Microsoft has made a big deal about releasing its newest lineup of ARM-based PCs, which appear to be testing in the same ballpark as the M3. With the arrival of the M1, Apple caught the rest of the industry with its pants down. To compete, Microsoft needed an ARM-based platform, which it had been working on for a long time but really wasn’t ready for prime time.
This new lineup feels like a response to Apple’s M1 chip. In terms of processing, they appear competitive with the base M3 chip in performance. Moreover, several manufacturers are getting ready to adopt this platform with hardware that will be released as early as next month. That means there will be tablets and PCs with similar attributes to Apple silicon but running Windows. Microsoft is branding them as Copilot + PCs, with an emphasis on AI (like everyone else seems to be doing these days).
The above link contains videos and links to manufacturers, so if you’re curious about this, I recommend checking it out.
The net result of this will be that we get a lot of new hardware that runs in the ballpark with the M3 MacBook Air. It will be running Windows, but ultimately I think the competition will be good for Apple, and maybe encourage them to take a few risks with the types of platforms they use with their M-series SoC.
When Logitech added AI Tools to their Logi Options+ software, I decided to get off that train.
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I enjoyed the latest iFixit teardown for the new iPad Pro. Apple made several improvements, including the ability to remove the batteries without taking the entire thing apart.
Also, you’ll see that the CPU runs down the center of the device, which makes it a lot more stable and allows it to cool more easily. In years past, the CPU was on the side. There’s also a cover over the CPU, giving additional rigidity across the long axis but not the shorter one, explaining why the iPad is doing better in bend tests along the long axis. Overall, it looks like a solid design.
John Buck published a book covering the “Apple Technology Group,” a division within Apple that operated back in the 1980s and 1990s and experimented with many forward-looking bits of technology that we take for granted today. Join Stephen and me on this episode of Mac Power Users as we talk to John about his book Inventing the Future.
This week, MacSparky is sponsored by ScreenFloat 2, a major upgrade to the Mac’s built-in screenshot tool. With ScreenFloat 2, screenshots become so much more.
To begin, your screenshots will float, just like the name implies. You no longer have to dig through windows to find your screenshots. It’s right on top, waiting for you.
Then, there is a suite of screenshot tools: markup, annotate, colors, rotate, and trim. ScreenFloat 2 lets you record your screen and trigger screenshots on a timer. If you need to re-capture, there is a tool for that, so you don’t have to reframe the shot from scratch. You can even extract text and barcodes. If you need to redact, there are tools for that as well. You can remove text, faces, or barcodes.
Shots float by default: anything you can capture on your screen can easily become a reference. It’s like Picture-in-Picture, only for screenshots and recordings. Shots can be effortlessly shared with a simple drag and drop, with extensive formatting and export options also available.
Also, every shot is analyzed for texts, faces and barcodes, which allows you to vuew, extract, copy, share and redact this information hassle-free. You can also search for a shot’s content in the Shots Browser, or with Spotlight.
Screenshots and recordings are stored in the Shots Browser, keeping the Desktop free of clutter, and allowing you to organize, categorize and find your shots. Shots are optionally synchronized via iCloud.
If you want to redact a text line, a face or a barcode in a shot? A simple right-click will let you do it without any further interaction on your part. But you can also go in and annotate, markup and redact manually. All annotations/redactions are non-destructive, so you can always go back and change or delete them.
I often want to get exact color matches out of screenshots, which is pretty difficult. But not so with ScreenFloat 2. The app has a built-in color sampling tool. If you want to use screenshots, you can drag and drop them out of the browser, or directly from floating shots. ScreenFloat 2 also includes a browser to organize your images with folders and tags, and it all syncs over iCloud. If you want to use your screenshots, you can dmrag and drop them out of the browser.
It’s time for the Lab Report, covering this week’s Apple news, rumors, and more… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members. Care to join? Or perhaps you need to sign in?
Building on the Calendars Revisited Deep Dive from March, in this session we covered the topic of Ideal Weeks, how we create and use them.… This is a post for the Early Access MacSparky Labs Members. Care to join? Or perhaps you need to sign in?
Soulver is one of the strangest calculator/text apps you’ll ever encounter. Here’s a brief introduction to how it works.
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