shownotes_20220424

Opening
Sponsor: SimpliSafe
  SimpliSafe
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News
  iPhone mini out in 2022
    We sort of already expected this but, new iPhone “blanks” showed up this week via the Chinese site Weibo
    These are probably molds for iPhone cases, not for the actual iPhone.
    Still they indicate sizes of: 6.1-inch iPhone 14, a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max
    The iPhone mini has really not sold well according to many sources which is why it might be out
      Actually smaller phones in general seem to be suffering
      A survey this week of US carrier stores by Wave 7 claims 56 percent said iPhone SE 3 demand “is weaker this year than it was for the previous iPhone SE.” with only 8 percent claim it was stronger
    The other thing that’s notable with these blanks is the increased camera bumps on the Pro models
      Expected to support the improved 48 MP wide angle lens
      4.17 mm thick, or 0.57 mm larger and the overall space the bump uses growing about 5 percent to 36.73 mm by 38.21 mm up from 35.01 mm by 36.24 mm in the iPhone 13 Pro.
    The post also talks about the “notch” noting the non-Pro models will still have one while stating the “Pro” line will have a “exclamation point” design referring to the rumored change to a pill plus hole punch display design for the True Depth camera system
    Speaking of those “FaceTime” cameras on the iPhone 14… Ming-Chi Kuo this week said they would be getting some improvements as well
      Getting an upgrade to autofocus and a larger aperture
      Specifically a new f/1.9 aperture vs the current f/2.2
      Adding a better shallow depth-of-field effect for selfie/portrait mode and enhanced focus for video calls
    A later Weibo post also mentioned a possible new purple color for this years iPhone
      The color would even shift tone based on lighting conditions according to the leak
      It also claims a new True Tone flash that looks like "a small circle in a big circle," as opposed to the current design that contains two small separate LEDs on each half of the circle
    Kuo also said that he’s expecting Apple to adopt a under-display Face ID design for the iPhone in 2024 for the iPhone 16
  iOS gains share on Android
    Of course Android devices continue to dominate the global market, but new data this week shows that they are slipping a bit and iOS is gaining ground
    The data comes from StockApps and they say in the past 4 years Android’s marketshare has dropped from 77.32 percent to 69.74 percent
    Meanwhile at the same time iOS usage went from 19.4 percent to 25.49 percent
    Oddly… the report credits Apple’s focus on releasing lower cost entry level options like the iPhone SE and iPhone mini as likely contributing to the rise in marketshare.
    Still this year Apple could face an uphill battle due to the supply chain. It won’t matter how popular iPhones are if they can’t ship.
      Reports that as many as 200 of Apple’s suppliers have facilities in and around Shanghai being disrupted by COVID lockdowns
      Apple does a pretty decent job at diversifying their supply chain, so they might be less impacted than some, but still there’s likely to be AN impact
      One example seems to be Apple’s 3rd OLED supplier BOE who continues to be impacted by chip shortages and will struggle to hit Apple’s production targets for this year.
  Apple TV + FaceTime + HomePod
    Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is still working on combining the functionality of an Apple TV with a HomePod and a FaceTime camera all into a single device
    He said they also might have new HomePod mini’s in the works, but that the “combo” HomePod would be “at the center of Apple's approach” combined with mini spread throughout the house.
    I have to imagine that Apple’s work on “Center Stage” would also be part of making a product like this possible.
    Gurman also said he didn’t think Apple would do a “big stand-alone HomePod”, but maybe the should?
      9to5 Mac’s Chance Miller tweeted this week that demand for the discontinued model seems to be alive and well on eBay
      He noted sealed in box original HomePods selling for up to $700 USD and The Verge noted the average price (not mint in box) is around $350. About $50 over the selling price of $299 when it was discontinued.
  Apple TV+ wants more live sports
    Apple TV+ just launched Friday Night Baseball
    They’ve been rumored for a while to be also going after an NFL deal. Specifically for the NFL Sunday Ticket package
    A report from “Puck News” this week eludes that the deal between Apple and the NFL for 2023 is basically done and being kept under wraps
    DirectTV had the deal for NFL Sunday ticket and was reportedly paying about $1.5 billion per year for the rights
    Apple is expected to have paid up to $2.5 billion to get the deal which was also being shopped to Amazon
    Apple also continues to expand the list of Apple TV+ shows
      They announced a new children's series based on a popular app Sago Mini World
        "Sago Mini Friends” will be a new series featuring Harvey the floppy-eared dog and his best friends, Jinja the cat, Jack the rabbit, and Robin the bird.
        According to Apple’s press release, “In each episode, Harvey and all his friends express their true thankfulness for all things, big and small, through optimism, kindness, preschool-friendly humor and unforgettable original songs!”
    Apple also announced the first project to come from the “first look” deal with Edris Elba
      Elba will produce and star in a limited series called “Hijack”
      The series will be a seven-part thriller about the hijacking of a London flight told in “real-time” over the seven hours of the flight
  An M3, already?!!
    Mark Gurman is now claiming that Apple is already in development of the M3?
    We don’t even have M2s yet.
    Ok to be fair… Apple is likely several years out in working on most of their processor designs
    Also Gurman does reiterate that Apple is still planning server “M2” computers before the M3 some of which could be here as early as June
      An M2 chip for a new MacBook Air, entry-level MacBook Pro, and Mac mini;
      M2 Pro and M2 max chips for a new 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro;
      A dual M2 Ultra chip for the Mac Pro (quad?)
    As for the M3? That he expects Apple to release in an updated iMac he says probably near the end of next year.
    He also says Apple is still working on an iMac Pro but don’t expect to see it “anytime soon”.
  And Apple Watch Repair program
    If you have an 40mm Apple Watch Series 6 model and have experienced the “white screen” issue there is good news for you.
    Apple has a new service program for some owners of that model who displays might go blank permanently
    Apple says the affected units were manufactured between April and September 2021.
    You can see if your Apple Watch is eligible for a repair free of charge by entering your serial number on [Apple’s Support Page](https://support.apple.com/apple-watch-series6-service-program-for-blank-screen-issue)
    The program covers eligible Apple Watch Series 6 for two years after the first retail sale of the unit.
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  Ladder
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Sponsor: Hunter Douglas
  Hunter Douglas
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
  iCloud Reminders remembers too much
    This is actually an ongoing issue for one of our community members and others
    Carlos contacted us before about an issue where the Reminders app was consuming a large portion of his storage, especially on iOS
    He went back and forth with Apple Support and ultimately resolved it, at least temporarily, by completely deleting the app in iOS and re-installing it.
      You probably also want to turn off iCloud syncing of reminders to the app as well? Backup first of course.
      Also make sure you have at least one device, probably your Mac, that still has all your Reminder data locally stored and backed up.
    The thing is… it didn’t last and there continues to be [discussion threads](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253167043) on Apple support forms of users with this issue.
    To make it worse… some reminders data can get into the GBs and can cause Apple Watches to not be able to sync or use the data because the library is too big.
    It’s not clear how wide spread this issue is or what the exact cause is but because the data is sync’d to iCloud it seems to often come back even when fixed on a particular device.
    The most likely culprit mentioned, to me, seems to be a bug in iOS or iCloud cleaning up older “completed” data especially on “recurring” reminders.
      The data is stored in a SQL Lite database and come have opened that file and found tons of old records they believed were already deleted.
    Adding images to reminders, especially repeating ones, also seems to possibly duplicate that image and consume storage faster.
    In iOS 15 Apple did make it easier to clean up “completed” reminders
      Open Reminders
      Tap on “All” reminders
      Make sure “Show Completed Reminders” is on
        Tap the “…” icon and choose “Show Completed”
      At the top you should see a “Clear” link. Tap that and choose an option to remove completed reminders
        All Completed
        Older Than a Month
        Older Than 6 Months
        Older Than a Year
    If anyone in our community has experienced this and better yet has a solid fix or solution… please share it.
  Managing Large Photo Libraries
    Play comment / question from Curtis
    It’s for sure a problem…
    One recommendation would be to just “purge” you Photo Library
      Use the “hide” feature (Command+L) to locate and hide photos. Or an album (tag and smart album?) that you want to possibly delete from your Library
        Then you can review them and delete bad photos
      Purge “Screenshots” from the screenshots album
        Albums > Media Types > Screenshots
      Purge extra “Burst” photos
        Albums > Media Types > Bursts
        Choose a Burst Photos, open it (double click)
        Click the “Make a Selection” option
          Select the photos you want to keep (circle checkbox)
          Apple will mark what it thinks are the best ones with a dot below the photo
        Click “Done” and then “Keep Only Selection”
    Using a “Smart Album” to organize images into years is also a great way to go.
      Then you can export those images as the modified or unmodified originals and then import them back into a new Photo Library
      To create a new library, hold down the option key while launching Photos, and choose “Create New” then you can import the exported photos.
      Be aware you can only have one “System” library for syncing to iCloud Photo Library
    Better yet, after creating the albums, use [PowerPhotos](https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/) to split the libraries and maintain the metadata
    So once you’ve created all your “archive” libraries and ensured they are being backed up and can be viewed properly
      You can start to delete and clean up images in your “main” library.
  Thing of the Moment: Beats Studio Buds
    [Beats Studio Buds](https://www.beatsbydre.com/earbuds/studio-buds)
    So I got these because my Air Pods Pro mics stopped working and I am waiting for the new version before replacing them
    These are $100 less expensive and have almost ALL the same features as AirPods Pro
      Spatial Audio
      Active Noise Cancellation
      8 hours of battery life, up to 24 with the battery case
      Works with “Hey, Siri”
    And some options AirPods Pro don’t have
      Colors… Blue, Grey, Black, Pink, Red, and White
      No stems
      USB-C charging (no wireless charging case)
    The good
      They sound great to me.
      Despite not having a U1 chip the set-up experience was similar
        Doesn’t auto switch devices
      Mics sound good
      Noise cancellation is good (though maybe not as good as AirPods Pro?)
    The not as good
      Don’t like the “push” style on bud control as much as the “squeeze” stems
      The fit is good, but harder to pull out of your ear.
      Case is a bit larger
    If you’re looking for a bud that is almost as good as Air Pods Pro for $100 less I think these are a great option. Probably getting more bang for you buck than going with just the “Air Pods”
Closing
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