Playdate is a small handheld game system filled with original games. Earlier this week the team behind it announced that pre-orders for the device will open in July. It has a black and white screen, WI-Fi, and Bluetooth. It also has a loudspeaker and a crank which serves as an analog controller. Once set up, users get two brand new games every week for 12 weeks. Playdate costs U.S. $179 plus taxes and shipping.
Dark Sky API, iOS App, Website Staying Open Until End of 2022
Dark Sky’s API service for existing customers, iOS app, and website will now remain available until the end of 2022.
WWDC21 Apple Design Awards Winners and Finalists Include CARROT Weather, Bird Alone, 1Password, and Little Orpheus
Each year at WWDC, Apple’s Design Awards celebrate the apps which have surprised, delighted, wowed, and otherwise impressed Apple’s internal panel of judges. This year there were six finalists in each of six categories (with a bit of overlap). Of those six finalists, two winners per category were crowned, one for Apps, and one for Games. Links to all of the winners and finalists are presented for you here!
Big Loud Bluetooth Speaker: $129.59
We have a deal on the TREBLAB HD-Max, which is, in a nutshell, a big, loud, Bluetooth speaker with a four-speaker design. It features 50W speakers and 3 sound modes that can function indoors and outdoors. It also has an internal battery and passthrough charging, and boasts playtime of up to 20 hours at 30% volume. This device is $161.99 through our deal, but coupon code WELOVEDAD takes an additional 20% off for a checkout price of $129.59.
WWDC Developer Spotlight: James Thomson and Daniel Jilg – TMO Daily Observations 2021-06-10
Today Kelly talks to James Thomson of PCalc (and “About” screen fame) and Daniel Jilg of App Telemetry about what they’ve seen at WWDC.
macOS Monterey: Low Power Mode is Coming to The Mac
Low Power Mode is finally coming to the Mac as a feature in the forthcoming macOS Monterey and will help preserve MacBook battery life.
macOS Monterey Tells You Which App is Using Your Mac’s Microphone
macOS Monterey has a recording indicator in the Control Panel and a new camera indicator light for when an app has access to a Mac’s mic.
Facebook Messenger on iOS Gets New Chat Themes, QR Code Payments
Facebook announced new features coming to its Messenger app. Chat themes, a quick reply bar, as well as QR codes and payments links.
We’re all about increasing efficiency, so we’ve added a new quick reply bar to the Messenger media viewer. This makes it easier to have conversations sparked by a cool photo or video without needing to go back to your main chat thread. Just tap on the photo or video and send a response through the quick reply bar at the bottom of the screen. Swipe up to exit the full-screen media viewer and head back to your main chat thread
The iOS 15 Device Support List - Can You Run the New OS?
In one sentence: If you can run iOS 14 you can run iOS 15. The iOS 15 device support list includes iPhone 6s and later.
Outlook for iPhone Adds Voice Features With Cortana
An update for Outlook on iPhone adds voice commands powered by Microsoft’s Cortana assistant.
Now Outlook users with an iPhone or iPad can rely on Cortana’s voice capabilities to schedule meetings, search for emails, and read out a reply to an email. Outlook users can hold down the Google-like plus sign icon on iOS (and soon Android), and then tap the microphone icon to “Use Voice” to tell Cortana what to do in Outlook.
App Store: Outlook
Apple Suppliers Create 20,000 Jobs in India
A report on Thursday says that Apple’s suppliers in India have created approximately 20,000 jobs.
Roblox Faces $200 Million Lawsuit for Alleged Music Copyright Infringement
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) filed a $200 million lawsuit against Roblox for user-uploaded music in their streams.
Democrats Prepare Set of 5 Antitrust Bills Targeting Tech Companies
Democrats in the House of Representatives are preparing five bills targeting tech companies in different ways.
JBS USA Pays $11 Million in Ransom After Cyberattack
On Thursday, meat supplier JBS said it paid US$11 million after ransomware attack stopped its operations.
In consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cybersecurity experts, the company made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated.
I wonder if the FBI will recover this ransom as well, like the Colonial Pipeline money.
WWDC Interviews: Binary Formations and Apparent Software – TMO Daily Observations 2021-06-09
Today “live from” WWDC, Kelly interviews Kevin and Diane Hamilton of Binary Formations, and Jacob Gorban of Apparent Software.
Digging into Apple's iCloud Private Relay
At this week’s WWDC Keynote, Apple announced iCloud Private Relay, a privacy feature aimed towards further separating you and your browsing activity from people who want to track and collect data about you. iCloud Private Relay works for anyone with an iCloud+ subscription using iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, and when enabled it protects all your Safari browsing, all DNS queries, and any insecure web traffic from other apps.
Apple Podcasts Subscriptions Launches June 15 for Users
Tim Cook announced Apple Podcasts Subscriptions at the Apple Spring 2021 event. It will be launching June 15 after its initial May release was delayed.
Mozilla Brings Firefox Redesign to iPhone and iPad
When Mozilla redesigned Firefox for desktop in the version 84 release, it did the same overhaul for the mobile versions.
We’ve rebuilt parts of Firefox in native components, making it feel more iPhone and iPad-like than ever before. You’ll notice design elements that look and work identically to those found in many other apps, so our browser feels instantly familiar. We’ve also taken a major step up in accessibility. Firefox now supports more text sizes and integrates better with screen readers.
Speck Introduces Presidio Perfect-Clear Case Compatible with MagSafe
Speck recently announced its newest line of smartphone cases. These Presidio Perfect-Clear cases are compatible with MagSafe iPhones such as the iPhone 12.
iCloud Keychain Gets Time Based One Time Passwords
In one of Apple’s videos dedicated to developers, the company revealed a new feature that wasn’t mentioned in the WWDC 2021 keynote.
Key macOS Monterey Features Only Work M1 Macs
A number of features set to be rolled out with macOS Monterey will not work on Apple devices running on an Intel chip.
FoldersSynchronizer for Mac: Lifetime Subscription
We have a deal on FoldersSynchronizer for Mac, a Mac utility that synchronizes and backs-up files, folders and disks. You choose one or more pairs of files, folders or disks then FS will synchronize or backup those exactly. It works on Intel and Apple M1 Macs, and a lifetime subscription is $14.99 through our deal.
HBO Working With Apple to Fix HBO Max Apple TV App Issues
Earlier this week the HBO Max app for Apple TV was updated and caused a number of issues. For example features as “What did she say?” and touching the D-pad/trackpad to bring up the timeline while playing content no longer worked. ScreenTimes reported that HBO is ow aware of “some” of the issue and working with Apple to get them fixed.
This new version, while seemingly containing no updates to the gallery UI, has replaced the standard tvOS playback UI with HBO’s own version… The bottom line is, the viewing experience in the HBO Max app is now horrifically bad and almost unusable unless you’re planning just to play and pause. If you need to do anything else, don’t get your hopes up. Ironically, the notes for the update are “A smoother streaming experience is waiting for you with a focus on bug fixes and performance improvements”.
White House Drops Trump TikTok Ban Order
The White House has dropped executive orders announced under the presidency of Donald Trump that sought to ban popular apps like TikTok.