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9to5Mac Daily 046 | March 13, 2018
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.
Overcast podcast app adds new ‘Smart Resume’ feature & more
Calendar 2 made $2K in 3 days mining cryptocurrency, but Apple says it violated Mac App Store guidelines
Yesterday, we reported on a macOS app called Calendar 2 that seemingly added cryptocurrency mining as an alternative to paying for premium features. At the time, the app’s developers, Qbix, had made the decision to remove the feature from the app.
The company now tells us, however, that Apple ended up pulling the app from the Mac App Store for violating its guidelines…
What are you most excited to see at WWDC 2018? [Poll]
Apple today officially announced dates for annual developer conference, WWDC 2018. This year, the event will run from June 4th through June 8th in San Jose, California at the McEnery Convention Center.
WWDC 2018 will mark the unveil of Apple’s latest software updates, as well as some potential hardware updates. What are you most excited to see at this year’s event?
I Tried a Weirdly “Psychic” Google Home App at SXSW So You Don’t Have To
At SXSW, one will inevitably come across things that are … weird.
Afterall, the host of this annual interactive, music, and film festival is Austin, Texas: a city with a motto of, “Keep Austin weird.”
So when I got word of a Google Home app that could allegedly read my mind, I was skeptical — but I wasn’t surprised, either.
Its name is Akinator.
I first discovered Akinator after attending a panel at the Austin Fairmont, where Google had installed a series of phone-booth-like cubbies in which users could interact with its Assistant technology and experience its capabilities.
I was lucky enough to be ushered into the one where this supposed mind-reading app was featured.
To be fair, Akinator doesn’t actually boast being able to hear all of your thoughts. Rather, it can guess which movie or TV character you’re thinking about.
When I prompted Akinator to begin, I was thinking of George Banks: the titular character in the 1991 version of Father of the Bride, played by Steve Martin.
To figure this out, Akinator asked me a series of (seemingly never-ending questions), such as, “is your character a villain?”, “does your character eat people?”, and “does your character have white hair?”
Long story short: Akinator did figure out that I was thinking of George Banks.
So, why is Google promoting this app?
According to my research, Akinator isn’t exclusive to Google Home — I was also able to find it in the Apple app store.
But it’s also worth mentioning that Google may be looking to move into Amazon’s territory. Remember when I tried using three smart speakers at the same time? One of the better differentiating features of Alexa was its broad repertoire of app-like skills, including a digital, voice-activated boxing coach.
By incorporating such interactive, game-like apps as Akinator, perhaps, Google could be looking to build its own portfolio of entertainment use cases.
I’ll be at SXSW all week and tweeting about these, well, weird things as I discover them. Feel free to follow along on the wild, bizarre ride.
Tim Cook mingles with lawmakers on Capitol Hill during visit to Washington D.C.
How to track back-to-back workouts with Apple Watch
Have you ever wanted to track multiple workouts with your Apple Watch back-to-back? Whether you’re doing something like a triathlon or want to split up something like two legs (or more) of a run or hike, follow along for how to easily track and organize your workouts with Apple Watch.
260,000 AmazonBasics portable power banks recalled after incidents of property damage and a chemical burn
Amazon has today recalled six different models of its AmazonBasics portable power banks, including a total of 260,000 units. This comes after some units have caused property damage and in one case, a chemical burn.
Apple continues beta rollout of ‘Apple Music for Artists’ analytics dashboard
After opening the platform to a few thousand artists earlier this year, Apple is further expanding beta testing of its ‘Apple Music for Artists’ dashboard, the company announced via a tweet.
Apple releases updated brand assets for Apple Music and iTunes
Apple has today shared refreshed assets for to help affiliates promote and share music, movies, and TV content that can be found on Apple Music and the iTunes Store.
Best CarPlay receivers on the market today
Apple CarPlay is hands-down the safest way to interact with your iPhone in the car. That’s because you never actually touch your iPhone while driving — something you should never ever do anyway — and instead you control navigation, communication, and entertainment with Siri and a simplified interface on your car’s screen.
But what if your car doesn’t have a built-in display or the one it has doesn’t work with Apple CarPlay? The good news is you don’t necessarily have to go out and buy a brand new car. In most cases, you can buy and have a really good in-dash system installed for under $1,000, but picking the right solution before you make the investment is important. Here are a few tips:
AltConf announces 2018 event details, will once again be ‘next door to WWDC’
On the heels of Apple officially announcing WWDC 2018 today, AltConf has released details for its week-long event as well. This year’s AltConf will feature two speaker tracks, two community labs and some special plans for podcasters.
Apple opens WWDC 2018 registration: June 4-8 in San Jose
Apple has officially announced dates for its annual developer conference where it is expected to unveil iOS 12, macOS 10.14, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12. WWDC 2018 will run from June 4 through June 8 and take place in San Jose, California for the second year in a row.
Best Buy and Sprint launch aggressive iPhone payment plan offers: X 64GB from $360, more
From 9to5Toys:
Best Buy is currently offering various discounts on the latest iPhone X, along with 7/8/Plus when electing for a 18 or 24-month payment plan. The best deals come via Sprint, which are what we’re highlighting below. Free shipping is available on all of today’s offers. A full list of the deals is available below.
Best Buy iPhone offers via Sprint include:
- iPhone 7 32GB: $350 (Reg. $250)
- iPhone 7 Plus 32GB: $470 (Reg. $670)
- iPhone 8 64GB: $500 (Reg. $700)
- iPhone 8 Plus 64GB: $600 (Reg. $800)
- iPhone X 64GB:
- 18-mo. Sprint Flex: $360 (Reg. $999)
- 24-mo. Payment: $800 (Reg. $999)
YouTube for iOS gains a dark theme, rolling out today
Since January, YouTube has been testing a dark theme for its iOS app that matches the revamped desktop client. That feature is now official and rolling out today.
9to5Toys Lunch Break: Amazon iPhone Anker Sale, Mac App Bundle $15, Logitech Harmony Control $60, more
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. more…
Another report suggests that AirPower wireless charging mat slated to launch sometime in March
AirPower is Apple’s solution to wirelessly charging multiple devices at the same time, on a single mat. The company originally announced the mat back in September, alongside the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and iPhone X.
While not official, the company is also slated to launch a new wirelessly charging AirPods case alongside AirPower. The charging mat will support iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhone X, Apple Watch Series 3, and the new AirPods case.
Clipboard manager app Paste 2, the ‘cloud clipboard time machine’ now available on iOS
I’ve been using Paste on my Mac for quite a while, it’s one of the apps from my Setapp subscription I learned to rely on. My work often involves copying and pasting stuff, be it text, code snippets, URLs and even images, so having a centralized place to store all of my clipboard history is a nice thing to have.