Apple

iMac Pro first impressions: Beauty of a beast

Written by

Rene Ritchie, iMore:

This isn’t a beloved tower reimagined inside Darth Vader’s helmet — an OpenCL monster designed for a future that never quite materialized. This is the same iMac many of us already know and love, just gutted of its consumer-grade engine and rebuilt for a very different kind of pro. The kind that was already sold on the all-in-one but always wished it was hit by enough gamma rays to make it more hulkingly pro.

And that’s exactly what Apple is delivering: A sleek space-gray chassis filled to the aluminum limit with next-generation Intel, AMD, and Apple muscle. Starting at $4999.

This is richly researched, well written. Rene has pulled together a real technologist’s view of the iMac Pro. There’s a lot to learn here, especially the deep dive into the Intel Xeon W processors at the heart of the iMac Pro.

Just go read it. Does this guy ever sleep?

Use Apple Pay at select Apple partners, get $5 App Store & iTunes Gift Card

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There are currently 20 partners on the page. Worth a look. From the fine print:

Offer valid in the U.S. only, while supplies last. Limit one App Store & iTunes Gift Card per partner.

Makes me wonder how these sorts of partnerships work. Is this $5 straight out of Apple’s pockets, a promotion to help push Apple Pay use? Do the partners kick in some or all of that $5 for the exposure on Apple’s site?

Apple Lisa: The computer that was a proving ground for the Mac

Written by

Stephen Hackett, MacStories:

When thinking about the earliest days of Apple, it’s easy to recall the Apple I, the Apple II line and the Macintosh. However, there’s one more computer that defined Apple’s early years. This computer was ground-breaking but incredibly expensive, and exposed many things wrong within Apple itself.

The Lisa launched 35 years ago next month. Today, it is mostly considered as a precursor to Mac. While that is true, it doesn’t come close to doing this computer justice.

Apple Lisa was an incredibly important part of Apple’s history. This is a terrific read. Don’t miss the embedded and linked videos.

Matt Birchler: Android Oreo, as seen through the eyes of an iOS user

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Matt Birchler has his magnum opus, a massive 8-part, 13,000 word review of Android Oreo. But written with iOS in mind.

It’s a worthwhile read, lots of talking points, a chance to see what switching to Android would be like.

If you are considering the move, read this first. Nice job, Matt.

iMac Pro, available to order today, price ranges from $4,999 to upwards of $13,000

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From Apple’s press release:

Apple today released iMac Pro, an entirely new product line designed for pro users who love the all-in-one design of iMac and require workstation-class performance. With Xeon processors up to 18 cores, up to 22 Teraflops of graphics performance, and a brilliant 27-inch Retina 5K display, iMac Pro is the fastest, most powerful Mac ever made. iMac Pro delivers incredible compute power for real-time 3D rendering, immersive VR, intensive developer workflows, high megapixel photography, complex simulations, massive audio projects and real-time 4K and 8K video editing.

There’s a lot more detail in the release. This is one beautifully designed, incredibly powerful machine.

But it’ll cost you.

I went on-line and worked through the various configurations.

The standard configuration priced out, as announced, at $4,999. I suspect that will be plenty of power for most users. Here’s what you get for that $5K:

  • 3.2GHz 8-core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
  • 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory
  • 1TB SSD
  • Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB of HBM2 memory
  • Magic Mouse 2 – Space Gray
  • Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad – US English – Space Gray

If you select all the hardware configuration extras, that bumps the price up to $13,199. Here’s what that looks like:

  • 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.3GHz
  • 128GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory
  • 4TB SSD
  • Radeon Pro Vega 64 with 16GB of HBM2 memory
  • Magic Mouse 2 – Space Gray
  • Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad – US English – Space Gray

It’d be interesting to see some benchmarks comparing these two configurations.

The $4,999 standard configuration promises delivery by December 28th.

The $13,199 souped up, hot rod configuration shows delivery at 6-8 weeks (Jan 25- Feb 8, if ordered today).

Ars Technica: iMac Pro first review

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If you are considering buying an iMac Pro, spend the time to read through this Ars Technica review. There’s a lot of practical detail in the review, and a section on some of the major software that folks will run, with the goal of major speed increases/time savings.

iOS 11 indoor maps feature now available at more than 40 airports and malls

Written by

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Starting in iOS 11, Apple introduced support for indoor maps for select malls and airports around the world. Indoor maps have been slow to roll out, but Apple has been steadily adding additional mall and airport maps since September.

Apple today began listing indoor maps for malls and airports on its iOS 11 feature availability page, giving us a clear picture of exactly where the indoor mapping feature is available for the first time.

Here’s a link to Apple’s official iOS feature availability page. Definitely worth a minute to scroll down the page, see what categories are being tracked. Indoor maps for airports and malls are about halfway down the page.

Great resource.

Running my first half marathon — with Apple Watch Series 3 and AirPods

Written by

Zac Hall, 9to5Mac:

On Sunday I ran my very first half marathon race equipped with just my Apple Watch and AirPods. Apple Watch Series 3 includes a built-in GPS and optional cellular so you can map your run and wirelessly stream music without strapping an iPhone to your arm. And AirPods, which can play music from the watch, are totally wireless so there’s no cable to manage during the race. Here’s how my experience went:

No iPhone. Just an Apple Watch and AirPods. And his AirPods stayed in his ears the whole time.

After the race, my Apple Watch still had 14% battery left, and my AirPods had enough battery left to keep playing music. I used Scribble to jot out my official run time in a message to my wife and respond to Apple Watch friends who saw my results with Activity Sharing.

This is a fantastic, real world example of Apple technology at its best. Congrats, Zac!

Why Apple bought Shazam

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Terrific piece from CNBC breaking down Shazam’s real value. In a nutshell, it’s loyal users, recurring revenue, a staggering amount of data (and data helps your AI learn), and intellectual property.

Great, short read.

Apple increases Mac trade-in values to up to $2,500

Written by

Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:

Apple today increased its trade-in values for select Mac models released in 2009 and later. In partnership with buyback company Phobio, Apple now offers customers up to $2,500, compared to up to $1,500 previously.

Want to get a sense of the trade-in value for your old Mac? Head over to the Phobio site (that’s Apple’s trade-in partner).

How Apple and Finisar are transforming the future of this Texas town

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Apple, from this feature story:

Over the last five years, Bruce Armstrong has walked thousands of miles through the corridors of an empty manufacturing plant in Sherman, Texas, keeping the lights on. Since the plant closed in 2012, he’s been its caretaker, always holding out hope it would come alive again. Thanks to new business from Apple, that hope is about to become a reality.

Great story about a town that is becoming the VCSEL capital of the US.

VCSEL? That stands for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers:

VCSELs power some of Apple’s most popular new features, including Face ID, Animoji and Portrait mode selfies made possible with the iPhone X TrueDepth camera, as well as the proximity-sensing capabilities of AirPods.

Apple invested $390 million in a VCSEL manufacturer in Finisar, allowing it to build out a VCSEL facility in Sherman, Texas.

From the Apple investment announcement:

As a result of Apple’s commitment, Finisar will transform a long-shuttered, 700,000-sqare-foot manufacturing plant in Sherman, Texas, into the high-tech VCSEL capital of the US. Apple’s award will create more than 500 high-skill jobs at the Sherman facility, including engineers, technicians and maintenance teams. When combined with the company’s nearby plant in Allen, Texas, Finisar’s payroll in Northern Texas is expected to be $65 million.

And:

One hundred percent of the VCSELs Apple buys from Finisar will be made in Texas. Consistent with Apple’s commitment to the environment, the company intends to procure enough renewable energy to cover all of its Apple manufacturing in the US.

Love this story.

VIDEO: The new iMac Pro, hands on impressions

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[VIDEO] Marques Brownlee has had the new iMac Pro for about a week. In the video embedded in the main Loop post, he shows it off, shares his first impressions.

If you are in the market, this is absolutely worth your time.

Couple of notes here:

  • Important to note that the new iMac Pro is not user upgradable. So if you are ordering, future proof best you can.

  • Marques priced out a home built PC using the iMac Pro parts (or similarly specced parts where the actual parts are not yet available) and came up with a price of $5100. Comparing that to the iMac Pro base price of $4999, my take is that the iMac Pro is fairly priced.

  • The fact that I cannot upgrade over time is an issue for me, though I suspect iFixit will eventually sell a kit to get me inside and 3rd parties will sell parts to upgrade. Eventually.

  • The iMac Pro is very quiet, runs cool. That’s impressive, given the high end workstation grade parts jammed in to that svelte enclosure.

Apple announces iMac Pro, available this Thursday

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Very exciting news. I suspect Apple will sell a bunch of these, especially to folks tapping their feet waiting for an update to the Mac Pro.

Though there’s no pricing on the Apple site quite yet, it was originally announced with a base price of $4,999.

A pen clip for your Apple Pencil

Written by

Patrick Lucas Austin, LifeHacker:

There’s a pretty straightforward reason you should attach a clip to your Apple Pencil: it lets you treat it like a traditional writing implement. The Apple Pencil’s completely rounded design means it is more prone to roll around your desk, or right off your table and onto the ground. In addition, adding a clip lets you, of course, clip it anywhere you’d stick a regular pen.

Have an Apple Pencil? Check out this clip for the Fisher Space Pen. $2, plus shipping (maybe buy a few at this price), and stick one on your Apple Pencil.

Apple’s Phil Schiller on how the iPhone X “seemed impossible at the start”

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From the T3 interview with Phil Schiller, starting with the creation of iPhone X:

“At the time, at the beginning, it seemed almost impossible. Not just almost. It seemed impossible. And to pull off what feels impossible and make it possible – and not only that, but just something we love using – is just a great achievement.

“Clearly there was a point in the process where we had to commit to the fact that it would be a full top-to-bottom screen on the front with no home button, which means you’re counting on Face ID working as we’d hope, and being as good.

“That’s an exciting moment, when you have to sort of… the old saying: ‘Burn the boats. Leave the past behind, and commit.’ Knowing that the team was willing to make that gamble was a key point early enough in the process..

And:

“Most people are comfortable with it within minutes – 30 minutes, whatever. It’s not the kind of thing you have to live with for a week or two to get used to.

And:

We say to Schiller that we’ve been surprised at how good Face ID is for Apple Pay. “Yes. That was on a long list of things we knew we had to deliver. The home button, at the beginning, really did one thing. Maybe two. It woke up your screen, and then it let you go to the home screen from any app. And then over the years, we’ve layered on many, many uses – the multitasking capabilities, evoking Siri, you being able to use it for Apple Pay, creating Touch ID for your fingerprint. So Face ID had a much harder job for its first version than the home button had for its first version.”

And:

“Products [like] AirPods and Pencil could not work were it not for hardware and software and chip teams and radio teams, all working together to make something happen. And I think the latest feature that’s the result of this collaboration is Face ID.”

“Other companies certainly have had the vision of ‘can you unlock something with someone’s face?’ but no one [has] actually delivered technology as advanced and capable and ubiquitous and consumer friendly as Face ID. And that is the direct result of this collaboration, and how these teams work for years together on a simple powerful idea with all that technology.

And:

Is the iPad Pro really the PC replacement it was touted as? Or is it really a supplementary device to the Mac?

“What we’ve learned, truthfully, is that it’s both, and that depends on the user,” says Schiller. “For some people, iPad Pro is a replacement for their computer. Not that you throw away your computer. People don’t often do that.

“But that it becomes your primary computing device. The way you mostly hear about this is people say, ‘I use a computer at my desk’ or ‘I use a notebook at my desk, but when I travel, I travel just with my iPad Pro’. It is so great in that situation.”

This is a terrific interview. There is just so much more to it. Great insight into Apple’s corporate product thinking.

Why Apple’s acquisition of Shazam is so important

Written by

Michael Simon, Macworld:

Shazam’s main strength is music identification, and that fits well into Apple’s current strategy. It’s not just Siri on our phones: AirPods, HomePod, and Apple Watch could benefit from Shazam’s uncanny ability to name that tune.

And:

On the new Pixel phones, Google has implemented a feature that displays the name of a song playing nearby even if Assistant hasn’t been asked. It’s a neat feature that’s all done locally, and I use far more often than I thought I would. A similar feature would be great on the iPhone, and with Shazam’s massive library at Apple’s disposal it would be far superior to Google’s.

And:

We will already be able to ask Siri to play things like the most popular song in 1986, but Shazam could amplify its knowledge considerably. It would be great to tap your AirPods and ask “Play the song that goes like this …” or “Play that Ed Sheeran song about Ireland.” Shazam might not be able to do that now, but the groundwork is certainly in place, particularly when paired with Apple’s own AI musical capabilities.

Read the rest of Michael’s article. Lots of interesting speculation. As you read, think about Apple’s dive into TV and movie production. Imagine saying/playing a line of dialog, or tapping a still from a movie and asking Siri what movie it’s from.

With ownership of Shazam, Apple can turn that tech loose on the entire ecosystem.

Two opposing headlines, Woz, and the iPhone X

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Apple founder Steve Wozniak was in Australia to speak at the Pivot Summit in Geelong, Victoria. Woz was asked his feelings about the iPhone X. What spun out of that short talk was a series of headlines, like:

“Woz Slams The iPhone X, Confirms Google Is Taking Advantage Of Consumers”, from ChannelNews, and “Apple iPhone X not what Steve Wozniak wants” from the The Australian.

At the same time, 9to5Mac ran this take on the exact same event:

Speaking at the Pivot Summit in Geelong, Victoria today, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak shared a few new tidbits about his experience with the iPhone X so far and his thoughts on Face ID vs. Touch ID. Woz also offered up a few anecdotes about his years working with Steve Jobs. Wozniak is one of several speakers at the one day conference focused on providing insight about emerging technology.

And:

Speaking prior to the launch of the iPhone X, Wozniak expressed that he wasn’t interested in picking up the phone on day one, offering little explanation as to why. Apple CEO Tim Cook decided to remedy the situation himself and personally sent Woz an iPhone X to try out. His verdict? “I kinda like it.”

So which take is accurate?

Here’s Woz, via email, referring to the 9to5Mac article:

“This article is on the mark. Another article was like typical Australian sensationalism saying that I didn’t like my iPhone X. How ridiculous.”

I found this whole thing interesting, thought it worth posting. Straight from the horse’s mouth.

iPhone 6s running slow? Consider replacing your battery

Written by

Reddit:

My iPhone 6S has been very slow these past few weeks, and even after updating multiple times, it was still slow. Couldn’t figure out why, but just thought that iOS 11 was still awful to me. Then I used my brother’s iPhone 6 Plus and his was… faster than mine? This is when I knew something was wrong. So, I did some research, and decided to replace my battery. Wear level was somewhere around 20% on my old battery. I did a Geekbench score, and found I was getting 1466 Single and 2512 Multi. This did not change wether I had low power mode on or off. After changing my battery, I did another test to check if it was just a placebo. Nope. 2526 Single and 4456 Multi. From what I can tell, Apple slows down phones when their battery gets too low, so you can still have a full days charge. This also means your phone might be very slow for no discernible reason. Check your Geekbench scores and see what you get if your phone is still slow!

I would love to get an official response from Apple on this issue. Be sure to read the updates to this post, especially the second one.

UPDATE: Two things:

  • Via Bryan Lee on Twitter, if you are having issues with your iPhone 6s, Apple does have a battery replacement program for certain devices, manufactured in Sept or Oct 2015. Go to this page to check to see if your device is eligible.

  • As mentioned in the linked Reddit thread, there’s a free app, called CpuDasherX, you can use to check your clock speed, see if it’s running full speed. According to this comment thread, 1848 Mhz is the factory CPU speed for the iPhone 6s.

UPDATE 2:

As noted in this tweet and some of the comments, the A9 does vary its frequency based on load. So a different frequency is not indicative of a battery issue. It’s possible this Reddit thread is a red herring. Again, would love an official Apple comment.

UPDATE 3:

Take a look at this free battery life wear level tester. Might offer some insight.

Phil Schiller on the nuance of Face ID, HomePod delay, and more

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From the Bright.nl exclusive interview:

Schiller has a quick answer to the commentary that other smartphone makers had a face or iris recognition before Apple did: “They all stink.”

He nuances: “They don’t work in all the ways we need Face ID to work. We’re very aware that through the years this simple thing, the Home button, that started as the way you click to get to the Home screen, grew into doing so many things for us. We added Touch ID, it took you to the multitasking screen, paged Siri, activated Apple Pay. All through this one mechanical button.

So for Face ID we needed the best way we know of to enable us to easily unlock our device with our face, in a protected way with the Secure Enclave, and support all these other things. We had to solve all of that. Other things that people have tried with face haven’t been anything like that. Face ID is a very unique implementation.”

And:

“I think we’ve worked really hard to maintain the trust we have with users about how this information technology is and isn’t used. First of all, no Face ID data goes to third parties. So what you enroll with Face ID, what you use to unlock your phone, that’s an algorithm that is created and encrypted by the Secure Enclave. No third party that uses the iPhone camera has your Face ID data. We did create an API so developers can use the cameras to track facial movements, to do things like wrap stickers on your face (like Snapchat, ed.) That’s different than Face ID. They don’t have all the access to the data that Face ID has for that.

And:

“We feel bad we aren’t able to deliver Homepod for the holidays. We’re going to take the time to do it right and make sure it’s great when it comes out. We need more time to make it right.”

There’s a lot more. I found the whole thing worth reading.

Android to iPhone: What I’ve liked about switching to the iPhone X

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This is a two part series, written by David Ruddock, Android Police.

The first part, titled, I’ve never used an iPhone, part one: Switching to the iPhone X and first thoughts, ran a few weeks ago.

The second part, titled, Android to iPhone, part two: What I’ve liked about switching to the iPhone X, ran last week.

There’s a lot to process in these two posts. Some of the comments reflect someone new to the iPhone X and new to iOS. But all in all, solid takes, both the negative and positive.

A couple of highlights from the most recent post:

When I first started using iMessage, I immediately appreciated how much it modernized my texting experience (I do a fair bit of SMSing) when chatting with my iPhone-using friends and family.

And:

I would use an iMessage client for Android in a heartbeat if Apple were to release one. Even if it were terrible, I’d probably seriously entertain paying a subscription for such a thing. It’s not about iMessage being amazing or revolutionary or even an especially good messaging client – it’s just about using the same platform as my friends and family and being able to have those conversation move seamlessly across devices and operating systems.

And:

I know a lot of people turn off haptic feedback on their smartphone. That is because, I have now learned, essentially every Android smartphone has absolutely awful haptics. Your $930 Galaxy Note8 has haptic feedback that is, frankly, bad. So does every other Android phone. Yes, the difference is that clear after going to the iPhone X.

Apple’s Taptic Engine doesn’t just buzz – it clicks, it taps, it knocks. And it can do so with an incredible range of intensities and precision.

And:

I do miss intelligent package tracking being pulled directly from my Gmail (versus now just getting Amazon tracking, which is a bit of a downgrade).

This last was an interesting core difference between iOS and Android. I do see the Android advantage in reading all my emails and understanding that I’ve got a package coming, weaving intel about the package into my notifications.

But the issue is privacy and what is done with my private information. Google profits off the shared details of its users, in the form of steered and focused advertising. That is the price you pay for more informed device intelligence. That price makes me uncomfortable.

All in all, an insightful read.

Sources: Apple is acquiring music recognition app Shazam

Written by

Ingrid Lunden and Katie Roof, TechCrunch:

As Spotify continues to inch towards a public listing, Apple is making a move of its own to step up its game in music services. Sources tell us that the company is close to acquiring Shazam, the popular app that lets people identify any song, TV show, film or advert in seconds, by listening to an audio clip or (in the case of, say, an ad) a visual fragment, and then takes you to content relevant to that search.

We have heard that the deal is being signed this week, and will be announced on Monday, although that could always change.

The deal is said to be worth about £300 million ($400 million).

Apple’s Ive regains management of design team after 2 years

Written by

Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, Bloomberg:

Apple Inc.’s Jony Ive, a key executive credited with the look of many of the company’s most popular products, has re-taken direct management of product design teams.

Ive, 50, was named Apple’s chief design officer in 2015 and subsequently handed off some day-to-day management responsibility while the iPhone maker was building its new Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. “With the completion of Apple Park, Apple’s design leaders and teams are again reporting directly to Jony Ive, who remains focused purely on design,” Amy Bessette, a company spokeswoman, said Friday in a statement.

Is this much ado about nothing? Was there a plan for Sir Jony to step away, a plan that’s now changed? Or was this more a shift of focus, first to getting Apple Park to completion, then back to work as usual?

How to use the one handed keyboard on iPhone

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One of the lesser trumpeted features that shipped with iOS 11 was the one handed keyboard. The linked post walks through the options.

Long story short, fire up a text or tweet, then, when the keyboard appears, press and hold the keyboard’s emoji icon, like so:

Tap your keyboard alignment of choice (left, right, center) and you’re good to go.

Note that the one handed keyboard is iPhone (and iPod Touch) only. Read the article for iPad options.

iPhones dominate Flickr’s list of most popular cameras in 2017

Written by

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch:

Apple’s iPhone remains the most popular camera used by the Flickr community, the photo-sharing site revealed today in its annual review of camera rankings and top photos. This year, the iPhone beat out other camera makers – like Canon and Nikon, the number two and three respectively – by accounting for 54 percent of the top 100 devices used on the site, the company found. In addition, all top 10 devices of 2017 were iPhone models, Flickr says.

Amazing. All top 10 cameras on the list were iPhones.

Amazon wants a key to your house. I did it. I regretted it.

Written by

Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post:

I gave Amazon.com a key to go into my house and drop off packages when I’m not around. After two weeks, it turns out letting strangers in has been the least-troubling part of the experience.

Once Amazon owned my door, I was the one locked into an all-Amazon world.

And:

Make no mistake, the $250 Amazon Key isn’t just about stopping thieves. It’s the most aggressive effort I’ve seen from a tech giant to connect your home to the Internet in a way that puts itself right at the center.

And:

The Key-compatible locks are made by Yale and Kwikset, yet don’t work with those brands’ own apps. They also can’t connect with a home-security system or smart-home gadgets that work with Apple and Google software.

And, of course, the lock can’t be accessed by businesses other than Amazon. No Walmart, no UPS, no local dog-walking company.

And:

Amazon is barely hiding its goal: It wants to be the operating system for your home.

First things first, note that this article appeared in The Washington Post. The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos. Which tells me that Bezos truly is allowing the Post to be the Post, and that the Post is not afraid to bite the hand that feeds.

That said, the issue here is the walled garden. Once Amazon controls the lock on your door, they can control who has access to that lock, keeping out eventual home delivery by rivals like Walmart, and keeping rivals like Apple and HomeKit from offering door-unlocking services.

Very interesting.

HomeKit vulnerability allowed remote access to locks and more, fix rolling out

Written by

Zac Hall, 9to5Mac:

A HomeKit vulnerability in the current version of iOS 11.2 has been demonstrated to 9to5Mac that allows unauthorized control of accessories including smart locks and garage door openers. Our understanding is Apple has rolled out a server-side fix that now prevent unauthorized access from occurring while limiting some functionality, and an update to iOS 11.2 coming next week will restore that full functionality.

And this from Apple:

“The issue affecting HomeKit users running iOS 11.2 has been fixed. The fix temporarily disables remote access to shared users, which will be restored in a software update early next week.”

Props to Zac Hall for the scoop and the way he handled the whole issue.

Apple reveals 2017’s top charts, but don’t try to buy an iOS app from your Mac

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I enjoyed going through Apple’s tops of 2017 list.

But, it did remind me of one broken piece of Apple’s app-purchasing system, still unaddressed after all this time. To see it, you have to open the list on your Mac.

On your Mac, if you click on Apple’s top movie link, after a bit of shuffling, you’ll be taken to an iTunes page listing the top movies of the year. Click on a movie and you’ll be taken to that movie’s iTunes page so you can rent or buy.

BUT.

Still on your Mac, still looking at that same best of list, try clicking on an app. To save you time, here’s a link to the iPhone game of the year, a fun little number called Splitter Critters.

You’ll be taken to a Safari App Store Preview page, with this note embedded on the page:

Used to be, you could click a link of an app you want to buy, the app page would open in iTunes, and you could purchase the app, even from your Mac. For a while, app links that used to work took you into the void, clearly broken. My hope was that this was a temporary situation, that Apple would work through their changes with iTunes and, eventually, restore the ability to buy an iOS app from a link shown on a Mac.

Why is this important? Why care about an iOS app that will never run on a Mac? It’s all about app developers and bloggers making a living.

App developers need publicity for their apps. And that publicity often comes from blogs (like MacStories, Daring Fireball, iMore, 9to5Mac, Six Colors, iDownloadBlog, etc.) When a blog links to an app, the best chance a developer has to close the deal with a reader is if that reader can click on a link and buy the app right then and there.

If the reader happens to be reading about the app on a Mac, there is no chance to close the deal with a simple click and purchase. At the very least, they have to remember to make the purchase the next time they are on an iOS device. This is bad for the developer and, ultimately, bad for the blogger. It widens the gap, reduces the intimacy between the writer who recommended the app, and the reader. And it lessens the chance that a blog will be able to make a bit of money from an affiliate link.

My two cents? Apple should fix this. As is, this makes the Mac a bit of a second class citizen.

Your Text Replacements in iOS and macOS now sync reliably across iPhone, iPad and Mac

Written by

Christian Zibreg, iDownloadBlog:

Text Replacements, an often overlooked iOS and macOS feature that automatically expands custom text snippets into longer phrases or whole sentences as you’re typing, should no longer be plagued with the widely reported intermittent syncing issues.

As first noted by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, an Apple spokesperson told him back in September that an update that moves text replacement syncing to CloudKit was scheduled to roll out to iOS 11 and macOS 10.13 High Sierra users in the next month or so.

Brian Stucki, who first explained why Text Replacements didn’t sync reliably between iOS devices and Macs, has now confirmed in an update to his original post that snippet syncing now at long last works reliably across all devices running macOS High Sierra and iOS 11.

Nice to see this CloudKit progress.