Month: June 2022

Apple CEO Tim Cook today wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate advocating for strong privacy legislation at the federal level. The letter appears to be in response to a proposed bipartisan bill titled the "American Data Privacy and Protection Act" that would outline the types of data companies can collect from individuals and how they can use it.

The letter, obtained by MacRumors, is addressed to Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce:

Dear Chairs Cantwell and Pallone and Ranking Members Wicker and McMorris Rodgers:

Thank you for your ongoing work on privacy legislation. Apple continues to support efforts at the federal level to establish strong privacy protections for consumers, and we are encouraged by the draft proposals your offices have produced.

We recognize that there are outstanding issues to be resolved, but the areas of agreement appear to far outweigh the differences. Your drafts would provide substantial protections for consumers, and we write to offer our strong support towards achieving this shared goal. With your work, coupled with President Biden’s call to better protect children’s privacy, it appears Americans are closer than ever to obtaining meaningful privacy protections.

At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. It is why we have consistently advocated for comprehensive privacy legislation and contributed to the process whenever possible. It is also why we’ve always built products and features that protect users and their information by default. We do this by minimizing the data we collect, processing as much data as possible on a user’s device, giving users transparency as to what data is collected and control as to how it is used, and building robust systems to protect user data across all our products and services.

While Apple will continue to innovate and develop new ways to protect user data, only Congress can provide strong privacy protections for all Americans. The continued absence of this important legislation will unfortunately perpetuate a patchwork approach to privacy rights that leaves too many without the rigorous standards we hope to see as a result of your hard work.

We strongly urge you to advance comprehensive privacy legislation as soon as possible, and we stand ready to assist in this process in the days ahead.

Sincerely,

Tim Cook CEO, Apple

This article, "Apple CEO Tim Cook Writes Letter to U.S. Senate Supporting Strong Privacy Legislation" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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As part of its rebuilt Home app experience in iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, Apple appears to be removing support for using an iPad as a Home Hub.

For those unfamiliar with what a Home Hub does, the HomeKit framework allows you to remotely control compatible smart home devices, but some features like location-based automation require a designated Home Hub, which remains powered on and connected at your home when you’re away.

For example, with a Home Hub, some thermostats can change the temperature to something more economical whenever you leave your home by using a virtual geographical boundary (geofencing). A Home Hub also allows you to use Siri to trigger actions when you’re away from home.

In iOS 15, Apple lets you designate an Apple TV, HomePod, or ‌iPad‌ as a Home Hub, but in ‌iOS 16‌, which is currently in beta, "Only ‌Apple TV‌ and HomePod are supported as home hubs," according to a footnote in Apple’s iOS 16 preview webpage. Despite this change, it should be noted that iPadOS 16 beta 1 still allows you to designate an ‌iPad‌ as a Home Hub. However, given Apple’s marketing webpage for ‌iOS 16‌ as well as interface notes in iPadOS 16, it’s likely that this ability will be removed in a later version of the software.

Apple hasn’t explained why ‌iPad‌ has dropped from the list of compatible Home Hub devices in ‌iOS 16‌, but it could have something to do with Apple’s announcement that ‌HomeKit‌ will support the upcoming Matter cross-platform compatibility smart home standard when the latter goes live.

Matter will allow ‌HomeKit‌ users to integrate more IoT device categories into their smart homes than ever before, and control them with the Home app and using ‌Siri‌. Matter is due to launch later this year, which is likely to be around the time that ‌iOS 16‌ is officially released to the public in the fall.

This article, "iPad Home Hub Support Apparently Being Removed in iOS 16" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, joined by Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, Greg Joswiak, have talked at length about iOS 16‘s lock screen redesign, iPadOS 16’s and macOS Ventura‘s new "Stage Manager" feature, gaming on the Mac, and more with Daring Fireball’s John Gruber.

In this year’s WWDC installment of The Talk Show, taped live from Apple Park at Apple’s new developer center, the two top executives discussed the latest software announcements, including the new suite of customization features coming to the iPhone lock screen. Federighi said that Apple wanted to offer users the ability to make their lock screen truly theirs.

During the 90-minute conversation, Federighi addressed recent controversy that has arisen following ‌macOS Ventura‌’s introduction of the redesigned System Preferences, now renamed System Settings. One aspect of the redesign that has gotten noted on Twitter is the removal of videos that demo macOS trackpad gestures. Federighi confirmed during the interview that those videos are coming back in a "new experience" in a future ‌macOS Ventura‌ beta.

Federighi said that despite what some may think, ‌macOS Ventura‌’s redesign of System Setting was not largely inspired by iOS. Federighi instead said that team’s main goal was consistency for users, saying System Settings on ‌macOS Ventura‌ is a "great interface."

This article, "Craig Federighi Talks iOS 16 Lock Screen Redesign, macOS Ventura System Settings, and More in Annual WWDC Episode of ‘The Talk Show’" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Get ready to relax with the new Apple Arcade addition Jigsaw Puzzle by MobilityWare+.

The game features more than 25,000 puzzles including options from Disney, Hasbro, and many more.

You can play a range of piece sizes and even enjoy music while putting the puzzle together.

Other features include the ability to show only edge pieces, storing puzzles in a tray, and having access to hints and a preview of the final product.

Just like other games on Apple Arcade, there are no advertisements or in-app purchases.

You can try out Apple Arcade with a one-month free trial. After that, it’s $4.99 per month. It’s also a part of all Apple One bundles.

A subscription can be shared with up to six other members of your family with Family Sharing.

To subscribe on your iPhone or iPad, open up the App Store tab and then select the Arcade tab.

Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman on Thursday reported that Apple is considering launching an all-new 12-inch notebook at the end of 2023 or in early 2024. Gurman said it is unclear if the 12-inch model would be a low-end MacBook or a higher-end MacBook Pro.

Twitter user "Majin Bu" has since claimed that the model will be a new 12-inch MacBook Pro that may be equipped with Apple’s next-generation M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. In the MacBook Pro, Gurman said the M2 Max will feature a 12-core CPU and up to a 38-core GPU, while the M1 Max maxes out with a 10-core CPU and a 32-core GPU.

Apple has released both lower-end and higher-end 12-inch notebooks in the past. At the low end, Apple introduced an ultra-thin 12-inch MacBook that weighed just two pounds in 2015, but the notebook was discontinued in 2019. And at the higher end, Apple offered a 12-inch PowerBook G4 in the mid-2000s, prior to the original MacBook Pro.

In any case, Apple silicon chips deliver impressive performance per watt, paving the way for Apple to introduce ultra-portable, high-performance MacBooks without the thermal constraints of Intel processors that the company used over the last decade and a half.

Majin Bu has a hit-or-miss track record with Apple rumors, but he has gained some credibility recently after tweeting that Apple was planning a new 14.1-inch iPad Pro. The rumor has since been backed by very reliable display industry consultant Ross Young, who tweeted that his supply chain sources have confirmed that Apple is indeed planning a new 14.1-inch iPad Pro with a mini-LED display that could launch in 2023.

This article, "Apple’s Rumored 12-Inch MacBook Could Be Pro Model With M2 Pro and M2 Max" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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