Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2018/03/monday-morning-news120318/
Apple is updating the Made for iPhone program logo. Instead of a single logo for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, Apple is going to individual logos for the iPhone, the iPhone and iPad, and another for all three devices. Apple are also ditching the little iPhone, iPad, and iPod device illustrations for the Apple logo — with the iconic iPhone iconography changing thanks to the removal of the home button, this is probably a good thing.
Unfortunately, Apple’s supplier responsibility report revealed increased labour violations from its supply and manufacturing chain. The increased violations can mostly be explained by new suppliers and partners added to Apple’s supply chain, with 197 of the 757 suppliers being audited for the first time in this year’s report. Twice as many “core violations” were found, with one supplier based in the Philippines charged 700 workers USD $1 million for securing their positions, something forbidden by Apple policy.
One of Siri’s co-founders has spoken up about how he’s surprised at what Siri still isn’t capable of. Siri does a few things well — setting timers, sending messages, and telling you what the weather is like — but the personal assistant’s general knowledge and contextual knowledge is lacking, and it’s just not where we expected voice assistants to be by this stage. Either that’s because this kind of AI is harder than we thought it was, or Apple is choosing to take Siri in a different direction.
Comparing the original Siri to the Siri of today also uncovers some uncomfortable truths about its capabilities. Even if you’re not particularly surprised at how little progress Apple has made with Siri over the years, you should be surprised at how Siri requests from eight years ago are no longer interpreted correctly by the voice-powered virtual assistant.
And now, a lawsuit has been filed against Apple for infringing on patents related to natural language voice and audio query systems. The lawsuit seems to target Siri directly, with non-practicing entity filing in the patent-holder friendly Texas.
MacRumors laments the lack of updates to popular apps, saying many still don’t support the larger display of the iPhone X over four months after its launch. And it’s not just third parties that are to blame, some of Apple’s own apps including iMovie, iTunes Remote, iTunes Connect, and AirPort Utility still haven’t been updated.
AppleInsider says the full selection of channels from the ABC are now available to stream via Apple Music. The ABC’s News Radio and Radio National were the first to go live, but now local and regional news channels are now available via Apple Music, with the best news being that you don’t have to be an Apple Music subscriber to listen.
Cnet tells us about another US health insurance company integrating Apple Watch into its wellness incentive program. Participants need to meet certain metrics to earn up to $1000 per year, but if you can own an Apple Watch just from exercising daily for six months, that’s probably not a bad trade.
If you have a bunch of HomeKit setup codes, chances are you’ll need somewhere to store them. HomePass is the iOS app to do just that, with some nice HomeKit-specific features baked right into the app.
The Sweet Setup gives us the how-to on converting a message to a checklist in Apple Notes. I did not realise this was possible, but now that I do, it’s pretty cool.