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The Start-to-Finish Edition Friday, May 22, 2020

Apple Ramps Up Original Podcasts, In Part To Help Promote TV+, by Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg

The technology giant has begun acquiring two types of original podcasts, according to people familiar with the matter: one category is audio spinoffs of existing movies and programs on its Apple TV+ service, and the other is original programs that could eventually be adapted into future TV+ video content.

The company is seeking a leader for its original podcast work who would report to Ben Cave, its head of podcasting, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort isn’t yet public.

The Podcasting World Is Now Spotify Versus Everybody Else, by Ashley Carman, The Verge

All of these moves allow Spotify to control the entire podcasting process from start to finish. Podcasters can make shows with Spotify tools and publish easily to Spotify’s platform. Spotify could eventually sell ads for those shows, and listeners who might already give the company money in the form of a subscription also offer up their data, which informs Spotify’s ad-targeting and purchase decisions.

It’s also setting itself up to become a podcast tastemaker with curators around the world organizing recommendation playlists; this could help it promote its own shows to its millions of users. For the vast majority of shows that aren’t as big as Rogan’s, Spotify offers a dashboard to view their analytics and learn more about their audience’s demographics, which helps them sell their own ads. Creators might be incentivized to encourage their listeners to consume on Spotify because they’ll learn more about their audience.

Stuff

"Designed For Accessibility" Feature On App Store Today Shows Off Apple's Push For Equality, by Christine McKee, AppleInsider

Apple's efforts to commemorating Global Accessibility Awareness Day start with a banner promoting that Apple products "Works the way you do" on the main website, and range into various editorials in the App Store Today page. Apple likes to make their own operating system features known on a regular basis, but on Thursday, the company has gone a step further and is discussing what developers do for accessibility too.

Apple's Schoolwork 2.0 App Is Coming Soon, With Distance-learning Focus, by Christine McKee, AppleInsider

Apple's Schoolwork 2.0 update will allow for better management of assignments and handouts, and is geared toward making distance learning more manageable for both teachers and students.

Finance App 'Copilot' Adds Support For Importing Apple Card Statements, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Copilot is able to analyze ‌Apple Card‌ statements, parsing transaction data, identifying recurring subscriptions, and removing duplicate transactions. The new feature lets ‌Apple Card‌ users take advantage of Copilot’s budgeting, subscription tracking, and transaction monitoring tools without the need to manually copy data into the app.

Why You Shouldn’t Make A Habit Of Force-Quitting iOS Apps Or Restarting iOS Devices, by Adam Engst, TidBITS

But when you force-quit an app and open it again later, you’re preventing iOS from using its tricks to reduce CPU and memory usage—every launch is a fresh launch and consumes more battery power. For instance, once she learned in a TidBITS Talk discussion that force-quitting apps was a bad idea, reader Kimberly Andrew found that her iPad lasted 4 days on a single charge instead of requiring nightly recharging. Your experience may not be so dramatic, but if you let iOS manage your device’s resources, you’ll get the best possible battery life for your usage patterns.

Notes

Irish Regulator Questions Apple Over Recordings, by Graham Fahy, Reuters

Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), Apple’s main regulator in the European Union, on Thursday said it was in contact with the company after a whistleblower called for action over a programme that listens to users’ recordings.

North Dakota’s COVID-19 App Has Been Sending Data To Foursquare And Google, by Steven Melendez, Fast Company

The official COVID-19 contact-tracing app for the state of North Dakota, designed to detect whether people have potentially been exposed to the coronavirus, sends location data and a unique user identifier to Foursquare—and other data to Google and a bug-tracking company—according to a new report from smartphone privacy company Jumbo Privacy.

You’re Saying It Wrong: How To Say Oft-mispronounced Tech Terms, by Samuel Axon, Ars Technica

Is iOS "eye-oh-ess" or "eye-oss"? Is Linux "Lie-nux" or "Lih-nux?" How about sudo: is it really "sue-doo" for "superuser, do!" or has the more popular "sue-doh" population won out? In this article, you'll find the answers to each of those and several more—along with some perspectives on terms that aren't so clear-cut.

Bottom of the Page

I have never heard of anyone pronouncing it as "eye-oss".

But then, why am I bothering to read an article on prononouciation of tech terms when there's nary a mention of that one particular graphics format?

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Thanks for reading.