emoeller

This update is ONLY for Apple Watch Series 3 - so no other watches are updated at this time.  The update fixes a reboot issue that only occurred with some Series 3 watches.

This inventive "hack" seems to greatly improve thermal throttling for 13" MBA laptops.  However it will most assuredly void the warranty on your new M2 Air....                               https://www.macworld.com/article/814023/m2-macbook-air-overheating-thermal-pads-diy.html

I suspect this is a Digital Private Network device (DPN).  Similar to some of these...

https://www.amazon.com/Deeper-Network-Connect-Unlimited-Protection/dp/B08BY6M4K8

https://shop.deeper.network

This is essentially a hardware VPN using blockchain technology that closes the security holes in traditional VPN/ISP/Router setups.  This tech is in its infancy....

It most likely will be used internally by Apple (retail as well as within the company) and not available to the public.  But if it works as advertised it could be a product down the road that would provide very high security when accessing the internet.

Everything went fine with the updates EXCEPT my S7 Apple Watch (my S4 updated fine).  The S7(fully charged and on a charger)  downloaded and seemed to install ok, but then towards the end my iPhone advised that it could not pair with the S7.  The watch face went black and then bricked - showing only the time and a small icon indicating that the watch was charging (green).  All attempts to reboot the watch failed.   I finally unpaired the watch via my iPhone and set it back up as a new watch, which is time consuming.   All that went well but my watch battery got drained into the red, despite being on a charger the entire time.  

It is now re-paired and restored from backup and charging.  I will re-attempt to update to WatchOS 8.6 once it is fully charged again.  

Anyone else have a similar problem?

I don't see this as a problem.   Apple's Developer program allows for developers to side load apps, and to allow others to side load via its TestFlight app through the Developers Apple account, generally for testing purposes.   The concern raised in this article  is that the developer is then using that process to allow others to side load through his Developer account.  In other words he is a contract App Developer.  Corporations do this frequently when creating and distributing internal apps for Apple devices all the time.  This Developer is not selling apps created and installed outside of the Apple Developer framework.  

Furthermore this Developer, rightly, is concerned about potential privacy and security issues for some of the apps he and his clients have created and wants to internally develop additional protocols (above and beyond Apple's usual Developer review) on his side before side loading.  

The article isn't clear on this, but I am assuming that none of the apps are publicly "sold" outside of the Apple App store - rather they are utilized only by the Developer and his clients. 

Finally, I agree with the developer and others that a wide and general opening to the public of side loading is inappropriate.