Macworld

The Mac Pro is here. Let’s talk about Apple’s new Mac. Plus, iPhone rumors, the Golden Globes, and your hot takes. All this and more on this episode of the Macworld Podcast.

This is episode 679 with Jason Cross , Leif Johnson, and Roman Loyola.

Listen to episode 679

To read this article in full, please click here

Earbud makers have been busy doing away with wires—a good thing whether or not your phone still has a headset jack. You no longer have to deal with cords if you don’t want to. True wireless earbuds connect to one another and your audio source via Bluetooth.

No wires mean no inline microphones or controls, but truly wireless earbuds sound just as good as traditional Bluetooth counterparts (for better or worse). They also boast all of the features we’ve come to expect from earbuds designed to work with your smartphone, tablet, or PC.

Since Apple’s AirPods became a runaway hit, an endless stream of companies have rolled out their own true wireless earbuds and earphones. As you might expect, not all of them are worth your time or money—so we’ve got your back with buying suggestions to meet a wide variety of needs.

To read this article in full, please click here

The Mac Pro is Apple’s workstation. It’s designed for professionals who need a powerful and flexible machine, and is ideal for applications that use as many processing cores as possible—video-editing applications, image-editing software, 3D programs, and the like.

The Mac Pro is getting a revival of sorts. The company released a brand-new, redesigned Mac Pro in December 2019, after years of stagnation with the previous, cylindrical Mac Pro.

Apple

Apple doesn't offer a standard configuration choices for the Mac Pro. It's really meant to be customized by the customer. To give you an idea of where pricing starts: if you configure the Mac Pro with the base components, it's $5,999. Learn more about the Mac Pro by reading about its main features below.

To read this article in full, please click here

The new Mac Pro is finally ready to order and ship, and it’s undeniably one of the fastest PCs ever made. But all that speed is going to cost you.

We already knew that the Mac Pro started at $5,999, and that base model is nothing to sneeze at. You get a 3.5GHz 8‑core Intel Xeon W processor, 32GB of DDR4 ECC memory, a Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, and 256GB SSD storage, all wrapped in a gorgeous stainless steel enclosure with feet. Want wheels instead of feet? That’ll cost you an extra $399. What about AppleCare? Tack on another $299.

Of course, the Pro Display XDR is another $4,999, and the Pro Stand to go with it costs an additional $999. And if you want the special nano-texture glass that brings a matte finish, it’ll cost you a thousand bucks. All said, you’re not getting out of the store without dropping more than $10,000. Most people will probably end up paying way more than that.

To read this article in full, please click here

Apple really wants you to buy a new iPhone 11 for Christmas. Aside from the usual trade-in discounts that knock up to $400 off the price, Apple is now offering interest-free payments with Daily Cash rewards for eligible Apple Card users.

It’s somewhat like an iPhone Upgrade Program for Apple Card. Like the previous program, which will still be offered for users who don’t want to apply for an Apple Card, monthly installments will spread the price of your iPhone purchase over 24 months. You can also opt to add AppleCare+ at the time of purchase. So if the thousand-dollar-plus price of a new iPhone 11 Pro Max is too much to bear, you can whittle it down to just $25 a month.

To read this article in full, please click here

Cellular carriers around the world have increasingly let us bring our phone number with us when we travel outside our home country without paying truly exorbitant rates—sometimes they even include more than minimal levels of voice, texting, and data in our basic service plans or for a small fee.

But if you’re traveling beyond the land in which your phone number is a local or national call and swapping a SIM or other module on arrival to obtain a local number and data service, what happens when Apple prompts you to enter a second authentication factor for your Apple ID account? You’ll be fine, but I recommend setting up a fail-safe backup before you travel.

To read this article in full, please click here

Remember wearables?

Of course you don’t. After all, it was allll the way back in 2014. Who can even remember what happened last week, what with all the goings on and such?

If you somehow could remember 2014 or if there was some way to, oh, say, go back and look at what was being written back in 2014 (crazy, The Macalope knows), you might be surprised.

In addition to [losing] its innovative edge, Apple risks missing the huge opportunity that exists in the fast-growing wearable space if it doesn’t come out with something soon…

To read this article in full, please click here

For just $20, you get solid security in a simple package.

These smart(ish) vintage-style bulbs offer Wi-Fi connectivity.

Updated 12/09/19: Apple’s done with events for 2019, and we probably won’t see another major event until the spring of 2020. We’ve updated this article with a speculative look at the events for next year.

Apple doesn’t often participate in big industry-wide events like CES or E3. The most valuable company in the world holds its own events, thank you very much. Several times a year, Apple invites the press and industry professionals out to a theater to hear all about its latest products and services. Apple calls these “Special Events,” and streams them online to its millions of fans.

To read this article in full, please click here

These USB portable chargers from Anker, Mophie, Xiaomi, and others will keep your Android or Apple phone charged while you're on the go.

Apple may be one the newest players when it comes to the streaming world, but that’s not stopping it from picking up some major recognition. The Golden Globes announced its 2020 nominations Monday morning, and Apple picked up three huge nominations in its first try.

All three nominations are for The Morning Show, and they’re the biggest the show could get: It’s up for Best Drama, and both Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon received Best Actress nominations. Aniston and Witherspoon each have a Golden Globe win to their name for Friends and Walk the Line, respectively.

As expected, the categories are tough. Witherspoon is up against her own show and co-star in Pretty Little Lies, and perennial favorite The Crown is also represented. Here is the full list of nominees in each category:

To read this article in full, please click here

Apple products pop up so often in some Apple TV+ productions that we wouldn’t advise playing a drinking game based on spotting them. Truth Be Told, though, may be the first show to pair those cameos with a heavily implied PSA: Folks, please secure your iPhones with a passcode. If only a character had locked her phone like Tim Cook and his privacy-focused friends designed them to, then Truth Be Told’s story might have screeched to a dead end only a couple of episodes in. For anyone who knows who’s paying the bills here, the message is so obvious that it comes off as contrived. Unfortunately, that’s a word that works for so many other elements of Apple’s watchable but aggressively “okay” crime drama.

To read this article in full, please click here

In a number of Apple Mac apps (including Preview, Pages, and Keynote), macOS added the quiet feature of retaining older versions of document you modify. This versioning feature doesn’t require Time Machine, even though it looks a lot like that feature and service. You don’t even have to enable it—it just works in apps that support it. You can access past versions via File > Revert To > Browse All Versions.

These apps store a version every hour while you’re working on it, or more frequently if major changes are made. There’s no hard-and-fast rule about how far back these versions are stored. They tend to take up fairly little space, because Apple relies on storing just the differences between two files, which for most editing involves very little overhead.

To read this article in full, please click here

AirPlay 2 provides Apple device owners more ways to stream favorite music, movies, TV shows, and home videos around the house. But for anyone without a HomePod, Apple TV, or other compatible hardware, the experience is actually pretty limited.

JustStream is a macOS menu bar app for wirelessly streaming from a Mac to compatible AirPlay or Chromecast devices, including LG, Roku, Samsung, and Sony televisions. This is done two different ways: Mirroring, which essentially livestreams your desktop; or streaming, where one or more media files can be queued up for playback.

Running entirely from the menu bar, JustStream automatically detects compatible devices on your local network capable of receiving via AirPlay or Chromecast. Select a target device from the pulldown menu at the bottom of the window—a button that’s hard to see with if you have dark mode enabled—and then click Start Streaming. After a few moments of buffering, your desktop appears on the selected screen.

To read this article in full, please click here

You probably don't need cable to watch your favorite sports teams. Here's how to get all the action through online streaming services instead.

This unconventional air purifier claims to tackle organic irritants like mold, dust mites, and pet dander at their source.

You’ll finally be able to order the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR on Tuesday, December 10, according to a “Save the Date” email Apple sent to some customers earlier this evening. Last month, Apple announced it would ship in December, but today the first time we’ve seen an actual date. Notably, Apple has yet to say when the Mac Pro will actually ship.

To read this article in full, please click here

Looking for a way to save some money on the latest Apple products? Consider a refurbished MacBook, refurbished iPhone, or refurbished iPad from the Apple Certified Refurbished store. A refurbished product is just like a new, but at a lower price.

Here’s a quick guide with links to the best deals you can find on the refurb store, along with a FAQ guide if you want to know more about the ins and outs of the Apple Certified Refurbished store and buying a refurbished MacBook, desktop Mac, iPhone, or iPad. We make a recommendation of what to buy, but feel free to check out the store inventory to find the right model for you.

To read this article in full, please click here

Apple is planting its own flag in the streaming wars with Apple TV+, its in-house streaming service that features only original programming—no reruns of hit TV shows or last year’s blockbuster movies.

The company is said to be spending several billion dollars a year on original programming. That’s a lot of TV! It’s nothing compared to the $12 billion Netflix spent on content in 2018, but it’s still a very big investment.

What can you get for all that money? Apple is attracting some of the best talent in TV and film production, including huge stars and directors, and locking down the television and movie rights to best-selling books.

To read this article in full, please click here