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The New MacBook Pro is Touch and Go

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macbook proApple’s new MacBook Pro is thinner, faster, better than the previous MacBook Pro. It comes in the now famous space grey color. It even has an OLED touch bar that can display everything from emojis to Photoshop shortcuts. But in my opinion the best feature is “ditching passwords”. The new MacBook Pro includes Touch ID, a fingerprint scanning technology familiar to anyone with an iPhone. In fact, fingerprint identification has become a staple among almost all flagship smartphones. 

touch id

Touch ID is a significant advancement in security though, not just for Apple users but for the entire computer industry. With Touch ID, once you enter your fingerprint in the Touch ID for MacBook, you can log into your computer with a tap, authorize Apple Pay purchases, and switch users when on a shared computer. Since it’s stronger than a password and easy to use, this will eliminate most of those pain-in-the-neck passwords, while improving security.

Your biometric information stays on your device, rather than connecting with some distant, vulnerable server somewhere. Simply put, no matter what you use Touch ID for, your fingerprint won’t wind up on any computer but your own, making it nearly impossible to hack unless someone has direct access to your device. That’s thanks to the other big addition to the MacBook Pro: Secure Enclave.

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Fingerprint scanning is nothing new, but the MacBook can help normalize and popularize it.  It’s going to drive Apple Pay on the web, saving you from ever filling out your credit card information again. And it will do it more safely than a password ever could. This is definitely touch and GO!

My User Experience with Steve Jobs and Apple

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 In my last blog post I spoke about the competition for airtime between the Apple conference being held at 1 PM and Governor Christies announcement for presidency. As expected, Apple brought down Twitter and overran any other news items. That’s not to say all eyes were on Apple, but to point out that we live in an age where gadgets are more important than politics sometimes – for better or worse. What we didn’t know at the time, was the imminent future for Steve Jobs. By the time of this blog entry the world is already aware of the loss and has been inundated with stories of this great inventor and marketer.

I have thought for days what I should write about such an inspirational person for me. The phrase “words cant express” resinated over and over for me. I could not come to a conclusion or a way to get all the words out, so I have decided to share just two tidbits from my life experience with Apple and Steve Jobs. The media will share every other image, quote and historical inventions over the next few weeks.

 
My story is simple. 
 
512k Mac

1985 – My father-in-law came home one night with a computer called a Mac 512k. Having just barely passed a college computer class the year before, It seemed like the most magical thing ever. Mind you, we had to feed a single line of code into a commands feeder  that looked like something Eli Whitney invented. And were taught Fortran at the time.

This magical machine mesmerized me and entertained me for hours, days – really a lifetime. That was it. I was an Apple follower for life. I wont lie though, I did drift during the bad apple days when Steve want around, but always new their  innovativeness and marketing skills would purvey. The experience that Apple and Steve brought to the computer changed my world and filled a void.

 
 
Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs
In the year 1999, being the Apple follower I was, I attended what would be the last Apple show in New York (with Apple and Steve Jobs anyway). These were events, not shows. You arrived hours early, stood in lines to get in and talked about the future. On a beautiful morning, we saw a helicopter land close to us and realized it was the man himself – SJ. We all ran to the corner to catch a glimpse. Very exciting. The program that day had the following announcements and surprises at the main event hall. 
 
The actor Noah Wyle made an appearance during the keynote address, posing as Jobs in a reference to his role in the TV moviePirates of Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs also introduced the iBook, QuickTime TV, and AirPort. Halo was announced by Bungie Software, although Bungie was later purchased by Microsoft and Halo became an Xbox exclusive. All very exciting.
 

But the most exciting moment for me was to come. 

After the show Steve would walk the floor to meet and greet all fellow geeks. As I saw him approach me, I quickly thought, will I meet him, what do I say…think of something witty. He approached closer. I realized I was going to actually be able to shake his hand and say something to him, something great. Well as you can imagine meeting a famous mentor, when he got to me, my mind went blank, most likely a crazy stare came over me and I shook his hand. To be honest I don’t even remember the word that came out of my mouth. They were probably incoherent. But if they mad sense, it probably would have been “Steve, you’re the most innovative thinker of our day. I love what you do at Apple.”
 
One fraction of time for Steve has impacted me for a lifetime. 
 
 
 

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