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The Future-of-Industry Edition Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Half Of Apple Suppliers Operating In China's Lockdown-hit Areas, by Lauly Li, Cheng Ting-Fang, and Shunsuke Tabeta, Nikkei Asia

More than 70 companies own manufacturing plants in Jiangsu Province that directly supply the U.S. tech giant, according to an analysis of Apple's latest available Supplier List. The majority of these are in Kunshan and Suzhou, the two cities near Shanghai. A further 30 or so Apple suppliers have facilities in Shanghai itself, the latest epicenter of the COVID-19 surge in China.

These suppliers run the gamut from major iPhone assembler Pegatron and iPad maker Compal Electronics to makers of components such as displays, printed circuit boards, thermal parts, batteries and acoustic components.

Apple’s Zipped Lips On Chips, by Shira Ovide, New York Times

Government officials might be overstating the risks of concentrating chip-making in Taiwan, or chip buyers like Apple might be underestimating them. Or maybe these companies find it too daunting to shift more quickly away from the expertise of Taiwan’s chip factories. Whatever the reason, it’s as if elected leaders and the companies that need chips the most are working from a different sense of what is possible and necessary for the future of this essential industry.

Stuff

Apple Watch Activity Challenge Set For International Dance Day With Exclusive Awards, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

For International Dance Day on April 29, Apple will hold an Activity Challenge that requires to do a Dance workout of 20 minutes or more.

Apple Releases New Firmware For MagSafe Battery Pack, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Firmware updates are done quietly over the air and Apple does not provide release notes, so we do not know what features or bug fixes might be included in the software.

MindNode For Mac And iOS Updated With Dynamic Nodes, Quick Entry Improvements, More, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

MindNode is out with a nice update for its mind-mapping software for Mac and iOS today. The latest release brings improvements to how nodes look, feel, and work, quick entry changes that make it easier to jot down ideas, and more.

Twelve South Refreshes SurfacePad iPhone 13 Leather Folio Case With Two New Spring Colors, by Blair Altland, 9to5Toys

Today, Twelve South is refreshing one of the more unique offerings in its lineup. Perfect for spring, two new styles of the SurfacePad folio case have arrived to coat your iPhone 13 series device in a signature Twelve South leather form-factor.

Notes

Incredibly, Your Apple HomePod May Now Be Worth More Than Its $299 MSRP, by Sean Hollister, The Verge

We took a look at eBay sales numbers after spotting 9to5Mac editor-in-chief Chance Miller’s tweet, and we soon discovered it wasn’t just a joke: on average, an Apple HomePod fetched $375 this past week. That’s 25 percent more than Apple charged.

An Open Letter To Apple: Will It Publicly Stand Behind The Use Of Final Cut Pro In TV And Film?, by Jeff Benjamin, 9to5Mac

While Final Cut Pro is very popular among the education world, YouTubers, and other small businesses, it’s less likely to be used for TV shows and movies destined for popular streaming platforms, and even more unlikely to be the NLE of choice for major Hollywood productions. The reason for the slow adoption is multifaceted, but it largely stems from the lack of industry-standard workflows and integration, along with insufficient promotion within industry circles.

The Risk Of Relying On Smart-Home Companies To Keep The Lights On, by Boone Ashworth, Wired

For users who rely on connected door locks, security cameras, and light bulbs around the house, the Insteon debacle is a reminder that full control of one’s devices may be an illusion in the era of the cloud. But Kozak says that while Insteon’s mess is certainly a black eye for the smart-home industry, it’s an avoidable one.

Never Trust A Number, by Climateer

Like, seriously. Whenever you see a number – in a tweet, newspaper headline, office email, technical report, textbook, anywhere – assume it is wrong. Treat it as enemy misinformation, deliberate sabotage of your understanding of the world, and disregard it.

You're thinking, ha ha, I'm exaggerating for effect. I’m not. Seriously I am not. I mean, of course not not all numbers are literally incorrect; but it happens so very, very much more often than your intuition, that I do literally mean it is a good practice to treat all numbers as incorrect by default.

Bottom of the Page

To get ready for the new season, I've just rewatched the first season of Russian Doll on Netflix. And I can't think of a good way for Netflix to insert any advertisement into any of the episodes. So, if Netflix is going to introduce a new ad-supported tier, many of its new shows will have to find ways to break their episodes into multiple segments, with the expectations that some viewers are going to watch ads between the segments.

This will make many new shows less good, even for subscribers who paid more for the no-advertisement tier.

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Thanks for reading.