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What's good?
Brian Tong here, and welcome to theapplebyte for all the good and bad inside the world of Apple.
There's a new iMac, kind of, and more iOS device rumors.
So let's get to it.
And Apple released a new iMac this week, but it's not a speed refresh for the entire line, like we're expecting.
Instead it's an entry-level 21.5 inch iMac with a starting price of $1099.
The price sounds nice and you have the option to get a fusion drive on this model, but tear downs show there's no expandable memory option because it's soldered onto the motherboard.
No bueno.
Now Geekbench speed benchmark tests showed that it performs pretty much the same in it's single core test, but it was significantly worse in it's multicore test with a score of 5435.
The previous 21 inch iMac hit a score of 9204.
Now maybe it's because they're using an ultra low voltage 1.4 gigahertz dual core i5 processor the same one used in a Macbook Air.
So even if you're saving $200, you're not getting desktop level performance.
You're getting a 21.5 inch Macbook Air.
I'm sorry Apple biters.
I love the iMac line, but do not do this.
Alright, in phone news, Amazon launched their first smartphone called the Fire Phone with it's 3D like perspective interface that looks cool and its ability to add almost anything you see or hear to your Amazon card.
Now I don't expect this phone to be huge just yet, but keep your eyes on what they're doing because they have the second best media ecosystem behind Apple.
And T-Mobile is offering a new plan in partnership with the big A that will allow you to test run an iPhone 5S or the latest future phone on their carrier for seven days at no cost with unlimited data use in an attempt to win you over if you like their covered service.
It's the first of its kind.
They're calling it 7NightStand, and they're also starting a new plan where any music you stream from the top services like Pandora, IHeartRadio, and even iTunes Radio will not count against your data cap at all.
Now I never thought of it before, but if they get the iPhone 6, I'm gonna take them up on this offer and see how it works for me in San Francisco.
Apple has seeded the latest updates for OSX Yosemite and the second iOS 8 beta alongside the new Apple TV OS beta as well.
Apple still hasn't made OSX's Dark Mode as an available setting yet, but you get a glimpse of it here thanks to Hamza Sood with this terminal command.
It's not really even fully complete yet, so just look at these images instead or do this at your own risk.
And, yes, there's also a terminal command to undo this.
Now, the latest AppleTV also looks to get some iOS 8 features with iCloud Family Sharing.
It's not functional yet, but we can expect users will be able to log in with a single account and access music, movies, and photos from other devices on the same family sharing account.
It also looks like the Apple TV will be able to integrate with Apple's Handoff feature on some level.
After users running the latest betas received a notification like this appearing on their map.
Now there are no direct references, but one possibility is that if you're watching iTunes content, instead of throwing to your Apple TV via airplay when you come home, it would automatically be synced from that point from the cloud for you to continue watching your movie.
Again, it's all speculation and we'll just have to see how this evolves.
In iOS device rumors, not many new rumor details but a couple interesting nuggets from the economic daily news that may or may not be true.
Like others, they believe the iWatch will be introduced at the end of Q3 2014, and according to them, the iWatch is expected to use an OLED display, but prototypes are still having power issues.
They also claim the rumored 4.7 inch iPhone 6 will use Corning's Gorilla Glass for the display, while the larger 5.5 inch iPhone will support the sapphire crystal screen, but it's having low yields due to production issues.
But overall, rumours are still split over if this sapphire display will be for all new iPhone models or just the large screen one.
And details inside the latest X-Code and iOS8 revealed the next-gen iPhone could include a new sensor, a barometer.
Now, a barometer sensor is commonly used for measuring altitude and can be found in the Galaxy Nexus, but it could be more important for more active lifestyle users like hikers, bike riders, or aspiring mile high club members who want accurate altitude information.
Now barometers can also measure temperatures and other weather information, but having a dedicated chip would provide instant data and could also aid their compass application they're working on.
Alright, guys, that's gonna do it for this week's show.
Send us your email to theapplebyte@cnet.com or tweet me @briantong.
Thanks so much for watching, and we'll catch you guys next time for another bite of the Apple.
