Earlier today Apple held its September 2023 event titled ‘Wanderlust’. Apple focused on just two products, the Apple Watch and the iPhone. Let us start with the Apple Watch.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch has continued to evolve with the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Both of these have a new S9 System in Package, SIP. The S9 allows for a new gesture, Double Tap.

Double Tap is a new feature that will allow you to perform actions just by tapping your index finger and thumb together. When you do this you can answer, or end a call, reply to a message, and more. Double Tap will be available in October.

The S9 also support for the new 2nd generation Ultra Wideband processor. This means that that you can use precision finding of not only devices, like your AirPods, but also for your iPhone. If you need to find your iPhone you can get haptic and audible feedback while finding your devices. The limit to this is that your iPhone must have a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, more on that later.

The S9 also allows Siri to be processed directly on the device and no longer need to be sent to the Cloud for processing. The most common functions, like starting a timer, closing the garage, or performing many other actions can now be done from your Watch.

Siri on the Apple Watch is now also able to handle health requests, like starting a walking workout, how you slept last night,

Apple Watch Series 9

The Apple Watch Series 9 has been improved in a few ways, beyond what is already included in the S9. The Series 9 now has a brighter screen which supports up to 2000 nits of brightness, which is double of the Series 8, and is easier to read in bright sunlight. Similarly, it can drop down to 1 nit at night or in low light situations, like in theaters.

The Apple Watch Series 9 comes in Aluminum and Stainless Steel. The aluminum version is available in a variety of colors including Starlight, Midnight, Silver, PRODUCT(RED), and for the first time Pink.

The Series 9 is available in two sizes, 41mm and 45mm. The 41mm is $399 for GPS and $499 for Cellular. The 45mm is $429 for the GPS model and $529 for the Cellular model.

The Stainless Steel models are available in 41mm and 45mm. These are GPS and Cellular. You can choose from Gold, Graphite, or Silver. The 41mm is $699 and the 45mm is $749.

The Apple Watch Series 9 is available for ordering today and will be available on September 22nd.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has the same S9 SIP as the Series 9, so it has the same features. Much like the Series 9, the Ultra 2 has a new display. This one can go up to 3000 nits of brightness for those instances when needed. Like the Series 9, it can also go down to 1 nit for low light situations. Night mode, which is exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra, now automatically activates, which is where the screen will reduce down to 1 nit.

iPhone

As widely anticipated Apple unveiled its newest line of phones, the iPhone 15 line. Similar to the past few years there are four new models, the iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Commonalities

All of the iPhones have USB-C, which replaces the lightning cable, which was introduced with the iPhone 5 in 2012. This is only the second connector change for the iPhone. From 2007 to 2012, the iPhones all had Apple’s 30-pin Dock connector.

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus come in the same sizes, of 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch displays respectively. And as mentioned above has USB-C. However, the USB-C port is limited to USB-2 speeds of up to 480 Mbps. This is the same limitation as on the Lightning-based iPhones.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are powered by the A16 Bionic, which was in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Because they have the A16 the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus now also has the Dynamic Island. This means that you get the same functionality as the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, with Live Activities. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus has the Super Retina XDR display, which is an OLED display that can be up to 1600 nits of peak brightness.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus has a brand new camera system. The camera system 48 megapixel sensor system. There are two cameras, the Main Camera and Ultra Wide. The Main camera is a 26 mm lens, with an ƒ/1.6 aperture. It also has a sensor‑shift optical image stabilization, and 100% Focus Pixels.

The 12MP Ultra Wide camera has a 13 mm lens with an ƒ/2.4 aperture, and 120° field of view. You are able to take a 2x telephoto picture using the center of the 48 megapixel lens. When you do this it has a 52 mm equivalent with an ƒ/1.6 aperture.

The iPhone 15 line comes in one of five colors, Black, Blue, Green, Pink, or Yellow and the pricing remains the same as last year. This means that for the iPhone 15 it is $799, $899, and $1099 for 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, respectively. For the iPhone 15 Plus the prices are $899, $999, and $1199.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are available for pre-ordering on Friday, September 15th, at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time and they will be available starting on September 22nd.

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are designed to be the most advanced iPhones and often have the newest features that will eventually come to other devices. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max continue this trend. The Pro and Pro Max have a brand new material, Titanium in place of the previous stainless steel bands. Titanium will allow the Pro and Pro Max to be lighter. Since it is a new material, there are new colors. These are Black, White, Blue, and Natural.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max support USB-C at USB 3 speeds. This means that it can support up to 10 gigabits per second. Along with this much higher transfer speeds there is a new video output mode that allows up to 4K at 60 fps HDR. All of this is made possible with a new processor, the A17 Pro.

A17 Pro

The A17 Pro is a 3-nanometer chip that brings a lot to the iPhone. It starts with efficiencies that allows the CPU to be 10% faster, the Neural Engine to be twice as fast as the previous model. The GPU is an Apple-designed 6-core GPU that is 20% faster. The A17 Pro includes a dedicated AV1 decoder, which enables more efficient, high-quality video experiences for streaming services.

Camera

The camera is a big draw and the iPhone. The two Pro models have some slight differences between them, but they do have some commonalities. The two models have a 48MP Main 24 mm, a ƒ/1.78 aperture, a second‑generation sensor‑shift optical image stabilization, and support for super‑high‑resolution photos (24MP and 48MP).

The Ultra Wide camera is a 13 mm, with an ƒ/2.2 aperture sensor, with 120° field of view.

You can use the center of the 48MP Main camera to take a 12MP 2x Telephoto image. This has an 48 mm equivalent, and ƒ/1.78 aperture, and second‑generation sensor‑shift optical image stabilization.

iPhone 15 Pro Camera

The iPhone 15 Pro has a 3x optical telephoto lens that supports 77mm with an ƒ/2.8 aperture, 3x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 6x optical zoom range, and Digital zoom up to 15x.

iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a different camera than the 15 Pro. The Pro Max has a 5x Telephoto that is an equivalent of a 120 mm lens with an ƒ/2.8 aperture, 3D sensor‑shift optical image stabilization and autofocus, tetraprism design. There is a 5x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out, and 10x optical zoom range.You can use digital zoom up to 25x.

Action Button

Since the original iPhone there has been volume buttons, a power button, and a silent/ring switch. This latter button has been removed and has been replaced with an Action button. By default the Action button will continue to be the silent/ringer but you will be able to configure what the Action button does. You can configure it for Silent mode, Focus, Camera, Flashlight, Voice Memo, Translate, Magnifier, Shortcut, or an Accessibility.

Storage

The iPhone 15 Pro comes in four storage sizes, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The prices for these remain the same as last year at $999, $1099, $1299, and $1399 respectively.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes in three storage sizes, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The pricing for these remains the same as last year, at the same storage sizes. Therefore it is $1199, $1399, and $1599 respectively.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are available for pre-order starting on Friday, September 15th, at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time and they will be available starting on September 22nd.

Environment

For a while now Apple has been committed to reducing their carbon footprint for all of their products and actions. Ways that they have managed this is by using renewable energy for their offices, reducing packaging size, and shipping via ship as opposed to by plane.

Apple is now removing leather from all of their products, starting this year with the iPhone case and Apple Watch band. These are now replaced with different materials. Leather has been replaced with a material called FineWoven. These are made from durable microtwill, the material has a soft, suedelike feel.

Apple emphasized their commitment to renewable products through the use of renewable materials through the elimination of leather and replacing it with FineWoven materials. The Apple Watch is the first carbon neutral Apple product and many of the watch bands are now using recycled products, including the Nike Sport Band which has flecks of recycled rubber within the band, which creates a unique band for each one.

Other Tidbits

If you buy a new pair of AirPods Pro 2 they will come with a USB-C charging case instead of lightning. You can now charge this case directly from a USB-C-enabled iPhone.

iCloud+ is getting some new storage tiers of 6GB and 12TB. These are in addition to the 50GB, 200GB, 2TB. The 6TB plan is $30 per month, and the 12TB will cost $60 per month. These are designed for those who really need the amount of storage.

The Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 both require watchOS 10, which will be available Monday, September 18.

The last thing to mention is iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and tvOS 17 will be available Monday, September 18th. macOS Sonoma will be available on Tuesday, September 26th.

Closing Thoughts

The changes with the iPhones may seem incremental, but they do seem to have some big updates. You can view additional details using any of the sources below.

If you want to read about the new features in macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10, be sure to check out my book macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10 for Users and Developers, which is available on Apple.

Sources

Apple is holding their ‘Wonderlust’ event next week on Tuesday, September 12th, 2023 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple’s September event is one of the most anticipated throughout the year because it is where Apple has announced new iPhones since 2011. Between 2007 and 2010 they had June releases, but the September release has become their standard time to announce flagship iPhones.

iPhone

The one thing that is almost guaranteed to be announced is the next set of iPhones. It is likely that there will be four new models, two regular iPhones and two Pro iPhone models. There has been speculation that Apple might switch out the name “Pro Max” with “Ultra”. It could go either way. I could see Apple doing this to simplify the line to just have a single word after the model, but I could also see Apple waiting to use Ultra once they have a radically different form factor, like a folding iPhone. To be clear, I do not expect a foldable iPhone to be announced.

It is long rumored that this year iPhones will switch away from the Lightning connector to using USB-C. I absolutely expect this to be the case. The European Union has passed a law that requires all cell phone manufacturers to use USB-C for wired charging by the end of 2024. While Apple could indeed wait, now is a good time to do that. It is entirely possible that Apple might just wait until next year for USB-C, but I do not see that happening.

It is possible that Apple could just forgo USB-C and go with wireless charging, but there are many places where having a wired connection works more reliably, like within cars. I do hope Apple releases their own USB-A to USB-C cable, much like they have with the USB-A to Lightning that is half a meter long. This type of cable works really well for use in cars. Maybe this is purely because I could use a cable like this, but it would make sense for Apple to have this as an option. If Apple does not provide one, then third-parties will absolutely provide options.

Apple Watch

The original Apple Watch was announced in September 2014 and released in April of 2015. Therefore we are 9 years since the original announcement. As has been the case since 2016, I expect that we will see an Apple Watch Series 9. I would like to see some significant improvements with the battery life as well as just general speed increases, particularly when it comes to updating the Apple Watch. Beyond this, I would like to see additional sensors, but I think those would need to be super reliable.

One thing that Apple does is release new Watch bands three times a year, and when there is a new Apple Watch is one of those times. I am sure the colors will match any new Apple Watch colors or iPhone colors.

Last year Apple released the Apple Watch Ultra. It will be interesting to see if Apple releases the Apple Watch Ultra 2. If they do, it could signify that they intend to update the Apple Watch every year. There have been rumors that the Apple Watch Ultra will come in Black this year, which would be a nice addition to the standard titanium color introduced last year.

iPad

Having new iPads at this event could go either way. If there is a mention of new iPads, I would think it could be an 11th Generation iPad to replace the re-designed 10th generation introduced last year. I would think that Apple would replace the 10th generation and keep the 9th generation around. However, it is also possible that Apple would

I do not think that we will see iPad Pros at this event. Those models seem to be updated every 18 months and we are less than a year from the introduction of the 4th Generation 11-inch and 6th Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro, so it does not seem likely that we will see those this year.

If iPads are announced it could include a new iPad mini. I do not think much would change with the new iPad mini except for the processor and maybe thinner bezels. It has been two years since the 6th generation iPad mini was released. The iPad mini currently has an A15 Bionic, so I could see them using an M1 in those iPads, or at least upgrading it to the A16 Bionic, like those in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The iPad Air could also be inline for an update as the 5th generation iPad Air was released in March of 2022, so we are at the 18-month mark for that model. The iPad Air is currently running an M1, so it is conceivable that an update could be made to update it to the M2, much like the 4th generation 11-inch iPad Air and 6th generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro have now.

AirPods

One thing that has not been rumored at all is any updates to any of the AirPods. I do not expect AirPods Pro, because they were released on September 23rd, 2023. One product that has not seen any update since its introduction is the AirPods Max. They were announced on December 8th, 2020 and released on December 15th, 2020. As of this writing it has been more than 1000 days since they were announced. It would be great to see a new set announced.

New AirPods Max would likely have new colors, include a different carry case, use USB-C, and possibly a bit lighter than their predecessor. Much like the half-meter USB-A to USB-C cable, this may just be me trying to manifest this because I am in the market for new on ear/over the ear headphones.

Operating System Release Dates

The dates that Apple releases their operating systems can vary wildly. Back in 2020 there was a single day between the September Event and the release of iOS 14. However, most years there is about a week between the announcement and the release. iOS, watchOS, and tvOS are all generally released at the same time.

Of course iOS is the biggest release, but there are other operating systems. macOS and iPadOS are typically released later than iOS. I expect macOS to be released later, like usual, but I think iPadOS will be released at the same time as iOS this year. This is merely a guess, but given the features in both operating systems it seems to make sense that both would be released simultaneously.

Recap

Here is a recap of what I think we will see at the "Wonderlust" event.

Closing Thoughts

Apple’s September event is usually the most watched and therefore it has been used to pre-announce new products, including the Apple TV in 2006, codenamed the iTV, and again in 2014 when Apple announced the Apple Watch, which would be available in April of 2015. I do not expect any new product categories to be announced, because Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro at the World Wide Developer Conference in June. Even without another new product category, I suspect that this will be a full event.

I will have a post about what Apple does announce sometime after the event.

If you want to read all about the new features as soon as the new operating systems are released, be sure to pre-order my book "macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10 for Users and Developers" from Apple. It is DRM-free so it can be read anywhere.

Summer is coming to a close and fall is rapidly approaching. August was a bit heavier listening as compared to the last couple of months. In August I listened to 14 books, most are repeat listens.

I only listened to a single new book last month and that is the book I want to highlight. The book is titled "How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History's Deadliest Catastrophes" by Cody Cassidy. Here is the description of the book:

A detailed guide to surviving history’s most challenging threats, from outrunning dinosaurs to making it off the Titanic alive

History is the most dangerous place on earth. From dinosaurs the size of locomotives to meteors big enough to sterilize the planet, from famines to pandemics, from tornadoes to the Chicxulub asteroid, the odds of human survival are slim but not zero—at least, not if you know where to go and what to do.

In each chapter of How to Survive History, Cody Cassidy explores how to survive one of history’s greatest threats: getting eaten by dinosaurs, being destroyed by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, succumbing to the lava flows of Pompeii, being devoured by the Donner Party, drowning during the sinking of the Titanic, falling prey to the Black Death, and more. Using hindsight and modern science to estimate everything from how fast you’d need to run to outpace a T. rex to the advantages of different body types in surviving the Donner Party tragedy, Cassidy gives you a detailed battle plan for survival, helping you learn about the era at the same time.

History may be the most dangerous place on earth, but that doesn’t mean you can’t visit. You can, and you should. And with a copy of How to Survive History in your back pocket, you just might make it out alive.

This was a good book that provides some plausible methods for actually surviving some of the worst disasters in history. It is both entertaining as well as informative. It seems like a topic that could be dull, but it is not.

Note: the links below contain affiliate codes where I get a small commission if you purchase something.

Previous Reading Lists

Today Apple has announced that they will be streaming their September Event. It will be at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, September 12th, 2023. The event will be live streamed from Apple Park.

As you might have realized, I do not usually post rumors, but it is expected that Apple will announce the next iPhone, iPhone Pro, Apple Watch, as well as the release date for the corresponding operating systems.

I will post a recap of what Apple announces after the event. I will also be posting my hopes before the event.

Today I have released an update for my app wwriteLite. This is a minor update.

Tweaks

• Removes twitter as a support option.
• Requires iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, or macOS 13.4.

You can download the update for free using the App Store on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. If you have not yet downloaded the app, it is a free app and available on the App Store. You can view additional information on the app's website.

July is now over and we are in the midst of summer. July was an even lighter listening month than June. I managed to listened to 8 titles, but three of those were books that totaled more than 98 hours.

Unlike last month three of the titles I listened to was a new one. The new title I listened to is the one that I want to highlight for the month. The new book that I read is called "The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II" by Denise Kiernan. Here is the description of the book:

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, and consumed more electricity than New York City, yet it was shrouded in such secrecy that it did not appear on any map. Thousands of civilians, many of them young women from small towns across the U.S., were recruited to this secret city, enticed by the promise of solid wages and war-ending work. What were they actually doing there? Very few knew. The purpose of this mysterious government project was kept a secret from the outside world and from the majority of the residents themselves. Some wondered why, despite the constant work and round-the-clock activity in this makeshift town, did no tangible product of any kind ever seem to leave its guarded gates? The women who kept this town running would find out at the end of the war, when Oak Ridge’s secret was revealed and changed the world forever.

Drawing from the voices and experiences of the women who lived and worked in Oak Ridge, The Girls of Atomic City rescues a remarkable, forgotten chapter of World War II from obscurity. Denise Kiernan captures the spirit of the times through these women: their pluck, their desire to contribute, and their enduring courage.

This was a good book that provides a history of what occurred in Oakridge Tennessee during World War II. Many know that work was done to help bulid the atomic bombs in Oakridge, but they may not know the specifics. This book does shed some more light on what life was like during that time.

I am not sure how many titles I will end up listening to in August. The new title that was expected to be released at the end of July has been delayed yet again. So, it will be a while before I get to listen to that one.

Note: the links below contain affiliate codes where I get a small commission if you purchase something.

Previous Reading Lists

Music streaming services like Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Spotify, offer a benefit for being able to listen to just about any song anywhere you are. Through the "Made For You" playlists on Apple Music or the "Discover Weekly" playlists on Spotify, you can be introduced to songs that you were not previously aware of. While these are not perfect at predicting what you may want, they can provide you some new music selections.

After you have been using a streaming music service it is quite easy to become complacent and think that the music in your library will always be around, but this definitely not the case. Back in January of 2020 I wrote about a downside to streaming media. In that article I made an argument that you should purchase media that you want to be able to watch at almost any point. This is because media can be removed from a streaming service at any point, for any reason, and without any warning.

In the last week I noticed that two songs are no longer available for streaming. The two specific titles are "It Runs in the Family" by Zandi Holup and "Nicotine and Gasoline" by Nate Moran. The only reason that I noticed that any song was not available was because I wanted to play "It Runs in the Family" by Zandi Holup and that is when I noticed it was "No Longer Available". I did not notice this before because once an item is no longer available it is simply skipped while shuffling.

Since that song was no longer available I went and did some searching and I happen to come across Zandi's TikTok channel where someone asked why the song was pulled from Apple Music. Zandi replied "It is being re recorded !!", so for that one I will just have wait until it is available again.

This is not the first time that I have had a song no longer be available. The impetus for me writing the 2020 article was a similar situation, but that was with the song "Never Told a Lie" by Noah Smith.

Now, I have quite a few playlists, in fact I have 230 different playlists, 31 Smart Playlists and 199 Standard Playlists. A number of these are the monthly music playlists that are on my Playlists page. I have monthly music playlists going back to 2014. This week I created a new Smart Playlist titled "Apple Music - No Longer Available". This playlist has a single rule that is: Cloud Status is 'No Longer Available'.

This new playlist will automatically update with any songs that are no longer available. When I created the playlist it originally showed 8 songs. One of the songs I had was a single titled "Springsteen (Live at Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UT, March 25, 2017)" by Eric Church. That song was available on another album, so I removed that from my library entirely. The other songs in this playlist are just no longer available, but I am not concerned about those songs.

Because these songs were no longer available, it prompted me to go and purchase a slew of songs, 60 songs to be exact. The songs that I purchased are ones that I would absolutely want to listen if they were pulled from Apple Music. The only reason I knew about any of these songs is due to two other playlists that I have called "Apple Music to Buy" and "Apple Music to Buy Soon". These have different thresholds.

The "Apple Music to Buy" Smart Playlist has two criteria, "Cloud Status is Apple Music" and "Plays is greater than 99". The "Apple Music to Buy Soon" smart playlist has the criteria of "Cloud Status is Apple Music" and "Plays is in the range 50 to 99". Just because items are on these lists does not mean that I will buy them, but it providess me an easy means of being able to see the Apple Music that I have played most often.

Songs are not the only thing that can go away, it is quite common for tv shows and movies to be removed from streaming services. Since you are merely being granted access to the media, remember that it can go away at any point and if you really want to be able to watch it in the future, be sure to purchase it, if it all possible.

Since 2012 I have been publishing a set of books each year for Apple's new operating systems. Since 2021 I have written a single book that covers the new features for all of Apple's operating systems. I again have written another book for this year and this year's book is macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10 for Users and Developers.

This year is a bit different for the book. There is only one digital version and it is available from Apple. Just as with previous years, there is no digital rights management (DRM) on the book. Therefore, you can use read the ePub on any compatible device.

Apple continues its cadence of yearly releases for its operating systems. macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10 are chockful of features.

Widgets are becoming na increasingly important part of Apple's entire ecosystem. Widgets come to new places on all of Apple's platforms, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS and watchOS. Widgets are now available on the Lock Screen of the iPad and on the desktop of macOS Sonoma. Health continues to be a big focus with a few new features like Time in Daylight, Screen Distance, State of Mind logging, and a new Journal app.

watchOS 10 is a big release with new interaction methods, a new design language, full screen backgrounds, and a couple of new watch faces, Palette and Snoopy & Woodstock. If you a cyclist, there are some new enhancements just for you, like Bluetooth sensor connectivity and a Live Activity on your iPhone while cycling.

Developers get a bunch of new features as well, like Swift Macros, which power features like SwiftData, a new @Model macro, improvements to both Xcode and Documenation Catalogs, and even some additional Swift Packages, including Foundation. Beyond this there is a new Push Notification Console for developers to test and debug their push notifications, which includes some generation and validation tools.

These are just some of the topics covered in macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10 for Users and Developers. There is bound to something for everyone, no matter what your level of expertise.

You can pre-order the book from Apple Books. The price for the book is $4.99. It is available for pre-order today and will be released when iOS 17 is released.

June has just finished and we are now into summer. June was a lighter listening month and I managed to listened to 10 titles. Just like last month one of the items I listened to was a new title. The new title I listened to is the one that I want to highlight for the month. The new book that I read is called "D-Day with the Screaming Eagles" by George Koskimaki. Here is the description of the book:

Many professional historians have recorded the actions of D-Day but here is an account of the airborne actions as described by the actual men themselves, in eyewitness detail. Participants range from division command personnel to regimental, battalion, company, and battery commanders, to chaplains, surgeons, enlisted medics, platoon sergeants, squad leaders and the rough, tough troopers who adapted quickly to fighting in mixed, unfamiliar groups after a badly scattered drop. And yet they managed to gain the objectives set for them in the hedgerow country of Normandy.

This book is primary source material. It is a “must read” for anyone interested in the Normandy landings, the 101st Airborne Division, and World War II in general. Hearing the soldiers speak is an entirely different experience from reading about the action in a narrative history.

This was an interesting book that provides some more context and detail to what happened on June 6th, 1944. The book was originally published in 1969 means that many of those discussed in the book were alive and were able to provide their first hand account of their experiences. If you are a fan of the "Band of Brothers" miniseries, it is definitley worth reading.

I am not sure how many titles I will end up listening to in July. There is one new title that I have pre-ordered, but it has been delayed multiple times now, and it is released at the end of the month, so time will tell how much I end up listening to.

Note: the links below contain affiliate codes where I get a small commission if you purchase something.

Previous Reading Lists

Today Apple held its annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote. As expected they announced all of the new operating systems as well as some new hardware. iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14 Sonoma, were all covered and each of them included a bunch of new features.

Macs

Apple announced three new Macs today, a MacBook Air, a Mac Studio, and the Mac Pro. Let us start with the 15-inch MacBook Air.

15-inch MacBook Air

The 15-inch MacBook Air is very similar to the 13.6-inch model, in that it has an options for an 8-Core M2 chip with either 8 or 10 GPU cores, a Liquid Retina display, P3 Color gamut, and True Tone on the display. It has 2 Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 ports. It has a 15.3-inch screen, with 500 nits of brightness.

According to Apple, it it s 12x faster than the latest Intel-based MacBook Air and it comes with 18 hours of battery life. You can configure it up to 24GB of memory and up to 2TB of storage.

The 15-inch MacBook Air will be available to order it today and will start shipping next week. The 15-inch MacBook Air starts at $1299 for the 8-Core CPU and 10-Core GPU with 8GB of unified memory and 256GB of storage. As a side note, the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air is now starts $1099 for the 8-Core CPU and 8-Core GPU with 8GB of unified memory and 256GB of storage.

Mac Studio with M2 Max and M2 Ultra

The Mac Studio is Apple’s latest desktop Mac and it has been popular amongst users who need the additional power of the M1 Max and M1 Ultra. The Mac Studio is a great way of being able to have the connectivity that you need given the myriad of ports on the back of the device.

The hardware has now been updated with the M2 Max and M2 Ultra. The M2 Max is the same one that comes in the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro, so it has either a 12-core CPU, and 30-Core GPU. The M2 Ultra is double that of the M2 Max, so it has a 24-Core CPU and a 76-Core GPU. The M2 Ultra is capable of streaming 22 8K streams simultaneously, so it is a beefy powerhouse. The M2 Max also includes a 32-core Neural Engine and can support up to 192 GB of memory.

The M2 Ultra now supports up to 6 Pro Display XDR connected to a single Mac Studio with M2 Ultra, if you need that much screen real estate. On either of the models, you can configure up to 8TB of internal storage.

The Mac Studio with M2 Max is available for order today and will start shipping next week. The starting price is $1999. The Mac Studio with M2 Ultra is also available to order today and will begin shipping next week. The starting price for the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra, 64GB of memory, and 512GB SSD, and 1TB of storage is $3999.

Mac Pro

Mac Pro with Apple Silicon it combines the Apple Silicon with PCI expansion. All Mac Pro comes with M2 Ultra. This is the 24-Core CPU, 60-Core GPU, and 32-core Neural engine.

The Mac Pro with Apple Silicon comes with the performance of 7 afterburner cards, and it can unjust 24, 4K camera feeds and render them in real-time. There are also 8 thunderbolt 4 ports, six on the back and 2 on the top. There are six open PCI slots that support generation 4 PCI. This allows you to expand your Mac Pro as needed.

The Mac Pro with Apple Silicon starts at $6999, for the 24-Core CPU, 60-Core GPU, and 32-core Neural engine, and 1TB of internal storage . It can be ordered today and will start arriving next week.

iOS 17 and iPadOS 17

iOS 17 brings a few new features that will help you communicate in new ways through a feature called Contact Cards. Contact Cards are a way of allowing you to personalize your own card that will show up when you call someone. You can customize the photo, font size, font weight, and even the font color. You can choose to use a Memoji instead of a photo if desired.

Along with a personal contact card, you will also be able to see a live transcription of voicemails that are left for you, and if it is a time sensitive item, you can answer the call right from the Lock Screen. One thing that is coming to FaceTime is the ability to leave a voicemail message, so they will see that you contacted them.

Messages is getting some enhancements to its search by adding the ability to filter messages using advanced filtering.

The iPhone also gets a new “Standby” mode. When you put your iPhone in landscape mode, a new layout will appear. This layout will allow you to easily see the items that you need to see, depending on location, and time of day. This is powered by widgets, so you can see upcoming calendar events, photos, and more. StandBy will also support live activities. StandBy will be useful on a nightstand by changing the font to be red, so it will not interfere with your sleep.

There have been some improvements to both dictation and auto-correct. They will now use on-device learning to be able to more accurately predict what you want to type next.

There is one last new feature to highlight, called “Check In”. Check In will allow you to automatically notify family and friends when you get home. This is done within Messages and if you are running late, you can also extend time.

iPadOS 17

iPadOS 17 is getting some new features of its own, like the Lock Screen, Interactive Widgets, PDF improvements, and the Health App.

With iOS 16 the iPhone received a way to be able to customize the Lock Screen, including photos, fonts, and colors, and you could even include some widgets. This year the iPad gets the same features, including the ability to add more widgets along the left-side of the iPad. This makes sense given the larger real estate on an iPad. Along with the Lock Screen customizations, widgets also get some improvements.

Widgets can now be interactive, so this means that you can tap on a task and have it be completed, or you can tap on a Smart Light and have it turn on or off. This is a great enhancement that many users have been waiting for a while. Interactive widgets are available on both iOS 17 and iPadOS 17.

There is a huge improvement to PDF support within Notes. You can now add multiple PDFs to a note, annotate PDFs, and even collaborate on PDFs. All of the collaboration is real-time so if someone else makes they will be reflected on your copy.

The iPad is now getting the Health app, so you can now view everything within the Health app across iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS. To go with health, there is a focus on mental health, including the ability to provide context for your mood and you can gain some insights with what is adding to your current feelings.

There is also a new “Journal” app that will allow you to provide additional information about moments in your life. There are also intelligent suggestions for things like podcasts, music, photos, contacts, and photos, among other sources of information.

watchOS 10

watchOS is getting a redesign with a focus on glanceable information through the use of stacks of information. You can quickly glance at a variety of information by swiping as you would on stacks within widgets.

Activity will now show you a full-screen view of your information for standing, exercise, and calories burned. If you are a cyclist, you now have dedicated

There are two new watch faces, Palette, which is a three layers of color to provide you the time. The second watch face features Snoopy and Woodstock and this watch face can provide various appearances depending on time of day and current weather.

For those who like to hike, there are a few new features including two waypoints, Cellular Connectivity, and SOS. The Cellular Connectivity waypoint will show you where you are able to get cellular connectivity should you need to call someone. At the same time, the SOS waypoint will show you where you can make an emergency call. Along with this, you can now see elevations and contour lines within maps, so you can more easily see how difficult your hike will be.

macOS Sonoma

macOS is a mature operating system and this year’s release of macOS Sonoma (macOS 14) is getting a few features including changes to Safari, widget enhancements, screensavers. For the screensavers you will be able to download screensavers similar to those on the Apple TV. These will also show when the Mac is locked.

Safari is seeing some new features like profiles. Profiles will allow you to keep work, school, and standard separate. When you enable profiles you will have separate cookies, tab groups, and favorites. What this means is that you can log into the same website on two different windows. One of these could be on a user account or another could be on an administrator account.

The last big feature to highlight is Interactive Widgets. Widgets are now on macOS Sonoma and they are no longer limited to the Notification Center, they can now be placed on the desktop. Widgets do not get in the way, they will stay in the background and the tint will dim their background and the widget will still be visible no matter of the background color. Widgets on macOS Sonoma will also allow you to use iPhone widgets on your Mac, provided the iPhone is nearby or on the same Wi-Fi network.

The last item to cover is the biggest announcement, the Vision Pro Headset

Vision Pro Headset

It has been long rumored that Apple was working on a headset, and today they announced just that. Their product is called Apple Vision Pro. The Apple Vision Pro Headset is an all-new product category for Apple and the first product category since the AirPods in 2016. The Apple Vision Pro headset is designed to work well in a spatial environment. The Vision Pro Headset is designed to augment what you see by providing overlays of the apps that you are used to.

The Vision Pro Headset has a feature called “EyeSight”, which will allow others to easily see if the user is able to see them, or if they are fully immersed in what they are doing. As a user, you can adjust the size of any app window to the size that makes the most sense to you. This means that you can watch a video in a window that would be similar to that in a theater, or even just in a corner, so you can watch what you want and continue to perform work.

Given the 3D nature of the Vision Pro headset, you can record videos in 3D, and even play them back at a future date. The Vision Pro headset is powered by an all new operating system called visionOS. From Apple’s announcement:

visionOS features a brand-new three-dimensional interface that makes digital content look and feel present in a user’s physical world. By responding dynamically to natural light and casting shadows, it helps the user understand scale and distance. To enable user navigation and interaction with spatial content, Apple Vision Pro introduces an entirely new input system controlled by a person’s eyes, hands, and voice. Users can browse through apps by simply looking at them, tapping their fingers to select, flicking their wrist to scroll, or using voice to dictate.

Battery life on the Vision Pro Headset is two hours with the battery pack, or all day when plugged in. The Vision Pro Headset will be available in early 2024 and it will start at $3,499. It will be available in the United States only, via Apple.com and in Apple Retail stores. You can read more about the Vision Pro headset on Apple’s dedicated Apple Vision Pro headset page.

Closing Thoughts

The items outlined above are just a fraction of what was actually announced. I think a lot of the work this year went into the Vision Pro headset as well as visionOS that powers the Vision Pro. While we did get some great features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, with widgets. There is a lot more information in the actual Keynote, which you can watch on the Apple Special Events page.

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