It’s no secret Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus inventory is constrained, but now it’s clear just how limited availability will be come Friday morning when the new models are supposed to hit store shelves. The iPhone 7 Plus is sold out around the world, as is the Jet Black iPhone 7, which means what’s left of the black, rose gold, and silver iPhone 7 inventory will be hard to come by.
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Pandora Plus Offers Unlimited Skips, Offline Playback for $5 Per Month
Pandora Plus is a new streaming radio plan which offers unlimited skips and offline playback for $5 per month, a price the company hopes will entice users who haven’t been convinced to pay $10 per month for full on-demand streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify.
On iPhone 7 Shipping Updates and Ensuring You Get Your Package
As is typical of Apple launches, iPhone 7 shipping updates aren’t too reliable. Here’s how to check your status and ensure that you receive your package by pre-signing for delivery.
New in macOS Sierra: Keep Folders on Top When Sorting by Name in Finder
macOS Sierra finally allows users to keep folders on top when sorting files by name in Finder. Here’s how it works.
iPhone 7 Upgrade Program gets more Inventory, Apple Stores Lose Out
iPhone Upgrade Program members who felt jilted last Friday when pre-orders began and they couldn’t score a new iPhone 7 may have a chance to get in on this week’s launch day action. Apple made more inventory available for Upgrade Program members, but that may be at the expense of walk-in buyers.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-09-14: iOS 10 Messages and Stickers, Wireless Earbuds
With iOS 10 out and on people’s iPhones and iPads it’s time to dive into some features. Kelly Guimont joins Jeff Gamet to look at Messages and Sticker Packs, and to talk about why Jeff decided to make his own. They also talk about wireless earbuds and Apple dropping the headphone jack from the iPhone 7.
Understanding 'Press Home to Open' and 'Press Home to Unlock' in iOS 10
iOS 10 kills the famous “slide to unlock” and introduces a whole new way of accessing your iPhone. Here’s how Raise to Wake, TouchID, and the lock screen all now work, and how you can (mostly) change it back to the old unlock method if you want.
FRESHeBUDS Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds: $39
With the iPhone 7 shipping this Friday without a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth earbuds suddenly look a lot more compelling. If you’re in the market, check out today’s TMO deal: FRESHeBUDS Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds. They turn off automatically when you click the built-in magnets together and turn on when you pull them apart, are water and sweat resistant, run for 10 hours on a charge and recharge in 90 minutes, and include a built-in microphone for answering calls on the go. The FRESHeBUDS Pro normally cost US$119.95, but are 66% off right now, so you’ll pay only $39.95.
Single Sign-on Missing from tvOS 10 Update
When Apple released tvOS 10 on Tuesday along side iOS 10 and watchOS 3, our fourth generation Apple TVs got some cool new features like a dark mode interface and more powerful Siri search support. What we aren’t getting is single sign-on support—a feature promised earlier this year at Apple’s annual developer conference.
Jet Black Apple AirPods? Yes, Please
Apple gave many iPhone fans what they wanted when they introduced “black” and “jet black” color options for the new iPhone 7, but the company’s intriguing AirPods are only available in traditional “Apple white.” As a taste of what could have been, and what may be soon, designer Martin Hajek created some renderings of jet black AirPods, which happen to look fantastic paired with their corresponding iPhone 7. Check out Martin’s site for a full set of renderings.
Disable 'Reduce Motion' to See New iOS 10 Message Effects
Having trouble creating or seeing the new Bubble and Screen Effects in the iOS 10 Messages app? The culprit may be an iOS Accessibility setting. Check out our quick tip for a possible solution as to why your iMessages suddenly seem so dull compared to everyone else.
Apple's Swift Playgrounds for iPad Hits the App Store
Apple released Swift Playgrounds for iPad along side iOS 10 on Tuesday, giving us the tablet-based developer learning tool first shown off earlier this year at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference. The app teaches coding skills without needing any prior experience.
How I Turned a Bunch of Drawings into iOS 10 Sticker Packs
What happens when you tell artists they can make sticker packs for iOS 10 Messages easily? They do, and I took that as an invitation, so I went through the process of creating two sticker packs to learn how the process works. It’s a win-win scenario, because I know a lot more about what developers experience, and you get two sticker packs.
PDF Expert 2 for Mac: $29
Readdle’s PDF Expert 2 is a great PDF reader and editor that goes far beyond OS X’s Preview app at a price that doesn’t put the squeeze on your pocketbook. The app lets you edit text, images and links in PDF files, annotate documents, merge files into a single PDF, complet PDF forms, add document passwords, and more. PDF Expert is regularly US$59.99, but with TMO’s deal you can pick up a copy for half off at $29.99.
Pandora Inks Deals with Sony and Universal as it Prepares to Take on Apple and Spotify
Apple Music is about to get a new, yet familiar, competitor. Pandora today announced that it has secured licensing agreements with two major music labels, positioning the company to soon enter the on-demand music streaming industry currently dominated by Apple and Spotify.
Apple Releases iOS 10 and watchOS 3
As expected, Apple today released the latest versions of its mobile operating systems. iOS 10 is now available for the iPhone 5 and newer, iPad mini and newer, iPad (4th generation) and newer, and the 6th generation iPod touch, while watchOS 3 is ready to go for all Apple Watch owners.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-09-13: iOS 10 Launch Day, Financing Your iPhone 7
It’s iOS 10 launch day and there’s plenty to talk about in Apple’s newest iPhone and iPad operating system. Dave Hamilton and TekRevue’s Jim Tanous join Jeff Gamet to talk about iOS 10’s new features and what they’re finding handy, plus they look at the different options for financing a new iPhone 7.
Apple Releases iTunes 12.5.1 with New Look & macOS Sierra Support
On September 13th, Apple released iTunes 12.5.1. It works in El Capitan but has some new features that make it macOS Sierra ready and provide support for iOS 10. Most notable is a fresher, cleaner look which addresses some of the early criticism regarding the complexity and busy look of iTunes 12.
iPhone 7 Financing for Fun and Profit
There are more ways than ever to buy an iPhone 7, and while choice is good, too many options can be confusing. Here’s an overview of the various iPhone 7 financing options from Apple and the major wireless carriers. Which one is right for you?
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Kanopi Studios WordPress Developer Julie Kuehl
Julie Kuehl is an expert WordPress developer for Kanopi Studios. But there’s much more. She built her first website in 1994. She’s studied economics, statistics and web design. She’s written for publications like MyMac, Tech Lounge and The Mac Observer. She’s a popular speaker at conferences. She hosts the SciFi Tech Talk podcast. She’s into cars (Mustang), motorcycles (Harley-Davidson) and holds several black belts in Karate, primarily Soto Kan. She’s taught Martial Arts to police officers in Japan and learned Japanese in the process. Join me and Julie as we geek out and trade stories on our Martial Arts experiences, our first exposure to Unix and web servers in the 1990s, our car loves (more stories: Corvettes, Route 66), SciFi, and her own SciFi podcast. I was wowed. You will be too.
New TiVo BOLT+ Now Includes 6 Tuners and 3TB Storage
On Monday TiVo announced their BOLT+ DVR, enhancing the company’s flagship line with a sleek, black unit that includes six tuners and 3TB of recording capacity. Six tuners may seem like a lot until you think about how the current TiVo paradigm works: you have the BOLT+ (or BOLT, or 4+ tuner Roamio) on one TV connected to cable, then you have TiVo Minis at all your other TVs. You only pay a subscription fee for your main device, and each of the Minis can stream live or recorded shows from the host. The trick is, each active Mini occupies one tuner of the host device when in use. Six tuners begins to make a lot of sense if you have even 2 or 3 TVs in action at any one point in time. TiVo is really the only company who is properly addressing the whole-house media viewing solution this way, and it truly makes life a lot simpler. TIVo’s new BOLT+ is priced at $499.99 and will be available online and at brick-and-mortar retail on Thursday, September 15th.
Is Apple’s iPhone Naming Scheme a Mistake or Genius?
It’s true that there are logical dilemmas with Apple’s iPhone naming scheme. Apple has never formally explained the reasoning for its nomenclature. And so, journalists have taken their best shot at explaining the logic of the “S” years and the presumed “tick-tock” cycle. But while some think it’s crazy, there may be genius behind the craziness.
Privatoria VPN 3-Year Subscription: $29
We have a deal for you today on a 3-year subscription to Privatoria VPN. This service encrypts your data, masks your IP from prying eyes, and works with macOS/OS X, iOS, Windows, Linux/Unix, Fire OS, Chrome OS, and Android. There are more details in the deal listing. You can get this subscription through us for $29.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-09-12: Apple Car Layoffs, Why the Media Loves Hating Apple
Apple seems to be shaking up its secret car project, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to discuss what the reported car project layoffs likely mean, plus John explains why the media loves spinning Apple in a negative light.