Mark Gurman seems to feel that it’s not likely to be on a Apple notebook first
In a new comment in his newsletter he says the feature will most likely show up in and iMac first because the technology to build it into an ultra thin MacBook Pro display doesn’t exist.
It seemed like Apple might be preparing for FaceID in the notebook especially with adding the notch to the new 14-inch and 16-inch designs (as we know nether currently offers FaceID)
In the past he predicted that FaceId might make it’s way into updated iMacs and that was before the release of the 24-inch iMac. We know know that didn’t happen.
So with the rumored 27-inch iMac “Pro” update looming will that be the first Mac with FaceID?
One thing mentioned in articles about FaceID on the Mac is that while it will be great for unlocking using it for FaceID purchases would still require some sort of button push or additional “confirmation” action.
True I guess, but this is how it works on an iOS device too (when making an Apple Pay purchase on the web). You have to confirm and Apple Pay purchase on your Apple Watch, on an iPhone, or by pressing TouchID.
Guess maybe the point is, does adding FaceID to the Mac bring that much more advantage over TouchID beyond just a better unlock experience?
M2 Macs likely in the works
No one knows for sure yet when Apple’s next event might be, but at the moment many are thinking March 8th.
Whatever happens we have a couple sources this week saying an M2 updated for the 13-inch MacBook Pro could be part of the March 8th lineup.
First we have Mark Gurman at Bloomberg… now he doesn’t say anything about a release date, but does say an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro would come with an M2 chip and ditch the TouchBar like the 14-inch and 16-inch models
What he says the lower priced Pro won’t have is high end specs like ProMotion or mini-LED backlighting.
He does expect other M1 Macs in the line-up to also get M2 upgrades in 2022, including the 24-inch iMac, entry-level Mac mini and MacBook Air.
Over at DigiTimes that do claim that Apple will launch the M2 in an updated MacBook Pro at their next Spring event
In fact they think the event will feature a whole lineup of some Apple products we’ve been waiting for
In addition to the M2 13-inch MacBook Pro they say Apple will announce the entry level 5G iPhone SE and an updated entry-level iPad
They say the MacBook Pro will basically have “almost the same specs” as the existing model just with the updated processor
Apple announces ‘Tap to Pay'
It’s official you will soon be able to use your iPhone to accept contactless payments as well as make them
Apple said, “Tap to Pay on iPhone will be available for payment platforms and app developers to integrate into their iOS apps and offer as a payment option to their business customers."
It will first be offered in the US this Spring to Stripe business customers and then rolled out to additional payment platforms and apps later this year
It will work through iOS apps on the iPhone XS or later by placing an iPhone or Apple Watch to pay with Apple Pay, a contactless credit or debit card, or another digital wallet near the merchant’s iPhone to make a secure payment over NFC
Apple picks up AI Music startup
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple has acquired AI Music, a startup that has developed a platform capable of creating songs using artificial intelligence
The details of how much Apple paid for the company are unknown at this time.
It’s not clear either what Apple’s plans for their new purchase are, but the company’s technology allows it to create royalty free original music using AI based on user interactions in realtime.
Using technology they call an Infinite Music Engine they claim they can provide music for marketers, publishers, fitness professionals, creative agencies and many more
What seems likely for Apple is custom music generated for Apple Fitness+ workout since AI Music says the technology could generate music that adapts to your heartbeat.
Or original music for Apple Photos slideshows maybe based on the visuals in your photos?
I would think too that there could be some interesting applications if combined with Apple’s AR / VR headset which is said to have sensors to track hand gestures and head movement. Could be some fun applications for Music generation and visuals based on movement.
And remember when Apple purchased the classical music streaming service Primephonic last year?
They expanded the catalog of classical music on Apple Music, but they also promised they would deliver an app dedicated to classical music in 2022.
Now it looks like they might be close.
9to5Google was digging around in the latest beta builds of the Music app for Android and found references to “Apple Classical”
The strings seemed to indicate the ability to open a compatible track directly in the Apple Classical service
Jones, Wigg, Dior, Coco, and J.J.
Looks like a pretty big week for new Apple TV+ series
First we have a new 8-episode limited series called “Presumed Innocent” coming from David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams, and Dustin Thomason
The series is based on a novel of the same name and focuses on the story of a "horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys' office when one of its own is suspected of the crime."
Next is a “dark comedy” series called “Sunny” that will star former Parks & Rec star Rashida Jones
Written by Katie Robbins, "Sunny" is based on the book "Dark Manual" by Colin O'Sullivan
The story tells the story of a woman "whose life is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash.” To help her cope she is given, “a new class of domestic robots made by her husband's electronics company.”
The series is being produced by the A24 studios and marks the second collaboration between A24 and Jones for Apple TV+. She started along side Bill Murray in the A24 studios film “On the Rocks”
In addition, Apple has given a straight to series order for a 10-episode series called "Mrs. American Pie”
It will star Kristen Wiig and Laura Dern.
The series will tell the story of Maxine Simmons (played by Wiig), a woman who tries desperately to get a seat at Palm Beach's high society.
Dern also developed the project which is based on a novel by Juliet McDaniel and Dern will also serve as executive producer
And finally a “fashion thriller” (yes, I guess that’s a thing?) about the fall of Coco Chanel and rise of Christian Dior set against the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War II
The series will be Written, executive produced and directed by Todd A. Kessler and stars Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche
Apple TV+ films had a great showing for this years Oscar nominations picking up six nods including one for best picture
CODA, which is excellent BTW, received the nomination for Best Picture
Troy Kotsur also received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as the father in CODA
Sian Heder the director and scriptwriter for CODA also received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay
And then the other three nominations came for Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Denzel Washington for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Apple addresses AirTag stalking
Unfortunately, despite attempts to add features at launch to alert customers to unwanted AirTags tracking them Apple’s device trackers have been getting a lot of bad press lately
Even though Apple has done more to reduce stalking risks with their trackers then any other trackers on the market.
So Apple this week announced new steps and additional safety features they are planning to roll out this year.
First Apple said they are “actively working with law enforcement” on AirTag-related requests and that based on that work they feel “incidents of AirTag misuse are rare,” but acknowledged that “each instance is one too many.”
A new privacy warning will make it clear that AirTags are intended to track items not people and will warn users that AirTags are linked to your Apple ID and that law enforcement can request this identifying information (with a subpoena or court order).
Apple will update the “Unknown Accessory Detected” to identify exactly what accessory is traveling with you, fro example AirPods or a 3rd party FindMy accessory.
They will allow you to use Precision Finding to located an unwanted AirTag near you (currently you can only use this feature on AirTags tied to your AppleID)
They are also changing how sound alerts work. This happens at an interval of eight hours and 24 hours when an unknown AirTag is near you.
The new functionality will not only play the sound but also pop-up an alert on your iPhone and give you the ability to trigger he sound again (in case it’s hard to hear).
This will also help with AirTags that have had their speakers disabled.
They are also adjusting the tones to make them louder and easier to hear
And lastly they plan to update the logic to “notify users earlier that an unknown AirTag or Find My network accessory may be traveling with them.”
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Repair Disk Permissions
David emailed me to ask… “How do you repair permission in Monterey?”
Us old school Mac Geeks know the time honored tradition of rubber chicken waving to fix issues when our Mac are misbehaving
Reboot
Zap the PRAM
Run Disk First Aid
Repair the Disk Permissions
As of macOS version 10.11 El Capitan, Disk Utility no longer comes with the option "repair disk permissions."
Why? Because Apple has saved us from ourselves and made it unnecessary with something called System Integrity Protection (SIP)
SIP automatically repairs file permissions during software updates and system changes.
SIP restricting the root account so that it can’t do things like modify protected locations and processes.
System Integrity Protection includes protection for these parts of the system:
/System
/usr
/bin
/sbin
/var
Apps that are pre-installed with OS X
System Integrity Protection is designed to allow modification of these protected parts only by processes that are signed by Apple and have special entitlements to write to system files, such as Apple software updates and Apple installers.
System Integrity Protection also helps prevent software from selecting a startup disk. To select a startup disk, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click Startup Disk. Or hold down the Option key while you restart, then choose from the list of startup disks.
Preview your built-in image editor
You know that apps like Photoshop, Affinity Photo, and Pixelmator are the kings when it comes to photo editing and image manipulation.
But what happens when you have simple needs and want to just make a simple quick edit and be done with it?
Dan asked me this week, Do you… “you know of a way to flip an image. Not rotate, flip"
Boy do I Dan and it’s using a simple app that’s built right into your Mac
Despite it’s name “Preview” is not just for viewing PDFs anymore. It can do a surprising number of image editing and other tricks.
First to tackle your “flip” request…
Open you image in Preview
Go to ‘Tools’ > Flip Horizontal
Save your image.
BTW, you can also Flip Vertical and rotate.
Cropping and resizing are also a breeze
To resize you can choose ‘Tools’ > ‘Adjust Size…”
There you can change the dimensions, resolution, and scale
To crop just drag your mouse to select the area. You can use the handles to fine tune your selection, then choose ‘Tools’ > ‘Crop’
You can make color adjustments by choosing ‘Tools’ > ‘Adjust Color'
Options for exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, saturation, temperature, sharpness, and more
And don’t forget Markup
You can add text annotations, speech bubbles, simple shapes, highlight sections of a photo, magnify sections, create alpha masks, and more.
Thing of the Moment: Monoprice USB-C to DVI Adapter
