Microsoft and Azul Systems are working on M1 support for Java through OpenJDK. Azul’s website notes “Zulu OpenJDK runs on Linux, Windows, Solaris, and macOS on X86, Arm, SPARC, PowerPC, and MIPS.” Meanwhile, Microsoft has released an early access build of its macOS + AArch64 (M1) based on OpenJDK. The company is working with Azul on JEP 391 to upstream relevant patches to the OpenJDK project. Obviously, this is great news for those that need Java apps on their Mac because they won’t need to be run through Apple’s Rosetta 2 translator.
Behind the Scenes of 'Mythic Quest' Season Two
A new video goes behind the scenes of Mythic Quest season two. According to creator and star Rob McElhenney the Apple TV+ comedy is “the greatest show in the history of television.” So much for expectations management! Season two premieres on May 7.
New Civilization VI Update Means Scouts Can Pet Their Dogs
Civilization VI received an update on Thursday but it brings an important new feature: Your scouts can now pet their dogs. Other updates include three new military units, four new maps, a new unit action, and various bug fixes and improvements. New units: Trebuchet – Medieval Era Catapult upgrade. Siege promotion class. Upgrades into Bombard. Cannot move and attack on the same turn unless they’ve earned the Expert Crew Promotion. Man-At-Arms: Medieval Era Swordsman upgrade. Melee promotion class. Upgrades into Musketman. Line Infantry: Industrial Era Musketman upgrade. Melee promotion class. Upgrades into Infantry. New maps: Mediterranean Large Map: A large map of the greater Mediterranean region with resources, terrain, and features reflecting their historic locations. Earth Huge Map: A larger sized representation of Earth with resources, terrain, and features reflecting their historic locations. TSL Earth Huge: Civilizations start at the location of their historical capital on the huge Earth map. TSL Mediterranean: Civilizations start the location of their historic capital on the large Mediterranean map.
Official Trailer for 'Fathom,' Coming to Apple TV+ June 25
The official trailer for Apple Original documentary Fathom landed Thursday. It gives a brief insight into the research conducted by Dr. Michelle Fournet and Dr. Ellen Garland as they try to uncover humpback whale culture. It will be available for Apple TV+ subscribers to view from June 25.
This App Can Load Your Business Card into Apple Wallet
An app I discovered a while back called Social Card lets you put your business card into Apple Wallet. By that I mean the app helps you create a personalized card where you can add information like email, phone numbers, websites, and links to social media like LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and others. You can share you card with Airdrop, iMessage, email, or a QR code. You can create a card for free with limited options, and various in-app purchases gives you customization options to add a background, change the color, add a logo or your portrait, and more.
How the New iPad Pro Really Got an M1 Chip
Apple’s ‘Spring Loaded’ event featured lots of announcements, and lots of videos. The one showing the new iPad Pro got fitted out with a new M1 chip was probably my favourite… wait for the end!
Rewatch Apple's 'Spring Loaded' Event
There was an awful lot packed into Apple’s ‘Spring Loaded’ event on Tuesday. If you missed any of the announcements, you can rewatch the whole event on YouTube or via Apple’s website.
Big Library Read’s Latest Book Club Offering is ‘The Art of Taking it Easy’
Overdrive’s book club called Big Library Read announced its latest entry for readers called “The Art of Taking It Easy” by psychologist and stand-up comedian Dr. Brian King. Through Libby, OverDrive’s one-tap reading app, The Art of Taking It Easy is available for free, simultaneous use access from over 20K libraries and schools worldwide through April 19. Being selected for Big Library Read provides great exposure for King, with hundreds of thousands checkouts per program and the unique opportunity for readers to interact with the author and others in the online discussion.
Measure Your Broadband With New ‘FCC Speed Test App’
As part of its Measuring Broadband America Program, the FCC announced the release of a speed test app. The information collected through the app will help to inform the FCC’s efforts to provide improved coverage information to the public. “We expect that some of the information collected through the app will be incorporated into the Commission’s broadband data collection systems, including challenges to provider-submitted maps and our collection of additional crowdsourced data.”
The 'Mythic Quest' Season Two Trailer is Here
Mythic Quest is set to return to Apple TV+ on May 7. On Monday, the new trailer landed. It shows (most) of the team back in the office working on a successor to Raven’s Banquet and gives a hint at how reintegration is going.
Apple TV+: Helpsters Teach Heart T-Ball
In a new clip shared Friday, the Helpsters teach their friend Heart to play T-Ball. It’s the latest in the ‘We’ve Got a Plan’ series of videos from the Apple TV+ show that have been released. It is from the season two finale, which is available now to subscribers.
TMO's Charlotte Henry on MacVoices #21060 With Chuck Joiner
Part two of the episode of MacVoices with Chuck Joiner featuring The MacObserver‘s UK Associate Editor and host of the Media+ podcast Charlotte Henry is now available to view. The discussion looks at how tech and politics affect each other. There is also a look at what Amazon securing Thursday Night Football means for sports and streaming. (Spoiler alert, Apple TV+ should still look at getting into sports.) Part one of the conversation, which focussed on the Media+ podcast, is also available to view.
Emulating Mac Plus, Mac II, and Mac 128K on iOS
Ex-Apple Technology Evangelist Matt Sephton tweeted a photo of painting on an iPad Pro in the style of Mac OS 7, otherwise known as System 7. He shared a way to do this via software emulation. A tool on GitHub called Mini vMac lets you emulate Mac Plus, Mac II, and Mac 128K on your iDevice. It requires iOS 9 or later, a ROM image from one of the three systems, and disk images with Mac software.
Charlotte Henry Joins Chuck Joiner on MacVoices to Discuss Media+
TMO UK Associate Editor and Media+ host Charlotte Henry appeared on MacVoices to discuss the (still quite new) podcast. She also discussed the interactions between news outlets and social media networks, and what it all means for us to get information, with host Chuck Joiner. The episode is available on YouTube or via your podcast app.
Back Up Your Shortcuts Using iCloud Links With This Shortcut
Apple had some kind of issue on their end that caused iCloud links for shortcuts to stop working. Since shortcuts no longer rely on files within the Shortcuts folder in iCloud, the only way to back up your shortcuts is by generating an iCloud link. The links are working again but only for new iCloud links. Old links don’t work anymore. I’ve been using two shortcuts that I created as a backup. The first one will generate a link for every shortcut you have and create a note in Apple Notes with the links. The second one can back up a single shortcut at a time and appends it to that same note as well as a text file. They can, and should, be modified to fit your own needs and file system. Update: Multiple reports on Friday suggest that old links are working again.
'Calls' Now Available on Apple TV+
All nine episodes of Calls arrived on Apple TV+ on Friday. The series tells the interconnected story of a group of strangers in the run-up to a catastrophic event via a collection of phone conversations.
Bacardo Announces Pocket Watch Accessory for New Apple Watches
Bucardo is introducing a Kickstarter campaign for its pocket watch accessory. This latest product works with Apple Watch Series 4, 5, 6, and Apple Watch SE. The accessory allows you to wear your Apple Watch as a classic pocket watch. Simply remove your bands and slide the pocket watch accessory into the band slots of your Apple Watch. The company worked with talented jewelry designers and engineers to create an accessory that pays attention to all the fine details, highlighting the form of the Apple Watch while creating a unique wearable experience. Right now the base reward is US$95.
How Caria App Helps Women And Debunks Menopause Myths
During International Women’s History Month, Apple continues to shed a light on female-focussed products and female-founded firms. On Wednesday, it highlighted Caria, an app that helps myth bust the menopause for women. Co-founders Arfa Rehman and Scott Gorman attended Apple’s Entrepreneur Camp in 2019. This allowed them to collaborated in person for the first time with a key engeineer. “As a design-centric healthcare company, developing on the Apple platform and leveraging the capabilities of iOS have made meeting our priority for user privacy and security while delivering a stellar user experience easier,” Ms. Rehman, the company’s CEO, explained. She also went on to dispell some myths about menopause.
Justin Long is Now ‘PC Guy’ in New Intel Ads Mocking Macs
Apple fans are familiar with the ad campaign in the mid-2000s. Justin Long was Mac Guy and John Hodgman was PC Guy, and they compared the different platforms. In a series of new ads from Intel, Justin Long is now PC Guy, mocking Apple’s Macs as Intel is surely still reeling from the announcement of the M1 chip. There are five ads in total of the “Justin Gets Real” campaign: 2-in-1 Flexibility, PC Gaming, Having Choices, Touch Screens, and 3 Monitors.
Recreate Ted Lasso Biscuits With ‘Binging With Babish’
I watch a lot of cooking shows and one of my favorites is “Binging With Babish.” This week his newest video is recreating the biscuits from “Ted Lasso” on Apple TV+. “Ted Lasso’s optimistic, unflappable energy didn’t just win over the hearts of the footballers he coached; this past year, audiences everywhere were swept up in his Kansas City charm. Now his crumbly, buttery shortbread biscuits can win you over no matter what scumbag ex-husband’s reputation you seek to sabotage, thanks to this simple-but-loving recipe.”
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Adds iPad App, M1 Support
Graphics suite CorelDRAW has added support for M1 Macs and created a brand-new iPad app. Built to take advantage of the power of Apple silicon, the team’s testing showed dramatic performance boosts on these new systems. When comparing a variety of common tasks on a MacBook Air 2019 (Intel chip) vs a Macbook Air 2020 with M1, across the board, most scenarios showed a minimum 2x speed improvement on the M1 system. Some tests were dramatically higher, including an image resampling scenario that produced speed results more than 20x faster.
Some Very Good Dogs Watching Snoopy on Apple TV+
Whether it is releasing groundbreaking products, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, or developing powerful content for Apple TV+ with the likes of Malala Yousafzai, Apple often does big picture, serious things. However, sometimes we all need some light relief. So please enjoy some very good dogs taking in the latest episodes of The Snoopy Show. You can share your own clips on social media using #DogsWatchingSnoopy.
Find Where You Can Buy Girl Scout Cookies With This App
It is, (I’m told by U.S. colleagues!) the time of year for Girl Scout Cookies. Obviously, fewer people are out and about to buy them in front of stores and the like this year. However, there is an official iPhone and iPad app to help you find where they are being sold available in the App Store, so you don’t have to miss out.
Satechi Releases USB-C Multi-Port Adapter
Satechi announced on Thursday the launch of a USB-C multi-port dock. It has USB-C PD charging, HDMI and VGA display ports, USB-A data ports, SD card slots, and Gigabit Ethernet, with two detachable USB-C cables – perfect for on-the-go or docked at your desk. Compatible devices include: 2020/2019/2018/2017/2016 MacBook Pro, 2020/2018 MacBook Air, 2020/2018 iPad Pro, 2019/2017 iMac, iMac Pro, 2015/2016/2017 MacBook, Microsoft Surface Laptop 3/Surface Pro 7/Go, Google PixelBook Go, ChromeBook, Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S, HP Spectre Convertible, Razer Blade, Huawei Matebook and more USB-C devices. It costs US$99.99 but with the code MULTIPORT20 you can get 20% off. Valid until March 15.