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The Worldwide-Communication Edition Saturday, May 8, 2021

Apple Taps Stella Low As New Communications Chief, by John Paczkowski, BuzzFeed News

Apple has hired a new vice president of worldwide corporate communications. Stella Low, former communications chief at networking giant Cisco, will take on the role, which has been unfilled since late 2019.

A tech industry veteran, Low has done stints at Unisys and Dell, where she served as senior vice president of communications. She'll report directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Zoom Gained Access To Private iPad Camera API, by José Adorno, 9to5Mac

App developer Jeremy Provost discovered that Apple has given Zoom access to a private iPad camera API. With that, the meeting app is the only one, except by Apple’s FaceTime, being able to use the camera during iPad Split View multitasking.

On App Stores

App Store Review Process Has Over 500 Human Experts; Less Than 1% Of Rejections Are Appealed, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

In a new document filed with the trial, Kosmynka detailed that about 5 million apps are submitted to the App Store every year and that the app rejection rate is less than 40%. In 2019, 4,808,685 apps were submitted for the App Store review process, and 36% of them — or 1,747,278 — were rejected.

According to Kosmynka, of these rejected apps, about 215,000 infringed Apple’s privacy guidelines in some way. Each app submitted to the App Store first goes through static and dynamic analysis to detect whether the app violates any App Store rules or uses private APIs. There’s also a step in the process to check if the app is similar to another one available in the App Store in order to avoid scams or copycats.

The Fortnite Trial Is Exposing Details About The Biggest iPhone Hack On Record, by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, Motherboard

In 2015, unknown hackers snuck malware onto thousands of apps on the iPhone App Store. At the time, researchers believed the hack had the potential to impact hundreds of millions of people, given that it affected around 4,000 apps, according to researcher estimates.

[...]

But now, thanks to emails published as part of Apple's trial against Epic Games, we finally know how many iPhone users were impacted: 128 million in total, of which 18 million were in the US.

Apple Is Using Itch.io’s ‘Offensive And Sexualized’ Games As A Cudgel Against Epic, by Adi Robertson, The Verge

Apple is notoriously wary of sexual or even debatably offensive content in its App Store. Until mid-2016, it told game developers that “if you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app.” Epic is suing for the right to sideload alternative app stores like the Epic Games Store onto iOS. Today, Apple essentially warned Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that this would mean forcing Apple to indirectly allow a sexualized visual novel about incest [...] onto the iPhone.

After Xbox Testimony, Apple Tells Microsoft To Put Up Or Shut Up, by Russell Brandom, The Verge

In a new filing, Apple argued that some of the documents referred to in Wright’s testimony weren’t produced in advance, and the entire testimony should fall under a cloud. Apple’s lawyers zeroed in on Wright’s claim that Xbox hardware was sold at cost in order to subsidize game sales.

Stuff

From 'Mythic Quest' To 'Ted Lasso': How Apple TV+ Became One Of The Best Streaming Services, by Kelly Lawler, USA Today

While "Morning Show" and "See" flailed creatively out of the gate when Apple TV+ launched, most of the streamer's programming has been smart and savvy. Apple has slowly been amassing some of the most creatively ambitious and satisfying series on TV right now.

Are You The Forgetful Type? Here Are 5 Ways Tech Can Help Find Your Phone, Keys, Parked Car Or Pet, by Marc Saltzman, USA Today

From tiny trackers and handy apps to personal assistants that can lend a helping hand, today’s software and hardware might be all you need to locate everything from your car in a crowded mall parking lot to the TV remote stuck between sofa cushions.

Bottom of the Page

I'll definitely get screen-fatigue if I am an Apple app reviewer.

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Thanks for reading.