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Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

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Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#491

Post by emadda »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #438
emadda wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The thing macOS really painfully lacks is not ergonomic ways to run Linux VMs, but actual, native containers-- macOS containers Linux container processes run on the host kernel with extra sandboxing. The container image is an easily sharable and runnable bundle. macOS .app bundles are kind of like container images. You can sign them to ensure they are not modified, and put them into the “registry” (App Store). The…

You're kind of right. But at the same time they are nowhere close. The beauty of Linux containerization is that processes can be wholly ignorant that they are not in fact running as root. The containers get, what appear to them, to be the whole OS to themselves. You don't get that in macOS. It's more of a jail than a sandbox. For example, as an app you can't, as far as I know, shell out and install homebrew and then…

Good point, apps are missing the docker layered file system to isolate container file writes.

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#492

Post by greggsy »

rs186 wrote: post #455
greggsy wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uptake of iPhone 16+ devices will be much more than 25% by the time someone develops the next killer app using these tools, which will no doubt spur sales anyway.

App development could be as quickly as a few weeks. If the only "killer apps" we have seen in the past three years are the ChatGPT kind, I'm not holding my breath for a brand new "killer app" that runs only on iPhone 16+.

On-device is a killer feature IMO

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#493

Post by xpe »

glhaynes wrote: post #308
xpe wrote: post #266

> including over 250,000 APIs that enable developers to integrate their apps with Apple’s hardware and software features. This doesn’t sound impressive, it sounds insane.

Which ones would you like to get rid of?

I can hear the whooshing sound accompanying the snark... I'm talking about how this is communicated. I'd suggest that Apple say something like "200+ developer frameworks" rather than counting up the number of individual methods or functions.

Here is a summarization provided by Claude after I back-and-forthed it a bit:

--

Apple Developer Frameworks

This list represents the vast ecosystem of frameworks available to developers for building applications across Apple's platforms.

I. Foundational Frameworks

These provide the fundamental services and data management capabilities for all applications.

- Core Frameworks: Essential for data types, collections, and low-level services. Examples: Foundation, Core Data, Core Foundation

- Security: Manages user authentication, authorization, and cryptographic services. Examples: CryptoKit, LocalAuthentication, Security

- App Services: Supports core application functionalities and integrations. Examples: Contacts, EventKit, StoreKit, WeatherKit, ClockKit

II. User Interface & Experience

Frameworks for building the visual elements and user interactions of an application.

- UI Frameworks: The primary toolkits for constructing user interfaces. Examples: SwiftUI, UIKit (for iOS/tvOS), AppKit (for macOS)

- Services: Provides access to system-level services with a UI component. Examples: MapKit, CloudKit, Core Location, PassKit

III. Graphics & Media

For creating rich visual content, games, and handling audio/video.

- Graphics & Games: High-performance 2D and 3D graphics rendering and game development. Examples: Metal, SpriteKit, SceneKit, RealityKit

- Media: Manages the playback and processing of audio and video. Examples: AVFoundation, Core Audio, VisionKit

IV. Machine Learning

Enables the integration of intelligent features into applications.

- Core ML & Vision: The foundation for machine learning models and computer vision tasks. Examples: Core ML, Vision, Natural Language, Speech

- V. Platform-Specific Frameworks

The number of available frameworks varies significantly across Apple's operating systems, reflecting the unique capabilities of each platform.

- macOS: ~250+ frameworks

- iOS/iPadOS: ~200+ frameworks

- watchOS: ~50-60 frameworks

- tvOS: ~35-40 frameworks

- visionOS: A growing set of frameworks for spatial computing.

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#494

Post by _ph_ »

chakintosh wrote: post #46

Some 15 years ago, A friend of mine said to me "mark my words, Apple will eventually merge OSX with iOS on the iPad". And with every passing keynote since then, it seemed Apple's been inching towards that prophecy, and today, the iPad has become practically a MacBook Air with a touch screen. Unless you were a video editor, programmer who needs resources to compile or a 3D artist, I don't see how you'd need anything o…

Yes and no. What they are currently doing, and it is working out greatly, is having a single hardware platform and a common code base on all devices. They still have branches of the main OS body for each device with the device specific customization. Which absolutely makes sense. Macs don't have touch. But iPads have. Which has at least some differentiation in the desktop UI. Then they try to keep up strong limitations on what iPad software can do - probably to a large extend to keep the lucrative app store alive. And of course, TV OS looks quite different for obvious reasons.

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#495

Post by _ph_ »

jeron wrote: post #49
chakintosh wrote: post #46

Some 15 years ago, A friend of mine said to me "mark my words, Apple will eventually merge OSX with iOS on the iPad". And with every passing keynote since then, it seemed Apple's been inching towards that prophecy, and today, the iPad has become practically a MacBook Air with a touch screen. Unless you were a video editor, programmer who needs resources to compile or a 3D artist, I don't see how you'd need anything o…

ipad hardware is a full blown M chip. There's no real hardware limitation that stops the iPad from running macOS, but merging it cannibalizes each product line's sales

Right. But as long as touch is the main interface to you tablet, at least the desktop UI should be designed for that. So in my eyes it totally makes sense not just to use plain MacOS for the iPad. Another item is that so far they resist giving users full control over their iPad.

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#496

Post by IanCal »

refulgentis wrote: post #429
IanCal wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ish - it always depends how deep in the weeds you need to get. Tokenisation impacts performance, both speed and results, so details can be important.

I maintain a llama.cpp wrapper, on everything from web to Android and cannot quite wrap my mind around if you'd have any more info by getting individual token IDs from the API, beyond what you'd get from wall clock time and checking their vocab.

Do we have the vocab? That's part of the point here. Does it take images? How are they tokenised?

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#497

Post by rubicon33 »

tansan wrote: post #459
rubicon33 wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The direction the software engineering is going in with this whole "vibe coding" thing is so depressing to me. I went into this industry because I grew up fascinated by computers. When I learned how to code, it was about learning how to control these incredible machines. The joy of figuring something out by experimenting is quickly being replaced by just slamming it into some "generative" tool. I have no idea where t…

This sounds like a boomer trying to resist using Google in favor of encyclopedias. Vibe coding can be whatever you want to make of it. If you want to be prescriptive about your instructions and use it as a glorified autocomplete, then do it. You can also go at it from a high-level point of view. Either way, you still need to code review the AI code as if it was a PR.

This sounds like someone who doesn't actually know how to code, doesn't enjoy the craft, and probably only got into the industry because it pays well and not because they actually enjoy it.

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#498

Post by rubicon33 »

swsieber wrote: post #474
tansan wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like a boomer trying to resist using Google in favor of encyclopedias. Vibe coding can be whatever you want to make of it. If you want to be prescriptive about your instructions and use it as a glorified autocomplete, then do it. You can also go at it from a high-level point of view. Either way, you still need to code review the AI code as if it was a PR.

No, this sounds like an IC resisting becoming a manager.

Not sure if this is supposed to be an insult... Should I probably lean into management at some point? Sure. But do I still enjoy coding and am I still quite capable (without AI assistance)? Yup.

So as long as I can, and as long as I still enjoy it, you'll find me writing code. Lucky to get payed to do this.

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#499

Post by runjake »

dwaite wrote: post #484
runjake wrote: post #442

In case others are confused about the term "Foundation Models": "Foundation Models" is an Apple product name for a framework that taps into a bunch of Apple's on-device AI models.

No, the model itself is one of the two Apple foundation language models (the AFM-on-device, specifically) https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/introducing-apple... https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/apple-intelligenc... The architecture is such that the model can be specialized by plugging in more task-specific fine-tuning models as adapters, for instance one made for handling email tasks. At least in t…

You are wrong. Citation: I read the post. The purpose of the post is to announce the Foundation Models framework. It's mentioned in the very first paragraph and throughout the post.

The Foundation Models framework documentation:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundationmodels/

  > The Foundation Models framework provides access to 
  > Apple’s on-device large language model that powers 
  > Apple Intelligence to help you perform intelligent 
  > tasks specific to your use case.
Sure, the models are also named the same. That's beside the point. That's not the point of the post you're correcting me on, which is again, announcing the framework.

Re: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

#500

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

SlowTao wrote: post #482
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the opposite of "flat" is not "transparent". This was posted in another HN thread about Liquid Glass: https://imgur.com/a/6ZTCStC . I'm sure Apple will tweak the opacity before it goes live, but this looks horribly insane to me.

Yeah it definetly needs work. But I hope they do tone it down like Microsoft did with Aero glass effects between Vista and win 7. They are heading in a good direction, it just needs to be toned down. But like any new graphics technology the first year is the "WOW WE CAN DO X!!!!" then the more tame stuff comes along.

> They are heading in a good direction

Why do you think they are headed in a good direction? There is literally nothing I like about the liquid glass effect from a usability perspective. The transparency/translucency is wholly negative in my opinion.

The best analogy to me is physical buttons in cars vs. touch screens. The "headed in a good direction" there is to actually stop putting more shit into the touchscreen and have physical buttons for anything you'd touch while the car is in motion.

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