The MacBook Air now comes in a 15.3" flavour. There's now an M2 Ultra SoC and it's available on an upgraded Mac Studio (along with the M2 Max) and, at last, the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is pretty much the Mac Studio with an M2 Ultra SoC but in a big case with a couple of PCIe slots. iOS 17's headline feature is "major upgrades to the phone experience" with "Contact Posters" and "Live Voicemail". iPadOS 17 now has a customisable Lock Screen and Live Activities, watchOS 10 has a "new design language" and "Smart Stack", "which enables users to see timely information that adapts to their context". macOS Sonoma lets you add Interactive Widgets to your desktop and includes "stunning new screen savers". Full WWDC keynote is available on YouTube.
Now we get to the keynote's main course - the Apple Vision Pro spatial computer. It's an augmented headset that runs "visionOS" and contains an impressive hardware stack in a slick looking package. No hand controllers, it's all eye-tracking, gesture and voice based. There's a lot going on here so watch Apple's 10 min "trailer" to get an idea of what Apple reckons it's useful for. Goes on sale "early next year" in the USA only, for US$3,499. The EyeSight feature that lets you see people's eyes as they use the headset is incredibly creepy. Nilay Patel got a hands-on demo with the Vision Pro and while it's the best headset he's used, it's not really like the slick marketing videos from Apple and that "wearing this thing felt oddly lonely". The bits in the WWDC keynote of a father watching his kids play while wearing them and then wearing them while at a birthday party (nobody else is wearing a headset) is unsettling to me.
The SEC has sued Binance (the world's largest cryptocurrency trading platform) and its founder Changpeng Zhao for having "unlawfully solicited US investors to buy, sell, and trade crypto asset securities through unregistered trading platforms available online at Binance.com and Binance.US". The smoking gun is Binance's chief compliance officer telling another compliance offer that "we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro". The SEC alleges that Binance and Zhao "actively conceal[ed] who was operating the platform... and even where and with whom investor funds and crypto assets were custodied" and "attempted to evade US securities laws by announcing sham controls that they disregarded behind the scenes so that they could keep high-value US customers on their platforms". Par for the course with cryptocurency, no?
Vision Pro helps you remain connected to those around you. EyeSight reveals your eyes and lets those nearby know when you're using apps or fully immersed in an experience. When someone approaches, Vision Pro simultaneously lets you see the person and reveals your eyes to them. (Apple)
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