O'Grady's PowerPage

Category: News

  • Leaked documents hint at Apple Vision Pro launch within France in late June

    Leaked documents hint at Apple Vision Pro launch within France in late June

    If you’re living in France, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get your hands on an Apple Vision Pro when it launches in the country on June 29.

    A series of leaked internal documents has indicated that the wearable device may launch within the country in late June. At present, there have yet to be formal announcements as to when the Vision Pro will launch in given countries outside the United States.

    Per WatchGeneration, staff in France have been told that what it describes as an “all stores meeting” will take place early in the week beginning Monday, June 24, 2024. It’s a meeting to discuss, at least in part, a “big novelty.”

    An additional leak has pointed to Apple Store locations in France being scheduled for a “VM night” on June 29. This is reported to be when new products and marketing visuals are typically set up for unveiling the next day.

    At least two sources are saying that Apple Stores in France have been asked to make significant space in their storerooms. One claims that Apple has asked for half of the storeroom space to be cleared, while another says it’s three-quarters.

    A previous set of rumors hinted that the Apple Vision Pro will begin to at least begin its international launch before WWDC 2024. However, with WWDC scheduled to begin on June 10, it’s now more probable that Apple will want attention and publicity to be focused on its announcements there.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and WatchGeneration

  • Rumor: Apple, OpenAI may work to add ChapGPT functionality to iOS 18, other forthcoming operating systems

    Rumor: Apple, OpenAI may work to add ChapGPT functionality to iOS 18, other forthcoming operating systems

    Apple and OpenAI may have reached a deal to bring ChatGPT to iOS 18 and Apple’s forthcoming operating system updates in 2024.

    Per The Information, Apple has been looking to bring AI to its platforms, but in a way that opts for preserving privacy through an on-device method as opposed to the Large Language Models (LLMs) used by the company’s competitors. As such, Apple is said to have been seeking a partnership with Google or Microsoft to bring their LLMs to iPhones.

    It’s rumored that a deal has been reached between OpenAI and Apple. While the specifics of the deal are currently unknown, it’s thought that this could allow ChatGPT to be accessible by Apple users through programs like Siri.

    A deal with OpenAI doesn’t close out options with other AI industry players. One rumor suggested Apple was looking to create an AI App Store so that OpenAI could be one of several companies populating such a store.

    It’s also thought that corporate politics may be driving this, and according to a report shared by Apple’s Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea, “the last thing people needed was another chatbot.”

    Even if this proves true, Apple won’t be likely to announce an Apple-created LLM with which to replace Siri. Instead, it’s thought that Siri could use server-side products like ChapGPT to help answer questions.

    Whatever the case, Apple likely won’t be announcing an Apple-made LLM to replace Siri. Instead, it will use server-side products like ChatGPT to answer user questions.

    Apple is expected to announce further details as to its operating system and AI roadmap during the WWDC keynote on June 10.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and The Information

  • Tap to Pay on iPhone launches in Italy

    Tap to Pay on iPhone launches in Italy

    Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone technology launched in Italy on Thursday, allowing sellers to use the iPhone as a contactless payment terminal.

    As with other international launches, the feature allows retailers to use the NFC chip inside more recent iPhones to accept debit and credit card payments alongside Apple Pay and other digital payment platforms. The payment method requires no additional hardware beyond the phone, such as a Square Reader or dedicated tablet.

    The Tap to Pay on iPhone feature is available throughout Italy, with support from platforms such as Adyen, myPOS, Nexi, Revolut, Stripe, SumUp, and Viva all supporting the protocol. Outfits such as Fabrick, Numia, and Sella will also be adding Tap to Pay integration in the near future. As of Thursday, Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ can be used in all Apple retail stores in Italy as well.

    Similar to other launches, the platform allows customers to bring their credit card, debit card, prepaid card, iPhone, Apple Watch, other other digital wallet close to the merchant’s iPhone to conduct the transaction. The transaction itself is completed through NFC, with processing done using the Secure Enclave for security purposes.

    Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ requires an ‌iPhone‌ XS or newer model, and a contactless card or device is also needed. Contactless cards from American Express, Global Discover Network, Diners, Mastercard, and Visa will work.

    Italy marks the 11th country where Tap to Pay on iPhone has launched and rolled out following launches in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, France, Taiwan, and Ukraine.

    If you’ve had a chance to try Tap to Pay on iPhone in Italy, please let us know about the experience in the comments.

    Via MacRumors and Apple

  • Code references hint at increased smart home device, Matter support in iOS 17.6 update

    Code references hint at increased smart home device, Matter support in iOS 17.6 update

    If you love controlling home accessories via your iPhone, you’re going to like Apple’s upcoming iOS 17.6 update.

    After examining a recent public code repository, the discovery of implementation source code for Matter, an Apple-backed smart home standard has been found. Matter is also open source, hence its public-facing code repository.

    The changes reference new features en route to unannounced versions of Apple’s platforms:

    Code additions reference support coming for these new features in the “middle of 2024” to iOS 17.6, macOS 14.6, watchOS 10.6, and tvOS 17.6 and contain the following:

    • release: “Middle of 2024”

    versions:
    iOS: “17.6”
    macOS: “14.6”
    watchOS: “10.6”
    tvOS: “17.6”

    It’s unknown as to exactly which smart home devices will be supported by the update, but the references seem to include more robust air quality monitoring, power management, and water valves. There appear to be references to CO, CO2, formaldehyde, PM10, PM2.5, PM1, and radon monitoring in the code strings.

    Other references point out devices such as robotic vacuum cleaners, which were part of the Matter 1.2 update.

    The commits on the Github repo were accredited to username bzbarsky-apple, or Boris Zbarsky. The Apple software references were only added in the last few days.

    Zbarsky, a former software engineer from Mozilla, has been with Apple for the past four years.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and Github (1, 2)

  • Details begin to surface as to Apple’s AI approach and confidential computing techniques

    Details begin to surface as to Apple’s AI approach and confidential computing techniques

    Apple may have found a way to process AI data while retaining a measure of user privacy.

    While the company will use WWDC to unveil its AI strategy within its operating systems, The Information has cited a method that Apple intends to employ confidential computing techniques, which will enable “black box processing”.

    Typically, cloud services encrypt data only on disk, when it is being stored. However, the data has to be decrypted into memory in order to be processed or transformed on the server.

    Per the article, Apple may have found a way to process user data in a way that allows the data to remain private throughout. Apple may have upscaled its Secure Enclave designs to enable such a programming model. Bloomberg previously mentioned the relationship between the Secure Enclave and the Apple Chips in Data Centers (ACDC) project.

    The article states that there could still be a potential weakness if hackers assumed physical access to Apple’s server hardware. Still, the approach seems to be far more secure than anything Apple’s rivals are doing in the AI space. In certain events, Apple may be able to tell law enforcement that it does not have access to the information, and won’t be able to provide any user data in the case of subpoenas or government inquiries.

    It’s thought that Apple’s work in this confidential computing initiative predates the current AI boom and that Apple may have been working on this for at least three years. The report also notes that in the future Apple could create lightweight wearable devices that don’t require powerful chips, as they could offload their processing to Apple’s backend.

    The exact details of this technology are still murky, and The Information has said it remains to be seen how Apple will be able to preserve the security model when a singular chip in a data center is running requests from many users simultaneously.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, and The Information