shownotes_20221023

Opening
News
  Apple quietly announces new products
    iPad
      the 10th generation with an updated A14 Bionic chip and 4GB RAM
      Als has an updated larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display thanks to the removal of the home button in favor of a new TouchID side button (like the iPad Air)
        Display is not laminated though and is sRGB, no Wide color display (P3)
        Also no anti-reflective coating like on the iPad Air
      The Ultra Wide 12MP front-facing camera is now on the landscape side for the first time in an iPad
      Support for 5G
      Ditches lightning connector for USB-C
      The smart connector is still in the same place as with the previous gen model
      There is also a new Magic Folio Keyboard that has a kickstand and detachable keyboard
        Also has a full function row.
        Price is hefty, at USD $249
      The iPad still only supports the original Apple Pencil and that will require an additional adapter if you want to charge the pencil from the iPad, since Apple Pencil 1 is still Lightning.
      New colors: blue, pink, yellow, and silver
      The price is increased from USD $329 to $449 and it’s available to order now and shipping October 26th.
    iPad Pro
      11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros with M2 processors
      Adds support for the latest Wi-Fi 6E standards
      Now can tell when the Apple Pencil is hovering above the display and UI elements can respond as the pencil gets close, up to 12mm
      The displays and camera seem to be unchanged from the M1 models
      Cellular model drops support for GSM/EDGE
      Both the new 10th gen iPad and the iPad Pros include a new woven one meter USB-C cable. This is available separately for USD $19 in the US
      Prices remain the same starting at USD $799 and $1099 respectively. You can order now and the new iPads arrive on October 26th
    Apple TV 4K
      Two options with new lower prices
      A 64GB model with Wi-Fi for USD $129 and a 128GB model with Wi-Fi+Ethernet at USD $149.00
      Both offer a new A15 Bionic chip with 4GB or RAM
      Adds support for HDR10+ (along with the existing Dolby vision)
      Can order now and will be released on November 4th
      Thread support is limited to the larger 128GB model
        Thread is a lower-power network connection for smart devices that, by being a mesh network, allows the devices to communicate directly with each other rather than just through your Wi-Fi router
        Matter is another new interoperability standard, which is compatible with HomeKit, it can operate over Wi-Fi or Thread. tVOS 16, along with macOS Ventura, iOS 16, iPadOS 16 is bringing Matter support to most modern Apple devices
      The new models are not quite as tall as the old ones, but more amazingly half the weight. Likely due to the new fan-less design.
        Also dropped the “TV” label on top in favor of just an Apple logo
      Remote now has USB-C charging and there is no longer a charging cable included in the box.
      Apple has also stopped selling the Apple TV HD model
      The new lower prices are nice, but the question remains is it low enough to compete with cheaper devices from Amazon and Roku?
        I’v always maintained that Apple doesn’t care. For those of us firmly in the Apple eco-system they Apple TV offers a lot more features and functionality and a better user experience that I think is worth the extra cost.
        Sill analyst Ming-Chi Kuo thinks Apple might go further with the pricing. He thinks a $99 price point would be the “sweet-spot” and thinks Apple could get there with the next generation of Apple TV.
    What about new Macs?
      Those are likely still coming with M2 updates expected to the Mac Mini and M2 Pro/Max updates expected for the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros
      Most think we’ll get an announcement soon, possibly in early November, with products available later in November
      Mark Gurman also mentioned in his latest newsletter that Apple is testing new "‌M2‌ Ultra" and "‌M2‌ Extreme” chips that will be two and four times more powerful than the M2 Max chips
        These are expected in a new Mac Pro model that likely won’t be out until next year, but might be worth the wait
        Gurman says configuration will offer 24 and 48 CPU cores and 76 and 152 graphics cores, along with up to 256GB of memory.
  Foldable iPad someday
    We’ve heard it before and now we’re hearing it again from Ben Wood, a chief of research at CCS Insight, who told CNBC that Apple would more likely do a foldable iPad before they do a foldable iPhone.
    Wood thinks Apple wouldn’t want to risk any issues with a foldable iPhone which he believes would be incredibly expensive. Predicting that when Apple does release a foldable phone it could have a price tag as high as USD $2500
    He thinks Apple could workout the tech with the iPad and predicts Apple will release a foldable iPad in 2024
    He believes a foldable iPhone would happen by 2025 at the earliest.
    He also reiterated that Apple has been experimenting with larger foldable displays, up to 20 inches, and that seems like they’d be focused on a larger device like the iPad or a laptop.
    We’ve been hearing similar reports from analyst Ross Young and Ming-Chi Kuo for years. The only place they all seem to disagree is on the timeline.
    Likely the biggest barriers to Apple doing folding tech are the lack of dust resistance with existing technologies and the slight, but still present, “crease-crack”
  Apple iPhone growth in down market
    The latest data from Canalys shows that Apple’s iPhone is the only device to buck the downward sales growth trend in the global smartphone market
    Apple was the only company in the top five to see year-on-year sales growth according to the report
    In Q3 of 2022 they say overall the market saw a 9 percent drop in sales
    But in the same period Apple saw it’s global marketshare increase from 15 percent to 18 percent
    YouTuber Jon Prosser says in a new video that the next iPhone SE will likely look a lot like the iPhone XR
      this is something he’s said before
      Meaning a larger display, no Home button, smaller bezels, and Face ID.
      It also matches with statements recently made by display analyst Ross Young who said the new iPhone SE will have a notch and a 6.1-inch display. Something also originally stated by Ming-Chi Kuo
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
  Text to Speech as File
    Jim wrote in to say, “Services: Add to Music as Spoken Track, while good.. adds to music.. I don’t want it in my music library. Is there another workflow that just doesn’t add the file to the music library?”
    As with many things on the Mac (or iOS) if you want a workflow that’s specific to your needs try Shortcuts.
    If you open the Shortcuts app you can create a custom workflow to meet your needs.
    Building a workflow works like writing a “recipe”
      Using the search and categories you find the “ingredients” or individual actions that you need
      Then combine them, in order, as the steps to create your “meal” (or outcome)
    So for this workflow as an example…
      I want to start with text, so I search for “Get Text” and add the “Get Text from Input” step
        When I add that I get some option of where to get the input from and the type of input I’m looking for
        Selecting the options in the step I can set the input to “Text” and the “From” I can adjust using the “settings” panel on the right (options icon). In this case I choose “Use Quick Action” and “Services Menu” for the Mac and set it to “Show In Share Sheet” for iPhone and iPad
        The “Get text from” step will automatically be set up use the “Shortcut Input”
        As a backup in the Receive Input step I change the “If there’s no input” option to “Get Clipboard” by clicking the option and selecting “Get Clipboard”
      Next I know I want to convert the text input to speech, so I again search for “speech” and add the option for “Make spoken audio from text”
        That automatically get set to take my text input
        By clicking the show more option on this step I can select my voice and adjust the rate and pitch options
      Finally I want to save the audio file, so I search for “Save” and add the “Save File” step. It’s options default to “Ask where to Save"
        If you uncheck this you will have to set a path, so I think it’s best to leave this set.
        There is also an option to overwrite duplicate files.
      Now I can test
        I select some text and copy it to the clipboard.
        Then press the “play” button in the Shortcuts app.
        It converts my text and asks me where I want to save it. I save to my desktop and notice I get a .caf, Core Audio Format (CAF), file.
        So it sort of works, but I’d rather have a file in a more familiar format.
      I search for “audio” and find a “Encode Media” step
        I add that between my “Make Spoken Audio” and “Save” Steps
        It takes the Spoken Audio result and outputs the results
        In it’s “show more” options I check the box for “Audio Only” and set the format to “M4A”, there is also and “AIFF” option
      I test again and get the result I want. Great.
      Finally I change the name of my Shortcut to “Convert Text to Audio” and save it.
      Now I can use this anywhere I can select or copy text on my Mac
        Select the Text
        Right Click and choose “Convert Text to Audio” under the Services menu on the Mac or in the Share Sheet on iOS
      You can select your Shortcuts an share them via iCloud
        Select the Shortcut and choose Files > Share… > Copy iCloud Link
      The only thing I could not figure out was how to control the filename.
        So maybe someone in the community can figure out how to do that?
      You can get my shortcut here [Convert Text to Audio](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/be7ffb275f3049e4a9221602e3bd823e)
  Finding stuff in Messages
    Andy was helping a neighbor setup a new Apple device when moving from Android and started to wonder a bit about Messages and how messages are backed up.
    If you turn on Messages in iCloud, the everything is backed up and synced in iCloud. Messages in iCloud is end-to-end encrypted, so they can’t be accessed from iCloud on the web (and Apple or anyone else can’t access them online)
      Be aware though, For Messages in iCloud, if you have iCloud Backup turned on, your backup includes a copy of the key protecting your messages.
      This ensures you can recover your messages if you lose access to your Keychain and your trusted devices.
      When you turn off iCloud Backup, a new key is generated on your device to protect future messages and isn't stored by Apple.
      If you want to backup locally, you can set that up on your Mac using the device selection in the Finder. I recommend encrypting your backups if you save them locally as that will allow the backups to save and store saved passwords and sensitive data, like your Health data.
    When looking at all of this Andy also tried Messages search and found it to be pretty neat.
    I agree. In Messages you can pull down to access the search bar.
    When searching you also get helpful sections like, recent conversations, links, photos, locations, and documents that have been shared with you.
    Another helpful thing is accessing Photos, links, etc. within a conversation or group conversation.
      Within that Message, tap the person or people at the top.
      Then you can see the Photos, links, documents, and locations that have been shared within that conversation
      Tap “See All” within a section to get the full list.
    For Photos, you can tap the Select button, choose the photos you want, and tap “Save” to save the selected photos to your Photo Library.
      In Photos… if you have it enabled, there is also a “Shared with you” feature as of iOS 1
        Automatic Sharing and Photos must be turned on in Settings > Messages > Shared with You, and your friend must be in your contacts.
        Shared with You can also be enabled for Books, Music, News, Podcasts, Safari, and the TV app. As well as 3rd party apps that support it.
      Scroll down in the “For You” tab and you should see the “Shared With You” section
Closing
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