shownotes_20180409

Opening
  Opening Music
    Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
News
  Macs with Apple CPUs in 2020
    Bloomberg is claiming Apple is in the early stages of a project called Kalamata which could bring Apple’s own processor designs to the Mac by as early as 2020
    This is not a new rumor and on the surface seems like the next logical step for Apple.
    They’ve had great success with the A-Series and designing their own Mac processor offers a lot of benefits
      Can better control the release cycle
      Better integration of hardware and software features.
        Addresses broken Moore's law. Get more performance with less as they've proven with the A-Series.
      Keep features exclusive to Apple
      Better control battery performance.
    Apple already has co-processors in the current Mac lineups
    Highly unlikely that Apple would actually make the chips, but rather partner with someone like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd (TSMC) for the production.
    2020 timeline is probably aggressive and it’s expected the transition will be rolled out in phases.
      I expect to see Apple designed co-processors doing more and more heavy lifting in laptops and desktops
      Also Apple will probably start with a consumer laptop before working their own chip designs into a desktop.
    The latest announcement of the next generation of processors suitable for MacBook Pros illustrates why Apple may be looking beyond Intel
      They just announced the 8th generation processors for mobile including adding a new i9 variant
      The trouble, they still only Support LPDDR3 like the 2016 and 2017 editions do
      That means still a 16GB max RAM limit unless Apple chooses to implement their own controller for DDR4 RAM and that possible has a negative battery life impact.
  More on Apple microLED
    After the Bloomberg report we covered last time DigiTimes is backing up the rumors of a microLED Apple Watch display.
    Not only that, but also that Apple might use the display tech in a future augmented reality wearable.
    The claim I’d that Apple is partnering with TSMC to create micro LED panels on silicon back-planes
    They think production of a 1.3 to 1.4-inch panel for Apple Watch could start in the second half of 2018 or early 2019. Bloomberg had the date more around 2020.
    Originally the microLED technology may only appear in the “top end” Apple Watch as the panels are expected to cost 400 to 600 percent more to produce then comparable sized OLED displays.
    They say the AR panels are 0.7 to 0.8-inches.
  Working to make Siri "smarter"
    Apple appears to have been massively ramping up it's AI team in recent years.
    This week it was announced that Apple had hired Google's head of AI and Search, John Giannandrea (john-an-dre-ah).
    In case you're wondering about privacy Tim Cook reportedly said in an email to Apple staff, "John shares our commitment to privacy and our thoughtful approach as we make computers even smarter and more personal."
    At Google he was the guy behind the push to bring AI into the entire suite of products and he was instrumental in the Knowledge Graph feature. The Knowledge Graph is what drives many of the direct intelligent answers you see next to the search results on Google (that box to the right)
    Giannandrea is expected to be the head of Apple's machine learning and A.I. strategy which will impact many areas of Apple business from Siri, to it's OSes and apps, and into projects like Apple's autonomous systems development.
    The site Thinknum has also noticed that Apple's job listings with the term "Siri" in them have risen significantly indicating they are on a hiring spree for the team.
      At an all time high of 161 open positions last week
      And up 24 percent since last month.
  New iPhones to have features no one wants
    Mark Gurman over at Bloomberg says Apple is working on touch-less gesture control and curved screens for future iPhones.
    He does say the technology is at least two years off.
    Didn't Samsung try this and it was nothing more than a useless party trick (commercial was you could eat ribs and not get your screen dirty).
    I get it. Hand waving gesture controls are cool and the stuff of sci-fi, but on a phone I'm not sure I get the benefit?
      That said I guess it could play into Apple's AR/VR efforts especially if the iPhone is mounted in some sort of headset.
      But the Bloomberg piece says the gestures would happen very close to the screen.
      They claim the sensors for it would actually be integrated into the display.
    He also says there will be a hone that curves inward from top to bottom
      Again, maybe like a pair of glasses?
    The piece also says these projects are in early R&D stages and the features might never see the light of day.
    There are also rumors of "foldable" iPhone displays and supposedly Apple's competitors might get there before Apple.
    What you might want is a triple lens camera which The Economic Daily News claims may come to at least one model iPhone in 2019
      They say it'll be a 12MP sensor with a 6P lens design and a 5x zoom, which we assume is "optical"?
    Product RED versions of the iPhone 8 an iPhone 8 Plus and a product RED leather iPhone X case
      The phones go on sale the 13th and you can order them starting on April 10th.
      Surprised there was not a RED iPhone X, is it a sign?
  Mac Pro won't be here this year.
    About a year ago Apple invited a small select group of the media to come out and hear about their plans to revamp the already 4 year old Mac Pro
    They promised a "modular strategy" and a new Apple display to go with it.
    At the time Phil Schiller said, "Now you won’t see any of those products this year; we’re in the process of that."
    So we didn't know when those updates were coming just that they were working on.
    Now we have a little more info on the birthdate of the new Pro and it's not anytime soon. Sometime in 2019.
    in an interview given to Tech Crunch Apple's vice president of Hardware Engineering, Tom Boger, said "the Mac Pro is a 2019 product. It’s not something for this year."
    Sorry, but that sucks in my opinion.
      By the time we see a replacement for the 2013 Mac Pro 6 years will have gone by and many of Apple's "Pro" customers, the few diehards whom are left, will have moved on and who could blame them?
      A company with almost 300 Billion dollars cash on hand can't design a Pro desktop tower in six years?!!!
    Why, Apple says it's taking the time to understand Pro Workflows. They have a team for it working with creative pros in high end shops and studios with a focus on visual effects, video editing, 3D animation, and music production.
    They are looking for tight integration of the hardware and software.
    The focus being minimizing bottleneck and anything that would interrupt or slowdown workflows.
    I am all for making sure this gets done right and I understand Apple's efforts here, but they are moving far too slowly for the fast pace of technology in my opinion.
      If they knew it was going to take this long where's the "stop gap", and for many Pros the iMac Pro is not it. The Mac Pro, despite getting a modest update, doesn't even have USB-C or Thunderbolt 3
    The trouble is they are going to have to WORK even harder now to win back the hearts and minds of a customer base who has been burned so many times by Apple for their loyalty.
Feedback, commentary, opinions
  Does HomePod sound different?
    Some reports after the 11.3 updates that there was less bass and more emphasis on the mid-range
    The update only noted “general improvements in stability and quality”
  The case of flaky Smart Keyboards
    It's been a while since we talked about this, but I have some updates
    I continue to have issues with mine, though they are maybe reduced since the 11.3 update?
    Still getting reports of people being told at the Genius Bar that it's a "known issue" and being given replacements
    But, I have reports of some listeners who've had multiple replacements only to continue to have issues.
    Leads me to believe this is some sort of software problem OR a MASSIVE design flaw in the Smart Cover design and frankly I'm getting more fearful it's the latter.
  Does Apple push updates too quickly?
    Stephen is asking because of several display and other updates that cropped up after the Mac OS 10.13.4 update.
    Specifically apps that let you use your iPad screen as a second display or USB monitors that use DisplayLink stopped working.
    He also mentioned some pretty significant bugs with some JAMF (MDM) software.
    So the question was, is Apple rushing updates out without fixing bugs reported by developers or are developers not doing enough testing and reporting before Apple issues updates?
    The answer, I don’t really know. I imagine both scenarios can and do occur.
    I think often bugs feel “bigger” and more important when the impact you. Granted running an update and having you display no longer work and crash your machine IS a pretty big deal.
    Seems unlikely that this issue just popped up when Apple pushed out 10.13.4, but I guess anything is possible?
    The reality is bugs will always exist.
    We have a modern dilemma too with “upgrade” culture. We are told for security that we want to “always” keep up to date.
    I’m still running macOS 10.12 because I just haven’t had time to upgrade.
  Before you nuke and pave
    Phil is having a wake from sleep issue with his Mac and getting some odd advice from Apple Support
    They are saying to erase everything and do a “clean” install. Not restore from backups using Time Machine
    I think there are many steps you would want to be sure to take/try before going with the “nuclear” option.
    Before any of this, backup!! At least two full backups, one a clone
      Confirm you can recover from your backups.
    Troubleshooting before going nuclear
      Look through Console logs for clues. Application/Utilities/Console.
        Search for the date/time you were attempting to “wake” your Mac.
      Try creating a new user account. System Preferences/Users & Groups.
        Log into this “clean” account and see if you can replicate the issue
        If you can’t then you know the trouble is likely someplace in your “Users” folder and you might need to do a “nuke”.
        Before you do look in the “common” trouble areas.
        ~/Library/Preferences, ~/Library/Preference Panes, ~/Library/Application Support
        Check the Login Items and Menu Items.
        Uninstall any old apps you no longer use and try to use a tool, like Clean My Mac, that will remove all pieces.
      Try downloading the latest “combo” update manually from [support.apple.com/downloads](https://support.apple.com/downloads)
    If you must then you’ll need to copy back all your files and data by hand
      It’s a long slow process.
      Re-install all your apps
        Have copies of all your license keys handy
      Copy back all your “Users” folder.
      Copy back the “Mail” folders.
      Selectively restore Application Support folders and Preferences files.
      System Preference Panes and Menu items.
  Not Back to My Mac
    Play question from Brett
    I honestly don't know why it's so flaky, but many point it it as another iCloud failure by Apple.
    I think the issues are slightly more complex.
    I know a big one is changing the Energy Saver settings to not let the Mac go to sleep or at least make sure "wake on network" activity is on.
    I know that you have better luck if you are running an Airport router.
    Need to make sure the ports ate open on your router and firewall and there's a lot of them.
    I think the ports are likely the biggest issue. They are gerenally proprietary to Apple, so I think a lot of networks you might use remotely (starbucks, hotel wi-fi, etc are likely to hve them blocked)
    Services like Parallels Access I think use mor estandardized IT technologies like Microsoft Remote desktop or VNC maybe?
    At $19/yr. I would say if Parallels work just use that and forget about Back to My Mac.
  Backups are not “Archives”
    I want to bring up something that I think confuses a lot of folks because I often get frustrated emails from listeners about it.
    Most of the time it’s concerns over something happening with a Time Machine backup and losing the “history”.
      Maybe they got a new machine or need to “start” over with Time Machine.
    The other area I’ll hear about it is with “online” backup.
      Specifically now that CrashPlan is out of the “home” backup business.
      CrashPlan had a default “never” retention on deleted files (that is unusual)
      Other services, like Backblaze, have a 30 day retention policy on deleted files.
    As you may or may not know Time Machine retains deleted files until it needs more space and then it removes the oldest deleted files to make space for new ones
      Why I recommend a Time Machine drive that’s at least 2x the size of the drives you’re backing up.
    Here’s the thing though, your daily automated “backups” are not intended to typically be “archives” of data.
      They are for backup up your machine in it’s current state.
      When you recover you recover back to the “current” state.
    They ability to go back and get older versions or deleted files is a “feature” of some backups, but most systems are not “forever”.
    Point is you need to check and understand before you have an issue. Don’t assume you’ll have every copy of every file for forever.
    If you need a “archive” then create a separate strategy for that archive
      I use ChronoSync and a Drobo.
      On it are my podcast files, client files, iTunes Media files, and Photo Libraries.
      I use the option that says NOT to sync deletions.
      I also occasionally create “archives” of various projects, files, and folders. Just my manually copying to other NAS drives or cloud storage.
    This is just my strategy. Come up with your own.
  Using Podcast “Stations”
    I have heard from many folks over the years who are frustrated with the changes made to Apple’s Podcast app.
    One of the biggest is the loss of the ability to use Playlists (and smart playlists) since Apple removed podcasts from iTunes (iOS 11).
    Wayne wrote in and was asking about the lost playlist features and also the ability to use a playlist to basically “save” podcasts.
    That got me looking deeper into the Podcast app and I started playing around with “Stations”
    Not quite a full replacement for playlists, but there are some nice options here worth knowing about.
    You access “Stations” from the Library in iOS.
      Tap Library
      Tap Edit
      Tap Create New Station, give it a title, and tap save.
    With Stations you have some options:
      Tap ‘Play’ to set the play order. Manual show order, oldest first, newest first, manual
      You can group by show
      Number of episodes, like latest, last 3, etc.
      Media Type, if you want unplaced only.
      Choose the Podcasts to include in your “Station”.
    So you could create like a “Tech” station or a “comedy” one. Really anything you’d like.
    Stations will sync via iCloud.
    There is also the "Up Next" queue which you can manage
      Tap the current playing podcast at the bottom to bring up the "Player" sheet
      Swipe up and at the bottom is the "Up Next" list
      You can't change it inside a "station", but you can add items and reorganize if you just add them from the episodes "Details" screen.
      If you're listening to a podcast and browsing others, click the "details" link or force press an episode and tap "Play Next" if you've already added one to the queue you can also tap "Play Later".
      For ones you've added to up next you can use the handles to re-order and swipe to remove.
    You can also save episodes
      When an episode is playing tap the “…” button and tap ‘Save episode’
      Then you can later tap the show from the ‘Library’ tab and you should see a ‘Saved Episodes’ section.
      If you tap the ‘…’ button again from an already saved episode you cab tap ‘Remove’ and then ‘Remove from saved’ to remove it.
Closing
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