Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2018/07/friday-morning-news060718/
Apple’s newsroom tells us about the upcoming 10th anniversary of the App Store. Their post highlights the milestones and testimonials about how the App Store has forever changed how apps are distributed, opening up new avenues for mobile-first businesses, allowing developers to reach new audiences, and how the success of developers can inspire a whole new generation of coders.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard about new iPhones, so Ming-Chi Kuo comes to the rescue and scratches that itch by saying it’s possible the new iPhone will be released in different new colours. According to Kuo, at least two of the three new iPhones expected to be released this year will come in a range of colours, including red, blue, orange, grey, and white. I’ll let you be the judge of whether this is Apple branching out as a result of their product lineups being called un-fun.
Several new Mac and iPad models have been registered with the Eurasian Economic Commission, as part of legal requirements to register devices with encryption. Five different Mac model numbers are part of the filing, with MacRumors indicating three could be assigned to the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro, and two for a MacBook Air replacement and a refreshed MacBook. Five new iPads are also on the horizon, if the model numbers are anything to go by, with at least one expected to have Face ID.
Supporting the theory of new Macs is a new Geekbench benchmark that tells us about an as-yet unreleased MacBookPro15,2. Speculation around the processor and the GeekBench scores of current MacBook Pros say that this particular machine is likely an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro, with a 28W Intel Core i7 Coffee Lake processor running at 2.7GHz.
The second public beta of iOS 12 and tvOS 12 have been released by Apple following a developer beta earlier in the week. While I haven’t seen a full change log of what’s different in this beta compared to previous ones, there are likely small changes across the board, particularly around iOS 12-specific features such as Screen Time, the myriad of changes to notifications, and more.
The Office blog tells us about Microsoft Office support for macOS Mojave. While the entire Office suite will install and run on Mojave, no formal support is available, and you may encounter stability issues. Office 2016, Office 2019, and Office 365 are all expected to be supported by Microsoft once Apple makes Mojave generally available to all users.
Our long national nightmare of having Google’s Inbox app not supported by the iPhone X is finally over, as Google has updated Inbox with iPhone X support nine months after the smartphone’s release. The Verge throws additional shade by saying that it wasn’t pressure from users that led to Google updating the app, but rather Apple’s requirement of any updates submitted to the App Store requiring support for the iPhone X.
AudioKit Synth One is a free and open source synth for the iPad that’s perhaps the best synth currently available. It’s a pro-level iPad synth designed by many pro sound designers, techs, and engineers, created by a team of over 100 volunteers over the course of several years. The whole story seems a little crazy, but it’s the good kind.
The first MacBook Pro with Retina display, released back in 2012, is now vintage in the US and obsolete in the rest of the world. It has been at least five years since the machine was manufactured, meaning that parts and service coverage is going to be sketchy at best. Note that this only affects the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro released in June, not the 13-inch model released in October.
As with any tech company, Apple has seen its fair share of change. And in the tech world, there’s very few things that change more often than connection standards, especially as new standards crop up allowing for faster transfer speeds and more complex capabilities. A look at all the connection standards Apple has retired throughout the years is a fun trip down memory lane for some, and hopefully not too much nightmare fuel for others.