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It was a rough year for the technology industry: From anxiety-inducing social networks and buggy mobile devices to glitchy operating systems and killer driverless cars, we had it all.
A boatload of products, trends, and people in the tech sector really disappointed us this year. In the spirit of the season, however, we won’t single out any individuals here. Instead, we’ll focus on the products and trends that made us sick.`
This year was rough for the technology industry. From anxiety-inducing social networks and buggy mobile devices to glitchy operating systems and killer driverless cars, we had it all.
Join us on this miserable tour down bad memory lane. And here’s to looking forward to a better new year in 2019.

FACEBOOK: UNSECURED AND UNETHICAL

If anything could be classified as tech that sucks this year, it would have to be social networking. Facebook has had the majority of the suckage attention, whether it has been its serious security breaches that compromised the privacy and personal data of over 87 million users or its compromised ethics in hiring opposition research firms to attack billionaire George Soros, who has been one of their most notable critics.

TWITTER: HAVEN FOR HATE

Facebook may have the most public embarrassment to deal with, but everyone’s favorite screeching feed has also been not without its controversy. Twitter has been under fire for allowing actual Nazis and white supremacists to tweet with impunity and had been permitting racist and conspiracist agitators such Alex Jones (and well as the President of the US) to thrive on its service. Only after repeated and prolonged high-pressure appeals by high-profile users to the service’s founder, Jack Dorsey, did the company remove Alex Jones’s account.

GOOGLE PROJECT DRAGONFLY: MAKING INFORMATION SELECTIVELY ACCESSIBLE

Google tried to keep it secret, but its secret program to cooperate with the Chinese government to create a censored search engine has really made the company look awfully bad and has prompted walk-outs, protests, and high-profile resignations. Remember when the search giant’s mission was “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful?”

GOOGLE PROJECT MAVEN: WHAT HAPPENED TO “DON’T BE EVIL?”

A recent disclosure of the company’s involvement in a Department of Defense project to develop computer vision systems for warfare has put the company under tremendous ethical scrutiny.

GOOGLE+: SORRY WE EXPOSED YOUR DATA, WE’RE CLOSING UP SHOP

Google’s social platform, which was never really able to galvanize its user base like Facebook or Twitter since launching in June 2011, had been in the doldrums since its former head of social, Vic Gundotra, went off to become CEO of connected medical devices company AliveCor. Google finally decided to put it out of its misery after a highly publicized security breach that exposed the data of up to half a million users, and will be winding the service down over a 10-month period.

GOOGLE PIXEL 3: MAYBE YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SO CHEAP WITH THE MEMORY

That expensive Pixel 3 you bought has been experiencing photo-saving issues and has been crashing likely due to the fact that Android is extremely resource-intensive, and the device has only been equipped with 4GB of RAM when compared to most of its competitors on the market that have 6GB or 8GB of RAM. Cheap, Google. Real cheap.

GOOGLE PIXEL SLATE: A GLORIFIED CHROMEBOOK

This expensive $600 to $1,600 iPad and Microsoft Surface Pro competitor running Chrome OS is simply just a glorified Intel-powered touchscreen ChromeBook and lacks decent application support, because Android tablet apps never really took off in the first place. Instead we are stuck with Google’s Progressive Web Apps and for the most part, Android smartphone apps, which look like garbage when they scale because Material Design has not been implemented by third-party developers.

GOOGLE PLAY STORE: NOT EXACTLY AN IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS

It seems the Play Store is utterly infested with malware that will hijack your phone and serve you ads. Isn’t that special?

IPHONES AND IPADS: NOTHING’S TOO BIG TO FAIL

The latest crop of Apple iOS devices are technical marvels, but they have now become so expensive that you practically have to get a second mortgage now to afford them, and we may be witnessing the peak of technical advances with these products. While the company will always have its dedicated fans, demand for the devices has been waning considerably. It will be even more of a challenge for Cupertino if President Donald Trump gets his way with increased tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods.

APPLE AIRPOWER: IT’S VAPORWARE BY ANY OTHER NAME

This Qi charging pad that was designed to accommodate both an Apple Watch and current-generation iPhones was supposed to be out in late 2017, but numerous technical issues have prevented it from being released after a year of delays. Apple has had to rely on third parties such as Belkin, Mophie, Anker, and RAVPower to supply magnetic induction charging accessories in order to fill that gap.

APPLE HOMEPOD: THAT’S ONE PRICEY SPEAKER

Compared to Alexa-powered Echo devices and Google Home, Apple’s Siri-powered entry into the smart speaker market does very little other than play music from your iTunes library wirelessly and has a minimal skills ecosystem to speak of for its $350 price point. Ouch.

APPLE WATCH ‘WALKIE TALKIE’: OK, BUT WHY?

What exactly is the point of a smartwatch push-to-talk feature if you can only talk to other people with the same brand of smartwatch? And not even other people with Apple products, such as iPhones, iPads, or Macs? Fail.

APPLE SIRI: STILL STUPID AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

It’s been years since this poor excuse for an “intelligent assistant” has been released, and yet when you compare this product to Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana, it’s still the dunce of the bunch.

APPLE IOS 12 CARPLAY: DOESN’T PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS

Users rejoiced when they heard that iOS 12’s CarPlay would finally add support for third-party mapping and navigation apps, such as Google Maps and Waze. But then we found out that they would not be treated like equal citizens in the same way Apple’s Maps does and would not have hands-free support for third-party intelligent agents such as Google Assistant as their preferred voice control (as opposed to Siri).

APPLE ITUNES: DUMPSTER FIRE OF OLD CRUSTY CODE

This was first released over 17 years ago, and during that entire time, the software may have changed a lot, but one thing that could be relied on is how much the experience of using it would suck. Apple just seems to bolt features onto iTunes, rather than giving it the redesign it so desperately needs, which has turned it into a bloated, confusing mess.

WINDOWS 10: HOW ABOUT ONE UPDATE PER YEAR, REDMOND?

Microsoft’s switching to a much more aggressive update strategy has caused any number of issues for its end-users including botched update rollouts. While some may appreciate and even applaud the more progressive, risk-taking Microsoft compared to the company of old, others are calling for a return to focusing on basic fundamentals instead of introducing new functionality and a less frequent update schedule.

YAY CLOUD! OK, MAYBE NOT

There were so many incidents of significant downtime at public cloud hyperscale providers like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services that there are simply too many to actually count. How are we supposed to migrate to public cloud infrastructure or use it as a business continuity solution if we can’t actually reliably depend that it will be there when we need it?

AMAZON HQ2: TALK ABOUT ANTICLIMACTIC

What appeared to be a year-long obsession over which city ended up getting the HQ2 nod ended in a bit of a let-down for emerging tech centers around the country when Big Bezos finally decided it was going to award it to two separate metropolitan centers: New York City and the Washington, DC area near Northern Virginia. I mean after all that waiting and speculation, they choose those two for what amounts to just branch offices?

PALM: IT SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD

Look, we all like nostalgia, but this teeny-weeny miniature phone for your phone that runs Android is a bit much for $350. We already have smartwatches, we don’t need another expensive gadget to drag around in order to be minimally connected.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: YEAH, MAYBE IT ISN’T SO SECURE

This year our faith in secure cryptocurrency, the CPU-mined darling of armchair speculative investing, got its comeuppance in the the form of Bitfi, an electronic crypto wallet device which was supposedly unhackable. Well, not only did it turn out to be hackable, but it was hacked by a 15-year-old to play the classic 3D shoot-em-up DOOM. The exploit was so embarrassing for the company that it earned a Pwnie award for its awful vendor response.
As if security exploits weren’t insult enough for injury to crypto currencies, Bitcoin has been crashing and burning in the cryptocurrency markets and has lost over 700 billion in value in the last year.

VIRTUAL REALITY: HALF BAKED

It’s got to move beyond clumsily attaching a box to your head and just going “wow,” because you have an image that moves and follows your head movements. The current crop of VR headsets are pretty disappointing beyond the initial “wow” factor. They don’t really bring much to the table in terms of user experience.

AUGMENTED REALITY: EVEN LESS BAKED

Apple makes a big deal of AR, especially with respect to the iPad, but having to awkwardly hold a smartphone or tablet in front of you is a terrible user experience. AR is a technology that’s just begging for smart glasses to take off, but that market is still stained by the initial reaction to, and subsequent consumer failure of, Google Glass.

UBER AND LYFT: PLEASE DON’T HURT ME

As if the company’s trials and tribulations with internal sexual harassment issues in 2017 that led to the ouster of its founder and chief executive, Travis Kalanick, weren’t bad enough, 103 drivers on the service have been investigated for sexually assaulting passengers on the ride sharing service. And since we don’t want to play favorites, Lyft has also had its share of sexual assault woes.

DRIVERLESS CARS: WILE E. COYOTE CAN DO BETTER

While everyone cannot wait until they can sleep behind the wheel on the way to work, or can be driven home from the pub after a rough happy hour, it is going to be some time until autonomous vehicles are commonplace. Experimental driverless vehicles, such as Google’s Waymo, have been involved in numerous high-profile crashes in the past year. Apple was involved in an autonomous vehicle crash. Uber has had its autonomous program shuttered in Arizona. Tesla had to deal with a number of high-profile collisions with its autopilot feature, as well.

HATE FOR INNOVATIVE AND INEXPENSIVE CHINESE SMARTPHONES

There is absolutely no reason why our President should be asking for our corporations to boycott partnerships with companies like Huawei due to an irrational, unfounded fear of spying on our country’s citizens. Not only are these unproven fears jeopardizing our trade relationship with the largest economy in the world, but these boycotts prevent US citizens from getting access to affordable technology. When companies like Apple and Samsung are continuously raising their prices, it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to justify buying their expensive products.

ROBOCALLS: PLEASE, MAKE THEM STOP

All the major mobile operating systems are implementing some type of call screening and blocking technology now, but unsolicited automated harassment by telephone is now becoming a major issue, and there doesn’t seem to be a good solution for dealing with them yet.

PRESIDENTIAL ALERT SYSTEM: THERE’S NO ESCAPE

It’s bad enough that we have to be subjected to endless retweets of President Trump’s harassing missives on Twitter, but at least you can opt out of such systems. You can’t opt out, however, of the Emergency Alert System (or EAS), which can be used to broadcast to anyone in the nation via text using a smartphone. While this system is primarily designed for actual emergencies, such as a major natural disaster like an earthquake, catastrophic weather event like a hurricane, or — heavens forbid — a nuclear war, there’s significant concern that President Trump will use this for broadcasting his own personal tirades, from which there will be no escape.

Samsung’s customer support staff may be wrong and clueless too many times to count, but they might have been right about the Galaxy Note 9 joining the One UI (Android Pie) beta. Well, Samsung might have, at the very least, pondered starting a Galaxy Note 9 Android Pie beta program even if it won’t actually do it. This is supported by test Pie firmware discovered by GalaxyClub for the Note 9 in Europe and South Korea.

Galaxy Note 9 Android Pie beta still possible?

Samsung is currently testing firmware versions N960FXXU2ZRKE and N960NKSU2ZRKF for the Galaxy Note 9. The interesting part here is the letter ‘Z’ in the build number. It has been used by Samsung for beta firmware since it began having public beta programs with the Galaxy S6. The Galaxy S9’s One UI beta, for example, comes with build number G960FXXU2ZRKA in Germany. And, before Android Pie, no such test firmware were ever spotted for a Galaxy Note flagship while a beta program was going on for that year’s Galaxy S smartphone.
It makes the presence of such firmware for the Galaxy Note 9 quite interesting. And with the Galaxy S9 beta program having started less than a week ago, Samsung does have time to include the Galaxy Note 9 in the program. But, as we said at the beginning, it’s also possible the company has backed out of doing that despite having planned it at some point. We hope that’s not the case, of course, and we will now be spending all our waking hours looking at the Samsung Members app on the Galaxy Note 9 for any sign of the Android Pie/One UI beta.

Say goodbye to the grid. Eventually, a programming-first design similar to the Roku Channel will take over.
The future look of Roku’s home screen is being built before your eyes.
Roku, the most popular streaming-TV player in the US, has stuck with its distinctive grid of channel tiles since 2013, back when Roku had sold about 5 million of its players. But streaming video has exploded in the last five years. The number of households with a streaming player has quadrupled, and Roku now has nearly 24 million active accounts streaming video to TVs with its devices.
That means the tile-grid layout is the only design that most Roku users have ever known. But Roku is planning to replace its home screen with a different interface, one you can already find if you know where to look.
“It’s the Roku Channel,” CEO Anthony Wood said in an interview last week.
The Roku Channel is the company’s sandbox for building the programming-first user experience it will eventually move over to its home screen, Wood said.
Like competitors, Roku will need to evolve its design to something that puts shows and movies — rather than apps or channels — at center stage. Rather than having you open individual apps or channels to get to the show or movie you want, Roku’s future home screen will aggregate and recommend specific titles that are available across the apps on its platform.
“There’s 5,000 apps on Roku. Most people don’t install 5,000 apps,” Wood said. He didn’t specify when Roku will change the home screen design. The company is just about to start tests to compare performance between different designs, he said.
The Roku Channel, which launched a year ago, has grown to be one of the top five apps by reach on the platform. It started with selections of movies and TV shows you could watch free with advertising, and it’s widened to include other free programming like news and sports. Though the Roku Channel may seem secondary to the company, most of Roku’s profit comes from the Roku Channel and the advertising it inserts there.
“It might not always be called the Roku Channel,” Wood said. “It might be called the home screen.”

Microsoft puts another block on the Windows 10 1809 rollout and says it’s all part of its “controlled approach”.
The latest group that Microsoft has blocked from receiving the Windows 10 October 2018 Update are users with a set of incompatible Intel display drivers.
Some users who update to Windows 10 version 1089 may find that external displays lose sound. Whether users are impacted depends on whether their PC OEM activated unsupported features in two versions of an Intel Audio Display Driver.
According to Microsoft, Intel “inadvertently” released two versions of a display driver to OEMs, which in turn “accidentally turned on unsupported features in Windows”.
Affected users will notice that they’re not getting any sound from a monitor or television connected to the Windows 10 PC via HDMI, USB-C, or DisplayPort.
The update is blocked for users with Intel display drivers versions 24.20.100.6344 and 24.20.100.6345. Microsoft has provided instructions on its answers forum to check if your PC is affected.
“Microsoft is working with Intel to expire these display drivers, including coordinating with OEMs, and will provide an update on the resolution in an upcoming release,” the company said.
Microsoft emphasizes this issue is different from the one affecting the Intel Smart Sound Technology (ISST) Driver, which again was inadvertently released by Intel and caused problems with audio on Windows 10 1809 and 1803 PCs.
Before halting the Windows 10 1809 update due to the data-deletion bug, Microsoft was blocking the update for devices with certain versions of an Intel Audio Display device driver. That issue was over-utilizing the processor and draining the battery.
Last week Microsoft blocked the Windows 10 1809 update for PCs with iCloud for Windows due to an incompatibility issue. The company is also working on a fix for a known issue affecting mapped drives, which it expects to deliver by the end of November.
The growing list of blocks on the 1809 update may seem like Microsoft hasn’t got a grip of the testing and quality problems that led to it pulling the release for over a month.
But according to Microsoft, the blocks are all part of its “controlled rollout approach” to Window 10 1809.
“Blocking the availability of a Windows 10 feature update to devices we know will experience issues is a key aspect of our controlled rollout approach to provide users with a great update experience,” Microsoft says on its support page.
On resuming the Windows 1809 rollout on November 13, Microsoft promised it was taking a more measured and controlled approach to the rollout compared with the April Update, version 1803, which is its fastest Windows 10 rollout on record.
It also drew attention to the complexity of the Windows driver ecosystem, which consists of”16 million unique hardware/driver combinations”.

Why it matters: A lot of focus is on Samsung’s recently unveiled folding phone tech right now, but we’ve known for a while that other companies, including Huawei, are working on similar devices. Now, the Chinese giant has reportedly presented its finished version to Korean carriers at a private event.
According to Korean publication ET News, Huawei’s device will arrive next year. The exact date isn’t certain, but it will reportedly be unveiled at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress in February/March before launching sometime in June.
Samsung’s foldable device, which is expected to be called the Galaxy F or Galaxy X, measures 7.3 inches when opened up, but Huawei’s flexible phone has it beat with an 8-inch screen manufactured by BOE. It also appears to be almost completely free of bezels. When folded up, the screen measures 5 inches, again beating the Galaxy F/X’s 4.6-inch display, though unlike Samsung, Huawei has decided to include a notch.
An official said the phone would come with 5G support, which means it could be released in South Korea first, where many carriers already support the technology. It’s been reported that the Galaxy F/X won’t have 5G, which would be disappointing for a phone with a rumored $1800 price tag.
Back in October, Chinese firm Royole became the first company to unveil a foldable phone—the FlexPai—though it doesn’t look particularly spectacular in Ice Universe’s tweet.

Apple’s freshly launched iPhone XR and iPhone XS lines have hardware support for dual SIM configurations, but the rollout of the feature has been a bit delayed (or in the case of AT&T, rolled back) due to issues with carriers that have not been totally sorted out yet. Verizon, however, is reportedly planning on supporting the feature by next month.
In an internal Verizon memo obtained by 9to5Mac, the company told employees it intends to have dual SIM activations for eSIM and physical SIMs ready to go by early December:

Currently, the iPhone does not support high-speed Verizon service when used in a Dual SIM configuration, dropping down to the 2G CDMA network rather than LTE. This was especially problematic in certain geographies where Verizon has switched to offering LTE-only coverage.
As a result of these limitations, Verizon said it would not be activating service on any eSIM nor officially support Dual SIM activations.
At the launch last month, Verizon said they believed the software limitations would be resolved quickly with Apple’s cooperation. This latest memo indicates that it will stick to its promise and deliver eSIM and Dual SIM to iPhone XS and iPhone XR customers before the end of the year.

Note that the phones only support one eSIM and one physical SIM card slot outside of China, meaning that at least one of the lines will need to run through the eSIM slot.
9to5Mac noted that the projected early December date is likely to refer to the release of iOS 12.1.1, when a software update to make the dual SIM feature play more nicely with U.S. mobile networks may be rolled out alongside other features. However, the feature could also trickle out bit by bit via carrier-specific updates; per the Verge, AT&T and T-Mobile are still sorting out bugs with an unclear timeframe for a resolution.
If you find the idea of using two SIM cards for anything but traveling to a foreign country somewhat unfamiliar, survey data shows you’re probably not alone. As VentureBeat noted, few U.S. customers use dual SIM configurations, though it is more common in Asia and Europe, where many people use two SIM cards to toggle between work and phone lines and national or international carriers. Lack of support for dual SIMs was considered a barrier to expanding market shares in some regions, and VentureBeat reported earlier this year that dual SIM support had been under consideration as a China-exclusive feature.

Apple Support has responded to a report of an exploding iPhone X – occurring immediately after being upgraded to iOS 12.1 – by stating that this is ‘definitely not expected behavior’ …
Apple offered its response on Twitter.

That’s definitely not expected behavior. DM us, so we can look into this with you.

Gadgets360 reached out to Rahel Mohamad, who filed the report.

An iPhone X has apparently exploded in the US after being updated to iOS 12.1 on Wednesday. This development comes in from the city of Federal Way, Washington in the US where a user claims that his 10-month old iPhone X started emitting smoke and eventually exploded after it was successfully updated to iOS 12.1 […]
“This year early January I bought the iPhone and have been using it normally.” he said. The iPhone X was in process of getting updated to iOS 12.1 when Mohamad, as is standard practice, put it on charging. “Dark grey smoke started coming from the phone. The update was completed and as soon as the phone turned on it started to smoke and caught fire.”

The upgrade is almost certainly just coincidental. Mohamad says he was using the bundled Apple charger and cable to charge the phone, though the explosion took place after it was removed from charge.

When I held the phone it was very hot and I drop the phone immediately. Then it started to smoke.

Apple has asked him to ship the phone so that the company can investigate the cause.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard of an exploding iPhone. There have been a number of iPhone firesover the years, and the nature of lithium battery fires is that they can be both very sudden and extremely fierce, meaning that the ‘exploding’ terminology is understandable. Such fires are extremely rare, but will happen to any device selling in the tens of millions.
I’m sure we’ll all be relieved to know that it’s not expected behavior.

Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 test build, No. 18282, adds a new fully light theme, more updating, printing and snipping options and more tweaks.
Not everyone is a Windows dark-theme fan. (Hard to believe, I know.) For those who prefer to go to the light, Microsoft is introducing a new Windows Light theme — plus a number of additional settings tweaks in its latest Windows 10 19H1 test build.
That Windows 10 test build, No. 18282, which Microsoft is rolling out to Fast Ring Insiders on November 14, adds a new light theme which turns all system UI elements light. This includes the taskbar, Start menu, Action Center, tough keyboard and more. As part of this new light theme, Microsoft is adding a new default wallpaper highlighting Windows Light.
Today’s test build includes a fix for an issue which resulted in some users not being able to set Win32 program defaults for certain app and file type combinations using the Open with… command or via Settings > Apps > Default apps.
Microsoft is making the Pause Updates feature easier to find by making that option more visible directly on the Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update page. Pause can be enabled for a pre-defined number of days or until the specific day. Microsoft also is allowing users with shifting schedules to have their Active Hours setting — which dictates when a device should not be rebooted — to automatically adjust based on a device’s activity. (Users need to turn this setting on manually.)
Microsoft is adding some new printing options with Build 18282 and is adding icons to help users find the ones they need. Today’s test build also adds the requested window snip option to its Snip & Sketch feature.
For a full list of other changes and fixes, plus known issues, check out Microsoft’s blog post about 18282.
Windows 10 19H1 is the feature update for Windows 10 which should begin rolling out to mainstream users around April 2019.
Speaking of feature updates, Microsoft is starting to roll out the Windows 10 October 2018 Update for HoloLens today, November 14, which is the day after it began rolling out the revised October 2018 Update for PCs and IoT devices.

The new iPad Pro is deceptively nuanced. Its all-screen design communicates obvious simplicity and clearly defined function. But beyond the display is a story that’s still being written. Is an iPad Pro for me? How far can its software be pushed? Is this really supposed to replace my Mac? These are some of the questions I set out to answer when I picked one up last week.
When I arrived at the Apple store on iPad launch day, I told myselfthat I was just there to browse. Something about these new iPads captured my attention in a way previous ones haven’t. I left with the 64GB 11-inch model and an Apple Pencil.
My last iPad was the first to feature a Retina display. After purchasing the original model in 2010, my usage slowly declined. The iPad was fun, but I simply couldn’t justify one in my life between the iPhone and Mac. Over the past few years, I’ve watched from the sidelines as creative professional colleagues I look up to have embraced iPads in their work, especially since the release of the Apple Pencil. I decided to give it another try.
From the outset, I knew that I didn’t want to try to replicate my iPhone or 12-inch MacBook’s experience on an iPad. That meant passing on the Smart Keyboard Folio and installing a different set of apps. Both the iPhone and Mac serve important and unique roles in my work, and for the iPad Pro to earn its keep, it needed to be similarly distinct.
In addition to writing, my day-to-day workflow involves graphic design, layout, photo editing, and motion graphics. To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of iOS, I installed apps like Procreate, Vectornator 2, CoreAnimator, Adobe Lightroom CC and Illustrator Draw.
Immediately, working on iOS just felt more fun. Illustration is a completely different experience when you can hold your canvas rather than look at it on a desk. In fact, it was so easy to get lost in projects drawing with the Apple Pencil that I felt like I needed to “get back to work” — even though I was working.
Working on iOS requires a change of pace, though. I’ve used Macs daily since 2008, and my workflow has become highly refined. Even though I’m completely familiar with the iPhone’s interface, using iOS 12 on the iPad Pro was a little like using a computer for the first time.
This is a bottleneck many creative professionals will encounter when first trying to use an iPad for “real work.” Pro iOS apps have completely different workflows than similar tools on the Mac. In many cases, iOS is much more elegant than macOS, but it still takes time to break old muscle memory. Is it better to work slower if the experience is more enjoyable?
Some pros will give up on the iPad as soon as they discover this stinging reality. Time is money, so why spend time relearning skills you’ve already mastered? I was puzzled by the same question for a long time. The iPad Pro was an enigma to me. What did other people see in it that I was missing? Why couldn’t I extract the same value? I felt like I was on the cusp of letting the entire future of computing pass me by.
Motion graphics software isn’t anywhere near as robust on iOS. File management is tedious. Working with vector shapes seemed more precise with a mouse and keyboard. The iPad Pro wasn’t ticking any of my boxes. Was I looking at the wrong boxes? My breakthrough came when I picked up Adobe Lightroom CC to complete some time-sensitive photo edits for a post. The precision of the Apple Pencil combined with the liveliness of the display created an experience unmatched on the Mac. I finished my edits in a fraction of the time it would’ve taken on a laptop.
It’s these moments where the iPad Pro shines. If you’re attempting to replicate your desktop experience on iOS, you’ll come away disappointed. Look to what an iPad Pro can offer that a Mac simply cannot. Just like my Apple Watch hasn’t replaced my iPhone, I don’t expect that my iPad Pro will replace my Mac. I typically use both devices side-by-side.
Pro workflows have always been about using the right mix of tools best suited to express your creativity. There doesn’t have to be one device to rule them all. For me, the Mac + iPad Pro feels like a natural extension of the same philosophy.
Miscellaneous observations:

• Don’t underestimate the 11-inch model. The display feels every bit as usable as a 12-inch MacBook. It’s brighter and more saturated, too.
• For graphics work, the iPad Pro is great for physically zooming in on your canvas by bringing the display right up to your eyes for a close inspection. You don’t lose clarity like when zooming onscreen.
• I have trouble remembering to use the double tap gesture on the Apple Pencil to switch tools. It will take some practice to form a habit.
• The Pencil’s battery life is excellent. It probably doesn’t need to be displayed when you attach it to the iPad. I’ve never come close to running low with extended use, and seeing the percentage causes “range anxiety” more than anything.
• My Pencil had some precision and responsiveness issues that turned out to be caused by a loose tip out of the box. Try tightening up your tip first if you experience similar issues.

Apple in October gave us a major surprise with the launch of an entirely revamped, updated version of the MacBook Air, its most popular and affordable notebook option.
We went hands-on with the MacBook Air last week, and this week, we picked up an older MacBook Air to compare the new model to see just what’s different and whether it’s still worth buying the old version, which sells for $200 less than the current model.
The previous-generation MacBook Air is a 2015 design, but in 2017, Apple introduced 1.8GHz Broadwell-generation chips that were a slight upgrade from the 1.6GHz chips the machine had previously used. No other changes were made, so technically, Apple’s old MacBook Air is outdated by several years.
Design wise, the new MacBook Air features a smaller, slimmer body that weighs a bit less, and the slimmer design is noticeable. It continues to feature the same tapered design as the previous models, and we didn’t think the weight difference of a quarter of a pound stood out.
Along with a slimmed down body, the new MacBook Air comes in three color options: Space Gray, Gold, and the traditional Silver. Space Gray and Gold are colors that are new to the MacBook Air lineup.
The biggest change to the 2018 MacBook Air models is the display, which is now Retina and a huge improvement over the low resolution display in the previous MacBook Air. The MacBook Air used to be the sole Apple device sans Retina display, but now Apple uses higher-resolution displays across its entire product lineup.
We thought the MacBook Air’s new display offered a significant improvement over the previous MacBook Air’s display, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the display of the MacBook Pro because it’s just not that bright. Brightness can be an issue outdoors in sunlight, so that’s something to be aware of.
Design wise, the front of the MacBook Air has been overhauled. Those thick silver bezels from the previous version have been replaced with sleek, slim MacBook Pro-style black bezels that look much, much nicer.
Several other MacBook Pro features have been brought to the new MacBook Air and are upgrades over the previous model. There’s a larger Force Touch trackpad, a third-generation butterfly keyboard, better speakers, a Touch ID button for authentication purposes, and a T2 chip for improved security.
Inside, the new MacBook Air is sporting a 7W 8th-generation 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor, and unsurprisingly, it’s much speedier than the three-year-old processors used in the prior MacBook Air. Apple used to use 15W chips in the MacBook Air models, but this new, lower power 7W chip is both fast and efficient, allowing for longer battery life than ever.
The last super notable change is to the port setup. The new MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, with Apple eliminating the USB-A ports and the SD card slot from the older model. The addition of Thunderbolt 3 brings the MacBook Air in line with the rest of the Mac lineup and allows it to connect to 4K and 5K displays, faster Thunderbolt 3 storage, eGPUs, and more.
All of these changes have raised the base price of the MacBook Air. Prior to the October update, the MacBook Air sold for $999, but now the base model sells for $1,199, a $200 premium. Given the scope of the revamp, the $200 upgrade fee is well worth paying for anyone thinking of purchasing a MacBook Air.
Apple is still selling the older model at the same $999 price point, but it’s just not worth purchasing because the components are so outdated at this point.
What do you think of Apple’s new MacBook Air? Let us know in the comments.