The promise of Thunderbolt has always been to eliminate the need for internal expansion slots. But it wasn’t until Thunderbolt 3 and its 40 Gbps speed that having a second, external, high end graphics card would become a practical reality. For example, if you’d like to augment your new 2016 MacBook Pro with a Radeon RX400 series or an Nvidia Geforce GTX 10, now you can do that with this $379 TB3 expansion box from PowerColor called the Devil Box. Here’s a review to whet your appetite for some serious graphics power.
Kult of Ktulu : Olympic, a Textual Narrative Lovecraftian Video Game
Check out Kult of Ktulu: Olympic. It’s a textual narrative game, but what hit me were the gorgeous graphics backing up the narrative. Players take on the avatar of a young girl named Elena on a ship crossing the Atlantic in the early 20th century. Elena is investigating the Kult in a world built from H.P. Lovecraft imagery. I haven’t played it yet, but it looks lush and delicious. It’s currently in the App Store as a free download with in-app purchases. It’s in Google Play, too, if that’s your poison.
State of the App Store, Net Neutrality - TMO Daily Observations 2017-01-19
How we use iPhone apps and Apple’s App Store has changed over the years, so today John Martellaro and Kelly Guimont join Jeff Gamet to look at the impact that’s had on their app choices. They also share their thoughts on the possibility of the end of net neutrality in the U.S.
FRESHeBUDS Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds: $29.95
Check out the FRESHeBUDS Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds. They’re water and sweat resistant, and automatically pair to your phone when pulled apart so you don’t have to go through any setup. They fully charge in 90 minutes, and offer up to 10 hours of playback. You can get them for $29.95 through our deal.
Civilization VI Gets Viking and Poland Expansions, Other Improvements
Civilization Vi got its first expansions Wednesday with the release of the Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack and Vikings Scenario Pack. The Polish pack includes the full Poland civilization, which includes the ability to take over tiles by fortifying their borders. The Poland scenario is a 60-Turn game where you defend Poland, Prague, and Vienna from Teutonic Knights and Ottoman Turks! Sounds awesome. The Viking Scenario includes new City-States with new benefits, and a 100-Turn game where you invade England, take Paris, find Vinland, or raid the Mediterranean. I’m slacking off from work just thinking about it. Each pack is $4.99, and is available through both Steam and the Mac App Store version of the game. Civilization VI itself was released in October for $59.99, and Wednesday’s update includes a variety of bug fixes, balance changes, AI tuning, and a new Earth map (standard size).
FCC Net Neutrality, Backdoor Hacks, and New Apple Products - ACM 394
Outgoing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made a plea for the incoming administration to protect Net Neutrality. Bryan and Jeff discuss whether that plea is likely to fall on deaf ears [spoiler: yes, it will]. They also discuss the implications of the Cellebrite hack, and the fact that Apple released two product updates this week.
Verizon Nabs Note 7 Calls, Goodbye AT&T 2G - TMO Daily Observations 2017-01-18
Still using a Galaxy Note 7? Verizon is getting agressive about trying to stop you. Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on Verizon intercepting Galaxy Note 7 calls, plus they look at AT&T shutting down their 2G wireless network.
SelectTV by FreeCast 1-Year Subscription: $24
Our friends at Stack Commerce have put together a deal on a one-year subscription to SelectTV. This internet-streaming service gives you browser access to some 300,000 TV episodes, 200,000 movies, 50,000 radio stations, and 5,000 live channels. The price for a one-year subscription through our deal is $24. There are more details on the deal listing.
Former Apple Engineer Claims Tim Cook Made Apple Boring
Former Apple engineer Bob Burrough has been arguing that CEO Tim Cook has made Apple boring. In a combination of tweet storm and an interview with CNBC stemming from said tweetstorm, the engineer said Mr. Cook has eliminated conflict within Apple, sapping its vitality in the process. Mr. Burrough argued that Steve Jobs ruled with ever-shifting chaos, where product triumphed over hierarchy. Under Tim Cook, he said, Apple is siloed, smooth, and essentially complacent. Former Apple wunderkind Tony Fadell coincidentally tweeted just last week that Steve Jobs did not manage through conflict, and others have taken issue with Mr. Burrough, too. The reality is that any one person’s perspective never tells the whole tale, but his opinions make for an interesting read. You can see the whole tweetstorm in this tweet and in the CNBC story.
@JohnKirk @asymco The very first thing Tim did as CEO was convert Apple from a dynamic change-maker into a boring operations company.
— ᴮᵒᵇ ᴮᵘʳʳᵒᵘᵍʰ (@bob_burrough) January 16, 2017
Managing Photos, Fixing Your Apple Watch & Resolving Network Issues – Mac Geek Gab 640
Migrating Photos to a new Mac, managing and syncing your family’s photos, speeding up iOS Spotlight searches, fixing an unresponsive Digital Crown on your Apple Watch and resolving website loading delays are just some of the things you’ll learn from your two favorite geeks in this week’s show! Listen as Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun answer your questions and solve your problems.
