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The Too-Toxic Edition Sunday, September 18, 2022

Apple Shot An Oscar Contender Starring Will Smith. That Was Before The Slap., by Nicole Sperling, New York Times

There is no easy answer. Should the company postpone a film based on an important historical subject because its leading man is too toxic? Or does Apple release the movie and watch the outcome unfold? Audiences could be turned off by Mr. Smith’s presence, perhaps taking some gloss off the well-polished Apple brand. Or they could respond positively to the film, prompting an Oscar campaign, which could then upset members of the academy. And the question of how to publicize “Emancipation” will bring scrutiny to a film marketing unit that has already drawn grumbles of dissatisfaction in Hollywood for skimpy ad spends and disjointed communication — and parted ways with its head of video marketing this month.

Stuff

There’s A Text-to-image AI Art App For Mac Now—and It Will Change Everything, by Jesus Diaz, Fast Company

Impossibly realistic and creative art created by AI has been appearing more and more frequently over the past few months, and it used to be accessible to only a select few: now anyone can run a full graphical version of the text-to-image artificial intelligence Stable Diffusion on any Apple Silicon-based Mac—with no technical knowledge whatsoever. You just have to drop an app into your Applications folder, double click on it, write your prompt, and magic happens.

This $59 Anker MagSafe Charger Offers Something Apple's Doesn't, by Christina Darby, ZDNet

Besides being able to top up an iPhone completely, the MagSafe-compatible charger also has a foldable kickstand to prop up your phone.

Notes

Will Today’s Tech Giants Reach A Century? It’s All About The Quality Of The Product, by John Naughton, The Guardian

Remember that we’re talking averages here. The trend doesn’t mean that no companies currently extant will get to their first century. Some almost certainly will, as some have in the past: AT&T, for example, is 137 years old; General Electric is 130; Ford is 119; IBM is 111; and General Motors is 106. But most companies wither or are gobbled up long before they qualify for a telegram from the president.

With that thought in mind, let us examine the giant tech corporations that now straddle the globe and overawe our legislators. Apple is 46 years old; Amazon is 28; Microsoft is 47; Google is 24; Meta (née Facebook) just 18.

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In my iOS 16's Settings, I've allowed Lock Screen widgets when the iPhone is locked. And all of the Lock Screen widgets that I have added behave 'correctly' -- except Fitness' widget. The completeness of my single move ring (I don't have any Apple Watches) is not displayed until the phone is unlocked.

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Thanks for reading.