After rolling out voice tweets this summer, Twitter is now testing voice DMs. RIght now it’s being tested in Brazil.
Similar to voice tweets, voice messages have a bare-bones, simple interface: there’s just a play / pause button, and the sender’s avatar pulsates as the message plays. The product team designed an “in-line recording experience to make it easier to send these messages as part of the natural conversation flow,” so that’s one difference from the current audio tweets interface.
We have a deal on the Moovy 3-in-1 Wireless Fast Charging Station. This charging dock can wirelessly charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods (with a wireless charging case). With over-current, over-voltage, and over-temperature protection, this 15W dock prevents over-charging damage to your battery devices, and it has a silicone bottom to keep it from sliding around. It’s $59.99 through our deal.
During an interview with CNBC, Microsoft Xbox lead Phil Spencer says the company remains committed to bringing Xbox Game Pass to the App Store.
With Apple changing the App Store policies, the Xbox Game Pass will be able to exist as a catalog app, which means that each game that will be available through the Game Pass will have to go through its indivudla [sic] review on the App Store. This is not really viable for a number of reasons, simply because Microsoft is talking about how it would still force a “bad experience” on the users.
Jason Segel and Cherry Jones have signed on to join Apple TV+ film “The Sky Is Everywhere” starring Grace Kaufman.
If you think wearing your own blood oxygen sensor is a great idea, don’t count on Apple Watch to be the best option for that.
Dave Hamilton and John Martellaro join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Smart TVs and Apple TV+ and if you really need an Apple TV box anymore.
If you often plug your iPhone in with borrowed cables, be careful. The O.MG Lightning Cable spy is back with even better snooping capabilities.
Oprah Winfrey interviewed Mariah Carey for Apple TV+ series “The Oprah Conversaion” and the episode is set to debut on Thursday.
Calendar app Fantastical updated to version 3.2 which adds support for iOS 14 widgets, iPadOS Scribble, and bug fixes.
Ricky Mondello works on app and website authentication as well as password management at Apple. They recently created a shortcut that lets you quickly access iCloud Keychain, so instead of opening Settings and scrolling down to tap on Passwords, it’s a one-tap method to directly open the Passwords section. Separately from that, this is also something you can do yourself using the Settings Shortcut Generator. You can quickly jump to a variety of different places within Settings. One that I recently created is jumping to Settings > Privacy > Photos to manage app access to photos.
Kurzgesagt is a science channel on YouTube that creates education videos for people. They recently partnered with Wait But Why to create the Universe in a Nutshell app. It lets people explore size by zooming between scales of 10^-35 meters to 10^26 meters (atomic scale to universe scale). It’s also filled with science facts that you can find by tapping on the objects you see. App Store: US$2.99
Apple’s Books app in iPadOS OS 13 and iPadOS 14 has an interesting interface quirk that can display your book’s text in two narrow columns like a newspaper, and Bryan Chaffin has the quick fix.
We have a deal on TOKK CAM C2, a tiny camera that can be used as a security camera, a wearable body cam, or a dashcam for your car. With this portable, ultra-compact Wi-Fi camera, you can instantly stream and/or record crystal clear video in 1280x720P. And all of is controlled through an iOS or Android app. This device is $64.99 through our deal.
Widgetsmith lets you create iOS 14 widgets and customize them to suit your needs and Home Screen theme. The app includes a variety of widget categories like weather, calendar, timezone converter, and others. Widgets can even by scheduled to appear on your screen following rules you define. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)
Linksys Velop Tri-Band Routers now support Apple’s HomeKit through a free update available in the Linksys app.
Through HomeKit, Velop users can choose to firewall off HomeKit accessories to prevent them from communicating with other WiFi devices on a home network and untrusted internet services to prevent hacking attempts and provide better security for connected home devices.
HomeKit-compatible Velop Tri-band model numbers that work with HomeKit include A03, WHW0301, WHW0301B, WHW0302, WHW0302B, WHW0303, and WHW0303B.
Good news for owners of these routers.
Apple has ordered a comedy series called “High Desert” that stars Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and directed by Ben Stiller.
Apple has updated Pages, Numbers, and Keynote with new updates, the most notable of which is support for the iPadOS 14 Scribble feature.
John Martellaro and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to discuss a Series 6 Watch teardown, plus Bryan and Kelly’s love of Ted Lasso.
Password generator 1Password is teaming up with Privacy.com to let customers generate virtual credit cards right in the browser.
The Wizcase security team discovered a Microsoft Bing data leak due to an unsecured server, leaking data like GPS coordinates and searches.
Dave Hamilton is the co-founder of The Mac Observer, publisher, and co-host of the legendary Mac Geek Gab (MGG) podcast, having done over 800 shows with our John Braun. He’s an Apple—and router—guru.
Dave and I opened the show with an extensive discussion of Apple succession planning. Who would replace CEO Tim Cook on an emergency basis? Who might succeed him when he retires? Who on the executive team is qualified? In segment II, Dave explained Wi-Fi 6 and its presence (and lack thereof) on various Apple products. That got us into new routers that support Wi-Fi 6. Finally, we looked at the ever-changing UI of Apple OSes, discoverability of features and the continuing need to remain practiced with each OS. As with his MGG, Dave is both informative and entertaining.
iFixit’s teardown of the Apple Watch Series 6 is out, and the company found bigger batteries, more Taptic Engine, and a thinner case.
In a court filing in Dublin, Ireland, Facebook says if a decision by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is upheld, the company would have no choice but to abandon Europe because of its bad business practices.
If the decision is upheld, “it is not clear to [Facebook] how, in those circumstances, it could continue to provide the Facebook and Instagram services in the EU,” Yvonne Cunnane, who is Facebook Ireland’s head of data protection and associate general counsel, wrote in a sworn affidavit.
The decision Facebook’s referring to is a preliminary order handed down last month to stop the transfer of data about European customers to servers in the U. S., over concerns about U. S. government surveillance of the data.
We have a deal on AirBeamTV, a screen mirroring platform for streaming from your Mac to smart TVs. This Mac app package includes 14 different Smart TV screen mirror apps so you can cast your screen to different TV brands. With AirBeamTV’s screen mirroring apps, you can cast your MacBook, Mac, or iMac to the smart TV of your choice. All you need is one of the apps and to have your computer connected to the same local network as your TV and you’re ready to start mirroring. A lifetime subscription is $18.99 through our deal.
