A new online journal, published by Apple, about machine learning. A while back, there was a story about how important publishing is in this field. While this doesn’t meet all those needs, it’s a nice look into what the people on this team are working on, at least to an extent.
There’s even an RSS feed.
The last time the Mac Mini was updated was October 16, 2014. Today is June 12, 2017. I had to use an online calculator to be sure, but the results are exactly 1000 days since the last Mac Mini update. This isn’t nearly as bad as the Mac Pro update debacle, but it’s still worth noting.
Damn.
Replacing the battery in a Retina MacBook Pro is no easy task, but the folks at iFixIt are looking to change that. This kit looks great, and if I were still opening up Macs on a regular basis, I think I’d pick one up.
The MacBook Adorable is not without its faultsconcessions compromises. However, especially as a secondary machine, I have absolutely fallen in love with it.
If I didn’t have to edit podcasts when I travel, I think I would have opted for the MacBook over the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Richard Moss, writing at Ars Technica, has published a lovely article about FireWire. I learned a bunch of stuff reading it.
This story by William Turton at the Outline shows how much work Apple is doing to keep things secret. The Outline received a copy of an internal training session:
The briefing, titled “Stopping Leakers - Keeping Confidential at Apple,” was led by Director of Global Security David Rice, Director of Worldwide Investigations Lee Freedman, and Jenny Hubbert, who works on the Global Security communications and training team.
According to the hour-long presentation, Apple’s Global Security team employs an undisclosed number of investigators around the world to prevent information from reaching competitors, counterfeiters, and the press, as well as hunt down the source when leaks do occur. Some of these investigators have previously worked at U.S. intelligence agencies like the National Security Administration (NSA), law enforcement agencies like the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, and in the U.S. military.
I’ve had my 10.5" iPad Pro for just about a week now, and while I’m not really ready to a full review of it, I do have a bunch of miscellaneous thoughts I wanted to share:
Alex Webb and Emily Chang at Bloomberg:
After years toiling away in secret on its car project, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has for the first time laid out exactly what the company is up to in the automotive market: It’s concentrating on self-driving technology.
“We’re focusing on autonomous systems,” Cook said in a June 5 interview on Bloomberg Television that amounted to his most detailed comments yet on Apple’s automotive plans. “It’s a core technology that we view as very important.” He likened the effort to “the mother of all AI projects,” saying it’s “probably one of the most difficult AI projects to work on.”
I’m watching macOS High Sierra install on my MacBook Pro. I plan on reviewing it this fall, and wanted to jump in a little earlier than I normally do.
However, I expect that I will need to work on my notebook some this summer, so I’m installing it on an external SSD. Specifically, the Samsung T3 Portable SSD. It’s fast and small, and has a USB C port on the back of the drive. I’m using the included USB C to A cable, but am going to swap it with a USB C cable for a little less clutter.
WWDC is winding down here in San Jose, and I think everyone’s pretty happy.
Most people I’ve spoken to like the move from San Francisco to San Jose. I know I do; I feel like WWDC has taken over the downtown area in a good way. It’s easy to run into people in a venue or restaurant and strike up a conversation because chances are, they are here for the conference. The badass WWDC jackets helped make it easy to spot each other.1
Apple briefly mentioned the MacBook Air was updated yesterday. Turns out, that update isn’t much to write home about, as Ryan Smith reports:
The updated laptop retains the use of Intel’s Broadwell processor, but the base configurations now uses a faster chip, Intel’s Core i5-5350U, instead of the slower i5-5250U. As hinted at by the minor model number change, this is not a massive difference – both the base and the boost clock are 200MHz faster, for 1.8GHz base and 2.9GHz boost – but it is none the less a tangible performance improvement for Apple’s entry-level laptop.
As its name may suggest, Apple’s latest Mac operating system, macOS High Sierra, was billed today as a performance update for macOS. Packed deep with improvements to macOS apps and system-level functionality, High Sierra brings welcome changes to the Mac.
Additionally, Apple introduced important new technologies in macOS, including support for virtual reality, its new file system APFS, and Metal 2.
Not the most exciting macOS update, even in the era of smaller macOS updates, but I’m fine with it.