512 Pixels

Apple:

Apple today announced that all users in the United States can now experience a redesigned Maps with faster and more accurate navigation and comprehensive views of roads, buildings, parks, airports, malls and more, making it easier and more enjoyable to map out any journey. Apple completed the rollout of this new Maps experience in the United States and will begin rolling it out across Europe in the coming months.

“We set out to create the best and most private maps app on the planet that is reflective of how people explore the world today,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “It is an effort we are deeply invested in and required that we rebuild the map from the ground up to reimagine how Maps enhances people’s lives — from navigating to work or school or planning an important vacation — all with privacy at its core. The completion of the new map in the United States and delivering new features like Look Around and Collections are important steps in bringing that vision to life. We look forward to bringing this new map to the rest of the world starting with Europe later this year.”

This new data showed up here in Memphis over the last week or so, and so far, it’s way better than the old Maps data. I’ve put the Maps app back on my home screen instead of Google Maps, and so far, so good.

This week on the show:

This week, the gang reflects on the iPad 10th’s birthday, complains about Google AMP and then reviews Fantastical 3.

My thanks to our sponsors:

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Fantastical 3 has been released, and I have really enjoyed using it during the beta period. For years, Fantastical has been a really solid iPhone calendar app, built around fast natural language processing. Generally, entering a calendar event involves tapping a lot of buttons and hoping for the best, but with Fantastical, you didn’t have to leave the keyboard.

Over the years, Fantastical spread, making its way to the Mac and iPad. The latter in particular left a bit to be desired, but this new version takes much better advantage of the iPad’s larger screen.

The app is now free, with a premium subscription that costs $4.99/month or $39.99/year. If you live and die by your calendar as I do, I think the cost is well worth it. This support page on the Flexibits website breaks the features down, and while the free version is totally usable, a bunch of the cool stuff like the ability to combine duplicate events, use the app as a full Todoist client and a feature to propose multiple times when scheduling are all part of the premium level.

As Fantastical was a paid app before, there’s a way forward for previous customers, as explained by Chris Bowler on The Sweet Setup:

If you are a current Fantastical 2 user but not a fan of the switch to subscription-based pricing, Fantastical 3 actually installs over Fantastical 2 and gives you access to every feature you previously had. That means that you can still do things like access the different views using the new UI and can add invitees to calendar events. But if you want access to new features like templates and meeting proposals, you’ll need to upgrade to Fantastical Premium.

To power a bunch of this, Fantastical 3 now syncs directly with a bunch of cloud providers including Google, iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, Office 365 and more. You can use it as a client to see your local calendars already on your device, but in my testing, the direct sync seems faster and more solid. Plus, you can use Sign in with Apple, which is neat.

All in all, I’m impressed with this release, and Fantastical 3 has been on the home screen of my iPhone and iPad for a while, as well as the Dock on my Macs. Go check it out.

For bonus points, check out some other coverage of the release:

• Federico’s review on MacStories
• Jason’s review on Six Colors
• David Sparks’ free video Field Guide covering the app in depth.

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2020 first quarter ended December 28, 2019. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $91.8 billion, an increase of 9 percent from the year-ago quarter and an all-time record, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $4.99, up 19 percent, also an all-time record. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

“We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board.”

John Voorhees over at MacStories has published a bunch of charts, and Jason Snell has published a transcript of the call.

This week on Liftoff:

On January 28, 1986, seven astronauts lost their lives aboard the space shuttle Challenger, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. This week, Jason and Stephen talk about the disaster, its causes and how it changed NASA, after discussing the current House NASA Authorization Bill and more.

There’s no sign of the rumored Pro Mode, but the update does have some other goodies.

macOS 10.15.3:

• Optimizes gamma handling of low gray levels on Pro Display XDR for SDR workflows when using macOS
• Improves multi-stream video editing performance for HEVC and H.264 encoded 4K video on the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019)

It is available now via Software Update in System Preferences.

I’m sure the Apple ID system is more robust than it used to be, this is one of those things that gives me a bad feeling any time I think about it.

Ten years ago, Steve Jobs introduced the iPad. As you may imagine, there’s quite a collection of stuff to absorb about this:

• Upgrade #82: Jason and Myke discuss the iPad keynote and a lot of what has happened since.
• AppStories #147: Federico and John look back at the introduction of the iPad and how apps have defined the product ever since. John wrote a great article as well, which includes a roundup of all the whacky rumors and rendering leading up to the iPad keynote.
• Simple Beep #88: Ed and Brian walk though the keynote in great detail.
• Debug #41: A 2014 episode of Rene Ritchie’s old podcast, in which Nitin Ganatra talks about the original iPad interface.
• Rene Ritchie’s video on the iPad’s origins.
• The chair Steve Jobs sat in during the keynote.

It’s also fun to revisit old reviews:

• Aluminum and Glass: My review of the original iPad.
• Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer? Pretty Close — Walt Mossberg’s review.
• Gruber’s iPad review.
• Jason’s review for Macworld.

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This week on Mac Power Users:

Gone are the days of waiting for the evening news to find out the weather for the next day. Now, weather data is accessible anywhere. This week, David and Stephen compare a bunch of different weather apps and services before picking their favorite.

I had a lot of fun prepping for this episode; I hope it will blow you away.

My thanks to our sponsors:

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Malcolm Owen, writing at AppleInsider:

The iMac is one of the many iconic devices designed by Apple, with the all-in-one Mac consisting of a thin display housing the main components and a small stand to hold the display at eye-level for the user. While the design has received refinements over the years to make the main screen section thinner and sleeker, Apple is also mulling over making a more striking change to its design.

In a patent application published by the US Patent and Trademark Office for an “Electronic Device with Glass Housing Member,” Apple is exploring the boundaries of the iMac by proposing one that is effectively formed from a single sheet of glass.

Here’s a bit from that application:

An electronic device comprising: a glass housing member comprising: an upper portion defining a display area; a lower portion defining an input area; and a transition portion extending between the upper portion and the lower portion and defining part of a continuous surface defined by the upper portion, the lower portion, and the transition portion; a display coupled to the glass housing member and configured to provide a graphical output at the display area; an input device coupled to the glass housing member and configured to detect an input at the input area; and a support structure coupled to the glass housing member and configured to support the glass housing member.

I read that about three times and still struggled to visualize this, but thankfully, the filing includes some images of a display that curves down to meet the desk it is resting upon:

This thing is wild, and I think that Owen’s headline — “Apple working on radical iMac redesign using single sheet of glass — doesn’t really reflect the story here.

Apple files lots and lots of patents, and the vast majority of them that feature entire product designs don’t ever see the light of day. This filing doesn’t mean that Apple’s next iMac is going to look like this, or was ever going to. Apple didn’t even have to make a device like this in a secret lab to file its paperwork.

I suspect a redesigned iMac will take cues from the Pro Display XDR in terms of design, with squared off edges and much smaller bezels. While I think this patent application looks pretty sweet, I wouldn’t count on seeing it anytime soon.

My thanks to Secure ShellFish for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It is a fantastic SFTP client that lives in the Files app on iPad and iPhone. Access the directories on your Mac, Linux server or Raspberry Pi like you access Dropbox and iCloud Drive.