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The Give-a-Choice Edition Thursday, December 17, 2020

Apple Hits Back At Facebook, Says New iOS 14 Ad Tracking Rules Provide User Choice, by Mikey Campbell, AppleInsider

"We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users. Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not," Apple said in a statement to AppleInsider. "App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 does not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising, it simply requires they give users a choice."

Facebook Takes Out Full-Page Newspaper Ads To Attack Apple’s Changes Strengthening iOS Privacy, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Facebook sees Apple providing users with awareness of and control over their online privacy as Apple taking away from Facebook something that Facebook rightfully considers rightfully theirs. This is no different than telemarketers feeling like you’re doing them wrong when you add your phone number to a do-not-call list.

Facebook Hits Back At Apple With Another Critical Newspaper Ad, by Tom Warren, The Verge

Facebook is stepping up its campaign against Apple’s privacy changes with a second full-page newspaper ad today. This new ad claims Apple’s iOS 14 privacy changes “will change the internet as we know it,” and force websites and blogs “to start charging you subscription fees” or add in-app purchases due to a lack of personalized ads.

Max Reviews

Apple AirPods Max Review: Luxurious Sound For A Luxury Price, by Chris Welch, The Verge

The comfort and feel are top notch, they sound wonderful, the noise cancellation is up there with the very best, and they offer unique features like spatial audio that you really can’t get elsewhere. At least, not quite like this. So it’s worth breaking down some reasons why the AirPods Max could be worth buying if you’ve got the disposable cash.

Apple’s AirPods Max Are A Music Lover’s Delight For £549, by Robert Leedham, GQ

While I can’t go into the absolute minutiae of the AirPods Max sonic architecture, I have also listened to a lot of headphones in my time and will happily say these easily sit in the top tier of what you can buy right now. Like any pair of really great cans, you’ll put them on, pick out one of your favourite tunes and go, “Huh! Hadn’t heard that before.” [...] Anyway, the point is there’s a richness and a clarity to the AirPods Max that elevates music old and new: especially if you’re streaming in high quality from either Apple Music or Spotify.

AirPods Max Review: The Price Hurts But These Headphones Are Excellent, by David Carnoy, CNET

Where the AirPods Max have a slight advantage is with how much of a hiss they produce when canceling out noise. It's just a little bit cleaner sounding. There's a faint hiss usually associated with noise canceling and it's barely noticeable with the AirPods Max. I also thought the AirPods Max do a slightly better job with relieving the pressure sensation that some people get with noise canceling. The AirPods Pro do well with that -- they're vented to relieve pressure -- and so too are the AirPods Max.

Switch Off AirPods Max With Magnets, Without Using Bra Case, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

The good news is that there is a way to switch off AirPods Max without Apple’s case – and one we can quickly expect to see adopted by third-party case makers.

The bad news is that there isn’t any practical way to do it without using some kind of case.

Stuff

Apple Maps Look Around Feature Expands To Denver, Detroit, Miami And More, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Look Around, which was first introduced in iOS 13, provides 3D street-level imagery in cities where it is available, and it is similar to Google’s Street View.

iPhone 12 Pro Max, A Photographer’s Perspective, by Erin Brooks, The Sweet Setup

If you are like me and most of your iPhone photos are portraits, it’s absolutely worth it to go 12 Pro Max for the significantly higher quality portrait mode images it will help you create.

Google Stadia Is Now Fully Playable On iOS W/ Web App, by Damien Wilde, 9to5Google

This Progressive Web Application mimics the experience you would have with a native application and shares a lot in common with the standard desktop version many people already enjoy on Apple devices such as MacBooks and iMacs.

Notes

Apple TV App Coming To Chromecast With Google TV In 2021, by Abner Li, 9to5Google

This app for Google TV will allow users to watch original content available from Apple TV+, as well as their existing library of movie and TV show purchases from iTunes. It will also surface third-party streaming subscriptions through Apple TV Channels, and allow for personalized and curated recommendations.

iOS 14 “Headphone Safety” Reveals Apple Still Doesn’t Care About Customer Choice, by Preslav Kateliev, Phone Arena

I am absolutely certain that there are some very, very smart people working at Apple. You just can’t tell me that — at any point in the development of iOS 14 — nobody turned around to say: “Hey, I think people use other Bluetooth devices besides headphones. This could cause an issue.”

Apple's Employee Giving Program Saw Its Best Year Ever, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

Apple supports charitable donations and volunteering by its employees by matching every dollar donated and giving an additional sum for every hour of voluntary service by its staff.

Major US News Publishers Join The Coalition For App Fairness Advocacy Group To Fight The ‘Apple Tax’, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

DCN had already spoken out against Apple’s business practices following this year’s congressional hearings when it was revealed that Apple had, in fact, bent its App Store rules for Amazon in a special arrangement.

Bottom of the Page

There are two things I don't understand in this report about Spotify striking a deal with NPR to distribute NPR podcasts...

Firstly: why does one need a 'deal' to distribute podcasts?

Secondly: Singapore does not allow podcasts to be distributed?

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Thanks for reading.