Apple Taps Sam Smith in 'Sway' Holiday Commercial for AirPods

Apple has a new holiday commercial out called Sway. The spot channels the feeling of Christmas without overtly mentioning that specific holiday, with a sound track by Sam Smith (“Palace”). It’s a subtle promotion of AirPods featuring two young dancers who meet and metaphorically fall in love. She gives him one of her AirPods, and they then dance and sway through the snow sharing the same song. The tag line is “move someone this holiday.” What do you think?

Curios Aren’t Just for Breakfast Anymore – Mac Geek Gab 662

Alternative AirPlay Receivers, iMac Upgrades, Troubleshooting in Console, and AirPods controls are just the first four things your two favorite geeks discuss today. Then it’s on to solving the issue of stale Contacts on your iPhone, MailDrop woes, and the Preppers approach to backups. All this and more in this week’s Mac Geek Gab podcast. You’re guaranteed to learn at least four new things.

Follow The Dots...to Mac Geek Gab 656

Cool Stuff Found and Quick Tips in the same episode? You bet! John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton aim to deliver for you each and every week. And since the goal is to learn at least four new things each week, some options might include keeping your Mac awaken only when you like, managing Siri’s holidays when set for a foreign voice, yet another replacement for DeskConnect, and a segment one listener calls “follow the dots.” You’ll just have to listen to see what that is all about. Press play and enjoy, folks!

Apple Watch, AirPods, Beats Sales Hit Fortune 500 Level

Apple Watch sales, along with AirPods and Beats headphones have hit Fortune 500 level, which means they’re bringing in over US$5 billion to Apple’s “other products” category. Company CEO Tim Cook shared that detail during the company’s second fiscal quarter earnings report on Tuesday.

Is Your Wi-Fi Security Worth Its Salt? – Mac Geek Gab 655

Splitting the check, making your EarPods or AirPods fit better, and pen-based note-taking are just the Cool Stuff Found segment. Then your two favorite geeks talk you through fixing Wi-Fi connection issues on both your iPhone and your Mac, and also help you choose the right speed plan from your ISP. That’s not all, though, and you’ll hear much more when you press play (just do it!).

8 Ways to See the Charge Level of Your AirPods

If you’ve got a pair of Apple’s bluetooth headphones, dubbed “AirPods,” then it’s good to know that there are tons of ways to check their battery levels. Considering that the AirPods don’t have a physical indicator of how much charge they’ve got, that’s a good thing! In today’s Quick Tip, Melissa Holt’s gonna go over a number of methods for finding out how much more listenin’ you can do.