MyAppleMenu

The Top-Streamed Edition Saturday, September 8, 2018

Apple Music To Publish Its Own Top Music Charts, by Amy X. Wang, Rolling Stone

Apple Music, in a software update Friday to all users, is rolling out 116 “top 100” numeric charts, which will display the top-streamed songs on Apple Music refreshed on a regular basis. In a demo to Rolling Stone, Apple Music executives showed how the charts — one global chart and a top 100 chart for every country in which Apple Music is available — are grouped together under the platform’s “Browse” tab and have a similar visual appearance to that of playlists or albums.

Apple Music Gains Better Organization Of Releases On Artist Pages, by Federico Viticci, MacStories

While the old artist page design of Apple Music mixed albums, singles, EPs, live albums, and more under the same 'Albums' section, the new Apple Music features separate sections for different types of music releases. The new sections include singles and EPs, live albums, essential albums recommended by Apple Music editors, compilations, and appearances by an artist on other albums.

Alarm Bells

Apple Removes A Top Paid Utility App That Stole Data And Sent It Back To China, by Shannon Liao, The Verge

Apple was notified a month ago by a security researcher, but it only removed the app today.

The Curious Case Of Adware Doctor And The Mac App Store, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Even if Apple isn’t willing to commit the human resources to tackle review fraud across the entire App Store — a Sisyphean task at this point, to be sure — they surely ought to tackle it for popular apps, and Adware Doctor was very popular. This app’s success, sketchy description, and the developer’s history of bad behavior should have set off alarm bells inside Apple.

Popular iOS Apps Sending User Location To Data Monetization Firms, Researcher Says, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

New research shared with 9to5Mac claims that more than two dozen iOS apps including weather and fitness trackers contain code that covertly shares user location and other information with data monetization firms. These apps have been available on the App Store despite Apple’s strong policies on privacy and protecting customer data. There are steps users can take to mitigate data exposure to these monetization firms when using affected apps — or you can avoid affected apps altogether.

Newstand II

Apple Is Talking To Big Newspapers About Joining Its Subscription Service, by Peter Kafka, Recode

Apple has been talking to some of the biggest newspapers in the U.S. about adding their stories to Texture, the magazine app Apple bought in March. Apple executives, led by content boss Eddy Cue, have reached out to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post about joining the app, according to people familiar with the conversations, which began this summer.

[...]

But no matter how Apple structures the proposal, it may be a hard sell for any of the papers, which already have big subscription businesses of their own and would be concerned about cannibalizing their own sales.

Apple’s Move To Shake Up The Newspaper Industry Offers Little Upside, by Bryan Clark, The Next Web

I can’t envision a scenario where publishers competing for an even more limited set of eyes, and getting paid based on how many of them view their content within an app, makes the situation any better.

Stuff

NotaBene: A Decidedly Different iOS Email/notetaking App, by Steven Sande, Apple World Today

The idea behind NotaBene is simple: it's a quick, get-the-job-done, write-only email client that you can use to send emailed notes to yourself and a short list of contacts.

5 New Diary Apps To Start A Daily Journal Habit, by Ben Stegner, MakeUseOf

When you’re trying to form a new habit, it’s a good idea to reduce the number of obstacles you have to overcome. Choose an app based on a method you would find most comfortable, and you’ll magically form the habit a lot faster.

Develop

The Hidden Benefit Of Giving Back To Open Source Software, by Kirsten Senz, Harvard Business School

Companies that contribute to open source software and use it in their own IT systems and applications can gain a competitive advantage—even though they may be helping their competitors in the short run.

Notes

Apple Says New China Tariffs Will Boost Prices On Some Products, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, said proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of products imported from China will raise prices for some of its popular consumer goods such as the Apple Watch and AirPods headphones.

The Mac mini desktop computer, Apple Pencil stylus accessory for iPads, various chargers and adapters and tooling equipment used to manufacturer and design some products in the U.S. will also be affected, the Cupertino, California-based company told the Office of U.S. Trade Representative in a letter dated Sept 5.

Apple Has Permanently Banned Alex Jones' Infowars App From The App Store, by John Paczkowski, Charlie Warzel, BuzzFeed

A day after being banned from Twitter, Alex Jones and Infowars have been booted from yet another platform: Apple's popular App Store. As of Friday evening, searches on the App Store for Infowars return no results.

Apple confirmed the app's removal to BuzzFeed News, but declined comment, pointing to its App Store Review Guidelines. The company said Infowars would not be permitted to return to the App Store.

The Mysterious Case Of Missing URLs And Google’s AMP, by Sonniesedge

When you combine these two stories, you realise that this could easily be the prelude to a move on the open web, forcing the shift of a fair part of it into walled garden of Google’s construction.

Bottom of the Page

Okay, looks like there will not be an Apple Music section in the upcoming Apple event. Not that many (any?) people are predicting it.

Speaking of music: will the HomePod finally go worldwide this fall?

~

Thanks for reading.