Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/06/thursday-morning-news220617/
Benchmarks of the new iMac models with Kaby Lake processors show off impressive performance numbers compared to previous models. Graphics performance, in particular, is up by up to 80% in some cases such as compute image processing, while CPUs are also a little quicker in the multi-core benchmark, showing improvement of up to 15%. That’s not bad when compared to the old 2015 models of iMac, but the iMac Pro is likely to have even more impressive figures once it launches later this year.
The Computer History Museum has posted video of their interview with Apple software engineers who worked on the original iPhone project, including Scott Forstall. The conversation with Forstall starts at about an hour in, and even without watching the whole thing you can get a feeling for the kind of charisma that he possesses in terms of storytelling. (There’s also an unofficial YouTube version of the same clip, if Facebook isn’t your thing.)
Apple has released new betas of iOS 11, watchOS 4, and tvOS 11. While we don’t quite know what’s in the new developer betas just yet, I’m sure we’ll get a look once developers have a chance to check them out.
There’s also a new beta of macOS High Sierra. It’s worth noting that all of these betas come about two weeks after their original introduction, meaning that if Apple were going to do a public beta, about now would be the time to do it once developers have installed it a few times and come back with no show-stopping issues.
A report claims Apple’s upcoming iPhone is creating a worldwide shortage of DRAM and NAND modules. While the iPhone is claimed to account for around 18% of the world’s supply of NAND chips, companies are placing orders well in advance and at times paying a premium to ensure that they have what they need to make enough devices. Component shortages are really nothing new, so it’s possible this is all just temporary.
One report says Apple is the only company that could roll out micro-LED display technology at the kind of scale required for mass production, and it could do so as early as 2018, starting with the Apple Watch. There’s no word on whether we’ll get an Apple Watch hardware refresh this year, though.
Outlook for Mac is getting four new features as part of its latest update. Send Later lets you schedule emails to be sent at a later date, read and delivery receipts are now possible to be requested by you when you send an email, and there are a bunch of improvements to email templates and the ability to create tasks and calendar events from emails. Office Insider Fast users get access to all the new features from today, while Office 365 subscribers will get the new features in July.
MG Siegler says we’re all just waiting for the Apple Television. What we get now is a neutered Apple TV experience — Apple dabbles in original content, but none of it is particularly compelling given the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or whatever other streaming/on demand service you currently subscribe to. You can kind of see what Apple is trying to do, but the big picture just isn’t there.
Analytics firm SensorTower reports the size of iPhone top apps has increased by 1000% in four years. Their article doesn’t really say why apps are getting larger, but it says Apple are at least somewhat aware of the issue, with the introduction of smart storage features in iOS 11.
The annual survey of Mac developers gives us insight into the industry of developing and selling Mac apps. It seems Mac developers just don’t like the Mac App Store, or at least perceive the advantages to be less than its detractors.