Tag: wwdc 2024

Apple Music to Add Support for ‘Passthrough’ Feature, Smart Audio Transitions with iOS 18: Report

Apple Music will receive upgrades that improve the performance of the app on iOS 18 and macOS 15 later this year, according to a report. The company’s upcoming operating system updates are expected to bring revamped versions of Apple Music and QuickTime, the company audio and video playback apps. Apple Music could improve support for its existing crossfade feature. Meanwhile the iPhone maker is also reportedly testing a new ‘Passthrough’ that is said to be available on supported devices later this year.

An AppleInsider report, citing people aware of the company’s plans, states that new versions of the Apple Music and QuickTime apps are currently being tested internally. These apps are said to offer improvements to media playback and are expected to be introduced later this year when the company rolls out its iOS 18 and macOS 15 software updates to eligible iPhone models and Mac computers.

The first feature that is reportedly coming to Apple Music with iOS 18 and macOS 15 is called “smart song transitions”. It is said to be an improved version of the existing crossfade feature for Apple Music that lowers the volume of a track a few seconds before it ends, while starting playback of the next song and ramping up the volume so that there’s no silence between the two tracks.

While users can already adjust the crossfade setting on Apple Music to a higher or lower value (in seconds) to increase or decrease the time spent seamlessly switching between tracks, the smart song transitions might be able to dynamically adjust the transition time between tracks. A screenshot of the purported feature on Apple Music for iOS also shows a new “Smart” transition option above the existing crossfade slider that offers up to 12 seconds to seamlessly switch to the next track.

The “Passthrough” feature that is said to be coming to iOS 18 and macOS 18 will only be accessible on specific models, according to the report. While there’s no word on what the feature does, or whether it’s a rebrand of an existing feature such as Spatial Audio or Transparency mode, the publication states that it will “only be available on supported hardware”.

We can expect to hear more about Apple’s upcoming software features at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) that is scheduled to begin on June 10. This year, the company is said to be working on integrating several AI features into its iOS, iPadOS, and macOS operating systems for iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers, respectively.

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Apple’s Siri Assistant Could Get a Massive AI-Charged Revamp at WWDC 2024: Report

Apple could introduce the biggest revamp to its native virtual assistant Siri since its launch at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. The Cupertino-based tech giant is rumoured to unveil its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and introduce new features for its devices. As per a new report, the central piece of this move will be making Siri smarter and more efficient. The iPhone maker is expected to use either in-house AI models or licence them from a third-party source to improve Siri’s capabilities.

According to a report by the New York Times, top executives at Apple made the decision last year that its virtual assistant needs a major revamp to stay relevant. The realisation came as AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT showcased the diverse range of tasks they can complete. The inclusion of the contextual understanding of language, which allowed users to make vague queries and still get the right response, was also considered a significant upgrade. Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the report highlighted that Apple is working on adding AI capabilities to Siri.

The report highlighted that improving Siri has become a “tent pole project” at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, which refers to a “once-in-a-decade” initiative in the company. It is said that the company is now gearing up to showcase the new Siri at the WWDC 2024 event on June 10. Two focus areas to improve Siri include conversational language and versatility of tasks, the report mentioned. However, it is believed that the tech giant does not want its virtual assistant to turn into another AI-powered chatbot.

It is believed that instead of turning Siri into a generalist chatbot capable of generating poetry and essays, its output will be controlled and limited to the tasks it already does, but with significant improvements. Users might be able to ask follow-up questions without repeating all the information, something Siri is not capable of currently. It might also be able to perform more tasks across the device. These details are not known at present.

However, it is said that Apple intends to keep Siri private and run it entirely on-device. This means the iPhone maker will be limited to its on-device neural processing unit (NPU) to power the computing and minimise the latency issues. This is interesting given an earlier report claimed that Apple is also working on building AI chips for its data centres.

The NY Times report claims Apple’s decision to not rely on cloud servers comes from cost-effectiveness. Highlighting an example, it said OpenAI is forced to spend 12 cents (roughly Rs. 16) for every 1,000 words generated by ChatGPT due to cloud computing costs. Apple might be able to circumvent this expense by keeping the feature within the device.

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iOS 18 to Let Users Customise Layout of Home Screen App Icons: Report

iOS 18, Apple’s next operating software, is expected to be announced at the annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June. The next iOS version is believed to bring a slew of on-device and cloud AI features. Now, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed that iOS 18 will offer iPhone users control over their home screen icons and layout. It is expected to provide flexibility in managing Home Screen app icons. Apple could release the iOS 18 update for the general public in September this year.

Mark Gurman, in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter Power On, states that iOS 18 will make the handset’s home screen “more customisable.” The Bloomberg reporter however did not provide any specific details about the update.

Additionally, a report by MacRumors quoting inside sources claims that iOS 18 will give users more control over the overall appearance of the iPhone home screen. The iOS 18 update would reportedly allow users to arrange icons more freely. Through this update, Apple could let users create blank spaces, rows, and columns between app icons. Android already offers this option.

Apple is expected to preview iOS 18 at WWDC 2024. It could be available for the public later in September alongside the purported iPhone 16 series. The iOS 18 is rumoured to be compatible with all the same devices as iOS 17. Older devices like iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max models are said to offer support for the latest operating system.

The iOS 18 update is said to come with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. It could include Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard for messaging and borrow several UI components from visionOS. Apple is said to be in talks with companies including Google and OpenAI for generative AI in iOS 18.

Apple unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, at its annual developer conference, along with new Mac models and upcoming software updates. We discuss all the most important announcements made by the company at WWDC 2023 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Lenovo Tab M11 India Launch Set for March 26; Amazon Availability, Key Features Confirmed



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iOS 18 ‘VendorUI’ Internal Builds Issued to Factories for Quality Control Testing: Report

iOS 18 is expected to be released in the second half of this year and Apple is expected to take the wraps off its next iPhone operating system update in the coming months at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. The iPhone maker is reportedly issuing an early version of the iOS 18 update to factories and other partners for quality control testing. This is said to be a limited version of Apple’s iOS operating system, with irrelevant applications and features removed from the user interface (UI) before it is distributed by the company.

According to a MacRumors report that cites a private X (formerly Twitter) account that is said to have a good track record of leaking details related to Apple, the iPhone maker has begun sharing a version of iOS 18 called “VendorUI” in a controlled manner with “factories and relevant vendors”.  This version contains some elements of iOS that are expected to be unveiled by the company in the coming months at WWDC 2024.

Apple develops five different versions of iOS every year, according to the report. Two of these — LLDiags (a low-level diagnostics version) and NonUI (a version for hardware engineers and calibration machines) are prepared without the iOS user interface. Meanwhile, the VendorUI (used in factories for testing) and InternalUI (used by Apple’s engineers) contain pre-production versions of iOS. Apple’s “Release” version is the one that is finally rolled out to users with all iOS visual elements, apps and features.

As most apps and features not relevant to factories and relevant vendors aren’t included in the VendorUI image, we can expect to learn more about some parts of the iOS 18 UI in the future, ahead of WWDC 2024. Previous reports suggest that Apple is working on overhauling the mobile OS interface with the upcoming iOS 18 update, including some visual elements from visionOS, Apple’s operating system for the Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

As per previous reports, Apple is expected to focus on bringing a lot of new AI features and functionality to eligible iPhone models with the iOS 18 update. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman previously stated that the company hopes the AI-infused iOS 18 update — expected to arrive later this year — will convince more customers to upgrade to the iPhone 16 series of smartphones. The next generation iPhone lineup and iOS 18 software update could be released in the third quarter of 2024, based on the company’s launch schedule in recent years. 

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OnePlus Nord CE 4 to Get 8GB LPDDR4X RAM; Storage Specification Also Confirmed Ahead of India Launch



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