In Before Your Eyes, players embark upon a thought-provoking journey with the Ferryman who is tasked with shepherding souls to the afterlife. They move through time by using real-world blinking to interact and progress through the story. Before Your Eyes’ unique blink interaction mechanic offers a novel way for players to control the story and become more immersed, as their progress is determined through their eyes and detected through the player’s webcam. Purchase Before Your Eyes on Steam as part of a deluxe content bundle including the game, its complete soundtrack in MP3 and lossless formats and an artbook with concept art, character designs and insight from the team for US$13.49. The deluxe content is also available separate from the game for US$7.99.
Check Out Your iPhone's User Guide
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran to the iPhone or a complete newbie, it’s nice to have some documentation to check out. This helps you learn all the features on iOS. It’s especially helpful when a major upgrade comes out, and things work differently. I’m looking at you, Safari. As luck would have it, your iPhone’s user guide is just waiting for you in iOS. One need only know where to look. In this case, just open your Bookmarks in Safari, and you’ll find it there. The current version of the iPhone’s user guide covers new features in iOS 15, setting up your iPhone, the basics of iOS, and quite a bit more. Yes, there’s even an entry on customizing Safari’s layout so you can return the tabs and search bar to the top of the screen. Another entry in the iPhone User Guide help you manage your security and privacy. You can also learn about using your iPhone with iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, and PC. There’s a ton more useful information, so be sure to at least give it a glance.
'Foundation' Premieres on Apple TV+
Sci-fi series Foundation premiered on Apple TV+ on Friday. The first two episodes are currently available to subscribers, with new ones released weekly. It is all based on the novels by Isaac Asimov, and there could be 70 or even 80 episodes made in total.
'CODA' Cast And Crew Explain Role of Director of Artistic Sign Language
In a new video, the cast and crew of CODA explain what Directors of Artistic Sign Language do. I found the short clip really interesting, as I had no idea such a role existed. The film itself is available on Apple TV+ now.
Developer of 'Apollo' Reddit Client Announces App to Kill Google AMP Pages
Christian Selig, creator of the best Reddit client on iOS, has released two new apps. Achoo is an HTML viewer and inspector, and Amplosion redirects you away from Google’s contentious AMP web pages. Achoo HTML Viewer & Inspector: Achoo allows you to easily view the HTML for the webpage you’re viewing in Safari. It shows the HTML (as well as any inline CSS and JavaScript) with beautiful and fast syntax highlighting. You can share the HTML you’re viewing, allowing you to easily inspect it on an external device of your choosing, or send it to a friend, or simply copy it to your clipboard. Amplosion: Amplosion automagically redirects AMP pages/links to their normal counterparts within Safari using an easy and elegant Safari extension. It’s completely open source, so with this transparency you can verify everything about the extension. Both of these take advantage of the new Safari extension system on iOS 15 | iPadOS 15
Here's How to Force Files to Download on iOS
Redditor u/kevingrabher wrote about a shortcut that can force files in iCloud Drive to download. This helps you keep important files handy for offline access. Here are the steps: Open the Shortcuts app and create a new shortcut. Add Action “Get Contents of Folder” (*). Press the triangle icon and enable “Recursive.” Add Action “Get Details of Files.” Set the detail variable to “File Size” (if not set by default). In the first action you’ll probably want to choose Ask Every Time, so you can download a different folder each time.
This iPhone 13 Case Gives you a Digital Business Card to Share
Nomad Goods has prepared a line of iPhone 13 cases that have an NFC digital business card. Simply tap the back of Sport Case to another phone to share your contact info, social media, and more. The company partnered with Popl, the leader in digital business card technology. Download the Popl app to get started here.
First Look at ‘Foundation’ Coming to Apple TV+
Many people are excited about Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, premiering on Apple TV+ on September 24. We got a sneak peak on Friday, when a ‘first look’ video was released. Executive Producer David Goyer, along with some cast members, provide an insight into what viewers can expect.
Recap of 'The Morning Show' Season One
The Morning Show season two premiered on Friday. For those who may have forgotten what happened in the previous episodes, Apple TV+ has published a nice recap. You can also read episode-by-episode recaps on The Mac Observer.
Meet The New Characters Joining 'The Morning Show' Season Two
The Morning Show season two will see a whole host of new characters join. A new featurette, released Monday, introduces viewers to them. New episodes premiere on Apple TV+ from Friday, September 17.
VSCO Introduces a Healing Tool for Members Called 'Remove'
Remove lets you easily edit out unwanted objects from your photos in a few simple taps. Clear photobombers, background clutter, and more for cleaner, beautiful images when you start a 7-day free membership trial. I’ve been testing it so far and it’s not the greatest at removing things, but the feature is currently in beta and is sure to improve over time. Options: Determine the Brush size you want to use with the slider. Play with smaller Brush sizes and using a tapping motion, instead of a brushing motion, for more accurate editing. You can also pinch and zoom into different parts of your photo to focus on smaller details. While editing your image, make use of the back and forward arrows to compare edits and undo or redo your work. Tap the checkmark when you’re done.
Update to 'Sensei' Brings a Monitoring Tool to Check Your Mac's Performance
Sensei Monitor is a new feature in Sensei that allows you to monitor your Mac performance in realtime, right from the menu bar. Create and customize panels and status bar items with different widgets to create the ultimate Mac menu bar system monitor, tailored just for you. Sensei Monitor has been in development for over a year, and features an advanced statistics engine as well as a design that fits in perfectly with modern versions of macOS. Developed using cutting-edge technology such as SwiftUI, it features an intuitive editor where the user can customize their monitoring using drag and drop. Here are the Mac features you can monitor: CPU, CPU Cores, GPU, RAM, Storage, Network, Temperature Sensors, Fan Speeds, Battery, Process Usage (CPU / RAM / Energy).
New App 'Nocturne' Promises to Help Enhance Your iPhone Astrophotography
With Nocturne by Unistellar, you can take breathtaking pictures of your nighttime adventures and show the world your nocturnal perspective – all in one app. Using Unistellar’s proprietary image processing algorithms, Nocturne brings to life your night scape photographies, allowing you to capture your scene under a showstopping starry sky, at the press of a button. Simply stabilize your iPhone (using a tripod or resting it on a solid surface) and start the capture. The app will generate and stack images to bring out all visible stars on the final photo.
The 'Roy Is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley Playlist' From 'Ted Lasso' is on Apple Music
In episode seven of Ted Lasso season two, Keely needs a little bit of space from Roy, something the former footballer initially fails to understand. However, when the issue dawns on him, he tries to make it up to his girlfriend by leaving her alone in the bath with a specially curated playlist. But what’s on it? Well, we now know, as it’s available on Apple Music! The ‘Roy Is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley’ starts with ‘By Your Side’ by Sade, and ‘Morning’ by Beck, with much in between.
Get Up to $30 Off Your Groceries with Instacart and Apple Pay
From now until September 8, 2021, US customers can get a hefty discount off their grocery order. The latest Apple Pay promotion gets new Instacart customers $30 off any order of $50 or more. Existing customers also benefit from the promotion with a smaller discount.Existing Instacart customers can get $5 off an order of $35 or more. If you subscribe to Apple Pay emails, you should have received a promotion code. If not, you will find a promotion banner to click at the top of the iOS Instacart app once you have Apple Pay enabled.
Mamma Mia, Here They go Again - ABBA Discusses Comeback on Apple Music
ABBA surprised many with news of a return this week, accompanied by new music and upcoming shows. The band’s Björn Ulvaeus sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to discuss the pop legend’s legacy, and why they decided to take a chance on coming back. Two songs from the Swedish super trouper’s upcoming album ‘Legacy’, out in November, are available to preview now.
'Ted Lasso', 'For All Mankind', and Other Apple Themed T-Shirts Available to Buy
As we try anddecipher just who Rebecca is speaking to on Bantr, Giant Squid Productions (run by John Moltz – podcast host and guest over on the Incomparable Network) have made t-shirts branded with the fake dating app from Ted Lasso. The range also includes one with the Jamestown space base from For All Mankind, and another with Tim Cook saying “goooood morning,” which made me chuckle. They come in all shapes and sizes!
Explaining The Right to Repair Row
The issue of Apple and the Right to Repair is something we’ve covered extensively here on The Mac Observer. In a new video, the Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern provides an explanation of the controversy surrounding the issue.
This is What Steve Jobs's First-Ever Apple Business Card Looked Like
We’ve heard the story about Mark Zuckerberg’s infamous first Facebook business card, which was apparently part of an attempt to emulate Steve Jobs. But what did the Apple co-founder’s actual first business card look like? Jon Erlichman shared an image of it, and those of Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Larry Page (Google).
Update to Command Line App ‘a-Shell’ Can Force iCloud Downloads
a-Shell is a terminal app for iOS and iPadOS that supports Python, Lua, Perl, C, C++, TeX, and all Unix utilities. It received an update recently with even more capabilities: New commands: ffmpeg, ffprobe, unrar; ffmpeg is compiled to Arm64 and uses hardware acceleration for fast conversion; iOS won’t idle while a-Shell is running a command (good for long running commands); If you open an iCloud directory with pickFolder, a-Shell will download all files in this directory; New commands: downloadFile and downloadFolder, to force downloading iCloud files; Shortcuts: You can run small python scripts or ImageMagick (convert) commands in extension; Improvements to lg2: lg2 merge –abort, lg2 reset –hard, documentation fixes.
New Roleplaying Game 'Baldo' Available on Apple Arcade
Journey through a magical land teeming with mysteries to unravel. Baldo: the Guardian Owls is full of challenging puzzles to solve and intricate dungeons to explore. Traverse this captivating open world as Baldo, and meet a host of quirky and unforgettable characters, as you struggle to decipher the cryptic prophecy, and thwart destiny. From delightful whimsy to thrilling adventure, discover new towns and their distinctive inhabitants, fight ferocious foes, locate hidden temples, and collect objects both magical and mundane to obtain powerful new weapons, or to help unveil the myriad secrets of this strange land.
Quit Every Running App on Your Mac the Easy Way with Amico App's Quit All
Quitting all the open apps on your Mac involves a lot of Command-Q typing or building your own Automator action, or now just installing Quit All from Amico Apps. This cool app lets you quit every running app on your Mac from the menu bar with a mouse click, and you can view and quit hidden processes, too. You can also force quit frozen apps, or quit just the one or two apps you don’t need running. Quit All costs US$5 and is available for download at the Amico Apps website.
This AI Text Generator Shortcut Will Replace Our Blogger Jobs
Over the weekend, u/ryandeanrocks shared an AI text generator via the r/Shortcuts subreddit. It’s an open source version of GPT-3. Of course, how good the output it produces depends upon the input, but I’ve seen it spit out some decent things. Here’s an example; I pasted the first sentence of this piece, and here is part of the output: “You’ll notice that if you type something and then choose to send it to someone, that the chat box in the corner will turn green. In theory, that’s the easiest way to see if someone is typing something out and waiting to send it, but it can take awhile to see the difference. With real-time chatting, it’s almost instantaneous.“
Get a Refurbished M1 iMac Direct from Apple
If you were in the market for an M1 iMac and do not want to pay full retail price, you now have a new option. Refurbished 24 inch M1 iMac models are now available directly from Apple. The model including 512GB SSD storage will cost you $1439, while the same model with 256GB of storage is $1269. The normal retail price of these models is $1699 and $1499 respectively. Of course, Cupertino puts plenty of testing, cleaning, and necessary repair work into its refurbished products. They are backed by a one-year warranty and free delivery and returns.