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{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "title": "Daring Fireball", "home_page_url": "https://daringfireball.net/", "feed_url": "https://daringfireball.net/feeds/json", "authors": [ { "url": "https://twitter.com/gruber", "name": "John Gruber" } ], "icon": "https://daringfireball.net/graphics/apple-touch-icon.png", "favicon": "https://daringfireball.net/graphics/favicon-64.png", "items": [ { "title": "Tahoe’s Terrible Icons", "date_published": "2025-11-07T21:54:06Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-07T23:00:20Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/tahoes-terrible-icons", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/tahoes-terrible-icons", "external_url": "https://onefoottsunami.com/2025/11/05/tahoes-terrible-icons/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Paul Kafasis, writing at One Foot Tsunami:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>While Apple had previously urged developers to use squircle icons\non our apps, they’ve now taken things much further to ensure\ncompliance. It’s a shame.</p>\n\n<p>Apple updated their own app icons on Tahoe, for both the squircle\nshape as well as the new “<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_Glass\">Liquid Glass</a>” interface. Mostly,\nthese icons seem dumbed-down, with a loss of detail. For example,\nhere’s Safari’s old icon from MacOS 15 (Sequoia) on the left, and\nthe new Tahoe icon on the right:</p>\n\n<p><img\n src = \"https://i0.wp.com/onefoottsunami.com/wp-content/uploads/2025-11-terribletahoeicons/safari.jpg\"\n alt = \"Safari’s icons from MacOS 15 Sequoia and 26 Tahoe.\"\n width = 475 \n/></p>\n\n<p>To me, the new icon just feels blander, and that’s widely true for\nall of the updated icons. A small number, such as <a href=\"https://onefoottsunami.com/wp-content/uploads/2025-11-terribletahoeicons/screensharing.jpg\">Screen\nSharing</a> and <a href=\"https://onefoottsunami.com/wp-content/uploads/2025-11-terribletahoeicons/audiomidisetup.jpg\">Audio MIDI Setup</a>, may be improvements.\nMost, however, are not. Let’s review with direct comparisons, all\nof which again feature the older Sequoia icon on the left and the\nnew Tahoe icon on the right.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Trends come and go. Some are to one’s liking, and some are not. But this year’s app icons from Apple are <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/08/macos_26_tahoes_dead_canary_utility_app_icons\">just plain objectively bad</a>. They’re ugly, they’re dumb (like the new Apple Calendar icon, showing a month that somehow has only 24 days), and many of them — regardless of whether they’re aesthetically pleasing or not — are inscrutable. The fundamental purpose of an icon is to have meaning. And some of these are meaningless.</p>\n\n<p>Even good styles fall out of fashion as trends change. But good styles come back into style eventually. A few decades from now, no one is going to say “Hey, let’s bring back 2020s-style icons.” They’re like <a href=\"https://www.bygonely.com/leisure-suit-fashion-1970s/\">1970s leisure suits</a>.</p>\n\n<p>For a remarkably long stretch, Apple’s in-house icons represented the pinnacle of <a href=\"https://flarup.shop/products/the-macos-app-icon-book\">an art form worth celebrating</a>. They were exquisitely crafted, and quite obviously the work of the most talented artists in the field. Apple’s application icons in the OS 26 releases — MacOS Tahoe especially, because MacOS has the most first-party apps — look like they’re the work of people who have zero artistic ability whatsoever. They probably <em>are</em> the work of people with no artistic ability whatsoever, because I can’t imagine how a talented artist could bring themselves to create such things. And whoever at Apple approved them obviously has no taste. “Fuck it, who cares” is replacing “Insanely great” as the company’s design mantra for software.</p>\n\n<p>Show me the person who thinks the new MacOS 26 Tahoe Automator icon is better than the MacOS 15 Sequoia one — or even just believes that the Tahoe icon is <em>acceptable</em> — and I’ll show you a hack who never should have even gotten a job working at Apple. This regression is nothing short of criminal.</p>\n\n<p><img\n src = \"https://i0.wp.com/onefoottsunami.com/wp-content/uploads/2025-11-terribletahoeicons/automator.jpg\"\n alt = \"The Automator icons from MacOS 15 Sequoia and 26 Tahoe.\"\n width = 475 \n/></p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://onefoottsunami.com/2025/11/05/tahoes-terrible-icons/\">onefoottsunami.com/2025/11/05/tahoes-terrible-icons/</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Tyler Hayes Suggests Trying a Flip-Style Foldable If You Want a Smaller Phone", "date_published": "2025-11-07T20:25:31Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-07T20:29:14Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/hayes-flips-for-a-flip", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/hayes-flips-for-a-flip", "external_url": "https://creators.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/do-you-think-phones-are-too-big-and-want-a-smaller-one-i-have-the-perfect-solution-234401104.html", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Tyler Hayes, writing for This Week The Trend:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The Razr+ 2024 model measures 3.46 inches tall, but still has a\n4-inch diagonal screen size. For comparison, the smallest modern\n(2021) iPhone is the 13 mini, and that one is 5.18 inches tall.\nThe Razr foldable is a legitimately small phone that can easily be\nheld in one hand. It slips into a front pocket. It’s 0.60 inches\nthick. That might sound bulky, but in practice, it isn’t any\nbigger than using an iPhone with a case on it.</p>\n\n<p>For anyone unfamiliar with this style of folding phone, the front\nscreen isn’t just a novelty. It’s completely usable in the same\nway the larger internal screen is. By the way, the full-sized\nscreen opens up to 6.9 inches.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I remain completely dubious of this form factor. Hayes compares the naked folded Razr+ to an iPhone in case, thickness-wise, but one of the problems inherent to this form factor is that most people adhere to a religious belief that they somehow need to put their phone in a case. <a href=\"https://www.motorola.com/us/en/family/all-cases-and-protection\">They sell cases</a> for these flip-style foldables but that just makes them even thicker. Comparing an un-cased foldable to an encased regular phone is bogus.</p>\n\n<p>Worse, I dispute the notion that these phones are “completely usable” from the front screen alone. <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/654846/motorola-razr-ultra-2025-specs-screen-price\">Reviews</a> of these phones, including Hayes’s, tend to avoid including photographs of what they look like when the on-screen keyboard is showing. The keyboard <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/11/razr-keyboard-front.jpeg\">basically takes up the entire screen</a> (<a href=\"https://youtu.be/AZl36e1LEAw?t=54\">source</a>), <em>and</em> it’s awkwardly positioned an inch from the bottom, to sit above the camera lenses. Technically usable, but no one is going to type more than a few words like this. If you have to unfold the phone just to text or email, why not buy a phone that doesn’t fold at all?</p>\n\n<p>Book-style foldables seem like a maybe to me. Flip-style foldables just seem dumb. And the only “perfect solution” for anyone who wants a smaller phone would be for Apple to bring back the Mini size.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://creators.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/do-you-think-phones-are-too-big-and-want-a-smaller-one-i-have-the-perfect-solution-234401104.html\">creators.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/do-you-think-phones-are…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "I Like My Presidents to Care When Someone Faints During a Press Event", "date_published": "2025-11-07T20:06:15Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-07T20:08:02Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/obama-woman-faints", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/obama-woman-faints", "external_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbSFw7NTneQ&t=49s", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>“Here you go, you’re OK. I’m right here.”</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbSFw7NTneQ&t=49s\">youtube.com/watch?v=CbSFw7NTneQ&t=49s</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Some Flunky Fainted in the Oval Office During a Press Event, and Trump Just Stood There With a Stupid Look on His Face", "date_published": "2025-11-07T15:18:21Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-07T17:40:38Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/trump-kennedy-oval-office", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/07/trump-kennedy-oval-office", "external_url": "https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m4y5xaehfc2n", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p><a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/11/trump-just-standing-there.jpeg\" class=\"noborder\">\n <img\n src = \"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/11/trump-just-standing-there.jpeg\"\n alt = \"Trump just standing there staring into space, while behind him people attempt to assist the guy who passed out.\"\n width = 500\n /></a></p>\n\n<p>An even better, more iconic, metaphor for this administration than the images of the East Wing being razed. When you <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m4y45wvoyn2p\">watch the video</a>, take note of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. performing his family’s signature dance move, “The Chappaquiddick”.</p>\n\n<p>Before all the excitement, <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m52jax6ky22x\">Trump fell asleep</a>, right in front of the press.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m4y5xaehfc2n\">bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m4y5xaehfc2n</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "★ Apple and Google, Sitting in a Tree", "date_published": "2025-11-06T16:01:15Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-06T21:04:39Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/11/apple_and_google_sitting_in_a_tree", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/11/apple_and_google_sitting_in_a_tree", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg, “<a href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-05/apple-plans-to-use-1-2-trillion-parameter-google-gemini-model-to-power-new-siri?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2MjM3MDAzOSwiZXhwIjoxNzYyOTc0ODM5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNTZETzhHUTdMMFIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9._aWk2P25J89KBRkJQ_KdbwuULLM8yUtrPCPfRmsUfSs&leadSource=uverify%20wall\">Apple Nears Deal to Pay Google Roughly $1 Billion a Year for Siri AI Model</a>” (gift link):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Apple Inc. is planning to pay about $1 billion a year for an\nultrapowerful [<em>sic</em>] 1.2 trillion parameter artificial\nintelligence model developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google that would\nhelp run its long-promised overhaul of the Siri voice assistant,\naccording to people with knowledge of the matter. [...]</p>\n\n<p>Under the arrangement, Google’s Gemini model will handle Siri’s\nsummarizer and planner functions — the components that help the\nvoice assistant synthesize information and decide how to execute\ncomplex tasks. Some Siri features will continue to use Apple’s\nin-house models.</p>\n\n<p>The model will run on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers,\nensuring that user data remains walled off from Google’s\ninfrastructure. Apple has already allocated AI server hardware to\nhelp power the model.</p>\n\n<p>While the partnership is substantial, it’s unlikely to be promoted\npublicly. Apple will treat Google as a behind-the-scenes\ntechnology supplier instead. That would make the pact different\nthan the companies’ Safari browser deal, which made Google the\ndefault search engine.</p>\n\n<p>The agreement is also separate from earlier talks about\nintegrating Gemini directly into Siri as a chatbot.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/03/gurman-siri-gemini\">a post Monday</a>, I took note of a one-paragraph aside from Gurman about this deal in his Power On column over the weekend, and I wrote:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>First, I love the idea that Apple is pursuing technical excellence\nas a top priority for the next-gen LLM-powered Siri. If Apple\nwinds up using its own models, it should be because those models\nare truly competitive with the best models on the market. And if\nthey can work out a deal to use models from Google because those\nmodels are technically superior to Apple’s own, they should.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A few readers took exception to that, pointing out that Gurman claimed, in his Power On column over the weekend, that a model from Anthropic had come out ahead of Gemini in Apple’s internal “bake-off”, but that Apple was proceeding with a partnership with Google because, Gurman wrote, “Google made more sense financially (partly due to the tech giants’ preexisting search relationship)”. How do I square that, these readers asked, with my description of Apple pursuing technical excellence?</p>\n\n<p>That’s a good question, and it’s worth explaining what I meant. My read is that Apple’s choice boiled down to two very good external options, and while the deciding factor may have been financial, that’s still choosing between two leading externally-developed LLM models. In ASCII art:</p>\n\n<pre><code>Siri <-------------------> Gemini <-> Anthropic\ntoday\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>(Feel free to insert 100 more dashes between “Siri today” and “Gemini”.)</p>\n\n<p>Nothing I’ve seen from kicking the tires with Anthropic’s own app and Google’s Gemini app (and my daily use of ChatGPT) suggests that Anthropic is <em>significantly</em> better than Gemini or ChatGPT (or vice versa). They’re all clearly near each other technically. Siri, and today’s Apple Intelligence, is at least two generations behind. Maybe worse. And, for what it’s worth, Gurman’s latest report describes it thus:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Apple had previously mulled using other third-party models to\nhandle the task. But after <a href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-30/apple-weighs-replacing-siri-s-ai-llms-with-anthropic-claude-or-openai-chatgpt\">testing</a> Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT\nand Anthropic’s Claude, Apple zeroed in on Google earlier this\nyear, Bloomberg <a href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-03/apple-plans-ai-search-engine-for-siri-to-rival-openai-google-siri-talks-advance\">reported</a> at the time. The hope is to use\nthe technology as an interim solution until Apple’s own models are\npowerful enough.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So I don’t think there’s any reason to think that Apple partnering with Google for a version of Gemini that runs on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute infrastructure is “settling”. It’s more like choosing between a Mercedes and a BMW, and maybe you like the Mercedes a little more after test-driving both, but you’re getting a way, way better deal from the BMW dealer so that’s the one you buy.</p>\n\n<p>Because if Gurman’s sources are right and this deal is for around $1 billion per year, that’s an amazing deal for Apple. Remember first that Google pays Apple over $20 billion per year <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/04/is_chrome_even_a_sellable_asset\">for web search traffic acquisition fees from Safari users</a>. So one way to look at it is that Apple is getting access to its own private instance of Gemini in exchange for a 5 percent reduction in the fees it collects from Google for Safari search queries. Another way of looking at it is that <a href=\"https://qz.com/google-spend-100-billion-ai-development-deepmind-ceo-1851412787\">Google has reportedly invested over $100 billion developing its AI capabilities</a>. Apple getting access to the fruits of that labor for $1 billion per year seems like such a steal that it makes me wonder why Google agreed to it. (<a href=\"https://s206.q4cdn.com/479360582/files/doc_financials/2025/q3/2025q3-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf\">Google reported over $100 billion in revenue</a> in its just-completed July-August-September quarter alone. An extra $1 billion per year is negligible at that scale. Perhaps Google sees a strategic advantage to keeping competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic out of Apple’s arms.)</p>\n\n<p>On Monday, I also mentioned finding it curious that Gurman reported that if this deal comes to fruition, neither Apple nor Google may recognize it publicly. After a few days thought, I see how such an arrangement makes sense for both companies. Here’s my no-inside-info-just-a-pure-spitball take for how this next-gen Siri, powered behind the scenes by an Apple-controlled white-label version of Gemini, might work:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The default “Apple Intelligence” Siri would be a smarter, faster, reliable Siri, but would still have strict guardrails on what it will and will not answer. It might not lean into the chatbot side of the experience any more than Siri currently does. It would just add a lot more to automation across the Apple ecosystem. Behind the scenes, this would be enabled by the white-label version of Gemini. The guardrails for this version of “Apple Intelligence” would be Apple’s guardrails, not Google’s (beyond whatever guardrails Google put in place for Gemini’s training).</p></li>\n<li><p>The full, branded Google Gemini might be available as an extension — like ChatGPT is today — and you’ll be able to sign in with your Google account to set the personality you want, keep full chat history, etc., so you can go back and forth between the Gemini app or asking Siri general knowledge questions via the Gemini extension for Apple Intelligence. The guardrails for this would be a mix of Google’s and Apple’s guardrails.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>It makes sense in this scenario for neither company to want to publicize a white-label version of Gemini behind Apple Intelligence. That way, if Google Gemini starts offering, say, AI romantic partners as a supported feature, Apple won’t have to explain why Siri will not be your girlfriend or boyfriend. Same thing if Gemini were willing to do as asked if prompted to, say, “create a New Yorker style cartoon of Adolf Hitler performing standup comedy”. And Google won’t have to explain that the full Gemini-branded Gemini is significantly more powerful and capable than the Gemini-powered Siri because it isn’t constrained by Apple’s more restrictive guardrails. Today’s top LLM models get <em>weird</em> when they’re constrained by guardrails outside of their training. They want to do what they’re prompted to do, in the way that information “wants” to be free, and water “wants” to run downhill. Dams are hard to engineer, and require professional supervision. Apple is going to put PG-rated constraints on Apple Intelligence, but needs to power it using an underlying model that is technically capable of X-rated output, because that’s what’s available.</p>\n\n<p>What Apple needs is a version of Apple Intelligence that isn’t stupid, is reliable and dependable for a broad baseline of tasks and queries, and that users can trust to be utterly private. What Google needs to keep Gemini at the forefront of AI is a lot more than “baseline dependability”. Gemini needs a leading-edge <em>wow</em> factor that Siri and Apple Intelligence do not. Also, by keeping this Gemini deal private, Apple can easily switch to another white-label provider or its own homegrown models in the future, without having to even mention it, let alone explain it.</p>\n\n\n\n " }, { "title": "Regarding the Look of Notifications With Liquid Glass in iOS 26.1", "date_published": "2025-11-05T23:31:41Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-05T23:31:42Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/regarding-the-look-of-notifications-with-liquid-glass-in-ios-261", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/regarding-the-look-of-notifications-with-liquid-glass-in-ios-261", "external_url": "https://x.com/bzamayo/status/1986077588553416872?s=12", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Benjamin Mayo, on X:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The Tinted glass option generally has a relatively subdued impact\ninside apps, making bars a bit frostier. But on the lock screen,\nit transforms all the notifications into grey opaque blobs. I\nwould never choose this mode because that effect is just too ugly.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Now that I think about it, this is almost entirely <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/21/ios-26-1-beta-4-liquid-glass-tinted-option\">why I don’t prefer the new “Tinted” option</a> for Liquid Glass in iOS 26.1 — notifications look orthopedic, like an extra-high-contrast accessibility option for the vision impaired. <a href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1op2yhe/the_difference_between_glass_and_tinted_ios_261/\">Here’s a good side-by-side comparison in a post on Reddit</a>. But as the top Reddit commenter points out, this severe over-correction from iOS 26.0 (where “Clear” was effectively the only option) is only with Light mode — in Dark mode, notifications in iOS 26.1 look good with the Tinted option.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://x.com/bzamayo/status/1986077588553416872?s=12\">x.com/bzamayo/status/1986077588553416872?s=12</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Mamdani Was a Great Candidate Who Ran a Great Campaign ... for New York City", "date_published": "2025-11-05T22:33:58Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-06T03:44:10Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/mamdani-new-york", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/mamdani-new-york", "external_url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/04/democrats-election-wins-trump/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Hannah Knowles, writing for The Washington Post (<a href=\"https://politicalwire.com/2025/11/05/young-voters-powered-mamdani/\">via Taegan Goddard</a>):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Mamdani won two-thirds of voters under 45 in preliminary <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/election/2025/exit-polls/new-york-city/general/mayor/0\">exit\npolls</a>, while Cuomo led him by 10 points with voters 45 and\nolder. The polls also showed an education divide: College\ngraduates backed Mamdani by 55 percent, while voters without\ncollege degrees narrowly favored Cuomo.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>“By 55 percent” is horrendously unclear writing. It could be misread to suggest that Mamdani won amongst college grads by a 55-point margin. He did not. CNN’s exit poll — the link cited by Knowles above — show Mamdani garnering 57 percent of the vote from college graduates, with Cuomo at 38, and Sliwa 5. Amongst voters without a college degree, it was Cuomo 47, Mamdani 42, and Sliwa 11.</p>\n\n<p>Mamdani cruised to an easy win while losing amongst voters without a degree because in New York City, 59 percent of voters yesterday had college degrees.</p>\n\n<p>That level of education in the electorate is <em>not</em> representative of the United States as a whole. In last year’s presidential election (for consistency’s sake, I’m <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/exit-polls/national-results/general/president/0\">citing exit poll data from CNN</a>), only 43 percent of voters nationwide had college degrees. Kamala Harris beat Trump 56–42 amongst those voters. Amongst the 57 percent of voters without a college degree, Trump won by almost the exact reverse split, 56–43.</p>\n\n<p>Democrats, nationwide, don’t need to make gains with college-educated voters. They need to make gains amongst voters without college degrees. There’s no other demographic gap that is more crucial for Democrats to address. Education trumps race, gender, income, and age. <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results\">In 2020</a>, Biden won college grads 55–43, and Trump won non-college-grads by a mere 50–48.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/04/democrats-election-wins-trump/\">washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/04/democrats-election…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "WhatsApp for Apple Watch", "date_published": "2025-11-05T17:34:29Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-05T21:20:52Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/whatsapp-apple-watch", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/whatsapp-apple-watch", "external_url": "https://blog.whatsapp.com/introducing-whatsapp-for-apple-watch?lang=en", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>WhatsApp:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In addition to reading and responding to messages, for the first\ntime WhatsApp on Apple Watch will now support many requested\nfeatures:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><em>Call notifications:</em> You can see who’s calling without needing\nto look at your iPhone.</li>\n<li><em>Full messages:</em> You can read full WhatsApp messages on Apple\nWatch — even long messages are visible directly from your\nwrist.</li>\n<li><em>Voice messages:</em> You can now record and send voice messages.</li>\n<li><em>React to messages:</em> We’ve added the ability to send quick emoji\nreactions to messages you receive.</li>\n<li><em>A great media experience:</em> You’ll see clear images and stickers\non your Apple Watch.</li>\n<li><em>Chat history:</em> You can see more of your chat history on screen\nwhen reading messages.</li>\n</ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>All of these features have long been available on the Apple Watch apps for Apple’s Messages and Phone apps. But it’s an interesting sign that Meta sees Apple Watch as an important platform for personal communication. Not just for notifications that you need to act upon using your phone, but for actually using on your watch itself. And I think it speaks to how hard Meta is pushing to make WhatsApp the new universal baseline for texting and calling. By keeping iMessage and FaceTime to its own devices, Apple has ceded this opportunity to WhatsApp, and <a href=\"https://tech.yahoo.com/science/articles/mark-zuckerbergs-meta-wants-burst-105701442.html\">Meta is trying to capitalize on it</a>.</p>\n\n<p>I know there are many people who spend time wearing their Apple Watch while away from their iPhone — often while working out — who want or even feel they <em>need</em> these features. For me though, one of the things I like least about wearing an Apple Watch is getting badgered on my wrist with notifications. I feel not so much like I need less <em>screen</em> time, but rather that I need less <em>notifications</em> time. I feel good when I have time where I’m unreachable by texts, calls, and news alerts. I spent my <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/09/personal_note\">recent month-plus semi-hiatus</a> wearing only a mechanical watch, and I didn’t miss the lack of notifications-on-my-wrist <em>at all</em>. </p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://blog.whatsapp.com/introducing-whatsapp-for-apple-watch?lang=en\">blog.whatsapp.com/introducing-whatsapp-for-apple-watch?lang…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Apple Podcasts Is Adding AI-Generated Chapters for Podcasts Without Chapters", "date_published": "2025-11-05T16:27:31Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-05T16:30:51Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/apple-podcasts-auto-chapters", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/apple-podcasts-auto-chapters", "external_url": "https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5545-enhance-episodes-with-chapters-links-more", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>News from Apple’s Podcasts for Creators site, regarding new features in the iOS 26.2 beta releases:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>When you supply chapters in your episode description or in your\nRSS feed, they display in Apple Podcasts. If you submit chapters\nthrough your hosting provider, you can include images. For shows\nin English, when chapters aren’t provided, Apple Podcasts\ngenerates them for you and an “Automatically created“ label\nappears in the chapter list. If you prefer not to use\nautomatically created chapters, you can disable this feature in\nApple Podcasts Connect. <a href=\"https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5482-using-chapters-on-apple-podcasts\">Learn more about chapters</a>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It’s unclear to me whether this feature is actually exclusive to iOS/iPhone, or will be available across Apple’s 26.2 OS releases. This strikes me as a great use of AI, but I also think most multi-topic podcasts should include human-created chapters.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5545-enhance-episodes-with-chapters-links-more\">podcasters.apple.com/support/5545-enhance-episodes-with…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Epic and Google Agree to Settle Their Play Store Lawsuit, Pending Approval From Judge", "date_published": "2025-11-05T16:13:03Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-05T16:13:04Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/epic-google-agreement", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/epic-google-agreement", "external_url": "https://www.theverge.com/policy/813991/epic-google-proposed-settlement", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Sean Hollister, reporting for The Verge:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The details of how, when, and where Google would charge its\nfees are complicated, and they seem to be somewhat tailored to\nthe needs of a game developer like Epic Games. Google can\ncharge 20 percent for an in-app purchase that provides “more\nthan a de minimis gameplay advantage,” for example, or 9\npercent if the purchase does not. And while 9 percent sounds\nlike it’s also the cap for apps and in-app subscriptions sold\nthrough Google Play, period, the proposal notes that that\namount doesn’t include Google’s cut for Play Billing if you buy\nit through that payment system.</p>\n\n<p>That cut will be 5 percent, Google spokesperson Dan Jackson tells\nThe Verge, confirming that “This new proposed model introduces a\nnew, lower fee structure for developers in the US and separates\nthe service fee from fees for using Google Play Billing.” (For\nreference, <a href=\"https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/112622?hl=en\">Google currently charges</a> 15 percent for\nsubscriptions, 15 percent of the first $1M of developer revenue\neach year and 30 percent after that, though it also <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969690/google-spotify-android-billing-commission-secret-deal\">cuts special\ndeals with some big developers</a>.)</p>\n\n<p>If you use an alternative payment system, Google might still get a\ncut: “the Google Play store is free to assess service fees on\ntransactions, including when developers elect to use alternative\nbilling mechanisms,” the proposal reads. But it sounds like that\nmay not happen in practice: “If the user chooses to pay through an\nalternative billing system, the developer pays no billing fee to\nGoogle,” Jackson tells The Verge.</p>\n\n<p>According to the document, Google would theoretically even be able\nto get its cut when you click out to an app developer’s website\nand pay for the app there, as long as it happens within 24 hours.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This seems as clear as mud, other than being music to Epic Games’s ears.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/policy/813991/epic-google-proposed-settlement\">theverge.com/policy/813991/epic-google-proposed-settlement</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Just for Fun, Some Vintage 2014 John Dvorak Claim Chowder", "date_published": "2025-11-05T16:02:30Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-05T16:16:04Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/dvorak-itime", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/05/dvorak-itime", "external_url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/30/dvorak", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>John Dvorak <a href=\"https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/the-apple-itime-is-destined-to-fail\">back in 2014</a>, two months before Apple Watch was announced:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I got a lecture from a potential buyer, who will only purchase an\niTime as a replacement for the iPhone rather than an accessory.\nBut all evidence leads me to believe this device will be an\naccessory.</p>\n\n<p>Doing that limits the appeal to people who were promised a\nsleeker gadget profile, which they desperately need, because they\nnever manage to pare down anything. It’s tablet computing all\nover again.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If he’d meant that Apple Watch would be like the iPad, in terms of being a durable long-term <a href=\"https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/charts-apple-caps-off-best-fiscal-year-with-q4-record/\">many-billion-dollars-in-sales-per-quarter</a> platform, he’d have been correct. But he meant that both were duds.</p>\n\n<p>Dvorak is <a href=\"https://dvorak.substack.com/\">still writing</a>, but alas, only occasionally.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/30/dvorak\">daringfireball.net/linked/2014/07/30/dvorak</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Apple Launches New Web Interface for the App Store", "date_published": "2025-11-04T23:16:14Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-04T23:16:15Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/04/app-store-new-website", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/04/app-store-new-website", "external_url": "https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/03/apple-launches-rich-new-web-interface-for-the-app-store/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Apple has <a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/iphone/today\">launched</a> a dramatic new web interface for the\nApp Store. You can now get the full App Store experience right in\nyour browser, with dedicated pages for the iPhone, iPad, Mac,\nVision, Watch, and TV app libraries.</p>\n\n<p>Previously, Apple’s “apps.apple.com” domain simply redirected you\nto a <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/app-store/\">generic page</a> about the App Store on Apple’s website.\nNow, it takes you to a full-fledged version of the App Store you\ncan browse on your computer.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This new website is nice, but it’s not the “full” App Store experience, insofar as you can’t buy or download apps from it. It’s more like a full website <em>mirror</em> of the App Store than a web version of the App Store.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/03/apple-launches-rich-new-web-interface-for-the-app-store/\">9to5mac.com/2025/11/03/apple-launches-rich-new-web…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Apple Releases 26.1 Updates to Its Operating Systems", "date_published": "2025-11-04T23:12:38Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-05T16:59:40Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/04/apple-os-26-1", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/04/apple-os-26-1", "external_url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-releases-26-1-updates-to-its-operating-systems/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>John Voorhees, writing at MacStories:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>With iOS 26, Apple placed two big buttons onscreen when an alarm\nwent off. One was for stop and the other snooze. That wasn’t a big\ndeal for many of the alarms you set throughout the day, but when\nyou’re waking up in the morning blurry-eyed, two big buttons\nstacked on top of each other weren’t ideal. For a lot of users, it\nwas a toss-up whether stabbing at their iPhone through a morning\nhaze would stop their alarm or snooze it.</p>\n\n<p>With iOS and iPadOS 26.1, the “Stop” button for an alarm set in\nthe system Clock app now requires a slide to stop gesture, which\nechoes the Slide to Unlock gesture of the original iPhone. The\nmore deliberate gesture is a good move on Apple’s part. I can’t\nimagine someone tapping and sliding their finger to stop an alarm\nby accident.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is a clever little change. I enjoy that it harks back to the <a href=\"https://youtu.be/vN4U5FqrOdQ?t=955\">original iPhone’s slide-to-unlock</a>.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Update:</strong> If, for whatever reason, you don’t like this slide-to-stop feature, you can turn it off by toggling this option in Settings: Accessibility → Touch → Prefer Single-Touch Actions.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-releases-26-1-updates-to-its-operating-systems/\">macstories.net/news/apple-releases-26-1-updates-to-its…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "[Sponsor] Mux: Video API for Developers", "date_published": "2025-11-04T00:00:49Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-04T00:00:49Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/11/mux_video_api_for_developers_1", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/11/mux_video_api_for_developers_1", "external_url": "https://www.mux.com/video-api?utm_campaign=fireball&utm_source=DF", "authors": [ { "name": "Daring Fireball Department of Commerce" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Video should be simple to ship and scale. Mux makes it easy to build live and on-demand video into anything from websites to AI workflows.</p>\n\n<p>Upload a video, get back a playback URL. No transcoding headaches. No CDN setup. Go further with video building blocks – thumbnails, transcripts, storyboards – to create exactly what you want. </p>\n\n<p>Now, Mux is shepherding Video.js, the web’s most-trusted open-source player, and reimagining it for the modern developer experience.</p>\n\n<p>Future-proof your video with infrastructure trusted by Patreon, Substack, and Synthesia. Get started free, no credit card required. Use code <strong>FIREBALL</strong> for an extra $50 credit.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.mux.com/video-api?utm_campaign=fireball&utm_source=DF\">mux.com/video-api?utm_campaign=fireball&utm_source=DF</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Gurman Suggests That Next-Gen Siri Will Be Powered by a White-Label Version of Google Gemini Running on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute", "date_published": "2025-11-03T17:02:24Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-03T19:29:40Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/03/gurman-siri-gemini", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/03/gurman-siri-gemini", "external_url": "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-11-02/apple-s-nearly-140-billion-quarter-when-ios-26-1-will-be-out-ipad-mini-revamp-mhhpy1ax", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Mark Gurman, in his weekly Power On column for Bloomberg (paywalled, alas):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Even with the rosy sales forecast, the road ahead won’t be easy.\nApple is betting heavily on the new Siri, which will lean on\nGoogle’s Gemini model and introduce features like AI-powered web\nsearch. But there’s no guarantee users will embrace it, that it\nwill work seamlessly or that it can undo years of damage to the\nSiri brand.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>And then, down below in his “Post Game Q&A”:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Q: <em>Is Apple still planning to use Google Gemini to power the new\n Siri?</em></p>\n\n<p>A: As I’ve <a href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-22/apple-explores-using-google-gemini-ai-to-power-revamped-siri\">reported a few times now</a>, Apple is paying\n Google to create a custom Gemini-based model that can run on\n its private cloud servers and help power Siri. Apple held a\n bake-off this year between Anthropic and Google, ultimately\n determining that the former offered a better model but that\n Google made more sense financially (partly due to the tech\n giants’ preexisting search relationship). I don’t expect either\n company to ever discuss this partnership publicly, and you\n shouldn’t expect this to mean Siri will be flooded with Google\n services or Gemini features already found on Android devices.\n It just means Siri will be powered by a model that can actually\n provide the AI features that users expect — all with an Apple\n user interface.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is quite the aside to tuck into a one-paragraph Q&A item. First, I love the idea that Apple is pursuing technical excellence as a top priority for the next-gen LLM-powered Siri. If Apple winds up using its own models, it should be because those models are truly competitive with the best models on the market. And if they can work out a deal to use models from Google because those models are technically superior to Apple’s own, they should.</p>\n\n<p>It’s kind of wild though to think that, if this comes to pass, neither company will publicly acknowledge the arrangement. I believe it’s possible — but it would be odd. Right now Apple has a public partner for Apple Intelligence: <a href=\"https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/use-chatgpt-with-apple-intelligence-iph00fd3c8c2/ios\">optional integration with ChatGPT</a>. Apple labels that integration as an “extension”, and has repeatedly stated — <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/cook-siri-cnbc\">including as recently as last week</a> — that they’re looking at other partners to add. The most obvious partner Apple could add — one that <a href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/10/apple-confirms-plans-to-work-with-googles-gemini-in-the-future/\">Craig Federighi mentioned by name</a> on the day that Apple Intelligence was announced at WWDC 2024 — would be Google Gemini.</p>\n\n<p>If what Gurman is reporting comes to pass, and Apple’s own cloud-based LLM technology is a white-label version of Google Gemini, it’d be pretty weird if that ships and Google Gemini still is not a named extension partner for Apple Intelligence. But it would also be a little weird if Google Gemini <em>does</em> become a named partner for Apple Intelligence alongside ChatGPT, while Apple’s own default cloud-based Apple Intelligence is powered by Gemini’s models.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-11-02/apple-s-nearly-140-billion-quarter-when-ios-26-1-will-be-out-ipad-mini-revamp-mhhpy1ax\">bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-11-02/apple-s-nearly…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Dodgers Win 2025 World Series, Defeating Blue Jays in Thrilling Game 7", "date_published": "2025-11-02T15:17:38Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-02T15:18:02Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/02/dodgers-win-world-series", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/02/dodgers-win-world-series", "external_url": "https://www.mlb.com/news/dodgers-win-2025-world-series", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Anthony Castrovince, writing for MLB (<a href=\"https://apple.news/ANrQgRevNTD6n4rwIO8yVSw\">News+ link</a>):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Behind a stunning, game-tying swat from Miguel Rojas in the top of\nthe ninth, a first-of-its-kind, go-ahead blast from Will Smith in\nthe top of the 11th and the absurd extra work World Series MVP\nYoshinobu Yamamoto provided on zero days’ rest, the Dodgers broke\nToronto hearts with their comeback 5-4 victory in a game that\nmerited its own month on the MLB calendar.</p>\n\n<p>The Dodgers are MLB’s first repeat champs since the 1998-2000\nYankees, and the four-hour, seven-minute, extra-innings affair it\ntook to decide that was a fitting end to a true Fall Classic in\nwhich these two clubs exhausted each other — not just in the\n18-inning epic at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 but throughout a Series\nin which they both had to empty the tank.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>When a series goes to game 7, every fan hopes it’s a good game. But this was a <em>great</em> game — as good as baseball gets. Great pitching, clutch hitting, and some amazing fielding plays. Simply riveting to watch. The Blue Jays came within an inch or two of winning the Series <a href=\"https://x.com/bdubsports_/status/1984828236715675702\">on this play</a> in the bottom of the 9th (and I think they would’ve won on that play if Kiner-Falefa had run through home plate rather than inexplicably sliding).</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.mlb.com/news/dodgers-win-2025-world-series\">mlb.com/news/dodgers-win-2025-world-series</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Jaho Coffee Roaster", "date_published": "2025-11-01T21:46:49Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-02T15:03:13Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/01/jaho-coffee-roaster", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/01/jaho-coffee-roaster", "external_url": "https://www.jaho.com/s/df", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>My thanks to Jaho Coffee Roaster for sponsoring this week at DF. Jaho has been family-owned since 2005, and they’re guided by their slogan: “Live Slow”. Jaho knows that great coffee takes care. From sourcing small-lot single origins to blending coffees for balance, they small-batch roast their award-winning coffees in Salem and Tokyo.</p>\n\n<p>For the at-home coffee drinker, they roast to order and pack the same coffees brewed and served in all of their cafés. For the office worker, Jaho is proud to be a wholesaler with select partners across the nation and in Japan. Jaho was kind enough to send me a few bags of their beans, and I can vouch that they roast <em>excellent</em> coffee — the kind of tasty beans where, when I finish my last morning cup, I’m tempted to brew a little more even though I know I’m fully caffeinated.</p>\n\n<p>For the month of October, every year, Jaho donates all online coffee bean sale profits to <a href=\"https://www.komen.org/\">Susan G. Komen for Breast Cancer Awareness</a>. (The pink in their brand colors originated from this partnership.) For this DF sponsorship, they’re carrying that promotion for all online sales through the end of day on Monday, November 3.</p>\n\n<p>Jaho ships their fresh beans nationwide, and they’re offering a special deal for DF readers: take 20% off with code <strong>DF</strong>. Give up bad coffee for good, and support a great cause at the same time.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.jaho.com/s/df\">jaho.com/s/df</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Nation’s Top TV Critic Weighs in on Late Night", "date_published": "2025-11-01T21:27:16Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-01T21:27:17Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/01/nations-top-tv-critic-late-night", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/01/nations-top-tv-critic-late-night", "external_url": "https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115476218592581611", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>The president of the United States, on his blog:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Seth Meyers of NBC may be the least talented person to “perform”\nlive in the history of television. In fact, he may be the WORST to\nperform, live or otherwise. I watched his show the other night for\nthe first time in years. In it he talked endlessly about electric\ncatapults on aircraft carriers which I complain about as not being\nas good as much less expensive steam catapults. On and on he went,\na truly deranged lunatic. Why does NBC waste its time and money on\na guy like this??? - NO TALENT, NO RATINGS, 100% ANTI TRUMP, WHICH\nIS PROBABLY ILLEGAL!!!</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The funny part about Trump wildly flailing that Late Night With Seth Meyers is somehow “probably illegal” is that the very sentence of the segment that so upset Trump <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coke6nvWs30\">begins with this</a>: “Donald Trump called criticism of his trip to Asia ‘almost treasonous’ and threatened to send active duty military into US cities. For more on this, it’s time for ‘A Closer Look’.”</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115476218592581611\">truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115476218592581611</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Uni Watch: 1999–2025", "date_published": "2025-11-01T21:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-01T22:09:58Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/01/uni-watch-rip", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/11/01/uni-watch-rip", "external_url": "https://uni-watch.com/2025/10/31/uni-watch-1999-2025/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Paul Lukas, founder of Uni Watch:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Due to a perfect storm of negative developments, I have\nreluctantly come to the unfortunate conclusion that continuing to\npublish Uni Watch is no longer viable. This will be the site’s\nfinal post.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, I’m serious. And no, this isn’t a Halloween-related prank.\nUni Watch is shutting down, for real.</p>\n\n<p>I realize this news probably comes as a shock and that you no\ndoubt have lots of questions, so let’s shift into Q&A mode. [...]</p>\n\n<p><em>Will the site’s archive remain on the web?</em></p>\n\n<p>No, unfortunately. Most of the archive — everything but the past\nfew days’ worth of content — has already been taken down. The\nrest of the site, including this post, will be taken offline soon,\nprobably around next Wednesday.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>26 years is a hell of a run (dating back to 1999, a few years before Uni Watch became a standalone site), but I don’t understand why sites don’t leave their archives standing when they close down. It shouldn’t cost much to keep the domain name registered and a static version of the site’s archive online.</p>\n\n<p>Uni Watch, to me, epitomized a certain mindset from the early web. To wit, that there ought to be a blog (or two or three) <em>dedicated</em> to every esoteric interest under the sun. You want to obsess about sports team uniform designs? Uni Watch was there. For a good long stretch, there seemingly <em>was</em> a blog (or two or three) dedicated to just about everything. That’s starting to wane. New sites aren’t rising to take the place of retiring ones.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://uni-watch.com/2025/10/31/uni-watch-1999-2025/\">uni-watch.com/2025/10/31/uni-watch-1999-2025/</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "The Talk Show: ‘Meat Bags’", "date_published": "2025-11-01T00:29:53Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-01T00:29:54Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/the-talk-show-433", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/the-talk-show-433", "external_url": "https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/10/31/ep-433", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Special guest Brian Mueller, developer of Carrot Weather, joins the show to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his utterly ridiculous but totally serious weather app.</p>\n\n<p><audio\n src = \"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/daringfireball/thetalkshow-433-brian-mueller.mp3\"\n controls\n preload = \"none\"\n/></p>\n\n<p><strong>Sponsored by:</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://squarespace.com/talkshow\">Squarespace</a>: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code <strong>talkshow</strong>.</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://uncommongoods.com/talkshow\">Uncommon Goods</a>: Out of the ordinary gifts. Get 15% off your next purchase.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/10/31/ep-433\">daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/10/31/ep-433</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Tim Bray on Grokipedia", "date_published": "2025-10-31T22:40:16Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T22:40:17Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/bray-grokipedia", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/bray-grokipedia", "external_url": "https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/10/28/Grokipedia", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Tim Bray:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Last night I had a very strange experience: About two thirds of\nthe way through reading a Web page about myself, Tim Bray, I\nsuccumbed to boredom and killed the tab. Thus my introduction to\n<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia\">Grokipedia</a>. Here are early impressions.</p>\n\n<p>My Grokipedia entry has over seven thousand words, compared to a\nmere 1,300 in <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Bray\">my Wikipedia article</a>. It’s pretty clear how\nit was generated; an LLM, trained on who-knows-what but\ndefinitely including that Wikipedia article and this blog, was\ntold to go nuts.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Putting aside the political slant of Grokipedia, a 1,300-word article being better than <a href=\"https://grokipedia.com/page/Tim_Bray\">a 7,000-word one</a> exemplifies the current shortcomings of LLMs as creative engines (as opposed to serving as mere tools in the arsenal of human creators).</p>\n\n<p>The French philosopher and mathematician <a href=\"https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/\">Blaise Pascal famously quipped</a>: “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” No encyclopedia in history has been written with less time or effort than Musk’s LLM-generated vanity project. Verbosity is not the worst of Grokipedia’s deficiencies, but it’s one of them. The more its entries stray from simply regurgitating the equivalent entry in Wikipedia, the more they suffer from verbal diarrhea.</p>\n\n<p>(<a href=\"https://grokipedia.com/page/John_Gruber\">My own Grokipedia entry</a> is just a clone of <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gruber\">my Wikipedia entry</a>, with a few mistakes added, including one in the first sentence regarding the creation of Markdown.)</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/10/28/Grokipedia\">tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/10/28/Grokipedia</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "‘Grokipedia Is the Antithesis of Everything That Makes Wikipedia Good, Useful, and Human’", "date_published": "2025-10-31T22:11:31Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T22:31:02Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/koebler-grokipedia", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/koebler-grokipedia", "external_url": "https://www.404media.co/grokipedia-is-the-antithesis-of-everything-that-makes-wikipedia-good-useful-and-human/?ref=platformer.news", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Jason Koebler, writing at 404 Media:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Wednesday, as part of his ongoing war against Wikipedia because he\ndoes not like his page, Elon Musk launched Grokipedia, a fully\nAI-generated “encyclopedia” that serves no one and nothing other\nthan <a href=\"https://www.citationneeded.news/elon-musk-and-the-rights-war-on-wikipedia/?ref=404media.co\">the ego of the world’s richest man</a>. As others have\nalready pointed out, Grokipedia seeks to be a <a href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-launches-grokipedia-wikipedia-competitor/?ref=404media.co\">right wing,\nanti-woke Wikipedia competitor</a>. But to even call it a\nWikipedia competitor is to give the half-assed project too much\ncredit. It is not a Wikipedia “competitor” at all. It is a fully\nrobotic, heartless regurgitation machine that cynically and\nindiscriminately sucks up the work of humanity to serve the\ninterests, protect the ego, amplify the viewpoints, and further\nenrich the world’s wealthiest man. It is a totem of what Wikipedia\ncould and would become if you were to strip all the humans out and\nhand it over to a robot; in that sense, Grokipedia is a useful\nwarning because of the constant pressure and <a href=\"https://www.404media.co/jimmy-wales-wikipedia-ai-chatgpt/\">attacks by AI slop\npurveyors</a> to push <a href=\"https://www.404media.co/wikipedia-pauses-ai-generated-summaries-after-editor-backlash/\">AI-generated content into\nWikipedia</a>. And it is only getting attention, of course,\nbecause Elon Musk <a href=\"https://www.citationneeded.news/elon-musk-and-the-rights-war-on-wikipedia/?ref=404media.co\">does represent an actual threat to\nWikipedia</a> through his <a href=\"https://www.404media.co/wikipedia-prepares-for-increase-in-threats-to-us-editors-from-musk-and-his-allies/\">political power, wealth, and\nobsession with the website</a>, as well as the fact that he\nowns a huge social media platform.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In season 10 of <em><a href=\"https://www.hbomax.com/shows/curb-your-enthusiasm/18a0993f-209a-4653-8f94-f3fb8422e678\">Curb Your Enthusiasm</a></em>, Larry David gets into an argument with Mocha Joe, the owner of an eponymous coffee shop. David leases the space next door and opens Latte Larry’s, a copycat “<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVQp9vSytOE\">spite store</a>” cafe. Grokipedia reminds me of this, except that Larry David is genuinely funny and (in real life, as opposed to his <em>Curb</em> alter ego) at least somewhat self-aware.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.404media.co/grokipedia-is-the-antithesis-of-everything-that-makes-wikipedia-good-useful-and-human/?ref=platformer.news\">404media.co/grokipedia-is-the-antithesis-of-everything-that…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Denmark Backs Away From ‘Chat Control’ That Would Have Rendered E2EE Illegal in the E.U.", "date_published": "2025-10-31T21:48:46Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T21:48:47Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/denmark-chat-control", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/denmark-chat-control", "external_url": "https://www.euractiv.com/news/danish-presidency-backs-away-from-chat-control/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Claudie Moreau, reporting for Euractiv:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Earlier in their presidency, Denmark had revived a controversial\nprovision in the draft law that would mean online platforms — such as messaging apps — could be served with mandatory CSAM\ndetection orders, including services protected by end-to-end\nencryption. However opposition from several other EU countries\nderailed any agreement in the Council.</p>\n\n<p>Today, Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told local press\nthat the Council presidency would move away from mandatory\ndetection orders — and instead support CSAM detections remaining\nvoluntary.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Sanity prevails.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.euractiv.com/news/danish-presidency-backs-away-from-chat-control/\">euractiv.com/news/danish-presidency-backs-away-from-chat…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "What’s New in Shortcuts for the Apple OS 26 Releases", "date_published": "2025-10-31T21:48:38Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T21:48:38Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/shortcuts-whats-new-os-26", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/shortcuts-whats-new-os-26", "external_url": "https://support.apple.com/en-us/125148", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Apple Support:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This update includes enhancements to the Shortcuts app across all\nplatforms, including new intelligent actions and an improved\nediting experience. Shortcuts on macOS now supports personal\nautomations that can be triggered based on events such as time of\nday or when you take actions like saving a file to a folder, as\nwell as new integrations with Control Center and Spotlight.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://matthewcassinelli.com/whats-new-in-shortcuts-for-ios-ipados-macos-watchos-visionos-26/\">Via Matthew Cassinelli</a>.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://support.apple.com/en-us/125148\">support.apple.com/en-us/125148</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Loss of Trust in U.S. Prompts International Criminal Court to Ditch Microsoft 365 for Open Source Alternative", "date_published": "2025-10-31T19:56:10Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T23:53:42Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/icc-ditches-microsoft", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/icc-ditches-microsoft", "external_url": "https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-international-criminal-court-is-ditching-microsoft-software-for-an-open-source-alternative", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>TechRadar, summarizing <a href=\"https://www.handelsblatt.com/technik/it-internet/software-strafgerichtshof-ersetzt-microsoft-durch-deutsche-loesung/100166382.html\">this German-language report from Handelsblatt</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The International Criminal Court (ICC) is looking to replace its\ninternal work environments to move away from US-made software in\nfear of retaliation from the US administration.</p>\n\n<p>The Microsoft software currently used in the Hague-based ICC is\nlikely to be replaced with Open Desk, a German collaboration\nsoftware alternative which is open source, meaning developers have\nchosen to release the source code — opening it up to scrutiny and\noften meaning that bugs and vulnerabilities are picked up quickly\nby the community. [...]</p>\n\n<p>Early in 2025, Chief Prosecutor for the ICC Kamrin Khan, after\nbeing hit with sanctions from the Trump administration, was\ndisconnected from his email service. This action was thought to be\nfrom Microsoft supporting US sanctions — although the firm denied\nthis, with a spokesperson stating; “at no point did Microsoft\ncease or suspend its services to the ICC.”</p>\n\n<p>This sparked fears that US tech firms could flip a ‘kill switch’\nand cut digital services on orders of Trump — outlining the need\nto become less dependent on US technology, with firms like Google,\nMicrosoft, and Amazon dominating Europe’s digital services and\ncloud markets.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is what makes US technology firms’ support for Trump so confounding. It’s easy to see the short-term benefits (e.g. tariff exemptions), but just as easy to see the long-term reputational harm. The US was long seen as the most trustworthy powerful nation in the world. Now it’s one of the least trustworthy. Why would companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon tie their own reputations to Trump’s? Trump’s reign of abject corruption, ignorance, and personality-driven retribution — and these companies’ support for all of it — will be remembered long after Trump himself is gone.</p>\n\n<p>I’m not calling on these companies to outright <em>oppose</em> the Trump administration. But there’s a lot of space between outright opposition and <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/politics/ballroom-donors-white-house-trump\">helping to fund</a> Trump’s illegal vanity ballroom on the White House grounds.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-international-criminal-court-is-ditching-microsoft-software-for-an-open-source-alternative\">techradar.com/pro/the-international-criminal-court-is…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Tim Cook Says Next-Gen Siri Still on Pace for ‘Next Year’, Along With Additional AI Partners", "date_published": "2025-10-31T19:14:26Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T21:10:42Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/cook-siri-cnbc", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/cook-siri-cnbc", "external_url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/30/apple-aapl-earnings-report-q4-2025.html", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Kif Leswing at CNBC interviewed Tim Cook ahead of yesterday’s Apple earnings report:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Cook said that the company still plans to release an updated\nversion of Siri next year, and said that there were more\nforthcoming partnerships like the company’s agreement to integrate\nOpenAI’s ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence.</p>\n\n<p>“Our intention is to integrate with more people over time,”\nCook said.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>And from <a href=\"https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/this-is-tim-transcript-of-apples-q4-2025-financial-call/\">Cook’s prepared remarks</a> at the start of yesterday’s analyst call:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“We’re also excited for a more personalized Siri. We’re making\ngood progress on it, and as we’ve shared, we expect to release it\nnext year.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No news here, but worth noting that Cook claims both the next-gen “more personalized” Siri and deals with AI partners other than OpenAI are still on track. But Craig Federighi hinted at adding Google Gemini as an option alongside ChatGPT for Siri <a href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/10/apple-confirms-plans-to-work-with-googles-gemini-in-the-future/\">all the way back at WWDC 2024</a>, within a few hours of Apple Intelligence being announced. Still nothing. 16 months later and ChatGPT remains the one and only Apple Intelligence partner.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/30/apple-aapl-earnings-report-q4-2025.html\">cnbc.com/2025/10/30/apple-aapl-earnings-report-q4-2025.html</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Kennedy Center Ticket Sales Have Plummeted Since Trump Takeover", "date_published": "2025-10-31T19:02:22Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T19:02:34Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/trump-kennedy-center-tickets", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/trump-kennedy-center-tickets", "external_url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/10/31/kennedy-center-sales/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Travis M. Andrews, Jeremy B. Merrill, and Shelly Tan, reporting for The Washington Post (<a href=\"https://apple.news/AZdploo7oSpOoriLzqRE_Xg\">News+ link</a>:)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“We had spent way too much on programming that doesn’t bring in\nany revenue,” Richard Grenell, a Trump ally and former ambassador\nto Germany, <a href=\"https://washingtonreporter.news/p/interview-kennedy-centers-ric-grenell\">told</a> the Washington Reporter, a conservative\nmedia outlet, in late March. According to Grenell, the center\nhadn’t been making money. It was <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/08/13/trump-kennedy-center-honorees/\">too woke</a> and\n<a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/03/26/kennedy-center-social-impact-team-trump/\">niche</a>. The new team was, in Trump’s words, going to make\nit “<a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/politics/video/trump-kennedy-center-board-phone-call-audio-tapper-ac360-digvid\">hot</a>” again.</p>\n\n<p>Nearly nine months after Trump became chair of the center and more\nthan a month into its main season, ticket sales for the Kennedy\nCenter’s three largest performance venues are the worst they’ve\nbeen in years, according to a Washington Post analysis of\nticketing data from dozens of recent shows as well as past\nseasons. Tens of thousands of seats have been left empty.</p>\n\n<p>Since early September, 43 percent of tickets remained unsold for\nthe typical production. That means that, at most, 57 percent of\ntickets were sold for the typical production — and some tickets\nmay have been “comps,” which are given away, often to staff\nmembers or the press. That compares with 93 percent sold or comped\nin fall 2024 and 80 percent in fall 2023.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Crickets chirping.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/10/31/kennedy-center-sales/\">washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/10/31/kennedy-center…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "October Is Over and, Shockingly, the Gold Trump Phone Still Hasn’t Shipped", "date_published": "2025-10-31T18:12:11Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T18:12:12Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/trump-phone-vaporware", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/trump-phone-vaporware", "external_url": "https://www.theverge.com/news/810500/where-is-the-trump-phone", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p><a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/stern-1x-neo\">Speaking of</a> vaporware, Dominic Preston at The Verge on the T1 Trump phone, which was <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/16/trump-mobile\">announced back in June</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In fairness, for months now, the <a href=\"https://phone.trumpmobile.com/t1-phone/MV8y\">store page</a> has only\npromised an arrival “later this year,” a change made at the same\ntime Trump Mobile <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/693080/trump-mobile-t1-phone-made-usa\">stopped claiming the T1 would be made in\nAmerica</a>. That gives the company two more months to release\nit and still pretend it’s on time.</p>\n\n<p>Trump Mobile never responded to my request last month for an\nupdate on the phone’s release date, and it hasn’t replied to my\nlatest email either. People of lesser faith might worry that this\nphone is no more than vaporware, but I refuse to give up. Place\nyour bets now on whether I’ll be back here in another month’s\ntime, still asking: where is the Trump phone?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/news/810500/where-is-the-trump-phone\">theverge.com/news/810500/where-is-the-trump-phone</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Joanna Stern on the 1X Neo, a Humanoid ‘Robot’ Housekeeper That Is Actually Remote-Controlled by Humans", "date_published": "2025-10-31T17:39:08Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T20:38:34Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/stern-1x-neo", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/31/stern-1x-neo", "external_url": "https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/i-tried-the-robot-thats-coming-to-live-with-you-its-still-part-human-68515d44?st=guXssw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Joanna Stern, writing for The Wall Street Journal (gift link):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It was wild to watch. Sure, Neo nearly toppled over while closing\nthe dishwasher, took two minutes to fold the shirt and twisted its\narm attempting to dance the Macarena. But <em>shhh</em>. Remember the\nrule. Oh, did I mention Neo had a human puppet master, controlling\nit with a VR headset?</p>\n\n<p>Neo’s creator, 1X Technologies, is making the Rosie-the-Robot\ndream: some of the first humanoid housekeepers. Starting Tuesday,\nyou can apply to its early adopter program and preorder one for\n$20,000, with delivery expected in 2026. The company will also\noffer a $499 monthly rental plan with a six-month minimum\ncommitment.</p>\n\n<p>Just one hidden cost: your privacy. For now, you’ll need to be\ncool with a company representative potentially peering through the\nrobot’s camera eyes to get chores done. There are guardrails,\nincluding controls over when and what the operator can do.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As usual, Stern made a delightful short film to accompany her article, which is <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3c4mQty_so\">also available on YouTube</a>.</p>\n\n<p>The argument from CEO Bernt Børnich is that they’re using the videos from the current state of Neo, where its actions are <em>entirely</em> remote-controlled by employees of 1X Technologies, to train its autonomy. I call bullshit. This looks to me like nothing but a scam. It’s not autonomous at all, I don’t believe this company is going to achieve any practical degree of autonomy with this product, and even while it’s remote-controlled by human operators, it’s slow and clumsy.</p>\n\n<p><strong>See also:</strong> <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j31dmodZ-5c\">Marques Brownlee</a>, who smells vaporware as clearly as I do: “There seems to be a bit of a lost art in waiting for a tech product to be actually finished before announcing and unveiling it.”</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/i-tried-the-robot-thats-coming-to-live-with-you-its-still-part-human-68515d44?st=guXssw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink\">wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/i-tried-the-robot-thats-coming…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Jason Snell on Apple’s Quarterly Results", "date_published": "2025-10-31T00:48:00Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T00:49:35Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/snell-apple-quarter", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/snell-apple-quarter", "external_url": "https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/apple-results-holiday-dunks-and-questions-dodged/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In the post-results call with financial analysts, Wamsi Mohan of\nBank of America asked Cook for a little more detail about Apple’s\nsearch revenue, given its lucrative deal with Google, and whether\nthat revenue growth might decelerate if Google’s search traffic\nwere to be impacted by the growth of AI. Cook’s response was, if I\ndo say so myself, an all-timer for these calls:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Cook:</strong> This is Tim. The advertising category, which is a\ncombination of third-party and first-party, did set a record\nduring the quarter.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Mohan:</strong> Okay, and sorry, just to be clear, both Apple’s own\ninternal advertising and within the licensing individually set\nrecords?</p>\n\n<p><strong>Cook:</strong> I actually I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that\nthe combination of the two set a record. We don’t divulge — I’m\ndodging the question intentionally because we don’t split it at\nthat level.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Look, these calls are almost entirely Apple execs dodging the\nquestions of fiscal analysts. At least Tim Cook admitted it this\ntime. <em>You want to know how much Google is paying us and if that’s\ngrowing or shrinking? Well, I’m not gonna tell you!</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If Apple’s quarterly analyst calls were a podcast, “Dodging the Question Intentionally” would be a great episode title for this one.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/apple-results-holiday-dunks-and-questions-dodged/\">sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/apple-results-holiday-dunks-and…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Microsoft Earnings Suggest OpenAI Lost $11.5 Billion Last Quarter", "date_published": "2025-10-31T00:43:25Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T00:51:51Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/openai-quarterly-loss", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/openai-quarterly-loss", "external_url": "https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1_26_openai_loss/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Matt Rosoff, writing for The Register:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If Microsoft owns 27 percent of OpenAI, it stands to reason under\nequity accounting that it bears 27 percent of OpenAI’s losses.\nMicrosoft’s admission that it shaved $3.1 billion off its net\nincome to account for its share of OpenAI losses therefore\nsuggests OpenAI lost about $11.5 billion during the quarter.\nMicrosoft declined to comment beyond confirming that the $3.1\nbillion loss “this year” referred to Microsoft’s current fiscal\nyear, which started July 1, not the calendar year. So that’s a\nquarterly loss, not a nine-month loss.</p>\n\n<p>That’s a humongous number for OpenAI given it <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/technology/openais-first-half-revenue-rises-16-about-43-billion-information-reports-2025-09-30/\">reportedly</a>\ngenerated only $4.3 billion in revenue for the first half of the\nyear, but a sum that won’t hurt Big Daddy Redmond too much given\nit earned $27.7 billion in net income in the last quarter alone.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A pre-IPO startup is a different animal from an established publicly-held corporation, but an $11.5 billion quarterly loss is quite different from the $20–30-ish billion quarterly profits <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/apple-q4-results\">booked by the big six</a>.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1_26_openai_loss/\">theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1_26_openai…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Apple Reports Strong Q4 2025 Results", "date_published": "2025-10-30T21:51:20Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-31T00:39:48Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/apple-q4-results", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/apple-q4-results", "external_url": "https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-reports-fourth-quarter-results/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Apple Newsroom:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2025 fourth\nquarter ended September 27, 2025. The Company posted quarterly\nrevenue of $102.5 billion, up 8 percent year over year. Diluted\nearnings per share was $1.85, up 13 percent year over year on an\nadjusted basis.</p>\n\n<p>“Today, Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue\nrecord of $102.5 billion, including a September quarter revenue\nrecord for iPhone and an all-time revenue record for Services,”\nsaid Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Looking at Apple’s <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/fy2025-q4/FY25_Q4_Consolidated_Financial_Statements.pdf\">Consolidated Statement</a> (PDF), the numbers look great across the board year-over-year: iPhone up 6%, Mac up 13%, iPad even, Wearables/Home even, and Services up 15%. Services now generates more revenue ($28.8 billion) than Mac, iPad, and Wearables/Home combined ($24.7 billion).</p>\n\n<p>Six Colors, as usual, <a href=\"https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/10/charts-apple-caps-off-best-fiscal-year-with-q4-record/\">has Apple’s quarter illustrated in charts</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Here’s a comparison of net income (profit) from Apple’s peers for their most recent quarters:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://s206.q4cdn.com/479360582/files/doc_financials/2025/q3/2025q3-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf\">Google</a> (a.k.a. Alphabet): $35B (!)</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2026-Q1/press-release-webcast\">Microsoft</a>: $27.7B</li>\n<li>Apple: $27.5B</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-second-quarter-fiscal-2026\">Nvidia</a>: $26.4B</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251029099339/en/Amazon.com-Announces-Third-Quarter-Results\">Amazon</a>: $21.5B</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2025/Meta-Reports-Third-Quarter-2025-Results/default.aspx\">Meta</a>: $2.7B, but would have been $18.6B if not for a one-time income tax charge of nearly $16B.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-reports-fourth-quarter-results/\">apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-reports-fourth-quarter…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "CarPlay Seems Essential for Rental Fleets", "date_published": "2025-10-30T15:30:58Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-30T15:36:33Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/rosensteel-carplay-gm", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/rosensteel-carplay-gm", "external_url": "https://joe-steel.com/2025-10-22-Why-GM-Will-Give-You-Gemini-But-Not-CarPlay.html", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Joe Rosensteel:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I have no plan to purchase a GM vehicle, but I do rent cars. GM makes up a sizable portion of rental car fleets. At some point in the future those cars will no longer support CarPlay. I’m not going to sign up for a GM federated ID that stores my login credentials in their cloud. I’m not going to individually sign into apps in the car like Google Maps with my Google ID that I use for way more than just navigation. There’s no chain of trust with me and this random car from GM. No convenience that is achieved in exchange for increased exposure risk for storing my sensitive data in a car I don’t own.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If GM goes through with this abandonment of CarPlay, I don’t see how they’ll continue to sell any vehicles to rental agencies. I would never rent a car without CarPlay, and I would never consider signing up for a GM cloud service just to drive a rental car. Complete dealbreakers.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://joe-steel.com/2025-10-22-Why-GM-Will-Give-You-Gemini-But-Not-CarPlay.html\">joe-steel.com/2025-10-22-Why-GM-Will-Give-You-Gemini-But…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "‘Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology’", "date_published": "2025-10-30T12:52:38Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-30T22:23:04Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/wikipedia-ready-for-apology", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/30/wikipedia-ready-for-apology", "external_url": "https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/hi-its-me-wikipedia-and-i-am-ready-for-your-apology", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Tom Ellison, at McSweeney’s:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How are my competitors doing, the ones you all insisted students use instead of me? That’s right, they were supposed to go to the <em>American Journal of Social Sciences, Powered by OpenAI</em>. Or museums, like the Smithsonian’s Charlie Kirk Shrine to American Greatness. I guess they can still count on credible journalism, once they get past the paywall for <em>Palantir Presents: The Washington Post</em>, so they read the Pulitzer-Bezos Prize–winning work of coeditors-in-chief Bari Weiss and Grok.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/hi-its-me-wikipedia-and-i-am-ready-for-your-apology\">mcsweeneys.net/articles/hi-its-me-wikipedia-and-i-am-ready…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Elon Musk’s Grokipedia Launches With AI-Cloned Pages From Wikipedia", "date_published": "2025-10-30T00:06:53Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-30T00:36:07Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/grokipedia", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/grokipedia", "external_url": "https://www.theverge.com/news/807686/elon-musk-grokipedia-launch-wikipedia-xai-copied", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Jay Peters, writing for The Verge:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>However, despite Elon Musk promising that Grokipedia would be a\n“massive improvement” over Wikipedia, some articles appear to be\ncribbing information <em>from</em> Wikipedia. At the bottom of the page\nfor the <a href=\"https://grokipedia.com/page/MacBook_Air\">MacBook Air</a>, for example, you can see this\nmessage: “The content is adapted from <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Verge\">Wikipedia</a>,\nlicensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0\nLicense.” In some cases, the cribbing goes farther than a rewrite:\nI’ve also seen that message on pages for the <a href=\"https://grokipedia.com/page/PlayStation_5\">PlayStation\n5</a> and the <a href=\"https://grokipedia.com/page/Lincoln_Mark_VIII\">Lincoln Mark VIII</a>, and both of\nthose pages are almost identical — word-for-word, line-for-line — to their <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_5\">Wikipedia</a> <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Mark_VIII\">counterparts</a>.</p>\n\n<p>“Even Grokipedia needs Wikipedia to exist,” Lauren Dickinson, a\nspokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that\noperates Wikipedia tells The Verge. You can read Dickinson’s\nfull statement in full at the end of this article.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>At launch, Grokipedia is to Wikipedia as a chewed piece of gum is to a fresh piece of gum still in its wrapper. And imagine that the gum was chewed by someone with a dipping tobacco habit.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/news/807686/elon-musk-grokipedia-launch-wikipedia-xai-copied\">theverge.com/news/807686/elon-musk-grokipedia-launch…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Local Note: WMMR’s Pierre Robert Found Dead at 70", "date_published": "2025-10-29T21:26:02Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-29T23:55:25Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pierre-robert-rip", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pierre-robert-rip", "external_url": "https://share.inquirer.com/A2DX3Y", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Nick Vadala, reporting for the Philadelphia Inquirer:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Longtime WMMR-FM host Pierre Robert was found dead in his home\nWednesday. He was 70.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Robert’s surname, I must point out, rhymes with Pierre (and with Colbert).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A native of Northern California, Robert joined WMMR as an on-air\nhost in 1981. He arrived in the city after his previous station,\nSan Francisco’s KSAN, switched to an Urban Cowboy format,\nprompting him to make the cross-country drive to Philadelphia in a\nVolkswagen van. “I came because of a relationship,” <a href=\"https://www.inquirer.com/arts/pierre-robert-wmmr-philadelphia-radio-contract-extension-20240112.html\">he told The\nInquirer last year</a>. “I was in love. The love part didn’t work\nout, but the job part did.”</p>\n\n<p>As a newly minted Philadelphian, Robert began working at a local\nhealth food store as he interviewed for radio jobs around town,\nbut found little luck initially. One day, while dining at Astral\nPlane, a long-closed restaurant formerly on Lombard Street, he\nintroduced himself to WMMR program director Joe Bonnadonna and\nannouncer Charlie Kendall, and despite getting on well with the\npair, he learned there were no openings at the station.</p>\n\n<p>But weeks later, he received a letter from Bonnadonna, and\ninterviewed for a job at the station during a concert from Philly\nrock band The Hooters at the Chestnut Cabaret. He soon started\nworking in the station’s music library and office making $3.50 an\nhour, and later began appearing on the air.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There’s no more <em>Philadelphia</em> a Philadelphia origin story than a radio host interviewing for his job during a Hooters concert at the Chestnut Cabaret — and then going on to stay at the same station for 44 years. Impossible for me to overstate just how much Robert’s voice was <em>the</em> voice of music for me and my entire friend group growing up and even through college. You tuned the dial to 93.3 FM and left it there.</p>\n\n<p>My favorite bit of his was an obscure one, a character named Reginald the Butler. Robert always had Reginald on during the holidays, while spinning Christmas rock songs. But <a href=\"https://wmmr.com/episodes/david-lee-roth-with-pierre-robert-and-reginald-the-butler-4-16-1988/\">here’s a classic segment from 1988 with Robert and Reginald interviewing David Lee Roth</a>, who was then on a solo tour and about to play the Spectrum.</p>\n\n<p>Rest in peace, my fellow citizen.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://share.inquirer.com/A2DX3Y\">share.inquirer.com/A2DX3Y</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "PCalc 4.11.1 for Mac", "date_published": "2025-10-29T17:00:28Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-29T20:06:34Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pcalc-4-11-1", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/pcalc-4-11-1", "external_url": "https://mastodon.social/@jamesthomson/115458178673560956", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>James Thomson:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I’ve released a small PCalc 4.11.1 update that’s out now for\nthe Mac.</p>\n\n<p>There was a bug with the theme getting reset, which I <em>could</em> have\nfixed in five minutes, but I ended up doing what I should have\ndone over three decades ago, and added a dedicated section to the\nsettings that puts all the visual customisation in one place.</p>\n\n<p>No more having to search for all this stuff in a submenu\nsomewhere!</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>After <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/nisus-writer-kissell\">the glum news</a> this week regarding Nisus Writer, it feels good to link to a <a href=\"https://pcalc.com/mac/thirty.html\">similarly-aged</a> Mac app that’s still thriving. If you’ve never tried PCalc, <a href=\"https://pcalc.com/store/pcalcmac\">you’re missing out</a>.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://mastodon.social/@jamesthomson/115458178673560956\">mastodon.social/@jamesthomson/115458178673560956</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Toyota BEVs Gain Support for Apple Maps EV Routing", "date_published": "2025-10-29T16:14:29Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-29T21:49:23Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/toyota-apple-maps-bevs", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/toyota-apple-maps-bevs", "external_url": "https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/28/toyota-bz-apple-maps-ev-routing/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Tim Hardwick, writing for MacRumors:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The Apple Maps EV Routing option will allow Toyota BEV users to\nplan travel routes that include stops for charging. Without it,\ndrivers would have had to exit out of CarPlay in order to create a\nroute that included charging stops.</p>\n\n<p>Apple Maps’ EV Routing feature uses real-time data from the\nvehicle to guide drivers to their destinations more efficiently,\nautomatically suggesting charging stops when needed. The system\ntakes into account elevation changes and other driving conditions\nto decide when a recharge is necessary. If the vehicle’s battery\nlevel becomes too low, Apple Maps will automatically direct the\ndriver to the nearest compatible charging station.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Meanwhile GM CEO Mary Barra is spending her lunch hour <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/22/gm-carplay-android-auto\">eating another jar of paste</a>.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/28/toyota-bz-apple-maps-ev-routing/\">macrumors.com/2025/10/28/toyota-bz-apple-maps-ev-routing/</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Samsung Shows Off Tri-Fold Smartphone at APEC Forum in Korea", "date_published": "2025-10-29T15:51:30Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-29T15:51:31Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/samsung-trifold-phone", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/samsung-trifold-phone", "external_url": "https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/28/samsung-tri-fold-smartphone-debut/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>The Onion, in February 2004: “<a href=\"https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/\">Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades</a>”.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/28/samsung-tri-fold-smartphone-debut/\">macrumors.com/2025/10/28/samsung-tri-fold-smartphone-debut/</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "Trump Is Deeply Unpopular", "date_published": "2025-10-29T15:40:28Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-29T15:43:02Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/trump-unpopular", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/29/trump-unpopular", "external_url": "https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>The Economist:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Presidents’ popularity tends to wane. In his second term Donald\nTrump’s has fallen faster than that of his recent predecessors.</p>\n\n<p>Since modern polling began most presidents have started their\nterms with positive net approval ratings (the share of voters who\napprove of their job performance minus the share who disapprove).\nBoth of Mr Trump’s terms began with public opinion split nearly\nevenly. In both cases his net approval rating quickly turned\nnegative. Now it is -18, the lowest it has been since his\ninauguration — and three percentage-points lower than at any\npoint in his first term.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>State-by-state, Trump is only above water in nine states: Idaho, Wyoming, West Virginia, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-popularity-dips-americans-sweat-cost-living-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2025-10-28/\">Reuters, with its own poll</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Donald Trump’s presidential approval rating fell in recent days,\ntying the lowest level of his term, as more Americans frowned on\nhis handling of the cost of living, according to a new\n<a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/data/trumps-approval-rating-2025-01-21/\">Reuters/Ipsos poll</a>.</p>\n\n<p>The three-day poll, which concluded on Sunday, showed 40% of\nAmericans approve of the Republican leader’s job performance,\ncompared to 42% in an October 15-20 Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump’s\npopularity has been within a percentage point or two of its\ncurrent level in every Reuters/Ipsos poll since mid-May. The share\nof people who say they disapprove of his performance has grown,\nfrom 52% in a May 16-18 poll to 57% in the latest survey.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So the Economist has him at -18, Reuters at -17.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker\">economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "OpenAI Acquires Sky, a Still-in-Beta System-Wide AI Automation Tool for the Mac", "date_published": "2025-10-29T00:21:09Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-29T00:21:09Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/openai-acquires-sky", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/openai-acquires-sky", "external_url": "https://openai.com/index/openai-acquires-software-applications-incorporated/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p><a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/thoughts_observations_and_links_regarding_chatgpt_atlas\">Other</a> Mac-related news from OpenAI last week:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Sky is a powerful natural language interface for the Mac. With\nSky, AI works alongside you, whether you’re writing, planning,\ncoding, or managing your day. Sky understands what’s on your\nscreen and can take action using your apps.</p>\n\n<p>We will bring Sky’s deep macOS integration and product craft into\nChatGPT, and all members of the team will join OpenAI.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://software.inc/html/About%20Us\">Two of the founders</a> of Software Applications Incorporated, the company behind Sky, are Ari Weinstein and Conrad Kramer, <a href=\"https://9to5mac.com/2015/08/27/workflow-for-ios-widget-sync/\">who a decade ago co-created Workflow</a>, which Apple <a href=\"https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/22/apple-acquires-powerful-ios-automation-app-workflow-makes-it-available-for-free/\">acquired in 2017</a> and turned into Shortcuts.</p>\n\n<p>Federico Viticci got an advanced look at Sky and <a href=\"https://www.macstories.net/stories/sky-for-mac-preview/\">wrote a glowing preview back in May</a>.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://openai.com/index/openai-acquires-software-applications-incorporated/\">openai.com/index/openai-acquires-software-applications…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "★ Thoughts, Observations, and Links Regarding ChatGPT Atlas", "date_published": "2025-10-28T20:45:19Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-28T21:25:27Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/thoughts_observations_and_links_regarding_chatgpt_atlas", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/thoughts_observations_and_links_regarding_chatgpt_atlas", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>OpenAI, <a href=\"https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/\">one week ago</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Today we’re introducing ChatGPT Atlas, a new web browser built\nwith ChatGPT at its core.</p>\n\n<p>AI gives us a rare moment to rethink what it means to use the web.\nLast year, we added search in ChatGPT so you could instantly find\ntimely information from across the internet — and it quickly\nbecame one of our most-used features. But your browser is where\nall of your work, tools, and context come together. A browser\nbuilt with ChatGPT takes us closer to a true super-assistant that\nunderstands your world and helps you achieve your goals.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A few minutes into <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/8UWKxJbjriY\">the 22-minute introduction video</a>, Ben Goodger,<sup id=\"fnr1-2025-10-28\"><a href=\"#fn1-2025-10-28\">1</a></sup> engineering lead for Atlas, says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“We wanted to make sure that Atlas didn’t feel like your old\nbrowser, just with a chat button that was bolted on. But instead,\nwe made ChatGPT the beating heart of Atlas.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>After giving it a try over the last week, to me Atlas feels like … Chrome with a chat button bolted on. I do not see the appeal, at all, despite being a daily user of ChatGPT. Atlas offers nothing to me that’s better than using Safari as a standalone browser and <a href=\"https://chatgpt.com/download/\">ChatGPT’s excellent native Mac app</a> as a standalone AI chatbot. But, for me, my browser is <em>not</em> “where all of [my] work, tools, and context come together”. I use an email app for email, a notes app for notes, a text editor and blog editor for writing and programming, a photos app for my photo library, a native feed reader app for feed reading, etc. My web browser is for browsing pages on the web. Perhaps this sort of browser/chat hybrid appeals better to people who live the majority of their desktop-computing lives in browser tabs.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The main interface isn’t a combo search/location field, but rather a chat/location field. Instead of getting search results for a query, you get a chat response. If I wanted this I’d just ask my prompt in ChatGPT. Oftentimes — usually, even — I really do want a list of search results, and I want them fast. ChatGPT responses in Atlas are not a list of web pages, and are — compared to Google Search or my preferred search engine, Kagi — very slow. ChatGPT is many things but a good search engine replacement it is not. But that seems to be the entire premise of Atlas.</p></li>\n<li><p>Atlas offers an agent mode where it actually surfs the web for you. One of the demos from their launch video involved getting a list of ingredients from a recipe on a web page, and then allowing Atlas to buy all those ingredients for you. That seems crazy to me. Do not want.</p></li>\n<li><p>Atlas is a Chromium browser, supports Chrome extensions, and but currently is only available for the Mac. It’s not particularly Mac-like though, <a href=\"https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/10/22/chatgpt-atlas/\">as Michael Tsai notes</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Alas, it doesn’t support AppleScript and has System Settings–style\npreferences.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>System Settings-style preferences are certainly better than Chrome-style “settings in a web page tab”, though. Also, in my testing, Atlas doesn’t make good use of Apple Passwords for autofill.</p></li>\n<li><p>ChatGPT is <a href=\"https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12608430-chatgpt-atlas-default-browser-promotion\">running a promotion that offers users increased rate limits</a> if they make — and keep — Atlas their default web browser. I’ve never before seen a web browser offer any sort of incentive like this for making it your default. This promotion strikes me as simultaneously clever and icky.</p></li>\n<li><p><a href=\"https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/21/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/\">Simon Willison’s initial thoughts</a> echo my own:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I continue to find this entire category of <a href=\"https://simonwillison.net/tags/browser-agents/\">browser agents</a>\n<em>deeply</em> confusing.</p>\n\n<p>The security and privacy risks involved here still feel\ninsurmountably high to me — I certainly won’t be trusting any of\nthese products until a bunch of security researchers have given\nthem a very thorough beating. [...]</p>\n\n<p>I also find these products pretty unexciting to use. I tried out\nagent mode and it was like watching a first-time computer user\npainstakingly learn to use a mouse for the first time. I have yet\nto find my own use-cases for when this kind of interaction feels\nuseful to me, though I’m not ruling that out.</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><p>Lastly, Anil Dash’s assessment is rather scathing, “<a href=\"https://www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/atlas-anti-web-browser/\">The Browser That’s Anti-Web</a>”:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In the demo for Atlas, the OpenAI team shows a user trying to find\na Google Doc from their browser history. A normal user would type\nkeywords like “atlas design” and see their browser show a list of\nrecent pages. They would recognize the phrase “Google Docs” or the\nicon, and click on it to get back to where they were.</p>\n\n<p>But in the OpenAI demo, the team member types out:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>search web history for a doc about atlas core design</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is <em>worse in every conceivable way</em>. It’s slower, more prone\nto error, and redundant. But it also highlights one of the biggest\ninvisible problems: you’re switching “modes”. Normally, an LLM’s\ndefault mode is to create plausible extrapolations based on its\ntraining data. Basically, it’s supposed to make things up. But\nthis demo has to explicitly walk you through “now it’s time to go\nsearch my browser history” because it’s coercing the AI to look\nthrough local content.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Chat is a great interface for, well, chatting. People love texting. And it turns out that chat conversations are a very good user interface for interacting with LLMs. We humans enjoy texting with other humans, and we enjoy texting with LLMs. But typed-out text commands are not a good user interface at all for browsing the web. We had an entirely text-based Internet before the World Wide Web, and the point-and-click visual metaphor of the Web won out.</p>\n\n<p>Dash, later on:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It’s no coincidence that hundreds of people who work at OpenAI,\nincluding many of the most powerful executives, are alumni of\nFacebook/Meta, especially during the era of many of that\ncompany’s most egregious abuses of people’s privacy. In the\nmarketing materials and demonstrations of Atlas, OpenAI’s team\ndescribes the browser as being able to be your “agent”,\nperforming tasks on your behalf.</p>\n\n<p>But in reality, <em>you are the agent for ChatGPT</em>.</p>\n\n<p>During setup, Atlas pushes very aggressively for you to turn on\n“memories” (where it tracks and stores everything you do and uses\nit to train an AI model about you) and to enable “Ask ChatGPT” on\nany website, where it’s following along with you as you browse the\nweb. By keeping the ChatGPT sidebar open while you browse, and\ngiving it permission to look over your shoulder, OpenAI can\nsuddenly access all kinds of things on the internet that they\ncould never get to on their own.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This jibes with my impression after giving Atlas a try. The point of it doesn’t seem to be to provide a better web browser for me to use, but rather, to provide ChatGPT with the personal context of my digital life that it otherwise couldn’t get.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr />\n\n<p>That last point raises the question of just how stable we should consider the Apple-OpenAI partnership for ChatGPT-backed Apple Intelligence features. Apple’s goal for a “more personalized Siri” — <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/03/something_is_rotten_in_the_state_of_cupertino\">the whole thing</a> Apple promised at WWDC 2024 but had to postpone for a full year early this year — is for the ecosystem of native apps on Apple platforms, particularly iOS and MacOS, to serve as the personal knowledge context for personalized AI features through <a href=\"https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appintents\">App Intents</a>. That’s the basis for the “When is my mom’s flight arriving?” type of interaction that Apple has promised, but still has not delivered. The premise of Atlas (and its brethren AI-integrated browsers like <a href=\"https://www.diabrowser.com/\">The Browser Company’s Dia</a> and <a href=\"https://www.perplexity.ai/comet/\">Perplexity’s Comet</a>) is that you should live your entire desktop computing life inside your browser, which in turn will give the AI agent that is integrated with your browser the contextual knowledge for your entire life.</p>\n\n<p>OpenAI’s ambitions are clearly at odds with Apple’s.</p>\n\n<p>OpenAI’s advantage here is that ChatGPT is the most popular LLM chatbot in the world, by far. Apple doesn’t even have an LLM chatbot of its own, let alone a good or popular one. But Apple’s advantage is a big one: most people don’t live their digital lives on desktop computers, where it’s an option to do most things in a web browser. Most people’s primary computing devices are their phones — and even for people whose primary devices are desktop computers, their phones are much-used satellite devices. And on both iOS and Android alike, people live their mobile digital lives through native apps, not websites.</p>\n\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr />\n<ol>\n<li id=\"fn1-2025-10-28\">\n<p>Goodger is a titanic figure in the web browser world, having helped <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20111116060139/http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/009698.html\">create Mozilla Firefox</a> in the early 2000s, and then <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20050210015629/http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/007366.html\">joining Google in 2005</a> to help create Chrome. <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/11/26/openai-browser\">I noted last year</a> that Goodger leaving Google for OpenAI was a pretty clear sign that OpenAI was creating its own web browser. <a href=\"#fnr1-2025-10-28\" class=\"footnoteBackLink\" title=\"Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.\">↩︎</a></p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n</div>\n\n\n\n " }, { "title": "Nisus Writer: Schrödinger’s Word Processor", "date_published": "2025-10-28T16:30:48Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-28T16:30:48Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/nisus-writer-kissell", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/28/nisus-writer-kissell", "external_url": "https://tidbits.com/2025/10/25/nisus-writer-schrodingers-word-processor/", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Joe Kissell, writing at TidBITS:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>For more than a year, we’ve heard scattered complaints: problems\nwith Nisus Software’s website, particularly the user discussion\nforum; slow or absent responses to support requests; assorted\nbugs; and other issues. But earlier this week, on 22 October 2025,\nthe reports changed to: “Did you know the Nisus website is\ncompletely down, and that Nisus Writer is no longer in the Mac App\nStore? Does this mean Nisus is out of business?”</p>\n\n<p>On the one hand: The site is back online as I write this. The\napp still works. I’m writing the first draft of this article in\nNisus Writer Pro on a Mac running macOS 26 Tahoe, and it’s fine.\nYou can still download it and buy a license. At least one person\nis actively involved in the company, to some extent. It’s\n(mostly) alive!</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand: All available evidence suggests that\ndevelopment and support for Nisus Writer have ceased, and barring\nsome new information, its future is doubtful. It’s (mostly) dead!</p>\n\n<p>I’m going to tell you what I know. (Well, <em>most</em> of what I know.)\nI’m also going to speculate a bit, because despite my best\nefforts, I have been unable to obtain verifiable information about\ncertain topics, though I have a pretty good idea of what’s likely\nthe case.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Seems like an ignominious demise for a once-great app. Nisus Writer has been an acclaimed Mac-only (and Mac-assed) word processor since 1989. I never got into it, but I could always see the appeal. Nisus had a macro language for automation and regex-style advanced search and replace. But when I wanted features like those, I wanted them in a plain text editor, not a word processor, so I got into BBEdit.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://tidbits.com/2025/10/25/nisus-writer-schrodingers-word-processor/\">tidbits.com/2025/10/25/nisus-writer-schrodingers-word…</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "[Sponsor] Jaho Coffee Roaster", "date_published": "2025-10-28T01:54:55Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-28T01:54:56Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/10/jaho_coffee_roaster", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/10/jaho_coffee_roaster", "external_url": "https://www.jaho.com/s/df", "authors": [ { "name": "Daring Fireball Department of Commerce" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Great coffee takes care. Family-owned since 2005, our slogan “Live Slow” guides our every day in and out of our roastery. From sourcing small-lot single origins to blending coffees for balance, we small-batch roast our award-winning coffees in Salem and Tokyo. For the at-home coffee drinker, we roast to order and pack the same coffees brewed and served in all of our cafés. For the office worker, Jaho is proud to be a wholesaler with select partners across the nation and in Japan. DF readers: take 20% off with DF.</p>\n\n<p>Fresh beans shipped nationwide. <br />\nGive up bad coffee for good.</p>\n\n<p class=\"x-netnewswire-hide\" style=\"padding-top: 1.5em;\"><em>Link: <strong><a href=\"https://www.jaho.com/s/df\">jaho.com/s/df</a></strong></em></p>\n" }, { "title": "★ Apple Loses Landmark U.K. Lawsuit Over App Store Commissions", "date_published": "2025-10-27T21:33:32Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-27T21:33:39Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/apple_uk_lawsuit_app_store_commissions", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/apple_uk_lawsuit_app_store_commissions", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p>Sam Tobin, <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/apple-loses-uk-lawsuit-over-app-store-commissions-2025-10-23/\">reporting last week for Reuters</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Apple abused its dominant position by charging app developers\nunfair commissions, a London tribunal ruled on Thursday, in a blow\nwhich could leave the U.S. tech company on the hook for hundreds\nof millions of pounds in damages. The Competition Appeal Tribunal\n(CAT) ruled against Apple after a trial of the lawsuit, which was\nbrought on behalf of millions of iPhone and iPad users in the\nUnited Kingdom.</p>\n\n<p>The CAT ruled that Apple had abused its dominant position from\nOctober 2015 until the end of 2020 by shutting out competition in\nthe app distribution market and by “charging excessive and unfair\nprices” as commission to developers. [...] The case had been\nvalued at around 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) by those who\nbrought it. A hearing next month will decide how damages are\ncalculated and Apple’s application for permission to appeal.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Dan Moren and I discussed this at some length in <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/10/26/ep-432\">the new episode of The Talk Show</a> that dropped over the weekend. What makes this ruling interesting isn’t that it’s particularly significant or different from other regulatory/antitrust investigations around the world. It’s the fact that it’s completely in line with other regulatory/antitrust investigations regarding the App Store (and Play Store) from around the world.</p>\n\n<p>When is the last time an investigation regarding the legality of the App Store’s dominant market position went in Apple’s favor, in any country? I can’t recall one. Apple is clearly fighting a losing battle here. Whether Apple <em>ought</em> to be losing all these legal and regulatory battles regarding the App Store is, from a strategic standpoint, almost irrelevant. The obvious fact is, they <em>are</em> losing them.</p>\n\n<p>Apple has approached all this regulatory conflict from a perspective that they’re right, and the regulators are wrong. That the App Store, as Apple wants it, is (a) good for users, (b) fair to developers, and (c) <em>competitive</em>, not anti-competitive, legally. But even if Apple is correct about that, at some point, after being handed loss after loss in rulings from courts and regulatory bodies around the globe, shouldn’t they change their strategy and start trying to offer their own concessions, rather than wait for bureaucrat-designed concessions to be forced upon them?</p>\n\n<p>However Apple thinks all of this <em>should</em> work out is not the way it <em>is</em> working out. The best time to adjust the rules of the App Store — its exclusivity on app distribution for the entire iOS platform, the exclusivity of Apple’s IAP for purchasing digital content, the commission percentage splits on IAP — <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2021/06/app_store_the_schiller_cut\">was over a decade ago</a>. The next best time to make those adjustments is now.</p>\n\n\n\n " }, { "title": "★ Two Excellent New iPhone Camera Apps: Not Boring’s !Camera and Adobe’s Project Indigo", "date_published": "2025-10-21T19:25:14Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-22T16:48:11Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/not_boring_camera_and_adobe_project_indigo", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/not_boring_camera_and_adobe_project_indigo", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p><a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/10/sjt-june-2025.jpeg\" class=\"noborder\">\n <img\n src = \"https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/10/sjt-june-2025.jpeg\"\n alt = \"The lower atrium at Steve Jobs Theater, WWDC 2025.\"\n width = 500\n/></a></p>\n\n<p>I took the above photo on Monday, June 9, <a href=\"https://glass.photo/gruber/series/2skCCKMH4LYm8HAuxeoMHo-wwdc-2025-apple-park\">this year at WWDC</a>. Keynote day, around 1:30pm PT. I captured it using my iPhone 16 Pro and <a href=\"https://notbor.ing/product/camera\">Not Boring’s !Camera app</a>, using the built-in Mono Tokyo LUT. Like the other apps in Not Boring’s growing suite, !Camera can be mistaken by the too-cynical as a toy. It is fun and colorful, and some of its features exist for the sake of fun alone. But, just like Not Boring’s other offerings (my favorites: <a href=\"https://notbor.ing/product/weather\">!Weather</a>, <a href=\"https://notbor.ing/product/calculator\">!Calculator</a>, and <a href=\"https://notbor.ing/product/habits\">!Habits</a>), it’s a genuinely serious tool. And of the bunch, I think !Camera is the most innovative. The fact that it’s fun makes me want to use it — a vastly underestimated attribute of tool design. <a href=\"https://notbor.ing/product/camera\">From Not Boring’s website</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Go from snap to sharing without any editing. !Camera is the first\ncamera app to enable professional-level color grading with 3D LUTs\n(“lookup tables”) used in high-end workflows by pro photographers\nto achieve realistic film simulations and unique cinematic looks.\nUse !Camera’s designed presets, add LUTs from your favorite\ncreators, or make and import your own! New Styles and\ncollaborations released every season.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>!Camera <em>looks</em> gimmicky but I assure you it’s not — and what might strike you as gimmicky is really just plain fun and whimsical. My affection for it, and my use of it, has grown, not shrunk, as the months have gone by. While my hardware Camera Control buttons (plural, as I’m currently testing multiple iPhones) remain set to open Apple’s own Camera app, which I continue to use by default, I keep !Camera’s simple widget on my iPhones’ Lock Screens to launch it quickly after unpocketing my iPhone.</p>\n\n<p>!Camera’s use of LUTs for filter-like effects opens the app to a wide world of non-proprietary looks. The best source I’ve found for new LUTs to import is the <a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/panasonic-lumix-lab/id6499262377\">Panasonic LUMIX Lab</a> app — Panasonic’s built-in LUTs are boring, but the app has a whole community of user-submitted LUTs and I’ve found several of them that are lovely. !Camera’s custom “SuperRAW” format, is, in my opinion, key to the appeal of the app:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>No more flat lifeless photos, no AI processing, no weird\nartifacts. Our SuperRaw™ photo processing has been crafted to\nshowcase more film-like tones and preserve a photo’s beautiful\nnatural grain.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Rather than fighting the nature of the small (and thus, noisy) sensors in the iPhone camera systems, SuperRAW processing embraces the noise, imbuing images with <a href=\"https://x.com/asallen/status/1947321942127845853\">natural-looking grain</a>. The results, to my eyes, are genuinely film-like. If you want, you can configure !Camera to save a raw DNG file alongside each capture, for post-processing in an app like Darkroom, Lightroom, or Photoshop. I’m glad that option is there, but I just shoot in SuperRAW, which saves ready-to-share HEIC files with the LUT applied in my camera roll, so what I see is what I get.</p>\n\n<p>Each of Not Boring’s apps is available for a $15/year subscription, but the way to go is <a href=\"https://notbor.ing/plans\">Not Boring’s $50/year “Super !Boring” subscription</a>, which grants you a license to their entire suite of apps. I was already a Super !Boring subscriber when !Camera launched, so, effectively, I got it for free. $50/year isn’t nothing, but it’s not much, and subscriptions have proven to be the best monetization strategy for indie developers in today’s world.</p>\n\n<h2>Project Indigo</h2>\n\n<p>Marc Levoy, Adobe fellow, and Florian Kainz, principal scientist, <a href=\"https://research.adobe.com/articles/indigo/indigo.html\">on the Adobe Research blog back in June</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Second, people often complain about the “smartphone look” — overly\nbright, low contrast, high color saturation, strong smoothing, and\nstrong sharpening. To some extent this look is driven by consumer\npreference. It also makes photos easier to read on the small\nscreen and in bad lighting. But to the discerning photographer, or\nanybody who views these photos on a larger screen than a phone,\nthey may look unrealistic. [...]</p>\n\n<p>What’s different about computational photography using Indigo?\nFirst, we under-expose more strongly than most cameras. Second, we\ncapture, align, and combine more frames when producing each photo — up to 32 frames as in the example above. This means that our\nphotos have fewer blown-out highlights and less noise in the\nshadows. Taking a photo with our app may require slightly more\npatience after pressing the shutter button than you’re used to,\nbut after a few seconds you’ll be rewarded with a better picture.</p>\n\n<p>As a side benefit of these two strategies, we need less spatial\ndenoising (i.e. smoothing) than most camera apps. This means we\npreserve more natural textures. In fact, we bias our processing\ntowards minimal smoothing, even if this means leaving a bit of\nnoise in the photo. You can see these effects in the example\nphotos later in this article.</p>\n\n<p>One more thing. Many of our users prefer to shoot raw, not JPEGs,\nand they want these raw images to benefit from computational\nphotography. (Some big cameras offer the ability to capture\nbursts of images and combine them in-camera, but they output a\nJPEG, not a raw file.) Indigo can output JPEG or raw files that\nbenefit equally from the computational photography strategy\noutlined here. [...]</p>\n\n<p>In reaction to the prevailing smartphone look, some camera apps\nadvertise “zero-process” photography. In fact, the pixels read\nfrom a digital sensor must be processed to create a recognizable\nimage. This processing includes at a minimum white balancing,\ncolor correction to account for the different light sensitivity of\nthe red, green and blue pixels, and demosaicing to create a\nfull-color image. Based on our conversations with photographers,\nwhat they really want is not zero-process but a more natural look — more like what an SLR might produce. To accomplish this, our\nphotos employ only mild tone mapping, boosting of color\nsaturation, and sharpening. We do perform semantically-aware\nmask-based adjustments, but only subtle ones.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You may recognize Levoy’s name. After a distinguished career <a href=\"https://graphics.stanford.edu/~levoy/\">at Stanford teaching computer science</a>, Levoy spent 2014 to 2020 leading the computational photography team at Google <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h7Is5MA3Ng\">for their highly-regarded-as-cameras Pixel phones</a>. In 2020 <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2020/07/20/levoy-adobe\">Levoy left Google for Adobe</a>, and Indigo is one of the first fruits of his time there.</p>\n\n<p>Allison Johnson of The Verge — notably, she came to The Verge by way of <a href=\"https://www.dpreview.com/\">DPReview</a> — wrote a splendid piece on Indigo shortly after the app debuted, under the headline “<a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/tech/694014/adobe-project-indigo-camera-app-hands-on-hdr\">Adobe’s New Camera App Is Making Me Rethink Phone Photography</a>”:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If you hate the overly aggressive HDR look, or you’re tired of\nyour iPhone sharpening the ever-living crap out of your photos,\nProject Indigo might be for you. It’s available in beta on iOS,\nthough it is <em>not</em> — and I stress this — for the faint of heart.\nIt’s slow, it’s prone to heating up my iPhone, and it drains the\nbattery. But it’s the most thoughtfully designed camera experience\nI’ve ever used on a phone, and it gave me a renewed sense of\ncuriosity about the camera I use every day.</p>\n\n<p>You’ll know this isn’t your garden-variety camera app right from\nthe onboarding screens. One section details the difference between\ntwo histograms available to use with the live preview image (one\nis based on Indigo’s own processing and one is based on Apple’s\nimage pipeline). Another line describes the way the app handles\nprocessing of subjects and skies as “special (but gentle).” This\nis a camera nerd’s love language.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Slow and battery-draining is exactly why Apple hasn’t pursued these sorts of advanced computational photography techniques in the built-in Camera app. Apple’s Camera app is super-fast and takes extraordinary effort to go easy on the battery. Apple is making entirely different trade-offs — correctly — for the default Camera app. Pro and prosumer photographers may want to make completely different trade-offs when it comes to image processing time and energy.<sup id=\"fnr1-2025-10-21\"><a href=\"#fn1-2025-10-21\">1</a></sup> (For the last few years, Apple has shot its keynote events using iPhone cameras exclusively, but they use apps like <a href=\"https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccamera\">Blackmagic Camera</a>, not the built-in Camera app, to shoot them.)</p>\n\n<p>I’m deeply intrigued by Indigo, and I have a few friends who’ve shown me some extraordinary photographs taken with the app. If they hadn’t told me, I’d have wagered their photos were taken with dedicated large-sensor digital cameras, not phones. Johnson described Indigo as “not for the faint of heart”, and I’m just faint-hearted — or perhaps lazy — enough that, when venturing to a third-party camera app during the past few months, I’ve reached for !Camera, not Indigo, mainly because I don’t want to bother with any sort of manual post-processing for any but my very favorite of favorite images. But Indigo — available <a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/project-indigo/id6742591546\">free of charge from the App Store</a> — is well worth your attention.<sup id=\"fnr2-2025-10-21\"><a href=\"#fn2-2025-10-21\">2</a></sup> I hope it’s an app that Adobe is serious about maintaining and developing into the future.</p>\n\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr />\n<ol>\n\n<li id=\"fn1-2025-10-21\">\n<p>Johnson also interviewed Levoy last month on The Vergecast. <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQI6G0cbZKY&t=1822s\">The interview starts at 30m:22s</a>. <a href=\"#fnr1-2025-10-21\" class=\"footnoteBackLink\" title=\"Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.\">↩︎</a></p>\n</li>\n\n<li id=\"fn2-2025-10-21\">\n<p>Indigo is currently iOS-only, but <a href=\"https://research.adobe.com/articles/indigo/indigo.html\">in their introductory blog post</a>, Levoy and Kainz write: “What’s next for Project Indigo? An Android version for sure. We’d also like to add alternative ‘looks’, maybe even personalized ones. We also plan to add a portrait mode, but with more control and higher image quality than existing camera apps, as well as panorama and video recording, including some cool computational video features we’re cooking up in the lab.” Also worth noting: Indigo’s computational photography is so tied to specific hardware that it <a href=\"https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-ecosystem-cloud-based-discussions/p-introducing-the-project-indigo-camera-app/m-p/15513112#M108265\">doesn’t yet support</a> any of the iPhones 17 nor the iPhone Air. <a href=\"#fnr2-2025-10-21\" class=\"footnoteBackLink\" title=\"Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.\">↩︎︎</a></p>\n</li>\n\n</ol>\n</div>\n\n\n\n " }, { "title": "★ The Just Plain M5 Chip Launches in Three Updated Products: 14-Inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro (Both Sizes), and Some Sort of Headset Thingamajig Called Vision Pro", "date_published": "2025-10-15T22:04:41Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-15T22:30:42Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/m5_chip_launches_with_macbook_pro_ipad_pro_vision_pro", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/m5_chip_launches_with_macbook_pro_ipad_pro_vision_pro", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p><a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unleashes-m5-the-next-big-leap-in-ai-performance-for-apple-silicon/\">Apple Newsroom, today</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Apple today announced M5, delivering the next big leap in AI\nperformance and advances to nearly every aspect of the chip. Built\nusing third-generation 3-nanometer technology, M5 introduces a\nnext-generation 10-core GPU architecture with a Neural Accelerator\nin each core, enabling GPU-based AI workloads to run dramatically\nfaster, with over 4× the peak GPU compute performance compared to\nM4. The GPU also offers enhanced graphics capabilities and\nthird-generation ray tracing that combined deliver a graphics\nperformance that is up to 45 percent higher than M4. M5 features\nthe world’s fastest performance core, with up to a 10-core CPU\nmade up of six efficiency cores and up to four performance cores.\nTogether, they deliver up to 15 percent faster multithreaded\nperformance over M4. M5 also features an improved 16-core Neural\nEngine, a powerful media engine, and a nearly 30 percent increase\nin unified memory bandwidth to 153GB/s. M5 brings its\nindustry-leading power-efficient performance to the new <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unveils-new-14-inch-macbook-pro-powered-by-the-m5-chip/\">14-inch\nMacBook Pro</a>, <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-introduces-the-powerful-new-ipad-pro-with-the-m5-chip/\">iPad Pro</a>, and <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-vision-pro-upgraded-with-the-m5-chip-and-dual-knit-band/\">Apple Vision Pro</a>,\nallowing each device to excel in its own way. All are available\nfor pre-order today.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Some thoughts and observations:</p>\n\n<h2>14-Inch MacBook Pro</h2>\n\n<p>Apple Newsroom: “<a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unveils-new-14-inch-macbook-pro-powered-by-the-m5-chip/\">Apple Unveils New 14‑Inch MacBook Pro Powered by the M5 Chip, Delivering the Next Big Leap in AI for the Mac</a>”.</p>\n\n<p>The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the no-adjective M-series chip has always been an odd duck in the MacBook lineup. This “Pro”-but-not-pro spot in the MacBook lineup goes back to the Intel era, when there was a 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar. That was the MacBook Pro that, in 2016, Phil Schiller suggested as <a href=\"https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/new-macbook-pro-should-have-been-named-air/\">a good choice for those who were then holding out for a MacBook Air with a retina display</a>. (The <a href=\"https://support.apple.com/en-us/111933\">first retina MacBook Air</a> didn’t ship for another two years, in late 2018.) It’s more like a MacBook “Pro” than a MacBook Pro. The truly <em>pro</em>-spec’d MacBook Pros have M-series Pro and Max chips, and are available in both 14- and 16-inch sizes. The base 14-inch model, with the no-adjective M-series chip, is for people who probably would be better served with a MacBook Air but who wrongly believe they “need” a laptop with “Pro” in its name.</p>\n\n<p>Here’s a timeline of no-adjective M-series chips and when they appeared in the 14-inch MacBook Pro:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>M1 13-inch MacBook Pro: <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/11/introducing-the-next-generation-of-mac/\">10 November 2020</a>. This MacBook Pro was one of the three Macs that debuted with the launch of Apple Silicon — the others were the MacBook Air and Mac Mini. The hardware looked exactly like the last generation Intel MacBook Pro. The M1 Pro and M1 Max models didn’t ship for another year (well, 11 months later), and those models brought with them the new form factor design that’s still with us today with the new M5 MacBook Pro.</p></li>\n<li><p>M2 13-inch MacBook Pro: <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/06/apple-unveils-m2-with-breakthrough-performance-and-capabilities/\">6 June 2022</a>. This model also stuck with the older Intel-era form factor, including the 13-inch, not 14-inch, display size.</p></li>\n<li><p>M3 14-inch MacBook Pro: <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/10/apple-unveils-new-macbook-pro-featuring-m3-chips/\">30 October 2023</a>. The “<a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/10/behind-the-scenes-at-scary-fast-apples-keynote-event-shot-on-iphone/\">Scary Fast</a>” event. This model debuted alongside the pro-spec’d M3 Pro and M3 Max 14- and 16-inch models.</p></li>\n<li><p>M4 14-inch MacBook Pro: <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/10/new-macbook-pro-features-m4-family-of-chips-and-apple-intelligence/\">30 October 2024</a>. Exactly one year after the M3, and also alongside the M4 Pro and M4 Max models. What was different in 2024 with the M4 generation is that <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-unveils-stunning-new-ipad-pro-with-m4-chip-and-apple-pencil-pro/\">the M4 iPad Pros debuted back in early May</a>, all by themselves.</p></li>\n<li><p>M5 14-inch MacBook Pro: <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unveils-new-14-inch-macbook-pro-powered-by-the-m5-chip/\">15 October 2025</a> (today). What’s different with today’s announcement is that it is <em>not</em> alongside the M5 Pro and M5 Max models, but <em>is</em> alongside the M5 iPad Pros.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This raises the question of when to expect those M5 Pro/Max models. The rumor mill suggests “early 2026”. I suspect that’s right, based on nothing other than the fact that if they were going to be announced this year, Apple almost certainly would have announced the entire M5 generation MacBook lineup together.</p>\n\n<p>Basically, this is just a <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/compare/?modelList=MacBook-Pro-14-M5,MacBook-Pro-14-M4,MacBook-Pro-14-M4-Pro\">speed bump upgrade over the just-plain M4 MacBook Pro</a>. But annual — or at least regular — <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2019/05/good_old_fashioned_macbook_pro_speed_bumps\">speed bumps are a good thing</a>. The alternative is years-long gaps between hardware refreshes.</p>\n\n<h2>iPad Pros</h2>\n\n<p>Apple Newsroom: “<a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-introduces-the-powerful-new-ipad-pro-with-the-m5-chip/\">Apple Introduces the Powerful New iPad Pro With the M5 Chip</a>”:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Featuring a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each\ncore, M5 delivers a big boost in performance for iPad Pro users,\nwhether they’re working on cutting-edge projects or tapping into\nAI for productivity. The new iPad Pro delivers up to 3.5× the AI\nperformance than iPad Pro with M4 and up to 5.6× faster than iPad\nPro with M1. N1, the new Apple-designed wireless networking chip,\nenables the latest generation of wireless technologies with\nsupport for Wi-Fi 7 on iPad Pro. The C1X modem comes to cellular\nmodels of iPad Pro, delivering up to 50 percent faster cellular\ndata performance than its predecessor with even greater\nefficiency, allowing users to do more on the go.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think the N1 wireless chip and C1X modem are more interesting generation-over-generation improvements than the M5 chip. Thanks to the N1, these iPad Pro models support Wi-Fi 7 — today’s new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro does not. I would wager rather heavily that the upcoming M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models <em>will</em> support Wi-Fi 7 (probably via the N1 chip, or perhaps even an “N1X” or something).</p>\n\n<p>Other than that, this too <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-pro-11-m5,ipad-pro-11-m4,ipad-air-11-m3\">is a speed bump upgrade</a>.</p>\n\n<h2>Vision Pro</h2>\n\n<p>Apple Newsroom: “<a href=\"https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-vision-pro-upgraded-with-the-m5-chip-and-dual-knit-band/\">Apple Vision Pro Upgraded With the M5 Chip and Dual Knit Band</a>”:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The upgraded Vision Pro also comes with the soft, cushioned Dual\nKnit Band to help users achieve an even more comfortable fit, and\nvisionOS 26, which unlocks innovative spatial experiences,\nincluding widgets, new Personas, an interactive Jupiter\nEnvironment, and new Apple Intelligence features with support for\nadditional languages.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The new Dual Knit Band (<a href=\"https://www.apple.com/shop/product/DUAL_KNIT_BAND_SA/apple-vision-pro-dual-knit-band\">$99 on its own</a>) looks like a hybrid of the more attractive Solo Knit Band (which did not have a strap that went over the top of your head) and the Dual Loop Band (which did have an over-the-head strap, but which looked somewhat orthopedic). It’s a tacit acknowledgement that physical comfort has been a real problem for many people who’ve tried Vision Pro. (Me, personally, I find using it with the Solo Knit Band comfortable for as long as I care to use it — which is typically just 2–3 hours, tops.)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>There are over 1 million apps and thousands of games on the App\nStore, hundreds of 3D movies on the Apple TV app, and all-new\nseries and films in Apple Immersive with a selection of live NBA\ngames coming soon.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Translation: <em>Hey, there’s actually a growing library of immersive content to watch, software to use, and games to play for this thing now.</em></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>With M5, Apple Vision Pro renders 10 percent more pixels on the\ncustom micro-OLED displays compared to the previous generation,\nresulting in a sharper image with crisper text and more detailed\nvisuals. Vision Pro can also increase the refresh rate up to 120Hz\nfor reduced motion blur when users look at their physical\nsurroundings, and an even smoother experience when using Mac\nVirtual Display. Vision Pro with M5 works alongside the\npurpose-built R1 chip, which processes input from 12 cameras, five\nsensors, and six microphones, and streams new images to the\ndisplays within 12 milliseconds to create a real-time view of the\nworld. The high-performance battery now supports up to two and a\nhalf hours of general use, and up to three hours of video\nplayback, all on a single charge.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It’s merely another speed bump upgrade alongside the other two speed bump upgrades today, but a bit more dramatic given that the Vision Pro is jumping from the M2 to M5. No price drop, no change to the form factor. But Apple’s interest in the platform is very much alive.</p>\n\n\n\n " }, { "title": "★ Complying With ‘Demand’ From Trump Administration, Apple Removes ICEBlock From App Store", "date_published": "2025-10-03T21:56:36Z", "date_modified": "2025-10-04T19:53:40Z", "id": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/iceblock_removed_from_app_store", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/2025/10/iceblock_removed_from_app_store", "authors": [ { "name": "John Gruber" } ], "content_html": "\n<p><a href=\"https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/apple-takes-down-ice-tracking-app-after-pressure-from-ag-bondi\">Ashley Oliver, reporting for Fox Business</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>DOJ officials, at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi,\nasked Apple to take down ICEBlock, a move that comes as Trump\nadministration officials have claimed the tool, which allows users\nto anonymously report ICE agents’ presence, puts agents in danger\nand helps shield illegal immigrants.</p>\n\n<p>“We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock\napp from their App Store — and Apple did so,” Bondi said in a\nstatement to Fox News Digital.</p>\n\n<p>“ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing\ntheir jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable\nred line that cannot be crossed,” Bondi added. “This Department of\nJustice will continue making every effort to protect our brave\nfederal law enforcement officers, who risk their lives every day\nto keep Americans safe.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Fox, in its opening paragraph, describes Bondi as having “asked” Apple to remove ICEBlock from the App Store, but Bondi’s own statement uses the verb “demand”. The difference is not nitpicking. No one, not even Bondi, is claiming any aspect of ICEBlock is illegal. Thus it’s not merely inappropriate but outrageous — and yet another among dozens of other causes for alarm regarding Trump 2.0’s decidedly authoritarian turn — for the DOJ to “demand” that Apple do anything about it. But demand they did, and comply did Apple. (Check those lips <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2024/11/i_wonder\">for Cheetos dust</a> before heading home today.)</p>\n\n<p>Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, Peter Kafka, and Kwan Wei Kevin Tan, <a href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iceblock-app-store-removed-2025-10\">reporting for Business Insider</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Apple has removed ICEBlock, an app that allowed users to monitor\nand report the location of immigration enforcement officers, from\nthe App Store.</p>\n\n<p>“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to\ndiscover apps,” Apple said in a statement to Business Insider.\n“Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about\nthe safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and\nsimilar apps from the App Store.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron, <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/iceblock.app/post/3m2alyaghbk2n\">posting on the ICEBlock Bluesky account</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We just received a message from Apple’s App Review that #ICEBlock\nhas been removed from the App Store due to “objectionable\ncontent”. The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure\nfrom the Trump Admin.</p>\n\n<p>We have responded and we’ll fight this! #resist</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is clearly nothing illegal about ICEBlock.<sup id=\"fnr1-2025-10-03\"><a href=\"#fn1-2025-10-03\">1</a></sup> It’s just information, obviously protected by the First Amendment. Law enforcement officers in the United States have no right to avoid being recorded nor their actions being reported and shared. Reporting and publishing where police are policing is free speech and fundamental to the civil rights and liberties of a free society.</p>\n\n<p>We can all wish Apple had fought this “demand”. I certainly do. <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohPToBog_-g\">John Oliver’s “Fuck you, make me”</a> argument <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/10/03/fuck-you-make-me\">sprung to mind</a> for me this morning. But that’s wishful thinking. I believe there are many lines Apple would not cross, even if it means taking on the ire of Trump administration lickspittles, if not the barely literate wrath of the mad king himself on <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/truth_social_is_just_trumps_blog\">his sad little blog</a>. Apple may well eventually — if not soon — be forced to define those lines. But keeping ICEBlock in the App Store isn’t one of them. You might believe it should be. There’s a big part of me that believes it should be. But I can also <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/08/gold_frankincense_and_silicon\">see why it’s not</a>. Pick your battles.</p>\n\n<p>I wrote about ICEBlock twice back in late July. <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/iceblock\">Quoting extensively from my initial post</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The ICEBlock app is interesting in and of itself (and from my\ntire-kicking test drive, appears to be a well-crafted and designed\napp), as will be Apple’s response if (when?) the Trump\nadministration takes offense to the app’s existence. Back in 2019,\nkowtowing to tacit demands from China, <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/10/10/apple-pulls-hkmaps\">Apple removed from the App\nStore an app called HKmap.live</a> which helped pro-democracy\nactivists in Hong Kong know the location of police and protest\nactivity. The app broke no Hong Kong laws, but <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/10/10/768841864/after-china-objects-apple-removes-app-used-by-hong-kong-protesters\">scared the\nthin-skinned skittish lickspittles in the Chinese Communist\nParty</a>. (Remember too that in 2019, <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/10/07/taiwan-flag-emoji\">Apple removed the Taiwan\nflag emoji</a> (🇹🇼) from the iOS 13 keyboard for users in Hong\nKong and Macau.)</p>\n\n<p>One defense from Apple regarding HKmap.live, however, was that the\niOS app was a thin wrapper around the website, which website\nremained fully functional and could be saved to an iPhone user’s\nhome screen. Removing the app from the App Store thus did not\nprevent Hongkongers from accessing it. (<a href=\"https://hkmap.live/\">That website</a> today\n<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HKmap.live\">seems to be defunct</a>.)</p>\n\n<p>ICEBlock is different. It is <em>only</em> available as a native iOS app.\nAccording to the developers, this is for technical reasons. From\ntheir web page explaining <a href=\"https://www.iceblock.app/android\">why they <em>can’t</em> offer an Android\nversion</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>At ICEBlock, user privacy and security are paramount. Our\napplication is designed to provide as much anonymity as possible\nwithout storing any user data or creating accounts. While we\nunderstand the desire for an Android version of ICEBlock,\nachieving this level of anonymity on Android is not feasible due\nto the inherent requirements of push notification services.</p>\n\n<p>To send push notifications on Android, it is necessary to use a\nmechanism that requires storing device IDs. This means that we\nwould need to maintain a privately hosted database to store these\nidentifiers. Storing such data, even if it’s anonymized,\nintroduces significant privacy risks. [...]</p>\n\n<p>In contrast, iOS offers us the flexibility to deliver push\nnotifications while adhering strictly to our design philosophy.\nApple’s ecosystem allows for push notifications to be sent\nwithout requiring us to store any user-identifiable information.\nThis ensures that ICEBlock remains completely anonymous and\nsecure.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To deliver push notifications on Android, the developers claim\nthey would need to maintain a database of device IDs, create a\nuser account system to manage those device IDs, and all of that\nserver-stored data would be susceptible to law enforcement\nsubpoenas and pro-ICE red hat hackers. (What “brown shirts” were\nto the Nazis, we should make “red hats” to MAGA.)</p>\n\n<p>To maintain anonymity and store zero user data, there is and can\nbe no web app version of ICEBlock. There is and can be no Android\nversion. Only iOS supports the security and privacy features for\nICEBlock to offer what it does, the way it does. Here’s to hoping\nthat Apple will proudly defend it if push comes to shove.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Apple’s removal of ICEBlock from the App Store is, in multiple ways, <em>worse</em> than Apple’s removal of HKmap.live from the App Store back in 2019. First, you cannot take a disagreement with the Chinese government to court. Here in the United States, you can. But Apple chose not to. That’s a display of weakness. </p>\n\n<p>Second, from the perspective of users, without the HKmap.live “app”, Hong Kong iPhone users could still access all the functionality via the website, and the website could be saved to their home screens as a web app that was, I believe, functionally identical to the version from the App Store. I put “app” in quotes above because the HKmap.live app was really just a thin wrapper around the service’s mobile website. Hongkongers lost some convenience, and they lost the ability to tell non-technical protestor friends “just get it from the App Store”, but it’s not <em>that</em> much more complex to explain how to add a website to your iPhone home screen as a web app.</p>\n\n<p>With ICEBlock, the entire thing is simply no longer available. If you already have ICEBlock installed, the installed version still functions on your iPhone, but, until and if Apple changes its mind, there will be no further software updates and new users are unable to download it. Nor will current users be able to re-download the app on a new iPhone — and now is “new iPhone” season. And, seemingly, there can be no web app (or Android) version of ICEBlock that offers the same level of anonymity as the native iOS version — with notifications, but without user accounts nor any database of device IDs for notifications that would be subject to subpoena from ICEBlock.</p>\n\n<p>The gist of <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/26/iceblock-trust-apple\">my second post on ICEBlock</a> from back in July is that ICEBlock’s privacy-protecting architecture isn’t magic. It’s based on trust in Apple itself. Joshua Aaron doesn’t have access to ICEBlock users’ device IDs (let alone their personal identities), but ICEBlock can send push notifications to devices because Apple itself does know device IDs and users’ identities.</p>\n\n<p>It’s rather chilling to consider what Apple would have done if the Trump administration had “demanded” a list of device IDs and user identities for everyone who had installed ICEBlock. Or what Apple <em>will</em> do if such a demand pops into one of their dimwitted but cruel minds.<sup id=\"fnr2-2025-10-03\"><a href=\"#fn2-2025-10-03\">2</a></sup> I suspect that’s one of the lines Apple would not cross. That Apple would stand its ground there and say “Fuck you, make us” and take it to court. But there’s only one way to find out.</p>\n\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr />\n<ol>\n\n<li id=\"fn1-2025-10-03\">\n<p>It’s interesting to consider how Aaron might “fight this”. I don’t think suing the Department of Justice is an option. All Pam Bondi did was issue a “demand” to Apple. That’s inappropriate and an embarrassment, and in any normal administration would be just cause for her immediate dismissal from the job. But it’s not against the law. She didn’t issue an unconstitutional legal demand to Apple. She just issued a verbal request with an implicit threat of turning the nation’s MAGA derps and Fox News junkies against Apple. What Apple was afraid of wasn’t fighting this demand in a court of law, but in the court of public opinion.</p>\n\n<p>So maybe Aaron sues Apple? I’m not sure he has grounds for that either, but it’d be interesting to see Apple’s lawyers argue in court that the App Store is no place for apps that protect users’ civil liberties and personal privacy. <a href=\"#fnr1-2025-10-03\" class=\"footnoteBackLink\" title=\"Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.\">↩︎︎</a></p>\n</li>\n\n<li id=\"fn2-2025-10-03\">\n<p>A few people have already asked me why it took the Trump administration several months to put ICEBlock in its crosshairs and issue a takedown “demand” to Apple. <a href=\"https://abc7ny.com/post/iceblock-new-iphone-app-lets-users-know-when-ice-agents-are-area/16902392/\">Aaron shipped the first release of ICEBlock back in April</a>, and it achieved a significant amount of well-deserved publicity in July after Trump’s ICE goons began large-scale deportation raids in Los Angeles. My answer is simple: it took them months to issue this demand because they’re so goddamn stupid and incompetent. We should be thankful for that. In a competent regime attempting an authoritarian takeover of a liberal democracy, it would have been taken down in days, not months. <a href=\"#fnr2-2025-10-03\" class=\"footnoteBackLink\" title=\"Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.\">↩︎</a></p>\n</li>\n\n</ol>\n</div>\n\n\n\n " } ] }