Today Apple announced that they will be holding their annual World Wide Developer Conference, or WWDC, again this year. The theme for this year is "Glow and Behold". WWDC21 will be held in an all-online format starting June 7th and going through June 11th. Apple's WWDC20 was also held in an all-online format. While last year's was due to Covid-19, and the reluctance to gather so many people in one place, there has been no mention as to why Apple is having an all-online conference.

Even though there is no mention for the reason, the all-online format is somewhat better for all developers because everyone can see the exact same sessions as the same time and there is no lottery for tickets, no rushing to be the first, and just like WWDC20, this is a free conference which provides more accessibility for all developers to attend. Everyone can see the same conference no matter where in the world they are.

Swift Student Challenge

Just as was the case last year, there is a "Swift Student Challenge". The Swift Student Challenge, an opportunity for young developers to demonstrate their coding skills by creating a Swift playground, is now accepting submissions. These submissions are due by April 18th and all of the information, including the application to apply, can be found on the Swift Student Challenge website.

Some of the requirements for the application are:

To be eligible for the Challenge, you must:

• Be 13 years of age or older, or the equivalent minimum age in the relevant jurisdiction (for example, 16 years of age in the European Union);
• Be registered for free with Apple as an Apple developer or be a member of the Apple Developer Program; and
• Fulfill one of the following requirements:
  • Be enrolled in an accredited academic institution or official homeschool equivalent;
  • Be enrolled in a STEM organization’s educational curriculum;
  • Be enrolled in an Apple Developer Academy; or
  • Have graduated from high school or equivalent within the past 6 months and be awaiting acceptance or have received acceptance to an accredited academic institution.

Apple will be releasing more information in the next couple of months. As has become my tradition, I will be making predictions of what we might see at WWDC once it is closer to the start of WWDC.

Source: Apple

There is an update to wwriteLite, to version 7.2.1. This is a minor bug fix that fixes an issue where you could not see the Markdown Preview text when using Dark mode and when the file being previewed is not using a template.

As always this is a free wwriteLite and it is available now. You can view the full list of changes by checking out the Change Log on the wwriteLite website.

Version 7.2.0 Notes
It looks like Bill Lumbergh and Dom Portwood have finally decided to jump into the 21st century. They have decided that all TPS reports needs to be submitted in Markdown for easy conversion to HTML so they can be viewed on the Initech, LLC intranet, called Ininet. Therefore, wwriteLite now needs to be able to support Markdown.

With version 7.2.0, you can now write Markdown, preview it by tapping on the Document icon in the toolbar. Once you have previewed your markdown you can import a CSS file from the Document Picker or via URL. Once used, the file will be downloaded and stored so you can use it on other files as well. You may also delete the CSS files by tapping on the “trash” icon in the menu bar.

Also added in this version is a new "Open Source" screen which lists the open source libraries used within wwriteLite. This is accessed via the "About" screen.

There is one tweak as well, the "Drag" icon has been removed and replaced with the Markdown Preview.

"Hey Peter, what's happening?" It's been about six weeks since the last wwriteLite update, and here we are with another one. This is a minor update, but it includes a big feature.

It looks like Bill Lumbergh and Dom Portwood have finally decided to jump into the 21st century. They have decided that all TPS reports needs to be submitted in Markdown for easy conversion to HTML so they can be viewed on the Initech, LLC intranet, called Ininet. Therefore, wwriteLite now needs to be able to support Markdown.

With version 7.2.0, you can now write a Markdown document and then preview it in HTML by tapping on the Document icon in the toolbar. Once you have previewed your markdown you can import a CSS file from the Document Picker or via URL. Once used, the file will be downloaded and stored so you can use it on other files as well. You may also delete the CSS files by tapping on the "trash" icon in the menu bar.

Also added in this version is a new "Open Source" screen which lists the open source libraries used within wwriteLite. This is accessed via the "About" screen.

There is one tweak that has been made to support the Markdown preview option. The "Drag File" button has been replaced with the Markdown Preview button.

wwriteLite is a free update and is available now. You can view the full list of changes by checking out the Change Log on the wwriteLite website.

I meant to post about this before now, but last Friday, TechCrunch reported that Apple was discontinuing the larger HomePod in favor of focusing on the HomePod mini.

The original HomePod is available "while supplies last", however as of this writing you can still get an original HomePod in white from Apple, and the space gray model is sold out. You still might be able to get one from a third-party retailer.

I cannot say that I am surprised by this move. There has not been any hardware update to the HomePod since its introduction in 2017 and its release in February of 2018. After it was released, I wrote a couple of different reviews about the HomePod.

The original HomePod produces great sound, and I am somewhat sad that they are not doing any updates to the product because the HomePod produces much better sound than the HomePod mini. At the same time, I get needing to focus on one HomePod product and the HomePod mini being the focus makes sense. Given how many people are price conscious, you can get three HomePod minis for the price of one HomePod, and therefore creating a stereo pair of HomePod minis is still cheaper, even with AppleCare+ and tax included.

If Apple is going to focus on the HomePod mini, I hope they plan on releasing updates on a regular basis, otherwise I feel as though the HomePod mini will go the way of the HomePod and there will be no Siri-enabled HomePods available.

The original HomePod will continue to receive updates, but the real question is for how long. I suspect that it may only be a a few years of support left for the original HomePod, in terms of software updates, but I could be wrong.

Source: TechCrunch

It looks like the iMac Pro is not long for this world. As of this writing, the iMac Pro is still available to purchase, however the purchase page has the words "While Supplies Last" on it. While you can still purchase an iMac Pro, you can only get the base model. This means that you are not able to customize it in anyway and there are no upgrades available.

Let us travel back to 2017 briefly. The highest end Mac was the Mac Pro. It was introduced in 2013 to much fanfare and had a radical design. Even though there was a new design, the machine had remained largely unchanged since its introduction. Given that there had not been any updates, many speculated that Apple had given up on the higher-end of the Mac market.

In April of 2017 Apple held a roundtable with some journalists to indicate that they were in fact re-dedicating itself to the Mac. According to TechCrunch, "And later this year we’ll see improved iMacs that Apple feels will appeal to a segment of Pro users, as well." While they did not have anything to share at that time, the product would be announced quite soon.

At Apple's 2017 World Wide Developer Conference, they announced a Mac that was aimed at professional users. It would not be a modular machine. Instead, it would be called the iMac Pro. The machine would become available in December of the same year.

The iMac Pro was truly designed for professionals and came with a professional price tag that starts at $4999. However, for this you would get a Intel Xeon processor, 32GB of ECC memory, and 1TB of storage. Plus, it would come in Space Gray with matching accessories.

The current base model of the iMac Pro comes with the following specifications:

• 3.0GHz 10-core Intel Xeon W processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
• 32GB 2666MHz ECC memory
• 1TB SSD storage
• Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB HBM2 memory
• 10Gb Ethernet
• Four Thunderbolt 3 ports
• 27-inch Retina 5K 5120-by-2880 P3 display

While the iMac Pro is still a good machine, it is not being updated. It has not seen any significant updates in its three-years on the market. There have been some processor bumps, and additional options, including an additional graphics card option, but nothing major in the time. The iMac Pro was designed to allow users who have higher-end needs to be able to have an all-in-one machine.

I think Apple is retiring the iMac Pro line for two reasons. The first is that there is another machine, the Mac Pro, which can also fill these needs. The Mac Pro provides even more power than the iMac Pro; however not in an all-in-one machine.

The second reason I think Apple is discontinuing the iMac Pro is because now is a good time to do so. Apple is refreshing the entire Mac line with their own Apple Silicon processors. Apple has indicated that it will take two years to make the complete transition.

The only machines that have been updated thus far as the MacBook Air, the Mac mini, and the lower-end MacBook Pro. The higher-end 13.3-inch MacBook Pros, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, the 21.5-inch iMac, 27-inch iMac,, and the Mac Pro still need to get the new processors.

With the eventual release of an updated iMac, I suspect that there will be significant changes on the iMac. This includes thinner bezels, a redesigned body, and redesigned internal structure. I also suspect that with Apple Silicon there will not be as much differentiation between the iMac lines. With not nearly as much differentiation, there is no need for the iMac Pro. I suspect that the iMac line will have a wide range of customizations, including those that would meet the needs of iMac Pro users.

Furthermore, I suspect that there will be some surprises with the iMac line. I am not sure what they might be. Maybe one of them will be an option for selecting either silver or space gray, but that is merely a wild guess.

It will be interesting to see what Apple will with the iMac line, and given that the look of the iMac has remained the same since 2012, it may be time for a complete re-thinking. Again, this makes it the perfect time to eliminate the iMac Pro. I hope Apple continues to provide an option for professional users. What I would really like to see is a cheaper stand-alone monitor, but that is a whole separate topic.

Last month I created a post about the items that I managed to read/listen to during the month of January. You can see that list here. With February just finished, I have another list with the items that I have listened to. As is the case for most of my books and podcasts, I listened to most of these at 2x.

Over the course of the month of February, I listened to 29 different titles, 12 of them being ones that I listened to for the first time. This is actually more than 1 book per day, which in some cases makes sense given how short some of the audiobooks are. I did not think I would be able to listen to more books in February than I did in January, but I did manage to. We will see if this pace keeps up, but I do not think it will, but we shall see.

Disclaimer: the links below will provide a bit of a commission if you purchase anything.

There are two months down with another 10 to go. I can already tell I do not think I will be able to keep up this pace, but we shall see.

Previous Reading Lists:

• January 2021