Maccast 2017.07.05 - Show #619
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by and the Marbles
V Sponsor
V JAMF Now
* This episode is brought to you by Jamf Now. Jamf Now helps you manage your Apple devices from anywhere.
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V News
V Apple engineers join WebVR Community group
* WebVR is an initiative that aims to make virtual reality content viewable by everyone
* UploadVR noticed that three Apple engineers have recently joined the WebVR initiative
* Group participation does not necessarily imply a commitment to implement, so who knows if there's more than smoke to this fire
* Apple has certainly expressed an interest in some VR and especially AR technologies.
* Back at WWDC Apple showed off Metal 2 and Metal for VR support showcasing the HTC Vive headset. They also mentioned their VR support of Valve, Unity, and Unreal engines.
V This also isn't the first time VR tried to come to your browser
* I remember VRML from way back in 1995 and it essentially went nowhere.
V iPhone 8 Flash woes
* Apple might have had to turn to frenemy Samsung to help get enough Flash modules for the new iPhones according to DigiTimes
* Apple started using 3D NAND chips which pack more storage into a smaller package with the iPhone 7, but making those chips is tricky
* Apple suppliers SK Hynix and Toshiba are reportedly having troubles making good modules and have fallen short by as much as 30% according to reports
* That has forced Apple to ask Samsung to pick up the slack.
* In the iPhone 7 Apples 3D NANDs have 48 layers, but the modules in the next gen devices are rumored to have 64 layers. Tricker to make and packing in more data into the same space.
* Reportedly Apple plans to have iPhone 7s and 8 models with 64GB and 256GB of storage.
* Still with 3D NAND supplies not expected to improve until 2018, this is just another reason why the new iPhones might be the scarcest breed yet.
* To make matters worse DigiTimes says nitrogen mishandling at the Micron plant has causes up to 50 percent of their DRAM wafers to be trashed. Micron has acknowledged that there was an incident, but denies the severity of the supply chain impact.
V Apple may have stepped up it's plans to move all iPhones to OLEd screens according to Nikkei
* Originally we had rumors that Apple was targeting all iPhones to have OLED displays by 2019
* We have known for a while that the iPhone 8 will likely have an OLED display, but now the switch to all OLED might happen sooner.
* At least two sources say Apple plans to have all 2018 models shipping with OLED .
* Since Samsung is producing the majority of OLED displays today this report may go further to explaining my Apple is considering a multi-billion dollar investment to help LG ramp up their OLED display production. Still that isn't expected to even happen until 2019.
V The iPhone 8 may come in a new "mirrored" finish
* This comes via our new "favorite" leaker Benjamin Geskin
* This leak is a bit odd to be as he doesn't name the four colors, but followed up the tweet saying the mirrored finish would be a black or silver
* since the current iPhone comes in Silver, Gold, Matte Black, and Jet Black. Once could possibly argue that the Jet Black is a mirror finish already.
* Silver or Gold mirror finish could be very cool.
V iPhones might not wirelessly charge at launch
* A tweet from John Gruber says his sources say the extra accessory for wireless charging your iPhone 8 could be late
* He doesn't say how long the delay might be
* It's also a "might", not a "will"
* We also don't know if Apple will fully support the Qi standard or if it will be a proprietary variant like the Apple watch. In my opinion the later is more likely
* So it could just be if you want Apple's wireless charging dock you'll have to wait.
V Apple video purchases and rentals lose ground
* The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple's share for selling and renting movies, as well as other video content, has dropped to between 20 percent and 35 percent, down from over 50 percent as recently as 2012.
* The issue is more competition from streaming options like Netfllix and Comcast according to the report.
* Does this really surprise anyone? It's hard to think this even surprises Apple.
* Really the people this should concern the most is the Studios. Hope the streaming revenue makes up for the sales loss though I doubt it.
* Especially since they seem to not want to do streaming deals with more than one provider.
* For it's part a spokesman for Apple did say iTunes movie sales and rentals increased over the past year and are now at their highest point in more than a decade.
* If you're curious how Apple's share could decline yet Apple say their sales are up well that is because overall U.S. digital movie rentals and sales rose 12 percent in 2016.
V Feedback, commentary, opinions
V My current Apple setup
* Cesar asked if I could go over what my current setup is and how things have changed over the years
V Currently rocking
* 2015 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, iPad Pro 12.9-inch first gen, and iPhone 7
V Old stuff worth noting
* The 2010 and 2011 Macbook Pro GPU disaster saga
* I tired to like the GigantiPhone
* Loved, my 2014 G4 iBook until it died a GPU death.
* Also loved my B&W G3 and even gave it a G4 upgrade
* The Powerbook Duo 2300c years with both the desktop and microdocks
* First love, the Mac Plus, 4GB RAM and a Radius Full Page display.
V Other stuff
* bevy of iPods from the 5GB original to the 40GB Photo (4th Gen) and a bunch of nanos/shuffles
* Newton 110
* Mac mini 2006 Core Duo - Still in use
* Performa 575
V Pitfalls of upgrading older machines
* Marty is finally upgrading from a mid-2009 13-inch MBP and is curious about upgrade strategies when he gets his new machine
* Is it safe to just use Migration assistant from an old backup
* What about all the old apps and drivers that are "frozen" in time?
* What should he do?
V I think if you can and if you haven't in a while then a "clean" upgrade is in order
* Still can migrate things like network settings and documents, user account
* Fresh install of all your Apps, replacing and upgrading anything that is outdated
* Probably also want to replace old external hardware that doesn't offer new drivers
* Generally I would assume, if you're running the latest OS on your current Mac, that anything that is working now should/would continue to work.
* Clearing out the cruft is always a good idea anyway.
* Use tools like [Clean My Mac]( https://macpaw.com/cleanmymac), [DiasyDisk]( https://daisydiskapp.com), and [Cocktail]( http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/)
V Sharing Photos in Photos App
* Mitch and his wife have seperate Mac and separate iCloud accounts. He recently started using iCloud Photo Library, but wants to also share his Library with his wife.
* He manages all the Photos so really she would just need "read" access, but how can he do that?
V Apple has [this article]( https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517) which they describe moving the Library to a "shared" volume that has the "ignore permissions" turned on. The describe using a USB drive, but I assume this could be done with a network volume
* The main downside is you can't both have the library open at the same time
* You could move your iPhoto Library to an external connected to your Mac, ignore permissions on that volume, and share it via the network. Then point your wife's Photos to that Library.
* If you computer is off or away that would be an issue
* The main downside here is you each will have a full copy of the Library
* Good as a backup I guess?
V Use [Flickr]( https://www.flickr.com/) and [Flickr Uploader]( https://www.flickr.com/tools/)
* Downside is your wife will have to use a browser to view photos
V Closing
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V Thanks to my sponsors
* Smile
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