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The De-Stigmatize Edition Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Apple Releases Results From Its Women’s Health Study, by Brian Heater, TechCrunch

Early results note that symptoms like nausea and sleep changes are common, along with more frequently discussed things like bloating and cramps. The study also notes that many of the tracked symptoms are common and consistent across age, race and location — even though they may not be widely discussed. The company says the efforts are, in part, to de-stigmatize discussions around these sorts of symptoms.

Apple Announces 1 Billion Euro Investment In New Munich Chip Design Facility, Focus On 5G And Wireless Technologies, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Apple today announced a major new investment project, revealing its plans to establish a European Center for Chip Design in Munich, Germany. The financial commitment will exceed 1 billion euros over the next three years.

The facility will hire hundreds of employees and focus on advancing mobile and wireless technologies, including 5G. The research and development will ultimately inform future Apple silicon chip designs.

Apple News Partners With National Association Of Black Journalists For Editorial Fellowship Program, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Apple News has announced that it is teaming up with the National Association of Black Journalists, or NABJ, to “give early-career journalists the opportunity to work on the forefront of news and technology.” The new editorial fellowship runs from June 2021 through February 2022.

'Follow Our Podcast': Apple Podcasts To Stop Using 'Subscribe', by James Cridland, Podnews

Apple Podcasts will no longer use the word “subscribe” in a few weeks. Listeners will be invited to “follow” their favourite podcasts instead. The new wording will be in iOS 14.5, which should be released later this month (and is available in beta).

[...]

Tom Webster from Edison Research says 47% of people who don’t currently listen to podcasts think that 'subscribing’ to a podcast will cost money, describing it as a stone in the shoe of podcasting’s growth run.

Apple Planning Switch To Randomized Serial Numbers For Future Products Starting In 'Early 2021', by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

In an internal AppleCare email this week, obtained by MacRumors, Apple said the new serial number format will consist of a randomized alphanumeric string of 8-14 characters that will no longer include manufacturing information or a configuration code. Apple said the serial number format transition is scheduled for “early 2021,” and confirmed that IMEI numbers will not be affected by this change.

Stuff

Apple Releases AirPods Max Firmware Update As Users Complain Of Battery Drain Issues, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Unfortunately, there are no release notes for AirPods Max firmware updates. This update comes, however, as many users complain of battery drain issues, with and without the included Smart Case.

Interactive: Apple Store Displays Bring Apple Music To Life, by Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac

New displays rolling out to Apple Stores across the world highlight the Apple Music catalog and give AirPods Max a true home.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021 Launches With Apple Silicon Support For Mac, New iPad App, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Some of the major new features include a redesigned dashboard, live comments, Microsoft Teams integration, multipage view, multi-asset export, perspective drawing, and a new iPad app.

Review: Logitech's Circle View Is The Best HomeKit Video Doorbell Money Can Buy, by AppleInsider

Logitech's Circle View video doorbell is the first true HomeKit-first solution for your front door and it excels with a very Apple-esque user experience. In fact, Logitech's solid execution only serves to highlight the shortcomings of HomeKit's video support.

Notes

She Brought Diverse Skin Tones Emoji To The iPhone. Now She’s Suing Apple., by Reed Albergotti, Washington Post

For Katrina Parrott, being invited to present her idea to Apple at its campus in Cupertino, Calif., felt like a dream. Less than a year earlier, she had been laid off from her job with NASA in Texas. Now, she was discussing partnering with the iPhone maker on an idea she had pioneered: emoji with different skin-tone options.

[...]

According to Parrott, though, her early success turned to heartbreak when Apple and other technology companies incorporated skin tone options into their operating systems, making her app obsolete and leaving her $200,000 in the hole.

Assume Every App Store Review Is A Lie, by Ed Hardy, Cult of Mac

Stop using the reviews you see in the App Store to help you decide what applications to buy. They’re meaningless because so many of them are fraudulent. And these purchased fake reviews are frequently used to trick people into buying scam applications.

The problem is severe enough that Apple should take reviews completely out of the App Store if it can’t come up with a better solution.

Apple’s Privacy Bet — Grandstanding Or Not — Is Good For Consumers, by Sauvik Das

In a computing ecosystem where surveillance capitalism is the de-facto model of mass commercial success, we should not underestimate the value of having a big player on the side of consumer privacy protection — even if for no other reason than to spite its competitors and make a buck.

Bottom of the Page

I wonder if Apple will lower the price of iPhone mini to boost demand, and does Apple think that lowering the price of iPhone mini will only just cannibalise the other iPhone models?

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Thanks for reading.