Slashdot Mirror

Thanks. I'll check out OSAScript. And I'll see if Automator can do what I need.

I use AppleScript mainly to read/write data in/out of applications.

For example suppose I want to transfer data, from an iWork Numbers spreadsheet, to a Safari web page. An AppleScript can read the data from the spreadsheet, and then use a "do javascript" command to send that information to a web page.

Or the AppleScript can read the contents of the spreadsheet, and write them to a .js file, writing the contents in the form of JavaScript commands. Then the next time I display the web page, the web page can read the .js file.

I might also use AppleScript to click on deeply-nested menu items. And occasionally I make it speak or listen for my commands.

But mainly I use it to send data to and from applications.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks that the character EVE (in Pixar's movie WALL-E) looks a lot like the icon for Automator?

Imagine a Dungeon Keeper on the iPad, I guess I would have to apply for social aid as I would be unable to work anything.

The iOS version exists. The reviews aren't great.

How fast is it to earn $999 (source) to buy a MacBook Air?* And how convenient is it to carry a MacBook Air everywhere that you would carry an iPhone?

* Less expensive laptops made by other companies are available, but TheFakeTimCook has already expressed a preference for Apple products.

I already have a suitable laptop, which I use for other things, too.

So, I that regard, the cost of the laptop is exactly ZERO.

Or are you REALLY so stupid to suggest that a phone and a laptop are equivalent devices?

How fast is it to earn $999 (source) to buy a MacBook Air?* And how convenient is it to carry a MacBook Air everywhere that you would carry an iPhone?

* Less expensive laptops made by other companies are available, but TheFakeTimCook has already expressed a preference for Apple products.

Technical Q&A QA1938

iOS 10 and the Legacy VoIP Architecture

Q: My VoIP app still uses the legacy VoIP architecture (NSStreamNetworkServiceTypeVoIP and so on). Why, when I build it with Xcode 8 and run it on iOS 10, does it no longer receive calls when in the background?

A: The legacy VoIP architecture was replaced by a new PushKit-based architecture in iOS 8. It was then formally deprecated with the iOS 9 SDK. In iOS 10 it is only available as a compatibility measure; it continues to work (as well as it ever did) if your app is linked with an old SDK, but is disabled if you link with the iOS 10 SDK.

For the moment you can work around this by building your app with Xcode 7. However, this is not a good long-term solution because:

Our experience is that PushKit-based VoIP apps are more reliable and more power efficient than those using the legacy VoIP architecture.

Apple always recommends that you use the latest version of Xcode because it combines the best features and the best compatibility.

Specifically, we encourage VoIP apps to take advantage of CallKit, a new framework in the iOS 10 SDK that radically improves the user experience for VoIP apps. Xcode 8 is the only supported way to use CallKit. Also, be aware that Xcode 7 is not supported on macOS 10.12 Sierra.

At some point support for the legacy VoIP architecture will be removed, whereupon all VoIP apps will have to move to the new PushKit-based VoIP architecture. It’s better to start this work sooner rather than later. Important: This move away from the legacy VoIP architecture is motivated by specific technical concerns. Our experience is that the legacy architecture is unreliable and, when it does work, has a strong negative effect on standby battery life. The new PushKit-based architecture addresses both of these concerns. Some VoIP apps are specifically designed to work in special networks, ones that don’t provide access to the wider Internet. To use PushKit in such an environment you must configure the network to allow iOS devices to access the Apple Push Notification Service. See TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products for information on how to do this.

For more information about PushKit, see:

PushKit API reference WWDC 2014 Session 712 Writing Energy Efficient Code, Part 2

Document Revision History

Date Notes 2016-10-20 New document that describes limitations of the legacy VoIP architecture on iOS 10.

He called them "Lab Queens".

In other words, there were fantastic in the engineering lab, where conditions could be tightly controlled and optimized; but in the real-world, they just didn't work out so well.

So, what we have with the AMD Ryzen CPUs is something which, when benchmarks are constructed like virtually NO software actually is, they appear to kick ass. But, with software that is written like 99% of developers and their development toolchains do it, they are actually LOWER-performing than their "slower" counterparts.

TL;DR: LOL!!!

Actually not true. Where Ryzen helps in the real world is having the system remain responsive when having a million things open that uses threads like Chrome for example. Ryzen is a skylake i5 with several cores basically. An i7 has more performance per core which you are correct.

Keep in mind phones today have more cores than i7 and Intel has now woken up and redesigned coffeelake to include 6 and 8 cores.

A ryzen r3/5 is cheaper than an i5 and has SMT (hyperthreading) where you need an i7 with an intel. I think in the real world Ryzen is a great value as even the budget r3 1200 is a true quad core CPU at an i3 price! The speed difference is not that great for single tasking but things are changing and having +30 tabs in Chrome, running a game, virus scan in the background with Office will show some benefits having SMT and +4 cores.

You could be right, actually; especially with OSes like macOS and iOS, which uses Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) to dole out threads to various cores basically automatically and transparently to the Application Developer.

https://developer.apple.com/li...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

BTW, Apple Open Sourced GCD under the Apache License model; so there's really no excuse for any OS not to use it! But apparently, gcc doesn't support "blocks"; so neither Linux nor Android use it (or at least not generally). But then, there's always LLVM/clang, which again, Apple contributes to (and uses) as Open Source.

Unfortunately (perhaps), Apple has not yet put anything but Intel in their desktops/laptops. But things can change, and it has been quite awhile since AMD was competitive in the CPU department; so we shall see...

Apple makes extensive use of open source software and has no issues with partitioning the licensing of their systems and releasing open source and modified open source components. At this point, how could anyone who is familiar with open source software not know this?

Apple A8 SoCs or newer

Apple says it's only the A9 or newer.

Sneer all you want, but this is not minor for the actual users of these devices. The alternative is proprietary remote-control devices made by the hearing aid companies, which means that you pay the price of an iPhone, but get the functionality of a airco remote. Directly getting access to all sounds of an iPhone opens a new world for these users.

And that low-power Bluetooth audio on recent iPhones is not a coincidence, Apple has been cooperating with hearing-aid manufacturers for some time already, see https://www.apple.com/lae/acce...

No fooling!

I was over at a friend/client's house I do some Mac consulting for (he's 86, and still designing Theatres and Stage Equipment), and he was showing me the App on his iPhone that controls his new hearing-aids. He can change the gain, the EQ, and even clever stuff like "focus" the sensitivity-pattern to direct his "hearing" forward, to either side, or omnidirectional, and maybe other stuff, too. No ridiculous dedicated remote needed.

Now, I assume the manufacturer has a similar Android App; but it is just cool that this can now be done in a reasonable manner, with a smartphone App.

I also have a problem with the fact that they never tell you when they're going to drop support in advance.

They actually have a well-defined and published product support period, which is exactly what you should expect for the combination of hardware and software. They often choose to provide OS revisions for a longer period, and announce the supported hardware (and implicitly unsupported hardware) for new versions of that OS prior to its release, but the original product support period is the only arrangement made with customers. Anything beyond that is a freebie.

As a technically-minded person I can appreciate wanting software to be on a separate guaranteed schedule, but Apple doesn't sell software -- they sell complete products. Most people care about support in the context of a whole product, they don't break down the component lifetimes.

Sneer all you want, but this is not minor for the actual users of these devices. The alternative is proprietary remote-control devices made by the hearing aid companies, which means that you pay the price of an iPhone, but get the functionality of a airco remote. Directly getting access to all sounds of an iPhone opens a new world for these users.

And that low-power Bluetooth audio on recent iPhones is not a coincidence, Apple has been cooperating with hearing-aid manufacturers for some time already, see https://www.apple.com/lae/acce...

You're misunderstanding Apple's Business model - they sell you a device, then the transaction is finished. Itâ(TM)s one reason why appleâ(TM)s hardware is expensive.

Bullshit. The first thing one needs to do after buying an iProd is create an AppleID for it so you can use their App Store. The entire point of the hardware is to lock you into their content, software, and ADVERTISEMENT distribution system.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205223

Intel and AMD don't realize, apparently, that allowing backdoor spyware means the eventual end of their companies.

No, they realise very well, and that there's no other competitor besides them, especially if you go down the Windows route.

Consumers have no other choice, and especially coupled with the fact very few people appear to truly care about their privacy... you only have to look at the countless Android and Google users to realise how little people (even geeks) seem to care!

* I didn't mention Apple, because they are the only major company who appear to care for the privacy of their users and fighting against Gov surveillance.

YGBSM.

It could be written in PERL, with an entire runtime shell, and that would barely be a drop in the bucket.

The problem is, quite simply, that every image you see on the screen is a "layer cake" of 24-bit PNG files; with different versions optimized for different screen resolutions.

As Apple has come out with new devices with different densities, they've added layers.

Here's the app that I use to generate my assets. Check out how many it makes.

You don't HAVE to add every image layer, but your app can look like crap if you don't. You can also do the same kind of optimizations that you do for Web pages (like reduced-palette indexed PNGs and whatnot), but that's a lot of work, and adds a lot of overhead to release engineering and CM.

Apple is working on the problem, in that the newer OSes are using some kind of JIT installation that's supposed to do stuff like strip out assets that don't fit the profile of your device. We'll see how effective that is.

I write these apps. I should know; but that probably means my comment will be down voted into the dust in favor of all the AppleHater posts.

Sure, with a big, ugly adapter. Better than nothing but hardly ideal.

If you think the Apple Lightning headphone adapter is "big", that must be from referring to your micropenis as "big", too:

https://www.apple.com/shop/pro...

Now STFU, you ignorant tool.

... doesn't Apple use delta updates? Or is my phone somehow magically updating faster than my brand-new $1800 PC can download through a wired ethernet connection? Also: https://developer.apple.com/li... So yea, the initial download is huge, but the updates, specifically for Apple, are much, much smaller - depending on how much was changed in the update.

https://developer.apple.com/li...

Technical Q&A QA1779
Reducing Download Size for iOS App Updates

Q: How can I reduce the downloaded size of my app update for users that already have the previous version installed?

A: This document is specific to app updates. See Technical Q&A QA1795: Reducing the size of my App for a collection of techniques to reduce the size of an app when it is downloaded and installed for the first time.

Starting with iOS 6, the app store will automatically produce an update package for all new versions of apps submitted to the store. When generating the update package, the app store compares one or more prior versions of your app to the new version and creates an optimized package for each that contains only the content that has changed between versions of your app, excluding any content that did not change. This comparison looks at everything in the application bundle, including the application executable, nibs, localizations, image files, video files, audio files, text files, and files containing data in a custom format.

Note: The ability to create update packages is not currently available to developers who do not distribute their apps through the app store, such as those distributing enterprise apps.
When used optimally, an update package is significantly smaller to download than the full package of the app and the update will install more quickly. Also, in many cases, this mechanism allows updates to large apps to be downloadable over cellular networks where app downloads are subject to a size limit.

In addition to new content, the update package contains instructions on how to transform the prior version of the app into the new version of the app. New files will be added, modified files will be replaced with their updated counterpart, and deleted files will be removed as part of this transformation. As far as the developer and user are concerned, this process is entirely transparent and the resulting updated app will be indistinguishable from a full download of the corresponding updated version of their app.

To optimize the size of your app updates, you should consider two tips:

Do not make unnecessary modifications to files. Compare the contents of the prior and new versions of your app with diff or another directory comparison tool and verify that you've only changed what you expect within your app bundle.
Content that you expect to change in an update should be stored in separate files from content that you don't expect to change. This reduces the size of the update package and increases its install speed.
For devices running iOS 6.x and iOS 7.0, the update package will include any file, in its entirety, that has changed in the new version of the app. For example, if you have a 10 MB file in your app and only change 1 KB of content within that file in the new version of the app, the update package for that new version will contain the full 10 MB file.

For devices running iOS 7.1 and later, the update package may include only the differences between the old and new versions of a changed file instead of the full file. This may significantly reduce the size of the update package in the case where only a small part of a large file changes, but will increase the update's installation time on the device. For this reason, the two tips above are still important even for updates on iOS 7.1 and later. Minimizing changed content and localizing it to many smaller files instead of one larger monolithic file will reduce the download size in all cases and will speed up installation on devices running iOS 7.1 and later.

We manage over 2,000 devices (about 98% iphone, 2% iPad) and we have none of the problems you describe. I'd recommend looking into DEP which might help with some of your deployment problems. And I don't know what you mean about opening it, you just lift the lid off the box? I certainly won't argue that Apple devices are perfect but if these are the worst problems you can come up with then they're certainly miles ahead of anyone else.

Every USB C to USB C cable is at least USB 3.1.

No, they are not.

Exhibit A:
https://www.apple.com/shop/pro...

Exhibit B:
https://griffintechnology.com/...

Some might argue that these are not "USB" cables because they violate some specification as defined by the people that own the USB logo. These are cables, with USB-C connectors on both ends, and that cannot be argued.

These are not unknown small time manufacturers either. Apple is a huge company and Griffin has been making computer cables for 25 years.

This figure is itemised on the Apple site. Basically they're claiming every job that touches Apple in some way, e.g. the workers at Caterpillar that make the generators used in Apple's data centers. 1.5 million of them are "jobs created and supported by the App store", which is sourced from a report that uses a really broad definition of an App Economy worker and includes support workers and "spillover" jobs.

Thoughts on Flash

Could you describe further? When has Apple violated its privacy policy? Or which practices does this policy allow that are still unacceptably intrusive?

And which brand of laptop should I try in a showroom instead?

Floating, falling
Sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me
Savor each sensation
Let the dream begin
Let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

Floating, falling
Sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me
Savor each sensation
Let the dream begin
Let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

Floating, falling
Sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me
Savor each sensation
Let the dream begin
Let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

The same basic advice has been peddled and widely ignored by end users who know better across all major mobile platforms. The reality is this is only true for apps don't take advantage of facilities to sidestep background execution restrictions.

Many app intentionally seek to run continuously in the background to enable persistent stalking and download ads as these activities yield profits for app vendors. It should go without saying facilities exist across all major platforms to accommodate.

https://developer.apple.com/li...

I guarantee you sales figures show the absolute truth of the matter. I was dubious they would do well too or that people would like them but even people that hate Apple products like them. And since launch there has a pretty much constant six week delay when ordering....

Speak of which, do you have any suggestions to running PPC apps in 10.7+?

Having to dig up an old copy of 10.6 and cajoling it to install under Parallels seems like overkill.

The only LEGAL way to do it is to install a copy of Snow Leopard 10.6.8 SERVER. You have to hunt around to find how to install the package for Rosetta (it isn't installed by default on SL SERVER). I assume Pacifist would do it.

But there's no "cajoling" to it. There are tutorials galore on the intarwebs explaining how to install under Parallels or VMWare Fusion.

But it starts by you CALLING Apple Support, and ordering the magic part number for $19.99. They will usually deny having it, but be insistent. Make them check with their "supervisor":

https://discussions.apple.com/...

Sorry, that's the only way, other than doing screen-sharing with a Mac that is running Snow Leopard or a PPC Mac running Leopard...

Hope this helps!

iOS sandboxes each app.
Consider it a glorified change root environment which is hardened against break outs.
Basically every app is running with its own group and user id. They can not access each others data.

https://www.apple.com/business...

Yes, we need a new search engine, since google is 'tweaking' search results lots of stuff is hard to find.

Apple has quite a viable alternative, and if they introduced a few Macs in the $500 range, they'd be good to go.

I don't know what country you're posting from, but as of today, a Mac mini is $499. I'm aware that doesn't include a monitor, but let's say $514 if you reuse your living room HDTV as a monitor and source a keyboard and mouse from Goodwill.

Since that's cheaper than the iPhone 7+, which I already purchased, I don't see a problem.

So, that Graphic Amplifier seems to be limited to three of four Dell laptops? How does it compare to Apple's Metal 2 Developer Kit? https://developer.apple.com/de...

Besides the obvious of the Dell one not coming with an actual GPU installed.

Hey wait up, what about this https://itunes.apple.com/au/ap... taking into account this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... or this https://play.google.com/store/... taking into account this https://arstechnica.com/inform.... So basically just another way to fuck over prior to windows anal probe 10 users who did not default to NTFS because apparently M$ fucking lie onedrive works with a whole bunch of file systems, just not particular M$ file systems.

This is a good clarification. Macs already do this:
https://developer.apple.com/li...

No, not as far as I can tell. There is a difference between linking and relinking like this. Technically Linux kernels are also linked with their drivers in initrd when loaded, but that is separate from this new randomized relinking.

Like Apple pushing for the HEIF that uses the h265 codec.

During their HEIF presentation at WWDC 2017 (video and transcript, slides) Apple made the point that the HEIF format is designed to be codec agnostic. Apple will be using HEIF with H.264 and H.265, but in principle you could use any codec inside HEIF. HEIF itself is just an image container format.

I imagine Apple will support AV1 eventually. If and when they do, they could go ahead and use AV1 in HEIF.

Like Apple pushing for the HEIF that uses the h265 codec.

During their HEIF presentation at WWDC 2017 (video and transcript, slides) Apple made the point that the HEIF format is designed to be codec agnostic. Apple will be using HEIF with H.264 and H.265, but in principle you could use any codec inside HEIF. HEIF itself is just an image container format.

I imagine Apple will support AV1 eventually. If and when they do, they could go ahead and use AV1 in HEIF.

I truly do want an Apple HomePod.

Apple's privacy rules ensure my data is kept secure from prying eyes. The benefits of a well-designed, well-built, and secure smart speaker based on Apple's A8 chip will be apparent. It looks wonderful and by all accounts sounds fantastic. I am sure Apple's HomePod will help improve my Digital Life with its sealed up, highly compresses magic inside.

HomePod is only the latest brave act in Apple's 40+ years of making the bravest brave decisions of bravery.

Here is the product

I am not a paid Apple shill.

Here you go:
https://opensource.apple.com/

Same name, two different things.

O'Reilly's Safari is a service that lets you read books online. It has a free trial period, then you have to pay for it.

Apple's Safari is a web browser.

You really don't see anything odd in these results?

1. Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/

2. Maps - Navigation & Transit - Android Apps on Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/......

3. Official MapQuest - Maps, Driving Directions, Live Traffic
https://www.mapquest.com/

4. iOS - Maps - Apple
https://www.apple.com/ios/maps...

5. Google Maps - Navigation & Transit on the App Store - iTunes - Apple
https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...?...

6. Yahoo Maps
https://maps.yahoo.com/

7. World and USA Maps for Sale - Buy Maps - Maps.com
https://www.maps.com/

8. New Night Lights Maps Open Up Possible Real-Time Applications ...
https://www.nasa.gov/.../new-n...

9. 'Duck Dynasty' vs. 'Modern Family': 50 Maps of the U.S. Cultural Divide ...
https://www.nytimes.com/.../12...

10. From Ptolemy to GPS, the Brief History of Maps | Innovation ...
www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/brief-history-maps-180963685/

11. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies: MAPS
www.maps.org/

12. Bing Maps - Directions, trip planning, traffic cameras & more
https://www.bing.com/maps

You really don't see anything odd in these results?

1. Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/

2. Maps - Navigation & Transit - Android Apps on Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/......

3. Official MapQuest - Maps, Driving Directions, Live Traffic
https://www.mapquest.com/

4. iOS - Maps - Apple
https://www.apple.com/ios/maps...

5. Google Maps - Navigation & Transit on the App Store - iTunes - Apple
https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...?...

6. Yahoo Maps
https://maps.yahoo.com/

7. World and USA Maps for Sale - Buy Maps - Maps.com
https://www.maps.com/

8. New Night Lights Maps Open Up Possible Real-Time Applications ...
https://www.nasa.gov/.../new-n...

9. 'Duck Dynasty' vs. 'Modern Family': 50 Maps of the U.S. Cultural Divide ...
https://www.nytimes.com/.../12...

10. From Ptolemy to GPS, the Brief History of Maps | Innovation ...
www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/brief-history-maps-180963685/

11. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies: MAPS
www.maps.org/

12. Bing Maps - Directions, trip planning, traffic cameras & more
https://www.bing.com/maps

sure i am. they're becoming a pure luxury lifestyle company. i can't blame them really, as it's easy money, but it does make their products less useful to me.

Yeah, an 18-Core Xeon-powered iMac with a 27" 5k Display, Radeon Pro Vega 64 GPU w/16 GB of HBM2 Memory, 128 GB ECC RAM, 4 TB SSD, and 4 USB-C/TB3 Ports, PLUS 4 USB 3.0 Ports, PLUS a 10GigE Port is a "fashion statement".

https://www.apple.com/imac-pro...

But, It does happen to be beautiful, too...

I want the ports of the Macbook Pro, but I want a physical escape key like the Macbook. I've had enough late nights in server-rooms where I want both the ability to charge and the ability to use peripherals like console cables and ethernet cables where having a single port and an even more complex series of adapters is much more cumbersome, so the regular Macbook is flat-out out of the question, but the lack of real escape key that is as intuitive as the rest of the keyboard is also out of the question.

For someone who's allegedly "had enough late nights in server-rooms", you sure don't read much tech-stuff.

Your prayers are answered. The first two models have TWO USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports (either port be used for charging), plus a Keyboard WITH AN ESCAPE KEY:

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy...

See, wasn't that simple?

If you think you can replace you [sic] laptop with this setup: you cannot. Imagine a computer, but everything works worse than you expect. That is the new iPad.

Okay so I was going to get all snarky about how, "duh, it's an iPad, what did you expect?" and then I saw Apple's marketing.

No matter the task, the new iPad Pro is up to it — and then some. It offers far more power than most PC laptops, yet is delightfully simple to use. The redesigned Retina display is as stunning to look at as it is to touch. And it all comes together with iOS, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. iPad Pro. Everything you want modern computing to be. Now even, well, better.

So kudos to someone previously associated with Engadget, of all places, to take Apple's marketing to task.

Apple:Apple::Tesla:Tesla

Oh my, what a frisson of inceptionally lawsuit goodness!

At the moment the image recognition is only good enough for "Hotdog" or "Not hotdog"
https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...

First of all if you really need some high performance Macing, there's the iMac Pro coming out at the end of this year...

But I don't know why you are even asking where the Mac Pro is, since everyone who cares already knows it's coming after 2017.

The main problem with HEVC is the patent licensing. In order to use HEVC you need to get 3 different patent licenses from 3 different patent pools (MPEG LA, HEVC Advance, and Velos Media).

There are some companies with HEVC patents, like Technicolor, which aren't in any patent pool so you also need to get a patent license from them. Technicolor says they have done this "to enable direct licensing" of their HEVC patents. Sounds convenient.

The patent licensing situation has reduced the x265 developers to begging the patent pools for better licensing terms. I recognise the x265 team is trying to make a buck but I think they'd be better off focusing on building an AV1 implementation than throwing their lot in with HEVC. HEVC's licensing is just not web friendly.

Luckily, the HEIF image format is content format agnostic (presentation and slides). In principle you could use HEIF with VP9 or with AV1. Apple may never support VP9 but I don't think they can avoid adding support for AV1 in future. AV1 will have too many advantages over HEVC (better performance, royalty-free licensing) to ignore.

The main problem with HEVC is the patent licensing. In order to use HEVC you need to get 3 different patent licenses from 3 different patent pools (MPEG LA, HEVC Advance, and Velos Media).

There are some companies with HEVC patents, like Technicolor, which aren't in any patent pool so you also need to get a patent license from them. Technicolor says they have done this "to enable direct licensing" of their HEVC patents. Sounds convenient.

The patent licensing situation has reduced the x265 developers to begging the patent pools for better licensing terms. I recognise the x265 team is trying to make a buck but I think they'd be better off focusing on building an AV1 implementation than throwing their lot in with HEVC. HEVC's licensing is just not web friendly.

Luckily, the HEIF image format is content format agnostic (presentation and slides). In principle you could use HEIF with VP9 or with AV1. Apple may never support VP9 but I don't think they can avoid adding support for AV1 in future. AV1 will have too many advantages over HEVC (better performance, royalty-free licensing) to ignore.

I guarantee you that it's the same source code that just declares the variable as a "long" which is 4 bytes when compiled for 32-bit devices and 8 bytes when compiled for 64-bit devices. They should have used "uint64_t" which would have taken away the ambiguity and worked everywhere. It's as simple as that.
https://developer.apple.com/li...