Karan Varindani, on using an iPad Pro in college:
I can’t stress just how much the Apple Pencil increases the utility of the iPad Pro. Its precision turns the device into a true digital textbook and makes it incredibly easy to eliminate a lot of paper workflows in college. I’m typing all my comments in PDF Expert for now but as soon as the app gets updated for the Pencil I’ll start writing those out, simply for the increased memory retention of writing vs typing.
I missed this week’s Connected, but am listening to it now. It’s a fun one:
This week, Federico talks about how he is changing his automation workflows with 1Writer and Workflow, and Myke talks about his Apple Pencil review.
Thanks to these sponsors for making is possible:
Rockets have always been expendable. Not anymore. Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket.
This flight validates our vehicle architecture and design. Our unique ring fin shifted the center of pressure aft to help control reentry and descent; eight large drag brakes deployed and reduced the vehicle’s terminal speed to 387 mph; hydraulically actuated fins steered the vehicle through 119-mph high-altitude crosswinds to a location precisely aligned with and 5,000 feet above the landing pad; then the highly-throttleable BE-3 engine re-ignited to slow the booster as the landing gear deployed and the vehicle descended the last 100 feet at 4.4 mph to touchdown on the pad.
I’ve been keeping my eye on this LEGO Ideas project page for a while:
This year is the 45 years Apollo 11 Moon-landing anniversary.
What a perfect time to present you the Saturn-V rocket which took the Apollo 11 crew to the moon out of Lego!
The whole Lego rocket is about 1 meter/130 studs high (aprox. 1:110 scale), has 1179 bricks and lots of features:
- removable 1st rocket-stage with the main rocket engine
- removable 2nd rocket-stage with rocket engine
- removable 3rd rocket-stage with the Apollo spacecraft
- Apollo spacecraft with the “Eagle” Lunar Lander and the Lunar Orbiter
- the rescue rocket on top of the whole spacecraft
- two minifigure astronauts on the Moon for displaying
The project has reached 10,000 votes, meaning it will be considered by the toymaker for possible production.
Myke Hurley, writing for The Pen Addict:
The work Apple has done to get the hardware and software in harmony to the point where this all works so flawlessly is astounding to me. The results I am able to achieve are just fantastic.
I have always been a pen guy. But now I’m a Pencil guy too.
This week on Relay FM’s only space-themed podcast, Jason and I talk about the not-so-impending doom facing Phobos and a bunch of other news before being joined by Emily Lakdawalla from The Planetary Society to discuss the future of solar system exploration.
My thanks to these sponsors:
Are you a full-time freelancer or independent worker? Do you make a pretty good living and like the work you do? Every year, do you think “man, why is my tax bill so high?" then think, “well, I guess this is just how it is for folks like me."
Then, you write that big check to Uncle Sam. You may find yourself wondering if you could have done something different. Or, if the check is really huge, you might even wonder if it wouldn’t be cheaper to just get a regular job again…
I woke up to a fun tweet in my timeline this morning:
@ismh Maybe one of your Macs are eligible? https://t.co/ynjmkC601k
— Nikhil Ravishankar (@knekill) November 19, 2015
I had no idea this existed. In short, some Macs sold between 1992 and 1996 came with free telephone support as long as you owned the machine. In 1997, Apple tried shutting it down, but got hit with a lawsuit.
The best part? The phone number still works.
Mike Bates, writing for Tools and Toys about Field Notes Brand memo books:
I have both a digital to-do manager and a more in-depth digital journal, but the act of physically writing things out helps me to be more intentional in planning out my day. It’s nice to jot something down on paper and still manages to be the most convenient way for me to take a quick note even in this very digital age.
Maybe its just me, but I don’t think this thing looks very good at all.
I spent some time yesterday organizing my Apple collection with some new shelves and bins and in the process, fired up my first-generation iPad. It’s running iOS 5.1.1, the last build to support the device. In our post-iOS 7 world, older versions of iOS really do look dated.
Lights! Camera! Action!