In less than half a month, Apple will celebrate its 50th birthday. However, because of Apple's image as a constant trendsetter, many people don't realize that it is now a veritable elder statesman in the IT industry. Among the tech giants of its age, very few remain at the top-tier table today.
Last week, Apple launched several new hardware products. Unlike previous launch events, this release was unusually low-key. Initially, I was only interested in the newly announced monitor, but after seeing numerous tech media outlets criticizing the MacBook Neo's specs, I couldn't help but pay closer attention to it. Looking past the superficial downgrades, I saw Apple's clear determination to return to the education market through its precise pricing strategy.
On the morning of March 1st, I received a message from OpenClaw. It was part of a scheduled task I had set up after installing it: on the first day of every month, it sends me a summary of the main tasks it executed on my behalf over the past month.
As a television program with over a billion viewers, the China Central Television's Spring Festival Gala is undoubtedly an exceptional showcase platform. In this year's Gala, multiple Chinese robotics manufacturers presented their products in various performances, among which Unitree’s humanoid robots caught the most attention.
At this once-in-60-years auspicious moment, I wish all my readers: good health (CPU at full power), a soaring career (performance optimised), smooth sailing in everything (bug-free runtime), and immediate success (compilation passed)! 🎉
The arrival of Xcode 26.3, with almost no advance notice, responded to these doubts with concrete action. By integrating Claude Code/Codex, Apple's answer was direct: with the right strategy, Xcode remains a highly promising development environment within the Apple ecosystem. This time, Xcode didn't simply add a CLI tool panel; instead, it introduced a native set of Xcode Tools (MCP), coordinated with official technical documentation for Swift 6, SwiftUI, SwiftData, and more, creating a highly consistent experience aligned with the latest practices.
Two weeks ago, taking the opportunity of attending iOS Conf SG 2026, I visited the National Gallery Singapore and had the pleasure of viewing the special exhibition "Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston". Although I have seen many excellent exhibitions in the past, this experience resonated with me in a distinct and unexpected way.
Skip Tools recently announced that it is now completely free and open-sourcing its core engine, skipstone. This means Skip has fundamentally changed its business model: from selling a product to relying on services and community sponsorships. This change reflects both the pressure of an underperforming commercial strategy and the team’s willingness to take risks. In an era dominated by AI and a largely entrenched developer tooling landscape, Skip chose to actively pivot rather than stand still.
2026 kicked off with two major AI headlines: Anthropic banned third-party CLIs and wrappers from using personal subscriptions, and Apple officially confirmed a deep partnership with Google.
When I learned to drive, I used a manual transmission (MT). At first, my lack of skill often left me flustered, so for my first car, I went straight for an automatic (AT). However, after driving for a few years, I began to crave that sense of total control, so I added a manual car to my collection. Regrettably, as traffic congestion grew worse, the joy of shifting gears was gradually canceled out by exhaustion, and that car eventually sat neglected. It has been nearly twenty years since I seriously drove a manual, but deep down, I still occasionally miss that time when "man and car were one."
Happy New Year, everyone! Over the past few years, AI has consistently occupied the center stage of the tech world. But looking back from the start of 2026, I’ve noticed a significant shift: since late 2025, the obsession with trillion-parameter models and leaderboard benchmarks has gradually cooled. In its place is a sober, hands-on focus on the meticulous cultivation of AI Workflows
Over the past few days, I’ve been reflecting on the evolution of Swift, SwiftUI, and SwiftData throughout this year. My overall impression is that while there weren't many "flashy" surprises, a palpable sense of maturity has quietly emerged.
Sunday afternoon, I was preparing Monday's weekly newsletter as usual. The moment I stood up, my right pinky finger seemed to bump into something, and then it wouldn't straighten.
Regular readers of my blog may have noticed that I haven’t published many personal pieces lately. Instead, over the past few weeks, I’ve shared a series of guest posts from developers across different domains. This is part of a special initiative I recently launched—inviting practitioners who have deep experience and meaningful accomplishments in their respective fields to share their hands-on insights, hard-won lessons, unique perspectives, and personal journeys.
AirDrop has long enabled fast, lossless, cable-free transfers across Apple devices, forming a signature and tightly guarded advantage within the Apple ecosystem. But this long-standing situation has taken an unexpected turn. A few days ago, Google announced that the Pixel 10 can now interoperate with AirDrop without Apple’s involvement, bringing AirDrop-compatible wireless sharing to Android through Quick Share.
Nearly thirty years have passed since I graduated from college. Most of my classmates are now fully absorbed in their careers and families, so our alumni chat stays quiet for long stretches of time. But last Thursday night, an unexpected burst of activity suddenly broke the silence.
A few days ago, I routinely ran `brew upgrade` after typing `brew update`. To my surprise, the terminal displayed something I'd never seen before—numerous packages downloading in parallel, neatly arranged and progressing simultaneously. After a moment of astonishment, I learned from the news: Homebrew had released version 5.0
Skip announced that the Skip Fuse version is now free for indie developers, supporting cross-compilation based on the official Swift Android SDK. This issue also features articles on SwiftData architecture refinement, Tuist project management migration, and the new personalization mechanism of Language Discovery.
My parents-in-law have always been in good health, especially my father-in-law, who had never been hospitalized in his more than eighty years. Yet within a short span of time, they both went through life-threatening moments — fortunately, both ended well.
On October 24, the Swift Android Workgroup released the nightly preview version of the Swift SDK for Android. This marks the SDK's transition from early internal testing to official support, representing a significant step forward in Swift's cross-platform journey.
My father's iPhone 16 suddenly stopped charging. After making an appointment, I took it to the Apple Store for repair. Once the staff confirmed the issue, they provided me with an iPhone 14 as a loaner and helped transfer the data. Twelve days later (which included a long holiday), the device was ready—the Type-C port had been replaced, along with a complimentary new battery. The experience was, as always, satisfying.
Last week, Qualcomm announced its acquisition of the renowned open-source hardware platform Arduino, simultaneously unveiling the first Arduino to feature Qualcomm silicon—the Arduino UNO Q. Unlike its classic predecessors, the UNO Q employs a "dual-brain" architecture: a Linux-running Qualcomm Dragonwing processor handles high-performance computing, while an STM32 microcontroller manages real-time control tasks.
A week ago, OpenAI released the Sora 2 model along with a new Sora app that carries distinct social-platform features. For now, users can generate videos with Sora 2 only through its iOS app. In terms of visual detail, character rendering, environmental texture, and audio-visual synchronization, Sora 2 represents a substantial improvement over earlier versions.
According to 9TO5Mac's report, Apple is adding MCP (Model Context Protocol) support to its ecosystem to enable agentic AI capabilities. The implementation path closely aligns with our speculation in Weekly #077
One year after the release of Swift 6.0, Swift 6 welcomes its second major version update. Beyond the much-anticipated Default Actor Isolation, Swift 6.2 brings numerous practical new features.
Tomorrow marks the official release of iOS 26, and a large number of users are likely to upgrade immediately to experience the brand-new Liquid Glass design language. Compared to previous years, this year’s adaptation workload is significantly heavier—especially for apps with complex interactions, which may face many unexpected issues.
Google has announced that starting September 2026, it will extend Play Store developer verification requirements to all Android app installation methods, fundamentally altering the platform's open distribution model. This policy requires all developers distributing apps outside Google Play to register with Google, provide government-issued identification, and pay fees. The policy will first be implemented in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand, before expanding globally in 2027. This represents Android's most significant departure from its founding principles of an open ecosystem.
In the blink of an eye, this newsletter has reached its 100th issue. Looking back to the first issue in October 2023, I wasn't sure I could keep this going for so long. Yet over these two years, through consistent creation, I've gained so much.
At the first World Humanoid Robot Games recently held in Beijing, many amusing scenes unfolded: robots punching at thin air, swaying from side to side while running, and collectively tumbling after colliding during soccer matches.
Patton is 13 years old now. While he usually displays far more energy and vitality than other dogs his age, various health issues have inevitably emerged as he's gotten older. Recently, Patton was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, and the vet prescribed a targeted treatment plan. Just as I was feeling relieved that the treatment seemed to be working, last Monday afternoon, Patton suddenly couldn't stand, was drooling excessively, and showed clear signs of cardiac distress.
Last Saturday, Apple officially and permanently closed an Apple Store in Dalian, China, marking the first time the company has closed a directly-operated store in the country. The store opened in 2015, exactly ten years ago. Following the announcement, numerous online reports emerged, with some interpreting this as a signal about Apple's business conditions in China. Since this store happens to be located in my city, I have some firsthand knowledge of the situation and would like to share a different perspective.
Despite some minor issues, I had a pretty good impression of the previous beta versions of Xcode 26. Both the refreshing visual experience and the clearer annotations for AI-generated code were quite impressive. However, after recently updating to beta 4, these positive feelings quickly dissipated due to frequent Preview crashes.
A few days ago, the Blender Foundation announced that it is developing a native version for iPad Pro with specialized optimizations for Apple Pencil. The initial version will focus on basic object manipulation and sculpting features, with later versions adding Grease Pencil and storyboarding capabilities. It's particularly worth noting that this is not a feature-limited iPadOS version like some professional software, but a fully-featured Blender iPadOS native application.
Last week I went to the theater to watch *F1*, Apple’s latest original movie—and the experience far exceeded my expectations. While the storyline was admittedly a bit thin, the sheer sense of immersion and racing excitement it delivered easily justified the ticket price. When Brad Pitt’s APXGP car thundered down Silverstone Circuit, the roar of the engine shaking the IMAX sound system transported me back to those days, over 20 years ago, when I’d sit glued to the TV cheering on the fierce duels between Schumacher and Alonso.
After installing iOS 26 beta 3, users quickly noticed that the Liquid Glass effect is no longer as translucent as in the previous two beta releases. This change has sparked two opposing perspectives: some see it as a sign that Apple’s flagship design concept from WWDC 2025 is facing challenges, while others view it as evidence of Apple’s responsiveness to user experience data and its ability to iterate quickly. Either way, such a significant UI adjustment within a short time underscores the importance of developer betas—allowing technically savvy users with higher tolerance for change to provide feedback is essential for a company serving billions of people.
Since mid-June, my city has also experienced unusually high temperatures. Although 30-31°C may not seem dramatic compared to other regions that routinely see 35-40+°C, for me, accustomed to temperatures in the 20s, this heat has become quite unbearable.
Several months after the Swift forums first announced the formation of an Android Community Workgroup in February 2025, Swift.org has now officially launched an Android Workgroup. This marks the beginning of officially led efforts to support Swift on Android. With this, Swift developers may soon benefit from improved toolchains and a better development experience on Android.
At WWDC 2025’s “Bring Your SceneKit Project to RealityKit” session, Apple officially announced that SceneKit will receive “critical-bug only” maintenance going forward, with no new features planned. The framework is now marked as deprecated in the official documentation, and developers are encouraged to migrate to RealityKit. Although many of us anticipated this day, the formal announcement still evokes a pang of nostalgia.
WWDC 2025 has drawn to a close. Over the past week, Apple introduced a host of brand-new frameworks and APIs, and unveiled the Liquid Glass visual style that is set to leave a lasting impact in the years ahead. It’s only natural that many developers, upon discovering that some long-awaited features or APIs are available only on the latest OS versions, felt the urge to bump their minimum deployment target straight to OS 26. Yet, after taking a moment to cool down, most will have to accept the reality that these new capabilities won’t be accessible for several years.
WWDC 2025 introduced a host of eye-catching new features and APIs. In this special issue, we’ve handpicked high-value analysis articles, practical tools, and key takeaways from the developer community to help you quickly master the essentials of these new capabilities. Content will continue to be updated through the end of the week.
Ahead of WWDC 2025, the Swift official website has undergone a comprehensive redesign. The new design aims to enhance user-friendliness, highlight Swift’s technical strengths, and make it easier for beginners to get started. As a programming language deeply connected to the Apple ecosystem, the website naturally incorporates strong Apple-style visual elements.
A few days ago, Josh Miller, CEO of The Browser Company, published an open letter to Arc users, sharing content that the community has been widely interested in, including why the team is transitioning from Arc to Dia, the lessons learned from the Arc project, Dia's design philosophy, why Dia's features weren't integrated into Arc, and Arc's future development plans.
Three months ago, during my communication with a certain Apple department, I reiterated my expectation for Apple to continue hosting group Q&A activities like Lounges or Ask Apple. I'm delighted to see that WWDC 2025 brings back this new group interaction initiative in the form of Group Labs.
Time flies, and there are only 20 days left until WWDC 2025 begins. In the past few years, I would always write several articles around this time imagining the new features WWDC might bring and the changes I was looking forward to.
A few days ago, a friend who had previously highly praised and fully embraced Vibe Coding posted a tweet expressing his recent frustration with AI-based programming: Recently, Vibe Coding hasn't brought me any joy in writing code. On the contrary, I've felt frustrated by AI's inability to get things right the first time. I've started reading official documentation and quality videos again, building knowledge from the ground up, and that sense of control over my projects has returned.
A few days ago, the Epic Games v. Apple case reached a critical milestone. The court ruled that Apple had willfully violated the permanent antitrust injunction issued in 2021. The court not only approved Epic's motion to enforce the injunction but also took the rare step of referring Apple's behavior to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, to investigate potential criminal contempt of court charges.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Google have recently made significant progress in their antitrust litigation. The court found that Google had disadvantaged competitors and harmed publishers and consumers by tying its ad server to its ad exchange platform and manipulating the auction process. As one potential remedy, the DOJ is considering requiring Google to divest its Chrome browser and terminate its default search-engine agreements with device manufacturers. Following rumors of OpenAI’s $3 billion bid for WindSurf, OpenAI immediately expressed interest in acquiring Chrome once the ruling was announced.
Last Monday, my blog experienced a brief outage due to an expired HTTPS certificate. Thankfully, within five minutes of the issue, an attentive reader notified me about the problem. After contacting my cloud service provider, we discovered the outage was caused by a bug in their automated SSL certificate renewal system. Following two hours of troubleshooting, the issue was resolved, and my website returned to normal operation.
Not long ago, Microsoft significantly enhanced GitHub Copilot’s functionality. In addition to adding support for MCP, it also introduced an Agent mode for AI interaction similar to that of Cursor. As a result, GitHub Copilot has significantly closed the gap with the leading AI code tools. Given its lower pricing strategy (only $10 per month), it is clear that Microsoft is poised to fully enter the commercial AI assistance market and services.
Recently, a fatal accident involving a new electric vehicle brand, resulting in three deaths, has once again sparked concerns about so-called "autonomous driving" capabilities. According to currently available information, the vehicle's "autonomous driving" system failed to recognize a construction zone despite clear warning signs posted along the route, providing an alert only 2–3 seconds before impact. This left the driver with an extremely short window to react.
Recently, across social networks, an increasing number of Model Context Protocol (MCP) users have been showcasing a diverse range of applications – from controlling Blender to create beautiful scenes to using the latest GPT-4o images to build complete comic stories. MCP has cleverly opened a gateway between large language models that primarily interact through text and the real world.
I have a 13-year-old dog and a cat who's just over six. Over the years, I've taken my dog to a pet photography studio almost annually, but my cat's severe social anxiety has kept him from joining these photo sessions. In the past year, though, we've noticed some improvement in our cat's demeanor. While he still resists going outside, he now recovers in just minutes after returning from baths or vet visits, rather than the hours it used to take. Seeing this progress, my wife and I decided to take a chance this year by bringing both furry brothers to the studio, hoping to capture a wonderful photo of them together.
A few days ago, OpenAI submitted a fifteen-page memorandum to the U.S. government, elevating competitive threats from DeepSeek to the level of national security concerns and attempting to frame it as ideological competition. Frankly speaking, upon reading this news, I couldn't help but chuckle.
A few days ago, Apple announced that its "More Personalized Siri" feature would be delayed until next year. Combined with the continued absence of Swift Assist, it's clear Apple has not fulfilled the AI vision it presented at WWDC 2024. At least in the realm of large language models, Apple has not exhibited its characteristic agility in keeping pace with industry trends.
The two-day Let's Vision 2025 concluded successfully in a joyful atmosphere, marking my second participation as a speaker in this grand event. Compared to last year, this year's event not only comprehensively covered the Apple development ecosystem but also integrated the hottest AI-related content.
On February 21, the Swift community officially launched its official account on Bluesky, while also posting its first message on its Mastodon account, which had been created back in 2022. On the surface, this may seem like just another typical social media update, but in reality, this decision has been under discussion and consideration within the Swift community for some time, and a series of recent events have accelerated this process.
Recently, the Swift community established the Swift on Android Community Workgroup, aiming to promote the use of Swift in the Android ecosystem. This initiative follows a similar path to how the Arc browser advanced Swift's development on the Windows platform. Notably, members of the Skip team, which specializes in cross-platform development, have also joined the working group. Although still in its early stages, this undoubtedly marks an important step for the Swift community in breaking down platform barriers.
Recently, I received an email from Apple informing me that an issue I reported last April has been fixed. What’s even more delightful is that this fix applies not only to the latest system but is also backward compatible with iOS 17.5, macOS 14.5, tvOS 17.5, watchOS 10.5, and visionOS 1.3.
This year, I experienced a quieter Spring Festival than usual. For Chinese people, the New Year has always been inseparable from the brilliance of fireworks and the lingering scent of sulfur in the air. In recent years, however, many cities have restricted firework displays for environmental and safety concerns. Even in my city, where fireworks were traditionally unrestricted, core urban areas faced new regulations this year. While the city has indeed grown quieter, something of the festive spirit seems to have dimmed with the silence.
DeepSeek’s new model is undoubtedly one of the brightest stars in the tech world recently. With incredibly low training costs, they have developed an AI system that rivals the performance of leading large models. Based on personal experience, DeepSeek’s V3 and R1 are more than sufficient to meet the needs of most scenarios.
On the evening of the latest weekly newsletter's release, the email subscription count surpassed 3,000. Combined with other distribution channels, each weekly newsletter now reaches at least 6,000 readers in the week following its publication. While this may not be an extraordinary achievement, it has far exceeded my initial expectations when I started this journey.
Large language models have become indispensable assistants in my day-to-day work and personal life. Currently, my primary means of interacting with them is conversational. While this style of communication has grown increasingly smooth and intuitive with the improvement of model capabilities, when various needs are interwoven into a single conversation, the resulting efficiency often falls short of what I’d like. To address this, I’ve recently begun exploring how to tailor prompts for dedicated sessions focused on specific tasks.
My city has a unique setup—the existing airport sits in the heart of the urban area, no more than 10 kilometers from any of the main districts. This ideal location has long made travel remarkably convenient for residents. However, this very location has become a constraint on the airport's growth: for the past decade, the airport has been running at full capacity, with little room to open new routes. Meanwhile, dense residential zones surrounding the airport limit its runway classification and potential expansions.
Despite the unrest in the world, 2024 has been a fulfilling and wonderful year for me. Throughout the year, I wrote 47 articles and published 51 weekly newsletters, and I can feel my understanding of Swift and SwiftUI continuously deepening. What brings me the most joy is that my entire family has stayed healthy and well.
2024 marks the sixth year since I received a kidney transplant. Reflecting on this year, my personal health has been stable and smooth. As the year drew to a close, I received two exciting pieces of news—two groundbreaking advancements in xenotransplantation of kidneys, which fill me with hope for the future
Two years ago, a friend asked me for a programming language recommendation for his six-year-old who was showing interest in coding. Considering he already had an iPad and MacBook, I didn't hesitate to recommend Swift Playgrounds. A few days ago, another friend asked me a similar question, and while I still recommended Playgrounds, I wasn’t as certain as I was two years ago. I’m just not so sure about whether Swift is still suitable for beginners these days.
Last week, one of my belongings needed repair. The shop informed me it would take about two hours, so I set off by car to a shopping mall with only my laptop in tow. It wasn’t until I handed over my item that I realized a glaring oversight: I had forgotten to bring my smartphone. What might seem like a minor slip-up turned out to be the start of a series of unexpected inconveniences over the next two hours.
Last Saturday, a two-way switch in our living room suddenly stopped working. This would have been a mundane electrical fault, but for me, it carried a deeper significance. It was the last of the many smart switches I installed 18 years ago that still functioned, and its "retirement" marked the complete sunset of traditional smart devices in my life.
Why are these annoying articles or short videos always being recommended? How can I block them? This is a question my father has been asking frequently lately. Even though I've taught him some technical methods (like choosing to reduce similar recommendations or blocking specific accounts), the reality is that once a user's 'profile' is formed, it often takes a considerable amount of time to see any changes in the recommended content. This highlights a brutal truth: in the world of algorithmic recommendations, the weight of user choices is far less than imagined; the platform's pursuit of traffic is the fundamental driving force. Under this logic, even traffic generated by negative emotions is still traffic, and 'haters' are also an important part of big data algorithms.
The shower in my home developed a minor leak. Although the leakage was minimal, the issue had been bothering me for some time. I hired an experienced repair technician who arrived equipped with ultrasonic and thermal imaging leak detection tools. However, due to the small volume of leakage, he was unable to pinpoint the source. Amusingly, much like how symptoms often disappear when patients visit a hospital, the leakage stopped entirely after I scheduled the repair.
The release of visionOS 2.2 beta finally brings the long-awaited "wide" and "ultra-wide" virtual display modes to Apple Vision Pro. In ultra-wide mode, users are presented with an expansive display space that transcends physical field of view limitations. Although Apple Vision Pro has its hardware resolution constraints, thanks to Foveated Rendering technology, the virtual display is not only clearer than before but also delivers a visual experience comparable to an 8K display.
Recently, Pixelmator officially announced its upcoming integration with Apple, pending final regulatory approval. They assured that their flagship products—Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator—will remain largely unchanged in the near term.
It's been over 20 years since `Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone` first hit theaters. With recent theatrical re-releases, I've started revisiting this classic series, having just watched the third installment, `Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban` yesterday.
In the digital age, security, convenience, and privacy remain perpetual challenges. According to a recent report from The Register, Apple has proposed a significant change to SSL/TLS certificate lifespans, planning to reduce them from the current 398 days to 200 days in 2025, 100 days in 2026, and ultimately to just 45 days by 2027.
Remember when smart devices were durable goods and luxury items? Today, they've quietly taken on more characteristics of fast-moving consumer goods and decorative items. Somewhere along the line, annual updates and constant innovation became the norm for tech products. Big companies' annual release events have essentially become the tech world's fashion shows, captivating audiences worldwide.
Although there are already many excellent Apple development ecosystem weeklies and newsletters online, I still founded this one. The initial intention was simple: to filter out content that interests me from daily readings and share it with readers from my own perspective. From the first issue published in early October last year until now, it's been a year in the blink of an eye, totaling 51 issues.
After JetBrains announced the discontinuation of updates for AppCode, many developers worried that Xcode would lack competition, lose the motivation to grow, and that there would be fewer alternatives for developing Swift projects. However, with the continuous improvement of the plugin provided by the Swift Server Work Group for VSCode, and the emergence of AI editors like Cursor the ecosystem of Swift development tools is quietly changing. Now, developing Swift projects on VSCode or Cursor is becoming not only increasingly easy but also a better experience.
Since beta 7, I’ve upgraded all my Apple devices to this year’s new system. After using it for a while, I felt this year's update seemed much more stable than the past two years. However, it turns out this was just my personal illusion.
Just hours after Apple released the iPhone 16, Huawei introduced the Mate XT at its own product launch, marking the world's first mass-produced triple-folding smartphone. The device instantly captivated attention with its unique design and intricate mechanical structure.
Half an hour ago, Apple's 2024 annual hardware product launch event just concluded. Due to numerous product leaks prior to the event, I've gradually lost interest in Apple's September keynotes, especially considering the need to stay up late (the event starts at 1 AM local time due to time zone differences). In fact, I've rarely watched Apple's live events in recent years.
A week ago, I received a notification from the Traffic Police App informing me that it was time to renew my driver's license. A decade has passed since my last renewal, during which both the regulations governing licenses and the methods for conducting medical examinations have undergone significant changes.
Recently, I began refactoring one of my apps, with full Swift 6 support being a key consideration. During this process, I first attempted to achieve perfect compilation for my self-built third-party libraries in Swift 6 mode.
Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game developed over several years by the Chinese game studio Game Science, inspired by the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West". It was officially released on multiple platforms on August 20th (the same day this weekly newsletter is published).
Since creating this blog in 2020, I have accumulated nearly 200 articles over the years. Every year, I choose to take a break for a while (1-2 months). This not only gives me an opportunity to enrich myself deeply but also allows me to relax thoroughly, gathering strength for future challenges.
Last weekend, I attended a high school reunion. While I've maintained close contact with many classmates, there were a few I hadn't seen in decades since graduation. During the gathering, many classmates were immersed in reminiscing about our school days, with a projector on the wall displaying a meticulously crafted slideshow of old school photos.
A few months ago, I was invited to write a SwiftUI tutorial, which included a section on SwiftData. Recently, when I started preparing this content, I found the difficulty far exceeded my expectations. On one hand, I needed to find a way to express concepts suitable for beginners; on the other hand, I needed to break free from the confusion caused by my Core Data experience in understanding and explaining SwiftData.
Last week, I embarked on an "adventure" journey to Hangzhou. During the Let's VisionOS event in Beijing this April, I noticed a tall boy, Ryan Zhu, helping out with various tasks alongside the event organizers. To my surprise, I learned that he was only 17 years old and still in his second year of high school.
Recently, Baidu (China's largest search engine company)'s stock price has risen significantly, which is not unrelated to a widely circulated news story. Reportedly, Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing platform "Apollo Go" deployed 1,000 self-driving taxis in Wuhan, achieving impressive market performance and triggering deep concern among some traditional taxi drivers.
Recently, the head of Microsoft's AI department made a controversial statement in an interview, suggesting that any content published on the open web could be considered "free software" and could be copied and used by anyone. Unsurprisingly, this view has been widely criticized, but people remain deeply concerned that these highly influential tech giants might attempt to legalize their behavior from a legal standpoint, thereby eroding the rights of original creators.
Recently, Apple officially expanded the Apple Vision Pro (AVP) to markets in more countries. Given the uniqueness of AVP, especially the need for custom lenses for eyeglass wearers, allowing consumers to experience the product firsthand will undoubtedly improve their understanding and potentially drive sales. However, without significant improvements in price, wearing comfort, and ecosystem, merely expanding the sales territory may not lead to exciting market performance.
The recent launch of Claude 3.5 Sonnet has been a pleasant surprise. In use, it not only better meets my needs compared to ChatGPT 4, but also seems to have higher response efficiency. The only disappointment is that even with a Pro account, the available token count still feels insufficient.
WWDC 2024 has successfully concluded. Throughout this week, Apple showcased a series of new features and functionalities that will significantly impact the future. I will share my thoughts and feelings about several aspects that particularly resonated with me, reflecting on the highlights of this WWDC.
Yesterday, WWDC 2024 unfolded as scheduled. In the first keynote, artificial intelligence shone as the brightest star. Apple integrated AI technology into various system areas in a rather natural way, maintaining existing user habits unaltered and fully utilizing the contextual information provided by devices. To enhance user privacy, cloud-based AI capabilities are not relied upon unless the device's local AI is insufficient. Even when accessing the internet, Apple pledged to strictly protect user privacy. In embracing AI, Apple has not loosened its longstanding focus on privacy.
Apple has always been a pragmatic participant in the AI field, providing excellent on-device AI capabilities. However, since the rise of generative AI last year, investors, consumers, and developers alike have been eager for Apple to offer more intuitive and perceptively rich AI technologies. Given the current market demands, it is foreseeable that AI-related content will occupy a very important position at this year's WWDC 2024.
Apple recently made a significant design update to the Developer Forum. The new version not only offers a more elegant visual design but also has rationalized the categorization of the forum. Each category and tag now includes an RSS link, enabling developers to receive information in their areas of interest more promptly.
May 16th (the third Thursday of May every year) marks this year's Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). This annual event aims to remind developers, designers, and related professionals to focus on the accessibility of their digital products and services. The event emphasizes that accessibility in technology is crucial for people with disabilities, as it enables them to use websites, applications, and various digital devices more conveniently.
On May 7, Apple finally updated the iPad series after a year and a half, with the highlight being the new iPad Pro equipped with the latest M4 chip. According to leaked benchmark data online, the M4 significantly outperforms the M2 and even M3 chips.
Last week, The Browser Company officially released the Windows version of the Arc browser. Known for its excellent tab management, diverse themes, and outstanding performance, Arc has made a significant impression on macOS and iOS platforms over the past few years.
Recently, I have been receiving intermittent feedback from blog readers indicating that the access speed is slow, with some readers even needing more than 10 minutes to load
Apple recently updated its App Store Review Guidelines, now allowing emulator apps into the App Store. Just a few days ago, an emulator app named Delta was launched on the store. Delta is an all-in-one emulator designed for iOS, supporting a variety of Nintendo handheld games. This app was actually developed a long time ago but was previously only available to users in non-App Store formats due to policy restrictions.
On April 11, 1976, Apple took a significant step with the debut of the Apple I computer, designed by Steve Wozniak. Although it was just a circuit board that required users to provide their own keyboard and monitor, its historical significance is profound as this product cemented Apple's position in the market.
Since its official debut in 2014, Swift has entered its tenth year of development. Although Swift began supporting Linux at the end of 2015, its promotion and application on non-Apple platforms have been slow over the years, and many still regard Swift as a language exclusive to the Apple ecosystem.
On March 30th to 31st, 2024, I was fortunate to attend the Let's VisionOS 2024 conference in Beijing. This grand event, being the world's first large forum dedicated to VisionOS development, attracted distinguished guests and developers from all corners of the globe. Throughout the conference, speakers generously shared their professional techniques, valuable experiences, design philosophies, and insightful analyses of future trends in the VisionOS development field.
Time flies, and before we know it, it's already the end of March, with just over two months left until WWDC 2024. Recently, some developers have started listing the new features and functionalities they hope to see at WWDC 2024. Every developer within the Apple ecosystem has their own hopes and expectations, what are you looking forward to?
Apple recently notified developers submitting apps for review to include privacy manifest files in their apps if they use specific APIs. This requirement stems from the new policy introduced at WWDC 2023, aimed at compelling app developers and SDK producers to explicitly declare their app's privacy practices. By May 1, 2024, apps that fail to provide a complete privacy manifest will not pass the App Store's review process. Developers are required to provide clear privacy statements for the APIs or third-party libraries used, ensuring transparency and the protection of user privacy.
Last week was a busy one for Apple. They released the MacBook Air equipped with the M3 chip, launched iOS 17.4 allowing European Union users to access third-party app stores, expressed dissatisfaction with Spotify and the EU on their official website, and temporarily suspended Epic's developer account (which is reportedly soon to be restored). Additionally, Apple launched Xcode 15.3, bringing with it the update to Swift 5.10.
Recently, Apple Inc. announced at an internal meeting the termination of its ambitious car project "Titan," marking the official end of this decade-long, costly secret project. With the project's termination, some employees will be shifted to AI research and development positions to accelerate Apple's growth in this area. It is reported that Apple plans to integrate more AI features into products such as Siri, Spotlight, and Xcode, hoping that this personnel adjustment will help close the gap with other AI industry leaders.
Recently, the Swift community announced the release process for Swift 6. Starting March 15, 2024, the release/6.0 branch will be branched off from the main branch, marking a significant acceleration in the Swift 6 project. It is anticipated to be released alongside the new version of Xcode in the second half of this year.
After several months of studying SwiftData, I only recently adopted it in my project. However, I found that coding efficiency has decreased compared to using Core Data. This is not because SwiftData is difficult to use; in fact, even though SwiftData is developed based on Core Data, to use and understand it correctly, I had to abandon many of the Core Data experiences I previously mastered and try to adopt programming logic more aligned with the design philosophy of SwiftData, leading me to start over several times.
Apple Vision Pro started shipping to customers a few days ago, with the first batch of deliveries exceeding expectations impressively. Feedback from various quarters indicates that aside from its weight and price, the Apple Vision Pro surpasses its competitors in most aspects of the experience. Numerous users have already showcased videos on social media of using the device in various scenarios such as driving, exercising, walking, and working, hinting at the emergence of a new cyberculture. We look forward to this trend continuing and hope to see breakthrough applications soon that fully leverage the potential of the Apple Vision Pro.
On December 25th last year, my blog was officially launched after a redesign. A significant change in this revision was the provision of articles in both Chinese and English versions, and I also stopped updating articles on other technical platforms in China. A month later, from December 25th to January 23rd, the blog's traffic data showed significant changes
On January 19th, the Apple Vision Pro finally went on sale. Judging from the response speed of the Apple Store and the estimated delivery time of the product, the initial batch showed signs of being in high demand. Despite its high price, consumers (with developers and self-media expected to make up a significant portion of the first batch) still showed keen interest. However, how long this situation will last and what the public opinion will be after the product is delivered remains to be seen.
I recently began redeveloping my "Health Notes" application. With the new version only supporting devices running iOS 17 and above, I've found greater freedom in choosing the technical direction. This week, I restructured the state management code in my project using the Observation framework, and the results were surprisingly good. Beyond performance improvements, this class-based approach to state management has brought me many new insights, making it more aligned with SwiftUI practices. It has freed state splitting and combination from being confined to purely state management code.
Recently, the iOS 17.3 Beta 2 version released by Apple encountered an unexpected issue, causing a boot loop problem in several devices, including the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Currently, it seems the only solution is to download and install the IPSW firmware. Although the Beta version is primarily aimed at developers, the emergence of such a serious issue is still surprising.
Welcome readers to the brand new year of 2024! First of all, I sincerely wish each and every one of you a happy new year, filled with happiness and success. Looking back at 2023, I have briefly summarized my achievements in writing. In that year, I wrote a total of 34 blog posts, covering a diverse range of topics.Among the articles I published in 2023, the top five most popular ones among English readers were (according to Medium's statistics)
After more than a month of hard work, I am pleased to announce that the new version of "Fatbobman's Blog" has been launched as scheduled before the end of 2023. I am looking forward to your visits and welcome everyone to provide valuable opinions and suggestions. This update not only achieved my preset goals but also gave me a deeper understanding of the latest front-end development technologies. I will write an article to record the insights and experiences during this update process.
Last week, Apple released the latest update version 17.2 for iOS. In this version, Apple finally introduced the "Journaling" app that was previewed at WWDC 2023. Due to its simplistic design and seemingly limited functionality, "Journaling" did not leave a deep impression on most users at first. I started using "Journaling" since version 17.2 beta 1, and like many other users, I also had doubts about why Apple took such a long time to develop such a "simple" app. But as I delved deeper into using it, I gradually realized the ambition behind it an information collection and aggregation tool based on local devices and AI algorithms.
In the past week, I have frequently encountered cookie consent pop-ups while browsing popular websites. Despite the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the European Union for many years, it seems that more websites have only recently started to strictly comply. As someone with a legal background, I deeply understand the efforts made by the European Union to protect individuals' privacy. However, achieving a perfect balance between safeguarding privacy and not hindering technological advancements undoubtedly poses a challenge.
Recently, I have been busy with refactoring my blog website. This is not only an update project, but also an opportunity to learn new programming languages and modern web development frameworks. As a bilingual blog, I plan to add a simple logic on the homepage to automatically redirect visitors to the corresponding language page based on their browser language settings. During the testing process, I found that different browsers handle the system language list differently, which is a common challenge in frontend development. Although in most cases, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript standards behave consistently across different browsers, there are still slight differences.
On November 22nd, the CEO turmoil at OpenAI finally came to an end with Sam Altman's return. Along with his return, the company's board of directors underwent restructuring.In the past two weeks, I have been using ChatGPT intensively to help me create new projects (see the article in this issue of the blog for details). I'm not sure if it's related to the recent events, but the stability of ChatGPT has been quite unsatisfactory lately. I hope that with the re-stabilization of the company's management team, the quality of the service will also improve.
Last week, Tony Stubblebine, the CEO of Medium, published an article titled Let a thousand programming publications bloom on Medium. In the article, he announced the temporary suspension of the highly acclaimed publication, Better Programming, in order to make room for other programming publications, as the title suggests.Better Programming is popular on Medium and is one of the most subscribed technology publications. Some of the articles I have published on Medium have been accepted and recommended to more readers through Better Programming. However, as the IT field continues to specialize, Better Programming's readers are receiving many excellent articles that are not directly relevant to their interests. This not only disperses the readers' attention but also hinders the formation of closer connections between readers and authors.
According to a report by MacRumors, Apple engineers have been instructed to pause ongoing development of new versions and focus on fixing existing bugs and improving software performance. This pause is expected to last for one week.We won't discuss whether one week is enough time to fix the numerous issues in the current system, frameworks, and development tools. But at least Apple is showing the intention and determination to address the bugs, something that many developers and users have been expecting for a long time.
On October 31, Apple held the shortest product launch in history. As expected, Apple released the MacBook Pro and iMac based on the M3 chip.Based on the data, the M3 chip shows moderate improvement in the CPU aspect, but its GPU performance is outstanding, especially with hardware-level ray tracing support.
Yuque is a well-known cloud note service provider in China, positioned as a knowledge base tool, highly favored by IT companies and developers. However, last week Yuque encountered a severe online outage that lasted for a whole 7 hours. Coupled with the founder's departure a few months ago, various speculations circulated on the internet. Eventually, the problem was resolved, and in order to appease public opinion, Yuque offered six months of free membership as compensation to its users.
Last week, Alexandre Colucci released his annual report analyzing the usage of Swift and SwiftUI in the latest version of iOS. The report's findings were consistent with expectations, showing an increase in usage of both Swift and SwiftUI in iOS 17. Particularly exciting is the significant growth in the adoption of SwiftUI in Apple's own applications.
From the launch of the first beta version at WWDC 2023, SwiftData has been around for four months in the blink of an eye. In the past month, I have devoted considerable effort to researching and learning it, and have written several articles about it.SwiftData largely addresses several major criticisms of Core Data. This is mainly reflected in the following
A few months ago, the "摸鱼周报" officially came to an end after completing 100 issues. As an editor for the content recommendation section, I felt very relaxed and happy during the period that just ended, no longer needing to prepare articles every week. However, after some time, I realized that those articles I carefully selected, read, and recommended left a deep impression on me when I searched for technical clues from memory. Although I still read many articles and blogs every day after the publication ceased, the impression is not as profound as when I was an editor. Therefore, I have decided to create a new electronic newsletter where I can share excellent works and information while also gaining something from the process of collecting and organizing.