What Apple Announced
Thoughts on Apple’s AI, why Apple events aren’t as good as when you-know-who keynoted, and the hearing aid breakthrough.
The Week
This week I pause my AI series to look at what Apple announced. Next week I will delve even deeper into the (pre)history of AI.
Image of the Week
The picture is of the waiting room at Summer Jo’s, my partner Nancy’s restaurant. Restaurant, organic farm, artisan bakery: It was a brave and beautiful venture and we got to know some wonderful people along the way. We treasure those memories, and I count them as essential parts of Swaine’s World. In 2013 we moved on to new adventures, but we kept the couch.
Quote of the Week
“I am an American, Chicago born — Chicago, that somber city — and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man’s character is his fate, says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn’t any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles.”
— Saul Bellow, the opening lines of The Adventures of Augie March. Imagine the chutzpah required to commit yourself to writing an entire novel in a created narrative voice as original and dazzling as Augie’s.
Apple Intel
Apple famously follows its own path and the company is doing its own thing with artificial intelligence, branded as Apple Intelligence. I’ve been an Apple user since 1984 wasn’t like 1984, and I’m following their moves, intelligent and otherwise, both as a reporter and as a user.
Apple’s Integrated Artificial Intelligence
On September 9, Apple had an event at which it made several announcements. The significant takeaways from the event were buried, as is the case these days, in ecstatic adjectives and mind-numbing numbers. As M.G. Siegler points out, Apple needs an editor. When you give a presentation, you should always be focused on the takeaways. People will take away two or three main points from your presentation, and a percentage increase in CPU speed probably isn’t going to be one. My short list of takeaways:
There were product updates: iPhone 16, Watch 10 and Ultra, and updates to AirPods. Check.
They’re putting a physical button on your phone to invoke the camera, take a picture, start and stop recording a movie, and adjust camera settings. Seeing this made me realize how often I missed a picture because I didn’t quickly enough raise the phone, open the camera app, move the slider to photo, and take the shot, all in direct sunight of course. It’s almost like they’ve turned it into a real camera.
And then there’s Apple Intelligence. Apple’s AI is everywhere — or will be when it rolls out. Apple is developing its own AI models and integrating them everywhere in its products, in its ecosystem. What this means is that Apple is not trying to compete directly with Google or OpenAI. For Apple, AI is a tool for enhancing the user experience and changing what users expect from Apple devices and apps.
This means AI-enhanced text, images, video, and music. You’ll see AI enhancements on iPhone, Watch, and AirPods, and in Mail, Messages, and Siri. Writing Tools is a feature that will be available across apps, while Image Playground is a standalone image generation app. But you’ll have to be patient: These features will be rolling out over the next months — and the next year.
Have I got this right, though? An important part of the user experience, in Apple’s view, is security, which includes control over your own data. Large Language Models feed on data; they are more powerful the more data they can slurp up. Apple plans to train some of their models on your data, which suggest a conflict. Is Apple prepared to sacrifice some power to give you the security you demand?
Apple’s Hearing Aids
OK, this is a biggie: AirPods will soon double as hearing aids. You won’t have to buy a different product, some Apple HearPod or whatever. Your standard AirPods Pro 2 will enable you to take a scientifically validated hearing test through the free Apple Health app, and based on the results, you can turn your AirPods into FDA-approved hearing aids tuned to your particular needs, just via a software update.
But wait, there’s more. And it’s political, so brace yourself.
In his blog, Matt Stoller digs into the background on the AirPod story. The person you need to thank for that breakthrough is Joe Biden. Also Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Grassley. They broke the hearing aid cartel that had kept the price of hearing aids out of reach of many who needed them. Other manufacturers will also be able to take advantage of the leveled playing field and will doubtless produce affordable hearing aids that compete with Apple’s. But that takes nothing away from what appears to be a great product from Apple. And good news for the hearing impaired.
Of Interest
When I was editor of Dr. Dobb’s Journal, we had a section in the back of the magazine titled “Of Interest.” Here are some things that I think you might find Of Interest.
Blogroll
This feature is on hiatus. I’m working on a better way to promote the blogs and sources I follow. I recently saw what Dave Winer is doing with his blogroll and I thought maybe I could up my game. New approach coming soonish.
I Am not a Verse
I’m a mongrel, a Caucasian atheist from the Midwest. No religious, ethnic, or cultural heritage to speak of, and I say cheers to that. I loved my parents, but genealogical researches beyond those who bore me bore me. I trace my history back only as far as a hospital in a small Minnesota town: to borrow from Augie March, a fictional character who was the author of himself, I am an American, Winnebago born.
Nevertheless, I do feel a vague kinship with those who share my first name. I am a writer with a last name that ties me to Ireland, that most writerly of nations, as does my first name. Being a Mike feels right. Which makes me want to say:
The Author of this Verse Just Wants to Say
A Google search on “common names” confirms
That “Michael” is as common as the cold,
A fact with which I’ve long since come to terms:
If once resentful now I am consoled
By knowing that this Brotherhood of Mikes
Is richer for its reach. We won’t downplay
The namesake heritage that is our right.
The author of this verse just wants to say:
It was a Mike won Irish independence,
It was a Mike flew solo ’round the moon,
And though I know it doesn’t make much sense,
I view us all as verses in one tune.
We haven’t all been angels: just the same,
The Sistine Chapel ceiling knows our name.
Other sonnets, villanalles, limericks, bad-boy ballads, and other poems can be found in my soon-to-be-re-released book, First Verses.
Who, Me?
I’ve been a writer all my life, and computers entered the picture pretty early. With Paul Freiberger I wrote the seminal history of the personal computer, Fire in the Valley, the basis for the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley. I’ve written short stories and poetry and books and columns for magazines, and have had a long and productive career editing books and magazines. For decades I was associated with the pioneering personal computer software developers’ magazine, Dr. Dobb’s Journal, and I currently edit books for The Pragmatic Bookshelf and blog about artificial intelligence and other topics.
Coming Attractions
Thanks for reading. You can read all the back issues of Swaine’s World at my blog home. In the coming weeks, look for more Swaine’s Flames flashbacks, Dirt Road Diaries, bulletins from the AI revolution, tech history, and books.