Apple is to launch its own in-house studio. Its first production, exec produced by Steven Spielberg, will be a follow-up to Band of Brothers.
Harry Potter Takes Over Times Square With Immersive Experience
The producers behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child put together an immersive experience that took over Times Square. Fifty-one screens celebrated the play’s expansion into international markets, AdWeek reported.
The producers of Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in partnership with entertainment advertising agency AKA NYC, recently put that to the test with a Times Square takeover that used 51 towering screens to promote the play’s expansion to new international markets and reveal its new tagline: “Sometimes, Darkness Comes From Unexpected Places.” The project required the cooperation of eight digital display companies, creating a nearly 360-degree panorama of moving visuals. As attendees watched, a timer counted down to reveal Harry Potter, but the bright and golden imagery was soon clouded into darkness as dementors arrive and herald the ominous return of the Death Eaters via the play’s time-traveling plotlines.
Twitter for Mac is Back With a Native Catalyst App
Twitter is once again available for macOS users via the Mac App Store, and it was built using Catalyst. The company explained the shift.
Apple's Market Value Just Passed One Trillion
Not only was Apple the first company to reach a market value of one trillion dollars, the company recently passed that milestone.
Your Kids' Photos Power Surveillance Technology
The New York Times has a nice feature out today about how a mother found photos of her kids in a machine learning database.
None of them could have foreseen that 14 years later, those images would reside in an unprecedentedly huge facial-recognition database called MegaFace. Containing the likenesses of nearly 700,000 individuals, it has been downloaded by dozens of companies to train a new generation of face-identification algorithms, used to track protesters, surveil terrorists, spot problem gamblers and spy on the public at large. The average age of the people in the database, its creators have said, is 16.
I can’t imagine the gross feeling you get when you see your kids in a database like this.
NASA Aiming For Manned SpaceX Mission in Q1 2020
NASA is aiming for a manned SpaceX mission in the first quarter of 2020. NASA chief Jim Bridenstine made the announcement Thursday, Reuters reported.
The pronouncement of a revised time frame signaled NASA believes SpaceX is getting the Crew Dragon project back on track following an explosion during a ground test in April and technical challenges with its re-entry parachute system. Bridenstine said successful development of the capsule was key to achieving NASA’s top priority – the resumed “launching of American astronauts on American rockets from American soil” for the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011. The NASA administrator spoke to reporters at the end of a visit to the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, just outside Los Angeles, where chief executive Elon Musk led him on a tour of the sprawling manufacturing plant.
Apple Arcade Just Got Five New Games
Five games were just added to Apple Arcade, tempting people to keep their subscription as the service’s one month free trial nears its end.
Tim Cook Defends Removal of Hong Kong Protest App in Email to Apple Employees
Tim Cook has written to Apple employees, defending the decision to remove an app used by protestors in Hong Kong from the iOS App Store.
Alleged Apple Employee Says 'Things are so Broken Here at Apple'
A conversation on Hacker News from an alleged Apple employee says that things are broken at Apple and no one communicates.
Broken management structure. I have had many managers (a red flag in itself) but even worse none of the managers take suggestions from engineers. Everything is purely top down. If an engineer realizes there is a problem on a macro scale they cannot fix it. It is literally impossible to unite more than 1.5 teams to get anything done.
Obviously there is no way to tell if they are real or not (At least, my surface research for these linked teasers can’t tell). Another commenter mentions “overt sexism that I’ve been witness to in iCloud management…”
Amazon Music Now Featured on Apple TV
Amazon Music now joins Spotify as third-party features available on Apple TV. Download the Amazon Music app to get started.
For now, the tvOS Amazon Music app is available for Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD users in thirteen countries: the U.S., UK, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico, Japan, and India.
Amazon Music is a free download from the App Store.
Alfonso Cuarón Makes Multi-Year Deal With Apple
Alfonso Cuarón has set a multi-year deal with Apple for its Apple TV+ while still managing his deal with Anonymous Content.
Doing it Wrong With iOS Screen Time Limits
According to USA Today,
Some screen time is worse than others when it comes to kids and academic performance, according to a new analysis published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.
Television viewing, followed by video games, were the two activities most tied to poor school performance, researchers showed in a review of 58 studies published over the decades.”
Other activities: not so much. This is a helpful article for parents.
iPM PU Leather Wallet Case for iPhone 11 with Kickstand: $12.99
We have a deal on the PM Leather Protective Wallet Case. This wallet-style case is made from PU leather, and it includes slots for credit cards, ID cards, and one large pocket for your bills. It also has a kickstand function for propping your iPhone up. We’re linking to the black case for the iPhone 11 for $12.99. There’s a pulldown menu for iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, too, as well as several color choices.
Mac Memory, Catalina's Potential – TMO Daily Observations 2019-10-10
Dave Hamilton and John Martellaro join host Kelly Guimont to discuss the right amount of RAM in a Mac, and Catalina’s place in macOS history.
Apple Accidentally Revealed 'PhoenixCE' Diagnostic Software
Redditor u/BickNlinko bought a certified refurbished MacBook Pro from Apple and it had diagnostic software called ‘PhoenixCE’ left on it.
#BoycottApple Trends on Twitter After Company's Recent Moves
The hashtag #BoycottApple is trending on Twitter after Apple removed the HKMap and Quartz apps from the App Store at the behest of China.
Just after Apple removed the apps, #BoycottApple has been trending on all the social media platforms with users voicing their discontent with Apple’s move. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Apple has been under fire for pulling something like this. Back in 2017, the company pulled The New York Times app from the App Store stating that the Chinese government had requested the app’s removal because it was “in violation of local regulations.”
Phil Schiller: “Courage.”
Apple Releases Trailer for 'Truth Be Told' Based on Are You Sleeping
Today Apple shared a trailer for its upcoming series Truth Be Told based on a novel by Kathleen Barber called Are You Sleeping.
Every truth has a consequence. When new evidence compels podcaster Poppy Parnell (Octavia Spencer) to reopen the murder case that made her a national sensation, she comes face to face with Warren Cave (Aaron Paul), the man she may have mistakenly helped to put behind bars. Her investigation navigates urgent concerns about privacy, media and race. Truth Be Told is created by Nichelle Tramble Spellman and stars Octavia Spencer, Aaron Paul, Lizzy Caplan, Elizabeth Perkins, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Tracie Thoms, Haneefah Wood and Ron Cephas Jones.
You can watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Pixelmator Pro 1.5 Supports macOS Catalina, Sidecar, and Mac Pro
Pixelmator Pro 1.5 Avalon adds support for macOS Catalina, Sidecar, and enhancements for the Mac Pro and its Pro Display XDR.
Adobe Announces New Creative Cloud Desktop App
Adobe has redesigned its Creative Cloud desktop app for macOS Catalina. It makes it easier to access and manage your content.
Apple Card Comes now With Disaster Relief
Apple is offering Disaster Relief to Apple Card customers in areas that experience natural disasters such as flooding and earthquakes.
Apple Watch 4 Gets Important Security Update
Apple Watch Series 4 got the watchOS 5.3.2 update that had previously been rolled out the Apple Watch Series 1,2, and 3.
Texas Hold'em Updated for iPad
Apple’s classic Texas Hold’em game has be updated for iPad, 9to5Mac reported. The game can be play in fullscreen, Split View, or Slide Over mode.
With Texas Hold’em iPad support, you can play in full screen or while using other applications thanks to support for Split View and Slide Over multitasking… Apple’s Texas Hold’em game was originally created for the iPod and was one of the first games released for the iPhone in 2008. Apple has breathed new life into the game this year in honor of the App Store’s 10th anniversary (which was technically last year.)
How Apple Pay and an Out-of-Battery iPhone Turned a £1.50 Bus Ticket Into a £1000 Nightmare
Londoners can pay for their travel using Apple Pay. However, it all went wrong for one, landing her with a £476 fine and a criminal record.
EyeQue Launches Vision Monitoring Kit
Today EyeQue has launched a vision monitoring kit that includes the EyeQue VisionCheck, PDCheck, and the new EyeQue Insight Plus.
The EyeQue Vision Monitoring Kit is available now on Indiegogo, with pledge levels starting at $119 (retail value: $205). The product is slated to ship to backers by the end of November 2019, in time for the holidays (limited quantities). Learn more about EyeQue at eyeque.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for more updates.