Linked List: November 14, 2016

Monday, 14 November 2016

Steven Levy Talks to Phil Schiller on the New MacBook Pros ★

Steven Levy:

When I suggested that this might be only the latest in a number of mobile innovations moving to the Mac, in an overall annexation of the Macintosh platform, Schiller pushed back, hard. “Its implementation is pure Mac,” he said. “The thought and vision from the very beginning was not at all, ‘How do we put iOS in the Mac?’ It was entirely, ‘How to you use the [iOS] technology to make a better Mac experience?’”

I love Levy’s description of the Touch Bar:

So what is it like to use the Touch Bar? First of all, it looks great: a strip of arcade-bright fettuccine. The high resolution, especially when it displays color, is a delightful contrast to the doggedly steampunk preserve of a physical keyboard.

Is the New MacBook Pro Keyboard Too Loud? ★

Here’s a video from Louis Rossman comparing his old MacBook Pro keyboard to the brand new one. I think the new one is definitely louder. At one point during my review process, I was thinking the same thing, and I asked my wife and son to corroborate. They both told me it just sounded different, not louder. But now I’m thinking maybe I was right.

To me it’s of a piece with the clicky feel of the new keyboard, which I like. The premium clickiness is what made me say in my review that it’s a mixed bag, not a complete regression from the old ones. People who work in quiet rooms might disagree.

Update: Joanna Stern:

Yes! It is louder. I mentioned it in both video and column. I think part of it is that you think you need to hit the keys a bit harder.

Touché: Touch Bar for Everyone ★

New free utility from my friend Daniel Jalkut: a simulated Touch Bar. This isn’t a good idea for usability (and it wasn’t intended to be), but it’s a great way to see what apps are doing with the Touch Bar.