On today’s podcast, we applaud Turkish developer Lemi Ergin for “outing” the macOS High Sierra root authentication bug, talk about an upcoming art exhibit featuring ARKit content, and have news about the new Sports section in the TV app for iOS and tvOS:
- No good deed goes unpunished, with a lot of developers criticizing Lemi Ergin for publicly tweeting about the root authentication bug to get Apple’s attention
- At the start of Miami’s Art Week on December 5, the Perez Art Museum Miami will open an exhibit that uses Apple hardware, software, and development tools to emphasize the impact of invasive species
- The latest betas of iOS and tvOS feature the long-awaited Sports section in the TV app
The text version of the podcast can be read below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Apple News readers need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
Text Version
This is Steve Sande for Apple World Today, and you’re listening to the AWT News Update podcast for Wednesday, November 29th, 2017.
That macOS High Sierra root authentication bug has been fixed by Apple with a critical software update that went out today. If you haven’t already run the update, it’s found in the Mac App Store and installs with a click. Fortunately, you don’t even need to reboot your Mac during the installation, so there’s no reason not to protect your Mac right now. And now for a bit of a personal opinion. I went out earlier today to the Twitter account of Turkish developer Lemi Ergin, who found the bug and publicized it in a tweet that pinged Apple Support. Unfortunately, Ergin was taken to task by a lot of people in the developer community for reporting the bug this way. Many other Mac developers felt that he should have gone through Apple’s traditional bug reporting protocol. In my opinion, Ergin did the right thing by publicizing a gaping security hole in macOS High Sierra to make sure it got fixed immediately. If he had gone through the standard process, there’s a chance that Apple would have taken its sweet time working on a bug patch. Instead, by making the issue widely known, Apple fixed the problem in less than 24 hours.
With all the publicity surrounding ARKit and augmented reality in general, there’s still not a lot of AR content available. Miami residents and visitors will get a chance to view an AR art exhibit at the Perez Art Museum Miami starting December 5, with a public exhibition called “Invasive Species” by digital artist Felice Grodin. Using iPads and a special app, visitors will be able to view two augmented reality creations, once called “Mezzbug” and the other called “Terrafish”. Terrafish will turn the hanging gardens on the museum’s waterfront terrace into a space filled with AR invasive species, mainly non-native jellyfish that have been moving into South Florida waters and showing the destructive impact of invasive species. In 2018, two more digital art pieces created with ARKit will be added to the collection, one in January and the other sometime in the spring.
Past episodes of the AWT News Update have noted that Apple has plans on adding a Sports content area to the TV app on iOS and tvOS. Well, that upcoming feature just appeared on devices that are running iOS and tvOS 11.2 betas. This feature should be rolling out to the general public on December 4th. It will bring live scores, game alerts, and the ability to watch multiple games simultaneously, perfect for sports fanatics. The new Sports section is a tab option in the TV app. You’ll need to configure favorite teams, and then alerts arrive before upcoming games. Live scores and remaining times are displayed while you’re viewing games. As mentioned, we believe that iOS 11.2 and tvOS 11.2 will be arriving next week, with iOS 11.2 adding Apple Pay Cash, AirPlay 2, and some new iPhone X wallpapers. tvOS 11.2 adds the Sports capability, as well as HDR viewing and improved frame rate functionality for the Apple TV 4K.
That’s all for today; I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon with another edition of the AWT News Update.
