Linked List: July 24, 2018

Tuesday, 24 July 2018

Apple Identifies and Fixes Thermal Bug in the New MacBook Pro Models 

Statement from Apple:

Following extensive performance testing under numerous workloads, we’ve identified that there is a missing digital key in the firmware that impacts the thermal management system and could drive clock speeds down under heavy thermal loads on the new MacBook Pro. A bug fix is included in today’s macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Supplemental Update and is recommended. We apologize to any customer who has experienced less than optimal performance on their new systems. Customers can expect the new 15-inch MacBook Pro to be up to 70% faster, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar to be up to 2X faster, as shown in the performance results on our website.

I figured it was a bug when some tests were showing that performance improved on the Core i9 15-inch MacBook Pro after disabling two of the six cores. Apple told me that this thermal bug affects all new MacBook Pros — not just the Core i9 model — and older models are not affected. Anyone with a new MacBook Pro should now see the fix via Software Update.

I’d love to hear a further explanation of exactly what this “missing digital key” is. I think it’s just the sequence of bytes that configure the thermal settings for the CPU.

Daring Fireball Weekly Sponsorship Openings 

The summer schedule for weekly sponsorships is pretty open right now, including this very week. If you’ve got a product or service you want to promote to DF’s savvy audience, get in touch. There are openings for the display ads in the sidebar in August as well — for anyone who books a weekly sponsorship through the end of this week, I’ll bundle it with a display ad for August as a bonus.

iPhone X Sets New Record for Resale Value, Averaging 85 Percent of Retail Price 

Ben Lovejoy, writing for 9to5Mac:

The iPhone X didn’t just set a new record for iPhone pricing, it’s also reportedly doing the same for how well it holds its resale value. Liquidation specialist B-Stock says that high demand is seeing used models sell for an average of 85% of the original price. Even bulk purchasers, such as companies buying returns from retailers, are paying around 75% of retail.

When I first heard of Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, which lets you get a new iPhone every year after making only half the payments, I wondered how Apple was going to make money on the deal. I guess this answers the question.

Alissa Walker: ‘Don’t Ban Scooters. Redesign Streets.’ 

Alissa Walker, writing for Curbed:

Cities need to design for the modes they want people to use because they already lost the opportunity once, says McPherson. In the 1890s, American cities experienced a bicycle boom so pervasive it changed women’s fashion. Bikes were such a popular mode of urban transportation that cities scrambled to build cycling superhighways for them. Yet bikes lost that valuable urban real estate as sprawling cities prioritized cars.

With shared mobility companies providing a wide range of multimodal offerings themselves, McPherson thinks there’s an opportunity for bike advocates to merge with the momentum behind other non-car vehicles and all take the lane together. “Human-powered bikes got shoved onto the sidewalk and have been fighting to share street space ever since,” he says. “Now they just might get it.”

I’d support this wholeheartedly.

Motherboard Reviews a Counterfeit iPhone X 

Jason Koebler and Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, writing for Motherboard:

The phone looks like an iPhone X. It has the same form factor, most of the same detailing, no home button, the same volume rockers and side buttons, a working Lightning port, and the same speaker holes on the bottom of the phone. It also has pentalobe screws on the bottom of the device, just like an iPhone. [...]

It quickly became clear this isn’t iOS, though. For one, the sensor bar at the top that creates the dreaded “notch” doesn’t exist on this phone. Instead, the notch has been lovingly recreated in software. The device feels sluggish and underpowered while switching apps. The camera is clearly kinda blurry.

But still, if the phone isn’t an iPhone, it isn’t obvious what it actually is. Many of the apps look identical to their iOS versions. The calculator and stocks apps are seemingly identical to those in iOS. The camera menus and interface look the exact same as the one in iOS. The settings menu looks close-to-identical and has many of the same settings you’d find on an iPhone. The Mail app is the best approximation; I don’t use the default Mail app on my own iPhone, but the setup process and functionality seem from an end-user point-of-view as basically the same as the real thing.

This counterfeit seems wild, especially that it uses a Lightning port. But it’s pretty easy to tell it’s a fake. The display clearly doesn’t go corner to corner (i.e. there’s a chin and forehead). And though someone spent a lot of time recreating bits of iOS and either copying or painstakingly recreating iOS’s icons, the OS is using Roboto as the UI typeface, not San Francisco. (Look at the screenshot from Settings with the big bold “Settings” header — the lowercase “e” and “g” are the biggest tells that it’s Roboto, not San Francisco.) If they were willing to steal the icons, why not steal the font?

I’d love to see one of these things myself. If there are any readers in Shenzhen who can obtain one of these for me, please get in touch.