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The Learners-and-Teachers Edition Friday, August 28, 2020

Apple Will Give iPads And Scholarships To Students At Leading Deaf University, by Luke Dormehl, Cult of Mac

Apple has partnered with Washington D.C.’s Gallaudet University — the world’s leading university for deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind students — to offer all students and faculty Apple devices. Learners and teachers alike will receive an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and SmartFolio for iPad Pro.

How One Teacher Is Preparing For A Year Like No Other, With Support From Apple, by Apple

“Planning is going to be a key factor for me as an educator, but I know Apple resources are helping give me the roadmap I can take moving forward with my students,” says Warren. “I also know I have to keep myself balanced, because I’m going to have 64 students and 100-plus parents that I’m going to have to be a source of encouragement for.”

Warren is one of nearly 500 educators who participated in a massive virtual coding academy this summer as part of Apple’s Community Education Initiative (CEI), designed to bring coding, creativity, and workforce development opportunities to learners of all ages and to communities that are traditionally underrepresented in technology.

Gaming with Apple

Deeper Controller Support And A Revitalized Game Center: Exploring Apple’s 2020 Gaming Updates, by John Voorhees, MacStories

Last year saw the surprise introduction of support for Microsoft’s Bluetooth-enabled Xbox controllers and the Sony DualShock 4 controller on Apple devices. As I wrote at the time, the initial integration of the controllers was excellent, and a substantial improvement over most of the expensive MFi controller options previously available. As a result, it’s no surprise this year that Apple has extended its support for controllers, even further expanding coverage to new controllers and adding support for features like haptics, rumble, motion, lights, and special input options. Apple is also adding support for button and other input remapping on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS, but curiously not macOS.

Rejection Letters

Apple Rejects ‘Watch For Tesla’ App As It Starts Requiring Written Consent For Third-party API Use, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

“Watch app for Tesla” is a popular app that lets users check useful information and send commands to a Tesla vehicle directly from an Apple Watch. However, the availability of this app may be threatened as Apple has been reinforcing its guidelines related to third party APIs, which may require the developer to remove their app from the App Store.

Facebook Says Apple Rejected Its Attempt To Tell Users About App Store Fees, by Katie Paul, Stephen Nellis, Reuters

Facebook Inc on Thursday told Reuters that Apple Inc rejected its attempt to tell users the iPhone maker would take a 30% cut of sales in a new online events feature, forcing Facebook to remove the message to get the tool to users.

Pressuring Apple

Epic Games Sends Emails To Fortnite Players Blaming Apple For New Season's Unavailability, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Epic Games this evening sent out emails to Fortnite users on iPhone, iPad, and Mac to let them know that it will not be possible to play the newly released Marvel-themed season 4 content on their devices.

“Our Philosophy Is Simple…”, by M.G. Siegler, 500ish Words

As we all are well aware, Apple now makes it all but impossible to subscribe to a service by any method other than their own. Forget the MFN clause, you can’t even mention that there’s another way to sign up for a service anymore.

As I read this holy scripture, my interpretation is that Jobs intended for Apple to showcase that their payment method was the best and win on those merits. These days, Apple is winning more on obfuscation. One is understandable, the other is shitty.

Stuff

Apple iMac 27-Inch Review: A Powerful And Reliable Mac, by Julian Chokkattu, Wired

We believe this 27-inch iMac is a safe bet, and by the time you'll want to upgrade it, the ARM-based iMac lineup might look a whole lot rosier.

Why I Love My Apple Card In The Age Of COVID, by Jason Perlow, ZDNet

I think nobody expected the Apple Card to be as hugely successful as it has been in such a short period. Part of this is because using your iPhone or your Apple Watch for contactless payments sounded just a bit too geeky a year ago.

Google Assistant App Now Uses Your Searches To Make Personalized Recommendations, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Today, the company is rolling out a series of updates to make the feature more useful and personalized. This includes the addition of tasks, push notifications for birthdays, and even suggestions of other things Google thinks you’ll want to try, like podcasts, restaurants, recipes and more.

Develop

Apple Announces New AI And Machine Learning Residency Program, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Apple’s Machine Learning Reseach group has launched a new residency program inviting experts in various fields to apply their expertise to build new ML and AI-powered products and experiences.

Notes

Apple To Pay $9.75M To Settle Powerbeats2 Class Action Lawsuit, by Mikey Campbell, AppleInsider

Apple has settled a class action lawsuit claiming the company's Powerbeats2 wireless earphones contain a design defect that causes the device to stop retaining a charge.

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I wonder if Apple lawyers are taking the weekend off.

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Thanks for reading.