By Dan Moren
October 30, 2018 1:43 PM PT
Apple event day roundup: the news you might have missed
Note: This story has not been updated for several years.
As we all know with Apple keynote days, some things get lost in the shuffle. So here’s a quick roundup of interesting tidbits that weren’t covered in the keynote or were clarified by those at the event itself:
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Apple’s Shortcuts app for iOS got an update to 2.1, including new actions for weather, clock, and conversion and measurements.
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The company also posted a whitepaper on the T2 security chip found in the new MacBook Air as well as the 2018 MacBook Pros and the iMac Pro. This paper specifically calls out that the microphone is disabled in hardware when you close the laptop’s lid.
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TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino points out that if you cover the FaceID sensors or front-facing camera on the new iPad Pro, it will alert you to the fact, as well as putting an arrow onscreen to show you where the camera currently is.
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iMore’s Rene Ritchie confirms that the RAM in the new Mac mini is user-upgradeable, although Apple recommends having the work carried out by an authorized service provider.
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The MacBook Air’s gold color apparently has a new shade; the MacBook has been updated to match it, and also removes the rose gold option.
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MacRumors reports that Apple has bumped AppleCare+ prices for some iPads, standardizing them at $129 across the board. Accidental damage repairs cost $649 for the new iPad Pros.
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Developer Steve Troughton-Smith says that the new 1TB iPad Pros have 6GB of memory, but the rest have 4GB.
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The old, non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Air is still on sale for the moment.
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iOS 12.1, macOS Mojave 10.14.1, tvOS 12.1, and watchOS 5.1 are all out now.
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the supernatural detective story All Souls Lost, is out now.]
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