Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker | D23 Special Look

On Monday Lucasfilm publicly released  Star Wars Episode 9 teaser trailer which has been shown to the audience at D23. In my opinion this is perfect teaser. It doesn't reveal anything related to the plot, but still keeps me hyped about the movie 😀Can't wait for mid-October when the full trailer will be revealed.

Apple improves Siri's privacy protection

Couple weeks ago, we could saw, on various services, that big companies like Apple, Google or Microsoft employed 3rd party contractors to listen to voice recordings send via Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana. This of course caused a discussion about the privacy of the voice assistant users. This week, Apple released a statement addressing that issue. The key points are following:

• Contractors will no longer listen to recordings,
• Reviewers will have access to less information about users,
• By default, written transcripts of Siri recordings will be send to Apple,
• Opting out from sending any data (including transcripts) requires disabling Siri,
• Users can opt in to also send the recordings to the Apple.

I think this is great improvement. Apple still need to have the user data to improve Siri and people can choose how they want to contribute. I'm also glad that the data will not be accessible outside the Apple, which should be the case from the very beginning.

Apple's September event

Apple started sending invites for the upcoming September event, which will take place on September 10th. What's interesting, invite itself contains colorful Apple logo, which might be hinting new color options for the iPhones.

iPhone 11 Specs Leaked

The alleged specifications for upcoming iPhone 11 lineup have leaked. This leak comes from unverified source, so I would take them with a grain of salt. Also, Banjamin Mayo from 9to5mac says it's not real.  That being said, if some of those information are somehow true, then they look interesting:

• 6GB of RAM in Pro models,
• Storage for Pro models starts from 128GB, which is significant upgrade from current 64GB,
• Much bigger battery. Basically the 11 and 11 Pro models are getting the battery with capacity from current iPhone XS Max,
• Pricing is the same as for current models 😞, but the spec is better, so at least that's an improvement.

There is also a rumor about about Apple Pencil support in iPhone Pro models, but I think, at the moment, this is only wishful thinking rather than something that could we see this year.

Well, we are going to see whether those leaks are true in couple of days.

Apple allows 3rd to repair iPhones

Apple allowed independent repair shops to fix out-of-warranty iPhones. There is a lot of controversy surrounding Apple regarding the blocking users from fixing their iPhones outside authorised services. There is event entire Right to Repair movement. Fortunately for us, Apple is slowly loosing their restrictions:

• Apple will provide genuine part replacements, tools, training and manuals.
• Independent repair shops will be allowed to repair only (for what we know at the moment) out-of-warranty iPhones,
• The shop must have an Apple certified technician that will perform the repairs.

This is great news, I hope this will be soon extended to other Apple products.

Interesting things

• Composable styling in SwiftUI
• Random SwiftUI tutorials
• Introducing URLSessionWebSocketTask - Native WebSocket implementation using Swift 5
• Github Actions CI for Swift Projects
• Cyberpunk 2077 – Deep Dive Video + Q&A panel with developers
• NetNewsWire 5.0 for  Mac
• Inside the insane deadmau5 CUBE V3!
  

Image credits: Lucasfilm

iPhone 11 Pro?

New rumors has surfaced indicating that new iPhone with triple-lens camera might get a "Pro" suffix. Now the question is whether both high-end iPhones (XS & XS Max) will get triple-lens camera. My guess is no. Simpler camera on the successor of the iPhone XS will allow Apple to address the high price, which is currently the biggest problem of the current lineup. If Apple took this approach, the next iPhone lineup would look like this:

• iPhone 11R
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro

Are those rumors true? We will see in a month.

Triple-lens camera on iPad Pro?

We know that the triple-lens camera will be, at least, in one iPhone. According to this rumors new iPad Pros should get such camera as well. This is interesting news. iPads are not used as a photo device as much as iPhones and such powerful camera doesn't make sense at the first glance. But triple-lens camera can read much more information about the depth, which is super useful for Augmented Reality. If those rumors are true and my thinking is correct, we might see some cool AR stuff from Apple in the future.

Obi-Wan TV Series?

This week we got rumors that Evan McGregor was in talks with Disney about new TV show for Disney+. What's more interesting he supposedly already signed the contract. This would be a grate surprise for upcoming D23 expo.  Are those rumors true? I really hope so. We will see next week.

Interesting links

• Using Combine
• Problem Solving with Combine Swift
• Combine framework in action - Part 1 & Part 2
• Error handling in Combine explained with code examples
• View Extensions for Better Code Readability
• Flexbox Playground

Image credits: @OnLeak

Marvel's Phase 4

During San Diego Comic Con, Marvel announced their plans for the next couple of years. The entire project is called Phased 4 and for the first time ever, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will be a combination of feature films and TV series. Here is the list of movies and TV shows we are gonna get:

• Black Widow (Movie); May 1, 2020,
• The Falcon and Winter Soldier  (TV show); Fall 2020,
• The Eternals (Movie); Nov. 6, 2020,
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Movie); Feb. 12, 2021,
• WandaVision (TV show); Spring 2021,
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Movie); May 7, 2021,
• Loki (TV show); Spring 2021,
• What If...? (Animated show); Summer 2021,
• Hawkeye (TV show); Fall 2021
• Thor 4: Love and Thunder (Movie); Nov. 5, 2021;

Beside those movies and TV shows we are gonna get new Blade, and sequels: Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3,  Captain Marvel 2. Also  a new movie, from old Fox IP, has been announced - Fantastic Four.

Netflix - The Witcher

Also during Comic Con, Netflix has released first teaser trailer to their upcoming TV series. My first impressions are very positive. It looks like, show runners are trying to recreate the dark and brutal world of the Witcher. Also main screenwriter has confirmed that TV series is solely based on the books, so game fans might be a little bit disappointed, but I like it. CD Project had their vision to Geralt's story, now its time to see a new one.

New iPhones

New rumors about upcoming iPhones surfaced. According to 9to5mac:

• Apple is going to release 3 new iPhones, successors to XS, XS Max and XR models,
• All models will still use Lightning connection instead of USB-C,
• XS and XS Max will have OLED displays and XR will still have Liquid Retina display,
• The resolution of the screens in all model will be unchanged,
• New iPhones will have new Taptic Engine, known by the codename leap haptics, but it is unclear what changes it will bring,
• XS and XS Max will have triple rear camera with ability to take wide-angle photos,
• Front facing camera will gain support for slo-mo videos at 120fps.

It looks like, this year, new iPhones will receive only a cosmetic upgrade and there is nothing to wait for ☹️

16-inch MacBook Pro Pricing

According to supply chain sources cited, Apple is going to release new MacBook Air, 13-inch and 16-inch MacBooks Pro. We already heard those rumors, but what's new is the pricing of the 16-inch model. According to those sources, new machine will cost about $3000! Also, it looks like new notebook will not get OLED display.  According to some sources it still will be using faulted Butterfly keyboard, where others say it will get a new keyboard.

Hearing those rumors make me wonder why would Apple even bother to create a brand new laptop with only one difference from current lineup - 1-inch bigger display. And yes, I know Apple could put more powerful CPU or GPU inside, but let be honest, current, maxed out 15-inch MacBook Pro is a beast. And without a brand new cooling solution, more powerful hardware is going to overheat. Maybe Apple is going to replace the 15-inch model with 16-inch keeping the form factor (dimensions) from 15-inch model and making the screen bezel-less  to fit bigger display. I'm curious what Apple is going to do to justify the pricing and the existence of this model.

Apple acquired Intel's modem devision

This week, Apple announced that it has signed an agreement with Intel regarding purchasing the majority of Intel's smartphone modem business. Apple will take over not only the intellectual property and equipment but also over 2000 employees.The entire transaction is valued at $1 billion.

This is a smart move for Apple. Right now, Apple relies on Qualcomm and the relationship between those two companies recently have not been so good.

Interesting links

• What I Like About Vue
• Building Vue.js UI Components With HTML Semantics in Mind
• C# or Java? TypeScript or JavaScript? Machine learning based classification of programming languages
• GeometryReader to the Rescue
• 4 tips to master XCTestExpectation
• When a rewrite isn’t: rebuilding Slack on the desktop
• 25 Years of PHP (by the Creator of PHP)
• Cities: Skylines is Turing Complete
• How to survive an open office
• The Untold Story Behind Astroneer's Difficult Development

Image credits: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Pixel 4

Google just tweeted an image of the Pixel 4, a phone that has not been officially announced and will not ship until October. This is probably Google's answer to a lot of leaks surrounding this phone. It might be unusual, but in my opinion, it is very smart move. As people already saw the phone, they might as well see it in high definition photo.

Also there another aspect of this "leak". As you can see, the new Pixel 4 has square camera bump, almost the same as new iPhone suppose to have. I'm wondering whether Google is trying to say, hey we were first.

iPhone 2020

We didn't even get this year's iPhone, but we already have rumors about its successor. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is planning to release 3 models:

• High-end 5.4' with OLED display and 5G,
• High-end 6.7' with OLED display and 5G,
• Low-end 6.1' with OLED display.

It looks like the equivalent of the current iPhone XS will be downsized, where equivalent of the iPhone XS Max will be even bigger. The XR model will be untouched in terms of size, but it will gain the OLED display.

To be honest, I don't like those changes. The current size of the iPhone XS is perfect for me, and I don't want to get neither bigger or smaller phone.  

New MacBooks

The Eurasian Economic Commission database is amazing source if you want to know what companies are planing to release. This time the information about several models of portable computers from Apple have pop up.  

As 15' MacBook Pros have already been refreshed, it means that probably the 12' MacBook, MacBook Air or even 13' MacBook Pro are going to get the update.  Also, there are rumors about brand new 16' MacBook Pro, but I personally doubt we are going to see it this year.

Interesting links

• Vue 3.0: What Evan You & Chris Fritz Say You Should Expect
• Vue 3 will change Vue in a big way - Current Syntax to be deprecated - Composition functions will eventually be the only way to build Vue components
• Vue's Darkest Day
• How to Design for the Web in 2019
• Rendering SwiftUI views to HTML
• An Introduction to Flutter
• Always be closing!
• An oral history of the hamburger icon (from the people who were there)
• I turned my Tesla into a pickup truck

Image credits: Google

2019 iPhone design

Mark Gurman tweeted a photo of alleged case molds for upcoming iPhones. Those molds align with previous rumors and shows much bigger, square camera bump. The bigger bump could be justified on the next iPhone XS ans XS Max, which are suppose to get 3 rear cameras, but XR model, despite the rumors about having only 2 cameras, also has square bump, almost the same size as XS will have.

Next Star Wars movies

Last week we got confirmation of the next Star Wars trilogy. This week, Bob Iger confirmed the rumors that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Games of Thrones show runners, will create next movie.  I'm stoked to see next movies, but looking at the turmoil the last season of Games of Thrones created I'm also a little bit worried.

Beside this, we also got more detailed release dates:

• Part 1 - 16th December 2022
• Part 2 - 20th December 2024
• Part 3 - 18th December 2026

3rd Star Wars TV show

Bob Iger also revealed that during 3 years break from the movies we will get 3 Star Wars TV shows. So far we know about The Mandalorian and Cassian Andor series. The third one was a surprise and becomes an interesting mystery.

App Store Monopoly Lawsuit Against Apple

The U.S. Supreme Court decided to proceed with the class action lawsuit against Apple. The lawsuit was filed in 2011 by some iPhone users who believe that Apple violates federal antitrust laws by requiring apps to be sold only through  the App Store. This allows Apple to collects a 30% cut from all purchases, which leads to inflated prices of the applications.

Long story short, iPhone users believe that apps would be priced lower outside of the App Store, as Apple's 30 percent cut would not be calculated into  prices.

I have mixed filings about this. I agree that 30% cut is a big one and it didn't change since the beginning of the AppStore, but I also doubt that apps would be priced differently outside of the AppStore.  

Interesting links

• When will Starman return to Earth?
• Apollo 11 HoloLens 2 Demo | Microsoft Build 2019 | Unreal Engine
• God of War - Raising Kratos: Full Length Feature
• Reinventing God of War
• Marvel's Spider-Man: A Technical Postmortem
• How Video-Game Engines Help Create Visual Effects on Movie Sets in Real Time
• What to Expect From Marzipan
• I am a Web Dev. And I am Burnt The F#*K Out
• Node, Express, PostgreSQL, Vue 2 and GraphQL CRUD Web App
• Serverless Authentication with AWS Amplify and Vuex Modules
• You should never ever run directly against Node.js in production. Maybe.
• LEGO Stranger Things

Image credits: Mark Gurman