Mac Potpourri

(image above as seen in story “A Lesser Known Visit By Dilbert to the Apple Campus at 1 Infinite Loop” which can be found in the Archived Content section of this column)

Welcome to “Mac Potpourri” on MacPrices, a weekly column — generally published 4x a month (not necessarily on a regular basis) — ) which features an assortment of stories, some original and some inspired from other sources on the web, all revolving around Apple, Inc., the company whose products are price tracked daily on this website.

(Photo: Lifetouch)

About the Author

MacPrices writer, Joe Leo, joined the team in 2018 and has been writing stories in this column on a weekly basis each month bringing you news and features to commentaries and editorials on the world of Apple. A long time resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Leo was a former educator and spent close to two decades teaching technology and journalism in the Catholic elementary school setting for the Diocese of Oakland (located in Northern California).

Leo is not a complete stranger to MacPrices as he previously served as a columnist for its long defunct (and since merged) sister site, PowerBook Central, where he wrote the column “The Press Box” (see archives below) from 2006 to 2009, a position that also would launch his career as a professional freelance journalist. From 2008 to 2012, he was a correspondent for Bay Area News Group where he wrote community-oriented stories covering the San Francisco East Bay cities of Alameda and Oakland for the weekly newspapers, the Alameda Journal and The Montclarion, respectively (past articles can be read via its parent publication, the East Bay Times, the daily newspaper in the region). More recently, prior to joining the team here, he had a short stint from 2018 to 2019 as a writer for the website, Low End Mac, where he wrote stories for the column “Leo And Mac” (a play on words for the site’s name).

Today, in addition to being a writer for MacPrices, Leo also is a contributor to the magazine, iPhone Life, a quarterly publication which can be found on most major newsstands in print or can be accessed digitally (check out his blog on their website).

Latest Articles in this Column

Apple’s Implementation Of COVID-19 Exposure Notifications Into iOS Has iPhone Users Comparing It To ‘1984’

FEATURE: 09.18.20 - The latest effort by Apple to embed exposure notifications for contact tracing right into its mobile operating system has some iPhone users weary of being exposed to something other than the coronavirus (COVID-19): Big Brother. Amid a global pandemic and the battle to mitigate its spread, the ...
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Apple Creates New Retail Experience With Floating Sphere-Like Store That Sits Directly On Water

NEWS: 09.10.20 - The newest Apple retail store in the world is opening today on the waters of a bay in the central business district of an island city state in Southeast Asia. Just when the people of Singapore thought it was safe to go back into the water, a ...
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What You Should ‘Watch’ Out For At The Special Apple Event On September 15

NEWS: 09.08.20 - Apple today announced that it will be holding a special event next Tuesday, September 15 from its headquarters in Cupertino, California which will be broadcast live on the web. The special Apple Event — labeled as "Time Flies" by the Cupertino company and printed up on environmentally-friendly, ...
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Largest Private Collection Of Apple Artifacts In The World Stolen According To Posting On Museum’s Website

NEWS: 09.06.20 - The Apple Museum is closed, however, not due to the global pandemic surrounding the novel coronavirus (which has caused many museums around the world to shutter due to social distancing requirements) but a fate far worse: theft of the museum's artifacts. The Apple Museum, located in Prague ...
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Recalling When I Met Apple Co-Founder, Steve Wozniak, On Heels Of Woz’s 70th Birthday Celebration

FEATURE: 08.31.20 - August marked another journey around the Sun for Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, who turned 70 years old earlier this month. The big bash was — or should it be, Woz (pun intended), his nickname? — filled with stars, not the ones that light up the night sky, ...
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Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Net Worth Eclipses $1 Billion As Company’s Market Value Soars To $2 Trillion

NEWS: 08.26.20 - Apple CEO Tim Cook has finally joined the ranks of the billionaire's club. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the chief executive officer of Apple, Inc. became — after nearly a decade at the helm of the company — a billionaire with an estimated net worth that ...
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iPhone Owners Seeing Green Find Fix In New iOS Software Update Issued By Apple

NEWS: 08.21.20 - Apple smartphone users who have been reporting a greenish hue on their iPhone screens now have a solution care of a new software update issued for iOS. Last Wednesday, Apple released iOS 13.6.1 to address, among other issues, a specific bug that caused some iPhones — mainly ...
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Apple Offers Free AirPods For Back To School, Touts Wearable As Tool To Enhance Learning

FEATURE: 08.12.20 - If you're a student headed for, or back to, college and are in need of new tech to help you with your studies, Apple has some sound advice on one of its products that can provide assistance: AirPods. When you think of technology tools that can help ...
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Apple’s Phil Schiller Steps Down As SVP OF Worldwide Marketing, Takes New Position As ‘Apple Fellow’

NEWS: 08.05.20 - Former Apple senior Vice President of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, is stepping down from his long time role at the company in order to focus on spending more time with family and friends. The announcement — which has Schiller advancing to the new position of "Apple Fellow" ...
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People Profiles: Apple Accessibility Evangelist Reflects On Company’s Assistive Technologies For Users With Disabilities

FEATURE: 07.31.20 - In honor of the 30-year anniversary this month of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) being signed into law, Apple sat down for an interview with its own technical evangelist of accessibility who shared their thoughts on how the assistive technologies found in the Cupertino, California-based company's ...
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Apple CEO Tim Cook To Appear Before House Anti-Trust Subcommittee To Defend Company’s Business Practices

NEWS: 07.29.20 - Apple CEO Tim Cook will be appearing before members of Congress today to defend the Cupertino, California-based company's business practices in a hearing which will be held in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. In advance of today's hearing, on Tuesday, the technology news site TechCrunch ...
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How Steve Jobs’s ‘Digital Love Child,’ The Power Mac G4 Cube, Epically (and miserably) Failed

FEATURE: 07.27.20 - This month and year marks two decades since the world was introduced to the Power Mac G4 Cube and for its 20th anniversary, Wired magazine took a look at how the "coolest computer ever" to come from within the walls of Apple's former headquarters at 1 ...
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Apple Unveils Planet-Size Plan For Carbon Neutrality In Order To Be Lighter On Environment

NEWS: 07.24.20 - Apple, Inc. has a planet-size plan to reduce its carbon footprint in order to be lighter on the environment. Earlier this week, the Cupertino, California-based company unveiled its intent to become 100% carbon neutral — a goal it plans to accomplish by the year 2030 — and ...
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Beware Of New ‘ThiefQuest’ Malware Attack Which Does Double Duty To Harm Your Mac

NEWS: 07.17.20 - A new malware attack on the Mac disguised as a Google software update may be (without one's knowledge) aiding and abetting a virtual thief in a quest for sensitive data which allows it to steal personal information off of an Apple desktop or notebook computer and the ...
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Missing Out On The Very First iPhone (And… Almost Becoming A Samsung Smartphone User)

FEATURE: 06.29.20 - Steve Jobs famously said that every once in awhile, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything, and, of the many groundbreaking Apple products that have been spewed out by the Cupertino, California-based company, ones of which some people are lucky enough to have witnessed with their ...
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Switch To ARM-Based Processors Right Time For Apple To Rebrand Its iMac As The ‘Mac’

EDITORIAL: 06.22.20 - With Apple expected to announce a move to its own chips at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year, the switch from Intel to ARM-based processors is the right time to change, finally, the name of its all-in-one desktop computer from iMac to: the "Mac." ...
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iPhone Users May Receive Money From Settlement In ‘Batterygate’ Lawsuit Against Apple, But, How Much?

NEWS: 06.08.20 - iPhone users who previously experienced performance throttling issues with their older devices might be receiving a check in the mail courtesy of Apple if a multi-million dollar settlement, a deal struck by the company to avoid facing litigation in a class action lawsuit over the "batterygate" controversy, ...
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Apple CEO Reacts To Nationwide Protests Over Racial Injustice Amid Looting In Company’s Stores

NEWS: 06.03.20 - With the recent death of a black man in the custody of a white police officer igniting outrage among Americans from all walks of life, which, as a result, sparked protests and civil unrest over the weekend in cities across the country, Apple was quick to react ...
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Apple Retail Chief Announces Staggered Reopening Of Stores Previously Closed As Coronavirus Lockdowns Lift Globally

NEWS: 05.20.20 - In the midst of a global pandemic, after its retail outlets were shuttered temporarily in mid-March as a mitigation measure enacted by Apple during the peak of the spread of COVID-19 (also known as the novel coronavirus), the Cupertino, California-based company has started to slowly phase in ...
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How iPad Usage In TeleHealth Has Been A Game Changer In Care Of COVID-19 Patients

FEATURE: 05.05.20 - The use of tablet computers in modern medicine is a useful technological tool that aids doctors and nurses with remote interaction between themselves and their patients but one specific device, Apple's iPad, is showing how telehealth is changing the game in how those infected with COVID-19 are ...
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Upgrade Conundrum Over An iPhone SE (Second Generation) Now Versus an ‘iPhone 12 mini’ Later

COMMENTARY: 04.30.20 - The latest Apple smartphone to hit the streets (so to speak) is finally here after a period of delay and the new iPhone SE (second generation), a sequel of sorts to the original, will be the upgrade path forward that this writer plans on taking in order ...
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Slew Of Upcoming Apple Products Currently In Development With Release Slated For Sometime In 2020

NEWS: 04.20.20- Apple has released three new products to-date in 2020 and according to various reports across the web, a number of other hardware, devices, and accessories in the works by the Cupertino, California-based company are still in store scheduled for release between now and the end of the year ...
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Apple, Google Create Alliance To Fight Coronavirus Via Bluetooth-based Contact Tracing Technology WithIn iOS And Android Platforms

NEWS: 04.13.20- In a joint statement issued last Friday, rival tech companies Apple and Google announced a partnership in the spirit of collaboration to enable the use of Bluetooth-based contact tracing technology, with user privacy and security central to the design, in order to help governments and health agencies reduce ...
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Low Cost Apple Smartphone iPhone SE (2020) Due Out ‘Very Soon’ With Plus Model To Follow

NEWS: 04.06.20- Exclusive details have emerged in regard to Apple's new low cost entry level smartphone, from color and storage options to a leak within the company on the product's planned release date, including information on what the device will be called. The news comes from the website, 9to5Mac, which ...
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Retro Reading: PowerBook Central Coverage of iPad Product Launch At Flagship Apple Store In San Francisco

FEATURE: 04.03.20- Welcome to another edition of "Retro Reading," a series here in my column, "Mac Potpourri," where we dig deep into the archives for content written on today's date several years ago from my days writing for PowerBook Central — a website established in 1997 and retired in 2015, ...
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Siri, Apple’s AI-Powered Virtual Assistant, Now Equipped To Provide Tool For Self Diagnosis Of Coronavirus

FEATURE: 04.01.20- Apple's virtual assistant powered by AI (artificial intelligence), Siri, can answer almost any question you throw at it, from asking for today's weather forecast to where the nearest Starbucks is located, but, a very important and crucial query you may not have thought to ask, a topic it ...
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Apple Sources Confirm Spring Media Event Canceled Due To Social Distancing Measures Issued To CURB COVID-19

NEWES: 03.31.20- A previously planned Apple media event scheduled to take place sometime this Spring that was rumored and widely expected to be held today, March 31, were confirmed by anonymous sources within the company who explained that, aside from manufacturing delays of new products that were to be announced, ...
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Closures Of Apple Retail Stores Worldwide Extended Indefinitely To Protect Employees And Customers From Coronavirus

NEWS: 03.27.20- Apple retail stores in the United States and countries outside of greater China that had been closed temporarily from March 14 through today, March 27, as a precautionary measure enacted by the Cupertino, California-based company in order to protect its employees and customers worldwide amid the global pandemic ...
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What If An iPhone And iOS App To Track COVID-19 Could Mitigate The Virus’s Spread?

FEATURE: 03.23.20- With COVID-19 (a.k.a., the novel coronavirus) since having been declared a global pandemic and cases on the rise, spreading like a wildfire in countries including the United States, what if we could slow down the spread of infection rates with just a simple tracking app in iOS and ...
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Will Apple’s Newer Budget Friendly iPhone SE Successor Be Called An iPhone SE 2 Or An iPhone 9?

COMMENTARY: 03.20.20- Spring has finally sprung and the newer budget friendly model of the iPhone also should be springing out any day now if previously published rumors are to be believed, however, conflicting reports have yet to agree on what Apple will be calling this new smartphone: whether it will ...
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Apple Temporarily Shutters All U.S. Retail Stores In Company Response To Coronavirus Pandemic

NEWS: 03.18.20- In response to the global pandemic surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19), amid many preventative measures enacted in cities and states across the U.S. designed to curb the further spread of the virus nationally, Apple temporarily has closed and ceased day to day business in all of its retail stores ...
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Rumor Of New 14-inch MacBook Pro From Apple Evokes Memories Of 20-Year Old Predecessor ‘Pismo’ PowerBook

COMMENTARY: 03.16.20- News of a rumored upcoming piece of Apple hardware in the company's product pipeline, a new 14-inch MacBook Pro model with a 14.1" mini-LED display, has called to mind personal memories of owning its previous incarnation, the 2000 version of the PowerBook line featuring G3 processors (this writer's ...
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Best & Safest Methods For Cleaning vs. Disinfecting An iPhone Amidst Fears Of Coronavirus Outbreak

FEATURE: 03.11.20- With current events contributing to widespread fears of an outbreak attributed to possibly catching the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, rampant on everyone's minds domestically and across the globe (one country's medical chief even going so far as to issue a warning to its citizens that over ...
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‘Mac Potpourri’ Column Reaches Milestone With 100 Stories Published-To-Date

FEATURE: 03.09.20- A major milestone has been reached in the "Mac Potpourri" column here on MacPrices and over the course of its existence on the worldwide web (just under two years total) with 100 articles written-to-date — not counting this, number 101 — and in commemoration, we take a look ...
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Do Slew Of New Product SKUs Within Target Suggest Forthcoming Announcements During Apple March Event?

NEWS: 03.02.20- A handful of new Target product SKUs (stock keeping units) recently found in the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based big box retailer's internal inventory system has raised some eyebrows among employees who noticed, in turn, fanning the winds of the Apple rumor mill circuit once word got out about the discovery, ...
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Orcam MyEye 2 Is Inspiration Apple Needs To Make Its AR Smart Glasses Accessible For Visually Impaired

EDITORIAL: 02.28.20- It's no secret that Apple is planning to further expand into the wearables segment, working quietly behind the scenes to create its own smart glasses — as rumors have suggested in a report from Macworld magazine — which will feature, among other things, augmented reality (AR), however, such ...
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A Look Back At The Top 5 Most Read Stories Of 2019 In The ‘Mac Potpourri’ Column

FEATURE: 02.21.20 The best of the best are now history and we're not talking about Super Bowl LIV from earlier this month but rather, coverage from the past year (its second and first full one at that) of the "Mac Potpourri" column where today we share and take a look ...
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Pair Of Apple Innovations Featured On Wired Magazine’s List Of 10 Products Defining Past Decade

FEATURE: 01.27.20- Apple spewed out a great number of innovations under the watch of its former CEO, Steve Jobs, most of it created during the first ten years of the 21st century alone such as the iPod and the iPhone but two products to follow which came towards the end ...
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Archived Content

• The “Mac Potpourri” Archives | 2018 to 2019

• “The Press Box” Archives from PowerBook Central | 2006 to 2009

Contact Information

To comment on any stories you’ve read here, visit Joe Leo on Facebook where you can find most stories recently published in this column on his personal page. To drop him a note, email him at: j.leo@macprices.net

(Disclaimer: comments and emails may be shared for publication in either a Reader Reactions article or in the “Mac Potpourri” Mailbag).

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