TMO Deals

Tile Reveals Adhesive Sticker to Track 'Dumb' Objects

Charlotte Henry ·

Tile revealed its later product, Sticker, Thursday, to help make ‘dumb’ objects traceable, Techcrunch reported. It comes amid rumors Apple will unveil something similar in the near future.

Today, the startup unveiled Sticker, a new, waterproof tracking device that uses adhesive created in collaboration with 3M to attach to objects to be able to track them by Bluetooth to a range of 150 feet, or further using Tile’s community network by way of its app. Alongside this, the startup is also announcing enhancements to its existing range of Tile tracking devices. The Slim is now in the shape and thinness of a credit card, designed for wallets and other places where you might insert card-shaped information (for example, in luggage ID compartments), and its range has been extended to 200 feet with a battery life of three years. And the Mate and Pro tags — the square-shaped fobs that Tile is most famous for — are also getting their ranges extended respectively to 200 and 400 feet.

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Tim Cook Does Not Get Enough Credit

Charlotte Henry ·

It is eight years since Steve Jobs passed away.  A little over that since Tim Cook succeeded him as CEO of Apple. At Forbes, Chuck Jones argues that Mr. Cook is still not getting the credit his deserves.

Analysts say that there hasn’t been any innovation at Apple over the past eight years, that Cook needs to be replaced and that the company should acquire at least one or more large companies to “take it to the next level.” They seem to ignore some new products that are generating tens of billions of revenue every year… In fiscal 2011 Apple generated just under $3 billion in Services revenue vs. a projected $46 billion in fiscal 2019. Cook has also announced a goal of approximately $50 billion next year, which the iPhone reached in fiscal 2011 or four years after it became available.

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Zane Lowe Talks About The Future of Apple Music

Andrew Orr ·

Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe talks about where Apple Music is headed in a new interview. When it comes to Beats 1, Apples radio show, the team found something interesting.

It turns out users are four times more likely to complete an album if they’d pre-added it to their collection, 1.5 times more likely to listen to it again and they listen to music four times longer than other Apple Music subscribers. In short, Apple is trying to build a better hype machine than its rivals to counteract the popular, but depersonalised playlists that have come to dominate music streaming.

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The Death of iTunes is a Problem for DJs That Relied on it

Charlotte Henry ·

Many people rejoiced when we learned that macOS Catalina was going to be the end of iTunes. However, the Verge reported, it is going to be a problem for some DJs.

According to Apple, along with Catalina’s removal of iTunes, users are also losing XML file support as all native music playback on Macs moves over to the official Music app, which has a new library format. XML file support is a popular organizational feature for DJs who use it to sort tracks into playlists and utilize the “Share iTunes Library XML with other applications” option to seamlessly transmit data between apps. Tons of popular DJ apps, like Rekordbox and Traktor, read XML files, and over the years, iTunes became the de facto way for lots of DJs to sort through their massive file libraries and quickly find tracks while performing.

Podcast

Astrophysicist Dr. Brian Keating (#2) - TMO Background Mode Interview

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

Dr. Brian Keating is an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. His specialty is cosmology, and he is the father of the original BICEP project (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization). Last year, Brian published a terrific, courageous book about his team’s research, some life lessons, and the challenges of scientific research: Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science’s Highest Honor. It’s now out in paperback.

This time, we expanded on the discussion in his book about his quest for the Nobel prize. At the core: what the polarization of the cosmic background radiation tells us about the Big Bang. We also delved into the theory of the multiverse and its relationship to the anthropic principle. Finally, find out how you could win a piece of a 4.5 billion year old asteroid.

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Create a macOS Catalina Bootable Drive for Installation

Andrew Orr ·

Roman Loyola shares a tip for Apple users looking to upgrade: Creating a macOS Catalina bootable drive.

An external drive that you can use as an installer for macOS Catalina is a handy thing to have. If you have multple Macs to upgrade, it’s a lot more efficient to plug in the USB installer drive and run the installer than to log into the App Store, download the 6.5GB OS installer, and then run it.

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U.S. Supreme Court Sides With Apple Over University of Wisconsin

Andrew Orr ·

For several years Apple has been in a patent fight with the University of Wisconsin. But recently the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a bid by the university to reinstate its legal victory over Apple.

The licensing body, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), filed suit in 2014, alleging infringement of a 1998 patent on a “predictor circuit” to help speed the way processors carry out computer program instructions. The patent was developed by computer science professor Gurindar Sohi and three of his students at the university, located in Madison, Wisconsin.

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NFL to Fine Pittsburgh Steeler's Ben Roethlisberger For Wearing Apple Watch on Sideline

Charlotte Henry ·

The NFL is going to fine the Pittsburgh Steeler’s quarterback Ben Roethlisberger $5000 for wearing an Apple Watch on the sidelines, ESPN reported.  Electric devices that transmit messaging are banned by the NFL. He is said to be “livid” about the decision.

Roethlisberger wore the Apple Watch on the sideline during the Monday Night Football game. His issue is that he never received any advance warning that he could be in violation, only a fine letter for wearing the device — which he didn’t even realize he had on, according to sources. With Roethlisberger unable to use his right arm, his wife dressed him for the Monday night game and strapped the Apple Watch on his left wrist. Roethlisberger then assumed a position he rarely has in his NFL career — standing in street clothes, including an Apple Watch, on the Steelers’ sideline.

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Instances of Android Exploit Patched Two Years Ago Found in The Wild

Charlotte Henry ·

An exploit affecting a number of popular Android devices, supposedly patched in December 2017, has been found in the wild once again, ZDNet reported. It can allow hackers to take control of smartphones, including those from Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Google itself.

Google disclosed today that they found evidence of an Android unpatched vulnerability being used in attacks in the real world — a so-called “zero-day.” The vulnerability resides in the Android operating system’s kernel code and can be used to help an attacker gain root access to the device. Ironically, the vulnerability was patched in December 2017 in Android kernel versions 3.18, 4.14, 4.4, and 4.9, but newer versions were found to be vulnerable…Google researchers also said that the “exploit requires little or no per-device customization,” meaning it should be able to work on a wide range of handsets, although they have not confirmed this with manual reviews, as they did for the devices listed above.

 

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AirPods 3 Likely Launching Later This Month

Charlotte Henry ·

New AirPods could launch later this October, according to the International Business Times. The unveiling is expected at an upcoming event, with some powerful new features set to be revealed.

According to reports, the Cupertino-based tech powerhouse is planning a huge overhauled AirPod design to better compete with Microsoft’s newly launched Surface Earbuds. The news about the upcoming Apple AirPods 3 comes from a new icon unlocked by developers inside the latest iOS 13.2 developer beta. The information showed a new pair of wireless earbuds that can be paired with the iPhone device. Some developers suggest that the upcoming new AirPods will likely be able to work as hearing aids, just like previous wireless earbuds developed by Apple. Other references found inside the latest iOS developer beta suggest that the new AirPods will have different listening modes.

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An Apple Sleep App Could be Coming for Apple Watch

Andrew Orr ·

Someone found a reference to a mysterious sleep app on the Apple Watch, and it could be an Apple sleep app.

In the App Store listing for Apple’s preinstalled Alarms app on the Apple Watch, there is a screenshot of an unreleased version of the Alarms app with a “Sleep” label and fine print that reads “set your Bedtime and wake up in the Sleep app.”

There is no Sleep app or references to a Sleep app in the Alarms app on watchOS 6.0.1 or watchOS 6.1 beta, but MacRumors uncovered evidence of Apple working on a Sleep app for the Apple Watch in an internal build of iOS 13 last month, so Apple likely shared this screenshot too early by accident.