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The Find-Our-Way-Out Edition Saturday, August 6, 2022

We Live In Notification Hell, by Allison Johnson, The Verge

We have a couple of meager tools at our hands, but the onus is on us to find our way out. Until I figure out my notification settings, I know I’m here for the long haul.

Enough With The Notifications – Unless They Are 'Important', by Alistair Dabbs, The Register

Notifications have changed from being a targeted line of app-to-user communication into a free-for-all of trivial one-sided chatter. And there seems to be no way of switching it all off.

On App Stores

Dropbox Branding And App Store SEO Shenanigans, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

The App Store should discourage SEO nonsense like keyword spamming, not reward it.

Stuff

Updated Apple Maps Design Expanding To Israel, Palestine And Saudi Arabia, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

It will be the sixteenth expansion of the updated ‌Apple Maps‌ design since the update first rolled out in September 2018. Apple in 2020 completed its U.S. rollout, and has since expanded to Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, and more.

Rocket Review: Blast Your Way Through The Difficulty Of Inserting Emoji On A Mac, by Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

If emoji delight you and are part of your language, stop exercising the tedium of using macOS’s Character View to find them. Install at least the free flavor of Rocket, and extend the ease of expression.

The Best Budgeting Apps Based On What Kind Of Spender You Are, by https://lifehacker.com/the-best-budgeting-apps-based-on-what-kind-of-spender-y-1849375309, LifeHacker

If you’re looking for a way to track your expenses and stay on top of your budget, you’ll need to choose the right spend tracking app. There are a lot of them to choose from, though, so your choice might vary depending on what’s important to you—things like ease, whether you share expenses, whether you’re self-employed, and how much you travel.

Satechi USB-C Slim Dock For 24-inch iMac Review: A Great Way To Add Additional Storage To Your iMac, by Amber Neely, AppleInsider

The USB-C Slim Dock is designed to add functionality to your iMac without cluttering your desk space. Crafted from aluminum, its slim design looks at home on your desk.

It also features a cutout that allows it to lay flush against the foot of your 24-inch Apple Silicon iMac, which prevents it from being bumped or jostled.

SwitchBot Releases Its First HomeKit Product With The SwitchBot Plug Mini, by Bradley Chambers, 9to5Mac

The SwitchBot Plug Mini is great for converting a “dumb lamp” to one that works with HomeKit. One aspect I appreciate about this device that others often forget – a manual button on the side if you need to turn it off/on without your iPhone or the use of Siri.

Notes

Reminder: Passkeys Are Not Just From Apple, by Umar Shakir, The Verge

When Apple introduced passkeys, its implementation of FIDO Alliance’s password-less secure authentication technology, the company did it in the most Apple way possible. It made an icon and printed a very on Apple brand-looking “Passkeys” next to it, complete in the San Francisco font. And if you’ve watched only part of the WWDC presentation on Apple’s passkeys, it’s possible to assume passkeys are an exclusive feature of Apple’s iCloud Keychain. Just a reminder: it’s not.

Unions Are Forming At Starbucks, Apple And Google. Here's Why Workers Are Organizing Now, by Katie Schoolov, CNBC

For decades, union membership has been on the decline. Yet in the last few months, workers have been organizing at a pace this country hasn't seen since the Great Depression.

Bottom of the Page

What if we have to wear masks indoors forever and ever? What if everyone will get infected with Covid once every one or two years? What if we need to get on wait-lists to buy phones and computers from now on?

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Thanks for reading.