Depending on usage and the watchOS version, most Apple Watch users find themselves routinely charging their watch every night out of caution or necessity. But what if one is camping and has no access to electrical power? Or otherwise unable to charge the Apple Watch as expected. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an interchangeable Apple Watch band that could provide backup power? A good collection of bands means one could wear the AW all the time, says our Bryan Chaffin, and that means opportunity for sleep tracking, says our Jeff Gamet. Patently Apple (thanks guys) has the story. This would be great news if Apple pursues it.
Apple Working on Custom Mac Chips to Cut Reliance on Intel
Apple is reportedly working to scale back its reliance on Intel for MacBook and MacBook Pro chips by designing its own ARM-based processor. The Apple-designed chip will handle low power functions such as Power Nap, and could be a step towards abandoning Intel at some point in the future.
Hackers Post Cellebrite's Smartphone Cracking Tools Online
A hacker dumped 900GB of hacking tools and data used by Cellebrite. The cache of data is on Pastebin, for now, at least. Cellebrite is an Israeli security company that came to public prominence when the FBI used its services to hack into the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhone.
Ebook Sales Take a Hit, Apple Watch Battery Band Patent - TMO Daily Observations 2017-02-02
Ebook sales are down, tablet and ebook reader sales are down, and there may be a correlation. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to look at the state of ebook sales, plus they weigh in on an Apple patent for an Apple Watch battery wristband.
Federal Court Blocks Part of Trump's Immigration Executive Order
The controversial executive order blocking immigrants and refugees from seven middle eastern countries from entering the United States has been partially shut down. A Federal Court Judge granted a temporary restraining order stopping the government from refusing entry for people with valid immigrant visas, but didn’t address the fate of refugees or tourists.
The 2017 Arduino Starter Kit and Course Bundle: $75
I love Arduino. It’s an open source electronics platform for making interactive projects, and we have a deal on an Arduino Starter Kit bundled with nine Arduino training courses. The Starter Kit has a bunch of Arduino electronics. The training bundles include: Arduino Step by Step 2017: Getting Started, Arduino Robotic Projects, Arduino iOS Blueprints, Internet of Things with Arduino Blueprints, Arduino Android Blueprints, Arduino Development Cookbook, Arduino Electronics Blueprints, Arduino Wearable Projects, and Arduino by Example. That’s a ton of training materials, letting you pick the areas that interest you. You get it all for $75.
How To (Sort of) Block Emails In Apple Mail On macOS
Using a simple trick, you can block emails from a specific person using Apple Mail on macOS. This should work on all versions of macOS that have Apple Mail preinstalled. Now you have can peace of mind from trolls, exes or spammers. Andrew walks us through this easy tip.
Apple Profits, Mac Sales, and Fun with Apple's Cash Hoard - ACM 396
Apple turned in a record December quarter this week, and Bryan and Jeff look at the numbers. They also look at this one weird trick Apple did to goose Mac sales—the company released a new Mac. And for grins, they discuss some of the things Apple could do with the astounding $246 billion in cash the company has squirreled away.
How to Install ddrescue and Recover Files for Free
Recovering files from a failing hard drive is stressful and it can be pretty expensive, too. Reliable backups can help with the stress part, and ddrescue can help with the rest because it’s good at recovering files, and it’s free. The catch is that it requires a little command line mojo, but we’ve got you covered. Follow along to learn how to install and use ddrescue, plus we’ll show you how to give it a graphic interface, too.
Interactive eBook Standard Could Take on Web Qualities with W3C Merger
Today the World Wide Web Consortium and the International Digital Publishing Forum have completed a merger. The new initiative, called Publishing@W3C, will use web technologies to improve publishing, authoring and reading of interactive eBooks. The goal is to make an eBook a self-contained ecosystem with rich interactions using dynamic documents, search, and multimedia. The self-contained part means that the web elements can work even if you’re offline, without needing an always-on connection. Work is underway on APIs and packaging formats to enable these eBooks to act more like apps or web pages. The move could dramatically overhaul the ebook market, which is currently dominated by Amazon, with Apple’s iBooks as a distant second. It remains to be seen how having the W3C’s weight behind an ebook standard could affect the market, but it could give authors, publishers (including independent authors), and readers more options. It could also have a big impact on the textbook industry.
