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The Less-Fumbling Edition Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Smaller Mac Mini Powered By M4 And M4 Pro Chips, by Adam Engst, TidBITS

The silver M4 Mac mini is smaller but taller than its predecessor, looking like a cross between the previous Mac mini and an Apple TV. It measures 5 inches (12.7 cm) square and 2.0 inches (5.0 cm) tall; the previous model was 7.7 inches (19.7 cm) square and 1.4 inches (3.6 cm) tall. It also finally moves some ports to the front for easier access—there will be less fumbling around in the back.

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Finally, while most people seldom need to press the power button these days, putting it on the bottom feels weird.

The M4 Mac Mini: Tricks And Treats, by Dan Moren, Six Colors

…Wait, there’s an audio jack in the front too? Look, having just extolled the virtues of front-mounted USB-C ports, I feel that I would be a cad to ding the design for putting the headphone jack there too. After all, if you’re plugging in headphones, you don’t want to root around in back of the mini every time.

Except I use my audio port to keep a pair of desktop speakers plugged in, which is a little awkward from a cable management perspective. Sure, I could use a dongle, I guess, but then I’m eating up a valuable Thunderbolt 5 port for speakers. Maybe it’s time to—*gasp*—finally ditch those desktop monitors in favor of the Studio Display’s built-in ones.

Apple’s New Video Gives The M4 Mac Mini A Human-like Personality, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

There’s an event-style video introduction that goes in-depth on the new device, but Apple has also released a separate, shorter marketing video. In the new video, the M4 Mac mini gets a human-like personality.

Stuff

GitHub Brings Copilot To Xcode, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Popular AI coding tool Copilot is now available for Xcode as part of a public preview, GitHub announced today. Apple developers can use Copilot for coding assistance directly in Xcode, which GitHub says will help developers boost productivity, speed up development, and enhance their overall coding experience.

Pokémon TCG Pocket Launches Early, by John Voorhees, MacStories

The free-to-play game from The Pokémon Company recreates the company’s trading cards as a mobile experience, with a focus on collecting and casual battling.

Notes

Final Cut Pro To Gain 'Transcribe To Caption' AI Feature, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Final Cut Pro will soon incorporate AI for generating captions for videos without having to use additional software. Current versions of Final Cut Pro allow you to import captions from another app, use a plug-in, or write them yourself, but soon the software will generate them natively.

The Truth Behind Apple's Most Unpopular Decisions: It's Not About You, by Dan Moren, Macworld

Ultimately, everything Apple does these days has to be viewed from a position of scale. Given the size of the company, the number of products it’s building, and its global reach, small decisions can quickly become big ones. A battleship turns slowly, as the old saying goes, and that means it’s even more critical for the person steering to be confident that they’re making the right turn—and that doesn’t always mean that each and every one of us gets to go along for the ride.

‘Pachinko’ On Apple TV+ Is More Than A Series To These North Texans, by Elizabeth Myong, Dallas Morning News

An avid fan of the book, Park is now watching the second season of the Apple TV+ series, which came out in August. Like other North Texans, she says the show resonates because of the way it explores themes such as survival, belonging, generational trauma and the history of comfort women.

While Park’s family were not zainichi, she said Japan’s annexation of Korea is woven into the history of her family. She learned about how her great-grandmother was forced to take a Japanese name, which was part of a policy designed to assimilate Korean people.

Bottom of the Page

I am happily surprised that, even though Apple is not allowed to sell AirPods Pro 2 as hearing aids where I live, I apparent do have access to the hearing-aid features on my pair of AirPods.

I am even more surprised to learn, from Apple's hearing test, I have 'little or no loss' for both of my ears. And I have lead a life of audiobooks and podcasts frequently in my ears since the early days of iPod mini.

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MacBook Pros coming up?

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Thanks for reading.