Apple developers get to have another field day post-Thanksgiving weekend.
On Monday, Apple released new developer betas for most of its software platforms. Developers registered with the Apple Developer Program got to install the fourth developer beta of iOS 10.2, watchOS 3.1.1, and macOS Sierra 10.12.2. Registered developers can install these releases over-the-air now, and they will be made available as public betas to the people in the Apple Beta Software Program soon. You can enroll in the Apple Developer Program here.
In addition to addressing performance issues and issuing bug fixes, the cornerstone of these developer betas seem to be the integration of a bunch of new emoji in conjunction with the Unicode 9.0 update. These new emoji—which are being released with iOS 10.2, macOS Sierra 10.12.2, and watchOS 3.1.1—include a selfie emoji, a clown-face emoji, and emoji depicting new male and female professions. In watchOS 3.1.1 developer beta, you can also now change the emoji skin tone.
Furthermore, the iOS 10.2 developer beta also includes three new wallpapers exclusively for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. There’s also the return of the star-rating system in Music, as well as new buttons for repeat and shuffle options. Messages gets new full-screen effects, like “Celebrate” and “Send with Love.” And the all-new TV app will also have an iOS counterpart that replaces Videos.

Those annoying Calendar spam invites won’t be around much longer.
On Wednesday, Apple indicated that it was actively working to identify and block any further spam invites from hitting your iCloud Calendar. Last week, people started receiving suspicious spam invites on iOS and macOS alerting them of special sales for Ugg boots or Ray-Ban sunglasses.
The spammers were able to exploit an iCloud feature that uses email data to pop-up as Calendar notifications. If the spam invites were set as recurring events, the notifications would surface every day.
Address the issue, Apple sent the following statement to iMore:

“We are sorry that some of our users are receiving spam calendar invitations. We are actively working to address this issue by identifying and blocking suspicious senders and spam in the invites being sent.”

In the meantime, Macworld’s Glenn Fleishman has discovered a temporary fix. Here’s how it works: iCloud automatically parses through your email looking for iCalendar files (.ics) that it can surface as Calendar invites even if the the email sender is a spammer, so the best way to resolve this issue is to disable this automatic invitation parsing. Because iCloud manages this feature, you’ll have to make changes on the iCloud website.

1. Go to your iCloud Calendar page via a desktop browser. (Apple doesn’t allow you to use iCloud.com via mobile Safari.)
2. Click the gear icon in the lower-left corner.
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click the Advanced icon.
5. In the Invitations section, change the option from In-App Notifications to Email to iCloud Address.

If you have outstanding spam invitations that you can’t delete after disabling automatic iCloud parsing, follow these steps:

Apple issued an update to macOS Sierra this week, and along with it came a few unexpected surprises.
The macOS Sierra 10.12.1 update includes a hidden image depicting a brand-new MacBook Pro with an OLED touch bar at the top, allegedly dubbed a Magic Toolbar. Apple is officially expected to announce this new MacBook Pro on Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific during its second fall event.
The leaked images, first unveiled by MacRumors, show how the new MacBook Pro integrates Touch ID on the Magic Toolbar to be able to verify online payments via Apple Pay.

According to earlier rumors, the Magic Toolbar replaces the top function keys and it will be adaptive, or able to change depending on what’s on the screen. The leaked images only depict how the Magic Toolbar supports Apple Pay functionality, by asking for verification of the payment with Touch ID by placing the fingerprint on the OLED panel.
Besides the new Magic Toolbar, the MacBook Pro seems to follow similar design cues of the current generations. If the machine depicted is the 13-inch model, then another notable addition is a row of speakers to each side of the keyboard. The images do not show the sides of the MacBook Pro, so it’s unclear which ports this new model will support. Rumor has it that it will only come with four USB-C ports and maybe a headphone jack. The new MacBook Pro is also expected to be lighter and thinner, but the leaked images do not confirm this, either.
At the event, Apple might also announce more refreshed Mac updates. Apple is reportedly working on a new MacBook Air with a USB-C port, an iMac with AMD chip, and a 5K display in partnership with LG.

It's finally here: the new-and-improved MacBook Pro, and it seems to have closed the gap between the Pro line and the competition – and them some.
But the MacBook Pro has done so in ways that matter perhaps even more than gigahertz and pixels. This is now Apple's most usable laptop yet. Sure, it's thinner, lighter and more powerful, but the improved keyboard and trackpad set Apple apart in an even bigger way.
And that's before we even get to the Touch Bar (though its mileage may vary).

MacBook Pro price and release date

The spankin' new MacBook Pro is available for pre-order right now. As for when you'll get it should you pre-order, that's another story.
The 13-inch version, with standard function keys and two fewer USB-C ports, will ship the day you pre-order it.

• MacBook Pro price: how much will it cost me?

However, if you want one of the fancy Touch Bar versions, that won't begin shipping until two to three weeks from now.
Here's how much the MacBook Pro costs to start, broken down by version:

• 13-inch MacBook Pro (no Touch Bar): $1,499/£1,449/AU$2,199
• 13-inch MacBook Pro (Touch Bar): $1,799/£1,749/AU$2,699
• 15-inch MacBook Pro: $2,399/£2,349/AU$2,999

Now, let's get into what's new about the refreshed MacBook Pro, and what it feels like to use. Spoiler: it's better – way better.

Latest developments

With both launches behind us – with and without the Touch Bar – we’re already beginning to consider the next iteration of MacBook Pro. Despite having just reviewed the most recent MacBook Pro, there’s admittedly still room for improvement.
Reports have already emerged that a 2017 MacBook Pro refresh is in the works with configurations supporting up to 32GB of RAM, twice of what is offered now. Moreover, Korean tech source ET News believes the next MacBook Pro could even house a full-fledged OLED display in lieu of its current LCD panels.
In the meantime, Apple is supporting the current MacBook Pro quite nicely, even treating it to its own front-page App Store section spotlighting Touch Bar-centric apps. Though Apple was open to the idea of the Touch Bar this year, don’t expect a proper touch display anytime soon. In a recent interview, the company exec Phil Schiller called the idea of a touchscreen Mac ‘absurd.’

Design and feel

At first glance, not much has changed about the MacBook Pro's design. The profile or silhouette generally remains unchanged, save for finally (sadly) losing the illuminated Apple logo on its lid in favor of chrome.
Take a closer look though and you'll see that nearly everything has changed. The 13-inch and 15-inch versions of the new MacBook Pro are 17% and 14% thinner than their predecessors, respectively – to the tune of a 14.9mm-thin 13-incher and a 15.5mm-thin 15-incher.
Naturally, with a thinner chassis comes lighter weight. The 13-inch version weighs just three pounds (1.37kg), nearly half a pound lighter than the previous version, while the 15-inch model hits the scale at four pounds (1.83kg), also shaving off nearly half a pound).
While Apple wouldn't let you forget it, that makes the 13-inch MacBook Pro now thinner and lighter than the latest (and likely last) MacBook Air – and picking up the device, you can definitely tell.
                            COPY FROM (TECHRADAR)

Apple's second-generation ultraportable 12-inch MacBook features some noteworthy internal improvements, including an extra hour of battery life and Intel's latest Skylake processors, that make it a worthwhile update. But all of the major concessions of the 2015 model remain, making it unlikely this refresh will change anyone's opinion on the divisive-yet-impressive notebook.
For this review, we tested Apple's entry-level model with 256 gigabytes of storage and a 1.1-gigahertz Intel Core m3 processor. It also includes 8 gigabytes of RAM, and is priced at $1,299.

If you're looking for more horsepower, Apple offers a 1.2-gigahertz dual-core Intel Core m5 processor and 512 gigabytes of storage for $1,599. And a maxed-out model with a 1.3-gigahertz dual-core Intel Core m7 runs $1,749.

All models are now available in four colors, including a new rose gold option that matches Apple's iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch product lineups. It joins last year's trio of options: silver, gold, and space gray.

Design

Let's address the elephant in the room right up front: The design of the 12-inch MacBook remains unchanged, including the use of a single USB-C port for syncing and charging. For some, this may be a non-issue, or even a welcome change. For others, it may be a deal breaker.

First, the positive: The reversible USB port is well designed and convenient. The included power brick is about the size of the iPad one, which is to say it's easily portable. Toting around this brick and cable is much more convenient than with a MacBook Pro or even a MacBook Air.
And if you have USB-C cables and accessories, they'll work just fine with the single port. In fact, Apple just released a USB-C to Lighting cable that will allow users to plug their iPhone or iPad directly into the MacBook for syncing and charging. We tested it, and it works as you'd expect.

Of course, if you want to sync or charge your iPhone or iPad through your 12-inch MacBook, you won't be able to charge the MacBook itself at the same time — unless you have an adapter that enables more ports.
This has been the source of a great deal of controversy over the first year of the MacBook's life, and it will continue for the second generation model. Frankly, this concession doesn't really bother us very much. The fanless thinness of the MacBook is truly an incredible achievement, and anyone who is buying this Mac knows what they are getting into. This is a machine meant for light computing, and the lack of ports just drives that point home.

For us, the greater loss is not the lack of additional ports, but the abandonment of MagSafe. Apple's magnetic power port found on the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air has long been a defining, unique feature of the company's notebooks, and it's saved our Macs from taking flight via a suddenly yanked cord countless times.

The 12-inch MacBook is very, very light. And the USB-C cable connects very, very snugly. This is to say that if someone trips over your MacBook cable, your $1300 notebook may not survive that trip.
We'd prefer to have seen Apple offer a new, thinner MagSafe charging port plus a single USB-C port. Doing so would not only bring back the benefits of MagSafe, but also squash complaints about the inability to charge the MacBook and plug in accessories at the same time. And sticking with USB-C could allow the thin profile and forward-thinking design of the notebook. Hopefully MagSafe returns if and when Apple decides to tweak the design of its ultraportable.

The rest of the design is also unchanged, which means opposite the USB-C port, on the right side of the notebook, you'll find two small microphone holes and a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack. If Apple plans to ditch the headphone jack on this year's "iPhone 7," it isn't quite ready to make that move with the early 2016 MacBook.

Other hardware notes

This year's model features the same stunning 12-inch Retina display as the first-generation MacBook. It also once again includes the Force Touch trackpad, which allows for a thin, click-less design, offering haptic feedback when pressed. We continue to be amazed at how well the Force Touch trackpad feels like a real click, and it's a true testament to Apple's technical prowess.

The keyboard is also unchanged, which means, as with the single-port chassis, some will love it and some will hate it. The keys definitely feel different, and are shallower when pressed — something necessitated by the thin design.
As we noted last year, we have zero problems typing on the 12-inch MacBook keyboard. This review was written on the new MacBook, and we were able to type just as fast and accurately as on our regular machine, a 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple's strange aesthetic-driven choices for the arrow keys and escape key remain: The escape key in the upper left is elongated to fill out the row, while the up and down arrows in the lower right corner are half-size, and the left and right arrows are full-size. The strange mix of full-size and half-size keys takes some getting used to.