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Apple is more than just the iPhone manufacturer. This $2 trillion company's decisions impact many facets of technology, financials, and everyday life. When the company is rumored to be getting into something new, the entire world pays attention. And since 1997, AppleInsider has been covering this fascinating electronics maker from every possible angle. From details of the next-generation iPhone and MacBook to key indicators expected to drive the company’s stock price, AppleInsider Daily has you completely covered on a daily basis.
Welcome to the AppleInsider Daily podcast for Monday, February 11th, 20-24. I'm Charles Martin, and we begin today with ... trade secrets intrigue!
Apple has reached a potential settlement with chip startup Rivos, which Apple had previously accused of poaching engineers and stealing trade secrets. At least part of Apple's accusations appears to have been borne out in the settlement, which calls for the company to do a forensic examination of Rivos' systems and remediation of any Apple confidential information that is found.
Apple believed that at least two employees took gigabytes of files from Apple when they went to work for Rivos. Rivos also allegedly told some of the poached former Apple employees to use encrypted messaging apps and erasing some hard drives. The company has already reached settlements regarding six other former Apple employees.
Speaking of employment pressure, a survey of union-aligned Apple retail workers shows that many of those employees believe that the company holds contempt for workers who unionise or try to unionise. However, a third-party assessment by Jenner & Block found that Apple had adequate policy commitments to meet its responsibilities to human rights.
However, the International Association of Machinists’ Coalition of Organised Retail Employees, or IAM Core, refuted the findings by pointing out that while the assessment did reach out to stakeholders and labour activists, it did not solicit opinions from the actual Apple retail workers.
The union conducted its own survey of 161 Apple workers mostly in retail and call centers, with two-thirds of the group having worked for Apple for at least six years. When responding to the prompt "I believe Apple would never retaliate against an employee seeking to form a union," 99 percent of the respondents disagreed with the statement, with 61 percent saying they “strongly” disagreed.
Speaking of problematic relations, Apple is actively investigating a potential problem with the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, referred to as "ghost touches" which trigger menus or features when the user did not actually touch the screen. So far, the problem appears to be affecting only a small number of owners of the affected devices.
In a memo to technicians, Apple advises them to be sure the device is updated to the latest version of watchOS, and to not attempt repairs while the issue is being investigated. Techs are advised instead to instruct customers on how to do a force restart of the Watch, which involves holding down the Digital Crown and side button simultaneously until the Watch shuts down and the Apple logo appears.
Apple has also recently bought a bunch of domain names, which it periodically does to protect its intellectual property. One of the ones it purchased was iWork dot AI, which have led some people to believe that a future version of the iWork suite will incorporate generative AI tools.
They’re right, but for the wrong reasons. The actual iWork.com website domain was purchased in 2009 when iWork ‘09 came out, but the page has been inactive for years. While undoubtedly future versions — maybe near-future versions — of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote will add AI-based tools and features, there’s little chance Apple bought the domain for any reason other than to keep it out of the hands of scammers and domain squatters.
We expect to hear more about Apple’s AI plans at the next worldwide developer conference in June. AppleInsider thus rates this report as “Unlikely.”
In Apple TV+ News, the service has picked up two awards from the Director's Guild of America, with Sarah Adina Smith for the "Lessons in Chemistry" episode "Her and Him," for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Limited Series. Ironically, two other directors from "Lessons in Chemistry" were also nominated.
Director Kim Gehrig also won an award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials. She directed an ad called “Run This Town,” which promoted the Apple Music service.
In other tech news, a new update from Tesla to NEW Model 3s and the 2023 Model X vehicles will introduce support for Ultra Wideband, making for easier unlocking for owners by supporting Phone Key, but also improve the ability of the cars to recognise when the owner's iPhone is nearby, along with some other useful tricks. First-gen Model 3s and the current Model Y do not currently as yet Ultra Wideband.
Finally for today, we mentioned in a previous report that Apple has a fix in store for Vision Pro users who have forgotten their passcodes. Until Monday, if that happened to you, you would either have to take the headset to an Apple Retail Store, or ship it back to Apple for them to reset it back to factory spec.
If you update your headset to visionOS 1.0.3, which was released on Monday, you can now handle the forgotten-passcode situation without having to part from your Vision Pro. Apple now allows you to simply erase all the data in the headset, setting it back to factory and allowing users to set up the Vision Pro all over again, including setting a new passcode.
You will still need to know your Apple ID password in order to do this, however. The reset option first showed up in a beta for visionOS 1.1, but apparently Apple heard back from people about the potential issues and activated the feature in the 1.0.3 update, which is available now.
You can hear more news and analysis from AppleInsider on the WEEKLY AppleInsider podcast that’s out every Friday, as well as our HomeKitInsider podcast that's out every Monday -- links to both shows are in the notes for this one.
If you would like to support the AppleInsider Daily podcast, we are now accepting sponsorships. Contact information can be found in the show notes.
I've been Charles Martin, and THIS has been the AppleInsider Daily podcast for Monday, February 12th, 20-24. Thank you for listening.