The November meeting was held on Friday the 9th. We talked about Apple’s recent Mac and iPad announcements and looked at some of the new features in iOS 12.
Apple’s “There’s more in the making” Event
The highlight of the meeting was a discussion of Apples announcements at their recent October event. This included the newly redesigned MacBook Air and Mac mini as well as the new iPad Pro with FaceID and Liquid Retina display.
Apple have video of the event and details of the announcements on their event page.
iOS 12
We took a look at a couple of the new features of iOS 12 on the iPhone and iPad:
Apple’s new Shortcuts App is a free download from the App Store. Shortcuts can perform multiple actions on your device and within apps to automate common tasks. They are initiated via Siri, by tapping a tile within the app, from the Today widget or a home screen icon. A large number of pre-made shortcuts are already available or you can make your own by selecting from available actions.
Mac Rumors has some useful introductory YouTube videos on Shortcuts:
We gave Group Facetime a try and apart from some audio feedback (from multiple devices in the same room!) it worked well.
News
We talked about the other Apple news of the past month including:
- The iPhone XR is now available.
- The London Covent Garden Apple Store reopens after refurbishment.
- iOS 12 disables the GrayKey unlocking device.
- Apple updates their privacy web site for iOS 12 and Mojave.