Eating tacos with Danny Trejo is the best use of VR so far

Danny Trejo is a national treasure. Tacos are delicious. Now you can combine both into a wondrous lunchtime experience thanks to Trejo Eats Tacos in VR from Ganglebot Films. The three-minute YouTube short is set in Trejo’s own Los Angeles-based cantina, the eponymously named “Trejos’ Tacos.” You can watch it in either 2D on your mobile device or in 3D with Google Cardboard or similar headset. Just make sure to have real tacos on hand to complete the immersive experience.

Via: Slashgear

Source: Gangelbot Films (YouTube)

‘The Banner Saga 2’ comes to PC and Mac on April 19th

The long-awaited sequel to The Banner Saga, Stoic’s beloved role-playing game, is finally coming soon to PC and Mac. Although The Banner Saga 2 won’t be available for download until April 19th, pre-orders are open starting today on Steam. Judging from screenshots, The Banner Saga 2 appears to have the same aesthetics as the original title, which isn’t a bad thing. We know what matters to you is having legendary Viking fights in 2D, but now you’ll have new characters and clans to choose from.

Now, if you don’t have a PC or Mac, you’re going to have to wait a little longer to play this. In a tweet, the official Banner Saga account said, “We do not have console dates for #BannerSaga2 just yet, but they will be coming very soon as well!” Let’s just hope the title doesn’t get delayed again.

Source: The Banner Saga 2

The creator of ‘XKCD’ is working on high school textbooks

XKCD’s Randall Munroe has done a good job of simplifying scientific and technical concepts through his comics, so it only makes sense that he would turn his attention to full-on education, doesn’t it? Sure enough, that’s about to happen. Thanks to the right people at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt seeing his work, Munroe will integrate segments of his book Thing Explainer (which explains concepts using the 1,000 most-used English words) into high school biology, chemistry and physics textbooks arriving this summer. Yes, the usual dry diagrams will be accompanied by Munroe’s signature stick figures discussing “thinking bags” (brains) and “heavy metal power buildings” (nuclear reactors).

There’s more in the works. The publisher is also launching science programs for the 2017-2018 school year that will include both brand new content and digitally animated versions of Thing Explainer pieces. Frankly, you might be missing out on something special if you’re already past high school — it’s not often that an internet icon can make science accessible and liven up some dull homework.

Via: New York Times

Source: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

References to 2016 12-Inch MacBook Spotted in OS X System Image Utility

An updated 12-inch Retina MacBook may be launching before the end of April, according to information discovered in Apple’s System Image Utility feature and in the OS X Server application by a source that shared details with 9to5Mac.

System Image Utility lists the existing early 2015 Retina MacBook and an early 2016 Retina MacBook, which has yet to be released. Given that it’s earmarked as an “early” 2016 device, the next-generation Retina MacBook should be coming soon, as Apple refers to “early” for devices that launch during the first four months of the year. The same 12-inch early 2016 MacBook is listed the OS X Server application.

The Retina MacBook first launched in April of 2015, so an April 2016 update at the one year mark makes sense. A refresh will likely be minor, leaving the overall design unchanged but introducing upgraded internals, such as one of Intel’s Skylake chips.

Skylake chips appropriate for the Retina MacBook have been available since the later months of 2015. The new Core M Skylake processors offer 10 hours of battery life and 10 to 20 percent faster CPU performance compared to the Core M Broadwell processors used in the first-generation Retina MacBook, along with 40 percent faster graphics performance.

There are no mentions of new Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air models in OS X Server or System Image Utility, and it continues to remain unclear when exactly we might see refreshes for those machines.

A rumor yesterday suggested Apple is working on “ultra-thin” 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks, but it is not known if those machines are in the MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air family. Apple is said to be targeting a June or July launch date for the mystery MacBooks, which lines up with a potential debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Related Roundup: Retina MacBook
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook (Don’t Buy)
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How to Password Protect Notes in iOS 9.3 and OS X 10.11.4

Although more prominent features like Night Shift and a few new Quick Actions are getting the spotlight with the launch of iOS 9.3, one new lesser-known update is definitely worth checking out. In iOS 9.3, Apple has improved the functionality of its first-party Notes app with the ability to add password or Touch ID security for individual notes.

The feature allows users to prevent access to sensitive information on a case-by-case basis (some notes, like a shopping list, might not be as high risk), just in case someone gets past the lock screen security of the iPhone itself. With some people even using Notes to store passwords for various sites and services, Apple’s security-enhanced update is well worth checking out.

Creating a Password in Notes on iOS

The steps needed to set up a password or Touch ID for your Notes are straight-forward and should only take a few moments to complete.

Navigate to the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Scroll down to “Notes” and tap on it.
Midway down the screen will be a “Password” option. Tap on it.
If this is your first time setting it up, a menu will immediately appear asking to set up the new password.
Fill out the fields requiring the Notes password (remember that something other than your iPhone passcode will be preferable), and then verify the password in the next field.
Provide a hint to the password you entered to ensure that if you ever forget it you can be guided back through guessing.
In the same menu, toggle on “Use Touch ID.”
Tap “Done” in the top right corner to confirm your selections.
To test out the new password and Touch ID features of Notes, head over to the Notes app on your iPhone or iPad. There are just a few more steps to go through to fully protect a note of your choice from prying eyes.

Once inside Notes, if you’ve already got a particular note in mind to protect, skip to the next step. Otherwise, tap on the bottom right of the app to create a new Note, and enter any private information you wish to hide.
Inside the note, tap on the top right of the screen to bring up the share menu. Tap the “Lock Note” option in the bottom row.
If you haven’t entered the Notes password recently, the app will ask for the password or Touch ID fingerprint you created in the Settings menu. Comply by providing either measure of security. If no password or fingerprint is required, the lock will be added automatically.
This adds a lock to the note, but doesn’t actually lock it yet. To do that, click on the new unlocked button on the top right of the screen.
The note should now be hidden with a simple “This note is locked” message.
To view the locked note again, simply tap “View Note” and place your finger on the Home Button to use Touch ID, or enter your password.

Using a Password in the OS X Notes App

Alongside the iOS 9.3 update, Apple’s OS X 10.11.4 introduces similar support for password-protected Notes for the company’s desktop operating system. The password setup process carries over from the iOS installation, but you’ll have to ensure that Notes are syncing with iCloud to properly use the password feature on a Mac.

Navigate to System Preferences.
Click on iCloud.
Scroll until you see “Notes” and make sure the box is checked.
From here, any changes made to your Notes on iOS — from their content to the locked/unlocked status — should be reflected on the Mac. Of course, Apple’s desktops and laptops don’t have Touch ID, so if you want to unlock a Note away from your iPhone, you’ll have to enter the password into the app.

At any time you can change or turn off the password in Notes by revisiting the Settings iOS app, navigating back through the Notes, then Password submenus, and following either the “Change Password” or “Reset Password” buttons.

There are plenty of other neat features that debuted in both iOS 9.3 and OS X 10.11.4, so check out MacRumors’ recent coverage of each for more information.

Tags: Touch ID, Notes, iOS 9.3, OS X 10.11.4
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Some Mac Users Unable to Log Into iMessage and FaceTime Following OS X 10.11.4 Update

MacRumors has been receiving a growing number of complaints from customers who are unable to log into iMessage and FaceTime after updating to OS X 10.11.4, which was released to the public on Monday. There are threads covering the issue on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support Communities, along with user complaints on various social media networks.

The majority of the complaints are coming from users who did a fresh install of OS X, requiring them to log into the FaceTime and iMessage services. When attempting to sign in, an error pops up or nothing happens after entering an Apple ID and password, as seen in the video below. Customers who have recently purchased a new Mac also appear to be affected, and while most customers with login problems seem to be running OS X 10.11.4, there are also reports from those using earlier versions of OS X.

@AppleSupport upgraded to 10.11.4, now imessage wont sign in. pic.twitter.com/UP97cYsmOy

— Ase Deliri (@AseDeliri) March 23, 2016

Apple support has been advising users to try logging out of iCloud and disabling two-factor authentication, but these fixes have not worked for most users. Apple’s system status page is not listing any outages, but it appears there may be a problem with the iMessage and FaceTime activation servers. One customer who purchased a new Mac was told that Apple’s engineering team is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.

Yesterday I bought a new 15-inch macbook pro from the Apple store. Out of the box, 10.11.1, computer would not sign in to my iCloud account with my Apple ID. So I skipped this part of the initial setup. Managed to sign in to iCloud in system preferences, and managed to see my Notes, Reminders, Safari bookmarks. But I have the same problem: I cannot sign in to Messages or FaceTime.

Today, after a couple of hours talking to Apple on the phone last night, I returned to the store to see if there was a fix, or whether the problem was specific to that machine. For an unrelated reason, I wanted to switch models: from the 15-inch to the 13-inch.

So I got a new 13-inch macbook pro this morning and decided to set it up in store. Same issue. I had a lengthy chat with one of the Apple Geniuses who could not figure this out. He did his best, but he could only give vague answers to my questions. He said it seems like an Apple server issue that “engineering” is aware of and are hoping to fix.

Affected customers have been unable to log in since first upgrading to OS X 10.11.4, and so far, there is no reliable fix available to solve the problem. Not all customers who did a clean install of OS X 10.11.4 or who purchased a new Mac are affected, and it is not clear if there is a pattern between users who are experiencing problems.

Tags: iMessage, FaceTime
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Apple Pay to Work With Mobile Websites Later This Year

Apple is planning to expand Apple Pay to allow iOS users to make purchases from websites later this year, reports Re/code. With the change, Apple Pay will be available to customers who visit websites and make purchases using the Safari browser on iPads and iPhones.

Currently, Apple Pay can be used to make purchases in brick and mortar stores and in third-party apps that support the service. Expanding Apple Pay to the Safari browser will alleviate the need for customers to download a store’s app to make a payment with Apple Pay, resulting in a payment service that is more convenient and more closely resembles services like PayPal.

Apple is also said to be considering making Apple Pay available on Macs, but it is not clear how that would work without a fingerprint sensor.

The service will be available to shoppers using the Safari browser on models of iPhones and iPads that possess Apple’s TouchID fingerprint technology, these people said. Apple has also considered making the service available on Apple laptops and desktops, too, though it’s not clear if the company will launch that capability.

As when using Apple Pay to make a payment in an app, customers who make a purchase from mobile Safari will be able to do so without entering an address or a payment method, as that information is provided by Apple Pay and authenticated through a fingerprint.

Apple is said to be telling partner websites that the new Apple Pay feature will be available before the holiday shopping season, and Re/code believes an announcement could potentially happen at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple Pay is now available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and China, and it is expanding to additional countries later this year. Other rumors for the future of Apple Pay include a potential person-to-person payment feature that mimics Square Cash or Venmo.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: recode.net
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