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Andrew Orr

Since 2015 Andrew has been writing about Apple, privacy, security, and at one point even Android. You can find him most places online under the username @andrewornot.

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Articles by Andrew Orr

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Instapaper for Mac is Now Available in the Mac App Store

Andrew Orr ·

Instapaper announced on Wednesday that Instapaper for Mac is now available in the Mac App Store, thanks to Apple’s Catalyst technology.

We customized the interfaces and features to make the app feel interactive and at home on Mac. This includes a side-by-side view of folders and article list, and hover states to highlight content on mouseover.

We also included new features for managing articles like hover actions, which allows you to easily like, move, archive, and delete directly from the list. With drag & drop, you can quickly organize articles directly into folders.

Mimeo Photos Introduces Tabletop Decor, Limited Edition Photo Ornaments
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Mimeo Photos Introduces Tabletop Decor, Limited Edition Photo Ornaments

Andrew Orr ·

Mimeo Photos has introduced two new photo products: Tabletop decor and limited edition photo ornaments perfect for the holidays. Photo Ornaments: For a limited time, choose from eight personalized photo ornaments available in materials like acrylic, metal and rustic wood in a variety of festive shapes and sizes. Tabletop Decor: The new collection features four different options of Tabletop Decor available in a variety of materials, including acrylic, metal and more, that arrive ready to display. Simply pick your favorite moments and make some room on your work-from-home desk, end table, or shelf.

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Mac Search App ‘Alfred’ is Ready for the M1 Chip

Andrew Orr ·

Popular Mac app Alfred is ready for the new Apple silicon M1 chip after using the Apple DTK running macOS Big Sur.

Alfred has an exceedingly clean code base, so we were hoping for it to be reasonably easy to create our first Universal build. To our pleasant surprise, it was as straightforward as loading up Alfred’s code into Xcode 12 Beta, selecting the Universal architecture, and compiling. That was it, no other changes were needed, and we were immediately able to take full advantage of the new architecture.

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How Restaurants Can Use iOS 14 App Clips During COVID-19

Andrew Orr ·

Calvin Carter writes how restaurants can use iOS 14 App Clips to revamp the dining experience and keep customers safe.

If a restaurant uses kiosks for ordering, which the pandemic made essentially unusable, they can easily replicate that kiosk experience in an App Clip, allowing the customer to make and pay for their order without touching anything other than their phone.

For restaurants not wanting to invest in tabletop tablets or deal with the risk of infection, QR codes can instead be printed onto a bill to enable fast payments via Apple Pay integration in App Clips.

I look forward to see how businesses enhance their digital presence with tools such as App Clips.

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The Shazam++ Shortcut Improves Your Music Recognition

Andrew Orr ·

Shazam++ is a shortcut that helps you take action after you use Shazam to identify a song. Use the shortcut to automatically get the link on your favorite music streaming website, and use features like lyric service, album and artist information, see your recent Shazams, and more.

NOW w/ IOS 14 Support, Beautiful Menus and Shazam History!

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Recall Reveals Amazon Ring Doorbells Could Set Your House on Fire

Andrew Orr ·

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission revealed that Amazon’s Ring surveillance doorbells could set your house on fire. The company has issued a voluntary recall for second-generation devices. A spokesperson for Ring said that customers don’t need to return their device. Instead, the company sent out an email with proper installation instructions.

Consumers should immediately stop installing the recalled video doorbells and contact Ring for revised installation instructions or download them here.  Consumers can check if their video doorbell is part of this recall through Ring’s website or app.

Ring has received 85 incident reports of incorrect doorbell screws installed with 23 of those doorbells igniting, resulting in minor property damage.  The firm has received eight reports of minor burns.

Prepare for ‘His Dark Materials’ Season 2 With AR App
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Prepare for ‘His Dark Materials’ Season 2 With AR App

Andrew Orr ·

To prepare for “His Dark Materials” season 2, HBO released an augmented reality app called His Dark Materials: My Daemon. Created in partnership with Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA-winning creative studio Framestore, His Dark Materials: My Daemon is a first-of-its-kind entertainment app that brings narrative elements from the show into daily life, as a user’s daemon is by their side at all times, encouraging them to participate in activities that contribute to overall mind, body and spirit health. Users are encouraged to take part in fitness activities like walking or running, as well as other kinds of self-care, such as taking some time to themselves, watching a movie, or reaching out to a friend. The app detects everyday activity through Apple Health and Spotify, syncing with favorite fitness, sleep, and meditation apps. Daily habits, hobbies and new challenges become fuel to progress further through the journey that’s at the heart of the app.

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Compal Electronics Suffers DoppelPaymer Ransomware Attack

Andrew Orr ·

Computer manufacturer Compal Electronics has been hit by a DoppelPaymer ransomware attack, and the ransom is US$16.7 million.

DoppelPaymer is a ransomware operation known for attacking enterprise targets by gaining access to admin credentials and using them to spread throughout a Windows network. Once they gain access to a Windows domain controller, they deploy the ransomware payloads to all devices on the network.

According to the DoppelPaymer Tor payment site linked to in the ransom note, the ransomware gang is demanding 1,100 Bitcoins, or $16,725,500.00 at today’s prices, to receive a decryptor.

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OmniFocus Widgets for iOS 14 Arrive With Version 3.11

Andrew Orr ·

Announced on Monday, OmniFocus widgets arrive with the 3.11 update. These let you access your most used perspectives and most timely action items. This includes: A Forecast widget with a calendar view for today and the days ahead; A Perspective Items widget with a list of upcoming items in a perspective of your choice.

Both of these are available in small, medium, and large widget sizes, and can have their font size customized to suit your needs. The update also includes a New Inbox Item widget—a large, friendly button for immediately opening OmniFocus to add a new item to your Inbox.

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Photographer Austin Mann Reviews iPhone 12 Pro Max

Andrew Orr ·

After reviewing the camera on the iPhone 12 Pro, Austin Mann has returned to publish his iPhone 12 Pro Max review to see if the larger camera sensor makes a difference. At the end he shares a few tips for iPhone photographers and the tools he uses.

One of the most famous hikes in America is The Narrows in Zion National Park. This beautiful trek requires hikers to wade miles upstream in a river through the narrowest sections of the Zion Canyon (just 10 feet wide at the narrowest).

The lighting and shooting conditions are extreme and diverse, so below I’ll share a few photos demonstrating why I think iPhone 12 Pro Max is the ideal tool to capture this adventure (whether you’re a pro or not).

‘Yoink’ macOS Big Sur Support Added With Version 3.5.11
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‘Yoink’ macOS Big Sur Support Added With Version 3.5.11

Andrew Orr ·

Yoink macOS Big Sur support has been added to version 3.5.11. Yoink is a productivity app that acts as a “shelf” to hold files from Finder or app/website content. When you drag something on your Mac, Yoink appears at the edge of your screen, allowing you to temporarily place it there. Navigate to the destination of your files and drag them out of Yoink. Aside from adopting the new look and feel of macOS Big Sur and running natively on Apple Silicon, version 3.5.11 brings numerous quality-of-life improvements and fixes, like better support for not-yet-loaded files in iCloud Drive, or screenshots dragged from macOS’ floating screenshots window. Yoink is available on the Mac App Store for US$7.99, in Setapp, and on the developer’s website.

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Spotify Considers a Subscription Podcast Service

Andrew Orr ·

Spotify could launch a subscription podcast service in the future, according to a report from Andrew Wallenstein.

The survey describes at least four possible subscription podcast plans, ranging from $3 to $8 per month. The cheapest plan would include “access to exclusive interviews and episodes,” but would still include ads. The most expensive plan would include access to “high quality original content,” early access to some episodes, and no platform-inserted ads. None of these plans would include access to Spotify’s premium music subscription.