We have a deal for you today on Swift Programming from Scratch, a tutorial designed to teach you Apple’s Swift programming language. It features 100-plus exercises and custom made Playgrounds to practice with. It’s $10 through our deal.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-10-11: Dash's App Store Death, UK Apple Watch Ban
Dash is gone from the Mac and iOS App Stores, and the story behind why is a big bucket of drama. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at what transpired to get Dash banned from the App Store and cost the developer his account. They also offer up their thoughts on the UK Prime Minister banning the Apple Watch from Cabinet meetings.
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Swoops onto the iTunes Store
To the Bat-TV, Robin! Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders hit the iTunes Store on Tuesday. The 90 minute animated movie brings back the awesomeness of the 1966 television series, complete with Adam West and Burt Ward reprising their iconic roles as Batman and Robin, and Julie Newmar joins in as Catwoman, too. There are Bat-labels galore, plenty of campy jokes, and loads of fun. You can download Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders for US$19.99 so you can watch any Bat-time on your Bat-iPhone, Bat-iPad, and Bat-Apple TV.
PDF Expert 2.0 for Mac for $24.99 One Day Only
Readdle’s PDF Expert 2 is a great PDF reader and editor that goes far beyond OS X’s Preview app at a price that doesn’t put the squeeze on your pocketbook. The app lets you edit text, images and links in PDF files, annotate documents, merge files into a single PDF, complete PDF forms, add document passwords, and more. PDF Expert is regularly US$59.99, but Stack Commerce put together a one-day sale for just $24.99.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Writer and Raconteur Bob 'Dr. Mac' LeVitus
Bob «Dr. Mac» LeVitus is a writer, book author and raconteur. He writes for the Houston Chronicle and The Mac Observer, and he specializes in the «Dummies» books about Apple products like the Mac, the iPad and iPhone. But Bob wasn’t always a writer. Early on, he wanted to work in a recording studio and it just so happened, in high school, he had a good friend, Jermaine Jackson. That resulted in Bob touring with the Jackson 5. Later, he became a roadie with Shaun Cassidy. (Bob tells a secret.) Bob’s also worked in advertising, a story in itself, and also as the official evangelist for Power Computing in the 1990s. Speaking of Apple, he said «We were their worst nightmare.» Does Bob know how to tell stories? Oh, yes.
Apple AirPods: a Strategy of Ambience and Scarcity
UBS financial analyst Steve Milunovich has presented an interesting theory about Apple’s Ambient strategy: «…different input/output methods that can be flexibly utilized depending on the situation (sitting, walking, running, driving). Collectively these devices offer the capability of earlier products … delivered as a seamless user experience.» In addition, the notion of created and evolving scarcity punctuates the Apple strategy. Apple AirPods: a Strategy of Ambience and Scarcity explains it.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-10-10: Samsung's Ongoing Note 7 Fire Issues, Robot Sex
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 battery problem isn’t going away and some replacement units are catching on fire, too. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to discuss Samsung’s burning product failure, plus John schools Jeff on the perils of robot sex.
GeeFi Mobile Hotspot on Kickstarter Provides Unlimited 4G Data in 100 Countries
Check out the GeeFi on Kickstarter. It’s a mobile hotspot its makers say provides unlimited 4G data in 100-plus countries. It will support up to 10 devices at a time, and it does this without you having to change out SIM cards are worry about local contracts. When the device is turned on, it displays a local wireless network with a password. Plug that into your laptop, smartphone, or tablet, and you’re good to go. They also say it provides 150 megabits down and 50 megabits up—for $10 per day. The data plan is separate from the cost of the device. Funding options that get a GeeFi currently start at $120. They’ve already raised $141,000 dollars out of a $20,000 goal, with two weeks to go.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geefi/geefi-unlimited-4g-wi-fi-everywhere-you-travel
SunVolt Water-Resistant Dual-USB Solar Charger: $19.99
It’s a portable charger that’s water resistant, charges via solar cells, and it has a built-in 5000mAh of reserve battery power.  You can charge two devices at once. And we have it for $19.99. Get it.
MGG 626: Lightning Struck my Switches
Quick Tips start this episode, including topics like macOS Sierra’s picture-in-picture videos, auto-logout, Sierra upgrade hints, macerror, cleaning up your Keychain, printing to PDF on any iOS 10 device, Apple Watch battery life and more. Then it’s on to questions about macOS Sierra’s network login changes, running a mixed macOS and OS X household and, finally, a discussion about lightning strikes and how to recover. Enjoy!
