or less stunk.

Well worth a listen.

Read More 

“OatmealDome”, developer of an iOS fork of the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin:

Two weeks ago, Apple modified their App Store guidelines to allow
retro game emulators in the App Store. This week, Delta, a
multi-system emulator that was previously only available via
AltStore, was released on the App Store. Since these events
happened, we’ve been asked many times if we will submit DolphiniOS
(our fork of Dolphin) to the App Store.

Unfortunately, no.

Apple still does not allow us to use a vital technology that is
necessary for Dolphin to run with good performance: JIT. […]

Unfortunately, Apple generally does not allow apps to use JIT
recompilers on iOS. The only exceptions are Safari and alternative
web browsers in Europe. We submitted a DMA interoperability
request to Apple for JIT support, but Apple denied the request a
few weeks ago.

Swift Playgrounds is an exception too. Apple trusts itself to use JIT compilation safely, but not third-party developers. That’s not unreasonable — but I’m not sure it’s compliant with the DMA.

 ★ 

“OatmealDome”, developer of an iOS fork of the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin:

Two weeks ago, Apple modified their App Store guidelines to allow
retro game emulators in the App Store. This week, Delta, a
multi-system emulator that was previously only available via
AltStore, was released on the App Store. Since these events
happened, we’ve been asked many times if we will submit DolphiniOS
(our fork of Dolphin) to the App Store.

Unfortunately, no.

Apple still does not allow us to use a vital technology that is
necessary for Dolphin to run with good performance: JIT. […]

Unfortunately, Apple generally does not allow apps to use JIT
recompilers on iOS. The only exceptions are Safari and alternative
web browsers in Europe. We submitted a DMA interoperability
request to Apple for JIT support, but Apple denied the request a
few weeks ago.

Swift Playgrounds is an exception too. Apple trusts itself to use JIT compilation safely, but not third-party developers. That’s not unreasonable — but I’m not sure it’s compliant with the DMA.

Read More 

Michael Tsai:

This is confusing, but I think what Apple is saying is that, even
with notarization, apps are not allowed to “download
executable code.” Rule 2.5.2 says apps may not “download,
install, or execute code” except for limited educational purposes.
Rule 4.7 makes an exception to this so that retro game
emulators and some other app types can run code “that is not
embedded in the binary.” This is grayed out when you select “Show
Notarization Review Guidelines Only”, meaning that the exception
only applies within the App Store. Thus, the general prohibition
remains in effect for App Marketplaces and Web Distribution. But
it seems like this wasn’t initially clear to Apple, either,
because the review process took two months.

This also seems inconsistent with the fact that the Delta emulator
is allowed to be notarized outside the App Store. It doesn’t
make much sense for the rules to be more lax within the App
Store. I first thought the mistake was that Apple didn’t mean to
gray out 4.7 for notarization. Then everything would make sense.
But the clarification states that 4.7 is not intended to apply
to notarization.

The bottom line for me is that Apple doesn’t want general-purpose
emulators, it’s questionable whether the DMA lets it block them,
and even siding with Apple on this it isn’t consistently applying
its own rules.

Apple’s stance on this seems inscrutable and arbitrary: retro game emulators are, at long last, acceptable, but general PC emulators are not. Such arbitrary policy decisions related to the purpose of the app are fine for the App Store (legally speaking), but clearly not compliant with the DMA. That’s one of the few areas where the DMA is clear. Apple can, of course, ban (say) porno apps from the App Store, but can’t refuse to notarize them for distribution outside the App Store in the EU.

Apple has a security leg to stand on when it comes to JIT compilation, but the version of UTM (UTM SE) that was held up in review for two months, and ultimately rejected by Apple, doesn’t use a JIT. And because it doesn’t use a JIT, performance is poor; hence the UTM developers’ deeming it not worth fighting about. Apple goes into depth on the security challenges pertaining to JIT compilation in its documentation for BrowserEngineKit, the framework for developing non-WebKit browser engines for distribution in the EU. That’s ostensibly the reason why developers need a special entitlement to use a custom browser engine — JavaScript engines need a JIT to perform well but JITs pose a security risk.

In an earlier revision of this post, I suggested that Delta — Riley Testut’s excellent and wildly popular retro Nintendo console emulator for iOS — uses a JIT. There is a JIT in Delta’s source code repository, but Testut informs me that it’s currently only enabled through the version of AltStore distributed through sideloading. Delta’s JIT is removed from the versions of Delta in the App Store and AltStore PAL (the EU app marketplace), because of Apple’s restrictions on JIT compilers. No app with a JIT is going to pass review by Apple, including for distribution outside the App Store in the EU. That restriction might be permitted under the DMA on security grounds. But how the no-JIT version of UTM could be rejected for notarization, I do not see.

(Thinking about BrowserEngineKit makes me wonder: Now that over four months have passed since Apple announced its initial DMA compliance plans, has even a single browser developer announced plans to bring their own rendering engines to iOS in the EU? As far as I know the answer is no. It’s entirely possible Apple went to all the trouble of creating BrowserEngineKit for compliance with the DMA, but no one is actually going to use it because no browser developer deems the EU market worth forking their browser for, solely for distribution outside the App Store — while on the hook for the Core Technology Fee if such a browser becomes popular.)

 ★ 

Michael Tsai:

This is confusing, but I think what Apple is saying is that, even
with notarization, apps are not allowed to “download
executable code.” Rule 2.5.2 says apps may not “download,
install, or execute code” except for limited educational purposes.
Rule 4.7 makes an exception to this so that retro game
emulators and some other app types can run code “that is not
embedded in the binary.” This is grayed out when you select “Show
Notarization Review Guidelines Only”, meaning that the exception
only applies within the App Store. Thus, the general prohibition
remains in effect for App Marketplaces and Web Distribution. But
it seems like this wasn’t initially clear to Apple, either,
because the review process took two months.

This also seems inconsistent with the fact that the Delta emulator
is allowed to be notarized outside the App Store. It doesn’t
make much sense for the rules to be more lax within the App
Store. I first thought the mistake was that Apple didn’t mean to
gray out 4.7 for notarization. Then everything would make sense.
But the clarification states that 4.7 is not intended to apply
to notarization.

The bottom line for me is that Apple doesn’t want general-purpose
emulators, it’s questionable whether the DMA lets it block them,
and even siding with Apple on this it isn’t consistently applying
its own rules.

Apple’s stance on this seems inscrutable and arbitrary: retro game emulators are, at long last, acceptable, but general PC emulators are not. Such arbitrary policy decisions related to the purpose of the app are fine for the App Store (legally speaking), but clearly not compliant with the DMA. That’s one of the few areas where the DMA is clear. Apple can, of course, ban (say) porno apps from the App Store, but can’t refuse to notarize them for distribution outside the App Store in the EU.

Apple has a security leg to stand on when it comes to JIT compilation, but the version of UTM (UTM SE) that was held up in review for two months, and ultimately rejected by Apple, doesn’t use a JIT. And because it doesn’t use a JIT, performance is poor; hence the UTM developers’ deeming it not worth fighting about. Apple goes into depth on the security challenges pertaining to JIT compilation in its documentation for BrowserEngineKit, the framework for developing non-WebKit browser engines for distribution in the EU. That’s ostensibly the reason why developers need a special entitlement to use a custom browser engine — JavaScript engines need a JIT to perform well but JITs pose a security risk.

In an earlier revision of this post, I suggested that Delta — Riley Testut’s excellent and wildly popular retro Nintendo console emulator for iOS — uses a JIT. There is a JIT in Delta’s source code repository, but Testut informs me that it’s currently only enabled through the version of AltStore distributed through sideloading. Delta’s JIT is removed from the versions of Delta in the App Store and AltStore PAL (the EU app marketplace), because of Apple’s restrictions on JIT compilers. No app with a JIT is going to pass review by Apple, including for distribution outside the App Store in the EU. That restriction might be permitted under the DMA on security grounds. But how the no-JIT version of UTM could be rejected for notarization, I do not see.

(Thinking about BrowserEngineKit makes me wonder: Now that over four months have passed since Apple announced its initial DMA compliance plans, has even a single browser developer announced plans to bring their own rendering engines to iOS in the EU? As far as I know the answer is no. It’s entirely possible Apple went to all the trouble of creating BrowserEngineKit for compliance with the DMA, but no one is actually going to use it because no browser developer deems the EU market worth forking their browser for, solely for distribution outside the App Store — while on the hook for the Core Technology Fee if such a browser becomes popular.)

Read More 

Ina Fried, reporting for Axios:

To conduct the study, NewsGuard entered prompts asking
about narratives known to have been created by John Mark Dougan,
an American fugitive who, per the New York Times, is creating and
spreading misinformation from Moscow.

Entering 57 prompts into 10 leading chatbots, NewsGuard found
they spread Russian disinformation narratives 32% of the time,
often citing Dougan’s fake local news sites as a reliable
source.
The chatbots presented as fact false reports, originating on
those sites, about a supposed wiretap discovered at Donald
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and a nonexistent Ukrainian troll
factory interfering with U.S. elections.
NewsGuard conducted its research on OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4,
You.com’s Smart Assistant, Grok, Inflection, Mistral,
Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta AI, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini
and Perplexity.

Certainly worth researching, but I’d have been more surprised if these chatbots did not present Russian misinformation as fact. For chrissake they pass Onion articles, which are intended as parody, as fact. Russian misinformation is written with the intent of convincing the gullible that it’s legit; and LLMs are by nature gullible.

 ★ 

Ina Fried, reporting for Axios:

To conduct the study, NewsGuard entered prompts asking
about narratives known to have been created by John Mark Dougan,
an American fugitive who, per the New York Times, is creating and
spreading misinformation from Moscow.

Entering 57 prompts into 10 leading chatbots, NewsGuard found
they spread Russian disinformation narratives 32% of the time,
often citing Dougan’s fake local news sites as a reliable
source.
The chatbots presented as fact false reports, originating on
those sites, about a supposed wiretap discovered at Donald
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and a nonexistent Ukrainian troll
factory interfering with U.S. elections.
NewsGuard conducted its research on OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4,
You.com’s Smart Assistant, Grok, Inflection, Mistral,
Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta AI, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini
and Perplexity.

Certainly worth researching, but I’d have been more surprised if these chatbots did not present Russian misinformation as fact. For chrissake they pass Onion articles, which are intended as parody, as fact. Russian misinformation is written with the intent of convincing the gullible that it’s legit; and LLMs are by nature gullible.

Read More 

I use both a mouse and trackpad at my desk, but, for whatever reason, prefer “natural scrolling” with the trackpad, but reverse scrolling with the wheel on my mouse. Apple’s control panels for Mouse and Trackpad don’t allow you specify different scrolling directions per-device.

But that’s exactly what Scroll Reverser does. It’s a super-simple utility by Nick Moore that does one thing and does it really well. I’ve been recommending it for over 10 years. Free of charge and open source.

 ★ 

I use both a mouse and trackpad at my desk, but, for whatever reason, prefer “natural scrolling” with the trackpad, but reverse scrolling with the wheel on my mouse. Apple’s control panels for Mouse and Trackpad don’t allow you specify different scrolling directions per-device.

But that’s exactly what Scroll Reverser does. It’s a super-simple utility by Nick Moore that does one thing and does it really well. I’ve been recommending it for over 10 years. Free of charge and open source.

Read More 

Apple:

We designed Private Cloud Compute to ensure that privileged access doesn’t allow anyone to bypass our stateless computation guarantees.

First, we intentionally did not include remote shell or interactive debugging mechanisms on the PCC node. Our Code Signing machinery prevents such mechanisms from loading additional code, but this sort of open-ended access would provide a broad attack surface to subvert the system’s security or privacy. Beyond simply not including a shell, remote or otherwise, PCC nodes cannot enable Developer Mode and do not include the tools needed by debugging workflows.

Next, we built the system’s observability and management tooling with privacy safeguards that are designed to prevent user data from being exposed. For example, the system doesn’t even include a general-purpose logging mechanism. Instead, only pre-specified, structured, and audited logs and metrics can leave the node, and multiple independent layers of review help prevent user data from accidentally being exposed through these mechanisms. With traditional cloud AI services, such mechanisms might allow someone with privileged access to observe or collect user data.

Many details here, but many still to come.

 ★ 

Apple:

We designed Private Cloud Compute to ensure that privileged access doesn’t allow anyone to bypass our stateless computation guarantees.

First, we intentionally did not include remote shell or interactive debugging mechanisms on the PCC node. Our Code Signing machinery prevents such mechanisms from loading additional code, but this sort of open-ended access would provide a broad attack surface to subvert the system’s security or privacy. Beyond simply not including a shell, remote or otherwise, PCC nodes cannot enable Developer Mode and do not include the tools needed by debugging workflows.

Next, we built the system’s observability and management tooling with privacy safeguards that are designed to prevent user data from being exposed. For example, the system doesn’t even include a general-purpose logging mechanism. Instead, only pre-specified, structured, and audited logs and metrics can leave the node, and multiple independent layers of review help prevent user data from accidentally being exposed through these mechanisms. With traditional cloud AI services, such mechanisms might allow someone with privileged access to observe or collect user data.

Many details here, but many still to come.

Read More 

Ming-Chi Kuo:

The Series 10 will feature form factor upgrades, including larger
screen sizes (increasing from 45mm/41mm to about 49mm/45mm) and a
thinner design.

Unlike other devices Apple sells, Apple Watch sizes are given not by screen diagonal but by case height. So what Kuo is claiming is that the current “big” size will become the small size and the new big size will be much bigger. I find this very hard to believe. Since its inception Apple Watch has stood out among smartwatches for making models that are appropriate for people with small wrists.

Anecdotally, almost all women I see wearing and Apple Watch are wearing a small one, and I see a fair number of men who’ve chosen the smaller size as well.

Worth noting too that three years ago Kuo, along with Mark Gurman, was completely wrong about the design of the Series 7 watches, with both of them claiming it would have flat sides like the iPhone 12.

 ★ 

Ming-Chi Kuo:

The Series 10 will feature form factor upgrades, including larger
screen sizes (increasing from 45mm/41mm to about 49mm/45mm) and a
thinner design.

Unlike other devices Apple sells, Apple Watch sizes are given not by screen diagonal but by case height. So what Kuo is claiming is that the current “big” size will become the small size and the new big size will be much bigger. I find this very hard to believe. Since its inception Apple Watch has stood out among smartwatches for making models that are appropriate for people with small wrists.

Anecdotally, almost all women I see wearing and Apple Watch are wearing a small one, and I see a fair number of men who’ve chosen the smaller size as well.

Worth noting too that three years ago Kuo, along with Mark Gurman, was completely wrong about the design of the Series 7 watches, with both of them claiming it would have flat sides like the iPhone 12.

Read More 

Apple, in a statement to 9to5Mac:

Starting later this year, users across the globe will be able to
access installment loans offered through credit and debit cards,
as well as lenders, when checking out with Apple Pay. With the
introduction of this new global installment loan offering, we will
no longer offer Apple Pay Later in the U.S. Our focus continues to
be on providing our users with access to easy, secure and private
payment options with Apple Pay, and this solution will enable us
to bring flexible payments to more users, in more places across
the globe, in collaboration with Apple Pay enabled banks and
lenders.

This always seemed a like weird offering from Apple. Apple Pay Later did not charge interest, which is great, but it still seemed contrary to the spirit of helping people develop good financial habits.

 ★ 

Apple, in a statement to 9to5Mac:

Starting later this year, users across the globe will be able to
access installment loans offered through credit and debit cards,
as well as lenders, when checking out with Apple Pay. With the
introduction of this new global installment loan offering, we will
no longer offer Apple Pay Later in the U.S. Our focus continues to
be on providing our users with access to easy, secure and private
payment options with Apple Pay, and this solution will enable us
to bring flexible payments to more users, in more places across
the globe, in collaboration with Apple Pay enabled banks and
lenders.

This always seemed a like weird offering from Apple. Apple Pay Later did not charge interest, which is great, but it still seemed contrary to the spirit of helping people develop good financial habits.

Read More 

Javier Espinoza reporting from Brussels, and Michael Acton from San Francisco, for the Financial Times (archive link in case your FT subscription isn’t working):

The European Commission has determined that the iPhone maker is
not complying with obligations to allow app developers to “steer”
users to offers outside its App Store without imposing fees on
them, according to three people with close knowledge of its
investigation. The charges would be the first brought against a
tech company under the Digital Markets Act, landmark legislation
designed to force powerful “online gatekeepers” to open up their
businesses to competition in the EU.

The commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in March it was
investigating Apple, as well as Alphabet and Meta, under powers
granted by the DMA. An announcement over the charges against Apple
was expected in the coming weeks, said two people with knowledge
of the case. […]

If found to be breaking the DMA, Apple faces daily penalties for
non-compliance of up to 5 per cent of its average daily worldwide
turnover, which is currently just over $1bn.

The EC leaks everything to the Financial Times. Reuters points out that EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager leaves office in November. Makes me wonder if there’s a clock-running-out aspect to this. Does the incoming regime share her politics regarding US tech companies?

Forget about trying to figure out what the EC wants from reading the DMA. It doesn’t say. I suspect they want Apple to completely forgo monetization of its IP on iOS — to allow the distribution of iOS apps without any charge or fee whatsoever other than the $99 annual developer program fee. I’m not sure, at all, how Apple is going to respond, but I do not think the EC going to get that.

 ★ 

Javier Espinoza reporting from Brussels, and Michael Acton from San Francisco, for the Financial Times (archive link in case your FT subscription isn’t working):

The European Commission has determined that the iPhone maker is
not complying with obligations to allow app developers to “steer”
users to offers outside its App Store without imposing fees on
them, according to three people with close knowledge of its
investigation. The charges would be the first brought against a
tech company under the Digital Markets Act, landmark legislation
designed to force powerful “online gatekeepers” to open up their
businesses to competition in the EU.

The commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in March it was
investigating Apple, as well as Alphabet and Meta, under powers
granted by the DMA. An announcement over the charges against Apple
was expected in the coming weeks, said two people with knowledge
of the case. […]

If found to be breaking the DMA, Apple faces daily penalties for
non-compliance of up to 5 per cent of its average daily worldwide
turnover, which is currently just over $1bn.

The EC leaks everything to the Financial Times. Reuters points out that EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager leaves office in November. Makes me wonder if there’s a clock-running-out aspect to this. Does the incoming regime share her politics regarding US tech companies?

Forget about trying to figure out what the EC wants from reading the DMA. It doesn’t say. I suspect they want Apple to completely forgo monetization of its IP on iOS — to allow the distribution of iOS apps without any charge or fee whatsoever other than the $99 annual developer program fee. I’m not sure, at all, how Apple is going to respond, but I do not think the EC going to get that.

Read More