Week in Review – January 22, 2016

It’s been a busy week for the clan from Cupertino so here’s a brief summary of the major releases.

OS X El Capitan 10.11.3

On Tuesday, Apple released OS X El Capitan 10.11.3. This is the third update to the current version of OS X since it was first released in late September. According to Apple, “[t]he OS X El Capitan 10.11.3 update improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.”, and more specifically, “[f]ixes an issue that may prevent some Mac computers from waking from sleep when connected to certain 4K displays.”

iOS 9.2.1

Also released on Tuesday was iOS 9.2.1, which is the first maintenance release since iOS 9.2 was released in mid-December. Like its desktop counterpart, this release is also focused on stability and security with the most notable fix being an issue that affected app installation for enterprise customers.

Both OS X El Capitan 10.11.3 and iOS 9.2.1 are recommended for all users and are available through their respective App Stores.

Music Memo

On Wednesday, Apple released a new app for the iPhone, called Music Memos. As Apple describes it, it’s an app to capture your song ideas, whenever inspiration strikes. The app is simple in its design and looks very similar to the Voice Memo app that is already on your phone. The idea behind Music Memos is to allow you to high quality, record uncompressed un-compressed audio, using the built in microphone of your iPhone. It is optimized for acoustic guitar and piano but will work with other instruments. Once the tracks are recorded, Music Memos analyzes them and lets you add virtual drums and bass to the recorded sound.

Music Memos lets you move your recording to GarageBand on your iOS device or into GarageBand on your Mac so you can continue to create your next masterpiece.

Music Memo is a free app available now in the App Store worldwide.

Apple Maps

On Thursday, Apple released their latest update to Apple Maps. Among the new features are, adding new Flyover locations including, Aomori, Japan; Bruges, Belgium; Lake Powell, Utah; and Limoges, France as well as traffic information for Hong Kong and Mexico, bringing the total number of countries with traffic data available to 29.

So as not to think the Apple is ignoring its home country, Los Angeles has been added as a location with transit directions available. They join the list of U.S. cities that includes Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Francisco, California; and; Washington, DC.

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APPLE TECH TALKER