Apple released iOS 14 Public Beta, giving users worldwide access to the next version of its operating system. I have been using the developer versions of iOS 14 since they were released and have been very happy with how well they have performed. I will say that what Apple talked about during the WWDC keynote just scratched the surface of what’s available in the new iOS, but several things stood out to me. […]

Dave and I spent some time talking about the Apple Design Awards and the Mac before Dave got me talking about YouTube TV and the recent price hike. We also looked at what I’d like to have in some of these streaming apps.

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Our second podcast this week, this time I’m joined by Dave Mark as we go through our thoughts on WWDC.

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Microsoft today announced a strategic change in its retail operations, including closing Microsoft Store physical locations. The company’s retail team members will continue to serve customers from Microsoft corporate facilities and remotely providing sales, training, and support. Microsoft will continue to invest in its digital storefronts on Microsoft.com, and stores in Xbox and Windows, reaching more than 1.2 billion people every month in 190 markets. The company will also reimagine spaces that serve all customers, including operating Microsoft Experience Centers in London, NYC, Sydney, and Redmond campus locations.

Microsoft really tried to compete with Apple Stores, even putting them near existing Apple locations, but the strategy never worked.

John and I get together every year for a special podcast during WWDC to talk about the announcements. Despite the distance between us, this year was no different. John and I talk about the Mac transition, iPadOS, iOS, macOS, and even the lack of any major tvOS announcement.

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It was a massive day for Apple and its developers, and an excellent start for WWDC ‘20. New operating systems for all of its platforms and a transition from Intel chips to Apple silicon for the Mac. […]

Dave and I look at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which starts next week, albeit in a very different way than previous years. We also discuss the Hey app controversy that’s happening right now.

Note: After this podcast was recorded Apple’s Phil Schiller commented on this issue.

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Matthew Panzarino did an interview with Apple’s Phil Schiller today about the Hey app controversy, which I’m sure you’ve heard all about by now. Here’s a couple of things that Schiller said:

“You download the app and it doesn’t work, that’s not what we want on the store,” says Schiller. This, he says, is why Apple requires in-app purchases to offer the same purchasing functionality as they would have elsewhere.

That makes sense to me.

One way that Hey could have gone, Schiller says, is to offer a free or paid version of the app with basic email reading features on the App Store then separately offered an upgraded email service that worked with the Hey app on iOS on its own website. Schiller gives one more example: an RSS app that reads any feed, but also reads an upgraded feed that could be charged for on a separate site. In both cases, the apps would have functionality when downloaded on the store.

I’m not sure if the developer could do that, but if they could, the point makes sense.

Schiller also noted the exceptions that Apple allows, which are most “reader” apps “that only display external content of certain types like music, books and movies.”

It seems like Hey can fix this by making the app usable on the App Store. It doesn’t sound like that’s what they want to do, so Apple is exercising its right to not allow it on the store at all.

I am really interested in Apple TV these days. I’ve been trying out all kinds of services and Apple TV Channels so that I can finally cut the cord. Dave and I talk about some of the challenges that remain.

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Drivers working for ride-hailing services such as Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc will be considered employees under California’s new gig worker law, the state’s leading industry regulator said on Thursday.

The decision, by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates ride-hailing companies across the state, comes six months after a state law took effect that makes it tougher for companies to classify workers as contractors rather than employees. The latter designation exempts them from paying for overtime, healthcare and workers’ compensation.

This looks like it’s done, but the two sides have been battling for the last few years on the issue. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more lawsuits in the future.

Dave and I reflect this week on the protests happening the U.S.

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Apple has created a new open source project to help developers of password managers collaborate to create strong passwords that are compatible with popular websites. The Password Manager Resources open source project allows you to integrate website-specific requirements used by the iCloud Keychain password manager to generate strong, unique passwords. The project also contains collections of websites known to share a sign-in system, links to websites’ pages where users change passwords, and more.

There are quite a few password manager apps out there these days, so it’ll be interesting to see how this will be utilized.

I went on a little rant today about Apple TV, the networks, and what’s not working for me. Dave and I also talked about iPhone sales and using the iPhone for speech to text.

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Katy Byron, a longtime journalist, on getting her first print newspaper subscription:

And when the actual newspaper came… my spirits were lifted instantly. The feeling of walking to the end of the driveway to pick up my print newspaper every morning has brought me more joy than I can put into words. It’s like every morning is Christmas morning — the grown-up edition. This was one daily task or chore I volunteered to pick up in my house — because this was my thing. This was my newspaper. It might sound corny and I am clearly biased on this subject, but this change in my life that I was able to control has been a sincere silver lining to this living nightmare we are all living through, and I am always looking for silver linings these days.

This was a really great read. Many of us can remember the days of picking up the newspaper and reading it front to back. I get Katy’s need to get away from the screen for a little while and a newspaper is just the thing.

FaceTime calls are a great way to stay in touch with people you care about, whether on an iOS device or a Mac. However, what do you do if you want to save those special moments? Luckily, using your Mac, you can record those calls to view later.

This seems especially important these days.

A few years back I got into a public argument with a Twitter employee. Since then, the company has been petty to anyone at The Loop. Dave and I also talk about “Defending Jacob,” and “Home,” two relatively new shows on Apple TV+.

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Universal Audio released an update that fixed an issue preventing UAD authorization on some Catalina systems. Obviously, this is a big issue if you encountered it, but they fixed it very quickly.

The update also includes the Neve 1084 Preamp & EQ with Unison technology. Neve makes some of my favorite EQs, so having the new Neve 1084 is really exciting for me. I already put it in the Unison slot of Luna template for my projects.

Dave and I talk about the new update to Logic Pro X that dropped this week, battery issues with the Magic Keyboard and iPad, as well as Dave becoming a bit reckless with his iPhone security.

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Apple will reopen some stores in the United States next week, with temperature checks and a limited number of customers in the location at one time, the company confirmed to CNBC.

“We’re excited to begin reopening stores in the US next week, starting with some stores in Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama and Alaska,” an Apple representative said in a statement. “Our team is constantly monitoring local heath data and government guidance, and as soon as we can safely open our stores, we will.”

This will be a methodical reopening in a few stores. Fingers crossed this goes well and we can be done with this pandemic.

I did my homework this week and watched the Beastie Boys movie on Apple TV+. Dave and I talked about the film without giving away too much about it. We also talked WWDC and Apple’s announcement about the conference this week.

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I love Rogue Amoeba and have used their audio software for years on my Mac. Thank you for sponsoring The Loop this week. Their new app, SoundSource, gives you powerful control over all the audio on your Mac, right from your menu bar:

Per-Application Volume Control

Change the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio devices. Mute your browser, or send music to one set of speakers and everything else to another.

Improve Sound Quality

Use Magic Boost and Volume Overdrive to hear your audio even in loud environments. The built-in equalizer can sweeten the sound, and more advanced users will love the ability to apply Audio Units to any audio.

Fast Device Access

All the settings your Mac’s audio devices are just a click away. Adjust input and output levels, tweak the balance, and even switch sample rates, right from your menu bar.

One More Thing…

If you have a DisplayPort or HDMI device that fails to offer volume adjustment, SoundSource can help there too. It gives those devices a proper volume slider, and the Super Volume Keys feature makes your keyboard volume controls work as well. Neat!

Check out SoundSource today, with a free trial! Rogue Amoeba has extended their April sale – through May 15th, Loop readers can save 20% with coupon code LOOPSS.

Three episodes per week, 15 minutes per episode. Not a minute less, not a minute more. New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I have a lot of respect for Ben and John, so this should be interesting. I just listened to the first episode and it was exactly how you think it would be. I enjoyed it!

Apple today announced it is awarding $10 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to COPAN Diagnostics, a market leader in sample collection kits that play a critical role in COVID-19 testing. This funding will allow COPAN Diagnostics to rapidly accelerate their supply of sample collection kits for hospitals across the United States, expanding production from several thousand today to more than one million kits per week by early July. As part of this effort, Apple will support COPAN Diagnostics’ expansion to a new, larger facility in Southern California, with advanced equipment that Apple is helping design. This expansion is expected to create more than 50 new jobs.

Apple continues to step up and do the right thing.

I laughed all over again.

Dave and I spent some time talking about my review of Apple’s Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro and why I liked it so much. We also looked at some of the things Apple is doing to help users during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. Get a server running in seconds with your choice of Linux distro, resources, and choice of 10 node locations. Get a $20 credit when you use promocode dalrymple2020 at https://linode.com/dalrymple/.

I love Rogue Amoeba and have used their audio software for years on my Mac. Their new app, SoundSource, gives you powerful control over all the audio on your Mac, right from your menu bar:

Per-Application Volume Control

Change the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio devices. Mute your browser, or send music to one set of speakers and everything else to another.

Improve Sound Quality

Use Magic Boost and Volume Overdrive to hear your audio even in loud environments. The built-in equalizer can sweeten the sound, and more advanced users will love the ability to apply Audio Units to any audio.

Fast Device Access

All the settings your Mac’s audio devices are just a click away. Adjust input and output levels, tweak the balance, and even switch sample rates, right from your menu bar.

One More Thing…

If you have a DisplayPort or HDMI device that fails to offer volume adjustment, SoundSource can help there too. It gives those devices a proper volume slider, and the Super Volume Keys feature makes your keyboard volume controls work as well. Neat!

Check out SoundSource today, with a free trial! Rogue Amoeba has extended their April sale – through May 15th, Loop readers can save 20% with coupon code LOOPSS.

Apple on Thursday posted results for its fiscal quarter ending March 28, 2020. The company reported quarterly revenue of $58.3 billion, an increase of 1 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.55, up 4 percent.

I’ve spent a week using Apple’s new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro, much longer than I thought I would before writing this review. The simple truth is that it changed my thoughts on using the iPad Pro so dramatically, I questioned my initial enthusiasm. After a week, I’m confident that feelings are reliable, and my conclusion on day one remains: The Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro changes everything.

I love Rogue Amoeba and have used their audio software for years on my Mac. Their new app, SoundSource, gives you powerful control over all the audio on your Mac, right from your menu bar:

Per-Application Volume Control

Change the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio devices. Mute your browser, or send music to one set of speakers and everything else to another.

Improve Sound Quality

Use Magic Boost and Volume Overdrive to hear your audio even in loud environments. The built-in equalizer can sweeten the sound, and more advanced users will love the ability to apply Audio Units to any audio.

Fast Device Access

All the settings your Mac’s audio devices are just a click away. Adjust input and output levels, tweak the balance, and even switch sample rates, right from your menu bar.

One More Thing…

If you have a DisplayPort or HDMI device that fails to offer volume adjustment, SoundSource can help there too. It gives those devices a proper volume slider, and the Super Volume Keys feature makes your keyboard volume controls work as well. Neat!

Check out SoundSource today, with a free trial! Rogue Amoeba has extended their April sale – through May 15th, Loop readers can save 20% with coupon code LOOPSS.

I started using the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro this week and it’s one of my favorite accessories that Apple has ever made. Dave and I talk about everything I like so far. We also talk about some of the early reviews of the iPhone SE.

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Brought to you by:

Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. Get a server running in seconds with your choice of Linux distro, resources, and choice of 10 node locations. Get a $20 credit when you use promocode dalrymple2020 at https://linode.com/dalrymple/.