Star Trek: Picard’s first season had a special opportunity. It was the first, clearest picture of the post-Nemesis future of the Star Trek universe, and as such it had the opportunity to define that world, from both a thematic perspective and an aesthetic one. The aesthetics, in particular, are tricky things: how to…
Apple CEO Tim Cooktoday delivered the virtual commencement address at The Ohio State University's virtual commencement event.
Tim Cook to Ohio State University graduates:
Graduates, I’m sorry that we’re not celebrating together today. Your class is a special one marked by history like few others in OSU’s 150 years. And while we aren’t shoulder to shoulder in the Horseshoe, filling it to the rafters, I know your parents, your loved ones, your friends and teachers are no less overwhelmed with the pride in you and in what you have achieved.
It can be difficult to see the whole picture when you’re still inside the frame, but I hope you wear these uncommon circumstances as a badge of honor. Those who meet times of historical challenge with their eyes and hearts open, forever restless and forever striving, are also those who leave the greatest impact on the lives of others. In every age, life has a frustrating way of reminding us that we are not the sole authors of our story. We must share credit, whether we’d like to or not, with a difficult and selfish collaborator called our circumstances.
The event featured Cook's commencement speech, musical performances, and university officials in traditional commencement regalia at the Ohio Stadium, which was empty of students.
The full Ohio State University Commencement livestream can be viewed here.
In this week's App Recap, we've highlighted two new apps that are worth checking out. We've also compiled a list of apps that received major updates this week.
New Apps
Views 4 ($4.99) - Views 4 is a news and podcasts app that presents content tailored to the interests of the user. Upon downloading the app, users are presented with a series of screens that allow for the selection of popular interests, fonts for an optimal reading experience, and six color themes that can be used around the app. The app's easy to navigate interface is complemented with the integration of Haptic Touch when tabs and in article arrows are tapped. Aside from the ability to read articles from a personalized feed, Views also allows users to search, favorite, and download podcasts directly. The podcast interface is simple and even allows users to set a sleep timer. Views 4 is one of the latest apps to take advantage of Apple's universal purchases feature, so buying the app once will allow you to have access to it across all of your devices.
CleanMyMac X (Free) - Popular desktop cleaner app CleanMyMac X this week made its debut on the Mac App Store. Previously, the only way to use the software was to download it directly from its website. It is worth pointing out that the Mac App Store version of CleanMyMac X does not have all of the features available from the version available directly on its website. The Photo Junk, Shredder, Updater, and Maintenance features are only available from the website version of the app. Although the app is free to download, a yearly subscription fee of $34.99 is required to get access to all of the app's features.
App Updates
Apple Support - The Apple Support app was revamped this week with a new customized user interface with support for Dark Mode, guided step-by-step troubleshooting, new and improved chat and call experiences, and more.
Mactracker - Mactracker is an app that provides detailed information on every Mac, iPod, iPad, and iPhone ever made. The app also details specific information about each product such as processor speed, memory, graphic cards, price, and more. There's also a tab that allows users to obtain information about every software version issued by Apple for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and more. Mactracker received an update this week with the addition of Apple's new Magic Keyboard, an updated support status for Apple's vintage and obsolete products, new GeekBench 5 performance scores, and general bug fixes.
Pandora - Pandora this week updated its Apple Watch app with Siri support. Siri can now be used to play stations, songs, albums, and podcasts. The app also now allows asking Siri to dislike or like a song to help in tailoring songs to the likes of the user. Pandora has also updated its iOS app with a new Shuffle Stations feature, a more personalized discovery for better music recommendations, and more.
Ulysses - Popular writing app Ulysses was updated this week to add native support for Apple's iPad trackpad and mouse support which was first introduced in iOS 13.4. Along with the ability to embed external folders from the Files app and edit the contained files with Ulysses 19, the app has introduced several other new features that are worth checking out.