shamino

It's never been that complicated.  Any sub-30s audio file encoded as AAC can be used.  Just rename the file to have an ".m4r" extension and drag/drop it onto the phone (via the Finder on modern versions of macOS, via iTunes for older ones).  That's it.

As for how to make these files, no need to use Garage Band or Audacity.  You can do it from within Music.  Select the track you want.  Set the start/end points (via the Get Info page) to specify the region you want to use (up to 30s), and then File -> Convert -> Create AAC version.  This will create a new track in iTunes containing the region your selected, and having a copy of the original track's metadata.  Drag this new track to the desktop (you can delete it from Music afterward).  Rename the extension from "m4a" to "m4r" and you're good to go.  Drop it onto your phone to install it.

It's illegal for me to draw pictures of copyrighted characters and sell the results.  And I have a legal right to view all of the source material (assuming I've bought or rented the movies).

An AI which is not just viewing content but incorporating it into its own software for the purpose of generating copyright-violating images should be a clear-cut case of infringement.

Sue these scammers for the maximum allowed by law.  Given the millions of images they've scraped without permission and the millions more they've generated for their customers, the fine should be enough to put them out of business and bankrupt everybody remotely related to the company.

Why in the world is AI needed for this.  Algorithmic playlist generation, like the Music Genome Project (used by Pandora) work great.  No need for massive neural nets and AI software.

Apple deliberately refused to use these algorithms in the past, claiming that human-curated lists would work better.  So apparently, they're now deciding that these humans aren't that good after all?  Or too expensive?

Sounds like it's all just a PR stunt.  If I want a computer-generated playlist, I really don't care what algorithm is used under the covers - I just want it to work.  And I assume that most people actually using the tool are going to have a similar opinion.  Advertising "AI" might generate some clickbait, but I doubt it will do much else.

Sounds like a perfect use for blockchain technology.

Migrate the CVE database to a blockchain and encourage multiple entities (tech companies, cloud providers and security-focused non-profits in addition to government agencies) to host mirrors.  There's really no reason something like this should be controlled by a single government-funded organization.  Especially when government programs (of all kinds) can (and always could) be canceled at the drop of a hat.

A few things:

1. You write that "most third-party clone software also won't work. Or at least they won't work when trying to create a bootable clone of a macOS system volume."  That is very misleading.  The two most popular disk-clone tools (SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner) can both clone a system volume.  And they do it using Apple's ASR utility!  Just like you're describing here.

2. ASR is not completely reliable.  Which is why neither SD nor CCC advertise bootable backups as a fully-supported capability.  They will run ASR, but there's no guarantee that the result will be bootable.  Which will also be the case if you manually run ASR.

3. The only reliable way to make a bootable backup is to back up the data volume.  Then download a macOS installer and make a bootable flash drive from it.  Then boot that flash drive and use its Recovery/installer to install macOS over your data backup.

All that having been said, the article is still really useful as documentation for how to do this by hand, for those who don't want to buy SD or CCC or who for other reasons need to manually make a clone.