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The Improving-Battery-Management Edition Friday, February 24, 2017

Apple And iOS 10.2.1 Address Unexpected Shutdowns On iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, by Rene Ritchie, iMore

My understanding is that, if a particularly processor-intensive task, such as a complex photo filter, caused a significant spike in power demand, an older battery unable to meet that demand could prompt a shutdown. So, by improving the advanced battery management in iOS 10.2.1, Apple has reduced the likelihood of that happening.

Brother Creates App To Help Sister Communicate, by Harri Leigh, WLUC

Previously unable to walk, Bethany now uses a walker, and is learning to speak more. But she's mostly non-verbal, meaning she can't always communicate.

“So I built an app that uses basically illustrated pictures to turn those into text and to be able to text anyone that she wanted to send a text to, like her mom,” said her brother, 20-year-old Zach Edlund.

Apple Says It Is ‘Looking Into’ Viral Video That Shows An iPhone 7 Plus Catching Fire, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

In a brief statement to Mashable, an Apple spokesperson said that the company has been in touch with Olivas and is investigating. “We are in touch with the customer and looking into it,” an Apple spokesperson said.

For her part, Olivas explained that she started experiencing problems with her iPhone 7 Plus the day before the device “blew up.” She says that the device wouldn’t turn on so she took it to her local Apple Store, where employees concluded that everything was fine after running a series of tests. The device then started functioning again.

Stuff

Apple’s Classic iTunes Remote App Updated With 2FA Support For Home Sharing, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Apple has updated its classic iTunes Remote app for iOS with two-factor authentication support when signing in to Home Sharing. This lets you use stronger security on your Apple ID and iCloud account and makes iTunes Remote prompt you for 2FA when someone attempts to sign in.

Using The iPad For: Taking Notes And Planning, by Matt Gemmell

Here’s a quick list of the GoodNotes features I find most powerful. They’re not all unique, but their combination within a single, paper-like app that works well with the Pencil is compelling.

iPad Diaries: Clipboard Management With Copied And Workflow, by Federico Viticci, MacStories

However, once we accept the intrinsic differences between the Mac and iPad and if we look at the problem from a different perspective, there's plenty we can do – either with apps or automation – to go beyond Apple's modest clipboard offerings on iOS.

After years of testing iPad clipboard managers and automation/scripting strategies, this is what I've come up with.

Google Updates Gboard With Dictation, Doodles, New Languages, And Emoji, by Ryan Christoffel, MacStories

The default iOS keyboard has long presented the option to dictate text rather than type it, and Gboard has gained that ability starting today.

Develop

Migrating Firefox For iOS To Swift 3.0, by Mozilla Mobile Blog

Finally we had a branch running Swift 3.0 where all tests passed and our QA team was happy that there were no regressions. It had taken 3.5 engineers, 3 members of QA and 3.5 weeks, but the feeling when we were finally ready to hit merge was jubilant.

Notes

Apple Expanding Its Seattle Engineering Center, Making A Big Bet On Artificial Intelligence, by Todd Bishop, GeekWire

Apple plans to significantly expand its engineering operations in Seattle — further establishing the satellite office as a hub for developing future artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies for products such as the iPhone, MacBook, Apple Watch and other Apple devices and services.

Server Firmware Security Incident In 2016 Forced Apple To Sever Ties With Vendor Super Micro, by Mike Wuerthele, AppleInsider

In a report published by The Information on Thursday, Super Micro Senior Vice President of Technology Tau Leng claims that Apple not only discontinued future business as a result of a compromised internal development environment in the middle of 2016, but also returned equipment it had ordered.

Apple Doesn't Need To Buy Netflix, by Neil Cybart, Above Avalon

In essence, Netflix is like Spotify. Apple could acquire Netflix and instantly become the leader in paid video streaming. However, there is evidence that Apple is instead looking for something different. Apple is searching for another "Jimmy Iovine," new connections and relationships with Hollywood.

Your Boring Texting App Is The Future Of Messaging, by David Pierce, Wired

Over the last couple of years, Google has been working with hundreds of carriers and manufacturers around the world to bring the text message into the 21st century. Using a standard called Rich Communications Services, the group plans to make a texting app that comes with your phone and is every bit as powerful as those dedicated messaging apps. This would make all the best features available to everyone with an Android phone. [...]

For the company with seemingly thousands of messaging platforms, each one with different features and different audiences, RCS presents an opportunity. It could help Android compete with WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as with Apple’s iMessage.

Bottom of the Page

After many iterations of the iPhone, Apple has conditioned me to find other phones gross when the headphone jack is at the top of the phone.

Let's see how many more years before I find phones with headphone jacks (or any other kinds of lint-attracting ports) to be distasteful.

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Thanks for reading.