The ID team —previously sometimes referred to within Apple as IDg, for Industrial Design Group —is headed by Jony Ive and for decades has stayed the same. It has always been small, it has always been secretive, and it has also always been crucial to Apple.
One of the people leaving, Daniele De Iuliis, has been there 28 years and counts the Mac Color Classic among his projects. Rico Zorkendorfer, who appears to have worked on the iPhone and Apple Watch amongst other products, is leaving after 15 years.
And Miklu Silvanto, known for working on the iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch, has been at Apple for eight years. The fourth person, reportedly leaving shortly, is Julian Honig, and he's been at Apple since 2010.
Even if we take Apple at its word that it was only protecting the privacy and security of its users by removing screen-time and parental-control apps, the state of the app marketplace is troubling. Why is a company — with no mechanism for democratic oversight — the primary and most zealous guardian of user privacy and security? Why is one company in charge of vetting what users can or cannot do on their phones, especially when that company also makes apps that compete in a marketplace that it controls? Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to bar Apple from competing in its own app marketplace is too drastic, and doesn’t take into consideration how intertwined the physical phone is with Apple’s in-house apps. For example, iMessage competes with Facebook’s WhatsApp and Google Hangouts, but what’s a cellphone without text messages?
Still, the status quo is untenable. It’s time for American regulators to take a good hard look at app stores and mobile operating systems. It might be time for another United States v. Microsoft.
Apple is highlighting some of the accessibility-related capabilities of the iPhone in a series of four new videos, advising how users can access functions in iOS for AssistiveTouch, VoiceOver, use the Magnifier, and to invert the colors used on the screen of the smartphone.
Besides convenience, there is a more practical value to installing smart devices: The Insurance Institute says that 98 percent of annual claims are from property damage, and although fires account for the highest costs, one in 50 homes suffers water damage — with an average claim over $10,000. What I find particularly appealing is that I can pick and choose the devices that work best for my needs, and that I’m not on the hook for yet another monthly fee. Here are several ways you can protect your home while you’re away, from the quick and cheap to the more involved and more costly.
With a simple mission to help users "stay focused" and "be present," Forest trains people to manage their time and become less dependent on their phones in a fun, purposeful way. By spending time away from their phones, users grow virtual trees and earn coins, which can then be saved up and used to help plant real trees in five countries in Africa — Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, and Tanzania. The app also gently shames you if you don't successfully complete your goal, which is apparently the component I've always been missing.
Instead of 30+ charging coils, AirUnleashed only uses three coils side-by-side, requiring devices to be placed in specific spots to receive a charge.
Sure, you could trade in your old phone, give it to a relative or friend, or recycle it. Or, you could give it new life by turning it into something new that you'll actually want to use.
Musicians are adapting the way they make music as a result of how they get paid through streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal. The shorter the song, the more it is favored to be played by platform algorithms, because they rotate in the cycle of data much faster than an eight-minute-long Led Zeppelin ballad. More plays mean more traction, which means more money.
Adobe is seeing how photographers respond to the removal of a $10 monthly subscription that combines Photoshop and Lightroom, and the answer when it comes to some shutterbugs is -- not well.
Maybe it's the interface. Or maybe it's the discovery. But ever since I moved from listening to songs that I own to songs that I stream, I'm listening more albums than playlists.
Or maybe the playlists on Apple Music are not great?
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Thanks for reading.