Bye bye iMac and free Mac wallpaper!

Apple Views round-up

7 March — 11 March 2022

From Russia with no love

Apple has paused sales in Russia, including shutting down its online store and stopping exports to Russia as well. Apple Pay has been massively restricted, whilst the traffic & live incidents features on Apple Maps in Ukraine has been disabled to further protect those living in the country. All that remains, is for Apple to fully shut down the App Store, iMessage and iCloud. Apple were quick to act on these measures, which is good to see.

COVID-19 fever

As cases in the United States, and indeed, globally continue to fall, Apple were among numerous corporate employers looking for their employees to return to the office. Apple has decided upon a staggered approach for the return to work policy. From 11 April, one day a week will be expected. Three weeks from then, the expectation will increase to two days per week. Finally, by 23 May, everyone is to be working at least three days per week from the office. The rulings on face coverings is to change also. Vaccinated office workers, can now work in areas without restrictive mandates, mask free. Both vaccinated & unvaccinated staff will now be tested twice-weekly. There has also been an easing for shoppers to wear a mask in store. Meanwhile, the mask mandate for staff has is now removed. Finally, on COVID-19 related news, as reported last week, Today at Apple classes have also resumed. I am already missing lockdown days, or is that just me?

Ad break time

In 2019, Apple launched the Apple at Work ad campaign. In it, they highlighted how enterprise users can embrace the world of Apple. A year later, the plot of the advert was working from home. Well, our heroes are back this year. Now we find our team plotting to Escape from the Office, and it is all about our team creating a start-up paper bag business. It’s a really great short film and worth a watch on YouTube. It’s actually worth a look, you know.

Twitter Madness

When Twitter recently switched from the chronological timeline to the new feed that shows suggested tweets instead, it was not received well. Now, a new Twitter update no longer lets users access the chronological timeline by default. The update, being rolled out now for iOS users, will currently have two tabs at the top of the app to switch between Home (with proposed tweets) and Latest Tweets. But, you can no longer access tweets chronologically by default, as the home tab will always appear first. Twitter has said they may change back in the future, but for now, this is what we have. What are your thoughts? Oh, dear Twitter — why go fiddling!

Last of the big boys?

After this week’s launch of Mac Studio, do you know that quietly, in the background, Apple discontinued the Intel powered 27-inch model? It is quite possible, that the new Mac Studio and Studio Display will be seen as a natural replacement for the much loved large iMac. From now, we will jump from the new Studio level machines straight to Mac Pro. John Ternus, SVP of Hardware Engineering, actually alluded to that, when closing his part of the presentation by telling us “we have just one more Mac to go — the Mac Pro”. How much more power does anyone need after the Ultra chip?

The M2 is coming

9–5 Mac reported this week that the M2 chip is already under development, and will be with us later this year. We understand it will make its first appearance in the MacBook Air and then subsequently in a new, budget 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M2 will not be as powerful as the M1 Max, Pro or Ultra, rather a new iteration of the original M1 chip. I wonder what they will bring to the party with the M2?

Because you’re worth it

In the market for a Magic Keyboard for your iPad? Well, Amazon (US) have some great deals going on currently. The 12.9-inch version is available with a $56 discount now available, making it a steal at only $293. I am still loving my iPad Mini!! No Magic Keyboard for me.

And at the other end of the scale

In the same week Apple announced the Mac Studio, almost laughingly, Apple upgraded its base model Mac Pro. They’ve given it 256 GB of storage along with an AMD Radeon Pro W5500X graphics card. Previously, it had a paltry 256 GB and a less capable graphics card. And the cost? A whopping $5999. Really, who would be buying that now?

Mini LED Studio Display is on its way

Ross Young this week reported that we may be seeing a pro version of the Studio Display as early as WWDC in June. Production has already begun, and it will be larger than this week’s release at 27-inch. I seriously need to get a Studio Display in my studio soon!

Boxed up

Wondered how your brand new Mac Studio will look when it arrives? Well, something like this! It’s like Christmas morning this week on Apple Views, isn’t it?

Fancy a wallpaper?

Grab your copy of the Peek Performance wallpaper here for both iPhone & Mac. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yqzxzli2hvg9rjs/AABsBT5jEY3Df6OHy5O7f-bga?dl=0 You’re welcome!

It’s the colour of spring

After this week’s Peek Performance event, we are soon to be seeing some iPhone 13 MagSafe silicone cases in some lush new colours. They will be available in yellow, dark green, purple, and orange. These colours, it is rumoured, could well carry across to their watch bands too. We could also see some new colours for the leather MagSafe Wallet as well. Do you know, I go case free!!

Influencer time

Are you both an iPad user and love Instagram too? Well, bad news. Don’t expect a dedicated iPad app anytime soon. On Twitter this week, the head of Instagram said that there was simply not enough demand for it yet! Adam Mosseri admitted that whilst they do get asked a lot, that there “is still just not a big enough group of people to make it a priority”. Mosseri also claimed that Instagram, who are owned by Facebook, do not have enough employees to dedicate to the apps’ development. Come on, not enough employees? Really Adam?

On your bike!

This week saw Peloton starting to roll out support for Apple Watch heart rate integration to its Bike and Tread products. Is this the first sign of Peloton starting to cozy up to Apple? They have also started selling Apple Watch bands with a prominent Peloton logo on as well. Ah, see, they are friends really!

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Originally published at https://www.talkingtechandaudio.com/blog on March 11, 2022.