Launching the Vision Pro glasses in China no later than May, and working on launching the YouTube application on the Vision Pro glasses and these alternatives can be used now, a change in the standard iPhone 6 camera design, and other exciting news on the sidelines...
A security researcher steals millions of dollars from Apple
Noah Ruskin-Frazee, the security researcher who informed Apple of many errors, loopholes, and vulnerabilities in its various systems and programs, was arrested. Apple thanked him profusely for discovering these errors, even just before the days of his arrest. He recently ran into legal trouble for exploiting a security vulnerability that allowed him to fraudulently obtain more than $3 million worth of Apple products, gift cards, and services. He and his partner used a password reset tool, tampered with things like getting free stuff and extended service contracts like Apple Care, accessing employee accounts and VPN servers, and using Apple's "Toolbox" software. Frazee faces serious charges such as fraud and could be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Apple is officially splitting iTunes on Windows into Music, TV, and Devices apps
Apple has officially launched its Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps for Windows. These apps are part of Apple's strategy to replace iTunes with separate platforms, similar to how it works on Macs. Windows 10 or later users can download these apps. Microsoft first announced its plans for these apps in October 2022. The Apple Music app allows users to listen to and manage audio from their iTunes library, including purchases, while the Apple TV app provides access to TV shows from iTunes, as well as To Apple's streaming services. The Apple Devices app makes it easy to do tasks like updating, backing up, managing iPhones and iPads, and syncing content from computers. Although iTunes will continue to be used for podcasts and audiobooks, new standalone apps provide a more modern and easier-to-use experience.
WhatsApp is working on interoperability with other encrypted messaging applications
WhatsApp is making final preparations to introduce platform interoperability with other encrypted messaging apps as part of its compliance with the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) legislation. Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, has been designated a "gatekeeper" by EU lawmakers, along with other tech giants, and given six months to open up their platform services. The DMA is scheduled to come into full effect in March 2024, prompting WhatsApp and others to make their services compliant. Although WhatsApp has been working on interoperability for the past two years, the looming DMA has accelerated its efforts. Initially, interoperability will focus on text messaging and sharing of photos, voice messages, videos and files between two people, with calls and group chats to follow in the coming years. Users who opted for interoperability will see messages from other apps in a separate section at the top of their WhatsApp inbox. Third-party apps will need to encrypt content using the Signal protocol and connect to WhatsApp servers to send and receive messages. Meta plans to publish full details of the plan in March, and the company will have several months to implement it. Although there are challenges in balancing interoperability and maintaining privacy and security standards in WhatsApp, the company is working to find a satisfactory solution.
iFixit disassembles Apple Vision Pro glasses
iFixit recently conducted a teardown of the Apple Vision Pro, providing a detailed look at its various internal components such as cameras, sensors, fans, and lens motors. However, she praised Apple for providing easy changing of the speakers and battery, which are positive aspects of repairability. Vision Pro is powered by an M2 chip with impressive specifications including an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, and 16GB of unified memory. It also features a storage capacity of up to 1TB and an R1 chip responsible for processing inputs from multiple cameras, sensors, and microphones.
She then did a second part teardown of the Vision Pro, providing further insights into its construction, specifications and repairability. It stated that microOLED screens provide an incredibly high pixel density, exceeding even 4K TVs. The motherboard contains an M2 chip and an R1 coprocessor to manage data from various sensors such as cameras and lidar. The battery design, although difficult to open, includes features such as temperature sensors. She stated that the fragility of the front glass represents a major flaw in Apple Glass, which affects durability. In the end, she pointed out that opening and repairing Apple Glass would be very difficult. It was given a repairability score of 4 out of 10, where 1 indicates that it is very difficult to repair and XNUMX indicates how easy it is.
Apple's new AI model edits photos based on natural language input
Apple researchers have introduced a new open-source AI model called “MGIE,” which stands for MLLM-Guided Image Editing. This model uses multimodal large language models (MLLMs) to understand natural language user instructions and perform pixel-level image processing operations. MGIE can enhance various aspects of images globally, such as brightness, contrast and artistic effects, as well as modify specific areas or the shape, size, color or texture of objects locally. Users can request Photoshop style adjustments such as cropping, resizing, adding filters or changing backgrounds. For example, a request to “make pizza look healthier” might include vegetarian toppings like tomatoes and herbs.
In collaboration with researchers from the University of California, Apple presented the MGIE model at the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) 2024 and released it on GitHub, including code, data, and pre-trained models. This progress follows Apple's recent progress in deploying large language models on devices with limited memory. Additionally, Apple is reportedly working on a competitor to Apple GPT and developing an Ajax framework for large language models. Speculation suggests that the iOS 18 update, expected in late 2024, will feature improved Siri functionality with ChatGPT-like generative AI capabilities, which could mark an important milestone in iPhone software updates.
Apple is testing the slim rear camera design for the standard iPhone 16
In recent months, Apple has been exploring several camera notch designs for the standard iPhone 16 models. The prototype features a raised surface with a vertical camera arrangement, while maintaining separate rings for the wide and ultra-wide cameras. This design is inspired by previous iPhone models such as the iPhone . Along with the updated camera bump, recent prototypes also show changes to the action button and capture button, including a smaller action button and a pressure-sensitive capture button. While these updates are part of the prototyping phase and may not reflect the final design, this suggests continued improvement as the devices progress toward mass production.
Vision Pro will launch in China no later than May
The Apple Vision Pro is expected to launch in China as early as April or no later than May, according to supply chain sources cited by Asian Wall Street News via IT Home. The device's registration process with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is reportedly nearing completion, though initial availability may be limited. While Apple has confirmed its US launch on February 2, it has not specified release dates for other countries. However, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman notes that international launches will follow closely after the US release, with the UK and Canada likely to be among the first markets. Apple engineers are said to be adapting the device language for various countries, including France, Germany, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects that the Apple Vision Pro glasses will appear for the first time outside the United States before Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2024. It is worth noting that more than 60% of the supply chain for the Apple Vision Pro glasses is based in China. However, Apple may need to negotiate with Huawei regarding the “Vision Pro” trademark in China, as Huawei currently has exclusive rights to use it in the country until 2031. If Apple intends to use the same name for its own Apple Vision Pro glasses, In China, an agreement must be reached with Huawei.
Working on launching the YouTube application on Vision Pro glasses
Vision Pro App Store was launched without some major apps like YouTube, Netflix, Spotify and iPhone Islam :). However, YouTube has indicated that it is part of its roadmap to develop an application for Vision Pro, although no specific timing has been specified. Developer Christian Selig created an app called “Juno” for watching YouTube on Vision Pro, and YouTube videos can also be watched through the Safari browser. However, neither supports watching 360 and 3D videos on YouTube, which Apple attributes to the need for a high-quality spatial experience. Apple is working on support for WebXR content, which may eventually enable viewing of YouTube VR videos on the web using Safari, though this is still a new standard, and may not fully utilize Vision Pro's capabilities yet.
Miscellaneous news
◉ In iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma updates, users can make hand gestures during video calls in FaceTime and other similar apps to create 17.4D effects on the screen. For example, showing two thumbs up can set off fireworks, or making peace signs can produce confetti. However, many users do not realize that this feature is enabled by default, which leads to awkward situations during important calls. To address this issue, Apple is introducing new tweaks in iOS 17.4 and iPadOS XNUMX, which allow gesture-based interactions to be disabled by default.
◉ Apple has launched the second public beta of iOS 17.4 and macOS Sonoma 14.4 updates to developers.
◉ Apple releases the first beta version of the VisionOS 1.1 update for Apple Glass to developers. This version adds an option to reset Vision Pro glasses in case you forget the passcode.
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