When a news website called WIRED first reported that Apple had sent a letter responding to demands from an anti-child-exploitation group called Heat Initiative, they had one big question: What the hell is Heat Initiative? An investigation by the Intercept now provides some clues.
According to the Intercept, the group is funded by “dark-money donors” linked to billionaire Democrats. Sarah Gardner, who leads the group, refused to comment on Heat Initiative’s funding and said she disagrees with Apple’s “privacy-absolutist” approach. The group, which had virtually no online presence when Apple sent that letter, is now waging a high-profile campaign to force the company to do more to scan for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on users’ devices and iCloud storage, which would likely mean weakening encryption.
After Apple scrapped plans to scan images on users’ devices for CSAM amid widespread backlash, the company focused instead on tools known as Community Safety features for reporting CSAM. It also rolled out encrypted iCloud options. The company says it cannot meet Heat Initiative demands without compromising user privacy and security.
Between Apple no longer making leather products and the utter disappointment of the new FineWoven case, there’s more opportunity this year for third-party iPhone case makers than perhaps ever before. But for a lot of manufacturers, the new Action Button in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is throwing a big old wrench into their plans.
Over the past week, I’ve received case samples from a number of companies, and it’s clear which ones bet correctly on the Action Button’s existence and which ones hedged their bets a little too hard on Apple sticking with the traditional ringer switch. Some brands, such as Nomad and MOFT, bet that Apple would replace the ringer switch with a button this year and designed their cases accordingly: there’s a metal button in the case that allows you to easily activate the Action Button whenever you want.
But other popular brands such as Peak Design and Bellroy have shipped iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max cases with a cutout above the volume buttons to expose the ringer switch, instead of a hard button to press the Action Button. The result is the Action Button is recessed below the lip of the case, making it nearly impossible to use unless you contort the tip of your finger to reach it. It makes it very difficult to use the best new feature of the Pro line this year.
The root of the problem is that the typical third-party case maker doesn’t actually know what the new iPhone will look like (or even be called) until it’s announced onstage during Apple’s event. In order to catch the lucrative wave of customers who buy the new phones on release day and want a case, the case maker has to rely on rumors and reporting to determine the dimensions and features of the new phone and then manufacture its cases before the iPhone is even announced. Most years, when Apple makes minor changes to the iPhone’s dimensions, that works out in their favor. But when a big hardware change comes along, it makes things much more difficult to predict.
Peak Design explained the situation in a Reddit post: “We actually do not have the literal 3D details from Apple and so we are reliant on industry rumors to inform the design. In the case of the new “Action Button,” there were rumors in both the switch and the button direction and we also did not have much information on how a potential button would be used. Because of these conflicting rumors, we opted for the safer route and designed a cutout that would give good access to the button feature or a switch depending on which rumor ended up being the actual truth.”
Meta has announced a series of new chatbots to be used in its Messenger service.
The chatbots will have “personality” and specialise in certain subjects, like holidays or cooking advice.
It is the latest salvo in a chatbot arms race between tech companies desperate to produce more accurate and personalised artificial intelligence.
The chatbots are still a work in progress with “limitations”, said boss Mark Zuckerberg.
In California, during Meta’s first in-person event since before the pandemic, Mr Zuckerberg said that it had been an “amazing year for AI”.
The company is calling its main chatbot “Meta AI” and can be used in messaging. For example, users can ask Meta AI questions in chat “to settle arguments” or ask other questions.
The BBC has not yet tested the chatbot which is based on Llama 2, the large language model that the company released for public commercial use in July.
Several celebrities have also signed up to lend their personalities to different types of chatbots, including Snoop Dogg and Kendall Jenner.
The idea is to create chatbots that are not just designed to answer questions.
“This isn’t just going to be about answering queries,” Zuckerberg said. “This is about entertainment”.
According to Meta, NFL star Tom Brady will play an AI character called ‘Bru’, “a wisecracking sports debater” and YouTube star MrBeast will play ‘Zach’, a big brother “who will roast you”.
Mr Zuckerberg said there were still “a lot of limitations” around what the bots could answer.
The chatbots will be rolled out in the coming days and only in the US initially.
Mr Zuckerberg also discussed the metaverse – a virtual world – which is a concept that Mr Zuckerberg has so far spent tens of billions of dollars on.
Although Meta had already announced its new virtual reality headset, Quest 3, the company gave further details at the event.
Meta’s boss described the headset as the first “mainstream” mixed reality headset. Cameras facing forward will mean the headset will allow for augmented reality. It will be available from 10 October.
The firm’s big, long-term bet on the metaverse still appears yet to pay off, with Meta’s VR division suffering $21bn (£17bn) in losses since the start of 2022.
The Quest 3 came after Apple entered the higher-priced mixed reality hardware market with the Vision Pro earlier this year.
Mat Day, global gaming strategy director for EssenceMediacom, said Mark Zuckerberg had “reinvigorated” the VR sector.
“Meta’s VR roadmap is now firmly positioned around hardware priced for the mass market. This is a stark contrast to Apple’s approach which is aimed at the high end tech enthusiast,” he said.
Meta’s announcement came on the same day as rival OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed creator of ChatGPT, confirmed its chatbot can now browse the internet to provide users with current information. The artificial intelligence-powered system was previously trained only using data up to September 2021.
