It's officially "Showtime"

Apple sent out the invites for it's March 25th event

Will start at 10:00 AM PT at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus and it will be live streamed.

Apple's expected to focus on two new services

The Apple News Service and new streaming TV service

Apple News Service

iOS 12.2 and macOS 10.14.4 include several references to the magazine subscription service within Apple News.

Paid service with unlimited access to paywalled news sites like The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Also access to magazines

The magazines will be PDF based and offer access to offline reading

Expected to cost $9.99/mo.

Apple TV Service

It's expected to announce the service and possibly show off clips from some of the shows.

Apple has over two dozen projects in the works, but the launch of the service is believed to be "months" away.

The NYTs is reporting that at least five shows have finished filming, six are in the middle of production, and five have moved into the post-production stages.

The shows they claim have wrapped are: “Are You Sleeping” starring Octavia Spencer, a space drama called “For All Mankind”, a thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, a comedy from the stars of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and a comedy called “Dickinson” based on the poet Emily Dickinson

Still they don't expect shows to debut until the Fall.

Apple is also expected to have some "premium" channel partners in the service like HBO, Showtime, and STARz

Netflix confirmed they are NOT part of Apple's new service.

At least one analyst thinks that Apple's new service could net the company 100 million subscribers by 2024 generating as much at $7 to $10 billion in revenue

Thinks it would possibly require Apple to acquire some studios to beef up the amount of content they have on the service.

WWDC dates were also announced

June 3rd through the 7th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

You can register to attend now and tickets are going on a lottery system

New iPad Air and mini

They're here

iPad Air with a thinner design, a 10.5-inch display and the Apple A12 Bionic chip

True Tone display with a resolution of 2224×1668

comes in 64GB and 256GB options

still uses Touch ID and has a Lightning and headphone jack

Prices start at USD $499

There is also a new Smart Keyboard sized for the new iPad Air

iPad mini has the same 7.9-inch display, but adds an A12 chip

Comes in 64GB and 256GB options

Includes the same 8MP rear camera and 7MP FaceTime HD camera found in the iPad Air.

Prices start at USD $399 for the 64Gb model

Both devices are compatible with the 1st gen Apple Pencil (and Logitec Crayon)

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro has been removed from Apple's site, so the new Air appears to be it's replacement in the line-up

Worth noting the Air doesn't have the "Pro motion" 120Hz refresh rate display or a quad speaker array, like the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

Apple is also still expected to have new AirPods and the Air Power and Airpod Wireless charging case soon

Counterpoint Research estimated that Apple sold 35 million AirPods in 2018

Consumer rated the AirPods tops for Comfort and fit as well as for ease of use. Only about 41 percent surveyed said the choose the AirPods for sound quality.

Time Bandits gets Waititi

Variety is reporting that Taika Waititi, known for his work on "Thor: Ragnarok," will the Time Bandits tv series on Apple's new video service

The series is an adaptation of 80's Terry Gilliam movie of the same name.

I loved Time Bandits as a kid and am now even more excited about this series.

RTL Group, the largest broadcasting and production company in Europe, has also confirmed talks with Apple

They own the company that produces reality series and game shows like American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Price is Right, and Family Feud

They also have shows like "American Gods" and "My Brilliant Friend".

Apple has put in a series order for "Pachinko," a drama based on the bestselling novel of the same name.

Written by Min Jin Lee, chronicles the lives of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they migrate to and establish a life in Japan

Polly want a "Camera"?

Mac Otakara is pointing to info from suppliers in China and says Apple is working on a triple lens camera system for future iPhones.

The camera bump is square with three cameras and the True Tone flash arranged like pips for the number four on six sided die.

Original leaks though the new lens system might be limited to the next generation of the iPhone XS Max, but this latest one says there is a "high probability" the next gen iPhone XS will also have it.

The extra lens, in addition to providing another lens, should improve 3D and depth sensing for more imaging options and improved AR features

Apple's new "privacy" ad

I don't normally mention Apple ads, but I just found this one clever and funny

They connect privacy with several real world scenarios.

Basically, we tend to protect our privacy in "real world" scenarios, so why wouldn't we do that with the data we have on our phones?

Hair Club

Hey, your confidence is important. And sometimes one change can make all the difference. Hair Club knows this. And they’re inviting you to become part of the Hair Club family to see how getting the most out of your hair can change your life.

They understand the emotions you’re feeling and know the questions you have.

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So far I don't suffer from hair loss, but my Dad did. I remember him standing on his head because he had been told increasing the blood flow to his scalp would help. With Hair Club he would have been able to rely on real and proven solutions.

Go to [HairClub.com/MACCAST](https://hairclub.com/maccast) today for a free hair analysis AND a free take home hair care kit – all valued over three hundred dollars.

That’s Hair Club dot com slash MACCAST for a free hair analysis and free hair care kit. Hair Club dot com slash MACCAST.

ExpressVPN

Admit it—most of us think cyber crime is something that happens to OTHER people.

You may think that no one wants YOUR data or that hackers can’t grab your passwords or credit card details... but you’d be wrong.

Stealing data from unsuspecting people on public Wi-Fi is one of the simplest and cheapest ways for hackers to make money.

When you leave your internet connection unencrypted your potentially opening up your personal data like passwords and credit card numbers for the world to see.

That's why when I'm using ANY wifi that I'm not in control of, like at an Airport, in a coffee shop, restaurant, hotel, I've been turning on and using Express VPN.

They make it super easy. One click and I'm protected.

And I don't even notice it's on because it's fast.

ExpressVPN secures and anonymizes your Internet browsing by encrypting your data and hiding your public IP address.

Using ExpressVPN, I can safely surf on public Wi-Fi, without being snooped on or having my personal data stolen.

It's also affordable. You can start protecting yourself with ExpressVPN for less than $7 a month and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Plus, ExpressVPN is rated the #1 VPN service by TechRadar

Protect your online activity TODAY and find out how you can get 3 months free at [expressvpn.com/maccast](https://expressvpn.com/maccast)

That’s E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash MACCAST for 3 months free with a 1-year package.

Visit [expressvpn.com/maccast](https://expressvpn.com/maccast) to learn more.

For the love of hubs

So my "Thing of the moment" was the iDevices Dimmer switch.

I mentioned my feelings that ditching the "hub" was a good thing and many of you agreed.

Still there are some hub defenders in our community, including our friend Robert, who has a business doing home automation

He agreed with my decision to dump Insteon

Says the choice between hub and hub-less is more nuanced.

Don't write off all hubs just because of one bad experience with one brand.

That's fair

Still many more of you wrote in to share your bad experiences with hubs

I heard about issues with several brands

The one hub that seemed to get universal praises was the Lutron Caseta line.

I also heard a lot more support from our community for the iDevices products, unfortunately it looks like iDevices is US only for now.

Security of the iDevices products and IoT in general

Play question from Eric

How at risk is the device in question?

If your light or window shades get hacked, maybe an inconvenience, but not that bad

Garage door opener or door locks? Security camera. BAD!!!

Keep your devices software updated.

Yes the iDevices update via the app. The firmware updated the day I installed them.

Know who makes your devices. Do you trust them?

HomeKit requires encryption

It used to require hardware, but now vendors are allowed to do it in software too.

Still most good IoT devices are using encryption for their communication

This prevents snooping of the traffic

Apple requires HomeKit devices to work directly with their Home App and to access the internet via a HomeKit Hub

Apple TV, iPad, or Home Pod

Can control HomeKit devices over iCloud without going through 3rd party service.

More control over the privacy of your data.

Also means if your 3rd party app and service goes out of business your HomeKit capable products should still work.

Options for encrypting files

We discussed how to encrypt files and folders locally. Hider 2, sparse bundles, and VeraCrypt, formerly TruCrypt

Daniel wrote in to say that he has been using [WinZip](https://www.winzip.com/win/en/), which also offers an iOS app.

Does conceded it has a "horrible" UI, but gets the job done.

As Daniel points out, encrypting files that are then sync'd to the cloud does propose a challenge if you want to access those files via the cloud on iOS.

Archive Originals from Photos

Dan wrote in to ask about a way to automate archiving the originals from his Photos library

You can do it manually

Open Photos

Go to the 'Photos' tab

Select all the Photos, "Command+A"

Go under 'File > Export…'

Choose 'Export Unmodified Original for X Items…"

Choose the File Name and subfolder format options and click "Export"

Choose your destination and click "Export Originals"

You could also manually copy the folders yourself

In the Finder go to '~/Pictures' and control+click your Photos.photoslibrary item

Choose 'Show Package Contents'

Locate the "Masters" folder (or Originals alias)

See organized by Year > Month > Day

Then YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS folders

Dan was more interested in some automation.

Basically anytime a new file is added to the Library then make a copy of the original to another external drive or NAS drive for safe keeping

Could probably set up an Automator, but another good option is [Hazel](https://www.noodlesoft.com)

Hazel is Automatic organization for folders and files on your Mac.

You can also manipulate the files as you organize then

Add tag, rename, sort, move, copy, and more.

Supports Photos and iTunes importing and you can get notifications and integrate with AppleScript and Automator

In this case you can build a Hazel script to watch the "Masters" folder

You need to show package contents and drag the folder into Hazel when you're setting it it.

Also need to add a Hazel action to watch the subfolders for changes.

Then copy and "new" files (I used created in the last 5 minutes) to a new location

Set an option to ignore duplicates (if the file already exists)

There is also an option to retain the subfolder structure if you want.

Starting out with Shortcuts

Last time I talked about a couple different sites where you can find Shortcuts for iOS to download and use on your iOS devices.

I also mentioned taking a shortcut and opening it up in iOS's Shortcut app and using that to maybe learn how to build your own Shortcuts

Several of you emailed in and asked if I could give some additional starter tips on getting going with Shortcuts

So here are some things to hopefully make Shortcuts feel less daunting

Open the App and just look around.

Explore the Gallery and just download some things that look interesting to you and try them out

Back in the Library tap on the "…" icon and see how the Shortcut works.

Anatomy of a shortcut

One of the best analogies I'v ever heard is that of a recipe. The Shortcut is your finished dish and to get that you need to assemble ingredients in a specific order to achieve the result.

Looking at a Shortcut in the editor you see a series of steps top to bottom that make up the Shortcut

Each step is an action with an input, information or data coming in, and an output, information coming out.

Data flows from one step to the other and in each step can be manipulated, combined, added to, output, etc.

The easiest way to "craft" a new Shortcut is to write out, in plain english, what you're trying to accomplish as a series of steps.

I want to make a tip calculator, so…

Ask for the amount of the bill

Select from a list of tip percentages

Calculate the tip amount

Display the tip amount

To create the tip shortcut

Open Shortcuts

Tap the "+" to set up a new shortcut

In the search type 'Ask' and choose 'Ask for input'

Fill out the question, "How much is your bill?"

For input type choose number.

'Choose from menu' and add that

In the prompt, "How much do you want to tip"

Add the items, '10%', 15%, 18%, etc.

This one was a bit tricky, but if you tap the icon on the title bar of the item, "Choose from Menu" and read the description it makes sense.

"Presents a menu and runs different actions based on which menu item was chosen"

"Passed the input through as output"

So now you'll search and add a "Calculate" action and place it after each menu item action, so Calculate with "x" as the Operation and "0.1" as the operand for 10% tip.

Add one of these after each tip menu option (step) to calculate the percentage for that menu option.

Now after the "End menu" step, search and add a "Format Number" step.

Set it to 2 Decimal Places

Finally search for and add a 'Show Alert' step

Title: You should tip: 💵

$ and add the "Formatted Number" result selected from the QuickType toolbar.

You can scroll the QuickType toolbar.

Now press the "Play" button at the top to test your Shortcut. Adjust as needed.

Before you press done, tap the "settings" button

Give your Shortcut a name

Change the icon, You can set the color and the glyph

Can add to Siri, show in Widget, Show in Share Sheet, Add to Home Screen

Tap Done.

Tap 'Done'

Enjoy your new Shortcut

Listener: Thing of the Moment: Amaze Fit Bip

Play review from Robert

Has an old series 0, but didn't like the

Pain points

delayed notifications on the Watch, show up on the Phone first. (might be solved with a series 4 cellular?)

battery life only a day

Delay to see the time. Wake to see time

Limited watch face choices.

Play what he loves.

[Amaze Fit Bip](https://us.amazfit.com/shop/bip?variant=336750)

Looks like there is an App and it has HealthKit integration

Supporters

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