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The Allays-Concerns Edition Thursday, March 25, 2021

Apple Says It Is Working To Fix Shortcuts Bug That Broke Sharing Links, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

The statement does not offer a timeframe as to when shared shortcuts will once again be ‘available’ but at least it allays concerns that the old Shortcuts links would never work again. In the meantime, users can create a fresh new iCloud Sharing Link if they want, which does work.

Apple Responds To ProtonVPN App Update Refusal Complaints With Timeline, by Mike Wuerthele, AppleInsider

"All apps made by Proton, including ProtonVPN, have remained available for download in Myanmar," Apple made clear. "We approved the most recent version of ProtonVPN on March 19."

"Following this approval, Proton chose to time the release of their update, making it available on March 21st, while subsequently publishing their blog post on March 23rd," Apple added.

On Interface

Sidebar: Translucency, by Nick Heer, Pixel Envy

I think Big Sur is generally a positive iteration, particularly for its clearer structure. But Apple could learn a thing or two from its previous operating system design patterns. Most obviously: contrast is good.

Stuff

Apple Music 'Saylists' To Help With Speech Issues, by BBC

"Saylists" are being launched on Apple Music to help young people with speech-sound disorders.

The project, from Warner Music, uses algorithms to find song lyrics that repeat challenging sounds.

Apple Once Again Highlights Ceramic Shield Benefits In New iPhone 12 'Fumble' Ad, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

Named “Fumble,” the fun 30-seconds advertisement shows a woman accidentally dropping her iPhone on the street while talking on the phone. The iPhone 12 falls into the ground and as you might expect, nothing happens to it.

Notes

Apple Says iOS Has Alternative App Distribution Because The Internet Exists, by Asha Barbaschow, ZDNet

"The whole web is available to them, and iOS devices have unrestricted and uncontrolled access to it. One common approach is for users to purchase and consume digital content or services on a website."

The Cupurtino giant also believes the Apple App Store competes directly with other software distribution platforms, such as Google Play, Samsung Galaxy, and Amazon app stores, even though access to these "alternatives" is not granted on iOS.

Arizona Senate Skips Vote On Controversial Bill That Would Regulate Apple And Google App Stores, by Nick Statt, The Verge

One notable Apple critic is now accusing the iPhone maker of stepping in to stop the vote, saying the company hired a former chief of staff to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to broker a deal that prevented the bill from being heard in the Senate and ultimately voted on.

French Data Protection Watchdog Casts Doubt On Apple’s Privacy Compliance, by Laura Kayali, Politico

According to the internal CNIL document, the privacy regulator said that the App Tracking Transparency is in line with the EU’s flagship privacy rules — the General Data Protection Regulation.

[...]

When it comes to Apple’s own advertising platform, however, it’s another story. The U.S. tech giant could be on the wrong side of compliance with EU privacy rules, the watchdog hints.

Apple Doubling Down On Supply Chain Security To Prevent Leaks, Including Biometric Data Collection, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Apple has made several changes to its factory security guidelines to help prevent leaks, according to a new report from The Information. According to the updated guidelines, the company’s manufacturing partners can no longer collect biometric data such as fingerprints or face scans from Apple employees, but the same does not apply to factory workers.

Bottom of the Page

Did Apple calculate the amount of additional energy used by our CPUs to do translucency in all the user interfaces? Should this impact Apple's environmental reports?

:-)

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Thanks for reading.