ANFR (via Hacker News):
As market surveillance authority for radio equipment and responsible for controlling public exposure to electromagnetic fields, the ANFR runs inspections on mobile phones placed on the French market. 141 mobile phones, including Apple’s iPhone 12, have recently been tested to check compliance with limit SAR values. SAR is a measure of the rate of radiofrequency energy absorbed by the body from the equipment being measured.
The mobile phones were tested by an accredited laboratory, which allows the ANFR to ensure that the SAR values comply with European regulation.
[…]
Apple must immediately adopt all necessary measures to prevent the iPhone 12 in the supply chain from being made available on the market. As for those telephones that are already in use, Apple must adopt all necessary corrective measures to bring the telephones into conformity as soon as possible, otherwise, Apple will have to recall the equipment.
It doesn’t sound like this is a new regulation, so did they wait 3 years until after the product was discontinued before testing it? Or are recent iPhone 12s now manufactured differently so that they no longer meet the same standard?
Mathieu Rosemain and Elizabeth Pinea:
Germany’s network regulator BNetzA said it might launch similar proceedings and was in close contact with French authorities, while Spain’s OCU consumers’ group urged authorities there to halt the sales of the iPhone 12.
[…]
Apple said in a statement the iPhone 12, launched in 2020, was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards, that it had provided several Apple and third-party lab results proving the phone’s compliance to the French agency, and that it was contesting its findings.
[…]
Croft said the French findings could differ from those recorded by other regulators because ANFR assesses radiation with a method that assumes direct skin contact, without intermediate textile layers, between the device and user.
Update (2023-09-14): Thomas Clement:
From what I heard on the French news here, an iOS update (which one they didn’t say) is the cause for the increase in radiation. Which would explain why this is coming up only now.
[…]
Some adjustments were made to the signal power code logic and that caused the phone to go over the threshold. Then it could be fixed just as well.
Update (2023-09-15): Lwii2boo:
I’m French and French media told us that this issue applied only for iPhone 12. 12 mini, 12 Pro and 12 PM are not concerned by this issue.
Moreover the emission was fine at launch for EU standard (<4W/kg) but when ANFR did again the test 3 years later, the emission measure was increased to 5.7W/kg. According to many experts, you need to reach 40W/kg before having realistic health risk.
If the test is valid, Apple would be forced to push a software update to reduce emissions - which is easily feasible as this is how the emission has increased over time - but it may reduce modem performance.
Tim Hardwick:
Apple said on Friday it would issue a software update for iPhone 12 users in France to address radiation concerns raised by the country's regulators (via Reuters).
European Union France iPhone iPhone 12 Legal
Tim Hardwick:
Apple today at its “Wonderlust” event announced that macOS Sonoma, the latest version of its Mac operating system, will be available to all users with compatible Mac models starting on Tuesday, September 26.
Brian Webster:
Wow, this is the first time the new macOS has been released in September since Mojave. It’s usually not until October or November.
I was expecting and would have liked a bit more time to polish SpamSieve 3, but I’m still planning to ship it before Sonoma. Apple Mail on Sonoma won’t work with SpamSieve 2.x. There are two key bugs with Mail extensions that I reported with previous macOS versions and refiled with the Sonoma beta, but they have not been fixed.
I also found a new bug this summer where Mail sometimes just stops communicating with a Mail extension (FB12819637). Apple did actually reply to this one (on August 3), but its response made no sense to me, as it seemed to be inconsistent with what diagnostics on the affected Macs showed. I asked for clarification and submitted Mail sysdiagnose files from many different beta testers’ Macs but never heard back.
Needless to say, it’s a shame that the Mail extensions API remains almost as limited and broken as it was upon introduction. But I’ve worked around the bugs—so that, if necessary, SpamSieve can operate without even using the Mail extension—and in the end it works quite well.
Joe Rossignol:
Apple today shared in-depth lists of all new features coming with the iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma software updates, which are all set to be released later this month. The lists are available as PDFs on Apple’s website.
This is great.
Brian Webster:
Whoa, Apple discovered a different kind of cutting edge button technology in macOS Sonoma!
There’s a new Sync Now button for iCloud Photos.
Howard Oakley:
For those who prefer to wait a bit longer, be very careful when you choose to update, say, to 13.6, and when you use SilentKnight. It’s likely that, like Ventura, Apple will release Sonoma as an update, rather than using the full installer for an upgrade. Don’t get caught and unintentionally become an early adopter.
Previously:
Update (2023-09-14): Mullvad VPN (via Hacker News):
During the macOS 14 Sonoma beta period Apple introduced a bug in the macOS firewall, packet filter (PF). This bug prevents our app from working, and can result in leaks when some settings (e.g. local network sharing) are enabled. We cannot guarantee functionality or security for users on macOS 14, we have investigated this issue after the 6th beta was released and reported the bug to Apple. Unfortunately the bug is still present in later macOS 14 betas and the release candidate.
Peter N Lewis:
So as near as I can figure:
a) Sonoma blocks access to wifi names unless you have Location permissions enabled.
b) Sonoma does not prompt for Location permissions if your app tries to access wifi names.
b) Sonoma has no way to manually add an app to the Location permission system.
Kirk McElhearn:
I am extremely impressed by the quality of the new dictation in macOS and iOS. This is the best dictation that I have used, with the exception of Dragon Dictate, which allowed you to make corrections and add custom vocabulary. If Apple ever adds a system where it learned from corrections, it will truly be amazing.
Apple Mail Bug Dictation iCloud Photo Library Mac macOS 14 Sonoma Mail App Extensions Software Update SpamSieve Transparency Consent and Control (TCC) Wi-Fi
Joe Rossignol:
In addition to the iPhone 15 models getting a USB-C port, Apple today announced that the second-generation AirPods Pro are now available to order with a USB-C charging case for $249, and the wired EarPods now come in a USB-C version as well.
Tim Hardwick:
Apple’s decision not to offer the USB-C case as a separate purchase is likely a marketing one related to the fact that the updated second-generation AirPods Pro feature improved IP54-rated dust resistance, and will support up to 4 hours of lossless audio with ultra-low latency when connected to the Apple Vision Pro headset launching in early 2024.
They are still calling it “AirPods Pro (2nd generation).”
Previously:
AirPods Apple Hardware Announcement Apple Vision Pro Lightning USB-C
