Amazon unveiled its Echo Show, and it has a display. Bryan Chaffin and the Maccast’s Adam Christianson join Jeff Gamet to share their reactions to Amazon’s newest Alexa device. They also have some thoughts on the unintended confirmation that the FBI paid $900,000 for the San Bernardino iPhone hack, plus Bryan coins «I’m gonna up that up.»
The Mac PDF Processing Bundle: $29.99
We have a deal on the Mac PDF Processing Bundle, four apps for producing and editing PDF files. It includes PDFConverter, PDF Creator, PDFPasswordRemover, and PDFCompressor. The bundle is $29.99 through us.
Satellite TV Will Be Gone Soon, and Apple Might Be Ready to Step In
In the 1980s, some people had 3 meter steerable satellite dishes and could freely access raw network feeds from geosynchronous satellites. Then the networks encrypted everything, and we migrated to smaller dishes and monthly service from Dish and DirecTV. But that’s just one-way TV, and it may be gone soon. The Next Big Thing could well be low-latency, full internet access with TCP/IP via low-earth-orbit satellites. Particle Debris page two points to several articles that cover the emerging story.
TMO Background Mode Interview with Science Writer and Editor Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette is a freelance science writer, editor and book author. Her work has appeared in Physics World, Discover, New Scientist, Physics Today, Salon and Nature. In 2010, she published the book «The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse.» With a degree in English literature, Jennifer didn’t start out intending to be a science writer. But thanks to serendipity, she landed her first job with the American Physical Society who discovered she could write really well. The thinking was that it would be easier to teach her physics than teach physicists how to write! It opened her eyes to the field. So how does one become a famous science writer? Jennifer tells a great story.
Watch the Blade Runner 2049 Trailer with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner 2049 has an official trailer, and it’s out now (thanks to Rick Allen for the heads up). The movie takes place 30 years after the the events in the original Blade Runner (which came out 37 years ago, for those keeping score at home). Harrison Ford reprises his role as Rick Deckard, but the star of the film is Ryan Gosling as LAPD Officer K. The trailer hints at a very dark film that emphasizes deteriorating conditions on Earth. That theme was central to the the Philip K. Dick novel (Amazon, iBooks) Blade Runner was based on, but it was largely absent from that movie. And all that said, this new trailer looks amazing! Blade Runner 2049 is scheduled for release on October 6th, 2017.
Siri Assistant Displays, Handbrake Malware - TMO Daily Observations 2017-05-08
A Siri appliance needs a display, or so says Apple’s Phil Schiller. Dave Hamilton and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to talk about voice assistants and how they feel about including a display. They also look at the recent malware attack on Handbrake.
Apple Watch Wants You to Walk/Run/Roll 1 Mile on Mother's Day
Apple’s next Activity challenge will be Mother’s Day, when you’ll be able to earn an Apple Watch badge for walking, running, or wheelchairing a mile or more. 9to5Mac uncovered a reference to the challenge, as well as images of the badge you’ll be able to get. Apple has done special holiday challenges several times before, including Thanksgiving 2016, New Year’s Day 2017, and Earth Day 2017. This Mother’s Day challenge may be U.S.-only, as not every country has a Mother’s Day, and they don’t share the same date. I love these Activity challenges. It’s just a badge, and you can’t do anything with it, but darned if I don’t want to earn them when they’re offered. Accordingly, do your mother proud and get to moving on Mother’s Day, which is Sunday, May 14th this year.
Lightyear.fm Shows How Deep into Space Our Songs Have Traveled
Let’s say you could travel 50 light years from Earth, or maybe 100. What would you hear? That’s exactly what Lightyear.fm shows us, and it’s eerily awesome. The site’s developers used more than 120 years of data from Billboard to simulate the radio transmissions we’d hear—assuming the inverse square law of propagation didn’t exist, of course. What they came up with is akin to taking an FM radio on the Starship Enterprise and warping away from Earth. Listening to more recent songs is cool, but I loved the surreal sensation of feeling like I’m 100 light years from Earth catching hollow sounding early radio transmissions.
Throttle Pro 1-Year Subscription: $39
We have a deal on a one-year subscription to Throttle Pro. This service works through a browser extension that generates a one-time email address you can use when signing up or online services. Throttle Pro then emails you a daily digest of all the email sent to those one-time addresses. You can then forcibly unsubscribe to anything you want through Throttle Pro. A one-year subscription through us is $39.
Follow The Dots...to Mac Geek Gab 656
Cool Stuff Found and Quick Tips in the same episode? You bet! John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton aim to deliver for you each and every week. And since the goal is to learn at least four new things each week, some options might include keeping your Mac awaken only when you like, managing Siri’s holidays when set for a foreign voice, yet another replacement for DeskConnect, and a segment one listener calls «follow the dots.» You’ll just have to listen to see what that is all about. Press play and enjoy, folks!
