Since wrapping up HomePod vs. iPod Hi-Fi video, my HomePod has been in our kitchen, sitting where our Amazon Echo has been for the last year and a half. I unplugged the Echo and put it away, leading to many questions about where Alexa went, voiced by our three year old son.
That was about three weeks ago, and in those three weeks, the entire family has gotten acquainted with HomePod and this iteration of Siri.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo via MacRumors:
We expect Apple (US) to roll out the new MacBook Air with a lower price tag in 2Q18. We forecast total shipments of MacBook models will grow 10-15% YoY in 2018 (vs. 0-5% YoY decline for the NB industry), up from 15.5-16mn units in 2017. While Quanta, Radiant, Catcher and SZS are likely to benefit from strong shipments momentum, SZS also stands to benefit from increased market share and a higher ASP.
The Computer History Museum has an incredible YouTube channel, and just yesterday, they published a conversation with members of the original QuickTime team about the technology and how it came to be:
Today, our internet radio tool Nicecast is being retired from active development. Nicecast is no longer available for purchase, and we do not plan any further updates. Nicecast will be supported on MacOS 10.10 through 10.13 until the end of 2018, after which it will be fully deprecated.
Nicecast has been around since 2003, and was designed to make it easy to stream audio to the web. The initial case of pirate Internet radio stations has all but died off, but many, many podcasters (including us at Relay FM) still use the app to stream shows live via our Icecast server. I’d love to see Rogue Amoeba roll that ability into Audio Hijack.
Jack Purcher at Patently Apple has pointed out that Apple has been awarded patents for a notebook that uses two displays: one where you expect it to be, and one where the keyboard would normally be:
The device presented in Apple’s patent figure below illustrates a dual display notebook that eliminates a physical keyboard or Trackpad. This way the second display could also be used as a sketch pad, gaming controls and more as discussed in past patents.
Federico and Myke slander Stephen’s good name before talking about iPhone and headphone rumors and Amazon’s acquisition of Ring.
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From a HI-SEAS mishap to an exoplanet getting blasted by its host star, it’s news round-up time on Liftoff this week.
My thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring it. Enter offer code LIFTOFF at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
The topic for this week’s Ungeniused was way more interesting than I thought it would be when I began my research on it.
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This week on Query, Serenity and I discuss backing up iCloud data, HomeKit light switches and more, with the help of a special guest.
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Learn which Apple Drive Modules have been qualified for use with Xserve and Xserve RAID products. If you don’t see your ADM, Xserve or Xserve RAID in the same table, they may not be qualified for use together.
Mark Gurman and Debby Wu at Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is preparing to release a trio of new smartphones later this year: the largest iPhone ever, an upgraded handset the same size as the current iPhone X and a less expensive model with some of the flagship phone’s key features.
With the new lineup, Apple wants to appeal to the growing number of consumers who crave the multitasking attributes of so-called phablets while also catering to those looking for a more affordable version of the iPhone X, according to people familiar with the products.
Developing Apple Watch apps is extremely frustrating and limited for one big reason: unlike on iOS, Apple doesn’t give app developers access to the same watchOS frameworks that they use on Apple Watch.
Instead, we’re only allowed to use WatchKit, a baby UI framework that would’ve seemed rudimentary to developers even in the 1990s. But unlike the iPhone’s web apps, WatchKit doesn’t appear to be a stopgap — it seems to be Apple’s long-term solution to third-party app development on the Apple Watch.