A new trailer for Little Voice has dropped. The coming of age drama will arrive on Apple TV+ on July 10. Directed by J.J. Abrams, the series features music from Emmy and Tony Award-nominee Sara Bareilles Sara Bareilles. Brittany O’Grady, Sean Teale, Colton Ryan, Shalini Bathina, Kevin Valdez, Phillip Johnson Richardson, and Chuck Cooper all star in the show.
'Dads' Arriving on Apple TV+ For Father's Day Weekend
The trailer for Apple TV+ documentary Dads has landed. The show features a host of celebrity fathers, including Will Smith, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jimmy Fallon, discussing their experiences of fatherhood. It will be available from June 19, in time for Father’s Day weekend.
Black Lives Matter Plaza Seen From the Sky in Apple Maps
Apple Maps has been updated to reflect the area of Washington D.C. now known as Black Lives Matter Plaza. Cult of Mac noticed that its likely that an older imager of the street has been edited to feature the road painting that now currently exists.
Black Lives Matter Plaza is a two-block section of downtown Washington, not far from the White House, which was renamed by Mayor Muriel Bowser on June 5 following the death of George Floyd while in police custody on May 25. Not only has the street been renamed, but “Black Lives Matter” has been painted onto it in 35-foot capital letters. You’ve likely already seen it if you’ve been on social media or read the news at all in recent days. Now you can get an even better view of it inside Apple Maps.
‘CamTag’ is a set of Reusable Privacy Camera Stickers
CamTag is a set of reusable privacy camera stickers for your devices. These stickers are a way to make sure that you aren’t being spied upon by malicious third parties. These stickers are glue-free so you can reuse them on your iPhone, iPad, and Macs. They come in different designs and you can customize it with your own design or branding. It’s a Kickstarter campaign and it’s been fully funded. Estimated delivery is October 2020. Pledge US$9 or more to get the first reward tier, which gives you 25 privacy stickers in 5 sizes.
New Series ‘Dear’ Lands on Apple TV+
Along with the third episode of Central Park, a new series landed on Apple TV+ on Friday. Dear tells stories the tale of ten superstars and some of the people whose lives they have touched. Those profiled include Spike Lee, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Oprah Winfrey. All episodes Of Dear are available to stream now with an Apple TV+ subsription.
‘Mirage’ Helps You Detect Edited Photos Using Machine Learning
Mirage is a cool app I discovered today that uses machine learning to detect edited photos. Not only that, it can also undo the editing. However, it requires a face to be present in the photo, so it won’t work on any image. It’s based on this research paper [PDF]:
We present a method for detecting one very popular Photoshop manipulation – image warping applied to human faces – using a model trained entirely using fake images that were automatically generated by scripting Photoshop itself. We show that our model outperforms humans at the task of recognizing manipulated images, can pre- dict the specific location of edits, and in some cases can be used to “undo” a manipulation to reconstruct the original, unedited image.
App Store: Mirage – US$2.99
New Series 'Central Park' Arrives on Apple TV+
The first two episodes of the new series Central Park are now available on Apple TV+. The animated, musical, show was created by Loren Bouchard, the man behind Bob’s Burgers. It tells the story of Owen Tillerman and his family, who live in New York’s Central Park.
‘Miary’ is a Minimalist Diary App That Syncs to iCloud
Miary is a new app on the App Store and it’s a beautiful, minimalist diary. It’s fully accessible, supporting features like VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, and Reduce Motion. It provides over 100 color themes, Dark Mode, and over 50 fonts. You can listen to soothing nature sounds while you journal, with mood and activity tracking for a variety of activities. You can add unlimited photos and videos to your journal entries, and add location tags to entries, too. A feature that caught my eye is that Miary syncs to iCloud. Many journal apps I’ve seen want to keep users in their own cloud, but with Miary you can trust that your journal is kept in iCloud. It has a simple privacy policy saying that no data is stored on Miary’s servers, and data is not shared with third parties. The app is free, with optional subscriptions starting at US$0.99/month for premium features.
Anker Debuts 24K Gold USB-C to Lightning Cable
Anker’s latest product is a 24-karat gold USB-C to Lightning cable. It’s part of the company’s Powerline+ III product line and designed with a 35,000 bend lifespan. Additionally, Anker says “We’re so confident in PowerLine+ III that we are offering a hassle-free replacement for all quality issues.“ Each cable is partially assembled by hand in a 51-step production process. Need I say more? It’s US$99.99 on Amazon, and it’s the perfect accessory for your gold-plated iPhone 11 from Roberto Escobar.
Apple Wants You to Remember Apple TV+ Has Content For Kids Too
All the focus from critics and the public may have been on big-budget scripted dramas, but Apple TV+ has content for kids too. The streaming service offers the likes of Snoopy in Space, Helpsters, and Ghostwriter, amongst other things. A new ad seeks to remind viewers of that.
How to Dig Into the Apple Photos SQLite Database
Now here’s a cool article I found last night. Simon Willison found the SQLite database that Apple Photos uses. It contains photo metadata as well as the aesthetic scoring system that the machine learning uses. Further, there are numeric categories used to label content within photos. For example, Category 2027 is for Entertainment, Trip, Travel, Museum, Beach Activity, etc. I think the quality scores are particularly interesting. There are scores for noise, composition, lively color, harmonious color, pleasant lighting/pattern/perspective, and a bunch more. I bet Apple’s acquisition of Regaind contributed to this.
Preorder Adobe Photoshop Camera Today
Adobe Photoshop Camera is available to preorder today on the App Store. It’s a new app from the company that gives you cool effects powered by machine learning. Add tons of filters and lenses inspired by famous artists and influencers. You’ll get content-aware recommendations, portrait controls, and social network sharing built in. “Photoshop Camera is packed with amazing AI-powered features that help you take gorgeous selfies, food and scenery shots, and more. Quick fixes like auto-tone and portrait control mean you can create high-quality photos with a simiple tap or swipe of your finger.”
Samsung T7 SSD Drive Out Today Starting at $109
Samsung announced the release of its T7 SSD drive. It gives you read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds of up to 1,000 MB/s. This is almost twice as fast as the older T5 model. It comes in 500 GB, 1TB, and 2TB sizes in red, blue, and gray. “Roughly the size of a few stacked credit cards, the T7 is equipped with 256-bit AES encryption and password protection, so users can rest assured knowing their data is safe. Moreover, with PCIe NVMe technology, the T7 offers users quick performance and little downtime with read and write speeds of up to 1050 MB/s and 1000 MB/s respectively. With a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, it’s also backward compatible with USB 3.0 and Type-A devices with an appropriate cable.”
One retailer offering it for preorder is B&H Photo Video.
Missed Eurovision 2020? Hear All The Songs on Apple Music.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was meant to have been held on Saturday (16 May). Obviously, it could not go ahead. However, if you feel like you missed out on seeing the comeptitors and their rather dubious musical offerings, there is a playlist of all the entries on Apple Music.
Mythic Quest: Quarantine Coming to Apple TV+ on May 22
Sound the horn! As noted on Instagram Friday, Mythic Quest: Quarantine will drop on Apple TV+ on May 22. The trailer tells you all you need to know. You’ve got time to binge the Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet series (again, obviously). See you on the other side!
GitHub Codespaces Lets You Code Visual Studio on an iPad
GitHub has a new tool it’s working on called Codespaces. It gives you a full Visual Studio coding experience in a browser. This means it can work on an iPad, Mac, and PC.
Codespaces sets up a cloud-hosted, containerized, and customizable VS Code environment. After set up, you can connect to a codespace through the browser or through VS Code.
I think this is exciting news. I don’t having programming experience but one argument in the “iPad computer replacement” debate is that developers can’t code on it.
Tim Cook's Ohio State University Virtual Commencement Address
With in-person graduation ceremonies stopped, lots of schools are offering virtual commencement addresses. On Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave one to Ohio State University’s class of 2020. Last yeah, he addressed graduating students at Tulane. This time around, Mr. Cook urged the students to “build a better future than the one you thought was certain.
Edison Mail Arrives in the Mac App Store
Popular iOS email app Edison has arrived to the Mac App Store. It brings features like a Focused Inbox, Today Folder, and notification muting, as well as analyzing user email for research and e-commerce trends. The company announced it in a blog post:
We’ve been working night and day to ensure that the Edison Mac app experience is incredible for all our consumers. Available for Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook accounts, and more, Edison offers a universal inbox that keeps all emails from multiple accounts in a single place. This means no more jumping from inbox to inbox in order to see messages in your different accounts.
Mac App Store: Edison Mail – Free
SiriusXM Launches Prince and Other Dedicated Artist Channels
SiriusXM – which has extended free subscriptions until May 31 – has launched a channel dedicated to Prince. Other artists, including Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and Guns N’Roses, have been given their own channels too. The channels will only be available for a limited time.
The Making of 'Defending Jacob' on Apple TV+
Apple has given viewers some more insight into the making of the latest big Apple TV+ series Defending Jacob in a new video. The clip features behind-the-scenes footage, along with interviews with the show’s stars Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery, and director Morten Tydlum.
Apple TV+ Taking Viewers on 'Unbelievable Journeys'
There appears to be a big push to bring in more Apple TV+ subscribers. Maybe it’s because of the ever-growing competition. Maybe it’s because a load of people will be getting their new iPhone SE soon and the company wants to remind them they get a year’s free subscription. Whatever it is, this is the second advert to land in about 24-hours. It focusses on the “unbelievable journeys” Apple TV+ can take viewers on and highlights some of the original flagship shows.
Apple Support 4.0 Update Adds Dark Mode, New User Interface
The Apple Support app was updated today with Dark Mode and a new, streamlined user interface. It‘s easier to find topics like Device Performance and Repairs & Physical Navigation, as well as support for services like Apple TV+. Release notes: All new customized user interface, including Dark Mode support; Get smarter solutions for even more topics using guided, step-by-step troubleshooting; It’s now easier to find support for all of your Apple services and subscriptions; New and improved chat and call experiences. App Store: Apple Support – Free
Todoist Introduces 'Upcoming View' to Give Users Clear Picture of Their Schedule
Todoist, the popular checklist and planning app, has made those tasks a little bit easier. On Tuesday, it rolled out a new ‘Upcoming View’ that gives users a clearer picture of what’s to come. The company explained all in a blog post and showed off the new feature in a video. The app is available through the App Store, with a premium subscription costing $3.99 a month or $35.99 for a year.
Taking 'Defending Jacob' From The Page to Apple TV+
Defending Jacob is now available to watch on Apple TV+. A new video, posted on YouTube on Friday, outline how William Landay’s novel transitioned into being a TV series. In the clip, the cast and crew, along with Mr. Landay himself, discuss the process.