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There’s Lots For Apple Watchers to be Excited About

Charlotte Henry ·

Following Apple’s latest blockbuster quarter, there’s lots for fans of the company to be excited about according to Dan Moren. He explained what he’s looking forward to in his latest MacWorld column – wearables, to name but one.

There’s nothing that Apple watchers want to know more than what the next big product coming out of Cupertino might be. They scrutinize supply chains, try to draw information out of company contacts, and, of course, closely pore over every public statement by Apple. When it comes to Apple’s financial calls, one key phrase that often signals what areas Apple might be interested in is “very excited.” If you were listening during last week’s financial call, you would hear that exact phrase uttered by Apple CFO Luca Maestri in relation to precisely one product category: Wearables.

This Cooking App Gives You Recipes Based on Ingredients You Have
Cool Stuff Found

This Cooking App Gives You Recipes Based on Ingredients You Have

Andrew Orr ·

Half Lemons is a new cooking app that suggests recipes for you based on what ingredients you already have in the pantry. The more ingredients you plug into the app, the more recipes you can make. It keeps track of them from one meal to the next. These are recipes you can actually make with the things you have on hand. No missing ingredients. No funky substitutions needed. And definitely no trips to the store. Want to use up the last chicken thighs? Or maybe your fresh cilantro is starting to look tired. No problem! Filter recipes using any ingredient in your kitchen. Recipes are sourced from favorites like: NYT Cooking, Half Baked Harvest, Epicurious, Smitten Kitchen, Skinny Taste, BBC food, Jamie Oliver and others.

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Trimming the iPhone App Fat — Mac Geek Gab 869

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · Add Comment

What’s the best way to remove all those iPhone apps you downloaded once and never use anymore? Listen as John and Dave answer this and many other helpful questions to make your electronic lives easier! Extending an iMac’s life, calibrating your TV, fiber internet, and more are the subjects your two favorite geeks dig through. Add in some Cool Stuff Found and you’re guaranteed to learn at least five new things just from pressing play!

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New Cloud Browser ‘Mighty’ to Cost $30 per Month

Andrew Orr ·

A startup called Mighty is building a cloud-based web browser that it claims will reduce loads on battery, CPU usage, and RAM. You can find the company’s blog post here, and a link to coverage from The Verge below.

Mighty claims it’ll eliminate distracting cookies and ads, automatically notify you about Zoom meetings, quick search Google Docs and presumably other integrations to come. Mighty also says it encrypts your data and keystrokes, among other security promises.

I think the concept of a cloud-based browser is interesting. But I prefer free Safari over paying a US$30/month fee.

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VMware Fusion Won’t Run x86 VMs on M1 Macs

Andrew Orr ·

VMware announced on its blog Tuesday that it won’t support installing or running x86 VMs on M1 Macs.

We will be delivering a Tech Preview of VMware Fusion for macOS on Apple silicon this year. We don’t plan to support installing or running x86 VMs on Macs with Apple silicon. macOS VMs are not in scope in the short term. There are challenges there which will require Apple to work with us to resolve.

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How Apple is Navigating the Great Semiconductor Shortage

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple is faring better than most as the global semiconductor shortage continues. Reuters analyzed why it is in a better position than other firms, particularly automakers, and also explained why it could face some problems in the near future.

Apple, which is famous for its supply chain management and has more buying power than any other company, has avoided problems so far in meeting surging demand in part by burning through supply buffers, Chief Executive Tim Cook told investors on a conference call Wednesday. Problems procuring chips made with older-generation technologies will catch up with Apple in the current quarter, Cook said, noting that other industries also use such chips. He did not cite automakers specifically, but many of their components are based on such earlier-generation tech. Apple expects the problems to mostly affect iPads and Macs – two product lines that have sold well as work-from-home tools during the pandemic but whose sales are a fraction of Apple’s cash cow, the iPhone. Ford, by contrast, is facing production shutdowns for its most profitable product, the F-150 pickup.

Someone Built a Preacherbot Powered by AI and it’s Awesome
Cool Stuff Found

Someone Built a Preacherbot Powered by AI and it’s Awesome

Andrew Orr ·

Artist Diemut Strebe built a praying robot “to explore the possibilities of an approximation to celestial and numinous entities by performing a potentially never-ending chain of religious routines and devotional attempts for communication through a self-learning software.” The production is a collaboration with Regina Barzilay, Tianxiao Shen, Enrico Santus, all MIT CSAIL, Amazon Polly, Bill and Will Sturgeon, Elchanan Mossel, MIT, Stefan Strauss, Chris Fitch, Brian Kane, Keith Welsh, Webster University, Matthew Azevedo. “Wretched sinner unit! The path to robot heaven lies here… in the Good Book 3.0.” ―Lionel Preacherbot

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Here’s When The FCC Emergency Broadband Benefit Program Starts

Andrew Orr ·

FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the start date of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. It starts on May 12 for U.S. residents with low incomes or those who lost income during the pandemic. You can sign up for the program here. Benefits include:

Up to a $50/month discount on your broadband service and associated equipment rentals; Up to a $75/month discount if your household is on qualifying Tribal lands; A one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer (with a co-payment of more than $10 but less than $50)