AMITIAE - Wednesday 1 June 2016
Anticipating Updates at WWDC; and Expanding the Usefulness of Photos (Bangkok Post, Life) |
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By Graham K. Rogers
The A10X processor (iPads) is the more likely candidate if this happens. Several users are slavering in anticipation of Macs with ARM processors; or is that iPads running OS X? Some suggest that an updated Mac Book Pro could be thinner; but it may be delayed until Fall. Or not.
Apple MacBook - Image Courtesy of Apple I took some time in iStudio, Siam Paragon this weekend comparing the MacBook and the MacBook Air with the MacBook Pro range and iPads. Although some feel that the MacBook Air could be end of line shortly, the way the models overlap in terms of pricing, range, size and power make me wonder whether this may happen. The current lineup had a broad spectrum of devices that suit many user needs. Daniel Eran Dilger noted on Twitter, "Steve Jobs once said Mac OS X would be Apple's platform for the next 15 years. Mac OS X 10.0 shipped 15 years ago." What is less sure is what the software updates will bring, although there are several wish lists (mine includes iOS support for external media, and white balance for iOS Photos). There will probably have new features that will only be available for the next phone and its hardware updates (like 3D Touch for the iPhone 6S), which is likely also to include a new maximum 256 GB option. It might also be nice if all of the the features of iOS and OS X were available to users here.
With expectations of HomeKit developments (the so-called internet of things), such an update might be expected. There were plenty of these devices still on sale in Bangkok iStudio outlets at the weekend. With Thunderbolt Displays also running short, Joe Rossignol (MacRumors) wonders if this could also suggest a new 4K monitor is on the cards at WWDC.
I face the possibility that Aperture will no longer be supported when the next version of OS X is released. This is not confirmed, but Apple no longer updates this app, advising users to switch to Adobe Lightroom. Despite the suggestion, Lightroom is not a part of my future plans. I expect to move to Phase One's Capture One Pro 8 [now updated to version 9]. I chose this after examining several possibilities for Pro users that provide workflow options and editing tools. Lightroom does this too of course (I tried it when it was first released) but there are certain Adobe overheads of logging in to everything at intervals. I also shy away from Google for similar reasons, and I am wary of who uses my personal data. Apple Photos was initially as weak and as tasteless as Earl Grey tea. It does not really cut it for workflow operations like Aperture or Lightroom. Over the last couple of years Photos has improved, particularly when used with iCloud and iOS versions of Photos.
Mac AppStore - MacPhun Apps What makes Photos on the Mac more viable these days is its use of extensions. I have several, some of which are quite powerful. Recently Macphun, which has many excellent apps (Intensify, Tonality), put out the free Filters for Photos that works as a standalone and like some other applications, adds a Photos extension: the full features of Filters are accessible from within Photos.
Filters - Extension in Photos
See also:
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life. |
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