Cool Stuff Found

Apple Shares ‘Little America’ Trailer Coming to TV+

Andrew Orr ·

Premiering on January 17, 2020, Little America is an anthology series to share the true stories of immigrants. Apple shared a trailer for the series on its YouTube channel.

“Little America,” is written and executive produced by Lee Eisenberg (“The Office,” Good Boys), who serves as showrunner, and executive produced by Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, “Silicon Valley”), Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick), Alan Yang (“Master of None,” “Parks and Recreation”), Sian Heder (Tallulah, “Orange Is the New Black”), Joshuah Bearman (Argo), Joshua Davis (Spare Parts) and Arthur Spector (The Shack). Heder also serves as co-showrunner alongside Eisenberg.

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Today at Apple Sessions During 2019

Charlotte Henry ·

2019 was a big year for Today at Apple sessions. 9to5Mac had a look back at the year that was.

Apple refocused its session offerings around three categories: Skills, Walks, and Labs. Skills sessions introduce essential knowledge in an approachable way for anyone. Walks extend beyond the store and invite customers to explore their surroundings. Labs are deep dives into a specific creative technique. Emphasis moved from rudimentary tutorials to more immersive content. Apple said that Walks were its most popular type of session because they offer experiences you can’t get online. To celebrate the session launches, Apple commissioned artwork for its stores around the world and updated the Apple Store app’s Sessions tab. Sessions were made more accessible to everyone, with iPhones and iPads readily available for customers without their own devices. In summer, the need to have an Apple ID to sign up for a session was dropped, and session passes in the Wallet app arrived in fall. For the iPhone 11 launch, Quick Tips sessions began offering brief, easy to understand skills without the need to sign up at all.

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Netflix Put Out Average of One New Show or Movie a Day in 2019

Charlotte Henry ·

Netflix released a total of 371 new TV shows and movies in the U.S. during 2019, Variety reported. That averages one new one every day.

The streaming giant released 371 new TV shows and movies on the service in the U.S. this year, according to data from Variety Insight. This is an increase of 54.6% over the 240 shows and movies Netflix released in 2018. For context, this figure is greater than the number of original series that the entire U.S. TV industry released in 2005 (the last year Netflix managed to exceed the TV industry’s total). That includes broadcast networks, cable networks and premium cable networks.

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FBI Shares 7 Tech Tips to Keep You Safe

Andrew Orr ·

The FBI’s Oregon office shared seven tech tips to keep people safe over the holidays, like not letting devices auto-connect to free Wi-Fi. It’s well worth the read.

The kids are getting out of school this week and you are packing your bags for the big trip to the in-laws. Now is not the time you want to talk about cyber security, but we do have a few travel tips to keep you safe while you are on the go.

TMO Deals

CleanShot: Capture Your Screen in a Superior Way: $10.62

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on CleanShot, a screengrab and recording app for your Mac. It helps you swiftly capture Mac’s screen without desktop icons in the background, annotate or blur specific parts, set a custom wallpaper for your screenshots, and lots more. It’s $12.50 through our deal, but coupon code MERRYSAVE15 brings the checkout price down to $10.62.

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An Interview With the COO of the Recently Acquired Private Internet Access VPN

Andrew Orr ·

Popular VPN Private Internet Access (PIA) was recently acquired by a company called KAPE, now called Private Internet. PIA COO did an interview.

Private Internet is positioned to lead the movement for a private and secure online experience for all. The internet as we now know it is a place where data is harvested and identities do not belong to the users but are traded by privileged few. Private Internet changes that. The new name also reflects the fact that we will now be offering four new privacy products to our product suite.

I’m interested, and wary, of the future of PIA. I’ve seen accusations of KAPE that include malware, but Mr. Sagi does say the app will be open-sourced. Although this quote sounds odd to me: “We’re building an internal roadmap to create a transparent and verifiable infrastructure, in which no one, including ourselves, is permitted access to the servers through which VPN traffic flows.” They had shown in court they can’t produce information regarding user data, so they already shouldn’t be able to access server traffic.

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MusicBot is the Shortcuts Companion to Apple Music

Andrew Orr ·

Federico Viticci recently announced his shortcut called MusicBot, which he says is the all-in-one assistant to Apple Music.

I created MusicBot for two reasons: I wanted to speed up common interactions with the Music app by using custom actions in the Shortcuts app; and I also wanted to build a series of “utilities” for Apple Music that could be bundled in a single, all-in-one shortcut instead of dozens of smaller, standalone ones.

I haven’t used this yet but Mr. Viticci is a master of shortcuts so I’m confident it’s a great tool to use.

TMO Deals

amplify Hi-Fi Wireless Headphone Amplifier: $60.35

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the amplify Hi-Fi Wireless Headphone Amplifier. This device offers up to 12 hours of playback and supports current Bluetooth audio codecs such as LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, aptX Low Latency, AAC, and SBC. It’s $71 through our deal, but coupon code MERRYSAVE15 brings the checkout price down to $60.35. I’m linking to the black model, but there’s a silver option available in a pulldown menu in the deal listing.

Notability 9.2 Changes the Highlighter and Supports the Files App
Cool Stuff Found

Notability 9.2 Changes the Highlighter and Supports the Files App

Andrew Orr ·

Notability 9.2 didn’t bring a lot of changes, but the changes it did bring are important. Here are three things that were changed: Highlighter color now appears more vivid and behind text, making the text pop; Added ability to identify and troubleshoot unsearchable notes that have not been indexed properly; Can now import documents from the Files app.

Notability is among the best note-taking apps for the iPad, especially if you like handwriting your notes with an Apple Pencil. This update should be a welcome one for users.

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A Look at The Inside And Outside of the New Mac Pro

Charlotte Henry ·

Everyone is intrigued at the engineering of the new Mac Pro. AppleInsider looked at the insides, and the outsides, of the device.

Apple’s new Mac Pro arrives in a massive box, copiously covered in warning stickers due to the overall weight. Even at this scale, Apple’s unboxing experience is wonderful. Velcro straps hold together the paper packaging which lifts free, revealing the tower inside. The largest Apple logo we’ve seen on a product is stamped on either side of the aluminum housing, sitting between the two polished stainless steel handles that make up the frame. Much has already been said about the unique lattice grille on the front of the machine. Behind the 3D mesh is a matte black grille, to prevent objects or large debris from getting into the interior.

Twelve South Launches AirPods Pro Case ‘AirSnap Pro’
Cool Stuff Found

Twelve South Launches AirPods Pro Case ‘AirSnap Pro’

Andrew Orr ·

Available for US$39.99, Twelve South announced pre-orders will begin for its AirPods Pro case called AirSnap Pro. It’s expected to start shipping the week of December 30, 2019. The case is made of leather and comes with a removable clip to attach it to your backpack, purse, or attack keys to it.

Meticulously made of premium top-grain leather, this little leather AirPods cocoon has a metal snap to keep the case closed and your expensive AirPods Pro Wireless Charger safely inside. AirSnap Pro gives you three ways to keep your coveted AirPods Pro within reach. Use the included S-clip to attach AirSnap Pro to a backpack, purse or keychain. Remove the S-clip and carry AirSnap Pro in your pocket. Or, use the included wrist strap to hold your AirPods Pro Wireless Charging Case on walks or runs.