Linked List: June 22, 2020

Monday, 22 June 2020

Apple Announces Mac Transition to ‘Apple Silicon’ ★

Apple Newsroom:

The DTK, which must be returned to Apple at the end of the program, consists of a Mac mini with Apple’s A12Z Bionic SoC inside and desktop specs, including 16GB of memory, a 512GB SSD, and a variety of Mac I/O ports. Developers can apply to the program at developer.apple.com, and the total cost of the program is $500.

$500 rental — great deal, really.

Interesting but not surprising that Apple (a) never once mentions “ARM” by name, and (b) hasn’t revealed the name of their custom Mac chips yet. They’re just saying “Apple Silicon” as a placeholder for a name to be revealed when they begin unveiling actual consumer hardware.

iOS 14 Will Let You Change Your Default Email and Web Browser Apps ★

This is a big feature to just get a mention on an overview slide — certainly one that a lot of people have been waiting for.

Nilay Patel’s Summary of the Apple/Hey Drama ★

Nilay Patel:

This, I swear to you, is the short version.

Just from a dramatic sense, this whole thing has been fun to watch.

Apple, Hey, and the Path Forward ★

Jason Fried:

Late Friday night, on June 19th, Apple’s App Store Review Board surprised us by approving the pending bug fixes to the HEY iOS app that were held up all last week.

Fascinating resolution — or at least abatement — of some pre-keynote drama. Also, a really clever idea for a free feature to make the app useful out of the box.

We care as much about the user experience as Apple, and this is a good compromise. Apple’s iOS customers can sign up for a new free version of HEY, and we can continue to take the same exceptional care of all our customers, regardless of platform. Plus, iOS customers get access to a popular new email service with all the bug fixes and new features we’ve committed to pursue, without having to pay higher prices than customers on other platforms.

Also a fascinating lesson in how you can argue, vigorously, for your own interests and what you believe to be right and just, without burning bridges.