iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and tvOS 15 will be released on Monday, September 20, Apple announced today during its "California streaming" event.
iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 include a number of improvements and features, including redesigned notifications, Focus mode, Live Text, and more. iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and tvOS 15 were previewed in June and have been in beta testing over the summer.
Apple today did not announce a release date for macOS Monterey, given we're likely to see its release later on in the fall alongside new Apple silicon Macs.
I laughed when they threw the "Privacy" section into the iPhone announcement, but only mentioned two things (on-machine learning for Siri, and something else I've already forgotten) and no mention of the privacy-killing photo scanning they announced last month. I heard thats "under evaluation" and may not ship with iOS15, but I've gotten to the point where I no longer trust Apple.
I wonder why I even engage this sort of comment. Probably should stop.
1) If you don't trust Apple's software to do what they say, any conversation about the implications of what they say is pointless. 2) The only "scanning" was to be a local pre-hashing of photos that are exchanged with iCloud. They clearly stated opting out of iCloud Photos will avoid having any local photo hashes "reported" back to them. 3) If apple wanted to look at your photos in the iCloud, they could already. The content isn't encrypted in any way either in iCloud Photos or in iCloud backups. The main reason we think apple wasn't doing this is that Google/FB/Reddit/MS/Discord/Twitter/etc all disclose public numbers on how many accounts they report for hits on these hashes; and they have orders of magnitude more reported users and hence must be regularly trawling all their users' photos. 4) other cloud photo systems compute the same hashing of the photos in their cloud (vs on device).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoDNA
I don't speak for others but this certainly muddying the point. iCloud backups/photos are accessible to Apple, yes. In their cloud. That's not the problem.
Apple built in hashing on the device to look for illegal content. Its current limitations do not matter to me. I would not read a white paper on cattle cars and how they are only designed to move live stock. I damn well know they can move people too.
The problem for me is, I now have this device which at some point can treat my device the way NSA does with its Utah data center. I'm at a crossroads. I won't upgrade to iOS 15. I may go back to a simple cell phone. I'm not sure. I'm just one person that believes in strengthening civil liberties not eroding them.
Wednesday November 1, 2023 7:53 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The first benchmark results for the standard M3 chip surfaced in the Geekbench 6 database today, providing a closer look at the chip's CPU performance improvements. Based on the results so far, the M3 chip has single-core and multi-core scores of around 3,000 and 11,700, respectively. The standard M2 chip has single-core and multi-core scores of around 2,600 and 9,700, respectively, so the...
Thursday November 2, 2023 1:22 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple appears to be internally testing an iOS 17.1.1 update for the iPhone, based on evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs this week. iOS 17.1.1 will almost certainly be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues the update will address. The update could include the same fix for Wi-Fi connectivity issues that Apple rolled out in the first iOS 17.2 beta,...
Tuesday October 31, 2023 3:11 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's latest M3 Pro chip in the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro has 25% less memory bandwidth than the M1 Pro and M2 Pro chips used in equivalent models from the two previous generations. Based on the latest 3-nanometer technology and featuring all-new GPU architecture, the M3 series of chips is said to represent the fastest and most power-efficient evolution of Apple silicon thus far. ...
Tuesday October 31, 2023 11:26 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released a new firmware update designed for the AirTag item trackers. The firmware features a build number of 2A61, up from the 2A36 firmware that came out last December. It has been nearly a year since Apple updated the firmware on the AirTags, and there is no word yet on what might be included in the update. Today's firmware release will be rolling out on a staggered basis....
Wednesday November 1, 2023 7:27 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
The first benchmark results for Apple's M3 Max chip surfaced in the Geekbench 6 database today, providing a look at CPU performance. Based on the "Mac15,9" model identifier shown, the results appear to be for the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. The highest multi-core score for the M3 Max with a 16-core CPU is currently 21,084 as of writing. If this early result is accurate, this means the M3 Max is ...
Friday November 3, 2023 1:23 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple made the first beta of iOS 17.2 available to developers and public beta testers last week, and the software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones. Below, we have highlighted 10 of these new features and changes. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in December. Once available, the update can be installed in the Settings app under General → Software...
Thursday November 2, 2023 7:41 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Macs equipped with the standard M3 chip still support only one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, according to Apple's tech specs. So far, the chip is available in the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 24-inch iMac. This limitation has existed since the first Apple silicon Macs with the M1 chip were released in 2020, but users can connect multiple external displays to...
Wednesday November 1, 2023 11:51 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The lower-cost Apple Music Voice Plan is being discontinued this month in the U.S. and all other countries where it was available, according to an Apple support document. Brazilian website MacMagazine was first to alert us to this news. "Beginning in November, Apple will discontinue the Apple Music Voice plan," said Apple. "We are focused on delivering the best, most robust music experience...
Top Rated Comments
Apple built in hashing on the device to look for illegal content. Its current limitations do not matter to me. I would not read a white paper on cattle cars and how they are only designed to move live stock. I damn well know they can move people too.
The problem for me is, I now have this device which at some point can treat my device the way NSA does with its Utah data center. I'm at a crossroads. I won't upgrade to iOS 15. I may go back to a simple cell phone. I'm not sure. I'm just one person that believes in strengthening civil liberties not eroding them.