Apple is now in the business of giving it’s customers what they actually want, as has often been pointed out by my colleagues since the Apple March event earlier this week. The show, unveiled under the moniker “peek performance”, was highlighted by the unveiling of the new Apple Studio Display along with the Mac Studio (Desktop), in both M1 Max and M1 Ultra configurations.
Other new products announced were the new iPhone SE 3, iPad Air 5. The demise of the iMac 27” (2020) was also quietly acknowledged.
The very big news was the apple silicon powered desktop duo. Most remarkable is the pattern that seems to be emerging at Apple. Instead of forging ahead with features and formats that are either out of reach of the masses, or just not what we have most devoutly wished for, they appear to be in full-on genie-mode and are granting wishes at an industrial clip.
Suddenly, the much maligned slogan for the iPhone 13 Pro, Oh So Pro, does not seem ludicrous anymore. Armed with an Iphone 13 Pro Max, a MacBook Pro 16 and the new Mac Studio ensemble, anyone would identify with that somewhat haughty designation; your motto could truthfully be Oh. So. Pro.
The Mac Studio Desktop M1 Max and Studio Desktop M1 Ultra versions are a case in point.
The biggest wish fulfillment dream come true is that this machine can be configured at the low end as an amazingly affordable stand-alone workstation, which with the addition of a non-apple monitor (that you may already have, for example) puts you into a pro-performance class at under $2000.
This is nothing less than the holy grail of what many pro and semi-pro mac aficionados have been pining for for nearly decades. The entry level Mac Studio vs Mac Mini (with any monitor if on a budget), The Mac Studio vs iMac 27” (now discontinued as per above), Hell, even the The Mac Studio vs the MacBook Pro 16” with M1Max, these are all a huge win for the Studio Desktop if you factor in price and performance.
At the other end of the spectrum, if you have the cash, the full Mac Studio, including the Apple Studio Display is a Mac Pro killer in price and performance. Naturally there have already been rumors that the Mac Pro update is near at hand and even that a new monitor with similar features to the 32-inch Retina 6K Pro Display XDR ($6k) but at a price point well below that lofty sum.
By making the monitor optional this blows apart the tacit strategy that has been followed for decades – want the newest top performing machine ? Then you either buy an iMac Pro, the top of the line MacBook Pro (with integral screen costs) or win the lottery first to attain the cash for the Mac Pro / Pro Display XDR combo.
No more. At under Two Thousand smackers you can improvise a display which you compute your way to the cash needed to purchase the Apple Studio Display. Once you get there you will be able to luxuriate in the unbelievable sound system built in, featuring a three-microphone array as well as a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio support. You’ll also get your screen debut using the 12mp integrated “web-cam” with Center Stage enhancement, all provided courtesy of the built-in A13 Bionic chip.
This not-so-subtle shift is also made evident by the plethora of ports and configuration options that make the system, how ever you choose to build it, very user friendly in terms of matching the budget to the tasks you plan to undertake with your prize.
The even bigger picture is the way that the entire product line from Apple is benefitting from the unique “whole-widget-strategy” first laid out by Steve Jobs. Since the introduction of Apple Silicon, first in iOS devices and now across the entire Apple ecosystem, there has been a massive acceleration of improved performance (peek performance indeed). Expect this trend to intensify as the migration continues alongside the eventual total integration of iOS and MacOS software.
If you can grub up the cash you will want these insanely great machines
Better sell some Crypto, perhaps all your Shiba and Dogecoin, cause the beasts are loose, beefy and pricy.
In the scheduled “unleashed” event today, broadcast virtually from Cupertino, Tim, Craig and the gang managed to surprise, not with the fully expected hardware items unveiled, but with the specs and otherworldly power of what they so aptly dubbed the Beasts.
The event was billed as being about music and creativity, and yes there were new AirPods and HomePod Minis, but without any doubt it was the incredible mac upgrades, in the form of 14” and 16” MacBook Pros that stole the show.
The format was no different than previous recent virtual events, but the details that exposed the extent and depth of the technological leap forward blew the format off it’s own hinges.
Although every spec was touted, from the screen upgrades, to endless new ports, to upgraded battery life, still the focus and excitement returned, again and again, to the Beasts: the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips and the system architecture built for them.
The animal analogy is no flight of zoological fantasy, with, at the high end, the M1 Max having 6x the speed and power of the current M1 – which already blew away reviewers and users with it’s own shocking ability to best what came before.
photo credit / apple
The party is on, but without a doubt, it is also exclusive
There are only two “downside” caveats, both kind of interrelated reverse compliments: There was no Mac Mini announcement, which is extremely sad for the great unwashed (like me!) and the prices are almost more beastly than the machines themselves.
A fully Maxxed out 16” MacBook Pro comes in at a hefty $6099, though that is with 8TB of SSD storage and 64GB of unified memory). Even a more modest configuration, dropping the SSD storage down to 4TB, while retaining the exalted 64GB unified, the toll is still $4299.
These are no everyday machines, but truly in the realm of Pro, in both specs and financial exclusivity.
And, hey, Apple has been here before, so an M1 Max based Mac Mini is likely to be delayed, if for no other reason, than to make sure that as many Pro users drop in for the whole mobile package – rather than building a budget system with money saved on 3rd party monitors and other practical cost cutting tricks.
All in all there’s an excitement in Today’s unleashing that slams into the core of any creative professional’s very being. Beastly power is tantalizingly within reach, all for a mere four to six thousand dollars… Or 1/10th of a BitCoin.
The new Os’s are free and will be adopted fast if recent past is a guide
Apple has had a fairly predictable cycle for new iPhone releases and the yearly, free, software upgrades. If you use your apple devices for business or WFH like many, this ritual can be excruciating since you already know you will have to get your hands on the best new gadgets.
Nevertheless, with sky high prices for the best devices not going away, choosing when exactly to upgrade which devices can be a tricky process requiring skill, cunning and some serious bucks.
A lot of us see the iphone top-of-the-line product as a must upgrade either every cycle or every-other year if budgets are tight (and some years do seem like “off” years).
For iPads, various mac machines, Apple Watch, Apple TV and so on, there is more leeway and potential confusion. And for mac, there are times (like now!) when we all know the next iteration of various models (macbook Pro, mac mini, mac pro, iMac 27” +) are on the way but there is the unknown factor of what to pick and when-the-heck it can be ordered and shipped.
We all know there is a chip shortage, and with the Apple Silicon M1 potentially being upgraded for a slew of machines to the M1X, M2 or M2X as various rumors have discussed, the timeline is very uncertain.
The best things in life are free, software edition
All this leads us to the good, even very good, if obvious, news. iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey have been in public beta for some time now and, if history is a guide in this case, should be released publicly soon after the Apple Fall Event announcements on September 14th, regardless of what hardware is coming down the pike, or in what particular order.
Generally the hard date for the new OS systems to be public available is the date that any new hardware, always optimized for the new OS, hits the street and becomes deliverable.
Sometimes certain iPhone models, such as the very high end Pro Max, etc., are delayed, but whichever model ships first that device should also be shipped with the Golden Master of the new operating system, iOS 15 in this case.
This is not 100% guaranteed, as nothing in like and Apple releases is 100%, but this looks extremely likely. Therefore we could and should see the new iOS and macOS going live publicly soon, possibly this week.
What to watch our for and expect, besides great new features and work-flows
Often in the past, a “Golden Master” release has been followed within a day or two with an update patching issues that arise once a mass “test” has revealed flaws and weaknesses in the initial public version.
This is nothing to worry about, as per past experiences, but if you are someone that gets easily annoyed by constantly updating, you could wait a week or so to bypass these intermediate “patch fix” versions.
Also, since with Apple, as opposed to Android, the adoption rate for people to upgrade quickly to the newest versions of the OS is extremely high there will be a sea change in the air. That means that within a few weeks up to a billion devices, or more, could be running the newest OS systems across all the various devices in the wild.
This is great news, because some of the best features in all the new software upgrades function best with various devices within an iCloud account or family group and, in some cases, between two devices anywhere interacting, as long as they both have the newest systems.
The best new features are only going to get better after the launch, more so even than usual; here’s why
During our tests of the various systems, first in the developer-only phase and then in the more recent public beta, one thing was a small annoyance that, after the full launch, will instead become a huge plus.
When operating within a company, for example, and in some cases with multiple devices on the same iCloud account, there have been a lot of glitches related to how the Big Sur devices interact with the macOS Monterey devices, or an iPhone with iOS 14 and one with iOS 15 function in tandem.
This is because, more so than in any previous upgrade cycle, this system focuses on virtually every built in app that is bundled with the OS, like photos, mail, messages, notes, FaceTime, reminders, calendar, contacts, voice memos, etc, etc, etc.
There are so many, with so many upgrades it is hard to make a list, as above, of what they are all called and what they do. In the best Apple fashion, they “just work” and we tend to take them for granted.
In case you ever wanted to know the complete list (for iOS 15) we have added it at the bottom of this post.
These apps are pretty much all getting big upgrades in iOS 15, along with a similar situation happening for iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey, TVOS, WatchOS etc. The difference this time is that they are being actively designed to become more and more interoperable and interactive between devices and system software types.
The big picture is extreme big, much wild, and will be quite a ride…
This is a huge push that will go on for years. We call it the Apple System Singularity. And it is a big deal!
It will, ultimately, create a kind of seamless clarity of function between your devices, particularly the mobile or semi-mobil variety, such as iPhones and iPads, and the slightly less mobile (laptops, desktops) of the macOS variety.
Meaning that the ultimate transition that is being made possible through the switch to Apple Silicon and that a whole new concept philosophy and structure of the device hardware and software. And it’s all being created via the interaction and potential synergies coming available and these are being maximized during the process.
All of this is not to mention machine learning, neural networks, A.I. and all the interactive hardware and software upgrades that are now nearly continuous and happening without a user to intervene.
An example of this is in the photos app where various library functions, a.i. object and facial recognition, search cataloguing, etc. are continuous while you sleep. Another example is how iCloud manages data and storage across your devices regardless of geography or proximity 24/7/365.
Welcome to the first phase of this with the first devices incorporating Apple Silicon across all product lines being harmonized more and more via, guess what, the free system upgrades.
These upgrades will yield maximum fruit in the short term after the world wide population of devices adopts the new systems, and longer term, as more and more devices out of the total are already using and maximizing performance and features by having Apple Silicon and other associated hardware & software upgrades under the hood.
Rest assured, while this sounds complicated, and there will be glitches, the transition starting this fall, and over the life of iOS15, iPadOS15 and macOS Monterey (around a year as usual!) will be one of continuous change, improvement and discovery, unlike any you have seen in the history of Apple.
According to MacRumors who spoke with DigiTimes, Apple has plans to have a series of events in the month of September. This would clearly deviate from how the company approached the launches of its newest products last year.
In an unusual twist at the time, the launches were spread out into three separate product events that landed during the fall months of September, October and November.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, last year’s event was live-streamed versus in-person, which may have allowed Apple to better adapt its product rollouts in digital form.
There are many new products rumored to be released that include the iPhone 13, Apple Watch Series 7, next generation AirPods, a new baseline iPad, an updated iPad mini, as well as the much anticipated 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pro laptops.
Boring? Are you kidding me? Time to look under the hood…
Somewhere in the land of media herding there was a familiar refrain. iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are “boring”. Apparently the idea behind this is that there is no single feature that changes the entire experience of the iPhone or iPad – no “killer app” or killer upgrade.
The “boring” crowd have focused on things like “you can banish your ex from memories in iOS 15”. I saw a slew of articles with a variation on that title.
The biggest problem with the attitude, which must have been initiated by someone that has not really been hands on with any of the new iOS software (which is still in non-public beta only) is that it’s not true. (A public beta is expected in July but it is not recommended unless you are a developer testing on “non-critical” devices).)
Why? Because there are so many killer upgrades that it’s overwhelming, basically due to the avalanche of amazing new features and improvements. This article will attempt to give an illustration of that by focusing on only one feature inside one built-in app: Memories inside of the Photos app.
First a short digression. We have been testing on several devices including a MacBook Pro 15” from 2017, an original 1st generation iPad Pro (2015) and an iPhone XS Max from 2018. None of these machines have the new Apple Silicon chips and for that reason they are only able to produce the upgraded features that don’t require it.
That makes the improvements that are possible without buying any new hardware even more amazing. Stunningly, of the three devices we upgraded the MacBook Pro was the most stable right out of the gate. Any beta software will have bugs, glitches and sometimes crash but that does not prevent one from testing out features that are new.
The iPad pro, in a non-technical observation almost appears as if the screen resolution has been increased, obviously not possible but, as you will read below, could be part of a stunning emphasis on increased beauty, sensuality and luxurious feel in the new suite of OSs.
Memory movies on iPad OS15 are an amazing example of how AI and machine learning are evolving
For those not familiar with “Memories” they are auto-generated film clips that can be found in the “For You” tab in your photos app on iPhone and iPad. While you are sleeping this feature scans everything in your photos library and uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and neural networks to choose and edit the clips, as the name says, for you.
One not confirmed but almost certain technical backdrop to this is that the learning is improving even between updates to the OS. Not only that but all Apple devices on earth are “cooperating” to help each other learn. That’s a powerful force that spreads across over 1.65 billion devices.
This feature was added in iOS 12 but started to function in iOS 14 on a much higher level. If you had tested and used the feature over the last few years as we have you’d have noticed that the ability of the AI to “see” and select photos and videos to include was limited and, at times, comical. Not any more.
Much of the data that clues the software in as to what photos belong together is from the embedded meta data. The date, time and location information helps to tell the AI that you took a group of images or videos on a day in a particular location.
The difference in iPad OS15 (iPhone too, of course) is that the more difficult to accomplish tasks, such as recognizing the subjective quality of one photo verses another (humans often take several photos of the same scene to try to capture the best out of a bunch). Or, more importantly, who and what are the subject of a photo.
All of this began to get interesting in iPad OS 14 and many groups of photos and videos were already being chosen, edited and enhanced by the software to a level that was fairly impressive.
AI and aesthetics collide and the result is a Joy to witness
Something that is starting to become a thread and a definitive direction that Apple is taking, particularly with the iPad Pro series, is, true to the name, a Pro level of visual production and manipulation throughout the OS.
Center Stage, for example and many other video and photo related upgrades were some of the big features in the newest generation of iPad Pro. Those are great, but require a new iPad along with the OS upgrade.
When it comes to the memory movie clips what we found is that even on the oldest iPad Pro from 2015 the evolution of the software due to the constant learning by the AI is already taking a huge step forward doing all the things that it was already doing only much better.
Apple’s upgrade took that and give it an additional kick up a notch with somewhat that the company is known for: good taste.
What has changed specifically?
In iPad and iPhone OS 14 there were a few things that felt awkward in the way movies were created. The biggest shortfall was in the softwares ability to deal with various aspect ratios.
These days when we shoot photos and videos with an iPhone it is tempting and, at times, wonderful to use the vertical orientation. Other times, for landscapes and other scenes we might prefer a traditional film aspect or even use the panorama feature to get an ultra-wide screen “cinema-scope” style.
Until now this was dealt with very poorly by the software. Mostly the photos would constantly zoom in (the so called “Ken Burns” effect) and if shown without zooming in a vertical portrait shot would have ugly side bars (like a vertical letterbox effect).
The zooming and most of the effects in general destroyed the resolution and therefore the quality of many photos by enlarging them and adding the effects.
Additionally the effects that were added, while cute and fun, were not much more than a way to add fun and not what would likely be used by a human editor. All of this and more made for a kind of novelty feel to the whole process that was nice to have, but many never even bothered to look at the movies that software created for them.
That’s about to be over.
A whole new array of options for the AI to use while trying to entertain
In iPad OS 15, as can be seen on the photos and videos in this article, the ways that the software solves the aspect ratio issue as described above is genius and, dare I say it, beautiful.
In a collaboration between the AI and the software itself it now has a new bag of tricks to use and, boy, does it work. One feature that is fantastic is the letterbox generator for any wide screen photos in any aspect ratio.
How this works is that it takes the iPad aspect ratio and then uses the photo in it original at 100% full resolution and then adds a letterbox. But this is not the usual plain black bars we are all familiar with – the software and AI are able to see and analyze the photo and create a custom gradient letterbox that can be any shade or color.
The effect is often astoundingly tasteful and often makes the original photo look even better. We tested it on award winning photos (video above) and the result is, basically art. Also on our own “nice” photos, chosen 100% by the AI and software, look amazing also.
Actually, all the photos and videos in the clips generated from the library look much better than I had remembered. That turns out to be because the software and AI now do automated color grading on all the photos and videos in all the generated memories !
Color grading also known as color correction, especially for video, has traditionally required an expensive expert and high end software (and hardware) to enhance and color match various photos and clips, that have often been taken at different times and places, where lighting conditions vary and sometimes were shot with different camera.
AI and machine learning software on iPad OS15 (and iOS 15) now has a virtual colorist actively adjusting your shots and enhancing and color matching them while you sleep. That is basically insane. That’s probably why it appeared that the photos and even the iPad itself had been upgraded.
Ok, I could go on and on about that one feature, but let’s move to some more features. There are also new effects that are added that vary with each memory (there are a lot more clips being generated, including various versions of the same idea to choose from).
In the experiments so far the effects are clearly better and more subtle than in iOS 14. Again in many cases I found myself saying the word “beautiful” when I tried find an adjective to describe the results.
For shots that have a vertical bias there’s a vertical geometric split screen effect, often with a thin black border, and it has a kind of 60’s on steroids feel with the bars sliding in and out and resizing into place.
Another effect not seen in iOS 14 is a kind of circular rotation – great for landscapes – it’s not a common effect probably because it is computationally complex, but for the AI, it’s a snap. Sometimes this effect has a kind of blur-dissolve added which makes it fun and, again, still tasteful.
It appears that the effects are not only better and there’s a larger bag of them, but they appear to evolve and adapt to the content, that is to say that the speed and depth of each changes with the music combined with the photo and video content.
Oh, and the music. OMG. Each clip has 6 songs pre-selected and the entire clip adapts, in real time (!), when you change the song, showing you various styles and looks that match. Apparently Apple Music is also connected if you have a subscription.
As a mater of fact, it is hard to be certain, as we have not had more than a few hours to test this, but nearly everything appears to be “live” and constantly evolving in real time. In order to “freeze” a version of a memory you have to “favorite” it (with the typical heart symbol) and then “add to memories” in order to edit (change the names or choose more images – or remove anything if it is not to your liking).
There is so much more not yet mentioned here: this article could probably be a book
The AI is also getting creative with names and “concepts” for the clips. For example, if you had lunch (or took photos) over the years in the same city (for me it was Knoxville, TN) it might look at the coincidence that you tended to take photos around midday in that town and then create a memory clip called “Lunch in Knoxville over the Years”. Or for example the clip at the head of this article: “Golden Hour Over The Years”.
This is an early and primitive foretaste of the literary ambitions of AI. In the new Photos App in iOS 15 it is beginning to “think” about when, where and why humans take photos and videos and then conceiving a story that fits the behavior it is witnessing.
Other titles go beyond the basic “Amsterdam in 2016” and start to use the understanding and visual ability to “see” what is in the photo to create a clip like : “Playing in the Snow at Christmas”. Snow? Does it know it’s cold? Maybe just that it’s white and happens in the northern hemisphere in December. This is just the very beginning of something that will evolve, hourly, from now on. I can’t wait.
Sci-fi sounding, inevitable upgrade for today’s online communications
You might have heard lately about the “metaverse” and yet that can mean a variety of different things to different people. Often, it’s a term that relates back to gaming and 3D augmented reality enhancements of networked communications.
There are even crypto and blockchain related projects using this term and concept. While all of these various factors are welcome, and potentially part of this next phase of convergence of communication via networked technology, there’s something else happening under the surface.
”The pandemic, with its requirements of physical distancing, has brought people into online digital environments for a growing range of shared human experiences.” — Wired UK from “The Metaverse is coming” by David Baszucki
The acceleration in AI application, machine learning, and converging use cases for all communications tech has created a situation where the entry-portal to the emerging metaverse is already here.
One often overlooked aspect of a transition to a more complete digital life is the need for humans to have adapted to the need and potential benefits of the idea. This is what is happening via many routes, including Apple and the constant synergistic upgrade cycles that have just gone into a new, bigger phase with the migration to a unified OS structure built around Apple Silicon.
The gradual increases in iOS functionality and user sophistication are changing how we interact
iOS15, previewed this week at the WWDC2021 is rolling out literally dozens of new features, many based on machine learning, neural networks and AI that propose a new level of highly sophisticated options to communicate with video, photos and text.
While this mixture of “basic” media has been the staple of our current modes of online communication, particularly via social media, the incredibly increased depth of new options and functionality of iOS15 and iPadOS15 and MacOS Monterey will make all modes of communication feel completely new.
In the evolution of online media and enriched communication (OMEC to coin an 80s sounding acronym) the slow and uneven progress is based on many factors. #1 is always user adoption and sophistication.
Second is the quality of the hardware devices and software upgrades each user around the world has access to. In the case of iOS (iPad, iPhone & macOS) the immediate adoption of upgrades is a large factor on the plus side, helping new innovation to arrive in general use more quickly.
The last factor, a huge one, is access to fast ubiquitous internet data connections, and, in the US at least, this is less consistent than ever (or our expectations are rising faster than the build out).
However, particularly in Asia, 5g is beginning to make a dent. Satellite broadband, like Starlink, should also start to be a factor as early as 2022. Government infrastructure build-out funding and subsidies in the US is on the way in 2021.
Augmented 3D features are still growing but will merge with 2D
The upshot of this topic is that “2D” factors and increasingly sophisticated manipulation and interactive features that are already coming in iOS15 will bring us all closer the entry-portal stone-age version of the metaverse.
We all depend more and more on communications and using our devices – work from home, personal, business and hybrid activities (such as the emerging content creator class). Often, as a result, we have fewer options to go offline for “organic” RL (real life) interactions.
The increasingly sophisticated capabilities available are beginning to make even face to face communications, particularly in work situations, feel “un-enhanced” as we become accustomed to and dependent on the digital enhancements and potential of a full media rich interaction.
This is an example, one could say, of the subtle encroachment of the emerging metaverse onto the “real world” and how the boundaries are blurring and even beginning to disappear.
Rather than a sudden “jump” into a metaverse, similar to the cliché sci-fi plots from films like “Ready Player 1”, what is happening is a nearly imperceptible transition to metaverse-like experiences that will become commonplace, initially in a primitive form, and then eventually become the norm. Similar to the proverbial Frog in pot, with warm water temperatures that increase so slowly that the Frog doesn’t even notice, until it finds that it is swimming in pot that is already boiling.
The misconception that a “killer app” or sudden shift into an online, virtual reality world, is the future, and that a big leap will happen nearly all at once, is harmlessly superimposed on the real transition that has already begun.
When Apple’s 2007 launch of the iPhone changed communication forever: the journey began
The new “Digital Legacy Program”, also announced at WWDC2021, is another hint that we are already living in an extremely primitive version of the metaverse. Our online identity, data, and even behaviors and experiences are so essential and all pervasive that it has become necessary to keep a digital key to access the huge trove of personal data we will leave behind to pass on to our living loved ones, after we are gone.
The metaverse, that means, is not only creating a parallel digital universe for us to live in, in an ever more complete and sophisticated way, but we are also already setting up the eternal storage of our virtual life experiences to be passed down to future generations.
Though nearly invisible while in such a relatively primitive iteration, the concept, an example of overlapping advancements in innovation, is a tiny step towards digital immortality.
The metaverse could help to save us all
It’s not just professional and work related communication that relates to the gradual increase in the depth of networked communication options, but, even more so, casual and leisure communication and interaction is key.
TikTok and other video communication trends are at the forefront of of user evolution and metaverse activity expansion. When people feel motivated to find new and better ways to communicate using richer media and augmented techniques for fun, and to gain more recognition in online societies, that advances digital sophistication.
This process of the evolution of user comfort and sophistication, while existing and interacting in the metaverse, is the fastest way for the augmentation to become more effective.
There’s a mostly unseen benefit and need for this, otherwise seemingly pointless, global development
The challenges that the world faces, encroaching, devastating fallout from global warming and excess carbon in the atmosphere, political corruption and inequality, disinformation and cybercrime, and so on.
Ultimately, unlike at any time in human history, we are facing a challenge. The survival of our species and even the planet are at stake.
In the years and decades to come it will become more and more obvious that there are only two paths possible. One path toward a kind of Utopia, or another one that will lead, inexorably to Oblivion.
Though the metaverse is scary in many ways, and does not always appear as a way to a better life, augmented and enhanced communication is one of the most desperately needed ways that solutions could eventually be discovered and implemented.
And that would put this progression and evolution of tech more in service of Utopia, and could be at the heart of a rescue plan to prevent Oblivion, before it’s too late.
Among the avalanche of new features and upgrades to iOS, iPadOS and most of all macOS 12 Monterey, there were two that were like a dream come true for anyone who has used AirPlay with AppleTv or “SideCar”, which originally came to the mac with macOS Catalina, and wished for one bold step further.
In an office environment, like our newsroom, being able to beam an iPad or mac on to a large conference style TV is great, but springing for the $ it takes to get a high resolution computer monitor large enough for group viewing is not such a great treat.
A fantastic compromise, one that many have wished for but never seen is the new option cogently called “AirPlay to Mac” which, just as the name implies, allows you to bean your phone or iPad (or I presume one mac to another) for paired or group viewing. (there were times when I, for one, forgot that this feature did not yet exist and tried to connect a mac screen using airPlay, to no avail).
AirPlay brings the Mac to life in all-new ways.
Even with tiny bugs that might arise at first when trying to get multiple macs to act as screens for a single source, once this is mature it should revolutionize meeting of small groups of colleagues all armed with trusty macs but wanting to do a group think and discussion session. (At a digital publisher meeting, like at Lynxotic, we might be looking at analytics data for the past week and all want to see the same data across all screens, for example.
Oh, and did I forget to mention that sound, just as in “regular” AirPlay, is included in the bargain. So even if it’s audio only that you want to share (like force feeding colleagues your favorite song) that is going to sound great on built in iMac speakers etc.
This seems instantly like something that is so obvious and intuitive that it could be one of those things, like AirPlay itself, that once entrenched and bug free, would be hard to live without.
Apple’s marketing copy:
“With AirPlay to Mac, users can play, present, and share just about anything — from the latest movies and games to vacation photos and presentations — from their iPhone or iPad right to their Mac’s stunning Retina display. The Mac’s high-fidelity sound system can also be used as an AirPlay speaker, so users can play music or podcasts on their Mac, or use their Mac as a secondary speaker for multi-room audio.”
Universal control, which sounds somehow ominous is, hopefully, just a simple way to more easily migrate live from device to device (of the same owner)
Though the mechanics of this feature were not explained in detail at the Keynote for WWDC2021, this is another feature that seems mind-bendingly obvious as a boon for any Apple device power user, it also seems strange that it did’t exist all along.
As shown with one example in the video below, it involves having a single mouse or trackpad control multiple devices. Or the same set up for a keyboard, or both. While there are some unanswered questions – such as would the keyboard designated as being the one to “universally control” another device automatically turn off the control on the remote devices native keyboard?
Perhaps this is a naive question since it appears that it is presumed that any device being universally controlled is owned and being used by a single human.
In one way this seems to have the best use when using, say, an iPad pro for a drawing task and then moving across to the mac to process the drawing in photoshop, illustrator etc. Honestly, sometimes it’s interesting to see each device as connected to a “chair mode” – iPad for a chaise lounge, iMac or MacMini for an office chair, iPhone or iPad mini for freedom from any chair, and switching from the more human-centric modes (chaise lounge) to get down to serious business on the biggest baddest screen and most powerful CPU seems like a utopian dream, with this feature activated and working without a glitch.
The ways this could be integrated into a workflow, and the permutations of how this could be useful, seem infinite, assuming it operates anywhere near as seamlessly as in the demonstration by Craig Federighi in the video. Being able to drag and drop, as he did, across three (3!) separate devices at will is pretty incredible, if not only for its simplicity and elegance.
As per Apple: “Universal Control lets users work more seamlessly across their Mac and iPad. Working across Apple devices is now better than ever with new Continuity features:
Universal Control lets users work with a single mouse and keyboard and move between Mac and iPad for a seamless experience, with no setup required. Users can even drag and drop content back and forth between devices — great for sketching a drawing with Apple Pencil on iPad and placing it into a Keynote slide on the Mac.
Possible Pro Display XDR-like Screen Real estate up to 32”
Well known and previously credible Apple leak-meister l0vetodream added credence to the wildly rumored concept that a high-end newly designed iMac will feature a “really big” screen, larger than the current max for iMac of 27 inches (5k).
With the iMac Pro already out of production and only the “standard” 21.5 inch and 27 inch models remaining an update, definitely this year, is an obvious prediction.
However, since the iMac Pro itself never had an option for a larger higher resolution screen, and in the mean time the $5 to $6 thousand 32 inch 6k Pro Display XDR setting the standard for ultra large high quality screen design it is also not unlikely that some of the technology of that product could trickle down into a high end iMac without adding the cost of such a colossus.
Above: 6k Pro Display XDR Credit: Apple
Further, there’s a slightly less credible but interesting rumor out regarding a new iPhone design based on the “cheese grater” style of the new Mac Pro and Pro Display. Though a bit mind-blowing to imagine, a matching set of gear with cheese grater styling for my iPhone 13 Pro, and a new high end iMac is a bizarre pleasant (but perhaps a bit macho) daydream.
It’s not likely that this new machine would surface as soon as WWDC 2021 but, it is not entirely off the table either (nothing is out of the question with Apple’s secrecy history)
Since the iMac outward design has not had a total makeover since 2012 (!) the possibility (probability?) of a new, higher end, iMac with new styling (perhaps with bezels and edge styling like the iPad pro of late), faster, upgraded performance (M2?) and a bigger and better screen than the current 27 inch model would be just fine, thank you.
An eco-system about to emerge at a level beyond what any other company can match
The ultimate superiority of the “whole widget” concept at Apple: making not only the computer or device, the system software, add on software, and now, with the M1 chip, even the most important components that power the “widget” is something we’ve been writing about for years.
With the release of the first macs powered by M1 chips, it was surprising, even to adherents inside our building, just how dramatic that superiority is turning out to be, and how quickly it has been confirmed in real-world tests.
The focus has, rightly, so far been on benchmarks and tests using various software in typical real world situations. The consensus on the results has been in general; “astounding” or “amazing” or “shockingly good”, nearly unanimously.
Why this has far more to do with the overarching “whole-widget” ecosystem than the traditional stand-alone cpu / gpu / architecture, however, seems, at least partially, lost in the brouhaha.
The layers of “synergistic” (not a word used by Apple) interaction and integration between the cpu, gpu, machine learning, code within the system, and, initially, the apple applications that are either free or standard paid software such as Final Cut ProX or Logic Pro X are where the real magic happens. Other developers such as Adobe, are going to have M1 optimized versions out soon, as well.
While the long vaunted Moore’s law at a virtual standstill for nearly a decade, the timing couldn’t be better for Apple’s revolutionary “revenge of the turtle” strategy – where a long term end-game they have been working on the probably at least a decade comes to fruition – big time.
Looking ahead, even more exciting possibilities are beginning to emerge
All this leads to today’s headline, courtesy of Bloomberg. I can summarize but let’s quote directly the introductory paragraphs:
“Apple Inc. is planning a series of new Mac processors for introduction as early as 2021 that are aimed at outperforming Intel Corp.’s fastest.
If they live up to expectations, they will significantly outpace the performance of the latest machines running Intel chips, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t yet public.
For higher-end desktop computers, planned for later in 2021 and a new half-sized Mac Pro planned to launch by 2022, Apple is testing a chip design with as many as 32 high-performance cores.
With today’s Intel systems, Apple’s highest-end laptops offer a maximum of eight cores, a high-end iMac Pro is available with as many as 18 and the priciest Mac Pro desktop features as much as a 28-core system.”
-Bloomberg
Buckle up, Sunshine, the worm has turned and soon there’ll be no looking back
The bottom line here is: If you think the M1 MacBook air is faster, take a seat cause “you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet”. But this emphasis on the chip itself and various stats, such as, the number of cores, etc. belies just how backward the entire industry is, and how ground breaking the total concept is that Apple has planned to roll-out over, roughly, the next two years.
In short, just as the entire world was changed forever once the iPhone took hold between 2007-2012, something similar will happen between now and 2024, but on a much larger scale.
The most radical reality of this, that is in many ways so hard to comprehend, let alone explain, is that this is a “virtuous battle” that is being fought on so many different fronts simultaneously, that the actual outcome, should the potential be realized in full by 2022, goes far beyond what can be imagined today with regard to what a “computer” or “mobile device” is.
In short, just as the entire world was changed forever once the iPhone took hold between 2007-2012, something similar will happen between now and 2024, but on a much larger scale.
The unification of the various system softwares, between iPhones, iPads, Macs, as well as peripheral devices such as Apple Watch, Apple TV and even the HomePod mini, will be combined with increasingly powerful “A” and “M” chips and that combination will be even more improved by integrated machine learning upgrades and applications that are specifically coded to maximize the benefits of the entire inter-dependent system, meaning the systems within each device and the larger ecosystem of devices, machines and software.
This is not Apples to Oranges, this is Horses to “beam me up Scotty” in magnitude. Don’t believe it? Check back in 2022 and we’ll talk…
Hints and Leaks are becoming commonplace – this time it’s the features that wow
Rumor Reports have surfaced that Apple is planning a hardware reveal event for December 8th, 2020, likely at the usual 11am PT time slot. The leak was said to some from an internal memo, and Service providers have been told to expect changes on Tuesday. MacRumors reports that this type of prior warning to suppliers has coincided historically with new products being launched.
What product(s) might be launched?
It’s not likely that a major product will be launched (so no new MacBook or iPhone, for example), but some possibilities that have been mentioned are an AppleTV update or the ever elusive AirTags.
AirTags have been in development for months now. However, Apple has kept most details on the elusive product under wraps. We expected to hear some specifics on the AirTags at the company’s September and October press events, but although those occasions offered lots of other exciting launches, they remained silent on the Tags.
Only now have two new Apple patents come out for AirTags, featuring illustrations and suggestions about how the devices might work and where they could be useful— The answers might be more expansive than we thought.
In essence, AirTags are exactly what we expected them to be: Apple products akin to a Tiles, which can be placed on any object and thus track it. Intuitively, their primary function is to help users find lost items such as keys, wallets, or phones by sending out a locational signal to Apple devices. Reportedly, these signals will be more precise than any GPS, directing people to within feet of the Tag.
The new patents, however, suggest that the AirTags’ tracking abilities could be useful beyond just recovering everyday items. They could, for example, be attached to emergency equipment like fire extinguishers or defibrillators, helping people find such crucial tools in unfamiliar environments. They could also be used to track people via Apple Watches or the wristbands featured in the patent illustrations. While tracking human beings raises major ethical questions, it could also save lives in the events of kidnappings or missing people.
Beyond such grave alternatives, the patents also suggest more leisurely uses for the AirTags. By attaching them to one’s body, they could serve as advanced gears in augmented reality gaming platforms, or play a role in the new Apple Fitness+ app by monitoring posture and other health matters.
Tags could also be placed in public areas to send signals directly to other Apple devices with useful information such as maps and guides. The patent offers the example of a business placing a Tag at its entrance, ensuring that everyone who enters receives a map of the building.
When Apple delays (as with the MagSafe surprise just announced) good things happen…
As of right now, rumor has it that the AirTags will launch in March 2021, but given their perpetual delays so far and the precarious state of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is hard to say for sure when these devices will really become available. Nevertheless, the latest patents suggest that AirTags are going to be much more than mere Tile replicas. With that in mind, perhaps they will also be more worth the wait.
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