Daring Fireball
Articles about Daring Fireball
Unofficial Command-Line Tool Removes Apple Intelligence From MacOS 27
Scharon Harding, Ars Technica: Unlike with previous versions of macOS, macOS 27 Golden Gate doesn’t have a toggle for turning off Apple Intelligence. That makes disabling AI features that you may not want more difficult. It also means that the AI models necessary for running Apple Intelligence will take up space on your disk, even if you don’t use them or if you go through your settings to individually find and disable AI capabilities.
Steve Jobs, Walking Through a Mockup for Apple Park in 2010
What an apt photo, today of all days. What a gift Make Something Wonderful is. ★
[Sponsor] Sunnny
SAY MY NNNAME. SUNNNY is an intuitive platform that gives you a complete picture of all your customer data - cleaned, consolidated, and connected so you always know what’s going on.
OpenAI Announces Their Text Watermarking Plans
OpenAI, today: The EU AI Act requires generative AI providers to make generated text identifiable in a machine-readable way. Text watermarking and detection remain early technologies with significant limitations, and views about their benefits and responsible uses are still developing. Our phased approach reflects both the EU AI Act requirements as well as the technology’s limitations, with an emphasis on transparency about what a text watermark can and cannot tell people:
Ternus and Cook Tweet Brief Remembrances on the 15th Anniversary of Steve Jobs’s Death
John Ternus, posting on X: The way Steve taught us to care about every detail, every experience, every person, still guides our work today. Forever grateful. Tim Cook, also on X (with a photo I don’t recall seeing before): There are people who leave a mark on the world, and then there are people who change it entirely. Steve changed the world and so many lives in the process. He certainly changed my life forever. His spirit lives on in everything he created and everyone he inspired. ★
WorkOS
My thanks to WorkOS for sponsoring this last week, once again, at DF. SSO is table stakes for enterprise deals, but building it into your app yourself means writing SAML controllers, parsing XML assertions, and handling IdP-specific quirks for each provider. Learn how SAML flows work, the tradeoffs between building or buying, and best practices for security, routing, and UX. Or, skip the hassle and add SSO with WorkOS. Read their developer’s guide to learn more — everything from how SSO works to why WorkOS is the fastest way to add it. ★
Apple Confirms iPhone 18 Pro Max AT&T Cellular Issues, Affected Devices Require Hardware Replacement
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said: We have identified an issue affecting a small number of iPhone 18 Pro Max users on the AT&T network that may cause a device to lose service and be unable to make calls. We released iOS 27.0.1 earlier this week and strongly encourage all iPhone 18 Pro Max users to update now, and are also issuing a carrier settings update today. These updates together are meant to help prevent this issue from occurring.
Apple Is Going to Further Tighten the Screws on Full Disk Access on MacOS, in Response to Agentic AI Apps Running Amok
Apple Developer News, in a post titled “Updates to Full Disk Access in macOS”: We give developers powerful APIs to build incredible capabilities into their apps for Apple products, backed by a set of controls designed to protect users’ private data. Full Disk Access largely sidesteps these controls in order to allow backup apps to function properly on the Mac.
Yankees Sweep Boston in Two Games, by Combined Score of 18-2
In the 6th inning last night the Yankees were only ahead 2-0, and Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras hit a home run, closing it to 2-1. Contreras decided to walk around the bases. The baseball gods do not look kindly upon that sort of jackassery. In the next inning, Contreras wasn’t paying attention and his laziness allowed a Yankee to reach base after striking out on a wild pitch. That started the rally that resulted in the blowout final score. ★
The developer’s guide to SSO — WorkOS Guides
SSO is table stakes for enterprise deals, but building it into your app yourself means writing SAML controllers, parsing XML assertions, and handling IdP-specific quirks for each provider. Learn how SAML flows work, the tradeoffs between building or buying, and best practices for security, routing, and UX. Or skip the hassle and add SSO with WorkOS. Read the guide → ★
Gurman Reports Apple Is Launching New ‘Smart Home’ Products on October 13
Link to: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-30/apple-is-finally-ready-to-enter-its-next-big-category-the-smart-home?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc5MDc3MDk0MywiZXhwIjoxNzkxMzc1NzQzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTTM0SDRUOTZPU0cwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9.11wEtJfuMwCkznTkepXugZ2wuZTmxO9CdsNJLAcBd1M
Anthropic’s IPO Prospectus Is a Fucking Doozy
Echo Wang, reporting for Reuters yesterday: Anthropic is making a massive bet that AI will transform the global economy more profoundly than industrialization, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters. This is a strong clear lede, but even so it falls short of expressing the true magnitude of what Anthropic represents. To wit, not that “AI” as a field will prove more profoundly transformational than industrialization, electricity, and the Internet, but that Anthropic alone will.
Follow-Up on my Spitballed Predictions for Apple’s October
Regarding my post yesterday speculating on how Apple’s October — seemingly set to be a big one — might play out, a friend asked if any or all of the new stuff might be released through Apple Newsroom announcements only. Good question. Let’s run through the rumored new hardware products:
Destroy Any Website
Desktop only, and you definitely want sound on. With things like this I always start with Kottke.org. No idea why, because it’s quite possibly the last site on the entire web I’d want to see actually destroyed. (Well, second-to-last.) ★
Bastardica
“A foundry for bastard web fonts.” The default is a version of Times New Roman but every 7th glyph is replaced with one from Arial, but you can dial up whatever bastardization you want. This is why I’m not at all worried about AI destroying the world. Look at the horrible things human beings have made. ★
‘When Did Google Get So F-Ing Weird?’
Sancho Panza: I recently had an experience while doing a simple Google search that was so profoundly weird that it stopped me in my tracks. Kagi, the search engine I’ve been using for a few years now, gave me the exact sort of results to Panza’s query that he was looking for. ★
Joanna Stern Pokes the Pickle
If anyone could devise a funny way to measure battery life, it’s her. ★
‘Donald Decodes’ Interview Craig Federighi Regarding the iPhone Duo
Apple executives seemingly did very few interviews after the iPhone event three weeks ago. The best, perhaps by far, is this 11-minute video with Craig Federighi by “Daniel Decodes”, a Chinese language creator. His YouTube account only has 1,100 followers (and only had had 500 at the time of the video) and only one other video — presumably he’s got a big following in China. Very insightful questions about the Duo user interface — and Federighi gives very thoughtful answers. ★
Why Stolen Device Protection Makes Passwords Safer
Glenn Fleishman: Leaving Stolen Device Protection enabled does mean that you may have to wait an hour in some scenarios to manage aspects of your Apple Account, make changes to Face ID or Touch ID, change your device passcode, and a few other actions. But this minor inconvenience might assuage the kinds of concerns that Scott wrote in about, and make you more comfortable that your big basket of secret eggs won’t scramble.
Jeremy Stern’s Profile of Mark Zuckerberg for Colossus
Jeremy Stern, in a massive and massively good profile of Mark Zuckerberg for Colossus: Unsure of my own ability to evaluate such things, I leave Meta HQ and spend another few days in Palo Alto and San Francisco ahead of my interview with Zuckerberg, seeking out a number of MSL’s competitors and investors who agree to speak to me on background.
Muse, Instagram, and VLC Lookalike Rip-Offs in the Mac App Store
Jeff Johnson: In other words, Muse AI is a blatant copy of Muse from Meta, the latter of which is currently the #1 iOS App Store download in the United States. I don’t know where Muse AI ranks in the iOS App Store, but I do know that it’s currently the #20 Mac App Store download in the US. It wasn’t languishing in obscurity — it had risen to #20 in the Mac App Store. A lot of Mac users are very confused when they’re told that Mac apps are available but they’re not in the Mac App Store, so it’s a rife opportunity for scammers.
Spitballing Predictions for Apple’s October
On the new episode of The Talk Show that dropped over the weekend, Andru Edwards and I talked first about the September event Apple held three weeks ago at Apple Park, and then moved on to speculate about what they might do in October. The rumor mill says Apple has a bunch of as-yet-unannounced products coming: a new iPad Mini (generation 8), new Apple TV hardware (4th generation — maybe they’ll give it a better name than “Apple TV 4K”?), new HomePod Mini (2nd generation), and an altogether new HomePod-type hub with a display.
Duo-Man
Vidit Bhargava (developer of Lookup and Movie Buzz): Duo-Man offers the complete walkman experience on the iPhone Duo. Open the Duo to pick and “insert” the cassette, Close the Duo to start listening. Yes, I actually recorded the button clicks and static noise from a real Walkman! More like this, please. ★
Mux: Turn Your Video Into Context
My thanks to Mux for sponsoring last week at DF. Video isn’t just something to stream; it’s structured data you build with.
Katie Notopoulos on Alexandr Wang’s ‘Faux-Hallmark Pap’
Katie Notopoulos, in a short tweet thread regarding Alexandr Wang’s “Why We’re Building Muse” essay: This makes me feel insane! This is faux-hallmark pap and if you believe for 1 sec that he cares about helping people “spending more time with family” or “opening a bakery” you don’t need to wait for AI to kill us; you’re stupid enough to drown from looking up at the rain. My take is much closer to Notopoulos’s than to Manton Reece’s.
Reelizer Returns
Back in 2011 I linked to Reelizer, a splendid archive of movie posters curated by Roger Erik Tinch. Reelizer went away for a few years, but Tinch has brought it back, seemingly better than ever. Huzzah. ★
Alexandr Wang: ‘Why I’m Building Muse’
Alexandr Wang, blogging on X: Now imagine every person on earth with a second mind beyond their own. A general manager whose whole job is to find out what you want and make sure it happens. Someone that hears the half-sentence, “I feel like there’s something more I could be doing,” and helps fill in the blanks. This might not be a genie in a bottle, but it can be someone that says, “This is the thing you’ve been dreaming of your whole life. Let’s go get it. Here’s how.” And then builds a plan. Sends the email. Makes the phone call.
Apple’s Other Recent ‘Duo’
I keep mentioning Apple’s 1992 groundbreaking PowerBook Duo series as a precedent of the iPhone Duo’s name. But of course in 2020, Apple released the MagSafe Duo Charger, a wonderful Lightning peripheral for charging an iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time. It even folded.
International Standard Paper Sizes
Markus Kuhn: In the ISO paper size system, the height-to-width ratio of all pages is the square root of two (1.4142 : 1). In other words, the width and the height of a page relate to each other like the side and the diagonal of a square. This aspect ratio is especially convenient for a paper size. If you put two such pages next to each other, or equivalently cut one parallel to its shorter side into two equal pieces, then the resulting page will have again the same width/height ratio.
Microsoft Took the ‘Copilot+ PC’ Brand Out Behind the Shed
Zac Bowden, Windows Central: In 2024, Microsoft and Qualcomm kicked off a new category of Windows hardware it called “Copilot+ PCs” that set the baseline for a new wave of AI-first computers, and launched with exclusive features that would not be made available on PCs that didn’t meet a new set of system requirements. The launch didn’t go smoothly. [...] I’ve noticed that none of the Surface PCs launched in 2026 include the Copilot+ PC moniker in their product names, unlike the Surface PCs that launched in 2025 and before.
The Talk Show: ‘I’m Thinking X, Not X’
Andru Edwards returns to the show to discuss Apple’s big September event and their new products: the iPhones 18 Pro and Duo, AirPods 5, and Apple Watch Series 12/Ultra 4. Sponsored by: Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off and one free breakfast item per box for one year, while supplies last, with code talkshow50off. Notion: The collaborative AI workspace where teams and agents work side by side, with a developer platform teams can build on. ★
Mr. Choyka Is Apparently Doing Well
A reader asked if this Gary Choyka who hit two holes-in-one in the same round of golf back in 2020 is the same Gary Choyka who was my history teacher 30+ years ago. Indeed it is. He looks good. (He was a hell of a basketball player too.) ★
Stock UI in MacOS 27 Eschews Clarity
“Thibault”, in post on Mastodon responding to Brent Simmons’s “stock Mac UI” post that I just linked to:
Brent Simmons on ‘Stock’ Mac UI
Brent Simmons: To recap: the reasons for using stock Mac UI are 1) user familiarity, which we’ve known for a while just isn’t a thing, and 2) hoping to be able to expend less developer effort, which we’ve seen can work against you. But there’s another reason: the stock Mac UI is designed by Apple, the best designers in the world, and do you really think you can do better? Really? The app world is full of people who think they’re better and they’re really, really, really not.
I’ll Wait
It’s Friday, and Muse is still the #1 app in the iOS App Store — that’s a full week in the top spot. Who knows if it’s a flash in the pan or not. (Remember Clubhouse? Sora?) But at the moment it’s clearly a hit. It certainly helps that Meta itself is promoting Muse heavily on their own channels like Instagram and Facebook.
Regarding the Provenance of Charm Within Meta
Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg Wednesday, after Meta’s 2026 Connect keynote (gift link): Meta Platforms Inc. unveiled a palm-sized, dedicated gadget for using Muse, the company’s popular new artificial intelligence assistant, pushing deeper into the AI devices market with a surprise announcement. The product, unveiled on stage by Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, was born out of the company’s new design lab led by former Apple Inc. interface design chief Alan Dye and its Superintelligence AI group.
Muse Looks Cute, but Looks Are Deceiving
Jason Aten, in a good follow-up to his previous column at Inc. (the one where he described how Muse, running on his Mac, read his Messages database):
I Was Not Blown Away by Eli Tan’s ‘I Was Blown Away’ Review of Meta Muse
Link to: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/technology/meta-muse-ai-agent.html?unlocked_article_code=1.D1E.Wram.T8Ww85vXKKYU
Victoria Song on Meta Muse’s Cuteness
Victoria Song, in her Optimizer column/newsletter for The Verge: I’ve been aggressively avoiding Muse since it launched a few weeks ago. Sure, some of that is because I was busy testing other devices. But the number-one reason why is that I am horribly vulnerable when faced with extreme cuteness. Alas, at Meta Connect, I couldn’t escape this pink-cheeked fella with his plush ivory fur, and so I finally downloaded the app once I returned to my hotel room. He was plastered on every screen during the keynote.
Joanna Stern Interviews Mark Zuckerberg
Great interview from Stern, as usual, seemingly conducted on the old set of Three’s Company. She opened by asking if AI is going to wipe out humanity, and I think Zuck whiffed by not simply laughing and saying no. She also directly asked his thoughts on people calling Meta Glasses “pervert glasses”.
Meta Connect Keynote 2026
Meta’s annual keynote yesterday was a tight 55-minute live event held on their campus in Menlo Park. I watched the whole thing this morning, before recording tomorrow’s episode of Dithering. (Which you should subscribe to.)
‘Apple Opens Apple Music Hall, a State-of-the-Art Live Music Venue in London’
Apple Newsroom: Apple today announced the opening of Apple Music Hall, a brand-new state-of-the-art live music venue in London’s storied Battersea Power Station, designed to connect artists and fans through bespoke, intimate performances unlike anywhere else. Apple might be the most interesting architecture company in the world this century.
Ed Zitron’s AI Prediction Track Record
Dan Luu serves up some copiously documented claim chowder: After this point, most further predictions that I saw were either non-falsifiable or resolve in the future. Note that I didn’t attempt to catalogue statements that are nonsensical or were simply factually incorrect statements at the time, such as his December 2024 claim that “Generative AI’s products have effectively been trapped in amber for over a year.” January 2026 claim that “[models are] basically the same as they were a year ago. They have the same efficacy”.
Copland D11E4, Emulated in Your Browser
Michael Steil: Apple’s ill-fated Copland operating system is notoriously hard to run on real hardware, and has not previously been available in emulation. Here is the last build, D11E4 from June 1996, in an improved DingusPPC. Playing around with the GXSlidemaster app, I found a bug. The keyboard shortcut for File → Print One is ⌥⌘P, but the menu manager displays it as ⌘π (because Option-P is how you type a π; add Shift to get ∏). I should file a Radar. ★
Changes to App Tracking Transparency in the E.U
Apple Developer: As part of agreements with select European competition authorities, Apple is introducing changes to its App Tracking Transparency framework in the European Union. Beginning with iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, developers will have the option to use an alternative version of the App Tracking Transparency system prompt in the EU. The requirements for when you must seek permission to track users will remain the same.
The iPhone 4 ‘Antennagate’ Press Conference Q&A — Finally
The most extraordinary Apple event in the company’s modern history was the emergency press conference on Friday, 16 July 2010 to address “antennagate” — the out-of-control media narrative that the iPhone 4 had a defective antenna design. The event was only scheduled one day in advance — I got invited around noon ET on July 15 and was on my way to the airport about an hour later. It remains one of the most interesting press events I’ve ever attended.
AppZapper 3000
Back in the mid-2000s there was a golden era of exuberantly designed Mac apps. Paul Kafasis coined it “The Delicious Generation”, a perfect name. The delicious was both a reference to Wil Shipley and Mike Matas’s Delicious Library — a personal media library management app that made something that sounds really boring look super fun — and a perfect description of the aesthetic. It clearly harks back to Steve Jobs’s description of the Aqua user interface in 2000: “One of the design goals was when you saw it, you wanted to lick it.”