Recent Articles By Andrew Orr [RSS]
Apple updated its website today, noting that macOS Catalina won’t arrive until an unknown date in October.
After a summer of beta testing, Apple is about to release the next major version of macOS: macOS Catalina. But not so fast; the new version will arrive in October, according to Apple’s updated website. As always, this update will be available as a free download in the Mac App Store.
The software release dates are all over the place this year.
Amtrak updated its app to version 4.0 (in August) and it added new features: Show your eTicket while onboard, including multi-ride and monthly passes – no need to print; Send your eTicket to Apple Wallet; Purchase one-way, roundtrip, multi-ride and monthly tickets with dollars or Amtrak Guest Rewards points; Check train status; Find station information; Edit and manage your account profile; Save credit cards for quick checkout, and more. App Store: Amtrak – Free
Visible, a prepaid phone carrier running on Verizon’s network, plans to offer the iPhone 11 to customers. The company will carry all three devices (Phone 11, Pro, and Pro Max) as of September 20, offering 0% financing, no money down, no upgrade fees, overnight free shipping. Visible is also running a promotion with Mastercard where if you buy the phone from them, you’ll get a $200 virtual card to use anywhere you’d like. Bookmark Visible’s website and put it on your calendar for September 20. You can also read my review of Visible here.
Here are the new camera improvements to the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro/Max, including a new Ultra Wide lens.
Apple announced Apple Arcade, its new subscription gaming service for US$4.99/month, and it launches on September 19.
At Apple’s keynote today, one of the products the company announced was the new iPad 7th generation. It’s a 10.2-inch model for US$329.
Apple is releasing iOS 13 on September 19, but you’ll have to wait until September 30 for the release of iPadOS.
Firefox Private Network is a Mozilla VPN launching under its old Test Pilot program. It’s available as a beta today for U.S. users with a Firefox account.
In a nutshell, the Firefox Private Network extension will provide a “secure, encrypted path to the web” to protect the user’s Wi-Fi connection and data contained within the Firefox browser. One of the scenarios Mozilla thinks Firefox Private Network will be useful for is when connecting to the internet through public Wi-Fi hotspots, as it will shield personal information and conceal what websites a user is visiting.
According to an investigation of President Trump’s Twitter security, his account might be vulnerable to being hacked, although some disagree.
The source who shared information about Trump’s Twitter security said they don’t believe the account will be hacked, but that the risk should be kept in perspective. “Remember we are talking about access to a Twitter account, not access to the nuclear launch codes,” they said. “While the optics would be bad if the account were ever hacked, it would not be a national crisis.”
Andy Greenberg writes about security problems in iMessage and Safari, saying that these products make iPhone less secure.
“If you want to compromise an iPhone, these are the best ways to do it,” says independent security researcher Linus Henze of the two apps…He and other iOS researchers argue that when it comes to the security of both iMessage and WebKit—the browser engine that serves as the foundation not just of Safari but all iOS browsers—iOS suffers from Apple’s preference for its own code above that of other companies.
Apple is in a tough position. If a company isn’t great at security, they could get a third-party to audit its software. But that would create a huge target.
Wall Street analysts believe that as many as 200 million users could upgrade to iPhone 11, some of them in China despite the trade war.
Although Facebook has pledged to fight fake news and other misinformation on its platform, there’s a loophole.
Want to explore a new gaming experience? A developer known as “s0lly” created a version of the Civilization game that works in Microsoft Excel. Called [Cell]vilization, you can download the spreadsheet form s0lly’s website. The game currently features: Two player game (BLUE vs GREEN), in a hot-seat environment; move units around using WASD; move the camera around the world map independently of unit movement; build different unit types in cities using 0-6 keys; multiple unit types available, each with their own statistics, with some having special abilities ( see the “Tiles” tab); unit movement speed is dependent on the ground it traverses; build new cities to produce more units, more often; one world, with a close-quarters or larger / longer game setting available; Fog of war. You can watch a video and download it here.
Apple is reportedly adding a new coprocessor to the iPhone 11 line referred to as an “R1” chip or “Rose” used to process sensor data.
Apple is tweaking the App Store algorithm to make Apple apps less likely to appear in search results. This seeks to address complaints that the company unfairly uses the App Store to promote its own apps in favor of competition.
Mr. Schiller and Mr. Cue said the algorithm had been working properly. They simply decided to handicap themselves to help other developers.
“We make mistakes all the time,” Mr. Cue said.
“We’re happy to admit when we do,” Mr. Schiller said. “This wasn’t a mistake.”
I think the antitrust concerns about Apple have valid arguments, and I think this is a good move by Apple. Notice Phil Schiller gently correct Eddy.
Apple’s glass cube retail store on Fifth Avenue is reopening, and it’s bedecked with rainbows to celebrate.
A filming crew was posted outside the cube, grabbing shots of passers-by photographing themselves with the new design. One of the crew members told Quartz they were filming “a new commercial” for Apple about the relaunched store, but wouldn’t go into any further detail.
I think it looks great.
Featured image credit: Quartz/Mike Murphy
iCloud features in the iOS 13 betas have been removed because of buggy issues (And is probably a big driver behind iOS 13.1 betas). Developer Craig Hockenberry says this resulted in some unhappy customers.
Entire folders were either gone or corrupted. Apple’s mechanism to recover deleted files was of no help. The customers with weird folder duplicates were the “lucky” ones…Anyone who’s not a developer, and hasn’t been burned by a bad OS, does not know the kind of trouble that lies ahead. It’s irresponsible for Apple to release a public beta with known issues in iCloud…As an Apple shareholder, I also worry about how these failures will damage the iCloud brand.
This is exactly why you don’t run beta software on mission-critical devices. It’s not irresponsible of Apple, it’s irresponsible of people who ignore the warning on beta.apple.com to make backups. These people are why there are “Caution: Product May Be Hot” labels on microwaveable food.
We’ve put together an Apple TV+ guide for all of the original content that the company has right now, and will have in the future. The content won’t appear until fall 2019. The list will be updated continuously, so be sure to bookmark this page.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt will reportedly star in, write, and executive product a drama series for Apple TV+ called Mr. Corman.
Some people are customizing their Apple Cards with CNC milling machines in an effort to improve Apple’s minimalistic credit card.
As Wiegand showed on his Instagram account, he loaded his card into one of these computer-controlled cutting machines to customize the white finish with the filigree you’d find on the back of a 19th-century-era Bicycle playing card.
Neat stuff. We’ve already seen wallet cases specifically for Apple Cards. I wonder if some companies will create Card skins.
