![]() ![]() Thanks to the different flavors of MacStories Shortcuts Icons (we just launched a Color set), I’ve been able to assemble a truly personalized Home screen layout that puts the best of both worlds – my favorite apps and custom shortcuts – right at my fingertips.įor this reason, starting this year you’ll find a new Home Screens section at the beginning of this roundup that covers the first tier of my must-have apps – the “ultimate favorites” I tend to keep on the Home screens of both devices. Following changes to running shortcuts from the Home screen in iOS 13, I realized how much I was going to benefit from the ability to execute commands with the tap of an icon, so I decided to mix and match apps and shortcuts on my Home screens to maximize efficiency. The second theme, unsurprisingly, is my adoption of a hybrid Home screen that combines apps and shortcuts powered by our custom MacStories Shortcuts Icons. I’ve written about the idea of comfort in the Apple ecosystem before, and I’ve seen that concept work its way into my app preferences more and more over the course of 2019. ![]() First, thanks to various improvements in iOS and iPadOS 13, I increased my reliance on “first-party” Apple apps: I embraced the new Reminders app and its exclusive features, stopped using third-party note-taking apps and moved everything to Notes, and switched back to Apple Mail as my default email client. Two themes emerged over the second half of 2019, though. Having settled on a specific writing workflow revolving around iA Writer and Working Copy, and having figured out a solution to record podcasts from my iPad Pro, I spent the year fine-tuning my usage of those apps, refining my file management habits thanks to iPadOS’ improved Files app, and cutting down on the number of apps I kept tucked away in folders on my iPhone and iPad. In terms of app usage, 2019 was a year of stabilization for me. As a result, it took me a bit longer to finalize the 2019 collection of my must-have apps in the process, however, I’ve come up with a slightly updated format that I believe will scale better over the next few years. As you can tell by the date on this article, the 2019 edition of this story is different: not only did I spend the last months of the year testing a variety of new apps and betas, but I also kept tweaking my Home screen to accomodate MusicBot and new Home screen shortcuts. Every year in late October, I start putting together a rough list of candidates for my annual ‘Must-Have Apps’ story, which I’ve historically published in late December, right before the holiday break. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() #Surfshark on firestick how to#View Deal (opens in new tab) How to choose your Amazon Fire Stick VPN With many of our favorite providers to recommend also hosting a specific Amazon Fire Stick VPN client, we've curated a list of our top 5 picks which are great for unblocking, fast, and super easy to use. So if you're outside of the country and want to tune into your native broadcaster for a World Cup 2022 live stream, say, a VPN has you covered. The best Fire Stick VPN can change your IP address to make you appear as if you're anywhere around the world, and also secure your device so your private details are safe while you're online. From being on holiday and unable to watch services back home, or, for example, if you wish to watch titles exclusive to Netflix in another country. What that means when it comes to the best VPN for an Amazon Fire TV Stick, then, is being able to stream content from overseas. Thus, you can spoof your device into thinking you're elsewhere and unblock content otherwise restricted to you due to where you are in the world. The ultimate companion, a VPN doubles up as both a piece of security software for a range of devices, and nifty technology that can change the location you appear to be browsing from. Particularly with the latter, we recommend installing a Fire Stick VPN app to allow you to use use and stream on your device from anywhere. What's more, you can take it anywhere with you, whether to your friend's house or abroad when you go on vacation. Amazon's Fire Stick streaming devices already offer so much versatility when it comes to bringing smarts to your TV and being able to access all your preferred services in one place. ![]() ![]() ![]() While many in California say the gradual phases are due to learning from past outbreaks, as in the 19 large second wave of Spanish Flu cases, todays epidemiologists say it’s not a reasonable comparison since we did not have antibiotics and the plethora of modern medicines and vaccines that we have today. California needs to reopen soon, I agree, but it can’t all be at once or we’ll be right back where we started.” “We’re hurting financially, but not as many are dying. I have 5 projects in Los Angeles and Santa Monica alone on hold, but I also want to make sure it’s safe for employees here.” “A lot of people in California are frustrated, want to go back to work, and generally resume life, and isn’t backing down due to the protests happening. They don’t want a New York size outbreak to happen.” They also have huge urban sprawls that no urban area this side of the Mississippi has. “California is playing it safe, but they also have a lot more to risk. And that’s about the time California gave.” If the coronavirus spreads like it was before, we’ll know in a few weeks. “All eyes are going to Southern states that are opening a lot of things at once. CALIFORNIA LOCKDOWN END DATE UPDATE FULL“California will be keeping an eye on other states that are doing a full reopening,” noted event coordinator Madeline Kowalski, who helps coordinate and plan events across 12 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Lessons from other states reopening and past outbreaks in California ![]() Any event with a large number of people, which includes concerts, sports events, and conventions, will be dependent on the immunity or vaccine requirement, of which there is currently no definite timeline to. ![]() CALIFORNIA LOCKDOWN END DATE UPDATE MOVIEMovie theaters, places of worship, and sports events without fans may also not be allowed to reopen until the summer as well, as they are part of Phase 3. “We might want to consider getting that school year moved up a little bit. “We recognize there’s been a learning loss because of this disruption,” Newsom said. Governor Newsom specifically mentioned schools reopening in phase 2 and beyond meaning a start date as early as July or August to make up for any lost education. The different phases in California’s plan may lead to some unusual reopening timelines dependent on if coronavirus cases remain stable. In some cases, such as with Los Angeles, gradual stages like California’s plan will be implemented. Newsom’s announcement comes less than a day after similar reopening announcements from states such as Texas and cities such as Los Angeles. “We believe we are weeks, not months, away from making meaningful modifications,” added Newsom. “We will base reopening plans on facts and data, not on ideology. “We are not going back to the way things were until we get to immunity or a vaccine,” stated Newsom during the press conference. Newsom also confirmed that a full reopening was dependent on either COVID-19 immunity setting in or a vaccine being produced. Stage 2 will come online in California in a few weeks, with retail, manufacturing, offices, child care, possible limited school re-openings, and public spaces being opened to varying degrees, such as retail being allowed only curbside pick-up and offices being allowed to reopen when teleworking isn’t available. Newsom confirmed that the state is currently on Stage 1, which means staying at home, flattening the coronavirus curve, building healthcare capacity, and preparing businesses and schools for reopening through new guidelines. Governor Newsom outlined a 4 stage plan to bring California back to normal. On Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced in Sacramento that the state lockdown will begin to end in only a matter of weeks, fulfilling a prediction he made in March about the lockdown possibly lasting until June. ![]() ![]() ![]()
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![]() Always default to your ear and the ears of those around you. This is known as "just intonation." This table is just a guide and not hard rules. In the last bullet above, we saw that a chord can sound out of tune even though every member of the chord is showing as in tune on a tuner. If the third was to be played perfectly according to a tuner, it would be out of tune with the rest of the chord. For a chord to sound in tune, the third will need to be lowered (lowered by 14 cents) and the fifth will need to be raised (raised by 2 cents). A major chord is made of three notes (the root, the third, and the fifth). Not enough air support will make the note flat. For wind instruments and vocalists, air support can impact a note's intonation. You might be able to fix this by finding a different fingering combination. Some fingerings have natural tendencies to be flat or sharp. However, many instruments have multiple ways to play the same pitch (For example: on a trumpet, pressing the first and second valve is the same as pressing just the third valve). The same is true for all wind instruments. When a trombone player extends the slide, the pitch gets lower. An easy example to picture is the trombone. Wind instruments change the pitch by making the instrument longer or shorter. Instruments will require periodic tuning after an hour of continuous play. This can be challenging if the ambient temperature is extreme and for wind players as instruments heat up as they play due to hot air. If an instrument is cold, it will tend to be flat. Temperature can cause an instrument to be out of tune.Write down what you needed to do in order to make the adjustment in your practice journal or notate it in your music.Repeat this process until you can consistently hit the note in tune.When you get to the problem note, try to hit it with the adjustment in mind. Remember the adjustment you made and replay the passage.This might mean changing fingerings, adjusting your embouchure, or playing around with your air support. Try to adjust the note so that it gets in tune (the strobe will stay steady). Once you have found those problem notes, play the passage of music slowly and then stop and hold the problem note and look at the tuner.For example, on wind instruments, there are certain fingerings that will naturally be sharp or flat. These might be problem notes that are specific to you or they might be due to tendencies with your instrument. Identify the problem notes by playing through a short passage of music (no more than 15 measures).Start by checking to see if your instrument is generally well-tuned.Here is a process to fix any out-of-tune notes. Guitar tuner online how to#How To Practice With A TunerĮven if your instrument is in tune, there might still be pitches within a musical passage that just don't sound right. Change the microphone setting to allow this site. Safari: Safari > Preferences, then click Websites. Firefox: Go to Preferences -> click Privacy & Security -> Scroll down to permissions and select Settings. Chrome: Go to Settings -> Site Settings -> Microphone and allow this site to access the microphone. If you have disabled it in the past, then the tuner will not work. This tuner will require mic access through your web browser. ![]() If the needle and strobe are centered and steady, then your instrument is tuned. ![]() Make an adjustment to your instrument, either by adjusting a slide, a peg, or whatever your instrument's equivalent is.If you had to bring the pitch down, then you were sharp. If you had to bring the pitch up, you were flat. Once the tuner recognizes what note you are playing, try to adjust it so that it stays perfectly steady and centered on the dial.If you play an instrument that needs to transpose, like a trumpet or French horn, then you will need to understand how to transpose. If you play guitar, piano, or another instrument pitched in C, then you will see the note name of the pitch you play. Remember, these notes are shown in concert pitch. You will see the needle move and the strobe rotates until it finds the pitch you are playing. To use this instrument tuner, make sure the built-in microphone has web access. Playing with a tuner will help develop your intonation and an understanding of the tendencies of your instrument. While tuners work by tracking hertz, musicians measure how close they are to the pitch in measurements of cents. If it is flat, it will register as 439 Hz or lower. If an A is sharp, it will be 441 Hz or higher. Tuners work by detecting the frequency of the pitch (sound waves). The accuracy of a pitch is what musicians call intonation. It will let a musician know if the note they are playing is sharp (too high), flat (too low), or if it is in tune. A tuner is a device musicians use to detect pitch accuracy. ![]() ![]() More than just an auto brightness, it reduces the blue colors on your screen as well, which are scientifically shown to make sleeping difficult after being exposed. #GEEKTOOL TIME BASED GOOD AFTERNOON SOFTWARE#This will probably become irrelevant soon, as the word is out that Apple will be integrating a similar service in their new OS, but for now, f.lux is a great piece of software that adjusts the color and brightness of your computer screen with the time of day and lighting in the room. In two clicks I can open the corresponding iPhone app and take over the cursor so long as I'm on the same network. I used to use this daily, and still have it open at all times in case I ever find myself in a situation where I need to navigate my computer without it being within reach. ![]() Be it a forgotten file in your Downloads or way back under your layers of Desktop Cleanup folders, GrandPerspective will find it. Chances are, you have at least one folder or file taking up excessive amounts of space. #GEEKTOOL TIME BASED GOOD AFTERNOON FULL#If your hard drive is full and you don't know why, GrandPerspective gives you an easy to understand overview of all your files and scales them by their data size. Itsycal, on the other hand, is updated often is works seamlessly. For the longest time, everyone used Day-O, but if you are using the newest version of your Intel operating system, Day-O will prove to be more frustrating than useful, as the developer stopped updating it several years ago. Why Apple didn't add an easy to open Calendar to the menu bar of OS X, I have no idea. You can find Gif Brewery at their website. Whenever you need to paste something you copied earlier, just scroll through your clipboard history! (Note: I've heard much talk about a more recent progenitor called Fl圜ut, which does the same thing as Jumpcut, but is kept more up to date.) GIF Brewery 3: temporarily freeĪt the time I wrote this, GIF Brewery was free, but even if it isn't still, this is a great app and worth any reasonable price to create GIFs without limitations and watermarks. Download it and adjust the settings so that it saves after each copy, up to 100. I use it hundreds of times a day, and it has saved my fingers countless times. I'm not sure what I would do without Jumpcut. ![]() Save up to 100 of the most recent clipboard copies for easy scrolling through later on, and paste at any time. ![]() Below I have listed a few of my favorites. With the continually growing adoption of Mac computers in the office and a stronger demand for software and applications that will increase productivity and efficiency, there has been an increasing supply of free or relatively inexpensive programs for OS X that almost any Mac user could use on a daily basis. ![]() ![]() ![]() When the past she's worked to put behind her comes back with a (literal) vengeance, she "snaps." And she becomes awful, as in awfully glamorous and rebellious. ![]() She overcomes Oliver Twist-like adversity to find herself in a Great Expectations-like relationship with her boss, Baroness von Hellman. Just like many cinematic villains before her, Cruella is portrayed here as misunderstood, the product of trying to survive in a cold, unsympathetic world. But Angelina Jolie's evil fairy wasn't relatable or aspirational, whereas many young fans wanted to be vandal Harley Quinn. It's easy to see why Disney might feel that the accolades for Joker and the merchandising bonanza for Harley Quinn should belong to them: They started this trend of reexamining villains with Maleficent in 2014. And yet it does make a hero out of a criminal. Sinisterly superb, this is a well-crafted, phenomenally acted, artistically drenched triumph that's a whole lot more responsible than most other villain-as-main-character films. (Oh, and about that dog coat? You don't have to worry about it. On the positive side, the film is notably more diverse than previous Dalmatians movies, and Cruella clearly demonstrates perseverance. Also, children bully young Cruella because she's different, and both Cruella and her eventual boss, The Baroness ( Emma Thompson), are wickedly funny - i.e., they're mean and treat others terribly in ways that may make viewers laugh but certainly aren't kind. The circumstances around Cruella becoming an orphan may be upsetting for kids who've lost or been separated from their own parents/families. Cruella's life is in danger more than once, and a parent dies (partially on camera) as her child watches. While there's very little iffy content in terms of sex, language, or substance use (aside from one scene of implied drunkenness) - and a couple of punches and tackles are played for comedic effect - this is definitely a murderous revenge story. Think of it as Wicked by way of The Devil Wears Prada, with healthy dashes of Dickens and Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Set in the early 1970s, it attempts to explain Cruella's ( Emma Stone) nefarious behavior in a way that will spark empathy in viewers. Cruella trailer movie#One of my favourite scenes in the entire movie is the two of them out together for an afternoon cocktail, and the humour and subtlety of the innuendo is just genius.” Emily Beecham will also appear as a yet-to-be-revealed character, while Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser have been cast as puppy bandits Jasper and Horace.Parents need to know that Cruella is Disney's stylish but dark live-action origin story about the dog-napping villain from Disney's 1961 classic 101 Dalmatians. The two of them really leaned into the nuanced complexity of it – whipping through three pages of verbal sparring. Then when you’ve got Emma Stone and Emma Thompson working off that type of script, it’s just brilliant. “It constantly flips between drama and comedy, gravity and absurdity. ![]() “Tony McNamara wrote the most amazing screenplay,” Gillespie says. Laurie Sparham/Disney Who is playing the new Cruella De Vil? And who else is in the cast of ‘Cruella’?Įmma Stone will play Cruella De Vil herself, while Emma Thompson will step into the role of her nemesis, the Baroness, who, according to Disney, is “devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute”. Cruella’s obsession with Dalmatians is also covered, of course.”Įmma Thompson in character as the haughty but haute Baroness von Hellman. “You can see Jasper and Horace, the dognappers, in the trailer, and then Pongo and Perdita’s owners Roger and Anita make an appearance. ‘“There’s so little information about Cruella’s history out there, that it felt quite liberating, but there are nods to the original story ,” director Craig Gillespie told Vogue. After befriending a pair of thieves and turning criminal to make ends meet, Cruella manages to impress the legendary fashion patron Baroness von Hellman, but the world of high fashion is markedly different than Estella had expected, leading her to morph into the hell-raising Cruella. Her sartorial vibe: Vivienne Westwood in the days of her SEX boutique on the King’s Road. The 101 Dalmatians prequel will first introduce the House of de Vil’s future creative director as Estella, a young grifter who arrives in London in the ’70s, determined to make a name for herself in fashion. What will the plot of ‘Cruella’ be about? This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The Crime Bosses Who Created Today's Carnival Samba schools - and Carnival - have grown to be multimillion-dollar ventures with links to the criminal world. Lianne Milton for NPR Samba schools emerged in poor, marginal communities, mostly in the favelas, or shantytowns, like Salgueiro in Rio de Janeiro. The police are investigating, but speculation is running rife. For many Brazilians, the samba schools function almost like soccer clubs: They have their colors, their flags, their jerseys and their fans.īrandon says the talk among the fans is all about the murder. Every year, the 12 top-tier samba schools are locked in a fierce competition to be crowned Carnival kings.Īmong the onlookers is Rafael Brandon, a self-proclaimed samba school fanatic. #Samba schools full#This is a full street rehearsal, but it feels like a block party - vendors sell beer and snacks while people mill around chatting and snapping pictures. Women in high-cut sparkly costumes dance next to portly men and young children. Thousands of Salgueiro residents - who have been practicing for months - are running through their routines on the street. On a recent night in the neighborhood from which the club gets its name, the beat of samba drums blares from trucks. Another group member was murdered in 2004. In 2007, the group's then-vice chairman was killed in an early morning attack. ![]() His isn't the first slaying of someone linked to the school. The murder could have just been another one of the many that happen in Rio every week, but it made headlines because Freire was the vice president of one of the most prominent samba schools in the city, Salgueiro. The 12 top-tier samba schools fiercely compete to be crowned Carnival kings. Lianne Milton for NPR Salgueiro samba school performers rehearse for Carnival. ![]() ![]() ![]() Sometimes, I like outlandish movie adaptations of video games, like the original Super Mario Bros. I love that the story is simple, because it means that we can get to the awesome fight scenes quicker, which is what I came to see anyway. So, Jin’s grandfather, Heihachi, starts another tournament to draw Ogre out of hiding since he always seems to appear when the strongest fighters are around. Taking place between the events of Tekken 2 and 3, we get our protagonist Jin wanting to take vengeance upon Ogre after he does something terrible to his family. (Image credit: Netflix) Loved: The Storyline Is Simple And To The PointĪ series based on a fighting game does NOT need a convoluted plot, and thankfully, Tekken: Bloodline avoids having one. So, maybe the dubbing could be better if there is a Season 2. My biggest problem with this is that I fear some people won’t take the show seriously with some of this dubbing, when the clear solution is to just put it on subtitles with the Japanese voice acting. So, a line like, “Stoke your Mishima fire” becomes, “Stoke your MEEEEESHIMA fire.” It’s actually pretty hilarious. Especially the one for Heihachi who overemphasizes everything to an almost comical extent. The voice actors are putting TOO much into their performance. It’s not that the voice actors are phoning it in, as it’s actually quite the opposite. I was actually watching the anime from the very beginning with subtitles on and the Japanese voice actors speaking, but I had to do some cleaning around my living room, so I turned on dubbing for a while, and boy was I flabbergasted.Įnglish dubbing is usually pretty bad, but this one takes it to a whole other level. I once wrote an article about how I prefer subtitles to dubbing, and if there’s any obvious reason as to why, then I think this show is a prime example, as the dubbing could seriously use some work. (Image credit: Netflix) What I Hope They Improve: The Dubbing ![]() |
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