Category: Apple

From the new macOS Human Interface Guidelines:

By default, the right side of the Touch Bar displays an expandable Control Strip that includes controls for performing system-level tasks such as invoking Siri, adjusting the brightness of the main display, and changing the volume level. Previously, users accessed most of these controls with a top row of physical function keys. You can implement app-specific controls in the app region to the left of the Control Strip. An Esc (Escape) button or other system-provided button may appear to the left of the app region, depending on context.

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It’s like my YouTube channel, but way more high-dollar.

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There’s a lot to process from today’s event, but right off the bat, I’ve been struck by how many SKUs of notebooks Apple is now selling. This doesn’t include any custom-built machines.

Model:Price:13-inch MacBook Air$99913-inch MacBook Air$119912-inch MacBook$129912-inch MacBook$159913-inch “Classic” MacBook Pro$129913-inch MacBook Pro with two Thunderbolt 3 ports$149913-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID$179913-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID$199915-inch “Classic” MacBook Pro$199915-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID$239915-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID$2799

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Several of us are chatting on Talkshow, and Connected will be live at 4:30 PM Eastern today.

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I’m helping the Six Colors team with Apple financial coverage today. Come hang out. From July to September, the company posted revenue of $46.9 billion with a quarterly net profit of $9 billion. Apple sold 9.3 million iPads, 45.5 million iPhones, and 4.8 million Macs during the quarter.

It also made a record $6.3 million in services. 9.3 million iPads is a record low for the tablet.

The company is issuing another cash dividend:

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Welp, it is real. These images are straight out of System/​Library/​PrivateFrameworks/​PassKitUI.framework/​Versions/​A/​Resources on my Mac running 10.12.1:

There’s a lot to parse here. Clearly, the rumors of a Magic Toolbar are all correct, as well the inclusion of Touch ID to the right of the Toolbar. It looks like this version of Touch ID lacks the stainless steel ring found on iOS devices.¹

(I just hope third-party developers can access it like they do on the iPhone and iPad.)

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Sure seems likes the name.

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Eva Dou, at The Wall Street Journal, describing Apple’s plans to possible replace the plastic keycaps on its keyboard with ones that include e-ink displays:

The new keyboards will be a standard feature on MacBook laptops, and will be able to display any alphabet, along with an unlimited number of special commands and emojis, people familiar with the plans said.

Apple is aiming for a 2018 launch, these people said.

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There are a bunch of Mac notebook rumors flying around today, so I thought it’d be fun looking at them individually.

RIP, 11-inch MacBook Air

TIL the 11-inch Air is still around.

I’m joking. Mostly. I know it has some big fans, but this machine feels redundant in a world where the 13-inch Air is just $100 more and the MacBook is just as portable:

11-inch Air:$899 13-inch Air: $999 12-inch MacBook: $1,299

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Mark Bramhill’s Welcome to Macintosh is one of my all-time favorite nerdy podcasts. He is looking to bring it back for a third season, and has launched a Kickstarter project to do it:

Season 3 of Welcome to Macintosh is the most ambitious season to date. The stories I’m working on require traveling across the country, reporting on events, working with designers — and these expenses add up. Advertising helps, but the money only comes in after the episodes have been released. In the past, I’ve paid for expenses out of pocket and just trusted that things would work out. But that’s not sustainable, and it limits what I’m able to do and what stories I can tell.

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Mark Gurman and Alex Webb at Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. has drastically scaled back its automotive ambitions, leading to hundreds of job cuts and a new direction that, for now, no longer includes building its own car, according to people familiar with the project.

Hundreds of members of the car team, which comprises about 1,000 people, have been reassigned, let go, or have left of their own volition in recent months, the people said, asking not to be identified because the moves aren’t public.

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Jason Snell, arguing that the Mac’s system sounds deserve some attention:

The Mac comes with 14 built-in alert sounds, all available from the Sound Effects tab of the Sound preference pane. One of them, Sosumi, dates from System 7. Three more—Glass, Purr, and Submarine—date from Mac OS 9. Six others (Basso, Frog, Funk, Ping, Pop, Tink) are from the earliest days of OS X. The newest ones seem to be Blow, Bottle, Hero, and Morse—and they’ve been around since at least Snow Leopard in 2009.

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