Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/11/friday-morning-news111116/
Apple’s gift guide is up, collecting a few different accessories from the Apple online store as gifts for the holiday season. Along with iPhone cases, watch bands, and headphones, Apple is also suggesting that people buy iPhones, Apple Watches, and iPads to give as gifts. And if you can’t decide, there’s also a gift card — depending on how you feel about gift cards as gifts.
BuzzFeed shares Apple CEO Tim Cook’s email to employees after the American election results. Cook writes in his email that the only way is to forward, and Apple can do that by moving forward. He says Apple’s North Star hasn’t changed, and that Apple will continue to celebrate diversity in every form that it comes in.
The first people who ordered the new MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar have seen their orders go into the “preparing for shipment” stage. It means that machines will be starting to arrive next week, in line with Apple’s original estimates of 2-3 week shipping times on the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.
The Huffington Post has an early review of the MacBook Pro from a professional who uses it for editing video in Final Cut Pro X. Thomas Carter of Trim Editing says he’s been using the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar to edit 5K footage in FCPX all week, and it’s been buttery smooth all the way, mostly thanks to how well-integrated the hardware and software are. He says that he already uses some USB-C accessories, although will probably invest in a dock for expandability reasons.
Over at Six Colors, Jason Snell writes about the Retina divide and particular how it relates to Apple removing non-Retina laptops from its Mac lineup without raising prices appreciably. There’s only about a $300 jump up to a Retina Mac from a non-Retina Mac, so at what point do Apple just do away with non-Retina altogether?
An European reseller says Apple’s AirPods will launch as early as next week, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. If Apple says the need a little more time, then they probably do.
The first annual Twitter awards have seen Apple’s @AppleSupport Twitter account pick up a gold #Customer prize. Twitter says the @AppleSupport Twitter account ranks number one in support-related engagements, as well as above average for followers.
PayPal’s latest update lets you send people money by asking Siri. What’s more, the update also works in Australia. The Verge says such a feature could be considered a security risk, but you need to unlock your phone to use the feature.
If you’re looking for something to play this weekend and haven’t picked up Dishonored 2, then maybe ROME: Total War on the iPad may be more your style and speed. The port of the popular PC title is $15 on the Australian App Store, and available now if you’re into strategy.
Meanwhile, while it’s not out yet I’m already really liking the look of Stagehand. It’s a “reverse platformer”, and because you know it’s from the team behind The Incident and Space Age, you know it’ll be good.
I’ll be interested to see where that goes…