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The AirPort-Update Edition Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Apple Releases Firmware Update For AirPort Base Stations, by Dennis Sellers, Apple World Today

Apple has released firmware updates for its wireless AirPort Base Stations. According to release notes it fixes a vulnerability in which a remote attacker may be able to cause arbitrary code execution.

Got Kids Aged 8-12? Apple Camp Enrollment Opens Today, Sessions On Coding, Movie-making, Story-telling, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

If you’re looking for something to entertain kids aged 8-12 over the summer, and the chance for them to learn some useful tech skills into the bargain, you may want to register them for this year’s Apple Camp. Apple holds annual workshops at its retail stores intended to help kids make creative use of technology. This year’s workshops are focused on coding & robotics, movie-making and story-telling.

Apple Customers To Receive $400M iBooks Settlement Payments On Tuesday, by AppleInsider

Customers impacted by Apple's alleged iBooks price fixing scheme will this week receive settlement payments in the form of store credit or checks for up to $6.83 per e-book, the law firm representing plaintiffs in the case announced on Monday.

Snap Snap

This Mac App Brings One Of The Best Windows Features To Your Mac Computer, by Antonio Villas-Boas, TechInsider

Boring details as to why aside, Split View basically isn't as easy or simple to use as Windows' Snap, where all you need to do is click and drag your apps to the side of the screen you want. And when you're done, you just click and drag the apps a little bit to return them to their original sizes. It's just not that easy or intuitive with Apple's Split View.

Fed up with Split View, I searched for an alternative, and I discovered Cinch in the Mac App Store for $7 that works just like Snap.

Coming Soon

Behind Apple’s Advanced Computer Vision For Photos App, by Kay Yin, Medium

Photos app recognises and distinguishes the following 7 facial expressions. Expressions are distinguished after forming a “faceprint”. These distinction are used for searching. They are also rated and indexed for generation Memories and montages.

Greedy, Disgust, Neutral, Scream, Smiling, Surprise, Suspicious

Idiot Developer

Refugee Rescue App Pulled From App Store After It Is Outed As Fake, by Alex Hern, The Guardian

An app which purported to offer aid to refugees lost in the Mediterranean has been pulled from Apple’s App Store after it was revealed as a fake. [...]

While it is common, particularly among advertising and public relations agencies, to demonstrate proof-of-concept creations that are several steps away from actually working, it is rare to present them as though they are finished and functional.

Political Apple

Why Apple Can Take A Bigger Stand Against Trump Than Its Rivals, by Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post

Apple, which declined to comment on the reports, is arguably in a unique position among tech companies to take big political stands. Not only does its size insulate it against some backlash, but it is also protected because expressing political opinions does little damage to the reputation of its products.

Apple's Cook To Host Paul Ryan Fundraiser Amid Trump Woes, by Tony Romm, Politico

Apple CEO Tim Cook will host a fundraiser with House Speaker Paul Ryan next week as the iPhone maker tries to strengthen its relationships with key Republicans — despite its decision to pull support for the GOP convention because of its distaste for Donald Trump.

Stuff

Apple Pulls Legacy non-Retina MacBook Pro From Retail Store Displays, by Roger Fingas, AppleInsider

A clerk at an Austin location notably said that their store had pulled non-Retina units from the showfloor just last week, and that other stores were doing the same.

Adobe Creative Cloud Update Brings Content-Aware Crop To Photoshop, New VR Features, More, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Content-Aware Crop in Photoshop “automatically fills in the gaps when you rotate or expand a canvas beyond the original image size” so you can create crops that your shot might not even accommodate without this feature.

How To Make Mobile Apps With FileMaker 15, by Mary Branscombe, CIO

The business world is full of inventories, catalogs and other lists that sit in spreadsheets or databases that would be more useful if you could take them out of the office. With FileMaker Go and FileMaker WebDirect, you can.

Microsoft Launches 'Flow' Workflow Service Management App For iOS, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

With the launch of the iOS app, Flow now supports workflow options for more services, but keeps the focus on integrations with Microsoft's own business tools, such as Office 365, Dynamics CRM, PowerApps, and Yammer. Automation for business-related services like MailChip, GitHub, Salesforce, and Slack are also supported.

Modern Atlas Is A Fresh New Take On Travel Guides, by Christine Chan, AppAdvice

If you love to travel, or even just explore the world and take time to plan your dream vacation, then this app is a must-have on your iOS device.

Develop

Four Common Mistakes In Audio Development, by Michael Tyson

As audio developers we have a responsibility to our users to, basically, not embarrass them in public. A DJ whose equipment emits an ear-piercing crunch mid set will not thank us (well, it depends on the club. Maybe they will?). Nor will a performer whose backing drum machine clicks and crunches distractingly, throwing the performance. Same goes for in private — if the user just nailed a take, only to discover that there’s a giant click in the middle of the recording, they’re going to be cursing our name.

Here's Why Emoji Can Break Apps, by Yael Grauer, Motherboard

Late last month, Laurie Stark, a growth editor at Upworthy, changed the nickname associated with her savings account to one that included an emoji. Her bank informed her that this broke their entire system. “They just called to let me know that they had to change my account name because it broke,” Stark said on Twitter. (She declined to reveal the bank.)

Notes

The Inventors Of The Internet Are Trying To Build A Truly Permanent Web, by Klint Finley, Wired

What would you do right now if you wanted to read something stored on a floppy disk? On a Zip drive? In the same way, the web browsers of the future might not be able to open today’s webpages and images–if future historians are lucky enough to have copies of today’s websites at all. Says Cerf, “I’m concerned about a coming digital dark ages.”

That’s why he and some of his fellow inventors of the Internet are joining with a new generation of hackers, archivists, and activists to radically reinvent core technologies that underpin the web. Yes, they want to make the web more secure. They want to make it less vulnerable to censorship. But they also want to make it more resilient to the sands of time.

End Of The Road For MacNN: 21 Years Of Changes For Apple, And For Us, by Charles Martin, MacNN

We've joked before that Apple becoming a huge mainstream company is the worst thing that ever happened to us, but it's true: there's less need for an Apple-specific news site when news about Apple is plastered everywhere, on every site, all the time. This is not the sole reason why we're having to give up our comfy home (and just after repainting it, too!), but it's part of the reality we've been working in.

A Brief History Of Children Sent Through The Mail, by Danny Lewis, Smithsonian Magazine

One of the most overlooked, yet most significant innovations of the early 20th century might be the Post Office’s decision to start shipping large parcels and packages through the mail. While private delivery companies flourished during the 19th century, the Parcel Post dramatically expanded the reach of mail-order companies to America’s many rural communities, as well as the demand for their products. When the Post Office’s Parcel Post officially began on January 1, 1913, the new service suddenly allowed millions of Americans great access to all kinds of goods and services. But almost immediately, it had some unintended consequences as some parents tried to send their children through the mail.

Bottom of the Page

Goodbye, MacNN.

(I wonder when I will shut all these down too.)

~

Thanks for reading.