Apple WWDC 2023: A List of Everything Announced, Character.AI Tops 1.7M Installs, and Escape Detects and Addresses GraphQL Security Vulnerabilities

Hello folks! 🙋We have the following tech updates for you today! 📣

• Apple WWDC 2023: a list of everything announced
• Character.AI tops 1.7M installs in the first week
• Escape is a DevSecOps security platform that detects and addresses GraphQL security vulnerabilities

Apple WWDC 2023: A List of Everything Announced

Apple began its 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday; some of the products Apple announced during this event include the following:

1️⃣ 15-inch MacBook Air: It has 11.5mm thick and weighs just over 3 pounds, and is powered by Apple’s own M2 chipset. It also has a standard headphone jack, two USB-C ports, and Apple’s MagSafe charging dock.

2️⃣ The Mac Pro with M2 Max and M2 Ultra: Apple announced a high-end desktop called Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra chip. It’s the last Apple computer to ditch Intel for Apple Silicon. It starts at $6,999. It’ll feature the M2 Ultra’s 24-core CPU, support up to a 76-core GPU, eight Thunderbolt 4 ports, and six of Apple’s high-end Pro Display XDR.

3️⃣ iOS 17 for iPhone: Apple iOS 17 has introduced new messaging and Facetime features, including live transcription for voicemail, a catch-up feature for group chats, and contact posters. It also includes improvements to the search function, live location sharing, and new stickers. Users can share contacts, music, and other resources through the new “NameDrop” feature.

4️⃣ iPadOS 17 for iPad: Latest iPad features and improvements include support for multiple timers, availability of the health app, machine-learning technology for PDFs, enhanced widgets for third-party developers (e.g., Quizlet), customizable iPad lock screen (like iPhone), and Live Activity for tracking constant updating information.

5️⃣ macOS Sonoma for Mac: Apple unveils macOS Sonoma with better gaming, FaceTime upgrades, AR reactions for video conferencing, Game Mode, interactive widgets, improved Safari, and Private Browsing.

6️⃣ FaceTime for Apple TV: Apple TV’s new update will allow FaceTime usage with the camera on your iPad or iPhone while letting you view it on a larger screen. The updated Siri remote will also support the FindMy feature to locate misplaced Apple TV remotes.

7️⃣ watchOS 10: Apple launches watchOS 10, with new watch faces, a digital crown for widgets, active features, and screen proximity for users’ eye health. Mental health screening tools are also added.

8️⃣ visionOS for the Vision Pro headset: Apple introduces visionOS, specialized software for the Vision Pro headset, meant for spatial computing application development by designers, costing $3,499 and is set to launch early next year.

Character.AI Tops 1.7M Installs in the First Week

The popularity of AI apps has grown significantly in a very short span of time. The market leader Open AI ChatGPT announced that it received half a million downloads in just six days. A startup Character.AI claims that it has received over 1.7 million downloads within a week.

As per its blog, the company raised $150 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from previous investors taking its valuation to $1 billion.

The platform offers customizable AI companions with distinct personalities and the ability for users to create their own characters.

The founders of this startup, Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, previously led a team at Google that built the LaMDA language model. AI chatbot platform’s mobile version launched globally to iOS and Android users. The app received 700k+ Android installs in 48 hours, beating top entertainment apps like Netflix and Disney+.

Escape

Escape is a DevSecOps security platform that detects and addresses GraphQL security vulnerabilities using DAST (Business Logic Security Testing) and ASM (Attack surface management ) in real time during development. It improves security in software development from start to finish.

The platform is used by top-tier organizations, including The Guild, GraphQL Foundation, Sorare, Graphbase, etc.

The company that identifies and resolves API security threats has won the Grand Défi Cyber Prize from the French Government and ANSSI, securing a place among top European cybersecurity players.

A company from Y Combinator’s 2023 cohort secures $3.9M seed funding with IRIS leading and First participating along with current investors.

According to Gartner, 91% of web application programming interfaces or APIs are vulnerable due to continuous updates in cloud environments that security teams can’t protect. Escape’s AI security solution detects and addresses vulnerabilities, breaches, and leaks in cloud apps at any stage of development, thereby protecting them from hackers.  

The company is launched just six months ago and has over 1000 organizations worldwide.

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