Apple announced Pro Apps Bundle for Education Thursday. It includes all of the company’s pro software—Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage—in one bundle for $199.99. “The industry-leading apps used by professional video editors and musicians are now available at a special price for qualifying college students, teachers, and education institutions,” the company said. Purchased individually outside of the education channel, these apps would total $629.95. This is no substitute for new professional Mac hardware, but it is a statement of support for the pro market, and it comes in the wake of CEO Tim Cook telling shareholders that Apple cares about the pro market. Getting students embedded with Apple’s software is a good way to hook them into the Apple ecosystem.
Apple Updates HomeKit Automation Webpage
Apple updated its HomeKit page with a fresh, new look. It includes a brief video that shows the power of HomeKit automation with iOS 10. Examples in the video include lights, window shades, coffee makers, door locks and thermostats. Apple also has several sections that give details of different areas of the Home app.
Perspectives on Blancco's State of Mobile Device Report (iOS & Android)
Recently, Blancco published a report on the performance and health of iPhones and Android smartphones. A key finding was that iPhones are less reliable than Android devices. It created quite a stir, and the report intrigued John, so he asked for a copy of the report and looked into the findings. Here’s what he found.
![Improve Your iPhone Screen With ProtectPax Liquid on Indiegogo [Update]](https://www.macobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Image-1.webp)
Improve Your iPhone Screen With ProtectPax Liquid on Indiegogo [Update]
A company called ProtectPax is crowdfunding a special liquid that can strengthen your iPhone screen. It’s a goo made with titanium nanoparticles, and ProtectPax says it can make your iPhone screen as “hard as sapphire or ruby.” Andrew Orr explains what the company is offering on Indiegogo.
Avoiding Microsoft Office in 2017 and Apple's View of the Mac - TMO Daily Observations 2017-03-02
John Martellaro joins guest-host Bryan Chaffin to talk about whether having or not having Microsoft Office on your Mac is a relevant question in 2017. They also try and consider the state of the Mac product line from Apple’s viewpoint, and how the company might look at the importance of new hardware.
New Apple iPad Pro Spot Shows the Power of Apple Pencil to Sign Documents
Apple has a new entrant in its iPad Pro commercials where the company responds to tweets from real people. The new one is called No more printing, and shows how you can use iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to sign documents. It’s anchored around a tweet from @ROSESplease about printing personal documents on the company printer. I thought these spots were interesting when they launched, and found it interesting that Apple was interacting indirectly with social media and tweets from real folks. As time goes on, however, I find that I don’t think about these adds at all. That certainly wasn’t true with many other Apple campaigns. Then again, I’m not the target demo for these spots. This is the fifth spot in the series, making it likely they’re performing well for Apple.
TextExpander 1-Year Single User Plan: $19.98
TextExpander is one of our must-have Mac and iPhone utilities at TMO, and our friends at Stack Commerce have put together a deal on it. TextExpander expands snippets of text to much longer blocks of text. Your signature, a formula, addresses you have to type all the time, etc. It can also insert variables or things in your clipboard. Our deal is $19.98 for a one-year, single user license for macOS, iOS, and Windows. That’s half off regular price.
Appellate Court Rules Smartflash Patents Invalid, Saving Apple $533 Million
Apple won a significant victory in court this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. That court ruled three patents owned by Smartflash LLC were invalid, according to Reuters, a ruling that saves Apple US$532.9 million by negating a damage award.
Apple Rumors and Manufacturing, Tim Cook's Pipeline, and $AAPL - ACM 400
In this 400th episode of Apple Context Machine, John Kheit joins Bryan Chaffin to discuss rumors of iPhone 8 and Samsung Galaxy S8, Apple manufacturing, Tim Cook’s claim that Apple cares about pro users and creative pros in particular, the company’s supposed pipeline, and $AAPL’s record high valuation. Oh…and Nickleback.
Ditch Redmond With These Microsoft Office Alternatives for Mac
When many folks switch to Mac, they bring Microsoft with them, begrudgingly. They don’t realize the wealth of Microsoft Office alternatives out there, so they stick with what they know. Jeff Butts felt that pain, did the research, and has come up with some great choices for ditching Redmond altogether.
