Macworld October 2020

August tends to be right in the middle of the summer doldrums, the time when everybody goes on vacation and thus news—including tech announcements—are few and far between. Then again, 2020 isn’t your average year, so perhaps it’s not a shock that August saw a departure from the norm with Apple announcing a surprisingly substantial update to the iMac. My colleague Jason Snell has already expounded upon what the revamp to Apple’s popular desktop means for the future of that product (see page 11), but I think it’s worth it to take a moment and see what we can extrapolate from this update and learn about the future of Apple’s other devices. Apple is no stranger to introducing updates in one device that eventually migrate to the rest of its…

With an early August announcement of the new 27-inch iMac, Apple seems to be clearing out some of the final major Intel Mac releases in its product pipeline. The big question is, what’s next for the iMac? While this new revision makes the current iMac a bit faster and a bit nicer, it’s a fairly modest upgrade. With the move to Apple silicon on the horizon, it’s worth pondering where the iMac goes from here—and how soon we might see truly big changes when it comes to Apple’s most popular desktop computer. BIG iMAC: RESETTING THE CLOCK The 27-inch iMac’s update this week has bought Apple some time. With this update, it feels like Apple could wait somewhere between 12 and 18 months before needing to update the larger of…

After more than 30 years at Apple, Phil Schiller is transitioning his role from Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing to Apple Fellow. Greg Joswiak will be promoted to fill that position. Phil Schiller has been a mainstay of Apple events for as long as anyone can remember. Apple’s press release quotes him as saying: “I first started at Apple when I was 27, this year I turned 60 and it is time for some planned changes in my life. I’ll keep working here as long as they will have me, I bleed six colors, but I also want to make some time in the years ahead for my family, friends, and a few personal projects I care deeply about.” Schiller’s words make it sound as though he is getting ready…

One of these quarters, Apple’s going to announce financial results that don’t result in some sort of record. Perhaps as soon as next quarter, even. But on in July, Apple announced the results of its financial third quarter of 2020—and they were an all-time third quarter record. Literally every measurable category went up, year over year. It was so sunny a set of results that Apple CEO Tim Cook seemed almost embarrassed to be reporting such huge growth amid a global pandemic and some powerful social upheaval in the United States. In any event, here’s what I gleaned from the results and Apple’s regular post-results conference call with analysts that might provide some insight about where Apple is and where it might be going next. TOPSY TURVY: MAC AND iPAD…

Universal Audio’s new Luna Recording System is a digital audio workstation (DAW) aimed squarely at anyone who digs the analog vibe and tape recorder/mixing console workflow. Actually, in this case, a digital emulation thereof—something UA’s Apollo audio interfaces with their on-board DSP processing and plug-in architecture are known for. The kicker? Luna is free if you already own a UA Thunderbolt interface. If you don’t, the ante is $500 for UA’s entry-level Arrow. Hardly chump change, but if my initial hands-on is any indication, you may be willing to pony up—in due time. At the moment, there are minor bugs and unimplemented features, though fewer than you might expect for a 1.x program that was released early for a world rife with clamoring shut-ins. UNDER THE HOOD I spent about 15…

We heaped praise on Avast’s top-tier product in 2018, then called Avast Security Pro, for its solid malware-fighting capabilities and a modern interface. In the two years since then, Avast renamed the product Avast Premium Security, but its protection is as strong as ever. On the privacy front Avast has had a rougher time. In early 2020, the company suffered a huge privacy black eye related to data collection that has since been ameliorated. You can read all about it on PCWorld. AV-Test most recently tested Avast’s malware capabilities in March 2020. The suite earned a 100 percent detection rate from 58 samples in its widespread and prevalent malware test. In December 2019, it also had a 100 percent detection rate from 145 samples. AV-Comparatives tests Mac software once a year with its…