Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/12/friday-afternoon-news091216/
Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey says the company is still thinking about replacing everything in your wallet. Loyalty cards can already be replaced by third-party apps, but with the majority of the most popular banks in Australia holding out on credit cards, I’m not sure how successful Apple will be. Plus, you’ll probably still have to carry around ID.
Somehow I managed to miss Apple’s best of 2016 lists, which tell us about the best apps from the App Store. Prisma, Sketchbook Motion, and Bear are the top picks for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac respectively, while you also get top game picks on all platforms. MacStories has the full lists, as well as the runners-up in each category.
A minor improvement to Apple Maps is particularly timely, given the rising prominence of electric vehicles. Apple Maps now lists ChargePoint EV charging stations, with the integration of the world’s largest EV charging network also allowing users to initiate and pay for charging via the ChargePoint iOS app.
The sixth beta of macOS 10.12.2 has been released to developers and members of Apple’s public beta testing program, with a likely release maybe sometime next week to coincide with the release of iOS 10.2, which contains many of the same features.
Macworld’s wishlist for the iPad next year says Apple’s got their work cut out for them. After the innovations brought on by the True Tone display on the smaller iPad Pro and Apple Pencil support for both iPad Pro models, it’s perhaps time to give the same kind of attention to the smaller iPad mini, as well as more iPad-specific improvements to iOS in general.
Photos of Apple Campus 2 show us some progress regarding the construction of Apple’s new offices. Floor-to-ceiling glass panels have been installed, and even though full-size trees have also started to be planted, there’s still plenty of work to be done.
OK, what’s with all these new features in macOS that I had no idea about? MacOS 10.12 Sierra supports toggling the display of hidden files in Finder by a simple keyboard shortcut. Not only that, but this apparent bug also works in open/save dialog boxes. Next you’ll be telling me that Finder supports tabs.
Super Mario Run is coming, and both Buzzfeed and The Verge talked to Shigeru Miyamoto about how the game was made and what it means for Nintendo’s plans on the iOS platform. Super Mario Run also got some time on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Meanwhile, there’s a four-level demo of Super Mario Run that you can now play at your local Apple Store. A review of the demo from Ars Technica says it’s the most un-Mario Mario game yet, with the endless runner format probably more suited to the likes of Sonic, as pointed out by one commenter.
Once upon a time, Mac OS X came with Welcome videos after you installed a fresh copy of the OS on a machine. The first one I saw was the one for Mac OS X 10.4, which featured a roving spotlight, although then the Leopard and Snow Leopard ones were much more popular.