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Category: Just for Fun

Connie Laubenthal 11 comments

Black Ink Lets You Do Crossword Puzzles on Your Mac

Black Ink from Red Sweater Software is an easy and intuitive way to play crossword puzzles from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and other sources.

Josh Centers 6 comments

Movie Villains Don’t Use iPhones

An amusing anecdote from director Rian Johnson reveals Apple’s level of influence over Hollywood, but such influence isn’t out of the ordinary.

Adam Engst 1 comment

Guy Kawasaki’s New “Remarkable People” Podcast

This podcast is related to the world of Apple only through the Mac cred of its host, Guy Kawasaki, but his lineup of guests makes it well worth checking out.

Adam Engst 94 comments

The Few Remaining Uses of the Word “Macintosh”

Nagged by the question of whether Apple still uses the term “Macintosh” anywhere, Adam Engst pores over targeted Google search results to confirm that the company has excised “Macintosh” from all modern uses, with a few odd exceptions.

Adam Engst 1 comment

The Life and Times of a Backblaze Hard Drive

Backblaze has published a description of what it’s like to be a hard drive in the company’s data center, writing it from the perspective of a hard drive called Zach. Wonderfully silly, for sure, but it’s an engaging approach complete with interesting technical bits.

Josh Centers 4 comments

Xbox and PlayStation Game Controllers with Apple Arcade: The FAQ

iOS 13, iPadOS 13, macOS 10.15 Catalina, and tvOS 13 all support game controllers from Microsoft and Sony. Here’s how to connect them to your devices to make the most of Apple Arcade.

Timothy Buck 22 comments

Headspace: A Guided Meditation Companion

If you struggle to sleep, can’t seem to focus, or grapple with persistent stress, you might want to check out Headspace. It’s a personal meditation guide available for iOS, Android, and the Web with a large catalog of guided meditations for people of every experience level.

Adam Engst No comments

Behind the Scenes of the Backblaze Price Hike

It’s unusual for customers to get insight into why companies raise prices and how those price hikes work out, but online backup service Backblaze is being highly transparent about the reasoning behind and results of its February price increase.

Adam Engst 9 comments

Apple Embeds Easter Egg in iPhone 11 Event Supercut Video

Take a few minutes to watch Apple’s 2-minute supercut video of the iPhone 11 announcement event and you’ll get the opportunity to see an Easter egg message from Apple.

Adam Engst 3 comments

102-Year-Old George Jedenoff Publishes His Autobiography

Remember our interview with George Jedenoff? He has finished his autobiography, so if you’re curious about the life and times of a fellow TidBITS reader who went from fleeing the Russian Revolution as an infant to becoming the president of a steel company, now’s your chance.

Adam Engst 27 comments

Thoughts on Sharing Vacation Photos

Many of us take far more photos while on vacation than at any other time, but that raises the question of how best to share them with different people and groups. Particularly if you’re not enamored of sharing on social media, read on for advice, suggestions, and solutions.

Josh Centers No comments

James Thomson Presents an Illustrated History of Easter Eggs

At the Hacking with Swift Live event, developer James Thomson gave a talk about the history of hidden Easter eggs in software. It’s a glorious trip down memory lane.

Josh Centers 7 comments

Take a Chance with Dice by PCalc

Dice by PCalc is an engaging and attractive dice simulator for iPhone and iPad with realistic physics and remarkable attention to detail.

Adam Engst 23 comments

George Jedenoff: A 101-Year-Old TidBITS Reader

We’ve known since the beginning that TidBITS readers are an unusual and fascinating group, but George Jedenoff stands out. As an infant, he escaped the Russian Revolution with his parents, and after picking up a Stanford MBA and serving with the US Navy Reserve during World War II, he worked his way through the ranks of the steel industry, retiring as president of Kaiser Steel. And that was all before Apple even existed—he started with the Mac in 1987.

Josh Centers 3 comments

How Rogue YouTube Employees Killed Internet Explorer 6

Early YouTube employee Chris Zacharias has shared the story of how he and a rogue team of developers bypassed Google’s bureaucracy to put a stake through the heart of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 Web browser.