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The Removed-Features Edition Thursday, September 30, 2021

Recent Siri Changes Remove Call, Email, And Voicemail Features Used By Low Vision And Blind Users, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

With the recent release of iOS 15, Apple appears to have made some changes to Siri functionality that have removed features relied on by low vision and blind iPhone users.

Several ‌Siri‌ commands that provide details on phone calls, voicemails, and sending emails no longer appear to be working.

Researchers Find Apple Pay, Visa Contactless Hack, by BBC

The problem, researchers say, applies to Visa cards set up in 'Express Transit' mode in an iPhone's wallet.

"Express Transit" is an Apple Pay feature which enables commuters to make quick contactless payments without unlocking their phone, for example touching-in and touching-out at a London Underground ticket barrier.

Stuff

Apple's Time To Walk Has Totally Leveled Up My WFH Life, by Rachel Lapidos, Bustle

Listening to Time to Walk has operated as a makeshift afternoon stroll with a friend. Comparatively, podcasts feel more like a show that’s speaking not directly to you but to a massive audience.

AudioFix 2 Brings New Features For iPhone Users And A New macOS App, by José Adorno, 9to5Mac

AudioFix 2.0 is able to not only boost, mute, and de-noise, but also extract audio from video sequences. The app enables users to clean up audio removing wind, hiss, and boosting low-volume video sequences by applying a filter with just a tap.

iStat Menus Review: A Dashboard Smorgasbord For The macOS Menu Bar, by Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

iStat Menus 6 gives you access at a glance to a dashboard’s worth of statistics, graphs, states, and speeds of your Mac’s CPU, disks, network, battery, and memory—as well as throwing in the kitchen sink, offering clocks and the current and forecast weather—through dropdown menu bar items. If you need or want to know what’s going in any nook and cranny on your Mac, or what time (and day) it is in, say, Auckland, New Zealand, for example, the app has you covered.

Develop

Apple Reminds Developers About Changes To Subscription Payment System In India, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

Apple today notified developers about a change that will impact apps with renewable subscriptions or other recurring transactions in India. Due to a new directive from the Reserve Bank of India, some in-app transactions made with credit and debit cards may be declined by banks or card issuers.

Notes

Apple Now Lets You Share How Much You Love Or Hate Built-in Apps Via App Store Reviews, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

For the longest time, the App Store did not allow users to rate or review Apple’s built-in iPhone and iPad apps, like Mail, Music, News, Stocks and Calculator. However, seemingly since the release of iOS 15 earlier this month, Apple has now lifted that restriction. It is now open season for App Store feedback on Apple’s stock apps.

Why James Bond Doesn’t Use An iPhone, by Adam Speight, Wired

What if Bond was using a bleeding-edge technology then, the very latest? Well, an iPhone would not be a good option for 007. “Untraceable phones with anti-surveillance, anti-interception and location spoofing functionality are a must for James Bond. An iPhone, however formatted, just wouldn’t be able to offer this ability to ensure tracking isn’t an option," says Moore. "The security of an iPhone is impressive enough for the normal user, but with threats such as Pegasus around periodically it makes it difficult for a spy to use one securely and confidently.”

Bottom of the Page

I didn't sleep well, again, last night.

And my strategy, after lying in bed for a while without any signs of sleepiness, is to put on earphones, set a sleep timer, and listen to BBC radio.

Except that this strategy failed last night.

Still awake after re-starting the sleep timer for quite a few times, I gave up.

~

There are certain things I shouldn't be worried about, because I can tolerate the worst case scenario. There are other things I shouldn't be worried about, because I can't neither control nor influence the outcome.

I still worry though.

~

Thanks for reading.