Joanna Penn is a best-selling thriller novelist. She’s published over 20 books and sold over 450,000 copies in 74 countries and five languages. She’s most famous for her ARKANE series described by readers as ‘Dan Brown meets Lara Croft.’ Joanna is also an entrepreneur who teaches writers how to hone their craft. I interviewed Joanna about her past which includes a Master’s degree in Theology from Oxford. Joanna spent years working on computer code before she realized that she wanted to write fiction. And she’s a self-admitted techie, using a Mac and Scrivener. Today, Joanna leverages her background in theology and psychology plus extensive travel to write her thrillers. We talked about the craft of writing fiction and finished up with whether AI agents will ever put us both out of work.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-09-06: Apple and Age Discrimination, Apple Music's $99 Deal
The New York Times says Apple age discriminates against potential retail store employees. Dave Hamilton joins Jeff Gamet to discuss what they think may have really happened with the former Apple engineer who applied for a Genius Bar job, plus they look at Apple Music’s new discount annual price deal.
Apple Music gets $99 Annual Subscription via Gift Card
If an Apple Music subscription at US$120 a year is a little too expensive for you, try $99 instead. Apple is now offering the discounted subscription through a special gift card you can buy in the company’s retail stores.
Happy Labor Day
In observance of Labor Day, a U.S. holiday, The Mac Observer will be taking the day off for a little outdoor fun with friends and family, and we hope you are, too. We’ll resume our regular publishing schedule on Tuesday, September 6, just in time for Apple’s “See you on the 7th” media event. Enjoy the holiday!
MGG 621: Tips, Tricks and Troubleshooting Outside The Box
Tips, and lots of them, start today’s show. Audiobooks, Finder tweaks, securing your Mac and more! Then it’s time to talk about how your accounts can disappear and reappear, why your printer driver might want to listen to the network, how to view 35mm slides on your Mac and how your iPad keypad might change names! All this and much more on today’s Mac Geek Gab.
TAP and SMASH for iOS Has that Just-One-More Thing
The thing I enjoy the most about posting games like this is the chorus of “Gee, thanks, Bryan. I just wasted my entire afternoon because of you” messages I get. With that in mind, I offer you a cordial “You’re welcome!” reply. Today’s game is called TAP and SMASH. The premise is simple: when you tap, a triangle that represents you moves up in a straight line. Along the way, you collect stars (for points) and coins (for buying power ups, continuing your game, etc.). In your way are circles and lines traveling across your path. When you tap, you move. When you don’t, you fall. That makes avoiding the enemy shapes a matter of timing and luck. I suck at this game, but it has that just-one-more quality. It’s also free to download. For $0.99 you can turn off ads that play every five minutes or so between games. You can also buy coins, but you can have a lot of fun without doing so. I happily paid to turn off ads because I’ve been playing the game a lot. Enjoy!
Newest Apple Campus 2.0 Flyover Shows Glass Panels, Solar Panels, More
YouTube user Matthew Rogers has posted a new drone flyover video of Apple Campus 2.0, the so-called Spaceship HQ. This update features some of the glass panels that will form the outer walls of the building, solar panels on the roof, the shrinking dirt mountain on site, many of the outer buildings, fuel cells, and more. I love seeing these updates.  The building is amazing, even in its unfinished state, and being able to watch it grow is fun.
TextExpander 1-Year Single User Plan: $19.98
We have a deal on TextExpander, one of our favorite Mac and iOS utilities at TMO.  TextExpander lets you create text “snippets” that you can then call with a key combination you designate. It’s great for anything you have to type frequently, especially when combined with powerful for tools for combining the snippet with something in your clipboard. Smile Software moved to a subscription pricing scheme, and our deal will let you get a 1-year subscription for $19.98, 60% off retail. It’s good for one user on an unlimited number of devices.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-09-02: HP Exploits Slow Mac Refresh Cycle, App Store Cleanup
Apple’s slow Mac refresh cycle is HP’s opportunity. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to talk about how HP is taking advantage of the ongoing lack of new Mac hardware, plus they share their thoughts on Apple’s plan to clean house at the App Store.
Apple Cleaning House, Removing Abandoned Titles from App Store
Apple is about to start cleaning the App Store’s house by removing outdated and abandoned apps. The change should make it easier to find the apps you’re looking for, improve discoverability, and cut down on apps that aren’t compatible with current iOS versions. Developers trying to manipulate search results with long app names are in for a surprise, too.