Apple today announced that it is discontinuing its Thunderbolt Display, the large external display many use to connect to MacBooks or other Macs for extra screen real estate. This is very likely to fuel speculation (which has been ongoing) that Apple will soon launch a 4K or 5K version of the display.
It may also be true that Apple’s just out of the standalone display business.
During a session named Networking for the Modern Internet, Apple Distinguished Engineer, Scientist, and Technologist Stuart Cheshire took the stage to explain new networking features in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra. Soon the engineer revealed what developers can do to take full advantage of ECN, IPv6, international text in networking, cellular versus Wi-Fi, and network quality of service.
One of the winners of an Apple Design Award at last week's WWDC event was Streaks, and for good reason. The app does one job very well -- it tracks up to six tasks that you want to accomplish, gently nudges you to complete them, and then shows you how you've done each day.
With an update launching today on the App Store, Tweetbot is adding the ability to filter timelines – any timeline within the app – by specific types of content.
Since Apple insists on continuing to sell a 16GB iPhone in 2016 like its totally okay, mobile storage will continue to be an issue for millions of people for some time. SanDisk is trying to alleviate that problem with itsiXpand Memory Case, an iPhone case with flash storage built in that connects via the Lightning port, which will allow you to dramatically increase your storage capacity without having to buy a new phone or carry around an extra dongle.
The latest Developer Insights spotlight takes a closer look at the developers behind the hit iOS series Lifeline, an interactive game that puts players in real-time communication with a fictional character. Unlike other titles, Lifeline goes beyond traditional app-based gameplay by integrating iOS and Apple Watch notifications.
Objective-C programmers should use message authentication codes to protect sensitive objects and data structures, according to research presented to this week's Usenix Annual Technical Conference (ATC).
Working with Microsoft Research, software researchers from America and Germany focussed on a technique called counterfeit object-oriented programming (COOP), which has already been demonstrated as a way to attack C++ programs but not Objective-C.
When an architecture is well enough matched to a stable problem, systems build on it can last long, and grow large, because it is too much trouble to start a competing system from scratch. But when different approaches or environments need different architectures, then after a system grows large enough, one is mostly forced to start over from scratch to use a different enough approach, or to function in a different enough environment.
This is a bit of a puzzle because many studies have shown that using cash for buybacks generally doesn’t improve a company’s operations or add to its intrinsic value. But spending money on buybacks is much better than wasting it on money-losing projects, when corporations don’t have other good uses for the cash. And by reducing the number of shares on the market, buybacks make earnings per share look better. That helps executives to big paydays as they more easily reach their compensation targets, and it often nudges up short-term share prices, returning money to rank-and-file shareholders.
So we have excitement and bullshit, skepticism and vision, and a bunch of amazing companies being created. Some of this stuff will be in everything and you won't even notice it, and some of it will be the next Amazon.
If I have to guess, Apple is getting out of the monitor business. The number of Mac computers that require a standalone monitor is dwindling now that Apple has successfully transitioned iMac from a consumer desktop machine to one that can satisfy a much wider range of audience.
I will not be surprised to see Apple getting out of the Mac Pro's business too. Either that, or the next Mac Pro will come with its own monitor, perhaps looking just like an iMac.
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