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The Music-Gift Edition Monday, September 5, 2016

Apple Music Gains Discounted $99/year Membership Through New Gift Cards, Effectively $8.25/month, by Dan DeSilva, 9to5Mac

Apple Music just became more affordable for everyone. Apple stores and select retailers have rolled out a new 12-month Apple Music gift card, priced at $99. That comes out to $8.25 per month, which is about an 18% savings compared to the standard rate of $9.99. Or you could look at it like you’re getting about 2 months of service for free when you pre-pay for your upcoming year.

How We Move

How A Fitness App For Cyclists Is Reshaping City Planning, by Barbara Eldredge,Curbed

Strava, an app first designed to help runners and bike riders track their routes, is fast becoming a valuable data source for city planners eager to demonstrate the impact of new and improved paths and bike lanes. The company even created a spin-off—Strava Metro—dedicated to mining users’ movement data for the benefit of planners and alt transit advocates.

Moving Money

Political? Mais Oui, Of Course, EU Insiders Say Of Apple Case, by Alastair Macdonald and Foo Yun Chee, Reuters

But, say senior EU officials involved, the decision certainly has a strong political element, even if Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says she is confident her case will stand up to Cook's appeal on its legal merits alone.

Brussels' political target is less corporate America than eurosceptics at home who threaten to pull the EU apart if it fails to show alienated voters it can act in their interests.

Europe, Apple, And The Money Burning A Hole In Silicon Valley’s Wallet, by Simon Bowers, The Guardian

Behind the scenes, dissatisfaction over corporate America and its untaxed offshore cash is growing. Politicians may not yet have figured out what they intend to do about this issue, but the last 18 months have provided a few stark reminders that there is a lot at stake.

Remember Hobbies? (Binge-watching Netflix Doesn't Count)

Our Parents Discovered Leisure. We Killed It., by Stephanie Buck, Timeline

For many of us, the hobby is dead. Our work lives have merged with our free time, and hobbies are now often indistinguishable from second jobs. In a culture obsessed with productivity, the hobby has become the next venture.

Bottom of the Page

An iPhone app that I have specifically set to not use cellular data (via Settings) was caught downloading data when connected to cellular network today.

Then, I read in a discussion forum that there are people who are having alarms that are not going off on their iPhones.

I wonder if I'll ever live in a world without bugs.

~

Thanks for reading.