iOS 18, what did you think?

[Scott Greczkowski]

I was watching the WWDC Keynote and was extremely disappointed with what I saw... and then they through things back to Tim Cook and thats when things turned to the positive... Tim talked about those two important letters Apple users have been craving... AI - Yup Apple Intelligence is here.

Now I find it funny whenever someone says AI they are now going to think of Apple... Genius!

I was worried we were not going to see AI mentioned as during the entire presentation the kept referring to AI as Machine Learning.... but then came Tim.

Anyways I am excited now about iOS 18. I am hoping to download the beta today.

What did you think about it?

 

[zippyfrog]

I found the sending messages via satellite interesting.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I found the sending messages via satellite interesting.

I did too. And I remember when they introduces emergency messages via satellite, they said it was going to be free for a few years. So if thats the case I am wondering if they are going to charge for this?

If you only want to use WIFI and send messages while you are out then no need for cell services... so I am guessing there will be some limit or charge for this somewhere down the road.

 

[klang]

I'm curious to see how the addition of RCS to Messages works out. I'm in a lot of group texts with Android users which sometimes is a challenge.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok wish me luck.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KE4EST]

Which phone do you have Scott?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

iPhone 13 Pro Max

 

[meStevo]

Competing AI venture(s) aren't happy, lol, Musk is throwing a fit on Twitter. But he did that over their partnership with MS too, all a product of him not being first to market in a given industry and not being able to pave the path he wants others to follow IMO, but I digress.

We don't partake in much of the Apple ecosystem in our house, but liked a lot of what I did see of the presser. Good stuff.

I'm pretty close to at least getting my first iPad in several years because I want to tinker with things that only their suite of sensors allows for, like the metahuman stuff in Unreal Engine. As a result started paying more attention to events like this where I wouldn't have previously.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Well I installed it on my iPhone and besides a new Passwords app I am not seeing anyting new... its just like iOS 17 so far. no AI and most of what was announced today is missing.

Just installed it on my Macbook Pro and will be playing with it, I am most excited about iPhone mirroring onto my Macbook.

I still need to get this screen fixed but right now it is working ok. (If I move the screen though then I lose video). But thats now an iOS 18 issue, its a flexgate cable issue.

 

[klang]

Musk throwing a fit? Nah, here is what he posted.

If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation

 

[meStevo]

Musk throwing a fit? Nah, here is what he posted.

He said more than that, which is why I linked to it instead of embedding it, as to not contribute to a more significant derail

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok so its installed on my Macbook. And like iOS it seems most of the new features are not available yet... including the iPhone mirroring app. Thats the one I am really looking forward to.

 

[TRG]

Musk throwing a fit? Nah, here is what he posted.

Evidently expressing concern and having an opinion is throwing a fit now. Crazy times.

 

[TheForce]

Now I find it funny whenever someone says AI they are now going to think of Apple... Genius!

Nah, only those who don't know anything except what Apple does.

Elon is indeed having another emotional issue with Open AI and ChatGPT and threatened to ban his employees from using an iphone on Tesla property. I don't think that will stick. I didn't get the connection to chatGPT and Apple Intelligence anyway. Elon's beef is not with Apple but with his ex partners and Open AI. He claims Larry Page doesn't care if AI turns all humans into their pets or wipes out humanity, while Elon wants to make AI an extension of human intelligence with the neural link.

Anyways I am excited now about iOS 18. I am hoping to download the beta today.

I won't do beta but look forward to iOS18.

Did I miss anything about blood glucose monitoring? Must still having trouble getting that to work. I use the EKG monitoring and that now works well. I don't need it but I know many have been disappointed that is not available yet.

The one thing I have been having trouble with is the Apple watch Ultra2 and the Tesla watch apps no longer working with complications. One support claims Apple tightened up limitations on 3rd party apps that offer Complications auto updating in the last AW update to extend battery life. The apps still work with access and manual update but no longer auto update. Waiting for the app to develop a work around for complications. I never noticed an issue with battery life on the Ultra2. Mine gets a 15 minute charge boost every morning while in the shower and a full charge to 100% about every 4 days.

I have been having good results with the iphone 15 Pro Max and shooting spatial 3D video. I still don't see the value of the Apple Vision Pro but at 1/7 the cost Meta Quest 3 is great for viewing in 3D what I shoot in the iphone in 3D.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Elon is indeed having another emotional issue with Open AI and ChatGPT and threatened to ban his employees from using an iphone on Tesla property. I don't think that will stick. I didn't get the connection to chatGPT and Apple Intelligence anyway. Elon's beef is not with Apple but with his ex partners and Open AI. He claims Larry Page doesn't care if AI turns all humans into their pets or wipes out humanity, while Elon wants to make AI an extension of human intelligence with the neural link.

Elon (as crazy as he can be) does have a point here, and is something my own boss mentioned... He has no problem with AI within the Apple Infrastructure, but its the handoff to ChatGPT for other things that has him concerned. ChatGPT hasn't exactly had a great privacy record. He has our legal department on notice now about this. We already had issues with Adobe have AI enabled by Default and had to work with Adobe to disable the AI feature company wide. (They did disable it)

Did I miss anything about blood glucose monitoring? Must still having trouble getting that to work. I use the EKG monitoring and that now works well. I don't need it but I know many have been disappointed that is not available yet.

If they did anything with Blood Glucose monitoring it would probably be a new Apple Watch feature. With that said I do have my reading show up on my watch and have two apps that can send my readings to the watch so I can check anytime with just a glance. I use the Libre 3 sensors.

One is an app called GlucoseDirect (Click the URL below for full install instructions -
View: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4747621411996068/permalink/5632161093542091
- The app is delivered via TestFlight. The complication for this one does not seem to be working in iOS18 beta. However you can also have it display as a calendar entry which is working.

Another new one that is easier to use is LibreWatch, which is only available in the Watch Store. With this one it logs into your Libre Account to pull the numbers automatically. He is what it looks like on mine, my blood sugar is in the green circle on the top of the screen.

 

[TheForce]

Good info Scott, as usual.

My daughter recently gave a presentation to the school teachers on how to detect when a student used ChatGPT to do their reports. I have mixed feelings on it, although I don't use that for anything other than a novelty. I was not aware of the data sharing until this topic came up. I'm not liking that Elon made the statement he did publicly. As a Tesla enthusiast and Apple iphone / Watch fanboy it's like having two children in a fight and being asked to pick one.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think this opens up Pandoras box. As now teachers everywhere are going to think that all reports are being done by AI... even if the student did write the report, but used AI to clean it up a bit.

I know that rockymtnhigh is a professor and this has been a HUGE problem for him and the college. I would be interested to hear his view on this new addition to the Apple world.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I think this opens up Pandoras box. As now teachers everywhere are going to think that all reports are being done by AI... even if the student did write the report, but used AI to clean it up a bit.

I know that rockymtnhigh is a professor and this has been a HUGE problem for him and the college. I would be interested to hear his view on this new addition to the Apple world.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

My first response to the news that ChatGPT was being integrated into iOS18 was to groan. It was a nail in the coffin of student writing skills.

I have been grappling with GPT in classes for the last 18 months, but this fall I intentionally wrote an assignment in which the students had to write an essay about a documentary. The questions were tightly woven to the film. I ran the questions through GPT and it did not have any details of the actual documentary. This was for a large class with 147 students. Easy assignment. Watch the film. Write a response.

I failed 23% of the class for using GPT. They wrote the same answers, and instead of answering how the "defense attorney Brandy cross-examined the sheriff's deputy" with specifics - they wrote how Brandy could have done this. She might have done this. over and over. They showed no evidence of having watched the film. When asked other questions they gave very generic responses. I failed them on the merits for not answering the questions and commented that their responses were highly consistent with GPT.

ONLY one student complained - and she dug her own hole admitting she didn't watch the film, but "went to the internet to get a little help." Oh, and she used GPT to write her email to me. Actually three students did, begging for grade improvements.

So, if I am jaded, it's based in my own actual experiences. MY problem with AI is that students dont' care and don't even think its wrong to use it. For me, they are given an assignment to learn critical thinking and writing skills. NOT to copy and paste from AI. The problem is it is HARD to prove. The AI responses are not always the same.

Google already has generative AI in chrome which you can use in searches. Apple's integration of ChatGPT into Siri isn't surprising, but it mkes it even harder. Are we literally forced to do in-class writing only?

The irony is I use ChatGPT as a summary tool - it is very powerful if you give it text and ask it to extract and summarize info from the text. I can upload a document and query it. BUT it isn't always correct. It occasionally gets it wrong, even when it is supposedly ONLY working with the text you give it.

Education is at a turning pojnt - and while some people would say "this is no different then Wikipedia" I'd argue it is different. Yes, Wikipedia lets you have an encyclopedia of information that might or might not be factally correct. But AI will re-write your text. It will write your text for you. How do we deal with it? Is this the educated workforce we want? One that writes in AI. Do we want mindless drones? Maybe.

And I never thought I'd see the birth of Skynet.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Thanks for explaining it from your point of view.

AI is a true double edged sword.

The question now is will AI make us smarter or dumber?

I am leaning towards the later.