News

Apple is “sorry” about “a pause” in Mac upgrades

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2017

A quick look at MacRumors' Buyers Guide is all it takes to realize Apple's neglected its Mac fans with slow upgrades. Part of the problem lies in Apple's heavy reliance on Intel. Making matters worse, the chip maker abandoned its tick-tock release schedule as it's become economically unsustainable.

Perhaps that's why Apple summoned its senior executives Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi and John Ternus for “a small roundtable discussion about Mac” with five journalists (Matthew Panzarino, Lance Ulanoff, Ina Fried, John Paczkowski and John Gruber).

Mac mini is “important” and shall remain a product in Apple’s lineup for the time being

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2017

Mac mini is an “important” model in Apple's family of computers and will remain a product in the company's lineup for the time being, said Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller when BuzzFeed's reporter John Paczkowski asked him about the state of the most affordable Mac desktop. He did not say, however, when the small computer might receive a hardware refresh.

Apple: “great” pro-level iMacs are in the pipeline, slated for release this year

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2017

Talking to a cherry-picked group of reporters in a white stucco building near Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, and Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, have officially confirmed that new iMacs are coming later this year.

What's more, the new all-in-one desktops will appeal to a segment of pro users as well. Apple also issued a minor spec-bump to the aging Mac Pro today.

Apple updates Mac Pro, confirms new model with modular design and pro displays due in 2018

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2017

Apple's Mac Pro, last updated in December 2013, is receiving a spec-bump with faster Intel chips and other updates. The current Mac Pro model with a quad-core Xeon chip and dual AMD FirePro D300 graphics now has a faster processor with six cores and dual D500 GPUs for $2,999. The $3,999 six-core model with dual AMD FirePro D500 graphics now comes with eight CPU cores and dual D800 GPUs.

Apple’s tightly-knit industrial design group loses another longtime member

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 3, 2017

In what could be described as a shakeup to Apple’s vaunted design team, its longtime industrial designer Christopher Stringer has left the company.

He was with the iPhone maker for 21 years, as per a new article Monday by The Information.

About a year ago, Danny Coster, another member of Apple’s elite industrial design team, has left the firm for greener pastures at GoPro. The design team at Apple's gone through multiple changes in the last two years as Jonathan Ive stepped back from running the team, with Richard Howarth taking over day-to-day management of the group.

Nikkei: Apple places order for 70 million bendable OLEDs for iPhone 8 with Samsung

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 3, 2017

Apple has placed a huge order for seventy million bendable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels with Samsung's display-making arm for use in iPhone 8, Nikkei reported Monday. Apple and Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, signed a deal last year to supply 100 million OLEDs for iPhone 8. In February 2017, Apple contracted Samsung to build an additional 60 million OLEDs for a total of 160 million units in 2017.

Does your Mac support Night Shift?

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 3, 2017

macOS Sierra 10.12.4 brought Night Shift to Mac. As you know, Night Shift debuted on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with the release of iOS 9 nearly two years ago.

Like with iOS devices, macOS's implementation of the feature automatically shifts your display's colors to the warmer end of the color spectrum after dark, based on your computer's clock and geolocation. This helps cut down on exposure to blue light, which is said to cause sleeping problems.

Your computer must meet certain hardware requirements in order to benefit from Night Shift. Here are the full Mac system requirements for Night Shift and how to find out whether or not your particular Mac model is compatible with this feature.

Apple releases iOS 10.3.1 with Wi-Fi vulnerability fix, brings back support for iPhone 5/5c

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 3, 2017

Apple on Monday issued a minor update to iOS 10.3, which released on March 27, 2017. The new iOS 10.3.1 software update comes with a build number of 14E304 and is recommended for all users. According to release notes accompanying the download, iOS 10.3.1 includes bug fixes and improves the security of your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The software update can be downloaded over-the-air via Settings → General → Software Update on your iOS device.

Facebook testing Explore feed which surfaces content you haven’t connected with yet

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 3, 2017

Facebook has been caught testing a new kind of feed on its mainland mobile app, designed to surface relevant posts from people and pages that you haven't befriended or liked. According to Mashable and Wired, some users noticed a new rocket-shaped icon at the bottom of their News Feed. Tapping it displays content from an alternative News Feed.

Labeled Explore, it's focused on posts, articles, photos, videos and other content from people, media organizations and pages you're not following.

Facebook is currently testing this feature with a small subset of users and could pull it any time it wants. We'll be making sure you're among the first to know when, and if the new Explore tab launches to everybody.

Benchmark GPU performance of your iPhone, iPad and Mac with Geekbench’s updated app

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 3, 2017

Available on App Store free of charge, Primate Labs' refreshed Geekbench app now lets you measure the performance of mobile GPUs in iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac devices. Geekbench 4.1 brings a new Compute Benchmark to iOS and macOS. Written using Apple's new graphics API, Metal, it measures the performance of the GPU at executing common compute tasks such as image processing and computational photography.

Official F1 2016 game coming to Mac this Thursday

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 3, 2017

Developer Feral Interactive announced Monday that it will be releasing a Mac port of Codemasters' official game for the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship this coming Thursday, April 6. The game takes advantage of Apple's new graphics API, Metal, so it should squeeze every bit of power from your Mac's GPU. It includes various online multiplayer game modes that let you compete against up to 21 players on any of the 21 Grand Prix circuits.

Apple is developing its own GPU chips

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

In a bombshell press release issued Monday, UK chip designer Imagination Technologies said Apple told it that it would end a fruitful deal to use Imagination's blueprints for customized graphics cores in its own A-series chips powering iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch and Apple TV devices.

Apparently, the Cupertino company is now looking to create independent GPU designs that could be ready in about two year's time. Shares of Imagination immediately plunged over 70 percent to their lowest level since the financial crisis in 2009, wiping over $625 million off the company's market value.