Soundbyte 377 – July 2026

ChristopherNews, SoundByte

Welcome to Soundbyte! In this issue:

July Meeting

Join LMUG, this Monday July 13 at 7pm BST to learn about what’s coming with Siri AI. What is it, what should it be able to do and do we still need the other AIs like ChatGPT? Let’s look at the latest announcements and discuss what we think.

We’ll start the evening with Newsbyte and the latest news from Apple.

Members should have the link to the meeting in their calendar. If not, please check your email for the LMUG Announcement, which includes how to join our meetings.

The ren-AI-ssance of SIRI

Its finally happened. Apple has announced the new Siri AI (we can just call it Siri). It includes a wealth of long promised Apple Intelligence features, and will work on devices from the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 onwards, the Watch Series 9, Ultra 2 or SE 3, Vision Pro and Apple Silicon Macs. It will come with Mac and iOS27 this autumn in the US and UK. Negotiations with the EU have started and US iPhone 16 owners may be entitled to claim some money back for the 2-year delay.

How did they achieve this turnaround? As alluded in the headline, Siri has a new brain, kindly donated by Google. Let’s be clear what this means. Brain is a good adjective. There’s a difference between the AI brain structures that Google developed and the learning/personality of the AI brain. Apple did all the training for Siri AI. This isn’t a replacement for the AI in your Google App or Claude, it’s something else.

Siri AI is AI done the Apple way. It focuses on you and your information, not the web. As previously promised, Siri is embedded locally on your device, with privileged and private access to your messages, mail and documents. Think of what Spotlight Search can access, it’s similar. Siri can also see what’s on your screen. And now, when you ask it a question about these things, it can answer! Imagine it pulling out details on where you’re meant to be going from an email conversation you missed, like magic! That’s the vision.

But as I said, this isn’t the Google AI, so where you might ask Google, Grok, ChatGPT or other chatbots about something in the wider world, asking Siri the same question, might not get as good an answer. We just have to see what it can do, once we get it.

And since we’re talking about AI, Apple has been engulfed by the soaring prices for computer memory chips. As forewarned, these chips are for the blizzard of new AI data centres. The same of which could be powering the cloud elements of Siri AI. The impact is an unprecedented increase in prices. Before the announcement, Tim Cook spoke to the Wall Street Journal:

Just get a massive screen?

When I moved house I stayed for a few weeks in my brother’s flat and I used my 40-inch TV as my monitor. It was amazing. I’m not a pro editor, needing colour accuracy, but I loved the huge screen, mostly. A more common alternative is to have multiple monitors. But what about just having a massive screen. It’s what the Vision Pro does. Would it work with a huge monitor? Have a look below:

Some refinements coming to Liquid Glass

I’ll be looking an Apple’s 2027 operating systems, announced last month, once the reviews come in. On the Mac it’s called macOS Golden Gate. You can see a bonkers list of features here. [this is data, the precursor to (organised and contextualised) information and (learned and understood) knowledge – ED].

Within these updates, Apple has listened to complaints about the user interface design introduced in macOS Tahoe, Liquid Glass. A number of tweaks are being made to make it work better with apps, read more on Mac rumours.

The headless Mac!

It’s not halloween, but this remote management tool will be a boon to system administrators (or heavy AI users?). Apple is allowing you to remotely turn on your Mac. Have a look at the video below (and the comment discussion) to see exactly how. You’ll know if you need this, this isn’t for regular Mac users!

Goodbye Intel Macs

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! Time to change your Mac Ch-ch-changes! The Intel Macs are almost dead to us!

via Low End Mac – Toasty Intel guy from the PowerMac G3 advert

Yes macOS Tahoe (and its continuing security updates) is the end of the road for Intel Macs. Intel will not be supported in macOS Golden Gate going forwards. Security updates for Tahoe will continue for 2 years, but really, if you still have an Intel Mac…it’s time to start planning what’s next.

Apple and Intel have had a remarkable off and on and off again relationship. All the way back to 1985, then System 7 with project Star Trek and then again with the NeXT purchase, which was cross-platform, then not the iPhone, because Intel said no; despite Intel Macs finally emerging in 2006. Read about the last 20 years of Intel Macs (20 years!-ED) on ArsTechnica here.

Not directly related, but also learned recently is the retirement of encrypted HFS+ for hard drives. This is important for when we format our drives, but the Apple File Format has been here for a few years now as a replacement. Apparently this older technology from the age of spinning hard drives might not cut the mustard for modern security and heavy AI demands. Read a bit more on Apple Insider.

HI-RES Audio coming for some…

If you have an Apple TV 4K (the current one, not the 2017 version), then in TVOS27, you will gain access to HI-RES audio in Apple Music. But this is only going to work if you have a full digital connection to your speakers, and this may depend on your TV. [Quick reminder from ED that most people won’t notice the difference in audio quality from the current CD-Quality Lossless or even compressed AAC]. For the audiophiles still reading, watch below for the details!

Look what’s new in e-ink!

We know about black and white kindles and the like. This is about colour e-ink. The last time we looked these were somewhat washed out devices. Now its transformed! Will this low-power tech take over the world (or the supermarket at least?) Have a look at the remarkable products today.

A new Stratford in the west?

Anyone in London knows about the transformation of Stratford in East London for the 2012 Olympics. A transformation that is still on-going. A white elephant that was part of that was Stratford International Station for HS1, the high speed line to Paris. So far no Paris trains have stopped there. Now, the same will happen to the West, but this time the station for HS2, Old Oak Common will have a starring role and likely spark the development of a whole new neighbourhood in the area. Have a look at this overview below for what’s coming: