In this week’s issue, Adam Engst reflects on the value of summaries in response to Apple Intelligence’s flawed notification summarizations, questioning when and how summaries are helpful. He also shares his family’s positive experience riding in a Waymo robotaxi in San Francisco, offering a firsthand look at how self-driving cars perform in a real-world environment. Lastly, for people monitoring friends and family affected by California’s wildfires (or those personally affected!), we highlight the Watch Duty app, which provides real-time alerts and maps curated by wildfire experts. Notable Mac app releases this week include Acorn 8.0.1, Default Folder X 6.1.4, Fantastical 4.0.4, Parallels Desktop 20.2, Quicken Classic 8.0, and Zoom Workplace 6.3.5.
Adam Engst looks at Watch Duty, a nonprofit-developed app that combines wildfire mapping with real-time alerts from firefighters and first responders. It can help you track active fires and evacuation zones for yourself or affected family and friends.
On a recent visit to San Francisco, Adam Engst was thoroughly impressed with a ride in a Waymo robotaxi. How many years will it be before the company expands service to most of the country?
In light of Apple Intelligence’s notification missteps, Adam Engst examines the value of summarization, overcoming an initial skepticism to argue that summaries are intrinsic to human expression but should be used judiciously.
Watchlist
Maintenance update for the recently upgraded image editor. ($29.99 new, free update, 84.7 MB, macOS 14+)
Maintenance update corrects various issues with the Open/Save dialog utility. ($39.95 new, free update, 17.6 MB, macOS 10.13+)
Adds option to join conference calls directly from the event alert notification. ($56.99 annual subscription, free update, 67.4 MB, macOS 12+)
Updates the virtualization software with new features, improvements, and bug fixes. ($99.99 Standard Edition, free update for subscribers, macOS 10.14.6+)
Brings a smattering of improvements to the financial management app. ($71.88/$95.88/$131.88 annual subscription, free update, 3.2 MB, macOS 12+)
Brings a small collection of improvements and bug fixes to the videoconferencing app. (Free, 134.2 MB, macOS 10.13+)
