Hard to believe at this late stage, but we’re hearing from at least two leakers that Apple is having issues getting 120Hz driver ICs from their suppliers
Display analyst Ross Young and tech YouTuber and Apple leaker Jon Prosser are both reporting on Apple’s troubles with 120Hz
That feature has been debated in the community as it would potentially be a significant drain on battery life, but some say they’re willing to give up some battery for buttery smooth scrolling
Prosser mentions a toggle in the settings for iPhone 12 Pro Max models
Prosser also had leaks indicating that the iPhone 12 Pro max would include a LiDAR sensor that can be used to assist with autofocus and object detection when taking video and photos in low light with an “Enhanced Night Mode”
Because new technologies like 5G and higher refresh rate displays can have an impact on battery life Apple is constantly exploring new battery tech
DigitTimes is reporting that some of the tech from AirPods may help future iPhones
For the iPhone 12 Apple is looking at “hybrid battery boards” that combinesystem-in-package (SiP) and flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs)
The solution can be smaller allowing more space for larger batteries or other components.
TSMC has noted that the new 5nm process they are using for production of the A14 chip, expected to be at the heart of this years iPhone 12 lineup, should bring increased performance and reduced power consumption
The new chips could offer up to 15 percent better performance or reduce battery consumption by up to 30% depending on how Apple chooses to clock them out.
They also noted that they are already looking to move to a new 3nm process in 2022.
A couple Eurasian Economic Commission filings showed up for new Apple products this past week
We believe Apple is readying the Apple Watch Series 6 and an iPad update and that is what was filed.
There were also leaked images of an iPad Air 4 manual
Possibly Ming Chi-Kuo’s rumored 10.8-inch iPad update
Shows a reduced bezels and no home button, but mentions TouchID (integrated into power button?)
Some recently leaked schematics mention FaceID, but that seems unlikely?
Also a USB-C connector and Smart Connector on the back, possibly supporting Apple’s Magic Keyboard
New period show for AppleTV+
According to Deadline Apple has ordered a series based on the period novel “The Essex Serpent” by Sarah Perry
It’s the story of a recently widowed woman who escapes from an abusive marriage moving to the village of Aldwinter in Essex. While there she hears of the local legend of a creature called the Essex Serpent and being a naturalist decides to investigate
The series will be executive produced by and star Keira Knightley, who is known for her role in the Pirate of the Caribbean films.
Variety notes that Apple is getting set to release three new documentary series to Apple TV+ soon
“Tiny World” a six episode series narrated by Paul Rudd. October 2nd
“Becoming You” also a six episode series which takes a look at over 100 children through the world and how they learn to think, speak and move from birth to five-years-old. November 3rd
“Earth at Night in Color” a six episode series filmed across six continents, from the Arctic Circle to the African grasslands and “follows the moonlit dramas of animals at night, revealing new insights and never before seen behaviors.” December 4th
Reports from Bloomberg that Apple is looking to incorporate AR based “bonus” content into Apple TV+ Show next year
Would use your iPhone or iPad and sync with the TV show you’re watching
Could “pop” up revenant bonus content within your living room.
Example given was a lunar rover popping up in your living room while watching an episode of For All Mankind
I would assume you could then interact with it to get more facts and information about the rover and space program
Bloomberg also reports that with the first batch of year long free Apple TV+ trial subscriptions reaching a close they are considering an extension
You would need to purchase a new qualifying Apple product and the free period would not be for a full year.
Apple possibly acquired VR startup Spaces
A VR company called Spaces may never been recently acquired by Apple.
The company started as a part of DreamWorks Animation creating VR experiences, like Terminator Salvation: Fight for the Future, in malls and other locations
The company had been struggling and with the pandemic was force to shut the physical locations.
They pivoted to creating a VR conference and whiteboard experience for online video conferencing like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
About a week ago they announced they were shutting down that service to “head in a new direction”
Sources have called that direction is Apple.
It’s not clear what Apple’s plans are for the company or the technology.
VR FaceTime meetings?
Apple and Epic: A Draw
Apple and Epic came out 50/50 in terms of a judges ruling for restraining order filed by Epic.
It was Epic’s move to keep Apple from revoking their developer licenses that would have their apps removed from the App Store and would stop their ability to continue development of their Unreal Game Engine on iOS
The judge in the case saw through Epic’s attempt to blame Apple for their situation regarding Fortnite.
She allowed Apple to move forward with removing the app from the App Store and revoking the developers license for their Apps and games. All which have now been removed from the App Store.
Existing owners of the apps can still use them, but will not be able to get any updates.
The judge did side with Epic on the Unreal Game Engine developer account and blocked Apple from being able to suspend that.
She noted that Apple seemed to be doing so as a retaliatory move
That is good news for 3rd party game developers who rely on and use the Unreal engine.
Apple says they are ready to welcome Epic back into the App Store as soon as they comply with Apple’s guidelines and remove their alternate payment system from their app.
Epic sent out an email to Apple customers blaming Apple for the new season not being available on their devices.
Apple Air Power-less Mat?
Bloomberg says that Apple might be looking to do a slightly “less ambitious” version of the AirPower wireless charging mat
Something that Ming Chi-Kuo also mentioned in the past saying that Apple planned to release a “smaller charging mat” for iPhone
The details on what “less ambitious” means are murky
Would Apple really do a “me too” wireless charging mat? If so who would buy it?
More Apple Maps data moves in-house
Apple has been rapidly working to improve Maps and bring in new features
Launching their own ground truth initiatives and on the ground mapping efforts have brought new features like updated mapping data and Look Around.
One area Apple still relies on outside data is for points of interest data and local photos. They’ve relied on partnerships with outside services like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Foursquare
In iOS 14 it looks like Apple is making moves to change that.
There is a new UI for users to be able to suggest recommendations for places directly to Apple
You can also directly share photos.
So far only a small subset of the places on Apple mays seem to be displaying this new data, so the feature seems like a work in progress.
There are also recent reports an indications that Apple might be looking to dump Google in favor of their own in-house search engine.
The activity and changes were reported by Cryowolf and highlighted in an iMore piece
They are reporting that Apple is hiring search engineers with experience and a focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning
It also appears that spotlight search in iOS 14 no longer returns web search data from google, but instead comes directly from the websites that hey link to.
Finally they noticed Apple’s Applebot web crawler is getting updates that are making it behave a lot more like Google’s bot
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They sound great too, whether I’m on a Zoom call from the office or listening to Apple Music.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Setting hourly reminders works
So remember last time we had a question about how to set hourly reminders manually in the Reminders app
I had a listener who said they were only able to do it via Siri
I tried it and had a similar experience.
But listener Howard can through with the “critical” step I was missing.
1) tap the button on for “ remind me on a day”
2) under that tap button for “ remind me at a time “ (THIS STEP)
3) tap repeat
4) at bottom tap “custom”
5) tap “frequency “
6) tap “hourly” at top
7) at bottom tap “every” and select between 1-999 hrs to repeat
Apple Watch playlist syncing
Play comment from Gary
How to Sync Music with your Apple Watch
Set your Apple Watch on its charger and make sure that it is charging. Make sure that your iPhone is within range of your watch.
On your iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth. Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on.
On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, then tap the My Watch tab.
Scroll to Music and tap it, then tap Add Music.
Find the music that you want to sync. Tap the add button next to the music that you want.
I wonder if there might be third party apps or alternative apps that can get around this limitation?
I did some searching, but was unsuccessful.
Upcoming iOS 14 features worth noting
There are lots of cool things coming in iOS 14, but I’ve read about a few recently that are lesser known, but still cool
Anti-tracking features
Apple’s continued full court press on protecting our privacy online
Apps will need to ask a user's permission to collect data based on their device's identifier.
Basically ads won’t be able to follow you around the web unless you want them to.
Facebook is already warning their publishers that they suspect at least a 50 percent drop in revenue on Mac and iOS due to this feature.
Also, in WiFi settings you can now enable a “Private Address” for public Wi-Fi, so that you can’t be tracked across different Wi-Fi networks. It’s enabled by default.
Sound Recognition
This is designed as an accessibility feature but I imagine might be very useful to anyone
You device can “listen” for common sounds and alert you when they happen
Alarms, sirens, pet noise (cat and dog), car horns, door bell or knock, baby crying
FaceTime Eye Contact
This was supposed to be in iOS 13, but got pushed.
When enabled on a FaceTime call your device will use image processing and the camera system to make it appear as if you’re always looking that the camera even when looking down to type.
Apps install directly to App Library
Instead of just randomly landing on the Home Screens.
Hidden Photo albums can really be hidden
Toggle in the Photos settings
Will not longer show a “Hidden” album in Photos
Music Quiz Game from iPod is back as a Shortcut
It plays 5 random tracks from your Music library’
You try to guess the track title and artist from a multiple choice list
At the end you hav options to share you score on social media.
It’s also an amazing way to see how powerful shortcuts can be.
I added a step to stop the music playback after the last song.
Malware seems more prevalent and annoying
I seem to be getting more and more emails that generally start like this…
“Hey Adam, something odd is happening on my Mac… I’m seeing these pop-ups when I’m browsing sites.”
The pop-ups can be random ads that don’t seem to be from the site you’re currently visiting or security pop-ups from macOS
For example, a listener recently wrote in with a pop-up warning that said…
“Do you want the application “Searchbox Server” to accept incoming network connections?
I think this might be an Apple Firewall prompt? Or maybe it’s just Gatekeeper
Regardless, in these cases “no” should be the default answer until you know what is requesting an “inbound” (huge red flag) connection.
Google is your friend.
In this specific case nothing turned up in search
The next step would be to run an Malware detection tool
