Bryan Chaffin comes by to discuss Apple’s guidance adjustment and John Martellaro chats about his Mojave upgrade with host Kelly Guimont.
New Ring and August Smart Home Products Could be Set for CES 2019 Launch
It is nearly CES time, so that means lots of product leaks and rumors! 9to5Mac brought together reporting by Dave Zatz on some interesting leaks from August and Ring in the smart home security space. It looks like August is preparing to launch a new smart doorbell, with an updated design. Meanwhile, Amazon-owned Ring looks set to launch a set of smart security lights.
In a nice change from the blocky square design that August currently uses with its current Doorbell Cam Pro, the View takes a more minimal, rectangular form factor. It also brings a space gray color compared to the silver finish on the existing Doorbell Cam Pro. The new rectangular design of August’s View also matches the hardware of its main competitor Ring (now owned by Amazon). No pricing or release details are known yet, but we could hear more about View next week at CES.
Maeve: An Apple Music Web Player With Customizable Themes
A few unofficial Apple Music web players popped up during the second half of 2018. Now, there is a new one in town for 2019. On Wednesday,  Reddit user tatians posted that they had created Maeve. It is one of the slickest Apple Music web players I’ve seen, offering really good search functionality. Users simply log in to access their library on the web. Maeve also offers customizable themes. GitHub users can contribute to the project’s development.
Chinese Spacecraft becomes First to Land on Far Side of the Moon
It has been a pretty exciting time for space technology recently. SpaceX completed its first mission for the U.S. military on December 23, 2018. On Wednesday, scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission shared the first close-up images of an object in the distant Kuiper Belt that is not Pluto or one of its moons. On Thursday, just over 50 years since man first went to the Far Side of the Moon in Apollo 8, a Chinese robot spacecraft become the first to actually land there. BBC News Online provided a fantastic rundown of what happened in this historic mission.
Previous Moon missions have landed on the Earth-facing side, but this is the first time any craft has landed successfully on the unexplored and rugged far side. Some spacecraft have crashed into the far side, either after system failures, or after they had completed their mission.Ye Quanzhi, an astronomer at Caltech, told the BBC this was the first time China had «attempted something that other space powers have not attempted before»
This Person Created an iPad OS Design Concept
u/thomanthony shared an iPad OS design concept on Reddit. It turns the iPad into even more of a productivity tool.
This is quite possibly the most exciting peice of technology I’ve acquired in the last decade and, yes, I’m including the iPhone X in that calculation. The last time I bought an iPad was in 2012 when the first Retina screen equipped model hit the market. And I loved it. But it quickly was relegated to the job of a full-color Kindle replacement and kitchen recipe manager.
These are cool features and it would be interesting to see if Apple implements similar ones in iOS 13.
Personal Tech That Got Fixed in 2018 and What Did Not
On December 26, Brian X. Chen wrote for the New York Times: «Personal technology was so awful this year [2018] that nobody would think you were paranoid if you dug a hole and buried your computer, phone and smart speaker under six feet of earth.» However, some things did get better. Author Chen provides a list and his observations.
Big Cable is on Life Support, But The Future Isn't Much Better
Big Cable companies are on life support due to the struggle to reach deals with TV channels over how much they pay for content.
These disputes, driven by a shrinking traditional TV market, are leading to more programming blackouts for consumers, and could be forcing some smaller, niche cable channels out of business altogether.
The future isn’t much better though. Instead of companies forcing us into cable bundles, now we have a plethora of streaming services, some with exclusive content. I guarantee a startup with appear in the next couple of years offering streaming video bundles.
Raspberry Pi: How This Cheap Computer Changed the World
The Raspberry Pi changed the world. It’s small, affordable, and can be used in many different computing projects.
Today the Raspberry Pi is a phenomenon, the world’s third best-selling, general-purpose computer. If you’re interested in computers, chances are you’ve got one of the tiny British-made boards tucked away somewhere. It’s inside laptops, tablets, and robots; it has run experiments on board the International Space Station; it has spawned a massive ecosystem of kits for learning about computers; and it has even broken into mainstream media.
For a couple years now, a someday goal of mine is to build a Raspberry Pi supercluster. What will I use it for? No clue, but it sounds and looks cool.
Nimble Eco-Friendly Wireless Dual Charging Pad: $29.93
We have a deal on the Nimble Eco-Friendly Wireless Dual Charging Pad. This wireless charger can charge two devices at once. Plus, for every product sold, Nimble will recycle up to one pound of e-waste by including a disposable pouch to send old or unused electronic devices to the company’s recycling partner at no added cost​. It’s $36.95 through our deal, but coupon code NEWYEAR2019 at checkout saves 19%. That’s $29.93.
Project Erasmus, Keeping Resolutions – TMO Daily Observations 2019-01-02
Andrew Orr and Charlotte Henry join Kelly Guimont to chat about Project Erasmus and how iOS apps can help keep those 2019 resolutions.
