Happy Independence Day to our readers in the United States! Celebrate with the new NASA app for the fourth-generation Apple TV, which Julio Ojeda-Zapata covers in this issue. Rumors are swirling that Apple might buy rapper Jay Z’s Tidal music service — the prescient Josh Centers explains why Tidal could be beneficial to Apple’s future. BusyCal has been updated to version 3 on the Mac, and with it, developer BusyMac has introduced an iOS variant of the popular alternative to Apple’s Calendar — Adam Engst evaluates both the Mac and iOS versions. To round out the issue, Julio looks at the Eero Wi-Fi mesh networking system, and Glenn Fleishman joins us to discuss how Eye-Fi is discontinuing support for many of its older Wi-Fi camera cards and what that means for other cloud-dependent hardware products. Notable software releases this week are brought to you by the letters “F” and “K” and include Fantastical 2.2.4, f.lux 37.3, KeyCue 8.1, and Keyboard Maestro 7.2.
NASA has released an Apple TV app that is sure to keep space geeks busy for weeks. The app for the fourth-generation Apple TV has images, video, satellite tracking, and even a radio station with a pop soundtrack.
Why would Apple purchase a struggling music streaming service? Josh Centers explains why Tidal might be key to Apple’s future.
For those who spend a lot of time in their calendars, BusyMac has updated its Calendar alternative BusyCal with a modern interface look, support for travel time, inclusion of timed to-dos in the main views, and a new iOS version that mimics the basic feature set and look of the Mac version.
A fast and stable Wi-Fi network can be complex to create and maintain, and ensuring consistent coverage is an ordeal that often means putting an unsightly access point in the middle of your house. Now, a company called Eero has released a lovely wireless networking device that sets up easily and works in groups of three or more to blanket a residence in Wi-Fi.
A maker of SD cards with embedded Wi-Fi will disable services and some features for models sold as recently as March 2015.
Notable software releases this week are brought to you by the letters “F” and “K” and include Fantastical 2.2.4, f.lux 37.3, KeyCue 8.1, and Keyboard Maestro 7.2.
In ExtraBITS this week, Jason Snell argues in favor of the iPhone’s headphone jack, Evernote makes some controversial changes, and Amazon introduces a new Page Flip feature to most of the Kindle ecosystem.