MyAppleMenu

The Budget-Friendly Edition Thursday, March 3, 2022

“Peek Performance”: Apple’s Next Hardware Event Happens On March 8th, by Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica

Apple will stream its next hardware event to the masses on March 8 at 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern), the company announced today. Invitations have already been sent to the press—though the event will be yet another prerecorded, streaming-only presentation with no media in attendance. Apple marketing SVP Greg Joswiak tweeted the now-customary Apple-logo-centric teaser video that doesn't actually tease anything.

We never know exactly what will be announced at any given Apple event, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that the lineup will include a refresh of the budget-friendly iPhone SE and the first iPad Air update in a little over a year.

Apple 'Peek Performance' Event Invite Is An AR Portal, by Wesley Hilliard, AppleInsider

The March 8 event has an augmented reality feature for iPhone and iPad which creates a pulsating Apple logo portal. Here's how to activate it.

Using Private Relay

iCloud Private Relay: Information For Cloudflare Customers, by Rustam Lalkaka, Cloudflare

iCloud Private Relay is a new Internet privacy service from Apple that allows users with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or macOS Monterey on their devices and an iCloud+ subscription, to connect to the Internet and browse with Safari in a more secure and private way. Cloudflare is proud to work with Apple to operate portions of Private Relay infrastructure.

In this post, we’ll explain how website operators can ensure the best possible experience for end users using iCloud Private Relay. Additional material is available from Apple, including “Set up iCloud Private Relay on all your devices”, and “Prepare Your Network or Web Server for iCloud Private Relay” which covers network operator scenarios in detail.

Stuff

Apple's Discontinued Beats Pill+ Speaker Returning With Limited-Edition Model, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Beats has collaborated with fashion brand Stüssy on a limited-edition Beats Pill+ speaker featuring a skull-and-bones design and the Stüssy logo. An engraved message on the top of the speaker says “the only good system is a sound system.”

Review: Mophie's 3-in-1 MagSafe Charger Is Great For Travel, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

If you travel a lot and hate dealing with cables, Mophie’s 3-in-1 Travel Charger is convenient, and it’s also the best portable ‌MagSafe‌ charger on the market. I much prefer it to Apple’s own ‌MagSafe‌ Duo because it has an extra charging spot and comes with the charging cable and USB-C power adapter that I need to charge at full speed.

Lumen's Metabolic Analyzer iOS App Gets Food Log To Show How Nutrition Impacts You In Real-time, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Lumen is an affordable and pocket-sized device that measures your metabolism to help achieve your health and fitness goals. Now the iOS-supported device that integrates with Apple Health has received an update that includes a built-in food log to help you understand how what you eat impacts your metabolism in real-time, decide what to eat and when, and more.

Notes

Most Apple Watch Users Won’t Get Health Benefits From AFib Detection, Study Finds, by Nicole Wetsman, The Verge

One promised benefit of the Apple Watch is early detection of a heart condition called atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heart rhythm. But most people who wear the watch are in a demographic that wouldn’t actually be able to do much with that information, according to a new study — most doctors wouldn’t prescribe them the medication usually given for that condition, which is usually detected in older people.

Wordle Rip-offs Are Running Rampant On The App Store Again, by Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge

None of the new games are actively passing themselves off as Wordle — at least, not in name. Instead, the clones have creatively rebranded to “Wordus,” “Word Guess,” “Wordl,” and other thinly veiled references to the original game. But all of them offer some variant on Wordle’s gameplay, down to the same gameplay, UI, design, and color scheme.

Bottom of the Page

Okay, so there's an event.

:-)

I am eager to see what's next for the Mac during the event, if there are any new Mac introduced. Thanks to the rumors, I think we have a pretty good idea what the next iPhone SE and iPad Air will be, it seems.

But I am most eager to find out when the next iOS -- the one where FaceID works with masks -- will be launched.

~

I don't envy Apple's marketing one bit. Whatever Apple is introducing, this event has to strike a tone that can be very difficult to gauge. And who knows what will happen between now and March 8th that may force changes to Apple's script.

~

Thanks for reading.