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Apple Announces iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, OS X Yosemite and More
Many outlets are reporting on Apple's iPad event today. Highlights include:
- Apple pay will launch Monday.
- WatchKit -- a way for developers to make apps for the Apple Watch will launch next month.
- iOS 8.1
- Messages, iTunes, and iWork updated and many more new features in OS X Yosemite.
- You can send and receive calls on your Mac if you have an iPhone with iOS 8 that's signed into the same FaceTime account.
- iPad Air 2: New camera, 10 hour battery life, 12x faster than the original iPad.
- iPad mini 3.
- iMac with Retina display.
- And a Mac mini update: Faster processors, Intel Iris graphics, and two Thunderbolt 2 ports.
I've been thinking about giving the OSX another try... I've been messing around with it at work.
The mini wouldn't be a bad way to go... it's not that expensive and I can still use my 27" monitor.
The iMac Retina... no. Besides not wanting to spend that much now, I'd hold off on a first generation rig like that.
Just because you don't understand what it's good for, doesn't mean it is important to others.
Considering that my Black MacBook (2006) lasted eight years, it was a good investment.
For those of you who are a fan of customizing the colors of message bubbles in Messages.app and don't like that Apple removed this ability as part of the iOSification of Yosemite, there's an app for that: https://github.com/kethinov/Bu...
I made this during the developer previews because I don't like the default puke green for most of my IM conversations. Hope this helps some people. Source code also available.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
Yosemite Sam was the hootinst, tootinist, shootinist bobtail wildcat in the west!
About time desktops caught up with better screen resolutions after the whole 1080p marketing hype ruined everything.
I just hope it doesn't have the stupid ghosting problem.
This has been my experience, too. They make good quality hardware, and you will save in the long run, even if they make an insane profit from you in the short term. I'm sure someone on here can point out similar quality PC hardware, but I find other manufacturers to be very uneven. For instance, I got my mother-in-law a high-end HP in 2004 and she is still using it. But some HP machines are absolute garbage.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Considering that my Black MacBook (2006) lasted eight years, it was a good investment.
My XPS from 2006 is still with me, but the equivalent Macbook would have been far more expensive. What is your point?
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Except that it doesn't
I spent $1,200 on my Black MacBook and got eight years of use ($150 per year). Prior to that, I spent $1,200 on a Dell laptop that gave me three years of use ($400 per year). Do the math.
Your two data points have me convinced.
XPS is/was a high end Dell laptop specification and branding touted as being the ultimate in desktop replacements (also marketed with the Alienware badge). The series started in the Dimension line of desktop machines when the Pentium first hit the market (source: have owned a Dimension XPS P60 desktop (since scrapped) and an Inspiron XPS 8200 laptop (which I still use because it's got 2GB RAM and a 1600x1200 screen)). The trademark for the laptop line is a lit "XPS" logo running down the left and right sides of the lid in red or blue, on rare occasions in green (mine has the standard lid because I managed to break the XPS badge). On the show Stargate Atlantis, XPS laptops were rebadged with the fictional logo depicting them as "SGI" laptops (SGI have NEVER made a laptop) but for anyone who's ever owned an XPS, Inspiron or Latitude the chassis were pretty recognisable. The biggest selling point for me with the Latitude/Inspiron PPx chassis wasn't the XPS badge on the high end machines but the fact that they're pretty much completely modular. You can switch batteries, optical drives, hard drive caddies, internal cards, graphics processors etc, among almost the entire line from the lowliest PII/233 up to the P4/2.0 - knowing this because I've been doing it since 2002.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Still no new macbook pro...
Thats it, I'm out. I'll just get a Nexus 9 and a keyboard and move to the cloud.
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
Also have to give them credit for the bit at the very start where they proudly reiterated their very new widget and Intents features.
You know, cutting edge stuff that no one's ever seen in a smart phone before.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
On two different occasions I sold 5 year old MacBook on Craigslist for $500. I don't know what the expectation would be for an hp or whatever, but I was satisfied with this.
The point is that its 12x faster than an ipad 1. That's several generations ago, and pretty much obsolete.
When a new Porsche 911 comes out, the interesting question for buyers is how it compares to last years 911, not the original one from 1963.
your understanding is incorrect. Apple has explicitly stated that the transaction is 100% between The Merchant, Your Bank, and you. Apple does not receive a copy of the transaction, they don't know who you've shopped with, and that they don't know that any specific transaction has happened.
The only thing Apple does is act as the facilitator to getting the device-specific account number in to the phone. So Apple could know which credit cards you have setup in your device and that's about it.
Apple's "Excel competitor" that sells for £13.99.
Are you sure about that? The current generation of iMacs can act as a standard monitor when connected to another machine. Up until a few weeks ago, I was using one that had a failed hard drive in it as a monitor for a desktop PC via a simple mini Displayport to Displayport cable connected to the PC's graphics card.
There is a good possibility that the new iMacs can also be used as a monitor as well.
Yosemite Sam was an angry Hessian.
And is free on new Macs, you buy.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
When the netbook craze began (2008), I bought a 9" Acer Aspire One, for roughly US$400. That was my main laptop (and, during vacations, my main computer. Yes, I work at a university, so six weeks of vacations every year).
One year ago, I decided it was time to renew. I bought its sucessor, the 10" Acer Aspire One. For US$350. And it's my main computer outside of my office. I am really happy with it.
I have just bumped up its memory (2GB6GB). Besides that, I'm more than satisfied with what I got. I have recommended it to my family — Nowadays, my wife has one, and I have taken three more to her family (mother and two brothers). We are all quite happy with them (except for the sister that insisted on keeping Windows 8).
So, yes, US$400 for a good five year use... Is about US$80 per year. Quite acceptable!
I have to assume you and the original poster didn't watch the keynote.
The main processor is 12x faster than the original iPad (which, I still own and use). Graphics are 140x faster with the new graphics processor.
However, what the original poster DIDN'T say is gain in 2x+ performance over last year's iPad Air and the drop in pricing for comparable versions. The demonstrated photo processing apps were seemless. They also didn't indicate whether the new devices have more RAM or not. 1 GB has worked well. But, there were rumors of 2 GB.
No NFC either. Apple Pay is for "internet" purchases and not POS.
Nothing stood out to me as a "gotta have" this time around. While the iMac Retina has been improved and the screen is amazing, my 2009 iMac still works great (thought, I might replace the HD with an SSD). My iPad still works but pisses me from time to time when trying to load a web page that requires too much memory. My next "upgrade", when and *if* I can afford it, will be for the new iPad Air 2 as the original is something I still use every day.
I'm not entirely convinced that Touch ID is worth the extra $100. Hopefully the IHS teardown will indicate if there is anything else of value between the two.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
How doesn't it? My understanding is that instead of paying by your credit card, your Apple Account gets hit for the charge and Apple pays the vendor and then Apple charges your linked credit card, just like for existing in-app purchases. Since it's your Apple Account doing the purchasing, Apple is in the loop and sees every transaction that you make.
Except that's not how it works. There's a special chip in the new iPhone that talks to an NFC payment terminal and presents itself as a virtual credit card. The terminal sends that information for example to Visa. Visa works together with Apple and figures out that this virtual credit card actually matches your real debit or credit card, and everything is done as if you had used your normal credit or debit card. The chip is locked away from the OS, even Apple couldn't read what's inside it.
The advantages are a minor bit of convenience (you pay by putting a finger on the fingerprint reader on the iPhone), but a big advantage in security because nobody knows your credit card number and therefore cannot lose it to hackers, and crooked employees cannot read it either.
Is Apple so embarrassed by their lack of meaningful CPU performance improvements that they feel the need to compare the latest iPad to a 5 year old obsolete brick to impress me? I think that they think I'm stupid.
However, what the original poster DIDN'T say is gain in 2x+ performance over last year's iPad Air and the drop in pricing for comparable versions.
The original poster (me) didn't say that because it wasn't in the summary. That its twice as fast as the previous ipad air actually WOULD have been reasonably interesting. 12x as fast as the original ipad is meaningless marketing propaganda fluff.
They've been selling Retina displays for a couple years, slapping it on the iMac isn't rocket science. I do think it's an unnecessary feature that will jack the price, but the iMac went from being the cheap mac to the not insanely expensive Mac some time ago, so meh.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Also, my understanding is to call from your Mac, your phone must be on the same wifi. Am I wrong?
Yes, they do need to be on the same wifi. See below.
Sometimes when your iPhone rings, it’s not where you are. Maybe it’s charging in another room. Or it’s buried in your backpack. But your Mac or iPad is sitting right there. Now you can make and receive phone calls on those devices as long as your iPhone running iOS 8 is on the same Wi-Fi network. Incoming calls show the caller’s name, number, and profile picture. Just click or swipe the notification to answer, ignore, or respond with a quick message. And making a phone call from your iPad or Mac is just as easy. Simply tap or click a phone number in Contacts, Calendar, or Safari. It all works with your existing iPhone number, so there’s nothing to set up.
[source]
Why does article have an opinion tag?
I read the entire summary, and all it did was list facts. Not a single word of opinion is in there.
Now I can fully understand the reason for the iGarbage tag, as this is Slashdot, and no love of Apple products is permitted in any way, shape or form.
But opinion? huh?
Did the math, my Dell laptop has outlived any Apple device I own. Plus I can still get replacement batteries and upgrade it with RAM and SSD at will without paying extortionate prices for the privilege of doing so.
Laptops, like most other hardware has it's quality rise and fall. One year Dell is good, the next year it's Asus, and so on and so on. I used to be a big fan of the Dell Latitude D630C laptop with a business class extended warranty, oops it fell out of the back of the truck and put a big crack in the LCD while i was unloading luggage at the airport, no problem sir, we'll get that fixed right away are there any other items on the laptop that are cracked / broken / missing screws, etc. Things change over time, a company that gives great support today, might be absolute shit in a years time due to budget cuts, etc.
Do you have a cite for this? I'm pretty familiar with how Google Wallet (with and without a hardware Secure Element) works, and I *know* that CC info is presented to the POS in order to make the transaction.
Any of the hundreds of articles about how Apple Pay works. Here's one that explains that the device gives the credit card terminal a 16-digit randomized token and a unique one-time-use CCV. Payment processors use the pair to identify the credit account to bill.
In short, your actual credit card numbers never leave your device. Google for "apple pay token" if you'd like to dive into further detail.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
No. This is what I hate about these iMacs. And especially more since this high-res display. You get a good, expensive display, which you could easily keep for 10-15 years, but are forced to throw it away when you want to upgrade the computer, after say 2-8 years. A Mac mini duck-taped on the back of a monitor takes about the same space anyways.
Apple says you can use iMacs as displays. It requires Thunderbolt apparently.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Plus I can still get replacement batteries and upgrade it with RAM and SSD at will without paying extortionate prices for the privilege of doing so.
For my 2006 Black MacBook, I maxed out the RAM to 2GB by using cheaper memory modules from Other World Computing (OWC). I popped in a OWC 120GB SSD for less than a $100 last year. Although Apple still charges $129 for replacement batteries, I can get them for $75 through OWC or $35 on eBay from China.
faster doing ... what?
I have a theory why people buy tablets ... or better to say, why men buy tablets: Porn. I believe they buy them so they can watch porn while sitting on the toilet. That's why tablet sales are so high. The remaining alleged 'purposes' are just excuses. It's just a theory, of course.
Now regarding women who buy tablets, I have no idea why they would do that. Do they buy tablets? If so, that's perhaps because they are sleek and handy and you can watch Sushi advertisements on them. Or whatever.
Short answer - tokenization and eCommerce security.
Chip and Pin uses physical contact of the card to the payment terminal. The chip is very hard to duplicate so it essentially eliminates card cloning. The PIN provides a second factor to authenticate a trusted customer at the point of sale.
Apple Pay is a variant of NFC (near field communication) much like Google Wallet with PayPass. This is wireless (contactless).
The specifications for hardware (Level 1) and software (Level 2) for both contact and contact-less payment systems are managed by EMVCo; see http://www.emvco.com/. Apple has chosen wisely to work with existing industry standards with a couple of big improvements. These guys are smart and they got it right.
What is different about Apple Pay is that unlike PayPass and Chip&PIN which send the credit card account number through all links in the system (usually encrypted), a one time use token is created. If an Apple Pay transaction is exposed, only a useless one time token would be divulged. This is much like the DUKPT system used from other secure transactions. If you are curious about DUKPT see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derived_unique_key_per_transaction.
Aside from the technical superiority of tokenization for security over Chip&Pin for card present transactions, how Apple Pay is better is a matter of taste because both systems mitigate card present fraud. It will always be hard to argue that either will be faster than a swipe.
I'm sick of sitting on my fat wallet and if I could get rid of my cards that would be great. Unfortunately I'll still need my cards because most places wont take anything but mag stripe for years (its taken Canada 7 years to get to 90% Chip&PIN at the merchants). If I lose my wallet I have to call a bunch of companies, whereas if I lose my phone nobody is going to get my card numbers. Apps will proliferate that allow loyalty programs and discounts to be offered to me through mobile integration (e.g. Amex has already announced buying McDonalds food with points). Geofencing in conjunction with NFC will further promote targeted marketing and I like the idea of saving money in exchange for loyalty. NFC will also likely be used to do things like open doors, start cars so it will be very convenient.
Apple Pay also supports tokenization for eCommerce. This is huge because card not present is the area where credit card fraud is most persistent. Apple Pay and the variations that are sure to follow will knock the online card fraud guys out of the game.
Greed is the root of all evil.
That is similar to what is going on with PC laptops. Basically MacBook Air is an ultrabook in PC nomenclature. PC ultrabooks also tend to be less upgradeable and serviceable than bigger laptops. For example compare Lenovo ThinkPad 430 and 430u (u - as in ultrabook). The slim design just forces use of smalled perhaps nonremovable parts. IMO all PC laptops that match MacBook Air size are also as unupgradeble and unserviceable as MacBook Air - it is not a marketing choice by Apple but the size imples it. Also what is new that you can't upgrade or service your phone or tablet - any brand. Get over it.
"Doubled" doesn't mean much, when it's one afternoon every three years.
My '92 Sun IPX is still running. And I think I paid about $20 for it.
> There is a good possibility that the new iMacs can also be used as a monitor as well.
Likely not. The old Mac had a totally typical display. But now it's 5k, and...
Thunderbolt at 10 Gbit/s wasn't fast enough to drive 4K, which needs about 16 Gbit/s. Thunderbolt 2 at 20 Gbit/s can drive 4K, but not 5120Ã--2880, which needs 28 Gbit/s.1 The only promising standard on the horizon is DisplayPort 1.3 at 32 Gbit/s, but that spec is being finalized later in 2014, which means we're probably still years away from anything supporting it.
Marco Arment, January 2014
Wikipedia now says "DisplayPort version 1.3 was released on September 15, 2014." So yeah, no way is this iMac is supporting input based on a month-old spec.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Between going to hourly contracting and having kids, I value my time more than ever. That afternoon is worth several hundred dollars IMHO. I was very different as a young man.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
They absolutely did, and they talked about it specifically when Apple Pay was announced during the iPhone 6 keynote.
The design of the system is that your credit card number is hashed together with the unique device ID of your phone to create a signing key (the card number itself is then never stored anywhere). You then activate apple pay with your bank so they have a way to verify your purchases. When you then use your device to buy something a transaction-specific token is generated from your signing key that is passed to your bank, who then verify it, and send back a yay/nay to the vendor. The bank then debits the money. Each transaction you make generates a new token that is passed via the vendor to your bank.
The key things that Apple pointed out were that a) Apple doesn't know what you bought or how much it was, b) the vendor you are buying from doesn't know what your credit card number is and c) your credit card number is not stored on your phone. If you lose your phone you can log into iCloud and invalidate the signing key.
If you want to hear that from the horse's mouth, Tim Cook spent several minutes on it during the iPhone 6 keynote.
An iMac does need to be powered on to act as an external display, however it doesn't need to have a working OS (or at least the ones I have played with don't).
Beware, I haven't actually tested the power consumption so this is just speculation on my part, but since the processor and GPU in iMac aren't really doing anything I suspect they are running at their idle frequencies. If so, the power consumption of the machine should be fairly low - since many modern CPUs and GPUs have fairly low idle power requirements.
As other posters have pointed out though, Apple appears to have used their own custom display interface for the new 5k model and it looks like they have dropped Target Display Mode from the spec sheet, so it looks like using the 5k model as a dumb monitor isn't really an option.
I love the times we live in. This all reads like yesteryear's science-fiction. We're fast approaching a cinema quality display in an iMac - a simple to use piece of off-the-shelf consumer hardware. In an aluminum chassis that would be considered viable only for military grade hardware a mere decade ago. One can bitch all they want about "Apple tax", but if it weren't for Apple, we wouldn't have that hardware. Never mind that nobody else makes a PC in the aluminum iMac-style chassis, AFAIK. Or at least not in the volume that'll ensure ample supply of replacement parts a decade from now.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Or you can buy a cheap Thunderbolt adapter.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
In other words, Google Voice requires you to have a separate telephone number, that's not your mobile phone number. Depending on what services they want, people have to contact you on the two separate numbers. (Google Voice has limitation on SMS, international calling etc.)
Depending on which number they use, your ability to accept the call on a computer will either exist or not.
As a result of the complications, Google Voice isn't a big success.
As always Apple goes with a solution that cuts out all the confusion. One phone number, all services.