Several of us are chatting on Talkshow, and Connected will be live at 4:30 PM Eastern today.
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Ungeniused #11: Non-human Electoral Candidates⇢
Republicans and Democrats have you down this election cycle? Why not consider a non-human candidate?
Welcome to Macintosh: Xs and OSes⇢
I joined Mark Bramhill for a bonus episode of his excellent podcast, Welcome to Macintosh:
Apple recently released macOS Sierra, the latest version of the Mac operating system. It had new features in it, but one of the most notable changes was something it left out — the X, the Roman numeral 10, from the name. It’s a small, unimportant change, but it’s kind of the end of an era.
iPod Socks⇢
In 2004, Apple introduced a very curious accessory for its music player: iPod Socks.
Liftoff #32: The Robotic Spacecraft Draft⇢
This week on Liftoff, Jason and I draft our favorite robotic spacecraft, after pouring one out for Schiaparelli.
My thanks to our sponsor this week:
- HelpSpot: The most comprehensive and flexible help desk software around. Get 10% off with the code LIFTOFF.
Apple Q4 2016 Results⇢
I’m helping the Six Colors team with Apple financial coverage today. Come hang out. From July to September, the company posted revenue of $46.9 billion with a quarterly net profit of $9 billion. Apple sold 9.3 million iPads, 45.5 million iPhones, and 4.8 million Macs during the quarter.
It also made a record $6.3 million in services. 9.3 million iPads is a record low for the tablet.
The company is issuing another cash dividend:
macOS Sierra Leaks Image of MacBook Pro with Magic Toolbar⇢
Welp, it is real. These images are straight out of System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/PassKitUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources on my Mac running 10.12.1:
There’s a lot to parse here. Clearly, the rumors of a Magic Toolbar are all correct, as well the inclusion of Touch ID to the right of the Toolbar. It looks like this version of Touch ID lacks the stainless steel ring found on iOS devices.1
(I just hope third-party developers can access it like they do on the iPhone and iPad.)
Kbase of the Week: iPod with scroll wheel Technical Specifications⇢
The original iPod’s tech specs don’t look impressive today, but the thing really was like magic when it debuted 15 years ago.
Coverage of the Original iPod
The iPod turns 15 years old today. I thought it would be fun to revisit early coverage of the music player to see how people responded to it at the time.
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Jonathan Seff at Macworld didn’t seem to think the Nomad comparison was a big deal, and praised the speed FireWire 400 brought to transfers:
The iPod has a smaller hard drive than the 20GB, USB-based Nomad Jukebox, but its FireWire interface makes the USB connections on other MP3 players seem slower than molasses. It takes hours to transfer 5GB of music files to a music player that connects via USB; the iPod can transfer that amount in as little as 12 minutes.
Fifteen Years Ago, Steve Jobs Announced the iPod
Fifteen years ago today, Steve Jobs announced the original iPod.
His pitch was simple: 1,000 songs in your pocket.
The iPod was designed to easily sync all of your digital music. You could take it with you, wherever you went.
In a world where portable music meant often carring a battery-powered CD player and a huge wallet of discs, this was a revolution.
Juno Woes
NASA’s spacecraft that is currently circling Jupiter has had a rough couple of weeks.
On October 14, it was announced that the engine burn that was to insert Juno into close orbit around the gas giant would be postponed:
Mission managers for NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter have decided to postpone the upcoming burn of its main rocket motor originally scheduled for Oct. 19. This burn, called the period reduction maneuver (PRM), was to reduce Juno’s orbital period around Jupiter from 53.4 to 14 days. The decision was made in order to further study the performance of a set of valves that are part of the spacecraft’s fuel pressurization system. The period reduction maneuver was the final scheduled burn of Juno’s main engine.