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The Greasy-Monkey-Paws Edition Tuesday, October 31, 2023

A Magic Number: New MacBook Pros And iMacs Usher In The M3 Era, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

I got my greasy monkey paws on a Space Black laptop and can report that Apple’s as good as its word in the sense that it seems generally more resistant to fingerprints and other smudges.

But I don’t want to exaggerate this feature: you can still see fingerprints. They just aren’t as prominent. This is a progressive improvement over something like the Midnight M2 MacBook Air, but it’s not a cure-all.

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If you were hoping that Apple might use this update to the iMac to continue its slow eradication of the Lightning port from its accessory line, I have bad news.

Apple Announces A Speedier M3 iMac, by Victoria Song, The Verge

While a spec bump isn’t always the most exciting, this is overdue since Apple never updated the iMac with its M2 chip. At least now it’s first out the gate with the M3 at a time when the last of the Intel iMacs may have really started showing their age.

Apple’s Cheaper 14-inch MacBook Pro Is Killing The Old 13-inch Version, by Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica

This effectively means that the MacBook Pro is getting a price increase from $1,299 to $1,599. But the $1,599 Pro includes many features that were never included in the 13-inch Pro. [...] The death of the 13-inch MacBook Pro also means the death of the Touch Bar.

Apple's USB-C To MagSafe 3 Cable Now Available To Order In Space Black, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models announced today are available in a new Space Black finish when configured with M3 Pro or M3 Max chips. Accordingly, Apple has released its USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable in Space Black for $49.

More Scary Stuff

A Toast To The Ghosts, by Michael Steeber, Tabletops

Every few years, frighteningly good plans for a new Apple Store are announced and snuffed out before construction begins. Sometimes Apple’s strategy changes, and sometimes bureaucratic roadblocks leave a city on the trick end of a treat.

On this All Hallows’ Eve eve, I’m taking a look back at the fleet of ghost ships that haunt Apple Retail.

Stuff

This App Is Making Podcasts More TikTokable, by Ariel Shapiro, The Verge

Users can record simultaneously from two iPhones to produce a vertical video of two shots stacked on top of each other. It is a format that is optimized for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, which are becoming increasingly important in the podcast space.

Belkin’s New 2-in-1 Charging Dock Might Blend Into Your Bedroom, by Jay Peters, The Verge

Yes, it offers the types of features you’d expect from a $129.95 charger, including letting you fast charge iPhones with MagSafe as well as Apple Watches. But if you do pay up for the new charging dock, you’re probably buying it because it looks great.

Develop

Build A Deck Of Heroes, by Allen Pike

A hero is not a singular ideal worth copying. Heroes are ideas, deployable when you need inspiration or motivation of a particular type. You can joyfully Marie Kondo your garage, even if she hasn’t been tidying much herself recently.

Heroes are best collected, then used tactically to keep you growing and moving. Assembled like a deck, if you will.

Notes

Concertgoers Use iPhone 15 Zoom For 'Front Row Feeling' Amid High Ticket Prices, by Pesala Bandara, PetaPixel

The price of attending blockbuster concerts has reached astronomical heights, but Americans are still buying tickets even for worse seats. However, the iPhone 15 zoom is allowing concertgoers to work around this and get the close-up view they want.

Billboard Releases Royalty Calculator For Spotify And Apple Music, by Arielle Lana Lejarde, Fader

According to Billboard, Apple has a higher play rate than Spotify, but Spotify still pays out more due to its larger user base — Spotify paid labels and publishers $1.84 billion to Apple Music’s $1.68 billion in the first six months of 2023.

Google CEO Acknowledges Importance Of Being Default Search Engine In US Trial, by Diane Bartz, Reuters

Google, which started paying for default status on devices in 2005, monitored for compliance. At one point, the company expressed concern to Apple (AAPL.O) that its Safari browser would send particular queries, especially lucrative ones, to companies like Amazon.com.

"We were obviously doing the deal for default placement," said Pichai.

Google Once Asked Apple To Preload Its Search App On iOS, by David Pierce, The Verge

Apple, of course, did not go for the deal. The company famously doesn’t preload third-party software on its devices, and Apple’s Eddy Cue said in his own testimony in this case that Apple likely never would. But given the unprecedented scope of the deal between the two companies and the ramifications both sides feared if it fell apart, Pichai clearly thought it was worth a shot.

Bottom of the Page

I am not going to buy any of the new iMac or MacBook Pro computers today. (And my wallet breath a sigh of relief.)

However, the days of my Intel-based Mac mini being able to run the latest version of macOS is definitely numbered. So, I am looking out for a new Mac mini -- hopefully something that is smaller (I like small stuff), and, more importantly, something that is cheaper.

Maybe it is too much to hope for? For quite a few moment in history, Apple barely updates the Mac mini, and you'd be lucky if you buying cycle coincides with Apple's update cycle. But, new silicon brings new hope, doesn't it?

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Thanks for reading.