life & style // no. 16 theotherpress.ca

There is just one more thing?

» Recent Apple announcement the quickest of all time

 

 

 

Illustration by Sonam Kaloti

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

his fall, Apple surprisingly produced
more announcements than usual—

the total number of announcements
being three! Out of all the news that the
major tech companies aired during the
coronavirus pandemic, Apple had the
best ones because of their cinematics
and seamless quality. They announced
new products that set new standards in
technology and initiatives to reduce the
number of carbon emissions in the air.

When I looked through Twitter and
found out that Apple scheduled another
announcement almost a month after they
announced the iPhone 12, I was thinking
that they were going to broadcast a major
new product, possibly the Apple TV which
will be their smart TV. When I watched the
announcement on November 10 in their
headquarters and was still pre-taped, it is
the quickest announcement that they did.

It began with Tim Cook talking about
how high-quality content can be made at
home with their products using Billie Eilish
as an example and her brother, Finneas
O'Connell, who is also her producer,
made an appearance at the end of the
announcement. Half of the announcement
involved an explanation of the new chip
that will installed in their computer
products made with Apple Silicon with the
Apple-designed M1 chip. It replaces the
Intel processor that was in the previous
models of the iMac and is like the chip that
is in the iPhone and the iPad.

The interesting thing about the M1
chip is that they put various parts of the

computer, including the processor and the
graphics card, all in one. This allows the
iMac to be faster, use less power, increase
battery life, and improve graphics to make
them sharper. The chip is very powerful
and is the fastest processor in computer
products.

Essentially, the iMac is faster, and you
can get more things done faster and make
content sharper. After that, Craig Federighi
talked about how the Mi chip will improve
the performance of the next version of
macOS with macOS Big Sur which is
available now. While the explanation of
the Mi chip is mind-blowing, Federighi’s
explanation of the MacBook is like
watching a porno.

Then, they announced the next
versions of almost all their computer
products with new versions of the
MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro, and the
Mac Mini. There are not a lot of new things
in these products, and they are pretty much
just faster and have improved cooling
systems. Although, the Mac Mini is now
cheaper at $699.

The announcement ended with
various people using the new MacBook
with the new chip and it showed that when
you use it, you are playing with it instead
of working in it. On average, an Apple
announcement usually has a running time
of two hours. Because the announcement
was pre-taped, it caused the running time
to be 46 minutes, which is the quickest
announcement that they've ever done.

Maybe the reason why it had such a
short length was that they wanted to show
how fast the Mi chip is. While a major new
product was not announced, Apple set the
standard for computers yet again.

Opting for positives in times of crisis

» Thoughts affect actions and actions affect behaviours

Morgan Hannah
Life & Style Editor

 

I: 2020 and the way we do things has
now changed, likely for a long time
coming. Covid-19 has breathed a sense

of fear into each one of our days and
nights. Of course, that sounds a bit more
dramatic than is necessary—each of us
experiences this pandemic in our own way
but experience it we all do. I, admittedly,
didn't handle the situation too well in the
beginning when news channels and social
media laid out the details, having had
many of my plans fall through and many
uncertainties creep in, but with time, we
have learned that life must go on and so it
is better and easier to live our lives with a
more positive outlook than with negativity
and a taxing frown.

Decades of research shows that
positivity is a potent health tonic, with
studies showing that a brighter outlook on
life leads to improved mental and physical
health, as well as more opportunities
tapping us on the shoulder. Additionally,
opting for positivity has the benefit of a
swifter recovery from prolonged stress and

traumatic events.

On that note, Covid-1g in a weird way could
be considered a gift... you know, if many
people weren't dying and getting sick.
Maybe this is a time where we all need to
sit back and think on our lives, maybe it’s
time to consider what changes are due to
make the most of our lives. In fact, there’s
a meme going around that states: “Kinda
feels like the Earth just sent us all to our
rooms to think about what we've done.’

If we bounce back to positive thinking,
the Earth might be benefitting from all of
us spending a bit more time indoors these
days. And we might be benefitting from
it, too—more family time, more one-on-
one with our pets, and more keeping in
touch via Zoom calls to our relatives and
friends. Covid-1g has forced us to decide
what is important to us and what can we
not live without, it has given us time to
focus on our hobbies and true passions
rather than just working on autopilot. At
least, it’s given me that time. Sure, there’s
the financial stress that an uncertain future
and work layoffs brings about, but there’s
also time off from the hustle and bustle
of life as we knew it. And I don’t know

about you, but I choose to use this time to
focus more on my writing and my family,

 

I choose to think as positivity as I can
because it’s simply easier to do so.