The great actor and comedian Robin Williams is no longer with us. Josh Centers explains his connection to Apple.

NPR has found a clever solution to deliver news to users accustomed to quick bursts of information.

In the latest round of Snoops updates, Josh Centers brings you an update on the CIA/Senate kerfuffle we reported back in March, what Edward Snowden is up to, and why Tor isn’t as secure as you might have thought.

Programmers typically have to learn several languages to do their jobs. In the Apple world, that might include Objective-C to code Mac and iOS apps and AppleScript to automate common tasks. But developer Filip W has shown that Apple’s new Swift programming language can be used both for app development and as a scripting language. As a proof of concept, he developed a script to change his Mac’s wallpaper in Swift, without using Xcode.

After the release of the iPhone, Steve Jobs told Re/code’s Walt Mossberg that he was so frustrated by AT&T’s slow cellular network and the general lack of open Wi-Fi access points that he came up with a plan to make it easy for users to share their Wi-Fi networks with strangers safely. He even wanted to create an industry consortium of sorts to make guest networks a standard feature of wireless routers. Jobs’s frustration could have been the inspiration for the guest network feature in AirPort base stations, though it might also have just been a natural development.

For those interested in iOS development, the non-profit iOSDevCamp 2014 is coming up on 22 August 2014 at the eBay offices in San Jose, California, and there’s still time to register. The three-day hackathon will cover all of Apple’s upcoming technologies, like HealthKit and HomeKit, as well as robotics, big data, alternate currencies and more. Also, you can look forward to catered meals on Saturday and Sunday, Saturday night gaming, and lots of opportunities for collaboration and networking. Not bad for a $100 registration fee!

Our own Glenn Fleishman’s general-interest publication, The Magazine, has revamped its iOS app, releasing a version 2.0 using the TypeEngine publishing system. To mark the change, Glenn is opening up the app’s first 47 issues for free download via the new app. New issues, starting with number 48, cost $1.99 each, or come twice monthly for subscribers at $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year. After 29 August 2014, individual back issues will cost $1.99.

Flappy Bird was a surprising smash hit on the iPhone and iPad until developer Dong Nguyen pulled it in fear of what its addictive gameplay was doing to users. Now, Flappy Bird is back as an exclusive to Amazon’s Fire TV. Relaunched as Flappy Bird Family, the game now features multiplayer support and additional hazards, like ghosts.

Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited service is offering 600,000 books to subscribers for $9.99 per month, but will it save you money? Josh Centers took a hard look at the data to find out, and discovered that the selection was pretty limited.

Apple’s “Stickers” ad was surprising because it actually encouraged owners to customize the sleek aluminum MacBook Air. According to a piece in MacStories, the ad also led to a happy, if unintended side effect: sales of MacBook stickers and decals are soaring. Benjamin Clark of The Decal Guru said they saw a quadrupling of orders after the ad, and Etsy sellers also reported similar gains.

Apple has completed the CDN, or content delivery network, it began building last year. A CDN distributes content among multiple servers and data centers in order to spread out the load and better serve demand. Dan Rayburn of StreamingMediaBlog.com has spoken to ISPs and discovered that Apple’s CDN is capable of handling ten times the capacity the company currently uses, which will come in handy for the releases of iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite, plus upcoming features like iCloud Drive, iCloud Photo Library, and any possible expansions to its streaming media services. To ensure smooth traffic flow, Apple has secured interconnect deals with ISPs like Comcast — which may explain in part why Apple has been so quiet regarding net neutrality.

If you live in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, South Carolina, or Tennessee, you will soon have a limited opportunity to purchase certain Apple products without paying sales tax, thanks to sales tax holidays provided by those states. Apple has published a list of the states, their respective holidays (generally August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd), and where to find your nearest Apple Store. The tax holidays will also apply to online purchases made by residents of those states.

Apple has updated its MacBook Pro lineup with modest spec improvements and a couple of $100 price drops.

Nearly two years after the feature was unveiled, Netflix on the Apple TV gains Post-Play, which automatically plays the next TV episode after the one you’re watching ends. “Take Control of Apple TV” author Josh Centers explains how it works.

TidBITS Managing Editor Josh Centers joined host Gene Steinberg on The Tech Night Owl podcast to explain why he uses Gmail, and what Apple will need to do to keep the Apple TV competitive.