Month: June 2024

Apple Developer Academy introduces AI training for all students and alumni

Dan Uff June 19, 2024 1

On Tuesday, Apple announced it will train all Apple Developer Academy students and mentors on technologies and tools that take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI). Apple Developer Academy alumni will also have the opportunity to take part in this training. The new core curriculum will be provided to thousands of students and alumni across 18 Developer Academies in six countries as the academy continues to increase opportunities for developers, designers, and entrepreneurs looking to embark on careers in the growing iOS app economy and beyond.

Dedicated curriculum on AI joins the academy’s program as a foundational skill, extending essential competencies in coding, professional skills, design, and marketing that are offered across the world and aim to help students learn important skills to contribute to their local businesses and communities. Apple Developer Academy curriculum also incorporates Apple’s values throughout coursework, encouraging students to design inclusively and make a positive impact in the world.

“At Apple, we see coding as a universal language and believe in empowering developers, creators, and entrepreneurs across the world with tools and technologies that will allow them to create phenomenal experiences,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, in a statement. “With the introduction of curriculum dedicated to AI and other new technologies, we’re excited to see what students will build to share with their communities and the world.”

Beginning this fall, every Apple Developer Academy student will benefit from custom-built curriculum that teaches them how to build, train, and deploy machine learning models across Apple devices. Courses will include the fundamentals of AI technologies and frameworks; Core ML and its ability to deliver fast performance on Apple devices; and guidance on how to build and train AI models from the ground up. Students will learn from guided curriculum and project-based assignments that include assistance from hundreds of mentors and more than 12,000 academy alumni worldwide.

With the introduction of new Apple technologies and APIs announced at WWDC24, students will also have even more access to tools that empower them to build exceptional projects and apps. This includes Xcode 16, which sets a new standard for developer productivity. These features and performance enhancements also include Swift Assist, which serves as a companion for all of a developer’s coding tasks, and easily allows students to explore new frameworks and experiment with new ideas. Additionally, Swift 6 introduces new capabilities aimed at enhancing code clarity and making concurrent programming easier.

Apple is part of every stage of the student journey, whether it’s exploring the fundamentals of app development in Apple’s global Foundations program, improving their skills at Apple Developer Academies, or taking their apps to the next level.

Apple discontinuing Apple Pay Later

Dan Uff June 18, 2024 1

Bloomberg is reporting that it has been informed by Apple that the company will be discontinuing its Apple Pay Later feature which it introduced last year. The below is the article.

The company said Monday that it’s no longer offering loans for Apple Pay Later, which allowed users to pay off purchases of as much as $1,000 over four installments. The iPhone maker took the step after announcing that third-party services — such as ones from Affirm Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc. — would be integrated into its upcoming iOS 18 software.

“Starting later this year, users across the globe will be able to access installment loans offered through credit and debit cards, as well as lenders, when checking out with Apple Pay,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “With the introduction of this new global installment loan offering, we will no longer offer Apple Pay Later in the US.”

The new services in iOS 18 will be available globally through the company’s Apple Pay platform. And users with open loans will continue to be able to manage them within the Wallet app, Apple said.

Via: Bloomberg.com

Apple Original Films’ Formula 1 feature film starring Brad Pitt hits theaters on June 27, 2025

Apple Inc June 18, 2024 0

On Tuesday, Apple Original Films announced that its highly anticipated Formula 1 feature film starring Brad Pitt and hailing from director Joseph Kosinski, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Plan B Entertainment, and seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton’s Dawn Apollo Films banner, will be distributed in theaters around the world and in IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures in North America on June 27, 2025, and internationally beginning June 25, 2025. Made in collaboration with Formula 1, the new film is immersed in the exhilarating and cinematic world of F1®, as filming takes place at races on the sport’s calendar.

Starring Brad Pitt as a former driver who returns to Formula 1, alongside Damson Idris as his teammate at APXGP, a fictional team on the grid, the feature has been shot during actual Grand Prix weekends as the team competes against the titans of the sport. The star-studded cast also includes Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem, Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee Tobias Menzies, Sarah Niles, Kim Bodnia and Samson Kayo.

Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) directs and produces the feature alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films; Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for Plan B Entertainment; and Hamilton under his Dawn Apollo Films banner. The film is made in collaboration with Formula 1® and the F1 community, including the 10 F1 teams and their drivers, the FIA and race promoters. Academy Award nominee Ehren Kruger (“Top Gun: Maverick”) writes the screenplay. Copper CEO Penni Thow serves as executive producer.

The wide theatrical release will also include IMAX theaters. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX’s customized theater geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

About Apple Original Films

Momentum around the Apple Original Films slate continues to grow since the debut of Apple TV+ four years ago. In addition to Apple making history as the first streaming service to land the Academy Award for Best Picture with “CODA,” Apple Original Film “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” also recently earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, and “Killers of the Flower Moon” landed 10 historic Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. In addition to its upcoming Formula 1® feature, highly anticipated Apple Original Films include “Fly Me to the Moon,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum and premiering in theaters July 12; an upcoming Jon Watts thriller starring Academy Award winners George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who will both produce under Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures and Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment; “The Instigators,” a heist-gone-wrong film starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck for director Doug Liman; “Blitz,” from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen; and more.

About Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group is comprised of Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. Warner Bros. partners with the world’s most inspiring storytellers to create extraordinary entertainment on every screen for the global audience. Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has been at the forefront of the motion picture industry since its inception and continues to be a leading creative force, producing the broadest slate of films for worldwide theatrical release.

About Formula 1
Formula 1 racing began in 1950 and is the world’s most prestigious motor racing competition, as well as the world’s most popular annual sporting series. Formula One World Championship Limited is part of Formula 1 and holds the exclusive commercial rights to the FIA Formula One World Championship.

Apple TV+ reveals sneak peeks for second seasons of ‘Severance’ and ‘Silo’

Apple Inc June 17, 2024 0

From director and executive producer Ben Stiller and creator Dan Erickson comes Severance. Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself.

Dystopian Apple TV+ series 'Silo' — Apple TV+ in June announced that “Silo” has been renewed for a second season.

Silo is the story of the last ten thousand people on earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside. However, no one knows when or why the silo was built and any who try to find out face fatal consequences. Rebecca Ferguson stars as Juliette, an engineer, who seeks answers about a loved one’s murder and tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, leading her to discover that if the lies don’t kill you, the truth will.