Nicholas Thompson:

In April 2017, a man started hiking in a state park just north of New York City. He wanted to get away, maybe from something and maybe from everything. He didn’t bring a phone; he didn’t bring a credit card. He didn’t even really bring a name. Or at least he didn’t tell anyone he met what it was.

And:

Six months later and 600 miles south, on July 23, 2018, two hikers headed out into the Big Cypress National Preserve. The humidity was oppressive, but they trudged forward, crossing swamps, tending aching feet, and dodging the alligators and snakes. About 10 miles into their journey, they stopped to rest their feet at a place called Nobles Camp. There they saw a yellow tent and a pair of boots outside. Something smelled bad, and something seemed off. They called out, then peered through the tent’s windscreen. An emaciated, lifeless body was looking up at them. They called 911.

This is a fascinating read, a bit of escapism if you need such a thing.

Liz Shannon Miller, Collider:

Sudeikis originated the character of Ted Lasso in ads for NBC Sports, but as he explains below, the idea to make it a series really came alive when Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence came on board. I previously wrote about how he and Lawrence worked together on this project, but please below find my full interview with Sudeikis (lightly edited for clarity), in which he explains how the show made the leap from a speculative pilot based on the commercials to an enduring beacon of nice-ness — and why that matters right now more than ever.

An enduring beacon of nice-ness. Perfect description of Ted Lasso. Great read.

Follow the headline link if you want the details. Move on if you don’t want even the slightest hint of what’s said to be coming. Suffice it to say that Apple has promised new Apple-silicon Macs this year, and next week’s event is the last chance to fulfill that promise.

One particular bit that struck me (move along if you don’t want a potential spoiler):

Apple engineers are currently developing a new Mac Pro that looks like the current design at about half the size. It’s unclear if that Mac will replace the current Mac Pro or if it’s an additional model.

I have my eyes (and budget) on the highest end laptop that Apple announces next week. But if Apple goes Pro? It’d be delightful to hear about a desktop (non-iMac) in my price range. The machine I am replacing is a machine I do a lot of development on. A desktop screamer would be absolutely perfect, give me the chance to buy more power without taking out a mortgage on the house.

Excited for next week.

Wallpaper:

The 20-strong Industrial Design Group is at the core of Apple’s creative process and typically works at least two years out. This suite of products revealed in October were still at prototype stage back in 2018, long before Chief Design Officer Jony Ive stepped back from the company after 27 years. This level of foresight is essential, allowing time for the vast global mechanism of mass production, assembly and distribution to gear up for the next generation.

And:

As ever, the details go far beyond what you see on the surface — the iPhone team had to tweak the internal architecture — already a literal miracle of packaging – to accommodate the magnetic coil. The cardholder wallet is sprung so that a single card is still held as tightly as three. The passive NFC field ensures the iPhone detects when an accessory is docked, a feature demonstrated best by the sleeve which leaves a small slot for the time display. Putting away your phone will also change the display colour to match the sleeve’s.

If you appreciate design, this is a fun read. Apple and detail, partners.

Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac, digs into the new MagSafe iPhone Leather Wallet.

My biggest concern is the stickiness of the wallet. If I wedge my iPhone into a tight pocket, how hard would it be to accidentally dislodge the wallet, especially with a rear pocket?

It can definitely fall off easier than you’d hope. But I think once you get used to it, you’ll be aware of how to carefully put it in your pocket (especially with tight jeans/pants etc.) so you don’t knock it off.

So awareness is key here. No worries on demagnetizing your credit cards, but know that you’ll need to pay attention when you pick up and pocket your iPhone with wallet attached.

Here’s the official Microsoft announcement.

And here’s the official Sony announcement (from a few weeks ago).

Gruber, from this Daring Fireball post:

Xbox users who aren’t already subscribed to Apple TV+ will be able to do so right on their Xbox. I’m curious if that’s a thing where Microsoft gets a cut of the subscription — I’m guessing no, because I can’t see why Netflix would go for that.

Giant towers of commerce, all built on exclusive ecosystems, with tendrils working their way across battle lines into opposing camps, all built on foundations of control and exclusion. If anti-trust breaks one of those foundational building blocks, watch out.

Deadline:

Oscar winner Christopher Walken is set as a lead alongside Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower and John Turturro in Severance, Apple’s upcoming workplace thriller drama directed by and executive produced by Ben Stiller.

That’s a helluva cast. And Ben Stiller as exec producer, one of the few humans on the planet involved in multiple billion dollar movie franchises. Mix in Christopher Walken, and this’ll be worth watching, no matter the plot.

To attract folks like this, Apple TV+ has to have achieved a certain level of critical mass, of gravitas. And doing this in a single year is remarkable.

Intercom lets you use one Apple device to send a message to most of the other Apple devices in your house. Here’s a nice look at this feature in action:

Intercom from HomePod to Apple Watch and viceversa (iOS 14.2 b4, watchOS 7.1 b3, HomePod 14.2 beta) pic.twitter.com/JXBVqSUdZH

— domenico panacea (@domenicopanacea) October 21, 2020

Note that the Apple Watch gets a notification and a play button to hear the audio. Not sure why Intercom does not (at least not yet) support the Mac. Seems like Apple could send a notification to any Mac on the current network with a play button, just as they did with Apple Watch. This a “waiting for Big Sur” thing? Or some limitation with macOS?

MacRumors Forum:

For a very long time, it has not been possible to change your Apple ID email address if it was an iCloud email address, say from iCloud to Gmail.

I’ve just discovered it’s now possible, you can change your email to any email address you want – and back again. I note Apple’s Support pages have also quietly removed any reference to this (now removed) limitation.

This is one of those things that I’d normally try to test/verify before I post but, for obvious reasons, no easy way for me to do that. But I do recall this limitation, and other folks have stepped up to say they were able to make this change.

This is a great, detailed list from Juli Clover, MacRumors. It’s got all the existing Apple TV+ content, but follows that surprisingly extensive list with all the shows/movies that are announced/in the works.

Jim and I used mentioned this list on this past Friday’s Dalrymple Report, thought it was worth posting here.

Lory Gil, iMore:

Coming soon to iOS 14.2, alongside iPhone 12 Pro, and soon iPhone 12 Pro Max, Apple is introducing another amazing new accessibility technology that makes fantastic use of the LiDAR scanner. It’s called People Detection, and it is astounding.

And:

People Detection uses People Occlusion in ARKit and the LiDAR scanner on the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, as well as the iPad Pro. The LiDAR scanner measures the distance from the device to objects within 15 feet, in real-time. Then combining this data with People Occlusion with ARKit to determine if there are any people in the field of view and then gives continuous feedback about how far away that person is.

Important distinction: The iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max support People Detection, the iPhone 12 and mini do not.

Read the rest of Lory’s post for details.

From this post by Stephen Aquino:

The goal is to help the visually impaired understand their surroundings—examples include knowing how many people there are in the checkout line at the grocery store, how close one is standing to the end of the platform at the subway station, and finding an empty seat at a table.

And:

Users can set a minimum distance for alerts—say, six feet for the aforementioned social distancing—as well as having an option to use haptic feedback to deliver those notifications. There also is audible feedback; if a person is wearing one AirPod, they will be notified when they’re in close proximity of a person or whatnot. People Detection is fully compatible with VoiceOver, Apple’s screen-reader technology.

If you are exploring Apple One bundles, this is worth a look. Lots of good iCloud advice, including what happens if the iCloud storage included in Apple One is more than your current plan, and what to do if you use one Apple ID for iCloud storage and one for Apple Media subscriptions.

UPDATE: Apple One bundles are rolling out. I signed up for Premier and my existing Apple Music subscription stayed live, with the note that it will automatically roll into my bundle at the end of the free monthly bundle trial.

Here’s a link to Apple’s official Apple One bundle page. And here’s my tweet with the Apple One bundle pricing.

In the meantime, I’ve been asking folks for their bundle questions, scroll down for the list. If you have a question, or know the answer to one of these, please ping me on Twitter. I’ll try to keep the list updated as I get more questions/answers.

• If I already paid for a year of Apple Music (or any service covered by a bundle), will that payment be applied to the bundle cost?

• If I am in the middle of a free trial and upgrade to a bundle, will that impact the bundle pricing?

• Can you verify that Apple One Premier is only available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia (places where News+ is available)?

• Can you verify that I can raise my default bundle storage by adding more storage to my bundle? If so, is there any space limit?

[Per Craig Grannell, Apple One storage caps at 4TB]

• How will Apple handle the case where a bundle storage is less space than what I already have? For example, if I have 200GB and move to the Individual bundle’s 50GB, will Apple prompt me to add additional storage before I switch. My concern is that I don’t lose what’s stored in my 200GB if I do things in the wrong order and momentarily drop to 50GB.

[Per Craig Grannell, Apple One bundle storage is added to existing storage, so this is not an issue. Add the bundle, then remove extra storage as you like.]

• If I get the Premier bundle, will Fitness+ be automatically added when available?

Russ Frushtick, Vulture:

On each of these trips, something has followed me no matter where I go. Something I never asked for. Every time I get into the car, it’s there. It appears, unsolicited, to spoil the beauty of the winding roads surrounding Minnewaska State Park. On a quiet, early morning drive to the farmers’ market, it returns. It is legion. It is …

U2’s 2014 album Songs of Innocence.

This is a great anecdote, worth your time. If you’ve ever popped in the car and had your iOS device autoplay the same song again and again, because Bluetooth, you will definitely relate.

And possibly learn something useful.

[Via Michael Tsai’s blog]

John Gruber:

When one company dominates an industry, and whose meteoric rise to the top remains fresh in everyone’s minds, it’s human nature to measure all competitors through a filter skewed by that leader. In streaming premium video content, that leader whose meteoric rise remains fresh-in-mind is Netflix. “How does Apple TV+ make sense for $5 a month when Netflix is like $13?” That’s a question a lot of people asked. Me too! There are competitors who, whether they admit it or not, are trying to out-Netflix Netflix, and are probably (and in most cases, definitely) going to fail. Netflix is popular and successful because they’re really good at being Netflix.

Apple TV+ isn’t trying to out-Netflix Netflix. They’re out-HBO-ing HBO

Just a reminder: Apple TV+ is not quite one year old. Sunday marks their one year anniversary. What they’ve achieved is astonishing. They’ve got a bonafide smash hit in Ted Lasso, a true tentpole series, a notable collection of other shows, diversified enough so that there’s surely a few other shows to grab your interest.

A few of my favorites:

• Ted Lasso (of course)
• Tehran (riveting thriller)
• Defending Jacob (legal suspense)
• Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (comedy, my second fave)
• Home Before Dark (family mystery)
• Long Way Up (travel, motorcycles, tech)

I would recommend all six of these shows without hesitation. HBO quality. But, as Gruber would say, out-HBO-ing HBO.

And this is all in less than a year. Let’s not forget all the amazing shows that are coming, including the notable signup of Jon Stewart. As you no doubt are tired of hearing me say, I am even more bullish on Apple TV+.

Apple:

Following its breakout first season and early second season renewal, Apple TV+ has renewed “Ted Lasso” for a third season, ahead of its second season start of production in London early January. Since its premiere on August 14, 2020, critics and fans globally have hailed the series as “terrific,” “hilarious,” “heart-swelling” and “infectious.”

Burying the lede a bit: Second season production starts in January.

Some history:

• The show was commissioned by Apple in October 2019 (one year ago)
• Episode 1 premiered on August 14th, 2020 (ten months later)

Will season 2 drop in August? That’s only seven months after start of production. But given how much has been done (sets built, etc.), seems possible. Absolutely looking forward to season 2. Great show.

Follow the headline link for a nice rollup from Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac, on what to expect, what analysts are saying, especially given the impact of the pandemic, with increased demand for MacBooks and iPads.

Apple:

Clips 3.0, available today in the App Store, features a streamlined interface and full-screen browsers on iPhone that make it even simpler to record and add effects. On iPad, Clips supports landscape orientation, Scribble with Apple Pencil, and the use of a Bluetooth mouse or trackpad.

And:

The new version also lets users make videos in multiple aspect ratios, including horizontal and vertical, ideal for creating eye-catching content for Instagram Stories, Snapchat, YouTube, and more. And Clips 3.0 is optimized to record and share content in HDR using the rear-facing cameras on all iPhone 12 models, resulting in videos with more vibrant colors and contrast.

I completely forgot about Clips. Saw this, updated and launched the new version, was quickly reminded how fun this app is. There are a ton of great effects to play with.

Launch the app, tap the 5-pointed rainbow star (lower right), then tap one of the icons to explore effect categories, like Memoji, Filters, Live Titles, etc. Glad to see this update.

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Apple announced the new 2020 fourth-generation iPad Air in September, but the new tablets just started shipping out to customers last Friday. We picked one up and thought we’d do a hands-on comparison with the iPad Pro, which was last updated in March, because both tablets are about as powerful and share many similarities.

If you are in the market for an iPad, you are likely comparing the pros and cons of the new iPad Air against those of the most recent iPad Pro. Juli does an excellent job digging through those differences so you don’t have to.

Most significant to me:

There’s no ‌Touch ID‌ Home button, but there is ‌Touch ID‌ built into the power button at the top of the device. It’s fast and effortless, but you do need to reach up to the top of the ‌iPad‌ to unlock it, and it’s not as seamless of an experience as Face ID, especially when you’re using accessories like the Magic Keyboard. On ‌iPad Pro‌, you can wake it with the keyboard and then it instantly unlocks after scanning your face, but on ‌iPad Air‌, this is a two-step process.

If you plan on shelling out for the Magic Keyboard, think about Face ID and the process of unlocking your iPad. Can you live with the extra steps a lack of Face ID adds to the process? Might not matter to you, but worth thinking about.

Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

Google currently pays Apple an estimated $8-12 billion per year to be the default search engine on iOS devices. In 2018, for example, the sum was estimated at a little under $10 billion – around 20% of the company’s Services income for the year. However, antitrust regulators are now putting this deal in the spotlight, and arguing that it may be anticompetitive.

And:

A report in the Financial Times claims that Apple is now ‘stepping up’ efforts to create its own search engine as its lucrative deal with Google comes under threat

Ben takes the Financial Times report apart, brick-by-brick. The FT report could be correct but, as Ben points out, it’s unlikely that Apple would build a search engine that generated any sort of revenue:

The single biggest argument against Apple creating a search engine is the company’s strong privacy stance, and its less-than-flattering commentary on ad-funded services like Google.

Interesting read.

Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac:

Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup features a number of improvements to the camera systems and one of those is Night mode expanding beyond the standard rear-facing wide lens and landing on the ultra wide lens and the front-facing TrueDepth camera. Let’s take a look at how to take Night mode selfies on iPhone 12.

Night mode selfies is a selling point for the iPhone 12. To get a sense of what this is, follow the headline link, scroll about halfway down the article to the side-by-side-by-side trio of images, showing a Night mode selfie, a no flash selfie, and a selfie with flash. The improvement is obvious.

Great explainer.

Om Malik:

How real is 5G in the US? Is it worth the money?

My simple finding is that, as it stands today, in the US, it is decidedly not magical — though, it does involve a bit of hocus pocus. You might be promised gigabit speeds, but what you get will be much slower, especially in the near term. In order to understand, why, let’s look at what is on offer.

This is a welcome, and very readable explainer on 5G. Om did a lot of homework here, lays it out clearly, with lots of links.

It’s early days for 5G. The hardware infrastructure is still being rolled out. And the branding is terrible. The terms “mmWave” and “sub-6 GHz” are important distinctions, but the names do nothing to indicate their relative role/speed. And as carriers come up with their own tags, the confusion only deepens.

Hollywood Reporter:

As part of an expansive, multiyear deal with Apple, the Emmy-drenched former writer, producer and host of The Daily Show is set to front an all-new current affairs series for the streaming service. The show, which will run for multiple seasons, puts Stewart back in the anchor’s chair as he explores a host of topics at the center of both the national conversation and his own advocacy work.

And:

For Apple, nabbing Stewart’s Daily Show follow-up is a major coup. In his nearly two decades as host of the Comedy Central series, he earned 20 Emmys – including 10 consecutive outstanding variety series wins – and almost single-handedly redefined political satire in American culture.

Jon Stewart’s Daily Show was foundational, the strongest of voices. His absence created a painful void. John Oliver stepped in nicely, but having Jon Stewart return is absolutely brilliant. Great addition for Apple TV+.

Deadline:

Thor: Ragnarok filmmaker Taika Waititi has boarded Time Bandits, the TV series adaptation of the beloved Terry Gilliam-directed movie, which is in development at Apple.

The deal was announced back in July, 2018, but bringing on Thor: Ragnorok’s director makes this feel much more real.

If you’ve never seen Time Bandits, check it out. It’s got time travel, Monty Python, an amazing cast, and some fertile imagination.

Tagline: “They didn’t make history, they stole it!”

Matt Birchler captures the confusion on buying MagSafe and an iPhone 12, then working through the charger options.

Really well written.

And to clarify any MagSafe and power questions, be sure to watch the video in the post that follows.