Only, some of those interactions didn’t happen at all. Events like Google I/O, Facebook F8, and Amazon re:MARS were cancelled entirely. Microsoft and Apple forged ahead with carefully produced CEO keynotes and virtual coding labs, but couldn’t replicate the serendipitous run-ins or casual gatherings that are sometimes the most valuable part of conferences. Virtual attendees told me that online-only events have lowered the barriers to entry; people no longer have to spend thousands on tickets and travel to get access to information that may be critical to their livelihoods. But people who spoke to me were pretty straightforward about what’s still lacking from virtual events: They miss the hang.
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Still, there were no virtual events that were adequate substitutes for in-person meetups. Steven Aquino, a writer who identifies as disabled and who covers the topic of accessibility, notes that for the last several years Apple has hosted an accessibility-focused get together, where engineers and others who are interested in learning about the subject convene to show off new tech developments that could help the community. This year, Apple decided not to host an online version of this.
Make no mistake; this week was monumental in the evolution of the Mac. There is a reason that after so many years, the macOS now goes to number 11. Apple silicon Macs are going to change the way we use our Macs significantly. I’m not sure if any of us appreciate how much these changes will resonate into the platform’s future.
Still … it sure would be nice if Apple added a share button to Mail on the iPhone and iPad.
“There’s some things that we have not done because we would want to do something really distinctly great in that space,” the Apple VP explained. “We want to do it when we can do it really, really well. And we honestly just haven’t gotten around to doing it great.”
We're starting here in part because this was a red-letter week for gaming on Apple platforms (and also because some of Apple's gaming centric-sessions were among the first scheduled during the week). Some enormous changes are coming, and playing games on Apple devices is going to look markedly different going forward.
The first change we'll go over is a doozy: the transition of the Mac from a PC-centric gaming platform to a mobile-centric one.
The Photos app for Mac previously supported captions through the Description field, but on the iPhone, there has been no method for adding similar information. In iOS 14, entering a caption is quick and easy.
With the next major update to the iPhone and iPad operating system, users will be able to access encrypted drives through the Files app. This feature is already present in the first beta version of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 available to developers, as we have already successfully tested on an iPad.
In a company statement, Microsoft today announced a “strategic shift” in retail operations, which means they are shifting to all-online sales and support. The Microsoft retail stores will not reopen, and the closures will cost Microsoft about $450 million in expenses.
Microsoft will keep a smaller retail presence in the form of its Microsoft Experience Centers, located in London, New York, Sydney, and on the Redmond campus.
Email is a relic, one of the last enduring pieces of the pre-web internet. But the same qualities that have made it so universal also make it tough to change and improve.
Email may be a relic, but there are many tools at my disposal to somehow manage emails just because email is mostly open and standard.
Having to deal with work through Teams messages and Whatsapp messages -- that's the part that I have no idea how to deal with.
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Thanks for reading.