Ingenuity is flying faster than ever as JWST and SLS inch closer to launch. Then, a look at two different proposed commercial space stations.
My thanks to our sponsor:
I missed this in the hubbub of last week, but I’m not surprised to see it go.
Route audio between applications on your Mac with Loopback! Get the power of a high-end mixing board with no hardware required.
Whether you’re a podcaster, a live performer, a tabletop gamer, or even just someone stuck on too many Zoom calls, Loopback can help you. Need to play a recording into Zoom? Add sound effects into a podcast? Include music in a streamed event? Loopback gives you the power to do just that with just a few clicks.
…including orange, the best color of HomePod mini.
This week, David and I review macOS Monterey and cover the features and changes it brings to the Mac. Then, we give our impressions of the new M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros.
My thanks to our sponsors:
Apple today reported Mac revenue of $9.17 billion in the fourth quarter of its 2021 fiscal year, which is an all-time quarterly revenue record for Macs. Apple CEO Tim Cook said there was “strong demand” for the M1 MacBook Air in particular.
Jason Snell’s transcript contains the exact quote from Apple CFO Luca Maestri:
For Mac, we set an all-time revenue record of $9.2 billion, despite supply constraints, driven by strong demand for our M1-powered MacBook Air. In fact, our last five quarters for Mac have been the best five quarters ever for the category. iPad performance was also strong with a September quarter revenue record of $8.3 billion, up 21%, in spite of significant supply constraints, as customer demand for the iPad Pro, also powered by M1, was very strong. For both Mac and iPad, we continue to see a combination of high levels of customer satisfaction and first-time buyers. Around half of the customers purchasing Mac and iPad during the quarter were new to that product. And in the most recent surveys of U.S. Consumers from 451 Research, customer satisfaction was 97% for both Mac and iPad.
As I’ve written about before, building Shortcuts is frequently much easier than building similar workflows on macOS using AppleScript and Automator. Now that Shortcuts is on the Mac, there’s no need to replicate shortcuts from iOS using those technologies! Instead, the same shortcut can run on both platforms. Problem solved.
Err… well… okay. Maybe not solved. While you might have rightfully assumed that not everything that works in Shortcuts on the Mac will work in Shortcuts on iOS—AppleScripts, shell scripts, and the like simply don’t exist on that platform—it might surprise you to learn that the reverse is also true. The Mac’s version of the Share menu is not nearly as sophisticated as the one on iOS, and the Share menu is a major launching point for iOS shortcuts. Safari’s automation interface is, similarly, not nearly as friendly on the Mac as on iOS.
Tyler Stalman was kind enough to let me join him this week to talk about some very exciting MacBook Pros.
The 3.5 mm headphone jack on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) or MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) features DC load detection and adaptive voltage output. Your Mac can detect the impedance of the connected device and will adapt its output for low- and high-impedance headphones, as well as for line-level audio devices.
When you connect headphones with an impedance of less than 150 ohms, the headphone jack provides up to 1.25 volts RMS. For headphones with an impedance of 150 to 1k ohms, the headphone jack delivers 3 volts RMS. This may remove the need for an external headphone amplifier.
This week on the show: impressions of the AirPods 3 and new MacBook Pro, a review of macOS Monterey and a breakthrough new magnetic product for listeners to track the Connected Chairmen.
That product is MagTricky, the only official way to keep track of who has won recent Ricky events. Each kit comes with a 4-inch magnet featuring the majestic Connected globe artwork and a set of smaller magnets to track who currently holds Chairman titles.
This one feels like it may be important to many of you in the coming weeks.