Apple released the updated MacBook Pros a few days ago, over which I’ve been gathering my thoughts on them. I’ll try to be as objective as possible, but since I don’t believe the future of the Touch Bar or even like it personally, I’ll probably be a bit harsh on some aspects.
Benjamin Mayo detailed Ming-Chi Kuo’s latest report about this year’s iPhones being available in various new colours, akin to what they did with the iPhone 5C with bright greens, yellows, blues, etc. The flagship iPhones have only come in white/silver, black/grey, gold, and rose gold. Oh, and (RED) of course…
My 42 mm Pride Edition woven nylon band arrived today. Naturally I immediately attached it to my Space Black Series 0 Apple Watch and I love it!
See more photos after the break →
I’m currently having another mechanical keyboard phase, looking at the various options out there. I would love a Bluetooth keyboard that I could use with both my Mac and iPad. These are hard to come by and I haven’t found anything if interest, apart from the Matias Laptop Pro. I’m holding off on it because of its substantial height.
This is a LifeZone CLS with lubed 62 gram vintage blacks and I’m completely smitten by its song, as the owner’s hands glide over the keys.
Apple launched a new battery replacement program for the late 2016 13″ MacBook Pros (the ones without the Touch Bar), because it could expand due to the “failure of a component”.
I don’t believe I mentioned this for a while, but I still absolutely adore my late 2016 13″ MacBook Pro Escape1 despite people having problems with the keyboards. The screen is especially gorgeous.
I discovered an interesting tidbit regarding setting the HomePod’s volume:
Also, Siri really shouldn’t need to hear the “Hey” in “Hey Siri” every single time I need something from her.
“Siri, just do it.”
I said I wouldn’t get the iPhone X, but I did. That was an exception since the deal I got on it was too good to pass up and I ended up paying less than for a new iPhone 8. I did not expect to get as good a deal on the HomePod. To be quite frank, it wasn’t even close percentage-wise to the aforementioned one, but I still went for it, figuring I could sell it on if didn’t satisfy my needs.
It hasn’t blown me away so far, but it’s only been an hour or so, so here’s keeping my fingers crossed.
I recently purchased a Xiaomi Air Purifier 2, to avoid having dirty air in my apartment. Unfortunately, this product does not integrate with HomeKit. I am generally averse to having my “connected” home accessible from the internet, but I did want to use the HomeKit automation features. Setting this whole thing up just for one air purifier did seem like a lot of hassle, until I found out (from Steven Troughton-Smith) that you can get a Raspberry Pi Zero W with a camera module, which also works under HomeKit. Two-in-one? No need to ask me twice.
These past two or three days have been full of false information and a lot of pointless outrage at the news that “Apple is intentionally slowing down iPhones to get people to buy new ones”.
I’ll try to set the record straight…
Steven did a little sleuthing over the weekend, poking around the HomePod firmware…
I can confirm reports that HomePod’s firmware reveals the existence of upcoming iPhone’s infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit and elsewhere pic.twitter.com/yLsgCx7OTZ
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
Pearl ID and BiometricKit found, but still no word whether the iPhone 8/Pro (or whatever else Apple will call it) will have Touch ID along facial recognition.
Me too. New bezel-less form factor as well pic.twitter.com/Y0RrSOk2OO
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 31, 2017
Guilherme Rambo also found an image representing the new iPhone, which Steven confirmed, along with its D22 code name.
Someone at Apple is going to have an angry phone call today…
Sadly, the iPod Nano and Shuffle were both removed from Apple.com. The iPod brand still lives on, in the form of the iPod touch in 32 GB and 128 GB flavours. I kept hoping Apple would release an iPod Nano with Apple Music support in some form, even if it didn’t have a modem — it appears that those dreams won’t come true.
Jeffrey Abbott, on The Sweet Setup:
Every week we post a new interview with someone about what software they use on their Mac, iPhone, or iPad. We do these interviews because not only are they fun, but a glimpse into what tools someone uses and how they use those tools can spark our imagination and give us an idea or insight into how we can do things better.
My Mac and iOS setup is up today, with detailed specs of my Hackintosh! Yay!
I’m a bit disappointed with Apple’s announcements today, especially about the lack of any new iPads or substantial updates to the existing line-up. I was hoping for a 7.9″ iPad Pro and Display P3 on the 12.9″ model. The new 9.7″ iPad however…
The new AirPods perfectly encapsulate the magical experience that only Apple is capable of creating. Open the case in which they are stored1 — a pop-up appears on your iPhone, asking if you’d like to pair them. Do it again, anytime in the future — you can quickly check your battery status. Play some music on your iPad2 — hear it in your AirPods, despite not having paired them with that device. Mac? Same thing.
The AirPods are now available for purchase from Apple. I was set to order a pair — their functionality is almost perfect for what I want to use them for — but then I read the fine print.
Today is the seventh day that I have spent with my MacBook Pro. I set it up as new and have been unable to get more than 6 hours of battery life when using it lightly (Safari, Tweetbot, and Ulysses). When using Photoshop and Lightroom, I cannot seem to pass the two-hour barrier. I do not find this acceptable and it seems that I am not the only one having problems.
I had a strange dream last night, and the new 13″ MacBook Pro was the main actor…
This question seems to of concern to a lot of people each year. The same question was asked when the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus debuted, and again a year later, during the 6S and 6S Plus launch. This year things are a bit different though — the specs of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are much closer to each other in two important regards. So which one should you choose?
As soon as I saw the new iPhone 7 promotional wallpapers, I knew I’d seen those colours somewhere before. I love that they did this.
P.S. I compiled the image above myself a few days after the keynote.
I bought my first Kindle in 2011. It was the model with side mounted buttons to flip pages, a non-lit screen, and I loved it1. Not because it was a good device, but because it allowed me to carry so many of my books with me, read them fairly comfortably, and I wasn’t worried about destroying it — it was cheap enough that should anything happen to it, I would just go get a new one. Five years later, the latter has changed quite a bit.
I haven’t been posting much lately for a number of reasons, but the major one is that I now have a drone in my life, which means I’ve been spending a lot of time learning the ropes. And there are a lot of things to learn…
I ordered my Woven Nylon band soon after Apple’s March keynote. I spent a long time trying to decide which colour I should get, especially since I was just going to get one. Since I already have black, orange, and red Sport Bands, I wanted something in a different shade, and colourful — after all, summer’s around the corner.
