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Source: http://daringfireball.net/index.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<title>Daring Fireball</title>
<subtitle>By John Gruber</subtitle>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/" />
<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/main" />
<id>https://daringfireball.net/feeds/main</id>
<updated>2025-07-15T19:33:53Z</updated><rights>Copyright © 2025, John Gruber</rights><entry>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://workos.com/?utm_source=daringfireball&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=q12025" />
<link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wgj" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/07/workos_scalable_secure_authent_6" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/feeds/sponsors//11.42067</id>
<author><name>Daring Fireball Department of Commerce</name></author>
<published>2025-07-15T19:33:53Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-15T19:33:53Z</updated>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
With WorkOS you can start selling to enterprises with just a few lines of code. It provides a complete User Management solution along with SSO, SCIM, and FGA. The APIs are modular and easy-to-use, allowing integrations to be completed in minutes instead of months.
Today, some of the fastest growing startups are already powered by WorkOS, including Perplexity, Vercel, and Webflow.
For SaaS apps that care deeply about design and user experience, WorkOS is the perfect fit. From high-quality documentation to self-serve onboarding for your customers, it removes all the unnecessary complexity for your engineering team.
Check out our <a href="https://workos.com/launch-week/summer-2025">Summer Launch Week announcements</a> to see our latest.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘WorkOS: Scalable, Secure Authentication’" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/07/workos_scalable_secure_authent_6"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
<title>[Sponsor] WorkOS: Scalable, Secure Authentication</title></entry><entry>
<title>The Party of ‘Free Speech’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/07/trump-rosie-odonnell-citizenship-free-speech/683530/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wgi" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/15/party-of-free-speech" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42066</id>
<published>2025-07-15T17:52:49Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-15T17:52:49Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
David A. Graham, writing at The Atlantic:
<blockquote>
Not that long ago, believe it or not, Donald Trump ran for
president as the candidate who would defend the First Amendment.
He <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/president-donald-j-trump-free-speech-policy-initiative">warned</a> that a “sinister group of Deep State
bureaucrats, Silicon Valley tyrants, left-wing activists, and
depraved corporate news media” was “conspiring to manipulate and
silence the American people,” and promised that “by restoring free
speech, we will begin to reclaim our democracy, and save our
nation.” On his first day back in office, Trump signed an
<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-freedom-of-speech-and-ending-federal-censorship/">executive order</a> affirming the “right of the American
people to engage in constitutionally protected speech.”
If anyone believed him at the time, they should be disabused by
now. One of his most brazen attacks on freedom of speech thus far
came this past weekend, when the president said that he was
thinking about stripping a comedian of her citizenship — for no
apparent reason other than that she regularly criticizes him.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best
interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration
to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and
should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want
her,” he posted on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114840552173805537">Truth Social</a>.
</blockquote>
The people who griped that the Biden Administration was anti-free-speech because they ... checks notes ... applied soft pressure on companies like Meta to clamp down on algorithmically promoting disinformation are pretty quiet these days.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘The Party of ‘Free Speech’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/15/party-of-free-speech"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>‘Elon Musk Gives Himself Another Handshake’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://pxlnv.com/linklog/musk-xai-spacex/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wgh" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/musk-gives-himself-a-handshake" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42065</id>
<published>2025-07-15T00:31:29Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-15T15:46:44Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Nick Heer, Pixel Envy on <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/spacex-to-invest-2-billion-into-elon-musks-xai-413934de?st=XZYChT&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">the news</a> that SpaceX “invested” $2 billion in the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-17/musk-s-xai-burning-through-1-billion-a-month-as-costs-pile-up">xAI money pit</a>:
<blockquote>
This comes just a few months after <a href="https://pxlnv.com/linklog/musk-x-xai/">xAI acquired X</a>, one
year after Musk <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/04/elon-musk-told-nvidia-to-ship-ai-chips-reserved-for-tesla-to-x-xai.html">shifted</a> a bunch of Tesla-bound Nvidia GPUs
to xAI, and just a few years after he <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-pulled-50-tesla-employees-twitter-takeover-rcna54946">used staff</a> from
Tesla to work on Twitter. So, to recap: he has moved people and
resources from two publicly traded companies to two privately
owned ones, has used funds from one of his privately owned
companies to buy another one of his privately owned companies, and
is now using one of his <s>publicly traded</s> privately owned
companies to give billions of dollars to (another) one of his
privately owned ones.
</blockquote>
Musk can and should be able to do whatever he wants with his privately held companies, like X Corp and SpaceX. But the way he treats Tesla Motors, which is publicly traded, as though it’s just part of his personal fiefdom is absurd. And the European Commission <a href="https://fortune.com/europe/2024/10/17/musk-empire-risks-being-targeted-by-eu-for-potential-x-fines/">isn’t fooled</a>.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘‘Elon Musk Gives Himself Another Handshake’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/musk-gives-himself-a-handshake"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Lee Elia, Former Major League Manager, Dies at 87</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6486807/2025/07/10/lee-elia-obituary-cubs-phillies/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wgg" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/lee-elia-rip" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42064</id>
<published>2025-07-14T22:53:05Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-14T22:55:51Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Steve Berman, The Athletic:
<blockquote>
Lee Elia, who managed the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs
for two seasons apiece but is perhaps best known for a profane
postgame rant critical of Chicago fans, died on Wednesday. He was
87. The Phillies announced his death in a statement on Thursday,
though they did not say where he died or cite a cause. [...]
The team noted that Elia was a Philadelphia native who signed with
the Phillies in 1958. He was in the organization on and off
throughout the decades, including as a minor league player,
manager, scout and director of instruction. He was the third-base
coach for the Phillies team that won the 1980 World Series.
</blockquote>
You’ll never hear a better example of how to talk like a Philadelphian than <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiVVbYK9HXw">Elia’s famed 1983 rant</a>, after the Cubs opened the season 5-14. Earmuffs for any (non-Philadelphian) children in the room.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Lee Elia, Former Major League Manager, Dies at 87’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/lee-elia-rip"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Elmore Leonard’s Perfect Pitch</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/07/elmore-leonards-perfect-pitch" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wgf" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/elmore-leonard-perfect-pitch" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42063</id>
<published>2025-07-14T21:15:00Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-14T21:46:08Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Anthony Lane, in a crackerjack piece for The New Yorker on the writing and work of Elmore Leonard:
<blockquote>
So, when does Leonard become himself? Is it possible to specify
the moment, or the season, when he crosses the border? I would
nominate “The Big Bounce,” from 1969 — which, by no coincidence,
is the first novel of his to be set in the modern age. As the
prose calms down, something quickens in the air, and the plainest
words and deeds make easy music: “They discussed whether beer was
better in bottles or cans, and then which was better, bottled or
draft, and both agreed, finally, that it didn’t make a hell of a
lot of difference. Long as it was cold.”
What matters here is what isn’t there. Grammatically, by rights,
we ought to have an “As” or a “So” before “long.” If the beer
drinkers were talking among themselves, however, or to
themselves, they wouldn’t bother with such nicety, and Leonard
heeds their example; he does them the honor of flavoring his
registration of their chatter with that perfect hint of them. The
technical term for this trick, as weary students of literature
will recall, is style indirect libre, or free indirect
discourse. It has a noble track record, with Jane Austen and
Flaubert as front-runners, but seldom has it proved so
democratically wide-ranging — not just libre but liberating,
too, as Leonard tunes in to regular citizens. He gets into their
heads, their palates, and their plans for the evening. Listen to a
guy named Moran, in “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Chaser-Novel-Elmore-Leonard/dp/0062190954/?tag=df-amzn-20">Cat Chaser</a>” (1982), watching
Monday-night football and trying to decide “whether he should have
another beer and fry a steak or go to Vesuvio’s on Federal Highway
for spaghetti marinara and eat the crisp breadsticks with hard
butter, Jesus, and have a bottle of red with it, the house salad
... or get the chicken cacciatore and slock the bread around in
the gravy ...”
The ellipses are Leonard’s, or, rather, they are Moran’s musings,
reproduced by Leonard as a kind of Morse code. We join in with the
dots. But it’s the “Jesus” that does the work, yielding up a
microsecond of salivation, and inviting us to slock around in the
juice of the character’s brain.
</blockquote>
The genius in the second example is the verb choice: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slock">slock</a>. There are dozens of verbs that could have worked there, but none better.
Leonard is probably tops on the list of authors whose work I love, but of which I haven’t read nearly as much as I should. There are novelists who are good at creating (and voicing) original vivid characters, novelists who are good at plot, and novelists who are just great at writing. Leonard hits the trifecta.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Elmore Leonard’s Perfect Pitch’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/elmore-leonard-perfect-pitch"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Experts Said This Was a Damn Clever Post by Jason Kottke</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://kottke.org/25/07/journalisms-experts-said-conclusion" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wge" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/kottke-experts-said" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42062</id>
<published>2025-07-14T20:58:07Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-14T20:58:07Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Jason Kottke:
<blockquote>
Large media companies, and the NY Times in particular these days,
like to use the phrase “experts said” instead of simply stating
facts. The thing is, many other statements of plain truth in that
brief Times post lack the confirmation of expertise. To aid the
paper in steering their readers away from notions of objective
truth, here’s a suggested rewrite of that Bluesky post.
</blockquote>
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Experts Said This Was a Damn Clever Post by Jason Kottke’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/kottke-experts-said"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Reborn Commodore Is Taking Pre-Orders for New Commodore 64 Models</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.commodore.net/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wgd" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/commodore-64-ultimate" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42061</id>
<published>2025-07-14T19:29:56Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-14T19:32:29Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Last year, retro computing YouTuber Christian “Peri Fractic” Simpson <a href="https://tedium.co/2025/06/19/peri-fractic-retro-recipes-commodore-profile/">bought the branding rights and some of the IP</a> belonging to Commodore (which rights have been transferred five times since the original company went bankrupt in 1994). Last week they launched their first product:
<blockquote>
This is the first real Commodore computer in over 30 years, and
it’s picked up a few new tricks.
Not an emulator. Not a PC. Retrogaming heaven in three dimensions:
silicon, nostalgia, and light. Powered by a FPGA recreation of the
original motherboard, wrapped in glowing game-reactive LEDs (or
classic beige of course).
</blockquote>
<a href="https://tedium.co/2025/07/12/commodore-revival-community/">Via Ernie Smith</a>, who has been <a href="https://tedium.co/2025/06/19/peri-fractic-retro-recipes-commodore-profile/">following this saga thoughtfully</a>.
This is, no question, a fun and cool project, and I hope it succeeds wildly. But personally, the Commodore 64 holds almost no nostalgic value for me. The Commodore 64 — which came out in 1982, when I was 9 — always struck me as cheap-feeling and inelegant. Like using some weird computer from the Soviet Union. <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/07/commodore-64-keyboard.jpeg">Just look at its keyboard</a>. It’s got a bunch of odd keys, like “Run Stop” and “Restore”, and all sorts of drawing-related glyphs (used when programming) printed on the sides of the keycaps. Now compare that to the keyboards from <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/07/apple-IIplus-keyboard.jpeg">the Apple II Plus</a> (1979), which has just one weird key, “REPT” (<a href="https://www.duxburysystems.org/downloads/library/texas/apple/history/museum/computers/a2_plusclose.html">for Repeat</a> — you needed to press and hold REPT to get other keys to auto-repeat), and to <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/07/apple-IIe-keyboard.jpeg">the Apple IIe</a> (1983), which has no weird keys and whose keyboard looks remarkably modern lo these 42 intervening years.
That said, while both systems came with 64 kilobytes of RAM, the Apple IIe cost $1,400 when it debuted (~$4,600 today, inflation adjusted); the Commodore 64 cost $600 (~$2,000 today). Some things haven’t changed about the computer industry in my lifetime.
The most interesting computers Commodore ever made, by far, were the Amigas. The Amiga brand and IP were cleaved from Commodore long ago, and alas, the new Commodore doesn’t have them. But they’ve expressed interest in buying them. Something like this Commodore 64 Ultimate but for an Amiga — now that might get me to reach for my credit card.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Reborn Commodore Is Taking Pre-Orders for New Commodore 64 Models’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/commodore-64-ultimate"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>‘Classic Web’ on Mastodon</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://indieweb.social/@classicweb" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wgc" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/13/classic-web" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42060</id>
<published>2025-07-14T00:17:00Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-14T00:18:25Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Classic Web is a fun account to follow on Mastodon. Curator Richard MacManus posts half a dozen or so screenshots per day of, well, classic websites from the late 1990s and 2000s. Makes me feel old and young at the same time.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘‘Classic Web’ on Mastodon’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/13/classic-web"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Drata</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drata.com/daring/?utm_source=Daring_Fireball&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=18991230_fy26_comm_DG_COMM_&utm_content=demo_request" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wgb" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/13/drata" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42059</id>
<published>2025-07-13T19:26:31Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-13T19:26:32Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
My thanks to Drata for sponsoring this last week at DF. Their message is short and sweet: Automate compliance. Streamline security. Manage risk. Drata delivers the world’s most advanced Trust Management platform.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Drata’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/13/drata"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Grok 4 System Prompt Shenanigans</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jul/12/grok-4-heavy/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wga" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/12/grok-4-system-prompt-shenanigans" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42058</id>
<published>2025-07-12T21:55:27Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-13T03:11:14Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Simon Willison:
<blockquote>
Grok 4 Heavy is the “think much harder” version of Grok 4 that’s
currently only available on their $300/month plan. Jeremy Howard
relays a report from a Grok 4 Heavy user who wishes to remain
anonymous: it turns out that Heavy, <a href="https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5_fb5f16af-9590-4880-9d96-58573c7e1293">unlike regular Grok 4</a>, has
measures in place to prevent it from sharing its system prompt.
</blockquote>
Most big LLMs do not share their system prompts, but xAI has <a href="https://x.com/jeremyphoward/status/1943871257134739866">made a show out of being transparent</a> in that regard.
<blockquote>
In related prompt transparency news, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jul/12/grok/">Grok’s retrospective</a>
on why Grok started spitting out antisemitic tropes last week
included the text “You tell it like it is and you are not afraid
to offend people who are politically correct” as part of the
system prompt blamed for the problem. That text isn’t present in
<a href="https://github.com/xai-org/grok-prompts/commits/main/">the history</a> of their previous published system prompts.
Given the <a href="https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jul/12/grok/">past week of mishaps</a> I think xAI would be wise to
reaffirm their dedication to prompt transparency and set things up
so the <a href="https://github.com/xai-org/grok-prompts">xai-org/grok-prompts</a> repository updates
automatically when new prompts are deployed — their current manual
process for that is clearly not adequate for the job!
</blockquote>
Transparently publishing system prompt changes to GitHub was xAI’s main “trust us” argument after <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/08/grok-praises-hitler">the “white genocide in South Africa” fiasco mid-May</a>. Turns out they don’t publish all of them.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Grok 4 System Prompt Shenanigans’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/12/grok-4-system-prompt-shenanigans"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Apple and Masimo Faced Off in US Appeals Court This Week</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/apple-masimo-spar-over-apple-watch-import-ban-us-appeals-court-2025-07-07/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg9" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/11/apple-masimo-appeals-court" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42057</id>
<published>2025-07-12T01:46:49Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-13T18:29:00Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Blake Brittain, reporting for Reuters:
<blockquote>
Apple asked a U.S. appeals court on Monday to overturn a trade
tribunal’s decision which forced it to remove blood-oxygen reading
technology from its Apple Watches, in order to avoid a ban on its
U.S. smartwatch imports.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit heard arguments from the tech giant, medical monitoring
technology company Masimo, and the U.S. International Trade
Commission over the ITC’s 2023 ruling that Apple Watches violated
Masimo’s patent rights in pulse oximetry technology. [...]
Apple attorney Joseph Mueller of WilmerHale told the court on
Monday that the decision had wrongly “deprived millions of Apple
Watch users” of Apple’s blood-oxygen feature. A lawyer for Masimo,
Joseph Re of Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, countered that Apple was
trying to “rewrite the law” with its arguments.
The judges questioned whether Masimo’s development of a competing
smartwatch justified the ITC’s ruling. Apple has told the appeals
court that the ban was improper because a Masimo wearable device
covered by the patents was “purely hypothetical” when Masimo filed
its ITC complaint in 2021. [...]
Mueller told the court on Monday that the ban was unjustified
because Masimo only had prototypes of a smartwatch with pulse
oximetry features when it had filed its ITC complaint. Re
responded that Apple was wrong to argue that a “finished product”
was necessary to justify the ITC’s decision.
</blockquote>
This whole thing started with the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in 2023. I’m very surprised that we’re just two months away from the Series 11 and Ultra 3 in 2025 and it still isn’t settled. And to be clear, while it’s technically an “import ban”, all Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 have the blood oxygen sensors. Units sold in the US after December 2023 simply have the feature disabled in software.
(<a href="https://9to5mac.com/2025/07/07/apple-and-masimo-back-in-court-over-apple-watch-import-ban-appeal/">Via Chance Miller at 9to5Mac</a>.)
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Apple and Masimo Faced Off in US Appeals Court This Week’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/11/apple-masimo-appeals-court"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Moft’s MagSafe-Compatible Snap-On iPhone Stand and Wallet</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.moft.us/products/iphone-stand-wallet-magsafe-compatible" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg8" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/11/moft-snap-on-iphone-stand-wallet" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42056</id>
<published>2025-07-11T23:51:55Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-11T23:55:44Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Here’s a product recommendation long in the making. <a href="https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2021/07/21/ep-318">Four years ago this month</a>, Matthew Panzarino was my guest on The Talk Show and at one point he recommended Moft’s Snap-On iPhone Stand/Wallet. It uses a very clever origami-style folding design. Folded flat it kind of just looks like a leather MagSafe wallet. But folded open it works as a stand — and as a stand, it works both horizontally and vertically. Borrowing images from Moft’s website:
<img
src = "https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/07/moft-vertical.jpeg"
alt = "A blue Moft Snap-On iPhone Stand, propping an iPhone vertically."
/>
<img
src = "https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/07/moft-horizontal.jpeg"
alt = "A blue Moft Snap-On iPhone Stand, propping an iPhone vertically."
/>
You can also use it with the stand oriented vertically but the phone horizontally.
I bought one of these right after that episode of the show, and I’ve been using it ever since. And every so often when I use it, I think to myself that I should write a post recommending it. I’ve waited so long that Panzarino has been back on The Talk Show five times since the episode in which he recommended it, but here we are. The thing is, I use it both in my kitchen and while travelling, and so I’ll often find myself in the kitchen, rooting around the drawer in which I keep it stashed, only to realize it’s downstairs in my office in my laptop bag. Or, worse, I’ll find myself looking for it in my laptop bag while I’m sitting on an airplane 35,000 feet in the air, only to realize it’s back home in my kitchen. So I ordered a second one today — which I should have done like 3.5 years ago.
I own a few similar/competing products, like these PopSocket-y rings from <a href="https://amzn.to/3Imv8sx">Anker</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/4lhshj0">Belkin</a>. I have no idea why I own both of those rings when I don’t like either of them as much as the Moft foldable stand. The problem with these rings is that they’re only able to prop the phone horizontally. Watching video is almost certainly the most common use case for these stands, but I do often use my iPhone propped up vertically, like for FaceTime calls and when I’m writing on it using a Bluetooth keyboard. I’m going to give both of these rings away — there’s nothing they do better than the Moft stand. The Moft stand even works better as a hand-holding grip.
I’ve never used the Moft stand as a wallet, but if you want to, it holds two cards. <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/make_me_rich_on_amazon_prime_day">Prime “Day”</a> lasts a week and it’s still running until midnight Pacific tonight, but the Moft stand doesn’t have a Prime Day discount: <a href="https://amzn.to/4eLcTJn">it’s the same price at Amazon</a> as it is <a href="https://www.moft.us/products/iphone-stand-wallet-magsafe-compatible">from Moft’s website</a>: $30. Well worth it. I love this thing. (Buy yours wherever you want, of course, but the Amazon link a few sentences back will throw some filthy affiliate lucre my way.)
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Moft’s MagSafe-Compatible Snap-On iPhone Stand and Wallet’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/11/moft-snap-on-iphone-stand-wallet"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Linda Yaccarino Resigns as ‘CEO’ of X</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://x.com/lindayaX/status/1942957094811951197" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg7" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/10/yaccarino-out" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42055</id>
<published>2025-07-10T22:21:24Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-10T22:21:25Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Linda Yaccarino, in a post on X yesterday:
<blockquote>
After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of X.
When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it
would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the
extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to
him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free
speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the
Everything App.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://daringfireball.net/2022/10/everything">I thought it couldn’t be done</a>, but here we are today, using X for everything: news, banking, shopping, payments, messaging. It’s the only app most people use.
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/10/linda-yaccarino-resigns-x-elon-musk">The Guardian, reporting on her departure</a>:
<blockquote>
After more than two years of Yaccarino running damage control for
her boss and the platform’s myriad issues, Musk issued only a
brief statement acknowledging she was stepping down.
“Thank you for your contributions,” Musk responded to Yaccarino’s
post announcing her resignation. Minutes later, he began sending
replies to other posts about SpaceX, artificial intelligence and
how his chatbot became a Nazi.
</blockquote>
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Linda Yaccarino Resigns as ‘CEO’ of X’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/10/yaccarino-out"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Yours Truly on Crossword, With Jonathan Wold and Luke Carbis</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://crossword.fm/s09/e13/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg6" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/10/yours-truly-on-crossword" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42054</id>
<published>2025-07-10T19:46:24Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-11T01:11:32Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Jonathan Wold and Luke Carbis cohost a podcast called Crossword, focusing mainly on WordPress and the open web. They occasionally invite guests to join them, and it was my pleasure to join them on their latest episode:
<blockquote>
John Gruber’s Dithering podcast with Ben Thompson was the original
inspiration for Crossword’s 15-minute format. Five years later,
John joins Luke and Jonathan for a wide-ranging conversation
covering open versus closed platforms, the history and impact of
Markdown, and a missed opportunity in WordPress. Luke goes on
about the good old days, Jonathan starts thinking about a rival
platform, and John makes a prediction for the ten-year follow-up
episode.
</blockquote>
While their usual format is a <a href="https://dithering.fm/">Dithering</a>-esque 15 minutes, these special “perspectives” interviews run long. And unsurprisingly, mine ran long. I don’t write about the open web as much as I used to but I care about it as much as ever. I express some of my deep concerns <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2024/11/regarding_and_well_against_substack">about Substack in particular</a> in this interview.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Yours Truly on Crossword, With Jonathan Wold and Luke Carbis’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/10/yours-truly-on-crossword"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Mark Gurman Got a Slew of Interesting Quotes Regarding Jeff Williams’s Retirement</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-08/apple-operating-chief-jeff-williams-to-pass-role-to-lieutenant" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg5" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/09/gurman-jeff-williams" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42053</id>
<published>2025-07-09T21:10:57Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-09T21:13:34Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Mark Gurman got some interesting quotes from interesting former Apple employees for his report at Bloomberg on Jeff Williams’s retirement:
<blockquote>
“Jeff’s importance and contributions to Apple have been enormous,
although perhaps not always obvious to the general public,” said
Tony Blevins, a former Apple operations vice president who
reported to Williams until the end of 2022. “As a shareholder, I
am saddened. Time takes its toll, and it’s almost as if the band
is dissolving. Jeff will be sorely missed.”
</blockquote>
Blevins is a fascinating character. A hard-charging negotiator nicknamed “the Blevinator”, Blevins was somewhat ignominiously <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/09/29/tony-blevins-leaving-apple-over-vulgar-tiktok-video/">run out of Apple</a> in 2022 after he appeared in a TikTok video that went viral making a joke that, out of context, seemed very crude, but was in fact just a quote from the mildly crude 1981 Dudley Moore hit movie Arthur.
<blockquote>
“Clearly he wasn’t destined to be the Tim Cook replacement,” Bob
Mansfield, the company’s former chief of hardware engineering
under both Cook and co-founder Steve Jobs, said of Williams. “He’s
about the same age as Tim, so that wouldn’t make much sense. The
operations team at Apple is really going to miss Jeff.”
</blockquote>
Mansfield is the only ex-Apple person I’ve seen quoted who addressed the succession issue. (And of course, no current Apple people are quoted anywhere, other than in <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/07/apple-announces-chief-operating-officer-transition/">Apple’s PR announcement of Williams’s retirement</a>.)
<blockquote>
Myoung Cha, who reported to Williams in the health group until
2021, said the outgoing COO’s “personal passion for health” helped
shape the Apple Watch and that his presence on the team will be
“hugely missed.”
“Sabih is very much cut from the Tim Cook cloth,” said Matthew
Moore, a former Apple operations engineer. “Jeff was a little more
product minded; Sabih is just a really brilliant operator and
methodical in the same way that Tim would operate.” Moore added
that Khan has already been running Apple’s operations group and
that the team “won’t miss a beat.” “The concerns will be in the
other areas” that Williams currently oversees, he said.
</blockquote>
I wrote about <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/jeff_williams_is_retiring_as_coo">Williams’s “overseeing” of design yesterday</a>. Design — software at least — has already become a concern in the six years since Jony Ive left Apple, which is when design teams started reporting to Williams. And, frankly, it’s been a concern for many of us ever since <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2012/10/forstall_out">Scott Forstall was fired and Ive put all design — HI and ID — under the same roof</a>.
<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/07/apple-announces-chief-operating-officer-transition/">Apple did announce yesterday</a> that after Williams fully retires at the end of this year, design leaders will start reporting to Tim Cook directly. Left unsaid in Apple’s announcement is who will take over Williams’s roles overseeing Apple Watch and Health. I presume Watch will simply fall under John Ternus (SVP hardware) and that Sumbul Desai, who already has the title VP of health and frequently (always?) appears during the Health segments of Apple keynotes, will report directly to Cook.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Mark Gurman Got a Slew of Interesting Quotes Regarding Jeff Williams’s Retirement’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/09/gurman-jeff-williams"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/make_me_rich_on_amazon_prime_day" />
<link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wg4" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42052</id>
<published>2025-07-09T19:33:52Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-10T05:14:00Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<summary type="text">You can support Daring Fireball and save yourself a veritable bundle through some Prime Day discounts.</summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
It’s Amazon’s annual Prime Day sale, and if you <a href="https://www.amazon.com/primeday/?tag=df-amzn-20">click through this link</a>, or any of the ones below, you can show your support for Daring Fireball by throwing the referral revenue from any purchases you make my way. You don’t pay a penny more but I get a few percentage points of your purchases. Prime Day discounts are no joke either — we need an outdoor TV for our sun-drenched deck, and I’d been putting off purchasing one out of indecision, but I pulled the trigger and <a href="https://amzn.to/40wWYZp">saved $500</a> with a Prime Day discount last night. (Sometimes my procrastination pays off.)
Just about everything Amazon sells from Apple is being offered at significant discounts. Just a handful of popular ones:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apple-11-inch-Intelligence-Display-All-Day/dp/B0DZ76BN5D/?tag=df-amzn-20">11-inch M3 iPad Air for $480</a> (regularly $600).</li>
<li><a href="https://amzn.to/4lemIlr">iPad Mini (A17 Pro) for $380</a> (regularly $500).</li>
<li><a href="https://amzn.to/44lQIG5">AirPods 4 With Active Noise Cancellation for $120</a> (regularly $180) and the ones without ANC <a href="https://amzn.to/46vrJS4">are just $90</a>. (You should definitely get the ones with ANC, though — I never did write a proper review, but I tested a pair with ANC for months and they’re quite amazing given their price and non-sealed ear fit.)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Cancellation-Transparency-Personalized-High-Fidelity/dp/B0D1XD1ZV3/?tag=df-amzn-20">AirPods Pro 2 are just $150</a> (regularly $250).</li>
<li><a href="https://amzn.to/3Gt8EFE">13-inch M4 MacBook Airs starting at just $850</a> (regularly $1,000) and the sweet configuration <a href="https://amzn.to/3TrhB5c">with 24 GB RAM and 512 GB storage for $1,250</a> (regularly $1,400). It seems like you save $150 on any MacBook Amazon sells.</li>
</ul>
Even small items like Apple’s <a href="https://amzn.to/4lPsuKh">woven USB-C cables</a> and wired EarPods (<a href="https://amzn.to/4kw3lD8">USB-C</a> or <a href="https://amzn.to/3U0PvxI">old-school 3.5mm</a>) are a few bucks off. (I keep a pair of the old 3.5mm EarPods in my laptop bag for use with my <a href="https://play.date/">Playdate</a>, along with Apple’s <a href="https://amzn.to/4f00O3f">$9 USB-C headphone jack adapter</a> (one of the few products I saw that’s not discounted for Prime day, but, come on, it’s $9) in case I ever find myself needing wired buds.)
It’s called Prime Day for a reason: you need to be <a href="https://www.amazon.com/amazonprime/?tag=df-amzn-20">a Prime subscriber</a> to get these deals. We’ve been members since forever, and the $140/year fee pays for itself in shipping fees alone. But for some high-priced items like MacBooks and iPads, you can make up the entire annual fee in one purchase today.
I don’t post a ton of affiliate links here on DF, but when I do, they sometimes work out to a nice windfall. As the media industry moves more and more toward subscriptions and memberships — and, alas, paywalled content — I’m still freely publishing the entirety of my work other than <a href="https://dithering.fm/">Dithering</a>. I really do get asked by readers on a regular basis how they can support Daring Fireball directly. I’ll do a new round of t-shirts and maybe some other merch soon. That’s one way. I might someday offer a membership tier with bonus content (<a href="https://daringfireball.net/2004/06/something_daring">again</a>), but that day is not today. But one way you can support DF directly today is by buying anything — anything at all — from Amazon after clicking through any of the above links.
]]></content>
<title>★ Save Yourself Some Dough on Apple Kit and Make Me Rich on Amazon Prime Day</title></entry><entry>
<title>Apple TV+ Renews ‘Slow Horses’ for a Seventh Season</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2025/07/apple-tv-announces-seventh-season-for-celebrated-emmy-and-bafta-award-winning-spy-drama-slow-horses-starring-academy-award-winner-sir-gary-oldman/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg3" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/09/slow-horses-renewed-for-7th-season" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42051</id>
<published>2025-07-09T17:56:12Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-09T17:59:24Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Apple TV+:
<blockquote>
Today, Apple TV+ announced a new, six-episode seventh season for
the widely hailed, darkly comedic spy drama Slow Horses. The
Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning series stars Academy Award winner Sir
Gary Oldman, who has been honored with Golden Globe, Emmy and
BAFTA Award nominations for his outstanding performance as the
beloved, irascible Jackson Lamb. The complete first four seasons
of Slow Horses are now streaming on Apple TV+, with the premiere
of season five slated for September 24, 2025. Season six was
announced last year.
</blockquote>
It’s always good news when a show you love is renewed for another season. It’s almost too good to be true that Slow Horses has been renewed so far into the future already. It’s so good. 
Maybe I’m just lucky that the Apple TV shows I like best have proven broadly popular, but it feels like <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/08/19/amazon-peripheral-season-2">quite the difference</a> from <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/05/02/onion-netflix-wga">other</a> streaming services.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Apple TV+ Renews ‘Slow Horses’ for a Seventh Season’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/09/slow-horses-renewed-for-7th-season"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>OpenAI Officially Acquires ‘io Products Inc.’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/?asset=video" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg2" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/09/openai-officially-acquires-io-products-inc" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42050</id>
<published>2025-07-09T17:15:26Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-09T17:21:31Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
OpenAI’s page for io, minus the “Sam and Jony” short film that introduced the partnership, is back up, with a brief announcement that the deal has officially closed:
<blockquote>
We’re thrilled to share that the io Products, Inc. team has
officially merged with OpenAI. Jony Ive and LoveFrom remain
independent and have assumed deep design and creative
responsibilities across OpenAI.
</blockquote>
Referring to the company as “io Products Inc.” rather than just “io” is seemingly their stopgap workaround for <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/23/io-iyo-aye-aye-aye">the trademark injunction they faced from rival startup iyO two weeks ago</a>, which led them to temporarily take down this web page and the video. The video remains unavailable, presumably because of the ongoing trademark dispute.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘OpenAI Officially Acquires ‘io Products Inc.’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/09/openai-officially-acquires-io-products-inc"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Elon Musk’s Lawyers Claim He ‘Does Not Use a Computer’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-computer-sam-altman/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg1" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/08/musk-does-not-use-a-computer" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42049</id>
<published>2025-07-09T01:06:22Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-09T01:06:23Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Wired, two weeks ago:
<blockquote>
Elon Musk’s lawyers claimed that he “does not use a computer” in a
Sunday court filing related to his <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-sues-sam-altman-openai/">lawsuit against Sam
Altman</a> and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/wild-claim-at-the-heart-of-elon-musks-openai-lawsuit/">OpenAI</a>. However, Musk has posted pictures or
referred to his laptop on X several times in recent months, and
public evidence suggests that he owns and appears to use at least
one computer. [...]
The Sunday court filing was submitted in opposition to a Friday
filing from OpenAI, which accused Musk and xAI of failing to fully
comply with the discovery process. OpenAI alleges that Musk’s
counsel does not plan to collect any documents from him. In this
weekend’s filing, Musk’s lawyers claim that they told OpenAI on
June 14 that they were “conducting searches of Mr. Musk’s mobile
phone, having searched his emails, and that Mr. Musk does not use
a computer.”
</blockquote>
It’s almost enough to make you think maybe Elon Musk is not a straight shooter.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Elon Musk’s Lawyers Claim He ‘Does Not Use a Computer’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/08/musk-does-not-use-a-computer"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Grok Praises Hitler, Shocking No One</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://gizmodo.com/round-them-up-grok-praises-hitler-as-elon-musks-ai-tool-goes-full-nazi-2000626156" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wg0" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/08/grok-praises-hitler" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42048</id>
<published>2025-07-09T01:02:17Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-09T01:02:18Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Matt Novak, writing for Gizmodo:
<blockquote>
Social media users first started to observe that Grok was using
the phrase “every damn time,” on Tuesday, something that seems
innocuous enough. But if you’ve been exposed to Nazis on X, it’s a
phrase they like to use to claim that Jews are behind every bad
thing that happens in the world. This often involves looking at
someone’s last name and simply replying “every time” or “every
damn time,” to say that Jews are always responsible for something
nefarious.
And that’s what happened with Grok on Tuesday when someone asked,
“who is this lady?” about a photo that had been posted on the
platform. Grok <a href="https://x.com/grok/status/1942639450988896463">responded</a> that it was someone named Cindy
Steinberg (something Gizmodo could not immediately confirm) who,
it said, is a “radical leftist.” Grok went on to write, “Classic
case of hate dressed as activism — and that surname? Every damn
time, as they say.” [...]
Another example was even more extreme, invoking the name of Adolf
Hitler when asked, “which 20th-century figure would be best suited
to deal with this problem?” The problem, according to the
antisemites asking the questions, was the existence of Jews. Grok
<a href="https://x.com/grok/status/1942676908896051354">responded</a>, “To deal with such vile anti-white hate? Adolf
Hitler, no question. He’d spot the pattern and handle it
decisively, every damn time.”
</blockquote>
Technically, Grok-3 is an excellent model — when it debuted in February, <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/26/grok-3">it jumped to the top of AI leaderboards</a>. It’s also remarkably fast, owing, perhaps, to the company’s absurd <a href="https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/elon-musks-xai-is-projected-to-lose-usd13-billion-in-2025-ai-project-burns-usd1-billion-a-month-in-expenditures">$1 billion/month expenditures</a> and <a href="https://512pixels.net/?s=xai">environmental disregard</a>. But back in mid-May, <a href="https://www.techmeme.com/250515/p46#a250515p46">there was an embarrassing fiasco</a> where Grok suddenly started railing against “white genocide in South Africa”, a longtime bugbear of Elon Musk. <a href="https://x.com/xai/status/1923183620606619649">xAI was left to explain how that happened thus</a>:
<blockquote>
On May 14 at approximately 3:15 AM PST, an unauthorized
modification was made to the Grok response bot’s prompt on X. This
change, which directed Grok to provide a specific response on a
political topic, violated xAI’s internal policies and core values.
We have conducted a thorough investigation and are implementing
measures to enhance Grok’s transparency and reliability.
</blockquote>
Beware, always, the passive voice. An unauthorized modification was made, yes, but by whom? We’ll never know I suppose. A real mystery for the ages.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Grok Praises Hitler, Shocking No One’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/08/grok-praises-hitler"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/jeff_williams_is_retiring_as_coo" />
<link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wfz" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42047</id>
<published>2025-07-08T23:26:53Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-10T19:35:30Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<summary type="text">Post-Williams, Apple’s operations will clearly remain under excellent, experienced leadership under Sabih Khan. But the company will be left with its design teams reporting directly to Cook, leaving it less clear whose taste, [ultimately], is steering the work of the company into the future.</summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/07/apple-announces-chief-operating-officer-transition/">Apple Newsroom, this afternoon</a>:
<blockquote>
Apple today announced Jeff Williams will transition his role as
chief operating officer later this month to Sabih Khan, Apple’s
senior vice president of Operations as part of a long-planned
succession. Williams will continue reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook
and overseeing Apple’s world class design team and Apple Watch
alongside the company’s Heath initiatives. Apple’s design team
will then transition to reporting directly to Cook after Williams
retires late in the year.
</blockquote>
Apple’s executive ranks have been so remarkably stable for so long that any change feels surprising. But Williams is 62 years old and has been at Apple for 27 years. Tim Cook is 64, and Khan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabih_Khan">is 58</a>. The whole thing seems amicable and orderly, and thus completely in line with everything we know about Williams’s and Cook’s seemingly similar personalities. After a long and successful career, Apple’s COO is retiring and his longtime lieutenant is being promoted to replace him this month. Apple’s operations aren’t just world-class, they’re almost certainly world-best. Even their leadership transitions are operationally smooth. <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/06/apple-names-sabih-khan-senior-vice-president-of-operations/">Khan was promoted in 2019</a> to the title of senior vice president of operations. Williams was promoted from that title (SVP of operations) to COO in 2015, four years after Cook took over as CEO from Steve Jobs.
But that’s the operations part. 
What’s intriguing about the announcement is the design part — a functional area where, especially on the software side, Apple’s current stature is subject to much debate. While Williams is staying on until “late in the year” to continue his other responsibilities — Watch, Health, and serving as the senior executive Apple’s design teams report to — Khan isn’t taking over those roles when Williams leaves. And so by the end of the year, Apple’s design teams will go from reporting to Williams to reporting directly to Tim Cook.
I’ve long found it curious, if not downright dubious, that Apple’s design leaders have reported to Williams ever since it was announced in 2019 (<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/06/jony-ive-to-form-independent-design-company-with-apple-as-client/">the very same day</a> that <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/06/apple-names-sabih-khan-senior-vice-president-of-operations/">Khan was promoted to SVP</a> of operations) that Jony Ive would be stepping down as chief design officer and leaving Apple to found the (as-yet-unnamed) design firm LoveFrom. Williams had no background in design at all. Apple’s design teams reporting to an operations executive makes no more sense than it would for Apple’s operations teams to report to, say, Alan Dye. Well, maybe it made a little more sense than that — having design report to Williams sort of felt like a way to give Williams experience across the breadth of the company in the case that he ever needed to step in to replace Cook as CEO, either temporarily or permanently, as Cook was asked to for Jobs.
But when that was announced in 2019, I expected it to be temporary, while Apple took its time to properly identify a new senior design leader. Someone with, you know, design leadership experience, and strong opinions about and deep knowledge of the craft of design. That was six years ago, and Apple has seemingly made not one move toward naming a new chief design officer or (the more likely title) SVP of design. It seems like time for that now.
I get the impression — from multiple sources — that overseeing, not leading, is in fact exactly the right word for Williams’s role regarding design since 2019. Williams oversaw design the same way Tim Cook, ultimately, oversees everything the company does. It was in no way a token role. Williams was there. He asked insightful questions about product designs and experiences. But he didn’t push back or offer opinions. There’s much to like about Liquid Glass, for example, but there’s also a lot of <a href="https://lmnt.me/blog/ive-got-better-things-to-do-than-this-and-yet.html">shitty UI functionality</a> and <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/24/sorry-macos-tahoe-b2-finder-icon">just plain bad</a> design that makes you wonder how numerous aspects even escaped the drawing board, let alone made their way into the WWDC keynote and various OS 26 betas. Looking back at the last six years of Apple design — hardware, software, packaging, architecture — I detect not one fingerprint of style or taste that belongs to Jeff Williams. Given that Williams is not a designer, that’s not a surprise. But it’s a problem for the company if its products don’t ultimately have a distinctive voice.
I’m of the mind that, in hindsight, it was a mistake for Jony Ive to bring HI (software human interface design) under the same roof as ID (hardware industrial design). That arrangement made sense for Ive’s unique role in the company, and the unique period in the wake of Steve Jobs’s too-young demise. But it might have ultimately made Ive more difficult to replace than Steve Jobs. Williams’s combination of authority, mild-mannered-ness, and equanimity might have made him uniquely suited to either finding another Ive-like design leader whom all sides could have agreed to (even if begrudgingly), or, perhaps, to the task of unwinding the intermingling of HI and ID that occurred during the Jony-as-CDO era. But neither of those things happened.
Post-Williams, Apple’s operations will clearly remain under excellent, experienced leadership under Sabih Khan. But the company will be left with its design teams reporting directly to Cook — who is three years older than Williams. Six years after Jony Ive’s departure, today’s announcements leave it less clear than ever whose taste, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk3UcgbbmxQ">ultimately</a>, is steering the work of the company into the future. Perhaps, I hope, Williams is staying until the end of the year to help answer that question.
]]></content>
<title>★ Jeff Williams, 62, Is Retiring as Apple’s COO</title></entry><entry>
<title>Apple, as Promised, Formally Appeals €500 Million DMA Fine in the EU</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://9to5mac.com/2025/07/07/apple-formally-appeals-e500-million-dma-fine-in-the-eu/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfy" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/07/apple-as-promised-formally-appeals-500-million-dma-fine-in-the-eu" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42046</id>
<published>2025-07-07T23:40:35Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-08T18:49:12Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Here’s the full statement, given by Apple to the media, including Daring Fireball:
<blockquote>
“Today we filed our appeal because we believe the European
Commission’s decision — and their unprecedented fine — go far
beyond what the law requires. As our appeal will show, the EC is
mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which
are confusing for developers and bad for users. We implemented
this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with
the Court.”
</blockquote>
Everyone — including, I believe, at Apple — agrees that <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/apple_app_store_policy_updates_dma">the policy changes Apple announced at the end of June</a> are confusing and seemingly incomplete in terms of fee structures. What Apple is saying here in this statement is they needed to launch these policy changes now, before the full fee implications are worked out, to avoid the daily fines they were set to be penalized with for the steering rules.
<a href="https://9to5mac.com/2025/07/07/apple-formally-appeals-e500-million-dma-fine-in-the-eu/">Chance Miller, reporting for 9to5Mac</a>:
<blockquote>
Apple also reiterates that the EU has continuously redefined what
exactly it needs to do under the DMA. In particular, Apple says
the European Commission has expanded the definition of steering.
Apple adjusted its guidelines to allow EU developers to link out
to external payment methods and use alternative in-app payment
methods last year. Now, however, Apple says the EU has redefined
steering to include promotions of in-app alternative payment
options and in-app webviews, as well as linking to other
alternative app marketplaces and the third-party apps distributed
through those marketplaces.
Furthermore, Apple says that the EU mandated that the Store
Services Fee include multiple tiers. [...] You can view the full
breakdown of the two tiers <a href="https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/store-services-tiers/">on Apple’s developer website</a>.
Apple says that it was the EU who dictated which features should
be included in which tier. For example, the EU mandated that Apple
move app discovery features to the second tier.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/apple_app_store_policy_updates_dma">Like I wrote last week</a>, “byzantine compliance with a byzantine law”.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Apple, as Promised, Formally Appeals €500 Million DMA Fine in the EU’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/07/apple-as-promised-formally-appeals-500-million-dma-fine-in-the-eu"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drata.com/daring/?utm_source=Daring_Fireball&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=18991230_fy26_comm_DG_COMM_&utm_content=demo_request" />
<link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wfx" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/07/drata_2" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/feeds/sponsors//11.42045</id>
<author><name>Daring Fireball Department of Commerce</name></author>
<published>2025-07-07T21:38:23Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-08T20:16:41Z</updated>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Automate compliance. Streamline security. Manage risk. Drata delivers the world’s most advanced Trust Management platform.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Drata’" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/2025/07/drata_2"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
<title>[Sponsor] Drata</title></entry><entry>
<title>‘F1’ Is Doing Well at the Box Office, and Is Now Already Apple’s Top-Grossing Theatrical Film</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://variety.com/2025/film/box-office/f1-movie-apple-highest-grossing-film-napoleon-1236448149/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfw" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/07/f1-box-office" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42044</id>
<published>2025-07-07T18:52:20Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-07T18:52:20Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Rebecca Rubin, reporting for Variety:
<blockquote>
When it comes to Apple’s biggest films, F1: The Movie has
officially moved to pole position.
</blockquote>
I will allow this pun.
<blockquote>
F1 has generated $293 million at the global box office after 10
days of release, overtaking the entire theatrical runs of Martin
Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon ($158 million worldwide)
and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon ($221 million) to stand as Apple’s
highest-grossing movie to date. That’s not a particularly
difficult benchmark to break, since Apple has only released five
films theatrically and two of them, Fly Me to the Moon ($42
million) and Argylle ($96 million), were outright flops.
</blockquote>
Not to mention that Wolfs, last year’s crime caper starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, was supposed to get a theatrical release but didn’t, <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/09/03/more-wolfs">leading to bad feelings</a> and, later, <a href="https://deadline.com/2024/11/wolfs-sequel-demise-jon-watts-george-clooney-brad-pitt-no-longer-trusted-apple-1236186227/">a cancelled sequel</a>. Wolfs wasn’t bad. I’d say it was decent. <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/wolfs/">Critics seem to agree</a>. But with Clooney and Pitt starring and <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/wolfs/">Watts</a> at the helm, it felt like a movie that should have at least been pretty damn good. And it wasn’t.
So it’s not just that F1: The Movie is doing well at the box office. It’s seemingly a good movie that delivers what it promises.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘‘F1’ Is Doing Well at the Box Office, and Is Now Already Apple’s Top-Grossing Theatrical Film’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/07/f1-box-office"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/full-screen_ad_for_f1_the_movie_in_apples_tv_app_linked_directly_to_the_web" />
<link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wfv" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42043</id>
<published>2025-07-07T18:26:38Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-08T00:34:32Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<summary type="text">I can see the argument that Apple’s answer is “Yes, it’s potentially confusing for many users”. But I can’t see the argument that the answer is “Yes, it’s potentially confusing for many users, but only if they’re trying to buy in-app content or subscriptions, but not confusing at all if they’re trying to buy, say, movie tickets.”</summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
<a href="https://www.threads.com/@mgsiegler/post/DLdXyO6otsI">MG Siegler, on Threads last week</a>:
<blockquote>
We’re already beyond ridiculous with the full-on ad assault from
Apple as everyone is well aware by now. But the wild thing here — in this full screen pop-up in the Apple TV app — is that it’s
not in-app but links out to the web to pay?!
</blockquote>
At least here in the US, if you just opened the TV app on iOS 18 last week, you were presented with <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/f1-tv-app-tickets-via-web.jpeg">this full-screen ad</a> (replete with all those dumb ®’s, despite Apple’s <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/f1-appstore-via-fandango.jpeg">ads for the same thing in the App Store</a> omitting them).
There were two buttons to choose from: “Not Now” and “Buy Tickets ↗︎”. If you tapped the “Buy Tickets ↗︎” button, boom, you just jumped to <a href="https://www.f1themovie.com/">the F1 The Movie website</a> in your default browser. <a href="https://www.threads.com/@kylealden/post/DLdhE1JhpeL">Kyle Alden, on Threads</a>:
<blockquote>
That’s weird, Apple’s new full screen F1 ad in the TV app links
out to the browser to compete the transaction, but for some reason
doesn’t include any full screen interstitials warning of the big
scary web, nor a confirmation dialog that it would open in the
browser? Must be an oversight.
</blockquote>
The hypocrisy isn’t that Apple didn’t show a full-screen scare sheet for this link-out to the web. It’s that they require other developers, who are doing it to sell digital content, to show a scare sheet/confirmation.
One of the subtle differences with this particular promotion is that buying movie tickets is not “digital content” — even if they’re just passes in Apple Wallet or saved QR codes in an app like Fandango. You’re purchasing a real-world experience, so it’s not eligible for Apple’s In-App Purchase (IAP) system. This is why when you buy theater tickets in the Fandango app, Fandango charges your credit or debit card directly. Same when you pay for rides in Uber or Lyft. It’s really subtle for something like a movie. Pay for a movie to watch on your TV at home? That’s a digital purchase. Pay for a movie to watch in a theater? Not a digital purchase.
I understand the distinction between digital content (that’s consumed on your Apple device) and real-world goods and experiences (even if you pay for them in apps on your Apple device). But how many iPhone users understand this distinction? Like, if you polled 1,000 U.S. iPhone users who (a) purchase in-game content in games like Candy Crush, and (b) hail rides in Uber or Lyft, what percentage of those iPhone users do you think could give a coherent answer as to why their in-game purchases must use Apple’s IAP system, and why Uber not only doesn’t use IAP to charge for rides, but is not allowed to use IAP for that? I’d bet fewer than 1 percent. (I’d also bet that fewer than 1 percent care, which is why they don’t know.)
Is it inherently confusing to have a button in an app that jumps you out of the app to your default web browser (probably Safari, especially for people who might be confused) to complete a transaction, without a scare sheet or even a confirmation alert? I can see the argument that Apple’s answer is “Yes, it’s potentially confusing for many users”. But I can’t see the argument that the answer is “Yes, it’s potentially confusing for many users, but only if they’re trying to buy in-app content or subscriptions, but not confusing at all if they’re trying to buy, say, movie tickets.”
]]></content>
<title>★ Full-Screen Ad for ‘F1 The Movie’ in Apple’s TV App Linked Directly to the Web, and Nothing Bad Seemed to Happen</title></entry><entry>
<title>Phoenix.new</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://phoenix.new/?utm_source=df" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfu" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/06/phoenix" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42042</id>
<published>2025-07-06T17:31:43Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-06T17:37:07Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
My thanks to <a href="https://fly.io/">Fly.io</a> for sponsoring last week at DF to promote Phoenix.new, their new AI app-builder. Just describe your idea, and Phoenix.new quickly generates a working real-time Phoenix app: clustering, pubsub, and presence included. Ideal for multiplayer games, collaborative tools, or quick weekend experiments. Built by <a href="https://fly.io/">Fly.io</a>, deploy wherever you want. Give it a try today.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Phoenix.new’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/06/phoenix"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>CBS News: ‘Paramount, President Trump Reach $16 Million Settlement Over “60 Minutes” Lawsuit’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paramount-trump-60-minutes-lawsuit-settlement/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wft" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/03/cbs-news-trump-16-million" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42041</id>
<published>2025-07-03T16:05:52Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-03T16:07:02Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
CBS News:
<blockquote>
Paramount will settle President Trump’s lawsuit over a “60
Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris for $16 million, the company
announced late Tuesday.
CBS News’ parent company worked with a mediator to resolve the
lawsuit. Under the agreement, $16 million will be allocated to Mr.
Trump’s future presidential library and the plaintiffs’ fees and
costs. Neither Mr. Trump nor his co-plantiff, Texas Rep. Ronny
Jackson, will be directly paid as part of the settlement.
The settlement did not include an apology.
</blockquote>
It could have been a lot worse, but this is, ultimately, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/paramount-accused-of-bribery-as-it-settles-trump-lawsuit-for-16-million/">bribery</a>.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘CBS News: ‘Paramount, President Trump Reach $16 Million Settlement Over “60 Minutes” Lawsuit’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/03/cbs-news-trump-16-million"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Jason Snell: ‘About That A18 Pro MacBook Rumor’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/07/about-that-a16-macbook-rumor/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfs" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/02/snell-a18-macbook" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42040</id>
<published>2025-07-02T15:40:55Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-02T15:41:07Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors:
<blockquote>
Well, would you look at that? The A18 Pro is 46% faster than the
M1 in single-core tasks, and almost identical to the M1 on
multi-core and graphics tasks. If you wanted to get rid of the M1
MacBook Air but have decided that even today, its performance
characteristics make it perfectly suitable as a low-cost Mac
laptop, building a new model on the A18 Pro would not be a bad
move. It wouldn’t have Thunderbolt, only USB-C, but that’s not a
dealbreaker on a cheap laptop. It might re-use parts from the M1
Air, including the display.
I like that Apple sells a laptop at $649, and I think Apple likes
it, too. A new low-end model might steal some buyers from the $999
MacBook Air, but I’d wager it would reach a lot of customers who
might otherwise not buy a full-priced Mac — the same ones buying
M1 MacBook Airs at Walmart.
</blockquote>
My first thought when I saw this rumor pop up was to dismiss it. But upon consideration, I think it makes sense. Especially if Apple considers the M1 MacBook Air at Walmart to be a success. And all signs point to “yes” on that — they started selling the M1 MacBook Air as a $700 Walmart exclusive <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/03/15/macbook-air-walmart">in March 2024</a> and they <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/03/20/walmart-macbook-air">continue to sell it this year</a> at just $650.
So I think if this rumor pans out, a MacBook at this price point will become a standard part of the lineup, sold everywhere — including Apple Stores.
<a href="https://512pixels.net/2025/07/a18-pro-macbook/">Stephen Hackett, at 512 Pixels</a>:
<blockquote>
The immediate downside to the A18 Pro is that it only supports USB
3 at 10 Gb/s, not Thunderbolt. This would make any Mac with an A18
at its heart only capable of USB-C. I think that’s fine on a
low-end Mac, but it could cause confusion for some customers.
</blockquote>
For people looking at MacBooks in this price range, talking about USB 3 vs. Thunderbolt brings to mind <a href="https://desertdemocrat.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/blah-blah-blah-blah-ginger/">this classic Far Side cartoon</a>.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Jason Snell: ‘About That A18 Pro MacBook Rumor’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/02/snell-a18-macbook"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>The Talk Show: ‘The Cutting Edge Latest Supermodel’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/06/30/ep-426" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfq" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/30/the-talk-show-426" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42038</id>
<published>2025-06-30T23:11:56Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-30T23:11:57Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Special guest David Smith returns to the show for a developer’s perspective look at WWDC 2025.
<audio
src = "https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/daringfireball/thetalkshow-426-david-smith.mp3"
controls
preload = "none"
/>
Sponsored by:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://usetrmnl.com/go/gruber">TRMNL</a>: A hackable e-ink display. Save $15 with code GRUBER.</li>
<li><a href="https://squarespace.com/talkshow">Squarespace</a>: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code talkshow.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘The Talk Show: ‘The Cutting Edge Latest Supermodel’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/30/the-talk-show-426"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Upcoming Sponsorship Openings at Daring Fireball</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfn" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/28/upcoming-sponsorship-openings-at-daring-fireball" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42035</id>
<published>2025-06-28T21:02:00Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-28T21:27:32Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Weekly sponsorships have been the top source of revenue for Daring Fireball ever since I started selling them <a href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/archive">back in 2007</a>. They’ve succeeded, I think, because they make everyone happy. They generate good money. There’s only one sponsor per week and the sponsors are always relevant to at least some sizable portion of the DF audience, so you, the reader, are never annoyed and hopefully often intrigued by them. And, from the sponsors’ perspective, they work. My favorite thing about them is how many sponsors <a href="https://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/archive">return for subsequent weeks</a> after seeing the results.
At the moment, I’ve only got four openings left through the end of September:
<ul>
<li>June 30–July 6 (next week)</li>
<li>August 18–24</li>
<li>August 25–31</li>
<li>September 1–7</li>
</ul>
I don’t know why next week remains unsold, but that’s just how it works out sometimes.
If you’ve got a product or service (or, perhaps, a just-opened blockbuster car-racing movie) you think would be of interest to DF’s audience of people obsessed with high quality and good design, <a href="mailto:sponsors@daringfireball.net?subject=Feed%20Sponsorship">get in touch</a>.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Upcoming Sponsorship Openings at Daring Fireball’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/28/upcoming-sponsorship-openings-at-daring-fireball"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>WorkOS</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://workos.com/?utm_source=daringfireball&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=q12025" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfm" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/28/workos" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42034</id>
<published>2025-06-28T21:01:00Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-28T21:27:16Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
My thanks to WorkOS for once again sponsoring Daring Fireball. Modern authentication should be seamless and secure. WorkOS makes it easy to integrate features like MFA, SSO, and RBAC.
Whether you’re replacing passwords, stopping fraud, or adding enterprise auth, WorkOS can help you build frictionless auth that scales. 
Future-proof your authentication stack with the identity layer trusted by OpenAI, Cursor, Perplexity, and Vercel. Upgrade your auth today.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘WorkOS’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/28/workos"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Apple’s Full List of Differences between ‘Tier 1’ and ‘Tier 2’ in the EU App Store</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/store-services-tiers/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfp" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/28/apples-full-list-of-differences-between-tier-1-and-tier-2-in-the-eu-app-store" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42037</id>
<published>2025-06-28T21:00:01Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-29T13:59:21Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Apple Developer:
<blockquote>
By default, apps on the App Store are provided Store Services Tier
2, the complete suite of all capabilities designed to maximize
visibility, engagement, growth, and operational efficiency.
Developers with <a href="https://developer.apple.com/support/alternative-payment-options-on-the-app-store-in-the-eu/">apps on the App Store in the EU</a> that
communicate and promote offers for digital goods and services can
choose to move their apps to only use Store Services Tier 1 and
pay a reduced store services fee.
</blockquote>
What follows is a long chart, making clear which features are excluded from Tier 1.
Like I wrote in <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/apple_app_store_policy_updates_dma">my larger piece on Apple’s new DMA compliance plans</a>, I don’t think Tier 1 is intended to be a feasible choice for any mainstream apps or games. The whole thing is just a way to assert that 8 percent of the commission developers pay is justified by various features of the App Store itself.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Apple’s Full List of Differences between ‘Tier 1’ and ‘Tier 2’ in the EU App Store’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/28/apples-full-list-of-differences-between-tier-1-and-tier-2-in-the-eu-app-store"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/apple_app_store_policy_updates_dma" />
<link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wfo" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42036</id>
<published>2025-06-28T21:00:00Z</published>
<updated>2025-07-07T23:32:39Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<summary type="text">It’s a natural consequence that an overly complicated law (the DMA) has resulted in an ever-more-complicated set of guidelines and policies (from Apple). It’s all downright byzantine.</summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Let’s start with <a href="https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=awedznci">Apple’s own announcement at Apple Developer News</a>:
<blockquote>
The European Commission has required Apple to make a series of
additional changes under the Digital Markets Act:
<h2>Communication and Promotion of Offers</h2>
<ul>
<li>Today, we’re introducing updated terms that let developers with
apps in the European Union storefronts of the App Store
communicate and promote offers for purchase of digital goods or
services available at a destination of their choice. The
destination can be a website, alternative app marketplace, or
another app, and can be accessed outside the app or within the
app via a web view or native experience.</li>
<li>App Store apps that communicate and promote offers for digital
goods or services will be subject to new business terms for
those transactions — an initial acquisition fee, store services
fee, and for apps on the StoreKit External Purchase Link
Entitlement (EU) Addendum, the Core Technology Commission (CTC).
The CTC reflects value Apple provides developers through ongoing
investments in the tools, technologies, and services that enable
them to build and share innovative apps with users. [...]</li>
</ul>
<h2>Update to Business Terms for Apps in the European Union</h2>
<ul>
<li>By January 1, 2026, Apple plans to move to a single business
model in the EU for all developers. Under this single business
model, Apple will transition from the Core Technology Fee (CTF)
to the CTC on digital goods or services. The CTC will apply to
digital goods or services sold by apps distributed from the App
Store, Web Distribution, and/or alternative marketplaces.</li>
<li>Apps currently under the Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps in
the EU continue to be subject only to the CTF until the
transition to the CTC is fully implemented next year. At that
time, qualifying transactions will be subject to the CTC, and
the CTF will no longer apply. Additional details regarding this
transition will be provided at a later date.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Amongst other policy and API changes, Apple also announced a new, seemingly simplified, experience on iOS/iPadOS <a href="https://developer.apple.com/support/alt-distribution-ux-in-the-eu/">for installing apps and alternative app marketplaces in the EU</a>.
As for the other policy changes, <a href="https://sixcolors.com/link/2025/06/apple-makes-big-app-store-changes-in-the-eu/">here’s Jason Snell’s summary</a>, which I think captures the gist as well as possible:
<blockquote>
Tiered App Store fees. For today’s full-service App Store,
developers will now pay 13% on sales, reduced to 10% for Small
Business Program members. Or developers can opt into “Tier One”,
which comes with a 5% fee but does not support a raft of App Store
features we’ve come to expect, like automatic app updates, App
Store promotions, placement in search suggestions, ratings and
reviews on product listings (!), and more.
Core Technology Commission. Apple is going to move all
developers over to a new tax called the Core Technology
Commission, in which developers who opt to sell apps outside the
App Store will pay 5% of sales made through in-app promotions. The
€0.50-per-install Core Technology Fee will be dropped as of
January 1.
Free linking. Developers can promote offers broadly, are no
longer limited to a single static URL without tracking parameters,
and can freely design the interfaces for those links and
promotions.
New business terms. Developers have to pay a 2% fee for digital
goods and services purchased by new users for the first six months
after a user first downloads an app; members of the Small Business
Program don’t have to pay this fee.
</blockquote>
And <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2025/06/26/apple-announces-sweeping-app-store-changes-in-the-eu/">here’s Chance Miller’s summary at 9to5Mac</a>, which includes the following statement from Apple (which statement was provided to me, as well):
<blockquote>
“The European Commission is requiring Apple to make a series of
additional changes to the App Store. We disagree with this outcome
and plan to appeal.”
</blockquote>
The new fee structure is undeniably convoluted, and I think downright confusing. <a href="https://x.com/rjonesy/status/1938354627155501219">Seemingly no one can figure out</a> exactly what commissions apps that use alternative payments or distribution are going to pay. It’s a natural consequence that an overly complicated law (the DMA) has resulted in an ever-more-complicated set of guidelines and policies (from Apple): byzantine compliance with a byzantine law.
Because it’s so complicated and hard to understand, it’s difficult even to summarize with a headline describing what’s new. Even if you understand it enough to just want to express anger at Apple for spiteful compliance and greed, it’s hard to sum up why you’re angry in a succinct headline or tweet.
<hr />
The bottom line, as I understand it, is the following (but I could be wrong about some of this<a href="#fn1-2025-06-28">1</a> — if I am, let me know, and I’ll try to correct it):
<ul>
<li>Developers who just do the simplest thing possible — distribute through the App Store and process all payments using Apple’s IAP — will continue to pay the same commissions, 30% by default, or 15% for Small Business Program developers and recurring subscriptions after the first year. Of course this is what Apple would prefer developers do.</li>
<li>Big developers, distributing through the App Store but processing their own payments, will still owe Apple a commission of around 20% on non-IAP purchases: 13% for “store services”, 5% for the new Core Technology Commission (replacing the €0.50 per-download Core Technology Fee), and 2% for “initial acquisition”. Small Developer Program members and recurring subscriptions after the first year pay 15% — no “initial acquisition fee” and a reduced “store services” fee of 10%. But everyone’s on the hook for the 5% CTC.</li>
<li>Apps distributed through the App Store can pay a reduced rate of 5% for “store services” (down from 13%) by opting into a reduced “Tier 1”. Rather than this “Tier 1” being an appealing choice for any developers, I think the point of it is for Apple to assert that those App Store features justify 8 percent of Apple’s commission on purchases: automatic software updates, reviews and ratings, surfacing through search for anything other than an exact name match, <a href="https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/store-services-tiers/">and a whole lot more</a>.</li>
<li>One consequence of the €0.50 per-download Core Technology Fee (CTF) being replaced by a 5% Core Technology Commission (CTC) is that there will no longer be a penalty for small developers who have a free-to-download app that hits over one million EU downloads. That was a legitimate problem with the CTF — an app with 5 million EU downloads would owe Apple €2 million for the CTF, but might be generating far less than that (or even nothing at all) in revenue. But another consequence of switching to the CTC from the CTF is that super-popular apps from super-big companies that don’t sell digital goods from their apps will continue to pay nothing at all. E.g. unless Meta starts selling digital goods from within their apps, they’ll continue to pay nothing at all to Apple for zillion-download apps like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. That was a shortcoming with the App Store’s model that the CTF was designed to correct.</li>
<li>All of this additional complication is, I believe, just for apps distributed through the App Store. Feel free to blame Apple as much as you want for spiteful compliance (especially when it comes to payments made on the web, from links in apps), but part of this is on the European Commission for demanding not only that Apple allow apps to be distributed outside the App Store (which is somewhat reasonable), but also for requiring Apple to allow outside payments for apps distributed through the App Store. Apps and games distributed through alternative EU app marketplaces or web downloads are only on the hook for the 5% CTC (by the end of the year, when it replaces the CTF). But there is no free lunch — iOS apps and games distributed outside the App Store that require a purchase, or offer digital content for sale, must pay the 5% CTC.</li>
</ul>
There are a lot of people <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2025/06/26/tim-sweeney-slams-apples-unlawful-eu-app-store-changes/">who think</a> what Apple is “supposed” to do is collect no commission or fees at all on anything other than IAP from apps and games that are distributed through the App Store. That Apple should collect no commission or fees from apps distributed outside the App Store, nor any commission or fees from apps in the App Store that offer their own payment processing — and, thus, that Apple should set their own IAP commission accordingly, as something akin to Stripe or PayPal, in the single-digit percentage range. That’s obviously not in Apple’s interest. But it’s also not what the European Commission has suggested the DMA demands.
<div class="footnotes">
<hr />
<ol>
<li id="fn1-2025-06-28">
One thing I might be wrong about is that these new terms could be read to suggest that developers who stick with the App Store and Apple’s IAP now pay just 20 percent commission under the new EU terms. That’d be really weird, insofar as it would mean that developers in the EU get an 80/20 split for App Store distribution + IAP, but apps everywhere else in the world still get 70/30 for the same thing. That doesn’t make sense unless there’s another shoe to drop, and Apple is going to reduce IAP to 80/20 worldwide soon. (Which would be a great move on Apple’s part — something that would actually earn them back some developer goodwill.) <a href="#fnr1-2025-06-28" class="footnoteBackLink" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩︎</a>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
]]></content>
<title>★ Apple Announces Sweeping but Complicated Policy Changes for Apps in the EU, Attempting to Comply With the Latest Dictums Regarding the DMA</title></entry><entry>
<title>Apple’s Other ‘F1 The Movie’ In-App Promotions</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/27/f1-the-movie-now-playing-in-theaters/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfl" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/27/apples-other-f1-promos" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42033</id>
<published>2025-06-28T00:25:24Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-28T00:26:56Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Joe Rossignol:
<blockquote>
The company has promoted its Brad Pitt racing film with
advertisements across at least six iPhone apps leading up to
today’s wide release, including the App Store, Apple Wallet,
Apple Sports, Apple Podcasts, iTunes Store, and of course the
Apple TV app.
</blockquote>
Most of those apps have ads in them all the time. It’s certainly fine for Apple to use those ad spots to promote their own movie. Even with Apple Sports, which most of the time has no ads at all, I think it’s fine for Apple to occasionally drop a promotion in there for something of their own. And F1 The Movie is a sports movie. The Apple Wallet push notification isn’t just a little different, <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/more_on_apples_trust-eroding_f1_the_movie_wallet_ad">it’s a lot different</a>.
I will also note one other sort-of promotion. I play the mini crossword every morning in Apple News. <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/apple-news-mini-crossword-f1.png">Today’s 1-down clue</a> was “F1 The Movie star Brad ____”. I think that’s a clever on-brand tie-in. Fun, not obnoxious. But with the smell of that Wallet push-notification fart still hanging in the air, not as much fun as it otherwise would have been.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Apple’s Other ‘F1 The Movie’ In-App Promotions’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/27/apples-other-f1-promos"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>RFK Jr.’s CDC Panel Ditches Some Flu Shots Based on Anti-Vaccine Junk Data</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/06/rfk-jr-s-cdc-panel-ditches-some-flu-shots-based-on-anti-vaccine-junk-data/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfk" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/27/rfk-cdc-ditch-flu-shots-based-on-junk-data" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42032</id>
<published>2025-06-27T23:53:53Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-27T23:53:54Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Beth Mole, reporting for Ars Technica:
<blockquote>
The vaccine panel hand-selected by health secretary and
anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday voted
overwhelmingly to drop federal recommendations for seasonal flu
shots that contain the ethyl-mercury containing preservative
thimerosal. The panel did so after hearing a misleading and
cherry-picked presentation from an anti-vaccine activist.
There is extensive data from the last quarter century proving that
the antiseptic preservative is safe, with no harms identified
beyond slight soreness at the injection site, but none of that
data was presented during today’s meeting.
The significance of the vote is unclear for now. The vast majority
of seasonal influenza vaccines currently used in the US — about
96 percent of flu shots in 2024–2025 — do not contain thimerosal.
The preservative is only included in multi-dose vials of seasonal
flu vaccines, where it prevents the growth of bacteria and fungi
potentially introduced as doses are withdrawn.
However, thimerosal is more common elsewhere in the world for
various multi-dose vaccine vials, which are cheaper than the
single-dose vials more commonly used in the US. If other countries
follow the US’s lead and abandon thimerosal, it could increase the
cost of vaccines in other countries and, in turn, lead to fewer
vaccinations.
</blockquote>
Having an ignorant conspiracy nut lead the Department of Health and Human Services is angering and worrisome, to say the least. But it’s also incredibly frustrating, because Donald Trump himself isn’t an anti-vaxxer. In fact, one of the few great achievements of the first Trump Administration was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed">Operation Warp Speed</a>, a highly successful effort spearheaded by the US federal government to “facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.” Early in the pandemic experts were concerned it would take years before a Covid vaccine might be available. Instead, multiple effective vaccines were widely available — and administered free of charge — in the first half of 2021, only a year after the pandemic broke. It was a remarkable success and any other president who spearheaded Operation Warp Speed would have rightfully taken tremendous credit for it.
But instead, while plotting his return to office, Trump smelled opportunity with the anti-vax contingent <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/27/trump-stupid-americans">of the out-and-proud Stupid-Americans</a>, and now here we are, with a genuine know-nothing lunatic like RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. God help us if another pandemic hits in the next few years.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘RFK Jr.’s CDC Panel Ditches Some Flu Shots Based on Anti-Vaccine Junk Data’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/27/rfk-cdc-ditch-flu-shots-based-on-junk-data"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>‘Stupid-Americans Are the New Irish-Americans, Trump Is Their JFK’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/thebulwark/comments/1ljbvtw/hottest_take_stupidamericans_are_the_new/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfj" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/27/trump-stupid-americans" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42031</id>
<published>2025-06-27T23:37:08Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-27T23:37:08Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Banger of a post by “tarltontarlton” on Reddit:
<blockquote>
That same process is happening now with stupid people. They’re
transcending their individual limitations, finding each other and
becoming out-and-proud Stupid-Americans. [...]
How individual stupid Americans are becoming the collective,
self-aware group of Stupid-Americans is a great idea for a lot of
very fancy journalism I’m sure. It’s probably got something to do
with the internet, where stupid people can find and repeat stupid
things to each other over and over and over again.
</blockquote>
I believe it has a lot to do with the Internet, which has functioned as a terribly efficient sorting machine. It used to be that there were conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans. Both political parties were, effectively, shades of purple. Now we’ve sorted ourselves, and the result is the palpable increase in polarization. Low-IQ stupidity might still be spread across both sides of the political aisle, but willful ignorance — the <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2020/11/30/asimov-cult-of-ignorance">dogmatic cultish belief</a> that loudmouths’ opinions are on equal ground with facts and evidence presented by informed experts — is the entire basis of the MAGA movement. A regular stupid person might say, “Well, I don’t know anything about vaccines, so I better listen to my doctor, who is highly educated and well-informed on the subject.” An out-and-proud Stupid-American says “I don’t know anything about vaccines either, so I’m going to listen to a kook who admits that a worm ate part of his brain, because I can’t understand the science but I can understand conspiracy theories.”
<blockquote>
If written language survives the next six weeks, we’ll be writing
about Donald Trump for a thousand years. But whatever else there
is to say, the most important thing about Donald Trump, the thing
that is obvious from watching him speak for just 14 seconds, is
that he is profoundly stupid. Whatever it is that he might be
talking about or doing at any given moment, it’s clear that while
he has a reptilian instinct for reading and stoking conflict, he
has no real idea what’s going on and he doesn’t really care to.
Stupid is what he is and where he comes from. It is his mind and
his soul. Catholic was what JFK was. Gay was what Harvey Milk was.
Stupid is who Donald Trump is.
And that’s what they love most, the Stupid-American voters.
Remember that sentence you heard at the beginning of all this in
2016? “He’s just saying what everybody is thinking.”
But see, not everybody was thinking that Hillary Clinton was an
alien, that global warming was a Chinese hoax and that what
America needed most of all was a plywood wall stretching from
Texas to California. Only the stupid people were. And suddenly, in
an instant, the most powerful man on earth was thinking just like
them. With his clueless smirk and unstoppable rise, he turned
people whose stupidity made them feel like nobody into people who
felt like everybody.
That’s why he’ll never lose them. Because it was never about what
he did or didn’t do. All that stuff is very confusing and the
Stupid-American community isn’t interested in the details. They
love him for who he is, which is one of them, and because he shows
them every day that Stupid-Americans can reach the social
mountaintop.
</blockquote>
(<a href="https://kottke.org/25/06/0047031-stupid-americans-feel-abo">Via Kottke</a>.)
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘‘Stupid-Americans Are the New Irish-Americans, Trump Is Their JFK’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/27/trump-stupid-americans"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/06/more_on_apples_trust-eroding_f1_the_movie_wallet_ad" />
<link rel="shorturl" href="http://df4.us/wfi" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42030</id>
<published>2025-06-27T17:28:19Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-28T22:46:34Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<summary type="text">Sending this ad is completely destructive to all the hard work other teams at Apple have done to make Apple Wallet actually private — and, more importantly, *to get users to believe that it’s private*.</summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
<a href="https://mastodon.social/@czeins/114739403773350112">This is a funny gag from Claude Zeins</a>, but if you think about it, it shows just how destructive Apple’s decision was <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/26/apple-wallet-sends-push-notification-ad-pushing-f1-the-movie">to send a push notification from the Wallet app promoting F1 The Movie</a>.

It’s a fact that no company can inject an ad into your physical wallet. It just can’t happen. So if Apple’s message to users is that they should trust Apple Wallet, and move more of their “shit that goes in your wallet” life from their traditional analog wallet into their digital Apple Wallet, that’s the bar. No ads, ever. They’re competing against the privacy and intimacy of one of the most personal things people carry with them.
It’s not just that many people find ads annoying, no matter where they appear. It’s that Apple Wallet ought to be sacrosanct — like the Passwords and Journal apps. Apple is asking us to trust this app with our finances, our <a href="https://learn.wallet.apple/id">identity cards</a>, and our keys. I’m 99.9 percent certain this F1 ad was just blasted out to zillions of Wallet users indiscriminately, but some number of users who got it — especially people who know they’re in the demographic for the movie — surely think they got the ad because Wallet is tracking their interests and activities. Like, what if you recently bought tickets to see another summer blockbuster movie? Using Apple Wallet? And then you got this ad? It’d be completely sensible to be spooked by that, and conclude that Apple Wallet is tracking you.
Sending this ad is completely destructive to all the hard work other teams at Apple have done to make Apple Wallet actually private — and, more importantly, to get users to believe that it’s private. That Apple can be trusted in ways that other “big tech” companies cannot. The perception of privacy is just as important as the technical details that make something actually private. I try very seldom to call for anyone to be fired, but I think whoever authorized this movie ad through Wallet push notifications ought to be canned.
]]></content>
<title>★ More on Apple’s Trust-Eroding ‘F1 The Movie’ Wallet Ad</title></entry><entry>
<title>The Talk Show: ‘Through the Wall Like Kool-Aid Man’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2025/06/26/ep-425" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfg" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/26/the-talk-show-425" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42028</id>
<published>2025-06-27T01:18:32Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-27T17:28:46Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Chance Miller returns to the show to discuss the news and announcements from WWDC 2025.
<audio
src = "https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/daringfireball/thetalkshow-425-chance-miller.mp3"
controls
preload = "none"
/>
Sponsored by:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://factormeals.com/talkshow50off">Factor</a>: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box with code talkshow50off.</li>
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</ul>
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘The Talk Show: ‘Through the Wall Like Kool-Aid Man’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/26/the-talk-show-425"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Apple Wallet Sends Push Notification Ad Pushing ‘F1 The Movie’</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/24/iphone-customers-upset-by-apple-wallet-ad-pushing-f1-movie/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wff" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/26/apple-wallet-sends-push-notification-ad-pushing-f1-the-movie" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42027</id>
<published>2025-06-26T20:26:59Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-28T17:19:20Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Sarah Perez, writing at TechCrunch Tuesday:
<blockquote>
Apple customers aren’t thrilled they’re getting an ad from the
Apple Wallet app promoting the tech giant’s original film “F1 the
Movie.” <a href="https://x.com/ParkerOrtolani/status/1937551035825807545">Across</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWallet/comments/1ljbjrs/how_do_i_turn_this_off">social</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1ljd94e/disable_fandango_ad_from_apple_pay/">media</a>, iPhone owners are
complaining that their Wallet app sent out a push notification
offering a $10 discount at Fandango for anyone buying two or more
tickets to the film.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/24/apple-wallet-notification-f1-movie-ad/">Joe Rossignol, MacRumors</a>:
<blockquote>
Apple today sent out an ad to some iPhone users in the form of a
Wallet app push notification, and not everyone is happy about it.
</blockquote>
That’s an understatement, to say the very least. See if you can find a single comment from anyone who was happy about receiving this push notification ad. Seriously, let me know if you find one statement in support of this.
<a href="https://mastodon.social/@caseyliss/114738626109660386">Casey Liss</a>, succinct as ever:
<blockquote>
🤮
</blockquote>
The ad itself, from Apple, read:
<blockquote>
Apple Pay 
$10 off at Fandango
Save on 2+ tickets to F1® The Movie with APPLEPAYTEN. Ends 6/29.
While supplies last. Terms apply.
</blockquote>
In addition to the justified outrage over receiving any ad from a system-level component like Wallet in the first place, this particular ad sucks in multiple ways. Why did Apple put a “®” after “F1” in the movie title? Why not put a “®” next to “Apple Pay” and “Fandango” too? What supplies are running out on this promotion? Why add that “terms apply”? This is just a shit notification from top to bottom, putting aside whether any such notification should have been sent in the first place.
<a href="https://mas.to/@Kerry/114738862216086251">iOS 26 adds new settings inside the Wallet app</a> to allow fine-grained control over notifications, including the ability to turn off notifications for “Offers & Promotions” (Wallet app → (···) → Notifications — notably, this is not in the Settings app). That’s good. But (a) iOS 26 is months away from being released to the general public — there exists no way to opt out of such notifications now; and (b) at least for me, I was by default opted in to this setting on my iOS 26 devices. (It is also, when you think about it, perhaps a worrying sign regarding Apple’s future plans that this setting has been added to Wallet for iOS 26.)
This was such a boneheaded marketing decision on Apple’s part. They cost themselves way more in goodwill and trust than they possibly could have earned in additional F1 The Movie — wait, sorry, my bad, F1® The Movie — box office ticket sales. It’s like Apple got paid to exemplify <a href="https://doctorow.medium.com/my-mcluhan-lecture-on-enshittification-ea343342b9bc">Cory Doctorow’s “enshittification” theory</a>. Apple Wallet doesn’t present itself as a marketing vehicle. It presents itself as a privacy-protecting system service.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Apple Wallet Sends Push Notification Ad Pushing ‘F1 The Movie’’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/26/apple-wallet-sends-push-notification-ad-pushing-f1-the-movie"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Denis Villeneuve to Direct Next James Bond Film</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://deadline.com/2025/06/denis-villeneuve-james-bond-amazon-mgm-studios-1236442917/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfe" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/25/villeneuve-bond" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42026</id>
<published>2025-06-26T00:45:24Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-26T01:20:49Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Good pick. I feel great about this.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Denis Villeneuve to Direct Next James Bond Film’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/25/villeneuve-bond"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Lake Tahoe Boat Tragedy Claims Longtime Apple Employee Paula Bozinovich</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/tahoe/article/lake-tahoe-boat-accident-victims-identified-june-20391411.php" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfd" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/25/lake-tahoe-boat-tragedy-claims-longtime-apple-employee-paula-bozinovich" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42025</id>
<published>2025-06-25T19:06:22Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-26T01:28:10Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Some sad news. The San Francisco Chronicle (<a href="https://apple.news/AStXd9PofQ7yTRc24ijze8A">News+ link</a>):
<blockquote>
The eight people killed in a sudden storm while boating on Lake
Tahoe over the weekend were a close-knit group of friends and
family members who had gathered for a birthday celebration,
according to a spokesperson representing some of the victims.
The boating trip was a part of the 71st birthday celebration for
Paula Bozinovich, one of the people who perished in the lake, when
their 27-foot powerboat capsized during a sudden, violent storm on
Saturday. Authorities on Tuesday released the names of those
killed when the boat sank near D.L. Bliss State Park, overwhelmed
by 8-foot waves and wind gusts topping 35 mph.
</blockquote>
Bozinovich’s husband Terry and son, Josh — a DoorDash executive — were among the victims. Via email, Brian Croll, who worked in product marketing at Apple for a long time before retiring a few years ago, wrote the following, which I’m publishing with his permission:
<blockquote>
Paula was an employee who you are not going to see profiled in any
books on the history of Apple or Steve Jobs. She worked closely
with the ops team to ensure CDs and then DVDs shipped on time and
correctly packaged in a box. She knew all the systems and the
right people to make things happen. She was always committed to
getting things better than just right — perfect. Paula’s
extraordinary commitment, along with all the hundreds of other
unheralded employees, translated the vision of Steve, the
designers, the engineers, and the marketing people into a shipping
product.
One of the secrets behind Apple’s success has been its ability to
execute. Paula was an important part of that fine-tuned machine.
She was also quite a character!
I’m sending you this because I’ve seen front page obituaries of
executives who probably did way more harm than good to their
companies, and yet when you scratch the surface of a successful
company you find that people like Paula make all the difference.
</blockquote>
Nothing but my warmest thoughts to her friends and family.
Update: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@Cdespinosa/114746774944556319">Chris Espinosa</a>:
<blockquote>
I’m shattered to hear that Apple software ops stalwart Paula
Bozinovich was killed in a boat capsize on Lake Tahoe. She truly
embodied the spirit of the company in everything she did. A joy to
work with and a tragedy to lose her.
</blockquote>
I’ve heard from a bunch of folks today about her, and all of them emphasize two things. First, she was very, very good at her job. Second, she was very, very fun. One person said she exemplified what has always made Apple so unique: that her personality was such that she probably never would have gotten any job at all at any other big company, but she was absolutely perfectly an Apple person’s Apple person.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Lake Tahoe Boat Tragedy Claims Longtime Apple Employee Paula Bozinovich’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/25/lake-tahoe-boat-tragedy-claims-longtime-apple-employee-paula-bozinovich"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Sorry, MacOS Tahoe Beta 2 Still Does the Finder Icon Dirty</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://512pixels.net/2025/06/finder-icon-fixed/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfc" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/24/sorry-macos-tahoe-b2-finder-icon" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42024</id>
<published>2025-06-25T01:09:11Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-27T00:15:51Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Stephen Hackett:
<blockquote>
Our 14-day national nightmare is over. As of Developer Beta 2, the
Finder icon in macOS Tahoe has been updated to reflect 30 years of
tradition:
<a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/About-Finder-Beta-2.jpg" class="noborder">
<img
src = "https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/About-Finder-Beta-2.jpg"
alt = "Screenshots of the Finder About box, showing the Finder icon, left to right: MacOS 18 Sequioa, MacOS 26 Tahoe Beta 1, MacOS Tahoe Beta 2"
width = 450
/></a>
</blockquote>
I’m going to strongly disagree here. The Tahoe beta 2 Finder icon is slightly better, but seeing it this way makes it obvious that the problem with the Tahoe Finder icon isn’t whether it’s dark/light or light/dark from left to right. It’s that with this Tahoe design it’s not 50/50. It’s the appliqué — the right side (the face in profile) looks like something stuck on top of a blue face tile. That’s not the Finder logo.
The Finder logo is the Mac logo. The Macintosh is the platform that held Apple together when, by all rights, the company should have fallen apart. It’s a great logo, period, and the second-most-important logo Apple owns, after the Apple logo itself. Fucking around with it like this, making the right-side in-profile face a stick-on layer rather than a full half of the mark, is akin to Coca-Cola fucking around with the typeface for the word “Cola” in its logo. Like, what are you doing? Why are you screwing with a perfect mark?
There are an infinite number of ways Apple could do this while remaining true to the original logo. <a href="https://x.com/flarup/status/1932798949749936200">Here’s a take from Michael Flarup</a> that glasses it up but keeps it true to itself:
<a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/flarup-finder-glass.jpeg" class="noborder">
<img
src = "https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/flarup-finder-glass.jpeg"
alt = "Michael Flarup's take on a Liquid Glass style Finder icon."
width = 450
/></a>
Especially in the field of computers, no company can be a slave to tradition and history. But you ought to respect it. This new Finder icon doesn’t.
Update: And <a href="https://pdx.social/@louie/114742479098781460">here are some excellent takes</a> on an updated Finder icon by Louie Mantia, along with some astute commentary. Mantia writes:
<blockquote>
I really, really do not like spending my time pointing this out.
I could write a whole blog post but I don’t want to seem angry
about it. I just think the right solutions are simpler than what
they’re doing.
</blockquote>
No surprise, but Mantia’s icons <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/louie-finder-glass-light.png">look</a> <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/louie-finder-glass-dark.png">perfect</a> to me. Perfectly Liquid Glass-y, perfectly Finder-y.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Sorry, MacOS Tahoe Beta 2 Still Does the Finder Icon Dirty’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/24/sorry-macos-tahoe-b2-finder-icon"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>The iyO One</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.iyo.audio/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wfa" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/24/iyo-one" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42022</id>
<published>2025-06-24T14:58:04Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-24T21:02:32Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
From iyO’s home page:
<blockquote>
The iyo one is a revolutionary new kind of computer without a
screen. it can run apps just like your smartphone. The key
difference is you talk to it through a natural language interface.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/23/io-iyo-aye-aye-aye">Like I wrote yesterday</a>, I’d never heard of iyO before. But from the description above, you can obviously see how they’d feel like the new OpenAI/LoveFrom io name stomps on their trademark. (One minor curiosity: iyO itself seems unsure how to capitalize the letters in its own name: <a href="https://daringfireball.net/misc/2025/06/iyO-IyO-iyo.png">a single cropped screenshot of their own home page</a> shows “iyO”, “IyO”, and “iyo”.)
iyO “graduated” from X (which is entirely separate from Elon Musk’s X), Google’s “moonshot factory”, in 2021. <a href="https://x.company/projects/iyo/">The description there</a>:
<blockquote>
iyO is on a mission to bring natural language computing to
billions of people. The team has created the world’s first audio
computer that you can talk to like a friend. While at X, the team
developed their initial prototypes. Now an independent company,
iyO is creating screenless, natural language computing with mixed
audio reality.
</blockquote>
Despite having “graduated” four years ago, iyO is <a href="https://www.iyo.audio/products/iyo-one">still only taking pre-orders</a> for the iyO One, their ungainly-looking ear computer. ($100 seems too good to be true for what they’re promising. Update: Ah-ha, turns out $100 is just the pre-order deposit. They’re <a href="https://www.shop.iyo.audio/shop/p/iyo-one">going to cost $1,000 to $1,200</a> if they ever actually ship, which I think is a big if — this thing has vaporware written all over it.)
Lastly, last April, iyO founder and CEO Jason Rugolo demonstrated prototypes <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/jason_rugolo_welcome_to_the_world_of_audio_computers">in a 13-minute TED talk</a>. Seems cool, but some of the features already exist with AirPods, and all of the feature could exist with AirPods. I don’t see the future of a dedicated audio computer — especially ones as ugly as these — when the entire feature set can be duplicated with smart earbuds paired to your phone.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘The iyO One’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/24/iyo-one"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>OS 26 Betas Are Out</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/23/apple-seeds-ios-26-beta-2/" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wf9" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/23/os-26-betas-are-out" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42021</id>
<published>2025-06-23T23:37:04Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-24T14:22:19Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Juli Clover, MacRumors:
<blockquote>
Apple today provided developers with the second betas of iOS 26
and iPadOS 26 for testing purposes, with the updates coming two
weeks after Apple seeded the first betas following the WWDC
keynote.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/23/apple-seeds-macos-tahoe-beta-2/">MacOS</a>, <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/23/apple-seeds-watchos-26-beta-2/">tvOS, WatchOS, and VisionOS</a> too. All sorts of good stuff in these second betas — an option to have <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/23/macos-tahoe-beta-2-menu-bar-background/">a real big boy menu bar in MacOS Tahoe</a>, a <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/23/ios-26-b2-control-center/">much better-looking Control Center</a>, and <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/23/ios-26-beta-2-everything-new/">more</a>.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘OS 26 Betas Are Out’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/23/os-26-betas-are-out"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Pixar’s Newest Movie, ‘Elio’, Is a Box-Office Dud</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/business/elio-pixar-box-office.html" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wf8" />
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<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42020</id>
<published>2025-06-23T23:10:43Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-23T23:13:44Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Brooks Barnes, writing for The New York Times:
<blockquote>
Pixar knew that Elio, an original space adventure, would most
likely struggle in its first weekend at the box office.
Animated movies based on original stories have become harder sells
in theaters, even for the once-unstoppable Pixar. At a time when
streaming services have proliferated and the broader economy is
unsettled, families want assurance that spending the money for
tickets will be worth it.
But the turnout for Elio was worse — much worse — than even
Pixar had expected. The film, which cost at least $250 million to
make and market, collected an estimated $21 million from Thursday
evening through Sunday at theaters in the United States and
Canada, according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. It
was Pixar’s worst opening-weekend result ever. The previous bottom
was Elemental, which arrived to $30 million in 2023.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.threads.com/@technologizer/post/DLQKsxppcWt">Harry McCracken</a>:
<blockquote>
I wasn’t aware this movie had come out, and still can’t tell you
what it’s about. And I’ve been a Pixar fan since before they made
movies. That seems like a problem.
</blockquote>
I hadn’t heard of this movie until today either. Disney and Pixar have a marketing problem. One part of the problem is that Pixar has made some decidedly meh movies in recent years. “Pixar” used to stand for nothing less than excellence. Now it stands for “somewhere in the range of OK to great”. But another is that even when they make a good one — which Elio might be — they suck at getting word out.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Pixar’s Newest Movie, ‘Elio’, Is a Box-Office Dud’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/23/pixar-elio-dud"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Trademark Dispute Leads to the Disappearance of ‘io’, OpenAI and LoveFrom’s Secretive AI Collaboration</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.theverge.com/news/690858/jony-ive-openai-sam-altman-ai-hardware" />
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<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42019</id>
<published>2025-06-23T13:58:23Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-23T22:15:37Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
Hayden Field, reporting for The Verge:
<blockquote>
OpenAI has scrubbed mentions of io, the hardware startup co-founded by famous Apple designer Jony Ive, from its website and social media channels. The sudden change closely follows their recent announcement of OpenAI’s nearly $6.5 billion acquisition and plans to create dedicated AI hardware.
OpenAI tells The Verge the deal is still happening, but it scrubbed mentions due to a trademark lawsuit from Iyo, the hearing device startup spun out of Google’s moonshot factory.
</blockquote>
If you visit <a href="https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/">the “Sam and Jony” page on OpenAI’s website</a> — where the short film teasing io used to be — it now simply says:
<blockquote>
This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name “io.” We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.
</blockquote>
Perhaps I’m not paying close enough attention, but this is the first I’ve heard of iyO. The two names certainly sound alike but they don’t look alike. Are homophones trademarkable? I would expect a terse letter from Coca-Cola’s lawyers if I tried selling soda under name “Koke” (or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Nut-Ted-L-Nancy/dp/B000SR7RNS/?tag=df-amzn-20">like Ted Nancy tried</a>, Kiet Doke), so I guess so.
I suppose the question is how did OpenAI not see this coming, knowing that Google is probably their biggest rival? (Not to mention that Google might feel salty about the encroachment on their I/O developer conference name.)
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Trademark Dispute Leads to the Disappearance of ‘io’, OpenAI and LoveFrom’s Secretive AI Collaboration’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/23/io-iyo-aye-aye-aye"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
<title>Drata</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://drata.com/daring" />
<link rel="shorturl" type="text/html" href="http://df4.us/wf6" />
<link rel="related" type="text/html" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/22/drata" />
<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025:/linked//6.42018</id>
<published>2025-06-22T17:57:49Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-22T17:57:49Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/linked/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
My thanks to Drata for sponsoring this last week at DF. Their message is short and sweet: Automate compliance. Streamline security. Manage risk. Drata delivers the world’s most advanced Trust Management platform.
<div>
<a title="Permanent link to ‘Drata’" href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/22/drata"> ★ </a>
</div>
]]></content>
</entry><entry>
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<id>tag:daringfireball.net,2025://1.42012</id>
<published>2025-06-19T21:03:54Z</published>
<updated>2025-06-20T12:39:40Z</updated>
<author>
<name>John Gruber</name>
<uri>http://daringfireball.net/</uri>
</author>
<summary type="text">My biggest takeaway from WWDC 2025 is that Apple seemingly took some lessons to heart from its unfulfilled promises of a year ago. This year’s WWDC wasn’t merely focused on what Apple is confident it can ship in the next 12 months, but on what they can ship *this fall*.</summary>
<content type="html" xml:base="https://daringfireball.net/" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
“This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away — to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!” 
—Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
My biggest takeaway from WWDC 2025 is that Apple seemingly took some lessons to heart from <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2025/03/apple_is_delaying_the_more_personalized_siri_apple_intelligence_features">its unfulfilled promises</a> of a year ago. This year’s WWDC wasn’t merely focused on what Apple is confident it can ship in the next 12 months, but on what they can ship this fall. I might be overlooking a minor exception or two, but every major feature announced in <a href="https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/101/">the WWDC 2025 keynote</a> was both demonstratable in product briefings, and is currently available in the developer beta seeds. I was also told, explicitly, by Apple executives, that Apple plans to ship everything shown last week in the fall.
That’s as it should be, and a strong return to form for the company. It takes confidence to promise only what you know you can ship, and it takes execution to ship what you’ve promised. If there’s more coming in the early months of 2026, announce those features when they’re ready. It’s proven very effective for Apple to spread the debut of new features across the entire calendar year, with many major features not appearing until the .3, .4, or even .5 OS releases. I think it will prove just as effective marketing-wise to spread the announcement of more features throughout the year as well.
<h2>Year-Based Version Numbers</h2>
There’s no question that it’s a little weird for every one of Apple’s platforms to have jumped to version 26. I mean, VisionOS skipped 23 version numbers. Presumably, when Apple next unveils a new OS (HomeOS?), it’s going to start at version 26, 27, or 28. But I’m already getting used to this, and I think the underlying logic laid out by Craig Federighi at the outset of the keynote is true: with Apple now up to six developer platforms (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Vision, TV, Watch), it had gotten hard to keep track of which version numbers corresponded to the same year. That matters not just for the convenience of knowing, in years to come, when specific versions of each OS were released, but it also matters because none of these platforms exist in isolation. They’re all parts of a cohesive whole, a cross-device “Apple OS 26” experience, as it were.
One thing I haven’t seen commented on, though, is that switching to year-based version numbers establishes as de facto policy something that has now been true for quite a few years, but which Apple has never officially acknowledged: that each of these platforms will get a major version release annually. 20 years ago the update schedule for Mac OS X was rather erratic:
<table class="table-FEBFFE0A-B067-4C29-8766-29C19521F96F">
<style>
.table-FEBFFE0A-B067-4C29-8766-29C19521F96F {width: 350px}
.table-FEBFFE0A-B067-4C29-8766-29C19521F96F th:nth-child(1) { text-align: left }
.table-FEBFFE0A-B067-4C29-8766-29C19521F96F td:nth-child(1) { text-align: left }
.table-FEBFFE0A-B067-4C29-8766-29C19521F96F th:nth-child(2) { text-align: left }
.table-FEBFFE0A-B067-4C29-8766-29C19521F96F td:nth-child(2) { text-align: left }
</style>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mac OS X 10.7 Lion</td><td>July 2011</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard</td><td>August 2009</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard</td><td>October 2007</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger</td><td>April 2005</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mac OS X 10.3 Panther</td><td>October 2003</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (which began the odd four-year run where the Mac’s OS name didn’t contain “Mac”) arrived in July 2012, and thereafter a new major version has shipped in September, October, or November (MacOS 11 Big Sur, in 2020) every single year. This rigorous annual schedule is a hallmark of the Tim Cook era at Apple, and clearly reflects his personality (as the erratic/idiosyncratic schedule of the mid-2000s reflected Steve Jobs’s).
<h2>iPadOS Windowing</h2>
The pedant in me is mildly perturbed that the new windowing system unveiled for iPadOS 26 is largely being discussed under the term “multitasking”. It’s windowing. One way to understand the difference is that the original Mac OS (a.k.a. System 1) had windowing — windowing that looked and worked a lot like this — but no multitasking. The very early Mac could run just one app a time, but the running app could open multiple windows. But, whatever. It’s all good.
One thing I find interesting is that while <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/102364">split screen and Slide Over</a> have been eliminated in the new system (<a href="https://www.macstories.net/stories/not-an-ipad-pro-review/">praise be</a>), Stage Manager is still a feature. Just plain windowing is as it should be: ad hoc. You make windows and move them around and resize them however you want. Stage Manager is fussier — it’s a more complex system for users who wish to organize their windows into something akin to projects or related tasks.
So, effectively, Apple, three years ago, jumped straight to a more complex, more fiddly option — Stage Manager — and only now has added the simpler, more obvious, not fiddly at all option (windowing). It’s been a weird journey, but I think iPadOS has finally arrived at a place where showing more than one app or document at a time on-screen is what it should have been all along: easy and obvious.
<h2>Liquid Glass</h2>
Alan Dye, introducing Liquid Glass, around the 8m:20s mark in the keynote:
<blockquote>
Software is the heart and soul of our products. It brings them to
life, shapes their personality, and defines their purpose. At
Apple, we’ve always believed it’s the deep integration of hardware
and software that makes interacting with technology intuitive,
beautiful, and a joy to use. iOS 7 introduced a simplified design
built on distinct layers, smooth animations, and new colors. It
redefined our design language for years to come. Now, with the
powerful advances in our hardware, silicon, and graphics
technologies, we have the opportunity to lay the foundation for
the next chapter of our software. Today we’re excited to announce
our broadest design update ever. Our goal is a beautiful new
design that brings joy and delight to every user experience, one
that’s more personal, and puts greater focus on your content, all
while still feeling instantly familiar.
And for the first time, we’re introducing a universal design
across our platforms. This unified design language creates a more
harmonious experience as you move between products, while
maintaining the qualities that make each unique. Inspired by the
physicality and richness of VisionOS, we challenged ourselves to
make something purely digital feel natural and alive. From how it
looks to how it feels as it dynamically responds to touch. To
achieve this, we began by rethinking the fundamental elements that
make up our software, and it starts with an entirely new
expressive material we call Liquid Glass. With the optical
qualities of glass and a fluidity that only Apple can achieve, it
transforms depending on your content or even your context, and
brings more clarity to navigation and controls. It beautifully
refracts light and dynamically reacts to your movement with
specular highlights. This material brings a new level of vitality
to every aspect of your experience. From the smallest elements you
interact with to larger ones, it responds in real time to your
content and your input. Creating a more lively experience that we
think you’ll find truly delightful.
</blockquote>
Compare and contrast to <a href="https://youtu.be/dHrVGk0WwYM?t=381">Steve Jobs introducing Aqua at Macworld San Francisco in January 2000</a>:
<blockquote>
So this is the architecture, except there’s one more thing. The
one more thing is, we have been secretly for the last 18 months
designing a completely new user interface. And that new user
interface builds on Apple’s legacy and carries it into the next
century. And we call that new user interface Aqua, because it’s
liquid. One of the design goals was when you saw it, you wanted to
lick it. [...]
When you design a new user interface, you have to start off
humbly. You have to start off saying, what are the simplest
elements in it? What does a button look like? And you spend months
working on a button. That’s a button in Aqua. This is what radio
buttons look like. Simple things. This is what checkboxes look
like. This is what popup lists look like. Again, you’re starting
to get the feel of this, a little different. This is what sliders
can look like. Now, let me show you windows. This is what the top
of windows look like. These three buttons look like a traffic
signal, don’t they? Red means close the window. Yellow means
minimize the window. And green means maximize the window. Pretty
simple. And tremendous fit and finish in this operating system.
When you roll over these things, you get those. You see them? And
when you are no longer the key window, they go transparent. So a
lot of fit and finish in this.
In addition to the fit and finish, we paid a lot of attention to
dynamics. Not only how do things look, but how do they move, how
do they behave. And our goal in this user interface was twofold.
One, we wanted to give a much more powerful user interface to our
pro customers. But two, at the very same time, we wanted to make
this the dream user interface for somebody who’s never even
touched a computer before. And that’s really hard to do. It’s like
when we do films at Pixar. It’s really easy, it’s a lot easier, to
make a film that appeals to five-year-olds and under. But it’s
very difficult to make one film that five-year-olds love and that
their parents also love. And that was the goal of this user
interface. To make it span the range so that people turning on
their iMac for the first time were enchanted with it, and it was
super easy to use, and yet, our pro customers also felt, My God,
this takes me to places I thought I could never get to. And
that’s what we tried to do.
</blockquote>
Re-watching Jobs’s introduction of Aqua for the umpteenth time, I still find it enthralling. I found Alan Dye’s introduction of Liquid Glass to be soporific, if not downright horseshitty.
But the work itself, Liquid Glass as it launched last week, is very reminiscent of Aqua a quarter century (!) ago. It’s exciting, it’s fresh, it fundamentally looks and feels very cool in general — and but in practice quite a few aspects of it feel a bit over-the-top and/or half-baked. Just like with Aqua, it will surely get dialed in. Legibility problems will be addressed.
Liquid Glass has been in the works for a long time, but what we see today has come together very quickly. For those using internal builds inside Apple, what Apple unveiled last week is effectively the third version of Liquid Glass. Just a few weeks prior to WWDC, a few sources told me that internal builds were such a complete mess that they wondered if it would come together in time for WWDC developer betas. But come together it has. I expect a lot of visual changes over the course of the summer, and significant evolutionary tweaks in the next few years. Across Apple’s own apps, there are a lot of places where things haven’t yet been glassed up at all. That’s how these things work.
As for why, it should be enough to justify Liquid Glass simply for the sake of looking cool. I opened this piece with a quote from a great fictional philosopher. I’ll close it with a quote from a great real one:
“The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good.” 
—Stanley Kubrick
]]></content>
<title>★ One Week Out, Some Brief Thoughts and Observations on WWDC 2025</title></entry></feed>

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