Mac - page 51

Are you ready to finally get some new Macs? It seems like forever since Apple busted out big updates for the iMac and MacBook, but today the wait for something new is over.

Apple’s “Hello Again” event is expected to feature tons of new Mac hardware. The keynote kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific today, and will livestream from the company’s HQ in Cupertino, California. We’ve already seen tons of pictures of the new MacBook Pro and heard of a new app for Apple TV that’s coming, too. But today’s event could feature some game-changing hardware no one was expecting.

Cult of Mac is here to to liveblog all the action once the festivities start, with all the brilliant analysis, dull wit and pithy snark we can come up with. Join us for the wild ride.

Apple faces a serious challenge when it rolls out the rumored OLED “Magic Toolbar” on new MacBook Pros tomorrow: It must convince the world that the new adaptive touchpad is more than a gimmick.

Offering customizable function keys that work in different ways depending on which apps are running, the Magic Toolbar could make the new MacBook Pro one of Apple’s most exciting laptops in years.

But to be more than a gimmick, the Magic Toolbar needs to improve the way we interact with our Macs, not simply add another confusing control element to the laptops. The Magic Toolbar needs to make it easier to perform tasks that we now do using keyboard shortcuts or on-screen toolbars. If it can’t do that, the Magic Toolbar will go down in the history books as a failure.

Luckily, there’s one simple step Apple can take to ensure that the Magic Toolbar becomes a success.

Apple is set to report its Q4 2016 earnings today, only instead of it being a time for celebration, the company is expected to announce its first annual revenue decline in 15 years.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri warned Wall Street that this quarter wouldn’t smash any records, but with the iPhone 7 doing better than expected, could relief be on the way?

Investors and analysts will grill Apple about how well the company expects to perform next quarter during today’s earnings call. And Cult of Mac will be right here, liveblogging the whole shebang when it starts at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Come join the fun — it’s livestreaming on Apple’s investor site.

Apple today revealed its results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016. While the company made as much revenue as expected, it still posted its first annual revenue decline since 2001.

The good news for investors is that Apple is projecting a lot of iPhone growth next quarter. In Q4 2016, Apple earned $46.9 billion in revenue and $9 billion in profit, but in Q1 2017 Apple predicts it will rake in $76 billion to $78 billion.

Mac fans are guaranteed to see a new MacBook Pro with an all-new keyboard at the “Hello Again” keynote on October 27.

Apple added assets in its newly released macOS Sierra 10.12.1 update that appear to confirm the new OLED touch bar on upcoming MacBook Pro.

During tomorrow’s Apple earnings call, Tim Cook is likely to unload some bad news. Wall Street expects Apple to report its first annual revenue decline since 2001, snapping one of the most impressive streaks ever witnessed.

Slumping iPhone sales mean Apple’s annual revenue could drop to $215.67 billion for 2016. That would be a significant decline from the $233.72 billion in revenue Apple posted in 2015 — but there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

The public release of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 has finally arrived for Macs everywhere, bringing a bunch of bug fixes and tweaks.

Apple Watch owners will definitely want to grab the new update ASAP because it makes unlocking your Mac with your watch a lot more reliable. There are also some new additions for iPhone 7 Plus owners.

The days of Macs avoiding the fate of the rest of the ailing PC industry may be over.

Analysts who have filed their predictions for Apple’s quarterly earnings call, which is coming tomorrow, think Mac sales finally failed beat those of PC competitors. And they’re expecting to see Apple’s fourth consecutive year-over-year quarterly decline in Mac sales.

This week on The CultCast: Is Apple about to make massive updates across the entire Mac line? Don’t miss our Oct. 27 Mac event predictions! Plus: Decoding the Apple event invitation, and everything we know about Nintendo Switch.

This episode is supported by CultCloth, the best way to keep your iPhone 7, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean. Check them out at CultCloth.co and, for a limited time, save 20 percent with code JetBlack.

Apple has dropped yet another beta build of iOS 10.1 to developers today as the company works to finalize the software update before making available to the public.

Along with iOS 10.1 beta 5, Apple also seeded the fifth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 that is rumored to include support for the new MacBook Pro that will be unveiled at the end of October.

IBM has now deployed over 90,000 Macs since joining forces with Apple in July 2014, and it is on track to surpass the 100,000 milestone in early 2017. As its Mac user base rises, the company has found that the need for technical support has fallen.

Forget about a mere adaptive OLED touchbar for future Macs! According to a new report, Apple is working with an Australian startup to turn future Mac keyboards into a blank slate for users to customize.

The company in question is Sonder Design Pty Ltd., a startup with ties to Apple manufacturer Foxconn. It develops E Ink keyboards, which let users customize keys to include letters from more than one language, or even emojis.

Check out a video showing how its keyboards work below.

Apple’s new MacBook Pro is right around the corner, if recent rumors are to be believed, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most significant refreshes we’ve seen in years. Spy photos all but confirm a new OLED touchbar is coming, but is this advanced hardware really necessary?

Those who are excited about it can see the how customizable function keys might improve their experience in macOS, while others believe it will be little more than a gimmick.

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss whether the MacBook Pro really needs an OLED touchbar.

Apple is reportedly in talks to acquire an Australian startup called Sonder that specializes in making keyboards with individual e-ink displays on each key.

The Sonder acquisition is supposedly part of Apple’s plan to update its Magic Keyboard in 2018 with a smart keyboard module and color e-ink keys that allow programs to quickly swap characters for shortcuts or change to a different language.

Check out the e-ink keyboard in action:

Security researchers discovered a new way to hack the Mac’s built-in webcam this week, and the method is undetectable by users.

Apple built a green LED light into every Mac with firmware-level protection that turns on anytime the sensor is tripped by unauthorized access. The security feature has become increasingly difficult for hackers to beat, but former NSA staffer Patrick Wardle found a way to piggyback on outgoing feeds and record them.

The third beta builds of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 was seeded to developers today, less than a week after Apple released the second build that contained a number of bug fixes.

Developers can pick up the new beta directly form the Apple Developer Center, or install it via the Mac App Store’s software update option if the previous beta build is already installed on your Mac.

Developers received a new beta update for macOS Sierra today, less than a week after Apple dropped the last beta build full of bug fixes.

Apple’s iWork productivity software received a huge update today alongside the launch of macOS Sierra.

Pages, Keynote and Numbers all got upgraded with the new real-time collaboration Apple gave us a glimpse of at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The new feature is still in beta, but it makes the apps more powerful than ever in the workplace by allowing teams to edit documents simultaneously.

Apple didn’t reveal any new MacBook Pros or iMacs at today’s iPhone-focused keynote, but the company’s next big software update for Macs finally got an official release date.

Apple is set to take the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in less than a day, but some of the biggest surprises of the iPhone 7 keynote have already been revealed.

While Apple usually comes out with a generational leap for the iPhone every two years, this year’s update is expected to have some of the most boring and controversial changes ever made. Get ready to get your dongle on, because the iPhone 7 is ready to rock.

Here’s what Apple will reveal:

JK Scheinberg, the Apple engineer who worked more than 20 years with the company and persuaded Steve Jobs to port the Mac from PowerPC to Intel processors, was reportedly turned down for a Genius Bar job at the Apple store.

One week after surprising us with the seventh beta of iOS 10, Apple is back with yet another beta build of its upcoming software update for iPhones and iPads.

macOS Sierra took another step closer to a public launch today with the release of the seventh beta for developers and public testers.

Apple continues to polish macOS Sierra and tvOS 10, seeding the sixth beta builds of the new software updates to developers today.

The new betas come a week after Apple dropped the last batch of betas, which brought a number of new bug fixes and performance improvements to the gigantic releases that are set for public launch this fall.

In a new wide ranging interview, Apple’s senior VP of internet software and services, Eddy Cue, revealed how the company fixed a lot of mistakes it made with the launch of Apple Maps in 2012 by utilizing data from the hundreds of millions of iPhones around the globe.

Cue and Apple software chief Craig Federighi sat down to talk about the troubles with Apple Maps, the difference between working for Tim Cook and Steve Jobs, Apple’s competition with Facebook and Amazon and learning from failure.