Vector

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iPod touch 7 (2019): The Breakdown May 23, 2019

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The original iPod touch launched just a few months after the original iPhone, way back in September of 2007. And for a few years, while the iPod touch never quite matched the feature set of the iPhone, it at least received updates of its own, up to and including the 4th generation in 2010 which, finally, you know, got a camera not just on the front but on the back as well.

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Huawei Ban & Apple Retaliation: The Deep Dive May 22, 2019

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It's general and broad in language but is widely believed to be very specific in intent: To prevent the deployment of Huawei networking infrastructure in the U.S., including and especially the current 5G rollout.

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Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain. It's long and I'll link it and everything else relevant in the description, but the gist is he thinks foreign adversaries are creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in network infrastructure and that doing business with them augments the security risk, potentially catastrophically, so doing that kind of business is being prohibited. It's general and broad in language but is widely believed to be very specific in intent: To prevent the deployment of Huawei networking infrastructure in the U.S., including and especially the current 5G rollout.

8-Core MacBook Pro 2019 Update is Here! May 22, 2019

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Apple just right now announcing some new MacBook Pros for 2019. I had the chance to chat with them briefly about the updates and, while I'm still waiting on all the exact details, there are a couple big things worth covering right now. (And, of course, I'll link to all those details in the description.)

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New MacBook Pro 2019 updates are here! | iMore

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AirPort 2019: Why Apple Should Get Back Into the Home May 18, 2019

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Rumor has it Apple just may be introducing their own, Tile-like tags later this year. Ones that we'll be able to use to locate things like our keys, wallets, and bags, as easily as we find our friends and devices today. In the exact same, soon-to-be-unified app, as a matter of fact.

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iPhone 11 R: The Breakdown May 17, 2019

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You know the iPhone XR? The one biz pubs like the Wall Street Journal insisted on calling "struggling" but then turned out to be best-sellers for reasons obvious to pretty much everyone else on the planet? Yeah, that one. Well, big surprise, it looks like Apple's less expensive, more colorful iPhone will be getting a sequel. iPhone 11R? iPhone XR2? We won't know for sure until Tim Cook or Phil Schiller announces it this September on the big, annual iPhone event stage.

But, we're already getting a bunch of rumors, enough to sort of squint and tilt our heads, and get a fuzzy picture of what'll be coming our way this fall.

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Apple: Accessibility is a Human Right May 16, 2019

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"When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don't consider the bloody ROI."

That's one of my favorite Tim Cook quotes ever, because it's fiery and passionate and filled with righteous indignation. It's not a side of Apple's CEO we see almost ever. He's typically the definition of cool and collected. But, when he feels that our core human rights under assault, be it security, privacy, or accessibility, that Tim Cook comes out.

And yes, Tim Cook's Apple believes accessibility is a human right.

For people who have low or no vision, low or no hearing, low or no interactivity, primarily and absolutely. But also for people who've been injured and temporarily can't use their dominant hand, are trying to watch Brooklyn 99 and the kids… or parents, just won't stop talking, children who are trying to learn their first language or anyone trying to learn new languages, people who have just had surgery and you can't move around a lot, or, like me right now, are suffering with what I can only assume are flood exacerbated allergies or infections that's led me not to be able to see my phone or laptop properly at times, even drive, or do these videos.

Even for people who just want their device to be the way they want it. Bigger, smaller, brighter, darker, calmer, clearer, louder, lower, whatever. Because accessibility is also for everyone. Not just every day but any day you, me, anyone needs it.

And because today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, I had the opportunity to chat with Sarah Herrlinger, Apple's Director Global Accessibility Policy & Initiatives, about not just how important accessibility is to the company in theory, and not just how they implement it across their increasingly wide range of products and services, and for a diverse user base that represents a significant percentage of the world's population, but how and why the evangelize it so that it becomes part of the conversation, of the table stakes, for everyone.

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Apple's NEW TV app: The deep dive! May 13, 2019

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Apple has a whole new TV app coming today and I managed to get a sneak preview of it up and running on Apple TV, iPad, Samsung TV, and over AirPlay 2 to some other TVs, and get a feel for not just how but, how well, it all works.

Yeah, sure, TV+ has all the glitz and glamor and Aniston and Oprah, Spielberg and Momoa, but that's not coming until September.

What's coming today, or at least starting today, is the new TV app proper that's meant to not only contain it, but serve as a new age digital hub, collecting together everything else you want to watch all in one place so you never have to go hunting and pecking for content ever again.

Well, almost everything and almost never....

Let's jump into it.

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App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple Books availability - Apple Support

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iPhone 11 Camera: The Breakdown May 12, 2019

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I've already done a video on all the iPhone 11 rumors that have been floating around since… well, roughly 42 nanoseconds after the iPhone XS was introduced. But this year, perhaps more than any other, the iPhone 11 rumors just keep coming and almost all of them focus on the new camera system coming with it.

And it makes total sense. The iPhone XS has a good camera and a terrific video camera, but since it was announced Google has released the Pixel 3 with Night Vision, Samsung has put out the Galaxy S10 with a three camera system, and Huawei has escalated with a periscope lens and time of flight system.

Competition is fierce.

So, how is Apple planning to retaliate?

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MacBook Pro 2019: The Breakdown... and the Fix! May 10, 2019

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Like I said on Michael Fisher's channel last week, when I first reviewed the new MacBook Pro back at the end of 2016, I called it the love/hate future of laptops. Love, because we finally had a new design, terrific wide-gamut displays, Touch ID, and super fast, super forward-thinking USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Hate, because unlike the previous version with its function row and scissor switch keyboard, the new Touch Bar and butterfly and dome keyboard proved to be incredibly divisive. And that's just not tenable when you want or need to use macOS and Final Cut Pro X and there's only one vendor to choose from.

But, there are rumors of a new MacBook Pro coming our way. One that, like the iPhone X, shrinks the bezels to expand the screen size — in this case, up to 16-inches. And one that maybe, just maybe, ditches the butterfly and dome keyboard and full-height arrow keys for something with more click, an actual ESC, and an inverted T.

Now, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up. I don't want to create any expectational debt. The rumors have been few and very far between. We could end up with a spec bump again and membrane 2.0. Or with nothing. But maybe, just maybe, the same Apple that released the iMac Pro, finally updated the Mac mini, and hired a full-on Pro Workflows team to really pound on their bits and atoms before the public ever gets exposed to them… Maybe, just maybe that Apple has gotten its Mac mojo back.

So, because the rumors are so sparse but the tension in the community is kinda high, I'm going to do something different in this video. Usually, I'm a big believer in not stating solutions I think I want but rather problems I have because there could be better solutions for those problems that I've just never thought of.

This time, though, I'm going to lay things out. And loud. Not just from a customer wishlist perspective, because we customers want it all. Bigger battery but lighter. More tech but lower price. No matter how contradictory that might be. No, I want to think about it from an actual product point of view — what could the people in charge of the MacBook Pro do to really meet the needs of the vast majority of MacBook Pro customers?

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Powerbeats Pro Review: 24 Hours Later May 08, 2019

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Powerbeats Pro in black are available for order now and shipping this month. The other colors — yes, unlike AirPods, they also come in navy blue, moss green, and ivory white, though sadly not Product red, at least not yet — will be available later this summer.

They cost $250, which is $90 more than AirPods, or $50 more than AirPods with the inductive charging case.

That can cause some sticker shock, especially if you're used to making your purchase decisions strictly based on audio quality.

With Powerbeats Pro, though, like AirPods, what you're really paying for is the tiny tech squeezed inside. The H1 chip, the sensors, and everything else that lets them pair easily and power on quick and long.

So, are they worth it? It's going to take me a week or so to put together a full review, especially for battery life and sound and call quality, but if you want to buy now, now, now and you're trying to decide, here's what I can tell you after just 24 hours ears-on.

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