This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico recommends Alpha Games by Bloc Party and John suggests the skateboarding videogame OlliOlli World.
Federico’s Pick:
Alpha Games by Bloc Party
John’s Pick:
Today, Apple, Google, and Microsoft committed to expand the use of passwordless sign-in technology developed by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. The companies say that the standard will ‘offer consistent, secure, and easy passwordless sign-ins to consumers across devices and platforms.’
If this rings a bell, it’s because the passwordless technology announced today was first covered by Apple at WWDC 2021 when the company released a technology preview to developers to start implementing the tech into their apps and websites. The goal of passwordless sign-ins is to make sign-ins more convenient and secure by eliminating password management. Instead of passwords, sign-ins for apps and websites will happen through face, fingerprint, or device PIN authentication and eliminate the need for the use of one-time passcodes over SMS.
Apple, Google, and Microsoft already have FIDO Alliance standards built into their devices, but with the expansion announced today, the system will make authentication easier for users. According to the companies’ joint press release:
- Allow users to automatically access their FIDO sign-in credentials (referred to by some as a “passkey”) on many of their devices, even new ones, without having to reenroll every account.
- Enable users to use FIDO authentication on their mobile device to sign in to an app or website on a nearby device, regardless of the OS platform or browser they are running.
Kurt Knight, Apple’s Senior Director of Platform Product Marketing, said of the joint effort:
Just as we design our products to be intuitive and capable, we also design them to be private and secure. Working with the industry to establish new, more secure sign-in methods that offer better protection and eliminate the vulnerabilities of passwords is central to our commitment to building products that offer maximum security and a transparent user experience — all with the goal of keeping users’ personal information safe.
With the number of devices in our lives today and the use of multiple platforms by many people, those two changes should go a long way to making passwordless sign-ins easier to use. As good as password management apps and OS-level tools have become, juggling passwords for hundreds of websites and apps is a burden on consumers, which often leads to password reuse and other insecure practices. The FIDO Alliance’s standard promises to change that, and with Apple, Google, and Microsoft on board, the likelihood that we will see a more secure, passwordless future is better than ever.
To mark Star Wars Day, Apple released a special Behind the Mac video featuring the sound designers of Skywalker Sound, who rely heavily on Apple devices. The film, which runs just under 17 minutes, is a fascinating look at how the Skywalker Sound team captures and mixes real-world sounds that they transform into otherworldly sound effects for the Star Wars movies and other films.
The Behind the Mac video, which is currently featured on Apple’s homepage, focuses on Skywalker Sound’s production process from start to finish. Behind the scenes, the group’s mixing and editing are backed by a lot of Apple hardware. Sound editor Ryan Frias is featured in the video touring Skywalker Sound’s central machine room, which is filled with racks of Mac Pros. According to Apple’s press release:
With the power of approximately 130 Mac Pro racks, as well as 50 iMac, 50 MacBook Pro, and 50 Mac mini computers running Pro Tools as their main audio application, along with a fleet of iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV devices, Skywalker is advancing sound artistry and reshaping the industry.
That’s a lot of gear, but the video’s primary focus is on the creative process of the professionals at Skywalker Sound, who have been pushing the boundaries of sound design for many years. If you enjoy getting a behind-the-scenes look at creative people doing cutting-edge work, I recommend checking out Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound.
This week on AppStories, we revisit the state of gaming on Apple’s platforms, considering hardware, OS support, services, and the games themselves.
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On AppStories+, we highlight some of the late-beta-cycle Shortcuts bugs we’ve encountered and consider the tenuousness of Twitter’s existence.
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Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings along with a look at what’s coming up next:
Plus:
This month, we interviewed three of our Automation April Shortcuts Contest judges:
Each judge shared lessons they’ve learned from the hundreds of submissions we’ve received, and shared a recent automation that made a difference to their dailly lives.
This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico recommends VGC Guide for anyone interested in learning about competitive Pokémon, and John shares The Batman, the latest reboot of the caped crusader series.
Kolide – Endpoint security for teams that Slack. Try Kolide for 14 days free; no credit card required.
Federico’s Pick:
John’s Pick:
Apple has just published its financial results for Q2 2022. The company posted revenue of $97.28 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook said:
“This quarter’s record results are a testament to Apple’s relentless focus on innovation and our ability to create the best products and services in the world,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are delighted to see the strong customer response to our new products, as well as the progress we’re making to become carbon neutral across our supply chain and our products by 2030. We are committed, as ever, to being a force for good in the world — both in what we create and what we leave behind.”
Apple didn’t provide guidance for Q2 2022, but going into today’s earnings call, Yahoo Finance reported the following analyst expectations::
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is currently pegged at $94.79 billion, indicating growth of 5.82% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
After the break, we’ve compiled a graphical visualization of Apple’s Q2 2022 financial results.
In a press release, Apple announced that Self Service Repair is now available in the US, with more countries being added later this year, beginning in Europe.
The new online store offers more than 200 individual parts and tools, enabling customers who are experienced with the complexities of repairing electronic devices to complete repairs on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups and iPhone SE (3rd generation), such as the display, battery, and camera. Later this year the program will also include manuals, parts, and tools to perform repairs on Mac computers with Apple silicon.
Manuals for repairs will be available at support.apple.com/self-service-repair. Parts for repairs can then be purchased at Apple’s Self Service Repair Store. Both the parts and the tools available in the Self Service Repair Store are the same ones used by Apple’s repair network, according to the company. Tool kits can be rented for one-week periods for $49 with free shipping too.
It’s good to see this program, which was announced last fall, launch. The products are limited for now, but more iPhones are sold than any other Apple product, so it makes sense to start with it and expand from there.
Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings along with a look at what’s coming up next:
Last Tuesday, Federico and I were joined by Timery developer Joe Hribar for a special Automation April Shortcuts Workshop Town Hall in the Club MacStories+ Discord community to talk about magic and declared Shortcuts variables, action parameters and how Timery makes use of them, automation triggers, and our hope that Apple will allow third-party apps to act as shortcut triggers in the future.
Last week’s conversation was recorded and released in the Club Town Hall podcast feed.
In Issue 317 of MacStories Weekly:
Plus:
Later this week, we’ll have more app giveaways in our Discord community and MacStories Weekly, we’ll publish the Monthly Log newsletter, and an all-new episode of MacStories Unplugged, our Club-only podcast will be released.
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