There’s no such thing as a "natural" computer-interface sound. But for decades, an entire industry of musicians, engineers, and advertisers has devoted itself to creating these acoustic signifiers, from the moment we boot up a machine to the moment we shut it down.
At first, it appeared that the Apple TV was designed to change Apple's rules. Now, it seems that old rules from related but different ecosystems subsumed some of the gaming focus for the new Apple TV. The opinionated Cupertino-based company is asserting its belief, at least for now, that the new Apple TV is good for gaming, but not necessarily in the same ways that traditional consoles are. From Apple's perspective, it's better to require that all games be developed with the platform in mind than to confuse Apple TV owners or display a warning message saying that a game requires a controller.
This is only the beginning, though. Apple's rules and opinions are subject to change. The tvOS documentation remains explicit about this, and the company has a history of revisiting its decisions.
If HopStop had remained the only reliable transit app in town, this would come as bad news. Luckily, HopStop was overtaken by a competitor two years ago. That competitor, Citymapper, remains the single best app for finding your way in the city.
Microsoft today released an update for Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, which fixes a significant Outlook bug that Office users ran into after upgrading to OS X El Capitan. After installing the new Apple operating system, many Outlook 2011 users found themselves unable to access their mail due to a syncing issue that caused the app to hang whenever it attempted to access the server.
iPulse 3, a utility that monitors various systems on your Mac, is now available on the Mac App Store.
HazeOver: Distraction Dimmer 1.5 for OS X focuses you by making the document you're working on be clear and vivid, while the rest of your desktop is darker, dimmed, almost greyed out.
So, Steward is really more of a list maker than a database. There are plenty of people who want to make lists, and Steward works well for them.
An app that pings drivers approaching D.C. speed cameras has gotten the green light from Apple, a week after its rejection by the tech giant was first reported.
Northern Virginia developer Charles Yeh said the company e-mailed him out of the blue Tuesday morning to say his app, Speed Cameras Alert, had been reviewed and approved. By afternoon, it was available in the app store, ready to be downloaded — for free.
Now, as of version 4.1.2 of the application, e-book readers can download, play, and pause their Audible audio books without leaving the page they’re currently viewing.
The enhanced Harry Potter books feature the full original text, interactive animations, detailed artwork and annotations from Rowling. There are also exclusive custom covers for each title, custom Harry Potter typefaces and new section headers and drop caps.
Afterward, I wandered up a couple of flights of stairs, through Moynihan Station’s cavernous halls, and sat down with Nadella to ask him what he’d meant by his remark. “The lesson we have learned is that there’s going to be more personal computing in our lives,” he replied. Forms will change, functions will change, devices will change, he explained, and so, “You can’t fall in love with this one thing becoming the hub for all things and for all time to come.”
That philosophy is, in many ways, the opposite of the old Microsoft. The company under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer was a hyper-competitive, cutthroat organization focussed on getting as many people as possible to run Microsoft software on personal computers. The company was so in love with P.C.s (the hub for all things and for all time to come) that it came late to the Internet and much, much too late to mobile phones. Windows used to run on ninety per cent of computing devices; now, with the rise of Android and Apple phones, it runs on eleven per cent.
I was listening to some old tunes on Apple Music with iTunes Classic Visualizer turned on. Bought back a lot of memories. If you haven't try that lately, maybe you should.
Thanks for reading.