Apple news

[Fabricated]

Edit by Trippy: general thread for Apple news that doesn't warrant its own topic

I'm hoping they fuck the Macbook Pro up really bad this Thursday. I hope the dumb thing I heard where they might replace the F keys with a touch-sensitive OLED screen thing is true, and that they replace all of the connections with USB-C so I can watch people try to defend it.

[Trippy]

I'm looking forward to all the tears from OS X/macOS vi users

[Yegolev]

wait what

[Sky]

Long time Apple users have no right to be surprised by Apple's dick moves. They do it constantly. It's one of the most entertaining things about Apple.

[HaemishM]

But will it have a headphone jack? 

[Hawkbit]

I'm looking forward to all the tears from OS X/macOS vi users

Yes, vim users I follow on twitter have flooded my feed with their concern. I think someone suggested Apple release an escape key dongle for $139. 

[Trippy]

wait what

MacBook Pros that are to be announced tomorrow will almost certainly have a touchbar replacing the function keys. This has been rumored for a while and was revealed in images hidden in the latest macOS update.



That means the ESC key will no longer be a dedicated hardware key. The latest macOS update also includes a way to remap the ESC key to a modifier key but that's a poor workaround if you want to use a dedicated hardware key, especially since any real Unix person already has the Caps Lock key remapped to be Control.
 

[Chimpy]

If escape was not removed it would be fine. Lenovo X1 Carbons don't have a function key row and I have never heard anyone who has them in our office complain.

Not having escape is fucking weird as shit but, whatever.

[Surlyboi]

[Yegolev]

I do have a regular-sized Appley USB keyboard that already has more keys than the MBP, so I'll easily ignore this until something (I can't imagine what) compels me to get a new MBP.

[01101010]

But will it have a headphone jack? 

Annnnd, it does. And is not compatible with the iPhone7 headphones without another cable and/or adapter. lulz

[schild]

Can we talk about how Microsoft kicked Apples fucking teeth in and are making Paint great again?

[Surlyboi]

Can we talk about how Microsoft kicked Apples fucking teeth in and are making Paint great again?

[Jeff Kelly]

€2600 for the base 15 inch model. That's €400 more than I paid for my 2013 MacBook Pro and that one has double the SSD capacity (512 vs. 256) of the new one and had the best graphics chip already.

To get the same option set as I did with my old one I'd have to pay €3200 or a cool $1200 more than I paid for my 2013 model (which was already quite expensive to begin with). WTF Apple. For that price I expect gilded escape keys not some shitty oled  touch bar.

[Yegolev]

Can we talk about how Microsoft kicked Apples fucking teeth in and are making Paint great again?

Is there someone out there waiting for Paint to improve?  Lots of projects on hold until that happens?

[schild]

Can we talk about how Microsoft kicked Apples fucking teeth in and are making Paint great again?

Is there someone out there waiting for Paint to improve?  Lots of projects on hold until that happens?

God it's not even worth humor. Of course there isn't. They had no reason whatsoever to update it. And yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxyufNrH4Mw

Kids, man. Actual children. Put them in front of that shit.

[Yegolev]

Related: Humans exist that still think a backwards cap is cool?

Those people were obviously morons.

[Viin]

Related: Humans exist that still think a backwards cap is cool?

Those people were obviously morons.

Everything changes, everything is the same.

[Fabricated]

They did indeed fuck up the Macbook Pro. Glorious.

It's gonna be funny watching UNIX greybeard types have to stare at their keyboards using emacs/vim if they insist on one of these monstrosities. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Dongle is $50. You couldn't possibly be more owned if you're a Mac-haver and wanting to "upgrade".

Steve would have brutally slain any engineer who dared show him that touch bar.

[Surlyboi]

Steve would have brutally slain any engineer who dared show him that touch bar.

No he wouldn't have. He would've demanded more from it though.

[schild]

Blind people will never behold the glory of an input interface that is a touchbar.

I'm seriously confused by the current direction Apple is going with hardware.

[Trippy]

It's gonna be funny watching UNIX greybeard types have to stare at their keyboards using emacs/vim if they insist on one of these monstrosities.

Real emacs users don't care about the missing hardware ESC key -- only n00bs use that instead of a proper meta key.

Edit: hardware, that is

[HaemishM]

God it's not even worth humor. Of course there isn't. They had no reason whatsoever to update it. And yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxyufNrH4Mw

What in the actual fuck did I just watch?

[Bunk]

[MrHat]

God it's not even worth humor. Of course there isn't. They had no reason whatsoever to update it. And yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxyufNrH4Mw

What in the actual fuck did I just watch?

Eh, it looks cool other than the 30 year old corporate kids.

Shame the input lag shows even in their sales videos though.

[Sky]

Steve would have brutally slain any engineer who dared show him that touch bar.

No he wouldn't have. He would've demanded more from it though.

It's a great concept and eventually touch screen interfaces are going to be a standard thing. Having configurable buttons by app/task is just waaay too useful. Never mind it's not a new thing, Apple can claim they invented it :) But I give them credit for getting it out in front of a lot of consumers to push adoption for better solutions :)

[Trippy]

esc key is in the wrong orientation and the cable needs to be shorter

[schild]

esc key is in the wrong orientation and the cable needs to be shorter

It's the correct orientation of Apple's hilariously bad escape key here:

http://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4973/as-images.apple.com/is/image/AppleInc/aos/published/images/M/B1/MB110LL/MB110LL?wid=1200&hei=630&fmt=jpeg&qlt=95&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.5,0.5,0,0&iccEmbed=0&layer=comp&.v=-_ykn1

But I agree, the cable should be so short that it's...

attached to the keyboard

[Trippy]

No it's not. That cable is too short (and stiff) to be bent at a 90 degree angle easily so that ESC key is effectively rotated 90 degrees when in use. I.e. it's in "portrait" orientation rather than "landscape" orientation.

[ezrast]

It's 2016. Just make it wireless.

[Yegolev]

My mid-2015 MBP polishes its case with your tears.

[Sky]

I have one of those in near-pristine condition that my Director somehow corrupted so it will randomly shut off and not turn on for a week. Then work fine for a couple hours.

Bought her a new one (which is fine so far), but I'd reeeally like to use the old one as a brain for a home studio...

[Venkman]

Steve would have brutally slain any engineer who dared show him that touch bar.

No he wouldn't have. He would've demanded more from it though.

It's a great concept and eventually touch screen interfaces are going to be a standard thing. Having configurable buttons by app/task is just waaay too useful. Never mind it's not a new thing, Apple can claim they invented it :) But I give them credit for getting it out in front of a lot of consumers to push adoption for better solutions :)

But they're not. The screen is nice, and the USB-C thing is understandable to people who follow Apple. But the touchbar seems like some CE company's gimic, a point of differentiation derived from a "we need something different" desparation move, not a "we need to move computer users forward in a meaningful way". More of the mouse puck and less of a multitouch track pad.

That's ok though. Apple's made some dumb moves over the decades and people still buy their shit because it's a religion.

But they've been having it tough the last two years as their flagship stock price driver plateaued, their wearable has dominant marketshare in a business nobody really cares all that much about, and they haven't reinvented anythings they or others say they're reinventing (notably music, TV, and movies).

I suspect it's just because they're timid. Steve Jobs was a very special person. You can't really train the kind of skill he had, the reality distortion field that was his innate leadership style (make people believe it, and it's that belief that makes it possible). Can't really blame Tim Cook for not having the same quality because, like, 99% of humanity doesn't either

[MahrinSkel]

Read an article about this recently, that I can't find now. Essentially, there's only room for one visionary at the top echelon of a company, and they surround themselves with people who are excellent at execution, but hopelessly inadequate at imagination. Then the 'Visionary' that was supplying all the ambition and imagination leaves/retires/dies, and the company left behind is this exquisitely tuned organizational device designed to take the ideas from the top and make them happen...but the guy at the top doesn't really have any now. Or at least, he doesn't know the 'secret sauce' the visionary used to sort out the wild brainstorming shit and turn it into The Vision.

So he's left with just grabbing onto random shit that enters his head and trying to impose it into reality. Stuff that looks sort of like the crazy, 'courageous', reality-distorting ideas that made the company great, but ultimately are just pointless.

--Dave

[Surlyboi]

Steve would have brutally slain any engineer who dared show him that touch bar.

No he wouldn't have. He would've demanded more from it though.

It's a great concept and eventually touch screen interfaces are going to be a standard thing. Having configurable buttons by app/task is just waaay too useful. Never mind it's not a new thing, Apple can claim they invented it :) But I give them credit for getting it out in front of a lot of consumers to push adoption for better solutions :)

Personally, I've been waiting for something like this since Art Lebedev tossed out that concept keyboard with the OLED displays for keys. Is it the best iteration of a thing? No, but it's a start.

Also, the salt from the neckbeards is amazing.