ElevationLab is a company that has created a lot of third-party accessories. While many are designed for Apple products, the do have some other accessories for Android and even some general headphone accessories. Specifically for Apple, they have things like iPhone stands and docks. There are two accessories that I have purchased and thought I would review. These two items are the TagVault: Keychain and the MagBase. Let us start with the TagVault.

TagVault: Keychain

One aspect to most of Apple's product is that most products provide a market for third-party accessories. One of the products that provides the largest variety of options is the AirTag. Apple provides some accessories that you can purchase for the AirTag, however the ones that you can buy from Apple may not be usable in all situations.

The TagVault: Keychain is an AirTag holder that can be put on a keychain, which is very similar to Apple's AirTag Leather Keychain. One of the possible downsides of Apple's AirTag holders is that they may not hold up to abuse. That is where the TagVault can shine.

The TagVault: Keychain is an AirTag holder that encloses the entire AirTag in a water proof case. The waterproofing is accomplished by having two hard plastic outer halves, with a waterproof ring between the two halves.

The two halves of the case are secured with four screws. When these are tightened down, this will protect the AirTag and with the ring, it will be secure the AirTag. Now, you may think that you would need to have a screwdriver that will fit the screws that come with the TagVault, but that is not the case.

Included with the TagVault is a tool to be able to easily remove the screws and put them back in place. This is quite helpful and a small touch which adds to the overall appeal of the product.

Having an AirTag enclosed in a water proof case will have some effect on the functioning of the AirTag. The biggest impact is that the sound on the AirTag will be reduced. According to ElevationLab it should be two-thirds of the decibel level of the AirTag outside of the TagVault. This is a trade off that has to be made for waterproofing.

Tip

When I was putting an AirTag in the TagVault I realized that many might think that you should completely remove all four screws. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, you may only want to fully remove three of the screws and leave one mostly removed.

Possible Future Improvement

One slight improvement that I would like to see with this product is that I would like to see screws that cannot be removed from case, but would still allow the back half of the case to be removed. This way, the screws would not have a possibility of being lost.

Now that we have covered the TagVault, let us move onto the MagBase.

MagBase

When Apple introduced the iPhone 12 line of phones, there was a feature that can make life a bit easier. That feature is MagSafe. MagSafe allows you to use the magnets that are in the iPhone 12 line and magnetically attach accessories. There are a number of accessories like the MagSafe Battery Pack, Wallets, and even PopSockets. The benefit of MagSafe is that nothing is permanent, since it is only magnetically attached.

MagSafe is not exclusively used for accessories, but can be used to charge the iPhone as well. Through the aforementioned MagSafe Battery Pack or by using a specially designed Apple accessory called the MagSafe Charger.

The MagSafe charger is a charging puck that will allow you to charge your iPhone through the built-in Qi charging. There are two downsides to MagSafe charger. The first is that it has a completely flat bottom. This can lead to the charging puck moving around when you want to place your phone on it. The second downside is that the cable from the Charging Pad is only 1 meter (3 feet) long. This is often not long enough.

ElevationLab has an accessory specifically designed for the MagSafe Charger called the MagBase. The MagBase solves both of the issues mentioned above. It includes a base for keeping the charging pad in one spot as well as a USB-C extension cable.

The USB-C extension cable is also one meter long, which makes the overall length 2 meters or 6 feet. This makes it much easier to place the MagSafe charger where you need. The extension cable works well and can be used for whatever you need because it is a USB-C to USB-C cable.

The MagBase itself is a medical-grade silicone that uses micro air bubbles to be able to keep the MagBase adhered to the surface that you place it on. When you place the MagBase you need to make sure that it is firmly pressed to the surface. It may sound like you are permanently attaching it, but you are not. You need to press firmly because this is where the micro air bubbles will be able to attach.

After you have placed the MagBase you can then place your MagSafe charger in the base. You are able to easily pick up the phone with the MagSafe charger attached to use it while charging. Alternatively, if you need to remove the iPhone from the MagSafe charger entirely you can slide the phone off of the charger. This is possible because the micro bubbles will keep the MagBase in place.

As mentioned earlier, the MagBase is made of medical-grade silicone. Because of this, your iPhone will not get scratched when you slide it off of the MagSafe charger while it is in the MagBase.

Longevity

The MagBase in itself is useful, however I have encountered an issue which may reduce its overall effectiveness. After about a month of usage the MagBase stopped staying in place on the night stand that I have it on, without me moving it at all. Cleaning off both the bottom of the MagBase and the nightstand allowed the MagBase to stay in place again.

Closing Thoughts

Both of these accessories work well. The TagVault will allow you to have a super sturdy AirTag holder that can stand up to the elements. Even though the sound that is emitted from the AirTag is diminished when in the TagVault, it is still audible.

The MagBase is useful if you want to be able to keep your MagSafe charger in one spot without

Neither of the accessories is expensive. The TagVault is $12.95 for a single item, $39.95 for a four-pack and $74.95 for a pack of eight. There is only one color available, black. This is likely the color that most will want anyway. Similarly, the MagBase is $12.95. It only comes in white.

I hope that ElevationLab is able to come out with additional colors in the future for each of these products. If you need a waterproof AirTag case, definitely take a look at the Tag Vault. If you think the MagBase might work well for your situation, definitely consider it as an option.

It appears as though Apple has reached an agreement with the parties in a class action regarding Apple's App Store policies. Here are the highlights:

• The Small Business program will remain enforce for at leas the next three years.
• Search results will continue to be based on objective characteristics, like download numbers and text relevance.
• Developers can inform customers outside of their apps that they can purchase subscriptions and the like at a lower price.
• The number of price points will increase to over 500, from the fewer than 100 now.
• The option to appeal a rejection will be maintained.
• Apple will provide a yearly transparency report.
• A $100 million fund will be established to assist developers.

My Thoughts

The proposed settlement has only two real changes, the additional price points and the fund. Outside of that, there is no real change. In reality, this does not cost Apple anything. Most of the proposed settlement items were already in place.

Sure, Apple will have to spend money and resources to enable the additional price points. And the $100 million fund for U.S. developers will cost money, but in the grand scheme of how much Apple makes, $100 million is not a whole lot, particularly since Apple made $21 billion in profit in the March to June quarter this year alone.

This settlement is laughable given that there will be no meaningful changes. This does not really address some of the underlying issues like arbitrary interpretation of App Store rules and spurious rejections.

Apple will get to continue their existing practices which ultimately end up benefiting them and not developers.

Source: Apple Newsroom

Every year since 2012 I have written a book covering the new releases of Apple's operating systems, one that covers iOS and its sibling operating systems and another one for macOS. This is the 10th year that I have been writing books. Beyond it being 10 years, Apple's operating systems have become quite similar, particularly wit the addition of Apple Silicon.

This year I am doing something different, there is only one book this year. That book covers all of Apple's operating systems. The title of this year's book is "iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, tvOS 15 and watchOS 8 for Users, Administrators, and Developers".

Here is the description of the book.

Apple is on a yearly cadence for releasing new operating systems. Despite all of the troubles of 2020 and 2021, Apple has continued this cadence. This year’s releases of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, tvOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey are somewhat lighter on new features that one might expect. However, the new features the operating systems have are big changes.

The biggest change is with a new Focus system, which will allow you to customize how your iPhone, iPad, and Mac all function when you need to concentrate on a particular type of task. The iPad has seen a significant change with the ability to place Widgets on the home screen. This will create a whole new experience, particularly with the extra large widget size.

For developers there are significant changes with Swift’s new async/await pattern, a whole new button system for customizing buttons, and a new continuous integration service called Xcode Cloud. Xcode itself has some improvements like inline commenting and the ability to review, merge, or close pull requests.

SwiftUI, Apple’s Swift-only UI framework has some enhancements with a new refreshable modifier, new button options, a new primitive called AsyncImage.

These topics just barely scratch what is covered in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, tvOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey. The information within will provide details about all of the new features of each operating system and has something for everyone, no matter what level of expertise.

The book is available for pre-order from both Apple Books and Amazon for $4.99. The current release date is November 1st, but the book will be available whenever iOS 15 or macOS Monterey is released.

There will be a paperback forthcoming. When that is available there will be another post letting you know.

Ever since the original Macintosh, introduced in 1984, there have been peripherals, like the a keyboard and mouse, included with most desktop computers. Some of the peripherals, in particular the mice, have not always been the most well received.

As time has gone on the Mac line of computers have received a set of upgrades that enhance a user's experience. One of these upgrades was brought over from the iPhone and iPad. That feature is Touch ID.

Touch ID uses a fingerprint for this authentication, however, it is not an image of your fingerprint. Instead, it is a mathematical hash that cannot be directly accessed by the system and securely stored in a place called the Secure Enclave.

When you attempt to authenticate with Touch ID, the Touch ID sensor computes a hash of your finger and compares it with the fingers stored in the Secure Enclave and if there is a match, then the authentication request succeeds. If it does not match, then it fails and you have to try again.

On Intel Machines, Apple built some custom silicon, called the T2 chip, that would be the interface between the Secure Enclave and the built-in Touch ID sensor.

At their World Wide Developer Conference in June of 2020 Apple announced that they would be moving away from Intel chips to their own custom silicon. The first of these chips was introduced in November of 2020, and the System on a Chip is called the M1. The M1 is similar to the A-series of chips found in the iPhone and iPad.

There were three devices introduced as the first machines, the 13-inch MacBook Air, the lower-end 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the lower-end Mac mini. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro have built-in Touch ID sensors on their keyboards. The Mac mini does not have a keyboard included.

In April of 2021, the first desktop machine with Apple Silicon was introduced, it was an upgrade to the 21-inch iMac, a new 24-inch M1 iMac. The 24-inch iMac included a new set of colors, a new profile, and a new accessory, a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID.

When it was introduced, many wondered how long it would be until Apple released a standalone keyboard with Touch ID. Apple has done just that.

Magic Keyboard With Touch ID

There are only two different types of Magic Keyboards, the Magic Keyboard and the Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. There is a variant of these two that includes a Touch ID sensor. This review will cover the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, although everything in this review also applies to the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad.

The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is not the first Magic Keyboard, far from it. The first Magic Keyboard was introduced in October of 2015. The Magic Keyboard does not have any external batteries and connects via a lightning cable.

The same still applies to the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, except instead of it being a USB-A cable to lightning cable, it is now a USB-C to lightning cable. The reason for this is because all of Apple's modern devices have USB-C ports and do not have USB-A.

The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is charged via a lightning cable. You can use either a USB-A, or USB-C to lightning cable.

USB-C Cable

There is one thing to mention about the included USB-C to Lightning cable. It is significantly different than a normal USB-C to lightning cable. The difference is that the outer jacket has a braided sleeve. It is not known whether or not these cables will last longer than standard cables, but my initial take is that they should last longer, because they do seem to be a it better constructed. But, as I stated, only time will tell if this is truly the case.

Design

Beyond the actual connections for connecting the keyboard to your Mac, the keyboard itself has seen some slight changes. Most notably, the edges of the keyboard is now rounded. As a side note, the Magic Trackpad and other refreshed Magic Keyboards also have this same rounded look.

When you are using the keyboard, you may notice that some of the keys have changed. Most notably, the four corner keys, Function, Right arrow, Touch ID, and Escape are all rounded to match the corner radius of their respective corners, as to match the keyboard.

Beyond the rounded keys, the font on the keys themselves is a bit darker than on previous models, which should allow the letters to be easier to see.

Beyond the font being darker, there have been tweaks to the symbols on the keys. The Function, Control, and Option keys all have their corresponding Mac Menu symbols on the keys. These are 🌐 , ^ and ⌥, respectively. This is a big plus because if you do need to use a key combination it will be a lot easier to figure out the proper keys to use.

The special keys are not the only ones who received some new iconography. Three other keys, F4, F5, and F6 also have new icons. F4 has a magnifying glass, which indicates searching, F5 has a microphone, which indicates Siri. F6 has a half moon, which indicates quick access to sleep.

The darker font, new icons, and rounded keys to mirror the radius of the corners are all nice additions and provide a nice set of updates. Now, let us move onto Touch ID itself.

Touch ID

The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, as the name implies, has Touch ID. The Touch ID sensor will only work on Macs with an M1, or newer, chip. Meaning that the Touch ID sensor will not work on Intel-based machines.

You can still use the keyboard on any bluetooth-enabled device, but the Touch ID will only work on a Mac. Additionally, even though the latest iPad Pro models have an M1 in them, they cannot use the Touch ID sensor. The reason for this is likely due iOS expecting a Touch ID sensor to be directly connected, and not available over wireless.

When you connect the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID to your M1 Mac for the first time, you will need to securely pair the two devices. This is done by pressing the power button twice in rapid succession. The reason that this is needed is so the Magic Keyboard can exchange its public hardware key with the Mac. This pairing can only be performed when the on screen steps indicate to do so.

Enrolling Fingerprints

As mentioned earlier, Touch ID fingerprint hashes are stored in the Secure Enclave on the Mac. This is true whether it is an Intel or Apple Silicon machine. There is a limit to the number of fingerprints that can be stored in the Secure Enclave at a single time. The limit is three fingerprints. This differs from an iOS device that has Touch ID because those devices can store up to five fingerprints at a time. You can enroll the same fingerprint more than once, but that might not be the best decision.

Enrolling a fingerprint using the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is the same as enrolling a fingerprint on a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iPhone, or iPad with Touch ID.

In order to enroll a finger perform the following steps:

1. Connect the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID to the Mac using a USB-C, or USB-A, to Lightning cable. A Notification will appear.
2. Tap on the notification to begin the pairing process.
3. When prompted press the power button on the Mac in rapid succession.

4. Open Up System Preferences.
5. Locate the "Touch ID" system preference.
6. Click on the "Touch ID" system preference.
7. Click on the "+" fingerprint icon. You will be prompted for your password.

8. Enter in your password.
9. Follow the prompts for placing and lifting your finger.
10. Again, follow the prompts for lifting and placing your finger to get the outer edges.

Once you have gotten all of the angles of your fingerprint, the fingerprint hash will be saved and you will get a screen similar to the image below.

Options for Touch ID

In the Touch ID system preference you can choose which system options are able to use Touch ID. The full list of options are:

• Unlocking your Mac
• Apple Pay
• iTunes Store, App Store, & Apple Books
• Password Autofill
• Use Touch ID sensor for fast user switching

By default all of the options will be checked. However, you can control which actions will be available for Touch ID to best suit your needs.

Pricing

If you have a Mac mini, or could really use Touch ID on an external keyboard for your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, and you have an Apple Silicon Mac, the Magic Keyboard with Touch might be a good solution. However, be prepared to pay for the convenience.

The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is, in a word, expensive. The standard Magic Keyboard is $99, but if you want Touch ID as well, it will be another $50. So, it is $149. If you really need Touch ID it is the only solution. Otherwise though, I do not know if this price is worth the overall cost.

Closing Thoughts

The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is a standard Magic Keyboard, so it can be used with any Mac you want, or even a PC if you would like, but the Touch ID sensor will only with Macs with Apple Silicon. The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID may be a great solution for those who use a MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro, in clamshell mode so you can still use Touch ID.

When you begin to pair the Magic Keyboard with your Apple Silicon Mac, you will need to perform an initial handshake between the two devices by pressing the power button twice at the appropriate time, which will be provided to you when it is needed.

The keyboard has some new design features, like the rounded corners for not only the keyboard, but also for the four corner keys. Beyond this, there is a darker font, some new iconography, and symbols on special keys. All of these changes will make it easier to use the Magic Keyboard in all situations.

Overall, the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID seems like it is quality, but it is not cheap. If you know you really need Touch ID for a particular Mac, be prepared to pay for it. If you just need a keyboard, the non-Touch ID version might be a more worthwhile purchase.

Today Apple has released some upgrades. This includes a new set of "Magic" accessories and some additional upgrades for the Intel Mac Pro. Let us start with the Graphics Cards for the Intel Mac Pro

Graphics Card

Apple indicated that the transition from Intel to their own Silicon would take two years. We are just over halfway through those two years. One of the devices that has not been upgraded yet is the Mac Pro.

In order to allow the Intel Mac Pro to remain relevant, Apple has added three new video card options. These are:

• Radeon Pro W6800X MPX Module
• Radeon Pro W6800X Duo MPX Module
• Radeon Pro W6900X MPX Module

Each of these can be configured when you order a new Intel Mac Pro. If you do add these they will cost, $2400, $4600, and $5600, respectively. If you already have a 2019 Intel Mac Pro, you can also get these as standalone for $2800, $5000, and $6000 respectively, or $400 more.

Each of these graphics cards have 32GB of GDDR6 memory in them, so they should be plenty fast when it comes to utilization. Apple has also released an accompanying white paper that will provide performance characteristics for the graphics cards.

New Magic Accessories

The Mac has its own set of accessories, like keyboards, trackpads, and mice. Apple has prepended these with the word "Magic". Therefore, they would become Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpads, and Magic Mice.

When Apple introduced the 24-inch iMac with M1 earlier this year, they came in a range of colors and the keyboards, trackpads, and mice that you would get with the Mac would match the color of the color of the Mac.

The 24-inch iMac did not just have a color-matched keyboard, but there were three keyboard options. These are:

• Magic Keyboard
• Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
• Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad

When these were announced many wondered how long it would be before Apple would allow these to be purchased on their own. Well, today is that day. All three of these, along with the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad are available to order. These are only available in silver. The standalone keyboards will cost you $99, $149, and $179 respectively. The Magic Mouse is $79 and the Magic Trackpad is $129.

You can still purchase the older Magic Keyboard with Numeric Pad for $129.

The Touch ID sensor that is on the Magic Keyboards with Touch ID will not work with Intel machines. They will only work with Macs with M1.

While it is not 100% known, it would make sense that the keyboards with Touch ID will work with any Mac, but the Touch ID will not work on Intel Machines.

Closing Thoughts

All of these items are available to order today. The Magic accessories should arrive by Friday, if ordered today. The graphics cards will arrive August 16th to 18th, if ordered today.

It is not known if Apple will release the Magic accessories in colors at a later date or not.

Now that the last full month of summer is upon us, it is time for me to post the list of titles that I read during July of 2021. Unlike my guess when I posted the Reading List for May 2021, I actually listened to more items than I expected.. Here is what I did manage to listen to. I listened to 13 titles. Of these, ten were new. The reason for this is that most of them, seven of the ten, were Great Courses. Great Courses are broken into 30 or 45 minute chapters, so they can be easily listened to in small chunks. Additionally, I can not listen to one for a few days and it will not be a problem to pick it up again.

Out of all of the items I listened to, I would recommend New Arcadia: Stage One by Eric Jason Martin, particularly if you like '90s video games.

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

Previous Reading Lists:

• June 2021
• May 2021
• April 2021
• March 2021
• February 2021
• January 2021