eXtensions - Friday 13 December 2024
By Graham K. Rogers
Apple updated its operating systems this week giving users more AI features to try. iWork (Keynote, Numbers, Pages) was also updated to take advantage of AI. There has been much discussion of Apple and its development of modem chips. Some are wondering if Apple Senior VP Johny Srouji will step into Pat Gelsinger's Intel shoes. Other news looks at a tie-up between Cupertino, TSMC and Broadcom: development of AI chips for server use. With China reacting to US pressures on chips, it has restricted export of some minerals, and started an enquiry into NVidia.
All the usual rumor sources insisted that the next updates to Apple's operating systems, which would bring new AI tricks, would be Monday (Tuesday morning here). Monday came and went, followed by some minor hand-wringing, but on Thursday morning (Wednesday, Apple time) I saw a message and started the process while the coffee was brewing. I made sure that all devices were backed up: either to Time Machine for the Mac; or to iCloud for mobile devices and then started the downloads. By the time I had reached the cereal course, the iPhone and iPad were done. The Watch (11.2) came a little later, but that was soon finished. While additional AI components were installed on the Mac, iPads and iPhone, the Apple Watch update was more of a security update.
At work the Mac mini was less of a success story and using the office WiFi I was faced with a 7 hour download that later reduced to 5 hours. I switched to the Personal Hotspot and the time was down to 5 minutes in no time. I left it alone and the update was installed fairly quickly. Taimur Asad (Redmond Pie) reports that Apple has said the next round of AI releases, that will be available with iOS 18.3 (and perhaps 18.4) will be coming around April 2025.
The following day, iWork was updated: Keynote, Numbers and Pages. These have each been updated to use AI features: writing tools, Image Playground and ChatGTP to answer questions. A note shows that these additional features require Apple Intelligence. I have some comments on these new abilities below. Later at work, I checked the App Store on the Mac mini and the app showed a blank page: all apps up to date (with text) and nothing recently downloaded. I did a search for Keynote and the page showed that, indeed, it was ready to be updated. The same applied to Numbers and Pages. I sent feedback to Apple.
There were several reports online that helped me find my way round the new iPad and iPhone versions, like Patently Apple, which also noted that this release introduces AI for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Other releases are coming soon, including Vietnam, perhaps showing how important that nation is now to Apple. Matthew Growcoot (Petapixel) focuses on Photos on the mobile devices, reporting that Apple has reworked some of the UI after user complaints that there was "too much going on". It was just too busy for me and I removed several of the organization methods. The albums I chose to manage my own images were enough without making it complicated. As I wrote at the time: does anyone putting these changes forward actually use the application?
One of the features I was interested to try was the new way to create illustrations (Image Playground) and Gemojis. These did not work out of the box and I had to press a button to request authorization. That did not take more than a few minutes. There is a new wand in the Apple Pencil tools. In Notes, I could not make this work on a page that already had text. On a new page, the Wand alone was insufficient: first I had to draw a basic image. Once done, the Wand is used to circle the image and a panel appears for a text description. Choose the words carefully. I used some words to refine the image (car - too basic) and was warned that the language was not supported (2-seater sports car). From experimentation I think it may be the hyphen. I checked the settings to make sure the update had not changed anything, although my first attempt (house) was easy enough when the initial image was refined to "2 story" (US spelling, of course). I also tried a single-story ranch house.
The images I was offered did not match my initial ideas of a house, or a Jaguar E-type. Although these are first experiments, the refining and selection needs to be carefully done. I would also expect (I did not try) that any image could be edited, but the tools available with the image in Notes were insufficient. With no Save command despite menu options for the image, I was reduced to using a Screenshot, which produced a reasonable 2.6MB image in Photos which I was able to open easily in Affinity Photo and Pixelmator if I needed to edit. In a later check, I found that these AI image-creating tools are available in the updated Pages but it is not something I will be using much at all in its current state.
The new Genmoji feature needs a lot of work. Trying to choose a specific image, or a feature (hat) despite this being in the metadata of a the image, was not successful. When I settled on a hatless image, what I was offered was so bland that I decided not to continue. This may need some practice. Federico Viticci on MacStories is critical of the creative directions Apple is taking, particularly in regard to human input; but likes the assistive features: a means to remove the busywork. As such, he is highly critical of "Image Playground and Image Wand, which [he believes] are ridiculously primitive and perfect examples of why Apple may think they're two years behind their competitors.
When it comes to Apple, there are certain news outlets that I am wary of: Mark Gurman with his alleged inside line to Apple; Bloomberg, his employer; The Information; Ming Kuo-Ching, whose coincidental timing with negative reports on Apple always seems to be aimed at the share price; and MacDaily News, particularly when it comes to stories centering around Tim Cook who (for them) has never been able to replace Steve Jobs, despite him being the choice of Jobs. This week two of these sources have a look at the story reported fairly widely last week regarding the empty CEO seat at Intel, and Johny Srouji.
MacDaily News picked up a comment from Mark Gurman on Bloomberg suggesting that Srouji is probably on the Intel CEO replacement list. He explains why this is likely to be a non-starter again. He then goes through why Srouji would be an obvious choice. MacDaily News firmly dismisses the idea: "why take the Intel CEO job when you could just repeatedly hit yourself in the face with a hammer?" adding a few other reasons.
Felipe Espósito (9to5Mac) also picks up on the Gurman rumor, although adds little to what was in the MDN summary. He does comment that Srouji has shown no signs of wanting to leave the company, but someone at that level would be unlikely to publicize this. Note that no one has asked Srouji, or Apple.
It is not entirely clear if Gelsinger jumped or was pushed when he left Intel, although most commentators favor the latter. With all the online comment, however, he has come out firing both barrels, as reported by Anton Shilov (Tom's Hardware). Gelsinger suggests that the negative stories about the 18A chip are fake, with the article examining the reported defect density of the chips, including comparisons of chips from other companies.
Comments on development of a new modem chip, which has been ongoing since Apple bought Intel's modem operations, came to the fore recently. I was unimpressed by the negative opinions of a writer at The Information, who presumed that Apple would be shipping a product that was defective and users would suffer dropped calls. He linked this to the so-called Antennagate iPhone 4 problems, which did indeed cause dropped calls. While critics blamed Apple design for the notch (or cut) in the externally-placed antenna, dropped calls are not a problem unique to Apple.
Attenuation, the reduction of signal strength may be caused by many problems not of Apple's causing: tree cover, concrete in multi-story carparks; concrete buildings, like offices or schools. A known problem for GPS is that it will not work properly (if at all) inside, particularly in a mall. The signals from satellites are unable to reach the phone: this is not Apple's fault.
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Presuming that the next generation of iPhone which may or may not have the new modem, will not work effectively is negative speculation at its worst: it may be a problem (if certain conditions apply), therefore it will be a problem. Ryan Christoffel (9to5Mac) reports on Mark Gurman's comments on a report about the new modem. This will not be as good as the Qualcomm product that is currently used, Gurman adds that 2 specific, low-end models will be using the new modem. Citing the report, he reports that it cannot "support mmWave, a type of 5G . . . [used] mainly in major cities". Because of this and other shortcomings, the modem will be developed, and improved performance will be available in 2026 and 2026.
Isn't this what happens with many technological developments, for example Apple silicon, which first appeared with the M1, then the M1 Pro, and Ultra, et al, followed by the M2 to M4, with M4 variants expected, and soon to be superseded by the M5. Think also Thunderbolt developments (now with T5). To expect Apple to be ready with a Qualcomm-level modem chip with its first public iteration is a little rash; and to expect Apple to put a less powerful modem in its premium iPhones, when a capable Qualcomm chip is available (and within the contract that Apple has), suggests a somewhat narrow view of Apple.
Christoffel writes, "Apple has been working on in-house modems for a long time, but today's report isn't entirely surprising - including the negative aspects of it." He also includes a relevant user comment: "Does it really matter? We have reached the point, where the bottleneck is at the telecom level and not at the device level. Quite often I switch back to 4G, since everyone is using 5G and it ends up being slower than 4G".
Writing on the same report from Gurman, Joe Rossignol (MacRumors) comments, "All in all, this sounds like a natural progression for Apple following its decision to transition away from Qualcomm modems in iPhones" adding that the Apple-Qualcomm relationship has not always been good, but the "modem supply agreement for iPhones runs until March 2027, so Apple still has plenty of time on its side."
Apple's work on the in-house modem could have other consequences. Malcolm Owen (AppleInsider) comments that the development could have implications for other devices, such as the iPad and Macs. Ed Hardy (Cult of Mac) also has some useful input on this. When at the office, I use the iPhone to connect to the internet. Although faster (at least today), I do not have confidence in the reliability or security of the university system, which despite its emphasis on security has had more problems than any properly run network should. If I could make that connection with a modem directly from the Mac, that might improve things, but this is at least a couple of years down the road.
While we are on Apple and chips, it is reported by several sources that there seems to be a tie-up between Cupertino, TSMC and Broadcom with regard to chips for Apple Intelligence servers (currently using M2). Joe Rossignol (MacStories) reports that the 3 companies will be handling different aspects of the chip development. William Gallagher (AppleInsider) outlines some of the potential ways the chips might work, adding that the servers may well be built by Foxconn in Taiwan. Zac Hall (9to5Mac) speculates on the unusual decision to include Broadcom in the development. It is possible that some of the specifications don't make sense in a personal computer and that Broadcom, specializes in manufacturing server processors.
China has reacted to the current pressures being applied by the US authorities on exporting technology. This already includes restrictions on exporting certain materials that are essential to modern electronics: gallium, germanium and antimony. These materials [are] of strategic importance to the semiconductor, defense, and electric vehicle sectors James Temple (MIT Technology Review). As this is in retaliation for US restrictions on export of chips, it is hardly fair to complain that China "has clearly crossed a new line in the long-simmering trade war": it has long been suspected of illegal surveillance. Temple notes that China "selected minerals that won't cripple any industries". What happens with the next US administration may change that picture.
In the current scenario, China has also begun looking at NVidia with regard to allegations of violations of the country's anti-monopoly law. This is also seen as retaliation against the curbs on chip exports. The Guardian reports that NVidia was stopped "from selling its most advanced AI chips to China, prompting it to come up with new China-specific versions that were compliant with US export controls", presumably missing some of the bells and whistles. NVidia shares dropped just of 2% as part of the fallout from the latest Chinese moves.
There can be few who are unaware of the shooting last week of the CEO of United Healthcare, Timothy Geigner (TechDirt) writes. I had seen it widely reported in online sources, but also noted several Thai sources had carried the story. The tracking of the suspect and his subsequent arrest was also followed widely and there was much interest in his "manifesto". There has been considerable sympathy too as many have suffered from the delays of insurance companies: Delay, Deny, and Defend. When it became clear what had happened, I immediately thought of the movie, The Rainmaker (Matt Damon, Jon Voight, Danny DeVito). The tactics of insurance companies were also covered by the series, Suits. They are not unfamiliar to many people. Many people are not wholly surprised by the anger that such delays and denials cause. Not NBC News however.
Some of the scenario appears to match the scenes in a child's game, Among Us, in which "players are secretly assigned to be killers in space who perform other tasks while trying to avoid suspicion from other players." That could apply to many games of course, but NBC News worked hard at finding a causal link between Mangioni (perpetrator) and his assassination of Brian Thompson in New York last week. The angry (or frustrated) Geigner reports comments by Polygon that suggest this is "lazy journalists trying to shoehorn a video game angle into a story about violence" and adds that "the point Polygon is making here is exactly correct: there is zero that is interesting about the coincidence that a murderer also played an insanely popular game." If that were true, then half of my students are potential murderers.
A brief note on the icon image this week. The plate of food was served up at the Didcot Railway Museum in the UK in 2017, where there is a large selection of steam, diesel locomotives as well as a gas turbine one. The chips (not French fries) were perhaps the best I had ever tasted.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on X (@extensions_th). The RSS feed for the articles is http://www.extensions.in.th/ext_link.xml - copy and paste into your feed reader.
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