Botanicula is a fun, nature-themed game in which five tree creatures work together to save the last seed from their tree from evil parasites. There are over 150 locations to explore and the game features award-winning music by Dva. The game is from Amanita Design, and if that sounds familiar they’ve created other popular games Ike Samorost and Machinarium. App Store: US$1.99
Do you miss getting WWDC pins? There’s a Kickstarter campaign selling an unofficial pin set comprised of six designs.
High quality enamel pins are not difficult to get manufactured on time and within budget. The biggest risk is the short timeline we have until WWDC starts. We’ve requested expedition from the manufacturer, but if that isn’t possible then the deliver date could slip into August. Like the software engineers that we are, we’re optimistic that we can meet our estimates and we have no problem estimating aggressively in the face of limitations that are out of our control.
This is a cool project. Pledge US$10 to get 1 random pin, with more reward tiers available. Apparently, Rene Ritchie (formerly of iMore ) has a custom pin included in this project.
With a host of new Apple TV+ content on the way, a new advert for the service was published Wednesday. Called ‘Desire’, the spot features a host of the big-name shows and films already available, such as The Morning Show, Dickinson, and The Banker. There are also clips of upcoming content like Greyhound.
The trailer for watch Boys State, a new documentary film telling a political coming-of-age story as politically obsessed young-men head to Texas in a bid to be ‘Governor’ was released Tuesday. The documentary film is set to land on Apple TV+ August 14, and it will also be in select theaters from July 31,
Weather app Rainviewer got a big 2.0 update today. New features include: Future radar map to plan your day ahead; Precipitation chart for the next hour for over 90 countries; Accurate rain forecast for the next 90 minutes; Weather forecast: temperature and weather conditions, 48-hour/14-day; Rain alerts to notify of upcoming rain; Multiple locations, rain notifications for each location. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)
NASA is set to launch the Mars rover Perseverance in the coming weeks. On board will be a small ‘helicopter’ which will be the first human vehicle to take-off from the surface of the Red Planet and fly in its skies. Forbes has the details, including an interview with one of the project managers involved.
Before the primary science phase of the mission begins, however, the rover will deploy its flying companion on the surface. Called Ingenuity, the small vehicle – just 0.5 meters tall – is equipped with two counter-rotating blades that will enable it to hover in the air. It will be deployed on the Martian surface at some point in the first 90 days of the mission. A team back on the ground will then command the helicopter to perform some checks, before attempting a first flight… It will be capable of one flight per day, with 30 days in total allocated for its mission. While it does have camerad on board and will take images, this is mostly a technology demonstration to see if rotorcraft could be useful for future missions to Mars, perhaps even human missions.
I wrote about ClimaCell back in April as an alternative for developers when the Dark Sky API is shut down. But the company also has an app for consumers, and the latest update adds several helpful features, like hyperlocal forecasting. Here’s an example: “For fireworks, ClimaCell took into account humidity (the more humid it is outside, the air saturation will lessen the brightness of the fireworks. Yet too dry is a fire hazard), wind (might change the path of the fireworks if over 20mph) rain, visibility, sunset time and cloud coverage. For BBQ, we don’t want any rain! Wind gusts can be dangerous with the fire, humidity actually affects the flavor of the meat and we want ideal temperatures.” App Store: Free
Scribble for iPad is one of the features that really caught my eye when iOS 14 was demoed at WWDC 2020, particularly when I found out it is going to work with the Logitech Crayon too. AppleInsider has a good video show how the feature works in a beta version of iPadOS 14.
Apple uploaded a trailer today for its upcoming docuseries “The Greatness Code.” It will feature stories from top athletes like Tom Brady, Usain Bolt, Shaun White, Alex Morgan, and others. It premiers globally on Apple TV+ July 10. It’s directed by Gotham Chopra and co-produced by Uninterrupted and Religion of Sports. “Internationally revered athletes featured in season one include four-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Lebron James; six-time Super Bowl champion and four-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady; Olympic gold medalist and co-captain of the US women’s national soccer team Alex Morgan; world’s fastest man and eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt; five-time Olympic gold medalist and 15-time world champion swimmer Katie Ledecky; 11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater.“
Laundry symbols are a type of mysterious hieroglyphics that can tell you if an item of clothing has special washing or drying needs. Laundry Lens is a new app I discovered over the weekend that helps you decode these symbols. All you have to do is take a picture of the label and it will tell you what each symbol means. There are over 70 laundry symbols you can browse, or search by their descriptions. App Store: Free
John Gruber’s edition of his Talk Show following the WWDC keynote is always worth a watch/listen. This year it was obviously recorded remotely, but Apple SVP Craig Federighi joined from a Apple Park to help dive into the all the announcements.
Following the WWDC 2020 keynote, I moderated a panel hosted by Setapp to unpack some of the key announcements. Joining me was Oleksandr Kosovan (CEO and Founder at MacPaw), Denys Zhadanov (Vice President at Readdle), Max Seelemann (Co-Founder and Lead Developer at Ulysses), and Christian Owens (Co-Founder and CEO at Paddle). Amongst other things, they discussed what the newly announced updates will mean for the Apple developer community and how the new macOS/iOS features could affect end-users. The different panelists have a variety of takes, and I really enjoyed listening to what they had to say.
Following the release of a trailer, Disney has shared a new clip from Hamilton, which will stream on Disney+ from July 3. The clip is short but shows the high-production values and intimate view of the performance we are going to get of the Broadway smash hit.
Apple is releasing highlights videos of WWDC 2020. Day two involved deep dives into WidgetKit and App Clips. There are also quick-looks at some of the other sessions that were available.
In an update to Opera, version 69 adds Twitter built into a sidebar for users. This is the latest in social media integrations the company added to its browser, following Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and VKontakte. Opera also includes a VPN and crypto wallet, making it an all-in-one tool instead of “just” a browser for the web. Other new features include a weather widget on the start page, improved visual tab cycles, improvements to Workspaces, and more. You can download it on macOS here.
TDashlane Family Plans are here, the company announced today. Two offerings provide password management for up to six family members. Premium Family is US$7.49/month and gives you features like dark web monitoring, VPN service, two-factor authentication, personalize security alerts, and more. Premium Plus Family is US$14.99 and gives you the features of Premium Family with three additions: Credit monitoring, identity restoration support, and identity theft insurance.
Apple has been releasing karaoke-style videos of songs featured in the Apple TV+ series Central Park. The latest offerings are Rats and If There’s a Will. The former caught my eye because the lyrics were written by none other than Cyndi Lauper of Girls Just Want to Have Fun fame.
With the keynote and the Platforms State of the Union, there was a lot to take in on day one of WWDDC 2020. Apple has helpfully released a video of the highlights from the first day of the conference, wrapping up some of the most important announcements (including reiterating that macOS Big Sur is macOS 11). It is introduced, of course, by a Memoji.
Amongst the operating system upgrades, Apple unveiled a trailer for a new Apple TV+ show, Foundation, at WWDC 2020. The series is based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov and tells the story of a band of exiles on their monumental trying to save humanity and rebuild civilization as the Galactic falls. It stars Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann, and Cassian Bilton. The show will arrive on the streaming service in 2021.
Led by Tim Cook and his executive team, Apple delivered a packed keynote at the all online WWDC 2020 on Monday. It was both a highly impressive production and full of big announcements covering iOS, watchOS, macOS, and more. There was a lot to take in, but the whole thing is available to watch back on YouTube.
