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Apple's foldable iPhone is on track to ship in September despite rumors of a delayed launch, reports Chinese financial outlet Cailian Press. The outlet says it spoke with several people within Apple's supply chain, who indicated that the device's design was locked in some time ago and that the foldable is now in mass production. Separately, Chinese financial outlet East Money and Korea's The Bell reported that Apple's foldable has entered mass production, with assembly partner Foxconn launching large-scale hiring to secure labor. Asked about rumors that its launch could slip due to complex assembly and low yields, sources who spoke to Cailian Press reportedly said they had not heard of any delay, and that a September delivery window was still expected. The report provides a glimmer of hope for consumers eager to pre-order one of the devices in early fall. Last month, The Elec reported that mass production was set to begin in July, but it also said Apple had run into hinge problems during testing. While most of those issues were said to have since been resolved, it raised the odds of a small initial shipment following the device's launch. Then over the weekend, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the foldable will be unveiled alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in September but may not go on sale until the fourth quarter, suggesting a possible release in October or later. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in March that the new foldable iPhone won't ship to customers in the same September timeframe as the iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max. However, a month later, Gurman said that the foldable iPhone remained on track for a September debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models, and that Apple is aiming to put it on sale at roughly the same time or slightly later. Apple has reportedly told suppliers to prepare to make approximately 10 million foldable iPhones this year, up from a previous forecast of about 7-8 million units a few months ago. The book-style foldable is expected to feature a 7.8-inch inner display, a 5.5-inch cover screen, an A20 chip, Apple's C2 modem in some countries, and a Touch ID power button, with a starting pricing rumored between roughly $2,000 and $2,500 across reports. Apple's foldable could launch as the "iPhone Ultra," as suggested by rumors.Tags: Foldable iPhone, iPhone Ultra This article, "iPhone Ultra Reportedly in Mass Production, No Delay Envisaged" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple's challenge against the EU's designation of its App Stores and iOS platform as "gatekeepers" was dismissed by Europe's top court on Wednesday, reports Reuters. "The General Court dismisses Apple's actions regarding its designation as a gatekeeper in relation to the App Store and iOS," the Luxembourg-based tribunal said.Apple took its case to Luxembourg's General Court in 2024 after the European Commission designated its five App Stores – on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch – as a single core platform service under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a label that brings with it a set of strict obligations. Designated "gatekeepers" are prohibited from favoring their own services over those of rivals, and are prevented from combining personal data across different services. They also have to give users the option to use alternative app stores. Apple also challenged the EU's designation of iOS as a gateway platform, a status that requires the operating system allows rival services to interoperate with it. The company also disputed the classification of iMessage as a number-independent interpersonal communications service, or NIICS, which would subject the app to EU telecoms rules. But the General Court said Apple's actions regarding the iMessage service are inadmissible. To be classified as a "gatekeeper" under the DMA, a company must fulfill certain criteria, including having sales across the EU of at least €7.5 billion, or a market capitalization of €75 billion or above. The designation also requires platforms or services to have more than 45 million monthly active users and over 10,000 active business users annually within the EU.Tags: Apple Antitrust, App Store, European Commission, European Union This article, "Apple Loses EU Fight Over App Store Gatekeeper Label" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Introduction For many years, software development and IT operations lived in separate, isolated silos, creating manual friction and delayed releases until DevOps emerged to bridge this gap through a culture of collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement. Today, the sheer volume of software, platforms, and methodologies on modern cloud-native landscape maps often leaves beginners feeling overwhelmed and attempting to master everything at once. However, learning tools in a logical sequence is far more effective than trying to digest the entire ecosystem simultaneously; true proficiency is built by mastering a core set of foundational utilities that move code smoothly from a laptop to a live environment. By emphasizing practical experience over pure theory, you can turn abstract pipeline concepts into tangible engineering skills, and structured resources like the DevOpsSchool learning ecosystem can provide the organized mentorship needed to navigate this technical transition systematically. What Is a DevOps Toolchain? A DevOps toolchain is a collection of tools that work together to automate, manage, and streamline the entire software delivery lifecycle. Rather than relying on a single monolithic application, DevOps practitioners combine specialized software components into an integrated pipeline. This toolchain supports the continuous loop of planning, coding, building, testing, deploying, operating, and monitoring software. The primary objective of a toolchain is to foster collaboration and remove manual handoffs between teams. In a traditional setup, moving code from development to QA and then to production required multiple manual steps, tickets, and approvals. A well-designed toolchain automates these transitions, allowing software to flow through checks and balances with minimal human intervention. Automation sits at the heart of this concept. When a developer updates code, the toolchain automatically triggers a build, runs automated tests, validates security compliance, provisions the necessary infrastructure, and deploys the application. This process is commonly referred to as Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD). Beyond deployment, a modern toolchain manages infrastructure management and active monitoring. It ensures that the environments housing the applications are stable, secure, reproducible, and observable. By viewing these tools not as isolated utilities but as parts of an interconnected ecosystem, you begin to see how modern engineering teams deliver value reliably at high velocity. Why Learning DevOps Tools Matters Understanding the mechanics of DevOps tools is crucial because these applications turn abstract methodologies into repeatable realities. Automation cannot exist without tools that script, package, and deploy software. By learning these technologies, you gain the ability to eliminate repetitive manual tasks, reducing human error and freeing up time for high-value engineering work. Tools also serve as a common language that improves collaboration between developers and operations engineers. When infrastructure is defined using the same version-controlled files that developers use for application logic, the traditional barriers between departments disappear. Both teams work out of the same repositories, review each other’s configurations, and share responsibility for the system’s overall health. From a business perspective, proficiency with these utilities leads directly to faster deployments and better reliability. Organizations can ship new features to customers in minutes or hours rather than weeks or months. If an issue occurs in production, automated monitoring and deployment tools allow teams to roll back changes or patch vulnerabilities almost instantly. However, it is vital to clarify that tools support DevOps practices rather than defining DevOps itself. Simply installing a piece of software does not mean you are practicing DevOps. The tools are instruments; the core philosophy relies on shared responsibility, transparency, and a culture of continuous learning. Mastering the technical tools gives you the capability to implement these philosophical principles effectively in real-world project environments. DevOps Learning Roadmap Navigating the landscape requires a step-by-step progression. Attempting to learn advanced container orchestration before understanding basic operating system commands is a recipe for frustration. Below is a structured progression designed to build your skills logically. Computer Basics ↓ Linux Fundamentals ↓ Networking Basics ↓ Git & Version Control ↓ Shell Scripting ↓ Python Basics ↓ Docker ↓ Jenkins / CI/CD ↓ Cloud Fundamentals ↓ Terraform ↓ Kubernetes ↓ Monitoring & Logging ↓ DevSecOps Basics ↓ Real-World Projects 1. Computer Basics & Linux Fundamentals Everything in the cloud runs on servers, and the vast majority of those servers run Linux. You must start by learning how to navigate the command line, manage file systems, edit text files directly from the terminal, and understand users, groups, and permissions. 2. Networking Basics You cannot secure or troubleshoot systems if you do not know how data travels between them. Focus on understanding IP addressing, subnets, ports, protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, and SSH, DNS configuration, and the basics of load balancing. 3. Git & Version Control Git is the absolute foundation of modern collaborative engineering. It tracks changes to code and configurations, allows multiple engineers to work on the same system simultaneously, and serves as the single source of truth for automation workflows. 4. Scripting (Shell Scripting & Python Basics) Automating systems requires writing code to handle repetitive tasks. Start with basic Shell scripting (Bash) to automate operating system tasks, then pick up Python to handle more complex logic, API interactions, and data parsing. 5. Docker & Containerization Containers isolate applications from their underlying infrastructure, ensuring that code runs the same way on a developer’s laptop as it does on a production server. Docker is the standard entry point for understanding container runtimes and packaging. 6. Jenkins / CI/CD Pipelines Once you can package an application, you need a mechanism to build and test it automatically every time code changes. Jenkins introduces you to pipeline architecture, build triggers, and automated workflows. 7. Cloud Fundamentals (AWS, Azure, or GCP) Modern engineering rarely involves buying physical hardware. You must learn how to navigate at least one major cloud platform, understanding how to provision virtual servers, manage cloud storage, and configure cloud networks safely. 8. Terraform (Infrastructure as Code) Instead of clicking buttons in a cloud console to create infrastructure, you write configuration files that define your resources. Terraform allows you to spin up, modify, and tear down entire cloud environments programmatically. 9. Kubernetes (Container Orchestration) When you have dozens or hundreds of containers running across multiple servers, you need a system to manage their lifecycle, scaling, network routing, and health. Kubernetes is the industry standard for container orchestration. 10. Monitoring, Logging, & DevSecOps Basics Once applications are running, you must keep them healthy and secure. Learning to collect metrics, aggregate logs, and scan code for vulnerabilities ensures your systems remain stable, visible, and resilient against security threats. Essential DevOps Tools To help you evaluate the key tools to start your DevOps journey, the following comparison table breaks down the primary utilities, their purposes, why you should focus on them, and a realistic project you can build to gain hands-on proficiency. ToolPrimary PurposeWhy Beginners Should Learn ItPractical ProjectLinuxOperating System FoundationOver 90% of cloud servers run on Linux; command-line fluency is mandatory.Set up a secure local server, manage permissions, and configure local cron jobs.Git & GitHubVersion Control & CollaborationTracks changes, manages collaboration, and triggers automated pipelines.Create a repository, manage branches, resolve a merge conflict, and submit a pull request.VS CodeCode and Configuration EditingA highly customizable editor that supports syntax highlighting, Git integration, and extensions.Configure an IDE workspace with extensions for markdown, yaml, shell scripting, and git.Shell ScriptingOperating System AutomationAllows quick automation of repetitive system administration tasks and text processing.Write a script that checks disk space usage and sends an alert email if it exceeds 80%.PythonAdvanced Automation & ScriptingHighly readable language used for cloud automation, API integration, and writing custom tools.Write a script that talks to a cloud provider API to list and stop unutilized virtual machines.DockerApplication ContainerizationStandardizes application environments, solving the “it works on my machine” problem.Create a Dockerfile for a basic web application, build the image, and run it locally.JenkinsCI/CD AutomationWidely adopted, open-source automation server used to build, test, and deploy applications.Build a pipeline that automatically pulls code from GitHub, runs tests, and builds a container.AWS / Azure / GCPCloud Infrastructure ProvisioningProvides the underlying virtualized computing power, networking, and storage for modern apps.Deploy a virtual instance, attach a block storage volume, and host a static website securely.TerraformInfrastructure as Code (IaC)Allows you to define and provision cloud infrastructure using a declarative configuration language.Write a script to automatically provision a cloud network, security groups, and a virtual machine.KubernetesContainer OrchestrationAutomates deployment, scaling, management, and networking of containerized applications.Deploy a multi-container web application with automated self-healing and load balancing.PrometheusTime-Series Metric CollectionCaptures real-time performance data and health metrics from applications and infrastructure.Configure a target instance to export system metrics and collect them using Prometheus.GrafanaMetric VisualizationTransforms raw data from Prometheus into readable, interactive dashboards for monitoring.Design a visual dashboard that displays real-time CPU, memory, and network utilization.ELK Stack / LokiLog Aggregation and AnalysisCollects and centralizes logs from various applications to facilitate troubleshooting.Aggregate logs from multiple Docker containers into a central location for searchable analysis.Trivy / SonarQubeSecurity and Code Quality ScanningScans code vulnerabilities and container image security flaws early in the deployment cycle.Integrate an image scanner into your build process to block images with critical security flaws. How These Tools Work Together To truly understand the value of these utilities, you must look at them through the lens of an interconnected software delivery lifecycle. A single tool does nothing in isolation; their power comes from how they pass data and control from one stage to the next. Let us trace the path of an application update through a modern automated pipeline: [Developer Workspace] -> Writes code & configuration files in VS Code ↓ [Git / GitHub Repository] -> Code commits push to remote main branch ↓ [Jenkins CI Pipeline] -> Detects change, pulls code, initiates build sequence ↓ [Docker Engine Build] -> Compiles code, runs unit tests, packages into a container image ↓ [Trivy Security Scan] -> Validates container image for known security vulnerabilities ↓ [Terraform Automation] -> Verifies cloud infrastructure and provisions missing components ↓ [Kubernetes Cluster] -> Deploys container image via rolling update to prevent downtime ↓ [Prometheus & Grafana] -> Monitors live container performance and application health ↓ [Continuous Feedback] -> System issues generate logs for engineers to review in VS Code The Developer Workspace: A software engineer writes code and infrastructure configurations inside an editor like Visual Studio Code on a Linux-based workstation. Version Control Submission: The engineer uses Git commands to commit these changes and pushes them to a remote repository hosted on GitHub. Pipeline Orchestration: A Jenkins server detects the new commit via a webhook and immediately initiates an automated continuous integration pipeline. Containerized Packaging: Within the pipeline, Jenkins executes Docker commands to build a fresh container image containing the updated application code and runs automated test suites. Security Verification: The pipeline passes the newly built Docker image to a security scanner like Trivy, checking for unpatched vulnerabilities in the base operating system or application libraries. Infrastructure Synthesis: If the tests and scans pass, the pipeline applies Terraform configurations to verify that the target cloud environment matches the exact infrastructure specifications required by the updated application. Orchestrated Deployment: Jenkins instructs the Kubernetes cluster to update its deployment. Kubernetes pulls the verified Docker container image from a container registry and executes a rolling update, replacing old instances with new ones without causing user downtime. Observability and Monitoring: Once live, Prometheus continually scrapes performance metrics from the new containers, while Grafana displays the performance metrics on a dashboard viewed by the operations team. Continuous Feedback: If application logs reveal an error or if Prometheus detects an unexpected spike in memory usage, notifications are generated, allowing engineers to pull logs, diagnose the problem, and write a patch, restarting the cycle. Building a Beginner Home Lab You do not need an expensive corporate cloud account or high-end enterprise server hardware to practice DevOps. You can construct a functional, fully featured learning environment entirely on your existing computer or by utilizing free resources available online. Begin by transforming your local machine into a micro-datacenter using virtualization. If your computer runs Windows or macOS, install a virtualization platform like VirtualBox or utilize features like the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This allows you to run a full Linux environment (such as Ubuntu Server) directly on your laptop without altering your primary operating system. Next, install Docker inside your local Linux environment. This instantly gives you the capacity to run multiple isolated applications, local databases, and web servers without cluttering your system. You can spin up local databases, configure web proxy servers, and practice network routing entirely within a single command-line interface. For version control and CI/CD pipelines, set up a free personal account on GitHub. You can install a local instance of Jenkins inside a Docker container on your machine and connect it to your GitHub repository using webhooks or local polling tools. This lets you practice building real automation pipelines right on your local machine. When you are ready to venture into the cloud, make use of the free tiers offered by major cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. These providers offer limited-resource virtual instances, storage buckets, and basic database services completely free for up to twelve months. Always set up billing alerts immediately upon account creation to guarantee you stay within the free tier boundaries while practicing your infrastructure configurations. Hands-On Projects Theoretical knowledge vanishes quickly without practical implementation. To cement your understanding of these core technologies, work through structured, hands-on tasks that gradually increase in complexity. Linux and Shell Scripting Practice: Write a custom script that automates basic server upkeep. Program the script to run every midnight, check disk space, clear out temporary log files older than seven days, and write a summary report to a local text file. Git Workflow Exercises: Mimic a real-world software team environment. Create a repository, create a separate branch to add a feature, intentionally edit the same file line in both branches to create a merge conflict, and practice walking through the technical steps required to safely resolve the conflict and merge the code. Dockerizing a Web Application: Take a simple, single-page application written in Python, Node.js, or HTML/CSS. Write a minimal Dockerfile that copies the application files, exposes the correct network port, sets up the required environment variables, and packages it into a portable container image that runs smoothly on any system. Creating a Jenkins Automation Pipeline: Build a structured workflow file that automates validation tasks. Configure the pipeline to monitor your GitHub repository, pull down code changes automatically whenever you commit work, run a syntax checker to catch errors, and print a success message upon completion. Provisioning Infrastructure with Terraform: Write configuration files that declare basic cloud components, such as a virtual private network, a firewall security rule allowing HTTP traffic, and a single micro-sized virtual server instance. Practice running plans to preview infrastructure changes before executing them. Deploying Applications to Kubernetes: Set up a lightweight local cluster using tools like Minikube or Kind. Write configuration files to deploy your custom containerized web application, configure a service layer to distribute incoming network traffic, and simulate a server failure by manually deleting a running instance to watch Kubernetes automatically spin up a healthy replacement. Monitoring an Application Stack: Install Prometheus and Grafana to watch over your local lab infrastructure. Build a visual dashboard showing real-time graphs of CPU workloads, memory usage patterns, and network traffic, and configure custom alert conditions that change color when your local systems face heavy simulation workloads. Measuring Your Progress When learning a broad spectrum of technical tools, it is easy to mistake watching video tutorials for true operational competence. To ensure you are genuinely absorbing the material, establish clear indicators to track your engineering growth. The following KPI dashboard outlines key operational metrics you can track to evaluate your practical learning progress over time. MetricWhy It MattersLearning BenefitCommands PracticedMeasures direct familiarity with command-line interactions.Builds muscle memory, reducing reliance on cheat sheets for basic operating system navigation.Git CommitsQuantifies your daily and weekly engagement with configuration tracking.Develops proper version control habits and builds a visible, clean development history.Projects CompletedTracks your capability to integrate separate utilities into working solutions.Demonstrates your ability to solve multi-step technical problems independently.CI/CD Pipelines BuiltReflects your understanding of automated quality gates and integration logic.Helps you understand build errors, step configurations, and delivery paths.Docker Images CreatedMeasures your ability to package software and minimize dependencies.Builds a deep understanding of application layers, file sizes, and container optimization.Documentation WrittenValidates your capacity to explain complex setups to fellow engineers.Solidifies your knowledge and creates a personal technical reference library for future work. Common Challenges The path to mastering a modern delivery toolchain contains common obstacles that derail many aspiring engineers. Recognizing these friction points early allows you to alter your learning strategy and maintain steady progress. The following table details common learning roadblocks along with direct, practical recommendations to overcome them. ChallengeImpactRecommended SolutionLearning Too Many Tools at OnceLeads to cognitive fatigue, confusion, and a superficial understanding of concepts.Pick one core tool stack component at a time and do not advance until you understand its underlying purpose.Ignoring Linux FundamentalsCreates significant roadblocks when troubleshooting container runtimes or cloud systems.Spend your initial weeks exclusively inside the terminal learning file manipulation and permission models.Memorizing CommandsLeaves you helpless when faced with minor syntax changes or unique error messages.Focus on the underlying architectural concepts; let documentation handle the specific syntax flags.Skipping ProjectsCreates a false sense of security that breaks down during real-world technical troubleshooting.Build a functional, broken, and repaired lab environment for every single tool you study.Weak Troubleshooting SkillsCauses long delays when simple configuration typos stop an entire build pipeline.Learn to read error stack traces line-by-line from the bottom up to locate the root cause.Lack of ConsistencyForgetting syntax and core commands due to long gaps between study sessions.Commit to spending thirty uninterrupted minutes inside a terminal every single day. Best Practices Establishing solid habits early in your training ensures you build a reliable foundation that scales naturally into professional deployment environments. Step-by-Step Implementation Checklist Master One Tool Component at a Time: Resist the temptation to jump into Kubernetes while still struggling to build basic Docker container images. Ensure you understand the immediate problem a tool solves before adding more layers to your technical stack. Engage in Daily Practical Execution: Coding and system administration are mechanical skills that depend heavily on consistency. Spending a brief period interacting with a terminal daily is far more valuable than a single long session once a week. Construct End-to-End Projects: Move beyond isolated sandbox exercises. Connect your version control repositories directly to build platforms, run security scanners, and deliver your code onto actual virtual host systems. Rely on Official Documentation: Avoid relying solely on third-party blog tutorials that may become outdated quickly. Learn to read official product documentation guides, configuration specs, and release logs to find accurate information. Maintain Clear Internal Documentation: Write detailed installation and setup readmes for every lab configuration you build. Documenting your steps ensures you can recreate complex environments weeks later without starting over from scratch. Review and Revisit Key Concepts: Periodically audit your understanding of foundational elements. Revisit basic networking principles, Linux access rights, and Git branch structures to ensure your core technical knowledge remains sharp. Real-World Example: A Learner’s Journey Let us look at a realistic case study of an individual transitioning into DevOps. This example demonstrates how following a structured framework helps build operational capability step-by-step. The Starting Point An entry-level technical professional with basic desktop computer knowledge but no server administration, command-line fluency, or software development background decided to transition into cloud operations engineering. Month 1: Setting the Baseline The learner avoided cloud accounts entirely during the first four weeks. Instead, they installed an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine locally. They spent an hour each day creating directories, modifying file access permissions, editing configurations with text editors, and writing simple Bash scripts to automate file archival. Month 2: Managing Code and Configurations The learner introduced version control by creating a personal account on GitHub. They moved their collection of Bash scripts into a Git repository, practicing branching models, committing code, and resolving artificial merge conflicts until tracking file histories became second nature. Month 3: Embracing Containerization With a solid terminal foundation established, the learner installed Docker. They learned how to build container images for small applications, manage internal container networks, map persistent data volumes, and combine multiple local components using configuration files. Month 4: Connecting the Pipeline The learner set up an automation server locally and linked it to their version control system. They built an automated continuous integration pipeline that pulled their containerized application code directly from GitHub, initiated build scripts, ran automated tests, and generated verified container build artifacts. Month 5: Moving to the Cloud The learner opened a free-tier cloud service provider account and configured billing protections immediately. Instead of manually clicking through the web console dashboard, they utilized infrastructure configuration files to declare their networks, access lists, and virtual servers cleanly as version-controlled code. The Outcome By maintaining a methodical, step-by-step approach over several months, the learner transformed abstract technical concepts into highly integrated, functional automation systems. This structured learning strategy helped them develop strong problem-solving skills and the practical capability to manage modern application pipelines. Common Beginner Mistakes Installing Every Tool Immediately: Many beginners start by downloading complex enterprise utilities simultaneously, which often leads to configuration conflicts and confusion. Focus on mastering the underlying operating system and code workflows before adding advanced orchestration layers. Ignoring Networking Principles: You cannot debug a broken continuous delivery pipeline if you do not understand subnets, firewall rules, routing behaviors, and protocol headers. Make sure you spend time learning how data actually flows across networks. Skipping Git Mastery: Treating version control as an afterthought is a major mistake. Real-world automation depends entirely on a clean, structured version control history; an unorganized repository will quickly lead to broken build pipelines. Avoiding Troubleshooting Opportunities: Copying and pasting configuration files without analyzing error logs deprives you of vital learning moments. When a build fails, read the log file line by line to understand exactly what broke and why. Focusing Exclusively on Certifications: While certifications can help structure your studies, they do not replace the value of hands-on experience. Prioritize building practical home labs and maintaining public code portfolios alongside your test preparation. Future of DevOps Tools The automation landscape continues to evolve rapidly. Staying aware of industry directions ensures you choose tools that remain highly relevant as delivery platforms mature. Artificial intelligence continues to integrate into deployment pipelines. Modern AI-assisted development tools help engineers write infrastructure configurations, analyze build logs to find anomalies, and suggest optimal scaling parameters. However, these assistive utilities still require engineers who understand the core underlying systems to validate and correct their outputs. Platform Engineering has grown into a highly prominent architectural practice. Instead of requiring every developer to master complex infrastructure configurations, specialized engineering teams build internal developer platforms. These platforms provide self-service access to resources, abstracting away underlying infrastructure complexities while maintaining governance standards. GitOps has emerged as a standard pattern for cloud-native delivery infrastructure. In a GitOps workflow, the desired state of a production system is maintained entirely within a version-controlled repository. Specialized agent software continuously watches the repository and updates live infrastructure automatically to match the declared configuration files. Observability platforms have progressed beyond traditional simple status monitoring. Modern systems utilize advanced telemetry aggregation to trace transactions across distributed applications, helping teams pinpoint performance bottlenecks automatically. This evolution makes understanding telemetry collection, log aggregation, and system visibility a vital skill for anyone entering the field. Certifications & Learning Paths While hands-on project creation should remain your primary learning focus, pursuing structured certification paths can help validate your expertise and fill hidden gaps in your knowledge. To help plan your training milestones, the following table organizes industry-standard certifications by structural area, target audience, technical level, and primary material focus. Certification AreaBest ForSkill LevelLearning FocusLinux AdministrationFoundations and core systems management.Beginner / IntermediateFile management, system permissions, user administration, and command-line text processing.Version ControlFoundational software tracking.BeginnerBranch management styles, remote workflows, commit signatures, and history resolution.ContainerizationCore packaging engineering.IntermediateCore runtime configuration, custom file generation, network isolated spaces, and storage mapping.Cloud InfrastructureCloud platform architecture.Beginner / IntermediateCloud network layouts, identity management, compute instances, and virtual data storage.Infrastructure as CodeProgrammatic environment creation.IntermediateDeclarative syntax patterns, state file tracking, workspace separation, and module construction.OrchestrationMulti-system cloud deployments.AdvancedHigh-availability design, secure configurations, continuous service discovery, and container scheduling. Practical DevOps Tool Checklist Establish Linux Competency: Practice navigating directory systems, altering file configurations, managing access rights, and searching system streams using the command line daily. Maintain Active Version Control Habituation: Move all your script files and configurations into a personal version control platform, utilizing branching strategies for all modifications. Package Custom Applications: Construct custom container build configurations to package simple web applications along with their exact runtime dependencies. Orchestrate Automation Workflows: Set up a dedicated build server to watch your code repositories and automatically run validation tasks every time you save changes. Program Cloud Deployments: Replace manual infrastructure setup by writing configuration files that safely declare and provision cloud systems automatically. Manage Scaled Environments: Set up a lightweight local orchestration environment to practice scaling containers up and down, managing software versions, and handling self-healing workflows. Implement Comprehensive Observability: Configure system exporters and tracking dashboards to monitor real-time resource utilization and centralize application logs for troubleshooting. Publish a Project Portfolio: Maintain a well-documented, public repository showcasing your integrated automation systems to demonstrate your practical technical capabilities. FAQs (15 Questions) 1. Which DevOps tool should I learn first? You should always start with Linux fundamentals. The vast majority of cloud infrastructure, container platforms, and automation tools run on Linux operating systems. Learning to navigate the command-line interface, manage system files, configure user permissions, and use text editors layout the base for all future tools. 2. Do I need programming experience before learning Docker? No, deep software engineering skills are not required to learn Docker. However, you should have a basic understanding of how applications run, including how they use network ports, environment variables, and file systems. Basic scripting knowledge will make writing container configurations much easier. 3. Should I learn Linux before Kubernetes? Yes, a firm understanding of Linux is highly recommended before diving into Kubernetes. Kubernetes orchestrates containers that run on Linux nodes. Without knowing how Linux handles processes, networking, storage volumes, and user permissions, troubleshooting a Kubernetes cluster will be very difficult. 4. Is Jenkins still worth learning? Yes, Jenkins remains highly relevant. While newer cloud-native pipeline utilities exist, Jenkins is still widely used in corporate environments globally. Learning Jenkins helps you master fundamental CI/CD concepts like build stages, environment variables, webhooks, and artifact management, which easily translate to other pipeline tools. 5. Which cloud platform should a beginner choose? Start with one of the major providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). AWS currently holds the largest market share, making it an excellent starting point with abundant learning resources. Focus on mastering core cloud concepts rather than trying to learn multiple platforms at once. 6. How can I practice using these tools at home for free? You can build a fully featured DevOps lab using a standard laptop. Use tools like VirtualBox or WSL to run Linux locally for free. Docker, Jenkins, Terraform, and Prometheus can all be run locally inside containers. For cloud practice, take advantage of the free-tier accounts provided by AWS, Azure, or GCP. 7. Do I need to learn every single tool to get a job? No, trying to learn every tool is a common mistake. Companies value a deep understanding of core principles over a superficial knowledge of dozens of applications. Focus on mastering one tool in each major category: one version control tool (Git), one container system (Docker), one CI/CD tool (Jenkins), one IaC tool (Terraform), and one cloud platform. 8. How can I effectively measure my progress? The best way to measure progress is through working, automated projects. If you can write an infrastructure file that spins up a cloud server, configures a pipeline to build a custom container image, and deploys it with monitoring without manual intervention, you are making excellent progress. 9. What is the difference between Docker and Kubernetes? Docker is used to package, isolate, and run individual containers on a single machine. Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform used to manage, scale, and coordinate thousands of containers running across a whole cluster of multiple servers. Docker builds and runs the container, while Kubernetes manages them at scale. 10. Why is Git considered so important for DevOps? Git serves as the single source of truth for both application code and infrastructure configurations. It records every change made to a system, allows teams to collaborate safely on branches, provides rollback capabilities when updates fail, and serves as the primary trigger for automated delivery pipelines. 11. What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)? Infrastructure as Code is the practice of managing and provisioning computing environments using configuration files rather than manual processes or graphical user interfaces. Tools like Terraform allow you to write human-readable code that automatically builds, updates, and tears down entire cloud architectures. 12. Do I need to be a Linux system administrator before starting? No, you do not need to be an expert sysadmin to start. You should focus on practical everyday operational commands: managing files, editing configurations, inspecting running processes, checking network status, and reading system log outputs. Your administration skills will naturally deepen as you build projects. 13. What is the difference between continuous integration and continuous delivery? Continuous Integration (CI) focuses on automatically merging, building, and testing code changes every time a developer commits updates to a repository. Continuous Delivery (CD) takes those tested changes and automatically prepares them for deployment to staging or production environments, ensuring code is always in a deployable state. 14. What are the dangers of ignoring security while learning tools? Ignoring security early on can lead to risky habits, like embedding passwords or private cloud access keys directly inside public GitHub repositories. Learning to handle secret tokens securely from the beginning prevents cloud account compromises and aligns with real-world DevSecOps standards. 15. How much scripting is actually required on a daily basis? Scripting is a daily necessity for automation tasks. You do not need to write complex application code, but you must be comfortable writing short Bash scripts to handle operating system tasks and basic Python scripts to parse data formats like JSON or YAML and interact with cloud APIs. Final Thoughts Embarking on this engineering path requires patience, consistency, and a structured strategy. The landscape can seem overwhelming at first, but remember that every complex cloud environment is built upon simple, foundational components. Focus on mastering core architectural concepts before worrying about advanced, specialized utilities.Take your time running code locally, understanding operating system principles, and learning to read error logs carefully. True competence comes from building, breaking, and fixing real automation labs. Stay curious, practice regularly, and build your technical toolkit step-by-step. View the full article

It’s been four years since Montaigne last embarked on a national headline tour, but the wait is finally over. The acclaimed Sydney art-pop artist has announced a special run of Australian dates celebrating the 10th anniversary of their breakthrough debut album Glorious Heights, performing the record in full for the very first time alongside fan faves spanning the rest of their career. Montaigne – ‘In The Dark’ The anniversary tour will visit 10 venues across Australia this August, giving fans the chance to revisit the album that introduced Montaigne as one of the country’s most distinctive musical voices. “I’m really excited to bring my audience together once again to sing, laugh, and cry together, especially for these songs which are especially powerful in a communal setting,” Montaigne said. “I’m so much more confident on stage now than I was 10 years ago and I can’t wait to bring an unfiltered, theatrical experience that hopefully inspires folks to feel free and expressive in their own lives.” Released in 2016, Glorious Heights debuted at No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart and earned Montaigne the ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist, launching a career defined by fearless songwriting, theatrical performances and genre-defying experimentation. In the decade since, Montaigne has represented Australia at Eurovision, collaborated with David Byrne, received a Grammy nomination for their work on the acclaimed musical video game Stray Gods, and released their first fully self-produced album, it’s hard to be a fish, which picked up nominations at both the Australian Music Prize and AIR Awards. They’ve also amassed hundreds of millions of streams across collaborations with artists including Hilltop Hoods, Tom Cardy, Ninajirachi and Daði Freyr, while their viral duet with Cardy, Red Flags, has surpassed 170 million YouTube views. Now, fans will have the chance to experience the album that started it all, performed front-to-back in an intimate live setting for the first time. Peep all the details down below, Montaigne ‘Glorious Heights’ 10th Anniversary Australian Tour 2026 Friday, August 7 — La La La’s, Wollongong Saturday, August 8 — King Street Warehouse, Newcastle Friday, August 14 — Rosemount Hotel, Perth Saturday, August 15 — Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide Thursday, August 20 — Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, Gold Coast Friday, August 21 — Crowbar, Brisbane Saturday, August 22 — Oxford Art Factory, Sydney Thursday, August 27 — Pelly Bar, Frankston Friday, August 28 — Corner Hotel, Melbourne Saturday, August 29 — Theatre Royal, Castlemaine TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE Further Reading triple j’s 100 Best Unearthed Discoveries: The Complete List Track By Track: Montaigne Draws Back the Curtain on ‘Making It!’ triple j’s Like A Version in 2014 The post Montaigne To Perform ‘Glorious Heights’ In Full On 10th Anniversary Australian Tour appeared first on Music Feeds. View the full article

Green Day have surprised fans with their first new music since 2024’s Saviors, unveiling the rollicking new single I’m Never Gonna R.I.P. alongside the announcement of the soundtrack to their upcoming comedy film, NIMRODS. If you somehow missed the memo that Green Day were making a movie, you’re probably not alone. Green Day – I’m Never Gonna R.I.P. (From the ‘NIMRODS’ Original Soundtrack) Hitting cinemas on August 14, NIMRODS follows three friends in a struggling garage band who hit the road believing they’ve landed the ultimate gig: opening for Green Day at a New Year’s Eve show in Los Angeles. As you’d expect, things don’t exactly go according to plan. The film was co-produced by the punk icons themselves – Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool – and draws directly from the band’s own early touring experiences crammed into vans long before they became one of the biggest punk bands on the planet. Speaking about the project last year, bassist Mike Dirnt described NIMRODS as “triumphant”, “hilarious” and full of heart. “It basically follows the story of a band and their adventures trying to get across the country to open for us,” Dirnt explained. “They mimic adventures that actually happened to us, and things that actually happened to us when we were touring in vans back in the day.” Landing ahead of the film is the official NIMRODS soundtrack, due out July 31, featuring 30 tracks dominated by Green Day alongside music from fictional in-universe band Analog Dogs, plus contributions from The Paradox, Ultra Q and actor-musician Mckenna Grace. Leading the release is Green Day original I’m Never Gonna R.I.P., a swaggering, 1950s-inspired rock ‘n’ roll cut that channels the spirit of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley & His Comets while marking Green Day’s first brand new song since Saviors. The accompanying video also offers fans their best look yet at NIMRODS, mixing footage from the film with the band’s latest single and giving a glimpse of the coming-of-age road trip at the heart of the project. Whether NIMRODS ends up becoming the next great rock comedy remains to be seen – but for Green Day fans, the prospect of a feature film inspired by the band’s scrappy early years, plus a soundtrack packed with classics and brand new music, is a pretty enticing combination. You can take I’m Never Gonna R.I.P. for a spin up above, or suss the soundtrack artwork and tracklist down below. NIMRODS – The Soundtrack Artwork: NIMRODS – The Soundtrack Tracklist: 01. Longview – Green Day 02. In The End – Green Day 03. Bored – Analog Dogs 04. When I Come Around – Green Day 05. Walking Contradiction – Green Day 06. Dilemma – Green Day 07. Waiting – Green Day 08. Geek Stink Breath – Green Day 09. Bab’s Uvula Who? – Green Day 10. Panic Song – Green Day 11. Basket Case – Green Day 12. Hitchin’ a Ride – Green Day 13. Dominated Love Slave – Analog Dogs 14. Haushinka – Green Day 15. Bobby Sox – Green Day 16. Ms. Lauren – The Paradox 17. It’s So Fine – Mckenna Grace 18. Getaway – Analog Dogs 19. Freaking Out – Analog Dogs 20. Cold – Ultra Q 21. Last Night on Earth – Green Day 22. Brain Stew – Green Day 23. Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day 24. Corvette Summer – Green Day 25. American Idiot (Live) – Green Day 26. Know Your Enemy (Live) – Green Day 27. Auld Lang Syne (Live) – Green Day 28. Good Riddance – Green Day 29. I’m Never Gonna R.I.P. – Green Day 30. Going to Pasalacqua (Live) – Green Day Further Reading ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ Sequel to Start Filming Green Day Are Teasing Plans For Their ‘Warning’ LP’s 25th Bday Green Day Just Got Their Own Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame The post Wait… Green Day Made A Movie? Hear Their New Song From ‘NIMRODS’ appeared first on Music Feeds. View the full article

CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses themes of suicide and self-harm Sydney-born, Los Angeles-based alternative artist YAGKI has returned with what may be her most vulnerable release yet, unveiling the emotionally charged new single, Broken Chair. Following a string of deeply personal songs exploring addiction, recovery and self-worth, Broken Chair finds YAGKI confronting one of the darkest chapters of her life. Written over the course of three years, the track reflects on surviving multiple suicide attempts and the difficult questions that can linger long after the immediate crisis has passed. YAGKI – ‘Broken Chair’ Rather than romanticising those experiences, YAGKI says the song is about facing them honestly. “This song took years to get right, because it took me a while to find the best way to tell it without it becoming something it’s not,” she explains. “The lyrics are confronting – not to romanticise it, but because the fear deserves to be looked at directly. What if I’d gone through with it? What does it mean to survive something you did to yourself? Am I worth mourning when I’ve caused so much pain?” Musically, Broken Chair blends industrial-leaning alternative rock with soaring pop melodies, pairing heavy instrumentation with YAGKI’s emotionally raw vocal performance as she explores the space between survival and healing. Rather than searching for neat resolutions, the song sits with the guilt, shame and fractured self-worth that can remain even after someone is physically safe, offering an unflinching portrait of recovery that refuses easy answers. Inspired by artists including Paramore and Maggie Lindemann, YAGKI has built a growing audience through her willingness to write openly about subjects often left unspoken, transforming intensely personal experiences into songs that resonate with listeners navigating their own struggles. Born in Western Sydney to a Lebanese family before recently relocating independently to Los Angeles, YAGKI has steadily carved out her own lane in alternative music. After surviving a childhood coma and overcoming a disadvantaged upbringing, she’s continued to build momentum through relentless touring – including an ambitious one-day run across Sydney, New Zealand and Los Angeles in 2024 – and a series of California headline dates. With Broken Chair, YAGKI delivers her most confronting statement to date, choosing to tell a story of survival with honesty, compassion and remarkable courage. Stream it up above. If you or anyone you know needs help, you can contact Lifeline at any time on 13 11 14. Further Reading Sydney’s YAGKI Turns Trauma Into Captivating Alt-Pop On New Single ‘Something I Do’ Love Letter To A Record: Sarah Yagki on Billie Eilish’s ‘Happier Than Ever’ Love Letter To A Record: Down And Out’s Luke Ganeo On Paramore’s ‘Riot!’ The post YAGKI Confronts Survival And Self-Worth On Powerful New Single ‘Broken Chair’ appeared first on Music Feeds. View the full article

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has issued an “unequivocal” apology after faceplanting into a comedy podcast booby trap and making a crass comment about Kylie Minogue. And now, naturally, the whole thing has now become a national discourse event. The moment happened during an episode of Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep pod (Nova), where Albo was asked to play a round of “shag, marry, date” involving Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore. Albo did initially tried to dodge the question, pointing out that he had “just got married” and was “only six months in”, before ultimately nominating Minogue for all three categories. Asked to clarify whether he meant he would “marry Kylie and shag her and date her”, the PM replied: “All of the above.” Following criticism from politicians including independent MP Zali Steggall and Liberal senator Sarah Henderson, Albanese issued a short statement apologising for the remarks. “I apologise unequivocally for the comments,” he said. To be clear: should the Prime Minister have simply declined to play a horny FM-radio party game involving three real women while appearing in an official-ish public capacity? Probs. It was awkward. It was cringe. It was unnecessary. And it was very much the kind of thing a media adviser presumably hears in a nightmare before waking up drenched in cold sweat. But the fallout has also produced one of the more ironic little culture-war loop-de-loops of the year. Some of the same corners of Australia’s media landscape that have spent years railing against “wokeness”, “cancel culture” and the alleged death of Aussie larrikin humour have suddenly discovered a deep and urgent passion for decorum, feminist critique and respectful public language. As arguably one of the most trusted news sources in the country, satirical comedy rag The Betoota Advocate warmly noted: “Overnight, the same media companies that have spent the best part of the last decade vilifying high-profile women like Julia Gillard and Lisa Wilkinson, have transformed into staunch defenders of feminist values – who object wholeheartedly to the sexualisation of Australia’s most beloved sex icon… ‘I Could Be So YUCKY’ reads the front page of the Gina Rinehart-owned far-right Australian tabloid newspaper, The Nightly, who have take a break from their round-the-clock coverage of Brittany Higgins’ personal life.” As for Kylie herself, she has not commented publicly on the matter. Further Reading Re-Elected PM Albo Cheekily Dedicated A Song To Peter Dutton Live On Aussie Radio Kylie Minogue Locked In To Headline 2026 AFL Grand Final Entertainment triple j’s Hottest 100 Of Australian Songs: The Complete List The post Albo Apologises For Kylie Minogue “Shag” Remark, Conservative Media Discovers Feminism appeared first on Music Feeds. View the full article

The Messages app is arguably the most important app on the iPhone, and in iOS 27, Apple is adding some useful improvements. There are some quality-of-life fixes for longtime issues, and new AI features. Contextual Suggestions Messages uses Apple Intelligence to surface one-tap suggestions based on what's being discussed in a conversation. If someone you're talking to asks you to send a photo, Messages recognizes the request and suggests adding the relevant photos. If someone invites you to an event, Messages offers to add it to your Calendar. If someone asks you to pick something up at the store, Messages will suggest adding it to your Reminders list or to the Notes app. Messages will also suggest Genmoji you might want to generate based on the conversation. Write With Siri There's a systemwide Write with Siri feature that's available in the Messages app. ‌Siri‌ AI can compose entire messages for you, proofread your messages, or give you feedback. There is a dedicated Write with ‌Siri‌ button above the keyboard where you can get to the new ‌Siri‌ tools. Smart Reply suggestions also use your writing style so they sound more natural. Siri AI ‌Siri‌ AI integrates with the Messages app. You can ask ‌Siri‌ to find images, videos, links, addresses, phone numbers, and more in the Messages app, plus ‌Siri‌ can draft message replies and act on info in the Messages app, like adding an event date to the Calendar app. Drawing You can use a new Drawing interface in the Messages app to send little sketches and notes. It's available when tapping on the "+" button next to the text bar in a conversation. The drawing interface is the same as the Markup tool available in apps like Photos and Notes. There's a marker, a pen, a highlighter, and an eraser, plus options to use the tools in any color. Accidental Recordings The ‌iOS 27‌ Messages app includes an option to remove the audio button from the text bar. In the Messages section of the Settings app, you can navigate to Show in Text Field to set the right-side button to Record Audio, Start Dictation, or None. Setting the option to none will prevent you from accidentally recording a voice message with an errant tap. Tapbacks Messages now consolidates notifications for Tapback responses, which is useful when you're in a group thread and tons of people are sending emojis. Sending When a message fails to send in ‌iOS 27‌, your iPhone will automatically retry sending it. In iOS 26, you get an alert if a message fails, but you have to manually tap to try to send it again. The Messages app also supports continuous sending of photos, videos, and texts. If you're sending someone a photo and your connection is poor or you go offline, it automatically resumes sending when the connection is restored. Syncing Cross-device syncing is improved in ‌iOS 27‌, so conversations will sync more reliably across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. Fewer messages will fail to sync and display properly when you switch between devices. Messages, read states, reactions, and attachments sync faster. When you take a photo and then go to the Messages app to send it, you're more likely to see it right away. Apple says the iPhone is faster to add recent camera captures to Messages. Search Apple improved its search index across apps like Mail and Messages, so you're more likely to find what you're looking for. You can also search for conversations in Messages using a phone number or a contact's nickname. Offloaded Media If you have photos or videos that have been offloaded to save storage space, you can still find them in the ‌iOS 27‌ Messages app when you search. Thumbnails are also displayed for offloaded media instead of a placeholder image, so you know what's there. RCS In RCS message conversations with Android users, you can now long press on a message to send an inline reply. ‌iOS 27‌ also shows reaction emoji directly on images and videos, a feature that was not functioning in ‌iOS 26‌. Genmoji Apple revamped ‌Genmoji‌ creation in ‌iOS 27‌. There's an updated interface for describing an emoji that you want, with options to start from an existing emoji, choose an image from ‌Photos‌, or select a person. After uploading an image or using a text phrase to create a ‌‌Genmoji‌‌, there's a new "Describe a change" interface for making updates to what you've already created. You can iterate on designs and change individual elements of a ‌‌Genmoji‌‌, tweaking colors and objects. Each change uses the old base instead of regenerating a new ‌‌Genmoji‌‌. With a series of requests, it is possible to make a complicated, multi-element ‌‌Genmoji‌‌. Along with describing changes, you can add in additional emoji, and the interface makes suggestions on what to do next. ‌‌Genmoji‌‌ output is more consistent, and ‌‌Genmoji‌‌ look more like real emoji with a 3D, cartoonish style by default. There is now an option to change style, so if you don't want the cartoonish look, you can ask for something else like a drawing or a sketch. Large Conversations Large conversations load and scroll faster in ‌iOS 27‌, according to Apple. Read More More on all of the features in ‌iOS 27‌ can be found in our iOS 27 guide.Related Roundups: iOS 27, iPadOS 27 This article, "iOS 27: 13 Ways the Messages App is Smarter and Less Annoying" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Popular flight tracking app Flighty has a new Connection Assistant that helps travelers make connecting flights at airports worldwide. Connection Assistant gives flyers a step-by-step guide for all connections on a trip. It will outline whether users need to go through passport control, recheck a bag, go through security, or change terminals, and it gives an estimate of how long the process will take. Adding a passport to the app will let users know if they can use e-gates or skip passport control. Users will get a heads-up on how tight a connecting flight is based on recommended minimums for planning purposes, and how long it typically takes to get from one flight to another. Flighty says Connection Assistant combines flight tracking data with airport-specific procedures and statistical modeling of millions of prior flights to create a custom walkthrough for each flight. Flighty is also now able to predict arrival and departure gates, gate range, or concourse when a flight is first added to the app. The predictions are based on the flight's historical gates, and on the day of a connection, predictions will narrow to the exact gate. Flighty can be downloaded from the App Store for free, with weekly, monthly, annual, and lifetime purchase options for Pro features. This article, "Flighty Update Adds Step-by-Step Guide for Connecting Flights" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple today provided public beta testers with the fourth betas of iOS 26.6, iPadOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6, watchOS 26.6, and tvOS 26.6, with the software coming a day after Apple seeded the betas to developers. After signing up to beta test the software updates on Apple's beta site, public beta testers can download the new software using the Software Update section in the Settings app on each device. iOS 26.6 has a feature that will let you know when you have blocked too many contacts, but the limit is in the thousands so most users may not ever see the messaging. There are also signs of a new iPhone anti-snatching feature that locks a stolen iPhone when it's grabbed from your hand. No other major new features have been found in any of the software updates, with Apple likely focusing on bug fixes and security improvements. We're nearing the end of the "26" software cycle, with Apple planning to release iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate, and more in September.Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS TahoeRelated Forums: iOS 26, macOS Tahoe This article, "Apple Seeds Fourth Public Betas of iOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6 and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Anthropic today said it is bringing Claude Cowork to mobile and the web, with beta access rolling out to Max users first. Claude Cowork is a feature that lets Claude access local files and connected tools, then autonomously complete tasks on your behalf. Claude Cowork tasks can now be started and monitored on the web, desktop, and Claude mobile apps. Claude is able to work in the background in the cloud even when no device is online, sending an alert when it needs permission to move forward with a task. Anthropic says the desktop is still the best place for the full Cowork experience because it gives Claude access to local files and a browser, but those who were unable to install a desktop app can now use Cowork. Claude chat and Cowork have also been combined into a single view on the web and desktop and are no longer separate tabs. As part of the expansion to mobile, Anthropic is extending doubled Cowork usage limits through August 5.Tag: Anthropic This article, "Claude Cowork Expands to iPhone and the Web" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple previously announced that the first iOS 27 public beta would be released in July, meaning that it should be available at some point this month. Below, we have outlined how to get ready for the iOS 27 public beta, which will likely follow the third or fourth iOS 27 developer beta. Release Date History The first public betas of iOS 16 through iOS 26 came out between July 11 and July 24. iOS 26 Public Beta: Thursday, July 24, 2025 iOS 18 Public Beta: Monday, July 15, 2024 iOS 17 Public Beta: Wednesday, July 12, 2023 iOS 16 Public Beta: Monday, July 11, 2022 Get Ready Once it is available, anyone will be able to install the iOS 27 public beta on a compatible iPhone for free by following the steps outlined below. Sign up at beta.apple.com for free. Open your iPhone's Settings app and tap General → Software Update → Beta Updates. Select the iOS 27 Public Beta option (restart your iPhone if you don't see it) and follow the on-screen steps.If you are impatient, anyone can install the iOS 27 developer beta for free right now. Warning: While the first public beta is usually more stable than the first developer beta, iOS betas often have bugs and performance issues. You may not be able to use some apps that you rely on, and issues can extend to CarPlay. Backing up your iPhone before installing beta software is highly recommended, and relying on a secondary iPhone altogether is always a good idea if possible. iOS 27 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer, but Apple Intelligence features like Siri AI are limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and newer. Keep in mind that the revamped version of Siri has a waitlist. To join the waitlist, open the Settings app on iOS 27 and tap on Siri and you will find it there. In some cases, it can take a few weeks to receive access to Siri AI and the Siri app. Beyond the new Siri, iOS 27 features Liquid Glass design enhancements, performance improvements, expanded child safety features, and more.Related Roundups: iOS 27, iPadOS 27 This article, "iOS 27 Public Beta is Coming Soon" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Google will introduce its latest Pixel smartphones at an August 12 event, debuting the updated devices about a month ahead of when Apple is expected to announce new iPhone models. Google is expected to launch the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and a new Pixel 11 Pro Fold. Leaked CAD renders suggest the new smartphones will have slimmed down bezels, a slightly thinner design than the Pixel 10, and an updated all-black camera bar. The latest Pixel foldable is expected to look like the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but it could be thinner with some minor changes to the rear camera bar. It's supposed to be about 10.1mm thick when folded and 4.8mm thick when unfolded, which is not too far off from the rumored thickness of Apple's foldable iPhone. Last year, Apple cut the 128GB iPhone and the iPhone 17 launched with 256GB of starting storage, and Google plans to make the same move with the Pixel 11. This year's Pixel devices could be more expensive, and a leak out of Europe suggests a €100 price increase across all new Pixel smartphones compared to the prior pricing. Most device manufacturers are upping prices in 2026 because of the soaring costs of DRAM. Apple raised the prices of all Macs and iPads in June, and the new iPhones coming in the fall are likely going to be more expensive than the ‌iPhone 17‌ lineup. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max could be up to $200 more expensive, according to analyst estimates. Google's Pixel 11 lineup will compete with Apple's ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models, which Apple is expected to introduce in September. Apple won't have a Pixel 11 equivalent in 2026 because it is holding its base iPhone 18 until spring 2027, but it will launch the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and its first foldable iPhone. Samsung is also going to launch new smartphones ahead of when Apple introduces the ‌iPhone 18‌ lineup. The next Samsung Unpacked event is expected later in July, with the company set to introduce the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Galaxy Z Flip 8, and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide. The latter foldable has an aspect ratio that's closer to the rumored foldable iPhone. With the foldable iPhone, Apple will be competing with Samsung and Google, and both companies have had time to refine their foldable device designs. Samsung has been making foldables since 2019, and Google's first Pixel Fold came out in 2023.Tags: Foldable iPhone, Google, Google Pixel This article, "Google's Pixel 11 Event Set for August 12, a Month Before Apple Debuts Foldable iPhone" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple today released a third version of the beta firmware it is testing for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4, and AirPods Max 2. The firmware is limited to developers at the current time, and it has a build number of 9A5314b. In iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate, Apple is adding a new AirPods interface, a slider for Adaptive mode, and support for custom EQ, so the firmware adds support for those features. AirPods are also compatible with the new Siri AI. When the AirPods are connected to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac running iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26 or later, there is a beta firmware option that can be accessed in the AirPods settings interface. Toggling on beta updates allows users to install the beta firmware. Firmware updates can be downloaded by connecting the AirPods to an Apple device and connecting them to power. It can take a few hours for new firmware to be installed because there is no straightforward software update option like there is for other Apple devices.Related Roundups: AirPods 4, AirPods Max 2, AirPods Pro 3, iOS 27, iPadOS 27Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Caution), AirPods Max (Buy Now), AirPods Pro (Neutral)Related Forum: AirPods This article, "Apple Releases New AirPods Beta Firmware With iOS 27 Features" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

The iPhone 18 Pro's aluminum frame and camera housing are both set to grow thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro's, according to new posts from the leaker known as "Fixed Focus Digital." In a post on Weibo today, the leaker said that aluminum alloy mid-frames are "going to be used in straight-edge phones for a long time to come," referring to Apple's continued use of the material introduced with the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ rather than a return to titanium. Citing leaked materials from Tata, the leaker claimed that the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s overall body and rear camera plateau, will be thicker than the current model, corresponding to a roughly 2mm increase the leaker says it can now confirm firsthand. The leaker added that the final thickness figure "will indeed be somewhat surprising." The post links to two of the leaker's earlier claims. In one, Fixed Focus Digital said the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ lineup "will still feature an aluminum alloy build" with "indeed excellent" heat dissipation, while warning that buyers should be cautious about the new color options given the discoloration and surface chipping that has affected some ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ units. In the other, the leaker said supply chain feedback confirmed the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s main camera upgrade and indicated that the aluminum alloy back panel would grow by 2mm. That 2mm figure lines up with a separate post the leaker shared on July 4, which estimated that the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models' overall thickness will land somewhere around 9.9–10.9mm. That would mark a substantial jump from the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max, which both measure 8.75mm thick. It also builds on dummy models shared in April, which suggested the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max's camera plateau would grow to 11.54mm, up from 11.23mm on the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max. The added bulk is reportedly tied to a redesigned main camera system. The device is widely rumored to feature the iPhone's first variable aperture, a component reported to cost Apple 50% more than the current fixed-aperture lens. Production of the new module is said to be ramping up at suppliers including LG Innotek and Sunny Optical. The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone this September.Related Roundups: iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 18 ProTag: Fixed Focus DigitalBuyer's Guide: iPhone 17 Pro (Caution)Related Forum: iPhone This article, "iPhone 18 Pro Could Be Noticeably Thicker Than iPhone 17 Pro" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Amazon today has a few discounts on the iPad mini 7, starting at $489.00 for the 128GB Wi-Fi tablet, down from $599.00. This is the first time since Prime Day that we've tracked all Wi-Fi models of the tablet on sale with notable discounts. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Additionally, you can get the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 7 for $589.00 and the 512GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 7 for $769.00, both available in multiple colors. Of course, when compared to the pre-hike prices on each model, these are all second-best prices on the iPad mini 7. $110 OFF128GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 7 for $489.00 $110 OFF256GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 7 for $589.00 $130 OFF512GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 7 for $769.00 Additionally, you can pair a new iPad mini with the Apple Pencil Pro for $99.00 on sale right now on Amazon, down from $129.00. $30 OFFApple Pencil Pro for $99.00 If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week. Deals Newsletter Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2026? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season! Related Roundup: Apple Deals This article, "Amazon Discounts All Wi-Fi iPad Mini 7 Models by Up to $130" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

A federal judge has thrown out most of the claims in a proposed class action accusing Apple's AirPods Max of a condensation defect, ruling that the $549 headphones do what they were built for even if they fall short of a buyer's expectations (via Law360). Filed in April 2025 by two plaintiffs, the suit alleges that condensation builds up inside the AirPods Max ear cups during normal indoor use, which can degrade sound, break ear detection and active noise cancellation, and interfere with charging. From the 24-page order: On April 9, 2021, while residing in New York, Plaintiff Apicella ordered AirPods Max headphones and AppleCare+ through Apple's website. Upon receiving and using his AirPods Max, Plaintiff Arthur Apicella "noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max ear cups while watching a movie," and his AirPods Max "generate[d] condensation in the ear cups every time he used them, often after only about 15 minutes of use." On May 23, 2021, while residing in Washington, Plaintiff Dustin Amundson purchased AirPods Max headphones and AppleCare. Shortly after purchasing them, Plaintiff Amundson "noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max ear cups while performing every day tasks, indoors, at home," and they "generate[d] condensation in the ear cups every time he use[d] them." Plaintiffs allege that they "are unable to use their AirPods Max to enjoy 'exhilarating high-fidelity audio' . . . or the supposed '[s]patial audio with dynamic head tracking [giving them] a theater-like experience for movies and shows, with sound that surrounds [them.]'" Instead, they experience switches in connection between their devices, pauses in connectivity or sound quality, failure to connect to wireless networks "with increasing frequency as the condensation worsens," and "failure to maintain its battery charge" for the advertised 20 hours.Both plaintiffs claim that Apple knew about the problem as early as 2018, but stayed quiet. However, in an order issued on Monday, Judge Orelia E. Merchant of the Eastern District of New York dismissed every claim brought under New York law with prejudice. She found that the state's implied warranty of merchantability asks only that a product meet "a minimal level of quality," not that it needs to be perfect. She also noted that one plaintiff had successfully used his AirPods Max to watch a movie. The New York resident was dropped from the case entirely, while the Washington state resident may still proceed with two claims under Washington law and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. The AirPods Max condensation phenomenon is fairly well-known at this point. Condensation frequently forms where warm body heat meets the cooler aluminum ear cups. Owners began reporting condensation soon after the headphones launched in December 2020. By 2023, the issue was sometimes referred to as "condensation death" following reports that some headphones had stopped working due to the accumulation of liquid. Whether the phenomenon is the direct cause of reported faults has never been firmly established. Many owners experience condensation build-up inside the cans with apparently no ill effects, and there haven't been waves of water-damaged units flooding the repair market. Apple's AirPods Max 2, launched in March this year, have the same ear cup design as the original model, and condensation has been reported in them as well. The New York case is actually the second AirPods Max condensation class action to flounder. An earlier California case filed in February 2021 never reached the class-wide stage because the lead plaintiffs settled their individual claims with Apple and both parties moved to dismiss. Notably, Apple has not conceded the headphones have an inherent defect in either case. In its California court filing, the company argued that moisture is more noticeable on AirPods Max simply because the ear cups are magnetic and removable, and pointed to its own guidance that the headphones "aren't waterproof or water resistant."Related Roundup: AirPods Max 2Tag: Apple LawsuitsBuyer's Guide: AirPods Max (Buy Now)Related Forum: AirPods This article, "AirPods Max Condensation Lawsuit Largely Dismissed by NY Judge" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Maestral, the free lightweight open-source Dropbox client for Mac, has been retired, according to the project's maintainer, Sam Schott. Over its seven-year life, Maestral has proven to be a popular client for users on platforms and file systems that are no longer directly supported by Dropbox. It has also been lauded for its simplicity, small app bundle size, and low memory usage compared to the official Dropbox app. By cutting out Dropbox's client bloat, Maestral just runs silently in the background and syncs a local folder to Dropbox using the company's APIs. It also allows for configuring an unlimited number of Dropbox accounts, supports selective sync, and works on an unlimited number of devices – avoiding Dropbox's caps. Schott, writing on the project's GitHub page: As of 2026-07-28, this project is archived. It's been a fun challenge to develop a syncing client, but unfortunately, I find too little time to invest in Maestral these days. I've also moved away from using Dropbox myself.Schott says Maestral will still remain usable in the medium term – i.e., for as long as its certificates are valid – but it will no longer be actively maintained or receive updates. Unless someone else forks the project and takes it over, unfortunately it will eventually stop working.Tag: Dropbox This article, "Free Dropbox Client Maestral Will Eventually Stop Working" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple is reportedly working on a second-generation iPhone Air that's expected to launch in spring 2027, and one of Apple's main aims is to improve battery life. We now have the first rumor suggesting what kind of improvement could be coming. In a post on Weibo listing supply chain predictions, serial leaker Digital Chat Station said the iPhone Air 2 is expected to feature a 3,500mAh battery. That's up from the 3,149mAh battery in the current iPhone Air, indicating around a 11% increase in raw capacity. A larger battery capacity usually implies either a physically larger battery or a denser one, but it does not automatically mean a bigger phone. Apple may also be able to improve internal packaging to fit a larger battery in the same chassis. Either way, it's going to be another tight squeeze. Multiple prior rumors have suggested Apple is adding a second camera to the ‌iPhone Air‌ to address the main customer complaint about the device. The current model has a single rear Wide lens, which makes it less versatile compared to the more affordable iPhone 17 in terms of photography. Reports suggest Apple will add an Ultra Wide lens to the iPhone Air 2 to address this. Multiple technologies are housed in the plateau of the iPhone Air to maximize space for the battery, so Apple would presumably need to redesign the internals considerably to fit in another camera. Whether that will impact the battery packaging design remains to be seen. The device will use an A20 chip built on Apple's new 2nm process, so it could feature better efficiency, which should help battery life regardless of any change in battery capacity. In addition, according to a separate report, Apple is said to be adopting a Samsung-made OLED technology called CoE (Color Filter on Encapsulation), which could make the iPhone Air 2's display thinner. That could allow Apple to slide in a slightly larger battery while retaining the same device dimensions. The iPhone Air 2 is expected to launch in the first half of 2027, alongside the regular iPhone 18 and the lower-cost iPhone 18e. Related Roundup: iPhone AirTag: Digital Chat StationBuyer's Guide: iPhone Air (Neutral) This article, "iPhone Air 2 Could Get an 11% Battery Capacity Boost" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Introduction Modern enterprise software development has evolved into a hyper-complex ecosystem where relying on a fragmented array of decoupled tools—like GitHub, Jenkins, Terraform, and Kubernetes—frequently leaves engineering executives blind to actual delivery maturity, systemic security vulnerabilities, and deployment bottlenecks. To bridge this gap, forward-thinking organizations are adopting a dedicated Software Delivery Governance Platform like SCMGalaxy OS, which acts as an overarching orchestration layer that moves beyond simple tool execution to continuously assess engineering processes, enforce automated compliance guardrails, and provide structured, metrics-driven pathways toward true operational excellence. Featured Snippet What Is a Software Delivery Governance Platform? A Software Delivery Governance Platform is an enterprise management solution that unifies visibility, compliance, and performance tracking across the entire software development lifecycle. It continuously evaluates engineering teams against maturity frameworks, enforces process compliance, balances velocity with security metrics, and provides automated, actionable roadmaps to optimize delivery efficiency and reduce systemic risk. Understanding Software Delivery Governance What Is Software Delivery Governance? Software delivery governance is the structured framework of rules, metrics, operational standards, and compliance mechanisms that oversee how software is built, secured, verified, and deployed. It transforms software delivery from an ad-hoc engineering activity into a predictable, auditable business process. Why Modern Enterprises Need Governance As software architectures shift toward microservices and decentralized engineering teams, standardizing practices across an organization becomes incredibly difficult. Without explicit governance, teams create bespoke deployment methods, bypass security checks to meet deadlines, and introduce fragmented configurations that complicate maintenance. Governance ensures alignment without micromanagement by embedding automated guardrails into the software delivery pipeline. Tool Usage vs. Process Maturity Many IT leaders mistake an extensive toolchain for a mature DevOps practice. An engineering team might use advanced continuous integration pipelines, yet lack automated quality gates, clear rollback strategies, or standard vulnerability scanning. True delivery governance evaluates how effectively these tools are integrated into a cohesive, repeatable process. Tool AdoptionDelivery GovernanceFocuses on installing and configuring specific software platforms.Focuses on measuring process compliance, efficiency, and quality outcomes.Measures success by tool uptime and user adoption rates.Measures success by lead time, deployment frequency, MTTR, and change failure rates.Creates fragmented workflows tailored to individual team preferences.Standardizes architectural and delivery patterns across the enterprise.Delivers localized automation without systemic visibility.Provides comprehensive executive dashboards to analyze organizational health. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms Think of tool adoption as buying a fleet of high-performance sports cars. Software delivery governance is building the highway system, setting the traffic laws, installing speed cameras, and training the drivers to ensure everyone reaches their destination safely without crashing. Enterprise Example A global retail bank utilized Jenkins across fifty separate application development teams. However, because there was no centralized governance, every team wrote their own deployment scripts. Three teams accidentally exposed internal API credentials in their production build files, triggering a severe security audit. By implementing a unified governance platform, the bank enforced standardized, immutable pipeline templates that completely eliminated manual, non-compliant configurations. Why It Matters Unregulated software delivery leads directly to production downtime, compliance violations, and inflated operational costs. Proper governance protects brand reputation while eliminating friction for developers, turning delivery speed into a reliable competitive advantage. Key Takeaways Tools provide execution capability, but governance guarantees process reliability. Centralized frameworks prevent fragmented configurations across disparate engineering groups. Automated guardrails enable faster delivery by removing manual validation bottlenecks. Understanding Engineering Maturity What Is a Maturity Assessment? An engineering maturity assessment is an objective evaluation of an organization’s software development capabilities, culture, and technical execution. It compares current engineering behaviors against recognized industry benchmarks—such as DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics—to pinpoint systemic gaps. Why Maturity Measurement Matters You cannot optimize what you do not measure. Without a structured assessment framework, engineering leaders prioritize initiatives based on anecdotal feedback or the latest industry trends rather than addressing actual architectural constraints. Continuous maturity tracking provides clear, data-driven justification for platform engineering investments. Characteristics of High-Maturity Engineering Teams High-maturity teams consistently demonstrate predictable delivery cycles. They rely on trunk-based development, boast fully automated testing suites that run within their pipelines, utilize blue-green or canary deployment patterns, and actively manage their systems using real-time observability dashboards. Common Signs of Low Engineering Maturity Conversely, low-maturity organizations exhibit clear anti-patterns. These include long lead times stretching over weeks, frequent manual intervention during production rollouts, critical vulnerabilities discovered late in the development lifecycle, and a high change failure rate requiring emergency rollbacks. [Low Maturity: Manual Steps / Siloed Teams] │ ▼ (Implement Automated Guardrails & Tracing) [Medium Maturity: Standardized CI/CD / Scheduled Releases] │ ▼ (Introduce Predictive Analytics & AI Governance) [High Maturity: Continuous Delivery / Autonomous Governance] Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms An engineering maturity assessment is a comprehensive health checkup for your software delivery organization. It uncovers underlying operational problems before they manifest as critical system failures or delayed product launches. Enterprise Example An insurance firm struggled with consistent delays in its quarterly software releases. An engineering maturity assessment revealed that while their writing of code was fast, their testing phase relied heavily on manual verification, creating a massive logjam. This objective data allowed the VP of Engineering to pivot resources toward building automated regression testing frameworks. Why It Matters Understanding maturity prevents organizations from wasting capital on unnecessary infrastructure. It ensures that transformation budgets are precisely directed toward fixing the exact processes hampering delivery velocity. Key Takeaways Objective assessments replace subjective opinions with verifiable data. High maturity directly correlates with lower production incident rates and faster feature delivery. Tracking maturity helps align engineering goals with broader business strategies. Software Delivery Maturity Assessment What Is a Software Delivery Maturity Assessment? This specialized evaluation analyzes the entire lifecycle of an application—from the initial code commit down to production monitoring—ensuring that every phase meets strict corporate standards for quality, security, and velocity. Key Assessment Areas Source Code Management Evaluates code branching strategies, commit frequencies, pull request review cycles, and secret detection mechanisms within repositories. Build Automation Measures the speed, repeatability, and isolation of the compilation process, ensuring builds are immutable and clear of external environmental dependencies. Deployment Automation Analyzes how code transitions across staging, testing, and production environments without relying on manual steps or ad-hoc scripts. Security Controls Tracks the integration of static and dynamic security analysis tools directly within active development workflows. Observability Assesses the system’s ability to provide deep context into application health via structured logs, distributed traces, and granular metrics. Reliability Engineering Examines disaster recovery runbooks, automated scaling capabilities, chaos engineering experiments, and system resilience under heavy loads. Governance Practices Verifies auditability, compliance logging, and alignment with regulatory frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms This assessment verifies that every step an application takes on its way to your customers is completely secure, automated, documentable, and repeatable. Enterprise Example An e-commerce business implemented a delivery assessment framework across its core checkout services. The assessment discovered that although their build automation was highly mature, their deployment automation was flawed because staging environments did not accurately replicate production configurations. This mismatch caused frequent runtime errors during deployment windows. Why It Matters Evaluating the entire lifecycle prevents siloed optimization. It does little good to speed up code compilation if your deployment phase remains stuck in a complex web of manual approvals and environmental mismatches. Key Takeaways Governance platforms evaluate multiple interlinked engineering disciplines simultaneously. Continuous compliance checking ensures the delivery pipeline remains audit-ready at all times. Eliminating environment drifts reduces post-deployment production errors. DevOps Maturity Assessment What Is DevOps Maturity? DevOps maturity measures how deeply an enterprise has broken down traditional silos between software development and IT operations, replacing them with shared tooling, automated feedback loops, and collaborative workflows. Collaboration and Culture True DevOps maturity is rooted in organizational culture. It requires shared accountability for system stability, blameless post-mortems following production outdates, and a pervasive commitment to continuous experimentation. Automation Adoption Mature DevOps organizations minimize manual intervention across the operational spectrum. This includes treating infrastructure as code (IaC), automating patch management, and embedding self-healing scripts into the runtime environment. Delivery Performance Performance is tracked using core DORA metrics: deployment frequency, lead time for changes, time to restore service (MTTR), and change failure rate. High-maturity organizations consistently achieve elite performance levels across these indicators. Continuous Improvement Practices A mature DevOps practice leverages feedback from production environments to refine upstream development. Performance logs, user errors, and system bottlenecks are automatically funneled back into the product backlog for engineering review. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms DevOps maturity is about how well your development team (the people building features) and your operations team (the people keeping the systems running) operate as a single, coordinated unit using automation. Enterprise Example A logistics provider transitioned from a legacy architecture to a mature DevOps model. Previously, developers handed off code to an isolated operations team, resulting in multi-day deployment cycles. By introducing shared performance metrics and automated deployment pipelines, the combined team reduced their production release time from two weeks down to less than one hour. Why It Matters High DevOps maturity cuts down organizational friction, prevents finger-pointing during major system outages, and dramatically speeds up the delivery of customer-facing features. Key Takeaways DevOps maturity balances rapid code deployment with high system stability. Tracking core DORA metrics provides a transparent view of engineering velocity. Cultural alignment is just as critical as automated tooling for long-term success. CI/CD Maturity Assessment Understanding CI/CD Maturity Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) maturity examines the depth, speed, and safety of an organization’s automated pipelines. It tracks how efficiently code updates move from a developer’s local machine into active production. Pipeline Standardization Low-maturity organizations suffer from unique, snowflake pipelines maintained by individual teams. High maturity requires standardized, reusable pipeline blueprints managed by central platform engineering teams, ensuring uniform compliance policies. Deployment Automation This tracks the elimination of manual handoffs. Highly mature pipelines utilize advanced automated deployment strategies—such as progressive delivery or canary rollouts—to limit the blast radius of any faulty code updates. Quality Gates Mature pipelines enforce strict quality gates. Code commits must pass static analysis linting, unit test coverage minimums, and architectural compliance checks automatically before moving down the pipeline. Release Frequency While low-maturity groups cluster updates into high-risk, monthly releases, high-maturity teams push small, incremental changes multiple times per day, minimizing operational risk. Low MaturityMedium MaturityHigh MaturityManual builds triggered via developer workstations.Scheduled nightly builds running on a shared server.Automated builds triggered instantly on code commit.Code testing performed manually by QA silos.Basic automated unit tests run inside the pipeline.Comprehensive unit, integration, and security tests.Production rollouts require manual server configuration.Automated scripts deploy code to static targets.Progressive delivery using automated canary gates.Zero automated rollbacks during deployment failures.Manual execution of rollback scripts required.Automated rollbacks triggered by metric deviations. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms CI/CD maturity measures how clean, secure, and automated your software assembly line is. A mature line automatically tests and packages every part the moment it arrives, rejecting any defective components instantly. Enterprise Example A fintech enterprise updated its core transaction engine using a high-maturity CI/CD model. When a developer committed code containing a minor memory leak, the automated pipeline detected an anomaly during integrated performance testing, halted the staging rollout, and alerted the developer within ten minutes—preventing a catastrophic production outage. Why It Matters A mature CI/CD pipeline stops bad code from ever reaching production. It removes human error from the deployment equation, ensuring that applications are shipped uniformly every single time. Key Takeaways Reusable pipeline templates prevent configuration drift across diverse codebases. Automated quality gates enforce organizational standards without slowing down developers. Small, frequent updates drastically lower the blast radius of software bugs. Release Management Maturity Assessment Release Governance Release governance defines the policies, risk assessments, and compliance approvals required to authorize production deployments. It ensures clear alignment between engineering speed and enterprise risk tolerance. Change Management Legacy change management relies on long, manual review meetings (CABs). Mature release management replaces these meetings with automated change tracking, leveraging pipeline data to populate audit trails in real time. Risk Reduction This focuses on decoupled releases using feature flags and progressive rollouts. By separating code deployment from feature activation, organizations minimize systemic risk during major product updates. Deployment Coordination Large enterprises often need to orchestrate complex rollouts across multiple interdependent legacy platforms and modern cloud systems simultaneously. Mature release management automates this cross-team choreography. Release Reliability Metrics Tracking metrics like change failure rate, release slippage, and rollback duration helps organizations understand the operational predictability of their delivery processes. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms Release management governance is the digital traffic controller for your production environment. It verifies that every code update has passed its inspections, carries the right documentation, and enters production without disrupting existing traffic. Enterprise Example A healthcare applications provider used a governance platform to automate their change management process. Instead of convening a weekly 3-hour review board to manually approve release logs, the platform verified that all pipeline tests passed, compiled the compliance records, and automatically opened and approved the production change ticket. Why It Matters Automating release governance removes massive bureaucratic delays from the software lifecycle, transforming deployment windows from high-stress weekend marathons into non-events. Key Takeaways Separating code deployment from feature activation reduces operational risk. Automated change logs save hundreds of hours during enterprise compliance audits. Real-time risk scoring highlights problematic releases before they hit production. DevSecOps Maturity Assessment Security Integration Across the SDLC DevSecOps maturity evaluates how naturally security practices are woven throughout the entire software development lifecycle, ensuring that security is never treated as a final, superficial check. Shift-Left Security This practice moves security analysis directly into the developer’s early workspace. It includes scanning code for open-source vulnerabilities (SCA) and code quality issues (SAST) during local development and initial pull requests. [Plan] ──> [Code + Local SAST] ──> [Build + SCA] ──> [Test + DAST] ──> [Govern & Deploy] ▲ ▲ ▲ └──────────────────────┴──────────────────┴─ (Automated Security Gates) Compliance Automation Enterprises must continuously adhere to stringent regulatory standards. Mature DevSecOps replaces periodic manual audits with automated, continuous compliance scanning across all active configurations. Secure Software Delivery Ensures the absolute integrity of the software build pipeline itself. This involves validating container images, generating cryptographic Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs), and securing secrets within the environment. Risk Governance Tracks exposure levels across the company, prioritizing vulnerabilities based on real-world reachability and business impact rather than relying on generic severity scores. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms DevSecOps maturity means installing security inspection checkpoints at every station of your software assembly line, catching and correcting flaws the exact moment they appear. Enterprise Example An aviation software company embedded automated container scanning into their build pipelines. When an open-source library used in a service developed a critical exploit, the platform immediately flagged the vulnerability, blocked the build from moving forward, and provided the engineering team with the exact secure patch version required. Why It Matters Fixing a security vulnerability in production is incredibly expensive and highly risky. Shifting security checks left into early development cycles saves millions in remediation costs while protecting critical corporate data. Key Takeaways Continuous software supply chain validation protects against advanced third-party vulnerabilities. Automated compliance controls keep engineering practices aligned with evolving regulations. Reachability analysis helps developers focus on fixing high-priority, exposed security risks. Observability and SRE Maturity Assessment What Is Observability Maturity? Observability maturity evaluates an enterprise’s capability to understand the true internal state of its production applications based entirely on their external outputs, shifting operational models from reactive alerting to proactive system optimization. Metrics, Logs, and Traces Low-maturity teams look at basic infrastructure metrics like CPU usage in isolation. High-maturity groups correlate system metrics, structured application logs, and distributed traces to map user journeys across distributed environments. Reliability Engineering Practices Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) maturity measures how effectively an organization manages operational risk, automates incident response, runs chaos experiments, and architecturally designs for system resilience. Incident Management Tracks the lifecycle of operational incidents. Mature teams rely on automated alerting, dynamic runbooks, automated anomaly detection, and systematic post-mortems to continuously lower their Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). Service Level Objectives (SLOs) High-maturity teams align engineering priorities with user satisfaction by establishing strict Service Level Indicators (SLIs) and Service Level Objectives (SLOs), managing features against a predefined error budget. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms Observability and SRE maturity is like driving an advanced aircraft with a smart digital cockpit. Instead of waiting for an engine to fail completely, your instruments monitor deep internal performance trends, warning you of minor anomalies so you can adjust course early. Enterprise Example A streaming media service implemented advanced SRE telemetry. During a high-traffic live event, an automated observability system noticed an unusual latency spike in a microservice. Instead of waiting for an engineer to log in, the system dynamically scaled up the container cluster and rerouted traffic, maintaining a seamless experience for users. Why It Matters High observability and SRE maturity ensures that production systems scale predictably, minimize costly downtime, and provide deep data insights to optimize system performance. Key Takeaways Correlated telemetry speeds up root-cause analysis during major incidents. Error budgets provide an objective mechanism to balance feature speed with system stability. Blameless post-mortems convert operational failures into structural system improvements. Software Configuration Management Platform Importance of Configuration Governance Configuration governance ensures that all environment properties, application parameters, and systemic policies are managed uniformly through auditable code, preventing human error from destabilizing setups. Managing Infrastructure Consistency Using Tools like Terraform or Ansible requires rigorous governance. A Software Configuration Management platform ensures that no manual modifications occur directly within production infrastructure, enforcing a strict GitOps methodology. Version Control Governance Enforces administrative policies across code repositories, requiring multi-party pull request sign-offs, mandatory linear histories, and automated commit tracing back to authorized project tickets. Auditability and Traceability Maintains an immutable record of exactly who changed what, when, and why across both application source code and global infrastructure environments, simplifying regulatory audits. Configuration Compliance Continuously scans runtime configurations against security baselines, automatically alerting teams or remediating drifted parameters back to their authorized states. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms Configuration governance ensures that the underlying blueprints for your digital infrastructure are version-controlled, securely locked down, and completely protected against ad-hoc, manual modifications. Enterprise Example A global telecommunications provider suffered periodic outages caused by engineers making manual configuration tweaks directly on live staging servers. By adopting a strict configuration management framework, they locked down direct server access and mandated that every single environment update go through an approved Git repository, entirely eliminating undocumented system drift. Why It Matters Uncontrolled configuration drift is a major cause of mysterious production outages. Treating infrastructure strictly as versioned code guarantees complete system reproducibility across environments. Key Takeaways Enforcing GitOps principles removes manual human mistakes from infrastructure management. Granular change tracing ensures total transparency for internal and external auditors. Continuous configuration scanning prevents silent security degradations over time. AI Code Governance Platform Rise of AI-Assisted Software Development The integration of generative AI coding assistants has drastically accelerated code creation. However, this massive spike in raw code volume introduces a pressing need for automated governance frameworks to oversee AI-generated contributions. Risks of Uncontrolled AI Code Generation Without explicit governance, AI assistants can inadvertently introduce insecure design patterns, use outdated open-source packages, violate intellectual property licensing, and swell the technical debt profile of an application. Governance Requirements for AI Usage Enterprises must establish automated guardrails to verify that all AI-assisted code contributions are cleanly documented, pass rigorous static analysis, and comply with strict copyright standards. Code Quality and Compliance Controls An AI code governance platform automatically monitors the percentage of code generated via AI, tracks its subsequent refactoring rate, and applies stricter linting and testing requirements to AI-originated pull requests. Future of AI Governance As AI agents move from simple code completion to autonomous agentic software development, governance platforms will serve as the essential orchestrator—verifying agent access levels, validating code logic, and auditing all autonomous adjustments. Traditional DevelopmentAI-Assisted Development GovernanceCode written solely by human engineers at a predictable, manageable speed.Code generated rapidly by AI agents, drastically increasing overall review volume.Code reviews focus primarily on human design and internal logic paths.Code reviews must strictly check for licensing defects and hidden security design flaws.Security risks are well-understood and tied directly to developer experience.Security risks can be weirdly unpredictable due to hallucinated dependencies.Compliance relies on manual peer reviews and traditional code checkups.Compliance requires fully automated validation engines to scale with generation volume. Special Enterprise Education Framework In Simple Terms AI code governance is like adding an automated quality inspector to check the work of an ultra-fast robotic worker on an assembly line, ensuring its high speed doesn’t compromise structural integrity or safety standards. Enterprise Example A software enterprise noticed a 40% jump in code commits after equipping developers with AI assistants. However, their security teams discovered that these assistants frequently suggested deprecated library methods. By deploying an AI code governance platform, the firm automatically blocked any AI pull requests that failed to meet their updated security architecture baselines. Why It Matters AI tools offer incredible software development velocity, but without clear governance, that speed can easily result in unsafe, non-compliant code reaching production environments. Key Takeaways High code generation speed requires highly automated validation systems. Licensing compliance checks prevent intellectual property liabilities from AI suggestions. Advanced analytics help track code churn and quality across AI-assisted repositories. How SCMGalaxy OS Works SCMGalaxy OS serves as an enterprise Software Delivery Governance Platform, providing engineering leaders with a structured environment to assess, govern, and systematically optimize their engineering maturity. [SCMGalaxy OS Core Engine] ├── 1. Data Ingestion (GitHub, Jira, Jenkins, Telemetry) ├── 2. Assessment Framework (DevOps, DevSecOps, SRE, AI) ├── 3. Scoring & Risk Identification Engine └── 4. Dynamic Dashboards ──> Generates 30/90/180-Day Roadmaps Assessment Framework The platform connects with an organization’s existing software toolchain, pulling clean metadata across repositories, pipelines, issue trackers, and cloud environments to assess capabilities without disrupting daily workflows. Maturity Scoring Engine SCMGalaxy OS normalizes this data against proprietary maturity scoring algorithms, outputting clear, cross-discipline maturity scores across SCM, CI/CD, security, and site reliability engineering. Risk Identification The engine automatically surfaces hidden process risks—such as long code review times, missing security gates, undocumented environment variations, and high pipeline failure rates. Recommendations and Insights Beyond displaying raw graphs, the platform delivers contextual, actionable recommendations, highlighting the exact structural changes needed to remove delivery friction. Governance Dashboards Provides real-time dashboards customized for specific roles—giving CTOs high-level maturity roadmaps while providing engineering managers with granular pipeline health analytics. Transformation Roadmaps SCMGalaxy OS converts assessment data into clear, phased improvement pathways: 30-Day Roadmap Focuses on fixing immediate, high-severity operational issues—such as securing exposed access parameters, establishing basic unit test gates, and patching critical security flaws. 90-Day Roadmap Expands toward process standardization—including rolling out uniform pipeline templates, automating change tracking, and setting up initial SLO metrics. 180-Day Roadmap Drives advanced optimization initiatives—such as launching progressive canary delivery models, running chaos engineering experiments, and deploying automated AI code governance frameworks. Benefits of SCMGalaxy OS Visibility Into Engineering Health Eliminates operational blind spots by unifying engineering data into a single, reliable source of truth, allowing executives to objectively evaluate performance across all engineering departments. Standardized Assessments Replaces manual, inconsistent assessment methods with fully automated evaluations, ensuring all engineering groups are tracked against the exact same high standards. Better Governance Enforces compliance requirements directly within development workflows, completely stopping non-compliant code changes from reaching live production environments. Reduced Delivery Risk Highlights delivery bottlenecks and architectural issues early, helping organizations lower their change failure rates and prevent production regressions. Improved Reliability Guides engineering teams to build deeply resilient systems by helping them systematically implement advanced SRE principles and robust observability telemetry. Stronger Security Posture Shifts security compliance directly into active pipelines, allowing organizations to maintain an audit-ready security profile without slowing down daily features. Executive Decision Support Provides tech executives with the objective data required to prioritize engineering investments, optimize resource allocation, and validate digital transformation outcomes. Real-World Enterprise Scenarios Enterprise DevOps Transformation Challenge: A retail giant had highly siloed development and operations teams, resulting in high change failure rates and slow feature rollouts. Assessment Findings: Deep pipeline variances across teams, a complete lack of automated testing, and zero standard DORA metrics tracking. Recommendations: Centralize pipeline blueprints and enforce automated integration test gates within SCMGalaxy OS. Expected Outcomes: Cut deployment lead times by 50% while lowering the change failure rate below 10%. Platform Engineering Assessment Challenge: An enterprise platform group lacked any clear metrics to judge the internal adoption and effectiveness of their cloud infrastructure templates. Assessment Findings: Massive configuration drift across cloud environments due to teams making manual, undocumented changes. Recommendations: Implement a strict GitOps deployment model and set up automated configuration scanning. Expected Outcomes: Eliminate infrastructure drift across staging and production, saving thousands in operational cleanup. Multi-Team Governance Initiative Challenge: A software company struggled with inconsistent code quality and varying delivery metrics across ten newly acquired engineering groups. Assessment Findings: Drastically different branching methodologies and wildly inconsistent code verification standards. Recommendations: Deploy SCMGalaxy OS governance dashboards to establish baseline metrics and enforce uniform code review gates. Expected Outcomes: Achieve uniform compliance and release predictability across all business units within 90 days. Security Modernization Program Challenge: A healthcare technology provider needed to modernize its security verification processes to comply with strict update regulations. Assessment Findings: Security scans were only run right before major releases, creating huge remediation delays. Recommendations: Shift security scans directly into the early CI build phase via SCMGalaxy OS quality gates. Expected Outcomes: Reduce vulnerability remediation times by 70% while maintaining an audit-ready regulatory posture. AI Development Governance Rollout Challenge: An insurance provider wanted to accelerate development with AI tools but faced major concerns regarding intellectual property leaks and unstable code patterns. Assessment Findings: AI code was entering repositories without distinct tracking, leading to high code churn rates. Recommendations: Set up automated AI code attribution tracking and apply stricter automated verification gates on AI commits. Expected Outcomes: Safely harness AI generation speed while guaranteeing full licensing and quality compliance. Common Software Delivery Governance Challenges Tool Sprawl The uncontrolled addition of independent software tools leads directly to fragmented data silos, making it incredibly difficult to form a cohesive view of delivery performance. Solution: Use a governance platform to pull data from all existing systems into a centralized analytics engine. Lack of Standardization When individual development groups build unique delivery processes, maintaining organizational compliance and predictable software quality becomes nearly impossible. Solution: Mandate centralized, reusable pipeline templates managed by a core platform engineering team. Poor Visibility Without clean, unified metrics dashboards, technology leaders are forced to make strategic decisions based on guesswork rather than objective operational data. Solution: Deploy real-time governance scorecards that continuously aggregate engineering health data. Inconsistent Processes Teams utilizing variable branching methodologies and subjective code review standards introduce unpredictable risks during release windows. Solution: Enforce automated branching and review policies directly within your source control platforms. Weak Security Controls Treating security checks as an afterthought at the end of a long release cycle inevitably delays code rollouts and increases vulnerability exposure. Solution: Integrate automated security scans directly into early continuous integration workflows. Absence of Measurement Frameworks Without an established framework to evaluate maturity, engineering organizations struggle to track progress or identify exactly where optimizations are required. Solution: Adopt an industry-standard maturity model to measure and guide engineering initiatives. Common Mistakes Organizations Make Measuring Tools Instead of Outcomes: Tracking tool license usage or simple commit volumes rather than business-impacting metrics like lead time, stability, and customer satisfaction. Ignoring Engineering Culture: Expecting automation to solve underlying cultural issues, such as a lack of shared accountability or fear of reporting system flaws. Assessing Once and Never Reassessing: Treating maturity evaluation as a single, annual check box rather than an ongoing, continuous operational measurement process. Treating Governance as Compliance Only: Viewing governance purely as bureaucratic oversight rather than a mechanism to empower developers to ship code safely. Lack of Executive Sponsorship: Attempting to transform deep engineering practices without the explicit backing and strategic alignment of executive leadership. Governance Improvement Checklist Do all engineering teams track their core DORA metrics automatically in real time? Are deployment pipelines built from centralized, standardized templates? Are security checks run automatically on every code commit? Is change management documentation populated automatically via pipeline data? Do engineering teams operate with defined, measurable SLOs and error budgets? Building a Software Delivery Transformation Roadmap [1. Assessment Phase] ──> [2. Prioritization] ──> [3. Execution] ──> [4. Optimization] ──> [5. Continuous Evaluation] 1. Assessment Phase Begin by connecting your delivery applications to baseline current practices across all engineering groups, uncovering immediate bottlenecks and hidden structural risks. 2. Prioritization Phase Analyze your baseline metrics to identify high-impact, achievable improvements—focusing first on critical security gaps and manual deployment bottlenecks. 3. Execution Phase Roll out targeted technical improvements, such as introducing standardized pipeline blueprints, automating test gates, and removing manual approval steps. 4. Optimization Phase Introduce advanced operational practices once foundations are stable—including progressive delivery rollouts, deeper telemetry correlation, and initial AI governance layers. 5. Continuous Improvement Phase Establish a culture of ongoing engineering evaluation, continuously analyzing live delivery data to refine your architectural standards and governance guardrails. Future of Software Delivery Governance AI-Powered Governance Governance platforms will soon leverage advanced predictive analytics to analyze code changes and historical pipeline metrics to forecast release risks before execution. Platform Engineering Governance As platform engineering matures, governance tools will serve as the essential control layer, ensuring internal developer platforms deliver speed without compromising compliance. Autonomous Delivery Pipelines Future pipelines will autonomously adapt their deployment pathways based on real-time risk scores—skipping manual gates for low-risk changes while stepping up testing for highly complex updates. Engineering Intelligence Platforms Software governance is shifting toward comprehensive intelligence systems, combining operational metrics with business outcomes to map the true ROI of engineering initiatives. Continuous Maturity Measurement Static annual maturity audits are being phased out by continuous, real-time tracking engines that reflect the true state of an organization’s engineering maturity at any moment. Governance-Driven Transformation Enterprise transformations will increasingly rely on data-driven governance models, utilizing automated platforms to guide, measure, and scale organizational changes safely. Why Organizations Choose SCMGalaxy OS SCMGalaxy OS provides the comprehensive architecture modern enterprises need to move beyond simple tool tracking and establish true software delivery governance. By seamlessly combining cross-discipline assessments, automated risk identification, and actionable roadmaps, the platform empowers technology leaders to optimize delivery speed, enforce rigorous security, and drive measurable engineering maturity at scale. FAQ Section 1. What is a Software Delivery Governance Platform? It is a centralized enterprise system that tracks performance, ensures compliance, and measures engineering maturity across the entire software development lifecycle, transforming delivery into a predictable business process. 2. Why do organizations need maturity assessments? Maturity assessments replace subjective guesswork with clear, objective data, allowing engineering leaders to locate operational bottlenecks and ensure transformation investments match true system constraints. 3. What is DevOps Maturity Assessment? It evaluates how effectively an enterprise has eliminated traditional silos between its development and operations teams, tracking cultural collaboration, automation adoption, and core DORA metrics. 4. How does CI/CD Maturity Assessment work? It analyzes the speed, automation depth, and safety of deployment pipelines, checking for standardized templates, automated quality gates, and progressive rollout capabilities. 5. What is DevSecOps Maturity Assessment? It tracks the natural integration of security practices throughout the entire development cycle, ensuring code analysis, container checks, and compliance scanning happen automatically and early. 6. Why is observability maturity important? Observability maturity shifts operations from reactive alerts to proactive optimization, allowing teams to correlate metrics, logs, and traces to solve production problems before they disrupt users. 7. What is AI Code Governance? It is an automated framework designed to manage the quality, security, and licensing compliance of code written by generative AI assistants, preventing technical debt and copyright issues. 8. How does SCMGalaxy OS generate maturity scores? The platform integrates directly with your existing developer toolchain, analyzing lifecycle metadata against standardized algorithms to produce objective maturity metrics across engineering fields. 9. What are 30/90/180-day transformation roadmaps? They are phased, data-driven improvement pathways generated by SCMGalaxy OS that prioritize fixing critical technical flaws first before scaling up to advanced automation and continuous optimization. 10. Who should use SCMGalaxy OS? It is designed for technology executives—including CTOs, CIOs, VPs of Engineering, Platform Architects, and Security Leaders—looking to govern, analyze, and scale engineering performance across an enterprise. Final Summary Achieving software delivery excellence requires moving past simple tool adoption and embracing objective, automated governance. A modern software delivery lifecycle demands deep, data-driven coordination across multiple disciplines—including DevOps collaboration, standardized CI/CD pipelines, automated DevSecOps gates, robust SRE observability, and comprehensive AI code governance frameworks. SCMGalaxy OS gives technology leaders the exact architectural visibility and framework engine needed to transform chaotic development processes into structured, high-performing delivery ecosystems. By continuously tracking engineering maturity metrics and converting those insights into actionable roadmaps, the platform ensures your enterprise scales its delivery speed safely, securely, and predictably. Take control of your software delivery lifecycle today. Explore SCMGalaxy OS to baseline your engineering maturity, implement automated guardrails, and build a reliable, high-performance software transformation roadmap for your enterprise. View the full article

Forty-six years after his death, Bon Scott is still bringing Australians together. The legendary AC/DC frontman would’ve celebrated his 80th birthday this Thursday, 9th July, and fans, pubs, clubs, live music venues, musicians and DJs across the country are being invited to turn it up in honour of one of Australia’s greatest-ever rock icons. Led by the Bon Scott Estate – representing the late singer’s family – the global #Bon80 celebrations are encouraging Australians to blast Bon-era AC/DC, host tribute nights, dedicate a song, raise a glass and share their celebrations online throughout the week. To help fans and venues get involved, the Estate has released a free ‘Let There Be Bon’ #Bon80 Fan & Venue Pack, featuring downloadable posters, social media assets and promotional material designed for pubs, clubs, cover bands, promoters and anyone keen to pay tribute to Scott’s enduring legacy. The celebrations come just days after the unveiling of a new Bon Scott mural in Melbourne’s iconic AC/DC Lane, painted by acclaimed artist and Mental As Anything co-founder Reg Mombassa. Fans will also be able to mark the milestone with a new Australian home for official Bon Scott merch, while commemorative collectables – including limited-edition gold and silver bars from The Perth Mint – are also being released to celebrate what would’ve been the singer’s 80th. The Perth Mint release follows the instant sell-out of its official Bon Scott commemorative coin in 2024, highlighting the remarkable demand for memorabilia celebrating the late frontman’s legacy nearly half a century after his passing. Meanwhile, microphone manufacturer Neumann has partnered with the Scott family on a special Bon Scott Edition of its iconic U 47 FET microphone, with a portion of proceeds supporting Australian music charity Support Act. Born in Scotland before relocating to Western Australia as a child, Scott became the unmistakable voice of AC/DC during the band’s formative years, helping create timeless rock classics including Highway To Hell, Whole Lotta Rosie, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and T.N.T. before his death in 1980 at the age of 33. Yet his influence has only continued to grow. During AC/DC’s Australian tour last year, fans travelled from across the country to visit Scott’s statue in Fremantle, while a recent Triple M poll ranked him the second-greatest lead singer of all time, behind Freddie Mercury. For many Australians, Bon Scott is far more than the former frontman of AC/DC – he’s become part of the nation’s musical identity. And on what would’ve been his 80th birthday, we’re being encouraged to celebrate him the way he’d probably want: loudly. Fans, venues, bands, DJs and promoters celebrating Bon Scott’s 80th birthday are encouraged to share their plans, photos and videos tagging @bonscott.official using #Bon80. Further Reading Bon Scott’s Estate Announces Huge Merch Drop For What Would’ve Been His 80th Birthday AC/DC’s Bon Scott Is Getting His Own Biopic, Starring A Young Aussie Actor Family Of Bon Scott Launch Official Website For The Late AC/DC Singer The post Bon Scott Would’ve Turned 80 This Week – And Australia Is Throwing Him A Nationwide Birthday Party appeared first on Music Feeds. View the full article

Aussie punk-rock veterans 28 Days are taking the party to the regions, announcing a new run of Australian tour dates after their recently announced 30th anniversary capital city shows sold out in record time. The newly added October dates will see the Frankston punk favourites hit regional Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, including a hometown show at Frankston’s Pelly Bar as part of the celebrations marking three decades of the band. 28 Days – ‘Rip It Up’ The anniversary tour also coincides with another milestone, with 28 Days’ platinum-selling breakthrough album Upstyledown set to receive its first-ever vinyl pressing. Originally released in 2000, Upstyledown debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and helped cement 28 Days as one of Australia’s defining punk acts of the era, spawning enduring fan favourites including Rip It Up, Say What? and Sucker. Formed at a Frankston skate park in the late 1990s, the band became synonymous with Australia’s turn-of-the-century punk explosion, earning a reputation through appearances at iconic festivals including Big Day Out and Homebake, while becoming Channel [V] staples along the way. Rather than simply revisiting the past, the band say the anniversary run is about celebrating a career built on longevity in an industry where few Australian punk bands have managed to survive for three decades. “Dust off your camo shorts, find your wallet chain, and grab that skateboard your kids don’t know how to ride,” the band joked in a statement. “If you were there back then, you already know what’s coming. If you weren’t, it’s time for a lesson.” Tickets for all newly announced regional dates are on sale this week and you can peep all the details down below. 28 Days ’30 Years’ Australian Regional Tour Fri 2 Oct – Torquay Hotel, Torquay VIC Sat 3 Oct – Pelly Bar, Frankston VIC Thu 8 Oct – Edge Hill Tavern, Cairns QLD Fri 9 Oct – The Warehouse, Townsville QLD (with Eskimo Joe) Sat 10 Oct – Magnums, Airlie Beach QLD Thu 15 Oct – The Carine, Duncraig WA Fri 16 Oct – Amplifier Bar, Perth WA Sat 17 Oct – Dunsborough Tavern, Dunsborough WA Fri 23 Oct – Forth Pub, Forth TAS Pre-sale: Wednesday, July 8 @ 10am (local time) GP Onsale: Thursday, July 9 @ 10am (local time) via www.teamwrktouring.com Further Reading 10 Moments That Defined ’90s/’00s Aussie Alt-Rock Fred Durst Has Volunteered To Sing On The New Van Halen Album Quench Your ‘Fred Thirst’ With This New Limp Bizkit-Inspired IPA The post 28 Days Expand 30th Anniversary Tour With New Regional Australian Dates appeared first on Music Feeds. View the full article

When Cradle Of Filth and DevilDriver first announced a co-headline tour together back in 2023, some fans weren’t quite sure what to expect. British gothic extremity colliding with American groove metal wasn’t exactly an obvious pairing on paper. But then, the tour happened. “We’re tight. We have each other’s back. We like each other’s music” “It just happened to really work,” DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara tells Music Feeds. “Our fans love them, their fans love us. There’s something really special. It’s not the same five bands that sound the same every night – you’re getting something very unique.” Thankfully for Aussie metalheads, it’s finally our turn. With the acclaimed co-headline package arriving on Australian shores this week, both bands promise fresh material, long-lost fan favourites and the same chemistry that’s made the tour such a hit overseas. While DevilDriver will be showcasing songs from their new album Strike And Kill, Fafara says local crowds are also in for something exclusive. “We’re playing a couple of new songs off the record, and then we’re busting out a couple of songs that we haven’t played in a very long time off our early records – certainly not ones that we’ve ever played down under. You guys are going to get a specifically very cool set.” Cradle Of Filth are also bringing fresh material from The Screaming Of The Valkyries, alongside the fan faves that have cemented them as one of extreme metal’s most enduring live acts. It Started As A Scheduling Problem… Ironically, the tour wasn’t born out of some grand master plan. Instead, both bands realised they were about to tour North America at roughly the same time – meaning they’d be potentially competing against one another. “So rather than us literally go against each other in the United States… we decided to throw it together,” Fafara explains. “We were called by a few people like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work.’ “It just happened to really work.” That success made bringing the package down under an easy decision. “We were both going to come down at the same time,” he says. “So we said we should just throw it together, get into bigger rooms and do it.” “We’re Just Guys” Spend five minutes witnessing Fafara and Dani Filth interact, and it’s immediately obvious why this tour works. Before anyone mentions albums or setlists, Fafara is already joking that Australia might finally be the place to find Filth “an Aussie wife”. By the end of the interview, he’s promising his own wife will happily play wingwoman while the tour is in town. To boot, ask Fafara for his favourite memory from touring with Cradle Of Filth and he doesn’t mention sold-out crowds or career milestones. Instead, he remembers introducing Dani to green chilli soup in El Paso before the pair promptly buying matching black cowboy hats and wearing them for the rest of the tour. It’s the sort of chaotic, affectionate banter that runs throughout the convo and, according to both frontmen, exactly the same energy that spills onto the road. “We’re just guys,” Fafara shrugs. “We get on the phone, we talk for five or ten minutes about business, and then two-and-a-half or three hours about life in general. “We’re tight. We have each other’s back. We like each other’s music. We like each other as people. We want to see each other succeed.” The relationship also extends well beyond metal bromance. Fafara also helps manage Cradle Of Filth through his wife’s company, while both touring camps regularly share crew members on the road. “I’m using Cradle Of Filth’s sound guy. He’s using my monitor guy,” Fafara laughs. “It’s kind of a family affair.” A Tour That’s Winning New Fans Possibly the biggest surprise from the original North American run wasn’t simply that the package worked, it was how enthusiastically fans embraced both bands. “I know that because people have written to me on Instagram,” Dani Filth says of fans discovering Cradle through DevilDriver. Fafara has seen the same thing from the other side. “If you’ve never seen Cradle Of Filth, get ready,” he hypes. “For me, it’s the premier black metal band in the world… nobody sounds like Cradle. Nobody does what Dani does.” Likewise, he promises Cradle devotees who haven’t experienced DevilDriver live are in for a shock. “We’re a vicious kind of visceral thing.” Summing up the evening, Fafara offers perhaps the best description imaginable. “We’re kind of the meat and potatoes of the show… and Cradle are the dessert.” All Systems Go For Down Under Having toured Australia extensively over the years, Fafara already knows exactly what to expect. “When you come out in front of an Australian crowd… it’s loud,” he says. “They’re in the pit, they’re going insane, they’re outside early lined up.” With Sydney already edging towards a sell-out, he has one final warning for anyone still sitting on the fence. “If I was you guys, I would get a ticket right now. I don’t think it’s one of those tours you can just walk up to last minute and expect the ticket to be there.” Grab your tickets here and peep all the dates down below. Cradle Of Filth and DevilDriver 2026 Australian Tour Dates Thursday 9th July BRISBANE, The Tivoli Friday 10th July SYDNEY, The Enmore Saturday 11th July MELBOURNE, The Forum Tuesday 14th July ADELAIDE, Hindley Street Music Hall Thursday 16th July PERTH, The Astor Tickets On Sale Now From: https://thephoenix.au/cradle-of-filth-and-devildriver/ Further Reading We Tried To Interview Dez Fafara About DevilDriver’s New Australian Tour. Instead We Got An Epic Life Philosophy Session Swedish Metallers Avatar Announce 2026 Australian Tour Dates ALBUM REVIEW: Devildriver – Trust No One The post “We’re Just Guys”: Inside The Friendship Fueling Cradle Of Filth & DevilDriver’s Monster Australian Tour appeared first on Music Feeds. View the full article

Apple is continuing to refine iOS 27 ahead of its planned September launch, and the third beta includes several new features. Siri is more customizable, there's a fun new wallpaper action, and some useful improvements to Photos and Shortcuts. Siri Voice Beta 3 adds support for ‌Siri‌ voice customization on compatible devices. The customization option existed in prior betas, but it was not active. It's now usable, and you can customize the pace and expressivity of ‌Siri‌, with two base voice options available right now. ‌Siri‌ voice customization requires an iPhone 17 Pro or an iPhone Air because it uses on-device processing. Live Recognition In Accessibility, Apple added a new Live Recognition section. Live Recognition uses on-device intelligence to detect and describe things around you with the camera app. The feature is able to answer questions about what it sees, with an option to set a default question. There's also support for custom activities. Reminders The Reminders app has an updated icon with Liquid Glass to-do list bullets. Photos In the ‌Photos‌ section of the Settings app, there's a new Show Rating Controls toggle. It displays star ratings on photos and videos, and shows a rating badge on thumbnails. Control Center In Control Center, you can see details about your cellular connection even when connected to Wi-Fi. It shows signal strength and whether you're connected to LTE or 5G. Shortcuts You can now choose whether to open to the Describe a Shortcut interface or the manual Shortcuts editor when creating a new shortcut. Wallpaper When you swipe down into the notification center, a cutout of the subject of your wallpaper now appears first over the Home Screen or app you're using. iOS 27 beta 3 adds a new wallpaper animation which is so smooth pic.twitter.com/8LzBOx3HMD — Aaron (@aaronp613) July 6, 2026 AirPods The Adaptive setting on the AirPods has a slider that lets you select more transparency or more noise cancellation. Home App Apple clarified that Apple Intelligence features in the Home app will require a 2GB iCloud+ plan. Maps Apple added a tooltip to make it clearer that route preferences haven't been eliminated and can be accessed by tapping under the options interface when getting directions. Lock Screen The Control Center buttons on the Lock Screen now have black icons instead of white icons with some wallpaper. 5G in India 5G+ is now available in India on supported carriers. Related Roundups: iOS 27, iPadOS 27 This article, "Everything New in iOS 27 Beta 3" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Using Apple Intelligence camera features in the Home app will require an iCloud+ plan starting at 2TB, according to Apple. Apple shared the detail in its notes for the third macOS Golden Gate beta that was released today. In iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate, the Home app is able to generate written summaries for motion alerts from HomeKit Secure Video cameras. It's also able to group footage from separate cameras for an overview of activity and pull out noteworthy recordings, plus it supports natural language search. Apple said at WWDC that some ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features would require an ‌iCloud‌+ plan, but Apple didn't specify which tier users would need to subscribe to. For the Home features, users will need the 2TB ‌iCloud‌+ plan or better. The 2TB plan includes 2TB of ‌iCloud‌ storage and it costs $9.99 per month. ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ cloud storage has always required a paid ‌iCloud‌ plan. The 50GB plan allows for one camera, while the 200GB plan supports up to five. The 2TB plan lets users add an unlimited number of ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ cameras, and now it will also add the ‌Apple Intelligence‌ Home feature set. HomeKit video storage does not count against the storage limit of an ‌iCloud‌+ plan, so the full 2TB stays available for photos and other data. More on what's new in the Home app in ‌iOS 27‌, ‌iPadOS 27‌, and macOS 27 can be found in our guide.Related Roundups: iOS 27, iPadOS 27Tag: Apple Intelligence This article, "Apple Intelligence Home Features Require 2TB iCloud+ Plan in iOS 27" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article