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The Compelling-Set Edition Friday, November 15, 2024

For The First Time Ever, You Don't Need To Be Afraid To Buy A New Mac, by Roman Loyola, Macworld

When it comes to Macs, the decision to buy a new one is rarely a quick and easy one, but with the release of the M4 Mac lineup, there’s less hedging than ever before. As I reviewed the new iMac and MacBook Pro and got the lowdown about the Mac mini, I was struck by just how compelling these new Macs are. This recent release makes for the most compelling set of Macs that Apple has had in quite some time.

And if you’re wondering whether it’s time to buy a Mac in a general sense, the answer is yes.

On Security

New Apple Security Feature Reboots iPhones After 3 Days, Researchers Confirm, by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, TechCrunch

On Wednesday, Jiska Classen, a researcher at the Hasso Plattner Institute and one of the first security experts to spot this new feature, published a video demonstrating the “inactivity reboot” feature. The video shows that an iPhone left alone without being unlocked reboots itself after 72 hours.

[...]

“Inactivity reboot” effectively puts iPhones in a more secure state by locking the user’s encryption keys in the iPhone’s secure enclave chip.

Stuff

I Stepped Into The Weeknd’s New Music Video, by Bria McNeal, Esquire

Without remote controls getting in the way, you have the freedom to sit back and experience the magic of 180 degree virtual reality.

Apple Immersive ‘Concert For One’ Arrives Next Week On Vision Pro, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

Concert for One is expected to offer an experience very similar to the immersive Alicia Keys studio video that arrived with Vision Pro’s launch.

Apple Vision Pro Launches In Two More Countries, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple Vision Pro launched in stores and began arriving to customers today in South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, customers can now schedule a free 30-minute appointment to demo the headset at Apple Store locations in both countries.

Apple Announces New Store In Spain, Shares iPhone And Mac Wallpaper, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple today announced it will be opening an all-new store at the La Vaguada shopping center in Madrid, Spain on Thursday, November 28.

To celebrate the occasion, Apple has released a special wallpaper for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with a creative illustration of Apple's logo.

Navigation App Uses Government Data To Help Off-roaders Avoid Wildfire Areas, by Kristin Shaw, Popular Science

Through its Active Wildfire and Wildfire Smoke layers, onX provides real-time updates to help users better understand the perimeters and boundaries of developing wildfires. Armed with that information, off-roading is a lot less likely to be marred by choking, toxic smoke that comes along with dangerous levels of combustion if users know which areas to avoid.

Crafting Happiness With Your iPhone, by Ashleigh Page, iPhone Life

Creativity takes many forms, and it’s impossible to find a set of apps that encompasses every creative pursuit and hobby. That said, I’ve tried out a wide range of craft apps, from Hometalk, the go-to app for DIY home projects, to apps covering weaving, sketching, and origami. There’s even an app that will teach you how to make a lantern fairy garden! Whatever your creative style, these apps are meant to inspire you, help you master a specific craft, and hopefully, have a lot of fun along the way.

Words With Friends Takes On Wordle With New Single-player Daily Puzzles, by Andrew Webster, The Verge

Wordle’s success has caused an explosion in newspaper-style puzzle games, and now Words With Friends is getting in on the action. The long-running word game is adding four solo modes that can be played daily, and they’ll sound familiar to those who use The New York Times’ gaming app.

Notes

Mythic Quest Season 4 Gets Apple TV+ Release Date, Plus New Spin-off, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

Mythic Quest is one of the best and longest-running comedies Apple TV+ offers, and new episodes are coming very soon—followed by a new anthology series.

Apple Smells Blood In The Water, by Jaron Schneider, PetaPixel

Perhaps Apple’s leadership thought to itself, if Adobe wasn’t going to put Apple users first, then Apple was going to do it.

Bill Atkinson Diagnosed With Pancreatic Cancer, by Adam Engst, TidBITS

Our lives as Apple users have been immeasurably enriched by Bill’s work. Without him, the Macintosh might not have caught on, and HyperCard certainly wouldn’t have existed. And without HyperCard, I wouldn’t have started TidBITS—the opportunity to do electronic publishing in HyperCard was integral to my decision to help with Tonya’s idea of writing a weekly tech newsletter to keep her colleagues up to date.

I’ll be thinking of Bill, and I invite you to join me.

Bottom of the Page

I agree that you can't go wrong with any of the new Macs released this past month. In fact, you almost can't go wrong buying any Mac from Apple currently. The only exception: if you don't know why you are buying a Mac Pro, you are buying it wrong.

No, I don't need to buy a new Mac right now. But I am already planning how to migrate my existing Intel-based Mac mini to the new Mac mini one day.

~

Thanks for reading.