Apple is set to board the runaway locomotive that is generative AI at next week’s World Wide Developer Conference.
First there’s the name: Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence will arrive as an opt-in beta, similar to developer-focused operating system updates the company releases after WWDC.
Apple Intelligence will initially be focused on bolstering existing applications.
it sounds like Apple’s big push into AI is less about flash and more about making its operating system more intuitive and user friendly.
The subject has been a massive question mark looming over Cupertino for the last few years, as competitors like Google and Microsoft have embraced generative AI.
Apple’s near-term strategy is a deep integration between existing properties and generative AI, with Siri at the center.
Rather than replacing Assistant outright, Google has been integrating its generative AI platform into different applications.
Smart speakers have a broader bellwether for platforms like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.
Other people do it well.”The company’s approach to generative AI is currently in the same place.
With its list of Apple Design Awards winners, Apple is celebrating indie apps and startups over bigger tech firms — including those offering AI chatbots.
There’s no ChatGPT to be found on Apple’s list of Design Awards finalists, for example.
Instead, Apple’s list of finalists for its Design Awards favored small to midsize app makers like Copilot Money, SmartGym, recipe app Crouton, creative app Procreate Dreams, Gentler Streak, and others, as well as those from venture-backed startups like the creativity app Rooms and the reimagined web browser Arc Search.
We're overjoyed– and, frankly, in disbelief– that Rooms is a finalist for Apple's 2024 Design Awards.
An “Inclusivity” section also boosts Apple’s global app community, including members in the EU where regulation is underway via the Digital Markets Act.
WWDC is for developers, and much of the focus will be on iOS 18.
As the big event nears, all sorts of leaks have emerged about what iOS 18 and its rumored AI-powered apps and features have in store.
AI recaps of missed texts will also be available.
Users will also be able to change the color of app icons, perhaps as Apple’s answer to Google’s Material You.
Maps with route creationMaps will support custom route creation in iOS 18, which lets users design their own routes for a trip.
Following the collapse of its electric car project, Apple reportedly shuffled a number of employees into its internal generative AI efforts.
iOS 18 with more AIImage Credits: Darrell EtheringtonAlong with that partnership, expect iOS 18 to be the centerpiece of the event.
Siri will be getting a long-awaited refresh, courtesy of Apple’s generative AI work.
Generative AI is even coming to emojis, allowing users to customize and create their own in Messages.
A lot of the iOS updates should also make their way to macOS, including those in Siri, Notes and Safari.
WWDC is for developers, and much of the focus will be on iOS 18.
As the big event nears, all sorts of leaks have emerged about what iOS 18 and its rumored AI-powered apps and features have in store.
AI recaps of missed texts will also be available.
Users will also be able to change the color of app icons, perhaps as Apple’s answer to Google’s Material You.
Maps with route creationMaps will support custom route creation in iOS 18, which lets users design their own routes for a trip.
Apple will kick off its weeklong Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) event with the customary keynote at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT on June 10.
The presentation will focus on the company’s software offerings and the developers that power them, including the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS and watchOS.
There’s a stream on YouTube as well, but that has a tendency to lag a bit.
And you can bet that many of iOS 18’s AI features will make their way to macOS 15, as well.
TechCrunch will be reporting on the ground at Apple Park, bringing you the news as it happens.
Apple has removed the Meta-owned end-to-end encrypted messaging app WhatsApp from its App Store in China following a government order citing national security concerns, the news agency Reuters reported Friday.
Meta’s newer, Twitter-esque text-based social networking app, Threads, has also been pulled from the App Store for the same reason, it said.
But the AppleCensorship site, which tracks App Store removals, records both Signal and Telegram as having been “disappeared” from Apple’s mainland China App Store.
Last year another Twitter alternative, Jack Dorsey-backed Damus, was also pulled from Apple’s China App Store shortly after it had been approved.
Although quite a number evidently managed to do so, as Threads quickly landed in the top 5 on Apple’s China App Store last summer.
VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of Indian news aggregator app Dailyhunt, has acquired the popular digital newsstand firm Magzter, the two said Thursday.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup has fully acquired Magzter, a New York-headquartered firm that counted Singapore Press Holdings among its backers.
Magzter has amassed over 1 million paying subscribers in India and boasts a global active user base of 87 million, Bedi said.
The firm, which offers an all-you-can-consume model with annual subscription fees ranging from $20 to $30, will find a distribution and technology partner in VerSe Innovation, he added.
The Indian firm plans to launch Dailyhunt Premium this year that will include an ad-free experience as well as Magzter’s catalog.
A crypto wallet maker claimed this week that hackers may be targeting people with an iMessage “zero-day” exploit — but all signs point to an exaggerated threat, if not a downright scam.
Trust Wallet’s official X (previously Twitter) account wrote that “we have credible intel regarding a high-risk zero-day exploit targeting iMessage on the Dark Web.
According to Apple, there is no evidence anyone has successfully hacked someone’s Apple device while using Lockdown Mode.
For its part, CodeBreach Lab appears to be a new website with no track record.
TechCrunch could not reach CodeBreach Lab for comment because there is no way to contact the alleged company.
