It has become my own tradition to write two books about Apple’s latest operating systems. Despite everything going on in 2020, I have managed to do just that. There are two books, one for macOS and another for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS. The title’s of this year’s books should not be any surprise. These books are available for pre-order.

macOS Big Sur for Users, Administrators, and Developers

macOS Big Sur for Users, Administrators, and Developers covers the new features with the latest release. macOS Big Sur brings a slew of new features like new icons, a refined design with updated toolbars, menu, and alerts. The new design is accompanied by Messages and Maps now having feature parity with their iOS versions, which means new features coming to the Mac that were not present before. One of the most used apps on the Mac is Safari, and there is a whole new privacy section to help you see which websites are tracking you and which trackers they are using. Reminders and Notes have seen a couple of updates like assigning reminders and easier access to text styles in notes. The biggest change for the Mac this year is that it is moving to Apple Silicon and a significant portion of the book is dedicated to that, including a history of the Mac

For administrators we dive into managing Macs running Apple Silicon, scripting language updates, some changes to how updates are handled, and the updates to Profile Manager.

Developers can learn about how Apple Silicon will affect their applications, the changes to Xcode, enhancements to the Swift programming language and SwiftUI. Also discussed are some new Swift Packages, how to implement Widgets using WidgetKit, SF Symbols 2, and Safari extensions.

macOS Big Sur for Users, Administrators, and Developers has something for everyone.

You can pre-order this book from Apple or Amazon for $3.99 each. There will be black & white and color paperbacks available soon.

iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7 for Users and Developers

iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7 for Users and Developers somewhat mirrors macOS Big Sur in that there are some design tweaks like the new Widgets and your ability to place them on the home screen for device running iOS, the new App Library system, which can help you organize your home screen. Along with the home screen changes, search and Siri have seen some improvements as well, and those are covered. Safari can now help keep you informed about who is tracking you across the web. 

Communications is a big part of today’s society, so the updates to Messages is covered, and there is a whole new help to help you translate text, called the Translate app. Users will be able to learn about the new updates to Notes, Reminders, and Maps. If you prefer to handwrite items there is a new feature just for you called called Scribble, which will take your handwriting and covert it into text.

Health is a huge topic and there have been some big changes like the renamed Fitness app on the iPhone and a way of tracking Sleep on the Apple Watch. These are both covered along with updates to Face ID and masks, as well as new ways to protect your hearing.

The Music and Home apps have been slightly changed and updated and the Shortcuts app gets some new tricks to help automate things even better than before.

Developers will learn all about Apple Silicon, because their iOS and iPadOS apps can run natively on Macs running Apple Silicon. Along with Apple Silicon, developers can learn about changes to Xcode, the new Swift, SwiftUI, and Swift Packages, as well as how to implement WidgetKit, some things to keep in mind about AppClips, how to implement the new Color Picker and how to support PencilKit and Scribble with their custom interfaces.

You can pre-order this book from Apple or Amazon for $3.99 each. There will be black & white and color paperbacks available soon.

Today Apple announced that Phil Schiller is going to become an Apple Fellow. Being an Apple Fellow means that he is being recognize by Apple as having a distinguished career and providing extraordinary contributions while working for Apple. Schiller will still be in charge of the App Store and Apple Events.

“Phil has helped make Apple the company it is today and his contributions are broad, vast, and run deep. In this new role he will continue to provide the incredible thought partnership, and guidance that have defined his decades at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Joz’s many years of leadership in the Product Marketing organization make him perfectly suited to this new role and will ensure a seamless transition at a moment when the team is engaged in such important and exciting work. I’m thrilled that the whole executive team will benefit from his collaboration, ideas, and energy.”

Schiller has helped guide Apple’s products as well as its marketing for 30 years. He most recently led the effort to plan and execute Apple’s first-ever virtual Worldwide Developers Conference. The event, notable both for its innovative software and hardware announcements as well as its creative and much-praised execution, set a new standard for what virtual events can achieve in the era of COVID-19.

“It has been a dream come true for me to work at Apple, on so many products I love, with all of these great friends — Steve, Tim, and so many more,” said Schiller. “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.”

To go along with this Greg (Joz) Joswiak, who has been a a longtime leader within Apple Product Marketing , will take over part of Phil Schiller's role, in particular he will be on the Apple executive team as senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Joswiak takes on the role of senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. This organization is responsible for Apple’s product management and product marketing, developer relations, market research, business management, as well as education, enterprise, and international marketing.

Joswiak brings more than 20 years in leadership roles across Apple product marketing and has served as the vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing for the past four years. Joswiak has overseen the product management and product marketing for numerous breakthrough products including the original iPod and iPhone. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.

This is a big change for Apple, particularly since Schiller has been at Apple for so long. It was something that would eventual happen. Apple will not be the same without Schiller. As John Gruber stated, "Schiller hasn’t just been at Apple a long time — he’s held the position atop product marketing for, well, as long as I can remember."

Source: Apple

Today Apple unveiled a new 27-inch iMac as well as updating the 21.5-inch iMac and iMac Pro with a couple of minor changes. Let us start with the 21.5-inch iMac.

21.5-inch iMac

The 21.5-inch iMac has received a minor change, all of the models will now come with an SSD standard. Previously the 21.5-inch iMac would come with a 1TB 5400-RPM spinning hard drive. That is now a thing of the past and the default storage is 256GB SSD. The base 21.5-inch iMac is configurable with a 1TB Fusion drive. The price does not change.

The two Retina 4K models of the 21.5-inch iMac also come with 256GB standard, but you can configure them with the same 1TB Fusion drive, again with a price change. You can also choose a 512GB or 1TB SSD, which was available previously.

This is the only change for the 21.5-inch iMac, but it is good to see Apple finally change the default storage to be SSD on the 21.5-inch iMacs. Next, let us look at the changes for the iMac Pro

iMac Pro

The iMac Pro is Apple's professional iMac and is designed for those who need to have workstation-class hardware, including error-checking and correcting (ECC) RAM. The iMac Pro now comes with a 3.0GHZ 10-Core processor as the default. This is still the Intel W line of processors. This is the only change for the iMac Pro, but one that is welcome by those who can utilize the power of the iMac Pro. Finally, let us look at the 27-inch iMac.

27-inch iMac

The 27-inch iMac has had the same general design since its introduction in 2012. These are great machines and they can last for a while, but there have been some changes that will be welcomed by users.

Processor Changes

The 27-inch iMac has seen a much bigger change. It now comes with the 10th Generation Intel processors. The available options are a 3.1GHz 6-core, 3.3GHz 6-core, 3.8GHz 8-core, and a brand new 3.6GHz 10-core processor. The 10-core option is entirely new and it is the first time a 10-core option has been available on the iMac. Along with the processor that has been a change to some other aspects of the 27-inch iMac.

Audio/Video Changes

The first of this changes is the new 1080p FaceTime camera. This is a vast improvement over the 720p version that has been present in the iMacs for a while. This is a great upgrade, particularly since we are spending more and more time communicating over the internet instead of face to face. While you are on that conference call, you can use the upgraded speakers. These are now a higher fidelity than before. This includes EQ balancing and deeper bass sounds. Better speakers are great for you to hear others, but now others should be able to hear you a bit better with the improved microphones. These are similar to the "Studio Quality" microphones that are on the 16-inch MacBook Pro. All of this is powered by the new T2 chips that is inside the iMac.

Security Changes

The T2 is Apple's security chip that is designed to provide not only the features above, but also provide security for Apple's operating systems, particularly for macOS Big Sur, which will be available this fall. When using your iMac you will be getting an SSD. The base model starts at 256GB, but there are models that support 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and a new 8TB option. The biggest change though is to the glass.

New Display Option

The 27-inch iMac started off as a 1080p display when it was introduced. In 2014 Apple introduced a retina version of the iMac. The 27-Inch model included a 5K Retina screen. The 5K screen changed the game for desktop Macs, because you were able to have significant amount of screen real-estate to really be able to organize your computer and be productive. The 27-inch iMac now comes with True Tone technology, which will automatically adjust the color of the screen depending on lighting conditions. This is not new technology as it is available on iPhones and iPads, but this is the first time it is available on the iMac.

True Tone is not the only change to the display, today Apple is introducing a new display option for the 27-inch iMac, the Nano-Texture display.

Nano-Texture Display

The Nano-Texture display is a display that is based on Apple's Pro Display XDR technology. The Nano-Texture display should be able to reduce glare and will work well in environments where you cannot control the lighting. From Apple's 27-inch iMac Purchase page:

While both the standard glass and nano-texture glass options of iMac are engineered for extremely low reflectivity, it helps to consider your work environment when deciding which one is right for you.

If you’re in an especially uncontrolled lighting environment, there’s an innovative matte option with nano-texture glass. Typical matte displays have a coating added to their surface that scatters light. However, these coatings lower contrast while producing unwanted haze and sparkle. The nano-texture on iMac is actually etched into the glass at the nanometer level. The result is a screen with beautiful image quality that maintains contrast while scattering light to reduce glare to the barest minimum.

The Nano-Texture screen will cost an additional $500, however if you know you need this type of display it may be well worth the price. Additionally, since this is similar to

Closing Thoughts

The updates to the 21.5-inch iMac as well as the iMac Pro are minor updates, but they are ones that will be welcome, most particularly SSDs now being standard across the line. The 27-inch iMac is the machine that got the most upgrades, including a new 10-core processor option, as well as the the new FaceTime 1080p camera, improved microphones and better speakers are all great improvements. The biggest change is the new Nano-Texture display available on the 27-inch iMac. While it is not for everyone, for those who need it, it is likely to be a great upgrade. All of the updates are available in orders today, however the Nano-Texture screen will take a bit longer to ship.

Source: Apple.com