So while, yes, the current top iPhone is better for the environment than five years ago (and the figures for some of the base models show even greater improvements), most of that progress was made between 2020 and 2022. As Apple has pushed forward with AI and introduced emissions-heavy technological innovations to support it, the company has been left mostly treading water.
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As the kids say, the bar is in hell. At least Apple hasn’t backtracked; Apple’s still playing. But as Tim Cook doubles down on Apple's commitment to AI, can Cupertino keep up with its climate goals while pushing forward in its AI ambitions?
First, the “Classic Mode Switching” toggle found in the Camera section of the Settings app has been removed. So did Apple simply remove the rather clunky option? Nope. That’s the second change in today’s developer beta release. The swipe direction has returned to the way it has been since the dawn of time.
The Lock Screen clock has been updated with additional transparency, allowing more of the background to peek through.
In addition to the standard Reflection ringtone, there are now six variants: Buoyant, Dreamer, Tech, Pop, Reflected, and Surge.
Apple seems to have significantly sped up the animation used when you tap an app icon on your Home Screen.
Next to the UI chrome is a 3D loupe, just like the one you can see in the app icon. It looks cool as is, but the real easter egg is you can actually pick up this loupe with your finger and drag it around.
However, note that the full Apple TV+ content library is not available. At least right now, only the first season of flagship shows will be offered. This means flyers can check out the first season of Severance at no extra charge, but season two is not available to select.
I recently wrote about duplicating iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos to a network-attached storage (NAS) system. This struck a nerve for folks who want to keep full-resolution backups of their Photos Library when they don’t have enough local storage. (That column was focused on not needing to keep your Mac powered up to handle these iCloud offline backups when the Mac was otherwise not in use.)
Readers wrote in or replied via social media with strategies and workarounds, as well as suggesting three software options that can let you sync iCloud Photos outside of Apple’s limitations. Meanwhile, a developer dropped a line to Jason about his new app, which can sync and archive iCloud Photos and files from iCloud Drive.
A new personal productivity app called Ocean is launching to help you triage your overloaded inbox, take action on your emails by turning them into tasks, and share your availability for meetings with others, all in one app.
Like wireless chargers for the iPhone, the M30 magnetically attaches to the back of supported iPad models, but instead of transferring power through wire coils and induction, it uses the same Smart Connector pins that iPad accessories like the Magic Keyboard rely on.
We are bad at deloads, across all aspects of our life. Many of us struggle with shutting off work — when we’re home, when we’re on vacation… We’re always connected and we can always see our inboxes and Slack, and there’s always more work. And so we feel obligated or even motivated to always be on, all the time.
That motivation itself isn’t a bad thing. But you know what’s even better? Self-care.
Will we see a return of translucent computer cases, perhaps with a hint of bondi blue, from Apple? And how frosted will the translucency be?
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Thanks for reading.