Swiper, NOT Swiping — Mac Geek Gab 848

· John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · Mac Geek Gab Podcast

These days we do lots of swiping on our devices, and sometimes the results are expected, other times not so much! Listen as John and Dave share tips and answer questions about swiping. That’s not all, of course, the topics expand from there, including a great dive into USB speeds on Apple’s new iPads. Listen as your two favorite geeks walk through all of this for you this week!

iPad Air Might Make the Pro Obsolete

· Charlotte Henry · Link

iPad Air 4

The reviews of the new iPad Air are starting to appear. Wired UK‘sis very positive, with author Jeremy White saying that it might make the Pro redundant for many users.

The inclusion of Apple’s A14 Bionic means you get the company’s latest chip that is in some respects even better than the one in the current iPad Pro. While to say this results in better performance than the Pro would be outright wrong, you do get a big bump in power – a 40 per cent increase in performance over the previous iPad Air, Apple says, and a 30 per cent uptick in graphics performance. Much like the new iPhone 12 series that also carries the A14, the Air is noticeably faster than its previous iteration. Battery life is of the usual iPad standard – top drawer. You will not need to charge the Air for days with light use, and if you do employ it as a PC replacement (which is certainly possible, especially with the keyboard) you will get many more hours out of it than a standard laptop. The faster 20W charger that comes in the box will help top things up if you do run low. It’s not all good news, though. Despite stealing so much from the Pro there is no LiDAR and no ultrawide camera.

The New iPad Air Goes Boiiing

· Charlotte Henry · Cool Stuff Found

The new iPad Air became available to customers on Friday. To celebrate, Apple released a new video, called Boiiing, that’s shows off the device’s flexibility and power. It features the track Heybb! by Binki.

Apple’s Chip VP Tim Millet Talks About Designing the A14

· Andrew Orr · Link

Tim Millet, Apple’s VP of platform architecture, and Tom Boger, senior director of Mac and iPad product marketing, talk about designing the A14 used in the iPad Air and upcoming iPhone 12.

“One of the ways chip architects think about features is not necessarily directly mapping [transistors] to a user feature in the product so much as enabling the underlying technology, like software in the graphics stack to be able to leverage a new capability in the GPU,” Millet said. “That will inevitably come as a visual feature in a game, or in a snappy transition in the user interface.”

Speck Launches Cases for iPad 8 and iPad Air 4

· Andrew Orr · News

Accessory maker Speck has introduced new cases for iPad 8th gen and iPad AIr 4th gen, including a print case with fade-resistant print designs.

Apple Just Made Selecting an iPad Really Hard

· John Martellaro · Particle Debris

iPad Air 4

Apple seems to enjoy doing this to us. That is, making the process of selecting an iPad really hard. A lower level product leapfrogs a pro product in some technical respects. Deciding which to buy then involves a very careful analysis and comparison of the specs. And user needs.

Apple Introduces iPad Air 4 and iPad 8th Gen

· Andrew Orr · Product News

At the Apple event on Tuesday we got some new iPads. The iPad 8th-gen comes with the A12 chip, and the iPad Air that looks like an iPad Pro.