Apple seems to be getting hit harder and harder by the supply chain
This past year I would say it felt like, outside of iPad, Apple had stayed largely ahead of the curve
I’m guessing they had a large lead of contacts in place and that helped them stay one step ahead
This year that may be changing
Quanta, Apple’s supplier in Shanghai for the popular 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros has only been able to bring their production capacity back up to around 30 percent following lockdowns there according to DigiTimes reports
They hope to slowly bring capacity back up to 50 percent
But component supplies are also at lower capacities and the entire chain is interconnected
Right now Apple’s preconfigured MacBook Pro models seem to be backed up into late June or early July and I’d imagine it could get worse
At this point according to a report by Macworld, in the US, only the older M1 Mac systems (the Mac mini, 24-inch iMac, and 13-inch MacBook Pro) are available for immediate shipping
If you want other models, like MacBook Pros, a Mac Studio or Studio Display be prepared to wait up to 11 weeks at this point and those lead times could grow
RIP iPod
Apple this week announced the discontinuation of the iPod Touch
Marks the end of an era
Not long after the announcement Apple Stores and Apple On-line began to sell out of the iPod Touch.
You may still be able to find them at 3rd party retailers
Greg Joswiak said the spirit of the iPod lives on in Apple Music integrated products like the iPhone, the Apple Watch, HomePod mini, and across the Mac, iPad, and Apple TV.
Hard to believe the first iPod came out almost 21 years ago in October of 2001. The first iPod Touch was released in 2007
The current version of the iPod Touch with Home button (no TouchID), 4-inch screen, and an Apple A10 Fusion chip came out in 2019
Changes to Apple Services and Teams
There were a few reports this week of changes at Apple will staffing and roles that will likely impact the direction of future projects
Business Insider reported that Eddie Cue has decided that Apple’s advertising busin ess is, "big enough to live on its own."
To that end he has reportedly had put Apple’s advertising vice president, Todd Teresi, in charge of that piece of the business at the beginning of the year
This freed up Apple's vice president of services Peter Stern to stay focused on Apple’s services including video, news, books, iCloud, Fitness+, and Apple One
Considering the growth in Services over the past years and the growth last quarter this seems like a good decision
A Verge reporter, Zoë Schiffer, sent out a tweet saying that Ian Goodfellow, Apple’s director of machine learning, is leaving over Apple’s return to work policy
Goodfellow reportedly believed strongly that more flexibility would have been better for his team
Apple is having Apple Park based employees to work in the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
Apple’s head of film marketing for Apple TV+, JP Richards, has resigned according to Variety
Richards came to Apple in January 2021 from Warner Bros. Pictures. where he was co-president in worldwide marketing
It’s unclear where Richards is going only that he is rumored to be pursuing other opportunities
Apple is actively looking for a replacement
iPhone Pro screens ever so slightly larger
We’ve discussed often the rumors of Apple making the iPhone 14 Pro model displays “notchless”
They are moving to a “Pill + hole punch” design and the belief from 9to5 Mac and others was that this would allow the displays to be slightly taller, letting you use the space for the notch
Well display analyst Ross Young supposedly has the new specs and released them this week, but it’s not a big difference to say the least (emphasis on “least”)
For the Pro model we go from 6.06” to 6.12” and for the Pro Max from 6.68” to 6.69” inches
That isn’t really any useable change and in fact it’s believed Apple won’t do anything in iOS to make use of the display change
So if you were hoping for the percentage back in the status bar, hope again.
The bigger change for iPhone may just be coming next year with the launch of the iPhone 15 models
Ming-Chi Kuo claims next year will be the year Apple finally ditches the Lightning port in the iPhone for USB-C
The concerns for losing Lightning would be the large existin g accessory market and also less water resistance
But pressure from the EU and others on standardizing smartphone and device connectors might be forcing Apple’s hand
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also confirmed that Apple is indeed testing out USB-C iPhone designs along with developing a USB-C Lightning adapter to let new devices work with older accessories (CarPlay likely a big one)
Kuo also claimed accessories like AirPods, the MagSafe Battery Pack, and the Magic Keyboard/Mouse/Trackpad would also switch to USB-C in the "foreseeable future."
An updated AppleTV
We may finally see a new Apple TV, at least according to Ming-Chi Kuo
In a tweet he claimed Apple plans to releas e an updated Apple TV in the second half of 2022
The big new feature… “improve(d) cost structure”
Seriously… a more aggressive price point for Apple TV is likely the biggest thing Apple could do to make the device more popular
The current Apple TV 4K models are USD $179 and $199 respectively. That is WAY more than Apple’s competition and Apple has the Apple TV app on most of those device and built into Smart TVs now.
But we all know the features and experience on an Apple TV is just WAY better
Kuo doesn’t mention what the price point will be, but in my opinion they need to have a sub-$100 starting price.
We’ve also heard the rumors in the past that Apple is developing an “integrated” Apple TV product to combine an integrated HomePod speaker and camera for FaceTime
So maybe we see the expansion of the line up to include an entry level product at a sub-$100 price point for the masses and then a “premium” offering for the ultimate living room experience
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Listener feedback
Play “triple play” feedback from Randy
Robert had some tips and feedback as well
As an alternate way to find your cursor if you lose it on screen… right+click for control+click and that, in most apps, will trigger a contextual menu making the cursor easier to find.
Uses an app and USB-C dongle. One app runs on the host machine and the other on the iMac
Can also be used if you say want to run a Mac mini (on any other Mac) “headless”
Costs USD $119 and does not work with adapters (so there is also a miniDisplayPort version if you don’t have USB-C on your Mac)
Delete TimeMachine backup file
Rick wrote in to ask about removing files from a Time Machine backup to get back space on the Time Machine drive
Specifically he was renting movies on and after 48-hours the movies are no longer available to watch, so he deleted the movie file, but it had already been backed up to Time Machine
Typically you really don’t need to worry about managing files or backups in Time Machine. They system will do that itself
If you delete a file on the Mac it’s backup will remain in Time Machine until Time Machine needs additional space for newer files or backups. At that time it can “purge” older files that have been deleted from the backups to gain back the space.
If you really want to deleted the file from the Time Machine backup as well you can do that from inside Time Machine
You enter Time Machine. Go to where the backup file is. Right+click on the file and choose “Delete all backups of…” from the contextual menu.
If you don’t see the option it may be because there is only a single instance of that backup file. It needs to be in at least two Time Machine backups for this option to appear.
Another way to save storage space on your Mac related to movies and tv shows purchased from Apple is to use the “Optimize” options from Manage Storage
From the Apple menu choose “About this Mac”
Click on the “Storage” tab and click “Manage”
In the window you’ll see an “Optimize Storage” section. Click the “Optimize…” button to review the settings
“Movies and TV shows that you’ve already watched will be automatically removed from this Mac. You can download them again at any time. You can change this later in TV preferences."
If you click “Optimize” it will purge any TV shows or Movies that you’ve watched from your Mac (you can always re-stream or re-download)
You can also change the settings in the TV app
Open the TV app
From the TV menu choose “Preferences…”
Click on the “Files” tab
You can adjust the “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows” option
Be aware that you might not want this option if you want to download and make backups of your purchased content on you Mac (something Apple recommends you do)
I personally store all my Apple Media (Music, Movies, and TV shows) on an external drive
I think have that backed up with ChronoSync to my Drobo locally and also have it set up to backup to Backblaze in the cloud.
Thing of the Moment: Mission USB Power Cable for Apple TV
This is a power accessory that allows you to power the Apple TV using the USB port on your TV rather than having to plug it into the wall
The adapter has a cord on one end that connects to the Apple TV’s power port and then a USB connector on the other end that plugs into the TV. Then in the middle a “brick” that has the magic bit.
Basically that brick draws power from the USB port on the TV and store it so if and when the Apple TV needs more power than the USB port alone can supply it can step up and give the Apple TV the power it needs.
Compatible will all generations of Apple TV (gen2 and up)
The brick has adhesive if you want to mount that to the back of your TV
