Vratislav Holub In this regular column, every day we look at the most interesting news that revolves around the California company Apple. Here we focus exclusively on the main events and selected (interesting) speculations. So if you are interested in current events and want to be informed about the apple world, definitely spend a few minutes on the following paragraphs.
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Pavel Jelic Gmail comes with a handy widget
In June, on the occasion of the developer conference WWDC 2020, the Californian giant showed us probably the most anticipated operating system, which is iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. It brought with it a number of great novelties, among which the option of widgets is probably king. Apple users can now set the aforementioned widgets directly on their home screen.
Google has now updated its Gmail email client to which widget support has arrived. You can now set a widget directly on your desktop and access e-mails practically immediately. In particular, you have the option to search among messages, you can create new e-mails and view unread e-mails.
Apple is preparing to equip its iPhones and Macs with significantly better chips
Only last week we had a rather big event. The Californian giant showed us the very first Macs that are equipped with their own solution called Apple Silicon, namely the Apple M1 chip. According to the first tests, the performance of this chip is significantly ahead of the competition. The situation is quite similar with the chips in Apple phones, which Apple again designs itself. When we compare an iPhone with an Android phone, the "apple" will probably win in terms of performance.
New Apple M1:
Gallery
According to the Taiwanese company TrendForce Apple continues to work with TSMC, which is the main supplier of the aforementioned chips. The Californian giant would reportedly use chips with a 5nm+ manufacturing process, which TSMC refers to as N5P, in the next generation of Apple phones, thanks to which it should have significantly more performance compared to the current 5nm manufacturing process chips. If we look a generation further, namely to 2022, TrendForce assumes that the Apple A16 chip will already boast a 4nm production process.
It's clear that the Californian giant really cares about the performance of its products. In addition, Apple computers could also see similar changes. Many analysts and leakers are already predicting that early next year we will see the introduction of the 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro with a better Apple Silicon chip. The 14″ model should follow the example of the 16″ MacBook with thinner frames, offer a better design and generally increase the display. But we will have to wait for more information.
CrossOver allows Windows x86 applications to run on Apple Silicon machines
When Apple first showed us the Apple Silicon projects and the transition to its own chips, built on the ARM architecture, people were rather skeptical. Despite the fact that this transition can increase the performance of the machines themselves and reduce their energy consumption, there were concerns about whether applications would be available for the new platform. As we mentioned above, it's currently been a week since we saw the introduction of the first Macs with the Apple M1 chip from the Apple Silicon family. And the worries are gone.
Codeweavers posted a blog post showing their CrossOver app how it would fare on a new MacBook Air with the aforementioned chip. In the video attached above, you can see a user enjoying the iconic game Team Fortress 2 with relative ease. But what exactly is the CrossOver? It is an exceptional program based on the Wine Project that can take care of running Windows applications even on macOS. This tool works by translating the Windows API into apple equivalents, thanks to which the given program works without a single problem. According to the author of the post, it is unbelievable that the cheapest MacBook can run CrossOver via Rosetta 2 and a "Windows" game via it, while everything runs almost smoothly. At the same time, the laptop should also be able to handle the game The Witcher 3.
Google Stadia is coming to iOS
Today in our magazine you could read about the arrival of the GeForce NOW gaming platform on iOS and iPadOS. This service allows you so-called game streaming, where you can play AAA titles even on a weak computer, requiring only a stable connection. However, GeForce NOW has not been able to be run on Apple mobile products until now, because in a way they violate the policies of the App Store. Apple does not allow game cloud applications that serve as a signpost for launching games - i.e. only if all games have already been checked by the Apple team and are actually found in the App Store.
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Google itself is about to take the same step. The latter offers users its own service called Google Stadia, which, except for a few differences, works almost the same. Again, this is a cloud platform that allows you to play demanding games on a weak device. According to Google's own statement, they are using the same method that Nvidia has now succeeded with the GeForce NOW service - that is, in the form of a web application. However, when we will see the Stadia platform is still unclear and we will have to wait for more information.
Of course, Team Fortress 2 is great, but it's a long way from today's or at least more contemporary games.
And in addition, it jerks significantly, in places it has 5FPS if not less. But the author of the article should at least play the video. Anyway, it's still an impressive performance, I just wouldn't call it "smooth" when it's borderline playable.