MyAppleMenu

The Do-Not-Add-Water Edition Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Apple Begins Accepting Pre-Orders For The New Mac Pro And Pro Display XDR With Shipping Beginning In 1-2 Weeks, by John Voorhees, MacStories

First revealed at WWDC this past June, Apple has begun taking pre-orders for its next-generation Mac Pro and 32-inch Pro Display XDR with in-store availability and shipping beginning in 1-2 weeks.

Apple Details How To Install Mac Pro Parts, Upgrade RAM And More, by AppleInsider

Following a start to Mac Pro sales, Apple on Tuesday revamped a dedicated support webpage with new informational assets covering a range of Mac Pro-related topics including the upgrade of system memory, installation of PCIe cards and more.

Magic Keyboard And Mouse In Silver And Black Require Buying $6000 Mac Pro, by Ed Hardy, Cult of Mac

A black-and-silver Magic Keyboard, Mouse 2, and Trackpad 2 debuted in Apple’s product lineup today, but only a fortunate few can order them. As it stands now, these accessories are only available for people who also buy a 2019 Mac Pro.

Only Use Apple's Special Cloth To Clean Pro Display XDR, by Mikey Campbell, AppleInsider

While a soft microfiber cloth and cleaning solution might be fine for conventional displays, Pro Display XDR owners are told to "use only the dry polishing cloth that comes with your display to wipe dust or smudges off the screen. Don't add water or use other liquids to clean the nano-texture glass.

Logitech Made A $200 Webcam For Apple's $5,000 Pro Display, by Jon Fingas, Engadget

It just released a 4K Pro Magnetic Webcam built with the Pro Display XDR in mind. As the name implies, it sticks to your display without clips or other mounts, even when you rotate the monitor into portrait mode.

OSes Updates

Apple Releases iOS And iPadOS 13.3 With Communication Limits, Removable Memoji Stickers, And tvOS 13.3 With Alternate Top Shelf For TV, by Ryan Christoffel, MacStories

Communication Limits have been added to Screen Time, and Memoji stickers can be removed from the emoji keyboard. On the tvOS side, 13.3 re-introduces the option for the TV app to display your Up Next queue as its Top Shelf behavior rather than auto-playing video instead.

Apple Releases macOS Catalina 10.15.2 Update With Apple News Improvements, iPhone Remote Control Support For Music And TV Apps, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

The update includes a new layout for Apple News+ new stories, introduces Stocks improvements, includes Music bug fixes, adds support for using an iPhone to remotely control the Music and TV apps on a Mac, includes Photos and Mail bug fixes, and more.

macOS 10.15.2 Restores iTunes Column Browser To Music, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

I’m happy to report that as of today, the macOS 10.5.2 update returns the Column Browser, which as far as I can tell works just as it did in iTunes.

Stuff

iPhone 11 Pro Romps Through Saudi Arabia In Dirty New Apple Ad, by Buster Hein, Cult of Mac

The minute-long ad follows a group of Saudi ATV riders as they push themselves, their vehicles and the iPhone 11 Pro camera to the absolute limit. It’s pretty much the exact opposite of the wintery Shot on iPhone ad Apple put out last week and will have you ready to hit some warmer weather.

Apple Arcade Review: Mobile Gaming Gets A Massive Upgrade For $5 A Month, by Jason Hiner, CNET

For now, it's a terrific platform for putting a lot of games at the fingertips of individual casual gamers. There's plenty of good stuff to cycle through -- even if you've never heard of most of it. And the fact that you can download a ton of games and run them on a relatively inexpensive device like the Apple iPad 10.2 -- also a CNET Editors' Choice -- makes this a great deal for a lot of people.

Apple Card’s Interest-free iPhone Installment Plan Goes Live, Now With 6% Back On Apple Holiday Purchases, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

The new iPhone installment program is a first-party offering with all the advantages that entails, including the 3% or 6% back — depending on when the purchase is made — as well as the ability to manage payments directly within the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone.

Drafts For Mac Adds Actions Support For Deep Integration With Other Apps And Services, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Drafts is a powerful app available for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, focused on allowing you to quickly capture, share, and create text. Today, Drafts for Mac has been updated with support for actions, allowing it to integrate closely with an array of third-party applications.

Edison Mail Comes To The Desktop With A New Mac App, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

Among the main features is the One-Click Unsubscribe option to leave mailing lists quickly. Users can also block specific senders and prevent advertising emails from being able to track them.

Notes

Apple Touts 'Best' Supplier Mix In China, Japan And US, by Keiichi Murayama, and Francesca Regalado. Nikkei Asian Review

"The way that we do manufacturing is we look at all countries and look to see what skills are resident in each country, and we pick the best," Cook said, pointing to Seiko Advance. "They're the reason that we're able to put this color on the iPhone. We've worked with them for years and we've grown together. Both parties enjoy working together, we push each other to innovate more."

Apple CEO Tim Cook Has Breakfast At Tiong Bahru Hawker Center, by Coconuts Singapore

Both photographers are very close to the tech brand. Soh, an architectural photographer, won the company’s Shot On iPhone Challenge in February for a photo he took of residential flats in Potong Pasir using an iPhone XS Max, while street photographer Chia is known for hosting photography workshops at the Apple Orchard Road store.

Retailers Don't Like Paying The Fees For Your Apple Card, by Jennifer Surane, Bloomberg

Merchants in the U.S. saw the costs tied to accepting electronic payments balloon to a record $108 billion in 2018, according to the Nilson Report. Some of the increase can be attributed to the rise in the overall use of cards, but many stores also blame the profusion of high-end rewards cards. According to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the share of credit card purchases made with any kind of rewards card rose steadily from 2015 to 2018, and is above 80%. (Some basic rewards cards don’t carry the extra transaction fees.)

Bottom of the Page

If… When Apple comes out with the Apple Car, that will be another Apple product that I neither need nor want.

(Out of all the major Apple platforms today, I don't have a desktop, and I don't have a watch.)

~

Thanks for reading.