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The Secret-Agreement Edition Friday, July 24, 2020

Amid Antitrust Scrutiny, Apple Makes Quiet Power Moves Over Developers, by Reed Albergotti, Washington Post

Apple announced at its conference that it was opening up Find My so that competing companies would be able to use it, enabling customers to locate products and gadgets that aren’t made by Apple.

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But the details of the announcement — kept secret by a confidentiality agreement all developers were required to sign — tell a different story. A 50-page PDF obtained by The Post shows Apple has placed strict restrictions on how consumers will be able to use the app. Apple customers who use Find My to locate a device will be barred from using other competing services simultaneously, the document says.

Future Forward: The 40-year Mission Of An Apple Distinguished Educator, by Apple

Dr. Carl Owens has been teaching his students how to harness the power of technology for 40 years, including more than half as an Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE). This year, the ADE program, which recognizes and nurtures educators who are using Apple technology to transform learning, celebrates its 25th anniversary. Owens is one of more than 3,000 educators from 45 countries who have been part of the program during that 25-year history.

Over the course of his career, Owens, 65, has taught thousands of undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students, many of whom were aspiring teachers who went on to teach tens of thousands of their own students. But as the College of Education professor at Tennessee Tech University prepares to retire at the end of the coming school year, don’t ask him to dwell on yesterday — he would much rather imagine tomorrow. For Owens, the future is bright, which has everything to do with the students he’s mentored and the mission they will continue in his stead.

Who Loses Big In The Great Streaming Wars? The User, by Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone

The part of the streaming shell game that I’ve never been able to fully understand — and that has somehow gotten worse with each passing year and each new service debut — is just how bad the user experience is on all of them. It’s been 13 years since Netflix began offering streaming content, with Hulu and others soon to follow, yet the user interfaces consistently seem designed to make finding what you want to see — whether continuing a binge or discovering something new — a Herculean effort. Spend enough time toggling between the services, and you’ll want to quote Hall of Fame baseball manager Casey Stengel trying to make sense of the historically inept 1962 Mets: Can’t anybody here play this game?

Stuff

Apple Maps Reminding Travellers Of CDC Coronavirus Self-isolation Guidance, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

The notification appears to be somewhat contextual. Rather than a blanket message sent out to all Apple Maps users, it seems to be targeting people who have travelled internationally recently, perhaps having visited an airport.

Hands-on With Eufy’s HomeKit Secure Video Camera That Costs Less Than An Apple Dongle, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

I’m glad to see that HomeKit Secure Video cameras are not only becoming more common but also becoming significantly more affordable. The more cameras that are using HomeKit Secure Video means the more pressure Apple faces to make sure the platform is reliable and as feature-rich as third-party apps.

Game Day: Good Sudoku, by John Voorhees, MacStories

Good Sudoku’s focus mode and its note-taking system make it easy to keep track of possible solutions.

Notes

Hype Builds As New Apple Store Imminent, by Bangkok Post

The planned unveiling of the new store highlights Apple's confidence in the Thai market despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which is keeping foreign tourists at bay.

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"You will be led to experience new possibilities that can spark desire for gaining knowledge and top up imagination," the promotion says.

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And also, all these streaming apps have different user interfaces. Just because you finally figure out how to queue up and watch stuff in Netflix, that doesn't mean you know how to do the same thing in HBO or Amazon Prime.

If only someone come up with a standard user-interface, and everyone just follow... oh wait...

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Thanks for reading.