Tech entrepreneurs are in an all-out race to cash in on our collective addiction to social media. It’s a fight that started in Silicon Valley that’s now gone global. In the newest season of Wondery’s Business Wars, TikTok vs Instagram, they track the war between two social media giants.
Within the last couple years, TikTok has become one of the most popular apps around the world. It’s even garnered the power to completely reinvent the music industry.
And despite political constraints the app has recently faced, TikTok has still managed to pose a serious threat to its American counterpart: Instagram.
This season of Business Wars will touch on the history behind and founding of both apps, and what they’ve done in recent years to become two of the largest social media platforms to exist.
I stared listening and am really enjoying the backstory behind these companies and their rise to prominence. I’m also a big fan of documentaries and docuseries an the storytelling and recreations in Business Wars are really sucking me into the show.
Listen to the latest season of Business Wars, TikTok vs Instagram, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or listen ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.
News
iPad Pro may also get OLED
We’ve already been discussing the rumors from Ming-Chi Kuo, and others, that they expect Apple to deliver an updated iPad Pro model using Mini LEDs in 2021
That update is expected sometime in the first quarter
Expected to be a “high-end” iPad Pro launching around March
A Korean site, The Elec, is saying that later in 2021 Apple will also ship the first iPad Pro models with OLED displays
They say both Samsung and LG are already in the process of developing the OLED displays for the iPad Pro
Next years iPad models may also get 5G-enabled with mmWave support according to DigiTimes
Cites Apple's success in developing its own in-house mmWave AiP (antenna in package) modules for next years iPhones
The ‘portless’ iPhone
Apple leaker Jon Prosser claims that Apple will have a “portless” iPhone next year
But he claims it will only be one model
Which model, who knows and Prosser doesn’t say
Apple is expected to keep the same four model line-up in 2021. iPhone mini, iPhone, iPhone Pro, iPhone Pro Max
If Apple could add technology to MagSafe for “wireless” data transfer or use a “Smart connector”, or just rely 100% on wireless connectivity.
We’ve also seen additional reports recently from sources like ETNews that Apple is looking to increase optical zoom on future iPhones using “periscope” lens technology
Basically a set of lenses inside the iPhone body at a 90 degree angle to the main lenses with a 45 degree mirror.
They could archive optical zoom up to 10x without a thicker iPhone or a protruding (telescoping) zoom lens assembly
Right now the tech is not expected to likely hit the iPhone until 2022
M1 Mac run with up to six displays
Natively the new M1 Macs are somewhat limited for external displays.
The M1 MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Pro can run one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz.
The M1 Mac mini can run one display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt and one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI 2.0.
A YouTuber, Ruslan Tulupov, showed it’s possible to use an M1 Mac mini to drive up to six displays.
The “trick” requires using DisplayPort (DisplayLink certified) adapters with DisplayLink
MacBook Air and MacBook Pro could do up to five display using this trick.
He had to use a mix of 4K and 1080p displays and noted that the Mac's Thunderbolt ports do not have the bandwidth to simultaneously run six 4K displays at full resolution
Still performance seems to be good.
New designed Apple Silicon MacBook models in the second half of 2021
According to Ming-Chi Kuo
Some new models may also still offer Intel options according to Twitter leaker L0vetodream
Similar to the rumors of miniLED iPad Pros, there are rumors that 2021 model MacBooks could also get miniLED display tech.
Kuo also says Apple will have a “more affordable new MacBook Air” with a mini LED display in 2022
Developer Alexander Graf was able to successfully virtualize the Arm version of Windows to run on an M1 Mac without using emulation
Says it works with “near-native” performance
Even better than that the OS can successfully run x86 applications pretty well. Not like Intel apps on Rosetta, but “really well” according to the developer
Show promise that, if Microsoft would license ARM Windows to users, that it would likely run on Apple Silicon Macs.
Craig Federighi had already said in an interview that Windows on Apple Silicon is “up to Microsoft”.
Linus Torvalds said he’d love to move back to an Apple M1 Macbook Air if he could run Linux on it.
Noted the GPU and support from Apple as the sticking point. He doubts Apple would provide enough details on the M1 SoC for Linux developers to be able to support it.
Won’t stop Linux developer Hector Martin from trying
The project has already reached it’s “kick-off” goal and is about 60% of the way to making it Martin’s full time job.
The project will be open-source and will be made available on GitHub
Apple teasing Fitness+
Or at least their instructors are on Instagram
Apple has not said when the service will be available beyond stating that it will happen in “late” 2020
We’re getting close to that deadline
Apple Fitness+ will offer video fitness training sessions lead by their own in-house instructors
The service integrates with the Apple Watch to display “heads up” fitness stats over the video
Apple Fitness+ will cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year and is also included in the Apple One Premier Bundle
Apple Fitness+ may be a surprise hit with the current COVID environment and with the number Apple Apple watches Apple seems to be selling
IDC claims that Apple shipped 11.8 million Apple Watches in the third quarter of 2020
That’s up 75 percent from the number shipped in the third quarter of 2019
IDC also believes Apple has 21.6 percent of the worldwide wrist-worn wearables market. Putting it in second place behind Xiaomi, but they sell cheap simple fitness trackers.
Apple Family Sharing has finally added support for in-app purchase and subscription sharing support for developers
“You can now enable Family Sharing for auto-renewable subscriptions and non-consumable in-app purchases, allowing users to share their purchases with up to five family members.”
If enabled you can go into Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions.
There is an option for “Share New Subscriptions”
For apps, Tap on the subscription and (if the app supports it) you’ll see a toggle for “
MagSafe Duo chargers now available
Priced at USD $129
Lets you charge an iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time
Has a foldable, portable design
Need to buy a USB-C Power adapter separately
A 20W one will only change the phone at 11W rate
A 27W or higher one will charge at a 14W rate (almost the full 15W)
Some reports of iPhone 12 issues
Both 9to5 Mac and MacRumors users are reporting “excessive” battery drain on standby
They report the issues happening even with when on wi-fi with 5G turned off.
Saying a loss of up to 4 percent an hour
I enabled Exposure Notification (Contact tracing) and notice that it is using almost 11 percent of my battery over the past 10 days.
Other reports of users suddenly losing 5G and LTE connectivity
In places where it’s been fine before
Toggling Airplane mode seems to resolve the issue
Reports of losing Qi Wireless charging
Will work, but then suddenly stop and refuse to charge
Hard rebooting seems to bring charging back, but then you can lose it again.
9to5 Mac reports Apple is aware of this one and working on a fix.
Address a problem with cases of a "small percentage" of iPhone 11 displays that stop responding to touch
Apple says that affected devices were manufactured between November 2019 and May 2020
The issue appears top be with the display module
There is a serial number checker in the support document on Apple’s site to see if your device is eligible
Devices can be taken to Apple or an Authorized Apple Service Provider for service at no charge.
The program covers affected iPhone 11 devices for two years after the first retail sale of the unit, and those who paid to have their devices repaired can contact Apple about a refund.
One more thing in 2020
Mac Rumors has an internal memo from a “reliable source” telling service provider technicians to “prepare for new product SKUs, new/updated product descriptions, and new/updated product pricing.” arriving next week on Tuesday around 5:30 AM PST
Speculation is that Apple might be getting ready to release one more 2020 product
Could it be AirPods Studio, AirTags, a new Apple TV?
Leaker L0vetodream had already posted on Twitter that Apple would have one more “Christmas surprise” to come this year.
A few more Apple TV+ docuseries
Apple TV+, according to Deadline, has give the order for a straight-to-series show hosted by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton
It’s currently untitled but will be inspired by the Clinton’s book “The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience.”
Apple has also ordered a six-part docuseries following the World Surf League
Apple says, “Each episode will be a rich exploration of the characters who make up the 2021 WSL Men’s and Women’s CT, taking viewers on a journey to incredible surfing locations across the globe”
Sponsor: Sandisk
iXpand
We all know how easy it is to run out of space on your phone... and how awful it is choosing photos to delete in the moment. I know it’s happened to me
Photos and videos can pile up before you know it...
And waiting for those memories to upload to the cloud can take hours...
Plus, I’m sure we’ve all heard Google Photos is ending free unlimited storage
Which is why I’m excited to share the new simple solution from SanDisk
We all know about thumb drives for your computers, but SanDisk has you covered for your
phone as well!
Their data storage solutions make it easy to backup and transfer photos and videos on your phone, especially the precious memories you’re going to make this holiday season
I’ve been using the iXpand Flash Drive from SanDisk - a kind of 2-in-1 drive designed for iPhones and iPads with a lightning port and a USB-A port you can plug into your Mc (or PC)
With the accompanying iXpand app, you can set up “auto back-up" and it copies your photos and videos every time the drive is plugged in...
Options for the iXpand Flash Drive range from 128 to 256 gigabytes of storage
Take my advice – start freeing up space on your phone with SanDisk today
Right now, you can get 15% OFF your first order of featured SanDisk products
Life can be stressful even under normal circumstances. 2020 has challenged even the most difficult times of your life. You need stress relief that goes beyond quick fixes. That’s Headspace.
Headspace is your daily dose of mindfulness in the form of guided meditations in an easy-to-use app.
Headspace’s approach to mindfulness can reduce stress, improve sleep, boost focus, and increase your overall sense of well-being.
I’ve tried different forms of meditation and relaxation techniques and never had much success.
I’m opened up head space and it was the perfect experience.
It asked me questions about what I was wanting to gain from meditations (I chose more focus), my experience level, what time of day i wanted to meditate and for how long.
I’m now in a beginner series that just takes 3 mins a day and I’m enjoying it.
Plus the app has a bright cheery style that makes it fun to use.
Oh, and it’s links in with the Health app and HealthKit, which is cool.
I’m also planning to try out their “sleepcasts” to help battle my occasional bouts of insomnia.
Headspace makes it easy for you to build a life-changing meditation practice with mindfulness that works for you - on your schedule - anytime, anywhere.
That’s HEADSPACE DOT COM SLASH MACCAST for a FREE ONE-MONTH TRIAL with access to Headspace’s full library of meditations for every situation.
This is the best deal offered right now, head to HEADSPACE DOT COM SLASH MACCAST today!
Feedback, commentary, opinions
M1 reactions from the community
Play comment from Khol
Manually migrating Podcasts
Mike emailed to ask, “How do you manually move a Mac Podcast library from Mojave to Big Sur with a clean install?”
Great question, especially since there is no longer “Podcasts” folder in the Media folder inside iTunes. There’s no iTunes
When you migrated to macOS Catalina, if you do an “over the top install”, all your Libraries are migrated for you
Although I discovered some of my saved podcasts, including my first appearance in Leo Laporte’s “Tech Guy Show”, was lost in the shuffle
So where did the podcast files get moved to?
They are stored as “Cache” in '~/Library/Group Containers/243LU875E5.groups.com.apple.podcasts’
Yes, even the “Downloads”
You can drag downloaded podcasts out of the Podcast app to save them as files on your Mac.
But you can’t drag audio files back in
If you had migrated your Library from iTunes to the Podcast app in macOS Catalina you might be able to try manually migrating that entire directory to Big Sur and that may work?
If you in the community have a though or suggestion or have been successful in manually migrating your podcast from an old Mac to a new one, let us know how you did it.
Many devices. Many Notifications
Play question from Graeme
I tried playing around with this and at least as far as sounds go, it seems VERY inconsistent
If I get a notification sound or alert (vibration) on the Apple watch then I get no sound on the iPhone
iPhone seem to not have a sound if it is on the lock screen (even if unlocked) or asleep even with the ringer.
Seems to do Apple Watch if my phone is not in active use, otherwise it will alert on the phone.
Mac, for me, seems to always get the alert if it’s awake.
I do not know a way to force alerts to sound on ALL devices.
You could play with the settings and see if you making changes helps
One thing, for important notifications (Calendar, Text, email) that may help is setting their banners to be “Alerts” on the Mac and “Persistent” on iOS
That way they will appear when you unlock your device
May want to also check that you have not set lock screen notifications to “Deliver Quietly”
On the lock screen swipe left on a notification can tap “manage”
You can choose “Deliver Quietly”. It will only appear in Notification Center, but not show a banner, show on the lock screen, make a sound, or an app badge icon.
Choose “Deliver Prominently” to undo it
Other app notification settings:
Allow Notifications
Styles (Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banners) (can set all three)
Banner Style: Temporary or Persistent
Sounds & Badges
Show Preview: Always, When Unlocked (default), never
Notification Grouping: Automatic, By App, or Off
Taking Smaller Screenshots
Rick wrote in to ask if there was a way to get smaller sized screenshots
He said when he takes one that the typical size varies from 1 to 6 MB
I immediately thought of a couple options
1. Only take a screenshot of the portion of the screen that you need. If you use Command+Shift+4 then you can make a selection to take a shot of only a potion of the screen
2. Open the screenshot in Preview and use the “File > Export…” option to change the format to JEPG and adjust the quality level to get a smaller file
3. Change the the default format of the screenshot from PNG to JPG. To do this you need to run a Terminal command.
Open the Terminal app
Enter the command: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg;killall SystemUIServer
If you want to change back to PNG use the command: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png;killall SystemUIServer
There are a few other screenshot tricks that are worth knowing
Command + Shift + 3 takes a fullscreen screenshot
When using Command + Shift + 4 tap the spacebar. You get a “camera” icon. Now you can hover over elements or windows and just capture that item.
Command + Shift + 5 will open the Screenshot app (Applications > Utilities > Screenshot)
Has a floating command bar with options
Timer
Save location
Show the “floating thumbnail”
Option to “Remember Last Selection” or not.
Can capture video as well.
Capture a whole Safari webpage without a 3rd party tool
May not work for all web pages
Use the “Developer’ menu
Safari > Preferences > Advanced
Check on “Show Developer Menu in menubar”
On the page, click the Develop menu and choose “Show Inspector” (Command + Option + I)
Look for the <html> tag and right click it
In the contextual menu choose “Capture Screenshot”
Save the screenshot.
To clean install or not clean install
Every year around new OS time I get this question
I have not done a “clean install” guide for years because frankly I think most of the time it is no longer necessary
If you’ve cluttered up your system over the years then I think these days a reverse approach is just fine
Boot to the installer and erase your Mac’s hard drive with Disk Utility
Install macOS Big Sur
Use Migration Assistant to restore your user account (or set up from scratch and manually migrate files from backups)
I would suggest not migrating anything but your user account
Means you’ll need to reinstall all apps, redo all system settings and network settings from scratch
Have all your license codes ready for non-App Store apps.
Keep a backup around for a few months in case you need to recover files, data, or settings.
Cool Thing: macOSicons
So BigSur brings a new “square” icon format to Mac OS apps.
I’m so far not a big fan to be honest.
Some Apps seem to be adopting the aesthetic and some not.
If you’re looking for a bit more consistency you can replace the icons with your own and [macOSicons.com](https://macosicons.com) has almost 3,000 ICNs files you can get
They have alternate designs for a lot of your favorite apps.
To customize an icon
Download the icon file (need to be in .icns format)
Select the app in the Finder
Choose File > Get Info
In the dialog drag your custom icon over the icon image in the upper left corner
You’ll need to quit the app and relaunch it to see the icon change in the Dock
Please consider sponsoring or donating to the developer as the popularity of the site is making his server costs skyrocket
