
WWDC: Apple faces AI, regulatory challenges as it woos software developers
FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the annual developer conference event at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S., June 10, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) -Apple is facing an unprecedented set of technical and regulatory challenges as some of its key executives are set to take the stage on Monday at the company's annual software developer conference.
On the technical side, many of the long-awaited artificial-intelligence features Apple promised at the same conference a year ago have been delayed until next year, even as its rivals such as Alphabet's Google and Microsoft woo developers with a bevvy of new AI features. Those unfulfilled promises included key improvements to Siri, its digital assistant.
On the regulatory front, courts in the U.S. and Europe are poised to pull down the lucrative walls around Apple's App Store as even some of the company's former supporters question whether its fees are justified.
Those challenges are coming to a head at the same time U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened 25% tariffs on Apple's best-selling iPhone. Apple's shares are down more than 40% since the start of the year, a sharper decline than Google and also lagging the AI-driven gains in Microsoft shares.
Apple has launched some of the AI features it promised last year, including a set of writing tools and image-generation tools, but it still relies on partners such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI for some of those capabilities. Bloomberg has reported that Apple may open up in-house AI models to developers this year.
But analysts do not believe Apple yet has what technologists call a "multi-modal" model - that is, one capable of understanding imagery, audio and language at the same time - that could power a pair of smart glasses, a category that has become a runaway hit for Meta Platforms. Google said last month it would jump back in to this category, with partners.
Such glasses, which are far lighter and cheaper than Apple's Vision Pro headset, could become useful becausethey would understand what the user is looking at and could help answer questions about it.
While Apple has focused on its $3,500 Vision Pro headset, Google and Meta have seized on the smart glasses as a cheaper way to deploy their AI software prowess against Apple in its stronghold of hardware. Meta Ray-Bans all sell for less than $400.
Analysts say Apple needs to answer that challenge but that it is not likely to do so this week.
"I'm not trying to replace my phone - this is a complementary thing that gives me more world context, because it's got a camera and it sees what I see, and I can talk to it in natural language," said Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consultancy Creative Strategies. "Apple is not positioned to do that."
To be sure, Apple's rivals are not decisively ahead in smart glasses. Anshel Sag, principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, said Meta's Ray-Bans still lack some features and Google has not yet landed its "Gemini" model in a mass-market pair of glasses yet.
"Meta has the undisputed lead, but Google is catching up fast and probably has the best-suited AI for the job," Sag said. "Vision Pro is great, but it's a showroom product that developers can use."
But Bob O'Donnell, CEO of TECHnalysis Research, said it remains far from clear that smart glasses will gain wide acceptance. O'Donnell also said it is not certain that Apple is at any particular disadvantage if it partners with a company such as Google, OpenAI or even a smaller firm like Perplexity for core AI technology.
So far, O'Donnell said, there is not yet strong evidence that consumers are basing major hardware-purchasing decisions on AI features.
"There's an argument to be made that it's OK that (Apple) is behind because, except for the bleeding edge, most people don't care," O'Donnell said.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in Cupertino, California; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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Malaysian Reserve
8 hours ago
- Malaysian Reserve
Everything new coming to iPhones, iPads and Macs later this year
APPLE Inc. kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday with a roughly 90-minute presentation where it unveiled a slew of updates to its various software platforms. Consumers and investors alike had high expectations ahead of the event, after Apple indefinitely delayed some artificial-intelligence features it announced at least year's conference. While Apple's effort to start an AI comeback at this year's conference fell short, with a limited number of enhancements, there are several new non-AI upgrades. Accompanying the changes is a major visual overhaul, a new look that Apple calls 'Liquid Glass.' As the name suggests, it's lighter and transparent — a nod to the idea that more devices in the future will feature glass of some kind. Bloomberg News reported on Sunday the new look is in preparation for the 20-year anniversary iPhone coming in 2027. As part of its rebranding efforts, the company also confirmed that it will use years, not version numbers, to identify its software. The upgraded platforms announced Monday, for instance, include iOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and visionOS 26. Here is a list of the most significant new features coming to your devices later this year: The interface now has new icons — including a fully transparent option — as well as redesigned navigation bars, menus and in-app interfaces that are reminiscent of those on the Vision Pro headset. Hot on the heels of the Nintendo Co. Switch 2 launch, Apple showed off a new Games app, allowing users to track what their friends are playing, start challenges with others, and explore new titles from both the App Store and Apple Arcade. The Phone app has a new view that combines recent calls, favorite contacts and voicemails. It also adds hold detection with real-time updates to the iPhone user for when a live person comes back on the line. Messages now has support for polls, background images and Apple Cash integration in group chats. Both the Phone app and Messages get better spam screening, while the Messages app gets improved filters between unknown senders, spam, recently deleted and unread messages. The Camera app has a streamlined interface that's meant to be simpler and give quicker access to video and photo capture. On the lock screen, the time will adjust to photo composition, while there are also motion-responsive 3D wallpapers and smarter photo shuffling. The Safari web browser is getting an edge-to-edge layout. Apple Music now has lyrics translation and assistance for pronouncing words. Apple Wallet is getting live updates for flight tracking, airport maps and luggage updates via the Find My app. You can also create a so-called digital ID for domestic travel using a passport. The Maps app gets understanding of preferred routes and a section for visited places. Apple is making substantial improvements to multitasking on iPads this year. A new windowing system gives users the ability to resize apps, freely place them around the screen, and have several windows open at once. Apps will reopen at the same size and position they were last left at, and Exposé provides a convenient overview of everything. In another nod to macOS, a new menu bar will be accessible with a swipe down from the top of the display (or by moving the mouse cursor there). Developers are able to customize the menu bar based on what works best for their app. Apple's Preview app is coming over to iPad, offering a dedicated option for viewing, editing, or annotating PDFs and images. Preview also supports AutoFill for quickly filling out forms. The Journal app is coming to iPad after exclusively being available on the iPhone until now. The Files app has an updated list view, resizable columns and collapsible folders. It also shares the same folder customization options that are coming to macOS like custom colors, icons and emoji. Users can now set a default app for opening file types or even specific files. Background Tasks make it easier to carry out intensive processes (like video exports) without losing progress if users need to multitask and switch apps. iPadOS 26 includes more flexible audio input options, letting users select different microphones for each app and making it more practical to record podcasts with Apple's tablets. Local Capture helps this further by saving a high-quality local backup of audio and video files from popular videoconferencing apps. The Apple Watch gets the Liquid Glass interface across many parts of the system. Widgets are now smarter and can appear based on routine and location. For instance, walking into a gym will trigger a workout widget. A new tool, called Workout Buddy, aims to help with coaching based on fitness history. A new gesture, a wrist flick, is present for dismissing calls or notifications. There's also smarter ambient noise interpretation to determine how loud the device should buzz when alerts come in. The Notes App will finally make its way to the Apple Watch for quick note jotting on the go. Control Center now supports third-party actions from apps. Refreshed look with refined dock, toolbars and sidebars that showcase Apple's Liquid Glass design user interface elements. The Games app is coming to the Mac with the same features available on iOS. Control Center and the Menu Bar are both now more customizable. Folders can be customized with different colors, emoji or symbols. The Mac gets the same Phone app as the iPad as well as the revamped features coming to the iPhone. Syncing with iPhone Live Activities, such as tracking your Uber Eats order from the desktop. Spotlight Search feature is getting a major upgrade, allowing users to more easily find files, folders, events, messages, apps and PDFs in one place. The Journal App is making its way to macOS, allowing users to log daily moments and sync entries across devices. Apple's new Liquid Glass design language comes to the TV screen, keeping the focus on your content even when accessing Control Center or fast-forwarding through a video. The Apple TV can be set to display all user profiles whenever it wakes from sleep, making it quick for people who live together to get to their own recommendations and content. Streaming app developers can now link logins to an Apple Account, simplifying the sign-in process whenever users set up a new Apple TV device. iPhones can double as microphones when using Apple Music's Sing karaoke mode. And if you've got a group together, people can queue up songs or react with emoji using their phones. Widgets are coming to visionOS, letting users place photos, calendars or other useful information wherever they'd like in their space. Widgets will remain fixed in place and reappear even after the Vision Pro headset is restarted. Apple is vastly improving the realism of its Persona avatars with full side profiles, enhanced complexion, accessories and more styles of glasses. Vision Pro users in the same room can now view spatial experiences together including movies, games and FaceTime calls. Spatial photos have increased realism in visionOS 26 thanks to a new generative AI algorithm that creates scenes with multiple perspectives. Sony Group Corp.'s PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers are fully supported with six-degree motion tracking, finger touch detection and vibration haptics. Apple is making the Vision Pro more enterprise-friendly with team device sharing and new software frameworks. You can now automatically unlock your iPhone while wearing a Vision Pro headset tied to your Apple Account. Incoming iPhone calls can now be answered directly from the Vision Pro. –BLOOMBERG


The Star
12 hours ago
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Meta to pay nearly $15 billion for Scale AI stake, The Information reports
FILE PHOTO: Meta logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/ File Photo (Reuters) -Meta Platforms has agreed to take a 49% stake in artificial intelligence startup Scale AI for $14.8 billion, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Founded in 2016, Scale AI provides vast amounts of labeled data or curated training data, which is crucial for developing sophisticated tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. The deal, which has not been finalized yet, appears to be beneficial for Scale AI's investors including Accel, Index Ventures, Founders Fund and Greenoaks, as well as its current and former employees, the report said. Meta, Scale AI and the startup's investors did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. As part of the deal, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang will take a top position inside Meta, leading a new "superintelligence" lab, according to the report. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting top AI researchers to boost the company's AI efforts, the report said. The company is fighting the perception that it may have fallen behind in the AI race after its initial set of Llama 4 large language models released in April fell short of performance expectations. Meta delayed the release of its flagship "Behemoth" AI model due to concerns about its capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported last month. The company is also facing antitrust concerns related to its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. According to The Information report, the structure for the potential deal with Scale AI could be designed to avoid more regulatory scrutiny. Scale AI was valued at $13.8 billion in a funding round last spring. It generated about $870 million in revenue in 2024 and expects more than $2 billion this year, the report said. The company had more than $900 million of cash on its balance sheet at the end of last year, according to the report. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Sahal Muhammed)


The Star
14 hours ago
- The Star
Nintendo's Switch 2 soups up the graphics, but does it deliver the games?
WASHINGTON: I'm cruising around Bowser's Castle with my old pal Toad. It's not exactly relaxing, what with all the lava pits and banana peels and turtle shells littering the road. Add 23 other characters – is that a cow driving? – who are trying to get to the finish line first, and it's chaos. The hectic, high-speed insanity of any race in the new Mario Kart World would have caused the eight-year-old Switch console to wheeze a bit. And that's why we've got the Switch 2 (US$449.99/RM1,907), the souped-up sequel to Nintendo's popular home-and-portable hybrid. It looks prettier, too. The 7.9in portable display (up from 6.2in) boosts the resolution to 1020p (from 720p), and while the LCD screen isn't quite as sharp as an OLED screen might have been, it's much cleaner than the original recipe Switch. It looks even better when connected to an HDTV since it now supports 4K and HDR. Nintendo has always stood apart from the technological arms race that fans of Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox obsess over, insisting that first-rate games don't necessarily depend on high-powered computer chips. But you could feel the strain in 2023's The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom , with its at-times blurry graphics and sluggish framerate. The Switch 2, with a faster framerate of 120 fps, corrects much of the fuzziness. That's not to say it comes close to matching the high-definition performance of the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox X/S. If you're expecting the jaw-dropping graphics of, say, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows ... well, no. There is good news for those of us who have gotten weary of the old Switch's dinky 32 gigabytes of internal storage. The Switch 2 multiplies that by eight, for 256GB. Of course, flashier games take up more space, so if you want more room you'll have to invest in a microSD Express card – which is a bit pricier than the standard memory card used in most portable devices. Magnets, how do they work? The Switch 2's Joy-Con controllers have undergone some tinkering. As before, you can attach them to the sides of the screen if you're playing on the go. If you're at home, you can attach them to a doohickey that feels more like a traditional joystick. Either way, they're now more firmly connected with magnets, which provide a satisfying snap. Both the left and right Joy-Cons now include an optical mouse, which you can use by placing the controller on its edge and rolling it around on a table. (Nintendo says you can also use it on your pants, but I prefer using a clipboard on my lap.) It remains to be seen how many Switch 2 games will call for a mouse, but 2K's port of Sid Meier's Civilization VII seems like a good candidate. What about the social options? And then there's a new button labeled "C' on the right-hand Joy-Con. That calls up GameChat, which lets you start up a conversation with other players – provided you've all taken the time to register yourselves as friends. (Eventually, you'll also need to subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online service, but that requirement doesn't kick in until March 31, 2026.) The microphone is built into the Switch 2, though if you want to upgrade to video chat, you'll need to buy a separate Nintendo camera. Finally, there's GameShare, which lets you play selected titles with other Switch users even if they don't own the software. Nintendo has been emphasising the new social features in its marketing, though it feels like it's catching up to the competition. The kids I know who play Fortnite or Minecraft on competing consoles seem to have figured out long ago how to chat with their pals. Welcome to the 2010s? Who's got game? As with any console launch, the driving question is: Does it have the games? There are just a couple of Switch 2 exclusives out now: Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour , a US$10 (RM42) demo package that really should have been free. There are some new-to-Nintendo ports of excellent titles like Split Fiction and Cyberpunk 2077 . You can get upgrades of classics like the last two Legend Of Zelda adventures. And the Switch 2 is fully backward-compatible, so you can play everything that came out for the Switch as well as a substantial library of older titles. There's no other machine that will let you play future installments of beloved franchises like Zelda , Super Mario Bros , Super Smash Bros and Animal Crossing . None of those have been announced yet, but some marquee names – Donkey Kong and Kirby – will star in Switch 2 exclusives later this year. There's plenty of competition out there, though, and not just in the TV-connected console market Switch shares with the PlayStation and the Xbox. Nintendo no longer has the portable market to itself, thanks to Valve's SteamDeck. Some models of that device cost less than the Switch 2, and it already has a huge library of PC games. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced over the weekend that it's teaming up with Asus on the ROG Xbox Ally, a handheld that will be out before Christmas. Honestly, we'll probably have a better idea of the Switch's quality a few years down the line, after developers get a handle on what the new hardware can do. If you're dying to get back behind the wheel with Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach right now, though, you know what you need to do. – AP