MBW 977: A Slab of Ham on a Box - WWDC 2025 Aftermath: The Great Apple Software Turnaround of 2025
MacBreak Weekly (Audio)
Intro
The hosts discuss the impactful insights and developments in the Apple ecosystem following WWDC 2025. Their lively conversation is filled with personal anecdotes, showcasing their enthusiasm for Apple's notable resurgence in software innovation.
This week's episode dives deep into the post-WWDC hangover, exploring Apple's remarkable software improvements across platforms. The hosts examine the first third-party immersive video production using Blackmagic's new camera, celebrate major Vision Pro persona upgrades, and discuss Apple's complete re-architecture of iPad windowing. The conversation reveals how Apple's software teams seem to have hit their stride after years of criticism, delivering substantial improvements from terminal apps to AI integration.
- Canal+ MotoGP Documentary for Vision Pro - First third-party Apple immersive video production shot entirely with new Blackmagic URSA camera, featuring French motorcycle racer Johann Zarco
- Spatial Personas Get Major Upgrade - visionOS 26 delivers dramatically improved personas that actually look like real people, though beards still cause mouth-tracking issues
- Geographic Persistence and Room Mapping - visionOS 26 features allow virtual objects to stay in place across reboots and sessions
- Apple Home Hub Smart Display Discovery - Code found in iOS 26 dev beta reveals upcoming HomePod with screen, expected by the end of year
- iPad Multitasking Revolution - Craig Federighi explains the complete re-architecture of iPadOS 26 windowing system, bringing full Mac-style window management to iPad
- Background Task Processing - iPadOS 26 introduces finite background tasks for exports and file operations, finally allowing users to switch apps during long processes
- Software Quality Renaissance - Discussion of Apple's apparent software turnaround, from improved backend infrastructure (40% improvement moving from Java to Swift/Rust) to new developer APIs
- New Speech-to-Text APIs - Apple provides developers access to on-device transcription that's twice as fast as Whisper, though slightly less accurate
- Third-Party App Integration Improvements - Apple now allows music apps to show animated artwork on lock screen and provides access to various ML models
- Terminal and Spotlight Updates - macOS 26 features the first meaningful Terminal app update in years, plus pro features added to Spotlight, including clipboard history
- F1 Movie Marketing Blitz - Deep dive into Apple's $200+ million investment in the F1 film, including custom iPhone cameras built for race cars and haptic trailer experiences
Picks of the Week:
- Leo's Pick: Classic Sega iOS games going free before delisting on the App Store, including Crazy Taxi, Sonic titles, and Super Monkey Ball
- Jason's Pick: PlugShare app for electric vehicle owners to find compatible charging stations across all networks and plug types
- Andy's Pick: Usagi Yojimbo comic collection Humble Bundle featuring Stan Sakai's acclaimed samurai rabbit series, with proceeds supporting the Hero Initiative
- Alex's Pick: Perla iOS camera app designed to give iPhone footage an authentic 16mm film look and feel
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell
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