Macworld When Apple’s M1 chip made its debut in November 2020, it not only shook up the Mac, it shook up the whole computer industry, outperforming chips from giants such as Intel (which Apple ditched) and AMD. Those companies have been doing their best to catch up and lo and behold, AMD now claims its latest laptop chip, the 7840U, is faster than Apple’s M2. According to AMD, its new Ryzen 7 7840U shows improvement over the M2 that ranges from 5 percent in web browsing to 75 in the Passmark 10 benchmark tool. (We wonder why it doesn’t supply specific numbers or use a more common tool such as Geekbench or Cinebench.) Macworld’s sister site, PCWorld, states that the…

Macworld On Tuesday, Apple and Google announced a joint initiative to prevent the misuse of Bluetooth online tracking devices, such as Apple’s AirTag. The two companies have developed a specification that is being proposed as an industry standard for iOS and Android and has the backing of many third-party companies that offer such trackers, including Chipolo, eufy Security, Pebblebee, Samsung, and Tile. “Apple launched AirTag to give users the peace of mind knowing where to find their most important items,” said Ron Huang, Apple’s vice president of Sensing and Connectivity. “We built AirTag and the Find My network with a set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking–a first in the industry–and we continue to make improvements to help ensure…

Apple and Alphabet subsidiary Google said on Tuesday they were working together to curb unwanted tracking of people by Bluetooth devices such as AirTags used for finding lost items. Apple AirTag 4-Pack Location-tracking devices help users find personal items like their keys, purse, luggage, and more through crowdsourced finding networks. However, they can also be misused for unwanted tracking of individuals. Today Apple and Google jointly submitted a proposed industry specification to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking. The first-of-its-kind specification will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms. Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have expressed support for the draft specification, which…

Yet again, Microsoft is trying to follow Apple’s lead (Mac -> Windows, iPod -> Zune, iPhone -> Windows phone, iPad -> Surface tablet, etc.) and is assembling an in-house “Microsoft Silicon” (Redmond is as original as ever) team to build new ARM chips. Mayank Parmar for Windows Latest: I have also spotted some job listings that suggest the company is building its own Silicon-based ARM chips for client devices. Additionally, I understand that Microsoft is optimizing Windows 12 for Silicon-ARM architecture. The job listings (most of them have now been taken down) describe positions related to custom silicon accelerators, System on Chips (SoCs), and high-performance, high-bandwidth designs. This suggests that Microsoft is building its own ARM-based chips, aiming to compete…

Apple has quietly withdrawn its lawsuit against former executive Gerard Williams III in a filing posted on Friday (via Bloomberg). Williams was described as critical to the development of the high-performance A-series and M-series Apple Silicon chips. He left Apple to start a server chip start-up Nuvia. Apple accused him of poaching colleagues for the start-up whilst he was still under Apple’s employ. Lawsuit proceedings began in 2019. more… The post Apple quietly drops lawsuit against former Apple Silicon exec who left company to run his own chip start-up appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Apple is having a hard time convincing top engineers that Siri can keep up with AI-focused rivals.
 Apple has recently lost three top engineers working on AI technology to Google-parent Alphabet, The Information reports.
 Apple’s Siri icon Hasan Chowdhury
 for BusinessInsider: Apple has lost three top engineers working on ChatGPT-like technology to Google, in a sign the iPhone-maker is struggling to supercharge its AI efforts and Siri as large language models go mainstream. Srinivasan Venkatachary, Steven Baker and Anand Shukl quit because they believed Google was a better place to work on the large language models underlying tools like ChatGPT, which went viral on its release in late November. They were personally poached by Google CEO Sundar Pichai after shunning…