If you bought a new Apple device in the past few months, then you have free access to the AppleTV+ service. There are some great shows on there — I loved For All Mankind and The Morning Show, and so far I am really enjoying Trying — and there are other shows that are good enough to enjoy even if they won’t win any awards. But today, I want to mention Mythic Quest, a comedy about a videogame company. The first season came out a while ago with nine episodes, some of which were better than others, but the standout episode is the one in the middle, Episode 5. Apple recently released a tenth episode called Quarantine, which was filmed by all of the actors in their homes using iPhones. There have been tons of things filmed using webcams over the last few months, from episodes of Saturday Night Live to concerts to late night TV shows. But so far, this tenth episode may be my favorite of this new genre. It is worth watching all of the other nine episodes of Mythic Quest just so that you get to know the characters and can fully appreciate Episode 10, which is fantastic. So if you are looking for something to do while you shelter at home, I recommend that you watch Mythic Quest and prepare to enjoy the laughs during Episode 10. You can learn more about how this episode was created in this article by Lacey Rose of The Hollywood Reporter, but you should watch the episode before you read that article because it has some spoilers. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Michigan attorney Jonathan Frank reached out to me this week to share a post on LinkedIn about his first Zoom arbitration, including how he used his iPhone connected to a monitor. My experiences with trial and appellate court hearings using Zoom has been very positive. You lose something by not being there in person, but you gain so much in convenience and efficiency that overall I think that it is a better experience. I haven’t done a mediation or arbitration via Zoom yet, and as Jonathan notes in his post, that is a different type of experience because it can go on for so long.
- One week ago, a bug caused many iPhone and iPad apps to be unable to launch, giving the error “This app is no longer shared with you.” A version of this bug has been around for a while, and I posted a fix for it a year ago. Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reports that Apple has now fixed the bug. That’s great news, and I’ll be curious to see if Apple’s fix only addressed the new version of the bug that surfaced last week or if Apple also fixed the bug that I have been seeing every few months for over a year.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reviews the Yobi B3, a smart doorbell that works with Apple’s HomeKit technology.
- Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider reviews the Logitech Circle View, a smart security camera that works with Apple’s HomeKit technology.
- Glenn Fleishman of Macworld offers advice for participating in a videoconference using your iPhone and a large TV (such as a TV connected to an Apple TV) so that you can see the other participants on a larger screen.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors charts all of the releases of iOS over time.
- And finally, almost a year ago, I mentioned a video from Apple called Bounce that shows, in an exaggerated fashion, how freeing it is to use AirPods. As reported by Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac, that advertisement recently won the Best in Show award at the 99th ADC Awards. It’s a great video, and worth watching again: