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All Things Apple (was MacBook Air, but things evolve...)
I received a Garmin watch for Xmas and it does help you to "track" your work-outs, as well as your breaks during weight lifting. But for my daily musings and walks, I prefer my ol' school Swiss machine
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
This is the thing, I really enjoyed having my Apple Watch during my recent hiking holiday in the Schwarzwald in Germany, it was great at tracking the hikes and giving additional health info.
But during the everyday I like the simplicity of my Junghans solar-powered watch, when I wear a watch at all, which is not so often.
For running I use the simplest watch possible: it just has a clock and a stopwatch. I only use the stopwatch. I love it. It cost around 5$ and can also be used in water. I use it for swimming too. That's all I really need. I'd like a watch that also tracks heart pulse - to be able to stay in my preferred training "zone" - but so far am happy with what I've got. On occasion I run with my phone to track speed but most days I don't.
I dislike my phone enough (even though I'm a phone zombie like most everyone else) that I am super averse to the idea of getting a watch that would extend my reliance on technology even more and give me even more "notifications".
I was one of the last to adopt the smartphone and to this day think it was a bad decision. I basically got coerced into buying one by my boss at the time. "How will I contact you if you don't have a smartphone?!". Well, you can call me, text me, e-mail me, and I still have various messaging platforms while I'm on my computer. I was very happy with my dumbphone. Not so much the smartphone.
My friend who is a post-doc in astrophysics at Yale to this day does not have a smartphone. So, it's possible. He does not report any problems in his life due to not having a smartphone And on the rare occasions when I forget my phone at home: I always feel relieved. How wonderful and peaceful that no one can contact me!
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited May 2023
I must admit, I loved the iPhone when it came out. I spent most of my time before it carrying around an iPod (for music) and a Motorola mobile, so my pockets were bulging, and it was a great relief to replace them with an iPhone 3G, which also did internet, maps, camera and email. I knew it was going to do well as a device as soon as I got one.
But then, that was just before my extended sabbatical, very few people try to contact me these days. I’m mostly retired these days.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
@Jeroen said:
There are lots of rumors about the AR/VR headset, but I think ultimately what matters is will people feel drawn to use it? The current VR headsets like Meta’s Quest lack a killer app, a reason that will draw people to buy and use it. Will Apple’s RealityOS provide some insight into this, we will have to wait and see.
It looks like the mixed reality headset is finally going to be unveiled at the WWDC keynote on June 5th. There was a column in the New York Times and the trademarks have been registered, which is about as much advance notification as you ever get with Apple.
Early leaks say there will be dual 4K screens, two M2 processors, twelve external cameras for registering gestures and finger movements, a ‘reality dial’ and a hip mounted battery pack capable of powering the device for 2 hours in standalone mode. It will run a new xrOS, “extended reality operating system”, and will be an independent computing platform.
It is apparently going to be a pro device costing about 3000 USD, so it won’t be a casual purchase, but Apple do expect to sell 7-10 million units a year eventually, so they expect it to be a device category on the order of the iPad. Shipping might be delayed until the autumn.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I’ve been reading up on some of HP’s tactics for getting customers to buy more stuff, very shady all, I won’t be buying another printer from them.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
There have been some interesting rumours about different opinions among the Apple leadership and design team about the headset, apparently some people thought it was a product whose time has not yet come, that it needed further miniaturisation into a pair of “Augmented Reality glasses” that could be worn as standard glasses.
But the rumour says Tim Cook’s choice was to put a product out from the technology as it stands, in a move to at least have a presence in the market, and to sell the device at close to cost price, which has been estimated at 1500 dollars or so by Chinese manufacturers from a bill of materials. Still not cheap, and estimates of the number Apple might sell in the first year came in at about 900,000 units. Which is unlikely to cover the cost of development.
So it is a device and technology that might take time to mature, and appear in several different iterations over time. A real set of AR glasses is thought to still be 5-10 years away.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I think my iPad Pro is dying. It seems to last only about six hours on a full charge, and there are blotches on the screen. I’m having to charge it multiple times a day, which never used to be the case. But then, I have had it for about eight years and used it pretty intensely. I will have to replace it or start using my Mac more.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited June 2023
The WWDC keynote weighed in at a little over 2 hrs, here it is:
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited June 2023
There was a 15” M2 MacBook Air, new Mac Studio versions with M2 Max and M2 Ultra, also a new Mac Pro with M2 Ultra and PCI Express slots. No sign of the Mac Pro having more than 192 GB of RAM though, which is the maximum for a standard M2 Ultra. New operating system software. The headset was also announced, at an expensive 3499 dollars, shipping early next year.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The headset part of the presentation
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
There was a new “shot on iPhone 14 Pro” short film released, this time by a Mexican director.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The new Vision Pro headset might be experiencing some production difficulties, limiting the number they will ship, which was never going to be that high at this price point. It’s going to be released in the States and a few other English-speaking countries early next year, expanding to the rest of Europe and Asia in late 2024.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
A movie released about pet prosthetics made with an iPhone, shot on iPhone as well.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The yearly Apple event to unveil the new iPhones has been announced for Tuesday, September 12th, at 10 am pacific time. The event is tagged ‘Wonderlust’.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited September 2023
First fully carbon neutral product is the new Apple Watch Series 9, it has a new faster processor and detects a thumb-finger tap gesture. Features from last years iPhone 14 Pro seem to have trickled down to the regular iPhone 15, including the chip, 2x zoom on the main camera, dynamic island. The 15 Pro featured a new faster GPU with hardware ray tracing and dynamic scaling technology, also an innovative camera system with a way of creating up to seven ‘photographic lenses’ out of the three physical lenses that were there. Prices stayed the same I thought.
Here is the full presentation, at 1 hr 25 mins.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
MacOS Sonoma will be out on the 26th of September, which usually bodes well for stability, to get a September release means not so much testing time was required. But I think I will hold off on installing for a little while, until we hear all about incompatibilities and minor bugs.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited September 2023
Apple has shared a number of preview PDFs on its website, which have complete lists of all the features that are in the new operating systems. These are definitely worth a quick glance if you use an iPhone or have a Mac.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
MacOS Sonoma is out, and I feel like installing it this morning! Here we go… 7.7 GB download…
But seriously from all reports the Sonoma release candidate is significantly more bug-free than for example Ventura was at release, so I don’t feel like a fool for updating to the .0 release. And anyway my iMac is not for work, I just use it for fun.
hi @Jeroen and other core users … eh appelites, jobees?
Not sure what the correctable term is?
I need advising. I am using latest IOS on a phone (my two iPads are now not being properly or workably supported by the capitalist fruitiness of maximise junking and buy new)
I don't like phones but they are essential.
Anyways … advisement:
I can not wait for the overhyped and overpriced AND not standalone vision pro. It is possible to run apple OS on other hardware but not really interested in such fiddling anymore.
What do I need, well I want to get involved with Peer 2 peer rather than just federated networking (Which is where I am now most of the time).
There is some crossover and I am looking to set up a server on a variety of options. This will include work, leisure and even games consoles (which I believe is one way Discord is used)
So far the way ahead is nebulous but none the less quite rapid. Any thoughts welcome ✔️
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited September 2023
Aha… this is a bit out of my bailiwick, I don’t have that much knowledge of these things. I hear that for mini servers a lot of people go with a Raspberry Pi, which is a little cheap compute board with ARM processor that can run an OS based on Debian Linux and do various things… the Raspberry Pi 5 is out in October and will cost about 100 euros. It runs on a 27W power supply so very minimal electricity usage.
On an iphone you can’t do very much in depth tech stuff because of the restrictions on the App Store for scripting and programming languages as apps. If you want to stick to an Apple OS you could get a Mac Mini for about 700 euros if you have an old screen and usb keyboard lying around, it will run a full version of MacOS, or if you search around a little you could get an older M1 MacBook Air laptop discounted for similar money.
For peer-to-peer applications it’s all about the software… so I imagine you will want to find out what software you’re going to use, then what OS will best run your software, and then what computer will best run that OS?
thanks @Jeroen … will be taking the RIP … Eh … RPI5 route you mention. I am familiar with the Raspbian OS.
I just feel the Raspberry is fruity, likes Python (I was learning SWIFT on the IPad but Apples idea of Open Sourcing the language was just hype). I prefer GNU if possible but it is not always feasible or pragmatic.
So next year I should be able to buy a 16GB Raspberry Pi. For now will get my Pi4 running …
Iz plan … 🤓✔️🦞
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited September 2023
Swift is pretty good for programming on Apple’s devices, but it seems to me that joining in with some peer-to-peer networks is more a challenge in configuring things correctly. Of course the big downside of the Raspberry Pi is the more limited storage, not sure how easy it is to hang a USB SSD drive onto the side of it. Have fun!
My Lisa bought an iPad Air (2022) for her artwork and.... DAMN! What a machine... ❤️
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited October 2023
Yeah, those M1-powered tablets are quite something.
Here are some Geekbench 6 CPU speed benchmark scores (single / multi-core):
My dad’s PC desktop: 1200 / 4300
His girlfriend’s PC laptop: 1530 / 5580
My M1 iMac: 2350 / 8200
As you can see the M1 outmuscles a lot of Intel processors in day-to-day tasks, and it’s power consumption is low enough that it can be put in a lot of tablets as well as laptops and desktops. It is fast, quiet, cool, low-power… my whole iMac including screen uses only 142 Watts, while most PC desktop towers use 300-450 Watts by themselves.
But what use is this speed? Well the machine feels smooth and responsive, boots quickly (6 seconds from button press to login screen on my iMac) and long tasks like a big copy complete more quickly. It has to be said though, my dad’s desktop machine can do everything my iMac can. Of course my iMac looks a lot better while doing it…
You could well argue we have reached the point where computers have plateau’ed, and the reasons you buy a new computer are not for more speed, but because the old computer no longer meets the requirements for the software you need to run. Not getting OS security updates or being out of support is a big deal.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Whether you can do everything on a iPad that you can do with a Mac or a PC is another matter. On the MacRumors forum there is a topic literally hundreds of pages long arguing about this, I haven’t read it all but a lot of people hold that the fact that iPadOS is relatively restricted in what you can do technically means that even an M1 iPad is not as flexibel as say an M1 Mac Mini running MacOS Sonoma.
Of course it depends on what you want to do. You can’t get at say the Terminal on iPad, but do you really want to do scripting commands? You can’t get at the file system for the whole machine on iPad but why should you want to as long as you can get at the files you create?
For art an iPad with a pencil is indubitably a better solution… you draw what you see, on a real surface. Ok it doesn’t have the immediate feedback of paper and chalks, but it has a lot of other advantages, such as Undo of a poorly considered stroke, or working in different digital media.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Green Bubbles vs Blue Bubbles in iMessage is becoming a point of conflict apparently. Samsung has joined Google in trying to motivate Apple to adopt RCS messaging as a successor to SMS, which Apple doesn’t want to do because it’s a key point that keeps people buying inside the Apple ecosystem.
I want to get out of the Apple ecosystem. Yest controlling the hardware and software produces a pleasant experience BUT Apple is the ultimate profit motivated, unsustainable buy buy ... and I have to say bye bye ...
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I think you’re in part right @lobster Apple do like to charge more for their products than strictly necessary. Look at RAM and storage upgrade prices on M-series Macs, it can easily add 400-600 euros to the price of a new machine to bring it up to spec, and these aren’t upgradeable after buying so they have you by the short and curlies. Or the Studio Display, 1500 euros for a monitor is beyond excessive when the same display panel alone can be had from LG for 800.
But then, a new M2 Mac Mini only costs 700 euros which is approaching acceptable, if you want a Mac they don’t have to cost the earth. And MacOS is in my eyes undeniably better than Windows or Linux. I haven’t had to spend a single day on tech-related faffing about with my new M1 iMac, it’s been smooth sailing all the way, everything just works.
And that is kind of the key to the Apple experience, it’s expensive but it all works smoothly and without complaint. If you don’t want things like my dad’s Windows mice suddenly started hanging because of an auto-update to his USB drivers on his motherboard…
I must confess: Even though I consider myself a "medium-proficient" computer/phone user, I never understood why anyone would prefer a Mac over a PC or this PC/Mac over that PC/Mac or this phone model over that phone model. As long as they are relatively new and in working order, I never or extremely rarely found a use-case that I could not do with my strategy of buying the "second cheapest model". What do you folks see in Apple that, say, a PC cannot do? Or what can a newer Iphone do that an older one cannot? I'm genuinely curious.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Well, with Mac it’s that the whole system is engineered to “Just Work”, leaving you only to do those things where the user’s choice is essential. With a Windows PC there is quite a lot of technical stuff that’s exposed, like device drivers or network settings, which on Mac is usually hidden and automated.
Over the last two years that I’ve had my iMac I have spent more time doing support for my dad’s PC than I have spent on solving technical issues on my own iMac, and my dad is pretty savvy, most things he can do himself. A Mac is like a more expensive, easier-to-maintain, slicker cousin to the PC. It also comes with a lot of software which you have to pay for on PC.
The iPhone is just about hardware quality and software support, your phone will last 5-6 years with a new OS update every year and more frequent security updates. There are Android phones with better cameras and cheaper storage, but they don’t last as long which means in the end it’s more expensive.
Thank you @Jeroen, that makes sense. I confess I have a bit of "my way is the best way" thinking around this issue and you have successfully put a chink in that view without making me feel hurt. I think that's for the best and I thank you.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
No problem. With Apple it’s a whole design philosophy, which extends from the design of the outside of the hardware, to the resolution of the screens, to the design of the software, to the way in which the software is regularly updated. The idea is to provide the best possible quality computing experience. Anyway competition among companies is a good thing, and Microsoft and Google have benefitted from copying Apple in the past.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
There has been a new Apple Event announced under the name “Scary Fast” for October 30th at 5 pm Pacific time. That is 2 in the morning for European viewers. The name and the logo indicate an event centred around Macs and probably the announcement of the M3 processor.
For some years I have been saying to my dad, computers are fast enough, they don’t really need to get any faster. But buying my M1 iMac has proved to me that there is still a point in upgrading, in that it gives you a smoother, more responsive computing experience. For me, the M1 has been a revelation, a joy and a pleasure. All those little delays and wait periods are gone!
The M3 will probably be about 50% faster than the M1 but I can’t imagine that it will feel like as big a leap. But then, I have been wrong before…
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
There are also some pretty big price increases to Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade, and also a corresponding price increase to the Apple One combo plan. It seems to be all to keep pace with other major streamers, but a nearly 50% increase on Apple TV+ seems way beyond just inflation.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited October 2023
The Scary Fast event was about the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max, which all came out at the same time. These are 3 nanometer chips, which is the smallest currently available, which gives speed and power efficiency gains. It was about 15% faster than the M2, and about 35% faster than the M1. Most of the big gains were in the GPU, which featured mesh shading and hardware raytracing for the first time and is 65% faster than the M1.
The 13” MacBook Pro was retired, and the 14” MacBook Pro now comes with M3, M3 Pro or M3 Max, and now starts at prices from $1599. The 16” MacBook Pro has kept prices the same, and has been updated to M3 Pro and M3 Max. RAM for these machines goes up to 128 GB of unified memory. Battery life has lengthened by about 10%. There’s an option to have the new MacBook Pros in space black. There was also an update for the 24” iMac, making it available with the M3 for the same price.
Apple was still making comparisons with the Intel Macs, so I think their focus is to continue to transition the customer base onto ARM. Most of the speed gains of M3 are for applications which make use of the GPU, so think 3D, Photoshop, video processing and so on.
The event video:
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Not strictly Apple, but there are a bunch of ex-Apple people involved, so I will write about it. There’s a startup called Humane, who want to make an AI-focussed post-smartphone device, and they’ve just released their version 1 of what they are calling the AI Pin… you can watch the announcement here.
I'm not high tech savvy, so can the ai pin also be used like a smartphone ? in other words can you make a call to a smartphone using it?
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Yes it can be used like a smartphone. It costs 699 usd plus a 24 usd a month subscription, which includes a call and data plan for the device. It’s not exactly like a small pin which the name might imply, more like a block, and the main use is via voice.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The base iPad 9th Gen 64 GB WiFi is available for 100 USD off on Amazon’s Black Friday deals, so 229 USD price, which is pretty amazing if you’re in the market for a tablet.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Apple’s ad for the holidays… shot on iPhone…
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The new iPhone 15 ad focussing on the camera capabilities…
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I just wanted to highlight the excellent website of Steve Jobs’ book Make Something Wonderful, which was created at the same time as the book was released but which I’ve only now gotten around to having a look at.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited January 16
Apple was the number 1 smartphone seller worldwide for the first time last year, taking the top spot from Samsung. There were a total of 1.17 billion devices sold, of which Apple’s share was 234.6 million units. That means that about one-eighth of the world population got a new smartphone last year.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I should mention the Apple Vision Pro headset will go on sale on Friday at 5 am PST via the Apple Store website, preorder only, and it will go on sale in stores on 2 Feb. So in case you feel like splurging, go for it. There is limited availability on launch so it’ll probably sell out.
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So a new add for the Vision Pro…
I thought it was slightly disappointing, as it doesn’t show the Vision Pro doing anything that you couldn’t do as well or better on a Mac.
I’ve believed for some time that Apple’s philosophy is to build an ecosystem of devices, not just one super-device. After all why sell a customer one device when you can sell them three? This means that each device should add something unique and better to the ecosystem, and I am not seeing that with the Vision Pro.
Yes it adds binocular, 3D vision, but I don’t see how this improves the computing experience from iPad or Mac. You could argue that the iPad is just a big iPhone and that has been a success, but an iPad is a very convenient device. The Vision Pro is not convenient, it needs to have a big draw, a reason to put on a big headset.
Here’s a quick how-to intro video…
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Here is The Verge’s review, which I thought was the best of the first wave.
You can kind of see the point. It’s a compute device based on iPadOS which allows you to position windows all around you and throughout your space, in true Mixed Reality fashion. Kind of like having infinite monitors. Whether that is enough of a reason to spend 3500 dollars I leave up to you.
It is not worth it @Jeroen It is being used for beta testing on the public/interested companies. As the technology and pricing come down, the usability and practicality will improve.
Apple is not as useful as FOSS and Linux for computer development BUT Linux is not for everyone. I am using it on a cheap laptop. Formatted the laptop to remove the imposed MIcrosoft operating system. I am tech and Linux savvy. I use Free Open Source Software and Freeware to for example post this ...
Comments
I received a Garmin watch for Xmas and it does help you to "track" your work-outs, as well as your breaks during weight lifting. But for my daily musings and walks, I prefer my ol' school Swiss machine
This is the thing, I really enjoyed having my Apple Watch during my recent hiking holiday in the Schwarzwald in Germany, it was great at tracking the hikes and giving additional health info.
But during the everyday I like the simplicity of my Junghans solar-powered watch, when I wear a watch at all, which is not so often.
For running I use the simplest watch possible: it just has a clock and a stopwatch. I only use the stopwatch. I love it. It cost around 5$ and can also be used in water. I use it for swimming too. That's all I really need. I'd like a watch that also tracks heart pulse - to be able to stay in my preferred training "zone" - but so far am happy with what I've got. On occasion I run with my phone to track speed but most days I don't.
I dislike my phone enough (even though I'm a phone zombie like most everyone else) that I am super averse to the idea of getting a watch that would extend my reliance on technology even more and give me even more "notifications".
I was one of the last to adopt the smartphone and to this day think it was a bad decision. I basically got coerced into buying one by my boss at the time. "How will I contact you if you don't have a smartphone?!". Well, you can call me, text me, e-mail me, and I still have various messaging platforms while I'm on my computer. I was very happy with my dumbphone. Not so much the smartphone.
My friend who is a post-doc in astrophysics at Yale to this day does not have a smartphone. So, it's possible. He does not report any problems in his life due to not having a smartphone
And on the rare occasions when I forget my phone at home: I always feel relieved. How wonderful and peaceful that no one can contact me!
I must admit, I loved the iPhone when it came out. I spent most of my time before it carrying around an iPod (for music) and a Motorola mobile, so my pockets were bulging, and it was a great relief to replace them with an iPhone 3G, which also did internet, maps, camera and email. I knew it was going to do well as a device as soon as I got one.
But then, that was just before my extended sabbatical, very few people try to contact me these days. I’m mostly retired these days.
It looks like the mixed reality headset is finally going to be unveiled at the WWDC keynote on June 5th. There was a column in the New York Times and the trademarks have been registered, which is about as much advance notification as you ever get with Apple.
Early leaks say there will be dual 4K screens, two M2 processors, twelve external cameras for registering gestures and finger movements, a ‘reality dial’ and a hip mounted battery pack capable of powering the device for 2 hours in standalone mode. It will run a new xrOS, “extended reality operating system”, and will be an independent computing platform.
It is apparently going to be a pro device costing about 3000 USD, so it won’t be a casual purchase, but Apple do expect to sell 7-10 million units a year eventually, so they expect it to be a device category on the order of the iPad. Shipping might be delayed until the autumn.
I’ve been reading up on some of HP’s tactics for getting customers to buy more stuff, very shady all, I won’t be buying another printer from them.
There have been some interesting rumours about different opinions among the Apple leadership and design team about the headset, apparently some people thought it was a product whose time has not yet come, that it needed further miniaturisation into a pair of “Augmented Reality glasses” that could be worn as standard glasses.
But the rumour says Tim Cook’s choice was to put a product out from the technology as it stands, in a move to at least have a presence in the market, and to sell the device at close to cost price, which has been estimated at 1500 dollars or so by Chinese manufacturers from a bill of materials. Still not cheap, and estimates of the number Apple might sell in the first year came in at about 900,000 units. Which is unlikely to cover the cost of development.
So it is a device and technology that might take time to mature, and appear in several different iterations over time. A real set of AR glasses is thought to still be 5-10 years away.
I think my iPad Pro is dying. It seems to last only about six hours on a full charge, and there are blotches on the screen. I’m having to charge it multiple times a day, which never used to be the case. But then, I have had it for about eight years and used it pretty intensely. I will have to replace it or start using my Mac more.
The WWDC keynote weighed in at a little over 2 hrs, here it is:
There was a 15” M2 MacBook Air, new Mac Studio versions with M2 Max and M2 Ultra, also a new Mac Pro with M2 Ultra and PCI Express slots. No sign of the Mac Pro having more than 192 GB of RAM though, which is the maximum for a standard M2 Ultra. New operating system software. The headset was also announced, at an expensive 3499 dollars, shipping early next year.
The headset part of the presentation
There was a new “shot on iPhone 14 Pro” short film released, this time by a Mexican director.
The new Vision Pro headset might be experiencing some production difficulties, limiting the number they will ship, which was never going to be that high at this price point. It’s going to be released in the States and a few other English-speaking countries early next year, expanding to the rest of Europe and Asia in late 2024.
A movie released about pet prosthetics made with an iPhone, shot on iPhone as well.
The yearly Apple event to unveil the new iPhones has been announced for Tuesday, September 12th, at 10 am pacific time. The event is tagged ‘Wonderlust’.
You can watch it here: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/
First fully carbon neutral product is the new Apple Watch Series 9, it has a new faster processor and detects a thumb-finger tap gesture. Features from last years iPhone 14 Pro seem to have trickled down to the regular iPhone 15, including the chip, 2x zoom on the main camera, dynamic island. The 15 Pro featured a new faster GPU with hardware ray tracing and dynamic scaling technology, also an innovative camera system with a way of creating up to seven ‘photographic lenses’ out of the three physical lenses that were there. Prices stayed the same I thought.
Here is the full presentation, at 1 hr 25 mins.
MacOS Sonoma will be out on the 26th of September, which usually bodes well for stability, to get a September release means not so much testing time was required. But I think I will hold off on installing for a little while, until we hear all about incompatibilities and minor bugs.
Apple has shared a number of preview PDFs on its website, which have complete lists of all the features that are in the new operating systems. These are definitely worth a quick glance if you use an iPhone or have a Mac.
https://www.apple.com/macos/sonoma-preview/pdf/macOS_All_New_Features.PDF
https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-17/pdf/iOS_All_New_Features.pdf
MacOS Sonoma is out, and I feel like installing it this morning! Here we go… 7.7 GB download…
But seriously from all reports the Sonoma release candidate is significantly more bug-free than for example Ventura was at release, so I don’t feel like a fool for updating to the .0 release. And anyway my iMac is not for work, I just use it for fun.
hi @Jeroen and other core users … eh appelites, jobees?
Not sure what the correctable term is?
I need advising. I am using latest IOS on a phone (my two iPads are now not being properly or workably supported by the capitalist fruitiness of maximise junking and buy new)
I don't like phones but they are essential.
Anyways … advisement:
I can not wait for the overhyped and overpriced AND not standalone vision pro. It is possible to run apple OS on other hardware but not really interested in such fiddling anymore.
What do I need, well I want to get involved with Peer 2 peer rather than just federated networking (Which is where I am now most of the time).
There is some crossover and I am looking to set up a server on a variety of options. This will include work, leisure and even games consoles (which I believe is one way Discord is used)
So far the way ahead is nebulous but none the less quite rapid. Any thoughts welcome ✔️
Aha… this is a bit out of my bailiwick, I don’t have that much knowledge of these things. I hear that for mini servers a lot of people go with a Raspberry Pi, which is a little cheap compute board with ARM processor that can run an OS based on Debian Linux and do various things… the Raspberry Pi 5 is out in October and will cost about 100 euros. It runs on a 27W power supply so very minimal electricity usage.
On an iphone you can’t do very much in depth tech stuff because of the restrictions on the App Store for scripting and programming languages as apps. If you want to stick to an Apple OS you could get a Mac Mini for about 700 euros if you have an old screen and usb keyboard lying around, it will run a full version of MacOS, or if you search around a little you could get an older M1 MacBook Air laptop discounted for similar money.
For peer-to-peer applications it’s all about the software… so I imagine you will want to find out what software you’re going to use, then what OS will best run your software, and then what computer will best run that OS?
thanks @Jeroen … will be taking the RIP … Eh … RPI5 route you mention. I am familiar with the Raspbian OS.
I just feel the Raspberry is fruity, likes Python (I was learning SWIFT on the IPad but Apples idea of Open Sourcing the language was just hype). I prefer GNU if possible but it is not always feasible or pragmatic.
So next year I should be able to buy a 16GB Raspberry Pi. For now will get my Pi4 running …
Iz plan … 🤓✔️🦞
Swift is pretty good for programming on Apple’s devices, but it seems to me that joining in with some peer-to-peer networks is more a challenge in configuring things correctly. Of course the big downside of the Raspberry Pi is the more limited storage, not sure how easy it is to hang a USB SSD drive onto the side of it. Have fun!
My Lisa bought an iPad Air (2022) for her artwork and.... DAMN! What a machine... ❤️
Yeah, those M1-powered tablets are quite something.
Here are some Geekbench 6 CPU speed benchmark scores (single / multi-core):
My dad’s PC desktop: 1200 / 4300
His girlfriend’s PC laptop: 1530 / 5580
My M1 iMac: 2350 / 8200
As you can see the M1 outmuscles a lot of Intel processors in day-to-day tasks, and it’s power consumption is low enough that it can be put in a lot of tablets as well as laptops and desktops. It is fast, quiet, cool, low-power… my whole iMac including screen uses only 142 Watts, while most PC desktop towers use 300-450 Watts by themselves.
But what use is this speed? Well the machine feels smooth and responsive, boots quickly (6 seconds from button press to login screen on my iMac) and long tasks like a big copy complete more quickly. It has to be said though, my dad’s desktop machine can do everything my iMac can. Of course my iMac looks a lot better while doing it…
You could well argue we have reached the point where computers have plateau’ed, and the reasons you buy a new computer are not for more speed, but because the old computer no longer meets the requirements for the software you need to run. Not getting OS security updates or being out of support is a big deal.
Whether you can do everything on a iPad that you can do with a Mac or a PC is another matter. On the MacRumors forum there is a topic literally hundreds of pages long arguing about this, I haven’t read it all but a lot of people hold that the fact that iPadOS is relatively restricted in what you can do technically means that even an M1 iPad is not as flexibel as say an M1 Mac Mini running MacOS Sonoma.
Of course it depends on what you want to do. You can’t get at say the Terminal on iPad, but do you really want to do scripting commands? You can’t get at the file system for the whole machine on iPad but why should you want to as long as you can get at the files you create?
For art an iPad with a pencil is indubitably a better solution… you draw what you see, on a real surface. Ok it doesn’t have the immediate feedback of paper and chalks, but it has a lot of other advantages, such as Undo of a poorly considered stroke, or working in different digital media.
Green Bubbles vs Blue Bubbles in iMessage is becoming a point of conflict apparently. Samsung has joined Google in trying to motivate Apple to adopt RCS messaging as a successor to SMS, which Apple doesn’t want to do because it’s a key point that keeps people buying inside the Apple ecosystem.
I want to get out of the Apple ecosystem. Yest controlling the hardware and software produces a pleasant experience BUT Apple is the ultimate profit motivated, unsustainable buy buy ... and I have to say bye bye ...
I think you’re in part right @lobster Apple do like to charge more for their products than strictly necessary. Look at RAM and storage upgrade prices on M-series Macs, it can easily add 400-600 euros to the price of a new machine to bring it up to spec, and these aren’t upgradeable after buying so they have you by the short and curlies. Or the Studio Display, 1500 euros for a monitor is beyond excessive when the same display panel alone can be had from LG for 800.
But then, a new M2 Mac Mini only costs 700 euros which is approaching acceptable, if you want a Mac they don’t have to cost the earth. And MacOS is in my eyes undeniably better than Windows or Linux. I haven’t had to spend a single day on tech-related faffing about with my new M1 iMac, it’s been smooth sailing all the way, everything just works.
And that is kind of the key to the Apple experience, it’s expensive but it all works smoothly and without complaint. If you don’t want things like my dad’s Windows mice suddenly started hanging because of an auto-update to his USB drivers on his motherboard…
Just throwing it out there:
Who took a bite out of my Apple?!?
Again!?!
I must confess: Even though I consider myself a "medium-proficient" computer/phone user, I never understood why anyone would prefer a Mac over a PC or this PC/Mac over that PC/Mac or this phone model over that phone model. As long as they are relatively new and in working order, I never or extremely rarely found a use-case that I could not do with my strategy of buying the "second cheapest model". What do you folks see in Apple that, say, a PC cannot do? Or what can a newer Iphone do that an older one cannot? I'm genuinely curious.
Well, with Mac it’s that the whole system is engineered to “Just Work”, leaving you only to do those things where the user’s choice is essential. With a Windows PC there is quite a lot of technical stuff that’s exposed, like device drivers or network settings, which on Mac is usually hidden and automated.
Over the last two years that I’ve had my iMac I have spent more time doing support for my dad’s PC than I have spent on solving technical issues on my own iMac, and my dad is pretty savvy, most things he can do himself. A Mac is like a more expensive, easier-to-maintain, slicker cousin to the PC. It also comes with a lot of software which you have to pay for on PC.
The iPhone is just about hardware quality and software support, your phone will last 5-6 years with a new OS update every year and more frequent security updates. There are Android phones with better cameras and cheaper storage, but they don’t last as long which means in the end it’s more expensive.
Thank you @Jeroen, that makes sense. I confess I have a bit of "my way is the best way" thinking around this issue and you have successfully put a chink in that view without making me feel hurt. I think that's for the best and I thank you.
No problem. With Apple it’s a whole design philosophy, which extends from the design of the outside of the hardware, to the resolution of the screens, to the design of the software, to the way in which the software is regularly updated. The idea is to provide the best possible quality computing experience. Anyway competition among companies is a good thing, and Microsoft and Google have benefitted from copying Apple in the past.
There has been a new Apple Event announced under the name “Scary Fast” for October 30th at 5 pm Pacific time. That is 2 in the morning for European viewers. The name and the logo indicate an event centred around Macs and probably the announcement of the M3 processor.
For some years I have been saying to my dad, computers are fast enough, they don’t really need to get any faster. But buying my M1 iMac has proved to me that there is still a point in upgrading, in that it gives you a smoother, more responsive computing experience. For me, the M1 has been a revelation, a joy and a pleasure. All those little delays and wait periods are gone!
The M3 will probably be about 50% faster than the M1 but I can’t imagine that it will feel like as big a leap. But then, I have been wrong before…
There are also some pretty big price increases to Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade, and also a corresponding price increase to the Apple One combo plan. It seems to be all to keep pace with other major streamers, but a nearly 50% increase on Apple TV+ seems way beyond just inflation.
The Scary Fast event was about the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max, which all came out at the same time. These are 3 nanometer chips, which is the smallest currently available, which gives speed and power efficiency gains. It was about 15% faster than the M2, and about 35% faster than the M1. Most of the big gains were in the GPU, which featured mesh shading and hardware raytracing for the first time and is 65% faster than the M1.
The 13” MacBook Pro was retired, and the 14” MacBook Pro now comes with M3, M3 Pro or M3 Max, and now starts at prices from $1599. The 16” MacBook Pro has kept prices the same, and has been updated to M3 Pro and M3 Max. RAM for these machines goes up to 128 GB of unified memory. Battery life has lengthened by about 10%. There’s an option to have the new MacBook Pros in space black. There was also an update for the 24” iMac, making it available with the M3 for the same price.
Apple was still making comparisons with the Intel Macs, so I think their focus is to continue to transition the customer base onto ARM. Most of the speed gains of M3 are for applications which make use of the GPU, so think 3D, Photoshop, video processing and so on.
The event video:
Behind the Scenes at the event video:
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/10/behind-the-scenes-at-scary-fast-apples-keynote-event-shot-on-iphone/
Not strictly Apple, but there are a bunch of ex-Apple people involved, so I will write about it. There’s a startup called Humane, who want to make an AI-focussed post-smartphone device, and they’ve just released their version 1 of what they are calling the AI Pin… you can watch the announcement here.
https://hu.ma.ne/
I'm not high tech savvy, so can the ai pin also be used like a smartphone ? in other words can you make a call to a smartphone using it?
Yes it can be used like a smartphone. It costs 699 usd plus a 24 usd a month subscription, which includes a call and data plan for the device. It’s not exactly like a small pin which the name might imply, more like a block, and the main use is via voice.
The base iPad 9th Gen 64 GB WiFi is available for 100 USD off on Amazon’s Black Friday deals, so 229 USD price, which is pretty amazing if you’re in the market for a tablet.
Apple’s ad for the holidays… shot on iPhone…
The new iPhone 15 ad focussing on the camera capabilities…
I just wanted to highlight the excellent website of Steve Jobs’ book Make Something Wonderful, which was created at the same time as the book was released but which I’ve only now gotten around to having a look at.
https://stevejobsarchive.com/book
Apple was the number 1 smartphone seller worldwide for the first time last year, taking the top spot from Samsung. There were a total of 1.17 billion devices sold, of which Apple’s share was 234.6 million units. That means that about one-eighth of the world population got a new smartphone last year.
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/16/apple-top-spot-global-smartphone-shipments/
I should mention the Apple Vision Pro headset will go on sale on Friday at 5 am PST via the Apple Store website, preorder only, and it will go on sale in stores on 2 Feb. So in case you feel like splurging, go for it. There is limited availability on launch so it’ll probably sell out.
So a new add for the Vision Pro…
I thought it was slightly disappointing, as it doesn’t show the Vision Pro doing anything that you couldn’t do as well or better on a Mac.
I’ve believed for some time that Apple’s philosophy is to build an ecosystem of devices, not just one super-device. After all why sell a customer one device when you can sell them three? This means that each device should add something unique and better to the ecosystem, and I am not seeing that with the Vision Pro.
Yes it adds binocular, 3D vision, but I don’t see how this improves the computing experience from iPad or Mac. You could argue that the iPad is just a big iPhone and that has been a success, but an iPad is a very convenient device. The Vision Pro is not convenient, it needs to have a big draw, a reason to put on a big headset.
Here’s a quick how-to intro video…
Here is The Verge’s review, which I thought was the best of the first wave.
You can kind of see the point. It’s a compute device based on iPadOS which allows you to position windows all around you and throughout your space, in true Mixed Reality fashion. Kind of like having infinite monitors. Whether that is enough of a reason to spend 3500 dollars I leave up to you.
It is not worth it @Jeroen It is being used for beta testing on the public/interested companies. As the technology and pricing come down, the usability and practicality will improve.
Apple is not as useful as FOSS and Linux for computer development BUT Linux is not for everyone. I am using it on a cheap laptop. Formatted the laptop to remove the imposed MIcrosoft operating system. I am tech and Linux savvy. I use Free Open Source Software and Freeware to for example post this ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software