Happy MagSafe Monday to those who celebrate! Last fall, Apple added FaceTime to Apple TV 4K as part of tvOS 17. Now the company is selling a Belkin MagSafe mount for using the iPhone-enabled feature more easily. The accessory also makes video calling with iPhone on Apple TV 4K easier with apps like Zoom and Webex.
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Apple is updating the iPhone with even more emoji characters. iOS 17.4 introduces new ways to express approval or denial, break through the chains, rise from the ashes, or just express that limes are superior to lemons. There’s also a mushroom that looks less out of Mario World and more out of the grocery store.
The new emoji characters are also available in macOS 14.4 on the Mac, watchOS 10.4 for Apple Watch, and iPadOS 17.4 for iPad. For Apple Vision Pro owners, they appear in visionOS 1.1 developer beta.
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CarPlay has graduated from a niche upgrade option to a mainstream standard feature in new cars, replacing clunky radio user interfaces with a design very familiar for iPhone users. But before Apple set CarPlay loose in the wild, the world was shown a very different design for Apple’s infotainment feature under a different name.
Sunday marks 10 years since Apple publicly rebranded “iOS in the Car” as CarPlay. Here’s a look back:
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Redmond, start your photocopiers! After recently innovating Windows with center-aligned, bottom-docked apps, Microsoft is catching up with macOS in a more useful way. Tom Warren at The Verge reports that Windows 11 is gaining the ability to use a phone as a webcam.
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Apple Australia on YouTube has published two new advertisements for the Apple Watch that showcase the device’s health and safety features. Both stories are retellings of actual experiences Apple Watch customers have had.
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If you’re keen on running unreleased firmware on your AirPods, you’re in luck. Apple just released a new developer beta firmware update for AirPods Pro 2.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook has a message for Wall Street. He believes Apple “break new ground” on generative AI this year. Cook’s latest AI hype comments came today during Apple’s annual shareholders meeting.
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In addition to releasing iOS 17.4 RC 1, Apple has updated several other beta software releases today. This includes the fourth beta of the upcoming visionOS 1.1 update. The new version adds mobile device management support for enterprise email and calendar, the latest emoji characters, and improvements to Persona.
Additionally, Apple has released the fifth beta versions of its other non-iOS software updates. This includes macOS Sonoma 14.4, tvOS 17.4, and the HomePod 17.4 update. No sign of watchOS 10.4 beta 5 yet.
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Apple has released the first iOS 17.4 RC (release candidate) ahead of the expected final version shipping next week.
iOS 17.4 addresses new regulation in the EU as required by the Digital Markets Act. The primary change is in policy with Apple now forced to allow app markets to compete with the App Store on iPhone. iOS 17.4 delivers the system-level infrastructure to support alternative app stores.
Globally, iOS 17.4 has a collection of feature additions including updates to CarPlay, the latest emoji characters, and more.
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We’re still learning everything Apple Vision Pro can do thanks to creative developers like Geert Bevin. For example, did you know apps can create floating wrist HUDs as if you were wearing a futuristic watch that projected information? That’s something his new MIDI Widgets app for Apple Vision Pro can do, and it’s a must-have for musicians.
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Apple is reportedly hiring away the current White House deputy press secretary. Olivia Alair Dalton currently serves as Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary.
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Public beta releases are also now available today.
iOS 17.4 development is wrapping up soon. Apple just shipped iOS 17.4 beta 4 to developers. The pre-release software primarily focuses on changes made in the EU due to regulatory requirements. Apple also released macOS 14.4 beta 4, visionOS 1.1 beta 3, watchOS 10.4 beta 4, and tvOS 17.4 beta 4.
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There’s a new way to completely lose track of time in Apple Vision Pro. TikTok announced today that it has officially launched its own spatial app for visionOS.
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Google is leaving a YouTube-shaped hole on Apple Vision Pro for now. Fortunately, there’s Juno to fill in the gap for anyone who wants a proper visionOS experience outside of Safari. Now Juno has been updated to address some early customer feedback, including user interface changes to the main video player.
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Update: A day later, public beta versions are available.
iOS 17.4 development is well under way. Apple just shipped iOS 17.4 beta 3 to developers. The pre-release software primarily focuses on changes made in the EU due to regulatory requirements.
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Well, this is awkward. As it turns out, I won’t be able to use Apple’s new product called Vision due to my own vision. Like a lot of people, I wear glasses to correct my eyesight. I can pass an eye exam and drive a motorcycle, but I cannot use Apple Vision Pro.
“ZEISS received your prescription and determined that they are unable to create your optical inserts,” says the email notifying me that my optical inserts order was canceled.
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Apple Watch added atrial fibrillation detection several years ago, and customers have benefited from the feature ever since. The latest example of Apple Watch making a difference comes from a couple out of Summerville, South Carolina.
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Apple has released visionOS 1.0.3 for Apple Vision Pro. The latest software update is the first to be released since the headset hit stores on February 2.
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The issue of misleading apps on the App Store surfaced this week after yesterday’s LastPass incident. The folks behind the popular password manager needed to warn customers that an app called LassPass was pretending to be LastPass. While that’s a pretty egregious example of what can sneak through review, it can be helpful to have more context around how the App Store typically functions.
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The United States Federal Communications Commission has agreed to outlaw robocalls that use voice cloning technology. The development comes after a wave of robocalls used an AI-generated voice claiming to be Joe Biden to mislead voters during a US presidential election year.
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The excellent accessory makers at WaterField out of San Francisco are back with a plush and padded travel case for Apple Vision Pro. Vision Pro Shield Case is half the size and a fraction of the cost of Apple’s travel case. It also features an exterior zipped pocket unlike other Vision Pro bags we’ve seen so far.
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The first Apple Vision Pro reviews arrived last week on January 30 ahead of the February 2 product launch. A week and change later, tech journalists have had even more time to spend with Apple Vision Pro. My new favorite review is from Raymond Wong at Inverse. He spares no words when evaluating Apple Vision Pro, including as a spatial computer.
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With Vision Pro, Apple is clearly marching toward a future where sleek smart glasses can augment our views with useful information and applications. Perhaps we should think about Apple Vision Pro as the desktop, and Apple glasses will be the desktop’s miniaturization into the laptop.
Anyway, we don’t have to wait and see what Apple is cooking up to get our first taste of what smart glasses may offer. Meta/Ray-Ban and Amazon have been in the business for a few years, and more bespoke AI products are popping up on the regular. The latest is this open-source pair of AI glasses from Brilliant Labs.
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Apple has released a new iPhone software update for all users. iOS 17.3.1 is now available ahead of iOS 17.4’s release in March. Other releases out today include watchOS 10.3.1 and macOS 14.3.1.
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