Apple is facing a class action lawsuit over claims it intentionally broke FaceTime to force users to upgrade to iOS 7. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at the case and decide whether or not they think it has any merit.
Polaroid University 5-Year Subscription: $24.99
Did you know that Polaroid has an online university with hours of professional-led, professionally-produced videos for smartphone photographers, covering dozens of topics? Thanks to our friends at Stack Commerce, I do now, and they put together a deal for us on a 5-year subscription to Polaroid University for $24.99.
You Scratch Your Head, I’ll Scratch Mine – Mac Geek Gab 643
Cool Stuff Found kicks off this week’s show, with email clients, Wi-Fi Widget(s), combo iPhone/Watch chargers, disk utilities and much, much more. Then, after a few additional tips from you, dear listeners, it’s time for your questions. Topics this week include comparing local vs. Cloud storage for things like your music, videos and documents; memory interleaving and when to use it; solving corrupt user accounts that won’t login; and solving the issues with web pages that are slow to load. Press play and enjoy!
Tim Cook's Newseum Free Expression Award - TMO Daily Observations 2017-02-03
Apple CEO Time Cook is receiving a Newseum Free Expression Award for free speech. Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on CEOs speaking out on social and political topics.
Swift Programming from Scratch Interactive Learning Platform: $10
We have a deal for you today on a training course to help you learn Swift. It’s called We ❤️ Swift, an ebook and interactive platform designed to teach you Swift from scratch. It includes more than a hundred exercises and custom made playgrounds. You can get it for $10 through our deal.
Apple Applies for Patent: Wearable Apple Watch Battery
Depending on usage and the watchOS version, most Apple Watch users find themselves routinely charging their watch every night out of caution or necessity. But what if one is camping and has no access to electrical power? Or otherwise unable to charge the Apple Watch as expected. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an interchangeable Apple Watch band that could provide backup power? A good collection of bands means one could wear the AW all the time, says our Bryan Chaffin, and that means opportunity for sleep tracking, says our Jeff Gamet. Patently Apple (thanks guys) has the story. This would be great news if Apple pursues it.
Ebook Sales Take a Hit, Apple Watch Battery Band Patent - TMO Daily Observations 2017-02-02
Ebook sales are down, tablet and ebook reader sales are down, and there may be a correlation. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to look at the state of ebook sales, plus they weigh in on an Apple patent for an Apple Watch battery wristband.
The 2017 Arduino Starter Kit and Course Bundle: $75
I love Arduino. It’s an open source electronics platform for making interactive projects, and we have a deal on an Arduino Starter Kit bundled with nine Arduino training courses. The Starter Kit has a bunch of Arduino electronics. The training bundles include: Arduino Step by Step 2017: Getting Started, Arduino Robotic Projects, Arduino iOS Blueprints, Internet of Things with Arduino Blueprints, Arduino Android Blueprints, Arduino Development Cookbook, Arduino Electronics Blueprints, Arduino Wearable Projects, and Arduino by Example. That’s a ton of training materials, letting you pick the areas that interest you. You get it all for $75.
Apple Profits, Mac Sales, and Fun with Apple's Cash Hoard - ACM 396
Apple turned in a record December quarter this week, and Bryan and Jeff look at the numbers. They also look at this one weird trick Apple did to goose Mac sales—the company released a new Mac. And for grins, they discuss some of the things Apple could do with the astounding $246 billion in cash the company has squirreled away.
Interactive eBook Standard Could Take on Web Qualities with W3C Merger
Today the World Wide Web Consortium and the International Digital Publishing Forum have completed a merger. The new initiative, called Publishing@W3C, will use web technologies to improve publishing, authoring and reading of interactive eBooks. The goal is to make an eBook a self-contained ecosystem with rich interactions using dynamic documents, search, and multimedia. The self-contained part means that the web elements can work even if you’re offline, without needing an always-on connection. Work is underway on APIs and packaging formats to enable these eBooks to act more like apps or web pages. The move could dramatically overhaul the ebook market, which is currently dominated by Amazon, with Apple’s iBooks as a distant second. It remains to be seen how having the W3C’s weight behind an ebook standard could affect the market, but it could give authors, publishers (including independent authors), and readers more options. It could also have a big impact on the textbook industry.
