At our January 27th meeting we talked about Apple’s recent announcements including the M2 MacBook Pros, M2 Mac minis and new HomePod. DaveK showed us some apps now available for the Mastodon social media service and members shared other topics.
Apple January Announcements
We talked about the recent Apple announcements including:
- 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips.
- Mac Mini with M2 and M2 Pro chips.
- The new full-size HomePod.
- Black Unity Sport Loop and matching Apple Watch face and iPhone wallpaper.
Mastodon Apps
DaveK showed us some of the apps now available for the Mastodon federated social media network.
- Metatext - Free, opensource iOS Mastodon client.
- Mammoth - Available for testing via Test Flight.
- Ivory - A Mastodon client from tapbots, the makers of Tweetbot.
- Awesome Mastodon - A curated list of Mastodon related stuff including apps.
News
We discussed:
- The HomePod 16.3 update adding temperature and humidity sensing.
- The new Security Keys feature in iOS 16.3.
- The Apple Lisa source code is released to celebrate the system’s 40th anniversary.
- Apple’s Safari web browser turns 20.
- AI Narrated audio books arrive on Apple Books.
- Apple battery replacement prices are increasing from 1st March.
- An AirTag update introduces a new notification if a separated AirTag is nearby.
Member Topics
- DaveK mentioned the children’s book “Alice and Sparkle”, written and illustrated by publicly available AI.
- He also mentioned the recent Wikipedia interface change.
- DaveK also recommended Slow Horses, Little America and Shining Girls on Apple TV+.
- Ann-Kay pointed out that the Royal Opera House offers a streaming service for performances.
- Elliott mentioned the Money saving expert app.