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Chris Hannah

Code, camera, keyboard.
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Loads of New Emoji in iOS 10.2

Jeremy Burge has all the news regarding the new Emoji in iOS 10.2:

iOS 10.2 developer beta adds full Unicode 9 emoji support which includes all of the following 72 emojis approved in June 2016 – Emojipedia

There’s tons of new additions, including new professions, a shrug, face palm, realistic fruit, Harambe (or just a Gorilla), loads!

Apple certainly know how to make iOS updates sound appealing.

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The Future of Audio is... Delayed?

We all know Apple want to push wireless as the new way to enjoy audio, and I’m a big fan of it too.

But according to MacRumors, their upcoming AirPods may even be delayed until January 2017:

Following the confirmation that Apple has delayed its wireless "AirPods" beyond the original late October launch window, foreign supply chain sources are now pointing towards a launch date in January 2017, and not the late 2016 estimation that many believed would help the Bluetooth device sell during the holidays. – MacRumors

This is pretty rubbish news. In the ideal situation, I’m sure Apple would of loved to of released the AirPods along with the iPhone 7.

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Hello Again

It’s been 5 days since Apple’s “Hello Again” event, and it’s time for me to put together what I thought of the whole thing.

I’ll make it easy by structuring it in a chronological order as the event panned out.

Accessibility

Apple once again opened the event with a short video on accessibility, it showcased their efforts to make all of their products usable by everyone. I really appreciate all they do with things like this, and luckily I’m fortunate not to need them.

iPhone Photography

Tim showed us some more photos, and this time they’re from the iPhone 7. I haven’t had my 7 Plus for very long, but the quality is astounding. And the new Portrait mode really makes photos stand out.

Apple TV

Yeah yeah, there’s thousands of apps for the TV. Nothing spectacular in my opinion.

Twitter

The idea of a live stream from Twitter while you watch a sports game may sound interesting, but it doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe it’s because I watch (real) football, and a Premier League game would attract quite a vibrant array of tweets. Also, I watch football to watch the actual football, I don’t really care what other people think about it until after the game.

TV App

Apple TV App

We then got a first glimpse of the TV app for tvOS, and I think this is what the tv interface should of been from the start. But we all know Apple have had issues getting content providers on-board. Seeing as it strangely matches the icon on the Remote, I think they’ve been planning this from the beginning.

I like the interface though, and the idea of having your content in one place interests me, as I’m the sort of person that uses loads of different apps, but each for a small amount of content. It doesn’t have the support from Netflix or YouTube though, which will definitely affect people’s opinions. I still think it should be what you see first when you turn your Apple TV on, and then you can back up out of it to see the entire collection of installed apps.

It’s also coming to iOS as well, which is pretty neat.

Oh yeah, and why is there a black background to the icon? That’s pretty ugly.

MacBook Pro

Wow, this is awesome.

MacBook Pro

 

Now to the main part of the event, the MacBook Pro.

I think it’s the perfect mix between the MacBook Adorable, and the previous MacBook Pro. It finally comes in at least one other colour, Space Grey, and for the 13″ version, it’s 17% thinner, 23% less volume, and it weighs just 3 pounds! They may be boring stat’s for most people, but it means this laptop is more portable than ever.

The trackpad also received an update, and is now two times bigger! It sounds perfect for Pencil support, but I don’t see that coming any time soon.

Then there is the keyboard, it’s also something which has been adapted from the 12″ Adorable. It’s now the 2nd-generation, featuring new butterfly mechanisms, and slightly more travel than before. So compared to the old MacBook Pro, they’re still flat, but at least they’re supposed to be better.

Touch Bar

This is the real update to the MacBook pro, the OLED touch panel that sits just above the keyboard, instead of the previous function keys.

I think it sits perfectly in Apple’s opinion on bringing touch to the Mac, as the Touch Bar looks like an extension to the activities your fingers are already doing when typing. I agree that laptops just aren’t the right form factor for touch enabled screens.

I like the TouchID support, but it doesn’t really appeal to me as a major feature. Sure it’s way more secure than a password, and it’s quick, but I can type my password pretty quick on a Mac anyway.

Emoji Touch Bar

One thing I do like about the Touch Bar, is the quick Emoji selection! I use Emoji loads, and it’s just a pain on macOS at the minute. But this will certain make my tweets more beautiful.

They’ve opened it up to third-party developers which is great, but one small thing I also like is that it’s for active apps only, so something can’t force it’s way in.

It’s a good extension to the keyboard, and in the words of The Great Cue – I can’t wait to do it.

Apple Pay

This is useful, and certainly a welcome addition. Probably the only reason why I slightly appreciate the TouchID sensor.

Display

Something else I’m looking forward to seeing with my own eyes, the new display. It’s 67% brighter, 67% higher contrast ration (not sure what this is exactly), and 25% more colours, because of the wide colour support.

Insides

There’s not much to say here, but I’m glad it’s faster. It could of been a load faster, but from what I gather, it’s down to Intel.

They all feature SSD’s, which is a huge step forward. Maybe we can see the price of these come down soon? 2TB SSD in a laptop sure sounds pretty good, but have you seen the price?!

Speakers

The speakers have now moved to either side of the keyboard, and supposedly they have a much higher dynamic range, so even more bass, and louder volume!

I/O

All the ports you want, just disguised by Thunderbolt. With the MacBook Pro feauring 4 x Thunderbolt ports, and still the same uncourageous headphone port.

It’s definitely forward thinking, and eventually everything and everyone will adopt USB C as the new standard. But it will cause some adoption issues first off. Apple have certainly adopted it in their own way though, with the port actually being a much more powerful Thunderbolt port. Which actually uses the same design as the USB C connector, and can also support it.

It means that you can use it for data transfer, connecting to external displays, and even to power your Mac from any of the ports!

MacBook (Not So) Pro

There’s also a slightly less Pro model available, and is aimed at MacBook Air users. It’s pretty much identical to the real Pro, except it just has the 2 Thunderbolt ports, and doesn’t feature the Touch Bar.

I’m not interested in this really, and I’m actually confused why they still call it the Pro.

TidBits

No Cinema Display?

With the announcement of the LG 5K display, there’s certainly a reason to think Apple are no longer in the display business.

No Desktop Upgrades

Does this mean they don’t think the Desktop has a future, or that they are still working on future improvements? I hope it’s the latter.

Magsafe is Dieing

One thing I’m actually unhappy about, but maybe the problem it solved just doesn’t exist anymore. With the super huge battery life of MacBooks, is there a cable issue? I’m pretty sure they could of adopted it somehow into the Thunderbolt port.

Startup Chime

The startup chime is gone, and I’m glad! Some users may feel attached to this noise, probably the same way I feel about MagSafe. But the only time I ever noticed this noice, was when I was booting up my Mac in a quite lecture room, which was quite annoying.

Final Thoughts

For myself, it was a really cool event, and I loved what they announced. But because the lack of iMac, Mac Pro, and even Mac Mini updates, I can totally see why some people were not very pleased.

I actually loved the new MacBook Pro so much, I ordered one straight away. It wasn’t a spur of the moment purchase though, as I’ve been planning to upgrade my current 2011 MBP for a while, and you’ve probably seen my sticker collection – which will be getting used straight away!

Here’s what I ordered:

13″ MacBook Pro

  • Space Grey
  • 3.1GHz Dual Core i5
  • 8GB RAM
  • 256GB SSD

USB C to USB Adapter

I knew this would be necessary!

Links

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Hello Again - What They Think

Apple just held a Special Event to announce their latest MacBook Pros, and also a new app for the Apple TV. While I put some thoughts together of my own, I thought I’d share a few other peoples opinions:

Articles

Videos

Podcasts

Apple

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A Few Meta Updates

A few things happened recently, so I thought I’d put a small update here.

What I’m Doing Now

After seeing Matt Gemmel’s Now page, and reading more about the /now page movement, I created one of my own.

I will update this regularly with what I’m currently doing, so that I don’t need to repeat myself, or even forget anything!

Stickers

Stickers
I ordered a test batch of stickers from Sticker Mule a while ago, and they just arrived. I think they look pretty good!

Hopefully in the future I can give them out, sell them, or just stick them everywhere myself?

T-Shirts

T-Shirt
Something else I’ve always wanted to do for my blog, create a logo tee. My problem with things like TeeSpring and Cotton Bureau, is that they don’t ship until a set amount has been ordered.

Luckily I found TeeMill, who will let you purchase designs straight away!

So I’ve made a basic white tee with the Radical Thinker logo, that is available now!

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Black

Jean-Mark Denis has just released a set of super high quality wallpapers for your mobile and desktop. They are beautifully minimal and black.

As he puts it:

A wallpaper series using shapes and lights.
High resolution rendered using Cinema 4D, for your phone and desktop.

There are six designs, with two of them coming soon. The one you see above this post is #1, and I currently have #2 set as my wallpaper on my mac.

Who would of thought such simplicity could look so good?

Check out “Black” on Jean-Mark’s website.

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Relay FM Sticker Pack

As many of you will already know, Relay FM is home to a whole bunch of awesome podcasts, and people!

So it only makes sense that they bring some of the humour, artwork, and personality to your devices via iMessage Stickers!

When considering the next update to our app, we didn’t have to look any further than Myke’s sticker-covered laptop and iPads.

You can now cover your iMessage conversations with artwork inspired by your favourite Relay FM podcasts. Bringing jokes from the shows into your conversations is easy as a tap and drag on your iPhone or iPad. – Relay FM Extras

So in the latest version of their app, you get 40 stickers, which includes things like #mykewasright, and the Viticci Seal of Quality. Some of them have cool animations as well!

So if you already have the Relay FM app, the stickers will be in your Messages app already, otherwise download it from the App Store for free!

P.S. More Relay FM Sticker Packs are also on their way!

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My Mac is the Add-on

Over at MacWorld, Jason Snell has written about how his MacBook has become secondary to his iPad:

For the past year I’ve been traveling with a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and leaving my MacBook Air home whenever possible. Traveling with only an iPad can feel freeing and it can also feel confining, depending on what you need to accomplish. This week I took a trip and brought my laptop along like the old days, and was reminded about what the iPad does well and where the Mac still has the upper hand. – MacWorld

This is the closest opinion piece about iPad/Mac that matches mine. I also love my iPad (I have an Air 2), but there are some things that it just can’t do. Like hacking around in the Terminal, manage files better, and also programming – It’s possible on iOS, but it’s massively better on the Mac.

My Mac will always come first, but in the scenario of travelling, my iPad usually comes out on top. Because it’s mostly work that makes me use my Mac.

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