Benjamin Mayo

The Wall Street Journal has published new reporting on the backstory of Jony Ive’s gradual departure from the Apple. The report says Ive pushed for the company to make the Apple Watch, despite disagreement from other executives, and dived into watch development meetings with the design team almost every day before it launched.

However, after the watch shipped, the report describes how Jony Ive began to drift away from Apple, stalling processes and sometimes not turning up to meetings, frustrating the teams who had worked hard to get materials ready for approval.

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Apple boasted its domestic manufacturing achievements with the 2013 Mac Pro, which was manufactured in Austin, Texas, and bore an ‘Assembled in the USA’ label.

Apple was mum on its sourcing for the 2019 Mac Pro when it announced the machine earlier this month, which heavily implied that it had given up on its USA factory and was returning to China. The Wall Street Journal reports this is indeed the case.

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Last night, Apple’s announcement of Jony Ive’s departure from the company was a shock to the outside world. But a Bloomberg report indicates that, internally, Ive has been reducing his workload ever since the launch of the Apple Watch.

Bloomberg says Ive design team meetings were taking place in San Francisco, to reduce Ive’s commute times. Ive was only coming to Apple headquarters a few times a week.

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Continuing its custom election coverage, Apple is launching a new guide in Apple News featuring the Democratic candidates in the run-up to the 2020 elections in the United States.

The special section features content from a diverse set of news sources with primers for each candidate who has qualified for the first debate, detailing the candidate’s biography, stance on key issues, and associated news coverage.

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TwelveSouth today launched a new accessory for iPhone and AirPods owners: the Twelve South HiRise Wireless. It’s the latest incarnation of their popular HiRise vertical stand.

The vertical stand features a Qi charging pad, holding your phone upright on your desk whilst it wirelessly charges. The Qi ‘Power Disc’ is independent and can be removed from the stand if you want to take it without you on-the-go to charge your iPhone or AirPods.

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According to an industry report from IHS Market, published by Forbes, Apple is set to launch a new 16-inch MacBook Pro later this year.

The report claims a 3072×1920 resolution, up from the 2880×1800 panel found in Apple’s 15-inch laptops since the first Retina MacBook Pro in 2012. As the 15-inch MacBook Pro was refreshed already this year, with newer processors and a revised keyboard design, people are expecting the 16-inch to forge a new, separate, tier in Apple’s product lineup. This suggests a price point around $3000.

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The US/Chinese trade war has sent ripples of concern throughout big corporations. Apple has relied almost exclusively on Chinese manufacturing and assembly for its product lines for many years, and has been particularly exposed to the recent rounds of tariffs on Chinese exports.

Nikkei reports that Apple is talking with suppliers and is in early stages of a ‘fundamental restructuring’ of its supply chain. Apple has reportedly asked suppliers to price out the cost of moving 15-30% of production out of China.

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Since the first version, Apple Watch has shipped with a lot of stock apps on the honeycomb grid. watchOS 6 adds even more; App Store, Audiobooks, Calculator, Cycle Tracking, Noise, and Voice Memos.

To date, Apple Watch users have not been able to cleanup their home screens and delete these stock apps, like has been possible with Apple’s apps on iOS for a while now. However, TechCrunch reports that this will change later this year with watchOS 6’s public release.

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Although strangely not mentioned in Apple’s WWDC keynote, tvOS 13 beta 2 has a nice surprise: support for Picture-in-Picture video playback.

You can now watch shows from the Apple TV app whilst multitasking around the rest of the operating system. Just like the iPad, Apple TV users can leave the video playing in a thumbnail window whilst they navigate the rest of the operating system.

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Ming-Chi Kuo today released a report discussing the 2020 iPhone lineup. As expected, Kuo says that Apple is set to launch the first 5G iPhones later next year. The analyst also says that all three models will feature OLED displays. The report says the new phones will come in 6.7-inch, 5.4-inch, and 6.1-inch screen sizes.

The 6.1-inch OLED model is apparently the successor to the iPhone XR (or whatever this year’s 2019 LCD 6.1-inch iPhone is called) and will support LTE only. The new 6.7-inch and 5.4-inch phones would support 5G mobile data.

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Apple is looking to beef up its original content offering with around six small-budget movies. Apple has pitched TV+ as the place for original TV shows and movies, but has mostly focused on its TV efforts so far. The New York Post says Apple wants to spend between $5-$30 million on a handful of shows with aspirations for Oscar nominations and awards.

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The Activbody Activ5 is a portable fitness device that helps track your progress with isometric workouts. With HealthKit integration and a companion Watch app in mind, Apple is now selling the accessory at its US retail and online stores.

Unlike a typical workout like running or weightlifting, isometric sets are static — you don’t move. They involve applying pressure against your own body, holding the position and maintaining the intensity of your strength pushing against yourself.

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Twitterrific has just released the next major version of their Twitter client for iPhone and iPad, version 6. The app brings many new features and improvements to the popular alternative Twitter client, as well as a new business model.

With Twitterrific 6, all features are usable for free. However, the app will feature ads and occasional prompts to upgrade. Users can upgrade to remove ads by signing up for a subscription or buying a $30 in-app Purchase.

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In iOS 13, integrated into the Apple Maps app on your iPhone, you can you share your journey status with personal contacts in a feature called Share ETA.

The recipient receives the address of your destination and your expected arrival time. What’s really cool about this feature is that the estimated time of arrival (ETA) will update automatically, so you can see if they hit traffic or otherwise get delayed.

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In a surprise announcement, Apple has cancelled plans to open a large data center in Aabenraa, Denmark. The news was posted on the local town’s website. Apple is looking to sell off the land and leave the site completely.

The Aabenraa site was set to be Apple’s second data center in Denmark, first announced in July 2017. The company is also working on a facility in the city of Viborg …

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Update: The copy has been changed to ‘Coming This Fall,’ hinting that the September mention was indeed an error.

When Apple announced the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR last week, the company would only say that the products are launching this ‘fall’. The fall date was noted in both Apple’s keynote and press releases.

However, if you look at the Apple homepage right now, there’s a link to get notified about forthcoming Mac Pro news. If you click that link, a box appears that readily states the new Mac Pro is coming in September.

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