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The Life-After-Cancer Edition Thursday, May 24, 2018

Second Life: Rethinking Myself Through Exercise, Mindfulness, And Gratitude, by Federico Viticci, MacStories

It's been over five years since my cancer-free diagnosis; I went into complete remission in February 2013 and hit the 5-year-clear mark following a long series of annual check-ups and routine tests. Because of the type of cancer I had – Hodgkin's Lymphoma Stage IV with the involvement of my right lung – I had to go through a cycle of radiotherapy (in addition to aggressive chemotherapy and the then-experimental immunotherapy). As it turns out, the proton beam that was shot into my lung left that area slightly "denser" than normal – hence the something that needed to be double checked after a chest X-ray in March.

It's also been three years since I last wrote about my life after cancer, and how I was using the iPhone and various HealthKit apps to help me recover from treatments and get back in shape. The story, which came out before the debut of the original Apple Watch, outlined my plans to follow a strict diet and exercise regularly. At the time, I thought I had my post-treatment life figured out; I was ready to go back to my old, normal routine.

And that was exactly the problem. Three years later, I'm here today to admit that I failed. It took me a long time – too much time – to realize that I wasn't keeping the promises made in that article from March 2015. I was so eager to return to my previous concept of "normality", I didn't notice that my euphoria for beating cancer slowly morphed into a craving for old and comfortable habits. In hindsight, I wasn't ready to begin a new chapter of my life after cancer; I just wanted my old life back.

Apple Will Partially Refund Some iPhone Users Who Paid For Battery Replacements Last Year, by Ashley Carman, The Verge

Apple said today it’ll refund customers who paid for out-of-warranty battery replacements on their iPhone 6 or later devices between January 1st, 2017 and December 28th, 2017. They’ll receive a $50 credit so long as the battery swap was done at an Apple authorized service location. It’s not a total refund, but it brings the price down to the discounted one that Apple is currently offering for battery changes.

Growing Number Of iPhone X Users Report Easily Cracking Camera Lens, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Over the last few months, a growing number of iPhone X users have taken to Apple’s support forums and Reddit to complain of cracked camera lenses. Furthermore, affected users say that Apple won’t replace the device under warranty, instead charging for a full device replacement.

European Data

Instapaper Says It Will Temporarily Go Offline In Europe Due To GDPR, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Instapaper made its announcement in an email to users, saying it will essentially go offline for all European users as it works to ensure all of its practices are GDPR compliant. The company does not provide a timetable for when service will be restored, nor does it elaborate on the reason for the delay when GDPR was originally announced a good while ago.

No One’s Ready For GDPR, by Sarah Jeong, The Verge

Part of the problem is how companies are set up, and part of it is that “personal information” is a wishy-washy category. Names, email address, phone numbers, location data — those are the obvious ones. But then there’s more ambiguous data, like “an oblique reference, like the tall bald guy who lives on East 18th Street. If someone said that in an email, that would be information you’d need to provide me with access to under the GDPR,” says Straight.

Stuff

Make Sure Your iPhone Is Capturing Video, by Josh Centers, TidBITS

It’s surprisingly easy to think you’re recording a video on your iPhone, only to realize later that you didn’t tap the record button and totally missed that great moment. Adam Engst and I have both flubbed recordings in this way on multiple occasions, and we know from helping our families that we’re not alone. Here’s how to make sure your iPhone is recording, so you don’t fail to capture a special video.

How I Use Day One — And An Aside About The Differences Between Bear And Day One, by Josh Ginter, The Sweet Setup

As a whole though, there’s very little that makes my Day One workflow different from anyone else. I’ve been at it for a long time, so my Day One history has really started to show its value. Other than that, my Day One-specific workflow is fairly hum drum.

I think the more interesting workflow is how Day One is part of my broader, information- and research-based workflow.

Beware "iCloud Breach" Phone Scam, by Adam Engst, TidBITS

The automated message claims to be from “Apple Support Care” and warns that your iCloud account has been breached and that you should stop going online. It then tells you to press 1 to be connected to Apple Support. Yeah, right, that’s going to happen.

Notes

Today Mac OS X Is As Old As The Classic Mac OS, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

Here’s a bit of numerology for you. Today marks 17 years, one month, and 29 days since Mac OS X 10.0 was released on March 24, 2001. That’s a strangely odd number—6269 days—but it also happens to be the exactly length of time between January 24, 1984 (the launch of the original Macintosh) and March 24, 2001.

Apple, Spurned By BMW And Mercedes, Signs Deal With Volkswagen For Driverless Cars, by Jack Nicas, New York Times

For the past several years, Apple sought partnerships with the luxury carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz to develop an all-electric self-driving car, according to five people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But on-again, off-again talks with those companies have ended after each rebuffed Apple’s requirements to hand over control of the data and design, some of the people said.

Instead, Apple has signed a deal with Volkswagen to turn some of the carmaker’s new T6 Transporter vans into Apple’s self-driving shuttles for employees — a project that is behind schedule and consuming nearly all of the Apple car team’s attention, said three people familiar with the project.

Bottom of the Page

The only beta operating system from Apple that I used full-time on my only computer was that first Mac OS X public beta. I bought a used Powerbook that was running Mac OS 9, which I quickly discovered often didn't go to sleep when I closed the lid of the laptop. I installed the public beta, and it worked perfectly. So I switched to using beta software full-time, often running programs in classic mode.

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Thanks for reading.