If you believe the talk, Apple isn't quite done with product announcements for 2016. Even though the announcement and launch of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are in the bag, Apple is said to be hosting another event before the year is out to reveal, among other things, a revamped MacBook. If a new leak is to be believed, however, hardware refreshes aren't the only thing Apple is plotting to reveal at this event.
Apple responds to allegations from the European Commission which suggested that the company was receiving illegal tax breaks from Ireland. In this letter, penned by Apple CEO Tim Cook, the company suggests that the EU is retroactively applying rules which should not apply to their taxation situation. Apple has their European base of operations in Ireland, having set that base up back in October of 1980, and has expanded throughout Ireland (and greater Europe) since. The European Commission suggests that Apple's way of paying taxes in Ireland is "illegal under EU state aid rules."
Laptops and notebooks are great for portable computing, but when you need the heavy artillery, you hare mostly out of luck. Unless you have one of those high performance gaming laptops that are so heavy and hot (literally) they might as well be desktops. Or you can back this Kickstarter almost ominously named the Wolfe, which gives Macs, MacBooks, or really any computer with a Thunderbolt 2 or 3 port, the graphics processing power to drive games as well as virtual reality experiences.
The following is an Ergotron WorkFit-D Sit-Stand Desk Review - with a couple of Ergotron add-ons. Earlier this year it was apparent that my working situation was not going to be able to work any longer. I had neck pain as well as upper and lower back pain from the less-than-optimal working conditions I was providing for myself. I decided to seek out the folks at Ergotron to take some of their products out for a spin. I told them my situation and we decided that it'd make sense for me to test out several items: the WorkFit-D Sit-Stand Desk, Neo-Flex Underdesk Keyboard Arm, and the LX Dual Side-by-Side Arm for monitors.
This morning it's been reported that a new MacBook Pro could be arriving by the end of this year from Apple. This new MacBook Pro for 2016 would have a very similar look to previous models - albeit a bit thinner and more "MacBook-like". It'd also have its own Touch ID sensor, allowing Apple to once again push the world of passwords further away from the mainstream.
The world is full of mysteries, but the question simmering among many is why Apple is still yet to produce a USB-C dock for the Retina MacBook. The port-light ultraportable has demonstrated its commitment to the USB-C spirit with two generations resolutely sticking to the idea that a single port is sufficient, but salvation for those with a handful of things to connect comes from a perhaps unlikely source.
Those who were expecting Apple to show signs of its new MacBook Pro at WWDC 2016 may have been more than a bit disappointed at the no-show. However, do not despair, as Apple might have snuck in some very well hidden clues. The API documentation for the next macOS, formerly known as OS X, reveals quite a few entries that have been interpreted as confirming what is widely believed to be a customizable OLED "Touch Bar" strip above the MacBook Pro keyboard.
The following images were made by Martin Hajek, an illustrator you likely know well by now if you follow SlashGear closely. If you follow SlashGear's Apple leaks and tips, that is to say. Hajek is the sort of person who has access to blueprints for iPhones well before they're released, taking the data he's got on hand and making what end up being spot-on renderings of Apple devices before they're revealed. Today he's made a row of keys that fit on your MacBook. Why in the world would I need these keys, you might ask.
The flatness is here - a set of images of what could some day end up being a glorious new generation in MacBook aesthetics. This is a concept by Martin Hajek, who you might most recently remember for his renderings of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 "Pro". Here you'll see keys that are a lot closer to the surface of the keyboard. Here you'll see a display bar above the rim. Here you'll see a new way to interact with a machine that - to be entirely honest - didn't need much to change in the first place.
Back in late May rumors started to crop up that Apple might be out to make a big change to its MacBook for the first time in a while. According to these rumors prototype MacBooks had been spied that were fitted with an OLED strip across the top of the keyboard where the function keys would normally sit. The cool thing about replacing keys with an OLED touch sensitive strip is that the buttons on an OLED can be customized depending on what you are doing. A slew of renderings have now turned up showing what the final product might look like.
Kanex has rolled out a new GoPower portable battery that uses the USB-C port to allow it to recharge your new MacBook or other device on the go. The battery has 15,000 mAh of juice inside, which the maker claims to be enough to completely charge your MacBook once. The USB-C port output is 5V at 3 amps and the USB output is 5V at 2.4 amps for fast charging of anything that needs a USB port.
The refresh of the 12-inch MacBook last month, and the noticeable lack of new MacBook models, has had some scratching their heads over Apple's vision for the notebook line. That confusion may soon give way to clarity in the next two quarters of the year. According to respected KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the second half of the year will not only see Apple's MacBook products settle along more discernible lines, it could also see Apple's most significant upgrade to the MacBook Pro in a very long time.
