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The City-Known-For-Creativity Edition Thursday, June 24, 2021

Look Inside Apple's New Downtown L.A. Store And Event Space, A Symbol Of Its Hollywood Ambitions, by Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times

Apple Tower Theatre stands apart from other stores because “it is such a special building and has such significance in the film industry,” said Deirdre O’Brien, head of retail and personnel for Apple.

“It’s in the heart of a city that is known for creativity and we really want to build upon that,” she said. Apple has 25 stores in the Greater Los Angeles area.

In A Year Apart, Apple Technology Helped Educators And Learners Stay Connected, by Apple

Over the last year, as bedrooms and kitchens became classrooms, teachers and students around the world adjusted their lives to remote learning. Educators met that challenge head-on, using Apple technology to help their students learn, connect, and thrive in new ways. From launching an online high school musical, to exploring history with iMovie and GarageBand, to producing a virtual graduation ceremony, educators in the US and beyond created innovative ways of teaching that will be carried forward for future generations of learners.

Annotating Apple’s New Anti-Sideloading White Paper, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

What the sideloading arguments ignore are the enormous tradeoffs involved. Yes, there would be benefits — a lot of cool apps that aren’t permitted in the App Store would be installable by as many iOS users who want to install them. But many non-technical users would inevitably wind up installing undesirable apps via work/school requirements or trickery that they could not be required or tricked into installing today. Consider just the example of “proctoring apps” that students are required to install for remote test taking. They’re a surveillance menace, as the EFF reported in August.

Office Culture

Do Chance Meetings At The Office Boost Innovation? There’s No Evidence Of It., by Claire Cain Miller, New York Times

“The idea you can only be collaborative face-to-face is a bias,” he said. “And I’d ask, how much creativity and innovation have been driven out of the office because you weren’t in the insider group, you weren’t listened to, you didn’t go to the same places as the people in positions of power were gathering?”

He and others suggested reimagining the office entirely — as somewhere people go to every so often, to meet or socialize, while daily work is done remotely. At Zillow, nearly all employees will be remote or come in only once in a while. Several times a year, teams will go to small offices set up for gathering.

For Apple And Others, Accessibility Makes The Return To Office Life Greater Than Culture Or Policy, by Steven Aquino, Forbes

As Apple, and countless other corporations in this country and around the world, resume pre-pandemic activity, it would be wise for everyone to consider what disabled people have known all along. Accessibility matters a lot—in this case, literally so.

Stuff

Apple TV+ Reminds Users That Their Free Trials Are Finally Expiring, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Apple has started sending out emails to Apple TV+ users whose free trials will finally expire soon, as the (twice extended) free trials with hardware purchases finally come to an end in July.

Apple Rolling Out New Firmware Version For AirTag Item Trackers, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Apple is adjusting the period of time it takes for AirTags to play a sound alert after being separated from their owner. With this firmware update, an AirTag will now play a sound after it has been separated from its owner at a random time within an interval of eight hours and 24 hours.

ScreenFlow 10 Released With Multi-app Recording And More, by Jeff Benjamin, 9to5Mac

Over the years, ScreenFlow has grown into a powerful video capture, composition, and editing suite, and ScreenFlow 10 continues on this path. The update includes new lower thirds title options, multiple simultaneous recording streams, multi-app recording, automatic background remover, and big performance improvements, among other enhancements.

Logitech Combo Touch Keyboard Case Now Available For 4th-gen iPad Air, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

The Logitech Combo Touch for iPad Air is basically the same one that is already available for the Pro models, but now with a perfect fit for the less expensive iPad. Just like Apple’s Magic Keyboard, Logitech’s case features a full-size keyboard with backlit keys and a built-in trackpad that supports multi-touch gestures, including pinch and swipe.

Notes

The iPad's Inevitable Mac-like Future Is Hiding In iPadOS 15, by Jason Snell, Macworld

I think Apple is finally assembling all the pieces of the puzzle that will allow the iPad to become more Mac-like than ever before—all the while retaining its unique position in Apple’s ecosystem.

Bottom of the Page

Achievement of the day: added shortcuts to my iPhone to show a random Unsplash wallpaper every morning and every evening.

Non-achievement of the day: attended three Teams meeting and one Zoom meeting.

I can neither confirm nor deny that I created a whole bunch of shortcuts on my iPhone while attending work meetings.

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Thanks for reading.