Apple may have pushed back their improved AI version of Siri, but that doesn’t mean big changes aren’t coming. 9to5mac.com reports that Cupertino is working on iOS 19, which will be the biggest overhaul of the mobil OS since iSO 7. Oh, great…a new design and interface to get used to!  Actually, Apple plans to freshen the MacOS and iPadOS, too. One big goal is to make them all more consistent. The word is, they will look more like visionOS. Honestly, after looking at that OS, it isn’t going to be a jarring change…but do expect an update to the “style of icons, menus, apps, windows, and system buttons.” iOS 19 will be previewed at WWDC in June, and should be out in September along with the iPhone 17 family.

AT&T and partner AST SpaceMobile have now made a video call using an unmodified smartphone connected by satellite. This is a small but important step, showing the viability of potential space-based cell networks that could cover unserved areas and spots that are too remote to eve attempt to wire up with cell towers. According to zdnet.com, the call was via AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites, which were launched last September. The call originated in Midland Texas, and was made over a standard WhatsApp with an unmodified smartphone. While Apple, Samsung, and others have emergency calling and even limited regular texting over satellite, a video call is quite a leap ahead, as video takes considerably more bandwidth. A new series of BlueBird satellites will allow 120 Mbps data speeds, which is enough to actually stream….although with the present costs, you probably won’t want to spend the money!

TikTok has added features to help protect teens. Parents can sow see their teenager’s follower/following list, and block access during certain hours. Techcrunch.com says the ‘Time Away’ feature might be set during school, at night, or during homework time. On the follower/ followed front, the parents can also see who the teen has blocked. All this is unlikely to move the US government, which gave the app 75 days in January to be taken over by a US company or be banned. 

Bluesky is now supporting video uploads of up to 3 minutes, tripling the former limit. This should be a nice boost for video creators. Engadget.com also notes that some inbox management has been added as well. You will now see a ‘requests’ section in Bluesky DMs, which will silo messages from users you don’t know. You can reject incoming chats, cutting the number of spam DMs that have been hitting inboxes. Bluesky now has 33 million users, according to CEO Jay Gruber, who wore a tee shirt with Latin inscribed on it…mounds sine caesaribus…translated to a world without Caesars. Gruber touted Bluesky being ‘billionaire proof’ compared to other apps. The open system of Bluesky makes it possible to ‘fork off’ if a billionaire should take over, and just move on to a new application. Mastodon is set up in a similar open manner.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.