Steve Sande

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">My 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touchpad looks pretty good considering the number of times it's been carried around, tossed into a bag, placed on a stand for video calls, and otherwise put to use. Recently I noticed a small scratch on the "lid" that made me realize that I needed some protection for the device, and fortunately Portland-based <a href="http://toastmade.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Toast</a> came to my rescue. Today I'm looking at the company's <a href="https://www.toastmade.com/products/leather-macbook-laptop-cover.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leather MacBook Laptop Cover</a> (US$99).</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">With a name like <a href="https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=695070&u=1170474&m=54540&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pad & Quill</a>, you'd think the Minneapolis-based manufacturer of accessories for Apple (and other) products would be in the business of making notepads and pens. Well, now it is! The company has just introduced a line of high-quality journals (i.e., notepads) and a wooden-bodied rollerball pen called the Quill. Today I'll be reviewing two of the <a href="http://shrsl.com/1246r" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Journal Notepads</a> (Medium - $21.95, Small - $17.95). </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Developers know that it's a constant battle to update existing apps, work on new products, and support users at the same time, so productivity is a key issue. Apptorium has created a bundle of four apps designed to keep developers focused and moving forward, and we have this collection (valued at $50.96) for $19.99 for the next few days. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Phishing</a> - the act of sending out emails that look like they’re from some service you use that are actually trying to make you give up your user name, passwords, and even credit card info - has reached a new low. This morning I received an email from the “App Store” thanking me for signing up for the Apple Music trial and telling me I’d be charged $59.99 at the end of the trial unless I canceled by July 31... (see image below).</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Mac users who use the Photos app to create photo books, calendars, and other photo-based products will need to find a new service provider soon, as Apple has quietly announced that it will no longer offer the products after September 30, 2018. Instead, Apple is now directing users to third-party extensions that offer the same functionality through other providers.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Imagine a professional-quality sound studio that can run off of battery power for up to six hours, record eight tracks of sound, and has such a good built-in microphone that you may never need to connect a standard mic to it. Now, make that device so small you can take it almost anywhere, and add an iOS app for editing your recordings and adding effects. Sounds like a musician’s dream, doesn’t it? It’s an actual product called the <a href="https://www.spire.live/content/spire/en.html">Spire Studio from iZotope</a> (US$349), and it’s probably going to revolutionize the way musicians create recordings.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Malwarebytes has protected Macs for years; now the company brings its security feature to iOS in the new <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1327105431?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Malwarebytes for iOS</strong></a> app. It's a free download in the App Store; after a 30-day trial period, users can subscribe to the premium features for $1.49 per month or $11.99 per year. The app provides four key security benefits:</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Compared to surround sound systems, our smartphones and tablets don't provide a truly 3D listening experience, and even high-end earbuds can't compare with 5.1 surround sound from speakers...until now, that is. <a href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/360-earphones?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=360-earphones_071118&utm_term=scsf-293045&utm_content=a0x1a000003ngh1&scsonar=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">360Audio's 360 5.1 Virtual Surround Sound Earbuds</a> ($72, normally $150) let you enjoy sound the exact way it was recorded, complete with the directionality that was designed into the mix.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This morning I received an email from a reader who is "leaving the site". Since Dennis and I have been struggling to keep Apple World Today viable for the past three years, I decided I <em>had</em> to respond. </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm keeping the reader's name out of this, but I think all of our other readers need to see this. I've said it before and I'll say it again: <strong>if we don't get more support and more readers soon, this site may be history</strong>. Here's the reader's email, which had "Can't take it anymore" as the subject line:</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Today's episode of Tangible Tech mixes a bit of news with a seasoning of history, and also sets us up for a future episode on a topic that listeners -- and podcasters -- are trying to get their minds around.<br><br>To begin, we start off with a request for all of you in the Tangible Tech audience to share the podcast with at least one friend...hopefully more! That follows with an odd etymological detour that leads into our first story. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Every year, our friends at Stack Commerce work with Mac software vendors to come up with a selection of apps for a <a href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/the-pay-what-you-want-2018-super-mac-bundle?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-pay-what-you-want-2018-super-mac-bundle_070918&utm_term=scsf-293046&utm_content=a0x1a000003ngh6&scsonar=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>"Pay What You Want" bundle</strong></a>. This is how the deal works: Pay anything -- even a penny -- and you get two Mac apps. Pay more than the average price the rest of the world is paying for the bundle, and you get ten apps. At the time we wrote this post, that average price was $13.84 for ten apps worth almost $672! Here's what's in this year's bundle:</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure, you can send a client a PDF file to give them an idea of the products and services your company provides. But wouldn't a stunning digital magazine be a much better idea? You don't have to do a lot of work to accomplish this task with <a href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/next-flipbook-maker-pro-for-mac?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=next-flipbook-maker-pro-for-mac_070618&utm_term=scsf-292735&utm_content=a0x1a000003nfqV&scsonar=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Next FlipBook Maker Pro for Mac</a>, and we have a lifetime license on sale for $29 -- that's 90% off the usual $299 price. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">When I saw the headline, "Be More Assertive With This Tech Trick" in the <a href="https://zapier.com/blog/tech-trick-to-write-assertively/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Working+Smarter+Newsletter+2+0+Issue+%2319&utm_campaign=Issue+19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Zapier newsletter</a>, I had to click. I was surprised to discover the tech trick was using snippets.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Last year we had a heck of a deal on VPN Unlimited's lifetime subscription, but this year we're back and beating that deal -- this time, you can get a <a href="https://deals.appleworld.today/sales/vpn-unlimited-lifetime-subscription?utm_source=appleworld.today&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=vpn-unlimited-lifetime-subscription_070418&utm_term=scsf-292734&utm_content=a0x1a000003nfqU&scsonar=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lifetime subscription to VPN Unlimited</a> for just $39.99. That's for five devices per account!</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was a kid growing up in the 1960s, I saw a lot of TV ads for two things: Timex watches, which were promoted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cameron_Swayze" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John Cameron Swayze</a> ("It takes a licking and keeps on ticking") and Speidel Twist-O-Flex watchbands. The Twist-O-Flex was a metal watchband introduced by Speidel in 1959 that featured an expanding, stretchable link design. Well, that design is still around, and Speidel recently introduced the <a href="https://www.speidel.com/index.php/watchbands/smart-watch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twist-O-Flex Watchband for Apple Watch</a> (US$50 - $80). Today we'll take a look at that watchband.</p>