Appleviews – 26th August 2022
This week
Hello – this week, news on Apple Watch 8, the Far Out Apple event, iPad 10 and news on the return to the office policy for Apple guys n’ gals. Welcome back to this week’s Appleviews.
Far Out
Well, as this weekly newsletter is meant to round-up all the Apple news for the week, it would be fairly remiss of me not to start with the confirmation, this week, for the date of the iPhone event. It will be on a Wednesday, which is unusual, and a week earlier than normal as well. We know for sure that the iPhone 14 will be the main star of the day, but, we are also expecting Apple Watch 8 at the 7th September event.
You can follow the event live, in many ways, but the way I will be watching it is via Apple’s YouTube channel. This is the link, which you can already click to get notified. The event will go out live at 10am PST (6pm BST). I will watch the event, then hop on here afterwards with my initial reactions.
And talking of Apple Watch 8…..
Colours for Apple Watch
There will be fewer colours available for this year’s Apple Watch 8 series.ShrimpApplePro, the leaker over on Twitter, was the first to report about this. With the current range of Apple Watch, there are five colours from which you can choose. This year, however, there will only be four – Midnight, Starlight, Red (product red), and Silver. The colours will be available across all case finishes. Other Apple Watch 8 news is that it will be getting the S8 chip, a body temperature sensor, and an improved Low-Power mode too.
I have never owned an Apple Watch, but I think the Apple Watch 8 may just tempt me.
In office working
The first week of September looks set to be a busy one at Apple. In the same week as the Far Out event, employees will then be expected to work at least three days per week from their desks at Apple Park. The announcement was made via an internal memo from CEO Tim Cook. Employees are far from happy about the proposal, and formed ‘Apple Together’, which is identified as a solidarity union. Via that group, they reacted, saying that the suggested in-office working protocol “is insensitive toward health and safety concerns, family care plans and overall morale”.
The vibe at Silicon Valley is greatly varied. Facebook (Meta), Twitter and Airbnb are all perfectly happy with the current status. However, for Tesla, the opposite is true. Elon Musk warned in a note to employees in June that workers must be in Tesla offices 40 hours per week or more, or face termination. Ooof!
iPad 10
Apple’s cheapest iPad is set to receive its biggest refresh for years, with the release of iPad 10. This 10th gen iPad is set to have a USB-C port, and a Retina Display, which will match the resolution of the iPad Air (2360×1640). The screen is reported to be increasing from 10.5-inches to 10.9-inches. The cellular models will now feature 5G connectivity. The other improvement will be in the processor. The device should be around 30% faster due to the fact it will be powered by the A14 Bionic chip.
It is expected to be unveiled at the October event, and the price will remain unchanged at £319.
’Misguided’ Stage Manager
Stage Manager, the intended multitasking answer for iPad users, this week received some stern criticism. Federico Viticci, the founder and editor-in-chief of MacStories, turned his attention to it on a Twitter thread earlier this week. In his opinion, some of the baked-in design elements in the latest beta release are fundamentally misguided. And, as if is that were not damning enough, he goes on to say that the feature is “unstable, hard to use, and has user interface glitches across the experience”.
The feature, which is solely available on M1 iPads, clearly is troubled. In Viticci’s opinion, iPad users have waited so long already for this update, that it should not be rushed out now. Rather than looking to release in October, he feels it would be worth ironing out all the issues and delaying Stage Manager until spring 2023.
Apple has confirmed that they will split the release of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 this year. In a statement to TechCrunch, the company said, “This is an especially big year for iPadOS. As its own platform with features specifically designed for iPad, we have the flexibility to deliver iPadOS on its own schedule. This fall, iPadOS will ship after iOS, as version 16.1 in a free software update.”
iPhone 14
With the Far Out event now confirmed, further leaks came out this week of iPhone 14. Whilst the non-Pro models will retain the current notch, the Pro models are now set to have the pill & hole design for the front facing camera & Face ID. With this layout, it would seem Apple are planning to both enlarge & realign the status-bar items. Images this week suggested that there will be a repositioning of the cellular signal indicator, the Wi-Fi, and battery indicators will also be slightly lower and to the right?
Mac news
From the same sources that gave 9to5Mac advance details about the Studio Mac & Studio Display, comes news about a new, large iMac.
Upon the release of the Studio Mac, Apple quietly retired the 27-inch iMac. Rumours followed that a new iMac Pro was in the works. That seems now not to be the case, though. The next raft of Macs will include M2 MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and Mac mini. But, no mention has been made of utilising the Pro, Max, or Ultra chips with the larger, obsolete, desktop iMac. A new 24-inch M2 iMac is in the offing, however, although, it will only be available with base level M2 chip.
Although new MacBook Pro’s are expected to enter production later this year, they may not feature the improved 3-nanometer chip. Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the new machines could feature the existing 5-nanometer chips built on Apple supplier TSMC’s current process.
More awards for Apple TV+
The Apple TV+ hit Pachinko has received a prestigious award from the Edinburgh Television Festival.
The drama, that only Apple were willing to finance, according to writer Soo Hugh, won the Best International Drama award. Pachinko, screened in Korean, Japanese, and English, now continues to reap rewards for Apple’s belief in the project, following its win in Edinburgh.
Next month, the long awaited, family approved documentary about the life of actor Sidney Poitier airs (23rd September – and already in my ‘Up Next”).
This weekend on Apple TV+, the final episode of the brilliant Five Days at Memorial will be on and the next episode of the equally watchable, Bad Sisters will be available too.
Chrome update
If you are a Chrome user, be sure to update – and NOW.
Although Google released few details about the bug in question, it is thought to have been highly critical to release this fix quickly. Although the update should be automatically installed, you can (and should) initiate the update now, by going to Chrome’s “About” menu.
The update fixes on eleven security risks. The critical one it overcomes, though, could have led to a malicious website executing arbitrary code on your machine, among other problems.
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Get in the vibe and listen along to today’s chosen soundtrack. I wrote this whilst listening to https://music.apple.com/gb/album/what-color-is-love/947622517
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