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The Commitment-to-Improvements Edition Sunday, May 17, 2020

Apple Watch: It's Been 5 Years Since My Original Review, And It Holds Up, by Scott Stein, CNET

In a field of fewer alternatives, the Apple Watch's consistent addition of new features and ongoing performance improvements has made it the best option. It's Apple's commitment to gradual improvements that has made it a stand-out watch now, especially compared to the struggles of Google's Wear OS.

The Apple Watch is still an iPhone accessory. And it's still not an essential product. But it's become a really fluid and useful device, one with lots of key upgrades that work, and one that's a lot easier to use.

Ubisoft Sues Apple, Google Over Alibaba’s Rainbow Six “Ripoff”, by Edvard Pettersson, Bloomberg

Ubisoft Entertainment SA sued Apple Inc. and Google LLC, accusing the companies of selling a ripoff of its popular video game “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege.”

“Area F2,” created by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.’s Ejoy.com, is a “near carbon copy” of Rainbow Six: Siege, and that can’t be “seriously be disputed,” Ubisoft said in a complaint filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles.

Stuff

Twobird Email App Features Collaboration, Notes And Reminders With A Clean UI, by Imran Hussain, Wccftech

Twobird is a new email app that combines live collaboration, notes, reminders, and mentions with a minimalistic user interface that removes all clutter. The app also hides signatures and other messy formatting from emails, to make them easy to read.

Aukey USB-C Hub Packs A Whopping 12 Ports, by Ed Hardy, Cult of Mac

Despite offering 12 ports, this hub takes up minimal space on my desk. And that makes it reasonably portable.

Edison Mail Vulnerability Allowing Unauthorized Access To Email Accounts Of Other Users, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Edison Mail is one of the more popular third-party email applications for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but an apparent bug in the service is raising major privacy concerns. Edison Mail users report that after enabling a new account syncing feature in the app, they have full access to email accounts of other Edison Mail users.

Develop

The Stresses Of The Way We Work Now, by Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, New York Times

Dr. Blustein also advises his clients to focus on other areas of their lives that can bolster a sense of identity and purpose, such as relationships, care giving, leisure activities and volunteering. Building an identity in other domains can help give people a sense of who in they are in the world separate from who they are in the work world.

“We need to find other sources of meaning for our lives,” Dr. Blustein said.

Notes

The Bay Area Billionaires Are Breaking My Heart, by Farhad Manjoo, New York Times

But I wouldn’t be surprised if we — the people of the Bay Area, our lawmakers, our billionaires and our ordinary, overburdened citizens — end up squandering this moment. Rebuilding a fairer, more livable urban environment will take years of difficult work. It will require sacrifices from the wealthy. It will require a renewed federal interest in addressing the problems of cities. It will require abandoning pie-in-the-sky techno-optimism.

This isn’t a problem that will be solved by flying cars; it will be solved by better zoning laws, fairer taxes and, when we can make it safe again, more public transportation. We will have to commit ourselves to these and other boring but permanent civic solutions.