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iPhone 13 Pro may get 120Hz Display

Latest rumors from the Korean website Elec say Apple will use Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxid (LTPO) technology in their OLED displays to finally bring “ProMotion” to the iPhone display

The LTPO technology allows the backplane, which turns individual pixels on and off on the display, to run more efficiently letting it run at higher refresh rates without suffering a battery life hit.

The site also says that Apple could use the technology to also bring a “always on” display to the iPhone. Similar to the “always on” functionality that they have on the Apple Watch

Apple launches Fitness+

Released along with the watchOS 7.2 and iOS 14.3 updates.

Available to Apple Watch users who subscribe to Apple Fitness+

Workouts can be done with and Apple Watch Series 3 or later and can be used with iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV

Needs iOS 14.3 or tvOS 14.3

Apple Fitness+ offers 10 different workouts types across a range of durations, including: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Strength, Yoga, Dance, Core, Cycling, Treadmill (for running and walking), Rowing, and Mindful Cool-down

Music and playlists also integrate with Apple Music

Early reviews have been pretty positive.

You can choose workouts based on type, duration, and even music type.

accessed from a new tab in the Fitness app

Some uses on Apple TV have experienced and issue where their Apple Watches give a "pairing canceled" error when attempting to connect.

Apple says the issue is the Apple TV not being properly added to the Home app

On Apple TV go to Settings > Airplay & HomeKit and see if there is a red badge. If so…

Choose Finish Home Set Up.

Unlock your iPhone and hold it close to ‌Apple TV‌.

Follow the instructions on the ‌Apple TV‌ to add the Apple TV to the Home app.

Don’t see the red badge? Contact Apple Support

Life Time Fitness, a gym in the US, announced it is including Apple's new Fitness+ subscription service in Life Time memberships starting later this month.

UnitedHealthcare is also offering 5 months of Apple Fitness+ free to it’s members, plus after the 5 months UnitedHealthcare Motion users may be able to apply program incentives to cover the monthly Fitness+ cost.

Apple Fitness+ does require an Apple Watch to set-up and activate, but you can do the workouts on iPhone and iPad without Apple Watch

There is an option to “Work Out Without Watch”

This is not possible on the Apple TV though.

Does not support AirPlay

More rumors of new Apple TV

Nikkei Asian Review is the latest source to claim that Apple is planning an Apple TV update in next year

Details are sparse, but it’s believed Apple will add an updated processor.

A few have said an A12 or A12X Bionic

At least one rumor had claimed an A14 update.

Also rumors of new storage sizes of 64GB and 128GB and maybe a redesigned remote.

There has also been speculation of the addition of an U1 chip. Could allow some cool new handoff and continuity features.

Apple may ramp up iPhone production

Again from Nikkei.

They claim iPhone 12 sales are going so well that Apple will be ramping up production

They say by 30 percent over the same period last year, with Apple planning to produce up to 96 million iPhones for the first half of 2021

This would be across all lines including the iPhone 12s and the older iPhone 11 and iPhone SE

The report says overall that Apple may be looking to produce 230 million iPhones in 2021, that would be up 20 percent rom 2019

One supplier commented on the demand by model claiming the demand for the iPhone 12 Pro models has been stronger than estimated while iPhone 12 demand has met expectation and iPhone 12 mini demand has been less than expected.

Apple rolled out App Privacy labels

Now displayed on Apps in the App Store

Designed to make it much easier to understand the kinds of data Apps are collecting and showing exactly how they’re using it.

It’s pretty shocking and scary to see.

Especially with a number of the social media apps

Still really great to have that level of clarity and transparency so consumers can make informed decisions about how they want to share and control their data.

All developers are required to provide the information to Apple

Those who don’t or those who provide inaccurate or misleading information and have their apps removed from the App Store

AirPods Max reviews

They are in and most are pretty positive

Describing a “luxury” listening experience

Most have given high praise to the active noise cancellation and transparency mode.

Reviewers also seem to be very happy with the fit and have noted that despite the weight the headphones are comfortable

But they say you definitely know their there, especially when you move your head.

Universally everyone seems to “hate” the “smart case”

In a recent interview Apple’s design team including Evans Hankey, Apple’s VP of industrial design, Eugene Whang, industrial designer, and Bob Borchers, VP of product marketing defended the smart case

They claimed the goal was to make it “storage efficient” (not bulky) and easy to fit in a bag.

They explained how the case is cut as a single piece of material and fastened in a way to make it three dimensional

Also said the exposed headband is not an issue because it is extremely durable and has the benefit of giving you an easy way to grab the headphone to get them out of your bag.

Concerns about the lack of a power button seem unfounded

After five minutes off your head and outside the case they will enter the low power mode

After three days in low power mode they will go into an “ultralow” power state that disables Bluetooth and Find My features.

In the SmartCase these two mode happen “instantly” and after 18 hours respectively

Even without the case reports have been that the headphones drain very slowly. Just 3 percent battery over 10 hours

iFixit did their teardown

Found a lot of glue and noted they are not easy to take apart (not surprising for an Apple product)

There are two battery cells, but they are both in the same ear cup

Batteries are

Korea’s The Elec is reporting that Apple is planning to release an AirPods Pro Lite model in 2021

They would be exactly like the AirPods Pros, but without active noise cancellation and selling for USD $199.00

In the same report they also claimed that AirPods Pros would get a redesign next year with a design that aims to get rid of the “stem”

Apple expands Maps’ Look Around’

Now includes Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; and Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

It is available in 22 cities and regions around the world, but not San Diego?

Apple also recently brought their enhanced Maps and look Around feature to Canada.

LiDAR-equipped Apple Maps vehicles are surveying select regions of Israel, New Zealand, and Singapore through early 2021 and previously they have been in parts of Australia, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Croatia

Apple closes 100 retail stores

Temporarily due to rises in COVID cases in various regions

This includes ALL retail stores in California and Tennessee which are now closed indefinitely

They’re also closing any UK stores that are under the new Tier 4 restrictions

And earlier in the week they closed 18 of their stores across Germany and the Netherlands

Most remaining open stores in the US are operating in an “Express’ capacity

Meaning allowing for pickups and genius bar appointments but not in-store shopping and browsing

In all stores, Apple is requiring face masks, limiting store occupancy, conducting temperature checks, implementing social distancing measures, and deep cleaning regularly.

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CleanMyMac X

CleanMyMac X is an all-in-one cleaning and optimizing software for your Mac. 

With powerful functionality and lots of useful features, CleanMyMac X helps you to stay aware of all apps that are installed on your Mac and their permissions. So, you can find out which programs can access your camera and microphone.

The app’s most popular feature is the Smart Scan. It examines your system for system log files and user cache that is no longer needed. Smart Scan also does a quick malware check and run some optimization tasks to speed up your Mac. And all of these will only take a couple of seconds.

Another superpower of CleanMyMac X is its ability to handle all performance-draining processes on your Mac. Its Optimization feature is way more straightforward than the built-in Activity Monitor.

CleanMyMac X gives you more control over apps and their files – you can find out what apps and programs you have on your Mac and uninstall those you don’t need.

CleanMyMac X is compatible with Big Sur!

Redesigned icon

CleanMyMac X Widget lets you check the available space on your Mac and see the trends of changing it over time.

Learn more about CleanMyMac X and download it for free at:  https://macpaw.app/maccast

More on external drives

Got a lot of follow up from the community on this topic

Many feel, and I would agree, that if you’re looking for a drive that is going to be doing “work” you should get the fastest drive and use the fastest interface.

That would mean USB 3.1 Gen2 or Thunderbolt and an SSD

Thing is, while this sound great in theory, it’s not always within the budget and that needs to be considered as well.

I think in the case of Photos, yes it is definitely worth spending the extra money if you can. My only point was if you can’t… it’s not going to be the end of the world.

Maccaster Nacho had a possible good compromise

Since the main goal was to have a local copy of ALL the photos in iCloud Photo Library as a local backup

He has a second user on his Mac and sets up that user with the Photo library on an external USB 3 HDD with the settings to sync all the files locally.

Then the main daily account is set up with the “optimize” photos option and the library local on the fast internal SSD.

Then once week or so he just logs into the other account to allow Photo to sync up all the files locally to the external drive, os there is a local backup.

This did kick off the question in general about using external drives to supplement the local storage on Macs

Apps, photo libraries, media libraries, etc.

Spinning drives, vs SSDs, vs NAS, vs RAIDs, multi-drive storage like Drobo + Synology, etc.

This is a complex topic and solutions are really going to vary by needs, but there are some generalized recommendations I think we can discuss.

Internal SSD storage is going to the the best performance

As much as possible you want working files and apps to be local.

This would include media libraries

External “working” storage

Fast interfaces, like USB 3.1 Gen2 or Thunderbolt

really need to pay attention to where the “bottleneck” is and will usually be the

SSDs, like new U.2 drives

Fast RAID, like RAID 0 “scary raid”

External “archive” and backup

USB 3

Can use HDD, NAS, or HDD multi-bay drives.

Keep working files local or on fast external storage solutions for best performance.

My “NAS” backup solution

David asked if I could cover in a bit more detail how I use my old 2006 Mac mini as a network backup solution

I have the Mac mini connected to an original 4-bay Firewire Drobo

It has a [Bearifi BearExtender Turbo 802.11ac](https://www.bearifi.com/collections/popular-bearifi-products/products/bearextender-turbo-for-mac) WiFi adapter for better WiFi

The Mac is running Snow Leopard and has File Sharing and Screen Sharing turned on in the Sharing System Preferences

It also has [ChronoAgent](https://www.econtechnologies.com/chronoagent/overview.html) software running on it to provide a better connection for ChronoSync

Then on my Macbook Pro I use [ChronoSync](https://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/overview.html) to set up a number of different synchronizations

My ‘Documents’ folder

My ‘Maccast’ folder

My ‘Media Library’

My iMovie Files

My ‘Clients’ folder.

Most of these are set up as “one-way” syncs and I use the option to NOT sync deleted files.

These all run on different schedules throughout the day and run in the background.

I do leave my Mac on, in display sleep, but with the “prevent from sleeping automatically when the display is off” option turned on. I also have wake for wi-fi access turned on and Enable Power Nap when plugged into a power adapter turned off.

Advice on Music Memos

Play comment from Dan.

Good to know, especially if you had file in there.

Thing of the Moment: Anker PowerExpand Elite 13-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 Dock

I finally broke down and bought a Thunderbolt 3 dock

Settled on the Anker because it offered at least 85W of charging and there was a “Black Friday” deal for USD $189.99

Lots of connectivity

2 Thunderbolt 3 40Gbps ports

2 USB-C Gen 2 - one with PowerDelivery for fast charging support

4 USB 3.1 Gen1 USB A ports

HDMI 2.0

Gigabit Ethernet

3.5mm audio in and out

SD and microSD card readers

The power supply is pretty large.

Only came with a Thunderbolt 3 Cable (2.3 ft), but still nice one was included.

I ordered a premium [2.0M Thunderbolt 3 (40Gb/s) USB-C cable](https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/CBLT3AC2.0BP/) from OWC

Supporters

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