Apple Insider – Page 135

Posted on September 2, 2018 by — Leave a comment

What it was like to give up my Apple Watch after three years of constant use

After three years of daily use, I’ve decided to give up my Apple Watch for a week to prove to myself how useful and important it really is —or maybe, it isn’t.

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I’ve been using Apple’s wearable since it debuted and for the most part, I’ve been a vocal fan.

Soon, Apple is expected to debut their latest ‘Series 4’ Apple Watch. Before I jump in head-first and upgrade yet again, I wanted to test myself and see if I truly did need my Apple Watch. Is this something I can’t live without, or have I just fallen for my own hype?

Before I ditched the watch for a week, there were a few things I wanted to sort out. What did I use my watch for most, and what — if anything — would be the replacement.

Considering my replacement

After closely studying my habits, there are a few things I identified as relying on most frequently.

I have a bad history of not paying attention to my phone, and my Apple Watch notifications help make sure I don’t miss anything. So, that’s high on the list.

The Apple Watch has truly helped me stay active. Whether it is making sure I’m not lounging too long on the couch or making sure I head to the gym on a regular interval. Each day I make an honest effort to fill my rings.

Possibly most importantly, I’m a Type 1 diabetic and use my Dexcom CGM to view my glucose levels on my Apple Watch. It is useful to see on my watch, but luckily I can still view it directly on my phone.

There are plenty of other ancillary tasks I rely on my Apple Watch for such as Siri, hands-free phone calls, heart rate monitoring, HomeKit control, Wallet/Apple Pay, quick access to weather, and more. Though these are all to a lesser extent than the three above.

I considered a lot of options for my possible Apple Watch replacement, and I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t ditch a wearable completely. I still needed something — however minimal — to help with at least a couple of my frequent tasks.

That’s why when I shed my Apple Watch, I went with a super cheap fitness tracker that I had reviewed in the past — the Mi Band 2. It has a surprisingly large number of features and I was able to pick it up for less than $30 bucks.

Starting the week

Heading into the week, I was getting along just fine with the Mi Band 2. I got notifications for social media, texts, and phone calls. Idle alerts made sure I never sat around too long. It was also easily capable of tracking steps, calories, distance, and workouts throughout the day. It also didn’t need charged the entire week, though I plugged it in once just to top it off.

My iPhone and HomePod served as suitable replacements for many frequent tasks. Granted, it was ever so slightly less convenient, but I was starting to gain confidence in my ability to forgo Apple’s wearable.

Comparing the heart rate tracking to my Polar heart monitor also was confidence boosting, with the numbers falling very close to one another and appearing very accurate for such a small and cheap band.

Eventually, though, things started to turn.

Missing my old friend

Around day three I started to really yearn for my Apple Watch.

Without my Apple Watch I found myself using my iPhone more than in the past. The new Screen Time digital health features in iOS 12 even confirmed that. Since I had to pull my iPhone out for so many tasks, I ended up diving into other apps and wasting more time there than I normally would have.

I also missed my Siri Watch face. Sports are just kicking into gear and I missed being able to glance down at the watchOS 5 Siri face and see the score of the Buckeyes, Browns, or Indians game without having to actually launch any apps. I miss having my frequent HomeKit scenes presented before I need to think about them.

Leaving to take the dogs for a run/walk was also a bummer. I love heading out, locking the door with my Apple Watch, turning on my Apple Music playlist with my AirPods, and starting a workout. Cellular connectivity means I also am able to get security alerts from HomeKit or my security cameras while I’m away. Mi Band wasn’t up for any of this.

I went without music once and another time I tried to bring my iPhone but it was super uncomfortable to keep in my workout shorts while running. When I was without my phone, I had a bit of a sense of worry knowing I couldn’t be reached and that I couldn’t watch after my home.

Paying for things was more difficult having to always pull my phone out. When going through the drive-through at Starbucks, I had to unplug my iPhone from CarPlay to scan my Starbucks card rather than being able to have it scanned off my Apple Watch. Minor annoyances, but they add up and ultimately what gives Apple Watch the better user experience.

Workouts also provided much less information and Mi Band lacked any of the social aspects found in the Apple Watch. I’ve several friends using Apple Watch where we compete and challenge one another in our workouts and the Mi Band made me feel a bit left out, and less motivated.

Another thing I noticed right away was that the Apple Watch is a great way to unlock your Mac. It is almost instant whereas even using Touch ID feels like it lags. I forgot about this feature until I no longer had it to rely on.

Choosing one or the other

Apple Watch is a personal device. Everyone uses it differently. On the surface, it seemed I could easily replace the Apple Watch with a cheaper, more minimalistic device and get the same outcome. But Apple’s blend of features and excellent design make that a lot harder to pull off than I imagined.

The Mi Band 2 was a great device. It was a fantastic fitness tracker that is significantly more cost effective than Apple Watch or even a Fitbit. I actually preferred the Mi Band 2 over any of the Fitbit models I’ve used in the past.

Sleep tracking was also something that I’ve been very interested in and have yet to find an excellent option with the Apple Watch. I’ve used Pillow, Auto Track, SleepScore (and SleepScore Max) and others but it was nice that the Mi Band 2 had this automatically built in.

Apple’s Health app syncs with Mi Band so I was able to somewhat keep track of my activity versus others, but it wasn’t quite the same.

There is one area that I really loved when not having my Apple Watch. I had the opportunity once more to wear other watches. I’ve quite a few watches I’ve gotten over the years myself or as gifts and it was a struggle for me to keep my Apple Watch activity streak and to get the chance to sport one of my other timepieces.

Looking to the future

I always knew I was going back to my Apple Watch. I haven’t worn it nearly every day for the past three years for fun.

I’m still glad I tried this experiment, though. It reinforced my love of my Apple Watch and helped me put everything into perspective. What I love is that I don’t have to force the Apple Watch into my life. It fits and offers me many things from peace of mind, to more workout notification, and lots of convenience.

Apple Watch isn’t just a simple fitness tracker, but it unlocks your computer, controls your home, finds your phone, acts as a flashlight, and so much more.

Right now, the Series 4 Apple Watch looks great. I’m very excited to try out the new complication-dense watch face that got leaked ahead of time because glanceable information is some of the most useful.

I can’t say with certainty I will be upgrading to the Series 4, but I can say without a doubt I love my Apple Watch.

Posted on September 1, 2018 by — Leave a comment

These watchOS 5 features make the Apple Watch even better

Apple’s watchOS 5 release is just around the corner, and it’s packing a bunch of awesome new features that have convinced me to preorder the Apple Watch Series 4 as soon as it’s available. So let’s run through some of those exciting new features and why they’ll make the Apple Watch experience better than ever before.

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First, some bad news to owners of the original Apple Watch, sometimes called the Series 0, as they will not be able to use watchOS 5 on their devices. The operating system is only supported on the Series 1 and newer models, including the anticipated Apple Watch Series 4.

Podcasts and Audio

The feature I’m most excited for is the Podcast app, which is finally coming to Apple’s wearable device. If you own a pair of AirPods, the listening experience will be even better, especially since you can adjust your AirPods volume with the crown.

The best thing about Podcasts is that your favorite shows are constantly being updated with new episodes, and you can even stream them over LTE if your Apple Watch supports it. You can easily skip back and forward and change the playback speed, just like you can on your iPhone.

Podcasts also comes with its own complication, so you can get into the app straight from your watch face.

There’s also a new feature for developers that allows music and audiobooks from apps like Pandora and Audible to be synced to your Apple Watch for offline playback, without needing your iPhone nearby.

Siri can even be used to search for any show on Podcasts, which leads us to the next awesome watchOS 5 feature.

Raise to Speak and Siri

Say goodbye to saying “Hey Siri,” because now you can just raise your wrist and tell Siri to start a 30 minute outdoor run without the vocal prompt.

This is handy for anyone who doesn’t want to obviously show themselves to be talking to their digital assistant in public, and for those who want to get into the feature they want as quickly as possible.

The Siri watch face now learns what you do throughout your day, proactively suggesting relevant content and shortcuts at the right time and place throughout the day, and it works with your favorite third-party apps as well.

You can even get live scores for your favorite sports team, right on your Siri Watch face.

Fitness

What if you’re the kind of person that constantly forgets to start your workout? WatchOS 5 has you covered, with the new automatic workout detection feature that senses when you’re moving and alert you to start the workout.

It’ll even give you credit for any exercise you performed before actually starting the workout on the Apple Watch.

For the more competitive, the new Activity Competitions feature allows you to invite friends to a 7-day workout competition. After your friend accepts your invitation, both users will gain points depending on the percentage of their rings they close each day.

You can see the competition progress at any time, and receive alerts when you’re falling behind. When the contest finishes, you’ll even get an award.

Apple has also added a couple more workout modes like Yoga and Hiking, which is pretty cool because I enjoy hiking, and the Apple Watch Series 3’s barometric altimeter shows you how high you’ve climbed.

Rounding out the workout additions, Pace Alerts advise when you are behind or ahead of a target pace, while the new rolling mile pace metric will show runners their current pace and average pace per mile.

Walkie-Talkie

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’m way too busy to call or text someone, especially with the fuss of calling and waiting for them to answer. That’s where the new Walkie-Talkie feature comes in.

Simply press the button, say a quick message, and release when you’re done. The message is instantly played out through the target Apple Watch.

To get started, open the app, choose a contact and send them an invitation. Once they accept, you’re ready to start sending and receiving audio messages, and it even works with LTE.

You can also keep your conversation private by using AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones. We tested this out, and found it worked incredibly well, even in beta.

Other Siri Improvements

With watchOS 5, you can now respond to notifications without having to open up the relevant app. This makes it a lot easier to do quick tasks, like checking in to your flight.

Siri got quite the overhaul in watchOS 5, and you can learn more about that AppleInsider’s standalone piece.

One of the biggest features coming to iOS 12 is grouped notifications, and that same feature is coming to the Apple Watch. Instead of seeing a massive list of message notifications, they are grouped into one notification, which you can clear or open to view in more detail.

Apple has also added WebKit to watchOS 5, so if you receive a message containing a website link, you can now see a preview of that website right on your Apple Watch. You can even do some limited web browsing if you send yourself a link to a site or your preferred search engine.

If the Apple Watch Series 4 has a larger display, as rumors suggest, previewing websites should be a lot nicer on the new models.

Speaking of the rumored Series 4 Apple Watch, Apple seems to have inadvertently leaked images of the forthcoming wearable. In the leaked image, we see a brand new watch face full of complications —nine to be exact. This new face will likely be exclusive to the Series 4, but it does give users access to much more information at once.

With WatchOS 5, it’s a lot easier to use the Do Not Disturb mode. You can now schedule it to turn on for a certain amount of time, or until you leave your location, which is perfect for business meetings.

Along with these major new features that are coming with watchOS 5, there are also a bunch of small little changes and feature additions Apple has added, which AppleInsider has previously examined.

AppleInsider will also be getting its hands on the new Apple Watch Series 4 as soon as it’s released, so expect a hands-on shortly after its release.

Posted on August 31, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Apple begins logic board replacements for iPhone 8, claiming ‘very small percentage’ of defects

By Roger Fingas
Friday, August 31, 2018, 03:45 pm PT (06:45 pm ET)

Apple on Friday initiated a free logic board replacement program for some owners of the iPhone 8, admitting that “a very small percentage” of units were shipped out with a manufacturing defect.

Impacted devices were sold between September and March in Australia, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Japan, New Zealand, and the U.S. The company has put up a search tool through which people can screen their phone’s serial number.

The issue doesn’t affect the iPhone 8 Plus, Apple noted.

Assuming an iPhone is listed as affected, people must then make an appointment at an Apple store or authorized service provider. Alternately owners can contact Apple support directly and arrange for a mail-in, but all three methods involve iPhones being sent to a distant repair center. It’s critical to backup a device to iCloud or iTunes before handing it over.

iPhones with the faulty boards may freeze, reboot, or outright fail to turn on.

Posted on August 31, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Judge dismisses motion to halt Qualcomm’s potential iPhone import ban

By Stephen Silver
Thursday, August 30, 2018, 06:54 pm PT (09:54 pm ET)

Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Qualcomm had sought to stop the chipmaker from getting a theoretical import ban on Intel-equipped iPhones, but perennial Apple judge Lucy Koh has denied the motion.

Judge Koh on Wednesday denied a motion by plaintiffs in a class action suit to prevent Qualcomm from obtaining a U.S. International Trade Commission exclusion order that would affect the import of iPhones with Intel modems, reports FOSS Patents.

“At bottom, Plaintiffs cannot sustain their request for a preliminary injunction because their asserted harm relies on a speculative and attenuated inferential chain, which centrally includes intervening decisions by multiple independent decisionmakers,” Judge Koh wrote.

The motion was dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning that it can be brought again in the future.

The plaintiffs, who are suing Qualcomm for antitrust violations, filed the motion in June concerning Qualcomm’s separate proceeding before the ITC, in which Qualcomm seeks to “prevent importation of certain Apple devices into the United States.” The issue Koh ruled on this week was the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, which sought to “enjoin Qualcomm from enforcing any exclusion or cease-and-desist order that the ITC may issue in that action.”

The motion was brought by plaintiffs who believe that Qualcomm’s ITC complaint represents an anti-competitive action.

Judge Koh, for jurisdictional reasons, often presides over cases related to Apple and other Silicon Valley-based companies, including the recent trial between Apple and Samsung.

Posted on August 30, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Apple buys AR headset lens maker Akonia Holographics, fuels ‘Apple Glasses’ rumors

Apple on Wednesday confirmed the purchase of Colorado-based Akonia Holographics, a startup focused on the development and production of specialized lenses used in augmented reality headsets.

Magic Leap AR headset.

Terms of the acquisition are unknown, though Apple issued its usual non-confirmation confirmation on the reported purchase to Reuters.

“Apple buys smaller companies from time to time, and we generally don’t discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple said in a statement.

According to an AR industry executive, the team at Akonia became “very quiet” over the past six months, suggesting Apple completed the purchase sometime this year.

Founded in 2012, Akonia’s initial goal was to develop holographic data storage solutions, but the firm quickly transitioned to making displays for AR glasses. The company’s flagship product, called HoloMirror, uses “proprietary volume holographic media and know-how to uniquely enable thin, transparent smart glass lenses that display vibrant, full-color, wide field-of-view images,” according to its website.

Akonia claims its technology “will revolutionize” the smart glass display industry, offering manufacturers “ultra-clear, full-color performance” in thin and light headsets. Unlike similar solutions from the likes of Magic Leap, which use waveguides to funnel graphical information to multiple display planes positioned in front of a user’s eyes, HoloMirror utilizes a single layer of media. The method not only reduces system complexity, but allows for integration into small form factors like common glasses.

The company holds a cache of more than 200 patents relating to holographic systems and materials, though it is not clear how many cover AR wearables.

Perhaps more importantly, Akonia says it “defined the technology” that will pave the way for improvements including greater field-of-view. In respect to AR, FOV is a key ingredient in AR immersion. Using a low-FOV AR device overlays computer generated graphics atop real-world objects, but the illusion ends abruptly at the edges of each display. High-FOV devices are, ostensibly, more immersive, extending the CGI field to the outer reaches of a user’s vision.

For example, critics of Magic Leap’s just released mixed reality headset say the system suffers from relatively low FOV, and thus pulls them out of the AR experience.

The acquisition provides insight into Apple’s rumored “Apple Glasses,” an in-house designed AR headset expected to ship in the next few years. A report last year claimed the tech giant is developing its own display and processor for the project, a route expected to require substantial assets in both hardware and software engineering.

Reports earlier this year claim the device, referred to internally as “T288,” currently employs ultra high-resolution 8K displays and a separate processing unit to overlay virtual images over real-world objects present in a user’s field of vision. If Apple intends to slim down the package and release it as an aesthetically appealing product, said displays would necessitate extremely thin and transparent lenses. Akonia’s technology could provide such a solution.

Posted on August 29, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Huawei again estimated to have overtaken Apple as world’s No. 2 smartphone vendor

By Mikey Campbell
Tuesday, August 28, 2018, 05:22 pm PT (08:22 pm ET)

New market research further solidifies previous estimates that Apple has ceded its spot as the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor to Chinese upstart Huawei, at least for now.

According to the latest numbers from Gartner, Huawei ended the second quarter of 2018 with 49.8 million devices sold, good enough for a 13.3 percent share of the global smartphone market, reports TechCrunch. Huawei’s numbers are up from the year-ago quarter, which saw the firm ship about 36 million units for a 9.8 percent marketshare.

The performance lands the Chinese smartphone maker ahead of Apple, which sold 41.3 million iPhones during the same period of 2018. Gartner places Apple’s marketshare at 11.9 percent, a dip from 12.1 percent recorded during the same time last year.

“Huawei continues to bring innovative features into its smartphones and expand its smartphone portfolio to cover larger consumer segments,” said Gartner research director Anshul Gupta. “Its investment into channels, brand building and positioning of the Honor devices helped drive sales. Huawei is shipping its Honor smartphones into 70 markets worldwide and is emerging as Huawei’s key growth driver.”

Samsung topped the chart with 72.3 million smartphones shipped in quarter two, but also saw a decline in year-over-year performance. The Korean tech giant’s marketshare dipped from 22.6 percent in 2017 to 19.3 percent during the most recent quarter.

Two more Chinese brands, Xiaomi and Oppo, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Xiaomi, a blatant Apple ripoff artist, shipped 32.8 million units for an 8.8 percent marketshare, while Oppo managed 28.5 million shipments for a 7.6 percent slice of the pie.

Gartner’s figures align with findings from market research firms IDC, Canalys and IHS Markit, all of which saw Huawei outperform Apple in the second quarter. Previous estimates were less conservative, putting Huawei’s shipments closer to 54 million units for the three-month period.

Gupta warned of soft iPhone X demand, an oft-repeated analyst worry that Apple has continuously refuted.

“Demand for the iPhone X has started to slow down much earlier than when other new models were introduced,” Gupta said.

Apple last month reported its best June quarter ever, recording $53.3 billion in revenue on the back of largely flat iPhone sales. Despite slowing sales, Apple’s iPhone revenue surged 20 percent year-over-year on a stronger mix of premium priced handsets like iPhone X. Indeed, it was Apple’s most expensive phone that maintained its position as the company’s best performer, helping drive average selling price to $724, up from $606 a year ago.

The top-five vendor list is likely to reshuffle at the end of the year. Apple is widely expected to release a trio of new iPhones in September that will undoubtedly result in a sales spike during the last calendar quarter. The company is anticipated to launch two high-end OLED models and a mid-tier LCD version that could be priced between $600 and $700.

Posted on August 27, 2018 by — Leave a comment

GlobalFoundries drops push for next-gen 7nm semiconductor tech

By Stephen Silver
Monday, August 27, 2018, 04:12 pm PT (07:12 pm ET)

California chip firm announces a halt to its development of 7-nanometer fabrication technology, leaving Apple partner TSMC and rival Samsung as the only remaining players in the space.

GlobalFoundries announced Monday that it is backing away from its ambitious plans to develop next-generation semiconductor technology, and will instead refocus its investment on existing technologies.

According to AnandTech, the shift means GlobalFoundries will drop five percent of its staff. The move also means the only remaining players in the next-generation semiconductor space are a pair of current and former Apple suppliers, TSMC and Samsung, respectively, and that the consumer electronics industry as a whole whole may very well find itself more dependent on those companies.

“Demand for semiconductors has never been higher, and clients are asking us to play an ever-increasing role in enabling tomorrow’s technology innovations,” GlobalFoundries CEO Tom Caulfield said in a statement released by the company. “The vast majority of today’s fabless customers are looking to get more value out of each technology generation to leverage the substantial investments required to design into each technology node. Essentially, these nodes are transitioning to design platforms serving multiple waves of applications, giving each node greater longevity. This industry dynamic has resulted in fewer fabless clients designing into the outer limits of Moore’s Law. We are shifting our resources and focus by doubling down on our investments in differentiated technologies across our entire portfolio that are most relevant to our clients in growing market segments.”

GlobalFoundries and Samsung have a joint technology agreement, though it appears the deal will not extend to the fabrication of 7nm chips.

While a difficult feat, shrinking die size increases the density of a given chip to fit more transistors into a smaller space, thereby presenting a number of performance and efficiency improvements. For consumers, benefits typically include a reduction in power usage that can help increase battery life, lower heat production, and a boost to processing capacity.

AMD announced that it would move its 7nm production to TSMC, Reuters reported Monday.

In 2013, Apple reportedly tapped GlobalFoundries to fabricate what would become its A9 system-on-chip for iPhone and iPad, but backed away from doing so at the last minute, in favor of TSMC.

GlobalFoundries’ decision comes months after TSMC ramped up production of its own 7nm chips, a healthy portion of which are likely bound for iPhone and iPad. As a fabless manufacturer, Apple designs its A-series silicon and outsources production to firms with foundries, such as TSMC.

Samsung was an original fab partner, but lost exclusivity starting with the A8, which for reference was built using a 20nm process. TSMC has been Apple’s lone A-series chip fabricator from the 16nm A10 Fusion forward.

Posted on August 27, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Apple & US carriers partner on 200GB iCloud promo ahead of new iPhones

By Roger Fingas
Sunday, August 26, 2018, 05:16 pm PT (08:16 pm ET)

Apple and the four major U.S. carriers are offering two free months of iCloud’s 200-gigabyte tier to some people looking to upgrade their iPhone this fall.

iCloud on iPhone X, iPad, and MacBook Pro

The promo, noticed on Reddit, is only available to new (paid) iCloud customers, and is nominally meant to ensure they “have enough space to safely back up all the important things on your iPhone, like photos, videos, files, and apps” so the data can be restored once a new phone arrives. The link above mentions Sprint in the URL but should also work for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Apple has actually been offering 30-day trials of its paid tiers since May, so in reality the new promotion is simply an extra month on top of that. People who sign up will also be charged $2.99 per month after the deal expires, unless they cancel.

iCloud only includes 5 gigabytes of data for free, which for many people is just enough for a single device backup. In the U.S. Apple charges 99 cents per month for 50 gigabytes, $2.99 for 200 gigabytes, and $9.99 for 2 terabytes.

The company is expected to reveal three new iPhones next month at its usual September press event. These include 5.8- and 6.5-inch OLED models, and a less expensive 6.1-inch LCD device. It’s possible that Apple could once again bump up maximum local storage to 512 gigabytes, which would keep iPhones competitive with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9.

Posted on August 25, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Testing an AMD WX 9100 eGPU with the 15-inch i9 MacBook Pro

Apple’s eGPU support extends beyond consumer-grade cards. AppleInsider takes a look at the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 GPU workstation card, inside a Sonnet eGFX 650 Breakaway Box.

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The WX 9100 is a high-end professional workstation card that supports ECC memory is intended for large computing jobs or a high volume of them in a zero-fault environment.

To support this goal, the WX 9100 comes with 16GB of HBM2 memory, 4096 stream processors and is based on AMD’s latest 12nm Vega architecture. For outputs, the card has six Mini-DisplayPort 1.4 connections supporting 10-bit output.

All of these features add to a graphics card costing $1500 which will definitely seem high for the consumer market, now that the BitCoin squeeze on pricing is over. But, to those needing that kind of computational heft, it’s not a bad buy even when you add the eGPU enclosure.

We’ll be comparing the WX 9100 and Sonnet combo to the best graphics card available in our 2018 15-inch i9 MacBook Pro, the 4GB Radeon Pro 560X. We’ll also be connecting that machine to the AMD 580 Pro Blackmagic eGPU which houses a Radeon Pro 580 graphics chip with 8GB of memory.

We used the Set-eGPU script to force all applications to use the eGPU, but this shouldn’t be required with MacOS Mojave.

Starting off with Geekbench 4’s OpenCL test, the WX 9100 scored more than double that of our MacBooks internal graphics and a bit higher than Blackmagic’s unit.

Doing a quick benchmark run in Unigine’s Heaven benchmark which tests gaming graphics performance, the WX 9100 once again performs more than twice as good as the 560X and about 45% faster than the Blackmagic eGPU.

	MacBook Pro 560X	Blackmaic 580 eGPU	WX 9100 eGPU
GB4 OpenCL	52,499	110,423	131,102
Unigine Heaven FPS	21.1	36.3	51.6
Unigine Heaven Score	532	915	1,300

Moving on to video editing tasks, we first ran the Bruce X benchmark for Final Cut Pro which mostly taxes the graphics cards.

Running the Final Cut X stabilization filter on a 20-second 4K video clip, the WX 9100 eGPU performed the task in just 7 seconds, compared to 13 with both the integrated 560X and Blackmagic’s eGPU.

In Davinci Resolve, this task went from 28 seconds to 17 seconds with Black Magics eGPU and then to 14 seconds.

	MacBook Pro 560X	Blackmaic 580 eGPU	WX 9100 eGPU
Bruce X – FCX	0:46	0:30	0:22
FCX Stabilization	0:13	0:13	0:07
Resolve Stabilization	0:28	0:17	0:14

We do video editing tasks daily, obviously —a task that many are looking to improve with an eGPU. Starting with rendering a 5 minute 4K project using standard h.264 footage with color correction and effects, we didn’t see any improvement in Final Cut X, with the Blackmagic eGPU actually slowing it down.

We suspect that the highest-end graphics available in the 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro is already fast enough at rendering this footage with effects to the point that CPU isn’t limited. On top of that, there is some bandwidth constraints made worse by having to send the data through Thunderbolt 3 not only to the GPU to be rendered, but also back to our software.

	MacBook Pro 560X	Blackmaic 580 eGPU	WX 9100 eGPU
H.264 4K – FCX	3:44	4:06	3:46
H.264 4K – Resolve	4:53	5:56	8:24

As we move on to much tougher codecs like Canon Cinema RAW Lite where internal graphics are a huge bottleneck, we see some major improvement even with a short one-minute timeline. Not only did our render go from almost four times longer than the project itself to less than half that time, but our timeline performance went from and unusable 20 frames per second, to 55 frames per second which is a massive improvement.

In Davinci Resolve, we went from 20 minutes with the internal 560X, to 15 minutes with the Blackmagic eGPU, and just 8 minutes with the WX 9100.

	MacBook Pro 560X	Blackmaic 580 eGPU	WX 9100 eGPU
Canon 4K 60 RAW – FCX	3:42	2:17	1:41
FCX Playback FPS	20	36	55
Canon 4K 60 RAW – Resolve	20:02	15:16	8:09
Resolve Playback FPS	27	32	45

Taking a look at a 1 minute 4.5K RED RAW project with color correction and effects, we don’t see much change in Final Cut Pro because our CPU is the bottleneck. Davinci Resolve uses the graphics cards more so we see about 60 percent faster speeds with the WX 9100.

Applying noise reduction is often needed with RAW footage, and it usually makes anything but the highest end computers like a higher spec iMac Pro choke. With temporal noise reduction added in Resolve, our WX 9100 finished the job in nearly one-third of the time than the 560X and the timeline had very few dropped frames making it workable where the MacBook wasn’t.

	MacBook Pro 560X	Blackmaic 580 eGPU	WX 9100 eGPU
4.5K Red RAW – FCX	2:22	2:18	2:05
4.5K Red RAW – Resolve	1:14	1:19	0:46
Resolve – 4.5K Noise Reduction	5:46	Not tested	2:16

To finish off this first round of testing, we used Blender to test the 3D Rendering capabilities of the Radeon Pro WX 9100 vs the internal Radeon Pro 560X. We used the 1225 BMW test Project available on Blender’s website and used the graphics cards to render. Here, the WX 9100 completed the task at just 5 minutes vs close to 27 minutes on the MacBook Pro alone.

	MacBook Pro 560X	WX 9100 eGPU
Blender BMW GPU Render (1225)	26:48	5:02

In Conclusion, the WX 9100 is a very powerful card that can greatly speed some professional tasks. On top of that, tasks that require dual precision GPU’s and ECC memory are now possible, without purchasing a dedicated workstation computer capable of this.

We at AppleInsider are very excited about the possibilities that eGPU’s offer and are looking forward to even better support in MacOS Mojave.

Where to buy

AMD’s Radeon Pro WX 9100 Graphics Card is currently available from third-party sellers on Amazon for $1,449.99. B&H also has the video card in stock for $1,499.99 with free expedited shipping and no tax collected outside New York and New Jersey*.

Both Amazon and B&H also carry Sonnet’s eGFX 650 Breakaway Box for $399.00 with free shipping.

Posted on August 25, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Flaws in Apple & Asurion websites expose PINs of millions of iPhone users

By Roger Fingas
Friday, August 24, 2018, 05:22 pm PT (08:22 pm ET)

Although already fixed, security vulnerabilites at Apple’s online store and the website for Asurion, a phone insurance firm, recently exposed the PINs of millions of mobile accounts, a report revealed on Friday.

The Apple vulnerability exposed the PINs of “over 72 million” T-Mobile subscribers, BuzzFeed News claimed. Asurion is noted to have had a separate flaw, affecting the PINs of AT&T customers.

Both Apple and Asurion remedied the situation after BuzzFeed shared findings from security researchers “Phobia” and Nicholas “Convict” Ceraolo. In Apple’s case, an account validation page that asked for a T-Mobile cell number and a PIN or Social Security number would potentially let hackers try an infinite amount of attempts — unlike forms for the other three major U.S. carriers, which were already protected by rate limiters.

The problem may have been an engineering mistake made when linking a T-Mobile API to Apple’s website, Ceraolo said.

The Asurion vulnerability let people who knew an AT&T user’s phone number obtain access to another form asking for their PIN, which like Apple’s page lacked a rate limiter.

The Apple flaw is unrelated to a T-Mobile server breach which exposed some of the personal information of about 3 percent of the carrier’s subscribers. That attack took place on Aug. 20.