Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/03/monday-morning-news130317/
A concept rendering based on the iPhone rumours so far gives us a taste of what this year’s iPhone might look like. The reduction of bezels surrounding the display is the most prominent feature, even though there’s still a small area along the top and bottom of the screen to allow for the earpiece and other electronics. I’m still not sure whether Apple will be going with a curved display, but it looks pretty good in the renders.
Indeed, a separate rumour claims the new iPhone will have a flat display, not curved. I remain unconvinced about the benefits of curved displays, and in the context that curved OLED displays cost more than their flat counterparts, there aren’t that many reasons why Apple would go for a curved OLED display over a regular flat one.
Laptop Mag has announced Apple as having the best tech support of the major computer manufacturers. It’s the third time in a row that Apple has beaten out the likes of Acer, Lenovo, Microsoft, HP, and Dell, with Apple’s overall score of 93 out of 100 based on the company’s web and phone support experience.
David Pogue has a deep dive at the VoiceOver feature in iOS with Joseph Danowsky, who tells us about the feature that lets vision-impaired users use the iPhone as proficiently as anyone else. Danowsky calls VoiceOver the number one assistive device for people who can’t see, on par with a cane and seeing eye dog. VoiceOver is a major strength of the iPhone.
Even if you’re not into the battery life benefits of using your iPhone with the screen turned off and VoiceOver turned on, you can still get Siri to read articles and other text on your iPhone for you. There are two options, one which allows Siri to speak the selection of whatever you’ve highlighted in your app, and the other, speak screen, which functions a little more like VoiceOver.
Over at Macworld, Dan Moren tells us that much of the pro market hinges on what Apple will release as the Mac Pro successor, if they release anything at all. MacBook Pros are no longer the kind of pro-level machine due to their size, weight, and heat constraints. Perhaps Apple thinks that iMac performance is enough to satisfy pro users, but we’ll have to wait and see.
AppleInsider has a tip on how to take screenshots from the fourth-generation Apple TV. The chunkier Apple TV has a USB-C port, which you’ll need to connect to a Mac running Xcode if you want to take screenshots of the interface that aren’t just photos of your TV.
Also from AppleInsider is a look at OneNote, Microsoft’s note-taking app to rival the built-in Notes on Mac and iOS. OneNote is a great note-taking app if you’re using it alongside Microsoft Office, but its lack of integrations into the Mac make it less useful than its competitors — this is less of an issue on iOS where app extensions are a thing.
While an article surfaced last week about pairing the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons and Pro Controller with your Mac, it glossed over why you’d want to. One of the major reasons is to play Mac-compatible games from Steam that support a controller, but if you’re a fan of running emulated older titles on your Mac via one of the many emulators, then you have plenty of reasons.
Former chief evangelist at Apple Guy Kawasaki recounts his most memorable experience working with Steve Jobs at Quora. A blindsided question from Jobs, and Kawasaki’s subsequent truthful answer, meant that he passed Jobs’ IQ test.