Maccast 2017.02.05 - Show #602
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
V Sponsor: Blue Apron
V Blue Apron
* Blue Apron’s mission is to make incredible home cooking accessible to everyone.
V Cooking together builds strong family bonds.  Research shows that Blue Apron families cook nearly 3x more often.
* By having all the ingredients delivered and in the right amounts for what we need to make a meal it's made it easier and more convenient for use to sit down together.
* The extra time saved in tips to the store and in meal planning means a lot to us.
* And if you're among busy people who spend a lot at restaurants or at high-end grocery chains you get delicious home cooked meals from Blue Apron for under $10 per person per meal.
V Something that we have continuously been impressed with is the quality and freshness of the ingredients
* A big part of that is having food delivered that doesn't go through the hands of a bunch of wholesalers, warehouses, and middlemen.
* Blue Apron has established partnerships with over 150 local farms, fisheries and ranchers across the United States.
* So you get your ingredients direct to your kitchen.
* And by the way, every meal we've had has been delicious, plus you get the recipe so you can make your favorite over and over again.
V So here's the deal, as a Maccast listener you can try out Blue Apron for free.
* Check out this week’s menu and get your first THREE meals FREE—WITH FREE SHIPPING—by going to http://blueapron.com/maccast
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* That’s http://blueapron.com/maccast
* Blue Apron. A better way to cook.
V News
V Apple rocks their Q1 2017 earnings
* This week Apple shared their first quarter 2017 results which covered the period of September 25, 2016 through to December 31, 2016.
* It might be an understatement to say that the numbers were "off the charts"
V They posted revenue of $78.4 billion and $17.89 billion in profit on sales of 13.1 million iPads, 78.3 million iPhones, and 5.4 million Macs.
* That was 0.4 billion higher than the best guidance figure they gave last quarter.
* The results were Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever.
* They sold more iPhone's than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch according to Tim Cook
V Macs were back up after declining the past few quarters
* Likely helped along by the new Macbook Pros
V Tim Cook said that Apple Watch achieved records in "both units and revenue." during the holiday quarter
* Strategy Analytics estimated Apple sold 5.2 million shipments in the fourth quarter of 2016 giving Apple a 63 percent share of the entire smartwatch segment.
V iPad sales continue to decline
* Shipments were down 19 percent year over year and revenue was down 22 percent to just over $7 billion
* No new iPads in the fall obviously had an impact on these numbers.
* Apple did try to put a bright spin on it though
* They said 13.1 units sold was higher than their expectations and that iPad has an 85% market share for tablets above $200 in the US.
* Also remember Apple should do an iPad refresh this spring so look for things to get better in Q2 or Q3 for iPad.
* Extremely high demand for the iPhone 7 plus drove the ASP for iPhone up from $619 in the September quarter to $695.00 this quarter.
V Services was a big highlight for Apple.
* Almost $7.2 billion in revenue.
* Between iCloud and Apple Music Apple says they have over 150 million customers paying a recurring subscription for their services.
* Apple expects the Services business to be the size of a Fortune 100 company this year.
* Apple said they plan to double the size of their services business over the next four years
V Apple Pay was big
* Number of Apple Pay users tripled over a year ago
* Transaction volume was up 500 percent year over year.
V Want to see what Apple's business is? Take a look at the makeup of revenue by category
* 69% - iPhone
* 9% Services
* 9% Mac
* 7% iPad
* 5% Other
* Good news is Macs gained a bigger lead over iPads so maybe Apple will pay a bit more attention to those trucks in 2017
V Apple Watch power bands
* AppleInsider uncovered a patent that could give some hints about some of Apple's future plans for Apple Watch
* Apple was awarded a patent for a link bracelet style band where the individual links are electrical components
V Each link adding potentially different capabilities to the watch
* It describes batteries, photovoltaic cells, electricity generators, cameras, haptic output devices, speakers and more
V To be fair the idea isn't really new. Many have discussed this kind of thing since the beginning
* Also some smartwatches on the market already have cameras, sensors, and batteries in their bands.
* The unique thing here is the modular design and ability to possibly mix and match components.
V Apple's new beta have some nice surprises
V iOS 10.3
V Apple File System
* Optimized for Flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption, space sharing, copy-on write metadata, cloning for files and directories, snapshots, and more.
* Apple recommends making a backup before downloading the new update.
V A "Find My AirPods" feature that plays and audible sound from the missing AirPod
* Can choose to mute the left or right AirPod when the sound is playing
* Found inside the Find my iPhone app.
* Shows location as long as you are with-in bluetooth range of one of your AirPod paired device. It will show the AirPods last known position as well.
* Apple advises not using the feature while you have an AirPod in your ear
V [John Gruber]( http://daringfireball.net/2017/01/losing_airpods) points out that the likelihood of losing an AirPod is smaller than people want us to believe
* They are expensive so we tend to be more careful
* They don't easily fall out and when they do you (most of the time) would notice
* When you take them out put them in the case.
V Limit "review" pop-ups
* A new Reviews API that will limit pop-ups to three times per year, and give people the ability to turn off such pop-ups entirely.
* Submit reviews without leaving a host app.
* Eventually the API will be the only way apps can solicit reviews from you.
V Apple also told Jim Dalrymple and John Gruber that when iOS 10.3 ships developers will get the ability to respond to customer's reviews in both the App Store and Mac App Store.
* Developers can only leave one public response for each user-posted review and their reply gets attached to the review in a thread-like fashion.
V Wither 32-bit Apps
* The "shame" warning that states a 32-bit App will slow down your device has been changed
* Not it states that in future versions of iOS the App will no longer work unless the developer updates it.
* In February of 2015 Apple required all new apps submitted to the App Store to be 64-bit and in June 2015 any app updates were required to be 64-bit.
* What about "abandoned" apps? Apple has been cracking down on those so if you have any beg the developer or start looking for alternatives.
V iOS devices with a 64-bit chip include the iPhone 5s and newer, iPad Air and newer, iPad mini 2 and newer, and sixth-generation iPod touch.
* Developers just need to build apps with 64-bit support, but they can still do it in a way that targets both the 32-bit and the 64-bit devices
* Still if your rocking an older 32-bit only device the obsolescence clock is probably a couple clicks closer to zero hour.
* A "floating" one-handed iPhone sized keyboard for 9.7-inch and smaller iPads (found by Steve Troughton-Smith), but not yet enabled.
V watchOS 3.2
V Theater Mode
* There was a reference to it in being in the 3.1.3 update in the release notes
* A button in Control Center that mute the device and disables the raise-to-wake functionality.
* Taptic alerts will still happen, but to see them you'd need to use the Digital Crown (peek) or tap the screen.
* It has been thought that the "Theater Mode" might also show up on the iPhone at some point too.
V SiriKit
* Developers will not be able to enable SiriKit feature to work on the Apple Watch
* That means being able to access Messaging, Payments, Ride booking, Workouts, Calling, and Searching photos via Siri on the Watch.
* HBO Go, finally supports the TV app and single-sign-on
V AirPods got a firmware update to 3.5.1
* It should happen automatically when both AirPods are in the case and charging while paired with your device
* You can check by going to Setting > General > About on the device with the AirPods connected. Then tap into the section (only appears when connected), and check the firmware version
V Apple continues manufacturing deals
V Apple continues to work and try and get a manufacturing deal in India
* They met with the government last week again and said they had a "constructive and open dialogue,"
* Apple is said to be looking for a number of concessions to bring manufacturing to India, including a 15-year tax holiday on imported components and equipment and possibly waivers on import duties.
* Apple remains flexible though because India doesn't typically give these kinds of concessions to companies and because Apple would also like to open Apple Retail locations in India and doing so would require them to have some manufacturing locally.
* A government source told the Wall Street Journal the arrangement is "almost a done deal," and that the Finance Ministry is "look(ing) into" Apple's demands calling many of them "workable."
V The Times of India reported confirmed that Apple's Taiwanese manufacturing partner Wistron will be assembling iPhones in India
* The reported didn't give a timeline but it's believed production will start in June.
*
V The Wall Street Journal also claims Apple is looking into flexible LCD technology from Japan Display
* They say Apple is "considering" the new panels which could eventually allow for "bendable" phone designs
* Japan Display plans to start mass producing the screens as early ad 2018, but don't get too excited.
* The displays are plastic and Apple, to date, has preferred glass for their displays
* The displays "bend" but don't really "fold", plus only the display bends. Apple would still need other support structures and internal components in a design to be able to adapt as well.
* Still it's fun to think about the possibilities and Apple obviously is.
* Shorter term Japan Display could be another supplier for designs like the rumored iPhone 8 which may curved edges on the display. But, Japan Display is LED and the iPhone 8 is rumored to be OLED.
V Apple moves International iTunes to Ireland
V From today on the entire non-US side of Apple's iTunes business will operate out of their headquarters in Cork, Ireland
* That means the iTunes Store, Apple Music, the App Store, and the iBooks Store which have been moved from Luxembourg.
* Apple announced the move back in September when it transferred an estimated $9 billion (£7.2 billion) of iTunes assets and moved it's developer contracts to Apple Distribution International one of it's main Irish companies.
V The move could ruffle the feathers of the EU who have accused Apple and Ireland of setting up low tax rate haven that is anticompetitive to other member state in the EU.
* Apple supposedly has an effective tax rate as low as 0.005 percent, in Ireland
* A rate that the EU has even alleged could constitute illegal state aid.
* They had ordered Ireland to to collect an additional €13bn (£10.8bn) in taxes from Apple, but the deadline for that payment came and went.
* Apple has insisted that their tax practices apply with the law and both Apple and Ireland are appealing the EU ruling.
V LG 5K displays have wi-fi issue
* This was first reported by 9to5 Mac
* They noted an issue with the new LG 5K displays connected to a Macbook Pro that when positioned near a wi-fi router would lose it's display connection and cause the Macbook Pro to freeze.
V The issue was first suspected by reviewers on Apple's store
* One noticed that as his network traffic increased the screen would flicker or go black based on the proximity to a router.
* 9to5 Mac confirmed that issues would begin when the display was placed less than 6.6 feet away from a router.
* Not all 5K display units appear to be effected, but AppleInsider confirmed that both LG and Apple engineers were examining the situation.
V Later in the week LG said it identified the hardware problem in which Wi-Fi routers within 2 feet of the display resulted in signal interference issues.
* They said they would be adding ‘enhanced shielding’ to all new models starting in February
* Existing customers with effected displays are being told to contact their nearest LG customer center for service.
V Rumors of ARM based Macs are back
* This is a rumor the seems to come up at least once a year
* Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Ian King wrote a piece claiming Apple has been developing a new chip for future Mac laptops since last year
* The idea is that it would be ARM based like the processor Apple included to control the TouchBar in the new Macbook Pro
* The difference is that the chip in future models would be much more capable and would take over some of the tasks currently handled by the main Intel based CPU
* Internally the report says the chips is codenamed T310 and would be designed to handle more of the low-power mode functionality of the notebook.
* For example the new chip would take over the current "Power Nap" tasks which is what allows the Mac to to retrieve e-mails, install software updates, and synchronize calendar appointments while the system is "sleeping".
V The idea of a "hybrid" CPU design is very interesting
* Seems a lot like the dual GPU-designs we have now
* This report only mentions the "Power Nap" scenario, but I imagine Apple could take the concept further in future designs
* The ability to seamlessly move computing tasks to the most efficient processor could really extend battery life.
* Intel processors already do this with managing cores, etc. but to use an ARM chip could take it to a new level
* No need to use a power hungry CPU just to take notes or do web surfing.
* The report notes that there are no immediate plans to move away from Intel as the main processor anytime soon.
* Even still, this could be the first moves toward a switch. I would imagine too maybe lower end/lower cost models moving to an ARM processor could eventually happen.
V Feedback, commentary, opinions
V TV app limited without wi-fi
V David wrote in to mention that for him the TV app is frustrating because he lives in a remote area and relies on a cellular data connection for internet access
* Because of limited bandwidth and costs he doesn't always want to have his connection "on"
* With no internet connection David says the TV app, "will not fully load if it can not call back to the Apple mother ship when it starts up, I have only a blank, unusable screen with no way to access the video media that is already on my iOS devices (e.g. ripped movies or saved programs)."
* Users with satellite connections would likely be in a similar boat.
* It also means the app is less functional on an Airplane while traveling.
V I had never thought about this and was curious, so I put my iPhone in Airplane mode to see what would happen
* Sure enough the 'Watch Now' tab is completely blank, the Store tab warns 'You're Offline', as does the 'Search' tab
* The 'Library' tab switches a little and only shows content that is "Downloaded" to the device. Similar to if you gone into the "Downloaded" section of the Library screen when you have connectivity.
V As far as I can remember, this is at least similar to the way the Video app behaved without a connection
* The only possible difference is that in the Video app I believe if you set the setting to show both local and "purchased" content
* Even when offline it would show iTunes purchased content (with the cloud icon), but only stuff cached from the last time you opened the app. Without a connection though of course you couldn't download it or stream it anyway.
V Another thing the TV app does add for those who want to use a cellular connection is some new settings to control the bandwidth while on cellular
* In Settings > TV > iTunes Videos
* There is a toggle for 'Use Cellular Data for Playback'
* In the 'Playback Quality' you can set the Wi-Fi and Cellular quality separately between 'Best Available' and 'Good'
* The 'Good' quality will use less data. Unfortunately I couldn't find any specs from Apple so I don't know how much less.
V Mail.app Drafts folder duplicates
* John wrote in to tell me that recently after upgrading to macOS Sierra he started to have a small, but very annoying issue with Mail
* Now when he drafts an email he starts to get dozens and sometimes 30 or 40 copies of his emails in his Drafts folder.
* He had contacted Apple support and his ISP and both are stumped.
* I'm not sure if this IS what's happening, but this is something that I too have experienced.
* The reason it might not be the same is it's not macOS Sierra related, but simply Apple and IMAP server relegated.
* The trouble, I believe, is that Apple auto-saves your drafts and then the IMAP system will attempt to sync them.
* If the versions are different when it loops back my guess is it's syncing it as a different draft.
* The solution is to make sure that for your accounts on both the Mac and iOS devices that you change the settings so the "Drafts" folder is the "local" one and not the synced with the server.
V On iOS:
* 1) Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Choose the account you want to change the setting for.
* 2) Tap on the email address to access the account settings
* 3) Tap Advanced
* 4) Tap Drafts Mailbox under Mailbox Behaviors
* 5) Tap the option for 'Drafts' On My Device, instead of 'On the server'.
V On the Mac:
* 1) In Mail go to Mail > Preferences, click Accounts, then click Mailbox Behaviors.
* 2) Make sure the Drafts mailbox is set to an 'On My Mac' mailbox and not 'On the Server'
* Of course the big disadvantage to this is that you won't be able to start a draft message in one place and then pick it back up in another, but that vs having all those duplicates is a small price to pay.
V BTW, you might have noticed when changing these settings that you have the ability to "re-map" other folders.
* These will change where in Mail.app things like Junk, Deleted, and Archive store messages on the IMAP server.
* This is handy as some ISPs might call the Junk folder, say 'Spam'
V Question about Siri and Apple Maps
* Play question from Andrew
V I did some searching and I wasn't able to find a definitive answer
* If I were to guess I would say something like "Go ahead and use the alternate route" or just "use alternate route"?
V I can confirm the alternate routes on surface streets
* Share Macstock story
* Share freeway off ramp story
* As much as I like the new user interface for how it gives the turn by turn directions I have to say in general I find new updated Maps app worse for safety while driving
V Many more things seem to require touching the screen
* The functions to get the route overview and directions list (details) are hidden under the "Route card".
* This is also where the 'Near By' and 'Audio' controls are found.
* iTunes has a similar issue with it's "cards".
V The [Siri iOS Page]( http://www.apple.com/ios/Siri/) does have some helpful hints based on categories
* In "Out and About" here are some good ones
V "I'm running low on gas", will use nearby to help find a gas station.
* But again this is on the screen only.
* "Take me to the nearest…" tends to be a better command if you want to jump right into directions.
* "Take me home or take to to David Sparks house"
* "How long will it take me to get to [a location]"
V Unfortunately [ Hey-siri.io]( https://hey-siri.io) was shut down.
* They have PDFs, Markdown, and JSON
V How to hobble your Touch Bar
V Apparently if you're taking the Bar in North Carolina or Colorado the "Bar" is barred from the Bar.
* Apparently Apple's new Touch Bar is not compatible with the security features of the ExamSoft software.
* In some cases Touch Bar Macbook Pros are being banned from the Bar exam.
V iMore points out that while you can't disable the Touch Bar on the Macbook Pro there is a way to cripple it so it will only function as a Control Strip for system features like brightness, sound, etc.
* In System Preferences > Keyboard go to the Keyboard tab
* Under Touch Bar Shows, click the drop down menu and select Expanded Control Strip.
V They also mention that you can make the function keys the default Touch Bar display, but you have to do this on an App by App basis
* In System Preferences > Keyboard go to the Shortcuts tab
* Select Function Keys from the sidebar.
* Click the Add (+) button.
* Select an app that you want to display the function keys on the Touch Bar as a default.
* Click Add.
* Now, whenever you are using an app on the list, the default display on the Touch Bar will be the function keys.
V Free Space larger than you think
* Apparently starting with macOS Sierra the Mac is reporting "free space" a bit differently than it did before and Gary might have a found a way to force your way into the extra free space
* Play comment from Gary
* So what is the "purgable" free space?
V If you are running macOS Sierra and you look at "About this Mac" from the Apple menu and got to the Storage tab you'll see two sections at the end
* Free space (in white) and Purgeable (grey lines)
* Free space is exactly that, just open space available to add data into
V Purgeable is different
* This represents data that is on the disk, but data that Apple considers to be "expendable"
* It can be removed if needed to make more space
V Why? It's files that are either unnecessary or could be replaced from the cloud
* Files stored in iCloud.
* Dictionaries you haven’t used recently
* Large fonts (especially of Asian languages) that you may never or rarely use
* Movies and TV shows you’ve already watched (and are re-downloadable from iTunes)
* Photos and videos in that are synced with iCloud Photo Library (if the Optimize Mac Storage setting is turned on in Photos preferences).
V The trouble is that in macOS Sierra many of the places that report the "free" space on your drive report the total of both "free" and "purgable"
* Like, the status bar in the Finder Window, HD Get Info panel, or if you ask Siri about how much free space
* As Gary discovered, not all apps seem to handle purging the "purgable" very well.
* The system is supposed to manage all this, but for now it seems to still be a bit buggy.
V Closing
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