All-Purpose Guru

As I recall, Target supported Apple Pay by accident when it first came out, as they had already replaced all their terminals as a result of the data breach they suffered right before Apple Pay was introduced.  There was significant controversy when it was then turned back off as a result of the inane ridiculous requirements of their contract with the late unlamented CurrentC program.

CurrentC was championed by Walmart, which is desperately trying to reduce the billions of dollars they pay to the credit card issuers.  Their current painful solution, Walmart Pay, tries to offer convenience for using a debit card, which is not subject to the high prices of credit card transactions.

I gotta admit, I think that credit card rates have got to go down some; Visa and MasterCard are raking in the money on transaction fees, and it is starting to become onerous for large businesses.  On the other hand, I would use Apple Pay as much as possible if my phone supported it because I hate giving businesses my credit card info.

indiekiduk said:

T2 is just their name for the old SMC, not a big deal at all.

Let's see, the T2 chip does replace the SMC chip.

• It also adds the secure enclave that makes TouchID possible.
• It also adds better audio processing that makes "Hey Siri" possible.
• It also adds on-the-fly processor-independent encryption to the Flash so your data is protected from someone harvesting the chips off the motherboard. That encryption isn't defeatable, btw. FileVault only controls mounting of the drive with a password on Macs with the T2.
• It also adds video processing that allows the cheap-ass camera to not look so horrible.
• It also adds secure booting, preventing someone from booting your computer from a USB key and harvesting your data THAT way.
• It also adds a hardware disconnect for the microphone when the lid is closed.

So, yeah, it's the same old SMC chip. But not really.

Shane_H said:

"This means users can connect an external 5K display, extra storage or even charge their iPhone with a USB-C to Lightning cable." Define extra storage? I cannot find anything about that on Apples Site. Looks like it can see the same external devices as before, Like cameras, keyboards and such. USB-C Hard drives and Flash drives are not mentioned.

Someone apparently snuck a USB-C flashdrive in and yeah, apparently the only file types currently recognized are photos and videos, exactly like the camera connection kit.

C'mon, Apple, if you want me to take this seriously as a computer let me copy a Pages file onto a USB stick and have the files app be able to take it off.

kudu said:

tht said:

2018 MacBook Air with BlackMagic eGPU

That is not a picture of a MBA. It’s a MBP13TB. 

The ONLY MacBook with TouchID and without a Touchbar is the new MacBook Air. Picture description is accurate 

The picture with the eGPU most definitely has a touchbar.  The wide speaker grills on the sides of the keyboards point to it being a 15" Touchbar-equipped Macbook Pro. Picture description is completely wrong.

tht said:

macgui said:

I wish there was a long press command to bring up cursor keys (SE here, no 3D Touch).

Getting the cursor where I want it is a frequent pain, with the OS misinterpreting my efforts. I'll give this a try.

Yes. They really want to keep the system simple, but I really wish they would just add arrow keys to the iPad keyboard at least. The emoji and microphone keys are seriously in the wrong location. They should be in the top row where the word suggestions are. 

Plus, they can just add a full featured trackpad mode by pressing the language key which switches keyboards already. 

And oh, I really hope they finally add “Haptic Touch” to iPads. I would think a Taptic Engine to provide feedback for long presses, selection completion, rolodeck ticks, and other things would be great!