Category: News

A US government program that subsidizes fees for Internet service for low-income households will stop taking enrollments Thursday and could shut down by April, leaving people who depend on the service for remote employment without a way to pay for broadband access.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is currently used by nearly 23 million Americans, allowing them to save more than $500 million per month on internet bills. It is set to run out of a money in a few months; consumers have until 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 7 to be approved and enrolled with a service provider to take part.

The program, which is limited to one monthly service and one device per household, provides up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Eligible subscribers can also receive a one-time discount to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel told Congress last week that without further funding, Thursday’s enrollment freeze is necessary to slow the depletion of financial resources and reduce volatility in the program.

Remote workforce in limbo?

A spokesman for the program declined to comment on how many subscribers use ACP for remote work, which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and has held fairly steady even after stay-at-home restrictions ended.

A Gartner global labor market survey found that even though workers were given the all-clear to return to the office in recent years, the number of hybrid workers — where  people work at least one but fewer than five days in the office — stayed relatively flat, according to Tori Paulman, senior director analyst, Digital Workplace for Gartner Group.

The end of ACP could leave some remote workers in limbo, leading them or their employers to seek alternatives. Remote workers need reliable broadband service, and even in an ubiquitously connected world, that’s not always an option for people, depending on their income or service areas.

In fact, the biggest challenge for remote and hybrid workers since the pandemic has been to keep all employees connected to organizational culture and ensuring equity across their work experience, Paulman said, adding that stipends by companies to employees to this end “vary widely from company to company and have been a contentious topic since the initial pivot home some years ago.”

The fate of the program is currently in the hands of Congress; lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives are now considering separate bipartisan bills that would provide billions more to keep ACP running.

In the meantime, organizations continue to hash out what managing a remote and/or hybrid workforce looks like to them, recognizing that “there is no one-size-fits all model for every worker and every team,” Paulman said.

Widespread support

The good news for the program and those using it is it has high-profile supporters that want to see it continue. Chief among them is US President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has urged Congress to provide additional funding for the ACP. The program is key to the president’s commitment to providing more universal access to broadband-speed internet.

“For President Biden, internet is like water,” Biden advisor and assistant Tom Perez said during a briefing on Monday. “It’s an essential public necessity that should be affordable and accessible to everyone.”

Verizon, Comcast and AT&T — among the 1,700 internet service providers that have been notifying customers about the potential end of the program — also called on Congress to extend the program.

From its humble origins as a collection of cloud apps known as Gmail for Your Domain, Google’s office suite has greatly expanded and matured over the years. Rebranded multiple times as Google Apps, G Suite, and finally Google Workspace, it’s now a full-scope productivity and collaboration suite with subscription plans for organizations ranging from the smallest businesses through the largest enterprises.

If you’re new to Google Workspace or want to get more out of its apps, our collection of step-by-step tutorials can help.

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It’s really important to remember that the new Vision Pro, unlike other mixed-reality headsets, isn’t limited to entertainment and gaming. Compared to rivals, the device’s killer app is actually productivity.

That is, after all, perhaps why Apple CEO Tim Cook told Vanity Fair he uses Vision Pro for productive tasks. With the first Vision Pro devices arriving on Friday, productivity apps are on the way, too. Apple says 600 apps designed specifically for the platform are already available, with millions more compatible.

Why productivity matters

That’s good news for Apple, of course, as you can’t claim a successful tech product on the absence of great apps to back that argument up.

Think back to the iPhone — or even the Macintosh — and it was the emergence of productivity apps on both platforms that helped them make the leap from consumer bauble to enterprise essential. After all, VisiCalc wasn’t just the first spreadsheet program for personal computers released exclusively for the Apple II, it was also the app that ultimately led to the computing experiences we take for granted today.

We’re seeing this again in Vision Pro, with Microsoft confirming plans to introduce Office apps for visionOS, and Ukraine’s Readdle delivering a powerful new suite of PDF applications for use in Apple’s reality distortion field. This perhaps shows the extent to which people in the business recognize the opportunity to build creative productivity solutions for Apple’s new world of spatial computing.

“Apple Vision Pro is unlocking the imaginations of our worldwide developer community, and we’re inspired by the range of spatial experiences they’ve created for this exciting new platform,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of worldwide developer relations.

Microsoft gets inside your head

Microsoft seems to be embracing Apple’s vision for visionOS. The company has confirmed that several of its apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams will come to the platform on launch. And versions of OneNote and Outlook are on the way.

The applications seem like the existing iPad versions of the same software, but have a few tweaks custom made for the platform, including a ribbon toolbar to access different tools and settings. One exception is Teams, which will support the virtual persona feature Apple introduced in Vision Pro. You’ll also be able to use a little generative AI in visionOS space, as Microsoft Copilot is available to these apps, coming to the App Store now.

Ukraine’s Readdle brings PDF and mail

Readdle is bringing two of its award-winning productivity apps, PDF Expert and Spark Mail — these are spatial versions of the company’s existing iPad apps. If you make a lot of use of PDFs and haven’t yet come across PDF Expert, you really should give it a try — it’s an outstanding PDF editor for Apple devices and now includes the company’s beta AI Chat application.

The Apple App Store Editor’s award-winning Spark Mail is also worth a look, as it does a good job of making email kind of usable again, with a nice user interface and  numerous email management tools. Spark Mail also includes AI Chat.

A dream come true for project managers

Personally, I’m interested to see how powerful project management apps OmniFocus and OmniPlan do on Apple’s new platform; I can’t help but think the infinite canvas in visionOS will be a brilliant space to make sense out of the vast quantity of nested data inside Gantt charts.

Being able to see the entirety of a project in one view will, in itself, be a vast improvement for managers. 

“With tools like OmniPlan, you can plan out scenarios and see how your changes ripple through the rest of the project in real time,” Omni Group CEO Ken Case said in a statement. “Large Gantt charts have been in my life for as long as I can remember. It is no exaggeration that modern tools have revolutionized the process of planning huge projects. Until now, those tools have been constrained by your screen. The infinite canvas provided by Apple Vision Pro is a dream come true for project planners, project managers, and industrial engineers.”

This should have implications in any operational environment; it’s easy to imagine day traders using Vision Pro devices to replace or supplement the triple-display setups so many use to monitor all the data their investment decisions rely on.

Apps without frontiers

Apple today noted numerous other productive apps, including enterprise-grade cloud storage stalwart Box and brainstorming application MindNode. Apple also cited Webex, Zoom, Fantastical, Numerics, JigSpace, Navi, Slack, Todoist, and Notion as apps that are, at the very least, compatible with its new platform.

“This breakthrough technology introduces immersive experiences that fundamentally redefine the way we work by delivering visually stunning interactions without physical limitations,” Aaron Levie, Box’s cofounder and CEO, said in a statement. “From developing the next breakthrough product to reimagining customer experiences, the possibilities are endless.”

Perhaps he’s right, but ultimately the big advantage Apple’s M-powered wearable computer actually has is that it’s a Mac.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

In the name of security, the UK government may well have put a cybersecurity target on the nation’s back, with Apple once again warning that proposed changes to the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 are a “serious and direct threat to data security and information privacy.

“We are deeply concerned about the amendments to the Investigatory Powers Bill currently before Parliament, which will put the privacy and security of users at risk,” Apple said in a statement. “This is an unprecedented overreach by the government and, if implemented, the UK new user protections could be secretly vetoed globally, preventing us from ever delivering them to customers.”

The Act is being debated today in the UK House of Lords. Of course, civil liberties groups worldwide condemn these proposals.

So, what’s the problem?

The law, allegedly intended to make people safer, will undoubtedly make UK digital infrastructure a tempting target as the regulations will be weaken security there. The biggest problem for Apple, other than the steady erosion of encryption, is that essential security and privacy updates might be delayed or never appear — and without any transparency or scrutiny at all.

There isn’t even a right of appeal to these Orwellian admonitions.

Snooper’s charter is hacker’s heaven

If passed, the law would mean that every tech security update must be reviewed by UK authorities before release, which will immediately delay distribution of vital security patches.

Hackers will immediately see this means any patched vulnerabilities will be secured in the UK last, making the nation an incredibly attractive target to attack. Hackers are organized enough to spot and exploit weakness. It’s what they do.

But that’s not the only impact of this foolish law.

Putting users at risk

Apple first warned against these dumb proposals in July 2023, when it said they would stifle innovation, commerce, and make the Home Office the “de facto global arbiter of what levels of data security and encryption are allowed.

“The new powers the Home Office seeks — expanded authority to regulate foreign companies and the ability to pre-screen and block innovative security technologies — could dramatically disrupt the global market for security technologies, putting users in the UK and around the world at greater risk,” Apple said.

The mechanics of what’s proposed include, but are not confined to:

• Giving the UK Home Office the power to disable certain encryption services by issuing a Technical Capability Notice.
• Empowering the Home Office to block security and privacy updates without notifying the public.
• Requiring tech firms to submit security changes for Home Office approval before launch.
• Creating new powers for blanket surveillance of internet activity, including far less protection around the use and inspection of bulk data sets.

And if the UK rejects an update, that update cannot be released in any other nation and the public would not be informed of the decision.

Apple has already said it might abandon the UK market if it is forced to provide such advance notice of product updates, which would have a chilling impact on everyone in the UK. Apple now employs more than 8,000 people across the country, while the iOS economy supports an estimated 550,000 jobs there.

A move to exit the UK would certainly dent an already ailing UK economy that is still enduring only a lukewarm post-pandemic recovery.

Apple made its threat before, when it stood with other messaging apps vendors to insist the UK government abandon attempts to prevent end-to-end encryption of messages.

The UK government said in a statement, “Ultimately, this is about public safety and ensuring that those tasked with keeping the public safe have the necessary tools to do so.”

A draconian overreach that should be opposed

That these proposals do nothing but weaken public security seems to have escaped the architects. After all, without timely software updates, how will tech firms protect us against disgusting attacks against digital civil liberties such as those committed by the NSO Group?

These tools are a draconian overreach that threaten security — not just of subjects of the Crown in the UK, but also citizens across the world.

This ill-judged legislation, if passed, will damage the digital economy and will be seen as carte blanche for other repressive governments to deploy similarly retrogressive laws in nations across the world. One can only hope tech firms manage to push this back.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Apple has now published its planned approach to opening up its App Store in Europe. As predicted, critics don’t like the plans, arguing (also as anticipated) they cost too much.

Apple also opened up the worldwide App Store to game streaming services and will allow the NFC chip in the iPhone to support services other than Apple Pay.

But what should the price of platform access be — and is that a matter for regulators or for the market to decide? 

Under the new European Union (EU) business terms, iOS apps distributed from the App Store and/or an alternative app marketplace will pay €0.50 for each first annual install per year over a 1 million threshold, Apple says. Developers who continue to sell apps exclusively via the store will not be required to pay this.

The company argues that fwewer than 1% of developers will be impacted by the fee. So, what are Apple’s plans to open up in the EU?

What Apple said

Apple Fellow Phil Schiller took the rap for the team, stating: “The changes we’re announcing today comply with the Digital Markets Act’s requirements in the European Union, while helping to protect EU users from the unavoidable increased privacy and security threats this regulation brings. Our priority remains creating the best, most secure possible experience for our users in the EU and around the world.

“Importantly, developers can choose to remain on the same business terms in place today if they prefer.”

Why is Apple doing this?

Apple has no choice. The EU has passed laws (the Digital Markets Act, DMA) to force the company to open up its platforms this way. With other nations already considering similar rules, Apple customers in Europe have now become lab rats for a new way of doing business. The company, meanwhile, is appealing the DMA rules, but must take these steps all the same.

What the plans mean for customers

Customers will be able to purchase software for iOS devices outside the App Store via additional payment systems. However, Apple isn’t willing to leave its customers or platforms less private or secure, so it’s putting various measures in place to protect them – though it warns “many risks remain.’

These measures include:

• Notarization for iOS apps.
• Authorization for marketplace developers.
• Customer access to a third-party contactless payment app or alternative app marketplace as default.
• App Store features, including Family Purchase Sharing, that are not compatible with apps downloaded outside the store.
• Notification from Apple when an app users download rely on alternative payment processing.
• Notification when an external transaction is made.
• Access to banking and wallet apps other than Apple Pay, as the company is opening up the NFC chip to support those transactions.
• The ability to choose your default contactless payment app through a new setting for contactless payments.

Apple will publish additional information to help EU users understand and navigate the changes once they are introduced, warning these will include “a less intuitive user experience.”

This will include best practice advice to help customers stay safe when downloading apps and making payments outside of its store.

What the changes mean for developers

Developers will be able to offer apps via their own stores using their own payment processing systems.

As well as permitting alternative payment systems and app sideloading, Apple will provide:

• 600+ new APIs developers can use to offer apps outside the Apple ecosystem.
• An expansion of the app analytics Apple makes available.
• Permitted use of alternative browser engines.
• The ability to submit additional requests for interoperability with iPhone and iOS software features.
• Required submission of apps they hope to run on iOS so they can be reviewed and verified.
• Customer access to a third-party contactless payment app or alternative app marketplace as default. 

There will be more information made available on Apple’s Data and Privacy site, where EU users will be able to learn how they have used the App Store and export it to a third party.

What about refunds?

Refunds and lost account details are among the most common topics people raise in the modern app economy. No surprise: Apple is making it plain it will not be able to issue refunds for payments made using alternative payment processing providers.

It is also warning that it will be “less able” to help customers who get scammed, and warns that App Store help such as Report a Problem won’t be available for apps purchased outside the store — all of which should be reasonably obvious given the money went somewhere else.

What about cloud gaming services?

Apple announced it is opening the App Store up to game-streaming services. “Developers can now submit a single app with the capability to stream all of the games offered in their catalog,” it said.

Mini-apps, mini-games, chatbots, and plug-ins will be able to incorporate Apple’s In-App Purchase system to offer users paid digital content or services, such as a subscription for an individual chatbot, for the first time.

The change is effective immediately worldwide, though there will be some delay before gamers on Apple’s platforms can get to use it. That’s because game developers must first submit their apps to the store.

What this means is that at some point users can anticipate game developers offering their services via Apple’s platforms.

You could argue that the move might also help Apple protect itself against ongoing action in the UK, where the Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into the distribution of cloud gaming services through app stores on mobile devices.

What else is changing?

There are additional changes.

Apple is introducing a new choice screen that will appear when European users first open Safari in iOS 17.4 or later. It will ask them to select a default browser to use on the device.

What it costs

For many, the architecture Apple is offering developers looking to use these new permissions in the EU seems somewhat onerous.

Developers must agree to a whole new set of business terms, for instance. (They don’t have to, of course – they can also stick with the old terms and Apple’s App Store or agree the new terms and use both.)

The terms include a fee structure. Apple says these fees reflect how it creates opportunity in the first place, including its software, platforms, operating systems, and huge user base.

Apple says it is setting fees at the following level:

• iOS apps on the App Store will pay a reduced commission of either 10% (for the vast majority of developers, and subscriptions following their first year) or 17% on transactions for digital goods and services.
• Apps can be sold using the App Store’s existing payment processing system for a 3% fee. Developers can instead use a payment service provider within their app or link users to their website to process payments for no additional fee to Apple.
• Most controversially, iOS apps distributed from the App Store and/or an alternative app marketplace will pay €0.50 for each first annual install per year over a 1 million threshold.
• Apple has published a fee calculation tool.
• The company has also shared an extensive collection of information to explain its scheme to developers.

What the critics say

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney calls Apple’s plans a “devious new instance of Malicious Compliance.”

He said: “They are forcing developers to choose between App Store exclusivity and the store terms, which will be illegal under DMA, or accept a new also-illegal anticompetitive scheme rife with new Junk Fees on downloads and new Apple taxes on payments they don’t process.

 “There’s a lot more hot garbage in Apple’s announcement,” he added, “It will take more time to parse both the written and unwritten parts of this new horror show, so stay tuned.”

Sweeney isn’t alone.

Rick VanMeter, of the Coalition of App Fairness, said Apple’s plans do not “achieve the DMA’s goal to increase competition and fairness in the digital market — it is not fair, reasonable, nor non-discriminatory.”

The criticism is not universal.

Many continue to point out that Epic charges its own 12% fee for games it distributes, which strongly suggests that while there is a discussion around platform access to be made, the cost of access hasn’t yet been universally defined.

But if you expected an end to the never-ending courtroom wrangle over this, you’ll be waiting some time yet. It seems probable Apple’s schemes will be challenged in court. But one day we will get to a decision that tells us how much digital stores like these can charge for access. I doubt this will be free.

What are the risks?

There are risks. Obvious ones include fraudulent apps, malware-laden app stores, and fraudulent banking systems.

Less obvious ones include hacks and attacks against third-party services, which may not offer the robust protection Apple can provide to safeguard people’s purchasing, address, or personal data.

It also seems possible some apps might lean heavily into software, particularly ads software, that Apple no longer permits on its platforms. Many of these risks might be mitigated by how the company is bringing the plan to the light, but not all will be.

Apple’s risk protections include:

• A Notarization process all apps distributed on the platform must go through to ensure they’re safe.
• Required Notarization sheets, (which sound a little like Privacy Warnings on the App Store) that describe the app, the developer and so on.
• Marketplace developers who must be authorized,
• Malware protection to precent apps from launching if they are found to contain malware once installed on the device.
• App Tracking Transparency to prevent dodgy tracking via apps — it will continue to work with apps distributed outside the App Store.

The company warns that apps that rely on alternative browser engines (ie. other than WebKit) might slow system performance or tax battery life. There’s more than a grain of truth in the latter point – ask any Mac user how their system performs when running some browsers that have not been fully optimized for Mac.

Has Apple gone far enough?

Critics don’t think Apple has done enough yet, but were unlikely to be satisfied with anything other than free and universal access to Apple’s platforms, which is a position regulators are unlikely to support. What is probable is that elements of how Apple has architected the scheme will be challenged as will the fees over time. 

When will Apple open up?

Apple will introduce these new measures in March 2024 with iOS 17.4. They will only be available in 27 EU nations.

Apple has published detailed information about these changes at its Developer Support site.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

It is Microsoft’s moment in the sun as its market value crossed the $3 trillion mark for the first time. After Apple, Microsoft is only the second company ever to achieve this feat.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella, is credited with steering the company’s rise from $381 billion to $3 trillion over the last decade. When Nadella took over the helms at Microsoft in 2014, the company was stagnating and lagging in innovation, but today, it is seen as being at the forefront of the AI era, largely believed to be the next big thing.

“The strategies undertaken by Satya Nadella may be divided into two distinct phases. In the first phase, he initiated a transformational shift in Microsoft around two key pivots, namely agile development and cloud delivery, duly supported by a cultural shift at the organizational level. In the second phase, the focus has been on investing in AI-driven consumer software such as ChatGPT,” said Deepak Kumar, founder analyst and chief research officer at BMNxt Business and Market Advisory.

Nadella’s winning bets

More than anything else, Nadella’s uncanny knack for identifying the winning horse has helped Microsoft move from strength to strength. It was his focus on the cloud that had a transformative impact on the company. Nadella was heading the company’s cloud division before taking over as its CEO and realizing its potential.

“In executing a decisive ‘cloud-first, mobile-first’ strategy, Satya Nadella has steered Microsoft toward a remarkable growth trajectory. By prioritizing the development of cloud services, notably exemplified by Microsoft Azure, and acknowledging the pivotal role of mobile devices in contemporary computing, Nadella strategically positioned the company at the forefront of technological evolution,” said Thomas George, President, CyberMedia Group and CMR.

As per IDC, Microsoft is the world’s largest public cloud provider, with a 17.1% market share in the first half of 2023, followed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) with a 12.6% market share. Nadella also made existing products like Microsoft Office cloud-based.

“The substantial investments directed towards Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, underscored its ascent as a formidable contender in the fiercely competitive cloud services market, directly challenging established industry leaders, including AWS. With a significant foothold in enterprise and commercial IT stacks, this effort to encash the cloud adoption wave of user organization with suitable offerings aided the growth,” added George.

The OpenAI bet

The same uncanny knack was again evident when he decided to bet on AI. The investment in Sam Altman’s OpenAI in 2019 was instrumental in putting the company way ahead of its peers. Microsoft is believed to have invested $13 billion in OpenAI.

OpenAI disrupted the industry by launching ChatGPT in 2022. Microsoft plans to integrate OpenAI’s large language models across its products. Investment in OpenAI allows Microsoft to be at the forefront of the generative AI market, which, according to some estimates, is likely to touch $66.62 billion in 2024. With AI all set to dominate the tech scene, Microsoft and Nadella’s stars are only going to rise.

Last year also saw Nadella skilfully handling the departure of Sam Altman from OpenAI. He quickly decided to hire Altman to lead Microsoft’s new AI research lab. At the same time, he helped OpenAI’s board reach the consensus of getting Altman back as its CEO, a positive development for Microsoft.

Over the years, Nadella has not shied away from discontinuing a failed product like Windows Phone. In addition, acquisitions have played a key role in Microsoft’s growth over the last ten years. The tech giant has made over 100 acquisitions, including prominent ones like LinkedIn and Activision, helping the company cultivate a culture of innovation.

Under Nadella, Microsoft has also deepened engagement with open-source communities. It is the second largest contributor to open source, as per the Open Source Contributor Index. The company acquired GitHub, an open-source platform, in 2018 for $7.5 billion. As per a TechCrunch report,  GitHub hit an annual recurring revenue of $1 billion in 2022, up from $200 to $300 million at the time of the acquisition.

Apple’s Vision Pro virtual and augmented reality headsets sold out quickly after online pre-sales began Friday morning, but stable delivery dates could indicate a limited amount of demand for the $3,500 device.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a TF International Securities analyst who keeps close tabs on Apple, estimated the company sold between 160,000 and 180,000 headsets over the weekend. (The headset is set for delivery to early-bird buyers and due on store shelves Feb. 2.)

Compared to opening weekends for new models of Apple’s iPhones — which also typically sell out right away — shipping times for back-ordered Vision Pros remained steady Monday at between five and seven weeks, rather than continuing to extend beyond that period, Kuo noted.

That stability could indicate that there’s a ceiling on current demand for the Vision Pro, whose combined VR/AR capabilities could eventually find enterprise uses in field service, collaboration, and training, according to IDC research director Ramon Llamas.

“This is not gonna be for everyone, and it’s probably not intended to be,” Llamas said. “The first tranche of people I see lining up are going to be developers who will have to put together the third-party software.”

That third-party integration is critical to future business use for the Vision Pro, Llamas said. Getting Apple’s hardware to work with outside software companies — including major players in enterprise software like Microsoft — will be key to broadening the list of potential use cases for the technology.

Widespread use of VR/AR in the workplace is still in the future, but according to Llamas, Apple’s entry into the market could help catalyze demand.

“It’s gonna be another situation where Apple’s part of the wave that raises all boats, which we’ve seen before,” particularly in the world of smartphones and smartwatches. “Is this going to happen immediately? Probably not, but give it time — Apple has a way of making some of these most futuristic and forward-looking technologies that much more accessible for users.”

Kuo predicts sales of 500,000 units this year “should not be challenging” for Apple, bolstering predictions that 2024 will be an important year for the VR/AR market. Hardware vendors are expected to push for mainstream acceptance of the technology after a soft 2023 in which device shipments actually declined by 8.3%, according to an IDC report.

The launch of hotly anticipated devices like the Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 is expected to provide a boost to the market.

There’s good news for users who still need to run Windows for legacy enterprise apps — Parallels Desktop for Mac now officially works on Arm versions of Windows 11 on M3 Macs.

Recently updated, Parallels was the first solution Microsoft authorized to run Windows on M1 and M2 Macs; that official support has now been extended to Macs with the latest Apple Silicon processors.

Who is using this?

The ability to run Windows on Macs is clearly good news for enterprise professionals who might still need to dip into Windows. The support also means Apple now offers developers the perfect software development machine. We know developers and spatial computing pioneers are already making extensive use of the M3 MacBook Pro, but it looks like they can achieve even more on those machines.

Aleksandr Sursiakov, senior director of product management for Parallels Desktop at Alludo, explained how Macs are becoming multi-platform development tools.

“We are witnessing increased interest from developers for two key reasons,” he said. “Firstly, the Mac is recognized as a robust platform for building applications across major platforms, including macOS and iOS/iPadOS natively, Android in GoogleStudio, Windows, and Linux in Parallels Desktop. Also, many software vendors utilize macOS VMs in Parallels Desktop for automating software building and testing.

“Secondly, the compatibility of Windows on Arm and Visual Studio on Arm allows for building binaries for both x86 CPU (Intel/AMD) and Arm CPU.”

All about the silicon

The introduction of Apple Silicon helped maintain a dramatic uptick in Mac deployment. Speaking during fiscal results calls, Apple executives have noted that every second Mac is sold to someone new to the platform.

“While the instances of IBM and Cisco expanding support for Mac computers are publicly evident, we, too, observe a similar trend among other customers, even in the face of inflation and cost reductions,” said Sursiakov.

“Customers in this category prioritize certifications and security, which prompted our Arm SystemReady certification effort last year and we anticipate achieving more such industry standards in the near future,” he added.

Windows can be even better on a Mac

When Parallels first introduced support for Windows to the M1 series, Mac testers found the implementation to be one of the “fastest versions of Windows” they had used. They saw a 30% improvement in performance on the Apple chip compared to an Intel Mac running Windows via Parallels. Windows ran faster on the Mac than on some dedicated Windows PCs, they said.

“Apple’s M1 chip is a significant breakthrough for Mac users,” Nick Dobrovolskiy, Parallels Senior Vice President of Engineering and Support, said at that time.

This performance benefit is maintained on M3 Macs: “This remains true for most Windows applications,” Sursiakov told me. “Even those operating through emulation are snappy with exceptional battery life and minimal impact on users in terms of fan noise and heat.” (There are some exceptions noted below).

Early tests of Windows/Parallels on M1 Macs also showed a significant 250% reduction in energy consumption compared to running on Intel Macs.

What kind of support is available?

This support means you can officially run Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise in a virtual machine on every Apple Silicon Mac. All you need is a licensed copy of the Windows operating system and Parallels Desktop 18 or 19.

If you use a Windows VM on Macs with Parallels and also require use of a hardware security key, you’re in luck. In December, Parallels was updated so that it now supports use of such keys using Sign In With Apple, which makes it a lot easier to access Windows on a Mac even more securely.

Parallels 19.2 also lets users reliably run a Windows VM installation on a Mac from an external drive.

There are limitations to this support

There are a couple of caveats to the support: some Windows software that makes use of DirectX 12 multimedia technologies might not work so well, and 32-bit Arm apps won’t work at all. The latter may be of concern to any Windows user with legacy applications, as support for 32-bit apps is being removed from Windows. Apple abandoned 32-bit app support years ago.

You can get more information on running Windows on Mac chips here (Microsoft) and here (Parallels).

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Google has unveiled a range of changes to its European operations, as it gears up for the introduction of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the region, set to take effect in March.

This includes modifying search results to prioritize comparison websites, enhancing consent protocols for data sharing, introducing choice screens for browser selection on Android devices, and providing a Data Portability API.

The most significant of the changes could be providing prominence to comparison sites.

Typically, when users search for items such as hotels or products to purchase, Google displays relevant information within the search results, including images and prices. This would either appear as part of a single business listing — like a hotel or restaurant — or as a featured collection of relevant results.

Over the coming weeks in Europe, Google plans to change this.

“We will introduce dedicated units that include a group of links to comparison sites from across the web, and query shortcuts at the top of the search page to help people refine their search, including by focusing results just on comparison sites,” Google said in a blog post. “For categories like hotels, we will also start testing a dedicated space for comparison sites and direct suppliers to show more detailed individual results including images, star ratings and more.”

As part of these updates, Google will also be eliminating certain elements from its search page, including the Google Flights feature.

This marks a major shift in the search engine giant’s approach, which is now mandated by regulation to rank competing services and products on par with its own offerings in search results.

Notably, the EU had previously fined Google €2.42 billion ($2.63 billion) in 2017 for prioritizing its own comparison-shopping service. The bloc’s competition policy commissioner stated at the time that Google had misused its dominant position as a search engine by favoring its own service in search results to the detriment of its competitors.

While the latest development may be seen as a victory for comparison sites, Google has warned that the new rules could have adverse impacts on businesses.

“Over the last few months, we have been seeking feedback on our changes from the European Commission and from stakeholders like developers, advertisers, and companies who will be affected by them,” Google said. “While we support many of the DMA’s ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability, the new rules involve difficult trade-offs, and we’re concerned that some of these rules will reduce the choices available to people and businesses in Europe.”

AI is likely to impact 40% of global jobs, with the impact going as high as 60% for developed economies, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In low-income countries, on the other hand, 26% of the jobs would be impacted. 

“Roughly half the exposed jobs may benefit from AI integration, enhancing productivity. For the other half, AI applications may execute key tasks currently performed by humans, which could lower labor demand, leading to lower wages and reduced hiring,” pointed out the blog post by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. AI is more likely to complement human work instead of completely replacing the jobs, added the blog post.

“Both advanced and emerging market and developing economies are subject to considerable uncertainty surrounding these predictions,” said the IMF study. 

While advanced economies are better placed to reap the benefits of the technology, they are also likely to face short-term disruptions. On the other hand, emerging and developing economies may take a little longer to be affected by AI-related disruptions. They will lose out on the benefits of the technology as they are not prepared to leverage the technology for economic and social growth. This could increase the digital divide within the country while widening the gap between nations. 

The blog post points out that automation has typically impacted routine tasks. However, this is different with AI, as it can potentially affect skilled jobs. “As a result, advanced economies face greater risks from AI — but also more opportunities to leverage its benefits — compared with emerging market and developing economies,” said the blog post. 

The older workforce would be more vulnerable to the impact of technology than the younger college-educated workers. “Technological change may affect older workers through the need to learn new skills. Firms may not find it beneficial to invest in teaching new skills to workers with a shorter career horizon; older workers may also be less likely to engage in such training, since the perceived benefit may be limited given the limited remaining years of employment,” said the IMF report. 

The adoption of AI gained momentum after the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. Several companies, including Amazon and Stack Overflow, have already started laying off employees as they start using AI to enhance productivity.

The study highlights the need for policymakers to expedite policy formation since the adoption of AI continues unabated. The European Union (EU) recently became the first region to develop legislation to govern AI. The US and China, among other countries, are also working on developing regulations to govern AI.

While AI is likely to impact and transform the way humanity works, there is little doubt that it improves organizational productivity and operational efficiency. As per a recent study by the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), “access of AI assistance increases the productivity of agents by 14%, as measured by the number of customer issues they are able to resolve per hour.”

The IMF study comes at a time when world leaders have gathered in Davos in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum (WEF), and AI is a crucial topic of discussion. A recent WEF study, Future of Jobs Report 2023, says that almost 14 million jobs will likely disappear over the next five years, and one of the reasons is the disruption led by AI.