Screenshot: Foundation / Apple

Even though I’ve been an Apple TV + subscriber for a year – mostly because a free year came with my iPhone 12 Mini – I still don’t quite get it. A streaming service with almost nothing other than the sparse original content Apple produced doesn’t make sense to me, not in the age of a billion competing services, not even for $ 4.99 a month.

True, I’m paying more than that for a handful of Patreon-exclusive episodes of my favorite podcasts, but compared to what is offered by Netflix, Hulu, and HBO max-Hell, even outstanding +– it doesn’t seem worth it, even at half or a third of its price.

On the other hand, A lot of what makes it onto Apple TV + is, well, good. The internet still can’t stop talking about Ted Lasso, and Mythic Quest is a good (even better?) Replacement for HBO’s Silicon Valley. The space racing saga For All Mankind is one of the best running shows you probably don’t see.

So yes, there are good things. It’s just a matter of whether anything good has come out of this lately … so let’s see what’s coming to Apple TV + in September.

Foundation (premieres 24.09.)

Let’s start with the Biggie: Apple’s no-cost, CGI-laden attempt to monopolize the prestige TV discussion with a science fiction response to HBO’s Game of Thrones: Foundation.

Any nerd of a certain age can tell you why Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy (which grew into more than one trilogy decades later, but only counts the first three) is important to the genre’s history – for one, fans once did voted best book series ever, though way back in 1966 (Did I mention these books are old?). Cerebral and expansive, a huge future story packed into a relatively small number of pages, the books thoughtfully envision a future of humanity based more on philosophical ideas than space stations and explosions, and people have been trying to make a film out of it for years. A TV show works too, I think.

But thoughtfulness in science fiction also screams niche audiences, and if the trailer is anything, co-creators David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) and Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds, Terminator: Dark Fate) definitely seem to be like that get as much action as possible from a premise that essentially boils down to “space monks using math to predict the future.” The trailer definitely looks nice, doesn’t it? I can’t decide which part I like best, the space elevator (pictured above in this article) or Lee Pace’s eyebrows.

Come From Away (premieres on September 10th)

Just in time for the gloomy 20th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, this film adaptation of a Tony Award-winning musical about the events of that day and the following weeks from the point of view of the inhabitants of a small town in Newfoundland, which eventually hosted thousands of air travelers, will be released. who were stranded there when their planes were diverted in the midst of the chaos.

As you can see from the trailer, this is pretty much a straight-to-screen translation of the stage show, a la Disney + s most recent presentation by Hamilton. I think that’s not bad at all – I got the chance to see Come From Away on Broadway and it’s a stage show with a small cast that takes on multiple roles and the drama flows fluently from one scene to another over hastily Assembled and deconstructed sets that emphasize the ever-changing chaos and uncertainty of this time.

Plus, despite the dramatic setting, this is basically a Canadian story – the plot boils down to “a bunch of extremely polite people trying to be as welcoming as possible,” and there’s an entire song about finding enough toilet paper. You don’t want to overdo it with flashy production design. (I don’t want to undercut it either – the filmed version features the same cast I saw on stage and they’re phenomenal; just try to make it through “Me and the sky” without sobbing). I am very happy to have received this show and these performances for posterity.

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The Morning Show (Season 2 premiered September 17)

Apart from Ted Lasso, despite gigantic marketing efforts, no Apple TV + series has hit the zeitgeist (and production budgets). The Morning Show was probably the closest to come, thanks in no small part to the involvement of superstars like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carrell.

The first season received mixed reviews and a subdued response from viewers, at least on social media; Perhaps the public is not quite as intrigued by the scenes of a TV news program as Hollywood imagined. Nevertheless, there is soap fun, as the trailer for the second season makes clear:

Will season two improve enough to secure a third season, especially given that this is one of the most expensive TV series of all time, with no spaceship or white walker in sight? That’s a headline for tomorrow.

Photo: Krisda (Shutterstock)

There are many options to take nice screenshots on your Mac, but there’s a catch: the mouse cursor is absent from all of your screenshots by default, which can be a deal breaker for some purposes. For example, sometimes you might not want to go to the bother of annotating screenshots so you can quickly hover the mouse pointer to tell your dad where to click to fix his computer problems.

Once you’re on this boat, we’ll show you how to take macOS screenshots that include the good ol ‘mouse cursor.

How to insert the mouse pointer in macOS screenshots

You’ll need to make a little tweaking to add the mouse pointer to your Mac screenshots. To do this, you need to find your screenshot options accessible through the Command + Shift + 5 Keyboard shortcuts.

When you’ve done that, click Options Menu on the right side of the floating screenshot options window. This opens another menu in which the last sub-item is labeled Options. Choose here Show mouse pointer.

Screenshot: Pranay Parab

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And that’s it. From this moment on, all of your Mac screenshots will include the mouse pointer as well. Go ahead and try it out using the keyboard shortcuts to take a screenshot. To capture the entire screen (including the friendly mouse pointer), press Command + Shift + 3. And to capture part of the screen, try Command + Shift + 4followed by the click-and-drag gesture.

While it’s natural to be excited when you finally see the mouse pointer in your Mac screenshots, you don’t want to end up with a ton of random screenshots on your desktop. So when you are done taking screenshots, this is the best thing to do to see if those images land in yours dedicated screenshots folder.

Finally, if you want to hide the mouse cursor for screenshots, you can go back and invert it by pressing Command + Shift + 5 select again Options, and under the Options Subheading, deactivate Show mouse pointer.

Photo: New Africa (Shutterstock)

When you’re trying to wash, dry, and sort your family’s laundry pile after pile, an organized and functional workspace can make all the difference. And yet, when we think of the rooms that we want to redesign or redecorate in our house, our thoughts first wander everywhere –the kitchen, the bath rooms, the living room, our outdoor area, and even our bedrooms—Before we think about polishing up the washroom.

But whether you have your own laundry room or just a corner to house the washer and dryer, spending a little time reorganizing and renovating could probably serve you better – and it doesn’t have to cost a lot at all.

Your laundry room could almost certainly use more storage space

It can be surprising how much storage space we actually need within easy reach of our washing machine and dryer. It’s not just laundry detergents, dye towels, and stain removers; it’s also the leather cleaner you need occasionally, the Dryel starter kit you bought a few years ago, the OxiClean bucket, and the bottle of bleach that need to be kept somewhere (that is somewhere out of sight and out of reach.) when you are small Have children). Adding a small closet with doors to hide chemicals – either for safety reasons or just because you don’t want to keep looking at them – is a great first step in organizing your laundry room.

If you have the space a number of closets above the washer and dryer can be convenient, however a free-standing closet will work too. However, if you’re very limited on storage space (and funds), you can even do something as simple as this narrow, rolling laundry trolley can help you stay organized.

Right now, everything in your laundry room is just hard lines and edges. To make the room a little more welcoming, spend a lot of time in it! You deserve to be made to feel welcome! – temper it with some wicker or woven storage containers and baskets. You will probably want to a kind of basket, at least for the family’s ongoing collection of dirty towels. And such a little stand, with hanging fabric storage bins (and bonus shelf!), would be perfect for storing old towels, rags, and other bedding that you don’t use regularly but keep for extra messy tidying situations.

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And finally, I’m not saying you need it a small storage basket in a cheerful color, I’m just saying that these replacement socks need a home until you find their partners, and this is a home as good as any other.

You need more storage space than you think

Have you ever folded and stacked t-shirts on the dryer only to sigh again when the stack gets too high and starts sliding down the slightly less-than-flat surface? Just me? Well, what I need – and I bet you do too – is more work space. However, I bet you don’t have the exact space to add counters or you would have already done so.

Instead, you (and I should) mount an ironing board that folds down and doubles as a shelf. (You can also iron it on, which I only do on special occasions.) As with everything, you can be as fancy as you want here additional cupboard space and adjustable swivel joint– or keep it simple and cheap a board hanging over the back of the door. Either way, T-shirts won’t slip out of the dryer anymore.

You need a place to hang and air dry things

You could do like me and drag all your wet sweaters up two flights of stairs from the basement to the master bedroom every time you need to air dry something. Or you can do what I want to do and mount a clothes horse right in the same area.

Depending on the setup of your laundry room (and how much you tend to air dry) you can go for space-saving retractable racks, a rack that can be temporarily or permanently installed, a retractable shelf that also offers shelf space and additional hooks, or something looks weirdly cute.

A Carpet – Your laundry room needs a nice carpet

My “laundry area” is the back corner of an unfinished basement in an almost 100 year old house on the east coast. It’s not cute or cozy, I say. Literally the first thing I did in this house before a single box crossed the threshold was to buy a nice rug to put in front of the washer and dryer.

Did this rug magically turn my laundry room into a space I can’t get enough of? Obviously not; but it made it more homely for the times when I challenge myself to catch the pile of folded t-shirts. Depending on where your washroom is in the house, if you have room for a rug it can help warm the room up.

Photo: Beth Skwarecki

We talked about it the joys of being on the water, and explored the world of inflatable kayaks (a great option for kids or casual boating, but not the serious kayaker). Now is the time to test the watercraft that is fast becoming the most popular at my local lake: the inflatable paddleboard.

Stand-up paddleboards (also called SUPs) look a bit like surfboards. That’s pretty much it. You stand up and propel yourself forward with an extended canoe paddle. Despite the name, you can sit or kneel on it if you wish.

Inflatable paddleboards are just as sturdy as normal ones.

The most shocking thing about an inflatable paddleboard is that it works. I never thought about buying an inflatable until I heard from a friend who had tried one. We were on the lake at the time, renting regular (non-inflatable) boards from the same place that rents kayaks. She told me that the dinghy she tried was just as stiff and stable as the one we were on. Hm.

A few years later, and prices finally dropped into the low hundreds; Paddleboards, like kayaks, are expensive, and you can easily spend over $ 1,000 on a top of the range of both. But where inflatable kayaks are cheap and thin, inflatable paddleboards aren’t both. Got the cheapest board I could find, and it was around $ 200 in a paddle and hand pump package.

The catch is how you inflate it

The reason inflatable paddleboards are so much more stable than inflatable kayaks is because they inflate at a much higher pressure.

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When I inflate the kayak, as soon as it feels firm, I’m ready to go. A few minutes of work with the hand pump is all it takes to get there, and I even had my 5 year old blow it up myself.

My paddleboard, on the other hand, came with a pump with a pressure gauge. You should fill it to a minimum of 10 PSI, with a sweet spot around 12 and a warning not to go over 15. (Your paddleboard may vary, but these are typical numbers.) The board felt firm at 0.5 PSI. In other words, a SUP needs about twenty times as much air as a similar sized kayak.

Doing this with a hand pump is one hell of a workout. It took about ten minutes, and the next day every muscle in my upper body was sore. (And I’m a person who lifts weights regularly, so good luck to the rest of you.) Once the drain valve was set incorrectly, resulting in a few seconds of pssssssshhhhht when I took the pump off. I was back at about 0.5 and had to start over.

Photo: Beth Skwarecki

Why you need an electric pump for your paddleboard

No problem, I thought, I’ll get an air mattress pump from the store. So I did it, and I put it on, and I just … sat there. For a while. And googled “Paddleboard Electric Pump” to see what actually to use.

It turns out that a proper paddleboard pump can:

1. inflate with high pressure (air mattress pumps won’t cut it)
2. Inflate at least one paddleboard in a reasonable amount of time
3. Shut down when it reaches a certain PSI (so you don’t pop your paddleboard if you are distracted)

It turns out that a pump that meets these requirements is not cheap. Anything under $ 100 had really sketchy reviews. I went for a $ 150 pump that did all of the above plus a battery so it wouldn’t have to be plugged into your car’s outlet while it was pumping.

The good pump takes 6 minutes to inflate my board to 10 PSI and 2.5 minutes to deflate it. (Yes, as a bonus, the pump can suck all the air out of the board when you’re done.) It’s convenient and means I can use the board more often and have more fun doing it. I’m just pissed off that my $ 200 paddleboard turned out to be a $ 350 investment.

What it’s like to take a paddleboard on the water

Okay, now for the fun part! I love the simplicity of a paddleboard compared to a canoe or kayak: you just drop it into the water, flop on it, and you’re good to go.

I wear flip flops to go down to the water, then I take them off and tuck them under the bungee at the front of the boat. You want to be barefoot so your feet can get on the board and keep your balance (although I’ve seen people wear water shoes if that’s what you prefer.)

Mine has a leash so the board stays connected to my ankle even if I capsize. And not to be a pessimist, but: you will likely capsize. There’s a reason paddleboarders usually wear swimsuits.

I also wear a Belt-shaped PFD (it inflates when you pull on a string) instead of a normal life jacket. I never had to inflate it as I can swim. If I fall in, I’ll just climb back on the board.

Paddling is a little trickier than kayaking, and it took me a few trips to get the hang of it. If you do it right, you won’t have to switch sides every few moves; You steer simply by changing your paddle stroke. Here is a video demonstration:

Once you get the hang of it, paddling is pretty straightforward and you can enjoy your time out on the lake. I tend to my kayak when I want to move and I take out the paddleboard when I’m more in the mood to chill out. You can lie down on a paddleboard in the middle of the lake to sunbathe or meditate, or whatever name you want to give the lying around doing nothing (throw a fishing rod if you want to be sure you aren’t drifting away ).

Paddleboard yoga is also very much. I wouldn’t recommend it for the first time though; Just getting up is enough as a balance challenge if you are not used to it.