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The One-Simple-Goal Edition Saturday, February 17, 2018

Apple Launches “Close Your Rings” Webpage To Promote Healthy Living With Apple Watch, by Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac

The page, titled “Close Your Rings,” details realistic and effective ways that Watch wearers can live a healthier and more active lifestyle by completing one simple goal each day.

Is It Possible To Game The Apple Podcast Charts?, by Kevin Goldberg, Discover Pods

By following the Apple Podcast charts, you also quickly learn a little bit about how the Apple algorithm works. New podcasts often crack the top ten but then fall off, so it’s rational to assume growth rates and new subscribers are among one of the factors that go into podcast ranking. Though nobody outside of Apple knows the true weighting or factors that ultimately determine the rankings, Rob Walch of Libsyn, validates my anecdotal evidence and says Apple Podcasts charts are “100% about the total number of new subscribers in the past 7 days, with a weighted average for the last 24, 48, and 72 hours.” This makes sense to keep the list fresh with new and popular podcasts: only the absolute best and consistent podcasts remain on the top 10.

Enter my point of interest: Kickass News. The following details are public data points I’ve gathered and should be treated as circumstantial evidence. I’m not directly accusing them of manipulating the charts, but I believe there’s enough circumstantial evidence to suggest it’s a possibility.

Apple Marks Completion Of New Campus With First Corporate Address Change Since 1993, by Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac

On the heels of this past Tuesday’s annual shareholders meeting, Apple has made the transition to their new campus official by changing the company’s corporate address to One Apple Park Way. The change comes just weeks after Apple was given occupancy permits for several sections of the main campus building.

Stuff

6 Reasons iMac Pro Is Ready For The Enterprise, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

Apple now boasts an end-to-end technology platform from which to drive a multitude of experiences on multiple formats — from VR glasses to movie theaters, smartphones and more. Not only that, but content created by its high-end solutions can now quickly reach hundreds of millions of compatible devices without risk of fragmentation.

Hands On: OmniPlan 3.9 Is Project Management For Complex Jobs On The Mac And iPad, by Mike Wuerthele, AppleInsider

You tend to know when you need a project management app. You'd be a little crazy to plan a small, intimate dinner party with a project management app but you'd be insane to build an office block without something like OmniPlan.

Twitter Puts Deadline On Mac Application, Says App Will No Longer Work In 30 Days, by Peter Cao, 9to5Mac

Today Twitter has announced that it will be killing its Mac application in favor of a web client. The social media giant tweeted on its platform today that the app has thirty days to live, and that it will no longer be supported beyond that.

Notes

The Tyranny Of Convenience, by Tim Wu, New York Times

Convenience is the most underestimated and least understood force in the world today. As a driver of human decisions, it may not offer the illicit thrill of Freud’s unconscious sexual desires or the mathematical elegance of the economist’s incentives. Convenience is boring. But boring is not the same thing as trivial.

In the developed nations of the 21st century, convenience — that is, more efficient and easier ways of doing personal tasks — has emerged as perhaps the most powerful force shaping our individual lives and our economies. This is particularly true in America, where, despite all the paeans to freedom and individuality, one sometimes wonders whether convenience is in fact the supreme value.