Initial Apple TV+ Shows Reviewed by Critics

Looking at MacStories’ review roundup, it seems that the critical reception of Apple TV+ is lukewarm. I’m looking forward to Dickinson and For All Mankind, but the early responses have tempered my excitement.

It’s clearer now more than ever that any belief that Apple’s entrance into the streaming wars would be a cakewalk is misguided. In contrast to Apple’s laser-focused approach to original content, Netflix’s willingness to take a chance on projects has resulted in gems like Bojack Horseman, Stranger Things, and Mindhunter, though they certainly have had their share of duds. As all of the existing streaming services have shown, Apple will need to focus on growing their content library through original programming or acquiring additional assets if they want to make Apple TV+ a success in the eyes of their shareholders.

AirPods Pro look likely

From MacRumors

Apple plans to release the AirPods Pro in time for the holiday shopping season this year, according to the Economic Daily News, with the report claiming the earphones could be unveiled as early as next week.

The AirPods with the wireless charging case that I bought this spring are one of my favorite devices, so I’m not in the market for new wireless headphones at the moment, but when I am, these will be at the top of the list. I use wireless over-ear headphone from Sony at work, but I use AirPods almost everywhere else. With noise-cancelling functionality, the AirPods Pro could take care of both of my major use cases.

MacStories Debuts Federico Viticci’s iOS 13 Review

Federico Viticci on MacStories

No stone is left unturned in iOS 13 – and that includes iPad too.

If Apple left no stone unturned, Federico performed a thorough geological breakdown of each of iOS 13’s new features. I am thankful that I pay for a Club MacStories membership every Friday when the Club MacStories newsletter hits my inbox, but the perks that come with Ticci’s annual tome are worth the price of admission alone. Now that I have an iPad, I am particularly fond of the eBook edition for Club MacStories members.

It’s going to take me a while to get through the whole thing, but I can guarantee that I’ll come out the other side knowing more than I did when I started.

David Sparks releases Shortcuts Field Guide, iOS 13 Edition

From David Sparks on MacSparky

I’m pleased to announce the release of the new iOS 13 edition of the Shortcuts Field Guide. The new Shortcuts Field guide was shot entirely new with the new Shortcuts for iOS 13. Apple changed a lot and it is all covered in this field guide.

I’m a fan of David Sparks and his work with Rosemary Orchard on the Relay FM podcast Automators. I excited to dive into this new Shortcuts field guide and learn more about the latest opportunities for automation on iOS-based devices. While you’re there, I recommend doing what I did and picking up David’s Keyboard Maestro field guide to learn more about automation on macOS.

Relay FM Fifth Anniversary Live Show

From Relay FM on YouTube

On August 23, 20 Relay FM hosts joined forces to guess the answers to a selection of tech-related questions.

I’ve been following Relay FM for several years now , and its shows, and its hosts have changed my outlook technology and taught me so much. What Myke Hurley, Stephen Hackett, and company have been able to accomplish in five short years is nothing short of astounding.

I listened to this show a few weeks ago on the Connected podcast feed, and I loved it so much that I might have to watch the video version.

Disney Announces Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu Bundle

From The Verge

Disney will offer a bundle package of its three streaming services — Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — for $12.99 a month starting on November 12th, the company announced today.

With Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu for $6.99, $4.99, and $5.99 per month, respectively, I think that this bundle will be the one that most people, myself included, will get. I would only use ESPN+ to watch Formula 1, but at that price, it’s hard to pass down.

This also makes me a little concerned for Netflix, who have raised its prices in recent months. Between the price-hike and different production companies like NBC and Disney reclaiming shows their shows to stream on their own services, Netflix will need to rely on the their own content, and the Stranger Things kids won’t be young forever.

Apple Soft-Launches Credit Card

From TechCrunch

A limited amount of customers that signed up to be notified about the release of Apple Card are getting the ability to apply for the card in their Wallet app today — as well as the option to order their physical Apple Card.

For better or worse, I was not one of the chosen few for the Apple Card. I’d been planning on getting one to use for Apple device and services, along with Apple Pay purchases.

I am, however, disappointed to see that the Apple Card doesn’t play well with financial tracking services like Mint or YNAB. The official Apple documentation uses the word “currently” to describe the lack of functionality with money apps, so here’s to hoping that they change this before it launches to the entire world.

Playing with OS Betas

As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I wanted to experiment with Apple’s 2019 public OS betas, and in the past week, I’ve started to dip my toes in the water.

During a rain delay during last Saturday’s IndyCar race, I figured that of my iPhone, MacBook Pro, and iPad Pro, the iPad was the one I could live without the most, so I sacrificed it to the beta gods. Granted, I haven’t used my iPad a ton this week, but I would have a hard time going back to iOS 12 after seeing iPadOS 13 on my machine. My home screen is what I’ve wanted from my iPad since day one 1. Having a widget full of Shortcuts immediately available from the home screen is a fantastic addition. In terms of bugs, I haven’t had much, though I have had intermittent issues with Apple Music crashing and text slipping off the screen in Slack.

In a fit of poor planning, I decided to clear off an external drive to install the macOS Catalina beta just thirty minutes before I typically go to bed on Thursday night. Two hours later, I booted my Mac into Catalina from my external SSD. Other than the discomfort that is a Mac without all of my personal bells and whistles, it seemed fine, though I noticed a few glitches with text wrapping not changing when I resized a window.

So far, my summation of the betas is this: they have bugs, but as someone who isn’t using the betas for a majority of my work, it isn’t a dealbreaker. I can simply switch to my MacBook Pro running Mojave if things get too hairy, but for people who are trying to live the iPad lifestyle or are eager to run Catalina, there are going to be headaches. I’m not quite ready to install the beta on my phone, which I plan to do for the first time ever this year, but so far, running the new hotness is worth the sacrifice.

  1. Okay, it’s only been two months, but I’m still really excited about it. ↩

Overcast Update Released

Marco Arment shared a post on his blog yesterday detailing the latest version of Overcast, the best podcast player for iOS. The two key features for this update are the availability to share longer clips and an overhaul of the recommendation system.

While the clips feature is nice, the real kicker for this update is the recommendation system, which is no longer based on Twitter. As Marco writes, the recommendations now come from the podcasts to which the user is subscribed.

For someone with my varied interests, this feature improves my recommendations exponentially. For example, a lot of my motorsports podcasts weren’t included in my Overcast recommended lists because a fair amount of people in the motorsports circles use Apple Podcasts for their podcast consumption. I now get recommendations for a variety of different types of shows, regardless of whether they focus on tech, motorsports, productivity, or economics.

I’ve been on the TestFlight beta for a little while now, and I whole-heartedly recommend making sure you update to the latest version of Overcast as soon as possible

Apple Revises the MacBook Lineup

From Apple

Apple today updated MacBook Air, adding True Tone to its Retina display for a more natural viewing experience, and lowering the price to $1,099, with an even lower price of $999 for college students. In addition, the entry-level $1,299 13-inch MacBook Pro has been updated with the latest 8th-generation quad-core processors, making it two times more powerful than before.

It’s not the new keyboard we’ve been wanting (yet), but this is a solid update to the Mac laptop lineup. I love that biometric security in the form of TouchID is available on the entire notebook line. I primarily use my Apple Watch to unlock my Mac, but to be honest, almost anything feels for user-friendly than entering a password.

Also of note, today spelled the end for the non-Retina MacBook Air, MacBook (Adorable), and 13″ MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar (Escape). I think this is the right move, as I can’t think of a use case where any of these machines would be any better than the new models.

Part of me was worried that I’d regret getting my MacBook Pro battery replaced after this announcement, but I’m still going to hold out hope for a new line of laptops that replaces the current keyboard with a new scissor switch-equipped model.