CNET:

One of the first speaker makers to support Apple’s new AirPlay 2 system for whole-home audio was Sonos, and now we know when it’s coming: July.

AirPlay 2 allows you to control multiple compatible speakers like the HomePod or Sonos, or Apple TV devices, around the home, and stream music to them using an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer. Supported Sonos speakers include the Sonos One, Play 5, and Playbase, as well as the new Sonos Beam.

When the update arrives to Sonos speakers in July, they will show up as available play targets within iOS.

Great news for you Sonos fans.

Steven Aquino, TechCrunch:

Apple has one hardware-specific feature planned that wasn’t announced at Monday’s WWDC keynote. In iOS 12, users will be able to use Live Listen, a special feature previously reserved for hearing aids certified through Apple’s Made for iPhone hearing aid program, with their AirPods.

After enabling the feature in the iPhone’s settings, users will be able to use their phones effectively as a directional mic. This means you can have AirPods in at a noisy restaurant with your iPhone on the table, for example, and the voice of whomever is speaking will be routed to your AirPods.

This is absolutely brilliant, a wonderful feature especially useful for folks with limited hearing.

As Steven notes at the end of his piece:

Still, it’s critical to note AirPods with Live Listen is not a full replacement for a hearing aid. It’s obviously best to speak with your audiologist to determine the best solution for your ears.

This is no replacement for a hearing aid, but a useful tool to have.

Some folks have noted a dark potential, that of using your phone to eavesdrop on a conversation remotely. Just as a webcam uses a light to let you know it is live, I wonder if Apple might light up the iPhone screen in a certain way to let folks know the audio is being shared remotely.

Not clear to me where the original quotes come from (please ping me if you know) but I appreciate the side-by-side showing an element or image from real life along with the icon Susan Kare crafted to represent it.

Beautiful.

First things first, note the image at the top of the article, captioned “A phone-absorbed attendee at WWDC”. Hey, that poster-child for phone-absorption looks familiar.

But I digress.

Wired:

Apple—like much of Silicon Valley—wants to cure the disease it’s caused. The next version of iOS will be armed with a “comprehensive set of built-in features” to limit distractions and recalibrate priorities on the iPhone.

And:

There’s also a dashboard for usage insights, called Screen Time, which sends a weekly breakdown of how you spend your time on the iPhone. A built-in App Timer can set limits on certain apps, reminding you to move on after 30 minutes or an hour.

So far, so good. But:

Moments later, Apple executives demonstrated Memoji, a new personalized emoji feature that involves staring at the screen and animating a digital character with your facial features. Another demo featured Julz Arney, who works on Apple’s fitness technologies, biking while breathlessly scrolling through productivity apps on her Apple Watch, changing dinner reservations, texting friends, browsing the web, checking notifications about her infant baby, and struggling to close the fitness rings on the watch’s face.

The cognitive dissonance was striking. Apple says it wants you to have a healthier relationship with your phone, and it’ll even give you the tools to do it. But for every feature it showed to wrangle notifications or curb app use, it added more to keep you staring at your screen.

I’m wrestling with this one. I do see the point, that Apple is filling the bucket while emptying it, giving us more things to distract us while giving us tools to manage those distractions. Ultimately, I appreciate both things. I appreciate the tools to set limits, like better Do Not Disturb and Screen Time.

But I also appreciate the new distractions, the ARKit games, the face tracking Memoji, all of it. I see these distractions as part of the fabric of life, the texture that helps keep things interesting. But there are also elements that keep me from doing things that matter to me, that tug the strings of anxiety, seed misunderstanding.

I do think there is an addictive element to tech and social media, and tools like Screen Time and and improved Do Not Disturb are a step in the right direction.

From the App Store Review Guidelines:

Non-subscription apps may offer a free time-based trial period before presenting a full unlock option by setting up a Non-Consumable IAP item at Price Tier 0 that follows the naming convention: “14-day Trial.” Prior to the start of the trial, your app must clearly identify its duration, the content or services that will no longer be accessible when the trial ends, and any downstream charges the user would need to pay for full functionality.

And:

Auto-renewing subscription apps may offer a free trial period to customers by providing the relevant information set forth in App Store Connect. Apps that attempt to trick users into purchasing a subscription under false pretenses or engage in bait-and-switch practices will be removed from the App Store and you may be removed from the Apple Developer Program.

Nice to see free trials extend beyond subscriptions (subscription model already had this ability). I believe this applies to both iOS and Mac App Stores.

CNN:

Tim Cook told CNN’s Laurie Segall, in an exclusive TV interview, that he had a wake-up call about his own tech habits after seeing data from a newly unveiled Apple tool that will provide detailed reports of how much time users spend on the iPhone and iPad.

“I’ve been using it and I have to tell you: I thought I was fairly disciplined about this. And I was wrong,” Cook told Segall after Apple’s annual developer conference Monday.

The feature, called Screen Time, shows users their daily and weekly time spent in each app and also lets them set time limits for specific apps. Users will also be able to see how many notifications they received and how often they picked up the device.

I think “revealed” might be typical hyperbole but I’m definitely looking forward to this feature in iOS 12 if only out of curiosity. I don’t think anything it tells me will actually make me use my phone less.

TechCrunch:

Big news for CarPlay, Apple’s in-car service that lets a vehicle’s display act as a controller and ‘reader’ of your iPhone. At WWDC, Apple today announced that it will now let third-party navigation and mapping apps to work with the service starting with iOS 12. Up to now, Apple only allowed its own mapping app, Maps, to work over CarPlay, but now you can use Waze, Google Maps, Here, or whatever other app you might want to use to get from A to B.

I don’t have CarPlay on my motorcycle but if I did, I’d find this to be good news. I much prefer other apps, including Waze, over Apple’s app for navigation.

Wired:

In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Federighi said the frameworks for porting iPhone and iPad apps to the Mac have been in development for two years. He revealed some of the technical details around how this will work, and shared some of the types of iOS apps he believes make sense on the Mac.

There are some developers really excited by this and others who are really unhappy about it. Regardless, it will be interesting to see what this brings Mac users in the future.

The Verge:

Apple is launching group FaceTime chats with iOS 12 that’ll be able to accommodate up to 32 participants. FaceTime will be integrated into Messages, so you can easily transition a group chat to a group video call. FaceTime will also feature filters and Animoji, as well as the company’s new Memoji.

It’s an interesting interface that looks unlike other video chats.

I don’t even know 32 people let alone want to simultaneously FaceTime chat with that many.

Wired:

The newest version of Apple’s Safari browser will push back hard against the ad-tracking methods and device fingerprinting techniques that marketers and data brokers use to monitor web users as they browse. Starting with Facebook.

The next version of Safari will explicitly prompt you when a website tries to access your cookies or other data, and let you decide whether to allow it, a welcome step toward explicit choices about online tracking.

Would these changes make you use Safari if you don’t right now?

Yesterday, we ran a post featuring a New York Times takedown of Facebook and a direct response to the Times piece by Facebook.

From that post:

Facebook has reached data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 device makers — including Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung — over the last decade, starting before Facebook apps were widely available on smartphones, company officials said.

In this NPR interview, Tim Cook fires back:

“We’ve never been in the data business,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told NPR on Monday, responding to a report that Facebook struck agreements giving Apple and other device makers access to Facebook users’ personal information.

And:

“The things mentioned in the Times article about relationship statuses and all these kinds of stuff, this is so foreign to us, and not data that we have ever received at all or requested — zero”

And:

“What we did was we integrated the ability to share in the operating system, make it simple to share a photo and that sort of thing,” Cook added. “So it’s a convenience for the user. We weren’t in the data business. We’ve never been in the data business.”

Smart response, as the New York Times article definitely gave the feeling that Apple was somehow in cahoots with Facebook, sharing user data.

Apple announced lots of exciting new features for the coming watchOS 5 (available this Fall).

I have to say, I was delighted by Walkie Talkie, the watch to watch communication mechanism. It appeals to the kid in me. Brought back memories of camping out and late night whispered walkie-talkie conversations, as well as road trips where we used walkie-talkies to communicate between cars. If you’ve never experienced walkie-talkies, this is not the same as making a phone call. It’s more instantaneous and, to me, more fun.

I also love the progress Apple made on the Siri watch face:

Using machine learning, the updated Siri watch face on Apple Watch is an even better personal assistant. It now offers more predictive and proactive shortcuts throughout the day based on routines, locations and information such as heart rate after a workout, commute time with Maps at the appropriate time of day or sports scores for a favorite team. The Siri watch face will also show actionable content from favorite third-party apps such as Nike+ Run Club, Glow Baby and Mobike.

The ability to create your own Siri Shortcuts and tie them to a complication on your Apple Watch is no small thing. Not exactly sure how Automator, and then Workflow, fits in to Shortcuts, but I’m guessing this is a rebranding and that Shortcuts is the new name for all of this automation. Please ping me if you know the backstory/details.

As to the Apple Watch Pride band, check out the video embedded in this tweet (tap the tweet to see it):

Stream Apple Music with just your watch. Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular. Pride Edition Woven Nylon band now available.

— Apple (@Apple) June 4, 2018

So much richness in this keynote.

Read all about it in Apple’s official Mojave press release.

The new Mac App Store is a wonderful redesign, a thoughtful follow-on to the completely redesigned iOS App Store.

Mojave Dark Mode really pops, as does the new Dark Mode version of Xcode. All of this design progress, combined with the announcement of a process for quickly porting iOS apps to the Mac expected for developer release at next year’s WWDC, really makes me hopeful for a rebirth of the Mac.

I look forward to Apple getting out in front of the butterfly keyboard issue, and to the official release of a new generation of MacBooks and MacBooks Pro. Oh yeah, and how about some hints on the functional approach and timing of that new Mac Pro.

Apple:

This year’s award winners include developers from across the globe, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, India, Netherlands, Turkey and the US.

Congratulations to all the winners. Make sure you tap those side arrows in each category as to see all the winners.

Apple:

> Today Apple delivered a Health Records API for developers and researchers to create an ecosystem of apps that use health record data to better manage medications, nutrition plans, diagnosed diseases and more. The Health Records feature allows patients of more than 500 hospitals and clinics to access medical information from various institutions organized into one view on their iPhone. For the first time, consumers will be able to share medical records from multiple hospitals with their favorite trusted apps, helping them improve their overall health.

As health technology continues to advance, integrating artificial intelligence into health assessments offers promising enhancements to personalized care. AI-driven tools can analyze vast amounts of health data to provide more accurate and individualized recommendations. These technologies can help users understand their health metrics better, identify potential issues earlier, and tailor wellness strategies to their specific needs.

Buoy Health exemplifies how AI can revolutionize self-assessment by combining data from multiple sources to deliver a holistic view of one’s health. This integration of AI with health records enables users to track their health trends over time, receive tailored recommendations, and make informed decisions about their wellness. By leveraging data from the Health Records API, AI can offer insights that are not only comprehensive but also actionable, ensuring that users receive guidance that is both relevant and timely.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Title II, “requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers”. The goal is to make it easy for you to access all your health care records, for you to be in control. As is, it doesn’t feel that way to me. I couldn’t tell you how to access my health care records without contacting my doctor. Meanwhile, patients with questions about health insurance can find answers on websites like https://boomerbenefits.com/faq/what-to-expect-from-your-welcome-to-medicare-visit/.

To me, this API is an incredibly important step towards that goal. Imagine having your records in your control, always accessible, sharable with any doctor you visit. Then, also have a look at luxury hospital beds for a comfortable recovery journey at home.

Add to that the emergence of new healthcare websites like eumeds.com that help you manage your health care, and help minimize the chance of mistakes with your meds.

These are Apple’s hand-picked highlight photos. Two stand out for me.

First, there’s Kelsey Peterson showing off her Memoji skills. I think Memoji are well done, capture that certain Apple design something that will sell a lot of iPhone X’s and then help sell the next wave of Face ID-enabled devices.

Second, there’s LEGO’s director of innovation, Martin Sanders, walking through Lego AR City. I thought this was a powerful demonstration of the possibilities of ARKit 2, showing how a real-world product like Lego can be tightly linked to the virtual world of AR, with the potential for product sales on both sides. Buy the Lego set, then buy addons in the virtual world to greatly enhance the experience.

My thanks to Bare Bones Software for sponsoring The Loop this week. As it happens, BBEdit was launched during the 6th WWDC. After 25 years, it’s good to know you can always count on BBEdit!

For the last 25 years, Bare Bones Software’s BBEdit has made getting work done easier (and faster!) for people who write, app developers, web developers and system admins.

BBEdit is crafted and continuously refined in response to meet the needs of writers, web authors, and software developers, providing an abundance of high-performance features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text. All in all, BBEdit is a powerful editor with an interface that stays out of your way, and well worth checking out.

To celebrate BBEdit’s 25th Anniversary, Bare Bones Software is creating commemorative apparel. Learn more!

BBEdit 12 is 64-bit ready. Download and try it today!

Six Colors:

While it may have seemed like Apple went deep into its upcoming platform updates, there’s only so much time the company can spend onstage, so by necessity, not everything makes the cut.

So I always like to comb through Apple’s product web pages to turn up interesting tidbits and features that the company didn’t talk about during its keynote presentation. So here’s my pretty thorough list of features Apple mentions on its website for these platform updates.

There’s some interesting little tidbits here.

Mac Observer:

At WWDC on Monday Apple announced and subsequently released macOS Mojave 10.14 developer beta. Unlike High Sierra, though, this update does not run on all the same Macs that the previous/current version does, with 2011-and-earlier Macs being left behind.

Unsurprisingly, some older Macs will get left behind when macOS Mojave 10.14 is released.

Apple:

Here’s what we announced.

Next up comes the dissection of the keynote.

Apple:

Announcing upgraded operating systems for iPhone and iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. We’ve packed them with new features and experiences, so with a simple update this fall all your devices will feel more powerful, personal, and fun than ever.

The WWDC 2018 Keynote is just over. Apple has updated their web site with some of the news that was announced and the replay of the keynote will be posted shortly.

New York Times:

As Facebook sought to become the world’s dominant social media service, it struck agreements allowing phone and other device makers access to vast amounts of its users’ personal information.

Facebook has reached data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 device makers — including Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung — over the last decade, starting before Facebook apps were widely available on smartphones, company officials said.

And:

Facebook allowed the device companies access to the data of users’ friends without their explicit consent, even after declaring that it would no longer share such information with outsiders. Some device makers could retrieve personal information even from users’ friends who believed they had barred any sharing, The New York Times found.

And in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica furor:

Facebook’s leaders said that the kind of access exploited by Cambridge in 2014 was cut off by the next year, when Facebook prohibited developers from collecting information from users’ friends. But the company officials did not disclose that Facebook had exempted the makers of cellphones, tablets and other hardware from such restrictions.

And:

Some device partners can retrieve Facebook users’ relationship status, religion, political leaning and upcoming events, among other data. Tests by The Times showed that the partners requested and received data in the same way other third parties did.

Read the Times article. Then read this response from Facebook, titled Why We Disagree with The New York Times:

Given that these APIs enabled other companies to recreate the Facebook experience, we controlled them tightly from the get-go. These partners signed agreements that prevented people’s Facebook information from being used for any other purpose than to recreate Facebook-like experiences. Partners could not integrate the user’s Facebook features with their devices without the user’s permission. And our partnership and engineering teams approved the Facebook experiences these companies built. Contrary to claims by the New York Times, friends’ information, like photos, was only accessible on devices when people made a decision to share their information with those friends. We are not aware of any abuse by these companies.

This is very different from the public APIs used by third-party developers, like Aleksandr Kogan. These third-party developers were not allowed to offer versions of Facebook to people and, instead, used the Facebook information people shared with them to build completely new experiences.

This is complicated. And if the Cambridge Analytica story had not happened, we might not even be discussing this.

It all comes down to trust. Do you trust Facebook with your data? If not, can they do anything to earn that trust back?

And one more bit, this Reddit thread (H/T Marlin Clark) asking, Is Facebook listening through your smartphone microphone?

I know this seems crazy, but read the article linked at the top of the post and ask around. There are a lot of examples of people reporting this. I’m skeptical, but there are a lot of these out there.

Jason Snell, Tom’s Guide:

You might have heard that Apple is holding a big event soon — its annual Worldwide Developer Conference, or WWDC, in San Jose, Calif. And yes, there will be numerous announcements at a keynote address given on Monday morning (June 4) to open the event. But if you’re not an Apple developer (and you probably aren’t), what does the event mean for you?

First things first, Jason Snell has really made me a regular reader of Tom’s Guide.

That aside, this is interesting, a non-developer’s take on the conference.

National Post:

A driver looking at an Apple Watch while stopped at a traffic light is still guilty of breaking Ontario’s distracted driving law, despite the trendy device’s new technology and her claim she was only checking the time.

And:

Victoria Ambrose was stopped at a red light on South Ring Road in Guelph in April when a University of Guelph police officer, beside her in his cruiser, noticed the glow of an electronic device. The officer testified he saw her looking up and down about four times, court heard.

Interesting. I don’t buy the argument that she was only checking the time. That just takes a wrist raise and a glance, no more time than any other watch.

Surprised this doesn’t happen more often.

Bloomberg:

> For Microsoft Corp., acquiring GitHub Inc. would be both a return to the company’s earliest roots and a sharp turnaround from where it was a decade ago. > > The software maker has agreed to acquire GitHub, the code-repository company popular with many software developers, and could announce the deal as soon as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. As for developers, they can expand their knowledge by reading blogs like migrate .net framework to .net core because it enables them to build cross-platform applications, improve performance, and take advantage of the latest features and updates, ensuring their projects remain modern, scalable, and secure.

Interesting that GitHub would choose this route over going public.

Lots of talk over the weekend over concerns with Microsoft having access to all the world’s source code. Doesn’t concern me. I password protect my private archives and trust GitHub to protect my privacy. I’ve got no reason to think that Microsoft will value that privacy any less.

This deal makes a ton of sense to me. I believe Microsoft have some of the most active and largest GitHub repositories on the planet. They know the value of GitHub, they probably have some solid ideas on tweaks to make it more useful for developers, and it makes good revenue as a business. Seems a smart move.

UPDATE: Here’s the official Microsoft announcement [H/T setteBIT].

> Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock. Subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review, the acquisition is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.