shownotes_20220626

Opening
Sponsor: Kolide
  Kolide
    Kolide sends employees important, timely, and relevant security recommendations for their Linux, Mac, and Windows devices, right inside Slack.
    Kolide is perfect for organizations that care deeply about compliance and security but don’t want to get there by locking down devices to the point where they become unusable.
    Instead of frustrating your employees, Kolide educates them about security and device management while directing them to fix important problems.

    Kolide knows end-users are IT admins' most significant untapped resource and the key to solving the most challenging to fix security issues, including:
    • Instructing developers to set pass-phrases on unencrypted SSH keys
    • Finding plain-text two-factor backup codes and teaching end-users how to store them securely
    • Convincing employees to uninstall evil browser extensions that may sell their browser history

    Those are just some of the many use-cases not solved by locking down devices.
    You can try Kolide with all its features on an unlimited number of devices for free for 14 days; no credit card required.
    Visit kolide.com/maccast to sign up today. That's k-o-l-i-d-e, dot, com, slash maccast.
    Enter your email when prompted to receive your free Kolide Gift Bundle after trial activation.
    Try it out at kolide.com/maccast. That's k-o-l-i-d-e, dot, com, slash maccast.
News
  Two new 15-inch MacBook models possible
    In a tweet Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said he believed a new 15-inch MacBook model would go into production some time in the first half of 2023
    Interestingly he said there could be versions with M2 and M2 Pro processors
      To me this would indicate Apple doing a 15-inch notebook for both consumer and pro Mac fans
    He also indicated that the new model might not be called MacBook Air
      Display analyst Ross Young had said in the past that Apple was planning a 15-inch MacBook Air.
      A rumor that was also repeated last week by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman
    Finally he put some cold water on the rumors of a 12-inch MacBook.
      You might remember that Mark Gurman has claimed that Apple was looking at possibly releasing a 12-inch notebook sometime near the end of 2023 or in 202
  Signs of M2 performance
    And surprise, it basically lines up with what Apple told us
    Apple said the new M2 processors would be about 18 percent faster than the M1
    The new M2 is clocked at 3.49GHz compared to 3.2GHz for the ‌M1
    Early benchmarks started to show up on Geekbench this past week
      The single core scores came in around 1919, or about a 12 percent speed improvement over the M1
      The multicore score was 8928, or about 20 percent faster than the M1
    An analyst at Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple has at least a 2-3 year lead over other Arm-based PC processor vendors.
      a recent report from them showed that because the the M-Series Apple has a 90 percent revenue share of ARM based Notebooks
    A teardown of Apple’s new 35W Dual USB-C Compact Power Adapter by ChargerLAB reveals some interesting details
      The internal design makes it easy to swap out the prongs, likely for supporting various international versions of the adapter
      The front and back portions are also symmetrical and it contains two identical power supply circuits.
      Testing by 9to5 Mac shows that while charging different combinations of devices you can expect to get different levels of charging power
        Charging a Mac and an iPhone or iPad each device gets up to 17.5 W
        Same with an iPhone and an iPad, up to 17.5W
        A Mac or iPhone with an Apple Watch or set of AirPods and the Mac / iPhone get up to 27.5W and the Apple Watch / Air Pods up to 7.5W
        Of course if you just connect one device it will get up to the full 35W
    What’s next for M2? Mark Gurman shared his thoughts in his recent newsletter
      M2 and M2 Pro versions of the Mac mini
      New 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips
      A new Mac Pro tower with M2 Ultra and "M2 Extreme" chips.
      Interesting no mention of M2 or M2 Pro versions of an iMac?
  Upcoming new “home” devices
    Gurman also thinks Apple will be updating their living room options with a new Apple TV and HomePod
    An updated Apple TV with an A14 chip and 4GB of RAM
    And a new HomePod based on the S8 chip, the same chip expected to power the upcoming Series 8 Apple Watch
    The details on the Apple TV seems to be minimal and it seems to be mostly just a processor update
      Though there have been references found in the iOS 16 betas that seem to indicate the possibility of a new Siri remote
    More interesting to me were his comments on the HomePod
      Saying, “will be closer to the original HomePod in terms of size and audio performance rather than a new HomePod mini.”
      He also says there will be an updated display on top possibly with multi-touch functionality
  Half of top smartphones are iPhones
    At least for the month of April according to the most recent report from Counterpoint Research
    The top 10 selling smartphones account for 21 percent of the total smartphone market and within those 10 models Apple account for five of them.
    In fact, the top four spots for April we’re all iPhones
      iPhone 13 at 5.5 percent
      iPhone 13 Pro Max at 3.4 percent
      iPhone 13 Pro at 1.8 percent
      And iPhone 12 at 1.6 percent
    Then the iPhone SE 2022 model came i n number 7 with 1.4 percent
      The SE making the list might be surprising, but the report notes that the SE is doing well internationally and that it saw “triple digit” growth in month over month sales
      Specifically in Japan the SE captured 18 percent of their smartphones sales in April
    iPhone 12 sales were driven by increased sales in Japan and India
    When it comes to the premium end of the smartphone market the research from Counterpoint shows that Apple is “crushing” it.
      In the first quarter of 2022 for phones $400 or more Apple’s iPhones accounted for a 62 percent share of the market, up from 57% in the same quarter last year.
      The numbers are lead by the iPhone 13 which the firm says, “…has been the best-selling model globally each month since October 2021.”
  Apple’s AR / VR headset could debut in January
    According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo
    Kuo thinks that as Meta pulls back a bit in VR hardware to focus on it’s primary business Apple is primed to make a big impact
    He described Apple’s upcoming headset as, “the most complicated product Apple has ever designed,” and said the product “will further boost the demand for immersive gaming/multimedia entertainment.”
    More and more signs seem to be pointing to Apple getting ready for the release of this product
    Tim Cook in an interview with China Daily this past week re-iterated his excitement about AR technology
      He spoke about how he feels we are just in the “early innings” of how the technology will evolve and pointed to the already 14,000 ARKit apps in the App Store
      He then concluded by saying, “…stay tuned and you'll see what we have to offer.”
  Apple still hopes for “Sunday Ticket”
    Apple, long with Disney and Amazon, have submitted their bids to the NFL to try and get the NFL Sunday ticket games for the upcoming season
    This is according to CNBC who says the bids were submitted “weeks ago”
    Now Apple has to wait to see if they are picked to be able to carry the Sunday “out of market” games on Apple TV+
    DirectTV paid more than $1.5 billion for the current deal and will cover the upcoming 2022-23 season. For this next deal the NFL is reportedly looking for a deal of more than $2 billion for the package.
  AirPods Pro 2 render leak
    A source for reliable AirPods Pro leaks in the past posted image renders of what is rumored to be the upcoming AirPods Pro 2 designs
    The images come from “52audio” and they previously posted what turned out to be accurate images of the new AirPods 3 design
    This time we have what look like renders that show off some interesting details
      First the case and AirPods design seem to be largely unchanged
        Some other rumors have claimed Apple could adopt a “stemless” design for AirPods Pro 2
      The case also has “speaker” holes on the bottom presumably to support a built-in Find My feature
      It’s hard to tell, but there is debate on if Apple will switch AirPods to a USB-C connector
        My gut says they will stick with Lightning as long as the iPhone still uses Lightning
      Finally, there is a side connector that looks like it would be for a strap or loop of some sort.
    The leak is focused on the design, but there was also some hints discovered in the AirPods Beta firmware that Apple might add support for the the LC3 codec via Bluetooth 5.2 support
      The Low Complexity Communication Codec (LC3) allows lower bitrate transmissions that can maintain higher audio quality
      It can improve audio calls and make them more efficient and stable
    Other features and prediction for AirPods Pro 2
      A new version of Apple’s H1 chip which could support Apple’s Lossless Audio format
      Possible health features including heart rate detection and temperature sensors
      Maybe hearing aid capabilities
        A mic on the charging case could pickup audio and transmit it back to the AirPods to enhance sound and playback
Sponsor: Hunter Douglas
  Hunter Douglas
    Who doesn’t love to live well? To be perfectly at ease, in comfort and style?
    Hunter Douglas can help you do just that with their innovative window shade designs, gorgeous fabrics, and control systems so advanced, they can be scheduled to automatically adjust to their optimal position throughout the day.
    Perhaps it’s the way the shades diffuse harsh sunlight to cast a beautiful glow across the room.
    Or being able to enjoy the view outside the window, while protecting your privacy inside.
    Maybe it’s the superior insulation the shades provide, keeping you warmer in winter, cooler in summer and lowering utility bills.
    Or is it simply that Goldilocks moment when you walk into a room and everything about it looks and feels just right.
    And when you tap into Hunter Douglas’ PowerView technology, your shades can be set to automatically reposition for the perfect balance of light, privacy and insulation...morning, noon, and night.
    What’s great about Hunter Douglas’ PowerView technology is it’s HomeKit compatible. That means you can easily integrate it with the Home app and your iOS devices, Mac, and HomePods
      Then you can build automations to full control your Hunter Douglas window shades
      So cool
    So ‘Live Beautifully’ with Hunter Douglas – enjoying greater convenience, enhanced style and increased comfort in your home throughout the day.
    Visit Hunter Douglas dot com slash MACCAST TODAY for your free “Style Gets Smarter” design guide with fresh takes, creative ideas, and smart solutions for dressing your windows.
    Visit Hunter Douglas dot com slash MACCAST for your free design guide.
Feedback, commentary, opinions
  The “For All Mankind” Newton
    I mentioned last time, and again spoiler alert, that on Season 3 of the Apple TV+ alternative history of the Space Race serve “For All Mankind” that in this season they have show Newton Message Pad 120s being used to make video calls.
    What was cool was I replied to a comment from a listener about this on Twitter noting that the video calls were in color, yet the UI was still greyscale which I found odd.
    Then I got a reply from the VFX Supervisor on the show expanding that decision was intentional because the UI is a “blip” on the screen and it wouldn’t have been worth the cost to have to design a build a color version of the UX. Cool.
    This week I saw a post about the Newtons in a tweet from a series producer
    Ben McGinnis said that to get the POV shots for the show the props team were able to fit an iPhone 12 Pro Max into the Newton, so that perspective was “Shot on iPhone”
  Clarus is back
    If I say Clarus, or Dogcow, or Moof! The more “classic” of you probably know what I’m referring to while others of you are probably confused
    The “Dogcow” also known as Clarus was an icon designed by Susan Kare who was a graphic designer on the original Macintosh team who was responsible for many of the icons and UI elements the Mac is known for.
    The “dogcow” was actually part of an original Mac “dingbat” font called Cairo. Dingbat fonts typed out symbols and icons rather than letters and Clarus the dogcow was the icon for the letter Z in that font.
    She is called a “dogcow” because the design was a dog that also looked possibly like a cow as well.
    You don’t often see the dogcow but in versions of MacOS through the 90’s the most common place you’d see Clarus was in the Page Setup dialog. The icon was used to show your page orientation.
    But when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and with the introduction of Mac OS X. Clarus was removed from the page setup and you saw less and less of the dogcow in the OS and in Apple’s marketing.
    So why am I bringing all of this up now? We’ll looks like in macOS Monterey Claus the dogcow is back!
    She has had some cosmetic work done however to smooth out her jaggies and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
    Still the dogcow is right back where she belongs in the Page Setup (Command+Shift+P) in apps that use the built in Printing Set-up
  How big is a “Family”?
    Apple announced at WWDC that they are finally going to add to iCloud Photo Library the concept of a “shared” Family Library
    This will be a separate library from your main iCloud Photo library and each member of your iCloud Family plan will be able to add and share this album
    Any and all change made by any member of that album will also be made and sync’d to all other members
    But here’s the thing… according to Apple a “family” is apparently defined as six people
    From their PR, “iCloud Shared Photo Library gives families a new way to share photos seamlessly with a separate iCloud library that up to six users can collaborate on, contribute to, and enjoy. “
    So Michael wrote to me this week and asks…
      “Should Apple consider expanding their Apple Family Plan options, so you can have more than 6 people on the plan?”
    As he points out, especially with photo sharing, you might have many more than 5 other people in your extended family that you want to share a photo Library with
      If you include parents, children, spouse, siblings and their families that might be quite a few people
      Michael says in his own family that would be about 12 people and he’d be willing to even pay more for the privilege.
    I can see his point. Right now I’d say the limit is simply historical. Apple Family Sharing was designed originally for family members “under the same roof”.
      I’d guess six people in a single household was some sort of statistical majority and struck a balance especially when it came to “app sharing”
    The one thing I’d worry about with a larger group of family members sharing a photo library is it’s more possibilities for things to go wrong?
      If I add my photos to the shared library and then grandma or my sister-in-law deletes them, then what?
      You all know in my case I’ll have backups, but you get my point.
    I would hope, but I don’t know, that Apple will add some sort of version history, a la Time Machine, to iCloud Shared Photo Library?
Closing
  Supporters
    maccast@gmail.com
    Bandwidth for the Maccast provided by CacheFly at cachefly.com
    Advertising is handled by Backbeat Media at backbeatmedia.com
  Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
    281-622-4269 or 281-Mac-I-Am-9
      PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
    Follow me on Twitter
    Checkout the page on Facebook