Apple

The Hollywood Reporter says that Apple is working on a movie based on the Oregon Trail computer game. It’s apparently in “early development,” according to THR, but could feature musical numbers? This movie could be amazing or awful.

Safari will support spatial photos and videos starting later this year, PetaPixel reports. That means you’ll be able to see photos and videos with depth if you’re browsing a website that builds support for the feature — though, of course, you’ll need to be using a Vision Pro, which may not be selling very well.

The sudoku puzzles are part of iOS 18.2 in the US, as reported by MacRumors. There are three difficulty levels you can pick from.

The new puzzles join the app’s crossword, mini crossword, and a Scrabble-like game called Quartiles.

The Delta emulator’s online multiplayer for Nintendo DS games is now in beta. If you subscribe to the Patreon of AltStore creators Riley Testut and Shane Gill, you can try it out.

The EU’s DMA continues prying open the walls around Apple’s exclusive garden.

Per 9to5Mac:

With the release of the first beta of iOS 18.2 to developers on Wednesday, Apple has published documentation for a new API that will let third-party browsers add web apps to the iPhone Home Screen using their own custom engine. This means that the entire web app experience will run using the same engine as the browser through which it was added.

Great, but nine months since Apple announced support in iOS 17.4, we’re still waiting for custom browser engines like Chrome’s Blink or Firefox’s Gecko to arrive.

Apple had already said this feature was coming, but it’s now possible with the iOS 18.2 developer beta, 9to5Mac reports. In addition to the App Store, EU users can delete Camera, Safari, Messages, and Photos, too.

Om Malik did some interesting math on Siri usage:

I looked up the number of active Apple devices. That number is estimated to be 2.2 billion devices... So 1.5 billion requests a day is actually far less than one daily request per active device.

Malik says he hardly ever uses Siri on purpose. And now I’m thinking about my own Siri usage, which is definitely more than once a day but basically only for alarms and reminders. So I want to know: do you use your phone’s assistant consistently? If so, what for?

The redesigned Mail app will automatically sort your emails into four different tabs: your primary inbox with all your important emails, a transactions section for online orders, a promotions category for marketing emails, and an updates tab for newsletters.

The iOS 18.2 beta also adds more AI features like Genmoji and an integration with ChatGPT.

The new gaming-focused app could combine parts of the App Store and Game Center, 9to5Mac reports:

According to our sources, the app will have multiple tabs, including a “Play Now” tab, a tab for the user’s games, friends, and more. In Play Now, users will find editorial content and game suggestions. The app will also show things like challenges, leaderboards, and achievements. Games from both the App Store and Apple Arcade will be featured in the new store.

It sure looks like we’re getting a Severance trailer at 9AM ET tomorrow. The first teaser for season 2 didn’t reveal a whole lot, but there’s still plenty of time ahead of the January 17th premiere. At least we know there will be balloons.

MacRumors reports that code in the iOS 18.1 release candidate contains references to “a new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2, and several Magic Keyboards, which would include versions with Touch ID and number pads, as well as models without.” Let’s hope that if these come out, Apple fixes the most egregious thing about the Magic Mouse’s design.

Apple has confirmed that iOS 18.1 — and with it, the first phase of Apple Intelligence features — will roll out sometime next week. There’s been fair skepticism that these initial AI tricks won’t really move the needle despite Apple’s big advertising push.

But I must say, after a few weeks of receiving summarized notifications, I’d never want to go back to the old way.

In a lengthy, wide-ranging interview that spans growing up in Alabama to the fun he’s having as Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who turns 64 next month, says he’s not worried that Apple Intelligence isn’t available yet, with some announced features not arriving until next year.

“In the longness of time,” says Cook, “I don’t think it will be even a footnote.”