I was born deaf more than 30 years ago, so I consider myself skilled at navigating an inaccessible world. But despite my visual attentiveness and high-powered hearing aids, some events escape my notice. For instance, as I was sleeping a couple weeks ago, my bathroom and office flooded with an inch of water after I accidentally left the sink running overnight. It caused costly water damage in the ceiling of my neighbor's apartment below.
But Apple's new accessibility feature, which will debut in the iOS 14 update of the operating system when it releases this fall, could prevent such a thing from happening again. The feature, announced during Apple's virtual Worldwide Developers Conference, will alert deaf and hard-of-hearing users by text to doorbells and door knocks; fire, smoke, and siren alarms; and other specific environmental sounds (14 in total), including shouting, a baby crying, a dog barking, a cat meowing, and — lo and behold — running water.
Apple is reclosing all of its stores in the greater Melbourne area of Australia as portions of the state of Victoria prepare to enforce new lockdown measures. Australia has reported a growing number of COVID-19 infections over the past several weeks and is reimposing travel and business restrictions as a preventative measure.
Just a week after security researchers discovered what the macOS ransomware ThiefQuest (alias EvilQuest) does, Apple pushed an update to XProtect which detects that malware, although you won’t find that documented by Apple. What’s unfortunate is that those who most need this additional protection are also those least likely to benefit from it. Let me explain.
References found in the iOS 14 code reveal that Apple is working on a new method for letting users make payments with Apple Pay by scanning a QR Code or traditional barcode with the iPhone camera.
The addition of the Apple Pay API for Catalyst apps was mentioned in the release notes of iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur developer beta 2. According to Apple, developers won’t have to make big changes to get Apple Pay working in Catalyst apps.
Hundreds of users, many running iOS 13.5.1 on devices both new and old, are experiencing rapid battery drain when the Music app is not in use. In some cases, the background activity occurs over several hours each day, even if the app has not been used for weeks or even at all.
Norway is one of many countries that rushed out apps to trace and monitor the coronavirus this spring, only to scramble to address serious complaints that soon arose over extensive user data-mining or poor security practices. Human rights groups and technologists have warned that the design of many apps put hundreds of millions of people at risk for stalking, scams, identity theft or oppressive government tracking — and could undermine trust in public health efforts. The problems have emerged just as some countries are poised to deploy even more intrusive technologies, including asking hundreds of thousands of workers to wear virus-tracking wristbands around the clock.
The wearability of the Apple Watch, but with the bigger screen of the iPhone. Could this be the Apple Glasses?
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Thanks for reading.