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The iPad-Creativity Edition Thursday, February 7, 2019

Talking iPad Workflows And Adobe’s Project Gemini With Illustrator Tracie Ching, by Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac

For creative professionals, the prospects of a new artistic tool are incredibly exciting. New tools mean new workflows, and new workflows mean new opportunities to work free from the constraints that hold back creativity. One of the most promising new artistic tools on the horizon is Adobe’s Project Gemini, a bold new drawing and painting app arriving on the iPad later this year.

Shaping the future of iPad creativity are the Gemini 10, a small group of artistic professionals given exclusive access by Adobe to work with and provide feedback on Project Gemini prior to release. We talked with illustrator and Gemini 10 member Tracie Ching to learn more about the new app and how the iPad has transformed her work.

I Work On My iPad Every Day, And Here's What Drives Me Nuts, by Charlie Sorrel, Cult of Mac

Some of these gripes seem small, but the beauty of the Mac is that all those small parts have been tended to over the years, and are so streamlined we don’t notice them. Fine, you say, but who cares if the ⌘-Tab switcher doesn’t work? iOS is a touch-based operating system, after all.

I’ll tell you who: Apple. Apple cared enough to bring all kinds of keyboard shortcuts familiar to Mac users over to the iPad, and yet it apparently doesn’t care enough to make sure they work properly.

The Retail Business

Meet The 30-year Apple Veteran Who's Taking Over The Company's Stores Around The World, by Kif Leswing, Business Insider

O'Brien is the third head of Apple retail in seven years, and she's the first Apple insider to take the job since the original retail chief, Ron Johnson, who opened the first store in 2001.

As a longtime Apple executive, she lives a private life, but it's clear she's a major force inside Cupertino.

Read Tim Cook's Email To Apple Retail Employees Announcing The Management Shakeup, by Kif Leswing, Business Insider

"Angela has inspired and energized our retail teams with the vision of stores as a place where the best of Apple comes together to serve customers and communities. During her tenure, the in-store experience has been redefined with programs like Today at Apple, and our relationship with customers is stronger than ever."

[...]

"Deirdre was part of the team that planned and launched Apple's very first online and retail stores," Cook wrote in the email. "She has been a part of Retail's exciting expansion and every product launch since."

5 Ways Angela Ahrendts Changed Apple And The Apple Store Forever, by Michael Simon, Macworld

The news of retail chief Angela Ahrendts departing Apple in April isn’t quite as earth-shattering as Jony I’ve or Tim Cook announcing their retirement, but it’s close. Ahrendts has been the public face of Apple for the past five years, whether on stage, at stores, or in the media. And she’s certainly leaving big shoes for Apple veteran Deirdre O’Brien to fill.

Since she took over in 2014, Ahrendts has made an indelible mark on Apple’s retail presence around the world, transforming the brick-and-mortar stores and raising Apple’s luxury and fashion status to heights hitherto unseen. Here are five ways Ahrendts has forever changed Apple, for better or worse.

What Happens To Apple’s Stores When Angela Ahrendts Leaves?, by Jeremy Horwitz, VentureBeat

Yesterday’s announcement has the feel of a temporary move — a way to avoid what happened with Browett, whose dismissal was followed by an extended retail leadership vacuum until Ahrendts was hired. O’Brien already has a large HR-related portfolio at Apple, and there’s no way the company could reasonably expect her to oversee “Retail and People” for several years.

In that light, I wonder how Ahrendts’ departure will positively or negatively impact Apple’s retail stores, a question I suspect won’t be answered conclusively for a year or more.

Privacy Matters

Many Popular iPhone Apps Secretly Record Your Screen Without Asking, by Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch

Many major companies, like Air Canada, Hollister and Expedia, are recording every tap and swipe you make on their iPhone apps. In most cases you won’t even realize it — or ask for permission.

[...]

Apps like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hotels.com and Singapore Airlines also use Glassbox, a customer experience analytics firm, one of a handful of companies that allows developers to embed “session replay” technology into their apps. These session replays let app developers record the screen and play them back to see how its users interacted with the app to figure out if something didn’t work or if there was an error. Every every tap, button push and keyboard entry is recorded — effectively screenshotted — and sent back to the app developers.

Apple Removes Useless 'Do Not Track' Feature From Latest Beta Versions Of Safari, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

According to Apple, Do Not Track is "expired" and support is being eliminated to prevent its use as, ironically, a fingerprinting variable for tracking purposes.

[...]

It is entirely up to the advertising companies to comply with the "Do Not Track" messaging, and it has no actual function beyond broadcasting a user preference. All it does is say something to the effect of "hey, I prefer not to be tracked for targeted advertisements," which websites, advertisers, and analytics companies are free to ignore.

Enterprising Criminal Activities

How Hackers And Scammers Break Into iCloud-Locked iPhones, by Joseph Cox and Jason Koebler, Motherboard

The iCloud security feature has likely cut down on the number of iPhones that have been stolen, but enterprising criminals have found ways to remove iCloud in order to resell devices. To do this, they phish the phone’s original owners, or scam employees at Apple Stores, which have the ability to override iCloud locks. Thieves, coders, and hackers participate in an underground industry designed to remove a user’s iCloud account from a phone so that they can then be resold.

Making matters more complicated is the fact that not all iCloud-locked phones are stolen devices—some of them are phones that are returned to telecom companies as part of phone upgrade and insurance programs. The large number of legitimately obtained, iCloud-locked iPhones helps supply the independent phone repair industry with replacement parts that cannot be obtained directly from Apple. But naturally, repair companies know that a phone is worth more unlocked than it is locked, and so some of them have waded into the hacking underground to become customers of illegal iCloud unlocking companies.

Stuff

AirPods Are Now One Of Apple’s Most Important Products, by Lance Ulanoff, Medium

It’s like a tiny, dangling advertisement for how you can join the iOS ecosystem and enjoy Apple’s in-ear technology without ever worrying if you look like a dork — because we all do and yes, we’re proud of it.

Carrot Weather Update Brings Apple Watch Location Search, Custom Complications, New Data Source, More, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

The latest version brings location search to Apple Watch along with custom complications, shortcuts, forecast options for the Infograph Modular watch face, a new data source, and more.

Review: The USB-C Uni Dock And Hub Are Great Portable And Rugged Accessories For Mac Owners, by Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider

Of all the USB-C hubs and docks that have come out —even the ones designed to be portable —none have really embraced a rugged mindset. They also permanently affix the cable which makes it useless should it get damaged or if it is too short. That's why uniAccessories designed the uni Dock and uni Hub. A pair of USB-C accessories that fix those issues with impressive results.

Review: Grovemade's Wireless Charging Pad Is A Gorgeous Luxury Accessory, by Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider

Grovemade has cut no corners when designing their new wireless charging pad for the iPhone, giving those yearning for a premium experience a great option with few rivals.

Notes

Whose Facade Is It, Anyway?, by Alexandra Marvar, Curbed

But since Instagram exploded into the world in 2010, photography—travel photography in particular—has evolved faster than the law can accommodate. Where the law falls short, we have ethics—moral principles that guide our conduct in business and life. And in the application of our ethics, we have etiquette—a societal code that shows us how to be polite.

This concept of etiquette can feel anachronistic, relegated to “real life,” to a pre-internet time when small communities relied on social codes that helped people coexist. Social media has become an inseparable part of how we live, work, and interact, but what and how we post is not explicitly governed by the same codes of conduct that interacting with people face to face is—if it’s governed by any code at all.

This Typewriter Repairman Was Told Computers Were King. Twenty Years Later, He’s Still In Business, by Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times

Twenty years ago, Martin Quezada was told the end was nigh. The sun was setting on the typewriter. Computers were king.

Twenty years later, Quezada’s shop, International Office Machines in San Gabriel, is still in business. The downturn happened. But it did not defeat Quezada, now 61, who kept his doors open.

Bottom of the Page

I learnt typing on a typewriter, and I have no idea how to type on glass.

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Thanks for reading.