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Apple responds to the Beeper iMessage saga: ‘We took steps to protect our users’

A few days after the team at Beeper proudly announced a way for users to send blue-bubble iMessages directly from their Android devices without any weird relay servers, and about 24 hours after it became clear Apple had taken steps to shut that down, Apple has shared its take on the issue. The company’s stance here is fairly predictable: it says it’s simply trying to do right by users, and protect the privacy and security of their iMessages. “We took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage,” Apple senior PR manager Nadine Haija said in a statement.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/9/23995150/beeper-imessage-android-apple-statement

Apple Just Confirmed Governments Are Spying on People’s Phones With Push Notifications

Governments are spying on U.S. smartphone users through the push notifications that they receive from apps, Senator Ron Wyden wrote in a letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday and Apple confirmed. Apple confirmed in a statement to Reuters on Wednesday that, “In this case, the federal government prohibited us from sharing any information. Now that this method has become public we are updating our transparency reporting to detail these kinds of requests.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjbv9/apple-just-confirmed-governments-are-spying-on-peoples-phones-with-push-notifications

Google pays Apple $18B+ a year to keep its search in iPhone

"We believe there is a possibility that federal courts rule against Google and force it to terminate its search deal with Apple," said Bernstein in the report sent to The Register. "We estimate that the ISA is worth $18B-20B in annual payments from Google to Apple, accounting for 14-16 percent of Apple's annual operating profits."
https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/10/google_pays_apple_18_20_claims_bernstein/?td=rt-3a

Hell freezes over as Apple supports right-to-repair bill

In a letter dated August 22, Apple showed its support for California's right-to-repair bill, SB 244, after spending years combatting DIY repair efforts. The bill requires vendors of consumer electronics and appliances to make sufficient documentation, parts, and tools for repairs available to customers and independent repair shops. The big exceptions are video game consoles and alarm systems.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/hell-freezes-over-as-apple-supports-right-to-repair-bill/

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

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/