The iPad Pro starts at $799 and features an ARM A9X processor. The entry level Surface Pro 4 is $899 and comes with an Intel Core M3 processor. That seems a fair comparison.

Apple Insider ran Primate Labs’ Geekbench 3.3.2 benchmarks on a number of machines, including the entry level Surface Pro 4 and the iPad Pro. In a nutshell, the iPad Pro smoked the Surface Pro 4.

From the article:

Even Apple’s $499 iPad Air 2 beats the $899 Surface Pro 4 in multicore tests, while scoring slightly lower in single core performance, and delivers that compairable performance with a price tag that’s $400 lower.

To get a Surface Pro 4 that has more CPU power than iPad Pro, you have to upgrade to the $1299 version powered by an Intel Core i5, which costs as much as Apple’s 13 inch MacBook Pro. However, the i5-powered Surface Pro 4 costs $500 more than an iPad Pro.

As has been widely discussed, Apple is packing a lot of muscle in the iPad lineup. Use cases aside, the iPad Pro certainly has a laptop class processor.

I love the fit and finish of Apple hardware. Some of it is better than others, but all of it is better than this soulless design.

iFixit has gotten quite good at stepping us through their teardown process. The commentary is smart and fun to read, and the pictures are top notch. This iPad Pro teardown is no exception.

Pay particular attention to the speaker disassembly in steps 12 and 13:

Although these speakers share a common design, their function changes depending on the tablet’s orientation. Whether in portrait or landscape mode, the Pro always sends higher frequencies to the topmost speakers to produce a more balanced sound.

And:

The speakers are nice, but what makes them really sing are the fancy back volume chambers, machined directly into the unibody enclosure. Apple claims that this new design provides up to three times more output than previous iPad models.

Details.

Rhiannon Williams, interviewing Sir Jony Ive for The Telegraph:

“We hoped if you are used to spending a lot of time using paintbrushes, pencils and pens, this will feel like a more natural extension of that experience – that it will feel familiar,” he says, carefully. “To achieve that degree of very simple, natural behaviour, was a significant technological challenge.”

And:

Ive joined Apple full time in 1992, and despite being based in San Francisco ever since, retains his British accent. There he worked closely with late chief executive Steve Jobs to hone the pared-back, sleek aesthetic now synonymous with Apple products.

The Pencil is no exception – a delicate white plastic device with a removable rubber sensor-filled tip for detecting the amount of pressure you’re applying to the screen and varying the weight of the line it draws accordingly, including a bold, hard mark when pressing hard on the direct tip, and a faint, fanned effect when brushed on its side, just as a physical pencil would.

Ive hopes those using the Pencil for the first time are surprised by this, as “every other stylus you’ve used is a pretty poor representation of the analogue world”.

And:

“I always like when you start to use something with a little less reverence. You start to use it a little carelessly, and with a little less thought, because then, I think, you’re using it very naturally. What I’ve enjoyed is when I’m just thinking, holding the Pencil as I would my pen with a sketchpad and I just start drawing,” he enthuses.

“When you start to realise you’re doing that without great intent and you’re just using it for the tool that it is, you realise that you’ve crossed over from demoing it and you’re actually starting to use it. As you cross that line, that’s when it actually feels the most powerful.”

This makes me want one.

Stores that take Apple Pay have an indicator on their Apple Maps page. Follow the link to see an example.

Luke Dormehl, writing for Cult of Mac:

Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs movie had another disastrous showing at the box office over the weekend. With earnings declining more than 69 percent from the previous weekend to just $823,000, the movie was dumped from 2,072 screens — more than any other film.

By comparison, the new Bond movie Spectre took $73 million in its opening weekend.

According to the Steve Jobs movie page on Box Office Mojo, as of November 9th, the movie has brought in a paltry $16,722,018. The good news is, that number only includes domestic gross. Presumably, world wide release will follow and the movie will edge closer to making its money back.

Matthew Panzarino, writing for TechCrunch:

This new iPad is powerful — and for various reasons, this is the first time I feel that it’s actually possible to tell. Between this and the Apple TV, we’re seeing Apple’s A-series chips get pushed really, really hard for the first time, and what this thing can do is pretty damn impressive. It’s pushing over 5.5 million pixels at all times, but never stutters or lags.

In order to save battery life while pushing all of those pixels, Apple is pulling a pretty crazy trick with the screen. It’s refreshing the screen 30 times per second (30z) when it’s static and you’re not touching it. That’s half of the standard 60hz that you’ll see on other iPads. Every 4 milliseconds, it polls for screen or touch activity. If it sees any, it transitions back to 60hz and animates fluidly. It’s a clever trick, and it pays off. My battery typically lasts around 2 days on WiFi with some sketching, watching Daniel of House Tiger with my daughter and doing some typing and browsing in split-screen.

That is one clever little trick. And the end result is enviable battery life.

RTE:

An expansion on this scale would see the number of people directly employed by the company in Ireland increase to 6,000.

Apple currently employs 5,000 people at the Hollyhill facility in the city, a 25% increase in a year.

This is a pretty big expansion, a big commitment to Ireland at a time when the jury is still out on Apple’s tax status.

Apple has become an important employer in Ireland and is also partnered with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to support research in offshore energy technology.

It is also establishing a €1m Ocean Energy Industry Fund to support innovative new ways of capturing wave energy and converting it to renewable electricity to power its facilities.

In February Apple revealed plans to build an €850 million data centre in Athenry.

Those are some long term plans.

Easy enough to find your local Apple Store link, but seeing all the places and prices together like this was kind of interesting.

I’m struggling to get the placement of the iPad Pro. Certainly, it’s easy to understand what a tremendous boon the iPad Pro/Apple Pencil combination is for artists, graphic designers.

My struggle is in overcoming the notion of the iPad Pro as just a really big iPad. Can an iPad running iOS ever replace a laptop running OS X? Will the iPad ever become my primary device, as opposed to a supplementary portable device?

John Gruber’s thoughtful iPad Pro review helped move that conversation along for me. It did not resolve it, but it helped me see a little bit further down the road.

Some bits from the review:

We’ve now reached an inflection point. The new MacBook is slower, gets worse battery life, and even its cheapest configuration costs $200 more than the top-of-the-line iPad Pro. The iPad Pro is more powerful, cheaper, has a better display, and gets better battery life. It’s not a clear cut-and-dry win — MacBooks still have more RAM (the iPad Pro, in all configurations, has 4 GB of RAM, although Apple still isn’t publishing this information — MacBook Pros have either 8 or 16 GB), are expandable, and offer far more storage. But at a fundamental level — CPU speed, GPU speed, quality of the display, quality of the sound output, and overall responsiveness of interface — the iPad Pro is a better computer than a MacBook or MacBook Air, and a worthy rival to the far more expensive MacBook Pros.

I see this as a check box, a necessary condition for the iPad to replace my laptop. Not a sufficient condition, but a necessary one. The iPad Pro is now powerful enough. The question remains, can the iPad Pro fill the other requirements.

The iPad Pro is “pro” in the way MacBook Pros are. Genuine professionals with a professional need — visual artists in particular — are going to line up for them. But it’s also a perfectly reasonable choice for casual iPad users who just want a bigger display, louder (and now stereo) speakers, and faster performance.

Anyone tying themselves in knots looking for a specific target audience for the iPad Pro is going about it the wrong way. There is no single target audience. Is the iPad Pro meant for office workers in the enterprise? Professional artists creating content? Casual users playing games, watching movies, and reading? The answer is simply “Yes”.

I think this addresses the questions, “Will the iPad Pro succeed, will it sell enough units to earn its place in the Apple ecosystem?” I’m still struggling with the issue of the suitability of the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement.

If you don’t type much, or don’t mind using the on-screen keyboard when you do, you’re probably already sold on the iPad-as-primary-portable-computer lifestyle. If you do type a lot and want a hardware keyboard, the appeal of the iPad Pro is going to largely hinge on your affinity for the Smart Keyboard.

That’s one core issue. If you type a lot (and I do), the question is, “Is the Smart Keyboard good enough, can I get along with it well enough to type at a reasonable speed?”

I’ve written this entire review using it, Federico Viticci-style. I went into it thinking that my biggest complaint would be the keys themselves — I like my keyboards clicky, with a lot of travel. But I adjusted to it pretty quickly, and I kind of like the way it feels, as a tactile surface. It almost feels like canvas.

Excellent!

When the iPad Pro is open with the keyboard attached, holding your arm up to touch the screen for anything longer than a moment or two is ergonomically uncomfortable. Apple has stated for years that this is why they don’t make the displays on MacBooks or iMacs touchscreens (that, combined with the relatively tiny click targets of Mac OS X, which are designed for very precise mice and trackpads, not imprecise finger tips). Scrolling through a long document using the iPad Pro touch screen is uncomfortable when it’s in laptop position. Going through a slew of new emails, likewise. In laptop mode, I want to use the keyboard for these things — and in most cases, because of bugs and/or software limitations, I can’t. That the keyboard falls short in these cases is even worse on iPad than it would be on a MacBook, because a MacBook has a trackpad. The point is, if my fingers are on the keyboard, I don’t want to move my hands. With a trackpad, I don’t have to. With the iPad Pro, I do.

Ah, there it is. John put into words what I struggled to. There’s something about having my laptop anchored with my hands completely free to move between the trackpad/mouse/trackball and the keyboard. That and the ability to effortlessly change the angle of the screen to adjust for glare.

More than anything else, for me the tradeoff is between portability (the grab and go offered by my phone) and ergonomic comfort (like sitting in a well laid out cockpit). This is a second checkbox. For any iPad to replace my laptop, it has to solve that ergonomic issue. I realize that for many people, this is not a necessary condition. For a more casual user, the iPad Pro is likely a home run.

Go read John Gruber’s iPad Pro review. There’s much more to it than these bits I’ve quoted here and the review is well worth your time.

Currently available for delivery on Friday (at least in the U.S.) if you specify next day shipping.

Here’s the link.

From the Apple TV Tech Talk web site:

The new Apple TV is here, bringing incredible and immersive apps and games to the big screen. Get in-depth technical information on building and designing for tvOS, learn refined coding techniques, and obtain valuable development instruction from Apple experts. Register by November 13, 10:00 a.m. PST for an opportunity to attend a Tech Talk in a city near you.

The tours are running in:

• Toronto, December 7, 2015
• Los Angeles, December 10, 2015
• Austin, December 14, 2015
• Seattle, December 16, 2015
• Cupertino, December 17, 2015
• Cupertino, December 18, 2015
• Berlin, January 8, 2016
• London, January 11, 2016
• New York, January 12, 2016
• Tokyo, January 21, 2016
• Sydney, February 3, 2016

The official Google Maps blog:

Roughly 60 percent of the world is without Internet today, and even where online access is available, it can still be spotty. That means that quick and easy access to information is still not possible for a majority of the population. This is a huge problem, especially as people attempt to navigate and explore the world around them, so Google Maps is taking steps to help people across the globe find directions and get where they’re going, even when they don’t have an Internet connection.

Now you can download an area of the world to your phone, and the next time you find there’s no connectivity—whether it’s a country road or an underground parking garage—Google Maps will continue to work seamlessly. Whereas before you could simply view an area of the map offline, now you can get turn-by-turn driving directions, search for specific destinations, and find useful information about places, like hours of operation, contact information or ratings.

This is a huge benefit, especially for folks with limited data plans. By far, the biggest suck on my data plan is map usage when I am on the road. Love this!

Writing for Above Avalon, Neil Cybart first lays out Apple’s recent series of North San Jose land purchases in terrific detail, then presents three theories on why those purchases were made.

I really liked the post, though I think the fact that the land lies immediately next to San Jose International Airport is not a coincidence. It’s a mystery!

If you are curious about the Surface Book, this is a solid, detailed review. As always, there’s a popup menu at the bottom of each page (above the comments) so you can jump to various pages in the review.

In a nutshell, the review is mostly positive, but you’ll still be running a variant of Windows.

The Verge:

A commercial court in Brussels today ruled that Facebook must stop using cookies to track users when they aren’t logged in, reports The Wall Street Journal [PAYWALL]. The social networking company now has 48 hours to comply, or it will face a daily fine of €250,000. However, the company has vowed to appeal the decision on the basis of user security.

“We’ve used the data cookie for more than five years to keep Facebook secure for 1.5 billion people around the world,” a Facebook spokesperson told the Journal. “We will appeal this decision and are working to minimize any disruption to people’s access to Facebook in Belgium.”

Facebook’s argument:

According to the company, cookies allow it to identify computers that would be otherwise be used to hack into users’ accounts. Any data that’s collected is deleted after 10 days.

The use of these cookies to track user behavior undermines that argument:

Today’s decision comes months after the Belgian Privacy Committee released a report showing how Facebook’s tracking cookies identify users clicking Like buttons across the web, even if those users explicitly logged out or deactivated their accounts.

If you are a fan of the Day One journaling app for OS X and iOS, check out this iBook from Shawn Blanc of The Sweet Setup. The book is well written and does a great job digging into the details of getting the most out of Day One. But the book is also beautifully laid out. Props to the team that pulled this design together.

Day One in Depth is $7.99, and you can read it on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Tim Cook is in London to promote the pending release of the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. In addition to coverage by The Guardian (see this post about the UK surveillance bill), we’re also taking a look at coverage by the Telegraph.

From The Telegraph:

“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?”, asks Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, who has just flown into Britain for the launch of the iPad Pro.

And:

“Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones,” Cook argues in his distinctly Southern accent (he was born in Alabama). He highlights two other markets for his 12.9 inch devices, which go on sale online on Wednesday. The first are creatives: “if you sketch then it’s unbelievable..you don’t want to use a pad anymore,” Cook says.

The second is music and movie consumers: the sound system and speakers are so powerful that the iPad appears to pulsate in one’s hands when one plays a video.

Of all those use cases, the most obvious to me is as an art creation tool. From what I’ve seen, the iPad Pro looks to be a world class solution, when paired with the right software.

As to a desktop/laptop replacement, that’s not as obvious to me. The biggest barriers that would keep me from replacing my MacBook Pro with an iPad Pro are the keyboard, the hinge that lets me instantly tilt the screen at any angle, and the availability of software that I use to create content.

I can type really fast on my MacBook Pro keyboard, much slower on any on-screen keyboard. The jury is still out on the usability of the built in keyboard case. At best, I suspect it will slow down my typing just a bit.

The ability to tilt my screen to adjust for glare/lighting is also important to me. If I hold the iPad in my hand, I can get that instant adjustment, but I’ve sacrificed ease of use, the ability to use the case as a keyboard.

Software availability will obviously vary with each user. I do a lot of writing and a smaller amount of graphic design and software development. The biggest issue is software development. A niche case. Until Xcode, or a truly useful alternative, is ported to iOS, there is no way for me to do software development anywhere else but on my Mac.

That said, for the consumption of information (web/email/music/video), the iPad Pro, combined with the Apple Pencil, looks to be an incredibly freeing experience. The display is plenty big (12 x 8.68 inches), and it is incredibly light (about 1.6 pounds, without the Smart Keyboard). If I’m traveling, the iPad Pro looks to be a fantastic solution.

Back to Tim’s Telegraph interview:

“I think if you have the larger phone, you’re less likely to have the iPad mini”, he says, though he insists that the demand won’t fall to zero.

Some consumers use the iPad mini to read in bed, he says, finding it more relaxing than using a phone and the busyness that goes with it. That won’t change, he believes. “But I think it clearly created some cannibalisation – which we knew would occur – but we don’t really spend any time worrying about that, because as long as we cannibalise [ourselves], it’s fine,” Cook laughs.

As I’ve said time and again, it’s all about the ecosystem. As long as people continue to stay within the Apple ecosystem, Apple can adjust the product line, trimming/replacing where necessary to keep their costs in line. Fantastic comment: Why worry about cannibalization? Make the adjustments to keep the ecosystem healthy and all will be fine.

The Guardian:

Apple’s chief executive has sharply criticised surveillance powers proposed by the British government, warning that allowing spies a backdoor route into citizens’ communications could have “very dire consequences”.

“You can just look around and see all the data breaches that are going on. These things are becoming more frequent,” Cook told the Daily Telegraph. “They can not only result in privacy breaches but also security issues. We believe very strongly in end-to-end encryption and no back doors. We don’t think people want us to read their messages. We don’t feel we have the right to read their emails.

“Any back door is a back door for everyone. Everybody wants to crack down on terrorists. Everybody wants to be secure. The question is how. Opening a back door can have very dire consequences.”

The proposed UK law would require ISPs and phone companies to keep records that would track every website visited for a year. The authorities would not need a warrant to access the data.

Fast Company:

At Fast Company’s Innovation Festival in New York, Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president for retail and online stores, discussed the customer experience beyond selling products, uniting Apple’s online and offline stores, and her experience as one of the top executives at the world’s most valuable company.

I love these talks Apple execs give that allow us a little bit of insight into their thinking. And maybe these kinds of events can put to rest the meme that Ahrendts isn’t “involved” or “public” enough.

• 3D Multishape technology
• Fanless air-cooled design
• Single universal zipper port
• Organic HD Twill outer shell
• Go 10 years without a battery charge
• Compatible with large variety of third-party cases
• Unlocked, contract-free
• Preinstalled w/ SleepOS
• Three sizes: 32, 64 or 128 Gigahull capacity

Upgrade Today →

BGR:

Once Tesla rolled out its new Autopilot software a few weeks ago, it wasn’t long before we started seeing videos of Model S owners engaging in some downright foolish and dangerous behavior.

Say what you will about the guy shaving in the Model S while zooming down the Autobahn, at least he had the good sense to stay in the driver’s seat.

This is idiotic – not only on the part of the driver but also on the part of Tesla. It’s completely irresponsible to put this software out in the wild without proper controls in place.

Macworld:

You may not need to read this column for yourself, but read it nonetheless and help those with less wariness take better heed: Don’t download software for OS X from anywhere but the developer’s own website or Apple. Period.

But the experience last week of a user noticing that a download of Skype from MacUpdate was wrapped in an installer that contained adware and trialware reminds me to run the flag up the pole again to remind folks who weren’t aware—and to ask all of you who understand the issue to help your friends, colleagues, and family avoid these risks.

We old-timers remember the days of lots of sites to download software. Sadly, those days are long gone. Tell your friends and family about this article and warn them about downloading software from any place other than the Mac App Store or the developer’s own web site.

From Apple’s official press release:

Apple® today announced iPad Pro™ is available to order online on Wednesday, November 11, from Apple.com and will arrive at Apple’s retail stores, select carriers and Apple Authorized Resellers starting later this week. Apple Pencil™ and Apple’s new Smart Keyboard, also available to order on Wednesday, bring breakthrough levels of precision and utility to iPad Pro.

“The early response to iPad Pro from app developers and our customers has been incredible, and we’re excited to get iPad Pro into the hands of customers around the world this week,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad we’ve ever made, giving users the ability to be even more creative and more productive with the epic 12.9-inch Retina display, powerful 64-bit A9X chip and groundbreaking Apple Pencil and new Smart Keyboard. We can’t wait to see what they do with iPad Pro.”

The Apple TV went on sale at about 6a PT (9a ET). Wonder if the iPad Pro will follow this timing.

Got an app or product and want coverage in the blogosphere? Allyson Kazmucha pulled together a column telling you what to do and, more importantly, what not to do.

This is a fantastic post, really rings true to me. Pass this along.

Analytics firm comScore just released their latest mobile sector numbers and, in a nutshell, Apple continues eating Samsung’s lunch in terms of market share.

For the three months ending September 15th, share of smartphone subscribers:

• Apple: 43.6%
• Samsung: 27.6%
• LG: 9.4%
• Motorola: 4.8%
• HTC: 3.3%

When organized by platform, Android fares better:

• Android: 52.3%
• Apple: 43.6%
• Microsoft: 2.9%
• BlackBerry: 1.2%
• Symbian: .1%

The bad news for Microsoft? Their numbers have not changed since the last report, meaning their mobile efforts are not gaining traction. It’d be fair to say that Apple’s numbers are about the same, but that’s much easier to take when you have dominant market share.