With the 2010s coming to an end, I thought it would be a good time to talk about what I think were Apple’s most influential products in the last ten years. Today, let’s look at the iPhone.
When the 2010s started, the iPhone was still gaining steam, with the iPhone 4 released in June 2010. Today, it’s a juggernaut, and it demands both larger prices and larger places in our pockets.
With the 2010s coming to an end, I thought it would be a good time to talk about what I think were Apple’s most influential products in the last ten years. Up first: the Mac.
When the original MacBook Air was introduced, it was positioned — both in price and marketing — as a high-end, ultra-portable notebook that was perfect for those who traveled a lot for work or just wanted the lightest Mac notebook possible.
OWC has launched a PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD card for the Mac Pro, and it looks pretty sweet:
Accelsior 4M2 NVMe SSD is OWC’s fastest SSD ever with over 6,000MB/s speed for large format video editing, VR/AR/MR environments, extreme gaming, and other high bandwidth needs. Available in capacities up to 8.0TB, Accelsior 4M2 is the ultimate performance drive for Mac Pro 2019, Mac Pro 2012 and 2010, and PC towers. It offers silent cooling via a finned heat sink cover and installation versatility with a half-length x8/x16 design.
A few things caught my eye in this teardown:
At the risk of creating some sort of space-time-link paradox, here’s Joe Rossignol at MacRumors:
Shortly after the Pro Display XDR became available to order this week, Stephen Hackett of Relay FM noted that the iMac Pro was not included in the list of Mac models compatible with the display on Apple’s website.
Fortunately, video editor Thomas Grove Carter has since demonstrated that the iMac Pro can in fact drive the Pro Display XDR, but only at a 5K resolution. This is likely because the iMac Pro uses Intel’s older “Alpine Ridge” Thunderbolt 3 controller without enough bandwidth to drive a 6K display.
Great news if you have an Amazon Tube Friend.
According to an Apple support document, the Pro Display XDR with nano-texture glass must be cleaned only with the dry polishing cloth that Apple provides. No water or liquids should be used to clean the glass.
Apple warns that Pro Display XDR owners should never use any other cloths to clean the glass, and if the included dry polishing cloth is lost, Apple Support should be contacted so another cloth can be ordered. There’s no word yet on what Apple is charging for replacement cleaning cloths.
Ryan Christoffel has details, but this is the most important thing:
When visiting Settings ⇾ General ⇾ Keyboard, at the bottom of the screen there’s now a toggle that can be used to remove Memoji stickers from the emoji keyboard altogether. Once removed, they can still be accessed from the iMessage app row that lines the top of the standard keyboard inside Messages.
The update includes the following fixes and enhancements:
Apple News
- New layout for Apple News + stories from The Wall Street Journal and other leading newspapers
Stocks:
- Get links to related stories or more stories from the same publication at the end of an article
- “Breaking” and “Developing” labels for Top Stories
- Stories from Apple News are now available in Canada in English and French
- This update also includes the following bug fixes and improvements:
Music:
The Mac Pro is back. Apple is finally delivering on a promise it made back in April 2017. Here’s John Gruber, writing at the time:
Apple is currently hard at work on a “completely rethought” Mac Pro, with a modular design that can accommodate high-end CPUs and big honking hot-running GPUs, and which should make it easier for Apple to update with new components on a regular basis. They’re also working on Apple-branded pro displays to go with them.
Apple today received its first-ever Golden Globe nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), including Best Television Series, Drama, for Apple’s global hit “The Morning Show” and dual nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama, for “The Morning Show” stars and executive producers Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. The awards will be presented at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 5, 2020.
Jason Snell has poured a cold glass of logic on the Mac Pro fire burning in my heart.