Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2018/07/monday-morning-news160718/
TechCrunch gives us an auditory example and comparison of the quieter keyboard on the 2018 MacBook Pros. Listening to the video, you can tell that that while it sounds similar, the usual clackiness is somewhat dampened. I’m still not sure who these people are that wanted quieter MacBook Pro keyboards, but maybe the side effect of the quieter, third-generation butterfly switches on these machines will mean we can talk about other, perhaps more important, keyboard-related topics.
The folks from iFixit took apart the 2018 MacBook Pro and found that the keys now have a thin, silicon barrier. It seems as though this rubberised layer that sits between the keycap and the butterfly mechanism is designed to prevent debris from throwing a metaphorical spanner in the works, at least according to an Apple patent on this exact technology. Speculation says the protective membrane also serves double duty by contributing to the quieter key sounds, but as long as we’re not calling it a per-key condom, that’s fine by me.
Alongside last week’s MacBook Pro refresh came new leather sleeves, this time for the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro. They’re stylish protection for your Mac, featuring an embossed Apple logo on the top, and come in the three different but subtle colours of Midnight Blue, Saddle Brown, and plain black. Not only does each colour speak volumes about the kind of person you are, but so does paying $259 or $289 for your laptop cover. I mean, aren’t you going to carry it around in a backpack anyway?
The 2018 MacBook Pros come with True Tone for the first time on the Mac, and now, a new support article says those machines can also apply True Tone to the LG UltraFine 4K and 5K displays, as well as the Apple Thunderbolt Display when it’s connected via an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter. Interestingly enough, True Tone also applies to the Touch Bar, which seems like a curious addition given there aren’t many use cases I can name where you’d want particularly accurate colours on your shortcut bar.
New iPad models have been registered in Eurasia ahead of their release, but that’s about all we know. It’s widely expected Apple will refresh the iPad lineup this year, with rumours claiming we’ll see even slimmer bezels with the possibility of Face ID.
A particularly important topic, when we’re talking about 10 years of App Store history, is preserving that history. We’ve already lost many apps to the sands of time, whether that’s due to a lack of updates, Apple’s periodic App Store cleanups, or apps that just don’t work with modern devices and software. Maybe there needs to be some kind of App Store museum dedicated to telling the story of apps?
Last week also marked the 10th anniversary of MobileMe, the ill-fated successor to Dot Mac and predecessor to iCloud. While iCloud reliability is now at a point where we can mention the two in the same sentence with a straight face, MobileMe didn’t get that kind of engineering attention from Apple, so it was eventually killed off in favour of its cloud-based successor.
A piece from around November last year tells us about all the ways Apple won’t fix the MacBook Pro in the way Marco Arment wanted them to at the time. Presumably, some of Arment’s points still stand with last week’s refresh, but it turns out Apple might have fixed the butterfly switch keyboard, instead of ditching the design completely.
New Apple Pay Cash ads are applicable only to the US, but I really wish they would start expanding to other countries.