The new version of AirBuddy comes with multiple actions for Apple’s Shortcuts app. The app provides details such as battery level, device status, device list, and even the firmware version of connected headphones. This allows users to create system actions based on AirBuddy such as getting a notification when their AirPods reach a specific battery level. AirBuddy 2 has introduced a new feature called Magic Handoff, which helps users to quickly and easily transfer a Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, or Magic Trackpad from one Mac to another....

After opening a connection with your data source, typically a database, your next step is to read from the data source and load the data into a recordset. To perform this operation, we simply need to create an ADO Recordset object. After the Recordset object is created, you will open it and pass information to the data source. Typically this information would consist of the SQL query and the connection object....

Adobe has been steadily introducing free creative tools that let iPhone and iPad users tell stories through text, photos, and videos, and today that effort is coming to the web with the all-new Adobe Spark. In addition to launching the free web app, Adobe is updating a few of its existing iOS apps with new names as they now serve as companions to the web service. Just like with Adobe’s storytelling apps for iOS — Voice, Slate, and Post — Adobe Spark is focused on letting anyone create visually rich content with various types of media....

Apple has reportedly pulled out of negotiations for the NFL Sunday Ticket package, after originally being considered the frontrunner, according to Dylan Byers at Puck News. Earlier in the year, it seemed like Apple was nearing a deal with multiple reports of top Apple execs Eddy Cue sweet-talking NFL heads at meetings, having already struck sports streaming deals with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer. But as talks dragged on with the NFL, Apple appeared to balk back at some of the contract’s limitations....

Before Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. went on its spring hiatus, the show dropped its biggest cliffhanger to date. After three and a half seasons of fleshing out the mythology of the spy organization, cleaning up after the Avengers, and introducing the Kree, Inhumans, LMDs, and Ghost Rider to the MCU, S.H.I.E.L.D. pulled all their story threads together into the beginnings of a new arc. With nearly every member of the team brought inside the Framework, a virtual reality where past mistakes and regrets are rewritten, the remainder of this season will see SHIELD the organization replaced with a thriving Hydra....

The American Horror Story: 1984 ending officially tied up the loose ends in what could be considered the most grisly installment to date. The ninth season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series took the ’80s slasher horror genre to a new level by interweaving a number of twists and turns, including the existence of the paranormal. As the season continued, the truth about Camp Redwood was unearthed but it was already too late for the new counselors....

AirPlay 2 has been out for a few weeks now after shipping a week before WWDC 2018 and almost a year after it was previewed at WWDC 2017. In the places where AirPlay 2 works, the audio streaming feature is a notable upgrade over the original AirPlay feature — but there are also weird choices and clear opportunities for AirPlay 2 now that it’s available. HomePod stereo pairing HomePod audio is really good with stereo pairing — and it should be when the speaker price jumps from $350 to $700....

All of Thursday’s best deals are now up for the taking with a clearance sale on Apple Watch SE from $199 all-time lows. Then go score AirPods 2 for just $90, delivering plenty of value backed by Apple’s H1 chip and “Hey Siri” support. MacBook owners can also expand their machine’s I/O with Satechi’s USB4 9-in-1 hub at $120. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break....

The Aladdin remake became a surprise box office smash hit, but how exactly did that happen? In addition to banking on their lucrative subsidiaries like Marvel and Lucasfilm, Disney’s launched a very successful enterprise in recent years by remaking their animated classics as live-action films. While there was a live-action 101 Dalmations back in 1996, this sub-franchise didn’t truly take form until Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland hit the scene in 2010....

Adobe has updated its Flash Player to version 10.3, squashing a bunch of bugs and introducing a brand new control panel. It’s a welcome addition that lets you better manage the many Flash Player settings, including camera, microphone and Local Shared Objects settings. More importantly, one can now set how Flash tracking cookies are being handled and fine-tune other privacy, security and storage settings. Also important, Flash Player 10.3 now supports auto-update notification for Mac OS X....

Today Serif pushed updates to all three of its popular subscription-free creative apps, including Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Apple’s Mac app of the year winner, Affinity Publisher ($49.99 each). Versions 1.8 are available for download now via the Mac and iOS App Store. Affinity Publisher’s update includes support for IDML for importing Adobe InDesign files. There’s also preflight checking, which will display live instances of potential document errors. Errors includes things like low image resolution, overflowing text assets, bleed hazards, spelling issues, missing images and fonts, and more....

Ever since her tombstone was shown during the tease of what the Framework had in store for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., viewers have wondered how Simmons died, and what it means for the real Simmons, who has now entered a reality where she is already gone. Well, thanks to the newest clip from the show’s return episode, titled ‘What If…’, Daisy has figured it out. Marvel and ABC’s first joint-venture, is nearing the end of its fourth season and in doing so has implemented its biggest change yet....

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for AJ and the Queen season 1. AJ and the Queen is a Netflix Original series following the adventures of Robert aka drag queen Ruby Red (RuPaul Charles) and his companion AJ (Izzy G), an obnoxious 10-year-old with street smarts and a chip on her shoulder. AJ and the Queen season 1 debuted on Netflix on January 10, 2020, and it ends in a dramatic cliffhanger — will RuPaul’s new show return for season 2?...

Disney has released a set of new Aladdin character posters that feature Will Smith’s Genie in his human (read: non-giant and blue) form. Directed by Guy Ritchie, the live-action film is based on Disney’s animated 1992 movie and features Mena Massoud as the street urchin Aladdin, Power Rangers’ Naomi Scott as the Arabian princess Jasmine, and Marwan Kenzari as the Sultan’s scheming advisor Jafar, who wants to use the Genie and his magical lamp to take control of Agrabah....

Adam McKay began his career in comedy, serving as the head writer on Saturday Night Live for two seasons, and then directing comedies such as Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. He took a more dramatic turn with The Big Short, a film about the 2007-2008 financial crisis. It garnered him multiple award nominations including the Academy Award for Best Director. McKay’s most recent film is Vice, which chronicles Vice President Dick Cheney’s time in the White House....

[Update 10/16: Somewhat sooner than expected, Adobe has released a new version of Flash available here.] Here’s a heads-up to Mac users with Adobe Flash Player installed. Adobe has posted a security bulletin this week advising Mac, Windows, and Linux users of a known security issue with the latest version of the Flash Player plug-in, version 19.0.0.207 and earlier. In the security advisory, Adobe details that the ‘critical vulnerability’ in Flash Player could potentially cause system crashes and allow attackers “to take control of the affected system....

Adobe has made a notable change to its Creative Cloud subscription plans. The $10/month Photography offering that was a popular way to get access to Photoshop and Lightroom has just doubled in price. Meanwhile, Lightroom on its own is now priced at $10/month. As spotted by PetaPixel, the base $10/month Photography subscription featuring Photoshop and Lightroom now has a $20/month price tag. Photoshop is also offered on its own for $21/month (as a single-app subscription)....

A new survey of Apple Watch owners by Wristly found that 80% of those in the US and UK have already used Apple Pay, and suggests that this number could eventually hit 95%. The survey was limited to the two countries where Apple Pay is currently available. The firm found that only 19% of Watch owners hadn’t yet tried Apple Pay, and of those only a quarter of them either had concerns or saw no benefits, suggesting that the rest were likely to try it at some later point....

As Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. heads towards next week’s two-hour season 6 finale, it unexpectedly brought back a season 5 character: Flint (Coy Stewart). In last week’s episode, “Leap”, the season’s Big Bad Izel (Karolina Wydra) unveiled the truth about Sarge’s (Clark Gregg) connection to the late Phil Coulson: he is really a non-corporeal being from Izel’s realm named Patchakutiq who is inhabiting a genetic copy of Phil Coulson made by the three Monoliths, Space, Time, and Creation....

Phil Coulson is back from the dead in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 6, but how? The first trailer for the abbreviated return of ABC’s Marvel show has finally dropped, confirming that Mack has taken over as director, and the weight of it all weighs heavily on his shoulders. His first mission is to lead the S.H.I.E.L.D. team back into space in order to recover their missing colleague, Fitz. Agents of S....