Maccast 2018.03.18 - Show #649

Links

Opening

Opening Music

Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles

News

Next announcements from Apple

DigiTimes has a little different report than up Ming Chi-Kuo’s, who believes Apple is planning a lower priced MacBook Air soon

DigiTimes mentions a 13.3-inch “entry” level “MacBook”

The report is confusing because they also say the new model will be priced the same or slightly higher then the current MacBook Air.

They also say it will have a Retina display with the same resolution as the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro.

Also a $1,199 version with 256GB of storage

DigiTimes also says Apple is also planning a updated entry-level iPad also some time in the second quarter along with new iPad Pros in the second half of the year.

iPad may start at $259 (currently sells for $329)

Taiwan's Economic Daily News says Apple is actually planning a new iPad Pro, something we've heard from other sources

The difference is that say the new model might have an 11-inch display, but be the same size as the 10.5-inch since it will ditch the home button and have thinner bezels.

They also mention and updated 12.9-inch model and say they expect an announcement at WWDC (apple opened registration for June 4-8th in San Jose).

Other specs discussed track with what we've heard in other rumors, 8-core A11X Bionic chip, True Depth Camera system and FaceID unlocking.

Notch vs. no Notch is being debated

They also said they don't see an iPhone update in the first half of 2018, which would contradict some other rumors of an updated iPhone SE model. Something Ming-Chi Kuo also had mentioned.

Macotakarka posted a sketchy video

Showed current design merged with an iPhone X but with a dual lens camera bump.

Fake, so fake.

In India Apple's supplier Wistron has received approval to build a new $105M assembly plant.

Currently they make iPhone SE models for Apple's market in India.

They are reportedly looking to expand into iPhone 6s models as well.

It was also alleged recently in a Commercial Times piece that Wistron was caught using ‘unauthorized components’ in its production of the iPhone 8 Plus in China

It was supposedly fake waterproofing components.

The report claimed that when Apple found out they forced the company to halt production for two weeks

In a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing Wistron said they wouldn't comment on matters concerning specific clients and that there was not a “two-week production suspension.

Other reports say Wistron penalized several mid to high level executives as a way to show Apple they took the situation seriously

AirPower charging mat

Rumors this might be here soon, like the end of March

DigitTimes claims AirPower will have a maximum charging performance of up to 29W. Like a total for all 3 devices it can charge.

About 10W per section.

We've heard pricing could be as high as $179 USD or more.

An Apple Event this month, but for Education

Apple sent out press invites for an event at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago on Tuesday, March 27th.

The invite said, "Let's take a field trip".

Seems like the right place to announce a lower priced iPad and maybe lower priced updated Macbook Air.

Apple will also likely discuss their education projects like Classroom.

It's also be nice to see and Apple services update for Education including storage for schools and maybe iCloud email services with ability to use the schools own domain.

Apple buys Texture magazine service

The deal is pending approval and we don’t know the price Apple paid.

The acquisition was announced by Eddie Cue at SXSW in Austin

The service provides access to over 200 digital magazines for USD $9.99/mo.

Cue also confirmed Apple plans to integrate Texture into Apple News.

I wonder if if it will come as a possible add on or premium service.

Cue also pointed out that Apple News is unique because it isn't advertising focused.

Apple News users followed an average of 4 publications a year ago, now that’s up to 20

Says Apple cares about great storytelling, top talent, and talented newcomers when it comes to their original media.

Focus also includes the original content team which has grown to about 40 people over the course of the last year.

They want to stay focused on quality, not quantity and don't plan to buy Netflix or Disney.

Said there would be a "surprise" bit of technology in their service.

This week in fact Apple has ordered a new animated comedy from Loren Bouchard, the creator of Fox's Bob's Burgers.

This is according to Variety

The order is for two 13 episode seasons of a show called "Central Park"

Written by Bouchard, Josh Gad, and Nora Smith

Telling the story of how a family of caretakers, who live and work in Central Park, end up saving the park, and basically the world.

Will have Gad also doing voice talent with other big name talent like Kristen Bell and Stanley Tucci

Apple Music has grown to 38 million subscribers. Gained 2M subscribers just last month.

Apple's list of shows continues to grow. In case you missed some here's a short recap.

The new show I just mentioned.

A psychological thriller series produced by M.Night Shyamalan

A new drama series, Swagger, based on the youth of Golden State Warriors player Kevin Durant.

A drama from Damien Chazelle, the writer and director of the musical La La Land.

A 10-episode comedy series staring Kristen Wiig

A drama series about the morning talk show industry starring Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon.

A sci-fi series from Ronald D. Moore the developer of Battlestar Galactica.

A reboot of Stephen Spielberg's 80's anthology series Amazing Stories.

A "world-building" drama set in the future from the creators of Peaky Blinders

A series based on the novel "Are You Sleeping" starring Octavia Spencer.

A 10-episode reality series called 'Home' that shows off extraordinary homes around the world and talk to the people who built them

Apple updates MFi program

They will now allow accessory makers to include USB-C ports on MFi charging accessories for both Mac and iOS

Those accessories will also be allowed to work with the USB-C cables that ship with new Macs (charge only cable).

Accessories with Lightning ports can offer passthrough charging but do not allow a USB-C port built into an accessory to be used for passthrough charging or syncing of an iOS device.

Finally makers can also make Lightning to 3.5mm output cables. Meaning no adapter. Lightning to the aux input jack, say on a speaker product.

iPhone 'upgrade' cycle likely to stay flat.

Gene Munster and Loup Ventures surveyed 511 people and of the 226 iPhone owners about 22 percent said they expect to upgrade this fall.

While the sample size is small that tracks with last years numbers where about 23 percent of iPhone users upgraded.

In the same survey about 20 percent said they expect to upgrade to an iPhone 8 or iPhone X within the next year.

This is interesting. So are people just holding off on upgrading in hopes of a price drop or carrier deals?

The conclusion is that iPhone sales will fall into a predictable pattern of between 1 to 5 percent growth annually.

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Feedback, commentary, opinions

Quick follow-up stuff

On using iPads as "computers"

Most tended to agree with me that it is in many ways about expectations

Robert, a photo Pro, pointed out number one on his future wishlist would be external storage options and management

I tend to agree, especially for RAW photos and large video files. There an iPad won't cut it.

But I don't know that it ever will or should. It's the "trucks" analogy.

Robert points out it means the iPad Pro, is not truly "Pro". I think it's more it's "Pro" for some "pros", but not others.

Also mention lack of "full" apps, like Photoshop.

Still you have Affinity Photo, which is supposed to be amazing.

I also mentioned that I could really do my programming on an iPad

Michael mentioned that he was leaning Python and used [Pythonista]( http://omz-software.com/pythonista/)

For sure you "can" code, to a degree.

I have used [DraftCode]( http://solesignal.com/draftcode/) for PHP.

I would say they are very good for learning or simpler projects, but still not really practical fro large web projects.

I think it could be done if you integrate a few apps, including [Prompt]( https://panic.com/prompt/) (or other SSH remote management) tools.

Making an copying ringtones to your iOS device

David reminded me that the current version of GarageBand has a "Ringtone" project.

You can use that to create and edit your ringtones.

From the 'Share' menu you choose 'Ringtone to iTunes…' and then you can sync it to your device from the Devices > Tones menu when your iOS device is connected via a USB to Lightning cable

Apple's parental controls

This week Apple set up a [new Families section]( https://www.apple.com/families/) on their website for parents to understand the tools and controls they have to protect their kids.

I've been using multiple strategies with my own kids and the built in controls in iOS and macOS are definitely part of it.

First and foremost it's about sitting down and having age appropriate conversations with your kids.

What is "age" appropriate is going to vary wildly by your own judgment and the child.

What kinds of apps and activities do you consider appropriate

What happens if they do end up in an area that feels inappropriate or "not safe".

How do in-app purchases work? How will apps try to "manipulate" them into making in-app purchases and how to avoid issues.

I tried to approach it from a place of "what if I had no parental controls or technology to help"?

Setting up simple ground rules about "screen time" vs other expectations like homework, family time, face to face time, etc.

We have rules that I need to know all they account logins and passwords and device passwords.

We were also up front that we would be monitoring their devices and accounts from time to time.

It was part of the deal for access to the technology

Will you allow access to social media, which social media, why one and not another. The dangers of social media and online bullying. Not only the dangers, but give them scenarios and tools to use if they or their friendsfriends encounter it.

Your rules and approach might be VERY different than mine and that's great.

After that foundation is set then you can use the built-in Parental controls to limit the kinds of possible access.

The controls are very extensive.

I set up restrictions on access to iTunes and iBooks content for example.

I also disallow management of accounts for setting up additional e-mail address, iCloud, iTunes, or social media accounts.

When my kids were younger I only "whitelisted" Safari URLs, now that they are older they have full access, but we've discussed the dangers and they come to me when "bad stuff" (typically spam pop-ups) happen.

We don't use "screen time" controls, but macOS has those and Apple has announced expanded iOS controls coming and I expect that to be in iOS

Use "Family Sharing" can really help for monitoring purchases using purchase approvals

We also use Find My Friends, location tracking and my kids know that too. We discussed how it was a personal safety issue and not something we would use to invade their privacy or "check up on them".

Don't use Markup to cover up.

Over at [9to5 Mac]( https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/13/ios-markup-reveal-redact-sensitive-info/) Benjamin Mayo wrote up a great PSA on why you probably don't want to use Apple's Markup tool to cover up sensitive info in images or PDFs that you send out or post online.

Incase you don't know iOS and Mac OS have a tool called "Markup" that can be used as an extension in some apps and in Preview on the Mac to add annotations and markup to images and documents

Depending on the app there is a few ways of accessing Markup

Most typically you'll find it by accessing the extensions, via the share menu.

When viewing a PDF in some apps you might see the "pen" (Markup) icon

In Photos, you'll find it under the "More" menu in the Edit screen (since it's a photo extension).

In Mail if you are adding an attachment you can tap the attachment and tap 'Markup'.

Inside Markup there are tools for drawing and editing

Pen, Pencil, and Marker in various colors. An Eraser. And lasso for selecting and moving markup.

Tap the "+" and you'll find text, signature, magnifier, shapes, and arrows.

Cool stuff, but as Benjamin points out there is not a tool designed for securely cover or removing text.

Many folks are tempted to use the "marker" tool and it will seem to work, but it has transparency that can easily be removed with simple photo editing tools including the "light" controls in Photos.

The choice of tool is partially the issue. The pen or filled shape tools will create a truly opaque cover up, but even there you might still have metadata/OCR data in your file or a PDF editor might be able to remove the box.

Just be careful. PDFpen (maccast sponsor) offers a redaction tool that will also remove the underlying OCR data.

Understanding sleep modes

Rick asked "When the computer goes to sleep (Energy Saver) what happens besides the display going to sleep and the hard disk going to sleep?"

When your Mac is sleeping, it's on but consumes less power, seems obvious maybe. It also has the advantage being a lot quicker then starting it up from full shutdown. again kind of obvious.

You can adjust various settings in Preferences > Energy Saver

Display sleep stops the video signal to any internal and external displays.

For Apple displays and built-in displays, this also means that the backlight on the LCD is turned off to save energy.

When the display is asleep apps that are still busy on your Mac stay active.

Hard disk sleep. "Put hard disks to sleep when possible"

Powers down the hard drive motor when you aren't reading or writing files from the drive.

For SSD of Flash drives this has no effect since they don't have motors or moving parts.

If you have tasks or apps that need constant read write access to the drives, like photo or video editing apps, you might want to leave this feature off. Spinning drive back up slows the machine. Even if your reading off an internal SSD.

Wake for network access

Automatically wakes up your Mac when someone accesses its shared resources, such as shared printers or iTunes playlists.

Applies to wired connections rom other computers on your network or wireless connection only if you use a properly configured AirPort base station.

This feature can also sometime prevent a Mac from going to sleep, if another machine is accessing it's resources over the network.

PowerNap

Allows your Mac to occasionally wake from sleep to perform tasks such as checking for new email or software updates.

When in PowerNap, any displays and other hardware that isn't needed fro the task being performed are left powered down to save energy.

Some specific Macs have additional options or controls

Let setting the amount of time before the display turns off.

Letting the Mac to automatically start back up after a power failure.

Or automatic Graphics switching.

Standby Mode

Macs that boot from an SSD have this mode

2013 or later models enter standby after being in sleep mode for three hours. Earlier models enter standby after just over an hour of sleep.

During standby, the state of your session is saved to flash storage (SSD). Then, the power turns off to some hardware systems such as RAM and USB buses.

A notebook with a fully charged battery can remain in standby for up to thirty days without being plugged in to power.

Safe Sleep

This mode is entered when your battery becomes depleted and you don't re-connect to power.

Safe Sleep copies the contents of memory to your startup drive and powers down the computer, allowing you to pick up where you left off without losing your work.

Your Mac appears to be off. You need to reconnect to power and press the power button to bring it out of Safe Sleep mode.

When you wake your computer from safe sleep, a progress indicator appears. The previously stored contents of memory are being read from the startup disk and copied back into RAM.

Closing

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