Ken Shirriff tore down Apple’s Magsafe 2 connector, explaining the symmetrical pin layout, how the connector sticks to your MacBook, and how the Magsafe LEDs function to notify you of its charging status. The Magsafe is one of the MacBook’s best features, and it’s deceivingly complex: the charger goes through a startup process as it’s connected to verify that it has a solid connection with the MacBook. If you’re into electronics, there’s a lot of geeky information here pertaining to the circuit board, switch, and how to obtain the charger’s ID code.
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How Apple’s Magsafe Connector Works→
Hulu Announces a Completely Redesigned iPad App→
Last year, Hulu refreshed their website to put an emphasis on all the shows and programming you love to watch, removing much of the chrome that adorned video players and promotion carousels, and making thumbnails and artwork bigger for easier navigation. Hulu also implemented a new “Shows You Watch” feature for logged in users so you can quickly jump to your favorite show.
Today’s iPad update brings the same minimal redesign to the iPad, adding new features such a discover panel which will tell you more can you expect from a show based on your viewing history. But the coolest feature is the new minimized player, which lets you continue watching a show while browsing for something else.
Camera Noir→
I bought Pacific Helm’s new app yesterday following Gruber’s recommendation, and I like it. Camera Noir’s purpose is to take “beautiful black & white photos” with three brightness adjustments. I have been taking some photos today, and I’m a fan of the high-contrast choices and the way photos taken with Camera Noir look. I think Camera Noir’s three filters are far superior to Instagram’s Willow and Inkwell.
The best part, however, is the attention to details. The camera UI is minimal and functional; I love how the app shows a green horizon line when you’re level, and I think using the native iOS share sheet for sharing photos is a good idea. And, the app’s website is just great.
Camera Noir is $1.99 on the App Store.
Why the Studio Behind Civilization is Embracing Mobile→
Revision3’s Adam Sessler visits Firaxis Games and chats with Sid Meier, Jake Solomon, and Steve Martin (among others). Firaxis is the development house behind franchises like Civilization and Pirates, and they’re bringing their 2012 hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown to iOS this year.
It’s a good interview (as usual with Sessler’s video content). I like how Firaxis has its own skunkworks to experiment with mobile games for iOS. You can watch the video below.
PlexConnect for Apple TV→
A clever little hack to display Plex content on an Apple TV with no jailbreak required:
Essentially, you run a program on your computer which masquerades as the Trailer app. Next, change one setting on the ATV, and you’re up and running. It took me less than 2 minutes to install and get it running. It already uses the new transcoder (which means great support for subtitles), and I suspect it’ll support myPlex soon as well.
There’s a bit of manual configuration to do with this first version of PlexConnect. You can find an official discussion board, check out the FAQ, roadmap, or grab the source code here.
App Camp For Girls→
A fantastic initiative by Jean MacDonald. Show your support and help fund the project.
iOS 7 Education Wish List→
A great follow-up by Fraser Speirs. Fraser is the co-host of the Out of School podcast, and he makes some interesting suggestions for iOS 7 and education.
Automatic Reminders for nvALT→
Another nifty solution by Brett Terpstra:
Inspired by Evernote, I whipped up a little script to find “@reminder” tags with date parameters in nvALT notes (or any folder of text files). It can generate notifications or send HTML emails at the specified time. It’s just for fun right now, but I thought I’d put it out there to see if anyone had any ideas for it.
Brett is already working on Reminders integration, but I’m more interested in the idea of “self-hosted” Evernote-like reminders from nvALT. This is a great match for a TextExpander feature that’s not mentioned very often – date/time math macros.
100 Million iPod Touch Units→
An important milestone revealed by Apple to Jim Dalrymple.
Apple doesn’t usually share global iPod touch sales, but the company did detail sales numbers once: by March 2011, Apple had sold 60 million touch units. The iPod touch was first released on September 14, 2007; assuming Apple reached the 100 million milestone today, that would make for an average of 47,961 iPod touch units sold every day since launch.