Josh Centers is the Managing Editor of Tidbits.com and has published many Take Control (TC) books. He’s the author of Take Control of Apple TV and Take Control of Home Automation. He’s been writing the Take Control books for iOS since version 8, and his latest book is Take Control iOS 13 and iPadOS 13.
In his sixth appearance on the show, Josh and I explored what’s in store for Apple in 2020. We started by looking at the iMac Pro and its possible fate. Then we turned to the mythical xMac, and continued with the MacBook Pro line. In part II of the show, we took a look at the HomePod. Is it a dead product? Then we looked at iPhone (2020) 5G wrinkles. We finished by wondering what new thing Apple might do in 2020.
A recent regulatory filing indicated that a new MacBook Pro could be on the way in the coming months. Apple only released the 16″ model in November 2019. AppleInsider took a look at what’s in the document
The new filings with the ECC include just one new model number, A2289, which is identified as an Apple-branded portable computer and associated spare components. No other details are made public about the model, aside from it being capable of running macOS 10.15 Catalina. It is unknown what the model indicates, as this could refer to an update to any of the MacBook variants available to date. The model number is accompanied by filings for two Apple TV models, using numbers that relate to already-available models. These are most likely to indicate the use of tvOS 13 on the Apple TV and Apple TV 4K. Another line is dedicated to the rackmount variant of the new Mac Pro, which has yet to be made available to purchase by Apple.
Fed up of getting pop-ups from your web browser asking for permission to send notifications? Chrome and Safari are looking to end that, Wired reported.
Chrome project manager PJ McLachlan wrote in a blog post this week that the company would start limiting the notifications in one of the next versions of the browser, version 80. “Chrome 80 will show, under certain conditions, a new, quieter notification permission UI that reduces the ‘interruptiveness’ of notification permission requests,” McLachlan says. So what does this look like? If you usually block browser notifications, Chrome will put permission requests from websites behind a small notification symbol at the right end of your browser’s URL search bar. On mobile there will be a small alert at the bottom of your browser window, which vanishes after a few seconds, saying that notifications are blocked.
Steve Wozniak built the Apple I computer by hand, and it sold at US$666.66 when it went on sale July 1976. And with a product called SmartyKit you can build a replica of it.
Besides a cool DIY project, the company behind SmartyKit also proposes it as an educational tool for those interested in knowing what are the main parts of every computer, what a processor is and how it works, how a video signal is formed and how a simple operating system works.
LAS VEGAS – In recentyears, LG has owned the “booth with impressive TV screens” title at CES, and this year was no exception. From their “Edge of the Earth” show on their “New wave” display to their Signature OLED R line, LG did not disappoint!
LAS VEGAS – At CES 2020 Victrola put together what appeared to be a retrospective exhibit which actually included pieces of the past, present, and future all rolled into one. Want a turntable with Alexa support? Look no further. Enjoy, along with the sights and sounds of the CES 2020 show floor.
LAS VEGAS – Solo New York was showing off their Re:cycled backpack series at CES 2020, all of which are made from recycled water bottles and other biodegradable materials. The Hybrid backpack here easily converts between being a briefcase and a backpack, perfect for that on-the-go lifestyle where you’re not sure what mode you’ll need to be in throughout the day.
Apple released a new film over the weekend celebrating Chinese New Year. It tells the story of a taxi-driving mum and her daughter. It’s a beautiful, moving story of mother-daughter relationships and redemptions. And it was all filmed on an iPhone 11 Pro. There is also ‘making of’ video that tells the tale of the film’s creation.
John and Dave are back from CES with new stuff they’ve learned, Cool Stuff Found, Quick Tips, and more. Of course, your questions are featured, as well, including analyzing USB power draw, fast external drives, folder permissions, and more. Press play to learn five new things with your two favorite geeks!
LAS VEGAS – Elliptic Labs has developed software that uses a smartphone’s speakers and microphones to do motion sensing – and a lot more – without adding any hardware to the phone. I happened to meet CEO Laila Danielsen on a bus where she showed us just one demo application of their tech.
OWC Founder and CEO, Larry O’Connor, takes us through the details of their Mercury Elite Pro Dock. This is a Thunderbolt 3 Dock and Dual-Drive RAID all-in-one. RAID 0 or 1 is done in hardware, or you can configure it as a JBOD and manage it yourself. With seven ports, including Ethernet, two USB 3.1 Gen 1, DisplayPort 1.2, SD Card, and Gigabit Ethernet, this US$299.99 device might be exactly what you need to complete your setup.
John looks at the week’s curated news that didn’t make the TMO headines. This collection of news debris, however, is as juicy as ever. iPhone 11 trickery. HDMI 2.1 details. And a cute robotic cat.
