Several news outlets have reported on the newly released Beta compilers from IBM.
XL C and XL C++ for Mac OS X (download here) are PowerPC 970 optimized versions of IBM's compilers which have been show to improve Power4's SPEC performance (PDF) significantly.
Some early benchmarks (Ars Thread) demonstrate significant performance boosts -- up to +210% in Scalar performance in one particular PowerMac G5 Fortran application -- with more modest improvements in other measures. The code utilized in this benchmark appears to be the Jet3d codebase used in the early "NASA" G5 Benchmarks.
Apple last week unveiled five new apps, with four announced at WWDC 2026 alongside its upcoming fall software updates, one released in beta for developers, and one released independently by its subsidiary Claris.
Siri AI App
One of the biggest announcements of WWDC 2026 was Siri AI, a ground-up rebuild of Apple's voice assistant that for the first time comes with a dedicated standalone...
Apple's annual WWDC developers conference is in the rearview mirror, but there is still a lot to look forward to over the next year and beyond.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman listed around 20 products that he expects Apple to release across the remainder of 2026 and 2027.
Now that the more intelligent and personal version of Siri has finally arrived in beta, a...
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
CarPlay Ultra...
