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Audio Hijack lets you record any audio on your Mac, from individual applications like Safari or Zoom, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, or even the audio output of the entire system. If you can hear it, you can record it. Whatever you need to do with audio on your Mac, Audio Hijack can help.

• Record conversations from Zoom, FaceTime, and other VoIP apps
• Save streaming audio from the web
• Create podcasts, both remote and in-studio
• Digitize vinyl
• And so much more

Earlier this month, Rogue Amoeba shipped Audio Hijack 4.3 with a brand-new Transcribe block to turn any spoken audio into text. The Mac’s best audio recording tool now also gives you unlimited transcription, with no on-going charges. Transcribe audio from a mic, an app, or a file. It’s great for video meetings, podcasts, and so much more. Read all about it in the Audio Hijack 4.3 blog post.

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Tom Warren at The Verge:

Microsoft is hiring former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman.

Altman was fired from OpenAI on Friday after the board said it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.” After a weekend of negotiations to potentially bring Altman back to OpenAI, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that both Altman and Brockman will be joining to lead Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team. Altman will have the CEO title of this new group.

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This week on Mac Power Users, it’s that time again!

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In the 24 hours since Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI, we’ve learned more about what is going on at the nonprofit. Let’s start with Kevin Roose, writing at The New York Times:

I’ll start by saying: I don’t know all the details about why Mr. Altman was pushed out. Neither, it seems, do OpenAI’s shellshocked employees, investors and business partners, many of whom learned of the move at the same time as the general public. In a blog post on Friday, the company said that Mr. Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications” with the board, but gave no other details.

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OpenAI has some big news this Friday afternoon:

The board of directors of OpenAI, Inc, the 501(c)(3) that acts as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities, today announced that Sam Altman will depart as CEO and leave the board of directors. Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately.

A member of OpenAI’s leadership team for five years, Mira has played a critical role in OpenAI’s evolution into a global AI leader. She brings a unique skill set, understanding of the company’s values, operations, and business, and already leads the company’s research, product, and safety functions. Given her long tenure and close engagement with all aspects of the company, including her experience in AI governance and policy, the board believes she is uniquely qualified for the role and anticipates a seamless transition while it conducts a formal search for a permanent CEO.

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Ina Fried at Axios:

Apple is pausing all advertising on X, the Elon Musk-owned social network, sources tell Axios.

The move follows Musk’s endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories as well as Apple ads reportedly being placed alongside far-right content. Apple has been a major advertiser on the social media site and its pause follows a similar move by IBM.

Musk faced backlash for endorsing an antisemitic post Wednesday, as 164 Jewish rabbis and activists upped their call to Apple, Google, Amazon and Disney to stop advertising on X, and for Apple and Google to remove it from their platforms.

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James Gilboy, writing at The Drive, about a NASA project I was not aware of until recently:

The TAV’s story begins in 1993, when NASA was upgrading the Space Shuttle’s landing gear. After gliding down through the atmosphere, the 240,000-pound Space Shuttles would land at speeds up to 288 mph, placing enormous stress on their tires. They had to endure triple the load of a Boeing 747 tire, so they weighed 230 pounds apiece according to Michelin, and were nitrogen-filled to as high as 373 psi.

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Chance Miller has some big news over on 9to5Mac:

In a surprising move, Apple has announced today that it will adopt the RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging standard. The feature will launch via a software update “later next year” and bring a wide range of iMessage-style features to messaging between iPhone and Android users.

Here’s a statement Apple made to the publication:

Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.

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This week on the podcast:

It’s only November, but rumors about Apple’s 2024 are already swirling. This week, Federico, Myke and Stephen talk about possible iPads and iOS 18 features, then ponder the meaning of the Humane AI Pin.

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Speaking of Microsoft branding, a reader emailed me links to both its and Google’s style guides, to go along with Apple’s.

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Tom Warren, reporting on the news that Microsoft rebranding “Bing Chat” to bring it more in line with the company’s other AI-powered products, which wear the far superior “Copilot” name:

“Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise will now simply become Copilot,” explains Colette Stallbaumer, general manager of Microsoft 365. The official name change comes just a couple of months after Microsoft picked Copilot as its branding for its chatbot inside Windows 11. At the time it wasn’t clear that the Bing Chat branding would fully disappear, but it is today.

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Bridges is a new app out by Jonathan Ruiz, designed to collect, organize and then use links. It’s great for creating collections that you want to share later on social media, in a blog post or in the notes for a podcast episode. It’s a one-time purchase of $3.99 for the iOS and iPadOS app, and the Mac app is the same price. No subscriptions. Check out Ruiz’s blog post for more.

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