Once again, there's a lot to unpack this week, so let's get to it!
Like I said in last week's post, Apple's WWDC kicked off on Monday, and tech media is still buzzing about the announcements made during the keynote.
I've been using the macOS 26 (named Tahoe, after the lake on the border of California and Nevada) Developer Beta on my MacBook Air since Monday, so I'll be touching on my personal experience with the new design and features.
Let's go alphabetically through the news, just for fun...
Apple first, then Browser Company of New York, then Xbox.
Liquid Glass: My thoughts
At WWDC, Apple announced a whole new UI.
Liquid Glass is Apple's new material for the entire Apple software ecosystem, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS.Here's what Apple Human Interface VP Alan Dye had to say about it in the keynote:
“...Our goal is a beautiful new design that brings joy and delight to every user experience... and it starts with an entirely new expressive material we call Liquid Glass. With the optical qualities of glass and a fluidity that only Apple can achieve, it transforms depending on your content, or even your context, and brings more clarity to navigation and controls.”
Unlike previous redesigns, Liquid Glass is applied everywhere throughout the entire Apple software ecosystem.
Now, this redesign was widely rumored (I expanded upon it in last week's article), but the specifics of the design were kept mostly under wraps until the keynote, which helped make the reveal experience even more magical and exciting.
Here's what I said about it beforehand:
“I have to admit, I was a little afraid of what it might look like, especially for macOS, since, as contrasted to iOS/iPadOS or even tvOS, it's designed for productivity instead of (mainly) entertainment.”
For more context, check here.
However, I actually kind of love it. And not because I'm an Apple acolyte or grew up in the age of Frutiger Aero.
It just seems to make so much sense to create a design language that is consistent across all of Apple's platforms, and Liquid Glass does just that. It's glassmorphic in a way that we haven't seen before, and I think that's a good thing.
Traditionally, glassmorphism has been comprised of an opaque/translucent content background with an optional (but widely used) background blur to blur the content behind it and provide a sense of hierarchy.
Liquid Glass takes this to the next level, actually mimicking the properties of real glass!!
As somewhat of a developer myself (although I'm a much better designer than developer), I can appreciate the technical achievement that this represents. The new design is also refreshed with new and more lively and playful animations, which make every microinteraction that much more fun and engaging.
There are a few quirks, like I'm not a huge fan of the new toggles, and the opacity in Control Center on iOS is a little too low (I get why they did it, to let more of the content “shine through” the UI elements), but overall, I'm very satisfied and really impressed that Apple pulled this off.
Of course, with such a massive design update, there will be users who absolutely despise the design. People have widely criticized the design updates, claiming that it's “not a true redesign”, citing that while the look and feel has changed, the core navigation has not.
I disagree with that sentiment, and, while it was a bold and risky move on Apple's part, in the long term I think they made the right decision.
It seems like people have jumped the gun so much on trying out the design that they forget it's a beta. A developer beta. The first one. And then they get angry 'cause they think this is what Apple is shipping in September.
And all this is very frustrating for people who are actually used to beta testing, because they know that a whole lot can (and is supposed to) change between the first developer beta release and the first production release. Once, Apple announced a new design for Safari at WWDC21. It shipped in the beta, and while it looked cool, most users didn't really like it. So Apple ended up rethinking the design and changed it before the first production release.
With such a radical redesign, Apple has needed to change a lot of UI elements, and that means that some of them are going to be really buggy.
Plus, Apple has about three and a half months to iron it out.
The Other Stuff
There's a whole lot more than meets the eye
Apple didn't just show off a new UI design and leave it at that.While there were no insane software features announced at WWDC, that doesn't mean it was a design-only update.
First of all, we did get iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS and tvOS 26, as rumored. To learn more about why, check out (again) last week's article.
Next, Apple previewed tons of new Apple Intelligence features, and, unlike last year, they were delivered at launch. Some new features include:
- Use Apple Intelligence in the Shortcuts App
- Developers can now use the Foundation Models framework to leverage both on-device and Private Cloud Compute Apple Intelligence models in their apps
- More Image Playground image generation styles (like ChatGPT and Genmoji)
- Apple Intelligence-powered Live Translation in Messages and FaceTime
- Visual Intelligence gets an upgrade, with the ability to ask ChatGPT about an item or subject in an image
- Apple Intelligence comes to Apple Watch, including a new feature called Workout Buddy, which acts as your own real-time fitness coach and motivator
- Apple Intelligence can now suggest a new Poll in Messages when it notices that one might come in handy
- ...and many more!
- All-new Games app on iPhone, iPad and Mac for all your (even non-App Store, at least on Mac) games
- New Liquid Glass-inspired icons, with a brand-new Clear app icon variant (thankfully, the icons aren't rounder though), as well as a new utility for developers to make app icons
- Customizable folders on iPadOS and macOS
- New Polls feature in Messages
- Customizable chat background in Messages
- Redesigned Camera app (and icon) for quicker access to both core and advanced features
- Photos app brings back tabs (but only two of them), Library and Collections, plus a Search button that morphs into a search field
- Animated full-screen album art on the Lock Screen, thanks to Apple Music
- AutoMix feature in Apple Music seamlessly transitions between songs to create a personal DJ-like experience
- iPadOS productivity features provide a more Mac-like windowing system
- Better Spotlight search in macOS, with a new built-in clipboard manager
- Refreshed Liquid Glass appearance and hugely improved customizability in macOS
- More rounded and refined cursors for macOS
- Notes app comes to Apple Watch
- New Wrist Flick gesture for dismissing calls and notifications on Apple Watch
- Smart-er Smart Stack brings more contextual awareness on watchOS
- tvOS is redesigned with the Liquid Glass UI
- New Screen Savers and Accessibility Features on Apple TV
- visionOS lets you create widgets and place them in your environment, and saves their location even once you turn your headset off
- Better Personas for visionOS (used in FaceTime calls to spatially recreate your face)
- Spatial Scenes take a 2D photo and use advanced image processing to create a photo you can move around and look into on visionOS, and it also comes to iOS for your wallpaper, giving an Amazon Fire Phone-like feel
- ...and a couple hundred more I don't have the space in this article to touch up on!
Dia: The browser that browses for you
Last week I talked about how the Browser Company of New York (BCNY) had said sunset their first browser, Arc. Now we get to take a quick look at their new AI-powered browser, Dia.
Dia is BCNY's so-called “Act II”. They claimed that Arc didn't go as mainstream as they were hoping, with its brand-new design being a little too “out there” for average users.On top of me testing the (relatively unstable) macOS Tahoe beta, I've also been testing the Dia beta! hOoRaY i LoVe BeTa TeStInG!
To be honest, it's actually been really useful. The whole premise of Dia is to be your sidekick on the web, where you can ask Dia about anything on a webpage in a chat sidebar on the right of the browser window.
For example, I used Dia to quickly research stuff for this article, like WWDC feature updates I missed while watching the keynote and feverishly texting my friends in real-time about all the new features.
When you launch Dia, it prompts you to first create an account and stuff (since it's a beta), then it lets you craft your own prompts for the AI.
This gives you a more personalized experience, and I really like the level of guidance BCNY baked into the setup, showing you what to do, but not obsessively hand-holding.
Dia also lets you craft your own AI “Skills”, which let you create a prompt for Dia to complete a specific task, like creating an daily schedule first thing in the morning for you, based on your personal context that Dia has learned.
Overall, Dia is very useful for things like research and shopping, but I don't really see it as a great fit for my regular day-to-day web browser. I really like the Safari redesign, so I'll likely be using a combination of Safari and Arc for my usual browsing.
Honey, I shrunk the Xbox
Microsoft's engineering team finally bought a shrink-ray!
Nearly twenty-one years after Microsoft gaming competitor Sony announced the PSP (PlayStation Portable), Microsoft partners with ASUS to create an Xbox handheld. Gamers rejoice.Microsoft seems to be aiming to compete with the likes of Valve (with their Steam Deck), and Nintendo (with their Switch series of handheld consoles).
In reality, they're actually releasing two handhelds, the ROG (Republic of Gamers) Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X. The Ally X is essentially the “Pro” version of the Ally, with more RAM (Random Access Memory, which helps apps and games run faster and freeze less), double the storage for games, and a bigger battery.
Prices have not yet been announced, but rumors place the Ally at around $499-599 and the Ally X at about $699-899.
Microsoft had been rumored to have been working on a first-party gaming console for quite some time, but it seems that they've cancelled that project in favor of a partnership with ASUS.
To be honest, I'm not much of a gamer myself at all, and the games I do play regularly are on this quirky yellow handheld game console with a crank, called Playdate, and I've always preferred PlayStation over Xbox, 'cause
The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X consoles are expected to be released just in time for the 2025 holiday season, so keep that in mind if you're writing your (ultra-expensive) Christmas wishlist.
That wraps up this week's edition of ohno!
I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!If you've got any questions, comments, ideas, or noticed something I messed up, feel free to get in touch at hi@owen.uno.
See you soon!