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Apple:

With iOS 12, previous Workflow app users are upgraded to the Shortcuts app. Here are the latest features.

Apple Support:

With features like Dark Mode, Stacks, and four new built-in apps, macOS Mojave helps you get more out of every click. Here’s how to make sure that your Mac is ready for macOS Mojave.

macOS Mojave ships a week from today, on September 24th.

For the last several years, Federico Viticci has written the review of new iOS versions, and this year is no different:

With iOS 12, Apple wants to rectify iOS’ performance woes, proving to their customers that iOS updates should never induce digital regret. Perhaps more notably though, iOS 12 doesn’t have a single consumer feature that encapsulates this release – like Messages might have been for iOS 10 or the iPad for iOS 11. Instead, iOS 12 is a constellation of enhancements revolving around the overarching theme of time. Apple in 2018 needs more time for whatever the next big step of iOS may be; they want iOS users to understand how much time they’re spending on their devices; and they want to help users spend less time managing certain system features. Also, funnily enough, saving time is at the core (and in the very name) of iOS 12’s most exciting new feature: Shortcuts.

As always, this review is well-considered, easy to navigate and amazingly helpful. Go grab your iPad and a coffee and get started.

Steven Levy at Wired:

Twenty-five years ago, the computer revolution’s marquee company was in decline. Back then, it was just settling into shiny new headquarters, a campus of six buildings that formed a different kind of ring. Called Infinite Loop, the name is a reference to a well-known programming error—code that gets stuck in an endless repetition—though no one seems to kn ow who applied it. Infinite Loop was the place where Apple’s leaders and engineers pulled off a historic turnaround, and it will always be the source of stories and legends—many of them untold. Until now.

Apple:

To learn which SIM card your iPhone or Wi-Fi + Cellular model iPad uses, find your model in the list.

I picked up a 256 GB iPhone XS Max. My iPhone X is silver, so I am going Space Gray this time around to mix it up. As usual, I have a black leather case that I won’t use very often coming as well.

I’m a little nervous that the Max is going to be too big, so I’m holding onto my iPhone X for now. I need to have the crack in the rear glass dealt with anyways, so it’s going to be a 5.8-inch safety net for a couple of weeks.

Oddly, very few iPhone models showed as available for pickup at my local Apple Store when ordering in the iOS app, so I’m stuck waiting for a delivery next Friday.

There’s no Series 4 Apple Watch coming my way yet. I’ve taken to only wearing my Series 3 on days I exercise, and after spending way too much money on a phone, I’m sitting this one out for now. Besides, I want to try the new sizes on before ordering.

This week, on a very busy Connected:

Federico is sore about coming in second place, but we’re all winners, because Apple has new iPhones and Apple Watches.

Well, not Federico. He still came in second place.

Don’t miss the B-Side, on which I talk with John Voorhees about Ken Kocienda’s book Creative Selection.

My thanks to our sponsors:

• Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code CONNECTED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
• Casper: The Internet’s favourite mattress. Get $50 off select mattresses with the code ‘CONNECTED’.
• eero: Never think about WiFi again. Use code CONNECTED for free overnight shipping.

Harry McCracken nails it:

The bottom line is that there may not be a bottom line on the new iPhones, if what you seek is buying advice that can be boiled down to a few sentences. For Apple, that’s something new.

Today on Query, Mikah and I dive into all the news from the iPhone and Apple Watch event.

My thanks to our sponsor this week:

• Pingdom: Start monitoring your websites and servers today. Use offer code QUERY to get 30% off.

A lot of news in a quick video:

Per some sleuthing by Mikah Sargent, ¹ here are the new case sizes:

• Series 3 38mm — Height: 38.6mm / Width: 33.3mm / Depth: 11.4mm
• Series 4 40mm — Height: 40mm / Width: 34mm / Depth: 10.7mm
• Series 3 42mm — Height: 42.5mm / Width: 36.4mm / Depth: 11.4mm
• Series 4 44mm — Height: 44mm / Width: 38mm / Depth: 10.7mm

Apple says all old bands are compatible across the new generation of watches, which is great.

NASA’s new crew capsule is one step closer to flying, as Chris Bergin reports:

The Orion Program has concluded its drop test series for the spacecraft’s parachute system, with a successful return to terra firma on Wednesday. The three chutes will allow Orion to conclude its mission with a gentle splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Ensuring the system was safe, including during the loss of a chute, has been the main goal of the test series that has been ongoing for around a decade.

Orion will fly atop NASA’s new SLS rocket, which is currently being developed. The first flight of the new stack, dubbed EM-1, will be without a crew, but the second flight will have astronauts aboard, marking the start of a new era of NASA spaceflight in the post-shuttle world.