Mark Gurman at Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is working on a smart home device, similar to the Amazon Echo, using the Siri voice assistant. Apple doesn’t have a vast product inventory to leverage from like Amazon, and other kinds of assistance depend on considerable, often creepy, personal information. So home automation seems to be Apple’s angle. Will that approach work? Page 2 of Friday’s Particle Debris explores.
10' Lightning-to-USB Cable: 3-Pack: $22
We have a deal on three 10-foot Lightning-USB cables for just $22. If you’re the type who likes to have lots of Lightning cables lying around because you go through them too fast, this is the deal for you. They are MFi-certified and available now.
VirnetX Scores $302.4M Win from Apple in Patent Trial
The third time is a charm for VirnetX and its ongoing patent infringement lawsuit fight with Apple because a Tyler, Texas, Federal Court jury ruled the iPhone and iPad maker owes the company US$302.4 million. The patents in question cover secure communication and FaceTime, and now the case will head to the Appeals Court where VirnetX may have a harder time convincing a judge to let it keep the money.
MGG 625: The Spotlight Clone Wars
Faster chargers, ODB2 dongles, Mac vs. Windows File Paths, MacBook Pro specs, Dropbox, macOS Sierra and the Spotlight Clone Wars are all topics discussed in today’s Mac Geek Gab. In fact, they’re not just topics, they’re your questions answered! Plus, Dave and John go on a good photoanalysisd rant for good measure!
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Hits Mac and Linux
Good news for Mac gamers: Feral Interactive announced the release of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II for Mac and Linux. This real-time strategy powerhouse is set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (obviously), where you are a Force Commander of the Blood Ravens Chapter defending the Imperium of Man. This game has very high system requirements—Feral Interactive specifies a number of video cards that aren’t supported. Make sure your Mac can cut it before buying this game. It looks very fun, and was a big success on the PC. The video included below shows off some game-play. There’s a theatrical trailer on the game’s site, too. It’s available on the Mac App Store, Steam, and directly from Feral. It’s $19.99.
Evidence is Mounting: Apple Will Convert the Macs to ARM CPUs
The time since most of the Macs have been updated can now be described as geologic. Is that because Apple doesn’t care about the Macs? Or, more likely, could we be in for another major architectural change? Evidence is mounting that Apple will abandon Intel and take the Mac lineup to ARM. John looks at the evidence and makes the case.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-09-30: iPhone Lightning Headphone Adapters, Listener Comments
Third party Lighting to 3.5mm headphone adapters are starting to make their first appearances for the iPhone 7. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at the headphone adapter market and whether or not most people will really need one. They also respond to listener comments on yesterday’s show where we talked about the limitations of Apple’s Airport Extreme Base Station.
A Game of Thrones Gets Enhanced Edition Exclusive to iBooks
ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG FANBOY SWOON! Apple announced A Game of Thrones: Enhanced Edition on Thursday—an iBooks exclusive. The new version of the massively popular (and utterly brilliant) book includes new artwork, a glossary, more information about the houses, and more. The entire A Song of Ice and Fire series is getting these Enhanced Editions, but A Game of Thrones: Enhanced Edition is available now for $8.99. You can preorder the others for $11.99. Apple has a video on the iBooks landing page for these new versions. It includes comments from George R.R. Martin about the series, as well as a great look at some of the new artwork. This is a huge score for Apple’s iBooks.
macOS Sierra: Fast Sound Settings from the Menu Bar
Apple gets that we’re always looking for ways to make the routine things we do on our Macs easier and some of the subtle changes in macOS Sierra really show that off. The Sound menu bar item is a perfect example because now switching audio input and output sources is even simpler.
Get 8 Mac Utilities for Free
Our friends at Stack Commerce have put together a collection of eight Mac utilities, including: CommandQ, Export for iTunes, UnDistracted, SuperTab SE 1.4, Screenie, Total Video Player for Mac, iFotosoft Photo Viewer, and SQLPro for Postgres. And they’re all free. The details are on the deal listing, but grab them while they’re hot.
