Today Apple released the first developer beta for iOS 18.4. In early December, iOS 18.2 introducedthe new Image Playground app, and now it’s getting better with an iOS 18.4 enhancement.

Sketch completes trio of Image Playground styles

iOS 18.2 brought some of the most highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features to date, including ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, and Image Playground.

Image Playground lets users create original images just by typing a description. You can use the tool in its own dedicated app, or through built-in integration inside other apps like Messages and Notes.

In iOS 18.4 beta 1, Apple has added a new style not previously available for Image Playground creations: Sketch.

That means there are now three style options in total:

• Animation
• Illustration
• and in iOS 18.4, Sketch

Some Tesla owners have yet another thing to worry about. As sales crash in Europe and protests gather outside Tesla showrooms in the US as a result of the CEO’s political engagement, it now emerges that more than 376,000 Model Y crossovers and Model 3 sedans are at risk for power steering failure. So far, it has resulted in more than 3,000 warranty claims and caused 570 crashes, according to Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Federal investigators have known about the problem for some time—in 2023 NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened a preliminary inquiry after 12 reports of steering failures, including three Model 3s and nine Model Ys.

Apple just released a variety of new beta software updates, including iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. The latter two updates introduce Apple’s big Mail app redesign to the iPad and Mac.

macOS 15.4 and iPadOS 18.4 betas include new Mail features

Late last year, iOS 18.2 launched big changes for Apple’s built-in Mail app on iPhone.

There was a refreshed design, plus major new inbox categorization features, and more.

For the last couple months, Mac and iPad users have missed out on those changes. But now as of macOS 15.4 and iPadOS 18.4 beta 1, the redesigned Mail app is available on both platforms.

Apple is set to give News+ subscribers more than a soupçon of fresh material. When iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 arrive in April, the company will add a Food section to News+.

This will include tens of thousands of recipes, along with stories curated by Apple News editors about healthy eating, restaurants, kitchen essentials and so on. Apple says ”the world’s top food publishers” — includingAllrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food and Serious Eats — will supply the recipes and stories.

Jack Reacher author Lee Child has said casting Tom Cruise in the film adaptation was a “mistake” due to his lack of “physicality”.

Cruise played the vigilante former US Army military policeman in the 2012 film version of Child’s novels, and its 2016 sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.

The casting proved controversial at the time, due to the original character being described as being “extremely broad”, “blond” and “standing at 6’5””. Cruise is 5’7” and was considered by many fans of the books not to be an appropriate choice for the role.

Europol has supported Polish authorities in stopping a criminal organised group from forging a wide range of official documents some of which were used to smuggle individuals into the EU. The gang mainly operated in Poland and Ukraine and forged documents ranging from residence permits, driving licenses and passports, to visas and ID cards.