Sonos and Amazon jointly announced their Alexa integration earlier this year and the world rejoiced. Voice control of your Sonos system is one of those holy grails. The integration is expected to be available at some point in 2017. But I’m an impatient geek so, while I’m waiting for official support to be available, I spent an hour yesterday getting this working using freely-available open-source tools. You can do this, too, and I’ll walk you through what you’re doing and how to get started.
macOS: Archiving a Time Capsule
This Quick Tip is about making a backup…of your backup. So if you’re super-paranoid about your file archives, you can make sure that your Time Capsule’s historical data is saved in multiple locations. Hey, where backups are concerned, we think paranoia is good, so come read all about it!
Apple Rolls Out Single Sign-on for Apple TV
Fourth generation Apple TV owners can finally use the single sign-on feature Apple showed off months ago. The feature went live on Tuesday, although some content providers are still missing, and it’s available only in the United States.
An Update on TMO's Background Mode Podcast
Over the last three years, The Mac Observer’s John Martellaro has aired over 150 episodes of his Background Mode podcast. This show has allowed listeners to hear the inspiring success story of many notable people in the tech industry. Here’s an update on the status of the show and a recap of some notable guests who have joined him so far.
Supreme Court Throws Out Apple's $400M Win in Samsung Patent Fight
Samsung’s legal persistence is paying off because the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Tuesday the electronics maker doesn’t have to pay Apple US$400 million for infringing on iPhone-related patents. More specifically, the court ruled Samsung owes Apple damages based on infringing components instead of the entire device.
Tim Cook Says IDC got it Wrong, Apple Watch Sales are Strong
IDC says Apple Watch sales are tanking, but Apple CEO Tim Cook says that’s not so. In fact, he says Apple Watch sales are going strong and the company is on track for a record quarter.
Amazon Go Shopping, iPhone as a Desktop Computer - TMO Daily Observations 2016-12-06
First Amazon wanted to be your go-to online shopping destination, and now the company wants to be your local brick-and-mortar store, too. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at Amazon’s planned cashier-free grocery store, plus they dive into the possibility of our iPhones becoming our only computing device.
macOS: Saving Out Messages Conversations
Got some incriminating text messages you’d like to save? Or maybe you don’t want to blackmail your friends and would just like to keep a certain conversation forever and ever? This Quick Tip is for you in either case. We’ll discuss how to save out a single Messages conversation on your Mac!
HyperDrive USB Type-C 5-in-1 Hub with SDXC, microSDXC, 2 USB 3.0 Ports: $39.95
Today I am pleased to tell you about a deal on a gadget I would have linked to as Cool Stuff Found if we didn’t have a deal. It’s the HyperDrive USB Type-C 5-in-1 Hub, a hub you can plug directly into your MacBook or MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. As you can see in the picture, the hub has an SDXC slot, a microSDXC slot, two USB 3.0 ports, and a USB-C port, too. The device is made from aluminum, and it’s priced at $39.95 through us, 20% off retail. Works with Chromebook Pixel, too.
Apple's Computing Future Could Be the Reverse ToasterFridge
Jean-Louis Gassée has an excellent piece on the future of desktop and mobile operating systems. It includes some lore—including that time Apple tried to buy a a code dump of BeOS from Palm—and some interesting speculation on the future. Both are well worth your time, and it got me thinking about an old interview of Steve Jobs from the mid-1990s. Think: the Reverse ToasterFridge.