Thursday Morning News

Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/11/thursday-morning-news091117/

Bloomberg claims Apple is ramping up work on an AR headset in time for a potential release in 2020. Apple’s AR headset will have its own display and use its own chip, separate from other products which use a linked smartphone to do all the heavy lifting. The one thing I’m not really sure about is whether this will turn out to be another Google Glass, or whether this will have real-world applications beyond niche use cases.

Also from Bloomberg this morning is their story which says Apple is working on a new iPad Pro refresh. Slated for release late next year, the new iPad Pro will take some of the technologies from the iPhone X, including Face ID, smaller bezels, as well as newer version of the Apple Pencil. It’s said that the new iPad Pro won’t have an OLED display, due to the technical and financial constraints that currently surround that technology.

Apple’s first scripted TV series will star Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. It’s going to be some kind of drama exploring the themes behind a network morning show, and as reported by Variety, the currently untitled drama is Apple’s second original scripted TV series. There’s no release date for either show just yet, but with Apple looking to spend $1 billion on original content over the next year, there’s a good chance we’ll see things sooner, rather than later.

Before I forget about it again, there’s a display defect affecting some models of the Apple Watch Series 3. “Edge stripes” are appearing on the displays of some Apple Watch Series 3 models without LTE. The issue appears to be a manufacturing defect, so if your unit is exhibiting the issue when you rub your finger on the edge of the display or breathe on it lightly to allow some moisture to hit the display, then you can get that checked out.

The second part of MacRumors’ iPhone X case review roundup includes cases from Casetify, Caudabe, and Incipio. I’m curious to see whether the super-thin plastic cases will provide enough protection for the iPhone X, but either way I think the camera bump on the X will annoy me enough when my iPhone is laying flat on a desk that I’ll want a case.

Pixelmator Pro is coming to the Mac right before the end of the month, and the screenshots they share on their website look stunning. There’s plenty to get excited about in the release, and even if you’re an old hand at Photoshop, the things that Pixelmator are doing with Mac image editing and composition are really something else.

Grammarly now has an iOS keyboard app, which adds a little bar above the keyboard to suggest corrections to your grammar as you type. If you have a specific need to have perfect grammar when writing from your iPhone or iPad, then this will be relevant to your interests.

Niantic’s next AR adventure will be a Harry Potter AR game, launching some time next year. While I can see the appeal of doing magic in AR, Pokémon just feels like it has more long-term longevity than an AR Harry Potter title will have. But we’ll see.

IFixit has some cool iPhone X wallpapers that simulate seeing straight through the OLED screen to the internals behind, with an X-ray option also available. It’s similar to the wallpaper trick that lets you hide the iPhone X display notch.

The reason why Face ID is so great is because it’s subtraction, instead of addition. The seamless transition between your phone recognising you and you unlocking the device happens without you having to do anything — it feels like you’re removing the explicit authentication step altogether, and that’s what makes the iPhone X feel like magic.

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Can’t wait for the new FaceID iPad Pros…