| Cult of Mac

Mark Zuckerberg says Apple Vision Pro is too expensive and antisocial

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Two people having a conversation, one wearing the Vision Pro headset with EyeSight.
A totally normal conversation between two humans.
Photo: Apple

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro headset does not pack any significant technological breakthroughs. He claims his company explored all options used by Apple — but ultimately decided against them.

Zuckerberg expressed his thoughts on Vision Pro in a companywide meeting with Meta employees.

Meta squeezes in VR headset tease ahead of WWDC23

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Meta Quest 3 is
Meta Quest 3 is "coming this fall."
Photo: Meta
WWDC23

That’s some interesting timing on Meta’s press release Thursday for a VR headset not expected to come out until at least late September. Mark Zuckerberg and company wedged in a tease for Meta Quest 3 just four days ahead of WWDC23, when Apple is expected to unveil its much-anticipated AR/VR headset.

The Meta press materials even appropriated “we can’t wait,” one of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s trademark phrases.

What to expect from Apple’s September event [The CultCast]

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The CultCast: Tim Cook can't wait to tell you how excited he is about the new Apple gear at the Apple event on September 7!
Tim Cook can't wait to tell you how excited he is about the new Apple gear!
Image: Cult of Mac/Apple

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Looks like we have a date for the next big Apple event: Mark your calendars for September 7! We’re expecting iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8 — which both sound awfully familiar — and hoping for something surprising.

Also on The CultCast:

  • Kim Kardashian’s “neutral colors” for Beats Fit Pro actually look pretty enticing. Who woulda guessed?
  • An Apple stock update from Erfon might leave you jealous if you sold in a panic.
  • Let’s drag Mark Zuckerberg for his pathetic metaverse avatar. Everyone else is!

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.

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Zuckerberg says Apple and Meta are battling over the internet’s future

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Apple versus Meta
The CEO of Meta says his company and Apple are in a "competition of philosophies and ideas."
Photo: Cult of Mac

Both Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook) are both building AR/VR headsets, but they’re going about it in dramatically different ways. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told Meta employees the two companies are in “a competition of philosophies and ideas.”

It’s possible the metaverse is the future of the internet. And Zuckerberg describes Meta as being a leader in creating an open metaverse with multiple companies working together, while he says Apple is creating its own closed version.

But Zuckerberg’s comments ignore another major philosophical difference between the twin companies. Apple believes in protecting user privacy, but Meta makes its money by collecting and selling information about users.

WhatsApp’s promise of end-to-end encryption may be a complete lie

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WhatsApp encryption message
WhatsApp says no one — not even WhatsApp — can read your messages.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

WhatsApp promises to protect every one of its 2 billion users with end-to-end encryption that ensures their messages cannot be seen by anyone outside of the original conversation. But does it live up to that promise?

A new report alleges that the Facebook-owned messaging platform uses artificial intelligence and more than 1,000 contract workers to examine “millions of pieces of users’ content” using “special Facebook software.”

That’s despite Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg telling the U.S. Senate in 2018 that “we don’t see any of the content in WhatsApp.”

Tim Cook’s privacy prescription for Facebook: Delete tons of user data

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By running anti-Apple ads in major newspapers, Facebook's taking its battle with Apple to the next level.
Cook is no big fan of Facebook.
Photo: Thought Catalog/Unsplash CC

Tim Cook reportedly shocked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg when, during a July 2019 meeting, he told the social media magnate that he should delete all user data Facebook had gathered outside of its core apps.

According to The New York Times, the meeting between the two had been called to try and restore peace between the Silicon Valley tech giants. Zuck had asked cook how he should respond to the then-current Cambridge Analytica scandal, during which many users had had data gathered about them without express permission.

Mark Zuckerberg isn’t interested in AR glasses that are like ‘an Apple Watch on your face’

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Apple Glass
Zuck's comments sound like a shot at Apple's plans.
Image: Jon Prosser/Front Page Tech

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a low-key shot at Apple’s AR plans in a new interview with The Verge, saying that he’s not enthusiastic about “putting an Apple Watch on [his] face.”

While Zuck was talking more broadly about augmented reality glasses, the fact that he called out Apple Watch (and the fact that Apple is the highest profile company reportedly working on AR glasses) makes it pretty clear which direction he’s throwing his shade.

Zuckerberg has big ‘questions’ about Apple’s tight control of App Store

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Facebook owns 4 of the top 10 apps of the past decade
Facebook CEO has issues with App Store.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks Apple’s control of the App Store should be scrutinized. In an interview for Axios on HBO, the Facebook overlord said that Apple has “unilateral control of what gets on phones, in terms of apps.”

Zuck went on to say that this power meant that there are questions that should be asked about whether this is “enabling as robust of a competitive dynamic.”

Tim Cook agrees to testify before Congress in antitrust probe

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Tim Cook goes to Washington
Apple chief Tim Cook will testify before Congress, and he’ll be joined by the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook and Google.
Screenshot: Apple

The CEOs of four of biggest tech firms will testify in the House of Representatives’s probe into antitrust activities. That includes Apple’s Tim Cook, along with the heads of Amazon, Facebook and Google.

This is part of an ongoing investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into whether the largest tech companies play fair with smaller competitors.

Facebook Messenger for iOS goes light and fast

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Facebook Messenger video chat includes augmented reality.
Not all of the silly features were stripped out of Facebook Messenger.
Photo: Facebook

Facebook shrunk the size of its Messenger app, and stripped out some features, intending to make it faster to load and simpler to navigate.

Some of the missing features will be back, though.