Tech News – Page 80 – by Arlin Schaffel

IMAX Still Runs on PalmPilot Operating System

Oppenheimer may be one of the biggest box office events of the year and the IMAX version appears massively popular, with some theaters already sold out for the next few weeks. The IMAX version may also be on the biggest physical film reels ever produced. According to Cinemark, the 70mm print of the film is 11 miles long and 600 pounds. To get this movie ready for theaters, IMAX used technology that’s run by an iPad emulating a 20 year old piece of hardware—a PalmPilot.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88x5gb/imax-still-runs-on-palmpilot-operating-system

Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2023

APPLE HELD ITS annual Worldwide Developers Conference today. The big news, of course, is that Apple's long-awaited mixed reality headset finally made its debut. The very expensive device may have overshadowed the other news from the event, but the company announced a whole host of other stuff, including new Mac computers and updates to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
https://www.wired.com/story/wwdc-2023-everything-apple-announced/

Apple’s Headset Has Metaverse Believers Hoping It Can Save Their Industry

After a period of disillusionment in the industry that some call the metaverse, many of its most fervent believers are banking on Apple to save the day. While an ecosystem of software startups built up around Meta Platforms’ lineup of Quest virtual-reality products, some companies have pulled back recently. Microsoft shut down a social virtual-reality platform it acquired in 2017 and trimmed the team building its HoloLens augmented-reality headset. Walt Disney Co. shuttered the division developing strategies for the metaverse.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/apples-headset-has-metaverse-believers-hoping-it-can-save-their-industry-e692575a

A popular Android app began secretly spying on its users months after it was listed on Google Play

Research by ESET found that the Android app, “iRecorder — Screen Recorder,” introduced the malicious code as an app update almost a year after it was first listed on Google Play. The code, according to ESET, allowed the app to stealthily upload a minute of ambient audio from the device’s microphone every 15 minutes, as well as exfiltrate documents, web pages and media files from the user’s phone.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/29/popular-android-app-microphone-spying-google-play/

TikTok’s Answer to Security Concerns? Grant Oracle Full Source Code Access

According to TikTok, "many of the major components of Project Texas are already operational, and we will continue bringing more parts of the initiative online in the coming weeks and months." This comes amid continued scrutiny of the service by the US government, and an impending ban of the service in Montana (TikTok has sued to stop the latter).
https://www.pcmag.com/news/tiktoks-answer-to-security-concerns-grant-oracle-full-source-code-access

Apple’s new ‘Personal Voice’ feature can create a voice that sounds like you or a loved one in just 15 minutes

As part of its preview of iOS 17 accessibility updates coming this year, Apple has announced a pair of new features called Live Speech and Personal Voice. Live Speech allows users to type what they want to say and have it be spoken out. Personal Voice, on the other hand, is a way for people who are at risk of losing their ability to speak to create and save a voice that sounds like them. Apple says it’s designed for people at risk of losing their ability to speak, such as those with a recent diagnosis of ALS.
https://9to5mac.com/2023/05/16/apple-personal-voice-creation-feature-ios-17/

Google’s AI pitch is a recipe for email hell

But Google’s onstage ideas were almost impressive in their ability to serve precisely none of writing’s core purposes. Its examples of Help me write calcify the worst tendencies of “professional” communications. They’re bland, bloated boilerplate that turns a human prompt into something that uses more words to say less.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/13/23719115/google-ai-help-me-write-communications-email