Bradley Chambers recently had his iPhone repaired and got locked out of his Apple ID after realizing he didn’t have his recovery key:
I gave Apple a call, and I assumed this would be a quick fix. They’d unlock it, and I could then sign in. They quickly realized I was in a weird state of lockout. According to this support article, I should be able to get in. I remembered the password, and I had the device. The problem was I was still locked out. Apple can’t unlock it without the recovery key.
Yours truly, over on The Sweet Setup:
If you’re like me and would rather use a desktop application than a web app to manage your WordPress site, MarsEdit is the best route. It’s full of features, easy to use, and feels right at home on macOS.
The new bundle includes Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4 and MainStage 3. It is avaible for teachers, students and K-12 institutions. It runs $199, which is a steal.
It’s never too early to teach your kids how to respond to Logic destroying their podcast files, I suppose.
1Writer has been my iOS text editor of choice for a while now. Today, it saw a nice update that adds a lot of nice features, including the ability to import and preview images in Markdown documents.
RollerCoaster Tycoon was hands-down my favorite game when I was a kid, and now I can play it on my iPad. 
The app is $5.99, and is a blend of the 1999 original and the 2002 sequel. There are three in-app purchases, but there is more than enough content in the base app to last a while.
I played one park this morning on my iPad, and the play mechanics are totally usable on a touch device. I’m impressed, and very excited to play more.
Apple’s new Support app for iOS makes getting help with an iOS product a lot easier. Thumbs up.
Astra is a new iPhone app that acts as a client to Amazon’s Alexa service. It’s like having an Echo right in your pocket. Everything that works on the stand-alone devices seems to work in the app.
I’m a big fan of what Amazon is doing in this space. I just bought an Echo Dot to put on my desk after loving the Echo we put in our kitchen earlier this year.
Most of the photos I take for this website are done with my DSLR, but sometimes I end up posting photos taken with my iPhone. Those images include geolocation data, which is not something I want to share with the world.
I used to use Photoshop for removing this information, but thankfully, Preview on macOS makes it easy to get rid of this information.1
Open an image, then choose Show Inspector from the Tools menu.
Want to see what having a Touch Bar is like without driving to an Apple Store or spending a bunch of money? Daniel Jalkut has you covered with a new app.
(Warning: It will make you really want to touch your Mac’s screen.)
Today Apple launched a new Apple TV app named iBooks StoryTime:
iBooks StoryTime gives your family a different way to experience classic kids’ books and discover new favorites. With Read-Aloud narration and beautiful illustrations, every handpicked title in the app transforms Apple TV into an engaging place for young readers to enjoy the stories they love.
As the Read-Aloud narration completes a page, it automatically turns to the next one. The narration comes complete with different character voices, sound effects, and is made word-for-word so kids can follow along.