The Lisa ⇢

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The Lisa is the computer that Apple used to introduce the GUI and the mouse. It was far too expensive, and after getting booted from the development of the machine, Steve Jobs wandered around the company until he took over the Macintosh project from Jeff Raskin.

The new, smaller computer packed Lisa-inspired technology at a much lower price. Since history honors winners, the Mac is the computer people remember.

That’s not to say the Lisa isn’t worth knowing about. I realized recently the machine’s 35th anniversary is coming up, so I spent a bunch of time researching the computer and it’s ground-breaking software for my column on MacStories this month. It’s on the long side, but if you use a Mac or iOS device, this computer is where much of the magic started.

MiniCast Offers Apple Watch Podcast Playback ⇢

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MiniCast is a new iOS and watchOS app that can send a podcast file from Apple Podcasts, Overcast or Pocket Casts to your Apple Watch. Here’s a bit from its launch blog post:

After many many many hours of prototyping, building proof-of-concepts and experimenting with watchOS’ (and iOS’) limitations, we found a way to achieve a “companion-ness” that felt right. On iOS, all features of MiniCast are contained in a single Action Extension. If we could have shipped an Action Extension without a container app, we probably would have. But that’s not possible on the App Store. So there is a container app which guides you through the first steps, how to enable the extension and how to transfer the first test episode. The primary interaction happens directly in the Action Extension in your favorite podcast app.

In short, to get an episode to my Watch, I find it in my podcast client of choice, hit the Share icon, activate the MiniCast action extension and I’m done. The Watch receives a notification that kicks off a download session.

I like this approach; I don’t want to maintain two podcast libraries for the occasional on-the-go listening.

The app works as advertised. I was able to send an episode of Connected to my Watch with just a tap, but MiniCast is plagued with the same problems other solutions have been. Transfer is painfully slow, even on my Series 3 Watch, and playback controls are a little lacking. It took that Connected episode about 11 minutes to transfer.

To be fair, this is on Apple. watchOS just doesn’t have the support needed to build good podcast clients. This is on the top of my wishlist for the next version of watchOS.

Until then, I’m going to keep MiniCast around. It’s free with a $3.99 IAP to unlock its features, and even if it’s a little clunky, it lets me keep my podcasts where I want them, and shuttle one over to the Watch when needed. I’ll just need to remember to transfer files in advance of getting to the gym or lacing up my running shoes.

iMac Pro Orders Now Open

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Well, it’s here. You can now order an iMac Pro. As expected, the base $4,999 model includes:

  • 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon W CPU with Turbo Boost to 4.2 GHz)
  • 32 GB DDR4 EEC RAM
  • Radeon Pro Vega 56 GPU with 8 GB HBM2 Memory
  • 1 TB SSD

From there, everything is configurable.

CPU Options:

  • 3.2 GHz 8-core with Turbo Boost to 4.2 GHz: Stock
  • 3.0 GHz 10-core with Turbo Boost to 4.5 GHz: +$800
  • 2.5 GHz 14-core with Turbo Boost to 4.3 Ghz: +$1,600
  • 2.3 GHz 18-core with Turbo Boost to 4.3 Ghz: +$2,400

The 14 and 18-core options aren’t shipping until February.

RAM Options:

  • 32 GB DDR4 EEC RAM: Stock
  • 64 GB DDR4 EEC RAM: +$800
  • 128 GB DDR4 EEC RAM: +$2,400

Storage Options:

  • 1 TB SSD: Stock
  • 2 TB SSD: +$800
  • 4 TB SSD: +$2,800

GPU Options:

  • Radeon Pro Vega 56 GPU with 8 GB HBM2 Memory: Stock
  • Radeon Pro Vega 64 with 16 GB HBM2 Memory: +$600

Other Options

The machine comes with a Space Gray extended Magic keyboard and Magic Mouse in the box. A Space Gray Magic Trackpad 2 can be swapped for the mouse for an extra $50. To have both will run you $149 more.

The VESA mount adaptor kit is $79. Unlike the Retina iMac, this can be added by the customer; the other iMacs must be ordered VESA-ready or not, and can’t be changed after the fact.

Mercifully, AppleCare+ is the same $169 it is for other iMacs.

Burning a Pile of Money

A fully loaded iMac Pro costs $13,348.

I think a common order will be a 10-core machine with 64 GB of RAM but the stock GPU and SSD. That’s the machine that I’ve had in mind, and it runs $6,748. I know that’s a lot more Mac than I’ve ever had, but I’m having second thoughts:

The Henry Ford Acquires Original 1972 Blue Box ⇢

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The Henry Ford, keeper of many of technology’s most important artifacts1 has recently acquired the first project between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak:

Created to make free illegal phone calls, Blue Boxes were the first joint business venture between the two innovators, three years before the founding of Apple Computer Inc. in 1976. The new acquisition joins The Henry Ford’s collection, which also includes an original 1976 Apple I Computer. The Blue Box was purchased at Bonhams’ History of Science and Technology Sale.

“The Blue Box, an early invention of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs gives us insight into two innovators who went on to change the world,” said Patricia Mooradian, president and CEO of The Henry Ford. “At the time when this device was created, they were just young adults who had an unbridled passion for learning how things worked, and making things for their own use. This artifact speaks to ingenuity, curiosity and resourcefulness and fits perfectly within The Henry Ford’s Archive of American Innovation.”

This is very cool, as the blue box was an important step in the formation of Apple.

  1. Including my former iMac G3s. ↩

Workouts++ Adds Podcast Playback to watchOS ⇢

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John Voorhees, in his review of the new update:

Workouts++ has come up with a solution that works surprisingly well given the audio API limitations of watchOS. It has a dedicated tab in the iOS app where you can subscribe to your favorite podcasts, which show up in the ‘All’ section of the tab. If you tap on an episode, it downloads and is transferred to your Apple Watch, a process which can take a while. The advantage of downloaded episodes is that there’s a little button on the Watch’s playback screen to skip ahead and back 30 seconds or one minute at a time depending on the length of the episode.

When you start a workout on your Watch, you simply swipe left once to display two sets of podcast episodes. At the top of the view are the downloaded episodes that play immediately when you tap the play button. The remainder of the podcast view lists streamable episodes. Tap one of those episodes and it doesn’t start playing until (at least in my tests) about 4 MB of data has been transferred to the Watch. The initial buffering doesn’t take very long on a good connection, but if you’re headed out for a run, the wait can feel longer than it in fact is.

I still want Overcast on my Watch, but this update from _David Smith is incredible, and the best part is that’s free.

Connected #172: Shazamalo ⇢

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This week on Connected:

Myke was surprised by Apple’s Shazam acquisition, Ticci is living that 4K life and Stephen is thinking about an iMac Pro.

We are collecting stories for our year-in-review episode. Please tweet your favorite Apple and tech topics from 2017 with #ConnectedYear and we’ll see them!

My thanks to our sponsors:

  • Balance Open: Find out more about Balance Open and get $2 in Ethereum.
  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code WORLD at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • Incapsula: Secure and accelerate your website. Connected listeners get one month free.

Considering an iMac Pro ⇢

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Over on iMore, I’ve written about my justification for an iMac Pro:

I make stuff for a living. While even one of my old PowerBooks is enough computer to blog with, the podcasts and videos I produce follow Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands to fill the time available.” The same is true for computing. No matter how fast my Mac may be, the applications I use will steal every scrap of power available.

My most intense tasks are multithreaded, and the iMac Pro is uniquely suited to crush all other Macs in this type of work. I look forward to seeing the various pricing options on Thursday.

iMac Pro Orders Begin December 14

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Apple has updated the iMac Pro webpage, indicating that the machine will be for sale on Thursday, December 14.

Some hands-on coverage is surfacing this morning, including this video by MKBHD. In it, he mentions the 18-core option won’t ship until early 2018. There’s also a previously-unannounced 14-core model.

I’m extremely interested in this machine. I’m going to let the dust settle a little bit, but at this point, am really considering picking one up early next year.

Apps Can Now be Made Available for Pre-Order ⇢

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Apple:

You can now make your new apps available for pre-order on the App Store on all Apple Platforms. Customers can see your product page and order your app before it’s released for download. Once your app is released, customers will be notified and it will automatically download to their device. Let your customers know your app is coming by using the pre-order badges in your marketing materials.

This will be great for developers who want to build hype for their new apps. I like it.

Trump Sets New Space Policy, with Eyes on Moon ⇢

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Jen Rae Wang, NASA:

President Donald Trump is sending astronauts back to the Moon.

The president Monday signed at the White House Space Policy Directive 1, a change in national space policy that provides for a U.S.-led, integrated program with private sector partners for a human return to the Moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond.

Under Obama, NASA had a directive to go to the Red Planet that side-stepped lunar missions. Trump follows both Bushes in wanting to return to the moon. Republican leadership really likes the idea of putting Americans back on the lunar surface, it would seem. Assuming we see another president after Trump,1 will they change direction yet again?

Big projects like this take time, especially on NASA’s anemic budget. That, coupled with administrations that want to leave their own mark on the agency means that it is very hard to see something big like this through. This line speaks volumes in NASA’s press release:

Work toward the new directive will be reflected in NASA’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget request next year.

The agency is already building its next-generation rocket, which will be capable of sending a crew to cislunar space, but landing on and getting around on the moon are different things. This rocket has been plagued with technical and budgetary problems. Some have suggested NASA scrap it and throw-in with a company like ULA or even SpaceX.

I’d love to see Americans on Mars, but the moon would be amazing, too. I just can’t get my hopes up about this announcement.

  1. Or Pence. ↩

NASA Designing Next-Gen Wheels for Mars Rovers ⇢

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Michael Cole at Spaceflight Insider:

Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, are reinventing the wheel in a way that may allow rovers and other future mobile vehicles to traverse the treacherous surface of Mars with greater and longer success. They have developed a woven mesh tire made of a shape-memory alloy, or SMA, that “remembers” its ideal shape and immediately springs back into form after absorbing the bumps and beatings of traversing rocky terrain.

In a recent test, the newly-developed tire was subjected to 6 miles (10 kilometers) of difficult driving over a punishing simulated Martian surface. At the end of the test the tire was as good as new. By comparison, the rigid aluminum wheels of the Curiosity rover, which has driven not quite twice that distance during its entire mission so far, are currently riddled with holes and dents from the rougher-than-expected punishment of traveling over the Martian landscape.

One reason I love space agencies is that their design project are just so … practical.