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The best films about Apple to watch while stuck at home

From the very funny to the occasionally accurate, there are some excellent movies for Apple fans to catch up on during our self-isolation.

Left: Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs. Right: Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs. Center: Steve Jobs himself.

Left: Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs. Right: Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs. Center: Steve Jobs himself.

If there is a movie or feature-length documentary about Apple that is entirely, completely accurate, then still someone depicted will say it isn’t. There’s a lot of ego involved in the history of Apple, but then that’s part of why there is so much drama in it. Maybe you could make a drama out of any company’s history, but it has to be a very special corporation before anyone would watch it.

Since movie makers are as aware of the interest in Apple as anyone else, though, there are a lot —a lot —of very poor documentary films attempting to catch your eye. We watched so you don’t have to: here are the movies about Apple that are more than worth your time.

Dramas about Apple

Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography is a very long wasted opportunity, but it did give us one excellent thing. That book was the start for Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie and —bear with us for a second —that is easily the best drama about Apple to date.

No, really, it is. The trouble with biopics is that they either have to chart a whole life, or they pick one big incident in it. Sorkin chose instead to portray Jobs through concentrating on three of his most famous keynote speeches.

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To do it, he did contrive to have incidents happen around those events which in reality took much longer. And he did leave out details, he does skip over people. Plus there’s a famous scene in the film where Jobs shouts at Andy Hertzfeld that the universe was made in seven days. “Well,” replies Hertzfeld, “someday you’ll have to tell us how you did it.”

That never happened. But we know it didn’t because Sorkin has been upfront about how and why he wrote what he did. And in his Masterclass series about writing, he explains that this scene came about because he asked Hertzfeld what Steve Jobs would say in that scene. It’s genuine, personal insight —not a Hollywood invention.

Speaking in Masterclass about his partly related film, The Social Network (2010), Sorkin explains that he will never portray someone doing something they didn’t or wouldn’t. And he reveals that there are people who wouldn’t speak to Walter Isaacson who did to him.

Watch Steve Jobs, the movie, for how it captures the man few of us knew, and the whole world of Apple that has meant so much to us all.

And then, if you can track it down, watch “Pirates of Silicon Valley.” Screenwriter and director Martyn Burke had a background in documentaries, but this is a drama and if it’s very of its time, it has at least one very big merit. Noah Wyle is startling good as a young Steve Jobs in it.

So good that Steve Jobs, who shunned Burke after it, hired Wyle to portray him at Macworld in 1999.

[embedded content]

According to Wyle, Steve Jobs took him shopping before the presentation and bought him jeans, round glasses, and a turtleneck sweater.

“The first few rows [of the Macworld audience], I think, could obviously tell it wasn’t him, but most others didn’t know at all,” said Wyle. “And there was this growing ripple of laughter throughout the auditorium when people got what was happening. I honestly had had no idea what to expect: I thought the whole thing might be an ambush — that he’d get me to his event and that what he said we were going to do in fact wasn’t what we were going to do, and I would somehow be humiliated. But he stayed on script and was very kind to me.”

Pirates of Silicon Valley and Steve Jobs are the two key dramas about Apple, but for capturing how the industry was in the early days, do watch the TV series Halt and Catch Fire. It’s more about PCs, but even those of us who lived and worked through this time couldn’t have expected that a drama about it would be this good —and this accurate.

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Films about the Apple community

  • Macheads (2009) available to rent or buy at Amazon

  • Welcome to Macintosh (2008) currently available to stream through Amazon Prime US

These are two documentary films that came out close on each other’s heels and are both about us, people who use and, frankly, love Apple. It’s not as if we’re blind to its faults, but once you start using Apple gear, something does happen and you do get immersed in this community.

[embedded content]

Both of these documentaries have insight from people within Apple, and both of them have historical detail that’s interesting. Welcome to Macintosh has much more from Apple staff, but you can probably best gauge the differences between these movies by two quotes from them.

Welcome to Macintosh features quite sour ex-Apple people, including Jim Reekes. “People on the outside think that it’s like this wonderful world of Oz or Disney going on, and all of us are just all these brilliant, amazing, happy people,” says Reekes, “and it’s not, it’s like a sausage factory. You really don’t want to know how this stuff happens.”

Whereas Macheads includes an interview with an Apple user who explains just how much this ecosystem means to her. “I have never knowingly slept with a Windows user,” she says. “That would never ever happen.”

Considering that actually both films feature some quite dour people, the two are equally joyous. Even if you will recognize yourself in both of them.

Films about Apple and related products

It’s a curious thing that these two documentaries about topics that hugely overlap, came out so close together —and their subjects came out at the same time too. In reality, the Newton’s launch, and its failure, destroyed the work of rival General Magic, but these two movies are superb companion pieces.

They’re about the 1990s time in Apple’s history when it spun off a firm called General Magic which was, basically, inventing the future that we live in today. And when Apple CEO John Sculley, having had Apple spin off this new firm, simultaneously decided Apple should develop a product to destroy it.

[embedded content]

Sculley is interviewed in these films and you won’t come away fathoming why he did it. That’s one of the weaker parts of the General Magic documentary, in that it’s as hard to believe the people in that firm knew nothing of Newton, as it is that Sculley would do this. You’ll wish it delved more into what happened on this.

But otherwise, it and Love Notes to Newton are both utterly engrossing films that are ostensibly about products and companies, but are really about the people involved.

Films about the industry

  • Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (2012) available to rent on iTunes, Amazon

  • Objectified (2009) available to rent on Amazon

Among the sea of Steve Jobs documentaries that were rushed out after his death in 2011, there is one that stands apart. Released in 2012, Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, is a 70-minute interview with Steve Jobs that was filmed in 1995.

It was filmed for a documentary called Triumph of the Nerds, which is a short series by PBS and the UK’s Channel 4, about the development of the PC. That series is worth looking out for, but the Lost Interview is much more fascinating because it was filmed during the time Jobs was away from Apple.

Jobs is asked about this then-current project, NeXT, but he also reflects on the origins of Apple. It’s not his usual bluster about how great things are, it’s a more reflective piece where he displays that famous prescient awareness of what people need from technology.

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There’s a similar sense to how Jony Ive speaks in Gary Hustwit’s 2009 documentary about design, Objectified. Ive is filmed inside Apple and just as interesting as his thoughts about design and people, is his own body language as he cleans the screen of his own iPhone before showing it to us.

Ive is a major part of Objectified and so is one of his design heroes, Dieter Rams, who was later the sole subject of Hustwit’s 2018 documentary, Rams. At the time of writing, Rams is available to stream for free on Hustwit’s website where he’s been releasing one of his films every week during the coronavirus outbreak.

Whenever you can, do check out which of his documentary films is streaming, but also take a deep dive into all of the movies about Apple. The ones we’ve picked are tremendous examples of filmmaking, they are intensely dramatic —whether they’re dramas or documentaries —and they are all-absorbing.

Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.

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Apple & Google’s contact tracing won’t stop COVID-19, but it will help

Using smartphone contact tracing to track and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 has been floated as a possible way out of the outbreak —but there are plenty of signs suggesting that its effectiveness is an open question.

Smartphone surveillance seems like a promising way to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are major hurdles that it may not be able to overcome. Credit: Giles Lambert.

Smartphone surveillance seems like a promising way to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are major hurdles that it may not be able to overcome. Credit: Giles Lambert.

The coronavirus has upended life for most Americans, and government and private entities are looking for a way out. On Friday, Apple and Google announced a joint initiative to develop systems for cross-platform contact tracing. But there’s much more to the conversation, and the probability of the system actually working, than you might see at first glance.

Past attempts at COVID-19 surveillance

A heatmap of smartphones held by Florida beachgoers in March, collected from mobile ad firm X-Mode. Credit: Tectonix

A heatmap of smartphones held by Florida beachgoers in March, collected from mobile ad firm X-Mode. Credit: Tectonix

The U.S. government is already using smartphone location data to track the movements of Americans, per a March story from The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, the lion’s share of that data is sourced from mobile advertising firms, either from location-tracking applications or from app developers who resell the data. Some of it has been provided by Google’s “Community Mobility Reports” project, which is collected on an opt-in basis from Google users.

But neither of those data types actually count as contact tracing. The data, stripped of personally identifiable information, is only really useful for keeping tabs on where people are congregating, and the general patterns of movement of large groups of people. It isn’t useful for tracking out how and when COVID-19 spreads from person-to-person.

More than that, privacy advocates have long cautioned that this type of location data can never be truly anonymized. In 2019, a research paper published by the University of Washington shows that it was relatively trivial to figure out a specific person’s location using location-based ad targeting. On the flip side, unmasking an “anonymous” user is also relatively easy for skilled attackers.

Apple has long been trying to fight against data collection from advertisers and third-party analytics firms. The iOS 13 update, for example, contained new features that Ad Age said “crippled” location-based advertising. Again, that’s the same data type provided to the government by marketing firms.

All of this has largely lead to short-range Bluetooth signals being forwarded as the most realistic means to implement contact tracing on a widespread basis. Hence Apple and Google’s Friday announcement. But while it does away with some of the pitfalls of mass geo-surveillance, it has its own hurdles to overcome.

The Apple and Google solution

Credit: Apple, Google

Credit: Apple, Google

In a rare show of unity, Apple and Google on Friday announced new plans for a cross-platform, system-level feature that will allow public health officials to track and possibly reduce the spread of COVID-19.

By leveraging short-range Bluetooth signals, the system will help public health officials identify and follow up with smartphone users who have possibly come into contact with someone infected by COVID-19. They’ll even receive a notification on their phone that this event occurred.

Both companies are likely highly conscious of their respective privacy reputations, so they both claim that the system is being developed in a private and transparent manner. Out of the gate, they’ve published documentation illustrating how the system would work, including one document focused on the cryptographic standards used to protect privacy.

The initiative will apparently be deployed in two parts. In May, both companies will release a developer API for iOS and Android that app makers and public health teams can use in their own apps to enable contact tracing. Deeper system-level functionality, which will presumably negate the need for a third-party app entirely, will be released “in the coming months.”

But while Apple and Google are the most high-profile proponents of Bluetooth contact tracing, they are far from the first to float the idea. Earlier in April, researchers at MIT developed essentially the same system partly inspired by Apple’s offline Find My feature.

Contact tracing apps have also already been used in places like Singapore and South Korea, where they reached varying levels of success.

The problems with Bluetooth contact tracing

An illustration of Bluetooth contact tracing. Credit: MIT

An illustration of Bluetooth contact tracing. Credit: MIT

Bluetooth-based contract tracing still has one major downfall. Both Apple and Google made it clear that both waves of contact tracing deployment will be offered on an opt-in basis. The first wave requires that users download an app using the API. The second wave explicitly says users need to “choose to opt in.”

Like social distancing, this type of contact tracing absolutely depends on adoption by a significant portion of the population. Otherwise, it won’t make much of a difference. The fact that this is being deployed on both iOS and Android certainly helps, but it’s not enough to ensure that most people will actually use it, particularly in the U.S.

Unless this type of system is government-mandated, we have serious doubts that enough people are going to volunteer for it to be effective. This is borne out by many states and local governments only starting to ensure compliance with social distancing requirements by force of law when citizens didn’t voluntarily adopt suggestions.

On the flip side, government-mandated contact tracing runs into the same privacy and ethical issues as widespread location surveillance, and will likely meet the same resistance that voluntary lock-in did.

And, there are still some signs casting doubt on whether it really will help curb the spread of COVID-19. Just take a look at Singapore, which implemented fastidious physical contact tracing and surveillance methods, along with an app that used a mix of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and cell tower signals to track user locations.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that despite the “good contact tracing,” the government has been unable to figure out how people are catching COVID-19 for “nearly half” of cases. While initially a “master class” for COVID-19 mitigation success, the BBC reports that there has since been a surge in new cases on the tiny island-state despite control measures.

Singapore is a small country with a population smaller than New York City. Adopting widespread contact tracing in the U.S. may be near impossible, even with the computing and financial might of Apple and Google behind it. Even though its effectiveness in Singapore is questionable, it probably won’t do nearly as well in larger countries just because of scale.

And, of course, there are unanswered questions about what will happen to all of these systems and data once the shadow of COVID-19 no longer looms over daily life, as digital rights group The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out. Unless the systems are completely dismantled and the data wiped, the possibility for dragnet surveillance is still there.

Possible ways forward

As we’ve thoroughly covered, for a contact tracing app to be effective, it needs to be used by at least a majority of citizens. For that, it either needs the trust of the people or it needs to be mandated.

In the U.S., neither of those options seems particularly promising, with trust in both the federal government and technology juggernauts at a relative low. Even pro-privacy Apple may have a hard time persuading people to willingly undergo surveillance.

Even if a simple majority of people sign up for contact tracing, the system likely won’t do much for most COVID-19 cases, as is evidenced by cases like Singapore and South Korea. If the government starts requiring the usage of the app or implements it was a prerequisite for testing, there will undoubtedly be a backlash.

Which begs the question of what will actually work, a question many officials in the U.S. are actively trying to answer. Without something of a return to normalcy, the economic impact may well be unimaginable. And if we return to normal too quickly, lives will be lost — and the economy will still see a major impact.

One of the possible alternatives, per several proposals seen by Vox, is to implement mass coronavirus testing in lieu of surveillance. Like with mass location tracking or contact tracing, that’s a herculean effort.

The most realistic way forward is a balanced approach mixing these strategies. But that, of course, is easier said than done. The Apple and Google systems will help because they’re privacy-respecting and cross-platform, reducing friction and centralizing data. But it’s just piece of a larger puzzle, and past contract tracing attempts suggest it may not be a significant piece.

Until a vaccine is implemented — something that’s at least a full year away according to experts and the companies developing them — solutions like these are only going to be able to do so much.

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Surface Neo, Windows 10X reportedly won’t ship in 2020

 

By Amber Neely
Thursday, April 09, 2020, 11:40 am PT (02:40 pm ET)

Microsoft may be forced to delay the release of the Surface Neo and Windows 10X as a whole to focus on single-screen uses, according to sources within Microsoft.

Surface Neo, Windows 10X reportedly won't ship in 2020

In October of 2019, Microsoft revealed a future product that it didn’t plan on shipping until 2020 —the Surface Neo. It consisted of a dual-screen notebook with an extra keyboard and stylus support. The devices were set to ship with Microsoft’s new branch of Windows called Windows 10X.

On Thursday, rumors surfaced that Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer Panos Panay had said the Surface Neo dual-screen Windows 10X devices wouldn’t ship in 2020. Microsoft intends Windows 10X as a new, modern form of Windows 10 designed from the ground-up for dual-screen device. Furthermore, it guts many of the older Windows 10 features in favor of increased security and a more streamlined experience.

Dual-screen devices with Windows 10X were slated to ship around the holiday season of 2020. Likely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft appears to have fallen behind in developing the Surface Neo and Windows 10X.

Microsoft has allegedly said they would not be allowing third-party dual-screen devices to ship with Windows 10X either, according to ZDNet.

In February, Microsoft had stated that they were hit hardest in their “More Personal Computing Segment,” a part of the company that deals with Windows licensing, accessories, all of Microsoft’s gaming initiatives, and Surface hardware.

Microsoft has not as of yet commented on the report.

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You can still play HBO Go or YouTube on an old Apple TV after it gets abandoned

 

Tips

By William Gallagher
Wednesday, April 08, 2020, 11:16 am PT (02:16 pm ET)

As users report being unable to access DRM-protected YouTube content on their third generation Apple TV, HBO has officially announced that it is abandoning early Apple TV models too. But, you can still stream the content to the set-top with an iPhone and AirPlay.

If the Apple TV 3rd generation isn't a museum piece, that remote control certainly is.

If the Apple TV 3rd generation isn’t a museum piece, that remote control certainly is.

Apple currently sells both its most recent 2018 Apple TV 4K, and the preceding 2015 Apple TV HD, plenty of users are still on the prior models. As of April 30, 2020, however, they will no longer be able to view HBO apps —and some users are now reporting general issues with even YouTube.

“In order to provide the best streaming experience, we need to make some changes to our supported devices list,” said HBO in a statement on its site. “Starting on April 30, 2020, HBO GO will no longer be available on the Apple TV (2nd and 3rd generation).”

Unrelated reports on Reddit and in Apple’s own support forums are claiming that the YouTube app is broken on the 3rd generation, too. Some users are claiming that on attempting to play any video, they get only a message saying only that “An error occurred loading this content.”

In AppleInsider testing, we saw this issue on only a few selected YouTube videos with digital rights management embedded. For now, the majority of YouTube content plays perfectly fine, including all randomly-selected AppleInsider videos.

However, HBO abandoning these models, and YouTube owner Google having issues with it, is not surprising. The Apple TV (3rd Generation) dates from 2012, and the 2nd Generation is now a decade old. Neither support the App Store, so they only have the apps and the versions of apps that Apple installs or updates.

Users will still be able to watch HBO, YouTube, or any future problematic channels, however, because both of these models of Apple TV support AirPlay streaming. With the HBO, YouTube, or any other app playing on an iPhone or iPad, users can stream the output to the Apple TV. Streaming, even on a strong Wi-Fi connection, is not going to be as good or responsive as having a native app on the Apple TV, though, so this is just a work-around, and not a great one.

The easiest way to tell if you have an impacted model is to measure the height of it. If it is less than an inch thick, it is a second or third generation model. If you need a more discrete determination of model number, navigate to Settings, General, and About. The 2nd generation is model number A1378, while the 3rd Generation is either A1427 or A1469. The latter was for a revised version released in 2013.

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Apple Maps COVID-19 update refocuses local searches on hospitals, food deliveries

 

By Malcolm Owen
Tuesday, April 07, 2020, 12:06 pm PT (03:06 pm ET)

Apple has altered how Apple Maps shows nearby searches during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with the app now focusing on providing quicker access to food deliveries, pharmacies, and grocery locations close to the user.

The old list (left), the updated list (right)

The old list (left), the updated list (right)

Users of Apple Maps are likely to be familiar with how the app provides a list of often-requested services and businesses in its search results, allowing for general searches for commonly needed locations. In a bid to make things easier for people to acquire supplies and medical attention during the coronavirus pandemic, Apple has updated the app to show a different list.

Discovered by iPhone-Ticker.de, tapping the search box will bring up the list of categories to “search nearby.” The list typically includes restaurants, fast food, rapid transit, cafes, and supermarkets, among other frequently-needed items, but on Tuesday the list has changed.

Tapping the search box now prioritizes default searches for pharmacies, hospitals, and urgent care near the top of the list. In some cases, the app will also show food delivery services as higher on the list than restaurants.

The change is subtle but highly useful for people who may be affected by official orders to stay at home and not to go outside, as well as to conduct social distancing. In many areas affected by the rules, food deliveries are preferred over restaurants, with the latter likely to be delivery-only or shut down entirely.

The change is slowly rolling out to users around the world. Not everyone is seeing the altered list at this time, with some AppleInsider staff seeing the updated roster while others do not at the time of publication.

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Apple to release new 13-inch MacBook Pro in May, leaker claims

 

By Malcolm Owen
Monday, April 06, 2020, 03:40 am PT (06:40 am ET)

Apple could still be preparing to refresh the 13-inch MacBook Pro in May, a leaker claims, which could get a 14-inch display without dramatically altering the overall physical size.

Apple is thought to be working on its usual refresh of the MacBook Pro lineup, one which could occur in the near future. Following the update to the iPad Pro range, it seems likely that Apple will launch updated MacBook-family products next, but it is suggested there may be a bit more of a wait before the company makes its announcement.

According to leaker Jon Prosser on Twitter, Apple will be bringing out a refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro “next month,” meaning sometime in May. In a follow-up tweet, Prosser goes on to clarify it would be a refresh of the current 13-inch model, but a move to a bigger 14-inch display “is a big possibility.”

While the tweets could be considered educated guesses based on Apple’s usual product cadence, along with incorporating details from other rumor reports, Prosser also makes the claim the new model will have the codename “J223.” Prosser has also been making more Twitter-based pronouncements about Apple’s product line in recent times, with some level of accuracy, which frames the tweet’s details as being genuine.

On March 3, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo proposed there would be a replacement of the 13-inch MacBook Pro by one sporting a 14.1-inch Mini LED display. In Kuo’s note, the analyst doesn’t specify when the model would launch, except it would be sometime in 2020, and that product development of Mini LED will “remain unaffected” by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Kuo has also suggested in earlier notes a refreshed MacBook Pro model with the new scissor-switch keyboard mechanism would arrive in the second quarter of 2020, though stopped short of saying what models would be affected. Earlier Kuo predictions for 2020 MacBook Pro upgrades include notes dating back to 2019.

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Apple News outage briefly impacted selected users [u]

 

By William Gallagher
Friday, April 03, 2020, 03:40 am PT (06:40 am ET)

A small number of users worldwide were reporting that Apple News was down for a period of time on Friday morning, but there was no consistency to which territories were affected, and devices on the same network could be working.

These two iPhones are on the same network and using the same Apple ID. The iPad that the shot was taken with also has Apple News running, but it did take longer than usual to load.

These two iPhones are on the same network and using the same Apple ID. The iPad that the shot was taken with also has Apple News running, but it did take longer than usual to load.

Reports overnight claimed that the Apple News service was down, with users worldwide saying that the app wasn’t populated with stories, and then displaying an error message. That message said that the “feed is unavailable,” and recommended trying again later.

However, not only was Apple’s regular service status reporting no problems, Apple News is appearing as normal for most people.

More peculiarly, that included people who have multiple devices —one may have said the feed is unavailable, but the other showed the regular service. In some cases, the feed is taking longer than usual to appear.

In AppleInsider testing, the majority of iOS devices, and Macs, were all working correctly. In one test of four devices on the same network and with the same Apple ID, two worked perfectly, one was slow, and only one failed to load Apple News at all.

Update 7:00 A.M. Eastern time: Apple News appears to have been completely restored.

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Apple researching trackpad & gesture combo for controlling AR

Rather than attempting to manipulate AR objects through gloves or a game controller, a peripheral like a trackpad could allow users to select and manipulate what they see in front of them.

The four images at the top are meant to be being displayed in AR, while the trackpad-style device at the bottom is a physical one that the user can control

The four images at the top are meant to be being displayed in AR, while the trackpad-style device at the bottom is a physical one that the user can control

Alongside headsets like Apple Glasses which lets users see augmented reality, there’s a need to interact and manipulate virtual objects. This is often done by the user having to also wear a type of glove, but Apple is looking at creating a physical surface that can detect touch. It’s considering a large trackpad for controlling computer-generated environments (CGR) through ARKit.

“CGR environments are environments where some objects displayed for a user’s viewing are generated by a computer,” says Apple in US Patent No. <a href="http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=114&p=3&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=(apple.AANM.+AND+20200402.PD.)&OS=aanm/apple+and+pd/4/2/2020&RS=(AANM/apple+AND+PD/20200402)
%0D%0A”>20200104025, called “Remote Touch Detection Enabled by Peripheral Device.”

“A user can interact with these virtual objects by activating hardware buttons or touching touch-enabled hardware,” it continues. “However, such techniques for interacting with virtual objects can be cumbersome and non-intuitive for a user.”

Apple’s proposed solutions include a variety of “techniques for remote touch detection using a system of multiple devices,” but the principle one is a “peripheral device that is placed on a physical surface such as the top of a table.”

While a headset is showing a user a composite image of the real world around him or her, including this trackpad-style device, it can also be displaying virtual objects. Just as with a trackpad and screen on a MacBook Pro, the user can be looking at the virtual object while their fingers perform touch gestures on the trackpad.

A camera in the headset can locate the trackpad, and combined with that device’s touch sensitive surface, calculate what virtual objects the user is attempting to manipulate.

Drawings in the patent show a user selecting from a choice of images by tapping at a corresponding part of the pad. They show the user rotating objects, or resizing them, using familiar touch gestures and movements.

Most of the patent describes methods of registering touches, and of displaying the composite AR and real image. Part of the latter suggests using holograms projected onto surfaces.

Key to the patent application, though, is how the use of the trackpad-like device can change depending on the AR images being presented, and where the device is in relation to the user. The combination of the trackpad and the headset working together mean that the user can be told to reposition the peripheral touch device.

“For optimal operation, peripheral device can request additional space near or around itself such that camera sensor(s) are free from occlusions (e.g., obstructions),” it says. An error message can be displayed in the headset and cleared by the user moving the trackpad into a better position.

The top message is an error displayed on the user's AR headset, and is cleared by the user moving the trackpad-like device to a better position

The top message is an error displayed on the user’s AR headset, and is cleared by the user moving the trackpad-like device to a better position

That chiefly means being in view of the headset camera and not obscured by other items, but can also be as specific as requiring the device be turned a certain way.

“In some embodiments, the set of operating conditions includes a requirement that peripheral device is in a suitable orientation (e.g., a surface of the peripheral device is approximately parallel with respect to the ground, is horizontal, is vertical, so forth),” it concludes.

The patent is credited to four inventors, Samuel L. Iglesias, Devin W. Chalmers, Rhit Sethi, and Lejing Wang. The latter has recently been credited on a similar patent regarding accurate handling of real and virtual objects, while Chalmers is listed on one about having digital assistants guiding users through AR and VR.

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Russia ban on iPhones, computers without government mandated apps postponed

 

By Mike Wuerthele
Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 03:49 am PT (06:49 am ET)

New legislation in Russia that will mandates all smartphones, computers and smart televisions to have Russian-made software pre-installed has been postponed, with provisions not kicking in until January 2021.

Apple's iPhones are expected to be subject to Russia's forthcoming ban

Apple’s iPhones are expected to be subject to Russia’s forthcoming ban

Russia’s lower house of parliament passed legislation in November 2019 that makes it mandatory for devices such as Apple‘s iPhone that feature apps to include pre-loaded Russian-made ones. The legislation threatening the ban encompasses smartphones, computers, tablets, and televisions.

“When we buy complex electronic devices, they already have individual applications, mostly Western ones, pre-installed on them,” co-author of Russia’s legislation, Oleg Nikolayev said at the time. “Naturally, when a person sees them, they might think that there are no domestic alternatives available. And if, alongside pre-installed applications, we will also offer the Russian ones to users, then they will have a right to choose.”

Tass isn’t yet clear on the reasons behind the postponement. The delay may be technical, but is more likely related to the COVID-19 outbreak that is complicating device production and development at the moment.

Russia’s own Association of Trading Companies and Manufacturers of Electrical Household and Computer Equipment has decried the legislation, saying that it would lead to less choice and more surveillance of the Russian people. The organization believes that western manufacturers will leave the Russian market instead of comply with the legislation.

Apps that are pre-loaded because of legislation would presumably not have to pass through a vetting process such as Apple’s with App Store submissions. There would be no way for users to know whether or not these apps contained state-supported official spyware.

The new legislation comes after the country has introduced increasing control and limitations on the internet. Thus far, companies including Apple have complied with the various laws, including Apple, which agreed to store user data on Russian servers.

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Comparing the 11-inch versus 12.9-inch 2020 iPad Pro

The new 2020 iPad Pros are powerful, stunning, and better than ever. We take a closer look at both sizes of the 2020 iPad Pro to see what the differences are in specs as well as what it is really like to use the larger or smaller versions.

The 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros

The 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros

Specs and features

One of the most common questions we receive ask if there is any difference in specs or performance between, say, the entry-level 11-inch iPad Pro and the maxed-out 12.9-inch iPad Pro. We are happy to say that no, there is absolutely no difference and you won’t be losing out on any performance by going for the smaller 11-inch iPad Pro over the 12.9.

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Between the two, the processors, internals, and other specifications are exactly the same, with the only difference being the larger display. The 11-inch has a 2388-by-1668 display at 264 pixels per inch while the 12.9-inch comes in at 2732-by-2048 at the same pixel density.

That means you don’t get a better display either, just a larger one, by going with the 12.9-inch.

Both devices run the same software and have the same accessories. They both work with the second-generation Apple Pencil and can be connected to the Smart Keyboard Folio or upcoming Magic Keyboard.

Keyboards

Speaking of keyboards, if you do a significant amount of typing on your iPad Pro, the 12.9-inch is a far better option for two distinct reasons.

On-screen keyboard displayed on the 11-inch (left) and 12.9-inch (right) iPad Pros

On-screen keyboard displayed on the 11-inch (left) and 12.9-inch (right) iPad Pros

The first is the on-screen keyboard. Going from the 11-inch to the 12.9, the keyboard covers up far less of the display. Depending on the app, you can get far less usable space on the 11-inch model. The 12.9-inch takes up less than half the screen while the 11-inch is more than half the screen.

Then there’s the physical Smart Keyboard Folio.

Comparing the Mac's Magic Keyboard to the iPad Pro's 12.9-inch Smart Keyboard Folio

Comparing the Mac’s Magic Keyboard to the iPad Pro’s 12.9-inch Smart Keyboard Folio

With this, the 12.9-inch has a full-sized keyboard. Comparing it to our Mac’s keyboard, they are the same size. This makes a world of difference when you move between a desktop or laptop and your iPad Pro. Your fingers gain a sense of muscle memory and when the keyboard keeps changing sizes, your fingers trip up and you make more mistakes.

The 11-inch iPad Pro has a compressed keyboard and doesn’t align with how your fingers were trained. It is still a solid keyboard, but requires your fingers to “relearn” the key placement each time.

Multitasking

An 11-inch (left) and 12.9-inch (right) iPad Pro with two apps in split view, one app in slider over, and a movie playing in PiP

An 11-inch (left) and 12.9-inch (right) iPad Pro with two apps in split view, one app in slider over, and a movie playing in PiP

Another significant differentiator is multitasking, as a lot of users don’t take full advantage of the multitasking abilities iPad Pro has. At the same time, you can open two apps side-by-side in split view, bring in another via slide over, and watch a movie in picture-in-picture.

If you do that on both displays, there is a stark contrast regarding what you can see. The 11-inch iPad Pro has very little usable space —even less if you tried to open up the keyboard to type.

The 12.9-inch, on the other hand, has plenty of space and is easy to write on while looking at a source, while monitoring your Twitter feed, while the news is playing in the background, or whatever your second task happens to be. It is a lot going on, but is manageable on the larger display.

Portability

A larger screen may inherently lend itself to more productivity, but it is hard to beat the compact size of the 11-inch. The 11-inch is a true workhorse in a small body and if you tote it around frequently, the 11-inch size may be the way to go.

We’ve been steadfast users of the 12.9-inch due to multitasking capabilities and the necessary space for video editing, but spending a few days again using the 11-inch has made us love that more compact size. Icons are a bit smaller —which is good if you like fitting more onto a smaller display but bad if you have problems with your eyes.

The 11-inch iPad Pro is not only the most powerful iPad, but it is the physically smallest other than the iPad mini. That is a great tradeoff if you want both power and portability.

We also prefer the 11-inch when it comes to media consumption. It is lighter and more comfortable to hold for long bouts of time while reading, playing games, or kicking back to watch a video.

Reading on the iPad Pro

Reading on the iPad Pro

In the end, it is hard for us to with any degree of certainty recommend one over the other. We are fond of the 12.9-inch for its display and production values but love how easy the 11-inch is to carry around.

If you fall into one camp over another, hopefully the decision is easy for you when picking up your new tablet.

Lowest prices on Apple’s 2020 iPad Pro

Instant discounts on Apple’s new 2020 iPad Pro are already in effect, with the latest deals at your fingertips in the AppleInsider 2020 11-inch iPad Pro Price Guide and 2020 12.9-inch iPad Pro Price Guide.

2020 11″ iPad Pro deals

2020 12.9″ iPad Pro savings