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The Decade-Old Edition Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Their Businesses Went Virtual. Then Apple Wanted A Cut., by Jack Nicas, New York Times

ClassPass built its business on helping people book exercise classes at local gyms. So when the pandemic forced gyms across the United States to close, the company shifted to virtual classes.

Then ClassPass received a concerning message from Apple. Because the classes it sold on its iPhone app were now virtual, Apple said it was entitled to 30 percent of the sales, up from no fee previously, according to a person close to ClassPass who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of upsetting Apple. The iPhone maker said it was merely enforcing a decade-old rule.

Apple, Google Both Say They Love The Web. But They've Got Very Different Plans For It, by Stephen Shankland, CNET

The two camps aren't simply protecting their businesses. Google and Apple have philosophical differences, too. Google, working to pack its dominant Chrome browser with web programming abilities, sees the web as an open place of shared standards. Apple, whose Safari browser lacks some of those abilities, believes its restraint will keep the web healthy. It wants a web that isn't plagued by security risks, privacy invasion and annoyances like unwanted notifications and permission pop-ups.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook And Google Prepare For Their ‘Big Tobacco Moment’, by Cecilia Kang, New York Times

The hearing, which caps a 13-month investigation by the House subcommittee, will be closely watched for clues that could advance other antitrust cases against the companies. The Federal Trade Commission, for one, is preparing to depose Mr. Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives in its 13-month probe of the social network. The Justice Department may soon unveil a case against Google. And an investigation into Apple by state attorneys general also appears to be advancing.

Tech Help

As ADA Turns 30, Tech Is Just Getting Started Helping People With Disabilities, by Devin Coldewey, TechCrunch

“The historical impact of iPhone as a mainstream consumer product is well documented. What is less understood though is how life changing iPhone and our other products have been for disability communities,” said Herrlinger. “Over time iPhone has become the most powerful and popular assistive device ever. It broke the mold of previous thinking because it showed accessibility could in fact be seamlessly built into a device that all people can use universally.”

Stuff

VMware, VirtualBox Tools Impacted By macOS Catalina Memory Leaks, by Malcolm Owen, AppleInsider

An issue with the App Sandbox is causing problems for some virtual machine software users, with the issue inducing a kernel panic in macOS Catalina 10.15.6 when used for a long period of time.

Adobe Updates Photoshop On iPad With Refine Edge And Rotate Canvas Tools, by Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac

Precise selections are essential to almost every Photoshop workflow, and the Refine Edge Brush will bring Photoshop on iPad one step closer to becoming a serious app for artists. Adobe says it devoted special attention to ensuring the tool works seamlessly with both the Apple Pencil and touch input.

Amazon Revamps Its Alexa App To Focus On First-party Features, More Personalization, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

The new app aims to offer a more personalized experience, particularly on users’ home screens, and offers more instructions on how and when consumers can use the digital assistant, among other changes.

Surprise! Fujitsu Releases 64-bit ScanSnap Manager For Older Scanners, by Dave Kitabjian, TidBITS

A quick check of the specifications in Fujitsu’s announcement showed that ScanSnap Manager V7 works in macOS 10.12.4 Sierra and later, including Catalina, and the “earlier models” include the S1500, S1500M, and the S1300 that I’ve been using for many years.

App’s We’re Trying: Food Noms, by Mike Schmitz, The Sweet Setup

Once you have your goals set up, you simply record what you eat and drink. Your goal progress is tracked and updated in the dashboard, so the only thing you have to worry about is putting things in.

In my opinion, this is where Food Noms really shines.

Camo Review: Turn Your iPhone Into A Stunningly Capable Mac Webcam, by Jason Cross, Macworld

Camo is simply one of the most full-featured, easy-to-use, and delightful ways to rectify the absolutely terrible Mac cameras with the iPhone you’ve already got. It doesn’t yet work with everything, but the compatibility list is long and growing. Odds are, it works with what you need it to work with.

Notes

Apple TV+ First Streaming Service To Win Daytime Emmy Award, by Mike Peterson, AppleInsider

With wins for "Ghostwriter" and "Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10," Apple TV+ has become the first streaming video service to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the first year of availability.

Bottom of the Page

Either my AirPods case failed to charge this morning when I plugged in the charging cable, or it failed to update the battery level to my iPone accurately when plugged in.

After an hour or two of no change in battery level, I was worried that I have to actually go outside and buy me a pair of new AirPods.

(I use AirPods daily, not just for listening to audiobooks and podcasts, but also for Teams and Zooms.)

Everything seems to be fine now, after I unplugged and re-plugged the lightning cable.

Whew.

~

Thanks for reading.