Apple News
Apple’s $249 AirPods Pro clinical-grade hearing aids can greatly help people with untreated hearing loss
On Tuesday following Apple’s announcement that AirPods Pro 2 can be used as clinical-grade hearing aids, hearing aid manufacturers experienced a decline in their stock prices. Apple revealed that its AirPods Pro 2 can be customized to function as personalized hearing aids through an upcoming software update. The update will enable real-time amplification of specific sounds, such as speech or environmental elements, tailored to individual user preferences.
Close to 30 million US adults have some degree of hearing loss, but only about one-fifth of those people seek assistance for the issue, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
For people with untreated hearing loss, using hearing aids can reduce the rate of cognitive decline and may lower the risk of depression, according to the FDA. However, experts have said that the high cost of doctor visits and hearing aids kept some from seeking treatment.
To access the new hearing aid feature, AirPods Pro 2 users will have to take a test that will analyze their hearing loss by playing a series of tones…
Apple said it expects to receive FDA clearance “very soon,” meaning the AirPods Pro 2 would become a regulated medical device. This fall, the hearing assistance features will become available through a software update in over 100 countries, including the United States, Germany and Japan, the company said.
Barbara Kelley, the executive director of Hearing Loss Association of America, said… she hoped Apple’s new product would encourage more people to address hearing loss.
“There’s still a stigma attached to hearing loss coming with aging,” Kelley said. “But my goodness, I see elementary school kids with these AirPods in their ears. If it can also serve as a hearing aid, I think that’s really exciting.”
MacDailyNews Take: We know some parental units who will very soon be receiving new AirPods Pro gifts! Shh!
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Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia in talks to invest in OpenAI as AI firm looks to raise $6.5 billion
OpenAI is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors, in which Apple is expected to participate, at a valuation of $150 billion, Bloomberg News reports Wednesday citing “people familiar with the situation.”
Rachel Metz, Edward Ludlow, Gillian Tan, and Mark Bergen for Bloomberg News:
The new valuation, a figure that doesn’t include the money being raised, is significantly higher than the $86 billion valuation from the company’s tender offer earlier this year, and cements its place as one of the most valuable startups in the world.
At the same time, OpenAI is also in talks to raise $5 billion in debt from banks in the form of a revolving credit facility, said one of the people, all of whom asked not to be identified discussing private information…
The funding round is slated to be led by Thrive Capital, Bloomberg previously reported. Microsoft Corp., the company’s largest investor, is also set to participate, and Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., have been in talks about investing.
MacDailyNews Take: It makes sense for Apple to get more involved in OpenAI, especially as its ChatGPT is a tentpole of Apple Intelligence. In July, both Apple and Microsoft dropped potential OpenAI board seats amid antitrust scrutiny, so backing the AI firm is the next best thing to having a seat at the table.
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Apple’s iPhone 16 batteries look to be easier to replace than predecessors’
A June report via The Information said that Apple would introduce a new, easier way to replace batteries in the iPhone 16 as required by new regulations in the European Union. The EU is requires all smartphones to ensure that batteries can be replaced by users with easily accessible tools by June 2025 with some exemptions (see below).
Apple’s iPhone 16 press release confirms a change to make battery service easier:
The internal design of iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus has been reengineered to allow for an even larger battery and to better dissipate heat, while making battery service easier.
We’ll need to wait for a teardown to confirm other battery changes, but The Information‘s report also said that Apple would use a different type of adhesive that’s easier to remove. Apple typically uses adhesive strips to hold the battery in place, and the adhesive is tough to deal with. The new method could involve an electrically induced adhesive debonding technology.
Using low voltage electricity to remove a battery would require a battery encased in metal, and images of an alleged iPhone 16 battery with a metal casing leaked late last year. Metal around the battery has the added benefit of improving thermal regulation. These internal battery changes will be able to be confirmed after the iPhone 16 models are released.
Apple’s mention of an easier to service battery is only in the iPhone 16 press release, and not in the press release for the iPhone 16 Pro, so it is not clear if all models have the same battery-related changes. Apple did, however, change the thermal design in both models, with the changes described during the keynote event.
MacDailyNews Take: The EU regulation also exempts devices with an IP67 water and dust resistance rating that retain 83 percent battery capacity after 500 full charges and 80 percent after 1000 charges from having easily replaceable batteries.
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Is Apple stock a buy after its iPhone 16 event?
Apple stock was flattish after the company’s fall product launch event on Monday and Tuesday and rose marginally in Wednesday trading. But many AAPL investors probably are wondering: Is AAPL stock a buy right now?
Patrick Seitz for Investor’s Business Daily:
The launch event, titled “It’s Glowtime,” was a largely surprise-free affair because most of the hardware news had leaked out weeks earlier.
Apple stock analysts said iPhone 16 sales could be muted by the staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence features.
Apple’s iPhone 16 smartphones will be available on Sept. 20 but Apple Intelligence won’t be available until sometime in October. And even then, the AI features will be limited and in “beta” or test mode.
Wall Street analysts described Apple Intelligence as “not quite ready for prime time” and “not a fully baked offering.”
Still, most analysts described Apple’s new products as solid upgrades that should sell well.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote on Tuesday:
Executing a vaporware strategy is an unfortunate necessity without a visionary CEO and it takes time to actually realize (code, test, build out datacenter infrastructure, etc.) a grand marketing vision.
https://twitter.com/MacDailyNews/status/1818745350804717672
https://twitter.com/MacDailyNews/status/1831684301122846965
You know, some people get upset when we point out that Tim Cook is a boring, reactive caretaker who’s not really the best person to be running Apple today or for at least the past several years.
Operations manager Cook should have been a 3-5 year stopgap after Steve Jobs’ untimely passing, running the iteration playbook, providing continuity for the company while it found a real CEO. Instead, he hung on — and keeps hanging on — well past his sell-by date.
Sigh.
You can be upset with us for having the temerity to call it like we see it, but the fact remains that Apple would be doing significantly better today with a visionary who’d have seen AI on the horizon, who’d have recognized the intrinsic importance of Siri and therefore invested in it instead of criminally neglecting it, and who wouldn’t have squandered the company’s gigantic leads in things like personal assistants and podcasting. – MacDailyNews, August 22, 2024
Larger displays on iPhone 16 Pro models, and hundreds of millions of iPhones that are 4+ years old, will do the heavy lifting for iPhone sales and iPhone’s average selling price (ASP).
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Apple’s new MagSafe Charger enables wicked fast iPhone wireless charging up to 25W
Apple’s new MagSafe Charger enables faster wireless charging up to 25W when paired with a 30W power adapter, is Qi2 certified, and is available in a 1-meter length for $39 or a 2-meter length for $49.
The new MagSafe Charger makes wireless charging a snap. The perfectly aligned magnets attach to your iPhone 12 or later.
The MagSafe Charger is compatible with Qi2 and Qi charging, so it can be used to wirelessly charge your iPhone 8 or later, as well as AirPods models with a wireless charging case, as you would with any Qi2 or Qi-certified charger.
For faster wireless charging up to 25W — up to 50 percent battery in around 30 minutes for iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, Apple recommends its 30W USB‑C Power Adapter.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s new MagSafe Charger enables fast wireless charging up to 15W for iPhone 12 or later with MagSafe and up to 7.5W for iPhone 8 or later with Qi when paired with the 20W USB‑C Power Adapter.
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Apple’s new Camera Control button makes iPhone 16 feel radically more camera-like
Apple’s new Camera Control button on iPhone 16 models makes the pro camera system more versatile with an innovative new way to quickly launch the camera, take a photo, and start video recording. It has a tactile switch that powers the click experience, a high-precision force sensor that enables the light press gesture, and a capacitive sensor that allows for touch interactions. A new camera preview helps users frame the shot and adjust other control options — such as zoom, exposure, or depth of field — to compose a stunning photo or video by sliding their finger on the Camera Control. Later this fall, Camera Control will be updated with a two-stage shutter to automatically lock focus and exposure on a subject with a light press, letting users reframe the shot without losing focus. Additionally, developers will be able to bring Camera Control to third-party apps such as Kino, which will offer users the ability to adjust white balance and set focus points, including at various levels of depth in their scene.
https://macdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/240911_Apple-iPhone-16-Pro-Camera-Control-240909.mp4Harry McCracken for FastCompany:
In my brief time with the Camera Control at an Apple demo station, its sheer physicality made the iPhone feel radically more camera-like than when you interact with it entirely by poking at its screen. But the way Apple is already using the feature as a gateway to Apple Intelligence and opening it up to other app creators shows its potential to be far more than a mere shutter button. It feels like the future, and introducing it as an iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max exclusive might have made perfect sense.
Instead, Apple is putting the Camera Control in every new iPhone from the $799 iPhone 16 on up, giving it a shot at becoming an iconic, differentiating feature for the entire line. Moreover, the company is adding last year’s Action Button to the non-Pro iPhone 16 models, further erring on the side of tricking out entry-level iPhones as well as the high-end variants.
Meanwhile, you do need to buy an iPhone Pro to get the 5X zoom camera that debuted in last year’s iPhone Pro 15 Max. This year, however, the feature has migrated to the smaller iPhone 15 Pro as well, reducing the starting price for a 5X-zoom iPhone from $1,199 to $999.
MacDailyNews Take: The iPhone 16 family is certainly a boon for photographers!
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Apple looks to less expensive displays for lower-end Apple Vision
According to industry sources reported by The Elec, Apple has received a glass board-based OLED panel from Japanese manufacturer JDI for Apple Vision prototype testing. This panel is likely intended for a more affordable mixed reality device, possibly a future iteration of the Vision Pro.
The new panel boasts a resolution of approximately 1,500 pixels per inch (ppi), significantly lower than the current Vision Pro’s impressive 3,391ppi. This suggests a potential budget-friendly mixed reality headset from Apple in the works.
JDI’s sample also used technologies used by Sony, a key supplier of image sensors and OLED on silicon (OLEDoS) to Cupertino, the sources said.
JDI’s sample likely has a lower resolution as it uses glass instead of silicon for the board.
Apple had also sent a request for information to Samsung Display earlier this year to request the development of an OLEDoS with 1,700ppi resolution.
JDI’s sample show that Cupertino may ultimately opt for glass instead of silicon for the OLED panel on its budget model due to price concerns.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple currently uses OLEDoS from Sony for the Apple Vision Pro.
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Blood oxygen detection won’t be available on Apple Watch Series 10 in the U.S.
Apple’s Blood Oxygen app can allow you to measure the oxygen level of your blood on-demand directly from your Apple Watch, providing you with insights into your overall wellness. However, due to a legal dispute, the Blood Oxygen app is only available in certain countries and regions and is supported on Apple Watch Series 6 and later, and any model of Ultra, with some restrictions on watches purchased in the United States.
The blood oxygen feature, introduced with the Apple Watch Series 6, will not be present on Series 10 models sold in the U.S. However, the rest of the world will be able to access the health feature on the new watch.
Brian Heater for TechCrunch:
The feature’s exclusion is a product of Apple’s ongoing patent battle with medical device company Masimo. The dispute forced Apple to disable the feature on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 late last year.
Apple has not discussed whether the feature’s removal was a hardware change on the Series 10 or if it was simply disabled via the software, like with the Series 9. We’ll know more after the smartwatch goes on sale and the teardown experts do their thing. If it’s a hardware fix, then Apple would have had to design slightly different models for each market.
MacDailyNews Take: We highly suspect that Apple Watch’s blood oxygen feature simply disabled in software and when/if the Masimo debacle is settled, it will be turned back on for American Apple Watch users.
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Apple releases new AirPods Pro 2 and Apple Pencil Pro firmware
Apple has released new firmware updates for its AirPods Pro 2 wireless earbuds and Apple Pencil Pro. The AirPods Pro 2 update includes features like head-shaking gestures for Siri interactions, improved noise isolation, and personalized spatial audio for gaming. The Apple Pencil Pro update is likely focused on bug fixes and general improvements.
These firmware updates are part of Apple’s ongoing commitment to providing regular software updates for its devices and accessories. While they may not be as frequent as updates for iOS or iPadOS, they often introduce valuable new features and address critical issues.
The AirPods Pro 2 firmware update brings the build version to 7A294, compatible only with the USB-C and Lightning models. The Apple Pencil Pro firmware update, version 0.1.40, is available for the latest and most expensive Apple Pencil model, introduced in May 2024.
The AirPods Pro 2 firmware update will be installed automatically when the earbuds are connected to an iOS device and placed in their charging case. The Apple Pencil Pro firmware can be updated by attaching it to a compatible iPad.
MacDailyNews Note: AirPods users can check the current firmware for audio accessories via Settings > General > About, then select the AirPods you wish to view and a menu will appear showing relevant device information.
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‘Slow Horses’ season four breaks Rotten Tomatoes records
The hit Apple TV+ series “Slow Horses” is darkly funny espionage drama follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 due to their career-ending mistakes. Led by their brilliant but irascible leader, the notorious Jackson Lamb (Academy Award winner Gary Oldman), they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.
Madison Burgess for the Daily Mail:
Gary Oldman’s hit series Slow Horses returned with a new batch of episodes on September 4 and has already smashed a slew of records and earned rave reviews from critics.
[T]he new series boasts an astonishing 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, after previously never falling below 98% since it first launched back in 2021.
This latest achievement also makes Slow Horses Apple TV’s highest-rated show ever. The first and third seasons earned a 98% score, with the second also sitting at an impressive 100%.
The Telegraph‘s Anita Singh, who gave the show four stars, wrote that the spy thriller is ‘faultless’ and boasts a ‘stellar cast’. She gushed: ‘We’re into series four now and there is no drop in quality. If anything, each series improves slightly on the last. Watching it is pure pleasure. There isn’t a wasted scene or a duff piece of dialogue.’
Meanwhile, Forbes‘ Erik Kain penned that ‘Jackson Lamb is the hero television needs right now’. He added: ‘Yet another terrific premiere for Slow Horses which continues to be one of the very best TV shows on streaming right now and yet another hit for Apple TV.’
MacDailyNews Take: Slow Horses really is that good. If you haven’t seen it yet, we offer an unqualified recommendation – dive in ASAP!
I’m 65 next year, 70 is around the corner. I don’t want to be active when I’m 80. I’d be very happy and honored and privileged to go out as Jackson Lamb — and then hang it up. – Gary Oldman, November 2022
Bonus Video: Gary Oldman talks Slow Horses, Harry Potter, Batman…
(05:30: Why he said “yes” to Slow Horses)
(46:25: “We have Season 4 in the can… and it’s going to be dynamite”)
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Hearing aid makers slip after Apple transforms AirPods Pro 2 into hearing aids
Hearing aid manufacturers experienced a decline in their stock prices on Tuesday following Apple’s announcement of new hearing aid capabilities for AirPods Pro 2. Apple revealed that its AirPods Pro 2 can be customized to function as personalized hearing aids through an upcoming software update. The update will enable real-time amplification of specific sounds, such as speech or environmental elements, tailored to individual user preferences.
Reuters:
Shares in Italy’s Amplifon dropped as much as 7.2% earlier in the session and were down 5.7% by 0845 GMT. Other hearing aid makers, Sonova, Demant, and GN Store Nord fell between 2% and 4%.
However, Jefferies analysts said in a note that Apple’s move was not a concern for hearing aid players as over-the-counter (OTC) devices target a different population.
OTC hearing aids do not compete against prescription-based devices on either technological or service levels, despite their attractive price points, Jefferies added.
“The level of fitting does not suffice the need for those, that have severe hearing aid problems and as such, OTC devices are mostly used for those with mild hearing aid problems,” analysts from Vontobel wrote in a note.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 as hearing aids are likely to draw customers who either won’t pay or are fed up with paying exorbitantly high prices for hearing aids.
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Ireland didn’t want the EU’s €13 billion tax grab from Apple, but it’ll spend it
Ireland now needs to figure out how to spend an almost €13.8 billion ($15.2 billion) European Commission tax grab that Apple was ordered to pay by the European Union’s top court.
Jennifer Duggan for Bloomberg News:
Ironically, the Irish government has always maintained that it didn’t think Apple owed these taxes. But the EU’s Court of Justice Tuesday backed a landmark 2016 decision that Ireland broke state-aid laws by giving the company tax benefits that resulted in an unfair advantage.
The money involved has been sitting in escrow since an initial EU court ruling in 2016, and the bloc’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, said in a news conference that the taxes “must be released to the Irish state.”
The Irish finance ministry said in a statement that it “respects the findings” even as it continued to insist that “Ireland does not give preferential tax treatment to any companies or taxpayers.” It added that the process of transferring the assets from the escrow fund will now commence.
“It is a complex process which is expected to take a number of months to conclude,” Irish Finance Minister Jack Chambers told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “It is a one-off payment and we will have discussions with party leaders on what next steps will be.”
The funds have been accruing interest since it was paid by Apple into an escrow account. The Irish government said in July the total value of the fund stands at €13.8 billion, after generating €400 million in 2023. The total represents about 15% of the upcoming government budget.
The sudden cash bonanza comes as Irish politicians are expecting the government to call an election in the coming months, adding an extra charge to the debate on how to use it.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course the Irish government will uh, utilize*, it:
Government is like a baby: an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
― Ronald Reagan
*In the spirit of Idiocracy
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Why Apple never uttered the words ‘artificial intelligence’ at its iPhone event
During the playing of Apple’s canned video “It’s Glowtime” event on Monday, the company never mentioned the words “artificial intelligence.” And, for good reason. Last month, a study published in the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management found that describing a product as powered by artificial intelligence tends to lower a customer’s intention to buy it.
A study published in the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management in June found that describing a product as using AI lowers a customer’s intention to buy it. Researchers sampled participants across various age groups and showed them the same products – the only difference between them: one was described as “high tech” and the other as using AI, or artificial intelligence.
“We looked at vacuum cleaners, TVs, consumer services, health services,” said Dogan Gursoy, one of the study’s authors… “In every single case, the intention to buy or use the product or service was significantly lower whenever we mentioned AI in the product description.”
There are two kinds of trust that the study says play a part in consumers’ less-than-rosy perception of products that describe themselves as “AI-powered.”
The first kind, cognitive trust, has to do with the higher standard that people hold AI to as a machine they expect to be free from human error. So, when AI does slip up, that trust can be quickly eroded.
Gursoy says that limited knowledge and understanding about the inner workings of AI forces consumers to fall back on emotional trust and make their own subjective judgments about the technology. “One of the reasons why people are not willing to use AI devices or technologies is fear of the unknown,” he said.
Another part of the equation influencing customers is the perceived risk around AI – particularly with how it handles users’ personal data. “People have worries about privacy. They don’t know what’s going on in the background, the algorithms, how they run, that raises some concern,” said Gursoy.
MacDailyNews Take: This is why it’s called “Apple Intelligence” and why it’s almost always accompanied with messages about privacy.
From Apple’s September 9, 2024 press release, “Apple Intelligence comes to iPhone, iPad, and Mac starting next month,” the phrase “artificial intelligence” is never used and the company repeatedly mentions privacy and security (bold emphasis added):
Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, harnessing the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks — all while protecting users’ privacy and security…
An Extraordinary Step Forward for Privacy in AI
Apple Intelligence is designed to protect users’ privacy at every step. A cornerstone of Apple Intelligence is on-device processing, and many of the models that power it run entirely on device. To run more complex requests that require more processing power, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple devices into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence.
Private Cloud Compute marks a fundamental breakthrough in server-based intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill their request. Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to continuously verify this privacy promise and are already doing so.
In addition, for users who choose to access ChatGPT through Siri or Writing Tools, privacy protections are built in — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. Users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for those who choose to connect their account.
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Apple TV+ scores multiple wins at the 76th Creative Arts Emmy Awards
Apple TV+ was recognized with eight wins across five titles for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, as hit drama “The Morning Show” lands Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling and Makeup (Non-prosthetic); acclaimed limited series “Lessons in Chemistry” wins Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score); beloved comedy “Palm Royale” wins Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music; and, stunning limited series “Masters of the Air” lands Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie. The celebrated documentary film “Girls State” earns two wins, including Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program, and Apple iPhone + Mac’s “Fuzzy Feelings” scores for Outstanding Commercial.
The wins follow Apple TV+ landing a record 72 Emmy Award nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be unveiled at the upcoming Primetime Emmy Award ceremony on September 15, 2024.
This year, Apple TV+ received its best-ever showing, with nominations sweeping across top categories, including Outstanding Limited Series “Lessons in Chemistry”; Outstanding Drama Series “The Morning Show” and “Slow Horses”; and Outstanding Comedy Series “Palm Royale.” Less than five years after its launch, Apple TV+ scored its first-ever nomination for Outstanding Limited Series as “Lessons in Chemistry” nabbed 10 nominations overall, and “The Morning Show” landed its first-ever nomination for Outstanding Drama Series and led with 16 nominations overall for its acclaimed third season, including the most performance nominations for any drama series with 10 acting nominations.
Apple earned eight wins at the 76th Creative Arts Emmy Awards, including:
• “The Morning Show”
– Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling
– Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-prosthetic)
• “Palm Royale”
– Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
• “Lessons in Chemistry”
– Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)
• “Masters of the Air”
– Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie
• “Girls State”
– Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program: Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss
– Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program
• “Fuzzy Feelings — Apple — iPhone + Mac”
– Outstanding Commercial
Apple TV+’s additional nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards include Outstanding Dramas “The Morning Show” and “Slow Horses,” Outstanding Comedy “Palm Royale” and Outstanding Limited Series “Lessons in Chemistry,” to be presented Sunday, September 15:
• “The Morning Show”
– Outstanding Drama Series
– Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series: Jennifer Aniston
– Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series: Reese Witherspoon
– Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Nicole Beharie
– Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Greta Lee
– Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Karen Pittman
– Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Holland Taylor
– Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Billy Crudup
– Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Jon Hamm
– Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Mark Duplass
– Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series: Mimi Leder
• “Palm Royale”
– Outstanding Comedy Series
– Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series: Kristen Wiig
– Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series: Carol Burnett
• “Lessons in Chemistry”
– Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series
– Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie: Brie Larson
– Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie: Aja Naomi King
– Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie: Lewis Pullman
– Outstanding Directing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie: Millicent Shelton
• “Slow Horses”
– Outstanding Drama Series
– Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series: Gary Oldman
– Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Jack Lowden
– Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series
– Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series: Saul Metzstein
• “Loot”
– Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series: Maya Rudolph
• “Hijack”
– Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series: Idris Elba
To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have earned 511 wins and 2,308 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning comedy “Ted Lasso” and historic Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”
“The Morning Show”
“The Morning Show” explores the cutthroat world of morning news and the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning. In season three, the future of the network is thrown into question and loyalties are pushed to the brink when a tech titan takes an interest in UBA. Unexpected alliances form, private truths are weaponized and everyone is forced to confront their core values both in and out of the newsroom.
“Palm Royale”
“Palm Royale” is a true underdog story that follows Maxine Simmons as she endeavors to break into Palm Beach high society. As Maxine attempts to cross that impermeable line between the haves and the have-nots, “Palm Royale” asks the same question that still baffles us today: “How much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice to get what someone else has?” Set during the powder keg year of 1969, “Palm Royale” is a testament to every outsider fighting for their chance to truly belong.
“Lessons in Chemistry”
Set in the early 1950s, “Lessons in Chemistry” follows Elizabeth Zott, whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a patriarchal society. When Elizabeth finds herself fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives — and the men who are suddenly listening — a lot more than recipes.
“Masters of the Air”
Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, and scripted by John Orloff, “Masters of the Air” follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air. Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of “Masters of the Air.” Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.
“Girls State”
What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, “Girls State” follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up.
“Slow Horses”
This darkly funny espionage drama follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 due to their career-ending mistakes. Led by their brilliant but irascible leader, the notorious Jackson Lamb, they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.
“Loot”
“Loot” season two returns a year after Molly Wells settles her very public divorce from tech billionaire John Novak, and we find her thriving in her role as the head of her philanthropic organization, the Wells Foundation. Focused mainly on her charity work, Molly has sworn off any new relationships with men and embarks on a wellness journey. Fabulously single but not particularly independent, Molly keeps her trusty assistant Nicholas by her side. He diligently caters to her every whim … and occasionally feeds her a kale smoothie spiked with gin.
“Hijack”
Told in real time, “Hijack” is a tense thriller that follows the journey of a hijacked plane as it makes its way to London over a seven-hour flight, and authorities on the ground scramble for answers. Sam Nelson, an accomplished negotiator in the business world who needs to step up and use all his guile to try and save the lives of the passengers — but, his high-risk strategy could be his undoing.
All programs are currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut.
MacDailyNews Take: Congrats to all of the winners!
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Apple to launch Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3 next year – Ming-Chi Kuo
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Tuesday predicted that an Apple Watch Ultra 3 and an Apple Watch SE 3 will be released in 2025, most likely during a September special media event which will also see the unveiling of the iPhone 17 family.
1. Apple Watch Ultra 3 was absent from this year’s media event, which is in line with my prediction from about a year ago.
2. The 2025 new Apple Watch models will include the Ultra 3 and SE upgrade version.
MacDailyNews Take: The second-generation Apple Watch SE and the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra were announced during Apple’s “Far out” event on September 7, 2022 alongside Apple Watch Series 8.
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Apple’s iPhone 16 faces challenge of slow rollout of Apple Intelligence
Apple’s new iPhone 16 family failed to energize investors with highly touted “Apple Intelligence” features still in beta testing and expected to take many months, if not years, to fully roll out globally.
Reuters:
Apple’s shares fell 1% in premarket trading on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. tech giant unveiled its new iPhones that sport hardware-level integration for applications based on artificial intelligence but with limited changes to the external design.
The phones will use AI features dubbed Apple Intelligence to improve the company’s voice assistant Siri as well as enhance the camera.
These AI features will arrive on iPhones in beta next month. The company did not say when it would move beyond test.
“With lots of words like “later this year” and “early next year”, the core Apple message for iPhone 16 was: Next year will be better,” Needham analyst Laura Martin said in a note.
Apple has yet to announce an AI partner in China to power the 16s and Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI software, will only be available in Chinese languages next year.
“What’s the point of buying it if you can’t use AI?” wrote one user on Weibo, China’s X-like platform. Another commented: “Without AI as the biggest selling point, it should be half price.”
MacDailyNews Take: Executing a vaporware strategy is an unfortunate necessity without a visionary CEO and it takes time to actually realize (code, test, build out datacenter infrastructure, etc.) a grand marketing vision.
https://x.com/MacDailyNews/status/1818745350804717672
https://x.com/MacDailyNews/status/1831684301122846965
You know, some people get upset when we point out that Tim Cook is a boring, reactive caretaker who’s not really the best person to be running Apple today or for at least the past several years.
Operations manager Cook should have been a 3-5 year stopgap after Steve Jobs’ untimely passing, running the iteration playbook, providing continuity for the company while it found a real CEO. Instead, he hung on — and keeps hanging on — well past his sell-by date.
Sigh.
You can be upset with us for having the temerity to call it like we see it, but the fact remains that Apple would be doing significantly better today with a visionary who’d have seen AI on the horizon, who’d have recognized the intrinsic importance of Siri and therefore invested in it instead of criminally neglecting it, and who wouldn’t have squandered the company’s gigantic leads in things like personal assistants and podcasting. – MacDailyNews, August 22, 2024
Larger displays on iPhone 16 Pro models, and hundreds of millions of iPhones that are 4+ years old, will do the heavy lifting for iPhone sales and iPhone’s average selling price (ASP).
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Apple loses court fight over EU’s $14.4 billion Irish tax grab
Apple has lost a EU court fight over a €13 billion ($14.4 billion) Irish tax grab. The EU’s Court of Justice in Luxembourg backed a 2016 decision that Ireland broke EU state-aid law by giving Apple an unfair advantage. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.
Oliver Crook reports for Bloomberg News:
Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook previously blasted as “total political crap” the EU’s 2016 move to order the firm to pay €13 billion in back taxes…
Vestager ordered Ireland to claw back the sum, which amounts to about two quarters of Mac sales globally. The money has been sitting in an escrow account pending a final ruling. Ireland must now decide what to do with its unwanted windfall.
“We are disappointed with today’s decision as previously the general court reviewed the facts and categorically annulled this case,” an Apple spokesperson said.
MacDailyNews Take: MacDailyNews Note: In November 2017, Apple released the following facts about Apple’s tax payments:
Apple believes every company has a responsibility to pay its taxes, and as the largest taxpayer in the world, Apple pays every dollar it owes in every country around the world. We’re proud of the economic contributions we make to the countries and communities where we do business.
We’re presenting the facts on this page in response to reporting by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Among the inaccuracies in these reports:
• The changes Apple made to its corporate structure in 2015 were specially designed to preserve its tax payments to the United States, not to reduce its taxes anywhere else. No operations or investments were moved from Ireland.
• Far from being “untouched by the United States,” Apple pays billions of dollars in taxes to the US at the statutory 35 percent rate on investment income from its overseas cash.
• Apple’s effective tax rate on foreign earnings is 21 percent — a figure easily calculated from public filings. This rate has been consistent for many years.
Last month, in response to questions from the ICIJ, the New York Times and others, Apple provided the following statement:
“The debate over Apple’s taxes is not about how much we owe but where we owe it. As the largest taxpayer in the world we’ve paid over $35 billion in corporate income taxes over the past three years, plus billions of dollars more in property tax, payroll tax, sales tax and VAT. We believe every company has a responsibility to pay the taxes they owe and we’re proud of the economic contributions we make to the countries and communities where we do business.
Under the current international tax system, profits are taxed based on where the value is created. The taxes Apple pays to countries around the world are based on that principle. The vast majority of the value in our products is indisputably created in the United States — where we do our design, development, engineering work and much more — so the majority of our taxes are owed to the US.
When Ireland changed its tax laws in 2015, we complied by changing the residency of our Irish subsidiaries and we informed Ireland, the European Commission and the United States. The changes we made did not reduce our tax payments in any country. In fact, our payments to Ireland increased significantly and over the last three years we’ve paid $1.5 billion in tax there — 7 percent of all corporate income taxes paid in that country. Our changes also ensured that our tax obligation to the United States was not reduced.
We understand that some would like to change the tax system so multinationals’ taxes are spread differently across the countries where they operate, and we know that reasonable people can have different views about how this should work in the future. At Apple we follow the laws, and if the system changes we will comply. We strongly support efforts from the global community toward comprehensive international tax reform and a far simpler system, and we will continue to advocate for that.”
More Information About Apple’s Tax Payments
Throughout its history, Apple has designed new products — and established entirely new industries — by focusing on innovation. That hard work and dedication has led to the creation of revolutionary products and services that have profoundly improved people’s lives and created millions of jobs around the world.
Taxes for multinational companies are complex, yet a fundamental principle is recognized around the world: A company’s profits are taxed based on where value is created. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Ireland, the United States and others all agree on this principle.
1. Apple is the largest taxpayer in the world, paying over $35 billion in corporate income taxes in the last three years. Apple pays taxes in every country where we sell our products.
When a customer buys an Apple product outside the United States, the profit is first taxed in the country where the sale takes place. Then Apple pays taxes to Ireland, where Apple sales and distribution activity is executed by some of the 6,000 employees working there. Additional tax is then also due in the US when the earnings are repatriated.
Apple’s worldwide effective tax rate is 24.6 percent, higher than average for US multinationals.
2. The vast majority of the value in Apple products is created in the United States, where design, development, engineering work and more are accomplished. So under the current international tax system, the majority of Apple taxes are owed to the US.
In a white paper last year, the US Treasury expressed concern over European regulators’ attempts to tax money that is owed to the US. “To the extent that such foreign taxes are imposed on income that should not have been attributable to the relevant Member State, that outcome is deeply troubling, as it would effectively constitute a transfer of revenue to the EU from the US government and its taxpayers.”
3. Apple has cash overseas because that’s where it sells the majority of its products. Under the current tax system, post-tax earnings from foreign sales are subject to US tax. Apple has earmarked more than $36 billion to cover US deferred taxes. This is in addition to the $35 billion the company paid in corporate income taxes over the past three years.
4. Apple has been operating in Ireland since 1980 when Steve Jobs looked for a base to expand outside the US. The facility in Cork, Ireland started with 60 employees and now has over 6,000. Apple’s innovation and investment supports a further 12,000 jobs across Ireland. And across Europe, Apple supports more than 1.5 million jobs.
When Ireland changed its tax laws in 2015, Apple made changes to its corporate structure to comply. Since then, all of Apple’s Irish operations have been conducted through Irish resident companies. Apple pays tax at Ireland’s statutory 12.5 percent.
As part of these changes, Apple’s subsidiary which holds overseas cash became resident in the UK Crown dependency of Jersey, specifically to ensure that tax obligations and payments to the US were not reduced. Since then Apple has paid billions of dollars in US tax on the investment income of this subsidiary. There was no tax benefit for Apple from this change and, importantly, this did not reduce Apple’s tax payments or tax liability in any country.
5. Apple believes comprehensive international tax reform is essential, and for many years has been advocating for simplification of the tax code. Reform that allows a free flow of capital will accelerate economic growth and support job creation. A coordinated legislative effort internationally will remove the current tug of war between countries over tax payments and ensure certainty of law for taxpayers.
Read Fortune’s independent explanation of Apple’s tax payments and how they illustrate the complexity of the international tax system.
Source: Apple Inc., November 6, 2017
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Apple Watch Ultra 2, featuring the most accurate GPS in a sports watch, now available in black titanium
Apple today introduced Apple Watch Ultra 2 in a striking new black titanium finish, enhanced with features in watchOS 11 that make the most rugged and capable Apple Watch even better.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 is an ideal partner for athletes and adventurers of all kinds, featuring the most accurate GPS in a sports watch, the brightest display of any Apple product, and up to 36 hours of battery life with regular use or up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode. watchOS 11 brings powerful new features to the best sports watch, with breakthrough insights from training load and the Vitals app; sleep apnea notifications; the Tides app; new customization options for the Action button; and more. A new Titanium Milanese Loop band for Apple Watch Ultra is designed for water activities while offering lightweight comfort and elegance for any occasion. An all-new Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 2 combines the durability and features of Apple Watch Ultra 2 with a nautically inspired watch band and an exclusive Hermès watch face.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 in black titanium, Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 2, and the new Titanium Milanese Loop can be pre-ordered today, with availability beginning Friday, September 20.
“Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the ultimate sports watch, with features that support athletes at every level of their training and performance — and throughout their day and night,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, in a statement. “The breakthrough insights in watchOS 11 make Apple Watch Ultra 2 even more powerful, and it’s now available in a stunning satin-black titanium finish users will love for its striking look and durability.”
A Stunning New Black Titanium Finish and Accompanying Bands
The new black titanium finish for Apple Watch Ultra 2 is achieved with a custom blasting process, and the diamond-like carbon physical vapor deposition coating over the grade 5 titanium makes it scratch-resistant and durable. The back crystal is made from a matching, dark zirconia.
https://macdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/240909_Apple-Watch-Ultra-2-black-titanium-240909.mp4To complement the new black finish, the popular Trail Loop, Alpine Loop, and Ocean Band have all been updated to offer a black hardware option in addition to natural titanium. Both black and natural finishes of Apple Watch Ultra 2 are made from 95 percent recycled titanium, and are carbon neutral with any Titanium Milanese Loop, Trail Loop, or Alpine Loop.
The new Titanium Milanese Loop is the first metal band for Apple Watch Ultra, inspired by mesh historically used by divers and stylish enough for any occasion. Woven from the same aerospace-grade titanium as the case, the band is lightweight and corrosion-resistant. A custom process of weaving, flattening, laser-welding, grinding, and finely polishing the titanium wire results in precise, interlinking lozenge shapes that provide a luxurious drape, complete with a dual-button, parachute-style buckle secure enough for all water sports. The Titanium Milanese Loop will be available in both natural and black titanium.
The new Titanium Milanese Loop band for Apple Watch Ultra comes in both black and natural titanium. A custom process of weaving, flattening, laser-welding, grinding, and finely polishing the titanium wire results in precise, interlinking lozenge shapes that provide a luxurious drape, complete with a dual-button, parachute-style buckle secure enough for all water sports.
Enhancements to Support Activity on All Terrains and in the Water
Apple Watch Ultra 2 features the brightest display Apple has ever designed at 3000 nits, suited for a wide range of outdoor adventures. GPS accuracy is also essential for many types of activities. The precision dual-frequency GPS of Apple Watch Ultra 2 utilizes advanced satellite and signal models, custom positioning algorithms, and Apple Maps data to provide the most accurate GPS in a sports watch, leading to more accurate distance, route maps, and metrics.
With watchOS 11, the new Vitals app gives users a way to quickly view key overnight health metrics and gain better context when it comes to their health. The new training load feature offers an insightful new way to measure how the intensity and duration of workouts are impacting a user’s body over time. An Up Next view for Custom Workouts helps users keep track of their current and upcoming interval.
The Action button can be customized to make it even easier to start a workout, switch between workout types during a Multisport workout, and more. With watchOS 11, users can now conveniently switch actions at any time by pressing and holding the Action button. This gives users quick access to useful features like Stopwatch, Backtrack, and Flashlight, and a variety of new options, including Translation, Voice Memos, and Shazam.
With watchOS 11, users can now easily switch between customizable actions at any time by pressing and holding the Action button.
To help users plan and enjoy open water activities and stay aware of changing conditions, watchOS 11 introduces a new Tides app for Apple Watch. Users can access seven rolling days of forecasted tidal information for coastlines and surf spots around the globe, including information on high and low tides; rising and falling tides; tide height and direction; and sunrise and sunset, all plotted against a timeline. Users can also view beaches near their location on a convenient map, and new complications show current tide information for their favorite spots or the closest beaches at a glance.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the best sports watch for athletes and adventurers of all kinds:
• Runners get advanced metrics, customizable workout views with Heart Rate Zones, Race Route, an industry-first automatic track-running detection feature, Custom Workouts, and more experiences during workouts and races alike. Apple Watch Ultra 2 offers battery life for long runs, with up to 12 hours during outdoor workouts, or up to 35 hours with all low-power settings.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 offers advanced features for runners, including pacing and automatic track detection.
• Cyclists can easily view their workout as a Live Activity on iPhone — or connect Bluetooth-enabled cycling accessories to Apple Watch Ultra 2 — giving them more metrics and experiences, including cadence, an automatic estimate of functional threshold power, and Power Zones. Apple Watch Ultra 2 can also track distance, speed, elevation, and heart rate.
Cyclists can track their distance, speed, elevation, and heart rate, and can connect Bluetooth-enabled cycling accessories to Apple Watch Ultra 2 for more metrics and experiences.
• Swimmers can make use of automatic stroke detection and lap count on Apple Watch Ultra 2, which is certified to WR100. watchOS 11 brings Custom Workouts for pool swims, which help users track their intervals and give them a snapshot of what’s next. Users can also view water temperature directly within the Workout app during Pool Swim and Open Water Swim workouts.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 offers automatic stroke detection and lap count for swimmers, and watchOS 11 brings Custom Workouts for pool swims to help users track their intervals and see what’s next.
• Hikers can enjoy enhanced trail experiences with offline maps — complete with turn-by-turn directions — as well as features like Waypoints and backtrack GPS data in the Compass app. Users can also create and save custom hiking routes in iOS 18 and sync them to Apple Watch.
Trail experiences get enhanced with offline maps and the ability to create and save custom routes in iOS 18 and watchOS 11.
• Divers can take advantage of the Oceanic+ app — developed in partnership with Huish Outdoors — which turns Apple Watch Ultra into a dive computer. This year, the Oceanic+ app introduces new features for snorkelers, allowing them to easily view popular locations nearby and access information about weather, as well as water temperature and tidal conditions provided by the snorkeling community. All snorkeling adventures are archived in a user’s personal logbook, including their route and underwater photos. Photos can be automatically color-corrected and analyzed against a comprehensive, localized database to help users identify fish.
The Oceanic+ app — developed in partnership with Huish Outdoors — turns Apple Watch Ultra into a dive computer, and this year, introduces new features for snorkelers.
• Golfers benefit from Apple Watch Ultra 2 with Apple’s brightest display ever and long battery life. With a suite of third-party apps, users can access course information as well as tools and insights utilizing the high-frequency motion API to help improve their game.
Golfers can benefit from Apple Watch Ultra 2 with Apple’s brightest display ever and long battery life, and access course information as well as tools and insights in third-party apps like Golfshot that utilize the high-frequency motion API to help improve their game.
With its rugged, corrosion-resistant titanium design, large bright display, and long battery life, Apple Watch Ultra 2 is also great for rowing, skiing, snowboarding, tennis, and many other activities.
Insightful Sleep Apnea Notifications
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious condition where breathing stops momentarily during sleep. The condition, which is estimated to impact more than 1 billion people worldwide, goes undiagnosed in most cases, and if left untreated, can have important consequences on health. Building on the intelligent health features already available, Apple Watch now offers a feature to help identify signs of sleep apnea.
Apple Watch now offers a feature to help identify signs of sleep apnea by tracking and analyzing breathing disturbance data.
To detect sleep apnea, Apple Watch uses the accelerometer to monitor small movements at the wrist that are associated with interruptions in normal respiratory patterns, tracked by a new Apple Watch metric called Breathing Disturbances. While some breathing disturbances are normal, they are important to track as they can be used to help understand restfulness of sleep, and when occurring frequently over multiple nights, may be associated with sleep apnea. The new sleep apnea algorithm analyzes breathing disturbance data so Apple Watch can notify the user if the data indicates signs of sleep apnea. The notification will include the time period when potential sleep apnea occurred, educational materials on the importance of seeking treatment, and a PDF providing three months of breathing disturbance data to reference during a conversation with a healthcare provider.
While some breathing disturbances are normal, they are important to track as they can lead to less restful sleep, and when occurring frequently over multiple nights, may be associated with sleep apnea.
The sleep apnea notification feature was developed with advanced machine learning methods, validated in a clinical study, and is expected to receive marketing authorization from the FDA and other global health authorities soon. Sleep apnea notifications will be available in more than 150 countries and regions this month, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
Audio Playback Through Speakers
For the first time, audio can play back through the two built-in speakers on Apple Watch Ultra 2. Just like with phone calls, users can listen to audio from a range of apps — including Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple Books, and third-party apps — right from their Apple Watch.
Audio from a range of apps can now play back through the two built-in speakers on Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Additional watchOS 11 Features
Apple Watch Ultra 2 also features many other enhancements with watchOS 11:
• Activity rings are more customizable than ever, with the ability to specify Activity ring goals by the day of the week so the rings provide the right amount of motivation at the right moments. Users can also pause their rings for a day, week, month, or more without affecting their award streaks, allowing users to plan a rest day, care for an injury, or just take a day off.
• The Workout app offers even more workout types that can track distance using enhancements in GPS positioning, including various field sports, Downhill Skiing, Cross Country Skiing, Snowboarding, Golf, Outdoor Rowing, and more. Users can also see their route maps for more workout types.
watchOS 11 also features a more intelligent Smart Stack to help users quickly access important information; a new Photos watch face that uses machine learning to help users select and compose their best photo options; the Translate app and Check In on Apple Watch; the ability to scroll through any app with the double tap gesture; summarized notifications powered by Apple Intelligence; and more.
Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 2
The first-of-its-kind Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 2 combines a natural titanium case with the new Hermès En Mer band in Bleu Nuit — a dark navy color — and a special Hermès Maritime watch face. The En Mer band features Hermès’s nautical, diagonal rib pattern made from high-density textured knit, providing both durability and comfort. A wide titanium buckle on the band ensures that Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 2 stays securely on the wrist even during water activities, including scuba diving, sailing, and high-speed water sports.
The new Hermès Maritime watch face features high-visibility numerals in the classic Hermès Cape Cod typeface, with a sweeping outer bezel that displays the seconds. Pressing the Action button transforms the watch face into a special countdown timer inspired by boat racing.
The first-of-its-kind Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 2 combines a natural titanium case with a new Hermès En Mer band in Bleu Nuit, a dark navy color, and a complementary Hermès Maritime watch face.Pricing and Availability
• Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UAE, the U.K., the U.S., and more than 49 other countries and regions can order Apple Watch Ultra 2 in black titanium today, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 20.
• Apple Watch Ultra 2 starts at $799 (U.S.), and is available in natural and black titanium.
• Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 2 is $1,399 (U.S.).
• New bands, including the Titanium Milanese Loop, will be available to order today from apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 20.
• watchOS 11 will be available for Apple Watch Series 6 or later on Monday, September 16, and requires iPhone Xs or later, running iOS 18. Not all features are available on all devices and in all regions.
• Three months of Apple Fitness+ and Apple Music are included for customers who purchase Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Ultra 2, or a new Apple Watch Series 6 or later.
• AppleCare+ for Apple Watch provides unparalleled service and support, including unlimited incidents of accidental damage, battery service coverage, and priority support from the people who know Apple Watch best.
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Apple introduces groundbreaking health features to support conditions impacting billions of people
Apple today unveiled breakthrough sleep and hearing health features coming to Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 2 that further deliver on Apple’s commitment to health with experiences that enrich users’ lives. These new features expand across products, bringing informative and powerful ways to support users in their sleep and hearing health for conditions that impact billions globally.
Using an innovative new Breathing Disturbances metric, sleep apnea notifications come to Apple Watch, adding to the many ways Apple Watch acts as an intelligent guardian for users’ health. The sleep apnea notifications are expected to receive marketing authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other global health authorities soon, with availability this month in more than 150 countries and regions, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
Apple is providing the world’s first all-in-one hearing health experience with AirPods Pro with active Hearing Protection, a clinically validated Hearing Test feature, and an over-the-counter Hearing Aid feature. The first-of-its-kind software-based Hearing Aid feature helps make access to hearing assistance easier than ever at an approachable price point. The Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features are expected to receive marketing authorization from global health authorities soon, and will be available this fall in more than 100 countries and regions, including the U.S., Germany, and Japan.
“At Apple, we believe that technology can help you live a healthier life, and we’re excited to enable incredible new health capabilities for serious conditions that affect billions of people around the world, while continuing to keep user data private,” said Sumbul Desai, M.D., Apple’s vice president of Health, in a statement. “With Apple Watch, we continue to offer our users the ability to uncover important health conditions with new sleep apnea notifications. And on AirPods Pro, powerful features put users’ hearing health front and center, bringing new ways to help test for and receive assistance for hearing loss.”
A Powerful Way to Detect Signs of Sleep Apnea
Sleep is an important area of health as it impacts a person’s overall physical and mental wellbeing. Sleep apnea is a prevalent disorder in which breathing momentarily stops during sleep, preventing the body from getting enough oxygen. The condition is estimated to impact more than 1 billion people worldwide, and in most cases, goes undiagnosed. If left untreated, it can have important health consequences over time, including increased risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiac issues.
Breathing Disturbances is an innovative new Apple Watch metric that uses the accelerometer to detect small movements at the wrist associated with interruptions to normal respiratory patterns during sleep. Every 30 days, Apple Watch will analyze breathing disturbance data and notify users if it shows consistent signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea so they can speak to their doctor about next steps, including potential diagnosis and treatment.
Users can view their nightly Breathing Disturbances in the Health app on iPhone, where they are classified as elevated or not elevated.Because overall quality of sleep is important, Breathing Disturbances can also be used to assess restfulness of sleep. Breathing Disturbances can be influenced by alcohol, medications, sleep position, and more. Users can view their nightly Breathing Disturbances in the Health app, where they are classified as elevated or not elevated, and can be viewed over a one-month, six-month, or one-year period.
For more informed conversations with their healthcare providers, users can export a PDF that shows when sleep apnea may have occurred, three months of breathing disturbance data, and additional information. Educational articles are also available within the Health app to help users learn more about sleep apnea.
The sleep apnea notification algorithm was developed using advanced machine learning and an extensive data set of clinical-grade sleep apnea tests. The feature was then validated in a clinical study — unprecedented in size for sleep apnea technology. In the clinical validation study, every participant identified by the algorithm had at least mild sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea notifications come to Apple Watch, further expanding its capabilities as an intelligent guardian for users’ health.
“Empowering consumers everywhere to have the ability to reliably identify the presence of abnormal breathing patterns during sleep can help uncover a woefully underdiagnosed and serious medical condition such as sleep apnea,” said Sairam Parthasarathy, M.D., University of Arizona Health Sciences Center for Sleep, Circadian, and Neurosciences’s professor and director in Tucson, Arizona, in a statement. “This is a major step forward in improving public health.”
Sleep apnea notifications and Breathing Disturbances add to a range of sleep health features for Apple Watch users. In addition to monitoring important overnight health metrics like heart rate and respiratory rate, Apple Watch also helps users meet their sleep goals and track their sleep over time.
The World’s First All-in-One Hearing Health Experience
Approximately 1.5 billion people around the world are living with hearing loss, according to the World Health Organization. Research has also identified links between hearing loss and impact on a person’s overall wellbeing, including dementia and social isolation.
To help users better understand their hearing health, Apple is introducing an end-to-end experience focused on prevention, awareness, and assistance.
Prevention
According to the Apple Hearing Study — a longitudinal, virtual public research study conducted in collaboration with the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the World Health Organization — one in three people are regularly exposed to loud environmental noise levels that can impact their hearing. That can include common scenarios like taking the subway while commuting, mowing the lawn at home, attending a sporting event, and many more.
In order to help users prevent exposure to loud environmental noise while preserving the sound signature of what they’re listening to, Hearing Protection comes to AirPods Pro. The ear tips help to provide passive noise reduction, while the H2 chip helps to actively reduce louder, more intermittent noise at 48,000 times per second. On by default across all listening modes, Hearing Protection is helpful in a variety of loud settings. Plus, with an all-new multiband high dynamic range algorithm, sounds at live events like concerts remain natural and vibrant.
Awareness
Hearing loss often worsens gradually, leaving many people unaware that they may be living with the condition. Eighty percent of adults in the U.S. have not had their hearing checked in the last five years, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. To give users even more insights into hearing health, Apple is introducing an intuitive, clinical-grade hearing test based on the standard clinical approach called pure-tone audiometry that users can take themselves with their AirPods Pro and a compatible iPhone or iPad.
240909_Apple-health-Hearing-Test-240909
Users can take the convenient test in about five minutes from the comfort of their own home. The Hearing Test feature leverages advanced acoustic science and provides users with an interactive experience. When a user completes the test, they will see an easy-to-understand summary of their results, including a number representing hearing loss in each ear, a classification, and recommendations. The results, which include an audiogram, are stored privately and securely in the Health app, and can be shared with a healthcare provider to have more informed conversations.
The Hearing Test builds on learnings from the Apple Hearing Study and was developed using large-scale, real-world data. The feature was then validated against the clinical gold standard of pure-tone audiometry.
“Hearing health is a cornerstone of overall wellbeing. Protecting and preserving our hearing enhances our quality of life both in the short-term and long-term,” said Rick Neitzel, University of Michigan School of Public Health’s professor of Environmental Health Sciences and principal investigator of the Apple Hearing Study, in a statement. “I’m thrilled Apple is introducing important tools to support people’s hearing health. These tools will help people protect their ears from noise pollution, be aware of changes in their hearing over time, and have important conversations with their healthcare providers when they need additional support.”
Assistance
Learning about hearing loss is a critical step to getting necessary assistance, which can often be challenging due to cost and access. Global research shows hearing loss often goes untreated. In fact, the Apple Hearing Study revealed that 75 percent of people diagnosed with hearing loss haven’t received the assistive support that they need.
AirPods Pro add an innovative over-the-counter Hearing Aid capability for users with mild to moderate hearing loss. Using the personalized hearing profile from the Hearing Test, this new feature seamlessly transforms AirPods Pro into a clinical-grade hearing aid. After setup, the feature enables personalized dynamic adjustments so users have the sounds around them boosted in real time. This helps them better engage in conversation, and keeps them connected to the people and environment around them. With the incredible audio quality of AirPods Pro, the user’s personalized hearing profile is automatically applied to music, movies, games, and phone calls across their devices, without needing to adjust any settings. Users can also set up the Hearing Aid feature with an audiogram created by a hearing health professional.
The first-of-its-kind, software-based Hearing Aid feature helps make access to hearing assistance easier than ever.The Hearing Aid feature was clinically validated in a controlled, randomized study that evaluated the perceived benefit of the feature and its custom settings compared to an audiologist-assisted setup.
After taking the Hearing Test, the user’s hearing profile can also help to personalize the AirPods Pro listening experience for even more people, including those with little to no hearing loss who can still benefit from specific adjustments at individual frequencies. To help provide the best listening experience, Media Assist is an all-new feature that helps boost certain parts of speech on a phone call or instruments within a soundtrack to help an even broader population.
These features build on the hearing health tools Apple currently offers its users. For example, with the Noise app, Apple Watch users can enable notifications for when environmental noise levels might affect their hearing health. On iPhone, users can set a headphone volume limit where they can turn on Reduce Loud Audio and drag a slider to a preferred decibel level. Apple also offers additional accessibility features for users to customize settings to meet their hearing needs.
In the Health app on iPhone, users can view powerful insights about their hearing health over time. Apple Watch users can also see when the environmental sound level is reduced while wearing AirPods Pro.
“For decades, Apple has led the way in designing products for everyone and supporting users with a broad spectrum of hearing abilities,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives, in a statement. “These features on AirPods Pro will make an impact on so many people by driving more awareness around hearing health and empowering individuals with new customizable tools to help them stay connected.”
Additional features coming to Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad include:
• The new Vitals app on Apple Watch gives users a way to check in on their daily health status and view key overnight health metrics, like heart rate and respiratory rate, and gain better context when it comes to their health.
• The Health app offers additional support for pregnant users to reflect changes in their physical and mental health during this important time. Users can view the current gestational age and log symptoms in Cycle Tracking. Apple Watch users can also receive recommendations to review features like high heart rate notifications.
• Time spent journaling can be saved as mindful minutes in the Health app, and users can log their state of mind right in Journal.
Since launching the Health app in 2014, Apple has introduced meaningful features that focus on 18 areas of health and fitness across Apple Watch, AirPods, iPhone, and iPad. Apple is committed to empowering users on their health journey by building actionable features into the products they use every day that are grounded in science, and have privacy at the core.
Built with Privacy at the Core
Privacy is fundamental in the design and development across all of Apple’s health features. When a user’s device is locked with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, all of their health and fitness data in the Health app — other than Medical ID — is encrypted. Any Health data backed up to iCloud is encrypted both in transit and on Apple servers. When using iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS with the default two-factor authentication and a passcode, Health app data synced to iCloud is encrypted end-to-end, meaning that Apple does not have the key to decrypt the data and therefore cannot read it.
Availability
• Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages, or with all makes and models.
• The sleep apnea notifications are expected to receive marketing authorization from the FDA and other global health authorities soon, with availability this month in more than 150 countries and regions, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan. The feature will be supported on Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.
• The Hearing Test and Aid features are expected to receive marketing authorization from global health authorities soon and will be supported with AirPods Pro 2 with the latest firmware when paired with a compatible iPhone or iPad, and will be available this fall in more than 100 countries and regions, including the U.S., Germany, and Japan.
• The Hearing Protection feature is expected to be available in fall 2024 and will work with AirPods Pro 2 with the latest firmware when paired with a compatible iPhone, iPad, or Mac running the latest operating system. The feature will be available in the U.S. and Canada.
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Apple Intelligence begins arriving on Mac, iPad, and iPhone next month
Today, Apple announced that Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that is incredibly useful and relevant, will start rolling out next month with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, with more features launching in the coming months. In addition, Apple introduced the new iPhone 16 lineup, built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence and featuring the faster, more efficient A18 and A18 Pro chips — making these the most advanced and capable iPhone models ever.
Apple Intelligence first launches in U.S. English, and will quickly expand to include localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. in December, with additional language support — such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish — coming next year.
Getting Started with Apple Intelligence
Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, harnessing the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks — all while protecting users’ privacy and security. Many of the models that power Apple Intelligence run entirely on device, and Private Cloud Compute offers the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers. The first set of Apple Intelligence features will be available next month, delivering experiences that are delightful, intuitive, easy to use, and specially designed to help users do the things that matter most to them.
With Writing Tools, users can refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.
With systemwide Writing Tools powered by Apple Intelligence, users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write.
In Photos, the Memories feature now enables users to create the movies they want to see by simply typing a description. In addition, natural language can be used to search for specific photos, and search in videos gets more powerful with the ability to find specific moments in clips. The new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.
https://macdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/240909_Apple-Intelligence-Clean-Up-tool.mp4In the Notes and Phone apps, users can record, transcribe, and summarize audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call in the Phone app, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence also generates a summary to help recall key points.
Apple Intelligence helps users prioritize and stay in the moment with summarized notifications across apps, Reduce Interruptions — a new Focus that surfaces only the notifications that might need immediate attention — as well as Priority Messages in Mail, which understands the content of emails and surfaces time-sensitive messages. Across a user’s inbox, summaries convey the most important information of each email instead of simply previewing the first few lines. Smart Reply in Mail provides users with suggestions for a quick response and identifies questions in an email to ensure everything is answered.
https://macdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/240909_Apple-Intelligence-Priority-Notifications.mp4Siri becomes more natural, flexible, and deeply integrated into the system experience. It has a brand-new design with an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when active on iPhone, iPad, or CarPlay. On Mac, a user can place Siri anywhere on their desktop to access it easily as they work. Users can type to Siri at any time on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and can switch fluidly between text and voice as they use Siri to accelerate everyday tasks. With richer language-understanding capabilities, Siri can follow along when users stumble over their words and can maintain context from one request to the next. In addition, with Siri’s extensive product knowledge, it can now answer thousands of questions about the features and settings of Apple devices. Users can learn everything from how to take a screen recording to how to easily share a Wi-Fi password.
https://macdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/240909_Apple-Intelligence-Siri.mp4Many More Features to Come
More Apple Intelligence features will roll out later this year and in the months following. Image Playground will allow users to create playful images in moments. Image Wand will make notes more visually engaging by turning rough sketches into delightful images. When a user circles an empty space, Image Wand will create an image using context from the surrounding area. Emoji will be taken to an entirely new level with the ability to create original Genmoji by simply typing a description, or by selecting a photo of a friend or family member. Siri will be even more capable, with the ability to draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that is tailored to them. It will also gain onscreen awareness, as well as take hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party apps. Plus, users have the option to access ChatGPT’s broad world knowledge from several experiences within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, allowing users to access its expertise — as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities — without needing to jump between tools.
An Extraordinary Step Forward for Privacy in AI
Apple Intelligence is designed to protect users’ privacy at every step. A cornerstone of Apple Intelligence is on-device processing, and many of the models that power it run entirely on device. To run more complex requests that require more processing power, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple devices into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. Private Cloud Compute marks a fundamental breakthrough in server-based intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill their request. Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to continuously verify this privacy promise and are already doing so.
In addition, for users who choose to access ChatGPT through Siri or Writing Tools, privacy protections are built in — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. Users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for those who choose to connect their account.
Availability
Apple Intelligence will be available as a free software update. The first set of Apple Intelligence features will be available in beta next month as part of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, with more features rolling out in the months to come. It will be available on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with device and Siri language set to U.S. English. Additional languages and platforms are coming over the course of the next year.
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