Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2019/05/monday-morning-news200519/
Buzzfeed reports on the escalating trade wars between the US and China, which has resulted in a sort of "boycott Apple" movement in China. New trade restrictions ban any US telco from installing networking equipment from foreign countries that pose a national security threat, as well as preventing Huawei from buying US technology without government approval. In response, Chinese citizens are praising Huawei, regretting their iPhone purchases, and saying they will switch devices as soon as they are able to.
The formal opening of Apple Park started with a Lady Gaga performance at the newly-erected rainbow stage in the middle of Apple’s spaceship campus, continued with rainbow-coloured paths and steps on stairways, and rainbow-coloured cups handed out at Caffe Macs, as well as pins and stickers saying "thank you for being part of what makes Apple, Apple". All the rainbows are a tribute to the late Steve Jobs, although I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that they are also a symbol for diversity and inclusion, both concepts that Apple stands for.
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s commencement speech at Tulane University saw him give a solemn message about how his generation had failed all the new students. Cook said that students should look beyond politics and go straight to fixing problems such as climate change, working towards leaving building something better, because succeed or fail, there was nothing better or more worthwhile to leave something better for humanity.
Apple Music is promoting a live performance of Tyler, The Creator, along with his new album Igor, at an LA location on May 22. Free tickets are up for grabs, although you’ll have to prove you’re a fan of Tyler’s work by completing some music lyrics first, although even if you miss out, the whole thing is going to be streamed live on Apple Music.
Horace Deidu has some smart analysis on the iPhone as the most successful product of all time, and how Apple stacks up against its competition in terms of what they sell, how they’re valued, and what makes Apple so special. Deidu says this comes down to Apple’s priorities — if execs are asking the question "what can the company to do deliver experiences and satisfaction" rather than "what products or services they can sell", doesn’t that give us an entirely different narrative to work with?
TechCrunch’s review of the Powerbeats Pro say the only real downsides of the product is its huge charging case and relatively high cost. In Australia, there’s a third downside in the fact that you can’t buy the Powerbeats Pro yet, and Apple hasn’t announced a release date yet. Other than that, they’re a fine pair of fully wireless earphones, carrying battery life, a better fit than AirPods, and Apple wireless secret sauce advantages over other wireless cans.
Macworld’s Dan Moren has iOS keyboard suggestions Apple should make, from streamlining the autocorrect experience, swiping to type (rumoured to come in the next version of iOS), and as the emoji count grows ever-higher, some way to search for the exact little pictogram that you want.
Brett Terpstra’s latest Mac app is Bunch, an batch app launcher that sits in your dock. It’s a simple app, but it can launch apps, open specific documents within an app, and load webpages. You can have multiple bunches, and it’s easily configurable.
9to5Mac asks the question if macOS is really less stable than it was several years ago. Now that we’ve had a handful of yearly macOS updates, has Apple sacrificed quality for quantity? It’s hard to say; things are more complex than they ever were before cloud services were a thing, and any perceived notion of instability might just be more of us expecting things to just work than accepting bugs are a thing.
Apple’s UK website has a new video about how the Mac works behind the scenes in music production. A black and white slideshow shows off British artists using the Mac to create, compose, and record music.
