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The Music-Discovery Edition Wednesday, June 1, 2016

I Made You A Mixtape, by Federico Viticci, MacStories

The 'For You' section – the feature I was hoping would reinvent music discovery with a mix of algorithms and human curation – turned out to be uninspired at best. No matter how much I tuned it to my preferences, the section consistently served up the same menu of albums I already knew, 'Intro To' playlists filled with hits I had listened to hundreds of times, and artists I had known for years. The same curated sections popped up weekly without changes.

I wasn't discovering anything new on Apple Music. There was no obscure indie artist I had never heard about and no curveball thrown at me. There was no sass.

SmartPhone

Dear Apple, Please Make The iPhone Smarter, by Joanna Stern

My iPhone is still reaping the benefits of the expanding smart tech universe, but it isn’t because of services made in Cupertino.

Worthy Arts

The First Great Works Of Digital Literature Are Already Being Written, by Naomi Alderman, The Guardian

The problem is that people who like science and technology, and people who like storytelling and the arts have typically been placed in different buildings since about the age of 16. We haven’t been taught how to admire each others’ work, to recognise excellence, or even to know that there is excellence in “the other culture”. There’s a kind of sullen arrogance on both sides, with some people in both camps simply denying that the other knows anything worth listening to. There is a kind of “worthy” arts professional who thinks that knowing nothing about games – like saying “I don’t even own a television!” – is a marker of intellectual superiority.

Stuff

Thunderbolt Display Stock Limited At Apple Stores Ahead Of WWDC, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Thunderbolt Display stock is limited or unavailable at several Apple Stores in North America, Europe, Australia, and other regions ahead of new product announcements expected at WWDC 2016 in two weeks.

What Do Normal And Abnormal Heart Rhythms Look Like On Apple Watch?, by Brandon Ballinger, Cardiogram

Almost every month, a news story pops up about somebody whose life was saved by their Apple Watch. As part of the mRhythm Study, we’re analyzing a lot of heart rate data, and decided to write a brief primer what both normal and abnormal heart rhythms look like when measured on an Apple Watch.

Mophie Launches New iPhone Juice Pack Battery Cases With Wireless Charging, by Jordan Kahn, 9to5Mac

To accomplish the wireless charging, you’ll get a wireless charging base bundled with the new wireless Juice Packs. But you can also use other charging stations, asMophie notes the new cases support “virtually all wireless charging standards, phones and accessories, including Qi.”

Hands On: Workflow 1.5 (iOS), by William Gallagher, MacNN

Workflow is an automation app for iOS that ties together various functions of the iPhone, or various other apps you may own, in order to make certain tasks quicker and easier.

Adobe Photoshop Sketch For iOS Gains Layer Support, New 3D Touch Features, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Sketch 3.4 adds layer support for stacking illustrations — this makes virtual tracing as easy as the real thing.

Solar Walk 2 (For iPad), by Tony Hoffman, PC Magazine

Like the original, Solar Walk 2 provides beautiful 3D representations of the Sun, Moon, and planets. It adds some cool, new features, but much of the new content—including a number of comets, asteroids, and dwarf planets—is only available through an in-app purchase. Unfortunately, 10 objects that were free in the original Solar Walk are now only available if you spring for premium access. But even without that purchase, Solar Walk 2 is worth it, and among the better solar system apps we have seen.

Develop

Disruption Is Not A Strategy, by Jerry Neumann, Reaction Wheel

There are better ways than disruption to think about whether you can succeed at building a business with a new technology. In fact, there are few worse ways.

Notes

Apple TV App Store Top Charts Algorithm Now Hides Apps That You Already Have Installed, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

For the Top Charts (Top Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing), the Apple TV App Store will now hide listings for apps that the user has already downloaded, so the charts update dynamically per user. This means users can only browse for apps they don’t already own, removing some clutter and allowing less popular apps more opportunity to be seen.

Here's Why Amazon Isn't Selling Apple TV And Google Chromecast Streaming Products, by Mark Bergen, Recode

[Jeff Bezos said:] "You can always get the player on the device. The question is, can you get it on there with acceptable business terms?"

Things I Learned Doing Stock Photography Modeling, by Andrew Kimler, Medium

It was never a passion; I never had false illusions about becoming a model or walking down a runway or anything. I was an actor and I did it for a buck when I desperately needed a buck fifty. I would shoot, collect my money and be on my way. And most of the time those photos never saw the light of day. This all happened many years ago. But time, just like a well placed stock photo, makes fools of us all. Here’s a handful of gems I learned as a Stock Photography Model.

Bottom of the Page

First, there was only the iPod app. And I listened to all my songs, all my podcasts, and all my audiobooks on the same app. I wrote AppleScripts to manipulate so that I get to listen to all my favorite songs as well as least-played songs in my playlists. I also wrote AppleaScripts to sequence my podcasts so that I get to hear the more news-y podcasts first before the other podcasts that can wait.

Then after one fine update, the iPod app (together with the iTunes app on the Mac) started losing the location of where i last stopped in my audiobook. So I looked around and found that Audible has its own app. So now, I have two apps just to listen to audio.

Then, on another fine day, Apple pushed out the Podcast app, and I took a look and hated it. Reports of the app eating up cellular data like mad also didn't help my first impression. So, I purchased a real podcast app, and removed all my podcasts and playlists and Applescripts.

And that is the sad story of how I ended up with three different apps just to listen to some digital music files.

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Thanks for reading.