TMO Deals

The Award-Winning Luminar 4 Power Bundle

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the award-winning Luminar 4 Power Bundle. Luminar 4 is a full-feature photo editor and organizer for Mac and Windows that lets you create edited photos with a single click. This bundle also comes with the Photography Fundamentals Course tutorial from ThinkTapLearn, and four different add-ons, including Skies: Power of Nature Add-On, Sky Objects: Amazing Planets Add-On, Looks: Analog Film Add-On, and LUTs: Street Vibe LUTs. The bundle is $39.99 through our deal.

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How Anthony Hopkins Ended up Guest Starring in 'Mythic Quest - Everlight'

Charlotte Henry ·

A special episode of Mythic Quest arrived on Apple TV+ on Friday and (spoiler alert!) it features a guest appearance from Sir Anthony Hopkins. Variety has the background on how the Everlight episode was made, and how The Silence of the Lambs star ended up in it.

“Mythic Quest” is nonetheless set in the video game world and counts Ubisoft among its producers. The special episode is not devoid of an animated game sequence — and this one gets the gift of narration from Anthony Hopkins. Wanting someone with “some heft” so “right from the very beginning [of the episode] it just feels premium, like a cinematic experience,” McElhenney says, they considered such performers as Dame Judi Dench and Ian McKellan. But when Hopkins came up, it was kismet. Producer and guest star “Craig Mazin said, ‘Oh I know Anthony Hopkins’ lawyer, let’s just call him up.’ And within 20 minutes I’m talking to Anthony Hopkins,” McElhenney says. In pre-COVID times it may have been hard to get Hopkins to commit, but with the ability to work from anywhere, McElhenney hopped on the phone with him and the Oscar-winner self-recorded his role.

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Clipper Card Now Works with Apple Pay For Easier Bay Area Transit

Charlotte Henry ·

Those in the Bay Area can use Apple Pay when using any form of transit that is accessed with a Clipper card. The feature now works on BART, Muni, Caltrain, and the ferryTechCrunch reported.

As noted back in February when this was first confirmed as on the way, Clipper works with Apple’s “Express Transit” feature. That’s just a fancy way to say that you can tap to pay with the digital Clipper card without first needing to punch in your phone’s PIN or using FaceID. On certain newer iPhones, it also lets you keep using the Clipper card for a few hours after your battery has died; a wonderful thing in a pinch, but probably not something you want to rely on regularly.

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Alaskan Senate Bill Proposes Statewide Blockchain Voting System

Andrew Orr ·

Under Senate Bill 39, Wasilla Republican Sen. Mike Shower proposes using blockchain technology to support the state voting system.

Furthermore, the bill seeks to increase voter participation by allowing people to use their tribal IDs for voter identification. At the same time, the technology would help in fixing errors that would bar people from voting.

However, the bill’s first version was a center of controversy for ending automatic voter registration through the permanent fund dividend application. The new bill has eliminated the clause.

I think using tribal IDs for voting identification is great. I’m not sure if blockchain voting will make it though.

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Apple Studios in Early Discussions to Distribute Original Comedy 'Mr. Lucky' From Kandell Twins

Charlotte Henry ·

There are early discussions taking place regarding Apple Studios serving as a distribution partner for original comedy Mr. Lucky, written by Aaron and Jordan Kandell. It follows the screenwriters selling the pitch to production company ImageMovers, Variety reported.

Inspired by a true story, details are under wraps but it is described as a high concept rom-com that explores luck, and how tragedy and triumph, disaster and fortune are all in the way we choose to view them. Jack Rapke and Jackie Levine are producing for ImageMovers. The Kandells, who just signed with Range Media Partners, are the writers behind the Oscar-nominated Disney epic “Moana” and the 2018 film “Adrift,” starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin. They have a number of notable upcoming projects through their banner Twin Ink.

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Reddit Announces Public Bug Bounty Program

Andrew Orr ·

For the past three years Reddit has maintained a privacy bug bounty program for cybersecurity researchers with HackerOne. On Thursday the company announced a public program.

With our continued growth and visibility, we’re now ready to make the program public and expand the participation to anyone wanting to make a meaningful security impact on Reddit. As we scale the program, our priority will remain focused on protecting the privacy of our user data and identities. We know each security researcher has their own skills and perspective that they bring to the program, and we encourage anyone to submit a report that shows security impact. We’re super excited to hit this milestone and have prepared our team for what’s to come.

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Adobe Releases Global Emoji Diversity & Inclusion Report

Andrew Orr ·

On Thursday Adobe released the Global Emoji Diversity & Inclusion Report. It surveyed 7,000 emoji users from around the world on how they use diverse and inclusive emojis.

Only half of global emoji users feel their identity is adequately reflected in current emoji options. More representative emoji, inclusive of different cultures, age groups, and ethnicities, are key in helping emoji users better express themselves. This goes a lot deeper than personal identification — it helps people accurately express how they are feeling.

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U.S. House Committee Approve Big Tech Report

Charlotte Henry ·

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee formally approved a report that accuses big tech companies, including Apple, of either buying or crushing smaller rivals, Reuters reported. The extensive document offers various options for changing antitrust law.

The more than 400-page staff report will become an official committee report, and the blueprint for legislation to rein in the market power of the likes of Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google, Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Facebook (FB.O). The report was approved by a 24-17 vote that split along party lines. The companies have denied any wrongdoing. The report first released in October – the first such congressional review of the tech industry – suggested extensive changes to antitrust law and described dozens of instances where it said the companies had misused their power.

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Adding Car to HomeKit for In-App Controls and Automation

Charlotte Henry ·

Self-confessed “home automation enthusiast” Siobhán Ellis integrated an electric car into her Apple HomeKit setup. In a blogpost (spotted by MacRumors) she explained what she did and how she did it.

After I initially wrote this blog post, I wondered if there was a HomeBridge integration into the Jaguar InControl API. InControl enables a number of things, such as remotely seeing if the car is unlocked, how much it’s charged and if it is charging. It also enables pre-conditioning, which is the warming up of the car before you travel somewhere so the batteries work at peak efficiency. As it happens, there is a plugin, called Jlr Incontrol. Installation was easy, although I must say it came up with a few warnings.