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#1519: Apple breaks up with Intel, macOS Big Sur brings design changes, iOS 14 revamps the Home screen, watchOS 7 tracks sleep and handwashing

Starting on a somber note and accelerating to a breakneck pace, Apple turned its ecosystem upside down today at WWDC. First came the announcement that it’s transitioning the Mac away from Intel and making the most radical design changes to macOS since Mac OS X. With iOS 14, Apple is reimagining the Home screen, while borrowing plenty from Google’s Android. iPadOS 14 carries over those features and adds a level of handwriting recognition not seen since the Newton. Meanwhile, watchOS 7 brings sleep tracking, sharable watch faces, and handwashing guidance to the Apple Watch. Notable Mac app releases this week include DEVONthink 3.5.1, Lightroom Classic CC 9.3, Fantastical 3.1, Nisus Writer Pro 3.1, Microsoft Office for Mac 16.38, PDFpen and PDFpenPro 12.1, and Carbon Copy Cloner 5.1.19.

Adam Engst 95 comments

Macs Make the Move to ARM with Apple Silicon

The rumors finally came true. At the WWDC keynote, Apple announced that the Mac would be transitioning to custom-designed Apple processors along the lines of those that power the iPad Pro. The first such Mac should be available by the end of this year, with the full transition taking about two years.

Michael E. Cohen Adam Engst 18 comments

Apple Takes macOS to Big Sur… and to 11

Described as being the biggest update to macOS since OS X, macOS Big Sur features streamlined design, more customizable controls, privacy enhancements, and increased interoperability with iPadOS and iOS. X hasn’t marked the spot for several years, but we’re now in Spinal Tap territory: it’s macOS 11.0 Big Sur, for those who are keeping score.

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Fantastical 3.1 Agen Schmitz 1 comment

Fantastical 3.1

Update with a work-from-home focus adds automatic conference call detection and timed calendar sets. ($39.99 annual subscription, free update, 22.3 MB)

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