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The Taking-All-Measures Edition Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Apple Says It 'Strongly' Disagrees With Apple Watch Ban, Working On Technical And Legal Solutions To Bring The Devices Back To Market, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

In a statement to 9to5Mac, an Apple spokesperson said that it strongly disagrees with the ITC’s decision and will be “taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.”

[...]

The company also says that the ITC’s decision has no impact on service and repairs for customers who purchased the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 prior to December 25.

Stuff

Apple Arcade Says You Should Play These 30 'Essential' Games, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

To close out the year, Apple Arcade is highlighting a collection of “Essential” titles available on the platform. Across five categories, for kids to adults, solo to multiplayer, and more – here are the 30 games Apple thinks you should play.

Apple Reveals Annual Japanese New Year Promotion With Special AirTag, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

In addition to a gift card, the first 50,000 customers in Japan who purchase a new iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 13, or third-generation iPhone SE from Apple during the promotion will receive a limited-edition AirTag with a "Year of the Dragon" engraving.

Slopes Ski And Ride Tracking iOS App Gets Live Lift And Trail Status Info For 50+ Resorts , by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Slopes on iOS is getting live lift and trail status details for more than 50 resorts in the US and Canada.

Notes

Japan To Crack Down On Apple And Google App Store Monopolies, by Ryohei Yasoshima and Riho Nagao, Nikkei Asia

Japan is preparing regulations that would require tech giants like Apple and Google to allow outside app stores and payments on their mobile operating systems, Nikkei has learned, in a bid to curb abuse of their dominant position in the Japanese market.

Legislation slated to be sent to the parliament in 2024 would restrict moves by platform operators to keep users in the operators' own ecosystems and shut out rivals, focusing mainly on four areas: app stores and payments, search, browsers, and operating systems.

As Netflix Reworks Executive Pay, More Changes Could Be Ahead For Hollywood, by Georg Szalai, Hollywood Reporter

Apple kicked off 2023 by unveiling that CEO Tim Cook had requested a pay cut following a drop in shareholder support for his compensation package. Then, on Dec. 8, Netflix disclosed changes to the streaming giant’s executive pay structure. The overhaul was seen as a reaction to a June vote — during the Writers Guild of America strike — when its shareholders symbolically rejected compensation packages for top execs.

Our Digital Lives Are Too Fragile, by Julie J. Lee, Slate

One Friday night at 9 p.m., instead of going out to celebrate my co-worker’s birthday, I found myself glued to the Evernote app. When I’d opened it earlier that evening, hoping to add a new note, I discovered that the app had more or less killed its free tier. With my Cambridge rent, nonprofit salary, and recent parachute out of academia, I couldn’t justify paying the yearly subscription of $129 a year—but I also couldn’t abandon this treasury of my life. My digital notebooks were filled with gems like “films I enjoyed in 2014 (incomplete),” “imperfect regular German verbs,” and “completely f-ing random unordered thoughts/ideas.” I had over 2,000 notes dating all the way back to my junior year of high school. Where would they go, my recipes, poems, and scattered thoughts, now they no longer had a home?

Bottom of the Page

We are deep in the iTunes-selling-single-songs + music-streaming era. Since my first iPod mini, I've listened to probably thousands and thousands of songs in playlists with shuffle mode turned on.

And yet, often, after specific songs, I still expected the following song to be the next track in an album that I bought back in the eighties and nineties, and was slightly disappointed when it wasn't.

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Thanks for reading.