Apple's Liquid Glass sounds like Aqua

 I want to like Apple.  I've been a Mac user since 1993.  I've had an iPhone since the iPhone 4S.  I had an iPod, albeit an HP version because it was on clearance for a good price with maximum storage.  They're doing good things with ARM-based System on a Chip designs.

 I didn't watch the WWDC keynote.  I looked at MacRumors here and there for relevant information.  Since Apple doesn't announce hardware at WWDC, it is interesting, but just.

They're introducing Liquid Glass to all operating systems.  It's what they've been using in VisionOS.  It reminds me of what they did with Aqua when Mac OS X was being created.  Every progress bar and button had a rhythm and they had depth.  The eye candy was tough on systems so they kept smashing it until they stopped using it.

Now, there are Apple Silicon SoCs that have enough power.  woohoo.  However, you can disable it in the beta test release.

For the record, I'd really appreciate if they took care of all the !@#$ bugs first.  The Adobe way of software development isn't critical.  Then again, the thin-is-everything design isn't either.  Adding new functionality before you get the previous functionality to a stable point is risky because there is a good chance that you'll never find the problems. 

They've introduced Foundation Models Framework, a set of APIs to allow access to Apple Intelligence (whatever that may comprise at the time) for integration into applications.  They're still not ready with Personalized Siri, but whatever.

I remember posting on MacRumors that I would wait for iOS 20.7.1 (I was running 16.7.1 at the time) for Apple Intelligence to be ready and working.  Now that they've flipped the numbers up to 26, I guess I can't get that.  What I thought would be three major releases later to be a safe, working release with AI.  We'll see if 28.7.1 will be safe.

Oh, macOS Tahoe is the last release for Intel-based hardware.  Maybe, they can clear out some of the crap and code more effectively for the next release.

Update 2025.09.17: Oh, the complaints are starting to flow.  I remember how cool Aqua looked with the rhythmic light show on the default button, but how much processing it took to do that was too much, if you wanted to accomplish some work.  Do you think that iOS 28 will be good?  Will a couple of years of development help?

Update 2025.10.25: They're already trying to reduce battery drain.  History repeats itself, and Apple's development team is attempting to reduce the problem.

Update 2026.02.13: I saw a report this week that Apple is not going to remove Liquid Glass.  Sounds as though discussions have been happening for a while.   It seems as though it's working out like Aqua.

Update 2026.03.15: I'm using 26.3.1 now, so I'm using Liquid Glass.  I'm not sure it's responsible for the battery drain or not.  Apple has a long way to go if x.3.1 is still this rough.  Liquid Glass is not awful or great.  It's just different. 

AI...AI...AI!

 Okay, so back in the mid-1970s, LISP was the language of choice for creating AI applications.  Then, along came Prolog from Japan.  A computerized psychotherapist named Eliza dominated the AI talk for regular people.

AI couldn't do anything but give developers headaches back then.

Now, we have all this computing power sitting in warehouse-like buildings, heating up the landscape so much that you can almost see it in satellite images.  How is it useful?

We can ask for photo manipulations.  We can ask for essays to be written.  We can ask for a workout routine.

Microsoft has just introduced a new type of laptop computer with dedicated AI, including a keyboard key.  However, aren't they the people who put Cortana in the dustbin?  Aren't they the people who put Clippy in the dustbin?

I've no doubt that in 40 years, AI will be useful for the average person.  Right now, I can see people using AI to cheat.  AI can also help to detect when someone is cheating.

I could see people training AI to hack.  Imagine when hackers have been trying so many combinations that they haven't slept for a while.  If they could train AI to hack, they could give it a list of things to try using example after example, and they could sleep.

Android 15 and iOS 18 are coming with some AI enhancements.  We'll see what works.  If Siri worked better than Apple PlainTalk from 1998, I'd be impressed.  Google Assistant is better but isn't much more useful.

People are worried about Skynet-type AI and they are far too early.  When someone gets that level of AI to work, I'd be impressed but it's more likely that humanity will eliminate itself long before that happens.

Update 2024.07.16: It's odd to me to see all these headlines about ethics and AI.  I've seen people use other people's work for years without paying for its use, without even giving credit to the author.

Update 2024.07.24: I'm waiting for Apple to not fix security flaws on iOS 17 to get us to move to iOS 18, which will include AI in multiple doses.  Apple hasn't been getting the operating system features ready in time for the release, so they've been releasing something with basic features and adding what they promised in spurts.  I understood this during the pandemic.  People weren't as coordinated as they should have been.

 I've seen people from Apple, Google, HP, and other Silicon Valley-based companies coming to shop after their 3 hour commute.  They want their own house and things are less expensive out here.  Well, they were less expensive before they arrived.

In any case, they've got to get it together and build software that isn't full of mistakes.  You'd think that they could train AI to look for mistakes in their programming code and highlight them to be fixed.  That might be the best use of AI right now.

Update 2024.10.23: Just saw this Siri vs ChatGPT article claiming that Siri is two years behind ChatGPT.  I have to question that Siri is only two years behind ChatGPT.  Maybe, this is the latest they're testing and not the one most people are using because that one seems to be four to six years behind everything else.

Update 2025.01.27: I'm amused today.  A startup from China has taken the lead in AI processing.  DeepSeek is a name that came to light last week and has smashed the stock prices of the companies benefiting most from AI.

I was amused that they were talking about it running on Apple M2 Max machines, not Nvidia's finest or Intel.  Apple hasn't been too successful with AI software but their Neural Processing Unit has been good, apparently, very good.  What happens when the M4 Max arrives?

Update 2025.08.10: The day after DeepSeek arrived and their source code was posted, Grok became much better.  It's almost as if someone wasn't doing very well and borrowed someone else's work.

I bought an iPhone 15, which won't have the enhanced AI processing available.  The interesting thing is that it hasn't appeared for the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 models, either.  They've recently lost some people to Meta (Facebook/Instagram).  Since they collapsed their car software, they should have got the phone AI to work with such fine developers.

Every week, I hear about one model progressing, but I suspect you could call it "inching forward", instead of "leaps and bounds".

When the AI software can figure out what's wrong with the AI software.they will make progress. 

Update 2025.09.02: Elon Musk is complaining that Grok isn't getting a fair shake in the App Store in comparison to ChatGPT.  Does someone want an underachiever?

Browsing my Instagram feed, I've noticed loads of AI-generated videos and photos.  Those are great if you don't have an artist handy but they should be making things happen, not AI.