App Recap: Decibel, Liftin' Workout Tracker, Taskheat and Major App Updates

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In this week's App Recap, we've highlighted utilities app "Decibel," health and fitness app "Liftin' Workout Tracker," and productivity app "Taskheat" as three apps that are worth checking out. We've also compiled a list of apps that received major updates this week.

Apps to Check Out

• Decibel: dB Sound Level Meter (iOS, Free) - Coupled with a simplistic and easy-to-navigate interface, Decibel features several unique features that make it a great way to monitor audio levels. Users have the ability to save and share noise measurements with location data and access a hearing test, noise dosimeter, spectrogram, and more. The app's hearing test, which is conducted using an audiogram, informs users about the condition of their hearing. Decibel is free to download and offers access to basic features like the dB meter, noise dosimeter, audio spectrum analyzer, and hearing testing. Users can access Decibel's full capabilities through either a subscription priced at $7.99 per month and $29.99 per year or a one-time purchase of $49.99.


• Liftin' Workout Tracker (iOS, Free) - Liftin', an app that lets users easily track workouts, features graphs and statistics that make it easy to visualize progress. Data from the app can be backed up to iCloud and shared with the iPhone's native Health app. Liftin' is free to download, but users are only able to track five workouts per month. To track an unlimited number of workouts, users can subscribe to Liftin' Unlimited, which is priced at $4.99 for the first year and then $14.99 per year thereafter. Due to the ongoing global health crisis, the app's developer is offering a free one year trial to new users for the rest of this month.


• Taskheat (iOS & Mac, Free) - Taskheat lets users visually manage tasks through a convenient flowchart or list. In addition to the ability to view tasks in an organized manner, users can color code tasks for use cases such as item groupings or priority level labels. The app will also conveniently send notifications when tasks are due in the near future. Taskheat is free to download, but a one-time purchase of $9.99 is required to access the app after the 14 day trial period. Taskheat takes advantage of Apple's universal purchases feature, so buying the app once will allow users to access it across all supported devices.

App Updates

• ActivityTracker Pedometer - ActivityTracker, an app that tracks steps, active calories, distance, and more, received an update this week with several new features. In addition to a fresh user interface, the app now has a Trends view that displays averages. The new Details view shows activity statistics over certain time periods. The update also introduces a new Today widget, a new Main and Settings view, an updated Apple Watch app, and more.


• Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides - Google this week announced several new features coming to its slew of productivity apps. Google will be bringing Smart Compose, a feature that helps users write documents faster and reduce the chance of spelling and grammatical errors, to mobile in the coming months. Additionally, Google is improving the user interface for comments and action items in the apps. All three apps will also be gaining a Dark Mode variant on iOS in the coming months.


• WhatsApp - WhatsApp this week announced it will be rolling out a new way for users to fact-check forwarded messages for misinformation. Messages that have been forwarded through a chain of five or more people will display a magnifying glass button alongside them in the chat thread, and tapping on the bottom will prompt users to select if they'd like to search the web to try and find a news result or other sources of information to support the received content.
  

Are you using a great new app we've missed? Let us know in the comments and we'll check it out for next week's App Recap. Are you a developer of a unique app you'd like us to consider? Send us a message through our tip line at the top of the page and we'll check it out.

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2020 iMac Teardown Reveals Internal Changes and Similarities

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A teardown video, shared by OWC, reveals the internal changes in the new 2020 27-inch iMac.



The 2020 27-inch ‌iMac‌ was announced earlier this week with 10th-generation Intel Core processors, AMD Radeon Pro 5000 series graphics, up to 128GB of RAM, up to 8TB of storage, a 1080p front-facing FaceTime camera, a True Tone display with a nano-texture glass option, higher fidelity speakers, and studio-quality microphones.

MacRumors forum user TwoH summarizes the changes:

- Camera is attached to the LCD, so have to take extra care to remove a third cable when opening up the ‌iMac‌.
- Lack of mechanical HDD (and SATA connectors on logicboard) - but this was obvious.
- Extra microphone(s) stuck to the case, notably an extra cable made connecting into tje logicboard close to the backlight. Other connects around the same position as the 2017/19 models.
- Solder joints for the 4 & 8TB model iMacs.

The biggest change inside the 2020 27-inch ‌iMac‌ is the lack of mechanical hard drive, as all models now come with SSDs by default. OWC notes that the disassembly now seems faster for this reason. There are no longer any SATA connectors in the machine and a small SSD is soldered directly to the motherboard. Instead, there are new solder joints for an expansion board to hold additional SSDs in the 4TB and 8TB configurations. In the 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations, the expansion board is not present.

The lack of mechanical hard drive has left a large amount of unused free space within the machine. It is of note that Apple did not choose to implement the additional cooling present in iMac Pro in this space, likely due to cost.

Another internal change is the additional microphone adhered to the bottom of the case, with the other microphone in the same position as previous years. The new 1080p webcam is attached to the LCD, so particular care has to be taken to remove a third cable when opening the machine.


OWC did point out solder joints and mount that may be where the 4TB and 8TB models have flash storage expansion board.

Beyond these minor changes, the internals are much the same as previous models, with the same power supply, cooling, socketed CPU, and headphone jack. Although the speakers are purportedly upgraded, they do not appear to be any visually different within the machine.

Due to the 2020 ‌iMac‌ sharing almost all of its internal components with previous models, it will likely be no more expensive or difficult to repair than previous models. Similarly, most parts from previous years should be compatible with this new model.

The only part of the 2020 ‌iMac‌ that is still readily upgradeable is the RAM, which is accessible via a small door on the back of the device.

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Tag: teardown

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Apple Takes Legal Action Against Small Company With Pear Logo

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Apple is taking legal action against the developers of the app "Prepear" due to its logo, according to iPhone in Canada.



Prepear is an app that helps users discover recipes, plan meals, make lists, and arrange grocery deliveries. The app is a spinoff of "Super Healthy Kids," and the founders claim that they are facing litigation from Apple. Apple reportedly takes issue with Prepear's logo, arguing that its attributes are too similar to its own logo.

The company said via a post on Instagram that Apple "has decided to oppose and go after our small business' trademark saying our pear logo is too close to their apple logo and supposedly hurts their brand". The post goes on to describe the action as "a big blow to us at Prepear," and sets out the intention to retain the original logo and "send a message to big tech companies that bullying small businesses has consequences."

The company has launched a Change.org petition in an attempt to persuade Apple to "drop its opposition of the Prepear Logo, and help stop big tech companies from abusing their position of power by going after small businesses like ours who are already struggling due to the affects of Covid-19."

Prepear says that it is a "very small business" with only five team members, and explains that legal costs from the despite have already cost thousands of dollars and the layoff of a team member.

"Apple has opposed the trademark application for our small business, Prepear, demanding that we change our obviously pear shaped logo, used to represent our brand in the recipe management and meal planning business... Most small businesses cannot afford the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to fight Apple," the petition claims. "It is a very terrifying experience to be legally attacked by one of the largest companies in the world, even when we have clearly done nothing wrong, and we understand why most companies just give in and change their logos."

The petition has currently reached almost 9,000 signatures, and the founders hope it will reach 10,000.

Prepear says that Apple "has opposed dozens of other trademark applications filed by small businesses with fruit related logos," even in cases where the logo or industry is dissimilar to Apple's. Logos have been the source of legal action by Apple in the past, such as the case against a Norwegian political party and a German cycling path.

Tag: trademark

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