Apple on Friday lost a bid to throw out a mass lawsuit valued at just under $1 billion, brought in London on behalf of more than 1,500 app developers over its App Store fees. Reuters: The case, worth up to 785 million pounds ($979 million) and one of several faced by the U.S. tech giant in the United Kingdom, alleges Apple charged third-party developers unfair commissions of up to 30% on purchases of apps or other content.

Sean Ennis, a competition law professor and economist, is spearheading the case which was filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) last year. His lawyers say Apple has abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of apps on iPhones and other Apple devices and are seeking damages for UK-based developers. Apple, however, says 85% of developers on its App Store do not pay any commission at all.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Mac: Following moves of other tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft, Apple is reportedly set to open a new office space in a Miami suburb. This won't be the first corporate space for Apple in the city, but it will be larger than the existing office. Reported by Bloomberg, anonymous sources close to the matter say that Apple's new Miami office will be 45,000 square feet in the affluent Coral Gables suburb of Miami. It's not clear yet what part of Apple's business the new office will focus on but it will be larger than its existing small Miami office that handles Latin America and advertising operations. The specific property of the new Apple offices will be at The Plaza Coral Gables.

Apple, aiming to boost sluggish computer sales, is preparing to overhaul its entire Mac line with a new family of in-house processors designed to highlight AI. Bloomberg News: The company, which released its first Macs with M3 chips five months ago, is already nearing production of the next generation -- the M4 processor -- according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new chip will come in at least three main varieties, and Apple is looking to update every Mac model with it, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven't been announced.

The new Macs are underway at a critical time. After peaking in 2022, Mac sales fell 27% in the last fiscal year, which ended in September. In the holiday period, revenue from the computer line was flat. Apple attempted to breathe new life into the Mac business with an M3-focused launch event last October, but those chips didn't bring major performance improvements over the M2 from the prior year. Apple also is playing catch-up in AI, where it's seen as a laggard to Microsoft, Alphabet's Google and other tech peers. The new chips are part of a broader push to weave AI capabilities into all its products. Apple is aiming to release the updated computers beginning late this year and extending into early next year.

Apple is finally making it easier for users to repair their iPhones with used parts. From a report: In an update on Thursday, the company announced that this fall, owners of "select" iPhone models will be able to repair their devices with used, genuine parts while retaining full functionality. When repairing a phone, Apple requires iPhone users to go through a process called parts pairing, which makes them match the serial number of their device to that of a new part sold by Apple. If a user replaced a part with an aftermarket or used component, the iPhone would display pesky notifications saying that Apple isn't able to verify the newly installed piece. In the case of Face ID and Touch ID sensors, the part might not work at all. This change should do away with these notifications for used parts, as Apple says "calibration for genuine Apple parts, new or used, will happen on device after the part is installed." It also means users and repair shops will no longer have to provide the serial number of the device they're fixing when ordering most parts from the Self Service Repair Store.

Apple sent threat notifications to iPhone users in 92 countries on Wednesday, warning them that may have been targeted by mercenary spyware attacks. From a report: The company said it sent the alerts to individuals in 92 nations at 12pm Pacific Time Wednesday. The notification, which TechCrunch has seen, did not disclose the attackers' identities or the countries where users received notifications.

"Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID -xxx-," it wrote in the warning to affected customers. "This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do. Although it's never possible to achieve absolute certainty when detecting such attacks, Apple has high confidence in this warning -- please take it seriously," Apple added in the text.

We're seeing a boom in journaling apps as safer, easier ways to ease us back into posting everything online. From a report: Last year, Apple released a journal app with iOS 17. Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer just unveiled a photo app called Shine, which is made to share photos and memories with a select group of people. Today, Retro -- a startup that we called "the new Instagram" -- is launching a feature called Journals within the app, which lets you record both photos and notes for a select group of people.

As a lifelong journaler, it's hard to forget that I already have an intimate, safe space to record my life and share memories. It is a notebook. I don't have to worry about marketers selling my information, because it's not accessible. What if creating a safe space all of your own means just getting off the internet altogether? Most of these apps are based on the central premise that most of us would rather talk to family or close friends than with a pretty stranger shilling snack boxes. As we reported previously, Retro has a few standout features. Once you join the app, you're prompted to select a few pictures to post per week. In order to see your friends' and family's photos, you have to share photos of your own. That keeps people actively participating instead of lurking.

Late last year the messaging app Beeper raised the ire of Apple when it found a way to recreate Apple's infamous "blue bubble" messaging on Android. Apple later hobbled Beeper, but it's not an entirely unhappy ending: The startup has been acquired in a deal valued at $125 million. From a report: Founded three years ago, Beeper is being snapped up by Automattic, the respected parent company of WordPress, the blogging and content management platform, as well as Tumblr, which it acquired in 2019. Beeper cofounder Eric Migicovsky said that the company will continue to exist as a stand-alone product within Automattic, and that all of Beeper's 27 employees -- who, like Automattic's employees, are entirely remote -- will be absorbed into the larger entity.

Exact financial terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed. According to Migicovsky, Beeper will be part of Automattic's broader strategy to offer more messaging features. Automattic first invested in Beeper in 2022, and late last year snatched up another messaging app, Texts, for $50 million. The acquisition comes on the heels of a highly publicized battle between Beeper and Apple, in which Beeper tried to bridge the gap between Android messaging and iMessage but was ultimately thwarted. It was unable to monetize its app and, with 30,000 users as of writing, hadn't reached critical mass.

Four months ago long-time Slashdot reader Shayde tried restoring a 1986 DEC PDP-11 minicomputer.

But now he's gone even further back in time. Shayde writes: In 1984, Apple II's were at the top of their game in the 8 bit market. A company in New Jersey decided to get in on the action and built an exact clone of the Apple. The Franklin Ace was chip and ROM compatible with the Apple II, and that led to it's downfall.

In this video we resurrect and old Franklin Ace and not only boot ProDOS, but also get the Z80 coprocessor up and running, and relive what coding in Turbo Pascal in the 80s was like.
Why Turbo Pascal? "Some of my earliest professional programming was done in this environment," Shayde says in the video, "and I was itching to play with it again."

In an update on Friday, Apple announced that game emulators can come to the App Store globally and offer downloadable games. "Apple says those games must comply with 'all applicable laws,' though -- an indication it will ban apps that provide pirated titles," adds The Verge. From the report: The move should allow the retro console emulators already on Android -- at least those that are left -- to bring their apps to the iPhone. Game emulators have long been banned from iOS, leaving iPhone owners in search of workarounds via jailbreaking or other workarounds. They're also one of the key reasons, so far, that iPhone owners in the European Union might check out third-party app stores now that they're allowed in the region. Apple's change today could head that off.

Alongside the new rules on emulators, Apple also updated its rules around super apps, such as WeChat. It now says that mini-games and mini-apps within these apps must use HTML5, clarifying that they can't be native apps and games.

Apple is laying off more than 700 employees across the company, including its Micro-LED displays division and the recently shut down Apple Car project. 9to5Mac reports: As seen by 9to5Mac in the latest WARN report provided by the California Employment Development Department, the layoffs affect projects that have been in the news recently. For instance, Apple is laying off 58 employees from one of its offices in Santa Clara. This particular office belonged to LuxVue Technology, a company specializing in Micro-LED displays that Apple acquired in 2014. In recent months, we've heard rumors about Apple canceling its plans to design and produce its own Micro-LED displays for the Apple Watch. Bloomberg recently reported that Apple gave up on the project because the screens "were difficult to produce in sufficient quantities."

There are also more than 120 layoff notices filed by Apple in San Diego, which aligns with a January report about the company having recently closed a Siri data operations office located there. The office was responsible for evaluating Siri's responses to users and for helping the company improve the platform's accuracy. At the time, Apple offered to relocate all affected employees to offices in Austin, Texas, if they agreed. Unsurprisingly, the shutdown of the Apple Car project (internally known as Titan) also resulted in layoffs. Some of the offices listed by the records were used by Apple to develop and test its electric car. The company had been actively working on building a vehicle since 2014, but the challenges surrounding it made Apple give up on the project earlier this year. The report notes that some of the engineers working on the Apple Car have been offered positions elsewhere at Apple. "However, not everyone has the chance to be reassigned since there were more than 2,000 people working on this specific project."

The latest rumor is that Apple is exploring the development of personal home robots.

Matthew Connatser reports via The Register: A study has concluded that Apple's privacy practices aren't particularly effective, because default apps on the iPhone and Mac have limited privacy settings and confusing configuration options. The research was conducted by Amel Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist of Aalto University in Finland. The pair noted that while many studies had examined privacy issues with third-party apps for Apple devices, very little literature investigates the issue in first-party apps -- like Safari and Siri. The aims of the study [PDF] were to investigate how much data Apple's own apps collect and where it's sent, and to see if users could figure out how to navigate the landscape of Apple's privacy settings.

The lengths to which Apple goes to secure its ecosystem -- as described in its Platform Security Guide [PDF] -- has earned it kudos from the information security world. Cupertino uses its hard-earned reputation as a selling point and as a bludgeon against Google. Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist don't dispute Apple's technical prowess, but argue that it is undermined by confusing user interfaces. "Our work shows that users may disable default apps, only to discover later that the settings do not match their initial preference," the paper states. "Our results demonstrate users are not correctly able to configure the desired privacy settings of default apps. In addition, we discovered that some default app configurations can even reduce trust in family relationships."

The researchers criticize data collection by Apple apps like Safari and Siri, where that data is sent, how users can (and can't) disable that data tracking, and how Apple presents privacy options to users. The paper illustrates these issues in a discussion of Apple's Siri voice assistant. While users can ostensibly choose not to enable Siri in the initial setup on macOS-powered devices, it still collects data from other apps to provide suggestions. To fully disable Siri, Apple users must find privacy-related options across five different submenus in the Settings app. Apple's own documentation for how its privacy settings work isn't good either. It doesn't mention every privacy option, explain what is done with user data, or highlight whether settings are enabled or disabled. Also, it's written in legalese, which almost guarantees no normal user will ever read it. "We discovered that the features are not clearly documented," the paper concludes. "Specifically, we discovered that steps required to disable features of default apps are largely undocumented and the data handling practices are not completely disclosed."

As reported by Bloomberg (paywalled), Apple is exploring the development of personal home robots following the shut down of its electric vehicle project. CNBC reports: Engineers at Apple have been looking into a robot that can follow users around their homes and a tabletop device that uses robotics to adjust a display screen, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the research team. [...] Apple's hardware engineering division and its artificial intelligence and machine learning group are overseeing the work on personal robotics, Bloomberg reported. The home robot project is still in the early research and development phase, according to the report.

Sara Fischer reports via Axios: Jon Stewart on Monday told Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan that Apple wouldn't let him interview her for a podcast. "I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it," "The Daily Show" host said to Khan, in reference to his former podcast that was an extension of his Apple TV+ comedy show "The Problem With Jon Stewart." "They literally said 'please don't talk to her,' having nothing to do with what you do for a living. I think they just... I didn't think they cared for you is what happened," he added during his conversation with Khan. "They wouldn't let us do even that dumb thing we just did in the first act on AI. Like, what is that sensitivity? Why are they so afraid to even have these conversations out in the public sphere?"

Stewart returned to "The Daily Show" in February after leaving in 2015 as its executive producer and host on Monday evenings through the 2024 election cycle. Stewart's Apple TV+ show ended late last year after Stewart and Apple executives parted ways over creative differences, including the comedian's desire to cover topics such as China and AI, the New York Times reported.

Zac Hall reports via 9to5Mac: In a newly published research paper (PDF), Apple's AI gurus describe a system in which Siri can do much more than try to recognize what's in an image. The best part? It thinks one of its models for doing this benchmarks better than ChatGPT 4.0. In the paper (ReALM: Reference Resolution As Language Modeling), Apple describes something that could give a large language model-enhanced voice assistant a usefulness boost. ReALM takes into account both what's on your screen and what tasks are active. [...] If it works well, that sounds like a recipe for a smarter and more useful Siri.

Apple also sounds confident in its ability to complete such a task with impressive speed. Benchmarking is compared against OpenAI's ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4.0: "As another baseline, we run the GPT-3.5 (Brown et al., 2020; Ouyang et al., 2022) and GPT-4 (Achiam et al., 2023) variants of ChatGPT, as available on January 24, 2024, with in-context learning. As in our setup, we aim to get both variants to predict a list of entities from a set that is available. In the case of GPT-3.5, which only accepts text, our input consists of the prompt alone; however, in the case of GPT-4, which also has the ability to contextualize on images, we provide the system with a screenshot for the task of on-screen reference resolution, which we find helps substantially improve performance."

So how does Apple's model do? "We demonstrate large improvements over an existing system with similar functionality across different types of references, with our smallest model obtaining absolute gains of over 5% for on-screen references. We also benchmark against GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, with our smallest model achieving performance comparable to that of GPT-4, and our larger models substantially outperforming it." Substantially outperforming it, you say? The paper concludes in part as follows: "We show that ReaLM outperforms previous ap- proaches, and performs roughly as well as the state- of-the-art LLM today, GPT-4, despite consisting of far fewer parameters, even for onscreen references despite being purely in the textual domain. It also outperforms GPT-4 for domain-specific user utterances, thus making ReaLM an ideal choice for a practical reference resolution system that can exist on-device without compromising on performance."

Apple has sued its former employee Andrew Aude for leaking information about more than a half-dozen Apple products and policies, including its then-unannounced Journal app and Vision Pro headset, product development policies, strategies for regulatory compliance, employee headcounts, and more. MacRumors reports: Aude joined Apple as an iOS software engineer in 2016, shortly after graduating college. He worked on optimizing battery performance, making him "privy to information regarding dozens of Apple's most sensitive projects," according to the complaint. In April 2023, for example, Apple alleges that Aude leaked a list of finalized features for the iPhone's Journal app to a journalist at The Wall Street Journal on a phone call. That same month, The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley published a report titled "Apple Plans iPhone Journaling App in Expansion of Health Initiatives."

Using the encrypted messaging app Signal, Aude is said to have sent "over 1,400" messages to the same journalist, who Aude referred to as "Homeboy." He is also accused of sending "over 10,000 text messages" to another journalist at the website The Information, and he allegedly traveled "across the continent" to meet with her. Other leaks relate to the Vision Pro and other hardware: "As another example, an October 2020 screenshot on Mr. Aude's Apple-issued work iPhone shows that he disclosed Apple's development of products within the spatial computing space to a non-Apple employee. Mr. Aude made this disclosure even though Apple's development efforts were confidential and not known to the public. Over the following months, Mr. Aude disclosed additional Apple confidential information -- including information concerning unannounced products, and hardware information."

Apple believes that Aude's actions were "extensive and purposeful," with Aude allegedly admitting that he leaked information so he could "kill" products and features with which he took issue. The company alleges that his wrongful disclosures resulted in at least five news articles discussing the company's confidential and proprietary information. Apple says these public revelations impeded its ability to "surprise and delight" with its latest products. Apple said it learned of Aude's wrongful disclosures in late 2023, and the company fired him for his alleged misconduct in December of that year. [...] Apple is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial, and it is also seeking other legal remedies. The full complaint can be read here (PDF).