• Cubasis 3 Now Available for iPad and iPhone (yamaha)
  
  
• Mac Catalyst Adds iPad Apps to Catalina (sponsor blog)
  
  
• Microsoft Office for Mac (365/2019) version 16.33 (20011301)
  - See January 14th, 2020 release notes. (Includes security fixes for Excel.)
  
  
• OWC Innovation, Technology & Performance Solutions at NAMM Show (sponsor blog)
  - Info on Products, Guests and Daily Giveaways at NAMM Booth #11902.
  
  
• Introducing Reality Converter (apple)
  - The new Reality Converter app makes it easy to convert, view, and customize USDZ 3D objects on Mac. (beta download available for devs)
  
  
• Phishing for Apples, Bobbing for Links (krebs)
  
  
• Water and MacBooks Don't Mix: A Cautionary Tale (sponsor blog)
  
  
• Apple rings in new era of Services following landmark year (press release)
  
  
• OWC Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock Review (storagereview)
  
  
• Total War: WARHAMMER II The Shadow & The Blade DLC for macOS (feral interactive)
  
  
• Apple Sets Deal with U.K. Chipmaker It Sidelined in 2017 (bloomberg)
  
  
• Tomb Raider trilogy bundle now on the Mac App Store (feral interactive)

• macOS Catalina 10.15.3 beta 2 (19D62e)
• iOS 13.3.1 beta 2 (17D5044a)
• iPadOS 13.3.1 beta 2 (17D5044a)
• tvOS 13.3.1 beta 2 (17K5792a)
• watchOS 6.1.2 beta 2 (17S5792a)

(Does the 10.15.3 beta fix eGPU problems seen with 10.15.2? Some used this tip.)
 

• Institutions that support health records on iPhone and iPod touch (rev Jan. 13th)
  
  
• How to use an external graphics processor with your Mac (rev Jan. 11th)
  
  
• How to reset the SMC of your Mac (revised Jan 8th)
  
  
• Apple web server notifications (security fixes) (revised Jan 7th)
  
  
• How to use Blackmagic eGPU with your Mac (rev Jan 7th)
  
  
• How to Install and replace memory in your 2019 Mac Pro (rev Jan 7th)
  (Owners have said the "smallest to largest" dimm note should be "largest to smallest".)
  
  
• How to add and manage TVs and speakers in the Home app
  
  
• How to manage your photo and video storage
  
  
• How to use external monitors with your Mac

"I've got a 2019 (New) Mac Pro and am considering returning it.

(2019) Mac Pro Specs:
• CPU: 3.2 GHz 16-Core Intel Xeon W
• RAM:192GB RAM
• GPU: AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo 32 GB
• SSD: Builtin 8TB
• OS: Catalina 10.15.2

(He later wrote he also had the Afterburner accelerator card.)

I expected it to reasonably faster than the iMac Pro I've been using.

iMac Pro Specs:
• CPU: 2.3Ghz 18-Core Intel Xeon W
• RAM: 128GB 2666 MHz DDR4
• GPU: Radeon Pro Vega 64 16GB
• SSD: Builtin 4TB
• OS: Catalina 10.15.2

On Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects, to name a few, Mac Pro does beat iMac Pro. But Final Cut Pro X, of all applications, the one Apple claims most optimized for the new Mac Pro, runs way slower on it than on iMac Pro. I'm dumbfounded.

iMac Pro renders multicam clips 2 to 3 times faster than Mac Pro. How could it be happening?

They both use Xeon processors, so the missing Quick Sync core shouldn't be an issue. Plus, they both use T2 chips that help dealing with h.264 decoding and stuff.

I even tried transcoding every clip in the project to ProRes formats just to be sure. Doesn't make a difference. Even some non-multicam clips, running buttery smooth on iMac Pro, stutter when played back on Mac Pro.
I've been testing exactly the same project on both machines.
Mac Pro is noticeably slower only on Final Cut Pro X.
FCPX is 10.4.8. (Current version)
I'm hoping it's software issues on FCPX's part which can be fixed in no time, otherwise I'll have to return the machine. Cinebench R20, Geenbench 5, and other known benchmark tools all report that the new Mac Pro is superior to my iMac Pro. FCPX is the only application that shows otherwise. What could be the cause?
(he later wrote)
Just to be sure, I did a clean installation of Catalina 10.15.2.
A fresh install of Final Cut Pro X runs just the same: painfully slow.
Yes, new install. No migration. Pro Codecs installed.
(and his reply questioning if the GPU was properly supporting Metal.)
The geekbench Metal scores are well over 85,000 per each card in duo module.

(And a later reply from a different 2019 Mac Pro owner.)

I've same impression! With the Mac Pro base system, I'm not able to play a simple HD timeline with 4K clips without drops!
The same project plays correctly with iMac 2019 (i5 8GB RAM, Radeon 575x 4GB)
This is a very big problem! Problems also with 4K FS7 files. With Mac Pro 2013 and Mac Pro 2019 it's impossible to work, with iMac 2019 files play perfectly!

• Addresses a bug in the storyboard canvas that could cause Xcode to crash.
• Additional bug fixes and stability improvements.

"Apple has determined that some Smart Battery Cases made for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR may experience charging issues. An affected Smart Battery Case may exhibit one or more of the following behaviors:

Battery case will not charge or charges intermittently when plugged into power

Battery case does not charge the iPhone or charges it intermittently

Affected units were manufactured between January 2019 and October 2019. This is not a safety issue and Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will replace eligible battery cases, free of charge...

Apple may restrict or limit repair to the original country or region of purchase.
This program doesn't extend the standard warranty coverage of the Smart Battery Case.
The program covers affected Smart Battery Case for 2 years after the first retail sale of the unit."

Firefox 72.0 Enhanced Tracking Protection now blocks fingerprinting scripts by default for all users, Picture-in-picture video is now also available in Firefox for Mac and Linux, plus security fixes.

Firefox ESR 68.4.0 includes security fixes.

(The other news listing has google blog post on a Chrome browser update.)
 

• Chrome 79.0.3945.130 stable channel update, includes 11 security fixes. (google)
  
  
• Freeware VM VirtualBox 6.1.2
  - See Change Log's list of bug fixes/improvements.
  (Previous 6.1 update included fix for VM crashes with macOS, especially Catalina.)
  
  
• Oracle January 2020 Critical Patch Updates (including Java)
  
  
• Intel Releases Multiple Security Updates (us-cert)
  
  
• Microsoft Releases January 2020 Security Updates (isc.sans)
  
  
• Formulus Black Deep Dive (storagereview)
  
  
• SVS Subwoofer Control iOS App v1.3.50 (for iOS 8.0 or later)
  - "Improves performance and fixes minor bugs".
  
  
• Dell to Let Apple Users Control iPhones from their Laptop (bloomberg)
  
  
• WD Blue SN550 (NVMe) 1TB SSD Review (storagereview)
  
  
• Kingston DC450R SSD Review (3.84TB) (storagereview)
  
  
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super Review (anandtech)
  
  
• ADATA SE800 512GB Portable SSD Review (storagereview)
  
  
• ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 1TB SSD Review (anandtech)
  
  
• AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT Review (anandtech)
  
  
• Orico Thunderbolt 3 Aluminum Docking Station Review (storagereview)
  
  
• Onkyo RZ series Receiver HDMI 4K Enhanced Mode Settings Tip
  (Updated with more details/info. This tip not in the user manual.)

December 23rd to 27th, 2019 News Archive
• Mini-ITX Core i9-9900K Hackintosh Benchmarks Updated
• Micromat Drive Scope version 1.2.8
• Micromat MachineProfile 1.3.12
• 16-in MacBook Pro GPU Benchmarks vs Helios FX 650 eGPU
• Apple Extends Rally, Solidifying 2019 as Best Year in a Decade
• Geekbench 5.1 update (improved benchmarks)
• Creating Holiday Videos with iMovie on a Mac
• How to Replace the power supply in your 2019 Mac Pro
• How to Install PCIe cards in your 2019 Mac Pro
• How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery
• About Promise Pegasus R4i MPX RAID storage module for 2019 Mac Pro
• About graphics card compatibility between Mac Pro models
• How to use the LG UltraFine 5K Display with your Mac or iPad Pro
• How to set up and use Apple Pro Display XDR
• Other Apple Support/How-To/Troubleshooting Article Updates

For links to older news pages, see the Archives.