Matt O’Brien, Associated Press: Social media platform Reddit sued the artificial intelligence company Perplexity AI and three other entities on Wednesday, alleging their involvement in an “industrial-scale, unlawful” economy to “scrape” the comments of millions of Reddit users for commercial gain. […] Also named in the lawsuit are Lithuanian data-scraping company Oxylabs UAB, a web […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Andrej Sokolow, Deutsche Presse Agentur: Apple could switch off a function that prevents users’ apps from tracking their behaviour across various services and websites for advertising purposes in Germany and other European countries. The iPhone manufacturer on Wednesday complained that it has experienced constant headwinds from the tracking industry. “Intense lobbying efforts in Germany, Italy […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, of the Verge, interviewed Ring founder Jamie Siminoff about a new book — which Tuohy has not read — written with Andrew Postman about the success of the company. During this conversation, Tuohy stumbled into Siminoff making a pretty outrageous claim: While research suggests that today’s video doorbells do little to prevent […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Liam Mo and Brenda Goh, Reuters: A group of 55 Chinese iPhone and iPad users filed a complaint with China’s market regulator on Monday, a lawyer representing the group said, alleging that Apple abuses its market dominance by restricting app distribution and payments to its own platforms while charging high commissions. […] This marks the […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Maxwell Zeff, TechCrunch: OpenAI announced Tuesday the launch of its AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, a major step in the company’s quest to unseat Google as the main way people find information online. The company says Atlas will first roll out on macOS, with support for Windows, iOS, and Android coming soon. OpenAI says the product […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Even if you are not interested in the iPad or Apple product news generally, I recommend making time for Federico Viticci’s review, at MacStories, of the new iPad Pro. Apple claims 3.5× performance gains with A.I. models, so Viticci attempted to verify that number. Unfortunately, he ran into some problems. Viticci (emphasis his): This is […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Ken MacGillivray and Karen Bartko, Global News: “All electors are legislatively required to complete a Statement of Eligibility form (Form 13) at the voting station. This form is a declaration by an elector that they meet the required legislated criteria to receive and cast ballots,” Elections Edmonton said. […] Those casting ballots say confirming voters […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Jason Parham, Wired: The uptick in artificial social networks, [Rudy] Fraser tells me, is being driven by the same tech egoists who have eroded public trust and inflamed social isolation through “divisive” algorithms. “[They] are now profiting on that isolation by creating spaces where folks can surround themselves with sycophantic bots.” I saw this quote […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
John Gruber, responding to my exploration of the MacBook Pro A.C. adapter non-issue: The problem I see with the MacBook power adapter situation in Europe is that while power users — like the sort of people who read Daring Fireball and Pixel Envy — will have no problem buying exactly the sort of power adapter they want, or simply […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Chance Miller, 9to5Mac: You can find the new option [in 26.1 beta 4] on iPhone and iPad by going to the Settings app and navigating to the Display & Brightness menu. On the Mac, it’s available in the “Appearance” menu in System Settings. Here, you’ll see a new Liquid Glass menu with “Clear” and “Tinted” […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Carly Nairn, Courthouse News Service: U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said in a 25-page ruling that there was evidence NSO Group’s flagship spyware could still infiltrate WhatApp users’ devices and granted Meta’s request for a permanent injunction. However, Hamilton, a Bill Clinton appointee, also determined that any damages would need to follow a ratioed amount […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Pixel Envy this week. With over 5,000 five star reviews, Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Designed from the ground up to protect your privacy, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers, and annoyances. It stops you from […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Tabby Kinder in New York and George Hammond, Financial Times: OpenAI has signed about $1tn in deals this year for computing power to run its artificial intelligence models, commitments that dwarf its revenue and raise questions about how it can fund them. Emily Forgash and Agnee Ghosh, Bloomberg: For much of the AI boom, there […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Emmanuel Maiberg, 404 Media: Democratic U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren sent letters to the Department of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, raising concerns about the $55 billion acquisition of the giant American video game company in part by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Specifically, the Senators worry […]| pxlnv.com
Are you outraged? Have you not heard? Apple updated its entry-level MacBook Pro with a new M5 chip, and across Europe, it does not ship with an A.C. adapter in the box as standard any more. It still comes with a USB-C to MagSafe cable, and you can add an adapter at checkout, but those […]| pxlnv.com
David Michael Lamb, Ashley Fraser, and Andrew Kitchen, CBC News: Most of the videos feature what looks like a white man in his 20s named “Josh,” who speaks to the camera and makes racially charged statements about immigrants and their role in the job market. In fact, “Josh” is created by AI and doesn’t exist. […]| pxlnv.com
If you were listening out of context to something Mark Zuckerberg said in a recent interview with Dwarkesh Patel, you might think he is deeply concerned about meaningful personal friendships: There’s this stat that I always think is crazy: the average American, I think, has I think it’s fewer than three friends. Three people that […]| pxlnv.com
More on Liquid Glass| pxlnv.com
Adam Engst, TidBits: So, no, I don’t want tools that “give way to content” or “shrink to bring focus to the content.” When I’m cooking, I want my knives, spatulas, measuring spoons, and the like exactly where they belong, so they’re instantly at hand. My Mac is set up in much the same way, with […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
In January, Mark Zuckerberg bade farewell to the ostensibly censorial administration of Joe Biden, welcoming in the nominally free speech offered by Donald Trump’s then-incoming presidency. The complaints about Biden aired by Zuckerberg on an episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast were weak, misleading, and silly, but they helped continue the narrative championed by many U.S. […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Steven J. Horowitz and Jem Aswad, Variety: D’Angelo, a legendary R&B singer who helped pioneer neo-soul, has died. He was 51. You know how an artist page on Apple Music might have, above the row of their albums, a selection of “Essential Albums”? All three of D’Angelo’s records are deservedly listed as “Essential” on his […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Do you want to block ads and trackers across all apps on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac — not just in Safari? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock — the ad blocker designed for you. The new App Ad Blocking feature in Magic Lasso Adblock v5.0 builds upon our powerful Safari and YouTube ad blocking, extending […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
Eric Slivka, MacRumors: Apple has essentially discontinued Clips, its video-editing app designed to allow users to combine video clips, images, and photos with voice-based titles, music, filters, and graphics to create enhanced videos that can be shared on social media sites. I do not know what Slivka means by “essentially”; Apple says it is gone, […]⌥ Permalink| Pixel Envy
The technical accomplishments of Sora 2 are laudable and, frankly, extraordinary. Just watch the first two minutes of the live-streamed announcement, or the examples from six minutes onward. If the ability to turn a few words into all kinds of video — from photorealistic to animated — with sound does not blow your mind, I […]| pxlnv.com
Lynn Hunt, in a 2010 essay for Perspectives on History: […] You cannot accumulate pages if you constantly second guess yourself. You have to second guess yourself just enough to make constant revision productive and not debilitating. You have to believe that clarity is going to come, not all at once, and certainly not before […]| pxlnv.com
Dan Mangan, CNBC: Google on Friday joined Apple in removing from its online store apps that can be used to anonymously report sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other law-enforcement authorities. Apple on Thursday night said it was removing ICEBlock and other similar apps from its App Store that are used to […]| pxlnv.com
Anna Gross and Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times: The UK government has issued a new order to Apple to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users’ data, despite US claims that Britain had abandoned all attempts to break the tech giant’s encryption. […] Apple made a complaint to the […]| pxlnv.com
A brief, throat-clearing caveat: while I had written most of this pre-launch, I was unable to complete it by the time Apple shipped its annual round of operating system updates. Real life, and all that. I have avoided reading reviews; aside from the excerpt I quoted from Dan Moren’s, I have seen almost nothing. Even […]| pxlnv.com
Something I missed in posting about Apple’s critical appraisal of the Digital Markets Act is its timing. Why now? Well, it turns out the European Commission sought feedback beginning in July, and with a deadline of just before midnight on 24 September. That is why it published that statement, and why Google did the same. […]| pxlnv.com
Apple issued a press release criticizing the E.U.’s Digital Markets Act in a curious mix of countries. It published it on its European sites — of course — and in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, all English-speaking. It also issued the same press release in Brazil, China, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, and Thailand — […]| pxlnv.com
Craig Grannell, Wired: Apple revealed Liquid Glass as part of its WWDC announcement this June, with all the pomp usually reserved for shiny new gear. The press release promised a “delightful and elegant new software design” that “reflects and refracts its surroundings while dynamically transforming to bring greater focus to content.” Today it launches globally […]| pxlnv.com
Tim Hardwick, MacRumors: Apple says on its feature availability webpage that “Apple Intelligence: Live Translation with AirPods” won’t be available if both the user is physically in the EU and their Apple Account region is in the EU. Apple doesn’t give a reason for the restriction, but legal and regulatory pressures seem the most plausible […]| pxlnv.com
Last year, Robb Knight figured out how Perplexity, an artificial intelligence search engine, was evading instructions not to crawl particular sites. Knight learned that Perplexity’s engine would use an unlisted user agent to scrape summaries of pages on websites where Perplexity was blocked. In my testing, I found the summaries were outdated by hours-to-days, indicating […]| pxlnv.com
It is baffling to me that, in 2021, I still do not know the security practices of the devices and cloud services I use more frequently than ever. This became particularly worrisome last year when I began working my day job from my personal computer. I have several things in my favour: it is an […]| pxlnv.com
Pew Research Centre made headlines this week when it released a report on the effects of Google’s A.I. Overviews on user behaviour. It provided apparent evidence searchers do not explore much beyond the summary when presented with one. This caused understandable alarm among journalists who focused on two stats in particular: a reduction from 15% […]| pxlnv.com
Thomas Germain, BBC News, covered the Pew report about the relationship between Google’s A.I. Overviews and click-through traffic: Pew says it’s confident in its research. “Our findings are broadly consistent with independent studies conducted by web analytics firms,” [Pew’s Aaron] Smith says. Dozens of reports show AI Overviews cut search traffic as much as 30% […]| pxlnv.com
Vjosa Isai, New York Times: Some of the most popular bike lanes were making Toronto’s notorious traffic worse, according to the provincial government. So Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, passed a law to rip out 14 miles of the lanes from three major streets that serve the core of the city. Toronto’s mayor, Olivia Chow, arrived […]| pxlnv.com
Dan Moren ended his “Stay Foolish” column at Macworld with a tremendous essay about what it means to be a “fan” of Apple or its products in 2025: Over the years, those in the Apple community have long been called everything from the liturgical “Apple faithful” to the insipid “iSheep”, dating back to the days […]| pxlnv.com
Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy, in a statement provided seemingly first to both Stephen Nellis, of Reuters, and John Gruber: […] We’ve also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It’s going to […]| pxlnv.com
Michael Tsai, commenting in relation to the “tyranny of apps” article: I think Apple News would have a better user experience with a Web site and an RSS feed than as an app. I agree, but I think it is a worse situation than that suggests. Apple News is not only a mediocre app experience, […]| pxlnv.com
Jason Koebler, 404 Media: Meta deleted nonbinary and trans themes for its Messenger app this week, around the same time that the company announced it would change its rules to allow users to declare that LGBTQ+ people are “mentally ill,” 404 Media has learned. […] The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shows these posts [announcing the […]| pxlnv.com
Zoe Kleinman, Liv McMahon, and Natalie Sherman, BBC News: “Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback,” the company said in a statement on Monday, adding that receiving the summaries is optional. “A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text […]| pxlnv.com
The ads for Apple Intelligence have mostly been noted for what they show, but there is also something missing: in the fine print and in its operating systems, Apple still calls it a “beta” release, but not in its ads. Given the exuberance with which Apple is marketing these features, that label seems less like […]| pxlnv.com
Matthew Green on Bluesky: I love that Apple is trying to do privacy-related services, but this [“Enhanced Visual Search” setting] just appeared at the bottom of my Settings screen over the holiday break when I wasn’t paying attention. It sends data about my private photos to Apple. The first mention of this preference I can […]| pxlnv.com
In the United States, donations to the extravagant presidential inauguration ceremony by U.S. citizens and corporations are unlimited. As a result, it is the perfect vehicle with which to get comfortable with the incoming administration. It is not a bribe, though. Money or goods given to holders of public office with the implication of favours […]| pxlnv.com
Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor for the Clinton administration and Sam Reich’s dad, wrote about Elon Musk’s political influence in an editorial for the Guardian. It begins as a decent piece, comparing the power of owning a social media platform with Musk’s childlike gullibility — my words, not Reich’s. But, in a section […]| pxlnv.com
An un-bylined report in Le Monde: French judicial authorities on Sunday extended the detention of the Russian-born founder and chief of Telegram Pavel Durov after his arrest at a Paris airport over alleged offenses related to the popular but controversial messaging app. I believe it is best to wait until there is a full description […]| pxlnv.com
My home computer in 1998 had a 56K modem connected to our telephone line; we were allowed a maximum of thirty minutes of computer usage a day, because my parents — quite reasonably — did not want to have their telephone shut off for an evening at a time. I remember webpages loading slowly: ten […]| pxlnv.com
