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Opening
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Opening Music
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Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
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News
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The future of iPhone
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Well now that we are past the Spring Apple announcement we are free to move full force into iPhone rumors
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Ming Chi Kuo is of course in the fray
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Two-way wireless charging, or bilateral charging. Change any Qi based device with your iPhone.
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Along with the feature he expects Apple will increase battery capacity from between 10 to 25 percent depending on the model.
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Alleged images of an 2019 iPhone internal chassis posted on the Chinese social media site Weibo
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Show the "triangle" configuration of a triple lens camera system
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At least one rumor claims the new lens is a 5x telephoto
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The added camera intended to improve zoom, field of view and low light performance and offer improved AR capabilities
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It's pretty much a given that the 2019 iPhone will not come with 5G modem support
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The trouble is Apple's fight with Qualcomm and Intel's lack of a 5G modem
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Intel is expected to have 5G modems in 2020, but they may not be ready early enough to meet Apple's development cycle.
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Apple has been frantically trying to develop designs in house, but those most likely won't be ready until 2021
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DigiTimes says we're getting a larger, same, and, smaller display. Also thinner displays
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Apple will release three OLED iPhones in 2020 available in 5.42-, 6.06- and 6.67-inch sizes.
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The thinness will reportedly come because of new display technology that removes a film substrate
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We're also getting some rumors about the next Apple Watch
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Reuters is claiming that Japan Display will supply the OLED screens. This would be that companies first venture into the OLED display market.
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Apple looking at sensors to detect particles in the Air, basically "smell" sensors
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A patent application title, "Compact Particulate Material Sensor,"
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Could be used to report air quality, including allergens
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Detect hazardous gases like carbon monoxide
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Even detect low blood sugar from body odor
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Not everyone wants an Apple Store
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Apple has been having a rough time expanding Apple Stores in some countries.
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This week two countries have told Apple no to new stores.
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In Israel Apple was hoping to open a Tel Aviv location in the Azrieli Sarona Tower, but has been shutdown as mall owners rejected Apple's terms
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Apple likes to trade on the volume and affluence of their customer base, but this time it didn't work.
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According to reports Apple has tried negotiations with other malls and none seem to want to agree to their terms.
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Supposedly in those terms was covering "marketing and inventory costs".
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Apple also has halted development on their proposed Federation Square store in Melbourne Australia
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That project met resistance from the very beginning when Apple even redesigned their proposed store after opposition.
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Most recently the heritage authority blocked development by declining a demolition permit application.
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Apple wanted to demolish the Yarra Building to make way for their new store.
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Apple told the The Sydney Morning Herald that they would no longer pursue the Melbourne project
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These aren't the first two countries to push back on Apple either. Remember Apple had to walk away from a proposed Sweden store in Stockholm when their city council rejected Apple's proposals.
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iPad tear-downs prove revealing
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iPad mini 5
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On the outside visually exactly the same as the 4th gen except for the removal of the regulatory marks on the back
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Gets the 7-megapixel ƒ/2.2 FaceTime camera from the iPad Pro 10.5-inch, big jump from the 1.2-megapixel sensor in the iPad mini 4.
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3GB, up from 2GB and of course the A12 bionic chip.
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A different type of battery connector, but same size. 19.32 Watt-hour capacity
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iPad Air
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Identical in size and thickness to the 2017 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and just a tad lighter.
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Has a logic board layout similar to the 2017 iPad Pro as well with a dual cell battery
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Basically they note that for all intents and purposes it's basically a 10.5-inch iPad Pro
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Of course the big thing it lacks is the 120 Hz ProMotion display and the extra couple speakers
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I have not seen or heard of this myself, but MacRumors is reporting about a growing Apple Support thread where a growing number of 2018 iPad Pro owners are reporting screen issues
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Most reports are about screens that register touch gestures, stutter when scrolling, miss keystrokes, and have other similar problems.
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It's not clear what is causing the issue and some report having problems right out of the box.
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Still there are also reports of problems months later and even some reports of issues with 2017 and 2016 models.
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Reports seem to be somewhat random and Apple seems to be replacing units, at least in the case of the 2018 models.
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Apple updates the Clips app
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Yes, the Clips app?!!
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New posters, new title and caption options, updated stickers, a camcorder filter, and more.
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A new "camcorder" to add a retro video look to your clips.
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New 8-bit and 3D stickers you can add to your videos
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Can add songs from GarageBand and Apple added ClassKit support to allow students to deliver video assignments to teachers through the Schoolwork app.
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Another H1 set of earbuds
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Beats has unveiled the Beats Powerbeats Pro
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Taking a queue from AirPods and dumping the wire from the Powerbeats to become "totally wireless"
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Has its own, very large, Lightning-powered charging case and Apple's new H1 chip.
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Support for "Hey lady", (or "hey dude").
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Same seamless setup experience with your Apple devices.
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Where they trump AirPods is:
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Color options: black, ivory, navy, and moss
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Different ear tips for different sized ears and better noise isolation
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Rated for sweat and water resistance
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4 hours more battery life and more than 24 hours of combined playback with the charging case.
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Apple also did a $50 USD price drop on the HomePod.
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Now just $299 USD.
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Similar, if not equal, price drops internationally
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Apple Music has made it on tho Amazon Echo and Fire devices in the UK
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Rolling out in the next few weeks
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WJS says Apple Music paid subscribers now outnumber Spotify paid subscribers in the US.
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Apple had more than 28 million U.S. subscribers in February compared to Spotify's 26 million paid U.S. subscribers.
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They also seem to be growing subscribers at a slightly higher rate than Spotify globally. 2.4 to 2.8 percent vs 2 to 2.3 percent for Spotify.
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Netflix has dropped AirPlay functionality from its iOS app
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Originally they cited "technical limitations" as the reason for the features removal
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The issue, Apple is opening up AirPlay to other, non-Apple TV, devices and so Netflix doesn't know which AirPlay device you're streaming to.
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They say the quality of the experience could be compromised since they don't know what the destination device is.
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Feedback
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Is the iPhone "boring"?
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Play comment from Wil
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Does it need to be exciting? What would make it exciting?
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What could even be done to the software to make it more exciting?
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Animoji and Mimoji are NOT it.
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On iOS I think better file management and support for external storage are long overdue especially if we're going to have more people using iPads as notebook replacements.
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The iPhone is just the iPhone until we move beyond the form factor and I think we're 5-10 years away from that.
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We'll start to see a log of experimenting and early adoption of smartphone alternatives
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Like it or not screens are coming to glasses and contacts
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Voice interfaces will become more prevalent
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Air Pods are a verbal and audio interface now. That will be expanded
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AR is going to play a huge role
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Multiple wearables in a wireless "body" network? Batteries built into clothing? Dyamos in our shoes?
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I think iPhone becomes not boring when it's not an iPhone.
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What's the right iMac
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With the latest iMac updates I think the lines are getting a bit blurry if you're in the market for a new one.
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That was something Nacho was struggling with when he sent me this comment. Play question
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A few other items from his email
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Has a limited budget of up to 2500€ ($2,800 USD)
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Currently uses a 21-inch iMac and is happy with it
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Main uses are internet+music+pictures and Outlook, Excel (power user) and possibly Parallels.
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Would like it to last about 7 years.
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I think I'd stick with the 21.5-inch in your case. Yes with the 27-inch you could opt for the 9th gen Intel processor, but it's blow your budget.
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On the i5 vs i7, they are both 6-cores and the speed improvements aren't that big when it comes to CPUs (at lest not from 3.0GHz to 3.2GHz).
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Take the CPU money and put it to RAM or a better GPU
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For longevity, I think the focus should be on SSD storage and RAM. Personally I think 1TB is the bare minimum for storage and 16GB for RAM (more RAM the better)
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If any budget is left over you bump up the GPU.
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The nice thing on the display side is you can always attach a second monitor later
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The iMacs can drive their internal display plus:
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One 5120‑by‑2880 (5K) external display or Two 3840-by-2160 (4K UHD) external displays, or Two 4096‑by‑2304 (4K) external displays
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All this does bring up in my mind the issue that in 2019, to my, a 21-inch display is rather small. I think 24-inch should be the entry point.
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News+ App Usability
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Apple News+ seems to be at least getting some interest
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NYT claims Apple News+ had more than 200,000 people sign up during its first 48 hours of availability
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Of course it's free at the moment, so we'll see how many of us stick around.
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I was commenting on the fact that the Apple News+ section in the news app has some serious usability and discoverability issues
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Mainly because many asked me, "how do I add a magazine to My Magazines".
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You tap the "masthead" when you're reading an issue BTW and then "heart" the magazine.
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Jim sent in some of his thoughts on the usability and UX. Play comment
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10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design by the Neilson Norman Group - https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
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I'll now also point out that for now "Apple News Enhanced" magazines on the Mac UI there is no way at all to get to the back catalog (no masthead)
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Maybe a Marzipan issue?
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Feels like exactly what Apple did was just find the easiest and quickest way to shoehorn the Texture service into Apple News
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The "hearts" make sense when you're favoriting your new sources, but seems stupid for magazines.
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There should simply be a "subscribe" option that adds them to your library, like podcasts.
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Then when you access your library you see the issues.
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Closing
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