Apple has released a new advert for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. Entitled The Most Powerful iPhone Ever, it shows off the smartphones’ 5G and camera capabilities. The two devices became available for pre-order on Friday, October 16, and will be available to customers from October 23.
Helpsters, from the creators of Sesame Street, is a key part of Apple TV+’s offering for kids. The second season of the show premiered on Friday. In a new video celebrating the new season, the characters show how to plan a party.
Apple is offering $75 back to new Apple Card users when they spend $75 or more in Nike apps or stores. The offer applies to customers who open an account before November 15, 2020 and make the purchases within the first 30 days.
As with all Apple events, ‘Hi, Speed’ featured a collection of nice product videos. The clip introducing the iPhone 12 and mini highlighted all the devices’ features: 5G, the new A14 Bionic chip, Night mode, the Super Retina XDR display, Dolby Vision, Ceramic Shield, and MagSafe charging.
The official trailer for the upcoming Bruce Springsteen documentary Letter to You dropped on Thursday. The film shows Mr. Springsteen and the E-Street Band recording the album of the same name, the first they’ve recorded live together since Born in the USA. The film will land on Apple TV+ on Friday, October 23, the same day the album launches.
On Tuesday Charlotte Henry shared Apple’s comparison tool so you can quickly compare the specifications of different iPhones. Recently I found a helpful tool called Phone Sized that compares different phone sizes and tablets. Whether you’re switching to an iPhone or from an iPhone, Phone Sized gives you an idea of what size difference you can expect. “There is an option to add a credit card image which you can enlarge to match your credit card, which they will resize the other images so they will be presented in their real-life size.”
Apple says that the iPhone 12 Pro is the first device ever that can capture, edit, and playback video in Dolby Vision. In a new behind-the-scenes clip, three-time Academy Award ® winner Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki shows what that capability means for both established and upcoming filmmakers.
There was a lot to take in at Apple’s ‘Hi, speed’ event on Tuesday. Not only was the 5G-enabled iPhone 12 family unveiled, the company also announced a new HomePod mini smart speaker. There were some new environmental announcements too. If you don’t want to sit through the full thing, which lasted over an hour, there is a handy 51-second version available.
There are now lots of different Apple smartphones to choose from. That includes four iPhone 12 models with different specs. To help you decide which device you want, Apple has a fantastic tool that helps you directly compare up to three different models. Simply pick the ones you want to compare from the dropdown menus, and it puts all the different specs side-by-side, making it clear what the differences are. It includes everything from the first generation iPhone SE onwards.
Apple shared an official trailer for “Wolfwalkers” an animated film about the last wolves of Ireland. In a time of superstition and magic, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn Goodfellowe, journeys to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to transform into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh’s missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the WOLFWALKERS and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy. It arrives December 11.
Apple has announced “Dickinson” season 2 on its YouTube channel and it will premiere on Apple TV+ January 8, 2021. The series also scored an early renewal for a third season. Dickinson is a half-hour comedy series starring Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld. Dickinson audaciously explores the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of rebellious young poet Emily Dickinson. Created, written, and executive produced by Alena Smith and executive produced by Hailee Steinfeld, “Dickinson” stars Hailee Steinfeld, Jane Krakowski, Toby Huss, Anna Baryshnikov, Ella Hunt, and Adrian Blake Enscoe. Wiz Khalifa guest stars.
TMO UK Associate Editor Charlotte Henry and Daily Observations presenter Kelly Guimont joined Bart Busschots on his Let’s Talk Apple podcast. Along with Nick Riley from the Essential Apple Podcast, they discussed some of the biggest topics from the Apple world in the month of September. This included the latest App-Store-related developments, the ‘Time Flies’ event, and the release of various new operating systems including iOS 14 and watchOS 7.
The App Store Connect 1.5 update brings a new icon that uses design language from macOS Big Sur. It also lets developers set up internal TestFlight beta testing and more. Release Notes: Add up to 100 members of your team to test beta builds of your app; edit test details for beta builds, view build activity and status, and expire builds; answer required export compliance questions; remove internal testers.
Accessories-maker Twelve South has released a SuitCase for the MacBook. This rather stylish case has a thermoformed hardshell case covered by a quilted, textile exterior and a leather handle. It has room for paperwork and cables, so you can just have one bag if all you need is your laptop. The SuitCase fits a 13-inch MacBook Pro or Air ($69.99) and a 16-inch Pro ($79.99).
Apple has revealed that an event, expected to be an announcement of the iPhone 12, will take place on October 13. To make sure you don’t miss anything, obviously, keep it here on The Mac Observer. However, you can also set a reminder for the event on Apple’s YouTube channel by heading to the video and tapping ‘Set Reminder’ button.
Apple announced on Friday a Bruce Springsteen documentary, and you can see a preview of it that will be released Friday, October 23. It captures Mr. Springsteen recording live with The E Street Band for the first time in 35 years. Both the album and companion documentary include recently written Springsteen songs side by side with legendary but previously unreleased compositions from the 1970s. Throughout the documentary, Springsteen shares his thoughts and feelings behind “Letter To You,” and puts the new music into the context of his entire body of work. In that way, it’s the next piece in the autobiographical series that began with the memoir “Born to Run,” continued with “Springsteen on Broadway” and advanced through his film “Western Stars.”
COVID Alert NY is the official app of New York State that will hook into Apple’s exposure notification system you can find in Settings > Exposure Notifications. It alerts you if a sick person spends 10 minutes or more within six feet of you, and will do the same for others if you test positive. Using the app you can also contact a health advisor to request a conversation. The app’s source code is open source and has been vetted by privacy and security experts. The only personal information it collects is your phone number, but that’s only if you explicitly share it if you want a health advisor to call you back.
Annapurna Interactive’s newest game “The Pathless” is coming to Apple Arcade on November 12, as well as PlayStation 4/5, and PC. We saw a glimpse of the game when Apple Arcade first launched (it’s the ninja with the eagle). The Pathless sees players take on the role of the Hunter, a master of archery who travels to a mystical island to dispel a curse of darkness that grips the world. The Hunter must forge a connection with an eagle companion to hunt corrupted spirits, in turn being careful to not become the hunted. Players will explore misty forests full of secrets, solve puzzles in ancient ruins and be tested in epic battles. The bond between the Hunter and eagle and the fate of the world hang in the balance. This is one game I’m looking forward to playing once I can subscribe to Apple One.
AI Dungeon is a text-based adventure game where the adventures are generated on-the-fly by machine learning. This means there are a near-infinite amount of adventures you can play. It’s available on the web and as an app for Android and iOS. There are two worlds you can play in: Xaxas (shown above) and Kedar (shown below). Xaxas is a world of peace and prosperity. It is a land in which all races live together in harmony. Kedar is a world of dragons, demons, and monsters. But there are other variations of AI Dungeon, like choosing a theme, playing multiplayer, or not choosing a world.
MindNode issued an update on Wednesday that adds support for the iOS 14 Scribble feature with Apple Pencil. Users can try the new image picker to add photos, trigger actions with the new context menu, and use their Apple Pencil to hand write in nodes. Other improvements: Added support for opening URLs in third party browsers; Fixed opening of documents on Apple Watch that are outside MindNode’s iCloud container; Fixed image loading on Apple Watch of single file format documents and documents outside MindNode’s iCloud container; Improved support for third-party fonts by adopting the system font picker; Fixed an issue with opening documents that are outside MindNode’s iCloud container.
Smart Tasks is an app that combines reminders and your calendar to see what tasks you have one week at a time. Features include: Drag and drop to quickly add, reorder, delete, and import tasks; Swipe on any tasks, category, or date to access quick actions to get things done quicker; Sync across devices; Categories; Dark mode support; Multiple reminders in tasks; Notes in tasks; Choose between 28 modern colors for category labels; Calendar; Import reminders from the Apple Reminders app; Today Widget; Export and Import Tasks and Categories; Drag multiple tasks; Routines; Routine reminders; Add, edit, delete, and view calendar events; Handoff. Smart Tasks has a limited amount of features for free, and has a subscription costing US$1.99/month or US$11.99/year.
Many Mac users have fond memories of Apple’s sticky notes widget and you can replicate that experience with Sticky Widgets. It lets you add sticky notes on your Home Screen in two steps: 1) Add a Sticky Widget to your Home Screen; 2) Tap on the widget to edit it. This is one app you should download immediately, although you probably don’t need me to tell you that since sticky notes on the screen are so useful. With these widgets easily accessible and in my face, I no longer have to create a reminder for stuff to get at the store, and a reminder to remind myself to set the other reminder.
Apple uploaded a behind the series look at thriller “Tehran” on Apple TV+. It’s a new espionage thriller from “Fauda” writer Moshe Zonder that tells the thrilling story of a Mossad agent who goes deep undercover on a dangerous mission in Tehran that places her and everyone around her in dire jeopardy. The series is created by Moshe Zonder, Dana Eden, and Maor Kohn, and directed by Daniel Syrkin. Omri Shenhar serves as writer alongside Zonder. The series is executive produced by Moshe Zonder, Dana Eden, Shula Spiegel, Alon Aranya, Julien Leroux, Peter Emerson and Eldad Koblenz; and produced by Donna and Shula Productions in association with Paper Plane Productions, with the participation of Cineflix Rights and Cosmote TV. Tehran will premiere globally on Apple TV+ with the first three episodes on September 25, and new episodes will premiere weekly, every Friday.
Ricky Mondello works on app and website authentication as well as password management at Apple. They recently created a shortcut that lets you quickly access iCloud Keychain, so instead of opening Settings and scrolling down to tap on Passwords, it’s a one-tap method to directly open the Passwords section. Separately from that, this is also something you can do yourself using the Settings Shortcut Generator. You can quickly jump to a variety of different places within Settings. One that I recently created is jumping to Settings > Privacy > Photos to manage app access to photos.
