WWDC 2024

Sure seems like a big hint from Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak.

With the countdown to the WWDC 2024 keynote now sliding through its last hour, you can prepare with The Vergecast crew for all of the questions we’re expecting to have answered in just a few minutes.

We will be in place for Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. We’ll find out exactly how much AI Tim Cook & Co. can stuff into iOS 18, along with anything else new that they have to show us.

Will we see new hardware, or will all the news have something to do with AI? Greg Joswiak isn’t telling.

Before the event starts, however, Apple released student-targeted Mac ads promoting the power and long battery life of M-series MacBooks. They’re not responding to or even acknowledging the competition’s attacks (yet), but if Qualcomm’s promises hold up, then maybe that will change.

It wasn’t the biggest announcement at WWDC this year, but Apple debuting TV AirPlay in hotels is a welcome thing, and LG announced Thursday it’ll support it on LG Pro:Centric Smart Hotel TVs later this year (via MacRumors).

When you encounter one, you’ll be able to connect and start AirPlaying TikToks or whatever by scanning a QR code on the TV.

Last week, Apple gave fans of its famous thin-and-light laptop line the option they’d been missing with its new 15-incher, and now it’s available to buy.

Monica’s review called it exactly what was asked for:

This device doesn’t manufacture a need; it found a need, and it’s filling it. We don’t need to be convinced that we want the Air 15. We’ve been waiting for it.

The new Mac Studio and Mac Pro models are also officially available to buy.

But the VPN provider needs more details before it commits:

“We are concerned that there may be some limitations for consumer VPN products and the update will only benefit B2B VPN solutions,” NordVPN PR Manager Egidijus Jurgelionis wrote in an email to The Verge, “If not, our users will be able to use NordVPN on their Apple TVs sometime in the nearest future.”

In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman is again highlighting Apple Vision Pro successors. That includes a 2nd-gen Vision Pro with a faster processor, as well as a cheaper one that could arrive by late 2025, with a two-product split mirroring Apple’s phones, laptops, and tablets.

Gurman offered a theory on why Tim Cook never donned the headset WWDC — Apple execs don’t want to be turned into memes by unflattering pictures.

There are a lot of familiar faces in Lawley’s video if you like Apple-focused tech podcasts like many of those hosted by RelayFM.

It’s interesting what they’re looking forward to — Overcast creator and podcaster Marco Arment says SwiftUI code will be “way less error-prone,” while David Sparks of MacSparky called out what he says is much-improved dictation.

Apple’s new headset made the splashiest debut during WWDC 2023, so don’t miss Nilay Patel telling you (outside of podcasts, editorials, and comments) what it’s like to wear one before the Vision Pro is released early next year.

In Apple’s WWDC Platforms State of the Union video, the headset is shown on a table with what looks like a USB-C dongle, as pointed out by MacRumors. It could be a way to connect the headset to a Mac for development, a more convenient power connection than the battery pack, or maybe some kind of Apple-only diagnostic tool.

Whatever it is, it looks like no Apple product can escape #donglelife.