Rumors of Apple considering a "higher-end" model update for 2019
The upgrade would reportedly include noise-cancellation and water resistance.
They also might have improved wireless range.
biometric sensors, possibly heart rate sensors, built in.
Opening up manufacturing to Foxconn to deal with shortages and delays faced fro the first product which had Luxshare as the sole supplier
Will be priced higher the the $159.00
Also have been rumors for a slightly updated version of the AirPods, which smaller components, and hands-free Siri operation, being shipped near the end of 2018
We're still waiting on the AirPower matt and the wireless charging case.
The previously rumored Apple Branded "high end over the ear" headphones are also supposedly still in the works.
These would be even higher end the Apple's Beats line
Designed to compete with audiophile products from Bose and Sennheiser
Apple expands iPhone production in India
To deal with heavy import duties Apple worked with manufacturing partner Wistron to open a facility in India last year
They had been producing the iPhone SE and now appear to be expanding into iPhone 6s production.
Production has begun after trial runs of both the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, but the 6s was chosen because it had more sales potential according to a report from the Economic Times.
Apple is trying to combat import duties that continue to rise in India. Smartphones import taxes have doubles since December going from 10 to 20 percent.
There was also a 10 percent tax on electronic components, including circuit boards, camera modules, and connectors that went into effect in April.
The increases has cause iPhone prices to increase 6 to 7 percent in India.
Even with the new local production Apple will have to import some iPhone 6s models until production volume can ramp up.
Goodbye Samsung. Hello LG.
Apple made a multi-million dollar investment in LG in an attempt to get away from relaying solely on Samsung for OLED panels.
Bloomberg says now LG is almost ready to supply Apple with displays.
Looks like at least some of this year's iPhones could come with LG OLED panels, though LG is ultimately gunning for ALL of Apple's business.
LG will reportedly get 3-5 million of this years orders as they ramp up production.
LG is expected to have capacity to make about 15 million units in the second half of 2018.
Samsung makes about 10 million units a month
Not a large supply, but enough for Apple to shed their 100 percent dependency on Samsung and also help put leverage back in Apple's court when negotiating new display contracts.
MediaTek could replace Intel as Apple's iPhone modem supplier
From DigiTimes. They say that the company is "likely" going to provide "customized Wi-Fi chips" for the HomePod
They are also supposedly being considered by Apple for modem chips in future iPhones and could replace similar chips provided by Intel And Qualcomm.
MediaTek recently unveiled a new 5G modem chipset
A report surfaced this week claiming Apple had notified Intel that it doesn't plan to order it's 5G chips from them in 2020.
The same report claimed Intel halted development of the product and disbanded the team working on it, something Intel emphatically denied.
Leaked images of the rumored iPhone 18W USB-C charger
claimed to be an engineering prototype
looked, to me, a bit more bulky then the current 5W charger.
Geekbench of purported next gen A12 iPhone posted
Shows 4GB or RAM and a 10 percent single-core speed boost over the iPhone X and 5 percent boost in multi-core.
New iPhone leaks from Ming Chi Kuo
The 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus should be priced around $1000 and will come with dual-SIM capabilities
Some reports claim that's an integrated eSIM + SIM slot.
The 6.1-inch LCD model would start around $700
The iPhone X models will retain their "traditional" black, white, and gold options, but Kuo said the "lower cost" LCD devices will be colorful. Options in grey, white, blue, red and orange
Still rumors of a possible "triple-lens" camera
Designed with advanced 3D sensing for augmented reality
stereoscopic imaging to capture an image from two different angles. Can then determine distance to an object more accurately.
the other lens would be a 3x optical zoom.
I wasn't buying it, but maybe in the Plus model?
Foxconn will assemble most of them, surprise? Not sure why we needed this report.
iOS 12 reveals "FaceID" iPad
Developer Steve Troughton-Smith put a post on twitter about AvatarKit for iPad.
It requires a TrueDepth camera implying that future iPads would have the sensor array.
AvatarKit is Apple's framework in iOS for it's Animoji and Memoji features
Not surprising as it seems like the next natural evolution for the iPad. Just another bit of evidence to support the rumor we already have.
The next gen iPads are also expected to adopt a "bezel" reduced design and no home button like the iPhone X.
Apple considers entertainment "bundle"
We continue to get more speculation on how Apple might roll out access to it's new shows in development by Apple Worldwide video.
A report from "The Information" cites sources who say Apple could bundle it's TV Shows, Apple Music, digital magazines (Texture), and news into a single subscription service.
They may launch a subscription news service, a la Texture, first.
Right now Texture offers access to 200 titles for $9.99/mo.
Most rumors have said the new service will launch sometime next year, but there is no exact date nor is there any indication as to what the price would be.
For those who prefer a "al a carte" approach you're in luck. The reports claims Apple will still also offer each service as a "stand alone".
Apple added a new hire from BBC Films to it's Apple Worldwide video team
Joe Oppenheimer was reportedly hired to work with Apple’s international development team according to Variety
He will report to another recently hired former BBC executive and now Apple's creative director for Europe, Jay Hunt.
At BBC films Oppenheimer worked on more then 50 projects including “I, Daniel Blake,” “Testament of Youth,” and "My Scientology Movie."
A source, said to be a major U.S.-based distributor, claims Apple Music now has more paid subscribers in the US then Spotify.
Both are reportedly at 20 million, but Apple has just a smidge more.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that in the US Apple was gaining new subscribers at a 5 percent rate vs Spotify at 2 percent.
Spotify still has 75 million paid subscribers worldwide and the last number we had from Apple was 50 million. Spotify also has almost 100 million "free" users worldwide.
Apple does it's own Maps.
For realizies this time.
Meaning they are going to use their own data and stuff aggregated from outside partners like TomTom and OpenStreetMaps
Eddy Cue gave the deets to TechCrunch in a recent interview.
Apple says they are going to a do a "ground up" re-do with data from:
Their fleet of Apple Maps cars (street-level)
High-res satellite imagery ( I don't think Apple has it's own satellites?)
And "probe data". Random anonymized navigation data from iPhone users
Apple says the new Maps will be more detailed and visually rich and that they will be more responsive to changes in roadways and construction.
The new Maps have been in development for 4 years.
They discuss that Apple pondered whether to do this from the very beginning or not.
Basically Apple didn't want to be in the Maps business
But as the data fell short and had to be supplemented and patched they realized maybe they made the wrong choice.
Should Apple ALSO be in the mapping business?
Maps are core to so many of the functions built into modern smartphones.
Responding to corrections, when you don't own the data, is also a problem.
They are gathering and analyzing 3D point data from the ground vans
Could be used for AR mapping directions for example, but Apple said no comment
Also potentially valuable for self-driving vehicles.
Data is processed through visual machine learning and AI to determine what's what.
Ultimately all data is also vetted by a team of humans.
There is also the privacy aspect.
To use all those outside services Apple's customers have to give over lots of valuable and personal data to Apple's mapping partners
In the "probe data" Apple doesn't every collect A B points from a customers directions and only random anonymized segments in the middle
It will launch in San Francisco and the Bay Area in the next iOS 12 beta and will cover Northern California by fall.
After that Apple is rolling it out "section by section" in the US for the next year.
No word on where they go after that.
New Mac and iPad references in Eurasia
Apple has registered new tablets and Macs with the Eurasian Economic Commission
Legally required for any devices with encryption sold in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.
The list seems to indicate 5 models across two different lines.
One set seems to be for possible updated 13-inch and 15-inch Macbook Pros and the other set could be refreshed 12-inch Macbooks.
Recent Geekbench scores surfaced that seemed to show an unknown MacbookPro model with an Intel Core i7-8559U Coffee Lake CPU.
It's a 28W processor that is not in any of Apple's current line up
If accurate it suggests Apple is sticking with LPDDR3 RAM, so no models with 32GB RAM.
We have had rumors of a new "entry-level" MacBook Pro, so that could be the added "extra" 13-inch model. Something that would likely replace the current MacBook Air.
The other oddity in this filing is what seems to be five iPad models.
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TextExpander stand alone is $44.95 and another $5.00 for the iPad version. The subscription is $39.96/yr.
If you're a previous customer it's actually only $20/yr. with the "Lifetime Loyalty Discount".
But yes, it is a value to benefit proposition, but that is ALWAYS the case subscription pricing or not.
I'll use SetApp as an example, there are dozens of apps in that service I will never use, but there are enough with enough value for me that it works out to pay the $9.99/mo.
Passwords and 1Password
Wayne wrote in to say that he really would love to use 1Password, but after downloading it and opening it he feels lost.
I realized a quick primer on the concepts and maybe explaining how I use it might be helpful.
Basically the idea behind 1Password is that you use it as a data store to keep all your passwords, credit card data, account data, secure notes, and more inside.
Think about it a bit like iTunes for your Music or Photos for your images, but for ANY data you want to keep secure and protected.
Where 1Password is different then those applications is that it encrypts and protects this data behind a single password (one Password).
The idea is that you can pick a single secure password to remember and then ALL of your other passwords will be "remembered" and accessible from the 1Password app. The app can by synced securely to multiple Macs, iOS devices, even PCs, etc.
That's great, but how do you use it and integrate it into your daily use?
It has an iTunes like 3 panel interface.
Your "Library" and then sections like favorites, categories, and tags.
Then you have the items themselves
Then you have the main panel with all the data and information
You can add a new password or item manually by clicking the "+" in the second column and choosing the type of item you want to add:
"Login" is one of the most common, but it could be a credit card, bank account info, email account, or software license.
The main difference between most of the categories is the fields you're presented ares tailored for that kind of data.
IMAP and SMTP address for and email account for example or License Key for software
All the fields are customizable and you can add additional ones
You then input the information and that's pretty much it.
When you need to access the info you open 1Password, enter your one Password and have access to the info.
You can browse or search
There are also "Favorites", so you can put your most accessed stuff there.
You can also tag items to make them easier to find. I use my clients names for their data I store.
There's also sorting options
Click on a field to copy it to your clipboard.
If you do have to hand type it, I love the "Large Type" feature
Of course you sync all your iPassword data, so you can access it the same way from the app on any device, Mac, Windows, PC, etc.
There is also a menu item that will let you access everything quickly from a pop-up panel like using spotlight.
The other thing to do is to install and use the Browser Extension
From the 1Password menu choose install browser extension
Then in your browser when you access a site that has a login you saved into 1Password you can click on the extension and it will auto-fill in the information for you.
You can also use the extension during sign-up to generate a secure strong password.
It will also prompt you to save your new registration info into 1Password.
On iOS, you can do similar things using the "share" button in Safari and accessing 1Password from the share sheet.
Some other great features:
Watchtower, in the sidebar
Let's you quickly find weak passwords, reused passwords.
It also shows, "compromised", passwords, but really just which sites have had data breaches in the past.
2Factor Authentication support. You can scan and store the "authenticator" codes, so no other app required
Plus when you're on a site that requires it, it will automatically copy the code to your clipboard.
You can review the "saved form" details and also access old password history for an account.
I have 2,800 bits of data stored in my 1Password.
I just added the "Family" plan and I can now share portions on my logins with my family.
And all of this is only just scratching the surface.
David asked about using a long complex password for iOS device or 1Password. I mentioned I use one.
The concern is taking a long time to type in and also how do you remember it?
The classic [XKCD]() trick is one of the best.
Pick 4 random non-connected words. I also like to separate them with random numbers and thrown in some capitalization
"House4gOlf2chIken1suiTcase" the number separates each word and is 4/2 2/2. The capitalized letter is the word position. First letter on the first word, second letter on the second word, etc.
You should really not have ANY patterns but in this case it's just adding more "entropy" to something that is already VERY hard to crack.
A final question I got a lot of was like this one from Marc
Play question.
Explain why I use both.
Know your IP ratings
And I don't mean how good your IP addresses are.
We're talking about the water (and dust) resistance ratings for your favorite devices their International Protection codes
These are the numbers you hear when a manufacturer says their device is "water resistant". Numbers like IP68 or IP57.
First thing to know, that number is not one number, but two.
The first is for "solid objects" and has a range from 1-6
The second is "moisture'' and has a range from 1-8
For "solid objects" a "1" is a hand, "2" a finger. "5" is a "limited" amount of dust that won't interfere with the equipment operation. "6" is completely dust proof.
"Moisture" is a lot different
1-3 deals with "falling" water
4-6 deal with "jets" of water
7-8 is about immersions, how deep and for how long.
The numbers are also indicative of the "tests" that were done. So, if you only have a 7 or 8 then it was only tested for immersion
It was likely not tested for the "jet" or "falling" water ratings.
If it was tested for both it will be indicated by displaying "both" ratings. (IP65/IP68)
An "X" in either of the locations can simply mean it was tested for that category.
The piece points out that speakers (magnets) can still attract metal particulates that can rip apart waterproof speakers.
The immersion ratings are also only for "fresh" water. Salt and chlorine could reduce the protection.
Heat and other items may have also broken down the water resistant glues and seals on your device over time.
Big reason why despite the ratings most electronics makers don't warranty for moisture damage
remember too that your device still has moisture sensors that will be checked when you go in for repairs.
Any moisture that gets in a device will immediately start corrosion, so your best policy is to ALWAYS keep your devices dry. Even if they survive a dunk and keep working it my only be a matter of time before the corrosion wins out and kills your device.
