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The People's-Health Edition Thursday, October 31, 2019

Apple Earnings Q4 2019: Tim Cook Says Health Will Be What Apple Is Remembered For, by Samuel Axon, Ars Technica

Apple's quarterly earnings calls have fallen into a predictable pattern for the past year or two: iPhone revenues are declining year-over-year, and the Mac mostly remains stagnant, but every other one of Apple's businesses—wearables and services most notably—are ballooning.

That was the case again with Apple's Q4 2019 earnings report today; iPhones were down, but the company posted its highest revenue ever in a September quarter thanks to good performance from services like the App Store, AppleCare+, and Apple Pay, as well as strong iPad and Apple Watch sales. Total revenue was $64 billion.

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In an answer to an investor question, Cook let it be known that he sees wearables like the Watch and its associated health functionality as the future of the company. "There will be a day in the future that we look back and Apple's greatest contribution will be to people's health," he said.

New Apple Card 'Feature' Offers Users No-interest iPhone Installment Plan, by Amber Neely, AppleInsider

Later this year, Apple will allow Apple Card customers to buy a new iPhone from its stores on a 24-month installment plan that carries no interest, fees or other charges. As an Apple purchase, Apple Card users will gain the usual 3% cash back on the buy.

Apple Is Laying The Groundwork For An iPhone Subscription, by Kif Leswing, CNBC

During Wednesday's earnings call, when analyst Toni Sacconagi asked about the idea of a prime subscription, Apple CEO Tim Cook did not shoot down the idea. In fact, he suggested that something like it was already in effect.

"In terms of hardware as a service or as a bundle, if you will, there are customers today that essentially view the hardware like that because they're on upgrade plans and so forth," Cook said during an earnings call. "So to some degree that exists today."

US Census Bureau To Use iOS Devices For Data Collection And Management In 2020 Census, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Apple CFO Luca Maestri said today that the US Census Bureau is adopting iOS devices for next year’s census. Maestri explained that the adoption of iOS devices will help the Census Bureau produce “quality results” and lower costs.

This Is Tim: A Transcript Of Apple's Fourth Quarter 2019 Conference Call With Analysts, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

Want some more color on Apple’s latest financial results? Here’s a transcript of the give and take between Tim Cook, Apple CFO Luca Maestri, and a bunch of Wall Street analysts that traditionally follows the release of results.

Squeezing and Plugging

AirPods Pro Keep Penn Station Tuned Down, by Scott Stein, CNET

Squeezing the shorter handles and holding just enough sometimes feels fiddly, and I accidentally pause (squeeze without holding). [...]

I also find, as I walk from Penn Station, that pinching on a shorter stem is harder to pull off than AirPod-tapping used to be.

AirPods Pro First Impressions: Off In My Own Little World, by Jason Cross, Macworld

Most earbuds with silicone tips give me that “plugged up” feeling, but even after a couple hours of solid use, I never felt that with the AirPods Pro. The ventilation system Apple designed really works.

Stuff

Apple Releases Updated 13.2.1 Software For HomePod After 13.2 Update Bricked Some Devices, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple today released a new 13.2.1 software update for the HomePod, which comes a few days after the 13.2 update. Shortly after Apple's 13.2 ‌HomePod‌ software was released, complaints of bricked devices surfaced.

A Deep Look Into The iPhone's New Deep Fusion Feature, by Adam Clark Estes, Gizmodo

If you’ve paid close attention to Apple’s computational photography features, this Deep Fusion situation might sound a lot like the Smart HDR feature that came out last year with the iPhone XS. In theory, it is similar, since the iPhone is constantly capturing these buffer images before the photo is taken to prevent shutter lag. In practice, however, Deep Fusion isn’t just pulling out the highlights and shadows of different exposures to capture more detail. It’s working on a hyper granular level to preserve details that individual frames might have lost.

7 Best Calculator Apps For iPadOS, by Dilum Senevirathne, Guiding Tech

The lack of a native calculator app on the Apple iPad has bugged many (including me) for years. Even with the recent release of iPadOS, that hasn't changed, which is quite disappointing. Thankfully, there are more than enough third-party calculator apps on the App Store to go around. Perhaps a bit too much, to be honest.

Yes, the App Store will throw a bunch of calculator apps if you search for them. So, if you feel confused as to what calculator you should download off the App Store, then here are a handful of the best.

1Blocker For Mac Introduces New Features And A Subscription-Based Business Model, by John Voorhees, MacStories

There are more ways to customize 1Blocker than I need myself, but that’s the strength of the app. No matter what your web browsing habits are and which types of web content bother you, 1Blocker can accommodate them, which is why I’ll continue to use it across all of my devices.

Notes

New 'AirTag' Screenshots Reveal Tweaked Find My App Layout, by Amber Neely, AppleInsider

The screenshots show an updated Find My app with a bottom bar with "People," "Devices," "Items," and "Me." In the screenshots, the AirTags are still referred to by their codename, "B389."

Other screenshots show the AirTags setup process, which will consist of pulling the tab on the AirTag and bringing it within range of an iPhone.