I spent part of today at the Disney D23 convention where they’ve got an entire section devoted to the Star Wars Experience at Disneyland. I spoke with lots of Imagineers and learned a lot of information. The Saturday sessions will disclose a lot more about this expansion and I’ll write up what I learned more afterward but I thought you may want to start out by looking at pictures of this remarkable model. These images are lightboxed so clicking on them will blow them up. Enjoy.
The Next iPhone Hardware
I don’t write much about Apple rumors because generally, I don’t see the point. We’re going to get to see the new iPhone in September, and there is no reason to get all bent out of shape about rumors about the new phone when we’ll get to see the actual phone in just a few months. Also, I don’t necessarily want all the spoilers. Apple products (at least the good Apple products) tell a story and need a proper introduction, not some shady back-alley blurry photos.
This year’s crop of “Apple/iPhone is doomed” rumors seem to have a lot of oxygen. While I don’t have any idea whether or not there will be a fingerprint sensor or some new-fangled authentication technology, I do know – for certain – that all the hardware decisions that the Internet thinks Apple is struggling to solve right now were locked down at Apple months ago. They ship millions of those phones on Day 1. There’s no way they’d still trying to figure out what to put in the phone at this point. I was all set to post on this issue at length, and then John Gruber went and did it for us.
Free Agents #25: Breadcrumbs of My Life, with Stephen Hackett
This week we posted a great episode of Free Agents where we interviewed Stephen Hackett about his origin story and his winding path to independence.
Dr. Drang’s Toothbrush
Occasionally, Apple geek and scientist Dr. Drang has some bit of household paraphernalia fail on him. While most folks might just throw the broken pieces in the trash, Dr. Drang photographs, documents, and explains the finer points of what exactly went wrong.
Most recently, his toothbrush broke and we get a lesson in tensile stresses and fatigue. Some days, I love the Internet.
Nilay Patel on Net Neutrality
Nilay Patel at the Verge brings us up to date on the Net Neutrality issue. I’ve tried to understand how removing Net Neutrality helps consumers and I honestly just can’t see it. Net Neutrality has served us well and allowed many great ideas grow into great companies.
Fantastical 2.4 for Mac Gets Travel Time and More
Today Fantastical for Mac released a significant update with several new features:
- You can now view, create, and edit attachments on iCloud and Exchange
- Travel Time! Receive notifications when you need to leave to reach an event on time
- Fantastical will now combine identical events that are on multiple calendars
- Undo and redo got a lot more powerful
There are quite a few more new features. Indeed so many updates that I made a few videos for the Flexibits team showing off the new features. Below is the “What’s New” video. I’ve been running this update since its early betas, and it’s solid. Head over to Flexibits to learn more.
Get Your Thoughts Organized with OmniOutliner (Sponsor)
This week MacSparky is sponsored by OmniOutliner. OmniOutliner is the best outlining application for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone and it just keeps getting better. One of the things I love about purchasing software from the Omni Group is that they continue to make their various productivity applications work better together. Most recently we saw this in the additional features allowing you to import OmniOutliner outlines into OmniGraffle. You already look pretty great, but when you import them to OmniGraffle, they can look amazing. Once your outline is in OmniGraffle, you can even add to or reorganize your outline using OmniGraffle’s outline editor. You can learn more about combining your OmniOutliner outline with OmniGraffle at the excellent Omni Group Blog.
The ability to move your outline to a different app is just one of the many features you’ll find in OmniOutliner. OmniOutliner makes it easy to create complex and beautiful outlines on your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. They’ve got new business model for OmniOutliner that lets you get in with OmniOutliner essentials for the basics or the Pro version if you’re looking for the real power tools. Head over to the Omni Group today and check it out.
Mac Power Users 385 – Kelly Guimont
The latest episode of Mac Power Users is live. Our guest, Kelly Guimont is a writer, social media consultant, and all-around geek. She’s got some great tips on apps, workflows, and home automation.
Game Recommendation: Monument Valley 2
I had a little down time this week and wanted to play a game on my iPad. I settled on the recently released Monument Valley 2 from ustwo Games. I enjoyed this sequal even more than the orginal. Monument Valley 2 puts you in charge of guiding a mother and her daughter through a variety of optical illusion style puzzles. They get difficult towards later levels but are absolutely solvable on your own. There are no zombies or killers with machine guns. Just a mother and her daughter and some satisfying puzzles. I found the game a perfect way to relax and recommend it to you for this weekend.
The New Dash iPad Sleeve
I’ve been sporting this new 10.5” iPad for awhile (that I love) but I’ve not shared any details about my case. For several years now I’ve been using Waterfield bags and cases. It’s a San Francisco-based company that locally manufactures excellent bags for your Apple gear. With my prior iPad I used a one of their Dash sleeves and for this new one I went again with the Dash iPad Sleeves.
However, since I bought the last Dash sleeve, they’ve updated the design. The new Dash 2.0 design is pretty great. The sleeve is made just big enough to hold your iPad (or your iPad plus a Smart Keyboard). The iPad slides in to a soft fabric with foam backing to protect you iPad. The exterior is either ballistic nylon or a rugged textile. I’ve been romping around Hawaii this week where it rains often and I discovered the fabric is water resistant. The Dash Sleeve comes in several colors including black ballistic nylon and blue, green, grey, and red fabric.
Like the prior Dash sleeve, there is a simple bit of elastic on one side that you can pull over the top to secure your iPad in the sleeve. New to version 2.0 is a zippered pocket to securely add a few accessories. The pocket is tall enough to hold an Apple Pencil and there’s even a little slot inside the zippered compartment to hold the Pencil. Once you stow your Pencil in the slot and zip up the compartment, it’s not going anywhere. The compartment is also big enough to hold my plus-sized iPhone
I really like the updated Waterfield Dash 2.0 iPad Sleeve. It’s both attractive and protective enough to carry your iPad around without any other case. I often use it as my sole case as I move around my day living the iPad lifestyle. At the same time, the Dash Sleeve is small enough that it easily fits in my breifcase or backpack so I can throw my Dash-protected iPad in with other gear without worrying about it getting damaged.
I was first attracted to the Waterfield products when I saw friends carrying them at Macworld Expo years ago. Their products are great looking but also built to last. Waterfield bags I bought years ago are still in great condition and getting used everyday. I expect this new Dash Sleeve will be no different and taking care of my iPad Pro for a long time to come.
