In response to the 5K OS X wallpapers, Michael Rockwell has worked up a bunch of iOS 4-era linen images. While I mocked it at the time, I have to say, a tiled linen makes a pretty nice, muted background on my iMac.
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NASA’s Voyager Team⇢
Kim Tingley at The New York Times has a great feature about the small team of engineers that are monitoring NASA’s Voyagers probes. This is worth tossing into Instapaper.
LTE-Enabled Watch Rumored⇢
Mark Gurman, Scott Moritz and Ian King:
Apple Inc. is planning to release a version of its smartwatch later this year that can connect directly to cellular networks, a move designed to reduce the device’s reliance on the iPhone, people familiar with the matter said.
Currently, Apple requires its smartwatch to be connected wirelessly to an iPhone to stream music, download directions in maps, and send messages while on the go. Equipped with LTE chips, at least some new Apple Watch models, planned for release by the end of the year, will be able to conduct many tasks without an iPhone in range, the people said. For example, a user would be able to download new songs and use apps and leave their smartphone at home.
Balance for Mac⇢
My thanks to Balance for Mac for sponsoring 512 Pixels once again this week. Balance is a powerful menubar app for your money built by a team from Apple, Stripe and Ethereum. It’s super nifty.
Another iPhone SE Rumor⇢
Mitchel Broussard at Macrumors:
Apple supplier Wistron is preparing to expand its India-based iPhone manufacturing, with production geared towards the next-generation iPhone SE, according to local sources (via Focus Taiwan). Apple is hoping to build its share of the Indian smartphone market by giving Wistron the majority of the orders for the new iPhone SE, which is said to ship in the first quarter of 2018.
I think Spring 2018 is the make-or-break it spot for the SE. I have trouble seeing Apple letting it go longer than two years without an update — if it’s going to be updated at all.
A New Home for the iMacs
Early last year, I tweeted that I wanted to collect every color of iMac.
A month later, I had all 13 colors of iMac G3 in my office. I took a bunch of photos and made a video of the process. I then went on a summer-long tear writing about every generation and permutation of the CRT iMac. This work then morphed into an ebook about the iMac and the road from the classic Mac OS to Mac OS X.
Steve Jobs and the iPod nano⇢
Steve Levy, writing at Wired, recounting a conversation with Steve Jobs the day Apple announced the iPod nano:
“This is a huge bet,” he said, describing how once or twice a year he gathered the top 100 people at the company—“not the top 100 in the org chart but if you were going to have 100 people on a rowboat with you, who would you want?”—to figure out big strategic issues. The previous year, he said, he had opened the meeting with a speech: “Our revenues have doubled in the last two years,” he told his team. “And our stock price is high and our shareholders are happy. We have a lot of momentum. And a lot of people think, ‘It’s really great, we’ve got a lot to lose, let’s play it safe.’ That’s the most dangerous thing we can do. We have to get bolder, because we have world class competitors now and we just can’t stand still.” The bold move was the Nano, replacing the wildly popular iPod mini with an even tinier, full-featured, color-screened successor. “We call this a heart transplant—stop one production line, start another. It’s amazing, and the team has done brilliantly and pulled it off.”
Kbase Article of the Week: How to Force Restart your iPod shuffle⇢
This article was last updated back in May:
If your iPod shuffle doesn’t respond when you press the buttons, you can force restart your device:
- Unplug your iPod shuffle from its charger and from your computer.
- Use the power switch to turn off your iPod shuffle. If you see green by the switch, your device is on. (Can’t find the power switch?)
- Wait for ten seconds. Then turn on your iPod shuffle again.
It even includes this charming illustration of iPod shuffle power buttons:
Connected #153: Top-Notch Phone⇢
This time on Connected:
Stephen is sad about iPods. Federico is happy about iPads. Someone at Apple is probably unhappy about accidental leaks. Just another week.
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Query #5: The Disembodied Voice⇢
This week on Query, Ren takes a break from vacation to talk with me about Wi-Fi Calling, IP cameras and more.
Ungeniused #30: Bat Bombs, Bird-Guided Missiles and More⇢
On this fortnight’s Ungeniused, we talk about some truly terrible wartime projects.
My thanks to our sponsor, Casper. Get $50 off with the code ‘UNGENIUSED’.
Apple Posts Q3 2017 Results⇢
Apple has posted its Q3 2017 results:
“With revenue up 7 percent year-over-year, we’re happy to report our third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We hosted an incredibly successful Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and we’re very excited about the advances in iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS coming this fall.”
Here are some details from the results and the call: