MyAppleMenu

The Disconnect-Asserted Edition Thursday, August 26, 2021

Apple Allows Children To Access Casual-sex And BDSM Apps, Finds Report, by Alex Hern, The Guardian

Apple knowingly lets underage users access apps intended for adults, according to an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), despite having asked for and recorded their dates of birth.

The investigation asserts a disconnect between the information Apple knows about a user, which includes their self-declared age, and the ways it polices age restrictions on its App Store.

Apple’s Great Replacement Cycle, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

The pandemic has accelerated existing trends across the enterprise, spurring the adoption of remote work, hybrid workplaces, cloud services and the replacement of PCs in many companies with Macs and iPads.

Apple To Release iOS 15 iCloud Private Relay As A Public Beta, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

In the latest ‌iOS 15‌ and ‌iPadOS 15‌ betas, ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay is now listed as a feature that’s in beta, with Apple providing the following information: “Private Relay is currently in beta. Some websites may have issues, like showing content for the wrong region or requiring extra steps to sign in.”

Stuff

'Today At Apple' Session Explores Taking Expressive Pet Portraits, by Hartley Charlton, MacRumors

The playful session encourages participants to use their iPhone at the correct height, tune into the pet’s personality, and take a look at showcase pet portraits for inspiration and top takeaways.

OnMail Adds New 'Inbox Break' Feature To Pause All Incoming Emails, by Bradley Chambers, 9to5Mac

OnMail, the new email service from the team by Edison, is releasing a new feature to help give you a reprieve from an ever-growing list of emails that are sent your way. The new “Inbox Break” feature pauses all incoming emails so you can focus on other things.

Front Releases New iOS Apps To Keep Teams In Contact With Their Customers On The Go, by Bradley Chambers, 9to5Mac

Front might be an email app that you’ve never heard of or used before, but it’s becoming popular among teams that are tasked with handling communications with customers. Front integrates email, SMS, website chat tools, and Twitter into a single platform. Today, the company is unveiling a brand-new iOS app to keep teams in touch with their customers on the go.

Notes

Why You Should Start Using An eSIM, by David Nield, Gizmodo

Many newer smartphones support eSIMs as well as the physical SIM cards we’ve all been slotting into our devices for years. If you’re wondering what exactly an eSIM is, and whether or not you should be using one, this guide is for you.

The Stealthy iPhone Hacks That Apple Still Can't Stop, by Lily Hay Newman, Wired

These “zero-click” attacks can happen on any platform, but a string of high-profile hacks show that attackers have homed in on weaknesses in Apple's iMessage service to execute them. Security researchers say the company's efforts to resolve the issue haven't been working—and that there are other steps the company could take to protect its most at-risk users.

A Rare Partnership Between Google And Apple Promised To Slow COVID-19 - Newly Revealed Data Shows Why It Flopped In The US, by Rob Price, Business Insider

Problems may include American cultural skepticism towards sharing health data, she said, and the difficulty of creating tools and generating trust in them mid-crisis. "It's really hard to build these things up in the middle of the problem," she said, "without having that more thoughtful partnership before the problem strikes."

[...]

The fact that individual states in the US were responsible for launching the apps, rather than the federal government — unlike the UK and other countries — may have also hampered efforts to raise nationwide awareness and encourage users to input their test results, said Ashkan Soltani, a former chief technologist for the FTC who has expressed skepticism about contact-tracing apps.

Bottom of the Page

On the other hand, age ratings -- whether they are from authorities, producers, or platform owners -- should just be guidelines. I do believe parents should be making decisions on what is allowed or not allowed for their children.

Perhaps, Apple defaults should be set stricter, but allow parents to overwrite them in specific cases?

~

Thanks for reading.