16” MacBook Pro: Why I’m Buying It and 2020 Plans

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I have decided to buy the 16 Inch MacBook Pro. The specs of the machine that is on its way is the following: Intel 8-core i9 2.4GHz, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB.

I go into more detail in the video below on why I have decided to get it. But in short, as it is now I am spending some time around at hotels in my normal day job. I want to have a computer with me, that can handle the needs I have in regards of music production and video editing. I think this 16 Inch MacBook Pro is able to provide that.

I am doing more videos now, leave a comment on this post or in the YouTube video. If there are any specific tests or workflows you want to see me run. Even games, although this is not a gaming focused product. I am sure someone out there is interested. Take care!

Amazing Northern Lights Pictures from iPhone 11 Pro in Night Mode

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I have been shooting some northern light pictures myself using a DSLR camera and tripod. A few years ago when I had a little more time to do things like that.

Now a person in the North of Sweden took his iPhone 11 Pro and captured some northern lights using the night mode feature. The phone was hand held, and he tried different exposures between 3 – 10 seconds.

The pictures are unedited, and here is a link to his album: https://imgur.com/a/1wjoe31

You can see some digital noise in the images but its still pretty impressive.

2019 Mac Pro Impressions

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2019 Mac Pro

The long awaited Mac Pro is released and we are starting to get some reviews and impressions in. One of those is the iFixit Mac Pro teardown where they give it a repairability score of 9. Probably a first in any Apple product.

Source: Mac Pro 2019 Teardown

It looks like Apple is listening more to the feedback they are getting considering the changes in the new 16 Inch MacBook Pro as well. Such as better cooling making the computer able to run tasks without any severe throttling. Not to mention they replaced the keyboard with the older model that worked.

Its not enough to get me over to using Apple computers for music production yet mostly because of the costs associated with their products. But its still nice to see.

Here are some interesting videos, showing impressions about the new 2019 Mac Pro.

2019 Mac Pro Review / Impression Videos

Price

The price of the 2019 Mac Pro is not something an average person would be willing to spend on a computer. I am one of those that fall into that category. Yes, I do music production, yes, I do video editing. But not at the scale that justifies investing into this piece of gear. Then again, people buy rolex watches.

That said, I would like to try one out with a big Logic Project. Just for fun, and see what it can do. But I think we have to postpone that thought a few years or so!

What about you, are you getting this new cheese grater in your workflow?

16-Inch MacBook Pro Is Here

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As rumoured, Apple released the 16-Inch MacBook Pro set to replace the 15-Inch model. Here are the most important new changes and features to this new laptop from your favourite monochrome fruit company.

16 Inch MacBook Pro

  • New scissor type keyboard. (they fixed it)

  • 16 Inch MacBook Pro Keys
    Image Source iFixit: https://www.ifixit.com/News/16-inch-macbook-pro-magic-keyboard-throwback
  • 512GB base SSD storage. (Can configure up to 8TB)
  • Physical escape key, but also touch bar and touch id.
  • Display is at: 3,072 x 1,920 (226 ppi) — Older 15″ model have 2,880 x 1,800 (220 ppi)
  • Smaller bezels around display.
  • 100Wh battery, Older 15″ model had 83.6W.
  • i7 / i9 Intel CPU, different configurations possible.

According to Appe this laptop is built out from feedback from its users.

Still only USB-C ports (thunderbolt) and a minijack. No SD-card reader, no USB-A and other ports. Meaning keep your dongles.

No touch display on the MacBook Pro. Apple thinks touch is best used on the iPad. They focus on making the MacBook Pro the best Mac.

Are you going to buy the 16-Inch MacBook Pro?

16-Inch MacBook Pro Could Appear Soon

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According to images uncovered in a macOS catalina beta, it seems like Apple is working on a 16-Inch MacBook Pro. This was first uncovered by the blog: MacGeneration.

The images are actually icons, and comparing it against the 15-Inch model you can see that the bezels around the display are thinner. This could suggest that they will be able to fit a 16-Inch display in the current 15-Inch form factor.

Image: MacGeneration

The rumors claim that Apple is going back on the keyboard design and will switch to the scissor mechanism that has proven to be more reliable.

It is also said that the 16-Inch MacBook Pro will have a 3072×1920 resolution and use Intel 9th generation coffee lake refresh CPUs.

Personally I am curious on how Apple is going to tackle the keyboard issues plaguing the current generation. I also hope they will change some of their design rules and make room for good cooling that enable the full performance of powerful CPUs and GPUs. We recently saw a change of design in the iPhone 11 where they made it slightly thicker and heavier. Apple usually designs their product as thin as possible. Maybe we are seeing a change in that philosophy?

If they make the 16-Inch MacBook Pro a bit thicker with good cooling and a solid performance boost, I think we have a winner.

Download Original iCloud Video File to PC in Full Quality

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Oh man this annoyed me so much. I filmed something on my iPhone and somehow my PC wouldnt transfer the file from my iPhone with a good lightning cable connected to the PC.

So, I thought just lets use iCloud instead! Yep, file is there, press download.

It downloads, and the file in a lesser quality. 720p. *sigh*

Want the original full resolution file? Click that little arrow… and you get the option of downloading the original file.

iCloud Download Button

(click around where the red dot is, you should get another arrow there)

Lockdown Apps: Open Source Privacy Protection for iOS

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Lockdown is a simple on-device firewall for your iOS device. The app is free and open source. With this app you can block any domain from your iPhone. It can also be used to block ads inside games.

Whats more interesting is that lockdown apps is open source, meaning the developer invites people to audit the code.

This gives your iPhone pi-hole functionality on the device itself!

lockdown apps ios app

You can configure the blacklist to your liking. The app uses the built-in VPN functionality in iOS to set up blocking. Its basically a VPN server on your phone that doesn’t connect to any outside server.

When unwanted sites are blocked, it will also speed up and save loading times.

Features:

  • Block any connection to any website
  • Use default settings or add your own custom blockers
  • Protect your privacy across the web
  • Completely open source
  • Operates on device

Their site indicates that Mac, PC and Android versions is in the works and coming soon.

Grab it here: Lockdown Apps