macOS

This video from CNBC offers a behind-the-scenes look at the facilities where Apple tests its M-series chips for Macs and the A-series chips for iPhones. You can see the labs at around 3:21 and 7:05.

Aside from that, Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware, also hints at the possibility of the company developing its own modems, stating “We care about cellular and we have teams enabling that.”

The updates fix two WebKit vulnerabilities that “may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1,” according to an Apple support page. macOS Sonoma 14.1.2 is out, too, with fixes for the same vulnerabilities.

There are riches at the bottom of this TidBits story — a list of shortcuts that use the Fn key instead of command, option, or control. Some are easier than Apple’s listed alternatives (like using Fn-F versus the hand-contorting Control-Command-F to enter fullscreen.)

This delights me, a person who rages when using any interface that doesn’t support tabbing between text input fields.

9to5Mac spotted that Apple updated the Mac and iPad versions of Logic Pro today. Updates include an automatic mastering tool called Mastering Assistant and 32-bit float recording.

Apple also ported over the iPad’s Sample Alchemy and Beat Breaker features to the Mac version, while the subscription iPad version gets drag-and-drop support from other apps.

Look for Logic Pro 1.1 (iPadOS) and Logic Pro 10.8 (macOS)

iPhones have been able to alert users to liquid in the Lightning port since the iOS 10 beta period, and now the ability to at least detect liquid is in macOS Sonoma 14.1.

9to5Mac reported that the update brought a new “Liquid Detection and Corrosion Mitigation Daemon,” though the outlet reports that it seems limited to analytics for now.

I still have sketchbooks full of perspective and figure-drawing practice, experiments with comic book layouts, shading, endless sketches of my feet and hands.

But somehow I never decided to just study how light works in a water droplet? This post from Apple design alum Michael Darius about the influence of Wes Modes’ “Anatomy of a Water Drop” on the Aqua design of Mac OS X has a fun scan to pore over.

Dan Seifert runs down the news from Monday night’s Scary Fast primetime product event, covering what’s new about these updates to the MacBook Pro and iMac lineup and who should be the most interested in an upgrade. (Anyone who needs that Space Black exterior or someone who is replacing an Apple machine with an Intel processor or the first-gen M1 chip.)

The Bloomberg Power On newsletter sees Mark Gurman as sure as he’s been about Apple’s “Scary Fast” event tomorrow. Here’s a summary of the chips expected in the new iMacs and high-end 14- and- 16-inch MacBook Pro models:

• Base M3 chip: 8-core CPU / 10-core GPU, likely with “improved memory configurations.”

• M3 Pro chip: Gurman mentions a 12-core CPU / 18-core GPU configuration, but with a likely upgrade to a 14-core CPU / 20-core GPU.

• M3 Max: 16-core CPU / 40-core GPU, and he mentions a 32-core GPU option. (The M2 Max is currently available in 30-core / 38-core GPU configs.)

Whispers have percolated for a while saying there’s a bigger iMac coming. But whatever happened to that rumored mini-LED display?

Well, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revived that particular rumor today with a post predicting a 2025 iMac with mini-LED. Otherwise, he says the next 24-inch iMac refresh is due next year. What, no October iMac?

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith spotted a fun little note today on the download page for the Xcode 15.1 beta that says a Mac with Apple Silicon is required if you want to develop for visionOS.

So alas, you can’t use a decked-out 2019 Mac Pro ($400 wheel upgrade included, of course). But buy a base-model M1 MacBook Air from 2020 for under a grand? Go forth, my friend.

There are new iOS 16.6.1, iPadOS 16.6.1, watchOS 9.6.2, and macOS 13.5.2 updates that you should install if you can. MacRumors has more details.

With the forthcoming macOS Sonoma update, you’ll apparently be able to do so from the Finder instead of having to install Apple Configurator (via MacRumors). Hopefully you’ll never have to worry about this, but if you do, soon there will be one less piece of the process you’ll have to remember to do.