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The Reach-Out-and-Connect Edition Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Thinking Of Sending That Quick 'Love You' Text? Just Do It, by Carol Milberger, Wired

The pandemic reduced in-person interactions for everyone. Cardwell said the Covid-induced restrictions taught us “there are many ways to reach out and connect to each other.” When we couldn’t hug, we maintained relationships via Zoom, email, phone, and text. Many people felt anxious about returning to the demands of in-person interactions after being isolated for months. Morgan spoke to this, as well, and says sending a text is much less socially demanding than having to pay attention, respond, and be present during an in-person interaction or telephone call. He adds that the “expectations are higher with voice conversations—we expect responses to questions and get frustrated with long pauses—whereas such pressure doesn’t apply to a text exchange.”

I Write About News For A Living. This Is Why You Need To Turn Off News Notifications, by Dave Pell, Fast Company

The notion that you need to know about world events right when they happen is a marketing creation of media brands. And yet, those news stories mingle in the same lock screen with the personal reminders and calls from your mom. The stuff that has something to do with you is now almost impossible to distinguish from the stuff that doesn’t.

Trust me, that news alert can wait until later. Like most things on the internet, it can wait until never.

Awarding 2021

Apple Announces Third Annual Apple Music Award Winners, by Apple

The Apple Music Awards honor achievements in music across five distinct categories — Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Top Song of the Year, and Top Album of the Year — and winners are chosen through a process that reflects both Apple Music’s editorial perspective and what customers around the world are listening to the most. This year, the Apple Music Awards will introduce a new category of awards for Regional Artist of the Year, recognizing artists from five countries and regions: Africa, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia. The Regional Artist of the Year awards recognize artists who made the greatest impact culturally and on the charts in their respective countries and regions.

Apple Podcasts Presents The Best Of 2021, by Apple

Each year, Apple recognizes the best and most popular podcasts for their exceptional content, unique ability to engage audiences, and innovation in craft, spanning production, presentation, sound design, and more, that expand the definition of podcasting and deepen its impact on listeners worldwide. This year, Apple Podcasts Best of 2021 features shows and creators that provided listeners with a powerful sense of connection in a challenging and uncertain time, curated by Apple Podcasts’ world-class editorial team.

Stuff

Apple Introduces New MacBook Upgrade Program For Business Partners, by Sami Fathi, MacRumors

In association with CIT as the financing partner, Apple has launched a new Mac Upgrade Program for small businesses and Apple business partners that allow companies to easily distribute and upgrade their fleets of MacBooks at an affordable price to all of their workers.

Some 16-inch MacBook Pro Owners Report MagSafe 3 Charging Issues When Mac Is Closed, by Sami Fathi, MacRumors

Some 16-inch MacBook Pro owners appear to have identified a shared issue suggesting the MagSafe 3 connector sometimes fails to deliver the expected charge when their Mac is turned off and the lid is closed.

Twinkly Smart Holiday Lights Get HomeKit Support, by David Snow, Cult of Mac

Your winter festivities just got a little brighter if you’re looking for smart holiday lights to use with HomeKit. Thanks to a firmware update, Twinkly smart holiday lights have gained HomeKit support, allowing control with Apple’s smart-home system for the first time.

BookSloth Review: Is It Worth Ditching Goodreads?, by Arvyn Cerézo, Book Riot

BookSloth is a good alternative if readers don’t mind the small community. It’s worth ditching Goodreads if they don’t want the social aspect, and just want to track what they’re reading. However, if the community size is a deal breaker, I suggest that they stick to Goodreads or other similar apps that fulfill their needs.

Develop

Here’s A First Look At The New Swift Playgrounds 4 Ahead Of Official Release, by Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac

This year, Apple will finally let developers build and submit their Swift Playgrounds projects directly to the App Store, which is huge for iPad users.

Notes

What The Media Doesn't Say About Apple, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

How many times have we been told the company is as proud of the things it doesn’t ship as of those it does? But don’t imagine Apple's internal teams don’t occasionally dust off those old project files to see if the plan makes more sense now, given any relevant technology advances that may have emerged

You can even tell this is what the company does.

Bottom of the Page

It is not often that I disagree with Mr John Siracusa, but, well, I don't find anything wrong with having Sunday being the first day of the week. The weekend does not mean the last days of week. Rather, the weekend consists of the two days that bookend both sides of the week, trapping Monday to Friday in the middle.

However, I do grow up with the Chinese language, where Monday is literally day one. And that's where my mental model of the week lies.

One thing we (and Garfield) can probably all agree though: we all hate Mondays. :-)

~

Thanks for reading.