Rene Ritchie

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New iPhones. New Macs. Pro Macs! Resigned Pro Macs! New iPads. New Watches. Redesigned Watches. Maybe new AirPods. HomePods! Great thing about Apple is that no matter how dreary dull the summer feels, we’re only ever one good morning away from new products. We’re all just waiting for Tim to put sneaker back on stage and show us what’s next for 2021!

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Linus Tech Tips (née Sebastien) just posted a really great video on why PC laptop webcams still suck oh so very much. But that’s by no means limited to PC Laptops. I’ve been complaining about MacBook webcams being sucktastic for years now as well. Which is really hard to take, especially from Apple, who makes some of the best mobile cameras, and most expensive laptops, in the business. So, why?

Linus goes over cost, which is never not an issue but isn’t as big an issue with Apple’s margins. And sensor size, which is an increasing issue on near-zero bezel PC laptops but again isn’t as big an issue with Apple’s still somewhat beefy bezels on even the already screen stretched 16-inch MacBook Pro. Also, Windows Hello facial biometrics, which requires extra or combined IR cameras, but since we still don’t have Face ID on the Mac, that’s just a non-factor for us.

So, again, why? What leaves MacBooks stuck with 720p as in potato webcams so always?

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The original Mac OS X beta, way back in 2001, a Steve Odessy, was code-named Kodiak, after the Alaskan brown bear. After that, Apple switched Mac OS X codenames to the big cats, starting with 10.0 Cheetah and 10.1 Puma. But then… a funny thing happened on the way to the keynote stage. Steve Jobs decided to use the private codename… as a public marketing name. Instead of OS X 10.2, he oh so proudly proclaimed OS X Jaguar. Technically jag-wire! But, why?

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The ecosystem. It’s what everybody always talks about. What makes Apple products so damn sticky, competitors so hella jelly, regulators so silly salty, and customers just… so happy… if sometimes… straight jacket itchy?

Your AirPods automatically switch between all your other Apple devices, sometimes miraculously, others times… way too promiscuously. 

Your Apple Watch unlocks your iPhone when you’re wearing a mask, or your Mac.. any time. Syncs your rings to Fitness+ on the Apple TV at workout time. Copies your Apple Pay off your iPhone so you can oh so easily tap to pay.

Your iPhone unlocks your Apple Watch, hands off a message to your iPad, a song to your HomePod mini, scans a document into your Mac. And soon, will be pushing a FaceTime movie over SharePlay to your Apple TV.

Your iPad copies and pastes a photo to your iPhone, or works as a Sidecar display for your Mac. Projects a 3D spatial audio with dynamic head tracking experience to your AirPods.

Your Mac does all the big editing and batch jobs, from photos to music to contacts to, soon, Shortcuts that all get synced back to all your other devices, all the time. And, soon, will act as an AirPlay target for your iPhone or iPad or other Mac, or will take control of your iPad or other Mac for a fully unified experience.

But… at what cost? What’s the buy in?

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Steve Jobs didn’t want an iPad mini. He hated the idea. The original iPad was the perfect size and anything smaller just wouldn’t be usable. He made fun of the tiny Android tablets already on the market, literally saying you’d have to shave down your fingers just to hit the tap targets, and that all they could run was blown up phone apps. An unbelievably ironic statement for reasons I’ll get into in a future video.

So, he had Apple focus on making the iPad 2 faster, thinner, and lighter, the iPad 3 Retina, and the iPad 4… fixing the iPad 3.

But then something interesting happened

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M1 let Apple take the existing MacBook Air chassis and… rip out the fan, let the Mac mini run on max… basically forever, and make an iMac almost as thin as an iPad. But those are all ultra-low power implementations of Apple silicon. The ones that put the efficiency in performance efficiency. One year later, and we still don’t have any ultra-high power implementations. Any that put the performance first. Also, any with bigger displays, more ports, and higher memory and storage configs.

If you want a pro Mac, you still have to buy an Intel Mac… for now, or keep waiting for an M1X, probably until this fall at the earliest, next summer at the latest. So... should you keep waiting?

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Photo Face. Photo Grid. Photo Share. Smarter Home. Status screen. Home Key. Car Key. Office Key. Hotel Key. All your IDs. Eventually. Super scribble. Editing schemes. Easy JIF GIF memes. Focus. Mindfulness. Respiratory rate. Health Trends. Tai Chi and Pilates bends. More always on. Better Contacts. Amazing Assistive Touch. And yes, Multiple timers. And more! It’s the watchOS 8 Public Beta. It supports every Apple Watch going back to the Series 3 and SE. You can install it now, but beta means beta, especially on the watch, so think twice, and then strap yourself in. Get it? Sorry…

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New Safari Tab Bar. Tab Groups. Tabs Anywhere. Everywhere even. Universal Control for iPad… and Mac. AirPlay to Mac. AirPlay Speaker…from Mac. Spatial Audio with heads tracked. Shortcuts on Mac. New Books app. Hello screen savers and wallpapers for all. Privacy indicators. Privacy Protections. Split View Swapping. And a ton. An imperial metric ton of iOS cross-over features. Day and freaking hallelujah date. It’s the macOS Monterey Public Beta. It supports the MacBook back to 2016, the MacBook Air and Pro back to 2015, the Mac mini back to 2014, the iMac back to 2015, the iMac Pro, and the Mac Pro back to the trashcan. You can download it now, but just remember — beta means beta, so don’t put it on anything mission-critical. Now let’s do this!

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Multitasking menu. Center Window. Window Shelf. App Switcher on super-soldier serum. Keyboard shortcuts… on Hulk serum. Widgets unleashed. App Library added. Quick Notes. Tag Notes. Text magnifier… ish. Watch together, listen together, SharePlay, Screen Share, Shared with You, Focus, Status, Notification Summaries, Better Maps, way better Safari, Live text, Look Up, Spotlight done right, Musical Memories, Swift Playgrounds from UI and App Store, Universal Control, Privacy Protection, iCloud+, IDs, accessibility, and so much more. It’s the iPadOS 15 public beta. It supports iPad mini back to G4, iPad back to G5, iPad Air back to G2, and iPad Pro back to the OG. You can get it now, but just remember — beta means beta, so backup for you download, and then letsgooooo….

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SharePlay. Screen share. Shared with You. FaceTime for everyone. Focus… for anyone. Status. Notification summaries. More better Maps, Notes, and Weather. Much better Safari. IDs. Keys. On-device Siri. Live Text and wide translate. Lens… I mean look up! Brighter Spotlight. More musical memories. Health Sharing. Mobility Caring. Privacy Reports. Mail Protection. Private Relay. Legacy. Recovery. Authenticator. And… so much more. It’s the iOS 15 Public Beta. It supports every iPhone going back to the 2015 6s and 2016 SE. Yes. Seriously. You can grab it now, but just remember — beta means beta, so always practice safe update and backup. Then buckle up!

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