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Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple is best known for making some of the world's most ubiquitous consumer devices, software, and services: the iPhone, iPad, iMac and MacBook computers, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iOS, iCloud, iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and many more. Led by CEO Tim Cook since 2011, Apple is one of the largest technology companies in the world alongside Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.

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Vision Pro app downloads are a mixed bag so far.

Immersive Wire spoke to Vision Pro developers and found that apps like JigSpace, which was included in Apple’s press materials, got over 14,000 installs in the span of a week. Other apps have struggled to get past a 1,000-download threshold.

It obviously helps to be featured by Apple, but Immersive Wire reports some developers attribute lower download numbers to a lack of discoverability on the App Store. Developers say search capabilities need improvement, and the top 10 app lists should be easier to find.


Vision Pro’s big software upgrades will be synced with the iPhone.

So Mark Gurman wrote in the subscriber version of his Bloomberg Power On newsletter today. Not that we should expect any different. The iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch all get their big updates at about the same time.

Historically, that means a September visionOS 2.0 release. Also historically, Apple will crow about Vision Pro features it just can’t wait for you to experience at this year’s WWDC.


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It could be four generations before the Vision Pro is up to snuff.

Some members of the Vision Pro team inside Apple think that, like the iPhone and Apple Watch before it, the headset won’t hit its stride until its fourth iteration, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg.

That makes sense — as impressive as the Vision Pro might be already, it’s still a first-generation product with first-generation problems.


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Look at DJ Diplo’s sick plant coat.

Just kidding, I’m obviously posting this because of the Vision Pro and Tim Cook content, spotted by 9to5Mac’s Chance Miller. But why is Cook hugging one of the members of EDM trio Major Lazer? Listen, these guys go way back.

It does look like a comfy coat, though.


Apple Car engineer handed 120-day prison sentence for stealing trade secrets.

9to5Mac spotted that former Apple employee Xiaolang Zhang was sentenced by a Californian court on Monday. He faces three years of supervised release following imprisonment, alongside a $146,984 restitution bill.

In August 2022, Zhang pled guilty to stealing secret materials around Apple’s “Titan” self-driving car project before leaving to work for Chinese EV startup Guangzhou Xiaopeng.


A screenshot taken from the document sentencing Xiaolang Zhang.
He got off pretty lightly — the maximum sentence for stealing trade secrets is 10 years.
Image: 9to5Mac / United States district court northern district of California
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Apple opens its doors to developers’ alternative app stores ahead of March launch.

In compliance with the Digital Markets Act, Apple now lets developers add alternative marketplaces and submit their apps for Notarization, two key steps as Apple prepares to end its exclusive role in iPhone app distribution with its iOS 17.4 release in the EU next month.

Epic Games and AltStore have publicly announced plans to launch iOS app stores, but who knows how many developers will use them.


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Spike Lee’s next movie is an A24 x Apple Kurosawa remake starring Denzel Washington.

Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low may be an untouchable classic piece of cinema, but Spike Lee and Denzel Washington are teaming up to put their own English-language spin on the film courtesy of A24 and Apple TV Plus.


Fake LastPass phishing app nabs a five-star rating on Apple’s App Store.

The slyly named “LassPass” has earned five stars on Apple’s App Store with just five reviews in total, noted Bleeping Computer — more evidence on how easily ratings can be manipulated. Apple has since removed the app.

As Sean Hollister wrote back in 2021, fraudulent ratings have poisoned Apple’s app review system.


Screenshot of “LassPass” app on Apple’s App Store.
Screenshot of “LassPass” app on Apple’s App Store.
Amrita Khalid/The Verge
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Here’s the cost of running Death Stranding on the iPhone 15 Pro.

Digital Foundry takes a look at Death Stranding’s performance on Apple’s iOS and macOS platforms. The iPhone 15 Pro version takes a hit, DF says, with performance issues and smeary, low-resolution rendering.

That’s been my experience with other recent iPhone console ports, like Resident Evil 4 or Village, but if you own an M-series Mac, the iOS version ends up being a happy bonus, since Death Stranding supports Universal Purchases.


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Tim Cook, Usher superfan?

The fact that Apple’s CEO didn’t answer Luda’s call with “Good morning!” seems like a missed opportunity in this Apple Music commercial ahead of the 2024 Super Bowl, but nobody asked me.

Cook does sell being really upset that they can’t seem to find Usher, though. (I think he’s hanging out over in that BMW commercial.)


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Watch our staff try the Vision Pro.

In addition to our detailed review, The Verge video team brought in Vox Media employees from different areas of the company to experience the Apple Vision Pro for the very first time.

See their reactions, including mine, right here. Let’s just say there were a lot of “whoa(s).”


How are we feeling about EyeSight on the Vision Pro?

Now that people have Apple’s headset, there are so many funny videos and interesting thoughts about it floating around out there, but there’s almost no mention of the goofy low-res eyes on the front that are supposed to make other people feel like you’re looking at them. Did this just not work? I’m dying to know what you all think.


What’s on your desk, Victoria Song?

Tech, tarot, junk journaling, and cats.

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I continue to be surprised by how far people will go to perpetrate gift card scams.

404 Media and Court Watch bring us the story of “a legitimate presenting security researcher who has reported multiple vulnerabilities to Apple” (and been thanked by the tech giant for doing so) that’s now been charged with breaking into an Apple-connected backend system all in the name of a poorly concocted gift card scam.

One of the defendants apparently used the stolen credit to buy Final Cut Pro from their own Apple ID — and somehow didn’t expect to get caught?

On or about February 11, 2019, the defendant redeemed two of the gift cards for about $100 each. On or about February 13, 2019, the defendant redeemed a third gift card for about $100. On or around February 26, 2019, the defendant used the $300 in funds obtained from these gift cards to purchase FinalCut Pro on Company A’s app store for about $299.99 using the defendant’s own Company A account.


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Vision Pro’s Personas look a little crisper after latest beta update.

MacRumors reports that Apple’s 3D face scans have been updated after the latest visionOS 1.1 developer update. The feature is still labelled as a “Beta,” but the update prompts users to recapture their Persona for “the latest appearance updates.”

Oh, and the update also lets you reset your face computer if you forget your passcode, which wasn’t originally possible.


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The FTC gets to keep fighting a company that quietly sells your location data.

Ars Technica reports that a federal judge won’t dismiss the case against Kochava. The lawsuit alleges that the app analytics firm lets advertisers track customers’ names, addresses, and specific geolocation information.

Kochava says its sales are legally compliant and it can’t be held responsible for bad-faith actors, even after the FTC used examples from similar cases to demonstrate how easily someone could trace your steps to sensitive venues like abortion clinics or religious halls.


Apple bought the rights to Fancy Dance.

The film stars Killer of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone as Jax, a woman living on a Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma, where she’s left to care for her niece following her sister’s disappearance.

When the pair go looking for Jax’s sister, they uncover “a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women.” Fancy Dance first appeared at the Sundance Film Festival last year. It will make its debut in theaters and on Apple TV Plus later this year.


Image: Apple
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This healthcare group just bought over $100,000 worth of Vision Pro headsets.

Sharp HealthCare in San Diego got a shipment of 30 Vision Pro headsets to explore how they can be used in healthcare, including as a potential way for anesthesiologists to monitor a patient’s vitals:

One idea is to put those readouts into the headset and have them appear around an anesthetized patient’s head if the headset was set to use its outward-facing cameras to pass through a view of the real world, allowing information to be overlaid on top.

I’m not sure how I would feel waking up to my anesthesiologist with a Vision Pro on their face.


Could emulators be great in the Vision Pro?

This is clearly the worst way to play a Game Boy Advance game in VR, but I think the excellent passthrough video of the Vision Pro could make for some very cool nostalgic emulation.

At the moment, I can’t shake the mental image of a Virtual Boy with Bluetooth controller support I can put my face into. Of course, this is in a fantasy world where Apple allows emulators on the Vision Pro App Store.


This is the entire Vision Pro motion sickness label.

Apple’s motion sickness support page tells you how to minimize possible nausea and other symptoms while using the Vision Pro. The company even offers a little label to tell you when an app or “Apple Immersive Media” has “larger amounts of motion.”

And this is it. This is how you know.