Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/08/tuesday-morning-news160816/
The latest rumour regarding the iPad comes courtesy of analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who claims that Apple will be releasing a 10.5-inch variant of the iPad Pro sometime next year. Kuo’s prediction includes three new iPads, including a 9.7, 10.5, and 12.9-inch models to be released in 2017, with further speculation saying Apple may kill off the iPad mini entirely due to the relative popularity of the iPhone Plus. There’s little justification for such a similar sized model, besides keeping the good-better-best model trio.
Photos of what’s purported to be the Space Black iPhone have appeared online, but as with all of these there’s now way to prove their authenticity. This particular Space Black iPhone appears to sport some kind of iPad-like Smart Connector on the rear of the device, as well as the dual-lens camera and no headphone jack, much like the rumours are predicting.
Leaked schematics of the next iPhone suggest it’s possible the next iPhone will lose a headphone jack, instead replacing it with speaker holes that are purely cosmetic. AppleInsider writes that the iPhone SE already uses a similar arrangement, but if true, will be just another reason for people to hate on the new iPhone.
Commentary on the iPhone’s camera bump say the design will be improved on in this year’s version, but with the difference being half a millimetre, there are very few reasons Apple couldn’t have made the overall design a little thicker and made the camera sit flush with the housing.
The sixth developer beta of iOS 10 is now available, a week after the previous beta. The release coincides with the fifth public beta, and while no major changes are expected in this version, the release notes claim general bug fixes and improvements.
The corresponding sixth betas of watchOS 3, macOS Sierra, and tvOS 10 are also available for registered developers, with members of Apple’s public beta program getting access to the fifth beta of macOS Sierra.
Another day, another podcast app review from MacStories. This time around, Castro 2 gets the evaluation treatment, and praised for episode-based playback queues and easy-enough podcast feed management. While there’s no iPad version and a few too many interface buttons for my liking, there’s at least a Night Mode for when you can’t sleep and want to catch up on some podcasts.
Marco Arment explains why we can’t have nice things, otherwise known as why podcasts can’t use VBR MP3 encoding. An AVFoundation limitation in iOS and macOS means VBR means inaccurate seeking, which becomes kind of a problem when you’re listening to 90-minute podcasts. The worst part is, this is a solved problem, but Apple’s framework doesn’t support the fixes.
Robert Padbury’s Clock screen saver for OS X is the minimal clock screensaver you’ve been looking for, and even displays the current time on the website.
MacRumors says Apple’s Retail and Online stores have exclusive Rose Gold and Space Grey versions of the Jaybird Freedom wireless earbuds, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for the Australian Apple Online Store. Our review of the Jaybird Freedom says they’re still great wireless buds, ready for an iPhone that doesn’t have a headphone jack.