iOS Third-party Browser Engines Only Debugged in the EU and Other News

• May 20, 2024
• By Uninstallerly.com Editor

iOS Third-party Browser Engines Only Debugged in the EU

Although Apple announced that it would follow the requirements of the European Union’s Digital Marketplace Act by allowing browser apps on iOS to use a third-party engine different from Safari WebKit (an opening that has since been extended to iPadOS), such apps will only be able to be developed and tested on devices physically located in the European Union, according to The Register. This strict ‘geo-fencing’ mechanism creates an additional barrier for developers.

In response, browser makers such as Opera and Vivaldi, which will benefit from the new EU regulations, said they have European development teams and are not affected, but criticized Apple’s move as anti-competitive. Currently, the EU is still investigating whether the relevant rules issued by Apple comply with the requirements of the Digital Market Act. Apple has yet to comment.

Musk Announces X Completes Domain Switch

On May 17, Musk posted on X that the social network’s “all core systems now run on X.com”. This marks the completion of the brand name change from Twitter to X, a year and a half after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition. For a long time, users were able to access X and its posts using the twitter.com domain name, with only links shared within the iOS app using x.com earlier, and as of Friday, user testing has shown that access to twitter.com will be redirected to x.com in the vast majority of instances. Last month, X was found to be using a clumsy way to push through the domain migration. kludgy way to advance the domain migration, i.e., by directly replacing twitter.com with x.com in all links on the platform, thus providing an opportunity for phishing. (The issue has since been fixed.) Musk is obsessed with the X name. He founded an X company in 1999, which later merged with PayPal. Currently, Musk’s vision for X is to develop it into a WeChat-like ‘universal app’.

Winamp Announces Source Code Release

Winamp, the classic audio player, has announced that it will release its source code publicly on September 24th so that “developers around the world can contribute their expertise, ideas, and enthusiasm” to help grow Winamp. The source code will be released only for Windows, excluding Android and iOS. In addition, the source code will be released under the alternative name of FreeLlama, and Winamp reserves the right to decide what code is adopted from the community for the official version. Winamp also announced that it will add platform features and more streaming support to the July 1 release. Originally released in 1997 by Nullsoft, Winamp was acquired by AOL in 1999 and then re-sold to its current owners, the Llama Group (formerly known as Radionomy). In its early years, Winamp was popular for its lightweight design and its skins and plug-ins, but its popularity declined after the early 2000s.

Other News

According to Reuters, Tesla is planning to set up a data center in the country to collect and process local data to train the Autopilot function. Another parallel plan is cross-border transmission and offshore processing, pending approval. Tesla has not yet determined which option it will ultimately use.

Apple plans to release a new high-end iPhone 17 model next year with a design update similar to the iPhone X, which could start at $1,199, The Information claims. Among the model’s features are a rear camera that could be moved to the top center, an aluminum frame, a significant reduction in thickness, a narrower Dexterity Island, and a size between 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches.

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that the iPhone 16 Standard Edition will come in black, green, pink, blue and white (replacing yellow in the 15 series), and the Pro Edition will come in black, silver, titanium gray and rose gold (replacing blue in the 15 Pro series).

According to Mark Gurman, Apple plans to announce a major partnership with OpenAI at WWDC, and OpenAI is preparing in advance to carry an Apple-sized user base. iOS 18 is proposed to include the following AI features: summarizing iPhone notifications, aggregating news articles, transcribing voice memos, auto-filling calendars, recommending apps, and photo enhancements. These features will be done primarily on the device side, and some will be done on Apple servers. There will be no new Mac Studio or Mac Pro until mid-2025. The next generation of AirTag is expected to launch in mid-2025.