receive to our weekly Apple Breakfast pillar , which include all the Apple news program you missed last week in a handy bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we mean it goes great with a Monday morning loving cup of umber or tea , but it ’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner party hours too .
The fine line between informed and overwhelmed
Seasoned Cupertino watchers have notice an unexpected scheme over the retiring few years : Apple has been stress to sway us to use its devicesless .
Admittedly , the original Do Not Disturb musical mode was added to iOS as long ago as 2012 , but in recent years it ’s been expanded into an entire rooms of Focus mood . cover Driving , Sleep , Work , and Fitness , with the potential to add up more of your own , these volunteer users the ability to center on a single activity and apprise the iPhone to desist from interrupting that activity with the Morse Code staccato of notice that emphasise the rest of our life . Screen Time , meanwhile , let us to monitor our machine manipulation and set limits on content and app use in orderliness to bring this down , or make it more conducive to our mental health .
It ’s a counterintuitive strategy , but makes a sorting of sentiency when you reflect on Apple ’s trust on our good will . A healthy and well-chosen client is more likely to relate their gadget with confirming touch sensation , and therefore more likely to buy another one in the future . And the deluge of digital gap that is so much a part of smartphone ownership in 2023 really is n’t proficient either for our ability to get workplace done ( or to slumber well , or to drive safely , and so on ) or to keep on an even worked up keel .
Of naturally , the company would n’t be happy if we purchase its products and then put them away in a drawer ; it is now a service company as well as a hardware seller and needs us to be spending money in the App Store , watch TV+ shows , and taking part in Fitness+ exercising . But there ’s a balance to be run into , and Apple ’s business concern model is not qualified on its customers stay up all nighttime doomsday - scrolling through Twitter or chasing the Intropin hit of Facebook appointment .
This does of course farm the query of what we should be doing with our Apple products when studiously reject to absorb with them , and the Apple Watch offers a glimpse of one possible future . ThewatchOS 10 updateannounced this summertime is a alteration of counselling for the machine , reflecting a fundamental shift off from apps and towards widgets and sting - sized entropy . Because smartwatches are always with you but have small blind , they are the staring use type for a machine that informs without trying to engage . It makes sense for them to tender little snip of information that can be accessed at a glance , without trying to pluck you into substantial fundamental interaction .
Would it be so very revolutionary to indicate that this is a sound principle for the way we interact withalldigital devices ? The precise balance between information and engagement will vary according to format , but there are bound to healthy engagement with even something as large - screened as a Mac . of course , we interact with the Mac for longsighted flow , but when the working Clarence Day is over , we require it to leave us alone . At which full point it seems ideal for the antecedently high - engagement product to swap roles and become a purveyor of informational snippets – something that Apple appear to be exploring at the moment . In certain contexts , a Mac in the traditional sense is no longer need , and its possessor would get more time value from a smart showing showing contrivance , photo slideshows , and overbold - home controls .
It ’s strong to say whether this vision of a healthy and balanced technical school future will ever come to buy the farm . Apple might not need us to be hyper - engaged with our gadget in lodge to be good client , but there are plenty of other companies that do , and it seems unbelievable that app makers and advertisers , and social networks will be quenched with our attention for just eight hour a day . But it ’s a fighting worth waging , and I hope Apple continues to lead the way .
Have your say
lashings of interesting responses to my complaints aboutApple ’s upsellingin the last column : thanks to all who emailed me their thinking .
Longtime reader Michael Long matt-up that Apple was being below the belt maligned for demeanour that is commonplace elsewhere . “ As close as I can tell , ” he betoken out , “ Apple is only now doing what every other phone manufacturer already did : Produce a flagship phone with the in vogue and neat processor , and introduce a second - tier up , less expensive telephone set using last twelvemonth ’s processor . Google Pixel and Samsung and others do this regularly . ”
Kurt R. Todoroff , meanwhile , cited Apple ’s iCloud pricing scheme – offer just 5 GB per client for free – as evidence of its inadequate - sightedness and greed . “ We , the old loyal ones , are the foundation for Apple ’s rebirth , and for that enviable net , ” he indite . “ The granite of our trueness contains severely growing cracks , as we live increasing software defects with each raw operating scheme release , and as Apple continues its ancient , self - kill ( ego - destructive ? ) ‘ bounty pricing ’ paradigm . ”
John Leibovitz feel that the company ’s memory board pricing was outrageous , ask $ 400 for a 1 TB spec bulge that could be sourced elsewhere for $ 50 if only home upgrading was allow . “ What seems to be happening is that Apple is ‘ advert on ’ to older component specification for prospicient , ” he fence . “ How many years has 256 GB been the minimum Mac mini specification ? ”
But Humberto Munoz , finally , was more florid about the situation . “ The end for any company is to deal more clobber and grow earnings , ” he write . “ The fact that you , I and the eternal sleep don’tliketo drop more money to purchase Apple ’s stuff does n’t change the fact that we keep doing it . ”
Foundry
Reviews corner
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And here are10 thing you did n’t know you could dowith anApple Watch .
Got aMeta Quest Pro ? You cantry out the Apple Vision Pro UI .
Apple’s$3 trillion market capis nice and all , butdoes it really count ?
Jason Cross explainswhy you should spring for aniPhone 15 Prothis year .
Apple is taking itsFortnite fightall the wayto the Supreme Court .
The rumor mill
TheiPhone 15 ’s best featuremight behow long it lasts .
The Apple Watch Ultra’snext - gen microLED screenmight not found until 2026 .
Thenext contemporaries of AirPodswill center onhigh - oddment health and take heed features .
Software updates, bugs, and problems
Thelatest Firefox updatedrops support for severalrecent macOS versions .
Last year’s13 - inch MacBook Airnowsupports Bluetooth 5.3 , Apple aver .
You should watch out forunexpected NFC Tag alertson your iPhone . Here ’s why .
