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The Game-Over Edition Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Apple's AirPods Pro Are The Best Earbuds You Can Buy, But For All The Wrong Reasons, by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

It's game over for the other players in terms of earbuds. Just as Apple gave its apps an advantage over other apps in the App Store, here Apple has given itself a massive ecosystem advantage. And I doubt that this will be the last area that Apple builds an advantage for itself into iOS.

And this makes me very uncomfortable.

Apple’s Mac Pro Is Accessible, But They Still Don’t Trust You, by Kevin Purdy, IFixIt

Trying to replace the primary solid-state drive on the Mac Pro (or the entire logic board) triggers a freak-out, where the device won’t boot again until an authorized Apple technician runs a diagnostic tool to pair the SSD with the T2 security chip. You might be able to get aftermarket storage set up and running as your primary drive, with some tinkering and great Time Machine backups. But, generally, an SSD failure means turning to Apple, and likely haul your big Mac Pro to a Store, to get it working again.

Apple Suppliers Aim To Resume Full China Production Feb. 10, by Debby Wu, Bloomberg

Apple Inc.’s major suppliers in China, including iPhone-maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., plan to resume full-scale production in the country Feb. 10, despite the coronavirus that has infected thousands and limited travel.

Foxconn’s Hon Hai, the most important manufacturer for the U.S. company, said Tuesday it still expects to be able to restart facilities throughout China on schedule, according to a text message sent to Bloomberg News. Suppliers such as Quanta Computer Inc., Inventec Corp. and LG Display Co. also said they would go back to work next week in China.

Security Matters

Fixed Sudo Flaw In macOS Gave Root-command Privileges To All Users, by Malcolm Owen, AppleInsider

A vulnerability has been discovered in 'Sudo,' a powerful utility used in the macOS Terminal, one that could allow for users with restrictive privileges or malicious software to be able to run commands with administrative-level privileges, which could result in the loss or theft of user data in unpatched Macs.

Stuff

Apple Bumps Trade-in Values For Apple Watch Series 2 And 3 To $100 For Heart Month, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

February is Heart Month and Apple is taking the opportunity to offer customers better trade-in deals for Apple Watch Series 2 and 3 when upgrading to Series 5. The promotion sees the older Apple Watch models valued at the same $100 that Apple is giving for Series 4.

Book Track Review: A Modern, iOS-Friendly Library Manager, by Ryan Christoffel, MacStories

The app’s simplicity, modernity, and attractive design make it an appealing option in a scarce marketplace, but it’s the tagging feature that really puts it over the top for me. Being able to search for books in one place and see which platform I own them on is extremely valuable to me.

Quick Look: Portal App Mixes Sights, Sounds & Hue Lighting To Relax You, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

The app is a simple one: it displays slow-moving video clips of nature scenes on the iPhone or iPad screen while playing real-life sounds from the same location through any AirPlay speakers.

In the latest update, which added Philips Hue integration, it also aims to sync your color lighting to the scenes. You just select your room, and all the lighting in that room will be controlled by the app.

Develop

Apple Brings Free Developer Accounts To Eight More Countries For Nonprofits, Gov, And Edu Institutions, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Apple has expanded the ability for eligible organizations to apply for developer account fee waivers today to eight more countries, bringing the total to 13 that have the opportunity to get free developer memberships.

Notes

How Long Should A Nap Be?, by Charlotte Cowles, The Cut

To get to the bottom of this, I called Rafael Pelayo, a sleep specialist at the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine. He explained that long naps can make you feel even more tired because, after about 40 minutes to an hour, your brain graduates to slow-wave sleep, a phase of deep rest that’s difficult to wake up from. “The transitional phase from being awake to being in a very deep sleep is known as intermediate sleep, and that’s where you want to keep your nap — usually about 20 to 40 minutes, and probably no longer than an hour,” he says.

Bottom of the Page

I need naps.

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Thanks for reading.