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Why the DOJ Claims Apple Is a Monopoly 
This week, Federico and John explain what’s going on with the US Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple that claims the iPhone-maker is monopolizing the smartphone market.
App Debuts Spatialify I was playing around with Spatialify, an iOS spatial video app, before the Vision Pro even shipped. Back then, I used it to play spatial video on the XREAL Air glasses. What brought me back this week is the fact that the app can now shoot spatial video at a higher resolution than...
Interesting Links According to The New York Times, the US is years away from protecting GPS satellites from space warfare. (Link) Amazon has introduced an app on iOS and Android that lets you scan your palm to serve as a way to purchase items and verify your age. (Link) The US government has mandated that every...
The Ghost of Windows Past: Explaining the DOJ’s Fascination with Super Apps I initially found it surprising that the US Department of Justice drew such a straight line from its 1998 antitrust case against Microsoft to the complaint it filed against Apple last week. Not only has the tech landscape changed drastically in the past 26 years, but the DOJ’s win against Microsoft wasn’t clear cut, with...
This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico and John are joined by Jonathan Reed to discuss Christopher Nolan’s film, Memento and our weekly On Deck picks.
Thanks to everyone who suggested films to Federico after last week’s episode of MacStories Unwind. If you’d still like to recommend a movie to him please get in touch on Mastodon or Threads.
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When Major League Soccer’s season began last month, Apple announced that it would release a highlights film of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs that was captured in Apple Immersive Video. Well, Apple now says that the film, called 2023 MLS Cup Highlights, will be available later today on the Vision Pro. The film should be available at around 9 PM Eastern US time.
I’m excited to watch the film. I’m not an MLS fan, but I haven’t had a chance to see what it’s like to experience sports in an immersive environment yet. Sports and music concerts are areas I expect we’ll see a lot more of on the Vision Pro in the coming months.
A few weeks ago on AppStories, Federico and I surveyed recent Apple system app updates to get a sense of where the design of iOS is heading. Part of the inspiration for that episode was a thread that Lickability posted on Mastodon, breaking down Apple’s recently-released Sports app.
Yesterday, Lickability’s Sam Gold expanded on that thread with a post on the company’s blog that’s a must-read for anyone interested in iOS design trends because, as Sam says:
We once heard someone say, “design your app for the current iOS version + 1.” So with that lens, we’ve been looking at what the design of Apple Sports can tell us about iOS 18.
That’s good advice, and there’s a lot to learn from Sports, such as how it continues a recent trend of using gradients in the nav bar:
Gradients are used a LOT in this app. This nav bar gradient effect is becoming pretty common throughout first-party apps as well — first with the iOS 17 Health app, then Journal, and now Sports. watchOS 10 is also full of gradients.
There are many other things going on in Sports besides gradients, including Metal shaders applied to textures and interesting uses of animation and typography.
I fully expect that when I sit down to watch the announcements at WWDC, much of what Lickability has highlighted in Sports will be apparent across many more of Apple’s apps.
Last November, we created the MacStories Setups page. It’s a collection of the gear, apps, and services that Federico and I use for work and play. We knew when we created the page that it would change regularly, and it has. Today, we’re introducing our third update in four months, which collects changes related to Federico’s MacPad setup and some smaller adjustments that we’ve both made recently.
The MacPad additions to Federico’s setup include:
However, Federico isn’t living a MacPad-only lifestyle. He uses the Vision Pro daily and has added it along with the following accessories to his setup:
Other additions include:
Our app lineups change constantly, too, and most recently, Federico has added:
As for me, since my big desk setup upgrade, I’ve made a handful of changes to my desk and gaming setups, along with other adjustments.
With summer around the corner, I’ve been refining my portable setup. The Logitech Casa Pop Up Desk that I reviewed recently is perfect for an afternoon at a coffee shop or sitting out on my balcony. I’ve enjoyed the Boox Tab Ultra so much that I added a Boox Palma for ultra-portable e-ink reading on-the-go.
The articles I save to read on the Palma and elsewhere are currently split between GoodLinks and Readwise Reader. I’ve also swapped out NaturalReader for Speechify for text-to-speech workflows, but I’m not completely satisfied with any read-aloud solution I’ve tried yet.
I’m also slowly refining my gaming setup. The ASUS ZenWiFi Pro Wi-Fi 6E mesh router system is a big step up from the Linksys Atlas routers I was using before in terms of both coverage and speed. I’m still floored by the bandwidth I get with my iPhone 15 Pro Max and Ayn Odin 2 Pro. I also picked up a Miyoo Mini+ retro gaming handheld because I’m traveling soon and wanted an ultra-portable handheld to take with me. Also, to track what I’m playing, I’ve been using GameTrack, which I recently reviewed.
Both of us have added a handful of other apps and gear, too, so be sure to browse through the Setups page to find the complete listing of our current setups.
WWDC24 will include an in-person experience on June 10 that will provide developers the opportunity to watch the keynote at Apple Park, meet with Apple team members, and take part in special activities. Space will be limited, and details on how to apply to attend can be found on the Apple Developer site and app.
Apple has announced that WWDC 2024 will primarily take place online again this year from June 10-14 2024. However, the company said that it simultaneously will hold a corresponding limited in-person event at Apple Park for developers, students, and press like last year.
In a press release issued by today, Susan Prescott, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise and Education Marketing, said:
We’re so excited to connect with developers from around the world for an extraordinary week of technology and community at WWDC24 Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. WWDC is all about sharing new ideas and providing our amazing developers with innovative tools and resources to help them make something even more wonderful.
Apple also had this to say about events that will be held at Apple Park during the conference:
WWDC24 will include an in-person experience on June 10 that will provide developers the opportunity to watch the keynote at Apple Park, meet with Apple team members, and take part in special activities. Space will be limited, and details on how to apply to attend can be found on the Apple Developer site and app.
There’s no time of year I look forward to more than WWDC. It’s a chance to preview exciting new technology, get together with old friends, and meet many of the developers whose work we cover. Last year was a wild ride with the introduction of the Vision Pro, and I doubt we’ll have a hardware reveal anywhere as exciting as that this year. However, with rumors of a significant redesign and new generative AI features coming to Apple’s OSes, what this year lacks in hardware surprises, could very well be made up for with new software.
Of course, MacStories readers can expect the same kind of comprehensive WWDC coverage we do every year. We’ll have extensive coverage on MacStories, AppStories, and MacStories Unwind, which will extend to Club MacStories too.
Federico
