Serial was one of the most compelling podcast series I’ve ever listened to, and was directly responsible for my sleep deprivation in the week I first discovered it. A spinoff from The American Life, season 1 told the true story of what sounded very much like a miscarriage of justice in a murder case, leading to the case being reopened more than 15 years later. The podcast is now back with season 2.

#Serial Season 2 is here, the story of Bowe Bergdhal. Be sure to check it out. @serial http://ift.tt/1RIn4yQ https://t.co/Q0kh0Atew8

—
iTunes Podcasts (@iTunesPodcasts) December 10, 2015

The second season tells the story of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier held for five years by the Taliban, initially hailed as a hero and later charged with desertion.

In the middle of the night, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl grabs a notebook, snacks, water, some cash. Then he quietly slips off a remote U.S. Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan and into the dark, open desert. About 20 minutes later, it occurs to him: he’s in over his head.

I know what I’ll be listening to on the train ride into town this evening.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Afghanistan, Bowe Bergdahl, Podcast, Serial, Serial podcast, Taliban, This American Life

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Apple has begun advertising the iPhone 6s to older iPhone users through the App Store, as spotted by @Dirk_Gently on Twitter. If a user browses the App Store, perhaps updating apps, with an iPhone 5s or earlier device, a modal popup may appear over the top of the view promoting the iPhone 6s as a ‘ridiculously powerful’ upgrade. Users are directed to learn more or ‘upgrade now’ which takes them to the Apple Store app to buy the new phone directly. The ad code appears to have been included alongside iOS 9.2.

Apple has used the App Store for advertising new iPhones and iPads before, but this is markedly more aggressive and intrusive direct marketing. iOS device users must press the ‘Skip’ button to get back to what they were doing.

In the past, Apple has featured the iPhone 6s a a small banner for instance or created device-targeted collections of apps to show in the Featured rotations — such as the ‘Enhanced with 3D Touch’ or ‘Great Apps for iPad Pro’ collections currently circulating the front pages.

There is a big difference between curated categories and full-screen advertisements that show without explicit user interaction. This is the first time Apple has used modal overlays (that interrupt what are you doing) to aggressively encourage upgrades.

It is easy to be seen why this is causing some angst in the community: any full-screen modal advertisement is annoying. This is frustrating for any iPhone user, who may be happy with their device as is and not interested in being marketed to whilst using their phone as normal.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: adverts, App Store, banners, iPhone, iPhone 6s

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You have to smile at the idea of a conference devoted to discussing the ‘the business of Apple Watch‘ when there’s only one company which knows the real numbers, and that company isn’t telling. But that doesn’t, of course, stop people guessing.

Fortune‘s Philip Elmer-DeWitt helpfully rounded up some of the numbers presented at the Glance conference. Asymco’s Horace Dediu has projected that Apple will hit 21M sales in the first 12 months. Assuming the numbers skew heavily toward the Apple Sport, that gives the company somewhere around $8B in revenue – or more if they don’t. Creative Strategies’ Ben Bajarin believes sales will hit a staggering 100M by 2017.

Some estimated percentages were also presented …

Apple is said to have 80% of the smartwatch market at present, which, if anything, seems like a conservative estimate – though there is a more competition now, and the line between a smartwatch and a fitness band can be a somewhat blurred one these days.

Another figure which also seems surprisingly low to me: 30% of Apple Watch owners weren’t previously wearing anything on their wrist. I personally hadn’t worn a watch for about a decade, and that’s a common factor among most of the Watch owner I know – but mine is a sample admittedly highly skewed toward techies.

In a numbers of claimed myths about the Apple Watch, Horace Dediu said that myth 7 is that the Watch competes with the Swiss watch industry. Mostly, he argues, it’s competing with naked wrists. Some of his other points are stronger than others. Three of them (it’s not for watch lovers, fitness fanatics or techies) essentially amount to my own conclusion about the Watch: it doesn’t have a single killer app, but does a number of things well enough to add up to a gadget which is undeniably useful, if not a must-have.

His strongest argument is the myth that the Apple Watch is off to a slow start.

[The estimated sales numbers place] the Watch launch at a higher sales rate than the iPhone (3.7 million in three quarters), even with the iPad (14.7 million) and slightly lower than the Mac’s volumes (15 million in the last three quarters, 31 years after launch.) Selling 13 to 14 million of a new category product, in three quarters, priced at an average of $400 is extraordinary by any measure. Moreover that’s equivalent to over $5.5 billion in revenues [in three quarters] that just appeared out of thin air.

More numbers courtesy of Fortune: 85% of Apple Watch owners say it has improved their health, with 27% saying they have lost weight. More than 80% were sufficiently impressed with their own use of the Watch to give one as a gift – a number which is likely to rise significantly this month, especially with the deep discounts available.

The full list of Dediu’s myths can be found below.

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple Inc, Apple watch, Apple Watch conference, Apple Watch myths, Apple Watch numbers, Apple Watch sales

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Google today has pushed a beefy update to its Play Movies & TV app on iOS that bumps it to version 2.0.7910 and brings several new features. The update gives the app a refreshed interface, AirPlay support, recommendations, and more.

Perhaps most important for iOS users, today’s Play Movies & TV update adds in-app support for AirPlay playback to Apple TVs. While this was previously possible using the main iOS AirPlay setting, it’s now supported in the app itself. This means that you can start a video in the Play Movies & TV app, AirPlay it to your Apple TV, and continue using your iOS device as normal.

Next, the update adds support for cellular streaming. So now, no matter where you are, you can stream content from your Google Play Movies & TV library. Although, be sure to keep in mind that this will use a lot of your data so you’ll want to be conservative when it comes to cellular streaming. Furthermore, you can now stream content in HD through the app.

Finally, Google has introduced a new “Recommended by Play” section in the app that suggests content for you to watch based on your past viewing history. There’s also a new wishlist feature that lets you save a movie or show to your account to revisit later.

The updated Google Play Movies & TV app for iOS is available now on the App Store for free. The full change log is below:

Filed under: Apps, iOS Tagged: app, Google, Google Play Movies & TV, iOS, update

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With the rise of contactless payment systems like Apple Pay and Android Pay, the Google Wallet app has needed to reinvent itself somewhat as a peer-to-peer payment system. With the latest update, it’s become a whole lot easier to send money to your friends, family and contacts.

From today, the updated app on both iOS and Android will let you send money to anyone on your contact list, even if you don’t have their email address. You can send money to them using their phone number, and it’s secure and fast.

When you send money to a phone number, the recipient gets a text message containing a secure link. Once they click on the link, they input their debit card details to claim the money and the funds are available in their bank account within a few minutes.

Before today, you could send money to contacts, but you could only do so by using an email address.

This is just one of several new features added to Google Wallet in recent weeks. It’s clear then that the company is working hard to make it a useful app, and one that isn’t made redundant by the arrival of Android Pay, or competitor payment systems like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or *coughs* Walmart Pay. Those improvements include:

• Improved contact suggestions, so you see the people you send money to most often first
• A security feature that lets you lock the Google Wallet app with the tap of a button
• The ability to link a second bank account

You can download the latest update for iPhone from the App Store for free. Apple is rumored to be developing its own peer-to-peer payment feature for Apple Pay in 2016.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Apple pay, Apps, Google Wallet, iOS, Updates

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Adding extra storage to a MacBook using an SD card is easy, but it works like a thumb drive or external hard drive and not like your permanent, built-in storage. That means you’ll have to manually manage the storage, dragging files to and from the drive. But TarDisk Pear lets you add extra flash storage to your MacBook using the SD card and with 1-click setup to merge the storage with your external drive. After a quick setup, the TarDisk SD card installed in your Mac will act as one fusion drive with your built-in storage. I’ve been testing the product to see if it works like it should…

Setup:

To get started, you simply stick the TarDisk Pear in your MacBook’s SD card slot like any ordinary SD card. The installer software is supposed to launch automatically, but I had to open it from the SD card itself which was recognized and popped up inside Finder after inserting.

There are a few steps to go through (more on that below), but all the formatting happens behind the scenes, with the entire process taking me around 50 minutes with a few clicks of the mouse and a few restarts.

Requirements: You’ll need a MacBook with an SD port, 8GB of free space (at least temporarily for the installation), and Bootcamp partitions aren’t officially supported. After starting the installer, it then prompted me to turn off encryption on my internal drive by switching off FileVault and to enable Core Storage (you can enable FileVault again once Pear is installed).

A little over half of the installation time mentioned above was spent on turning off FileVault and Core Storage with a couple restarts in between. I already had a recent back up, so the install time will vary depending on what your current setup is, how long your backup takes (the company not surprisingly recommends running a full backup first), and whether or not you run through the recommended steps to check the health of your current drive, remove BootCamp if installed, etc.

Using TarDisk:

You shouldn’t have to think about TarDisk much after installing it. The idea is that it merges with your internal drive so you can use it as if you have just upgraded your internal drive, and I found the process went smoothly. In my month-long test I didn’t run into any issues with my upgraded storage, and I didn’t find a noticeable difference in performance overall on the original, 2012 Retina MacBook Pro I tested it on.

How does it work? The company explained it uses “a combination of undocumented OSX commands and proprietary software.” For those that want to know a little bit more about what’s happening behind the scenes, the drive itself is formatted with Apple’s Disk Utility into Mac OSX extended Journaled. And in the background, this is how OS X will handle your storage between the two drives once installed:

• The new logically merged volume is managed by OSX.
• Internal SSD is primarily used before data is sent to the product.
• More frequently used files are maintained on SSD hardware.
• TRIM enabled SSDs maintain original speed benefits of Trim.
• Read/Write buffer (“swap-space-equivalent”) is maintained on SSD to buffer writes to files located on the product.
• Failure modes, if ever encountered, allow for direct restoration from TimeMachine backups.

Disk Utility allows users to format drives and since OS X 10.8.3 create DIY Fusion drives, but the entire process is a one-click step with TarDisk’s installer software handling everything for you.

Since the TarDisk Pear works like one drive in combination with your built-in storage, you won’t see the SD card mounted in Finder anymore. And you’ll be able to manage storage in the same way you manage the built-in storage in your Mac. Once installed, you’ll see the new drive appear under “About this Mac” and System Profiler (as pictured above).

Removing TarDisk isn’t recommended. The company refers to the product as a “permanent upgrade” and warns you’ll have to restore your old drive completely from a backup if you remove the product:

“…This is comparable to the level of involvement required to replace a hard drive. Because it creates a hybrid drive, removing it will cause files to appear as missing. Re-inserting the TarDisk remedies this problem. As with any storage device, a backup should be a part of your routine. TarDisk Pear becomes part of your hard drive, and just like your regular hard drive if it fails, you lose that data.”

Should you buy it?

Out of all the options for upgrading the storage on an old Mac— a standard SD card, an external drive, or upgrading the internal drive— the TarDisk Pear proved to be the easiest overall solution. If you can deal with the pricing ($149 to $399) and the available storage and speed options, and you don’t want to put up with the mess of upgrading internal drives on Macs, then I’d recommend TarDisk as the easiest, although one of the priciest, approaches to upgrading your storage.

The TarDisk Pear is available now in 128GB ($149) and 256GB ($399) versions. It’s compatible with MacBooks that have an SDXC port and Yosemite or El Capitan installed.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Disk Utility, DIY, Fusion Drive, MacBook, SD Card, SSD, Storage, TarDisk Pear, Upgrade, upgrade Mac hard drive

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic ultimately may not have performed so hot in theaters with reports saying the film likely lost money, but Michael Fassbender who portrayed the title character in the movie is being recognized for his performance. Earlier today the Golden Globe Award nominees were announced with Kate Winslet, Michael Fassbender, and Aaron Sorkin among the list of nominees credited for their roles in the Steve Jobs movie.

Michael Fassbender, who was eventually selected to play Steve Jobs after Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio turned down the role, is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. Actress Kate Winslet, who played marketing exec Joanna Hoffman, is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

Aaron Sorkin could also win a Golden Globe Award as he’s nominated for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture. Daniel Pemberton is similarly nominated for Best Original Score – Motion Picture for his work on Steve Jobs.

Winners will be announced in one month on January 10th, 2016, during the 73rd Golden Globe Awards ceremony airing on NBC from 8-11 PM ET.

While the film was rather short-lived in theaters, its limited release saw the highest per-theather earnings of the year and the best yet for director Danny Boyle on opening weekend, grossing $2.26 million once it reached 60 theaters. The film was widely criticized for its artistic liberties, however, by the likes of Walt Mossberg and Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs who say the Steve Jobs in the movie does not represent the late Apple co-founder.

The film was originally released on October 9th and appears to still be playing in a select few theaters.

Filed under: General Tagged: Aaron Sorkin, christian bale, Daniel Pemberton, Golden Globe, Golden Globe Awards, Joanna Hoffman, Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs movie

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Apple has allowed developers to support sharing Live Photos in their own apps since iOS 9.1, and Tumblr appears to be the first major social network to take advantage of the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus feature. Tumblr 5.0 for iOS was released today and supports sharing the new animated photos, 3D Touch within the app, and a few other goodies.

To start sharing Live Photos to Tumblr, simply update to the latest version of the iPhone app, make sure you’re signed in and give the app permission to access your photos, then compose a new post with a photo included. From here you’ll notice Apple’s standard Live Photos icon over Live Photos in your photo library. You can share a Live Photo to Tumblr just like a standard photo.

When browsing Tumblr, you’ll recognize Live Photos by the same standard icon in the top right corner. iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users can 3D Touch (press the display firmly) to animate the photo and hear audio playback. Non-3D Touch iOS devices like older iPhones and all iPads can tap and hold the Live Photo icon to view and hear it. Other devices include the web will just see the standard image.

The latest Tumblr for iOS update also includes other 3D Touch features includes the ability to access Search by deep pressing the Home screen icon. You’ll also find new social network features in addition to 3D Touch and Live Photos:

This update has a new feature: Send-a-Post. Message a post to any Tumblr.
This feature has a new button: Paper plane. Toss a post with the tap of a button.
This button has something extra for you: Messaging. Starting today, it’s out to everyone.

Grab Tumblr 5.0 for iOS for free on the App Store.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Live Photos, Tumblr

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Yahoo today released a new “Yahoo Video Guide” app for mobile devices that acts as one central location for users to find content from across a long list of competitive video services and networks.

The app allows users to search from one place and then offers links to buy or start streaming the content in other apps like iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, HBO GO, and many others. So you’ll still need to be a subscriber, have the app downloaded, and or purchase the content once the Yahoo Video Guide app redirects you.

And while you can just search for something you’re looking for, the app also has a Mood Picker feature that lets users pick a from GIFs to search through curated lists. 

Yahoo of course has its own Yahoo Screen app for mobile devices, but it also links to content on iTunes, Amazon Video, Hulu, Netflix, HBO GO, ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, Xfinity, YouTube, A&E, BET, Cartoon Network, Cinemax, Comedy Central, Disney, Food Network, and others. In total it says it’s promoting over 30 video services through the new Video Guide app.

The Yahoo Video Guide iPhone app is available to download for free on the U.S. App Store now.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Amazon, App Store, Apps, iPhone, iTunes, Video Guide, Yahoo, Yahoo Video Guide

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Best Buy’s latest Apple sale is your best chance to score iPad, Mac, & Watch deals before Christmas: iPad Air 2 $125 off, iPad Air $100 off, iPad mini 4 $100 off, much more!

The Room puzzle-mystery game for iOS goes free for the first time in two years (Reg. $1), more

Portable Flashlight w/2600 mAh Power Bank: $5, 5200mAh battery w/2 charging ports: $7 Prime shipped

Best Buy makes a splash with the lowest Apple Watch prices ever, deals start at just $249

$100 iTunes Physical Gift Card for $80 w/ free shipping (20% off)

Giveaway: SanDisk USB flash drives for iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Save 25% on any book from Amazon — Humans of New York: Stories $12 Prime shipped (Reg. $16)

• Games/Apps: Shadow of Mordor GOTY for Mac $25, LEGO LOTR $5, more
• iPad Air/2 Accessories: Kensington KeyFolio X3 Keyboard Case $30 (Orig. $60)
• Affinity Photo is Apple’s Mac App of the Year, download it now for $40 (Reg. $50)
• FiiO DAC and Amplifier deals: E12 Portable $100 (Reg. $140), more
• Daily Deals: LeapFrog LeapPad Kids Learning Tablet $65, more

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Algoriddim’s djay 2 for iPhone is now available for free (Reg. $3)

Samsung Ultra-Slim 8X USB DVD-R Optical Drive for Mac/PC/Android: $18 shipped (Orig. $26)

• ChugPlug adds 4 hours of battery life to your Macbook: $30 (Orig. $130)
• Mpow Grip Magic Air Vent iPhone 6/s Car Mount $5 Prime shipped
• SoundPEATS Sport Bluetooth Earbuds $17 shipped (Reg. $30), more
• Anker USB Power: 20,000mAh Dual-USB Battery $28 (Reg. $40), more
• Twelve South blowout: iPad mini leather case $25 Prime shipped (Reg. $70)
• iPad mini 2 Wi-Fi 32GB $269, iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi 128GB $600
• Home Recording: ATH-M40x headphones + Blue Yeti USB mic $130, more
• Sling Media Slingbox 350 (refurb) $55 shipped (Orig. $180)
• Star Wars LEGO Sets: Kylo Ren’s Shuttle $99 (Reg. $120), more
• Bluetooth Speakers: URGE SOUNDBRICK PLUS $17 (Reg. $30), more
• Apple’s latest freebie is Afterlight image editing app for iPhone and iPad ($1 value)
• GoPro HERO bundles starting at $140, cases from $10, headgear from $7, more
• PlayStation Now drops to $100/yr (55% off)
• Grab Nomad’s gorgeous aluminum Apple Watch Stand: $41 shipped (Reg. $60)
• iPhone 6 (refurb) and one year of unlimited talk/text: $550 shipped
• Amazon is giving away a year of unlimited cloud storage
• Home Recording: Mackie LE CR3 speakers $80 (Reg. $100), more
• Fashion 50% off sales: The North Face, PUMA, Patagonia, more
• Free MP3 Christmas albums from Mariah Carey, Blake Shelton

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Top 10 holiday movies you can stream right now on Netflix

Skip the holiday blues with these practical stocking stuffers

Pine64 aims to knock off Raspberry Pi with its low-price 4K-capable microcomputer

Justin’s Holiday Gift Guide: speakers, Lightning mics, storage, pocket synths & more to up your home recording set-up

• Amazon names the best-selling books of 2015, snag one as a surefire holiday gift
• The future is (almost) here with Moley’s robotic kitchen
• The latest Omate smartwatch for iOS/Android hits Indiegogo w/ instant success
• Amazon launches New Kindle Fire HD 8 ‘Reader’s Edition’
• Razor details its new Hovertrax Smart Scooter ahead of release
• Anova Culinary updates its sous vide Precision Cooker w/ Wi-Fi
• Host a Christmas party that doesn’t suck with these rowdy adult board games

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: 9to5Toys, 9to5Toys Lunch Break, Affinity Photo, Amazon Gold Box, ChugPlug, Daily Deals, djay 2, eBay Daily Deals, gift guide, giveaway, iPad Air 2, ipad mini 4, iTunes Gift Card, LeapFrog, Netflix, New Toy of the Day

Visit 9to5Mac to find more special coverage of iOS Devices, 9to5Toys, and Daily Deals.

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