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Opening
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Opening Music
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Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
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News
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Apple’s “High Speed” iPhone 12 event next week
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The invites are out. The next virtual event will happen Tuesday October 13th at 10:00 AM PT
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High Speed is likely in reference to 5G and the A14 processor
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Branding
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iPhone 12 mini: 5.4-inch - USD $699, 64/128/256
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iPhone 12: 6.1-inch - USD $799, 64/128/256
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iPhone 12 Pro: 6.1-inch - USD $999, 128/256/512
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iPhone 12 Pro Max: 6.7-inch - USD $1,099, 128/256/512
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12-series will have dual lens camera systems. 12 Pro series will have triple lens with LiDAR
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Other features:
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All OLED displays
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5G, possibly both sub-6GHz and mmWave? Maybe only in the US
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flat edge design similar to the iPhone 4 and the newest iPads
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Midnight Blue color
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Faster FaceID
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No charging brick or EarPods
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Possible Revival of “MagSafe” branding
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A magnetic charging case, two new MagSafe Wireless Chargers for iPhone
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MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger, possibly two devices at once?
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Reports that Apple filed for an ‘iPhone for Life’ patent in Hong Kong
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May be a rebranding of Apple iPhone upgrade program.
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Staggered release still in flux
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One recent leak claims the 6.1-inch models would have a release date of Oct 23rd
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The iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro Max on November 13th and 20th respectively
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Reports that Apple may also announce the HomePod mini
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About half the size and priced at USD $99
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Powered ed by an S5 processor
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Available in November
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Apple stopped selling any 3rd party headphones or speakers from their online store according to Bloomberg
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Not expected to be an update to the original HomePod
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Possible announcement of the new AirPods Studio over the ear headphones
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Retro design
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Swappable materials
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neck detection
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priced at $349 USD
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Might not be ready to ship until November. Could be announced later.
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Possible announcement of AirTags item trackers
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Prosser says no. Been pushed back to March of 2021
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Updated Apple TV and Siri Remote
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Apple Silicon Mac coming next
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman
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It’s suspected that the first model would be a notebook
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Not clear if it will be a 13-inch MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air, or a 12-inch MacBook
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Ming-Chi Kuo has said the first would be the 13-inch MacBook Pro
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Also mentions “other” products. Maybe AirPods Studio? Apple TV updates?
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More Apple TV+ Docs on the way
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Apple shared a teaser trailer for an upcoming Bruce Springsteen documentary set to hit Apple TV+ on October 23rd
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It will show Bruce and his full E Street Band recording live for the first time in 35 years
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The doc will release at the same time as the new album "Letter to You" releases exclusively on Apple Music
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Apple has ordered an new fashion docuseries, “The Supermodels” for Apple TV+
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It was picked up as part of Apple’s “first look” arrangement with Imagine Documentaries
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Covering a period starting in the 80’s the series will dive into the careers of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington and focus on their “collective disruption of the ‘90s fashion scene” and it’s lasting impact through to today.
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According to Deadline Apple has ordered a new a new natural history series called "Earthsound"
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They have ordered 12 half hour episodes which will take advantage of advance audio technologies and 360 degree sound design to tell stories of the natural world.
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The series comes from the British production company "Offspring Films" who is responsible for “Planet Earth II”.
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The Morning Show season 2 is tentatively scheduled to restart filming on October 19th according to Deadline
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There the last two episodes were nearing completion when they were forced to shut down due the the pandemic in March
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The show has reportedly also been rewritten to acknowledge the pandemic
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Season 2 of Dickinson will premier on Apple TV+ on January 8th
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Apple will release the first 3 episodes and then it will air additional episodes weekly
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Apple also confirmed that the show would get a third season.
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Free Apple TV+ Subscriptions will be extended through February 2021
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This is according to reports from 9to5Mac and Rene Ritchie
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If you started a free year of Apple TV+ between November 1st and January 31st last year your trial will be extended to the end of February
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If you are on a yearly plan or you pay monthly for Apple TV+ currently your account will be credited for the extra 3 months
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You can use the credit on iTunes, App Store, or iCloud services.
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If you’re on a paid yearly plan that will renew between November and January your renewal date will be extended to the end of February 2021
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No word on when you’ll see the changes on your accounts. Apple has not made it official.
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Apple joined the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE)
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According to Variety
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A group who's mission is to fight piracy
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US Antitrust report claims Apple (others) have “monopoly power”
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In a 450-page document the Democratic Subcommittee on the U.S. House Judiciary shared it’s recommendations on changes to antitrust laws that they fell would prevent anti-competitive practices by big companies like Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook.
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The report comes after a 16-month investigation into the business practices of these companies
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According to the report the subcommittee feels these companies, including Apple, are taking advantage of their “monopoly power” to prevent competition.
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Recommendations include possibly breaking up larger companies
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So Apple could, in this scenario, be forced to say break the App Store into a separate company
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Another recommendation was to offer consumers an easy way to transfer data from one company to another
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Apple released a statement “vehemently” disagreeing with the findings and focusing the opportunities the App Store creates for developers and the economy while pointing out that they do not have a dominant market share in any category where they do business.
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Apple has come under fire on many fronts for it’s App Store practices lately
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Former App Store director Phil Shoemaker told the congressional antitrust committee that he feels Apple uses the App Store rules as ‘as a weapon against competitors.’
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He pointed to Apple Arcade as an example since it’s an App Store within the App Store. Something Apple does not allow for other apps/services like Xbox Game Pass.
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The CEO of Proton Mail, Andy Yen, compared Apple’s business parties around encouraging developers to implement in-app purchases like “Mafia extortion.”
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Proton Mail was a free app in the App store and had not “upgrade” option, though they did offer paid plans via their website
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They fell afoul of the Apple rule about not promoting your paid services in app without offering an IAP option
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Apple later changes this rule to NOT apply to email apps
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The App Store does create revenue opportunities for developer and the latest data from App Annie supports that
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iOS app downloads increased 20 percent year over year
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App spending also grew 20 percent generating $18 billion in the third quarter
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Apple’s T2 chip has “unpatchable” vulnerability
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A team of jailbreakers has claimed to have found a vulnerability that could allow a hacker to circumvent the T2’s disk encryption, firmware passwords and verification chain
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They used a technique based on the Jailbreak hack used on Apple’s A10 which is a design the T2 was based on
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The hack jacks into the boot process of the T2’s SepOS. Normally if you attempt to decrypt while this boot is happening the T2 chip exits with a fatal error. This exploit allows a hacker to bypass that.
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Once booted an attacker would have full root access and kernel execution privileges on the chip.
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They do not have access to decrypt files stored using FileVault 2 encryption
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But could install key-loggers or other tools to gain that access or additional information
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is not a "persistent vulnerability”, so something need to be attached and have access
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Because the T2s OS is stored in ROM, it’s not able to be patched by Apple
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Apple has been notified about the vulnerability “multiple times” and failed to respond according to the reports
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They are likely planning a new OS update i future T2 chips
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Using the exploit would require physical access
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Best protection is keep control of your Mac and don’t plugin any untrusted cables or devices
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Apple Maps ‘Look Around’ comes to Phoenix, Arizona
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I am so jealous
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This year Apple has expanded to Chicago, several cities in Japan, and last week London, Dublin, and Edinburgh.
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Sponsor: Linode
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One of the ways I use Linode is in my web development
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It’s great for setting up your instances using the available one click apps to set up development environments
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Can easily set up a server with a LEMP or LAMP stack
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Setup tools like Docker, GitLab, or Jenkins
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Or quickly set up a Wordpress environment
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Linode has 11 global data centers and provides 24/7/365 human support with no tiers or hand-offs regardless of your plan size.
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In addition to shared and dedicated compute instances, use your $100 in credit on S3-compatible object storage, Managed Kubernetes, and more.
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Visit  linode.com/maccast and click on the “Create Free Account” button to get started.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
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Lost ‘Fitness’ data
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Play comment from Gary
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I agree that this is particularly disturbing
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Apple takes no responsibility for this data
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[According to Apple](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/back-up-your-health-data-iph11f1eb698/ios), if you sign in with your Apple ID, health and fitness information in the Health app is stored automatically in iCloud. t is stored encrypted.
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So they should have a “backup”
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You can, and probably should, back this data up yourself.
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You can do this by making a manual back and encrypting it on your Mac.
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Connect your iPhone to your Mac
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Select the iPhone icon in the sidebar (or in iTunes, if you’re on an older OS)
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In the General tab check “Encrypt Local Backup” and set a password.
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DO NOT forget it. You will not be able to use your backup if you do
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Save it to the Keychain and/or your password manager
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Click “Backup Now”
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You can click “Manage Backups…” to see previous backups
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Clicking “Restore Backup…” will let you restore from a previous backup, but you’ll need to enter the encryption password.
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Using Podcast ‘Stations'
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The Podcast app has something called "Stations"
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With these you can create multiple “playlists” that filter and sort shows in a number of ways.
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You’ll find them in the "Library" section and you can create and edit them by tapping the 'Edit" link.
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Tap "New Station" and give it a name.
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Then you are given several options to control
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Play: this is the order they will display and play in
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Group by Podcast, if you want the filters applied by each podcast individually
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Episodes: which episodes to include, "X most recent"
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Media Type (audio or video)
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Unplayed Only (toggle)
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Podcasts, you can choose which shows to include in this Station.
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You can create as many stations as you like and then access them under Library.
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You can control the “default” settings per show too
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Go to Library > Shows
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Select the Show
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Tap the “…” button, then tap “Settings”
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Can change the “Custom Settings” option to control:
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Episode Order
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Download Episodes
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Delete played episodes
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Limit Episodes
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Refresh frequency
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You can also toggle notifications for specific shows
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I have one for just the most recent episodes, just my Mac podcasts, and just my favorite podcasts.
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I always prefer sorting oldest episode to newest because I tend to fall behind
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Logging in “blind"
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Play comment from Dan
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Great tips.
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[Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Puck RX 560
](https://www.sonnettech.com/product/egfx-breakaway-puck560/overview.html)
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AMD Radeon RX 560 GPU
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USD $299
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Removing hardware can help.
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Sometimes just replacing a cable can be a fix or plugging into a different port.
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Rearranging a configuration can also sometimes “fix” an issue.
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Print from iOS Notes
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This one came up in the Maccast Patreon Slack channel.
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It’s an example of one of my pet peeves about iOS and how Apple can create some very unintuitive interfaces
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The question was a simple one, “how to print from notes”
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The answer, from ‘grumpy’, not as simple
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Open the note
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Tap the “…” in the upper right
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Select “Send a copy”, yup…
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Notice how it has the standard “Share Sheet” icon?
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Now you’ll see the options printing, copying, sending to AirDrop, etc.
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Force Wi-Fi Calling
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Robert lives in a area where the cellular signal from AT&T on his iPhone is not the greatest
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He has wi-fi calling enabled, but the signal is just barely strong enough that it still uses the weak cellular over wifi
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He asks if there is a way to “force” the phone to prefer wi-fi calling over cellular
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I don’t know of a way.
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To turn it on
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Open Settings.
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Tap Cellular or Phone.
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Select Wi-Fi Calling.
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Select the Wi-Fi Calling on This iPhone switch.
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Select Enable.
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Some workarounds…
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Turn off cellular in control center
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Tap the “Airplane Mode” button
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Turn back on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
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Get a microcell
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Robert said AT&T stopped supporting the microcells when WiFi calling became available?
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Closing
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Supporters
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