November Apple Event

Apple announced their November event, which will focus on ARM based Macs. According to latest rumors, we should see a new MacBook Air as well as 13 and 16 inch MacBook Pros. Although ARM powered MacBook Air is no brainer, the release of the Pro models would be a bold move from Apple. It would mean that first generation of new processors is  (at least) as powerful as current generation of Intel ones.

Dope links

• XCFrameworks — New Format for Packaging Frameworks in iOS
• The lang attribute: browsers telling lies, telling sweet little lies
• Mediator Pattern in ASP.NET Core Applications
• Understanding Jetpack Compose - Part 1 & Part 2
• grep.app - Search across a half million git repos
• Soccer match ruined when AI-controlled camera mistakes ref’s bald head for ball

Image credits: Łukasz Łada

Nintendo Switch Lite

Nintendo has announced the Switch Lite. It is a new Switch that only supports handheld mode. Here is the list of changes in comparison to "standard" Switch:

• smaller touchscreen (5.5-inch),
• no detachable Joy-Con controllers,
• cannot be connected to TV,
• side buttons are replaced by real D-pad,
• lack of HD Rumble and IR Motion Camera,
• better battery life (~1h longer),

Nintendo Switch Lite launches on September 20 for $199.99 in three colors: yellow, grey, and turquoise.

Apple's new MacBook lineup

On Tuesday Apple completely revamped their notebook lineup. First of all, they stopped selling 12-inch MacBook. Macbook supposed to be replacement for MacBook Air, but it never became popular.  Smaller size and new keyboard weren't enough to steal users hearts.

Speaking of MacBook Air, the old non Retina version is also finally gone. Also, Apple has updated the new Retina version with True Tone display and they lowered the price from $1199 to $1099 ($999 for students).  

MacBook Pro lineup also is simpler. Apple stopped selling the 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar. It means that all MacBooks Pro, not matter of size, now come with Touch Bar.

In addition to cleaning up the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lineup, Apple has lowered the cost of SSD options for all Mac, including the desktop ones. The price drop is especially visible in more high-end versions.

For example this is how the new prices, of SSD options, look like in comparison to old ones for 15-inch MacBook Pro:

(*) Base model

Overall, this news was a completely surprise and the welcome one. It's not only a huge simplification of the MacBook lineup, but also a big change for the entire Mac lineup, as most of the Macs are now more affordable.

I hope Apple will continue this trend with other products.

Interesting links

• How to use the URLSessionWebSocketTask in Swift. Post WWDC deep-dive review
• Managing background tasks with the new Task Scheduler in iOS 13
• Thank u, Nuxt
• The Optimal Placement for Mobile Call to Action Buttons
• iOS 12 to 13 comparison screenshots
• How to deal with GitHub spambots
• Ultimate Abrams - Lego Bridge Layer

Image credits: Nintendo

During this week I looked back on what happened this year and I decided to pick my top 3 news from each month. Here are my picks.

January

1. Bitcoin bubble burst,
2. Meltdown and Spectre discovered,
3. EA became scared of YouTubers.

February

1. SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy into space,
2. Elon Musk started selling not a Flamethrowers,
3. Apple started selling HomePods.

March

1. Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal,
2. Apple fixed buggy iPhone X ad before fixing the actual iOS 11 bug,
3. Current frequency deviations in Central Europe.

April

1. Mark Zuckerberg testified before members of Congress,
2. SpaceX reached the promised land of launching every two weeks,
3. GTA V has become the most profitable entertainment product of all time.

May

1. Google Duplex has been announced,
2. GDPR has become effective,
3. Premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

June

1. Microsoft bought GitHub,
2. Apple held WWDC,
3. Apple Pay became available in Poland.

July

1. Apple updated MacBook Pros,
2. New MacBook Pros fixed keyboard but overheats,
3. Clone Wars TV series has been renewed.

August

1. Apple became first IT company to be worth 1 trillion dollars,
2. Twitter limited access to the APIs,
3. CD Project released first gameplay of the Cyberpunk 2077.

September

1. Apple unveiled iPhone XS, XR and Apple Watch 4,
2. Google was celebrating its 20th birthday,
3. iOS 12 and macOS Mojave has been released.

October

1. LucasFilm shared details about first Star Wars tv series - The Mandalorian,
2. Apple shoved new iPad Pro,
3. Google unveiled Pixel 3, a tablet and HomeHub.

November

1. Disney announced new streaming service - Disney+,
2. Stan Lee has passed away,
3. Robert Kubica returned to F1.

December

1. Microsoft announced that it's working on a new browser,
2. YouTube Rewind 2018 became the most disliked video on YouTube,
3. Google’s Home Alone ad.

That's all folks. This was an incredible year. I hope next year will be event better.
Happy New year guys and see you soon!

Image credits: Annie Spratt.

Steve Troughton-Smith couple weeks ago released a repository with his custom Hermes watch face. He inspired many developers, this resulted in many amazing faces. He also inspired me. Couple years ago I saw a Mario face on Moto 360, since then I wanted to have this face on Apple Watch. This week I finally had time to play around with custom watch faces and as a result I created this. Right now this is just a prototype, but I'm already very happy with the overall result.
I would love to publish this on my GitHub, but I'm afraid that Nintendo is going to remove it, because of copyrights for Super Mario Bros assets. Right now, my plan is to create completely custom assets that will resemble the Super Mario, yet different enough that Nintendo would not pursue any legal actions.
I spent the most of this week making my various watch faces, and it was amazing. It reminds me of good old times, when as a kid I was trying to create my own simple video games. Creating custom watch faces was the most fun I've had in a long time.
Also, there is something personal in this. You are creating a face for yourself, and don't have to think about other users and theirs potential problems. I didn't realize that thinking only about my own needs might be so freeing and enjoyable.

Did you know that R in iPhone XR means nothing? If you want to learn more interesting things, please check following links.

Relative Grid Items with CSS Variables

GitHub launches Actions, its workflow automation tool

Understanding JSON Web Token Authentication

Introduction to Glitch for Node.js Apps in the Cloud

5 Open Source HTML5 Video Players for 2018

Before I jump into main event of this week - E3, I would like to go back to an event from the beginning of the last week when Microsoft bought GitHub for $7.5B. I didn't want to cover this topic back then, because I wanted to wait and see how people and industry would react. One week later it looks like most of the people are happy. Of course some people moved to GitLab, but massive exodus from GitHub never happened.
I personally liked that GitHub was independent, but I also admire what Microsoft is doing with Open Source and their development platforms. I think, in long term, nothing will drastically change. Microsoft will support GitHub and we'll be still using GitHub as home for our repositories.

Now, going to this week main event - E3. To be totally honest with you, I'm not following the gaming industry as I used to, so from this year's E3 all I wanted to see and hear was Cyberpunk 2077 and new Star Wars games.
CD Project RED did not fail. They presented the trailer and gameplay. Unfortunately we will have to wait for the gameplay a little longer, as it was presented behind closed doors. But journalists initial impressions were very positive.
The trailer itself is really cool, but I was expecting something more dark. I don't know why, but I associate cyberpunk with a dark and brutal world. To be honest, I personally prefer this incredible fan-made version.

Regarding Star Wars games, I'm a little bit disappointed. We only got two announcements. First about new Battlefront 2 DLC. And the second was Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order that Respawn Entertainment is working on. Game is set between Episode 3 and 4 and will be released in 2019.

Here is my pick of interesting games that were presented during E3:

• Anthem,
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey,
• Assetto Corsa Competizione,
• Battlefield V,
• Beyond Good & Evil 2,
• Crackdown 3,
• The Crew 2,
• Cyberpunk 2077,
• Death Stranding,
• Destiny 2: Forsaken,
• Devil may cry 5,
• The Division 2,
• DOOM Eternal,
• Dying Light 2,
• The Elder Scrolls VI,
• Fallout 76,
• FIFA 19,
• Forza Horizon 4,
• Gears 5,
• GreedFall,
• Halo Infinite,
• Hitman 2,
• Just Cause 4,
• Kingdom Hearts III,
• The Last of Us: Part II,
• Metro Exodus,
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps,
• Overcooked 2,
• RAGE 2,
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider,
• Soulcalibur 6,
• Spider-Man,
• Star Citizen,
• Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order,
• Super Mario Party,
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,
• Total War: Three Kingdoms,
• Unravel 2,
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

Sorry guys, but I don't have any interesting link this week :/

Image credits: E3 Expo.