Cade Metz, New York Times:

Sitting alone in her bedroom, she stumbled onto an internet video describing a smartphone app called Replika. The app’s sole purpose, the video said, is to be her friend.

Ms. Francola was skeptical. But the app was free, and it offered what she needed most: conversation. She spent the day chatting with the app via text messages — mostly about her problems, hopes and anxieties. The next day, she paid an $8 monthly fee so she could actually talk with it, as if she were chatting with someone on the telephone.

At first blush, this seemed a non-starter. $8 a month for a chatbot?

But reading on, and chewing on the concept, I do get the need here. Loneliness is a powerful, debilitating force, especially in the time of COVID-19. And companionship can be just what the doctor ordered.

The question is, can chatbots cross the uncanny valley, feel real enough that you lose sight of the artificial nature of who you’re chatting with?

Way back in the day, Apple made this amazing concept video called Knowledge Navigator. If you’ve never seen the video, take a few minutes to watch it. It’s from 1987, in the very early days of Macintosh.

The dream was to create an assistant that was completely artificial, but felt human. We are still far from that reality. But the evolution of chatbots seems a slender bridge to that future.

For whatever reason, reminds me of this.

Facebook:

With the US elections less than five months away, today Facebook is launching the largest voting information campaign in American history. We’re building a new Voting Information Center that will give millions of people accurate information about voting, while also giving them the tools they need to register and make their voices heard at the ballot box. Our goal is to help register 4 million voters this year using Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, and help them get to the polls so they can hold our leaders accountable. This goal is double the estimated 2 million people we helped register in both 2018 and 2016.

I am biased here. I am not a fan of Facebook. But I am a fan of any effort to fix the steady drumbeat of false political narrative. And even more a fan of efforts to get people registered to vote.

My initial reaction here was an eye-roll so deep I had to steady myself afterwards. But if Facebook is making an effort to make it easier to register, to give people facts, especially where voting is concerned, how can I be anything but for it?

Make it so, Facebook.

MacStories:

Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop are complementary tools that a lot of creative professionals use together on the desktop, moving images back and forth. Until now, however, that wasn’t possible on the iPad, which has made it a frequently-requested feature ever since Photoshop debuted on the iPad late last year.

With today’s update to Lightroom, there’s a new option in the share menu called ‘Edit in Photoshop.’ When you select that option, Lightroom converts your image for Photoshop and uploads it to Adobe’s cloud service. As soon as that process is complete, Lightroom automatically launches Photoshop and loads the image. When you’re finished making edits, tap the big, blue button at the top of the screen that says ‘Send to Lightroom,’ and a PSD version of the image is returned to Lightroom where you’ll also find the original image you sent to Photoshop. Alternatively, you can save the PSD file as a cloud-based document without sending it back to Lightroom.

Adobe is slowly but surely making Lightroom and Photoshop for iPad much better and much more full-featured as well as increasing the integration between the two.

VentureBeat:

The European Commission (EC) has formally opened an antitrust investigation into Apple over rules that force developers to use Apple’s in-app purchasing technology and prohibit them from notifying customers of alternative ways to purchase or subscribe to content.

The EC has also opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple Pay over concerns Apple has restricted how Apple Pay is integrated into merchant apps and websites, as well as limiting rival payment services’ ability to access near field communication (NFC) technology for in-store payments.

Apple says, “It’s disappointing the European Commission is advancing baseless complaints from a handful of companies who simply want a free ride, and don’t want to play by the same rules as everyone else. We don’t think that’s right — we want to maintain a level playing field where anyone with determination and a great idea can succeed.”

Apple has to be cautious here. The EU is not nearly as “forgiving” of these kinds of actions as the US is.

Jump to the linked article, make your way down to the earliest posts, then back up through the series of updates as people worked out what was really happening.

Fascinating watching this unfold. A widespread outage for a major carrier is extremely rare, and cause for concern, especially for those folks in lockdown who depend on their cell service for all contact with the outside world.

Of all the names I’ve seen suggested, my favorite is lockdown-related: macOS Alcatraz.

I wish we had similar naming schemes for iOS, iPad OS, tvOS, etc. Also, remember BHA?

We’ll find out a week from today!

Adobe:

As previously announced in July 2017, Adobe will stop distributing and updating Flash Player after December 31, 2020 (“EOL Date”).

And:

Open standards such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly have continually matured over the years and serve as viable alternatives for Flash content. Also, the major browser vendors are integrating these open standards into their browsers and deprecating most other plug-ins (like Adobe Flash Player).

And:

Adobe will be removing Flash Player download pages from its site and Flash-based content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the EOL Date.

It’s been a long time since I’ve even seen Flash running on a device. When I hear someone talking about Flash, red lights go off in my head, all nostalgia has been pushed aside by thoughts of malware.

Apple:

When the Apple 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off on June 22 in a new virtual format, a global community of 23 million developers will have the opportunity to join from around the world for free through the Apple Developer app and the Apple Developer website.

23 million developers. That is an amazing number, especially when I think back to that tiny developer universe when the first iPhone SDK rolled out back in March, 2008.

Among them will be 350 Swift Student Challenge winners from 41 different countries and regions. The students were chosen based on their original Swift playground submission, part of Apple’s annual WWDC student challenge, which recognizes and celebrates the next generation of coders and creators.

This is one of my favorite parts of WWDC, the opportunity for the newest generation of developers to show off their skills.

Want to learn to program? Fire up your iPad and check out Swift Playgrounds. It’s a wonderful way to get started.

From a study commissioned by Apple, but independent in nature:

Originally offering approximately 500 apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, the App Store has grown to distribute millions of apps for the full suite of Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac laptops and desktops, and Apple Watch) in 175 countries. Cumulative downloads are in the hundreds of billions.

And:

The goal of this study is to capture total billings and sales generated through app developers’ various monetization strategies. In other words, our purpose is to estimate total billings and sales facilitated by the Apple App Store ecosystem. Our study accounts for billings generated through direct monetization via the App Store and sales generated through monetization outside the App Store.

With that last point in mind:

We estimate that the Apple App Store ecosystem facilitated more than $500 billion in billings and sales worldwide in 2019. More than 85% of that accrues solely to third parties.

Jaw dropping numbers, especially considering how lean times got before Steve Jobs’ return and the rollout of the colorful iMac, the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, etc.

Apple has really blossomed.

MacRumors:

Apple today launched its annual “Back to School” promotion in the United States and Canada. After five years of offering free Beats, Apple this year is offering free AirPods with the purchase of an eligible new Mac or iPad.

Qualifying students and educators can receive free second-generation AirPods with a wired charging case with the purchase of a new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, iPad Pro, or iPad Air. During the checkout process, it it also possible to upgrade to second-generation AirPods with a wireless charging case for $40 or to AirPods Pro for $90.

As usual, the deals aren’t at “OMG MUST BUY!” levels but, even if your kid isn’t physically going back to school in the fall (they haven’t made that decision yet in many places), you still might be getting them new gear. And a free set of AirPods or a few bucks off AirPods Pro is nothing to shake a stick at.

The Awesomer:

Musician Leo Moracchioli rarely busts out the trumpet for his metal and hard rock cover versions of popular songs, but in the case of Robert Palmer’s 1985 hit Addicted to Love, it was the best way to do the song justice. Though Leo’s video seems to be a little light on long-legged models in slinky black dresses.

Moracchioli says on his Patreon site, “I do music covers on YouTube where I record, mix, master, film and edit the videos myself.” I’m not generally a fan of covers but he does a great job on this classic tune.

TechCrunch:

A week before kicking off WWDC, Apple introduced a pair of upgrades to its pro-level hardware lines. Both the 16-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro desktop are getting select internal upgrades, starting today.

On the notebook front, the 16-inch model gets an additional graphics configuration. The addition of the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M GPU marks the best graphics performance yet for the notebook line, marking up a 75% speed increase over the the next-highest configuration, the Radeon Pro 5500M.

Apple also just rolled out a new feature designed to make it easier for users to upgrade the Mac Pro. A new SSD kit is designed for user-installation, featuring 1, 2, 4 and 8TB storage modules.

These upgrades are a welcome addition to the machines I dream about but will never be able to afford.

Macworld:

Apple sheds the past as necessary to provide new features in its products. With macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple gave up on 32-bit software after two years of Apple warning about that event coming. That meant iPhoto and a host of third-party apps could no longer be used after upgrading. But less remarked upon were video formats that relied on software components Apple had never updated to 64-bit compatibility.

There’s a long list of formats dropped in last fall’s macOS update, and it includes faves from years past: RealVideo, DivX, Sorenson 3, FlashPix, and many great hits that eventually were superseded by improved encoders.

This is one of those issues that, even though Apple warned users for several years ahead of this transition, still might catch less tech-savvy customers out.

Reelgood:

With new streaming services launching left and right, we know firsthand just how easy it can be for consumers to get confused and overwhelmed. As evidenced by the steady growth of users flocking to streaming aggregators like Reelgood, people are subscribing to multiple services for their entertainment needs. But are you really getting your money’s worth out of all these platforms?

To help you make a better-informed decision, Reelgood ran the numbers on the six major streaming services — Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, and Apple TV+ — to find out which one is the best bang for your buck.

Interesting data presented. While I knew Apple TV+ would be low on this totem pole, I was surprised to see how high Amazon Prime Video was.

Over the weekend, Daniel Eran Dilger, writing for AppleInsider, shared a post titled, Apple’s shift to ARM Mac from Intel at WWDC will define a decade of computing.

The whole thing is worth reading, but this bit captured a historic sequence, one that I’m sure Intel regrets:

The first was the iPhone, which Apple initially wanted to power with an Intel-built XScale chip. Intel’s chief executive at the time, Paul Otellini, initially said no to Apple, fearing that its phone project wouldn’t be successful enough to justify Intel’s investment.

That turned out to be wildly mistaken. Within just a couple of years, Apple’s success with the iPhone was so obvious that Intel itself desperately wanted to work with Apple on future mobile products, particularly its upcoming tablet. Intel expected Apple to select its upcoming x86 Silverthorne mobile chip, later renamed as Atom.

But this time Apple said “no” to Intel, and instead initiated the development of a project to build a new customized ARM “System on a Chip” that could power both its upcoming iPad and subsequently iPhone 4. The project was delivered in 2010 as A4.

This definitely goes down in my book as one of the biggest missed bets in tech history.

Jean-Louis Gassée:

From a PR perspective, the transition to ARM looks like a delicate balancing exercise. If Apple announces the move six months before the first ARM-based machines are scheduled to emerge, how will that effect current Mac sales?

A new Mac always raises this question, especially with a new Mac that is more than a speed bump. And more so if Apple releases a Mac that moves from Intel to ARM.

Jean-Louis brings up the fabled story of Adam Osborne, who brought the world the first commercially successful portable computer, but whose company crashed and burned.

In 1983, the polymath entrepreneur managed to kill sales of his creation by promising that its successors, the Osborn Executive and the Osborne Vixen, would be even better, Just You Wait! The pitch was so persuasive that customers did indeed wait. Sales collapsed and so did Osborne’s business.

Some say this is more fable than truth. From the Osborne Wikipedia page:

according to some new sources the real reason for Osborne Computer’s bankruptcy was management errors and insufficient cash flow.

Given how long a lead time Apple is said to be offering from announcement to release, it seems this will not be any more of a concern than previous experiences. Apple is a master of the product pipeline.

On a related note, an imagined hardware Developer Transition Kit (via DF), based on the ARM 12Z and housed in a headless device (Apple TV or Mac mini enclosure). This makes eminent sense to me. Pure speculation, but still.

Speculation aside, a key takeaway is the idea that a first ARM Mac need not replace the entire Mac product line. It might be a laptop. Or it might be a Mac mini. Or it might not even be.

Dade Hayes, Deadline:

Looking to streamline its offerings after critics have said they are complicated and difficult to navigate, even for existing customers, the company has also rebranded stand-alone service HBO Now to just HBO. The shift is expected to happen over the next few months.

HBO Go, which launched in 2010, will be removed from primary distribution platforms on July 31 but some online access will continue for a few weeks after that. The unplugging of Go is only in the U.S. Internationally, it will continue to operate, at least for now.

I still can’t wrap my head around the thinking on the HBO streaming plans. HBO, HBO Go, HBO Now, and HBO Max. All of which overlap pretty significantly, and whose names give no real indication of where the overlap ends.

TidBITS:

Persistent rumors suggest that Apple will switch from the Intel x86 processors in current Macs to ARM processors like Apple’s A series of chips that power iOS devices. Apple has said nothing about such a transition, but that’s par for the course for Apple.

Apple has successfully switched the Mac’s processor twice before. In 1994, Apple moved from the Mac’s original Motorola 68000 processors to IBM PowerPC processors. And in 2006, the company ditched the PowerPC in favor of Intel x86 processors. Both transitions were fairly smooth due to years of testing—Apple maintained a version of Mac OS X running on Intel chips years before the first Intel Macs shipped. Apple almost certainly has a version of macOS running on ARM right now, in some secret lab.

I don’t have any inside information on whether Apple is working on ARM-based Macs. But let’s look at the pros and cons of switching from Intel to ARM.

Given where Apple is at and where it seems to want to be, there’s no case needed to be made from the company’s point of view. All that’s left is implementation. And Apple is not “working on” ARM-based Macs. That part is done. They have them. They work. And they are fast.

MacRumors:

Most iPhone users will be aware of their device’s built-in calculator, but not everyone will know some of the tricks that you can perform with the app that can save you time. Here are some of our favorite tips.

I’m not a heavy user of the iPhone calculator but there are a couple of tips here I can definitely use.

The Next Web:

A thousand days is a mighty long time. That, friends, is the average lifespan of a hamster. And it’s also the amount of time since the launch of current Apple TV. Roughly.

Yes, the 5th generation of the Apple TV (AKA the newest 4K one) was released all the way back in September 2017. September 2017. The current Apple TV is as old as that mysterious jar of sauce in the back of your fridge.

Despite that, the current Apple TV easy to use, AirPlay is still fantastic, and it’s a much better experience than Android TV.

In other words, okay-ish-ness personified.

This isn’t a bad thing in itself, I just want more.

After listening to the latest Dalrymple Report, this article seemed apropos. There’s certainly an argument to be made that the Apple TV hardware is, for the most part, “good enough” and Apple should focus on making the UX and software better.

MacRumors:

Real-time transit information in Apple Maps has been expanded to multiple countries and metropolitan regions, Apple today confirmed in an update to its Feature Availability page.

In addition to regular public transport information, Apple now highlights several regions in which transit information is displayed in real time. These include the whole of Canada, England, the Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden and Wales, as well as 32 metropolitan regions in Australia, China, and the United States.

Meanwhile, support for Apple’s “Nearby” feature has been expanded and is now available in the following 31 countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Macau, Mexico, Montserrat, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

Maps now even includes transit directions for my little Canadian town of 6,000.