Michael Johnston from The iOS Show joins Jeff Gamet to review Apple’s just released AirPods wireless earpods. They dive into the setup, performance, sound quality, fit, and more to help you decide if they’re worth the $159 price tag.
Hotspot Shield Elite Plus VPN 1-Year Subscription: $21.50
We have a deal for you today on a one-year subscription to Hotspot Shield Elite Plus VPN. The service supports Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, and Kindle, with more than 20 virtual locations to connect to. You can get this subscription for $21.50 though us. There are longer subscriptions available, too.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Scrivener Creator Keith Blount
Keith Blount is the founder of the renowned writing app Scrivener. It’s designed for long-form text such as a thesis or novel. Think of it as a 3-ring binder and corkboard for the author. But Keith didn’t start life as a programmer. In college he studied history and literature. Later he became a school teacher. Interested in writing, however, he discovered that standard word processors didn’t have the facility he wanted for stitching together non-linear work. So he spent six months of evenings teaching himself Objective-C and Xcode. The first major release of Scrivener in 2007 was a huge hit. Today, Scrivener has sold over 500,000 copies and is available for Mac, Windows and iOS. Have you wondered how he named his company? You’ll just have to tune in!
The First AI-Written Christmas Song Is More Soul-Crushing than Fruitcake
Gather ye around the yule log, so festive, warm, and bright! Listen to this song of Christmas cheer written and composed by an AI. And hold on to your loved ones as said tune sucks the soul from your very bones and leaves you quivering in the naked fear not that the morrow will not come, but that it will come and you will be forced to endure another day contemplating the futility and hopelessness of life!  «I’ve always been there for the rest of our lives. A hundred and a half hours ago. I’m glad to meet you. I can hear the music coming from the hall.» Now that, dear friends, is the Christmas stuff of nightmares, as HowStuffWorks put it. And yes, I am dying, both from laughter and abject fear. This «song,» such as it is, was the result of a neural network project from The University of Toronto. They fed in 100 hours of holiday music, a bunch of holiday photographs with captions, and said, «Now you do it.» The song below was the result. Put another way, score ones for the humans.
The Artificial Intelligence Arms Race Is On
It’s easy to fall into the notion that Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents are intended only to speak to us, HAL 9000 style—to inform, analyze and guide via conversation.  But today, AI agents are being used for many behind the scenes activities. For example, cancer research via IBM’s Watson, autonomous cars and better human language translations. As a result of the enormous impact AI can have, in the many forms of human interactions, «Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and the Chinese firm Baidu — have touched off an arms race for A.I.» There’s more discussion on page 2 of Particle Debris.
Blade Runner 2049 Teaser Trailer Hits the Web
Blade Runner was an epic dystopian future movie that really shined once Ridley Scott was able to re-edit it and undo the damage the studios inflicted on us. Now we’re getting our first taste of the sequel, Blade Runner 2049, in a teaser trailer that promises even more epic dystopian awesomeness. The movie stars Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, and if the teaser is any indication, this time the studios aren’t screwing it up. Blade Runner 2049 opens on October 6, 2017, so you have plenty of time to clear your schedule.
AirPods Alternatives, Plastic OLED - TMO Daily Observations 2016-12-19
Apple’s AirPods are in the company’s retail stores, but that doesn’t mean you can buy them. Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at the limited availability for AirPods, and offer up some alternative wireless earbud options. They also look at Plastic OLED and explain what that means for future iPhone models.
GorillaPower 5-Port USB & Power Dock: $59.99
We have a deal for you today on the GorillaPower 5-Port USB & Power Dock. This charging station has five ports and slots to hold your devices, too. It also has two two-way AC outlets, meaning you can plug the device into the wall, but you can also plug a computer into dock. This device is priced at $59.99 through us, 33% off retail.
The First Rule of The Darknet Is Don’t Talk About The Darknet – Mac Geek Gab 636
It’s true, John and Dave – and you, fellow listeners – have gone acronym crazy! BYOD is discussed, as is TOR browser on iOS and elsewhere. RAM performance under Sierra makes an appearance as do a TON of tips, especially one for speeding up Safari on slower Macs. VPN makes an appearance in this acronym show (as it should!), and then we have some gift guide suggestions from your fellow listeners. Press play and enjoy!
Super Mario Run Collects $5 Million in Coins in 24 Hours
Super Mario Run has garnered as many as five million downloads and US$5 million in revenue in just the first 24 hours since the game launched. VentureBeat rounded up estimates from three third party app metric services, with two of the three offering estimates in that range. If accurate, it would represent a 20% conversion rate of people who have download the free-to-download game. Nintendo gives users access to three levels, plus a tiny taste of the boss level, in the free download. For $9.99, users can unlock the whole game. $5 million is not a lot of money to a company like Apple—and Apple’s cut would be roughly $1.5 million—but it’s likely to be significant for any gaming company. Especially in the first 24 hours. Mobile gaming is big, and Apple has been pushing Super Mario Run hard (as Jeff and I discussed in Friday’s Daily Observations). It would seem that Apple’s user base is responding well to that push. Just for fun, the game’s trailer is below.
