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The Nice-Bonus Edition Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Is 5G Available For You? Here's How To Find Out, by Eric Ravenscraft, Wired

The million-dollar question is whether you, personally, will benefit from 5G. As with every previous generation of networks, the best way to tell is by using your carrier’s coverage map. Once again, though, this is more complicated than it sounds. Verizon’s 5G map, for example, uses color coding to show areas blanketed by typical 5G, but it uses a pulsating maroon dot to indicate cities where “parts of” the area might support mmWave. In this case, even if you want an mmWave phone, for now it would be best to use regular 5G as a guide and treat the occasional mmWave support as a nice bonus.

Apple Launches ‘Apple Music TV,’ A 24-Hour Music Video Livestream, by Jem Aswad, Variety

Apple has launched Apple Music TV, a free 24-hour curated livestream of popular music videos that will also include “exclusive new music videos and premiers, special curated music video blocks, and live shows and events as well as chart countdowns and guests,” according to the announcement.

Apple Music TV will be available to U.S. residents only on the Apple Music app and the Apple TV app. It can be found at in the browse tab in the Apple Music and Apple TV app.

Can Evernote Make A Comeback?, by Nick Summers, Engadget

Last month, a new version of Evernote was released for iPhone and iPad. A few weeks later, the Windows and MacOS apps received a similar makeover. Evernote’s web-based portal has been refreshed, too, and a similar overhaul is planned for the Android app. The reboot isn’t surface level, either. Behind the scenes, Evernote has ripped up and rebuilt the technical infrastructure behind each app. It was a monumental effort, but one that should allow the company to move faster in the future. That, in turn, could change the public’s perception of Evernote and rekindle some of the excitement that surrounded the business back in 2008.

Hot In Use

watchOS 7.0.3 Released For Apple Watch Series 3 With Fix For Restart Bug, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Apple has made watchOS 7.0.3 available today for Apple Watch Series 3 users with a patch for an issue with the wearable restarting.

Reports Of Overheating Apple Watch SE In South Korea May Be Local Issue, by Mike Peterson, AppleInsider

A number of Apple Watch SE users in South Korea are allegedly reporting overheating issues with their wearable devices, with claims some units are getting hot in use and burning the user's wrist.

Stuff

Beats Flex Review: Wireless Earbud Basics Done Right, by Chris Welch, The Verge

The Beats Flex earbuds are significantly less expensive than the Beats X they’re replacing — not to mention AirPods. They offer a lengthy 12 hours of battery life, have a comfortable fit, and eliminate the anxiety of losing a truly wireless earbud.

BBEdit 13.5 Offers Mid-Cycle Efficiency Improvements, by Adam Engst, TidBITS

For many people, text editing means BBEdit, which has decades of thought encapsulated in its feature set and interface. But there’s always room for improvement, as the latest update to BBEdit 13.5 makes evident with over 100 new features, refinements, and fixes.

Reeder 5 Review: Read Later Tagging, iCloud Sync, And Design Refinements, by John Voorhees, MacStories

Reeder continues to provide one of the very best reading experiences available in any RSS client I’ve tried. Combined with a modern iPad layout, extensive keyboard shortcut support, a long list of ways to sync feeds, and a Read Later service that sets it apart from its competitors, you can’t go wrong with Reeder 5.

Microsoft’s New Xbox App Lets You Stream Xbox One Games To Your iPhone Or iPad, by Tom Warren, The Verge

This Xbox remote play feature will only connect to your own Xbox console, not to xCloud. It’s similar to Sony’s own PS4 Remote Play feature that’s also available on Android and iOS.

Apple Booting Browser App That Enables Google Stadia Streaming Games, Developer Says, by John Koetsier, Forbes

“My app is being removed from the App Store,” Zachary Knox tweeted today about his Stadium Full Screen Browser app. “I was ‘extending WebKit’ by hooking it into the native GameController framework and thus Bluetooth controllers, which they didn’t like.”

Notes

Your Old iPhone Is Worth Big Bucks. Here's Why, by Rishi Iyengar, CNN

The trade-in values of old smartphones can be surprisingly high because the trade-in has become a critical piece of the device's lifecycle. Beyond providing users with an opportunity to get a new phone for a fraction of its price, it helps companies boost sales by prompting more frequent upgrades, gives carriers a way to lure customers into long contracts, delivers more affordable devices for secondary markets and provides raw materials that companies can reuse to make new phones more environmentally friendly.

20 Macs For 2020: #10 — Power Computing, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

The Mac clone era was a mistake, in hindsight. But for those two-plus years when it was going on, the Mac market was dynamic and exciting in ways that it hadn’t been before—and honestly, hasn’t been since. Having multiple hardware makers to choose from, fighting to get your business and engaging in acts of one-upmanship via press release on a regular basis? That’s bog-standard stuff in the PC world, but for Mac users it was a dramatic change from the single-vendor world we’d been living in.

Japan To Join Forces With U.S., Europe In Regulating Big Tech Firms: Antitrust Watchdog Head, by Leika Kihara, Takahiko Wada, Reuters

Multi-national companies like GAFA have similar business practices across the globe, which makes global coordination crucial, Furuya said.

“We’ll work closely with our U.S. and European counterparts, and respond if to any moves that hamper competition,” he said.

Bottom of the Page

Yet another product from Apple that is not available in Singapore... not that I have much interest in watching a music video channel that I have no control over what I will be watching...

And speaking of not-available-in-Singapore: I suppose the old Charlie Brown shows are also not available everywhere? I've checked my TV app, and I can't find the Great Pumpkin that supposedly should have landed.

(Either that, or I am confused by the Apple TV app again.)

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Is there an Apple Music TV+ in the future?

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Thanks for reading.