Michael Tsai
mjtsai.com · EN
- 16posts a week
- 24 Septlast post
- #1in Apple
Subscribe
Latest posts
Locked Down Passkey and Keychain Backups
I remain unhappy with Apple’s passkey backup story. There’s little documentation about this, but from what I can tell: There are no automatic versioned backups. (Syncing is not backup because it doesn’t protect you against human error, bugs, or attacks.) Even if you have a Time Machine backup, it’s…
Siri AI Ships (But Still Beta)
Apple: Siri AI is a completely reimagined version of Siri that is more personal and powerful. With detailed responses and rich, natural conversations, Siri AI helps users get more done than ever before. Built on Apple Intelligence, this new version of Siri draws on personal context understanding to…
OmniFocus 4.9
Ken Case: OmniFocus 4.9 adds support for Siri AI, optional new date parsing assistance via Apple Intelligence, and a range of new and updated App Intents exposed as Shortcuts actions. […] In our testing we’ve found that the new Siri AI hasn’t yet learned how to work with app capabilities that it…
iPhone Handoff
Apple: iPhone Handoff lets you use one phone number between two devices, so you can switch between them whenever you want. It makes it easy to move back and forth between devices optimized for the moment — like weekday business or weekend adventures. […] After iPhone Handoff is set up, one iPhone…
Two-Tier Encryption in the UK
Alexander Cohen: The Post reported that UK security officials had issued such a TCN, in secret, in January 2025, requesting that Apple create a way to access encrypted iCloud data belonging not just to UK users, but to Apple users worldwide. The chutzpah of it all was astonishing. Apple’s position…
Persistent Ads in iOS Settings
Alex Blake (Hacker News): The ‘ads’ in question appear in the Settings app in iOS. They can be found near the top of the iPhone’s display and promote several products to the user, including paid-for iCloud+ storage, free trials for services like Apple Music and Apple TV, and the AppleCare+ extended…
“Prepare to Ship” Battery Drain and Limit
Juli Clover: The iPhone 18 Pro Max has a battery capacity over 20 watt-hours, which means there are additional shipping requirements. If an iPhone 18 Pro Max needs to be shipped somewhere, its maximum battery capacity has to be limited through firmware. […] Customers who need to ship the iPhone 18…
Carbon Copy Cloner 7.2
Mike Bombich: I remember seeing this one way back in Big Sur; you’d create a perfectly functional bootable copy of the system, but it wouldn’t show up in the Startup Disk Preference Pane. Apple ultimately resolved that issue in macOS Monterey, but now we’re seeing it again — unfixed in the Golden…
Shop Different
HarperCollins (Amazon): When Steve Jobs hired Ron Johnson to create the Apple Store in 2000, conventional wisdom said that the internet would put stores out of business. By the time he left Apple in 2011, Johnson and his team had created the most respected and profitable retail stores in the world…
Airmail 26.037
Today, Apple sent me an e-mail about the Airmail Mac e-mail client: Thank you for subscribing to Airmail Pro Yearly. We wanted to let you know about an upcoming change to this subscription. The developer, Bloop S.R.L, is raising the price of this subscription from $9.99 per year to $49.99 per year…
SpamSieve 3.3.2
is an update of my Mac e-mail spam filter that improves remote training, can export more rule information, and improves uninstallation, help, and more. The most significant news is that Microsoft has changed plans again. They will no longer be preventing users from continuing to use…
Golden Gate Liquid Glass
Andrew Cunningham: The Golden Gate update to Liquid Glass solves a fair number of the most common criticisms through both design changes and customizable settings. It doesn’t fix everything, and the changes are primarily iterative—if your quarrel is with the overall design direction, this update…
Xcode’s New .xcproj Files Are JSON
Apple: Xcode now supports a JSON-based project format (.xcproj) that’s more readable, merge-friendly, and easier for coding agents to edit. Enable it in the file inspector. Projects using .xcproj also open in earlier versions of Xcode 27. Learn more in Updating your Xcode project configuration file…
Jumping to 27.2
Joe Rossignol: Apple just seeded the first beta of iOS 27.2 to developers for testing. Yes, you read that correctly: iOS 27.2, not iOS 27.1. […] Apple previously announced that the iPhone Duo will ship with iOS 27.1, which means that software version will contain all sorts of references to the…
Apple Reference Image
Apple (Hacker News, MacRumors): Our solution hinges on splitting the Apple Reference Image process into two phases: creating a secure digital negative, and developing that negative into a reference image. Each phase receives our strongest protections. […] Apple Reference Image provides both a lower…
CarPlay in GM Trucks
Jonathan M. Gitlin: GM made the decision to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone casting from its newer EVs, and it’s one we’ve been pretty critical of. Although the automaker told us it made that decision in order to offer a better, more unified experience to its customers, that may well have…
iPhone 17 Model Popularity
David Smith: Here’s the 17 family data as a percentage of overall usage for Widgetsmith. Generally they followed the usual adoption pattern, and overall did very well ending at around 20% of total usage. With the exception of the Air really struggling to find market share. For comparison the 16…
Opting Into Training Siri AI and Apple Foundation Models
Amber Neely: A new section in the iOS 27 privacy policy shows that Apple has reversed its stance on using customers’ data to train its AI models. Previously, the company assured customers that it had no need for customer data, and would figure out how to make Siri AI work well without it. Apple…
Xcode 27
Apple (xip, downloads): Xcode 27 includes Swift 6.4 and SDKs for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, watchOS 27, macOS 27, and visionOS 27. Xcode 27 supports on-device debugging in iOS 17 and later, tvOS 17 and later, watchOS 10 and later, and visionOS. Xcode 27 requires a Mac running macOS Tahoe 26.6 or…
macOS 26.7 and macOS 15.8
Apple (security, no enterprise, no developer, full installer): This update provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users. Apple (security, full installer): This update provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users. See also: MacRumors, Mr. Macintosh, and…
In the directory since 25 Sept 2026 · last checked 25 Sept 2026 · RSS