I’m starting to think I should buy a Vision Pro next year just to keep it sealed and stashed away for an auction in 2039 or so.
Category: Apple
‘I Found Exactly One’ ⇢
Monica Chin, writing at The Verge:
Apple’s latest Mac Pro was finally revealed at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference as a machine for the most power user of power users. The video discussed audio engineering, color grading, and video transcoding. Apple’s product page mentions code compiling, animation, compositing 8K scenes, 3D rendering, and “analyzing enormous datasets.” This isn’t just for pros, Apple seems to claim; it’s for capital-P Pros.
I wanted to know whether Apple’s purported target demographic — people who spend their days animating, making visual effects, and doing various other tasks generally associated with big, powerful computers — were actually interested in purchasing this machine. So I asked a bunch of them, and the answer, basically across the board, was no. Not because the Mac Pro is bad but because Apple’s other computers, namely its laptops, have just gotten too good.
The visionOS SDK
In addition to publishing the initial SDK for visionOS, Apple has updated its Human Interface Guidelines to include the new operating system. There’s also a bunch of documentation up for review. There’s a lot here, and I can’t wait until folks start diving in.
Apple’s Self Service Repair Expanded, Updated ⇢
Today, Apple announced the inclusion of the iPhone 14 lineup, as well as M2-based 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pros, in its Self Service Repair program, which means we get to enjoy this amazing promotional art again:
More importantly, Apple has removed one of the most frustrating parts of the program:
Apple will also make the System Configuration process used for iPhone repairs, such as displays, batteries, and cameras, even easier to use. System Configuration is a postrepair software tool that ensures repairs with genuine Apple parts — designed and tested to internationally recognized standards — were completed correctly, and the parts are working properly. The tool is available for free to all Self Service Repair users and participating service providers in Apple repair programs.
Running System Configuration after a repair authenticates genuine Apple parts, updates firmware, and calibrates parts to ensure maximum performance and quality. Additionally, for repairs involving biometric authentication, such as Touch ID or Face ID, System Configuration links the biometric sensors to the Secure Enclave on the logic board to ensure device security and customer privacy.
Previously, customers would need to make a phone call to have the final step of the repair verified. Now, that can be done locally, which is fantastic.
The Worldwide Developer … Festival ⇢
John Voorhees, writing at MacStories, about how WWDC’s new form could continue to evolve:
I’d like to see Apple create a communal space for developers, its engineers and other employees, and media to gather. The trouble is that Apple Park is off-limits unless you have an invitation for an event. Without a convention center or nearby hotel to meet at, a lot of mingling happened at the Visitor’s Center, which wasn’t ideal because it’s a store and not that big when flooded with hundreds of developers. The Visitor’s Center cafe worked well as a gathering and workspace for the media, but it would be too small for everyone.
I’d love to see Apple open up the Developer Center and its parking lot turned into a gathering spot. Throw up some tents, add some tables and chairs, serve snacks and drinks, and I bet it would be a big hit, solving the problem that people can’t meet inside Apple Park and that hotels are spread out, preventing anywhere from becoming a central gathering spot during WWDC. Ideally, though, I’d love to see Apple set up a festival-style space inside Apple Park. I’m sure there are many security and other challenges to overcome, but the fields outside the company’s fitness center would be perfect.
Apple Battersea ⇢
The more I see of it, the more I love this newest iteration of Apple’s retail design.
A Watershed Moment ⇢
Federico, writing at MacStories:
I’m going to be direct with this story. My 30-minute demo with Vision Pro last week was the most mind-blowing moment of my 14-year career covering Apple and technology. I left the demo speechless, and it took me a few days to articulate how it felt. How I felt.
It’s not just that I was impressed by it, because obviously I was. It’s that, quite simply, I was part of the future for 30 minutes – I was in it – and then I had to take it off. And once you get a taste of the future, going back to the present feels … incomplete.
I really wish I had been able to try it at WWDC. Everyone who did seems changed somehow.
Apple’s Original Vision Products Were a Line of CRTs
The Apple Vision Pro may be ushering in the era of spatial computing, but like many other Apple products, it’s using a name steeped in history.
Ok, steeped may be a little strong, but Apple has had other products with “vision” in their names over the years. Seven products, to be exact, and all of them are long-forgotten CRT displays:
- AudioVision 14 Display
- AppleVision 1710 & AppleVision 1710AV
- AppleVision/ColorSync 750 & AppleVision/ColorSync 750AV
- AppleVision/ColorSync 850 & AppleVision/ColorSync 850AV
The AudioVision 14 Display came out in 1993, and was built around a Sony Trinitron CRT, as were all the other products in that list. The AudioVision 14 Display was Apple’s first “multimedia display,” and was equipped with a microphone, stereo speakers and two ADB ports for plugging in accessories.
Apple published a Q&A on the product that is still on its website today. This part jumped out at me:
Q: How does AudioVision differ from just adding separate high quality speakers and a high quality microphone?
A: While AudioVision’s sound performance is equivalent to many highly priced speaker and microphone alternatives, the all-in-one integrated hardware and software solution offers several advantages you just can’t get by adding on separate components. This integration advantage translates into simplicity of purchase and set-up, convenience in usage, and software Flexibility.
If that doesn’t explain Apple’s love of all-in-one products, I don’t know what does. Heck, that answer could be used to describe my Studio Display.
I even found an ad for the display, which normally sold for $790.
This product used the the HDI-45 connector for getting information to/from the user’s Mac with just one cable. As the name suggests, this was a 45-pin connector, and it carried analog RGB video, analog stereo audio signals (both in and out), ADB and S-video. This connector was found on the back of the the Power Macintosh 6100, 7100 and 8100 and was only ever used with the AudioVision 14 Display.
Yikes.
This display ended up being a one-off, being replaced with the AppleVision 1710 and the AppleVision 1710AV.
Before we get to those, we should talk about the naming of these products. There were three generations of “AppleVision” displays, and models with “AV” in their name included a built-in microphone and a set of speakers and generally cost $200 or so more.
The 1710 line shipped with a color 17 inch (16.1″ viewable area) Trinitron CRT and started at $999. The AV model ran $1,159 a big step up from the old AudioVision 14, but in those days, you paid dearly for every inch of CRT on your desk. These two displays were sold from August 1995 to August 1997, alongside the Power Macintosh 7200/75, Power Macintosh 7200/90, Power Macintosh 7500/100 and Power Macintosh 8500/120.
In 1997, Apple released ColorSync, its color management solution for Mac OS. ColorSync is a story for a different time, but to fully support it, Apple replaced the 1710 and 1710AV with two new displays: the AppleVision/ColorSync 750 and the AppleVision/ColorSync 750AV.
These two monitors shipped in August of 1997, retaining the 16-inch (viewable) CRT and required Mac OS version 7.1 or later.
The real highlight of the line was the AppleVision/ColorSync 850 and 850AV, which boasted a 20-inch (19-inch viewable) Trinitron. These shipped in May 1997, for $1,849 and $1,999, respectively. Here’s a bit from the press release:
Apple Computer, Inc. today introduced the new high-performance, AppleVision 850 AV and AppleVision 850 color displays for publishers, multimedia authors, photographers, and other professionals who rely on consistent visual performance and color accuracy, as well as for users of spreadsheet and page-layout applications who require a large display that supports very high resolution. Both displays incorporate Apple’s proven DigitalColor technology for state-of-the-art color accuracy, which is achieved through a patented internal calibration system that adjusts color over time with minimal user interaction. The displays support Apple’s ColorSync technology for color matching across multiple devices such as color printers and scanners by allowing display profiles to be created on the fly. Both displays also feature extensive, easy-to-use software control of screen geometry, mode switching, and color settings.
“The AppleVision 850 AV and AppleVision 850 displays truly complement our professional Power Macintosh computer systems,” said Phil Schiller, Apple vice president of product marketing for desktops, servers and displays. “When you combine one of these new displays with a Power Mac 9600 or 8600 for professional publishing or media authoring, you are getting some of the very best in graphics performance, image quality, color accuracy and industrial design.”
The product’s manual shows off the media controls that appeared on the chin below the display itself, as well as the rest of the display’s features:
You may be wondering what’s up with the rather long “AppleVision/ColorSync” name. This was a bit of a bandage to cover up the fact that Apple changed the name of these products on March 11, 1998:
Apple Computer, Inc. today announced a TCO upgrade to the currently shipping monitors for design and publishing professionals. Available in 17- or 20-inch configurations, the Apple ColorSync Displays now meet the strict international TCO 95 standards for recyclability,1 low emissions and power consumption. Additionally, the announcement completes the renaming of the displays from AppleVision 750 (17-inch) and AppleVision 850 (20-inch) to Apple ColorSync Display. The new naming more effectively communicates the advantages of the systems’ color calibration capabilities to customers.
I wasn’t really paying attention to Apple back then, but the name change makes sense to me. In the 1990s, desktop publishing was Apple’s bread and butter, and ColorSync was a big part of that, even if it did mark the end of the company’s “vision” branding, at least for a while.
- If you are like me and had no idea what “TCO” means, this should help. ↩
A Developer’s View of Vision Pro ⇢
Last week at WWDC I was extraordinarily fortunate to be one of the very few people in the world to try out Vision Pro for myself. The 30 minute session I had with it has been described in tremendous depth in lots of places (the best likely being Myke’s discussion on Cortex), so I won’t go into the content of that demo itself, but instead focus on what I think this platform means for developers, and [spoiler alert] why I’m incredibly excited to get started developing for it (and think you should too).
The Vibe is Good
I’m writing this in the lobby of my hotel in Cupertino, a couple of hours before I fly home to Memphis and I am here to report that the vibe at WWDC is good.
The Annual March
For several years, Apple has been really good at keeping features across its platforms in step with one another. 2023 is shaping up to be no different, with core improvements coming to the company’s various operating systems at the same time, each tuned to the particular form and function of their host devices.
I think it’s past time Apple rework its keynote strategy, building these videos around features and not OSes, but that’s a blog post for a different day. For now, users can move between their Apple devices more fluidly and quickly than ever.
This has been one of Apple’s goals for its ecosystems for a long time,1 but the company has become more clear about it in recent years.
That’s not to say that these various platforms are merging. Each one still has its own flavor, with features that make sense for the context in which they are used. NameDrop comes to mind, making it easy to quickly share contact information to/from an iPhone and/or an Apple Watch. When I’m at my Mac, I have other ways to share my contact information that don’t involve bumping my MacBook Pro against someone’s iPad.
(And that doesn’t even take into account the new Macs which are all exciting in their own ways.)
Apple’s Vision for the Future
As good as the new OSes look, Apple Vision Pro stole the show this year, and it seems completely justified. I didn’t get to use it this week, but everyone who did is freaking out about it. The technology seems incredibly impressive, blowing away everything else in this space.
I feel pretty good about what I wrote back in April:
Apple’s rumored broad approach with the new device could prove to be a wise one. By supporting most of the things its customers use their iPads and iPhones for, more folks may look at the headset and think, “This does something that is important to me,” and be willing to entertain a purchase.
If the headset is pitched as the next great gaming platform, many people would not be interested in it. Likewise, if it’s heralded as just a new way to work remotely and connect with colleagues, a bunch of people would write it off.
In a sense, every new product needs to be broad now, because consumers assume that everything is a computer that can do computer things. Splashing cold water on the headset’s upcoming announcement because it appears to lack a killer app feels premature to me. Doing a bit of everything is mere table stakes now.
I didn’t have “spatial computer” in mind when I wrote that, but the way Apple is talking about the product shows this thing is about more than just content or just gaming or just productivity. I don’t know if visionOS is the future of personal computing, but it is certainly an intriguing and promising prospect.
It’s an also exciting prospect for developers. It’s been a long time2 since there’s been a new platform that is so fundamentally different than what came before. At launch, I’m sure there will be a lot iPad apps floating around in AR, but I am much more excited about what new apps this type of computing will enable. From talking with developers this week, it’s going to be a lot of fun to see what works well on the Vision Pro.
Together Again
On a personal note, seeing my friends at Relay FM and beyond is what makes this trip so special. When I first showed up at WWDC 2013, I knew a handful of people and we were on the verge of launching The Prompt. This year, we recorded Connected and Mac Power Users at Apple Park.
I’m an introvert, but I really missed being in Cupertino for a few days every June during the pandemic. Last year felt like a trial run, but this year felt much more like the old WWDC. I can’t wait to come back in a year, probably with a very fancy headset packed away in my bag.
- This dates back to iOS 8 and Yosemite’s first batch of Continuity features. ↩
- This summer marks 15 years since the App Store launched. ↩
I Have Some Questions About the New New Mac Pro
It’s been one day since Apple announced a new Mac Pro, so we are now safely within the time period in which we can go back to worrying about the product and its future.
Back in 2006 when the first Mac Pro was announced, we were already at the tail end of the era of desktop tower Macs. 17 years later, notebooks are more popular than ever, and in the age of Apple silicon, they are more powerful than ever, too.
That puts desktop Macs on thinner ice than ever before in terms of unique capabilities. That’s not to say that Apple is abandoning the category — other than the seemingly-forgotten 24-inch iMac and the lack of a larger all-in-one, things are firing on all cylinders.
The Mac Studio is the greatest example of this. I don’t think anyone had “New Pro Desktop” on their bingo card for 2022, not to mention an update a year into its life. In my brief ownership of an M1 Max version of the machine, I was blown away by the performance Apple managed to cram into what is basically a taller Mac mini.1
Sitting between the Mac mini and Mac Pro, the Mac Studio has probably taken customers away from both, but I have to imagine the Mac Pro is on the losing side of that equation.
The new new Mac Pro is powered by the same M2 Ultra chip as found in the new high-end Mac Studio, with all of the good and bad that brings. It is amazingly fast, and the SoC blows away the old Xeon + Afterburner arrangement in the 2019 machine when it comes to encoding video.
However, it also comes with all the downsides of being an SoC. Gone is the 1.5 TB RAM limit of the 2019 Mac Pro, but more importantly, gone is the ability to add RAM after purchase. The same thing goes for upgrading the GPU.
The truth in 2023 is that Mac Pro you buy today will be the same core machine in five years, and that’s just not something we’re used to seeing when it comes to this machine.
Upgradability, of course, is just one side of the coin. The other is expandability. For those who rely on capture cards, huge amounts of internal storage and other PCI-based solutions, the Mac Pro continues to be their only option in Apple’s line.
The number of 2019 Mac Pros sold cannot be huge, but the new one’s numbers are going to be even smaller. As a Mac Pro fan that worries me. Yes, there are users who are reliant on PCI solutions and I’m sure those folks will upgrade to this new machine at some point. Those who purchased a Mac Pro in the past to have a machine they could keep current over the long haul are seemingly out of luck.
Are some extra Thunderbolt ports and a bunch of open PCI slots enough to justify the Mac Pro’s $3,000 premium over the Mac Studio? For most users, my guess is no. The days of the Mac Pro being the most powerful, most capable Mac are over, at least for now.
If a future Mac Pro has an SoC unique to it, as it was rumored a couple of years ago, that would certainly be exciting. M3 Extreme, perhaps? Off-die GPUs, anyone?
Several of us who cover Apple have heard that there are those inside the company that did not want this machine to see the light of day, believing the Mac Studio to be enough to hold down the high-end of the Mac line. Seeing the machine that Apple announced this week, I think they may eventually get their way.
- The fan noise also blew me away. I ended up mounting the thing under my desk. ↩
Download macOS Sonoma’s Default Wallpapers
I still think Big Sur had my favorite default wallpaper in the modern age of macOS, but these look pretty good!
Filipe Espósito over at 9to5Mac has details on how some of the fancier wallpapers work in Sonoma.