Mac Potpourri by Joe Leo

About the Author

MacPrices writer Joe Leo joined the team in May 2018 and has been writing news, features, reviews, commentaries, and editorials in his “Mac Potpourri” column all of which primarily revolve around Apple and its products, the items that are price tracked daily on this website. Leo is not entirely a stranger to MacPrices having written for its sister site PowerBook Central (since merged with MacPrices) from 2006 to 2009 which was the beginning of his career as a professional freelance journalist. A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, he was a former educator and spent close to two decades teaching technology and journalism in the elementary school setting. Today, in addition to MacPrices, Leo also rites for the website Low End Mac and for iPhone Life magazine.

(Photo: © Lifetouch National School Studios)

Contact Info:

To contact Joe Leo, email him at: j.leo@macprices.net


Latest Articles in this Column:

Apple, Yet Again, Is Missing An Ultraportable Mac In Its Notebook Computer Lineup

EDITORIAL: 07.19.19 Prior to the decision made by Apple earlier this month to retire the thin and light MacBook model with a 12-inch retina display, the Cupertino, California-based company offered, as it sporadically has done in the past, an ultraportable Mac model and in its wake has left a huge ...
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A Lesson Apple Can Learn From The Supervillain In Marvel Studios’ Film ‘Avengers: Endgame’

COMMENTARY: 07.12.19- As far as innovation is concerned, Apple was always the industry leader at the forefront for many decades, however, the one key aspect that has driven the company to its core seems to be the most critical factor which the tech giant has been devoid of in recent ...
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Need Apple Product Service Or Repair But No Genius Bar Nearby? the Geek Squad Can Provide Assistance

FEATURE: 07.05.19- There's nothing like the peace of mind and convenience of purchasing an Apple product from any one of its 271 retail locations across the U.S. and if assistance is needed with the product, to be able to return to that Apple Store and simply make an appointment or ...
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New Accessibility Features Coming To MacOS Catalina, iOS 13, & iPadOS Previewed At WWDC ’19

FEATURE: 06.30.19- While the everyday user of Apple products will have some drool worthy features to look forward to such as dark mode in iOS 13 or Sidecar in MacOS Catalina version 10.15 (which lets one use an iPad as an external display), the disabled community was certainly not forgotten ...
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The Strategy Behind Why Apple Has Kept The iPod touch In Its Product Lineup

FEATURE: 06.24.19- Apple killed off all of its iPod models except for the iPod touch being the sole holdover and it finally was updated after four years late last month in May with a new seventh generation version but, with its popularity having since waned with the iPhone performing the ...
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Like To Buy And Keep Your Music? Fret Not As The iTunes Store Isn’t Going Anywhere

FEATURE: 06.10.19- If you're the type of person that still prefers to purchase your music and wants to keep a collection of all of those downloaded digital sons for playback on your iPod (whichever model you might have), Mac, or other device, what are you to do now that Apple ...
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Apple MP3 Music Player Lives On With Release Of New iPod touch

FEATURE: 06.07.19- Just when you thought it was safe to go back in to the water, so to speak, last Tuesday Apple quietly released a new seventh generation model of the iPod touch, extending the life of its iconic MP3 music player and showing that the iPod is not dead ...
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Traveling Abroad? Prepare For Possible Search & Seizure Of Your Apple Devices Upon Returning Stateside

FEATURE: 05.27.19- Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of the Summer vacation season and if you're planning to travel internationally for either business or pleasure with your Apple smartphone, tablet, or notebook computer in tow, you might want to be prepared for possible search and seizure of your devices at ...
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How Much Is ‘Solace’ Of Mind Worth When Buying A Protective Case For An iPhone?

COMMENTARY: 05.22.19- Smartphone cases give us peace of mind by providing ample protection for such a fragile gadget and the sky's the limit as far as choices go with a plethora of brands, styles, colors, and, of course, price points but how much would you spend on one piece of ...
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Celebrating The One Year Anniversary Of The Rise Of The ‘Mac Potpourri’ Column

COMMENTARY: 05.14.19- Today marks the one year anniversary of the "Mac Potpourri" column here on MacPrices. Now, it didn't start right off the bat being called "Mac Potpourri": that came a few months later. Originally, it was "The Press Box" which was the name of my column from the days ...
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Tim Cook Wants People To View Apple Today As A Consumer Company

NEWS: 05.10.19- Apple, Inc. has been referred to as a tech company for most of the 21st century as a maker of not just computer hardware and software but other gadgets from MP3 players to smartphones and tablets, however, things may be changing if certain words recently uttered by its ...
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Apple, Inc. Ranks No. 16 In List Of ‘America’s Best Employers’ For 2019

NEWS: 04.30.19- Apple, Inc. has placed in the top 25 of the best employers in the nation coming in at number 16 out of a list of 500 total from a report recently released by Forbes magazine. The list of "America's Best Employers 2019" — separated into two types: large ...
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People Profiles: Saving The Planet In Turn Through Operation To Salvage Unwanted Macs

FEATURE: 04.22.19- Earth Day falls on this day once a year but for one environmentally conscious user of older Apple computers, saving the planet is always on the back of their mind, the perfect example being when they embarked on a salvage operation to rescue an extensive collection of unwanted ...
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Key Features To Expect From Forthcoming Release Of iOS 13

NEWS: 04.17.19- Details regarding a handful of key features from the forthcoming release of iOS 13, the next major version of the world's most advanced mobile operating system designed in California by Apple, Inc, have been leaked and the "Mac Potpourri" column has the lowdown on all of the new ...
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iPhone SE Successor Possibly To Come In Form Of New 4.8-inch ‘XE’ Model

NEWS: 04.15.19- Current owners of the iPhone SE who are fans of the smaller 4-inch form factor in Apple's smartphone lineup may finally get their wish for a newer model to succeed the miniature device among the Cupertino, California-based tech giant's assortment of larger sized phablets if a newly published ...
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iFixIt Teardowns Give Look At Repairability Of Next Generation iPad Air, iPad mini, & AirPods

FEATURE: 04.10.19- iFixIt is at it again with its exclusive teardowns of newly released products in order to teach owners how to perform their own repairs, or whether repairs can be even performed at all, and this time around it has taken apart three of the four products Apple announced ...
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Image Gallery From PowerBook Central Coverage Of April 2010 iPad Product Launch

FEATURE: 04.03.19- In advance of the 10th anniversary next year of the iPad, released on this very day almost a decade ago back in 2010, we get a glimpse of hitherto unpublished photographs taken during coverage of the product launch by this writer for PowerBook Central, the sister site of ...
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Apple-themed Gag Children’s T-Shirts Discovered For Sale At National Pharmacy Chain

FEATURE: 04.01.19- Today on this April Fools Day, for your amusement we take a look at a couple of gag children's t-shirts discovered for sale at a leading national retail pharmacy chain which parody two of the Cupertino, California-based tech company's products and appropriately so since this day is also ...
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Is It Recovery Mode Time For Apple And Its Leadership Due To Lack Of Innovation?

COMMENTARY: 03.29.19- Apple, Inc. has become complacent over the past decade or so and for a number of years now has lacked the innovation that the Cupertino, California-based tech giant is known and famous for which elicits the question of whether it is time for the company to have a ...
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A Look Back At Every New Product Apple Announced Last Week

FEATURE: 03.25.19- In case you were hibernating all Winter long and only woke up after the first day of Spring missing last week's announcements of new products by Apple, worry not as we'll take a look back at everything including features, specs, and of course, cost. Apple, which is holding ...
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Learn Key Vocabulary Before Upgrading A Mac With A New SSD

FEATURE: 03.20.19- It's the first day of Spring and in addition to sprucing things up around one's living quarters, Mac users may be thinking about doing the same with their computers but whether you're upgrading the storage capacity of a solid state drive (SSD) in a newer machine or replacing ...
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Breathe New Life Into Your Older iPhone With An iFixIt Battery Fix Kit

FEATURE: 03.17.19- iPhone owners wanting to replace the battery on their smartphone who missed last year's special discounted $29 battery replacement program from Apple — which was the Cupertino, California-based tech giant's response to the now infamous "throttlegate" fiasco where performance of older iPhone models was slowed down to preserve ...
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10 Tips & Tricks You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Google Search

FEATURE: 03.04.19- Using Google as the default search engine for queries on the web has become a ubiquitous practice in the 21st century but whether you use Safari from Apple as your preferred internet browser or competing ones, there's a lot more that you can do beyond simply trying to ...
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Forget About A Foldable iPhone, How About An iPad That Folds Instead?

COMMENTARY: 03.01.19- With Samsung recently unveiling its smartphone of the future, the Galaxy Fold, instead of Apple following suit and releasing a foldable iPhone of its own, what if it focused on creating an iPad that folds? Last week, I wrote an editorial in this column on two ways that ...
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Think You’ve Got 5G On Your iPhone? Not So Fast!

FEATURE: 02.25.19- The next generation of mobile networks, 5G, is almost upon us but a handful of iPhone owners may think that they already have the new technology on their smartphones and are enjoying blazing fast internet speeds that their LTE counterparts don't yet have but the fact of the ...
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Facebook “Like” Button Now Active On Articles In The ‘Mac Potpourri’ Column

FEATURE: 02.23.19- There's a new way to interact and get social after reading an article here in the "Mac Potpourri" column and all it takes is the click of a mouse on your Mac or the tap of your screen on your iPhone or iPad. **AD: Are you in the ...
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Apple Needs To Get Into The Fold And See Where The Galaxy Of Computing Is Heading

EDITORIAL: 02.22.19- Apple, Inc. has long been rumored to be putting into its pipeline of possible products a touchscreen enabled computer with an operating system to boot that may (or may not) be in unified form, melding the best of MacOS and iOS, and the unveiling of a new foldable ...
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Could These Be The Products That Apple Will Be Releasing In 2019?

NEWS: 02.20.19- Apple, Inc. is widely expected to be releasing a number of new products in the pipeline this year but just what exactly will those items be and who is the source of all of that information? The MacRumors website reported on Monday the news which came from a ...
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New Emoji Update Version 12.0 Another Example of Commitment To Accessibility By Apple

COMMENTARY: 02.15.19- A slew of 15 new emojis reflecting people with disabilities is forthcoming in the version 12.0 update for smartphone devices including the iPhone but whose idea was it in the first place to submit those particular minuscule digital icons for inclusion as part of our way of expressing ...
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People Profiles: This Apple Fan Owns A Collection Of Every iPod Generation Ever Released

FEATURE: 02.14.19- Apple fans love almost everything that the Cupertino, California-based tech company doles out to the masses and one particular fellow who has amassed a complete personal collection of every generation of the iPod ever releatsed is a great example of that affinity. About the Series

New Emojis Reflecting People With Disabilities Coming Later This Year In Update For Smartphones

NEWS: 02.08.19- The Unicode Consortium announced in a blog post on Tuesday 59 new emojis that will be forthcoming in its next release, version 12.0, and a number of those will be themed to reflect people with disabilities which exemplifies the growing trend of making the small digital icons used ...
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Apple, Inc. Earns $19.97B Profit In Its Second Largest Quarter Ever

NEWS: 02.04.19- In an earnings call last Tuesday, on January 29, Apple, Inc. reported its financial results for fiscal Q1 2019 and reported that it earned a profit of $19.97 billion out of a revenue of $84.3 billion during the holiday Q4 2018 which made it, according to Macworld magazine, ...
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Will The Macworld Conference & Expo, Now Five Years ‘On Hiatus,’ Ever Return?

COMMENTARY: 02.01.19- The popular Macworld Conference & Expo formerly held annually in San Francisco met its unfortunate demise a few years following the exit of its main exhibitor, Apple, Inc., which left the show in 2009 and with dwindling attendance shortly thereafter at subsequent events, IDG World Expo — sponsor ...
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A Look Back At The Top 5 Most Read Stories Of 2018 In The ‘Mac Potpourri’ Column

FEATURE: 01.31.18 With 2019 now a month old, we would be remiss to not reminisce about the year that was — the very first year of the "Mac Potpourri" column — so today we look back at the past year of coverage and share the most read stories of this ...
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Apple To Issue iOS And MacOS Software Updates To Fix Exploit In FaceTime Group Call Feature

NEWS: 01.30.19- "Can you hear me now?", the famous tagline once used by Verizon Wireless, is a question not being asked by unsuspecting iPhone users with a newly discovered exploit in the smartphone's software that allows another user who initiates a FaceTime group call — by including their own phone ...
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People Profiles: First Responder Risks Life to Rescue Complete Stranger’s iPhone

FEATURE: 01.29.19- Would you go through extreme lengths to retrieve your iPhone if while taking pictures on vacation you accidentally dropped it down a steep embankment, what with its invaluable and irreplaceable data, from your contacts to photos stored on the device, that you would risk life and limb to ...
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Is Apple Possibly Gauging Customer Preference For An Even Cheaper iPhone Model?

NEWS: 01.28.19- Amid slumping sales of the iPhone and its premium price tier seemingly a failed marketing move on the tech company's part, could Apple possibly be testing out the waters to measure customers' preference for an even lower cost handset versus the midrange priced iPhone XR, it's budget-friendly option ...
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Apple CEO Tim Cook Takes To Twitter To Commemorate 3.5 Decades Of The Mac

NEWS: 01.25.19- During the early morning hours on Thursday, in commemoration of the three and a half decades of the Mac (originally the Macintosh), Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter and shared his thoughts on the anniversary of the iconic computer — unveiled back on January 24, 1984 by ...
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Every Mac User’s Favorite Apple, The Macintosh, Celebrates Its 35th Anniversary

COMMENTARY: 01.24.19- Last year in October 2018 (coincidentally on the day after the seventh anniversary of the passing of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs), CBS This Morning: Saturday did a the news story about a highway accident in Silicon Valley involving a secured transport of secret Apple products ...
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Apple iMessage May Soon Play Nicely With Android Devices

NEWS: 01.23.19- iMessage, the proprietary messaging service from Apple (as with most, but not all, of its technologies), is a closed ecosystem that is only compatible with iOS devices and the Mac but it soon could be compatible with Android devices if the Cupertino, California-based tech giant decides to adopt ...
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Apple 4-inch Smartphone iPhone SE Makes A Return to Its Online Store

NEWS: 01.21.19- After being absent from the Apple Store online for the past four months, the iPhone SE is back on sale, now in the Clearance Products section, for a limited time and quantities are almost certainly guaranteed to be scarce as remaining inventory of the device dwindles, swept up ...
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Secured Transport Of Secret Apple Products Involved In Accident On Silicon Valley Highway

NEWS: 01.11.18- An accident on a California highway Wednesday morning that involved a commercial vehicle transporting secured items belonging to Apple, Inc., which required the contents to be driven and escorted by two armed security guards, resulted in one fatality while another was seriously injured and in the process, apparently ...
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Apple Expands Into The Smart Home Arena With Its HomeKit At CES 2019

NEWS: 01.09.19- Apple, Inc. was found at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2019, touting its HomeKit software platform which allows third party smart home devices made by partner vendors to be controlled on iOS devices and Mac computers using the Home app or Siri, its A.I.-powered digital virtual assistant ...
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Retro Reading: PowerBook Central Live Coverage of Macworld Expo 2009

FEATURE: 01.06.19- 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 PowerBook Central — where I served as one of its three columnists from 2006-09 — a ...
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Archived Content:

• The “Mac Potpourri” Archives | 2018

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

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