Star Trek: Discovery season 1 was pretty awesome, and the trailer for season 2 makes it look like we have plenty to look forward to when new episodes start airing in early 2019. We get to meet Captain Christopher Pike, who commanded the USS Enterprise before James Kirk, and he looks pretty bad-ass. We also get a Spock reference, Tilly being awesome at math, a lot of action, and a new space mystery for the Discovery crew to unravel. Star Trek: Discovery is available only on CBS All Access, so you’ll need a subscription to watch.
iPhone Fast Charging to Require Certified USB-C Chargers
iPhone 18 W fast charging will require USB-C chargers that meet authentication standards. That’ll make them harder to find, but safer for your iPhone.
HomePod OS 12 to Support iPhone Voice Calls, Multiple Timers
A HomePod OS 12 private beta reportedly has the ability to handle phone calls when linked to your iPhone, can invoke Find My iPhone with a Siri voice command, and also includes multiple timer support.
Laurene Powell Jobs's 'The Atlantic' Magazine Goes on Hiring Spree
Laurene Powell Jobs invested some of her immense fortune in The Atlantic magazine in 2017. If you’ve been wondering what she’s been up to since, Politico (via Philip Elmer-DeWitt) reported a major expansion of The Atlantic’s political coverage, including 10 new job openings. From Politico:
The Atlantic is posting 10 new jobs today, including three White House reporters and two Pentagon reporters. There are also new openings to cover the State Department, intelligence, immigration and politics. The Washington hiring spree is part of a broader expansion announced in February under new majority owner Laurene Powell Jobs and Atlantic Media chairman David Bradley.
IK Multimedia Ships UNO Synth: Analog Synth with Triggers, Pads, Presets
IK Multimedia shipped UNO Synth, a monophonic synth with triggers, pads, presets, and analog sound. Designed by Italian boutique synthesizer maker Soundmachines and IK’s synth guru Erik Norlander, this baby comes with “100 presets and an easy-to-play keyboard with selectable scales and an arpeggiator.” Announced in May for US$/€199.99, it’s available now. You can read more in our original coverage, watch the movie below, or check it out on IK Multimedia’s site.
MacBook Pro, FreezerGate and a Tempest in a Teapot
There was a disruptive event this week in the Apple community that made screaming teenage girls at a concert look calm and sensible by comparison.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Coming Back for a Final Season
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was an amazing series and showed just how great Star Wars story telling is done. There was still more to tell, so Disney announced at San Diego Comic Con that it’s coming back with 12 more episodes to truly wrap up the series. Dave Filoni is in charge of the new episodes, which is excellent because he’s the man behind it and Star Wars: Rebels. He’s also the guy—quite frankly—who should’ve been put in charge of the rest of the Star Wars franchise. It’s a safe bet these new episodes will be just as awesome as the original five seasons. Unfortunately, they’ll be available only on Disney’s own streaming service, so that’s another subscription you’ll have to get. Still, considering how great The Clone Wars was, it’ll be awesome to finally get a true wrap up for the series.
Data Transfer Project Will Make it Easier to Switch Platforms
The companies want to build an open-source data portability platform to make it easy for users to migrate between platforms.
Want to Name the European Rover That Will Go to Mars in 2020?
A European rover called ExoMars will travel to the red planet in 2020. Astronaut Tim Peake wants everyone to enter a name on a website designed for the purpose. Be warned though: There will be no Spacey McSpaceFace. Also, you have to be a European citizen to vote, as I found out when I tried to submit my name suggestion (Destiny).
Tim says thinking about the rover’s mission might be the source for a great name. “I often get asked, ‘is there life out there beyond Earth?’. It’s a very fundamental question, and it’s one that this rover is going to try to answer,” he told BBC News.
Dr David Parker, the director of human spaceflight and robotics at the European Space Agency, agreed: “The Americans called their Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. We’ve tended in the past to name our missions after famous scientists.
It's Time to Let us Set Default Apps on iOS
Dan Moren writes that it’s about time that Apple let us set default apps on iOS. From the very beginning, the default apps have been Apple’s own. Although you can install third-party apps, you can’t set them as the default. This means that if you want to use Chrome, tapping on a link will still open it in Safari.
Developers who compete directly with Apple’s built-in apps (like Mail, Safari, and Calendar) have always had an uphill battle ahead of them. How do you take on an app that’s installed on every single iPhone for free? Especially when your app will always be a second-class citizen. Allowing users to choose their own default apps won’t fix all of those problems, but it will go a ways toward making these apps viable for even more people.
