The Apple Silicon transition is under way, and Apple is rumored to have multiple new Macs in the pipeline for 2021. This includes new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models as well as a redesign for the iMac. These new machines will represent the next wave of Apple Silicon-powered Macs, coming after last year’s release of a new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini.
The redesigned iMac is expected to be a major overhaul, and it comes after nearly a decade of stagnation. Read on for everything you need to about the resdesign…
Apple’s AirPods launched in 2016 and became one of the company’s best selling products in a short amount of time. Three years in and now we’ve got AirPods Pro that feature noise-cancellation, as well as the second-gen AirPods with and without the Wireless Charging case. Along with the high demand for the AirPods lineup, a few other factors are setting up Apple’s fully wireless earbuds to dominate the market more than ever this holiday season.
In the lead up to Black Friday 2019, we’ve been working around the clock at 9to5Toys to preview all of the best deals coming down the pipeline later this month. Various retailers, most notably Walmart, are set to offer Apple Watch Series 3 priced from $129 while bringing prices down to new all-time lows in the process. Zac detailed how Series 3 was set to dominate the fitness tracker category during his re-review in September following a permanent price reduction to $199. Even then, Apple continued to be undercut on price by competitors like Fitbit and others, which is critical during the holiday shopping season. However, that all changes this year as Apple Watch prepares to hit the mainstream in a whole new way.
Apple exited 2018 with major iPad upgrades for the Pro market, with the radically redesigned iPad Pro lineup. Assuming it sticks to its normal schedule, we will see a successor to the $329 iPad in the spring. Apple’s earnings reports have shown that this model is by far the most popular iPad, the de-facto mainstream choice.
The rumor mill is starting to spin up for the forthcoming product season, and it seems to suggest that the $329 iPad is changing substantially, partly thanks to the return of the iPad mini …
Apple officially released its HomePod smart speaker back in February, which means it has now spent over six months on the market and six months in the hands of consumers like myself.
The HomePod has been one of the most polarizing Apple product releases in recent memory, with many praising its sound quality and integration with the Apple ecosystem, but many also knocking it for its high price and feature parity to devices like the Amazon Echo.
I was an undeniable HomePod skeptic at first, but over the last six months, it has become a reliable and integral part of my smart home setup.
Two days ago Microsoft announced their Microsoft Surface Studio, and I wrote a piece on how it was their answer to Apple’s own desktop solutions. It was hard to compare the products’ philosophies, especially when I don’t think macOS is ready for a complete touchscreen experience. Then Apple announced their new MacBook Pro lineup yesterday and it dawned on me: the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro is Apple’s first distinct step into creating a touchscreen display experience in their MacBook line.
Zorro Macsk infra-red overlay adding touch to an iMac back in 2012
Update: Patently Apple spotted an Apple patent published the day after this piece, in which the company shows a drawing of a touchscreen MacBook. No conclusions should be drawn from this, however: the patent is a generic touchscreen one, and it’s common for Apple to cover all the bases when it comes to protecting potential applications of its inventions.
With Apple touting the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with keyboard as a full replacement for a PC, the company seems to have moved on from Steve Jobs’ view that touchscreens are not meant to be vertical. We thought it would be interesting, then, to test interest in the idea of a touchscreen MacBook Pro.
Jobs was clearly right that a touchscreen as a primary interface to a laptop would be a horrible experience, so we were careful to stress that we were looking at a MacBook Pro that retained the trackpad as the primary means of control. What we found in both poll and comments was a very interesting split in views …
Jason Snell has written an interesting piece at Macworld, berating Google for using its Material Design user-interface in iOS apps. In other words, Google ignores all the iOS conventions and instead makes its iPhone and iPad apps look exactly like Android ones. This can be seen in everything from the ‘white card on gray background’ overall design all the way down to small details like using vertical rather than horizontal dots as a menu icon.
He argues that Google is acting like Microsoft did back in the early 90s, suddenly making its Mac apps look and behave like Windows ones. It is, he suggests, arrogant …
One remark Schiller made during yesterday’s launch event raised a few eyebrows. In noting that the majority of 12.9-inch iPad Pro customers had actually switched from Windows PCs, he pointed to the huge potential switchers market still out there for Apple. There are, he said, over 600 million PCs more than five years old.
What he said next generated laughter in the room, but may not have gone down quite so well with those owners.
This is really sad. It really is.
Now, he may be right. A Windows PC more than five years old is going to be creaking somewhat by now. But it seems to me that there are three types of owners of old PCs, and the remark may well offend all of them …
Apple Pay launched last week with widespread support at over 220,000 stores in the United States, although Walmart alongside CVS and Rite Aid are among some of the high-profile retailers that have not embraced the new mobile payments service. Now, Walmart has provided official comment as to why it doesn’t accept Apple Pay at its stores. Expand Expanding Close
Users of Adobe’s just launched Director 12, which introduced the ability to publish iOS games, weren’t too happy in January about the company’s decision to collect a 10 percent royalty on earnings above an initial 20K for paid iOS apps. Following the feedback from users, Adobe has now reversed its decision and will no longer require any royalty fees or registration for iOS titles published with the platform.
Adobe provided us with the following comment:
Since launching Director 12 in February, Adobe conducted detailed conversations with members of the community to understand concerns with the licensing model. After analyzing all viewpoints, we decided to allow users to publish to iOS without registration or royalty fees on earned income.
Adobe is yet to update its end-user license agreement for Director 12 that states users are required to report revenue and (sic) “PAY ADOBE 10% OF THE REVENUE PAID BY APPLE INC. AND / OR ITS AFFILIATE(S) TO CUSTOMER IN RELATION TO SUCH PAID IOS APP IN A QUARTER.” Adobe’s Director 12 site still claims “*Additional Fees Apply,” linking to the end-user agreement, but Adobe will likely update the site soon to reflect its decision.
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A redesigned iMac with Apple Silicon is on the way, here’s what you need to know
The Apple Silicon transition is under way, and Apple is rumored to have multiple new Macs in the pipeline for 2021. This includes new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models as well as a redesign for the iMac. These new machines will represent the next wave of Apple Silicon-powered Macs, coming after last year’s release of a new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini.
The redesigned iMac is expected to be a major overhaul, and it comes after nearly a decade of stagnation. Read on for everything you need to about the resdesign…
Expand Expanding CloseComment: AirPods will dominate this holiday season, here’s why
Apple’s AirPods launched in 2016 and became one of the company’s best selling products in a short amount of time. Three years in and now we’ve got AirPods Pro that feature noise-cancellation, as well as the second-gen AirPods with and without the Wireless Charging case. Along with the high demand for the AirPods lineup, a few other factors are setting up Apple’s fully wireless earbuds to dominate the market more than ever this holiday season.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Apple Watch should be on every wrist after $129 Black Friday special
In the lead up to Black Friday 2019, we’ve been working around the clock at 9to5Toys to preview all of the best deals coming down the pipeline later this month. Various retailers, most notably Walmart, are set to offer Apple Watch Series 3 priced from $129 while bringing prices down to new all-time lows in the process. Zac detailed how Series 3 was set to dominate the fitness tracker category during his re-review in September following a permanent price reduction to $199. Even then, Apple continued to be undercut on price by competitors like Fitbit and others, which is critical during the holiday shopping season. However, that all changes this year as Apple Watch prepares to hit the mainstream in a whole new way.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Comment: Early rumors point to a more premium (higher priced?) mainstream iPad
Apple exited 2018 with major iPad upgrades for the Pro market, with the radically redesigned iPad Pro lineup. Assuming it sticks to its normal schedule, we will see a successor to the $329 iPad in the spring. Apple’s earnings reports have shown that this model is by far the most popular iPad, the de-facto mainstream choice.
The rumor mill is starting to spin up for the forthcoming product season, and it seems to suggest that the $329 iPad is changing substantially, partly thanks to the return of the iPad mini …
Expand
Expanding
Close
Comment: How the HomePod has found its place in my home, and what the future holds
Apple officially released its HomePod smart speaker back in February, which means it has now spent over six months on the market and six months in the hands of consumers like myself.
The HomePod has been one of the most polarizing Apple product releases in recent memory, with many praising its sound quality and integration with the Apple ecosystem, but many also knocking it for its high price and feature parity to devices like the Amazon Echo.
I was an undeniable HomePod skeptic at first, but over the last six months, it has become a reliable and integral part of my smart home setup.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Comment: Apple’s Touch Bar is their foray into touchscreen MacBooks, without having to go all in
Two days ago Microsoft announced their Microsoft Surface Studio, and I wrote a piece on how it was their answer to Apple’s own desktop solutions. It was hard to compare the products’ philosophies, especially when I don’t think macOS is ready for a complete touchscreen experience. Then Apple announced their new MacBook Pro lineup yesterday and it dawned on me: the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro is Apple’s first distinct step into creating a touchscreen display experience in their MacBook line.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Comment: Interesting split in reader reactions to the idea of a touchscreen Mac …
Zorro Macsk infra-red overlay adding touch to an iMac back in 2012
Update: Patently Apple spotted an Apple patent published the day after this piece, in which the company shows a drawing of a touchscreen MacBook. No conclusions should be drawn from this, however: the patent is a generic touchscreen one, and it’s common for Apple to cover all the bases when it comes to protecting potential applications of its inventions.
With Apple touting the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with keyboard as a full replacement for a PC, the company seems to have moved on from Steve Jobs’ view that touchscreens are not meant to be vertical. We thought it would be interesting, then, to test interest in the idea of a touchscreen MacBook Pro.
Jobs was clearly right that a touchscreen as a primary interface to a laptop would be a horrible experience, so we were careful to stress that we were looking at a MacBook Pro that retained the trackpad as the primary means of control. What we found in both poll and comments was a very interesting split in views …
Expand
Expanding
Close
Comment: Google’s use of Android’s Material Design in iOS apps is dumb as well as rude
Jason Snell has written an interesting piece at Macworld, berating Google for using its Material Design user-interface in iOS apps. In other words, Google ignores all the iOS conventions and instead makes its iPhone and iPad apps look exactly like Android ones. This can be seen in everything from the ‘white card on gray background’ overall design all the way down to small details like using vertical rather than horizontal dots as a menu icon.
He argues that Google is acting like Microsoft did back in the early 90s, suddenly making its Mac apps look and behave like Windows ones. It is, he suggests, arrogant …
Expand
Expanding
Close
Comment: Dissing owners of older PCs, even accidentally, may not be the best way to sell them an iPad
One remark Schiller made during yesterday’s launch event raised a few eyebrows. In noting that the majority of 12.9-inch iPad Pro customers had actually switched from Windows PCs, he pointed to the huge potential switchers market still out there for Apple. There are, he said, over 600 million PCs more than five years old.
What he said next generated laughter in the room, but may not have gone down quite so well with those owners.
Now, he may be right. A Windows PC more than five years old is going to be creaking somewhat by now. But it seems to me that there are three types of owners of old PCs, and the remark may well offend all of them …
Expand
Expanding
Close
Walmart on why it doesn’t accept Apple Pay: ‘What matters is that consumers have a payment option that is widely accepted’
Apple Pay launched last week with widespread support at over 220,000 stores in the United States, although Walmart alongside CVS and Rite Aid are among some of the high-profile retailers that have not embraced the new mobile payments service. Now, Walmart has provided official comment as to why it doesn’t accept Apple Pay at its stores.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Adobe reverses decision to collect App Store royalty on Director 12 iOS apps
Users of Adobe’s just launched Director 12, which introduced the ability to publish iOS games, weren’t too happy in January about the company’s decision to collect a 10 percent royalty on earnings above an initial 20K for paid iOS apps. Following the feedback from users, Adobe has now reversed its decision and will no longer require any royalty fees or registration for iOS titles published with the platform.
Adobe provided us with the following comment:
Adobe is yet to update its end-user license agreement for Director 12 that states users are required to report revenue and (sic) “PAY ADOBE 10% OF THE REVENUE PAID BY APPLE INC. AND / OR ITS AFFILIATE(S) TO CUSTOMER IN RELATION TO SUCH PAID IOS APP IN A QUARTER.” Adobe’s Director 12 site still claims “*Additional Fees Apply,” linking to the end-user agreement, but Adobe will likely update the site soon to reflect its decision.