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Note This article was originally published on my LinkedIn.
TL:DR iOS 14 finally catches up with Android and macOS jumps ship. In a seismic but deliberately underplayed change Apple signalled to developers that macOS is moving to Apple Silicon with first production computers by the end of the year and developer hardware orderable today!
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Note This article was originally published on my LinkedIn.
I would like to think that I know a little about Apple App review, having had many meetings with Apple both by phone and in person – about various apps and always with successful outcomes. I see Twitter has 'Hancock blames Apple' covered, so I originally put forward that I doubt a major corporation will quietly allow a government to blame them for a public health policy failure.
Indeed, Apple did not stay quiet (I am adding this response a couple of days after writing that I doubted they would remain silent).
TL:DR: Absolutely the worst approach to take with Apple is to bring them into an argument in front of the press. It never goes well. In the end these are Apple manufactured devices, it is Apple's App Store and if they do not want you in their world, they will show you the door!
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Statista piblished a chart of the highest valued startups in the world. What is interesting to see is the U.S. only making up 40% of the top ten. Times are changing even in the current uncertainty. 
You will find more infographics at Statista
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I needed a new phone for development and demo use for a side project. The iPhone SE (2nd generation) was introduced in April 2020 and discontinued in March 2022. Its model identifier is iPhone12,8, and it was available in Black, White and (PRODUCT) Red with 64GB, 128GB and 256GB Memory. As you can see I chose the (PRODUCT) Red one, as there was no difference in price and it looks distinctive as well as helping a good cause. Don't ignore it because it is the least expensive iPhone - it has the same processor as the iPhone 11!
TL:DR – The iPhone SE (2nd generation) still works with iOS 18! and it remains a great device for testing/development. As of January 2025 you can find them at Amazon renewed for £85.
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Read more: Apple's iPhone SE (2nd generation) for iOS development
Chromebooks have recently become first class computers. Initially they were pretty awful for workloads more than the lightest of note taking duty, but since most new Chromebooks support Google Play and can run Android apps, there is a sweet spot for people who to be able to develop and test Android apps. You can use a Chromebook to build your Android app and run it on the Chromebook to test it. No slow emulator. Proper Android. If you need to be able to do that then you need to find a Chromebook that can supports Google Play apps plus Linux. Not all do. All Chromebooks launched in 2019 and beyond are supposed to support Linux.
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I finally flipped with Apple Music
On Saturday I wanted to buy a music track (Kometenmelodie 2 by Kraftwerk from Autobahn if you must know), to complete an album in my music library. It was important to me to listen to it right then as I was emotional about the passing of Florian Schneider and this was a track that was important to me as a boy. I had the CD, in a box somewhere but I thought it would be quicker, easier and only 99p to buy the track digitally. But even though I tried and tried, I still could not figure out how to buy it on iTunes. All paths in what was originally hailed as a
"revolutionary and simple Audio CD ripper and music organiser"
seemed to lead to subsciptions to Apple Music. As an esoteric fan of physical media and ownership of my music collection, I have Apple Music turned off in my preferences, as I am never going to sign up for a monthly streaming audio account for music I care little about, despite my childrens' attempts at conversion. I suppose this means I am not the Apple demographic for Apple Music now. Perhaps I never was.
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A MacBook Pro is an essential tool of my trade. When I buy one I have usually done an incredible amount of research and bought the top of the line brand new model on the first day of availability, with a plan to keep it for five years, or the top specified refurbished model on the day the new model came out, again with a long term ownership plan knowing that Apple MacBook Pro computers hold a lot of residual value. But that changed with the USB-C Macbooks and what to me was a distinct lower level of reliability. I had numerous of these newer models with logic board and other failures. The keyboard problems were well reported although to be fair I did not experience them, I just didnt like the lower travel in the keys.
I recently needed a new MacBook but what to buy? I need something with bulletproof reliability, that had a wide range of connectivity, and importantly that can run the latest versions of macOS and its developer tools. This means reasonably modern, a fast processor, loads of storage and plenty of memory.
If you can do without USB-C / Thunderbolts 3 then the Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch Retina Early 2015 with a Core i7 processor is the perfect MacBook for this workload. Which means its pretty much ideal for everything else you might want to do with it like video conferencing, writing, music, and content creation.
To find it you need to use model number A1502 with the 'MacBookPro12,1' model identifier, or use the information below.
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Read more: MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) MacBookPro12,1