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I knew RFK Jr. was nuts but I had no idea this nuts. This is his side of the story, for chrissake. Jiminy. You really ought to watch Kennedy’s own video, which, I swear, costars Roseanne Barr.

But. This whole thing — to wit, that it was this shithead RFK Jr. who did this, and that it’s coming out 93 days before an election in which he’s a possible Nader-esque siphon-off-the-vote-of-the-fellow-nutjobs spoiler — might be the funniest story ever.

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I knew RFK Jr. was nuts but I had no idea this nuts. This is his side of the story, for chrissake. Jiminy. You really ought to watch Kennedy’s own video, which, I swear, costars Roseanne Barr.

But. This whole thing — to wit, that it was this shithead RFK Jr. who did this, and that it’s coming out 93 days before an election in which he’s a possible Nader-esque siphon-off-the-vote-of-the-fellow-nutjobs spoiler — might be the funniest story ever.

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Jason Snell, at Six Colors on Thursday:

On Thursday, Apple announced results for its financial third
quarter. Total company revenue was $85.8 billion, a record
for its fiscal third quarter, which is traditionally the company’s
quietest quarter. Services revenue reached an all-time revenue
high of $24.2 billion.

iPhone revenue was down 1%, iPad revenue spiked 24% after major
new product releases, and Mac revenue ticked up 2%.

Check out our transcript of Apple’s quarterly conference call
with analysts and our video recap of the results.

 ★ 

Jason Snell, at Six Colors on Thursday:

On Thursday, Apple announced results for its financial third
quarter. Total company revenue was $85.8 billion, a record
for its fiscal third quarter, which is traditionally the company’s
quietest quarter. Services revenue reached an all-time revenue
high of $24.2 billion.

iPhone revenue was down 1%, iPad revenue spiked 24% after major
new product releases, and Mac revenue ticked up 2%.

Check out our transcript of Apple’s quarterly conference call
with analysts and our video recap of the results.

Read More 

Charlotte Klein, reporting for New York Magazine:

According to multiple sources at the Journal and other major
outlets, the Bloomberg scoop left journalists and government
officials fuming. With a prisoner swap, you don’t know if it’s
going to happen until it happens. (As one Journal reporter put it:
“We literally had Yaroslav Trofimov on the ground with binoculars
waiting to see Evan come off the plane, and we pubbed as soon as
that happened.”) Which means that Bloomberg’s story proclaiming
Gershkovich was free was inaccurate, given that the Russian plane
was still in the air at the time of publication. That plane could
have just turned around and gone back to Moscow, which is why the
Journal and other publications had agreed to hold off.

“Incensed” is how one reporter, whose outlet had agreed to an
embargo — delaying publishing what they knew — reacted to
Bloomberg’s decision. “People are very, very disappointed in
Bloomberg. And not just the embargo breaking, but the football
spiking.” (The Bloomberg editor’s X post was later deleted.)
Another reporter added, “We all want to break stories. We also
need to consider the risks of breaking those stories. I hope
editors and reporters thought long and hard about the risks of
revealing the details of a hostage transfer before the hostages
were back in U.S. custody.”

There is no accountability at Bloomberg. I’ve fumed for years regarding their refusal to retract “The Big Hack”. But this is so much worse. As bad as “The Big Hack” was, journalistically, it wasn’t life-and-death. The exchange of these prisoners was.

What a disgrace, driven by their institutional obsession with being the first to report scoops.

 ★ 

Charlotte Klein, reporting for New York Magazine:

According to multiple sources at the Journal and other major
outlets, the Bloomberg scoop left journalists and government
officials fuming. With a prisoner swap, you don’t know if it’s
going to happen until it happens. (As one Journal reporter put it:
“We literally had Yaroslav Trofimov on the ground with binoculars
waiting to see Evan come off the plane, and we pubbed as soon as
that happened.”) Which means that Bloomberg’s story proclaiming
Gershkovich was free was inaccurate, given that the Russian plane
was still in the air at the time of publication. That plane could
have just turned around and gone back to Moscow, which is why the
Journal and other publications had agreed to hold off.

“Incensed” is how one reporter, whose outlet had agreed to an
embargo — delaying publishing what they knew — reacted to
Bloomberg’s decision. “People are very, very disappointed in
Bloomberg. And not just the embargo breaking, but the football
spiking.” (The Bloomberg editor’s X post was later deleted.)
Another reporter added, “We all want to break stories. We also
need to consider the risks of breaking those stories. I hope
editors and reporters thought long and hard about the risks of
revealing the details of a hostage transfer before the hostages
were back in U.S. custody.”

There is no accountability at Bloomberg. I’ve fumed for years regarding their refusal to retract “The Big Hack”. But this is so much worse. As bad as “The Big Hack” was, journalistically, it wasn’t life-and-death. The exchange of these prisoners was.

What a disgrace, driven by their institutional obsession with being the first to report scoops.

Read More 

Christina Warren (a.k.a. “Mary Brown”) returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s new iOS 18.1 and MacOS 15.1 betas (featuring Apple Intelligence), a little reminiscing about Gil Amelio and Steve Jobs, and the bizarre saga of TUAW, resurrected as a zombie AI slopsite.

Sponsored by:

Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.

 ★ 

Christina Warren (a.k.a. “Mary Brown”) returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s new iOS 18.1 and MacOS 15.1 betas (featuring Apple Intelligence), a little reminiscing about Gil Amelio and Steve Jobs, and the bizarre saga of TUAW, resurrected as a zombie AI slopsite.

Sponsored by:

Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order.

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Look closely.

 ★ 

Look closely.

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Tim Sweeney on X, with what can only be described as a weird take on Find My:

This feature is super creepy surveillance tech and shouldn’t
exist. Years ago, a kid stole a Mac laptop out of my car. Years
later, I was checking out Find My and it showed a map with the
house where the kid who stole my Mac lived. WTF Apple? How is
that okay?!

Responding to arguments that Find My only allows people to track devices that they own, Sweeney dug deeper:

A lot of people are saying this here. While technically true, it
misses the point: you can’t track the location of a device that’s
in someone’s possession without tracking that person, and people
have a right to privacy. This right applies to second hand device
buyers and even to thieves.

When you reset a Mac, iPhone, or iPad before selling it, the original owner can no longer track it. Find My poses no problem at all for legitimately transferred pre-owned devices. It only poses a problem for thieves — a group Sweeney perhaps has an affinity for.

 ★ 

Tim Sweeney on X, with what can only be described as a weird take on Find My:

This feature is super creepy surveillance tech and shouldn’t
exist. Years ago, a kid stole a Mac laptop out of my car. Years
later, I was checking out Find My and it showed a map with the
house where the kid who stole my Mac lived. WTF Apple? How is
that okay?!

Responding to arguments that Find My only allows people to track devices that they own, Sweeney dug deeper:

A lot of people are saying this here. While technically true, it
misses the point: you can’t track the location of a device that’s
in someone’s possession without tracking that person, and people
have a right to privacy. This right applies to second hand device
buyers and even to thieves.

When you reset a Mac, iPhone, or iPad before selling it, the original owner can no longer track it. Find My poses no problem at all for legitimately transferred pre-owned devices. It only poses a problem for thieves — a group Sweeney perhaps has an affinity for.

Read More 

Interesting new site, offering AI-powered answered to WWDC-related developer questions. Ask a question, it tries to answer (some answers seem great, some not), and offers links to relevant WWDC sessions.

The small print at the bottom of the page disclaims “Ask WWDC is not affiliated with Apple Inc.” Instead it’s the work of developer Matt Spear, using a tool he’s building called Tally, which aims to allow anyone to build a similar “ask site”.

 ★ 

Interesting new site, offering AI-powered answered to WWDC-related developer questions. Ask a question, it tries to answer (some answers seem great, some not), and offers links to relevant WWDC sessions.

The small print at the bottom of the page disclaims “Ask WWDC is not affiliated with Apple Inc.” Instead it’s the work of developer Matt Spear, using a tool he’s building called Tally, which aims to allow anyone to build a similar “ask site”.

Read More 

Dan Moren, writing at Six Colors:

Not all features, as I said, will be available to try out in this
release. Among those included are the systemwide Writing Tools
features to help proofread and rewrite text; inbox prioritization,
summaries, and smart reply in Mail; the new Reduce Interruptions
focus mode; natural language search for photos and videos as well
as the ability to create Memories movies on demands; summaries for
transcriptions; and, perhaps most enticingly, improved Siri
functionality, including the ability to move between voice and
typing, more resilient requests for when you stumble over your
words, and answering questions about Apple products.

As for what you won’t find here, don’t expect the contentious
image generation features like Image Playground, the ability to
clean up and remove unwanted details from photos, and integration
with ChatGPT. It’s unclear if those will appear in future builds
of these betas, or as subsequent updates after public release.
Also unclear is whether there will be a public beta of these
versions down the road for non-developers.

I wish I would have predicted that Apple was going to start seeding these .1 OS betas previewing Apple Intelligence features while the .0 versions remain in beta until (presumably) release in September, because in hindsight it seems obvious. Will there be public betas of these Apple Intelligence OS versions soon? Unknown at the moment.

 ★ 

Dan Moren, writing at Six Colors:

Not all features, as I said, will be available to try out in this
release. Among those included are the systemwide Writing Tools
features to help proofread and rewrite text; inbox prioritization,
summaries, and smart reply in Mail; the new Reduce Interruptions
focus mode; natural language search for photos and videos as well
as the ability to create Memories movies on demands; summaries for
transcriptions; and, perhaps most enticingly, improved Siri
functionality, including the ability to move between voice and
typing, more resilient requests for when you stumble over your
words, and answering questions about Apple products.

As for what you won’t find here, don’t expect the contentious
image generation features like Image Playground, the ability to
clean up and remove unwanted details from photos, and integration
with ChatGPT. It’s unclear if those will appear in future builds
of these betas, or as subsequent updates after public release.
Also unclear is whether there will be a public beta of these
versions down the road for non-developers.

I wish I would have predicted that Apple was going to start seeding these .1 OS betas previewing Apple Intelligence features while the .0 versions remain in beta until (presumably) release in September, because in hindsight it seems obvious. Will there be public betas of these Apple Intelligence OS versions soon? Unknown at the moment.

Read More 

Apple Newsroom, last week:

Today, Apple Maps on the web is available in public beta,
allowing users around the world to access Maps directly from their
browser.

Now, users can get driving and walking directions; find great
places and useful information including photos, hours, ratings,
and reviews; take actions like ordering food directly from the
Maps place card; and browse curated Guides to discover places
to eat, shop, and explore in cities around the world.
Additional features, including Look Around, will be available
in the coming months.

All developers, including those using MapKit JS, can also link out
to Maps on the web, so their users can get driving directions, see
detailed place information, and more.

Apple Maps is one of the best examples of the power of persistence I can think of. It started as a laughing stock, but now, for people in many countries, it’s arguably the best maps service.

 ★ 

Apple Newsroom, last week:

Today, Apple Maps on the web is available in public beta,
allowing users around the world to access Maps directly from their
browser.

Now, users can get driving and walking directions; find great
places and useful information including photos, hours, ratings,
and reviews; take actions like ordering food directly from the
Maps place card; and browse curated Guides to discover places
to eat, shop, and explore in cities around the world.
Additional features, including Look Around, will be available
in the coming months.

All developers, including those using MapKit JS, can also link out
to Maps on the web, so their users can get driving directions, see
detailed place information, and more.

Apple Maps is one of the best examples of the power of persistence I can think of. It started as a laughing stock, but now, for people in many countries, it’s arguably the best maps service.

Read More 

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, writing for TechCrunch:

CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm that crashed millions of
computers with a botched update all over the world last
week, is offering its partners a $10 Uber Eats gift card as an
apology, according to several people who
say they received the gift card, as well
as a source who also received one. […]

On Wednesday, some of the people who posted about the gift card
said that when they went to redeem the offer, they got an error
message saying the voucher had been canceled. When TechCrunch
checked the voucher, the Uber Eats page provided an error message
that said the gift card “has been canceled by the issuing party
and is no longer valid.”

CrowdStrike spokesperson Kevin Benacci confirmed to TechCrunch
that the company sent the gift cards. “We did send these to our
teammates and partners who have been helping customers through
this situation. Uber flagged it as fraud because of high usage
rates,” Benacci said in an email.

I’d say the odds are pretty high that CrowdStrike renames itself, like ValuJet and Philip Morris did. That’ll solve the problem.

 ★ 

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, writing for TechCrunch:

CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm that crashed millions of
computers with a botched update all over the world last
week, is offering its partners a $10 Uber Eats gift card as an
apology, according to several people who
say they received the gift card, as well
as a source who also received one. […]

On Wednesday, some of the people who posted about the gift card
said that when they went to redeem the offer, they got an error
message saying the voucher had been canceled. When TechCrunch
checked the voucher, the Uber Eats page provided an error message
that said the gift card “has been canceled by the issuing party
and is no longer valid.”

CrowdStrike spokesperson Kevin Benacci confirmed to TechCrunch
that the company sent the gift cards. “We did send these to our
teammates and partners who have been helping customers through
this situation. Uber flagged it as fraud because of high usage
rates,” Benacci said in an email.

I’d say the odds are pretty high that CrowdStrike renames itself, like ValuJet and Philip Morris did. That’ll solve the problem.

Read More