Michael Zhang:
The website reports that “Lux” has jumped 75% as a baby boy name and is slightly up as a girl name as well. It’s not a filter, but Instagram chose “Lux” for the name of its one-tap photo enhancement feature.
For names that are used for Instagram filters, Ludwig is up 42%, Amaro is up 26%, Reyes is up 10%, Hudson is up 4%, and Kelvin is up 3%.
Do Snapchat filters have names?
Bohemian Coding:
Today, we’re announcing an important change in how you receive updates to Sketch. After much thought, and with a heavy heart, we’re moving Sketch away from the Mac App Store.
I’m sad to see this happen more and more often. Ultimately, the Mac App Store will be full of the leftover “fart” apps, which have no value whatsoever. This should be a concern for Apple, because of the negative picture this paints for new Mac users who are visiting the Mac App Store for the first time. I hope something changes before it’s too late, if it isn’t already.
Dan Frommer:
Here’s what’s working: I’ve learned to rely on the watch, without thinking, for a handful of functions. These are as basic as quickly telling time to as futuristic-seeming as watching my Uber approach on a tiny map before it swings around the corner.
Notifications, one of the early big-idea purposes of a smartwatch, are pretty reliable and, with some attention to their frequency, very useful. One night at a restaurant, when a handful of things I’d put up for sale on eBay were closing around the same time, the sensation of an arm buzz every few seconds as a new bid rolled in was an amusing delight. (Another round, garçon!)
I reply to a large portion of text messages from the watch, using customized quick responses. Tracking my exercise has helped me lose 10 pounds.
But that’s about it. And they are pretty much the same ways I used the watch when I first got it.
That’s more or less what I use mine for, with the fitness functions still being most important. And quite frankly, I’m not looking for more distractions.
Apple:
When you buy (PRODUCT)RED™ merchandise, you’re supporting the fight for an AIDS-free generation. So far, over $320 million has been raised for the Global Fund — more than $100 million by Apple alone — to provide education and medical care to those most affected.
Alternatively, you can help directly at (RED).
Don Melton:
I explained that I was christened as such when I was only in my mid-thirties at Netscape, “Years ago when I got that name, I was actually young enough for it to be ironic. These days it’s a Human Resources policy violation.”
Great story, including Craig Federighi and Tim Cook. You have to read this.
Ryan Smith:
In any case, the fact that A9X lacks an L3 cache doesn’t change the chart-topping performance we’ve been seeing from iPad Pro, but it means that Apple has once more found a way to throw us a new curveball.
Andrew Cunningham:
Imagination’s chart for the Series 7XT GPU puts a hypothetical 12-core design in the same general performance neighborhood as an Nvidia GeForce GT 730M, a low-end discrete GPU that’s a bit slower than the stuff Apple is shipping in its high-end MacBook Pros. Our own graphics benchmarks place it a bit higher than that, but as some of you have pointed out, iOS may have a small advantage in some of these tests because of differences between the mobile OpenGL ES API in iOS and the standard OpenGL API used in OS X.
He also mentions the probable cause for the lack of an L3 cache.
Quite frankly, I’m a bit surprised it’s as fast as it is in benchmarks, because it doesn’t feel that fast — many animations which are as smooth as silk on the iPad Air 2, stutter on the Pro. Apple obviously needs to further optimise iOS for the new screen size and resolution.
Fraser Speirs:
There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the MacBook Pro and, in particular, whether it can replace an iPad Pro for getting real work done.
Firstly, consider the hardware. The huge issue with the MacBook Pro is its form factor. The fact that the keyboard and screen are limited to being held in an L-shaped configuration seriously limits its flexibility. It is basically impossible to use a MacBook pro while standing up and downright dangerous to use when walking around. Your computing is limited to times when you are able to find somewhere to sit down.
Not that you would want to use a MacBook Pro while standing anyway. The sheer weight of these devices means that your shoulder is going to take a beating if you switch from iOS to OS X. The current 15″ MacBook Pro tips the scales at 4.49 pounds – or three iPad Pros – despite having a lower-resolution screen and one less hour of battery life.
Only those with very specific workflows could realistically switch from iPad Pro to a MacBook Pro.
Pure gold.
Alex Austin:
In the past four weeks, there were 45,000 new apps submitted to the iOS App Store alone. The chances that any of them will ever break into the top 1000 are effectively 0%, and even if they did, they’re still not seeing any amount of traffic to build a successful business.
Eric Slivka:
The new MacBook Air is said to take on a slimmer design and arrive in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, but it is unclear whether an 11-inch model will also be included. The slimmer design will be enabled by “fully redesigned” internal components across the board, and Apple is reportedly currently working with its suppliers to develop these new components.
I full expected the Retina 12″ MacBook to drop in price in the future, replacing the Airs completely, and the MacBook Pros to be redesigned with thinner and lighter cases. If Apple chooses to refresh the Air lineup with a 15″ model in addition to the 13″ one, I would assume they’d both get Retina screens. The differentiation would have to happen predominantly at CPU level. The current 15″ rMBPs are all i7 quads, which leaves room for dual-core i5 and i7 CPUs. I’m assuming that the rumoured 13″ Air would get the ULV1 CPUs, which are placed between the Core M from the 12″ MacBook and i5/i7 dual-core in the current rMBP 13″, in terms of processing power.
While this wouldn’t simplify their MacBook line-up, it would separate the consumer models from the MacBook Pros. Also, perhaps an updated 13″ rMBP would get quad-core i5 and i7 CPUs, further distancing itself from the Air.
Don Melton:
So, I’ll make an attempt to get back to it. You know, the typing. And, yes, tell some more of those stories you all like about the Fruit Company and my other technology adventures.
Don’s in my must read section of my RSS reader, which I check daily — really happy that he’ll get back to writing more. You should follow him.
Stephen Hackett:
I imported my photos and uploaded my 70GB photo library to iCloud. Everything went very smoothly, so I turned on iCloud Photo Library on my iPad.
Aaaaaand it all exploded.
This is the first time that I’ve seen anyone having serious issues with Photos and/or iCloud Photo Library. It has worked perfectly for me so far — probably the only Apple internet service that has.
Joe Rossignol:
The report, citing a “reliable source,” claims the new same-sized Lightning connector will support Lightning-equipped and Bluetooth headphones, and have a DAC, or digital-to-audio converter, for backwards compatibility with wired headphones using standard 3.5mm stereo jacks. A 3.5mm to Lightning adapter would be required.
I really don’t care for the iPhone to be any thinner. I just want the 4.7″ model to have the battery life of the 5.5″ model, or better. That’s the only reason I currently use a 6S Plus.
Noah Joseph for Autoblog:
Opening this week in Gelderland – a city on the outskirts of Arnhem in the Netherlands – the first dedicated Porsche Classic Center is designed to support older vehicles from Zuffenhausen’s history. That means undertaking service and maintenance, installing original parts, partially or completely overhauling of vintage vehicles – even selling classic Porsches certified by the factory. The company reports that over 70 percent of the vehicles it has ever produced are still running. That rather impressive statistic speaks to the quality of the vehicles in the first place, but also the dedication of their owners to keep them running, and the necessity for proper service and maintenance.
Perhaps it’s time to start thinking about my dream 964 or 356.
Dr. Drang:
By the way, if you think it’s crazy for me to still be using a five-year-old computer, you’ll be in good company, I’m sure. But I get a lot of work done on this old Air, and apart from its small SSD (128 GB), its limitations barely affect me… And the power of a computer is always more dependent on the carbon-based unit outside the case than on the silicon inside.
So true.
(Emphasis mine.)
Apple:
From our family to yours, Andra Day and Stevie Wonder perform his 1967 holiday classic, “Someday At Christmas”.
Good, not but ‘Misunderstood’-good.
Dan Counsell:
I didn’t release Almost Impossible! on Android because I’m an Apple kinda guy, and this was a “fun” side-project. While Almost Impossible! hasn’t been a block-buster hit, someone assumed it must have been and ripped it off anyway. They basically re-built the entire thing for android, right down to copying the levels. How crazy is that?
I’m quite surprised Dan isn’t doing anything about this — the least that I would do is let Google know about the copyright infringement.
MacFormat:
As part of the MacFormat Reader Offer, download the latest and greatest
fully-working version of Pixelmator. Your Mac will love this app.
The App Store versions of Pixelmator for Mac and iOS are currently discounted if you don’t want it for free.
OnePlus:
Listening to our community and the broader tech community is extremely important to us. You all are the reason we exist in the first place. We owe it to you to deliver the best products possible – and to fix problems when we come across them. So we want to fix this.
If you’ve purchased the OnePlus USB Type-C cable or adapter on the OnePlus website as standalone products to use with devices other than the OnePlus 2, we are going to offer an opportunity to apply for a refund. Please note that cables that were included in the box with your OnePlus 2 are not eligible for a refund, since they are safe to use with the OnePlus 2.
I have one of these cables and since learning it could break my gear, I stopped using it. A friend of mine will take it of my hands however, so I won’t bother returning it. Yes, he knows.
Dr. Drang:
My subscription to my current RSS service is running out in a month or so, and as I considered which provider I wanted to use for the next year, I began to wonder if I’d be satisfied with any of them. How hard would it be for me to make my own service that always serves updated versions of the most recent articles on the sites I subscribe to? After all, RSS is a distributed protocol. Just because we’ve all gotten used to accessing it through centralized services, that doesn’t mean we have to.
So I wrote a short script that goes through my subscriptions, plucks out the articles published (or updated) today, and creates a simple web page with all of them displayed in reverse chronological order.
You can view the code on Dr. Drang’s site if you’re interested in running something similar. I’m using Feedly — I got the lifetime Pro subscription — and I don’t plan on switching any time soon.
But I love him!
Adarsh Verma:
People visiting the Apple Stores are reporting that the most of the demo units are stolen. “Yesterday saw guy next to me steal a limited supply Apple pencil demo unit. Employees didn’t bother chasing him,” a Twitter user tweeted. A Reddit user IMPRNTD said, “[m]y local store in Canada mentioned that most of the Apple Pencils were stolen.”
Pathetic, but to be expected. I’m assuming future demo units will have some sort of proximity sensor / alarm built-in.
If the answer is yes, then you’ll be pleased to know that Google prepared a beautiful Easter egg for the occasion. Go to google.com and search for:
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away
Don’t forget to turn your sound on!
Jason Fagone:
By August 2014, Finley had reached out to the F.B.I.’s Atlanta field office, asking if the bureau could help with a swatting case in which the suspect was a minor. He was told the swatter would have to be ‘‘prolific.’’ Finley asked what that meant. He knew the swatter had made hoax calls to 11 police departments in that one January alone. How many swattings is prolific? No one Finley spoke to at the bureau could say. But Finley kept tracking Obnoxious, kept calling the F.B.I. with updates — he could connect the guy to 20 swatting calls, then 30 calls. When he got past 40 about a month later, he finally found a special agent named Andrew Young. Forty was definitely prolific.
Jason Snell:
In the meantime, there is a way to make a Skype call and also record on a high-quality microphone using only iOS. It’s just kind of ridiculous: You make the Skype call on your iPhone, presumably with iPhone earbuds or other compatible headphones with a microphone, while sitting in front of an iPad that’s attached to a microphone and recording locally. The people on Skype hear your bad microphone, but your good microphone is what gets used on the actual podcast. Serenity Caldwell used this method for both this week’s Incomparable Radio Theater and Upgrade episodes. The risk is that if your recording fails, all that remains is a lousy recording of your voice on a set of earbuds via Skype—not a great backup.
This is so convoluted that I would probably just prefer to use a Mac—less hassle, more foolproof.
Also, I’m using Jason’s posts to test my Workflow workflow. See previous post.
Jason Snell:
You get used to the size fast. After a week using the iPad Pro, I dropped my iPad Air 2 down on my trusty old Origami Workstation and just started to laugh. It’s like a tiny baby iPad! On a tabletop or other workspace, the size of the iPad Pro’s screen really shines.
Unfortunately, in other contexts it’s the size of the device itself that comes to the fore. When I wake up in the morning I like to grab my iPad and check in on the Internet before I get up and face the rest of my day. In this scenario, the iPad Pro feels like overkill. Sitting in a chair or on a couch, it felt big but not overwhelming, but in a context where I’m leaning back and really just reading stuff, not doing a lot of typing, I was a lot less comfortable.
I have close to the exact same experience as Jason. The problem is that going back to my Air 2 seems as if I’m returning to using a toy…
Federico Viticci:
As I’ve teased in some articles over the past weeks, I’ve been using the new WordPress action to publish content to MacStories in a semi-automated fashion that doesn’t involve manual interaction with the WordPress admin interface or Python.
This post was published via a quick workflow that I made in… Workflow for iOS [App Store]. Took me about half an hour to perfect, complete with quoting text selected in Safari.
Thanks for the tips Federico!
David Rothman:
A Kindle Voyage 2 is unlikely in 2015, but the game isn’t over. If you were putting off buying a new Voyage, you’re probably safe purchasing the original model now—even though Good E-Reader said last summer and several weeks ago that the 2 would show up this month.
I’m still extremely satisfied with my first generation Voyage1 and I encourage anyone who does any substantial amount of reading to get one. It’s far from perfect, but it’s the best there is.
Rachel Swatman:
Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli commented: “It is absolutely tremendous that the Guinness World Records have recognised Chris Corbould’s incredible work in ‘Sprectre’ in which he created the largest explosion ever in film history.”
Taking place in Erfoud, Morocco, the blast had a total yield of 68.47 tonnes of TNT equivalent and was the result of detonating 8,418 litres of kerosene with 33 kg of powder explosives – and it lasted for over 7.5 seconds.
I remember that scene distinctly—I’ve already seen the movie twice—and while it was extremely impressive, the thought that this was the biggest explosion in cinema never crossed my mind.
Lauren Goode:
A new feature called “SmartTrack” will now automatically detect when you’ve started a workout session or new activity, rather than requiring you to press a button or swipe through an activity menu to start a workout. According to Fitbit, the software is able to detect running, outdoor cycling, walking, elliptical workouts, basketball, tennis, soccer, and even high-impact cardio workouts like kickboxing and dance classes.
Still waiting for HealthKit support. Get it done please, Fitbit.