On Monday TiVo announced their BOLT+ DVR, enhancing the company’s flagship line with a sleek, black unit that includes six tuners and 3TB of recording capacity. Six tuners may seem like a lot until you think about how the current TiVo paradigm works: you have the BOLT+ (or BOLT, or 4+ tuner Roamio) on one TV connected to cable, then you have TiVo Minis at all your other TVs. You only pay a subscription fee for your main device, and each of the Minis can stream live or recorded shows from the host. The trick is, each active Mini occupies one tuner of the host device when in use. Six tuners begins to make a lot of sense if you have even 2 or 3 TVs in action at any one point in time. TiVo is really the only company who is properly addressing the whole-house media viewing solution this way, and it truly makes life a lot simpler. TIVo’s new BOLT+ is priced at $499.99 and will be available online and at brick-and-mortar retail on Thursday, September 15th.
Is Apple’s iPhone Naming Scheme a Mistake or Genius?
It’s true that there are logical dilemmas with Apple’s iPhone naming scheme. Apple has never formally explained the reasoning for its nomenclature. And so, journalists have taken their best shot at explaining the logic of the “S” years and the presumed “tick-tock” cycle. But while some think it’s crazy, there may be genius behind the craziness.
Privatoria VPN 3-Year Subscription: $29
We have a deal for you today on a 3-year subscription to Privatoria VPN. This service encrypts your data, masks your IP from prying eyes, and works with macOS/OS X, iOS, Windows, Linux/Unix, Fire OS, Chrome OS, and Android. There are more details in the deal listing. You can get this subscription through us for $29.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-09-12: Apple Car Layoffs, Why the Media Loves Hating Apple
Apple seems to be shaking up its secret car project, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to discuss what the reported car project layoffs likely mean, plus John explains why the media loves spinning Apple in a negative light.
iOS 10 GM Adds "Announce Calls" Feature
Rolled out to to developers last week, the iOS 10 Golden Master release (Version 10.0.1 14A403) includes a new Announce Calls feature in Settings > Phone. When enabled, your phone will begin ringing as usual and then your ringtone’s volume will duck down while Siri announces the name or number of the caller. You have the option to set this to Always, Headphones & Car, Headphones Only or Never. If set to Always, it will announce through your iPhone’s speaker only when the Ring/Silent switch is in Ring mode. iOS 10 will be available for all users tomorrow, Tuesday, September 13th.
ESPN Shows iPhone 7 Plus Photo Quality with US Open Tennis Shots
Apple put the iPhone 7 Plus in the hands of pro photographers ahead of its big reveal last week, and now we get to see even more shots because ESPN has snapping pics with one at the US Open Tennis Championships. Landon Nordeman used an iPhone 7 Plus in lieu of his DSLR setup, and the shots he got were pretty amazing.
MGG 622 – Cool Stuff Found & Media Management Holy Grail
Lots of great Cool Stuff Found has come in lately, and today we share it with you. Then it’s time to talk the holy grail of media library management. It promises to be a wild show, folks. Download and enjoy!
Bob Mansfield Reportedly Shaking Up Apple Car Project With Layoffs
Apple has been laying off people from Project Titan, the company’s not-so-secret car project. The New York Times reported that Apple is rethinking its plans for a car, has “shuttered parts of its self-driving car project,” and laid off “dozens of people.”
Hands-On with iPhone 7 Home Button: Disappointing Haptic Feedback, Increased Functionality
Apple had two major changes in iPhone 7 beyond incremental improvements. The first is the much-talked about lack of an auxiliary port for headphones, but the other will effect the way we do things far longer than the transition to Lightning audio. That’s moving from a physical Home Button to a touch-sensitive, stationary Home Button. Here’s what Bryan Chaffin thought about it during his hands-on session at Apple’s media event.
Apple Watch Series 2 Preorders Slip to 3 Weeks and Longer
It took hours instead of minutes, but delivery dates for most Apple Watch Series 2 models have slipped out to about three weeks. The Series 2 Sport aluminum and stainless steel models are listed as shipping by the end of September, while the ceramic Edition model is 5-6 weeks out.