MyAppleMenu

The Stop-the-Nuisance Edition Tuesday, March 16, 2021

If You’re Getting Bombarded With FaceTime Group Calls, You’re Not Alone, by Dan Goodin, Ars Technica

Apple provides surprisingly few ways for users to stop the nuisance calls. As noted earlier, users can block numbers, but this requires manually blocking each individual person on the group call. That’s not an effective solution for people receiving dozens of group calls, often to a different group of people in a short period of time, often in the wee hours.

Apple Lives By Its Own Privacy Rules, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

Indeed, it seems plausible to expect the company to develop AI testing systems that will vet apps against claimed privacy practices during the App Store approvals process — just as it already analyzes payments to verify against any other kind of fraud.

Coming Soon

iOS Security Fixes Could Soon Be Delivered Separately From Other Updates, Beta Code Suggests, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

A new section added to the iOS software update menu indicates that Apple will provide standalone security updates for iPhone and iPad users. Users would be able to choose whether they want to install only security updates or full iOS updates.

Apple Music Adding New ‘City Charts’ Daily Playlists With iOS 14.5, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

Users will soon have access to playlists from over 100 cities around the world with the most played songs in each.

On Privacy

China’s Tech Giants Test Way Around Apple’s New Privacy Rules, by Patrick McGee, Financial Times

ByteDance, the owner of the social video app TikTok, referred to CAID in an 11-page guide to app developers obtained by the Financial Times, suggesting that advertisers “can use the CAID as a substitute if the user’s IDFA is unavailable”.

Stuff

First Impressions: Kensington’s StudioDock Aims To Turn Your iPad Pro Into An Expandable Desktop Workstation, by Federico Viticci, MacStories

Kensington’s accessory is designed for people who consider the iPad Pro their primary computer, who spend several hours working on it every day, and who would like to transform it into an expandable desktop workstation (even if it doesn’t support the latest and greatest USB 3.2 standards). If you fall within that group and are willing to save money for it, the StudioDock provides a solid all-in-one, integrated experience.

Free Aira App Usage For Blind Customers At Starbucks, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

The idea behind Aira is simple. If you need assistance with anything from checking a product label to helping you find your way, you use your iPhone camera as your eyes, and a human operator will describe what is in front of you or around you, and provide assistance.

Swell Launches Its App For Asynchronous Voice Conversations, by Anthony Ha, TechCrunch

Users post a standalone audio clip that can be up to five minutes in length (with an accompanying image and links), then other users can browse, listen and leave their own audio responses in their own time.

Notes

HomePod Should’ve Been Marketed For Home Theaters, by Khol Vinh, Subtraction.com

If Apple had bundled the Apple TV 4K with two HomePods and marketed them as an integrated home theater offering that offers significant value over similar Sonos offerings, I think it would’ve been a different ballgame.

Apple Allows Russia To Pre-install Apps On iPhones As Part Of Device Setup, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

In accordance with a new Russian law, Apple users will see a dialog box upon initial setup of new devices that features web browsers, antivirus, messenger, email clients and more to be installed by default. The list of apps is provided by the government.

All apps in the list are pre-selected to be installed as part of set up, however users are able to deselect apps individually if they don’t want them.

Bottom of the Page

Open Apple Music. Click on the search box. Key in "BBC Radio 3". Hit return.

The top results that came in were "BBC Radio 2", "Valerie (BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge)", and "BBC Radio 1".

And if I scroll down the search results to the "Radio Stations" section below, "BBC Radio 3" came in at 8th position, after such fine stations as "BBC Radio 5", "BBC World Service", "BBC Asian Network", "BBC Radio 4", and "BBC Radio 1Xtra".

~

Thanks for reading.