Followup from Cocoaheads Sept 2018: What's new in iOS 12.

[David Phillip Oster]

https://developer.apple.com/arkit/gallery/ - pretty link to models for augmented reality in Apple's use of Pixar's usdz file format. The tools link on that page leads to .zip that unpacks to a directory of samples and a python script that wraps a Mac compiled binary from http://openusd.org the public USD Github repository. A usdz  file is a zip of a .usdc file and its assets.

More on ARKit at https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2018/603/ (Integrating Apps and Content with AR Quick Look)

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2018/602 (What’s New in ARKit 2)

neural engine - This looks like its a marketing term. A search of Apple's programmer documentation turns up:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metalperformanceshaders/convolutional_neural_network_kernels?language=objc

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metalperformanceshaders/recurrent_neural_networks?language=objc

That is, layered neural networks implemented as shader code running in Metal.

Natural language recognition using machine learning: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/naturallanguage?language=objc

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/09/17/new-iphones-can-conduct-certain-nfc-transactions-even-when-ios-is-not-running

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A12  - Apple's new A12 chip that includes the link to the ARM 8.3  pointer authentication stuff.

https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/whitepaper-pointer-authentication-on-armv8-3.pdf 

https://lwn.net/Articles/718888/ - This is the one to read. I hadn't read it at the meeting.

The best discussion I've found on ARM 8.3 pointer authentication: the compiler generates function prologs so when a function is called normally the return address on the stack gets mangled with encryption, and the function's return instruction is a new opcode that validates the encryption before returning. If an attacker crafts a pointer to jump into the middle of a function, then the RETA will try to decrypt, fail, and crash the app.

https://www.apple.com/business/site/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf - Apple's document on security in iOS 12

https://www.bignerdranch.com/blog/migrating-to-unified-logging-swift-edition/ - an article with Swift examples on Apple's  <os/log.h> os_log API, a higher performance replacement for NSLog().