Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2019/09/monday-morning-news020919/
Apple says that in very rare circumstances, a crack may form around the rounded edge of your aluminium Apple Watch Series 2 or Series 3. If your Apple Watch exhibits this issue, you’re eligible for a replacement display from your local Apple Store or Apple Authorised Service Provider, free of charge. Apple’s Screen Replacement Program for Apple Watch Series 2 and Series 3 covers devices for three years from the first retail sale, or one year from the start date of the program, whichever is longer.
MacRumors breaks down everything we know about Apple’s Tile competitor. The idea behind Apple’s tracking disc is that it can be attached to personal items like your wallet or keys, so you can then locate them using the Find My app in iOS 13, which is now a combination of the Find My iPhone and Find My Friends apps from previous releases. While we know a lot about how Apple’s Tile competitor will work, including whatever AR and tethered distance features it will have, we don’t know what it will be named, as Apple’s using the "B389" codename in references within code.
Case manufacturers are giving us a look at what may be the final design for this year’s iPhone. It seems that a larger camera block is a lock-in, bumping the camera lens count from two to three on the more premium models, while the Apple logo also gets centred both vertically and horizontally on the back of the device. That’s a departure from current models, which have the Apple logo higher up on the device than in the middle, even though it’s horizontally centred.
9to5Mac speculates on what may happen to Apple’s iPhone lineup this year, in terms of what Apple will offer once it unveils new models at next week’s event. While Apple has traditionally continued to make last year’s models available at a cheaper price than the new flagship, it’s unclear how it will be treating last year’s models in the context of a new iPhone Pro or whatever it will be called this year. Pricing comes into it, but only in the context of a low USD-AUD exchange rate, but the question remains whether we’ll see the removal of iPhones with home buttons this time around.
The Verge clarifies Steve Wozniak’s comments on breaking up Apple. Wozniak didn’t mean that he thought Apple should be broken up into separate companies, but he meant that he wished Apple would spin off independent divisions to work on their own projects all over the country, as opposed to being siloed into the one building in one place. Woz’s suggestions of Apple’s divisions having more independence is an intriguing idea, but I think Apple places too much value on having teams work collaboratively, even though it does have satellite offices outside of Apple Park.
Kirk McElhearn says that Home Sharing works a little differently in macOS Catalina, given the demise of iTunes as a name. But fear not, because Home Sharing has just been re-homed in macOS Catalina, and it now lives in System Preferences along with the rest of the other sharing options. Which is nice, as otherwise you’d have to visit four separate apps to share your media library.
MacStories has a review of OWC’s Thunderbolt 3 dock. They say it delivers on the Thunderbolt 3 promise of allowing you to connect half a dozen peripherals, a display, and power to your Mac with one cable, which will be convenient for anyone using their laptop as a desktop replacement most of the time. As someone who’s been using a Thunderbolt dock with their Retina MacBook Pro, I can say that the choice mostly comes down to how many things you have plugged into your Mac at any one time, and how much you like dongles.
You can now order the Powerbeats Pro in colours other than the original black it launched with. Moss, Ivory, and Navy are all available for same-day Apple Store pickup, if that works for you, otherwise you’re looking at around a week to get Beats’ H1-equipped truly wireless headphones shipped to you.
Apple has added the Early 2013, 21.5-inch iMac to its vintage and obsolete list, even though I’d be hard pressed to believe it doesn’t share any parts with other variants of the 21.1-inch iMacs. Either way, I hardly remember this Mac as-is, and MacRumors says that may be because it was only available to education institutions originally, with a pared back Core i3 processor and otherwise modest specs.
Nintendo’s latest iOS game is Mario Kart Tour, and like Nintendo’s other iOS titles so far, it’s a free-to-play title with in-app purchases. No word on how it plays so far, but I’d be interested to know how it compares to an actual Mario Kart title.