By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) Apple’s March introduction of the M3 MacBook Air collection has changed the MacBook purchasing equation. Here’s what portable Mac you should consider for just about any budget in spring 2024.Apple’s MacBook Air and MacBook ProAfter updating its MacBook Pro lineup in October, Apple’s spring launches focused on the MacBook Air range. It was the turn of the 13-inch MacBook Air and 15-inch MacBook Air to gain the M3 chip and the all-important performance boost.While it was easy months ago to point to the MacBook Pro line over the MacBook Air for a range of budgets simply because of the performance jump, the new Air pair brings the ranges much closer together. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (William Gallagher) Apple has shown off a first look at its new Apple Jing’an store, its eighth in Shanghai, as it prepares to open on March 21, 2024.Apple Jing’an (Source: Apple)Following a teasing “opening soon” notice on its website, Apple has now officially announced that Apple Jing’an will open at 7pm local time on March 21, 2024. The news was announced in a press statement that for some reason has subsequently been removed, but the store’s own site confirms the details of the opening.”We’re thrilled to open Apple Jing’an,” Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail, said in a statement, “a store that seamlessly blends the traditional with the modern and perfectly complements this historic neighborhood in Shanghai.” Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (William Gallagher) Google’s controversial Gemini generative AI technology could be integrated directly into Apple’s iOS to improve Siri.Google’s Gemini is already an app but may become part of iOS 18Apple has now regularly been reported to be planning an AI improvement for Siri, and to launch an iOS with much more integrated and prominent AI at WWDC 2024. Now a report from Bloomberg claims that Apple is in talks with Google to license the latter’s Gemini AI.It’s already possible to run Gemini as an app, but the report says that the talks are now active negotiations concerning Apple arranging to license Gemini, Google’s set of generative AI models, in order to power some unspecified new iOS features. It’s expected that these features will be in this year’s forthcoming iOS 18. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Charles Martin) A new report expects a kind of blood-pressure monitoring feature to be added to the next Apple Watch, but there is an important caveat to that claim.Apple has been working on what many call the “holy grails” of non-invasive blood pressure and blood glucose monitoring for years. The addition of these features would help tackle two of the most common medical conditions that need frequent monitoring: high blood pressure, and diabetes.Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has said that “all signs point to the new Apple Watch gaining a blood-pressure checker this fall” in his latest report. However, the first iteration is not likely to give exact readings.Gurman believes the next new Apple Watch, potentially to be called the Apple Watch X for its 10th edition, will include a new hardware sensor that can detect trends in blood pressure. That said, this first iteration will likely only alert users for upward trending in blood pressure, rather than offer exact readings. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Charles Martin) Apple researchers have hit on a new multi-modal method of quickly training large language models (LLMs) that can enable more flexible and powerful machine-learning and “AI” type systems.A research paper posted by the company to research site arxiv.org earlier this week revealed that Apple has used what it calls a “careful mix” of image-caption, interleaved image-text, and text-only data to train LLMs. The mix of visual and language data allowed the models to handle tasks like intelligently captioning images or infer natural-language meanings.As part of the research, it was determined that the choice of image encoder and the resolution of images it processes has a big impact on performance, more than the design of the vision-language connector.In one instance, using a 30-billion-parameter MM1 model, it was found that there were strong in-context learning abilities. The discovery means it can perform multi-step reasoning over multiple images with few “chain of thought” prompts. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) Apple’s potential rebrand of Apple ID to “Apple Account” has seemingly been corroborated, with the change allegedly arriving later in 2024 alongside the macOS and iOS 18 releases.Apple ID sign-in pageThe Apple ID is the term used for the accounts on Apple’s various online services, but rumors have previously hinted at it becoming the simpler “Apple Account” instead. On Sunday, a report has said the same thing, making the change seem a lot more likely to actually happen.Writing in the “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes that the name Apple Account will replace Apple ID in software and on Apple websites in late 2024 at the earliest. The change will probably coincide with the launch of Apple’s next operating system generation, including iOS 18. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Charles Martin) Following the demise of Apple’s own automotive project, the company’s attention has turned to the next-generation CarPlay and its relationship with automakers.A visualization of CarPlayAlthough Apple first debuted a next-generation CarPlay concept in the summer of 2022, only two automakers thus far — Porsche and Aston-Martin — have committed to the product. More carmakers have signed on to the more comprehensive and built-in Android Automotive technology.This is different from the first-gen Android Auto, in that the Automotive system is embedded in the vehicle at the factory. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s next-gen CarPlay still runs on the iPhone, which provides greater flexibility, but no opportunity for licensing. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) Apple’s next AirPods launch is set to be its biggest yet, with a report claiming that up to 25 million units will be entering mass production in the summer for a fall release.AirPods 3 on a notebookApple has been rumored to be bringing out various updates to its AirPods range, including the possibility of two fourth-generation models. Now, it is said that the supply chain is getting into gear for what could be Apple’s biggest AirPods launch ever.Writing in the “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes that Apple is preparing to manufacture between 20 million and 25 million units. This is apparently higher than the launch plans of earlier models. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Stephen Silver) In the latest Apple Crime Blotter, an indicted Google engineer used Apple products to avoid suspicion, a school official is indicted for stealing iPads, and Find My helps arrest an AirPods thief.Apple Store on Walnut Street in Philadelphia The latest in an occasional AppleInsider feature, looking at Apple-related crime. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) An attempted class-action lawsuit against Apple is being allowed to proceed, after plaintiffs convinced a judge that there are negligence issues surrounding the AirTags tracker.AirTag on a keyring. Initially filed in December 2022 and amended in October 2023 following an “explosion of reporting,” the lawsuit from dozens of people in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has become a problem for Apple.On Friday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that some of the claims in the lawsuit were sufficiently argued enough to proceed. Accusations of negligence and product liability made it through, reports Bloomberg, but other claims were dismissed by the judge. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
