Weekly digest - 2019.30

29 July 2019

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

Image credits: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Weekly digest - 2019.25

24 June 2019

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

Image credits: Google

Weekly digest - 2019.23

10 June 2019

WWDC 2019 is over. Now, it's time to summarised the new things that have been announced.

iOS 13

As always we got a new version of the iOS. Last year, Apple focused on bug fixes and performance, this year we got a new features. Here is the list of the major changes coming this September:

Dark Mode,
Improved Photos and Camera apps,
Improved privacy and security,
Sign In with Apple,
New Maps app,
Improved voice of Siri powered by neural TTS (Text to Speech),
New Memoji and Memoji Stickers,
QuickPath - a new Swype keyboard,
New Reminders app,
Redesign CarPlay
Faster unlocking with FaceID and faster app launches,

Those are the major changes. If you want to see what else have changed, check out this list or this video.

iPadOS

When new iPad Pros came out, people unanimously agreed that the raw power of the hardware was limited by the operating system. During WWDC, Apple acknowledge this problem, and addressed it by creating a new operating system - iPadOS. Although iPadOS is, right now, the iOS 13, Apple added some cool new features, which might be the first step into creating an iPad a true device that can replace a computer:

Slide Over and Split View,
Multiple instances of the same application,
App Exposé,
New Home Screen with widgets,
New Tool Palette for Apple Pencil,
Full-Page Markup allows to take screenshots of entire document or website,
Brand new text editing gestures,
Floating keyboard,
Sidecar allows to extend workspace by using an iPad as a second Mac display,
Redesigned Files App with support for external drives and file servers,
Mouses are now supported,
Safari on iPad is now a desktop class browser with download manager,
And it also contains all the changes introduced in iOS 13.

Those are only the major changes. The full list is available here.

This is huge release for iPad. Apple tackled most of the complaints people had after iPad Pro premiere.

macOS 10.15

Latest version of the mac operating system is named Catalina. Like the rest, it also comes with cool new features:

iTunes is gone and will be replaced by 3 separate applications for Music, Podcasts and TV,
Supported iPad applications can be run natively on macOS thanks to project Catalyst (formerly known as Marzipan),
Sidecar allows to extend workspace by using an iPad as a second Mac display,
ScreenTime is now also built into macOS,
FindMy combine functionality of Find My iPhone and Fid My Friends,
Approve with Apple Watch allows to authenticate or approve operations on the Mac from the Apple Watch,
Voice control allows to control the Mac with voice commands,
Notes and reminders app has been redesigned,
macOS comes with ZSH as a default shell instead of Bash.

The full list of changes is available here.

watchOS 6

Changes made to watchOS as not as spectacular as for other systems, but they are definitely the nice step forward:

AppStore for watch allows to install apps independently from iPhone,
Activity Trends allows to track activity progress over time,
Cycle tracking is a new app dedicated for women,
Hearing health monitors the level of noise and alert a user when it's too loud,
And as always new watch faces, but still no custom ones 😢.

New Mac Pro

Apple has finally showed us the new Mac Pro. Apple listened to criticism and delivered truly powerful and modular computer. The top specification is mind-blowing:

28-Core 2.5GHz Intel Xeon W with Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz
1.5TB of DDR4 ECC RAM,
2 AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo cards with total of 128GB of memory,
4TB SSD,
1.4 KW PSU,
Eight PCI Express expansion slots,
Afterburner card for accelerating ProRes and ProRes RAW footage manipulation,
I/O card with 2 USB3 and 2 thunderbolt ports,
Two 10Gb Ethernet ports,
802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0,
Built-in speaker and 3.5 mm headphone jack.

This computer is a beats. It's both luxurious and powerful at the same time. Unfortunately not many people will be able to afford this computer. Even the base model starts at $6000, so the maxed out version will be around $30k. Despite the price, I'm really glad to see that Apple listened and created both modular and powerful computer.

Pro Display XDR

Alongside with Mac Pro Apple also announced new Display. Here is the specification:

32-inch display
Resolution: 6016 x 3384 pixels (6K)
Brightness: 1000 nits sustained, 1600 nits peak,
Contrast ratio: 1,000,000:1,
Color: P3 wide color gamut, 10-bit depth for 1.073 billion colors,

This monitor, with both specification and pricing, is definitely dedicated for professionals. The version with standard glass costs $5999 and the version Nano-texture (antireflective) glass costs $6999. Both prices are only for the displays as the stand is not included in the box. The dedicated stand costs $999 and visa adapter "only" $199.

Lack of the stand caused a small outrage over the Internet. As I mentioned before, this monitor is dedicated for professionals and apparently selling products without obvious elements is a common practice 🙁

Interesting links

Image credits: Apple

Weekly digest - 2019.14

8 April 2019

This week I want to try a different approach to weekly digest. Instead of trying to keep it as one coherent piece, today, I will break it into separate sections. I believe this will make it more clear to see what actually happened each week and it should also make writing it easier. Those are the goals I want to verify with this little experiment.

Powerbeats Pro

One weeks after Apple's new AirPods release, Beats announced new truly wireless Powerbeats Pro. We knew they were coming, but now it is official, and we have the launch date. They are coming in May, in 20 countries, for about $250. Here are some features of the new earbuds:

up tp 9 hours of listening time,
Apple's H1 chip with for quick connection and hands-free “Hey Siri”,
Sweat and watter resistant,
Physical and programmable control buttons,
Automatic pause and resume,
Charging case, which work similarly to AirPods' case,
23% smaller and 17% lighter than its predecessor,
Come in 4 colors: Black, Ivory, Moss and Navy.

The are a little pricey, but I'm waiting for them.
I was waiting patiently for sport version of the AirPods, but they've never come. Also, when I was fitting the AirPods, they were loose in my ears, so they would probably fall during the training. Powerbeats doesn't have this problem as they were design for athletes.
Beside the price, there is one more thing I don't like. It is the lightning jack on the charging case. I really wished Apple/Beats would finally switched to USB-C with all their products.

Visual Studio 2019

Microsoft has released the next version of its main development IDE. For me, the new IntelliSense powered by an AI is mind-blowing. Also live sharing built into the IDE looks awesome. There are many more new features and improvements, which you can check here.

Cloudflare free VPN

Cloudflare has added free VPN into its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver app. What's interesting this is not a traditional VPN service. Usually the main reason we use VPNs it to trick websites and services into thinking wee are accessing them from a different location. That's no the case with Cloudflare’s service. Instead, the VPN works behind the scenes to increase speed and privacy.
This is different approach, but as long as it is keeping us safe I approve it.

List of interesting things

Image credits: Apple.

Weekly digest - 2019.11

17 March 2019

This week World Wide Web turned 30 years old :). I think when Tim Berners-Lee created first WWW site, he didn't know how much he would change the world. Today it is in the center of our life. It's not only a source of information or entertainment. We shop there, we trust our savings in electronic bank. We not only earn money over Internet, but sometimes we even trust it with our lives.
Without a doubt world would not be the same without the WWW. Let's only hope that personal agendas of the politicians won't destroy it.

This week Tesla completed their S3XY car lineup with the brand new model Y. This model is a compact SUV, but it doesn't look like one. It's basically a bigger version of Model 3. The new car will be available in 2020 with price starting at $39,000 for model with 230 miles range. The 300 miles range model will cost $49,000 and the Performance version will cost $60,000.
SUVs are one of the most popular cars out there. We will see whether the people are interested enough in the electric one to boost Tesla's position on the market.

Apple finally announced the WDDC 2019. This year, conference will take place in the first week of June (3rd - 7th) in San Jose. This year's conference should be the interesting one. Of course we will get our first glimpse at iOS 13 and macOS 15. But I think we, as developers, are all waiting for more details about project Marzipan, as well as long awaited Mac Pro and maybe even rumored new MacBook Pro.

Microsoft announced that Windows will be able uninstall broken updates. This is the good step forward, especially after issues with last October update, but I'm wondering how fast we will see reports about this tool making even more harm than good.

Thats all for this week. If you want more, here is the list of interesting things.

The iOS Dev Directory

Ralph Küpper - Running Small Microservices in Swift on Production Environment

A little thread on generating and rendering a procedural trajectory mesh

Creating the Blockade Runner Engine Look for Rogue One

Designing Star Wars: Star Wars Resistance

Someone is recreating Star Wars: Dark Forces... in Unreal Engine 4

Real-Time AR Self-Expression with Machine Learning

A JavaScript-Free Frontend

Learning React Hooks by building a game - react.games Preview

Direct uploads to AWS S3 from the browser (crazy performance boost)

10 Programming Terms in Normal Human Language