Apple rumors

This week was full of mac related rumors. Let's start from Apple Silicon iMac. A developer has discovered an unreleased ARM-based iMac in an Xcode crash log for his macOS app. That means, the new iMacs are coming soon.

Next is iPad. The new iPad Pros should be released in April. The new tablets are a continuation of current lineup, with a few new features:

• A mini-LED display (at least in 12.9-inch version),
• A14X processor, similar to M1 silicon,
• Thunderbolt connection,
• and of course better cameras.

Xcode attacked!

Security researchers discovered a trojan, called XcodeSpy, which compromises Developers’ Macs with a trojanized Xcode project. Once activate, malware has access to microphone, camera, keyboard, and also can upload/download files.

What's even worse, it is super easy to get affected by this trojan. All you have to do is download and build infected Xcode project. The project contains obfuscated script that is added as a one of built steps of the project. So be careful when you running 3rd-party projects on your machines.

Image credits: Johannes Plenio

Apple Event

Apple held an online event and introduced couple of new things:

Apple Watch Series 6

• It is evolution of Series 5,
• New S6 chip and U1 chip,
• New sensor containing Blood Oxygen Sensor With ECG,
• Available from $399 on this Friday.

Apple Watch SE

• Comes in 40mm & 44mm of size,
• Retina display (without always on feature),
• S5 chip,
• Second-generation optical heart sensor (without ECG),
• Available from $279 on this Friday.

Apple Fitnes+

This is another service from Apple. This one, as name suggests, focuses on fitnes and exercising. It integrates with Apple Watch, and offers guided workouts. Apple Fitness+ will be available for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV for $10/ month, or $80/ year.

Apple One

Apple combined all it services into bundles and called it Apple One:

• Individual ($14.95/ month) - Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB iCloud storage,
• Family ($19.95 / month, shared with six family members) - ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, ‌Apple Arcade‌, and 200GB ‌iCloud‌ storage,
• Premier ($29.95 / month, shared with six family members) - ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, ‌Apple Arcade‌, 2TB ‌iCloud‌ storage, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+.

iPad 8th Gen

Entry level iPad finally got upgrade:

• 10.2-inch Retina display,
• Apple's A12 Bionic chip,
• Supports the first-generation Apple Pencil,
• Support Smart Keyboard
• Starts from $329.

iPad Air

Also iPad Air got an update, and on paper it came much closer to a Pro version:

• 10.9-Inch Retina display,
• Apple's A14 Bionic chip,
• Touch ID built into the power button,
• 12-megapixel rear camera,
• Supports the second-generation Apple Pencil,
• Support Magic Keyboard,
• USB-C connector,
• Starts from $599.

PlayStation 5 launch date and pricing

During an online event, Sony finally revealed that the next-gen console will arrive on November 12 in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.  For the rest of the world it will be available from November 19th.

The PlayStation 5 will cost $499.99 for the standard version and $399.99 for the PS5 Digital Edition.

Dope links

• The State of SwiftUI
• Mastering toolbars in SwiftUI
• Why is Apple acting like an Asshole?
• Vue.js 3.0 Released!
• The State of Nuxt 2020
• The Witcher - Fan made Bestiary
• The Mandalorian - Season 2 Official Trailer
  

Image credits: Apple

Xbox Series S & X

Microsoft has officially confirmed Xbox Series S. It's a simplified version of the Xbox Series X. Here are the highlights:

• Frame rate: up to 120FPS,
• Resolution: 1440p with 4K upscaling,
• 512GB NVME SSD,
• No optical disc,
• 60% smaller than Series X,
• Price: $299,
• Launch on November 10th, 2020.

It's a good choice for people who want new Xbox, but doesn't care about 8K and optical disc. The only downside is really small storage. 512GB is really small, especially when games can take more than 200GB of storage. Hopefully, soon Microsoft will release another version with 1TB of storage.

Regarding Xbox Series X, it will also launch on November 10th for $499. The preorders will start on September 22.

September Apple Event

Apple has announced an event that will be held on September 15th. Similar to WWDC, this event also will be digital only. According to rumors this event will focus on new iPad Air, Apple Watch Series 6. New iPhones will be announced in October or even later.

Epic vs Apple continued

In August, Epic sued Apple, couple weeks later Apple is suing Epic, asking for damages over the breach of  developer contract. In the press release they called Epic the "modern corporate Robin Hood" 😂

Apple has every legal right to do so, but I think the PR damages will cost Apple more than potential settlement with Epic.

Dope links

• AVIF has landed
• Why GitHub Won't Help You With Hiring
• Self-driving trash can controlled by Raspberry Pi

Image credits: Microsoft

Xbox Series X First impressions

Austin Evans had a chance to look at the Xbox Series X. His video gave us not only a fist look at the console, but the official specifications as well:

• Custom 8 core AMD Zen 2 CPU, clocked at 3.8GHz single thread, and up to 3.6GHz for sustained multithread load,
• Custom AMD RDNA GPU, 12TFLOPS, 52 CUs at 1.825GHz,
• 16GB (GDDR6) of RAM,
• 1TB NVME SSD,
• Expandable storage: 1TB expansion card,
• External Storage: USB HDD Support,
• 4K UHD Blue-Ray Drive,
• Dimensions: 301 x 151 x 151mm.

Video also clarified the naming convention:

• Xbox - is the name of the next generation of Microsoft consoles,
• Xbox Series X - is the name of the console.

Beside Evans' video, Microsoft also published their own clips:

• Xbox Series X - Loading Times Tech Demo
• Xbox Series X - Quick Resume Tech Demo

Playstation 5 Specification

Sony (via Digital Foundry) revealed the full specification of the next console:

• Custom: 8-core AMD Zen 2 CUP clocked at 3.5GHz,
• Custom AMD RDNA GPU, 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz ,
• 16GB (GDDR6) of RAM,
• 825GB SSD,
• Expandable Storage: NVMe SSD Slot,
• External Storage: USB HDD Support,
• 4K UHD Blue-Ray Drive.

Apple revealed new products

Due to coronavirus, Apple Spring event never happened and Apple just update their website/store with new hardware.

New MacBook Air

• Display: 13.3-inch LED backlit (2560 x 1600px) with True Tone,
• CPU:  from 10th generation 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i3 up to 1.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7,
• GPU: Intel Iris Plus Graphics, supports up to 1 external 6K display at 6016x3384px @60Hz,
• RAM: 8GB base, 16GB maximum
• Storage: 256GB base, 2TB maximum,
• Battery:  up to 11 hours,
• Camera: 720p FaceTime HD,
• Keyboard: Magic keyboard with scissor mechanism 😁,
• Ports: Two Thunderbolt 3,
• Price: starting at $999.

New Mac mini

• CPU:  from 3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor up to 3.2GHz 6-core Intel Core i7,
• GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 630, supports up to 1 external 5K display at 5120x2880px @60Hz,
• RAM: 8GB base, 64GB maximum
• Storage: 256GB base, 2TB maximum,
• Ports: Four Thunderbolt 3, Two USB 3 ports, HDMI 2.0 port Gigabit Ethernet port (configurable to 10Gb Ethernet) 3.5 mm headphone jack,
• Price: starting at $799.

New iPad Pro

• Display: 11-inch (2388 x 1668) or 12.9-inch (2732 x 2048) 120 Hz Liquid Retina Display with TrueTone
• CHIP: A12Z Bionic,
• RAM: 6GB,
• Storage: 128GB base, 1TB maximum,
• Battery:  up to 10 hours,
• Camera: 12MP Wide camera, 10MP Ultra Wide camera, 7MP depth camera,
• Audio: 5 studio-quality microphones for calls, video recording, and audio recording,
• Sensors: LiDAR Scanner (depth sensor),
• Price: starting at $799 for 11'' model, and $999 for 12.9'' model.

Magic Keyboard for iPad

Apple also announced a new keyboard for iPad with Trackpad:

• Full‑size, backlit keyboard with a scissor mechanism,
• Trackpad supports Multi‑Touch gestures and the cursor in iPadOS 13.4+,
• USB-C port for charging iPad Pro,
• Compatible iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd and 4th generation) & iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st and 2nd generation).

Dope Links

• Alignment guides in SwiftUI
• Anchor preferences in SwiftUI
• If you need to group values in a sequence you can use Dictionary with init(grouping:by:)
• How to Build a live markdown Editor with VueJS
• CSS / Vanilla JS Challenge | Re-create the Netflix Video Player
• Bootstrap 5 release date and what's new about it
• A set of over 300 free MIT-licensed high-quality SVG icons for you to use in your web projects
• I teamed up with a fellow redditor to try and make the best moon shot we could. Here is the result!
• How Much Toilet Paper?! - The Coronavirus Toilet Paper Calculator

Image credits: Microsoft

iOS 14,  iPadOS 14, watchOS 7 details leaked

Couple of details leaked about upcoming operating systems and new Apple's products:

iOS

• Over-ear headphones with AirPods feature are coming,
• iPhone SE 2 will have TouchID,
• AirTag might have removable battery,
• Home screen will get list view for the apps,
• New augmented reality app will display detail information about real objects,
• 3rd-party apps will be able to integrate their wallpapers with the system
• HomeKit will be able to change the color temperature of lights throughout a day.

iPadOS

• Smart keyboards with trackpads are in the works,
• iPad Pro might have triple camera system,
• Extended support for mouse pointers,
• New OCR system capable to detect text written with Apple Pencil

watchOS

• Sharing watch faces with friends & family,
• Watch face with tachymeter,
• Watch face with country flags,
• Photo watch face could be made not only out of single photos, but entire albums as well,
• Parental controls,
• Sleep tracking app,
• Blood oxygen tracking,
• WatchOS apps will be no longer be based on extensions.

New MacBooks

According to Ming-Chi Ku, couple of new MacBooks will be released in upcoming months:

1. 14- inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with Scissor Keyboards will come in second quarter,
2. MacBooks with ARM processor will come in late 2020 or early 2021.

Google Pixel 4a

New details regarding upcoming budget phone have surfaced:

• 5.8-inch (2340 x 1080) display,
• Snapdragon 730 CPU,
• 4GB or 6GB of RAM,
• Hole-punch selfie camera,
• Single 12-megapixel rear camera,
• Fingerprint sensor on the back,
• 3.5mm headphone jack,
• support for dual-sim in 6GB model,
• 3080mAh battery,
• Phone will be available in April starting  at $399.

Coronavirus vs conferences #3

This week another conferences have been affected by coronavirus:

• E3 2020 joined has been cancelled,
• Microsoft's Build 2020 has been converted to online-only event,
• WDDC 2020 will be an online experience.

Dope Links

• Drawing In SwiftUI – A Comprehensive Guide
• Integrating MapKit with SwiftUI
• Avoiding massive SwiftUI views
• How to create Activity Ring in SwiftUI
• Class-only Protocols: class or AnyObject
• Google's Swift Style Guide
• Getting started with Vue & Apollo GraphQL
• Here is what Cloudflare Workers do
• is it canceled yet?
• Re-imagining the Windows Experience

Image credits: the Hacker 34