After noting that I planned and wrote a novel on my MacBook Pro 17, it might surprise you to learn that I did much of the editing on my iPad. I began the editing on my Macs – the Pro when I was at home, the Air when I was elsewhere. At that point, I still wanted to be in Scrivener in case structural edits were needed: scenes that needed to happen earlier or later in the story....
Update: We’re hearing reports that the Facebook app is reaping havoc on contacts. You might want to hold off on syncing until this is straightened out. Update 2: A new version is already out that addresses this issue All kidding aside, we suppose that it’d be good to know when someone direct messages you in Facebook – or something. More importantly, Facebook now also lets you sync your addressbook contacts with your Facebook friends which could be beneficial for when people change email/phone/address/etc....
Facebook is moving away from its controversial plans to sell ads in WhatsApp, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. The report says that Facebook has “disbanded” the team that was leading efforts to find the best way to integrates ads into the service. The report explains that in addition to the team working on this project being disbanded, the work that had already been completed has been completely removed from WhatsApp’s code....
Family Guy season 16 episode “Three Directors” filters the same story through Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Michael Bay. While it later became a huge success, Family Guy struggled in its early years. The show debuted on Fox in 1999 and followed Peter Griffin, his family, and friends. Peter is capable of being a good father and husband, but he’s also a dimwitted, self-absorbed jerk too, which leads to no end of comic situations....
After a new trailer hinted at the imminent arrival of the Fantastic Four in the MCU, fans have been pretty stoked about what could unfold. It’s probably safe to assume that the new movie will steer clear of previous FF movie efforts. It may also be a good bet that the movie will draw on some of the classic comic book storylines from Marvel Comics’ first superhero team. Fans might expect the movie to cover the origin of the team, but thanks to sixty years of comic book history, there are a couple of different versions out there....
AMC has released the first trailer for season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead, and it shows just how difficult it can be to help others in the apocalypse. The series has undergone some dramatic restructuring since it first premiered in 2015, with the majority of the original cast now having been whittled down to just two, Alycia Debnam-Carey’s Alicia Clark and Colman Domingo’s Victor Strand, with the rest having been killed off in surprising (and somewhat controversial) fashion over the last few seasons....
Business database company FileMaker, a subsidiary of Apple, is withdrawing its more consumer-orientated database app, Bento. It will remain available on the FileMaker Store, App Store and Mac App Store until the end of September. Bento was well-received when it was launched in 2008, and had shipped over a million units by January this year, but interest likely dwindled as consumers switched to simpler and friendlier apps like Evernote. FileMaker is offering an upgrade path to FileMaker Pro, licenced Bento users being offered a $120 saving off the normal $299 price....
The mysterious William Bludworth (Tony Todd) appears to seemingly help the protagonists in the Final Destination movies, but he’s not what he appears. As fun as the Final Destination movies are, their overall rules and story progression really don’t make much sense. It seems like Death’s design works differently in every film, and the ways of possibly avoiding one’s demise are never the same twice. This makes sense as a way to keep the plots from feeling repetitive, but things are always very loosely defined....
(See update at the bottom of the piece.) If you’re in the UK and were wondering how long it might take before Apple is allowed to enable the ECG feature on the Apple Watch Series 4, the news doesn’t look good. Apple obtained FDA clearance to use the feature in the US just one day before the launch of the Watch, though Apple has not yet enabled it. But despite a study suggesting an accuracy rate of 98% in detecting AFib, Apple may face a much tougher battle in gaining similar clearance in the UK …...
A first look at Disney Channel’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil season 4 premiere has been released. Created by Daron Nefcy, the Emmy-winning show became Disney XD’s most viewed animated series premiere when it arrived in 2015. It’s been praised for its zany writing, electrifying art style, and feminist overtones, and has featured notable voice acting talents, including Alan Tudyk (Doom Patrol), Jenny Slate (Big Mouth), and Yvette Nicole Brown (Community)....
The original version of Harley Quinn and the Joker’s love story may not have aged well with every comic reader, but that’s the exact origin writer and artist Stjepan Šejić has re-imagined in the (mature) pages of Harleen from DC Black Label. Diving directly into the themes and layers of attraction, isolation, loneliness, and madness that define DC’s craziest power couple, Harleen has given a new origin story to its titular heroine, without pulling any punches....
Legitimate companies track you from one website to another, building an online profile of you, selling your data and targeting you with ads. Fortunately, Apple fans can quickly put a stop to this. Tap or click here to prevent cross-site tracking on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. A healthcare system was recently involved in a data breach, exposing the medical records of millions of people. And Facebook is to blame for the whole fiasco....
. Perhaps our favorite Mac Calendaring app got a big update today: Fantastical (App Store—$19.99) now supports iCal and iOS reminders. It is free for all existing customers. The press release follows: Flexibits Releases Fantastical 1.3 for Mac: Now With iCal and iOS Reminders! ROSEVILLE, California – May 30, 2012 – Flexibits today announced that Fantastical 1.3, an update for the top-selling and innovative Mac calendar app, is now available. This update adds support for iCal and iOS reminders and is free for all existing customers....
Earlier this year, an image of Mark Zuckerberg’s desk emerged showing that he uses a piece of tape to cover the webcam on his MacBook Pro. While many mocked this security method by Zuckerberg at the time, the Facebook CEO now has some additional back up from someone who’s pretty security conscious: FBI director James Comey. Speaking during a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Comey explained that putting a cover over webcams is one of the “sensible things” that everyone should be doing....
[Update #2: Apple has issued a statement in which it says that it is committed to continuing to fight for cilvil liberties and collective security and privacy. The company doesn’t, however, comment on the possibility that the FBI was able to get into the iPhone anyways. The full statement is below (via Verge): [Update: CNN reports that the method used by the FBI to unlock the iPhone 5c only works on this specific device....
We know a fair amount about what to expect from WWDC next week — software heavy with Siri as a star and light on hardware — yet there is still plenty of room for surprises like HomeKit and Apple News from previous years. Expectations are especially light on watchOS and tvOS, the software that runs on Apple Watch and Apple TV, and there are plenty of new features that could improve the iPhone, iPad, and Mac....
I mentioned in my previous Final Cut Pro Diary piece that I attended one of Apple’s free workshops, Final Cut Pro for Storytellers. There was a lot to take in, and as a complete beginner at the time, I knew I’d only really remember some percentage of it. As the tutor had been really helpful in answering individual questions as well as covering the syllabus of the course, and I was keen to understand how to adjust exposure and boost saturation, I figured that repeating the workshop would be a good plan....
Kabam’s MARVEL Contest of Champions celebrates its fifth anniversary tomorrow, December 10th, 2019. To celebrate the milestone we are exclusively debuting the MARVEL Contest of Champions 5-year anniversary trailer and sharing some interesting stats from the journey. In MARVEL Contest of Champions, players step into the role of a summoner, pitting their champions against opponents in the ultimate Secret War. It’s a mobile fighting game where players can team up with players to form alliances, unlocking, upgrading, and customizing their ever-growing roster of combatants all the through....
It said the groups violated its rules around Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior and two new policies: Brigading and Mass Reporting. Facebook defines Brigading as networks of people work who together to mass comment, mass post or engage in other types of repetitive mass behaviors to harass others or silence them. Mass Reporting is when people work together to mass-report an account or content to get it incorrectly taken down by Facebook....
Fantasy Island, from horror giant Blumhouse Productions, has curiously opted out of the industry standard of showing the film on Thursday nights - for preview - before its Friday release. While Fantasy Island is slated for release on February 14, 2020; the choice to release the film on Valentine’s Day seems like a smart one from the studio because not only does the holiday fall on a Friday, but the PG-13 slasher has played up themes of romance, mystery, and beautiful young people cohabitating on a tropical island that can make all their fantasies come true....
