Bitcoin payment processor OpenNode announced on Monday its integration with Substack, an online publishing platform. OpenNode will power both on-chain and Lightning Network Bitcoin payments.
Working together, OpenNode and Substack are starting by making instant, low cost payments available to a select group of crypto-focused publications. Readers will be able to use Bitcoin to pay for subscriptions to these select publications, and the publications will retain earnings in Bitcoin.
On Monday Apple uploaded the trailer for season two of The Morning Show and it reveals some aspects of the show that fans have been waiting for.
T-Mobile has an offer for Magenta and Magenta Max subscribers. They can get a free year of Apple TV+ just days after the carrier revealed its latest data breach.
Someone on GitHub posted a project of a list that shares alternative, open source front-ends to proprietary services.
Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join host Kelly Guimont to discuss new legislation around App Stores and “sideloading” of apps on iOS.
Over the weekend, u/ryandeanrocks shared an AI text generator via the r/Shortcuts subreddit. It’s an open source version of GPT-3. Of course, how good the output it produces depends upon the input, but I’ve seen it spit out some decent things. Here’s an example; I pasted the first sentence of this piece, and here is part of the output: “You’ll notice that if you type something and then choose to send it to someone, that the chat box in the corner will turn green. In theory, that’s the easiest way to see if someone is typing something out and waiting to send it, but it can take awhile to see the difference. With real-time chatting, it’s almost instantaneous.“
A macOS public beta for the private messaging app WhatsApp is available now with features not yet available in the regular public release, and there’s also confirmation of an iPad-native app in the iPhone app code.
If you were in the market for an M1 iMac and do not want to pay full retail price, you now have a new option. Refurbished 24 inch M1 iMac models are now available directly from Apple. The model including 512GB SSD storage will cost you $1439, while the same model with 256GB of storage is $1269. The normal retail price of these models is $1699 and $1499 respectively. Of course, Cupertino puts plenty of testing, cleaning, and necessary repair work into its refurbished products. They are backed by a one-year warranty and free delivery and returns.
Google has launched a web page that aims to help people understand how Google Search works and how the team improves and designs this service.
The US National Park Service turns 104 on August 25, 2021. In honor of the occasion, Apple has announced a donation program, a new Apple Watch Activity Challenge, and special content collections to allow you to experience the parks and learn more about what makes them the amazing national resource that we often take for granted. From August 24 to August 27, Apple will make a $10 donation to the National Park Foundation for each purchase made with Apple Pay on its website, in the Apple Store app, or inside any Apple Store in the US. In years past, Cupertino’s offered much less of a donation per purchase, so this is pretty cool.
Our national parks strengthen our connection to nature, to one another, and to the soul of our nation. We’re excited to continue building on our four-year partnership with the National Park Foundation, and to support their work to preserve our parks for generations to come.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO
