Apple has renamed, as predicted, all of their operating systems after the year
2026, meaning iOS is going to jump from iOS 18 to iOS 26. So, please, uh, moment
of silence for iOS 19 through 25. It
just sucks cuz I knew 23 was going to be good. But the rebranding announced
during Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference keynote this morning
represents some of the most substantial changes to Apple's software in years.
iOS, iPad OS, macOS, Watch OS, TV OS,
and Vision OS will share a new unified
design language called liquid glass, which brings back some skuomorphism. UI
elements warp and refract light. Apple says they behave just like glass in the
real world. For instance, menu bars can be shattered and used as improvised
weapons in an emergency. Apple also highlighted more dynamic controls which
will appear when the system thinks you need them and disappear when it thinks
you don't. An approach that has caused frustration in the past, but we have AI
now. So, but we'll talk AI later because what Apple called the biggest iPad OS
release ever involves finally giving iPads a new window management system
that works pretty much like macOS or Windows, unlike Stage Manager, which is
still a thing. And separate from this, apparently, multiple Windows can be
resized with what Apple calls a grab
handle and repositioned anywhere or
flicked to snap to the side. But there's more tiling options under each Windows
controls for minimize, maximize, and close like macOS, which you can click
with the new mouse pointer that looks like a freaking mouse pointer. What is
there's even a menu bar with drop-downs for file, edit, etc. at the top and
folder stacks in the dock just like macOS. I keep saying it. 2019 Riley
reviewing iPads online as tech tips is losing his the Mac OSing doesn't stop
there. The iPad OS files app gets more detail and an open with default app
option. Background tasks allows say a
video render to complete without the app autoc closing and preview is finally on
iPad with the annotation autofilling and other stuff you can do to PDFs. Don't
tell me about it. I don't want to know. There's also improvements to audio,
video, and screen recording that seem cool. But I got to be honest, I'd rather
move on to macOS 26 and the upgraded
Spotlight Search, which continues to seem like a glorious angel from heaven
compared to the wart covered troll under the bridge that is Windows Search. I
don't know what that is, but I could ask Bing perhaps.
macOS 26 lets you describe actions and
take them directly from Spotlight, like sending an email that says a certain
thing to a certain person with a certain subject line, and lets you assign quick
keys for certain actions, like just typing AR for add reminder. Spotlight
can search for inapp menu items and activate them. And it can access your
clipboard history, which previously required third-party apps, which means
some developers just got sherlocked. I'm sorry it had to be today. But one of the
coolest things is the integration with shortcuts, which now supports adding
Apple's own AI models or chatebt into an automation workflow, which can be
summoned in any app with Spotlight. macOS will soon have more customization for
icons, folder colors, and control center options. The phone app is on macOS now.
Very cool. And there's even an in-game overlay. All this will be available to
any Apple Silicon Mac and the four remaining Intel powered Macs that are
still supported. They are just holding on for dear life long after they should
have let go. Early in the iOS 26 section of the keynote, Craig Federigi said,
"Many of you missed using tabs in the photos app. Photos now features separate
tabs for library and collections, which I think is the first time Apple has
directly acknowledged complaints about one of their changes. Is losing all of
those app store court battles finally getting to them? If so, we should keep
breaking their spirit. This is good stuff. Visual intelligence can now
search and take action across multiple apps based on your iPhone screen.
Extract the date, time, and location from event posters and add it to
calendar. and ask chatbt questions about images. And Apple's new foundation
models feature lets third-party apps use
Apple's ondevice AI models because somebody might as well use them while
the new AI powered series still in her trailer memorizing her lines. Other cool
AI stuff includes live translation integrated into messages, FaceTime,
phone calls, and kind of into Apple Music, which now has lyrics translation
and pronunciation guides, so you can stop mumbling the Korean part. I
genuinely think automix is is cool, which will use AI to mix songs into each
other like a human DJ does, but with less head bobbing. I know you're waiting
to hear about that rumored games app, though. Well, uh, yeah, it aggregates
your games and Apple Arcade, but it also has a play together tab to see what your
friends are playing and compete with them in challenges, which can turn
single player games into social experiences. Yuck, very cool. And
there's actually quite a few more iOS changes, including call screening and
hold assist in the phone app, custom backgrounds and group polls in messages,
what's up, WhatsApp, and realistic chat
GBT image generation in image playground. So your mom can make deep
fakes now, too. But we don't have time to consider the ramifications of that.
Watch OS is getting Workout Buddy, the perfect AI non-person to hack your brain
with the audio equivalent of an encouraging cat poster. Vision OS
supports accessories now, like the Logitech Muse Pen and PlayStation VR2
controllers. And tvOS has a new API that should make signing in suck less. And
there was a new trailer for a bunch of Apple TV Plus Originals, which are
statistically pretty good. I mean, I guess Apple is happy to continue losing
money on those, and I'm totally fine with that. I also wouldn't be bothered
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your business. You know, iOS got to skip 19 to 25. And frankly, I'm jealous. I
would have loved to skip those years, too. Microsoft and Asus have revealed
their rumored handheld collaboration, the ROG Xbox Ally X. Okay, this is an
Xbox, they say. And this is an Xbox if
you're poor. That's the ROG Xbox Ally
nonX also being announced with weaker
specs. But both of them apparently benefit from Microsoft allowing the Xbox
team to modify Windows itself on these
handhelds. They'll skip loading Windows elements like the desktop, freeing up
performance and rapidly booting straight into the Xbox app, which will feature an
aggregated library with games from Xbox,
Steam, and other stores. Okay. The devs
behind Xbox and Windows have wanted to make this special Xbox Windows handheld
experience happen for a while. But as one exact told The Verge, "This is
really the device that galvanized those teams and got everybody marching and
working towards a moment that we're just really excited to put into the hands of
players." Xbox execs have a gift for hyping up gamers with language you'd use
in financial reports. It's very cool. But one thing they said that is hype,
this full screen Xbox experience will roll out to other Windows handhelds next
year after the two Xbox allies launch at
the end of 2025. It's just too bad that
everybody will be gaming on some form of Linux by that time already. Oh well.
This week was chalk full of game announcements between Sony's PS5 State
of Play, the kickoff of Summer Games Fest, and yesterday's Xbox Games
Showcase, where we learned there's going to be a Black Ops 7. But don't worry,
uh, it stars original Black Ops character, Alex Mason, who will finally
tell us what the numbers mean. And an Amazon customer has reported receiving
an Orus RTX5090 package only to find it
filled with macaroni, rice, and some
kind of dusty old GPU. The incident comes after at least 32 Zotac 5090 boxes
were discovered at a microenter stuffed full of crossbody backpacks. I sincerely
hope these 5090 switcheroos don't become a trend. Although, at least these
scammers were nice enough to include some carbs. You know, throw some chicken
bones in there and baby, you got a stew going. I'm currently stewing over the
fact that there was far too much tech news today. So, let's all take a one-day
recess and meet back here on Wednesday. Okay. Uh, it'll give me some time to
work through whether I like Apple now. Uh, it's very confusing. I guess Apple
is h Okay, that's just lights. Hello. Thank
you. Rude.