O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: April

  • Rumor: Apple to fine-tune Google Gemini AI to offer additional features for Siri

    Rumor: Apple to fine-tune Google Gemini AI to offer additional features for Siri

    With the announcement that Apple has tapped Google’s Gemini to help power its Siri assistant, a new report from The Information has indicated that the revamped Siri will be able to do the following:

    • Answer more factual/world knowledge questions in a conversational manner
    • Tell more stories
    • Provide emotional support
    • Assist with more tasks, such as booking travel
    • Create a document in the Notes app with information, such as a cooking recipe

    The report said Apple plans to announce additional Siri capabilities at WWDC in June, including providing proactive suggestions based on information from apps such as Calendar.

    Apple has already announced that the upgraded/personalized Siri would have a better understanding of a user’s personal context, as well as on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. In a recent example, Apple showed an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother’s flight and lunch reservation plans based on info from the Mail and Messages apps.

    The report also indicated that the latest prototype of the more personalized Siri would not feature any Google or Gemini branding, and that Apple will be able to fine-tune the Gemini AI model to respond to queries in a way that Apple prefers.

    Apple first previewed the more personalized Siri at WWDC 2024, and the revamped assistant is expected to launch as part of iOS 26.4 in March or April. However, per the report, some capabilities will not arrive until iOS 27.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and The Information

  • Apple confirms partnership with Google, will use Gemini to power next-generation of Siri and other Apple Intelligence functions later this year

    Apple confirms partnership with Google, will use Gemini to power next-generation of Siri and other Apple Intelligence functions later this year

    Apple will be going with Google’s Gemini engine for a fair portion of its AI functionality, including powering the next generation of Siri as well as a range of future Apple Intelligence features.

    In a statement shared with CNBC on Monday, Apple offered the following:

    “After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users.”

    The report stated that Google Gemini will power Siri, which had been expected. This should allow the revamped version of Siri to be more capable and advanced than it has been as Gemini’s large language model is significantly larger than Apple’s own model.

    The next-generation version of Siri is expected to be introduced with iOS 26.4, which will likely be released to the general public in March or April.

    Apple first announced its goal of creating more personalized Siri features during its WWDC 2024 keynote, but as of 2025, the upgrade had been delayed. The new features should offer a better understanding of a user’s personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and CNBC

  • Rumor: Budget MacBook to ship in March or April of this year

    Rumor: Budget MacBook to ship in March or April of this year

    The rumor mill is swirling about Apple’s budget MacBook and the cool cats at Taiwanese research firm TrendForce have added their two cents.

    In a press release issued last week, the firm said that the MacBook will be aimed at the entry-level to mid-range market, with “competitive pricing.” TrendForce also predicted a spring 2026 release window for the notebook.

    While TrendForce didn’t offer any further details about the MacBook, the information that it shared lines up with several rumors about a more affordable MacBook, which is expected to be equipped with a version of the iPhone 16 Pro’s A18 Pro chip. It’s thought that the notebook will be released by March or April of this year and be offered at a starting price between $599 and $899, with $699 or $799 being most likely. It would slot in below the MacBook Air, which starts at $999.

    The A18 Pro specs currently include a 6-core CPU, a 6-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The chip’s performance is similar to the M1 chip, so this new MacBook could effectively be a replacement for the old MacBook Air with the M1 chip. It’s thought that the MacBook might only feature 8GB of RAM, whereas all current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks ship with at least 16GB of RAM. The chip also lacks Thunderbolt support, so the new MacBook would likely be equipped with regular USB-C ports, with slower data transfer speeds and external display limitations.

    The lower-cost MacBook could have a lot in common with the discontinued 12-inch MacBook, including an ultra-thin and lightweight design.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and TrendForce

  • Rumor: AirTag 2 expected to debut in September or later this year, will offer new battery features, and other changes

    Rumor: AirTag 2 expected to debut in September or later this year, will offer new battery features, and other changes

    Apple’s AirTag 2 tracker is now rumored to be relased in September or later of this year.

    Per 9toMac, the current iOS 18.6 beta code hints at the upcoming software update being compatible with the AirTag 2, when it is released.

    It’s also been rumored that the upcoming AirTag 2 will provide alerts for both low and very low battery levels. Users can already see if the current AirTag’s battery level is low in the Find My app, but this may indicate that there will now be two tiers of alerts.

    The AirTag 2 is rumored to feature up to triple the tracking range compared to the first-gen AirTag units. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has also noted that he expects the AirTag 2 to look similar to the current model, but he said the built-in speaker will be more difficult to remove, which would make it harder to covertly stalk people with the accessory.

    Apple released the current AirTag in April 2021, so it is now more than four years old. It debuted at an event alongside the iMac with the M1 chip, the iPad Pro with the M1 chip, a new Apple TV, and a purple color for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and 9to5Mac

  • Next-gen AirTag improvements listed, device is “nearly ready” to launch

    Next-gen AirTag improvements listed, device is “nearly ready” to launch

    In his most recent Power On newsletter, the mighty Mark Gurman has cited that a next-gen AirTag is “nearly ready” to launch. Last year, he said that it would be released around the middle of 2025, and the midpoint of the year is just a few weeks away.

    Per Gurman:

    “The new AirTag is nearly ready, having been prepared for launch over the past several months, but I’d hardly consider that notable and it doesn’t make much sense to debut at WWDC.”

    The following three upgrades have been rumored for the AirTag 2 so far.

    • Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, for up to 3× longer tracking range compared to the current AirTag.
    • Vision Pro/spatial computing integration.
    • A more tamper-proof speaker to reduce the usage of AirTags for stalking.

    No major AirTag design changes are expected.

    The original AirTag was announced during an Apple Event in April 2021. In the U.S., an individual AirTag costs $29, and a set of four retails for $99.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and Bloomberg