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The Easier-to-Read Edition Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Review: Apple Watch Series 6 Is Still The Best Smartwatch To Buy, by Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider

We started to notice the brighter display. As the weather cools, we've been out doing a lot of yard work and it is significantly easier to read what is on the display without having to move our wrist. The inactive state is more legible — as it should have been a year ago.

It also made a difference while we were working out. The vivid fluorescent lights in our workout space washed out the dim face on the prior-gen, but now we could quickly glance our workout more easily. It isn't entirely perfect, glares and other times still required us to lift our wrist, but it was absolutely an improvement.

Apple Watch SE Review: Back To Basics With A Blank Screen, by Michael Simon, Macworld

The missing features make the SE feel more outdated compared to the Series 6 than the iPhone SE does compared to the iPhone 11. The Apple Watch SE feels like more of a tool to sell Apple Watch Series 6 watches than a viable budget option.

Just Get The Apple Watch SE, by Victoria Song, Gizmodo

There’s no question that the Series 6 is better than the Watch SE. It just is. But is it an extra $120 better? That depends.

Refreshing OS

iOS 14 Review: Finally Rid Of The Grid, by Mat Smith, Engadget

iOS 14 may not be groundbreaking but, if you embrace the new widgets and reassess how you use apps, iOS 14 is refreshing. Then there’s the ability to shed Safari and the native email app if you want too — hopefully Apple expands on this and offers similar default app flexibility elsewhere, say Maps or Notes.

[...]

What’s interesting is that you don’t even have to actually embrace a lot of these changes. They coexist with the old way of using iOS.

Coming Soon (Or Not Coming Soon)

iOS 14.2 Suggests Apple Won't Include EarPods In The Box With iPhone 12, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

In iOS 14 and earlier versions of iOS, there’s a mention of reducing exposure to RF energy by using the “supplied headphones,” which is the same wording that Apple has used for years now.

In iOS 14.2, this wording has been tweaked to say just “headphones,” removing the “supplied” part of this statement.

First Look: New Emojis In iOS 14.2, by Jeremy Burge, Emojipedia

The wait is nearly over for iOS users: bubble tea, a transgender flag, seal, feather and more emojis are included in the latest iOS beta.

Store Policies

Fortnite Dispute Between Apple And Epic Games Won't Have Jury Trial, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple and Epic Games do not want to have a jury trial in their ongoing legal dispute over Fortnite and Apple’s App Store policies, according to a filing submitted to the Northern California court handling the case today.

Epic Games Is An Unreliable Narrator, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

There was never a September 11 deadline for their [Sign In With Apple] support to stop working, and in fact, Apple’s SIWA team performed work to make sure SIWA continued working for Fortnite users despite the fact that Epic Games’s developer account had been revoked.

Stuff

Jamf Connect 2.0 Includes Mac User Authentication Via iPhone Face ID, Touch ID, by William Gallagher, AppleInsider

The system, which enables for a user account to be provisioned to a device and authenticated throughout a corporate network, has been given some upgrades that take advantage of cloud computing and alternative authentication systems, including elements users are already familiar with using.

Develop

Apple Gives Developers New App Store Marketing Tools Including QR Codes And More, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Apple has refreshed its App Store marketing tools for developers today with the ability to create custom assets and links including new QR codes and short links.

Notes

Is Apple's COVID-19 Exposure Tracking Technology Working?, by Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider

It is much easier to securely track lost devices using Apple's privacy-paramount technology in "Find My" than it is to trace COVID-19 exposures, particularly because "Find My" isn't encumbered by political boundaries or by agents who might not see the value of actually using it in the course of their tracing jobs because it doesn't simply provide them with a list of names to contact as they expect.

Apple Removes RSS Feed Readers From Chinese App Store, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Apple has reportedly removed two RSS feed reader apps from China’s App Store to comply with Chinese law. Fiery Feeds and Reeder both tweeted that their iOS apps had been removed in China over content that is considered “illegal” in the country.

Apple's Cook Receives First Time-based Stock Grant Since 2011, Incentivizes Tenure Into 2025, by AppleInsider

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his core leadership team this week received restricted stock unit awards designed to incentivize continued work at the company into 2025.

Handed out on Sunday, the awards include tenure- and performance-based RSUs scheduled to vest over the next five years, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday.

Bottom of the Page

The iPhone SE, while lacking many features, has a clear advantage over the regular iPhone: it is the smallest and the lightest iPhone, besides being the cheapest.

The Apple Watch SE, on the other hand, lacks many features but has no clear advantages other than price.

(This equation may change after the introduction of iPhone 12 mini. Or will that be iPhone Mini 12?)

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Back in the iOS 13 days, I've had a rule for myself about which app icons get to be on the first page of my iPhone: I must need or want to open the app more than once a day. If an app doesn't satisfy that criteria, it goes into a folder.

This rule prevented me from always changing my mind about what app icons to put on the home screen.

Now that we are in iOS 14, I need to figure out a new rule about what widgets go into my iPhone's home screen. I need to stop spending many the many minutes every day trying out all the different widgets.

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I am still using my EarPods to listen to audiobooks at night just before bedtime. I don't want to use my AirPods because I am worried that they may fall off to who-knows-where if I fall asleep while listening.

It may be okay (for me) if Apple stopped bundling them with iPhones, but I wish Apple will continue to sell them.

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Thanks for reading.